In the interests of full disclosure, my work computer locked me out. It's tragic, really. But then I got to read this.

illadore posts Copyright Infringement and Me, sharing the heartwarming story of an editor of great (three decades!) experience in the publishing world who kindly and generously picked up one of her articles for her groundbreaking and experimentally-spelled magazine Cooks Source, and when illadore's ingratitude for her generosity was expressed via email, Judith Griggs politely but firmly explained the astonishingly simple legal statutes covering copyrighted articles found on a copyrighted page on the internet. And also has some truly astounding editing advice about the article.

More Links

Copyright Follies by nihilistic_kid

The Stupidest Thing an Editor With Three Decades of Experience Has Said About the Web Today by John Scalzi

Twitter search

ETA: Oh, look, it's Boing-Boing: Today's web justice driveby: Cooks Source Magazine

Facebook Links

Cooks Source Facebook Wall - might be a few people there a bit stroppy about the entire thing.

Cooks Source Facebook Discussions, hey, has anyone gotten the cooks-source-bukkkake to load?

List of Cooks Source article sources. Please add more and hey, interesting list here: Paula Dean, NPR, WebMD, WeightWatchers, Martha Stewart, Recipes Today that's owned by Disney, CNN....

Okay, if the eventual goal is guaranteed professional and personal immolation destined to be cherished by the eternal memory of the internet throughout history, post to youtube videos of torturing your goddamn cat, okay (please do not actually do this)? 4chan will take care of it for you, three days, four days tops, and then you at least get the biggest pizza party of your life. You really don't need to create an entire business enterprise with an elaborate and strangely mesmerizing chain of events to get it done.

Dude, you invoked Martha fucking Stewart. And Disney. There will be no pizza. I'm not sure there will be like, air when they're done.

Again, that's Cooks Source, no apostrophe, and Judith Griggs, that's two g's.

Yeah, I really needed this.

So everyone knows already about Constance McMillen and the fake prom and in case you didn't know, the hijacking of facebook page set up to mock her with truly bizarre and hilarious (and sometimes depressing) results. Also, there's a list of the students and parents that attended the "totally not a prom" prom, who have been really helpful in like, announcing themselves on facebook. With pictures.

Give me a second.

Okay.

I have to say, with due respect for Constance and what she's dealing with, this is like, the most immensely comforting shitty behavior ever. These are the people that want to/support restricting the rights of non-straight, non-gender-comformative students and they are this startlingly stupid.

You have a secret prom wait, party, no, prom and your genius selves post pictures under your real name and profile with the words 'prom' visible. Do you not know what a secret is? Or know not to call it the prom? Really?

Okay, let's say all along they planned this to be an open secret to be revealed with great drama and hilarity. At what point in this clever plan that you would ~magically~ reveal did you think this would go well for you? On Facebook? On the internet? Accessible by millions and millions of people with a lot of time on their hands, a broadband connection, a general sense of right and wrong, and the ability to type semi-coherent sentences? Work with me here; if the final goal was a lifetime of documented infamy, let me applaud your success. You created your own casualties to win a contest you should have fought to the ground to lose.

Now, the other part.

( just in case this part wasn't entirely clear )

Okay, this is kind of boggling in a very weird way.

( you know, like things are when you are doing work on Sunday and wonder where your fannish weekend went; this made it so much better )

The WTF on the Avatar casting choices continues to be WTF.

Links:

ciderpress - What We Talk About When We Talk About regarding the white default and frustration that a part tailor-made for non-white actors is basically going to white actors.

For reference, the current cast being used for the movie.

The comm deadbrowalking has both a bingo card and an excellent list of links here. Some excellent reading in there, and I haven't hit it yet, but there's a petition and letter writing somewhere in here that I'll add when I find it. But go, read, and look at the cast list blankly again for a second, because--I just don't get it.

( only if you are interested in how this becomes story hour at jenn's house )

Continuing Adventures in Hacking

Most of you know copperbadge got hacked, but penknife adds that the comm shoebox_project and user dorkorific have also been hacked. Do not go to those journals.

More information here at penknife's lj.

In non-spambot hacking, because trobadora is like, the queen of finding the scary, and with added batshit, read The Case Against Spiletta (or not as the case actually was) in stop_plagiarism, where you will need to settle down with a drink because this is new vistas of batshit, people. New. Vistas.

I'm going to summarize. Correct me if I'm wrong. No, really. It took a bit to work out.

