This deserves signal boost. It is amadi's html for colour protected spoiler or warning text. Keep it someone easy to hand.

The particular value of the code is this: it works for screenreaders for the visually impaired while still preserving screenreader users' ability to skip a warning or spoiler if they wish.

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My banana is not as sweet and tasty as I would like. On the other hand, it's winter and not a banana growing area, so I shouldn't be surprised.

Strangely, that segues quite well into this:

On Warnings

What is a fanfiction warning? A notice that there is something the story of which the reader should be wary.

Some warnings are very obviously labelled "Warning" in the headers, eg Warning: death of a main character. Some are deduced warnings. An example of this is 'Pairing: McKay/Sheppard, McKay/Keller'. This is information from which I deduce the warning 'Character bashing'. Fans will rarely put 'Character bashing' in their headers. Why is left as an exercise for you! For me, this makes the warning issue a no-win situation. Fans will never warn for those things subject to deduction.

It's no-win for other reasons. Some writers don't want to give away the emotional heart of their story, or the twist. Some readers want to be shocked or surprised. Community standards on what should be warned for differ.

Should warnings in headers be standard? No.

Should a fan writer state whether or not they warn? Yes.

Why? Because standards around warnings vary across fandoms and fan communities. It is common practice, easy and straightforward to let people know what community standards they can expect from your journal, site, forum, community or archive. (Often called 'The FAQ'.) It would be a impossible (see 'warnings' posts linked in metafandom) to get all of fandom to agree on headers, particularly since different branches have developed their own working systems: no warnings required, warnings in zero posts, warnings behind cuts, lists of warning-required topics, rely on recommendations from trusted fans, etc).

Should a fan reader assume the worst (for the reader) if a fan writer makes no warnings statement? Yes.

Why? zvi: Why are you acting as if everyone has already agreed with your position, when acting in that way puts you in danger?

I believe it is not practical or desirable to expect all writers to nobble their stories with warnings and headers. But it is practical for all writers, communities and archives to state a warnings policy.

Upshot? I'm working my way through my stories marking them all to 'Choose Not To Warn'.

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I'm not happy with this opinion piece by Lindy Williams: Behind the Racism of White Australia Lay A Grand Vision. I'm across the idea that people can be both good and bad, can do appalling things while genuinely believing they are doing excellent things, that positive and negative can result from the same action. It took a while for me to pinpoint what was getting my goat so thoroughly.

At first I thought it was the use of citizen that was enraging: Australia was a rare exception and had moved faster and gone further to extended political equality to more of its citizens. Yet this is relatively true: White Australian women were eligible to run for Federal Parliament and to vote from early in the 20th century, almost but not quite since Federation. White privileges were extended to white women. There was something else, or I was just being grumpy.

I'm slow, but I finally got it:
We have been torn about how to make sense of this mixed heritage. In the first 60 years after Federation we focused on the good and played down the bad. In the past 40 years we have been so focused on the bad that we have lost all sight of the good. The pendulum swing is understandable, but we need to get past it.

In the past 40 years we have been so focused on the bad

Fucking bullshit we have. Don't you remember John Howard's government, Lindy Williams? Don't you remember the children overboard ? The event that the majority of Australians 'la la la-ed' while asylum seekers, adults and children, were crowded into Woomera. Don't you remember Pauline Hanson and One fucking Nation? So last century, you say? What about the Cronulla Riots in 2005*? Or that it took until 2008 for an Australian Federal Government to fucking apologise for the Stolen Generations?

So focused on the bad my fucking arse. The bad not in the fucking past. It is with us now and can't be swept under some bloody egalitarian carpet so we can admire the glorious democratic birth of our nation, the one in 1901 that so thoroughly ignores the existence indigenous Australians (unless it is to refer to them as, per your quote Lindy Williams, 'the dying race').

( Full text behind the cut )

_____
*For those of you without time to read let me give you one quote from the Wikipedia article: On December 4, 2005 a verbal exchange took place after three lifesavers approached a group of Lebanese men on Cronulla Beach and accused the group of staring at them.

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- Enjoying a brief amount of alone time between visitors #2 and #3

- Wimbledon starts tonight, yay! No Rafa, *sadface* Tennis just isn't tennis without an epic Roger v. Rafa battle but I suspect we'll not see epic battles like Wimbledon men's final 2008 or Oz Open men's final 2009 for for a while. Still, there are many, many fine players in the draw and good tennis to be anticipated.

- I'm in the 'Pop Remix is fun' zone. You know: my idea is so cool, my assigned author is so awesome, writing is fun! Anticipate I will click over to OMG WHAT WAS I THINKING? in the next week as deadline looms.

