Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 10:05 PM

Via LISnews:

Norwood [Colorado] Schools Superintendent Bob Conder apologized to students, parents, staff and residents Friday for pulling about two dozen copies of the book Bless Me, Ultima from a freshman English class.
<snip>
In his letter, Conder apologized for pulling the book "without enough information on the content of the book," without reading it himself and without reading the school board's policy regarding controversial issues.

Several students staged an all-day sit-in in protest, and "Conder said none of the students who demonstrated would be punished or counted as absent from class, and he offered to personally pay for repurchasing the books if a new committee to review content approves the book's reinstatement."

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:05 PM

I knew I would find it eventually...

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:00 PM

A few items in the news I've been meaning to blog:

• So by now you've probably heard that a New York judge ruled Friday that same-sex couples can marry. Yeah, we're losing the cowards at PBS, but winning where it counts. Furthermore, in a story I saw on the SOTU (I don't remember where), it's becoming increasingly clear that this is far more of a generational gap issue which primarily outrages older voters.

Bloomberg has said he's going to appeal, fearing "chaos" with "tens of thousands of people coming here" to get married. Because, of course, Massachusetts has been such a wild and uncontrolled place since marriage was legalized here... <sigh>

• I never blogged much about the Extreme Associates obscenity case, but I was following it to a certain extent. The short-short version of the story is that Extreme Associates were a mail-order porn company from California, and Ashcroft filed federal charges against them, cherry-picking a a conservative part of the country to serve as the venue.

As I found out from Dan Kennedy this week: Extreme Associates won! And Dan Kennedy writes it so well, that I'm just going to quote him directly on this:

On January 20, US District Court judge Gary Lancaster dismissed the case against Zicari and Romano, and possibly paved the way for the long-overdue death of anti-obscenity laws. And if Lancaster is upheld, you can send your thank-you cards to Supreme Court justices Scalia, Rehnquist, and Thomas.

You may recall that, a few years ago, the three conservatives dissented in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned anti-sodomy laws. Scalia - who actually wrote the dissent - fumed that the majority decision could pave the way for obscenity laws to be overturned as well. It turns out that Lancaster read Scalia's dissent and agreed. Wrote Lancaster:

In a dissenting opinion joined by Chief Justice Rehnquist and Justice Thomas, Justice Scalia opined that the holding in Lawrence calls into question the constitutionality of the nation's obscenity laws, among many other laws based on the state's desire to establish a "moral code" of conduct.... It is reasonable to assume that these three members of the Court came to this conclusion only after reflection and that the opinion was not merely a result of over-reactive hyperbole by those on the losing side of the argument.

You've got to love the way that Lancaster is willing to twist the logical knife into the conservative Supremes.

[Here's the relevant excerpts of Scalia's dissent that I blogged when it was released.]

• Finally, Dahlia Lithwick has an interesting article on how the Internet has changed the Supreme Court and court reporting [via SCOTUSblog]

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:59 AM

Well, my cold symptoms only got worse as the night progressed, so I stayed home sick today. Mostly sleeping, sipping tea, sniffling, and slurping soup. Oh, and I watched an episode of Macguyver on DVD, since Ian bought the first season @ Costco last week and has been working his way through the series.

No pics for Friday Cat Blogging, but the vet called and Boopsie does have hyperthyroidism. I'm not quite in the mental space to go searching for information, so anybody care to share links or experience in what that means and how it's treated?

Thanks.

Posted by Lis Riba at 8:10 PM

• My elvish name is Silmarwen Yávëtil
• My hobbit name is Peony Trample of Woody End
• My dragon name is Sebeth Andrevar. [Link omitted to spare the overworked author.]

[My thanks to Elle for directions to the former two, and to Jo for the latter.]

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:55 PM

Do I need a jacket?

Well, okay, that was rather obvious given what I've said about coming down with a cold and all.

But, do you?

My heartiest thanks to Mactavish for discovering this little gem.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:50 PM

<plaintive> So what should I read now?

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:30 PM

Well, despite feeling like I'm coming down with a cold, I made it through the rest of the workday, though I have my doubts about how much good I did by the end of it. Thank goodness I had the foresight when I first moved into my cubicle to bring along a box of tissues for my desk. <sniffle>

Then, upon coming home, I tripped over a shovel on my way to the door. I already had the front door key ready in my hand, and when I caught myself, the key sliced into my left thumb and the teeth peeled off a nice key-width ribbon of the top layer of my skin. My thumb has since been anointed with antibiotics and bandaged, but it hurts (the injury is right where my thumb rests against the spacebar).