Spiletta42 was hacked by a RL troll in LJ, email, and AIM in late September. There has been a rash of posting really, really vicious "confession" posts, that led Spinella to be investigated as a plagiarist. There are other usernames involved that are apparently joining communities to post this about her. According to stop_plagiarism and commentors, this is not her. And so on and so forth.

Anyway, read, review, and comm moderators, watch your comms. It looks like they've hit several both using spiletta's accounts and two or three others (can we get a complete list of names and an explanation somewhere please? I'd really like to link to that and not depend on my own reading alone).

Er. Well. That was cheering. Would anyone like to hear something more upbeat, like about the latest stock market drop or something?

That's it. I'm consolidating my crazy tags by the end of the month.

Okay, so in non-financial death spiral news, remember the Moonlight Ad Wank? If you do not, you should read it and boggle. As there is an update.

Required Reading:

Fandom Wank Report on Moonlight Fandom and the $11,000 Ad Switcheroo

Fandom Wank Report on Moonlight Great IP Bannings, which is on the same board as is owned and moderated by the subject of the above. I know! I was shocked too!

Short version: Person donates 11,000 for Ads about Moonlight, the canceled vampire detective show, and I'll be honest, I miss that show too. Dammit. The money goes through various shenanigans and the person in charge of the money has mysterious problems. If you can't guess what happened next, you have not been in fandom long.

And in personal news, I miss flambeau. *sighs*

To do a final roundup of the Boob Idiocy, because as of now, I will use the words open source in relation to this over my dead body (and breasts), Unfunny Business at Journalfen has a really good roundup of a variety of the links.

Separately, Scalzi's blog has an interesting commentary (a year ago, I didn't even recognize his name; now I can pick his name out of a line-up and quote lines from his blog. I find this funny on a variety of levels) here.

( because irritation contributes to dry skin )

ETA: Also adding The Right of Making Available by rivkat, which hands down is one of my favorite responses yet.

Okay, this is the stupidest thing to be irritated in the entire universe. I was reading back in my lj, since I am regaining zen if it kills me (and not thinking of SGA vampire romance novels with sexy and creepy blood rituals at all, thanks for asking), and I realized I started all these discussions and then didn't participate!. And the comments are all thinky and awesome yet answering a month later is just weird. And then I answered feedback and then went back and stared bitterly at my past self's total non-commitment to fannish participation.

Now, for something entirely different and not related but deeply hilarious. I have found this pattern. Every so often, I really really need SPN fic. I mean, in that way that I will in fact not only google for it, I will wander through del.icio.us unescorted and totally click on anything that says Sam/Dean because I totally love them beyond reason. Needless to say, yes, of course I cried a lot in horror. And no, I will never be clean again after that one with the stuff and that thing and oh my God what the hell?. But I always finally find three authors and settle down to read everything they wrote and use their recs to get around (God created esorlehcar for my erratic reading habits, I swear). Then there's always svmadelyn's rec page, which is my last resort because sometimes I feel we may be engaged in a weird game of competitive reccing. It's hard to explain.

Now here is what always makes me think the universe likes me.

( i just find it funny, okay? )

ETA: Annnd forestgreen is my new favorite person and gave us the Breakdown of EVIL in Fandom in colored pie chart form. My love is like a shallow, yet exceedingly large ocean.

Dear Speedie,

Thought.

I have no idea what the usual speed limit in a parking lot should be. Especially one that measures--not too big. Pretty small, really. Maybe it is sixty miles an hour and I was totally in the wrong when I stepped off the sidewalk to cross the parking lot while you whipped by me close enough that perhaps, I did indeed see my life flashing before my eyes.

It was, in fact, multidimensional arrays. But whatever.

Now, here's the thing, Speedie.

Maybe it's legal, I don't know. And in running me over, you were in the right! I doubt it, but hey, crazy world. Let me explain what would have happened, even so....

1 - police report, requiring you to explain in detail how fast you were going, if you saw me, and miscellaneous detail. If I was generous, i'd say an hour. But with a death? I'm thinking you'll be talking until your voice gives out.

You're right! But they do not care. They are looking at my roadkill-like body and chewing gum thoughtfully. Yeah. This will take a while. Say hi to the DA for me. Just in case.