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Ah, this Gwen/Arthur vid is gorgeous, just gorgeous. The vidder edits to make quite a few Gwen/Arthur scenes where there were none before which means the vid is almost entirely Arthur and Gwen and equally so. Turn the sound off, though. Hallelujah doesn't really fit the visual story*. Thanks to robinmarian for the heads up.

Roll on series 2! Could I have smooches? Or at least scenes where they're close enough to make icons without editing the images together. And please to be emulating the equal opportunity pectoral exposure that was part of what made Xena: The Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys such wonderful shows.


*...also, I've seen to many vids that use it. Probably the vidder hasn't

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Visitor #2 reckons Zachary Quinto is gay.

Visitor #2 is also very messy, OMG!, in a way that makes me feel like I've got OCD and yet, the gf frowns on my slack ways. Yes, V#2 is just that disorganised. Thank goodness we'll never have to share a house again.

Blog rec: The Way The Future Blogs. Frederick Pohl is, like, eighty-gazillion years old and has written fifty thousand sf stories, novels, etc etc and has been doing so since my grandmother was wee. Unlike Ray Bradbury, he seems to like the internet. His blog is promoted as an on-line memoir and includes homestyle recipes (cabbage and franks!), poetry from zines from the 30's and pictures of his cat. He's a true blogger.


ST:TOS Rewatch: The Corbomite Maneuver. such_heights does great cap recaps. This is the ep with shirtless sweaty Kirk on the futuristic exercise machine, by the way.

And a meme via lady_ganesh:

List 10 (or however many) platonic male/female relationships in fiction that you enjoy. My attempt at rules:

1. They interact in canon, preferably in a significant (apply your own interpretation of such) way.
2. They are not related. They can, however, view each other as surrogate family.
3. Neither has confessed or implied romantic love for the other in canon.
4. They have not dated, been married, had sex, or made out in canon, on purpose, and over their own free will.
5. A popular fanon ship is ok (though preferably not your ship) but a canon pairing you wish were just friends is out.
6. Try to avoid using the same character or series twice.
7. They don’t have to be friends.

1. Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin, Modesty Blaise. My icon, taken from a scene in the first Modesty Blaise comic, La Machine. It is after the action has gone down and Modesty is sitting with Willie, having a little cry, one of her ways of dealing with stress and Willie is the only person who ever sees her cry or gets to comfort her. The other way she deals is to go off somewhere and have lots of hot sex. This is never with Willie, however. They are the greatest ever non-sexual life partners in fiction. In fact, I think I will read one of their books this afternoon.

2. Sheridan and Ivanova, Babylon 5: good friends, siblings-in-arms, partners-in-snark. Finest kind.

3. Willow and Giles, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer: because they had so much in common but weren't at all alike.

4. The Middleman and Wendy, The Middleman: what's not to love about the friendship of the MM&WW team? I do love the master and apprentice dynamic and this show did it so well. I miss you, show.

5. Savannah and John Henry, Terminator, The Sarah Connor Chronicles: I'm so sorry there won't be more of this, too. Creepy and fascinating but without being all crime procedural offensive.

6. Lance and Britney, Pop: Adorable BFFs always.

7. Megan and Blair, The Sentinel: They should gang up on Jim all the time.

8. Lucy and Tumnus, Narnia stories: because you need a friend who means that much to you. Also, adorable!

9. Patricia Holm and Hoppy Uniatz, The Saint: I like to imagine them nicking the Hirondel and tooling around the countryside, or perched at the bar knocking back a bottle or five and telling each other outrageous stories of the trouble Simon has got them in to.

10. Gorman and Vasquez, Aliens: in the afterworld.

In sad news, Rafael Nadal has pulled out of Wimbledon due to his knee. *sad face*

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Some places where I have been touched or kissed against my will or where my control of my own body has been seriously threatened, in no particular order:

1. My grandparent's home
2. My godmother's home
3. My mother's aunt's home
4. My parent's home
5. An all ages concert
6. A cinema

The phantasm of 'stranger danger' has always made me a little peeved.

And my experience has been mild compared to most women and girls, certainly mild compared to many of the stories I know from my own friends and family, and those posted in the last week or so.

Australians, if you're philanthropically inclined, you may wish to support one of the crisis support NGOs listed here.

The original post: On rape and men (Oh yes, I'm going there).

nestra: Yes, you do.

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1. Visitors:
a) Good! Yay, visitors!
b) Bad! No internet time.
c) Good! More fun times with buddies!
d) Bad! No fun times with internet buddies!

