Terralthra's LiveJournal

A bit of a call for action, I suppose

terralthra@terralthra.net — Wednesday, 19 Nov 2008 00:51:42

First, read this.

If you are relatively aware of current gender politics, you will already be upset. You can skip to the next paragraph. If not: it's been fairly well established by peer-reviewed studies that transexuality is NOT a choice or lifestyle decision, it is a physiological condition. Transgender individuals' brains, specifically the BST(c) region (which handles much of sex expression) are anatomically similar to the gender with which they identify, not their karyotype. A summary of the study can be read here. As such, it is literally a case of being born with a body that doesn't match the mind, not any mental illness. It is considered proper and the least of common courtesy to refer to such individuals by the gender with which they identify, not anything else. The consistent male pronouns and male gender references in that article are a deliberate insult.

Moreover, they are unprofessional in the extreme. The Associated Press Styleguide is quite clear on this subject: "Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth." source

This journalist is writing bigotry, unprofessional, mean-spirited bigotry. We can bitch impotently, or we can do something about it. His e-mail address is mmichael@syracuse.com. Send him an e-mail pointing out his rudeness, and ask for him to show the common decency due any human. I'll keep an eye on the further stories from this newspaper, and if he doesn't shape up, we can start sending e-mails up the chain from him. His editor, for example.

What are you waiting for? Go! E-mail him!

And it looks like...

terralthra@terralthra.net — Tuesday, 18 Nov 2008 11:58:45

...Livejournal.com is having some issues. My friends page is missing, well, almost all of my friends' posts. Makes me glad I have my own journal, where if something's screwed up, I can try to fix it.

Instructions

terralthra@terralthra.net — Monday, 17 Nov 2008 23:08:28

Assuming you already have at least a third of a normal bottle of tequila, some sugar, and some empty water bottles.

Purchase:

Costco:
1.75 L Sauza Hornitas Tequila ($33)
2 bags fresh limes ($5.75 each)

BevMo
1.00 L DeKuyper Triple Sec ($9.99)

Put 750 mL of water in a pot to boil. Stir in sugar until saturated. Allow to cool. Juice limes. Ensure you have approximately 1.25 L of lime juice.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 L tequila, 1 L triple sec, 0.75 L sugar water, and 1.25 L lime juice. Stir.

Pour into water bottles, seal, and freeze. Fills roughly nine 20oz bottles. Reheat on defrost, serve with ice.

Movie reviews

terralthra@terralthra.net — Monday, 17 Nov 2008 02:44:41

Finally got around to seeing Changeling before it left the theatre. ms. a came over from SF and we had some pizza from the place on A Street, then wandered around until show time.

Here be the spoilers

I got really tired of Angelina Jolie saying she wanted her son back with this odd mix of plaintiveness and determination. I understand that this was a critical point, her rightful motherly obsession, but it wore on me as the movie dragged on and on. And boy did it drag, especially after the climax. It wasn't quite up to Return of the King's level for ludicrously extended denouement, but it surely tried.

Rent. Definitely rent.

From yay to suck.

terralthra@terralthra.net — Friday, 14 Nov 2008 22:02:34

And on my way over to see Trinity, a speeding ticket. 78 in a 65. Blech.

Yet another item checked off the list

terralthra@terralthra.net — Friday, 14 Nov 2008 16:45:42

GRE general test: taken.

It'll be a bit before I get my analytic writing score, but my verbal and quantitative reasoning scores were quite satisfactory: 780 Verbal, 750 Quantitative. That puts me in the 99th percentile for Verbal and somewhere around the 84th percentile on Math. More proof that I am brilliant! =]

Bahahahaha

terralthra@terralthra.net — Monday, 10 Nov 2008 09:51:40

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has received her first job offer since failing in her bid to become vice-president of the United States, and it comes with a large cash offer. Florida-based porn director Cezar Capone has offered to pay Palin $2 million to appear in an adult film production.

Capone, who calls himself "the king of all MILF films," promises in an open letter on his website that the film would be distributed internationally, shot in high definition, and feature a "beautiful mother recognized by all of America ... as the most desirable woman over 40."

To prove he's serious about the offer, Capone says he's prepared to hold the money in escrow immediately.

To sweeten the deal, Palin's husband Todd has been offered a co-starring role in the production, for which Capone would be "prepared to kick in an extra $100,000," and a new Arctic Cat snowmobile.

Palin hasn't publicly responded to the offer, which was sent to her administration office in Juneau, Alaska on Nov. 6.