2 - my relatives. You don't know them, but my sisters are nuts and Child has the creepy potential to turn into Inigo Montoya with a laser "You killed my mother, prepare to die." It's not that I encourage it, it's just how it is. Now, granted, my sisters are a toss-up; this could go to the WHEE INSURANCE place, but one can plead post-partum depression and the other can plead some kind of during pregnancy depression and both can do basic math. If you are worth more than my insurance, the words 'wrongful death suit' are in your future. And they will cart in everyone that ever was in the same room with me to cry at my tragic death and wasted potential. Tiny infant nieces and nephews will be held up and poked to bring tears. Child will cry artistically for the cameras. While plotting your demise. Again, think of Inigo Montoya. I cannot emphasize too much that Child has the potential to build his own island and start experimenting on things I'm pretty sure only show up in comic books.

You're right! But they do not care. You get that, right? They. Do. Not. Care.

3 - guilt. I will haunt your ass until they drag me out of this dimension. Whether you feel bad about it or not, you will deeply rue my untimely demise well before I'm done. I will have eternity and a grudge and it's like you never saw a movie or something. Seriously. Go watch one.

You're right! But I do not care. Prepare to freaking suffer.

So think about this. You saved an entire one and a half seconds in real time with that speed. One and a half seconds. Maybe two. Maybe. Is it really worth it against the potential of what will assuredly be a lifetime of utter misery? With Child Montoya?

This has been a message from a coworker who didn't die, no thanks to you. Please consider driving below NASCAR in our tiny parking lot? Thanks.

--Seperis

Life, Universe, Much Less Than That

overheardfandom is up and running, mostly. This means be witty. Ironic puns also work. And post. It's not that I think everyone here exists for my entertainment...I'm sorry. I mean, I don't publicly admit I think everyone here exists for my personal entertainment. Totally different thing.

Unpopular Fannish Opinions of eleveninches keeps making me giggle inappropriately, mostly because my list is long and it starts with every peeve I have on Sheppard characterization and what passes for meta. That's one through fifty, so you see this would take several livejournal entries and possibly citations.

But a. I am no longer attempting to single-handedly stroke out before I see the next episode b. I have a sense of humor, really, and c. I have decided that no one out there is really commenting on my personality type and introversion every time they talk about the evils of repression.

See? Better. Really.

Tagging

I think I need to explain some of my less than clear tags. I'm thinking the slow creep of insanity and the eternal darkness of sloths are perhaps less descriptive of their content than one might think.

Unpopular Fannish Opinions

You know mine. Sheppard, Sheppard, Sheppard. Sheppard. Did I mention Sheppard?

But here are the others. Spoilers for season so far.

( none of these can possibly be a mystery to anyone who reads here )

And I'll continue this when I think of five more.

Wow.

(Link found at OTF_Wank at Journalfen)

A Flame War on Shepherd's Pie etymology.

This is possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It goes from food to education to World War II to the Revolutionary War to education to canned gravy to football to the war in Iraq. Yes. From Shepherd's Pie.

Highlights

Tony Blair - on those darned Americans messing up words!

That's a Cottage pie, shepherd's pie is made with lamb, the clue is in the name, shepherds don't herd cows do they?

Americans get so many things wrong, that doesn't mean you have to go along the wrongness, use the correct phrases and terminology and educate your people.

Stop perpetuating ignorance.

( more below cut! Because I am seriously amazed )

Read the whole thread. It's beautiful.

Is this how non-fen feel when they read about shipper wars?

For the record:
1. Tater tot casserole? Now want.
2. Shepherd's Pie? I will call it Cottage Pie over my dead body.
3. Canned gravy? Okay, I have no defense of that one. I'm from Texas. Gravy is a food group. I have never seen it canned. So I have no idea.

ETA: Link to Wikipedia's entry on Shepherd's Pie. This is now gospel, because I agree with it.

ETA 2: Oh my God, they dragged in Scottish history.

( no, really. King Eddy. Seriously! )

This is awesome.

I'm reorganizing, consolidating, and deleting lj tags.

....I am getting the sense I have been going through some kind of transitional tagging personality renaissance in the last year or so. Witness.

1.) a very special kind of crazy
2.) youtube will take your soul
3.) the smell of crazy in the morning
4.) the slow creep of insanity
5.) the eternal darkness of sloths
6.) stupidity is not a god given right

The worst part is, I'm deeply tempted to rename all of my tags to something completely weird and utterly unable to be easily remembered.

...send help.

Probably most people have already seen this story in the comms, but I read it three days ago and still get violently nauseated every time I remember it, so.