2. The L Word, season 4 (courtesy of visitor #1):
a) Seriously, the only way this show could make me happier than it does is if Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly turned up playing retired married-to-each-other gay policewomen. And why not? It's got lesbian Jennifer Beals, lesbian Marlee Matlin and lesbian Cybill Sheppard. I asked visitor #1, "Do you think *actress playing Alice* is thinking OMG! I'm having movie!sex with Cybill Sheppard?"
b) Why yes, visitor #1 and I are that old, thank you.
c) I'm so glad visitor #1 loved this show enough to make me watch it back when I thought it was Sex and the City for dykes. (I loathe Sex and the City and its hideous, heartless, self-involved characters. Fortunately The L Word has appalling Jenny to cast the rest of them into a good light. Mind you, Max casts them right back with his actual integrity and goodness, but never mind that: Gay Jennifer Beals!)

3. Email inbox
a) Oh, dear.
b) OMG.
c) Help!

4. Star Trek: Reboot
a) I don't suppose there's a recs list for people who want to read the lovely avalanche of Star Trek fiction but don't want to be reminded of Chris Pike Pine? (Edit: Guess who spent too much time playing with ludicrous Trek smushes?)
b) Am suddenly feeling sympathetic towards all those fans who never liked William Shatner.
c) Seriously, I go to read a story and then think, 'What if the author takes pains to make sure you know that Kirk looks like Chris Pike Pine and absolutely, positively not like William Shatner?' It's a legitimate fear, people. (Do you think I have Reboot issues? No shit!)
d) Actually, have done okay so far by not reading any Kirk/Spock. Gaila and/or Uhura focused gen stories seem to be the way to go.
e) Actually, avoiding boy slash seems to be a reasonable life philosophy at the moment.

5. Doctor Who
a) Does anyone know how to navigate the BBC site to find out if there will ever be another broadcast of Doctor Who again? It's annoying enough that it keeps telling me I'm in the wrong country nyah nyah, but a little actual screening info, is that too much to ask?
b) This is why I like small fandoms: it's always easy to find out the important info because there's not so much bloody extraneous blah de-blahs.

6. WTF
a) My offline friends keep reading Twilight. It's not on!
b) Laura Hale. ROFL ROFL ROFL. Part of me is all 'Yay! Hilarity ensues!' but it would be kind of nice if the LJ user rep meant something and the elections should reflect that, not be the most ludicrous sort of blog spat.

7. Life lessons
a) Teaching. I know many of you are teachers of one sort or another so I'm sorry to reveal this to you but there are others of your profession who need to have it said: even the very best teachers mostly just facilitate children doing what they're good at and avoiding what they aren't good at. That's why I never had to do music or art and my girlfriend was streamed into what we heartless, ableist little arseholes called vege-maths. (Hilariously, her profession is closer to science and mine to art. School has very little to do with the subsequent 75% of your life.) You do not generally - or even by the power of your bloody hard work over long, under-appreciated hours - open minds and create new understanding. Mostly, we just wanted to have been seen to have done the damn homework and to pass the damn exams ("Is that on the exam?" "Will we be tested on that?") and to get the fuck out of there and into real life. I can imagine that the purpose-filled mature-age student is a balm compared to the little horrors of primary and secondary school.
b) An open letter to Nick Griffin, Chairman of the BNP and MEP for North West England. Well said, ladies and gentlemen, well said.

8. Other good fannish things
a) fandom_of_one has signups open for summertide pitching. I love this comm because it's full of surprises.
b) Is there a Sea Patrol fandom? Does anyone want one? Come on, completely un-canon XO/Nav, yes? XO/anyone because Lisa McCune is whippety hotness. And how good is Swain's pain and his puppy eyes of empathy? Oh, it's so sweet, like salt caramel.
c) Gwen/Morgana, the things they do picspam. {{girls}} A teeny tiny bit spoilery for season 2, right at the very end.
d) Obviously in a perfect world people wouldn't be rewarded for homophobia by having Houlihan eat apples at them, but yes. The lovely jekesta brings us Televisual Apples
e) Lex's apple, Lex's apple. Doesn't it take you back?

9. Verb Noire
a) I can has it. You can, too. Verb Noire's first book, Tasha Campbell's River's Daughter, is now available. I'm so thrilled, holding its electronic self in my laptop hands. A reward for making it through the inbox (see 3.)
b) Note to self: need to find out how to goodreads.com an ebook.

So, hi! How've you all been?

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I give you brownbetty, niqaeli and copracat losing their minds with hysteria over Reboot pairing smushes.

No really, it's time for an intervention.

(Actually, niqaeli remains calm. I spoke* too soon.)