In other, better news...

Sometime in the summer of 2000, I started keeping track every time I finished reading a book. I created a special page to list them in the back of my Day Planner. It was only with the fourth book that I even began recording the date.

When I first created the Osmond-Riba website back in 2002, I was looking around for content and decided to use my booklist as an exercise in HTML. I transferred it from paper into a spreadsheet and used string concatenation formulas to build the requisite tables. And over the years, I've just continued to append to this spreadsheet, even though the data has now spread to nine web pages.

I started reading fanfic the end of 2002. My records of fanfic were much more sporadic since I didn't always get a wordcount for stories, and, well, I suppose I had some embarrassment issues about my reading choices. But I've tried to be more rigorous (and maybe somewhat more selective). Also this year, for the first time since creating the spreadsheets three years ago, I've added a few more fields so I could differentiate between first reads and rereads, and better handle URLs and fanfiction.

Anyway, the point of all this ramble is that while I was resting up in bed from ailment and injury, I have just finished reading the 500th book (or novel-length fanfic) since I began keeping track in the summer of 2000.

The book in question is appropriately titled The Grand tour, and you can see the entire litany over on my reading page.

Go me.

Posted by Lis Riba at 1:00 PM

Ugh.

I've still got that like-I'm-coming-down-with-a-cold feeling from Sunday. I've been sleeping all right since that night, but today I've just got that muzzy-headed foggy feeling in my brain that makes it difficult to focus. You know what I mean?

Don't you hate it when you're definitely not sick enough to go home, but feel too far from peak for comfort?

Sigh. I just hope I get over this whatever-it-is quickly.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:45 PM

I've been bitten by a particularly pernicious plot bunny.

This after I swore not to start any new fics until I completed at least one of my unfinished stories...

Furthermore, the challenge demands a story with a hard R or NC-17 rating, and this after I gave up on writing smut ever again, as a lessons learned from one of the unfinished stories.

But I've already got over 600 words written today. Hopefully the tight challenge deadline (by the end of the month) will help me push this one out more quickly.

You have my permission to laugh at me or shake your head in pity.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:12 PM

Subtitle: Reduce, reuse, recycle

As I said earlier, so much for keeping a low profile.

So many coworkers have come to me seeking information on blogging that I've created an intranet page offering an introduction to the subject. I'm not going to rehash all of it here (some of it relates to possible company directions, and thank you but I know better than to reveal anything that could remotely help our competitors) but a lot of it is good general information that could benefit other novices to the blogosphere.

So, for your edification, may I point you to Lis Riba's Weblogs in a nutshell

Comments, suggestions and corrections always welcome. I don't claim to be an expert in the field -- merely an interested hobbyist.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

Since I know some of you are interested in updates regarding our cat's health, Ian took her to the vet yesterday for preliminary bloodwork in preperation for some much needed dental work. The anti-flea medication has worked and she's been itch-free for nearly two months, but the vet found a few other possible causes for concern. Nothing too major, but I just wanted to keep folks appraised.

Posted by Lis Riba at 4:05 AM

Can't sleep.

Got that like-I'm-coming-down-with-a-cold feeling...

I'm making myself a giant mug of echinacea tea to see if that helps my throat and head, but at this point nothing is going to do be able to make up for the lack-of-sleep and how that will affect me at work. No, caffeine doesn't help -- I get a half-hour of perk (at best) and then am left more tired than before I took it. [And I get to sit thru some important technical lectures today. Joy. (Clarification: these are things I'd normally be looking forward to, but I'm not sure how much I can get out of them sans sleep.)]

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:49 PM

A few days ago I was scanning Google News for anything related to Shakespeare, when I turned up this story. Apparently, as part of a campaign to prevent bullying and gaybashing in Britain, the organizers released advertising pointing out that Shakespeare was gay. Caused a bit of a furor, but I was particularly gratified to see the response from the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust -- the official curators of Shakespeare's public image:

Schools Out! chairman Paul Patrick, said: "There are some famous people in history who clearly we would now describe as gay or lesbian. Florence Nightingale had relationships with women.
"As for William Shakespeare, the sonnets - his most personal writing - actually talk about a relationship with another man. Whether that is Shakespeare writing about himself or whether it is a conceit for the poetry is the question."
Professor Stanley Wells, chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and editor of the Oxford Complete Works of William Shakespeare, said: "What Mr Patrick says about the sonnets is absolutely true and I don't think any Shakespeare scholar would disagree. If school teachers were teaching the sonnets then they would be obliged to raise the question of Shakespeare's sexuality."