Original Link

A Real Person, a Real Death

From the article:

Megan went to her room and Ron went downstairs to the kitchen, where he and Tina talked about what had happened, the MySpace account, and made dinner.

Twenty minutes later, Tina suddenly froze in mid-sentence.

"I had this God-awful feeling and I ran up into her room and she had hung herself in the closet."

Megan Taylor Meier died the next day, three weeks before her 14th birthday.

Later that day, Ron opened his daughter's MySpace account and viewed what he believes to be the final message Megan saw - one the FBI would be unable to retrieve from the hard drive.

It was from Josh and, according to Ron's best recollection, it said, "Everybody in O'Fallon knows how you are. You are a bad person and everybody hates you. Have a shitty rest of your life. The world would be a better place without you."

Short version: thirteen year old girl and best friend break up. Thirteen year old girl meets boy on myspace. Thirteen year old girl and boy become friends. Thirteen year old girl and boy talk. Boy starts to send unpleasant messages. Boy becomes cruel. Thirteen year old girl with a history of known depression kills herself. Boy turns out to be an imaginary construct of the parents of the broken-up-with best friend.

Parents, adults that knew this girl and how to fuck with her.

Quoting from many someone's--what the hell is wrong with people?

More Links

1. Mom: Web Hoax Led Girl to Kill Herself

2. Net hoax turns deadly, turns town against neighbors

From the article:

Tina and Ron Meier, who have separated since Megan's death, said they hope there will be a prosecution. In the meantime, Tina Meier said, they will push for a new law "to get justice for Megan."

In the absence of legal action, frustration is building online.

"Make them accountable. Anonymity should be awarded to victims, not to people who torment the helpless," wrote one reader in a posting on the Suburban Journals Web site.

"This family that perpetrated this prank is just EVIL ... Please move," read another.

"To the parents who did this to Megan, you're monsters. You are not welcome in our community. Leave now," read another.

3. Story of Girls' Suicide Takes New Life Online

4. Blog Readers Out Anonymous Adults that Newspaper Refused to Identify

From the article:

It turns out that Evans was a pseudonym created by two adults -- one of whom knew the Meier family very well. The St. Charles Journal decided to protect the privacy of the two adults and declined to name them in the story. That didn't sit well with incensed readers, who tracked down what they say is the identity of one of the adults and posted it online. Now the paper is being criticized for giving the adults anonymity.

You know. The oldest way society has to deal with people we can't kill or throw in jail is shunning. Jesus, if there was ever a textbook case for it, this would be it.

( incoherent rage below cut )

ETA: More links to further information on Megan Meier via google news.

I just--don't usually walk out of my house, look back wistfully, and wonder if it will be washed away by the rain.

Perhaps when the coy meterologists smile brightly and say thunderstorm? They should call this something else. Like, oh "God says psyche! Flooding after all!"

Seriously. So wet. You all know I'm not one to complain at all ever, but really. Enough is enough.

Right. Back to your regularly scheduled morning.

I will not create my own customized link page to the crazy by trawling through F-W to boggle at the links to the scary people. That would be wrong.

Wrong.

Even if it's entertaining.

Very. Very. Entertaining.

ETA: SPOILERS IN COMMENTS. YES, FOR THE BOOK. THE DH ONE.

Came home due to congestion headache migraine. I'm still not seeing how a labeling changes makes a difference in the effect. Nor for that matter that they are actual migraines--from what I have heard, mine are never that bad and I can usually function through them okay. This one was chased with some nausea, though, and a weird lightheadedness, so I decided the better part of valor was to run, run, run home, take my medication like a good little girl, and sleep it off.

The sleeping part would have been nice. *sighs* Every time I try, I get in the--hmm, I can't remember the word for it, but it's like some kind of weird mental negative feedback loop. It isn't even anything useful like worry. It's more a drift, which I usually love pre-sleep, but this sort is just--icky. And it tends to jerk me awake but still wanting to sleep, so I'm going to wait until exhaustion pulls me under or something. That--could take a while. I've been working on this headache for roughly twelve hours from its inception. The nausea is mostly gone, but the dislike of food continues.

*thoughtful* Somewhere in my lj are comfort recs. I am going to read every one of them. And I'm starting with beadattitude. Perhaps with the cat.

I'm so bored. Soooo bored. So monumentally bored.