*Spoke = Spock/Pike, naturally.

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Yesterday I linked to a public post asking for blog and twitter recs. Elke has a subsequent post explaining why she made it private. I'll re-link if/when it comes back.

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If you want me to interview you--post a comment that simply says, "Interview me." I'll respond with questions for you to take back to your own journal and answer as a post. Of course, they'll be different for each person since this is an interview and not a general survey. At the bottom of your post, after answering the Interviewer's questions, you ask if anyone wants to be interviewed. So it becomes your turn-- in the comments, you ask them any questions you have for them to take back to their journals and answer. And so it becomes the circle.

Perhaps I should save these up for one post? Nah!

iamnaiad's questions:

1. What is the Australia of your heart?

So, I thought immediately of a massive old gum and red dirt. I thought of the sea and long sandy beaches, and long summer days in sweltering cities. But really, it is this:



The Australia of my heart fulfils that promise. No excuses. More info here, if anyone wants it.

2. Do you believe in guilty pleasures and if so, what's your biggest one?

No, I play at guilty pleasures, because it's a delightful game, but my principle is no regrets. Whatever you do, you take responsibility for. Which is always easier said!

I was eating nummy home-made chocolate pudding when your comment arrived.

3. If you could have one wish come true, what would it be?

Duh! An infinite number of wishes, please.

4. Where is the beauty found in your favourite sport?

In every sport I love, the best thing is sportspersonship. It is being as fierce and competitive as you can be on the pitch or field or court and behaving respectfully off it. It is loving the fight your opponent gives you, and admiring their skill and what they bring to the game you love.

And then I was going to post a photo of Harry Kewell shirtless but somehow not a single image of him from after the Socceroos v. Qatar game is online. So, instead, I give you Sam Stosur, Serena Williams and Dinara Safina.

5. If you had to be famous would you rather it be for politics, music, writing or something else altogether?

This is the easiest of these questions: politics. If I could, I would like to achieve what this woman achieved. Olive Zakharov worked hard for the good of her constituency and for social justice. She didn't seek political fame, but concentrated on making the world a better place. She left us too soon. Man, when Graeme Richardson reckons you've got a light, albeit hidden under a bushel, you're pretty shiny.

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If you want me to interview you--post a comment that simply says, "Interview me." I'll respond with questions for you to take back to your own journal and answer as a post. Of course, they'll be different for each person since this is an interview and not a general survey. At the bottom of your post, after answering the Interviewer's questions, you ask if anyone wants to be interviewed. So it becomes your turn-- in the comments, you ask them any questions you have for them to take back to their journals and answer. And so it becomes the circle.

yonmei's questions:

1. What does your username mean and why did you choose it?

It means nothing, unless you have a kitsch souvenir cat made of coconut, which I'm sure must exist! No, I just made it up out of the air, though it probably had something to do with something that I read or saw at the time. I was throwing a tanty because Yahoo wouldn't let me have vera as my user name. When I got a LiveJournal, I couldn't have Vera again, so I picked the next username that I'd used in fandom. I didn't realise that people would come to know me as 'copracat' and it was quite a shock (though not a bad one) when I visited secretrebel and she introduced me to people as copracat. I'd never heard it said aloud!

2. If I visited you for the day, what would we do?

Start with a cup of tea in my teeny tiny back yard because you have come a long way! Then we'd go for a walk along the creek (this is quite large and would pass as a river in some places) that runs through the suburb next to mine. This is a well-developed walking and biking path. The valley it runs through has steep sides so you can almost forget you are in the middle of a big city. We'd run into lots of dogs and people and there'd be plenty of opportunity for picture-taking of rusty old mill works, water fowl and Australian trees. At the end of this walk, we'd lunch at a massive old* convent turned arts centre. There's a great vegetarian cafe that is also a non-profit community organisaton supporting migrants and refugees. Food is so very delicious and that's before the sauce of smug appreciation that you're doing good.

After lolling about for a while, I'd take you on my personal tour of the grounds and buildings, galleries and other interesting bits. Not as thorough as the official tour, but I like to think more fun.

It would then be time for a cup of tea and a pastry from the convent's wood-fired oven cafe.

We'd jump on a bus and, depending on inclination, do a walking tour of my favourite street (shopping!) or go to the museum (bones, tapestry, live action digestion).

After a nap (I love naps, and I believe you should have a nap, or siesta, on every day it is possible) we could go to the best vegetarian restaurant I know, handily at the end of my street, with an entertaining bunch of my buddies, then stagger home full of food and possibly wine. TV watching may occur at this point.