Capone has previously released such films as Agent Filthy 0069, High Definition and Sophia Revealed, none of which featured any senior members of the U.S. Republican Party.

Hustler Magazine recently released a spoof Palin porn video titled Nailin' Paylin, which was referenced in a now-infamous YouTube prank call made by Montreal shock jocks the Masked Avengers in the final days of the U.S. election campaign.

source

Life is getting busy again.

terralthra@terralthra.net — Monday, 10 Nov 2008 00:06:13

My application for an "emergency" substitute teaching credential is finally making progress through the system. Good thing it wasn't actually an emergency, or that school would be rather shit out of luck.

At work, I am being considered for promotion to the projectionist booth, which would be both a raise, a promotion, and a significant increase in job quality and satisfaction.

The GRE is coming up very soon, marking another "to-do" off of my grad school application checklist.

I'm probably seeing lola Monday evening, then driving over to Marin to see Trinity Tuesday evening, then ms. a is heading this way Wednesday evening to catch a movie. Haven't seen Kitten since election night, but I'm sure I'll see her soon too.

Story's close to done.

Life is good.

cough

terralthra@terralthra.net — Saturday, 08 Nov 2008 00:49:59

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Yay!

terralthra@terralthra.net — Saturday, 08 Nov 2008 00:49:33

I got to spend an afternoon and evening with Trinity! And now I get to spend the night with her!

Life is good.

Fun night

terralthra@terralthra.net — Friday, 07 Nov 2008 02:13:49

After work, I headed over to ms. a's to watch Linda Linda Linda. To sum up, it's a heartwarming japanese film about three japanese girls who alienate the singer of their punk band and recruit a korean girl to replace her for their school's rock concert.

Yeah.

Totally awesome movie. "Wow! Ribs!"

Still not sure where I stand with the lovely ms. a. Ah, well. Life is in the uncertainties, n'est-ce pas? I've invited her over to this side of the bay next Wednesday and left open the possibility of spending the night, so we'll see how everything goes.

Tomorrow, I get to see Trinity some more, after an all-too-brief night together after her return from LA. *does the happy going-to-see-Trinity-soon dance*

In other news, I have revised my opinion on Zack and Miri Make a Porno after discovering that it was actually a romantic comedy written by Kevin Smith. Yes, THAT Kevin Smith. Now looking for someone to come see the movie with me. Takers?

So, Prop. 8 passed.

terralthra@terralthra.net — Thursday, 06 Nov 2008 00:48:47

I am so proud of my country, but so embarrassed for my state. Discrimination, written into the very Constitution of the state. I can only hope the SF City Attorney's lawsuit goes forward. The basis for the suit is strong.

California Constitutional amendments apparently require only a simple majority in order to append or revise the constitution, but an amendment requires a supermajority in both houses, as well as the initiative itself. The anti-gay folks apparently argued that since the Constitution didn't have a definition of marriage, defining it as between a man and a woman is just a minor revision.

The SF City Attorney's argument is that since this annuls thousands of marriages and prevents tens of thousands more from getting married, it is almost certainly an amendment. Additionally, since the marriage definition is a violation of Section 1.7, it must create an exception to 1.7, and again, that's an amendment.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. If it doesn't work, we'll have to do the full supermajority process to repeal this bogus bigotry.

Four great words, six scary words.

terralthra@terralthra.net — Wednesday, 05 Nov 2008 00:40:33

"President-Elect Barack Obama"

"Proposition 8, too close to call."

It's interesting...

terralthra@terralthra.net — Tuesday, 04 Nov 2008 09:58:27

...how much you can tell about a movie based on the previews they show before it.

I have taken very little advantage of the "free movies" perk offered by my current place of employment, mostly because almost every movie we have had over the course of my work there has been unmitigated suck. The only movie I took time out of my day to see was Religulous. Everything else has been pretty mediocre, at best. High School Musical 3? Meh. Saw V? Horror porn. Zack and Miri Make a Porno? Not even.

But I like watching previews. They're the distilled essence of a movie. They're usually pretty well-crafted, as thirty to ninety seconds doesn't leave time for extras or waste, making the cinematography as pithy as anyone could hope for. Often, you can tell if you will like a movie based on the trailer alone. For example, Babylon A.D.'s trailer has a cut where Vin Diesel's character backflips a snowmobile over a missile. You know in that instant whether or not you will like that movie.

Off to tear some tickets...

LIGHTNING AND THUNDER

terralthra@terralthra.net — Saturday, 01 Nov 2008 17:55:27

FLASH...rumblerumblerumble.