I also think I read every gen meta in fandom. Yes, I was that bored. It's the fandom equivalent of the fact I set up my google homepage to hit every freaking news agency on the web, and that includes the ones with the crazy people who really do wear tinhats. What I really need is an online version of the National Enquirer or the Star. Seriously. I miss the pictures of bat-boys and women claiming recent impregnation by Elvis. Good times.

Actually, come to think, there should be one. A fannish Star. I have no idea what would be shocking in it--fan writes Elvis impregnates Lex? But still.

I started a short list of things I have never done in fandom that I've always wanted to try (write porn-only crossover involving John Sheppard, Lex Luthor, and Brian Kinney, whee! Or dramatic fandom huff, complete with protestations of angst and pain), but it's kind of boring. Except the porn. God, that would be fun.

Hmm. Anyone have a better list?

Yes, I actually have a tag called bored. That's so sad.

I've come to the conclusion that the best measurement of just how boring one's job is can correlate directly to exactly how often one hits refresh on the cnn website. And yahoo. And msn. And perhaps one is now opening up politico, because one has read every freaking article on the formers.

So for those of you with fulfilling jobs, the winner for today's When Life Imitates Big Budget Movies.

Winner for Watched Way Too Much Godfather During His Formative Years, Man arrested in Minn. dog beheading

I am now reading Politico's Shenanigans. God help my soul.

I am *so* unmotivated.

I mean, not the oh god I hate my job-ish type of unmotivated, inspired by a need to underachieve to a startling degree and slink by on the bare minimum. Oh no. I am unmotivated where I am envying the life of a sloth--a sloth who hangs in trees and actually, God help me, grows mold on its hair from its sheer frenzy of not moving.

I am sitting here, in my not terribly uncomfortable chair, staring at my monitor, wistfully envying the life of a sloth

If I were right now to write down my favorite thing to do, it would be staring into space with a blank expression, thinking of nothing at all.

Also, there was about a ten minute pause between the line above and this one? That was me. Staring blankly into space.

Dear God. I'm becoming a sloth. A giant three toed tree sloth growing mold.

This is brought to you by Monday, the only day of the week I wear make-up to work. Mostly because it being Monday, I always figure the day needs something to get me through it.

Random clicking on Wraithbait--can lead to awesomeness (Biological Imperatives) or you know, the word turgid.

Turgid.

I just--I want to know. Look at these two sentences.

A. He shoved his turgid erection into his waiting depths.

Or.

B. Look at that turgid mushroom!

Doesn't it just--make more sense related to mushroom? Turgid. Turrgggiiiiddd. It just does not scream sexy to me. It screams fungus found at random outside on a wet day.

You know, I've been thinking I want to look this up on dictionary.com. Here is what I found.

1. Excessively ornate or complex in style or language; grandiloquent: turgid prose.
2. Swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated: a turgid bladder; turgid veins.

Or turgid mushrooms! Or ornate mushrooms. Not ornate penises. Wow, that just went to an obscure body jewelry place there. I mean, sure, strictly speaking, it could work, but really, does any penis want to be compared to a bladder?

...I did warn people with the bit about being unmotivated, right? Yeah. It's totally going to be this kind of a day. *head on desk*

http://svmaria.livejournal.com/67017.html

I don't even know how to put that into context.

ETA: Crap, deleted. Give me a few minutes, I'll bring caps.

ETA 2: Okay, I have never actually *tried* to cap anything, so these are very large. Anyone want to take and make more readable, go for it.

Maria Confession 1
Maria Confession 2

ETA 3: Okay this should be more readable and all in one image.

Maria Full
Maria Full, lower quality

You know, I don't think that capping is my life's work here. *frowns* That was *not easy*. And no, Ami, I just have my quick saves, unfortunately. I hit refresh! WHY DID I HIT REFRESH?

ETA 4: mskatej brings the comments from the post here

How many ETAs does a girl need? *grins*

ETA 5: Livejournal upload of same as above, for those having issues with the domain. This was an unlocked post when this was capped, in case anyone was wondering. Maria Confession, Livejournal Upload

I will not go randomly pick fights in other lj's just because I'm bored.
I will not go randomly pick fights in other lj's just because I'm bored.
I will not go randomly pick fights in other lj's just because I'm bored.

That's so sad. It's my mantra. i am all in post-drama slump.

So. What is everyone else doing today?

So 'fess up...

Who else is reading, and by reading, I mean, glued to your sitting and/or lounging object of choice, this - I have no idea how to summarize this?

Wow.