Life proceeds

[aadler]

Fanfic writing issues

My entry for the cya_ficathon continues to grow, and over the past few days I’ve begun to gather momentum. I’d planned out seventeen segments, divided into five parts (chapters), and I’ve finished Part 3 and done the first segment in Part 4. That leaves five segments remaining, and — with luck — I can complete those before the end of the weekend. That will allow me a full two weeks to work on this year’s Remix Redux. Crunching things, but it does appear that I’ll be able to pull it off.

Physical fitness issues

I had just resumed a program of daily exercise when I came down sick from exposure to my daughter. That stretched out long enough that it started to impinge on time remaining … because, once again, my unit is doing a scheduled physical fitness test, and I’ll have to hustle to come in below the maximum weight allowed for me. Concerned about the delay, I instituted another measure: made a substantial bowl of tuna salad, and any time I get hungry I’ll cut half a stalk of celery into dipping strips, and eat such tuna salad as I can dip up until the celery is gone. It was only meant as a stopgap measure, but I’ve lost nine pounds in ten days, so I think I’ll continue it now that I’m (finally) able to resume regular exercise.

Social-political issues

• Why is one black kid killed in Florida a month ago — by a “white Hispanic” — a national issue, while the half-dozen or so black kids killed every week by black criminals barely even makes local news?
• When President Obama confided (he thought privately) to Dmitri Medvedev that he would have more ‘flexibility’ after the next election, all I could think was: So what we’ve been seeing — the most radical expansion of federal power since the Civil War, the most radical social engineering ever in the United States — is how he behaves when he feels constrained?
• I don’t know all the facts surrounding the actions apparently perpetrated by SSG Bales in Afghanistan. If his actions were what they appear to be, it was indefensible. However, I note that the event is (understandably) being termed a massacre, while MAJ Nidal Hassan’s equally despicable massacre of fellow soldiers at Fort Hood has now been officially designated as ‘workplace violence’. I know I’m one of those dreaded right-wing extremists, but something about that strikes me as a little bit off.
• I am now officially registered as an Independent. That probably means I won’t be able to vote in state primaries, but it was my own effort to send a message: Business as usual (from either side) won’t cut it anymore.

Grammar/language peeve of the day

Prophecy/prophesy: I see this all the time in Buffyfic. ‘Prophecy’ is a noun, denoting something that predicts or foreshadows the future. ‘Prophesy’ is a verb: to make a prophetic utterance. They are two different words, with different (if very close) spellings and different (if related) meanings.

And that’s it for now.

Comments

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

I think the reason that the Trayvon Martin killing is being talked about on a national level is that the police know who did it, was found standing over his unarmed dead body with a gun in his hand and he wasn't arrested.

George Zimmerman was taken into police custody but was not arrested. After being interviewed for two hours the police officers violated numerous police procedures and released him without charge without collecting his clothes for evidence, checking him for drugs and alcohol or even doing a background check. It turns out he has a record of resisting arrest and violently assaulting a police officer.

Then there's dealing with his family. the police recorded him as a John Doe without making any enquiries in the area, and it took his concerned father calling the missing persons line for him to be told that he son was dead.

There's also that George Zimmerman had a history of stalking and calling the police when young black men were nearby, whereas Trayvon Martin was just coming back from the local store carrying skittles and an ice tea.

I also think that part of the reason it's become part of the national discussion in the US is that when President Obama said his commiserations for the family, Newt Gingrich called him a racist and Rick Santorum blasted him for dividing the country, there's also the campaign amongst conservative writers and bloggers criticising him and smearing his name.

Now I am not calling you a racist. I do not, and have never thought you were racist, but there is sadly a history of people in the republican party using race in order to get votes. Just look at the letters from Ron Paul's campaign in the early 90's.

I may be missing it, but is the "greatest expansion of Federal Powers since the Civil War" a reference to the Patriot Act, warrentless spying on citizens, listening to phone calls, reading email, indefinite detention without charge, launching wars without Congressional oversight, etc. or is it a reference to Obama's healthbill which seems very similar in principle to the Conservative Heritage Foundations recommendation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/10/20/how-a-conservative-think-tank-invented-the-individual-mandate/


Sorry to be long winded but I would be interested in your response. Good luck with your ficathon as well as your fitness regime.

[frogfarm]

Ron Paul letters: Meaningless distraction.

Republican party: Was the original anti-slavery party, and the Democrats were the opposition.

Greatest expansion of federal powers since the War We All Call Different Names: Everything Bush did, Obama has continued and escalated, and that's without even considering the "health care" (more like medical care) issue. Indefinite detention without trial? Hell, try assassination.

And as far as Martin/Zimmerman: The ridiculous racial bugaboos aside that the usual band of professional pimps are trying to make the central issue, Martin was clearly not a choir boy, and Zimmerman clearly no KKK member. Other than that, nobody knows a damn thing. Hopefully the truth will come out and what justice is possible will be done, as opposed to shrieking, self-inflated celebrities using their fame to incite a lynch mob (Spike Lee, Roseanne, et al).