While the word homosexuality and notions of sexual orientation were later inventions (yes, I've actually studied this), I'm pleased by the openness and candor they're displaying. Now if only someone would inform Gerald Allen, the Alabama legislator who wanted to prohibit schools and libraries from carrying any remotely gay-positive books...

So, Arisia took place two weeks ago, and while I was there I attended a panel on Shakespeare in Fantasy and Horror. I did take some notes, but they're rather sketchy as I was having too much fun actively participating and thinking to act as much of a recorder. Still, I can make some sense out of my scribbles, though this will be far less detailed than my report on last year's Shakespeare & SF.

So, last year was "Shakespeare in SF." This year, they bundled together "Shakespeare in fantasy and horror." There's still plenty to discuss on these topics -- anybody care to suggest angles for next year?

Finally, Pornish Pixies is a site for sexually-explicit Harry Potter fanfiction. [If it's not your thing, just don't read further; it's an adult-only community.] The moderators tend to hold monthly challenges: and February's challenge is for Shakespeare! Ooh...

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:01 PM

As I mentioned late Friday, I showed Ian the 1939 Wizard of Oz on DVD: his first-ever time seeing the film, though he had read the original books. And he really didn't care for it.

So over the rest of the weekend, I pried a bit further trying to understand why Ian so viscerally disliked Wizard of Oz. I know many people who prefer the book (or who read the book first) take a disliking to the film, but don't totally comprehend why. [Feel free to share your insights!]

Anyway, I wanted Ian to see the film largely for its cultural significance -- because, like Shakespeare and the Bible, it's referenced in so many other places that it helps to be familiar with the source to recognize the reflections. By the end, Ian said he might be able to accept this as he does Singing in the Rain -- a loose plot strung together for the benefit of some truly great song-and-dance numbers.

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:45 PM

Thankfully, Ian reads LJ (our flists overlap) to clue me in to things I might otherwise miss over the weekend. Such as:

This fictitious TV show has already been cast, and even has LJ icons, a rocking (MP3) theme song and promo advertising banners (below):

How freakin' cool is that!?

The LJ posts demonstrate there's a built-in audience for such a show. All we have to do now is convince the networks and actors to produce it...

I'm also incredibly impressed that there appears to be little or no overlap between my circle of Marlowe-fandom and these people. Clearly we all must meet and share our enthusiasm. [You know, it's somebody's birthday (observed) next weekend...]

Posted by Lis Riba at 6:15 PM

Since I assume I have new readers from work, among other places, I just want to inform/remind you all of Bard In Boston: a public resource listing Shakespeare-related performances and events in New England.

Anyone with a LiveJournal can post announcements, and LiveJournal accounts are free. Read along if you're interested, and share the news about any events you know of.

Posted by Lis Riba at 5:55 PM

I have several lengthy posts I want to blog. I don't blog during work, and I've been trying to get adequate sleep, which severely cut into my potential blogging time. In the evenings I'm often reading and playing catchup with what's going on in the world. And I seem to be developing the habit of spending weekends offline which gives me even less time to write (and also means I fall even further behind in keeping up with friends' blogs/LJs).

It's frustrating, because I have these great thoughts that I want to blog and haven't had time to write down, much less post.

It was easier in my last job. Since technical support, by its very nature, is reactive, one has more idle time. But this job is much more demanding -- on the whole, this is good, but I feel like my blog is suffering and I'm not keeping up with my obligations to you readers.

[I also have to come up with some better way of handling my LJ friendslist; I've been finding myself regularly skipping several days worth of posts rather than reading all the backfill. I'm trying to come up with a smaller filter of must-read people (removing many of the communities and such) but narrowing the list is tough because I enjoy them all and don't want to give up on any of them. Right now, I'm an equal-opportunity ignorer, based upon when entries are published, rather than more selectively by the poster.]

I have no real solutions to any of this, but wanted to keep y'all up to date on what's going on.