It sounds like a fairly relaxed day, but I can tell you from experience that it will leave you well ready for bed.

3. Which two fictional characters do you want to have trapped together in a lift?

At first I thought it would be too easy to go straight for lift/transporter sex but then I thought, there's a reason cliches are cliches: because they're worth repeating. Today, I would want it to be Ash and Scribbs because first it would be funny, then it would be hot and funny.

4. Superpower or infinite wealth - which is better?

Infinite wealth. Then you can buy all the superpowers you want that are possible.

5. If you had a time machine and an infinite budget, which singers would you have perform for you at the concert of your dreams?

I've never played this game before. I have a strong belief - I'm not sure if that's the right word - in the ephemerality of live performance. Recordings are about perfect repetition and equal access (thanks, Glenn Gould) but live performance is about the magic of who is right there, right then, breathing the same air as you.

That said, I could make a hundred concerts. But this time let's just say:

First half -
Turlough O'Carolan and Derek Bell
Maria Callas

Program is a selection of Carolan's songs and Greek traditional songs. Derek Bell on mandolin for the Greek songs.

Second half -
Louis Armstrong
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis
Jessie Matthews

Program is adorable movie soundtracks and Jessie dancing the pants off Dean and Jerry.

Grand finale -
The song at 8:23 in this video. (Please don't disown me, yonmei, for loving Powell and Pressburger's Scotland. What did they know in 1945? What did I know when I was eleven and fell in love with Wendy Hillier?) Jessie and Maria to duet. It would work, dammit. I don't care that Maria Callas had the finest voice ever and Jessie was a bit wobbly; they are emotional equals.

Anyone want to be interviewed?

_______
*Old for Australian colonist values of old, of course.
Originally posted at IJ

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elke_tanzer is looking for women bloggers, vloggers and twitters to follow because naturally, when Wired's Geek Dad posted a list of 100 twitters to follow... I think you know how it went, and won't be surprised that the list was topped by well-known misogynist, Wil Wheaton. (Though, to be fair, I do understand the other reasons Wil Wheaton would top a list by a blogger called Geek Dad. It's why I used to read him.)


Fab links in the comments.

I recced Sydney Padua's 2D Goggles.


(Edit: Wow. Could I have got more html wrong in this post?)

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I am out of practice with this. When I was wee in LJ, when Smallville was my fandom of choice, this kind of thing was a fountain. There was always something to write, bits and pieces of story, like a magpie's hoard of shiny things. Think of it as a feminist's fantasy.

No Title, Merlin, Morgana, Gwen, spoilers for 1x10, 268 words

( Because )

Have just seen CSI season 9 episode, A Space Oddity.

( spoilers, )

astridv is offering art in exchange for Sam/Rodney or Jennifer/Rodney stories.

Go, read about it here.

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But this didn't belong in the last one!

Has anyone noticed that whenever Roger Federer beats the pants off someone, he gets a cuddle?

Beats Tommy Haas

Beats Gael Monfils

Beats Juan Martin Del Potro

They could, of course, just be holding each other up due to exhaustion.

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So, I had a bit of a Reboot flail which is pretty much all about me not being over the grief of The Shrine (and don't expect that any time in the next 100 years) and anticipating even worse in Merlin (misogyny and racism: two great tastes that taste great together, hey?), but, those reasons aside or included or whatever, I was wrong.

For thorough discussion and immense braininess, I direct you to:

zvi, of course. Coupla ST:AOS recs and a question. Saw yet another post on my reading page bemoaning the lack of awesome for Uhura... what would Uhura being awesome have looked like?

latxcvi Star Trek XI: So I’m going to talk about two strains of criticism of Uhura that I’ve seen elsewhere, in responses to other texts/source material, both of which, quite frankly, kind of get my back up when I see them.

liviapenn, once. Kirk, Spock, Bones & Uhura: the new OT4

And twice: In the movie, what do these three characters have in common?

1. Olsen
2. Puri
3. McKenna


the_willow: And may I remind you, who's the person who makes a 'receptionist' like shipwide announcement concerning their mission? Chekov.

telesilla: So, you want to be a Starfleet Communications Officer, but...

... you're worried that people won't think that your job is awesome? Worried that people might think that you're nothing but a glorified telephone operator? What to do?

Okay, this isn't Reboot, but tribbles! Star Trek TOS rewatch: The Trouble With Tribbles

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This person is very likely a troll: one post, new journal and calling Gwen 'puntang', which surely not even the most idiotic 'bros before hos' dittoist could justify.

Which leaves the question: how do you respond? Not engaging trolls is the most important rule, but I'm chafing at the idea of leaving that statement unanswered.

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