I voted; our race was Mayor and City Council only. I did vote for one white dude, but he's a longtime acquaintance and old-school Durham progressive type, not to mention that he's running against the one person in the race to single out being against marriage equality as her signature issue even though it has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.

In this town. Good luck with that, lady.

(Also noting that, as for meara, no white dudes is only to be used for races where there isn't a clear choice otherwise. And also also noting that I really like living in a place where there generally aren't any white dude vs. white dude races in local politics.)

Yikes. Just as I finished my walk, I heard some shouting, and it was a woman with a pit bull trying to (spoiler-fonted for animal harm) get her dog to let go of a cat. The pit bull was on a flexi-lead, and it had gone up onto the porch and grabbed the cat. I ran down and tried to help, but it took three of us to get the dog to let the cat go, and when he did, the cat just lay there on the ground, not moving.

Both women were very upset. Thankfully, there's a vet around the corner; I hope the cat's ok.

I don't understand why someone with a dog they know is dangerous and lunges after cats would walk it on a flexi-lead. That's just asking for trouble. I got her information for the cat-owner and told her she needed to get a shorter, stronger, leash, and double-up the collar.

I feel like I just got spoiled for my annual physical, which is this afternoon. My lab results were posted and all my numbers look great, except for my B12. YAY for solid cholestorol numbers. Not that I was worried about them, but nice to see.

Ugh Consuela, that's so ugly. And what makes it uglier is you're right, they took advantage of the fact that you are nice and think well of others and aren't sneaky and manipulative. Phooey.

not to mention that he's running against the one person in the race to single out being against marriage equality as her signature issue even though it has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.

Maybe she should put out flyers with a big red x through a picture of Neil Patrick Harris and his family in Halloween costumes, just to be sure she gets the message across?

the one person in the race to single out being against marriage equality as her signature issue even though it has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH THE CITY COUNCIL.

I knew a guy in high school who was so proud of the fact that the only city council candidate he voted for was the one who was a member of Right to Life, even though City Council has nothing to do with reproductive rights (or the ganking thereof). And when I said as much, asking him what the point was voting for someone who had a position on something Council will never address, he said it proved she was the only one with strong moral character, and if the other candidates don't respect unborn life, how can we know they respect the lives of city residents?

He was a varsity level douchebag, in case that wasn't clear.

Also, that candidate didn't win.

Oh god, Consuela, that's upsetting. I hope the cat's okay, too.

I don't understand why someone with a dog they know is dangerous and lunges after cats would walk it on a flexi-lead. That's just asking for trouble.

Because people are terrible.

And when I said as much, asking him what the point was voting for someone who had a position on something Council will never address, he said it proved she was the only one with strong moral character, and if the other candidates don't respect unborn life, how can we know they respect the lives of city residents?

See? Terrible.

I had a supremely satisfying conversation earlier where I called someone to say I was dealing with something because another colleague was on vacation, and she said, "Oh good -- I'd much rather deal with you! He's such a pain in the ass!" Which is what I generally think, and generally try to keep to myself. So I'm relieved it's not just me.

Voted Sunday. (We are a vote by mail state. Voting means: put your ballot in the mail, or drop it in a drop box.) Voted against one woman near tea partier. Identity politics is very problematic. Not support for women's rights or rights of people of color or gay rights, and generally being against oppression based on identity. But the actual belief that being a member of an oppressed group entitles you to support of that group regardless of actual politics. Women can oppose women's right. Black people can support all kinds of stuff that is horrible for Black people. (Hi, Clarence Thomas and your support of suppressing voting rights.) Personal experience does matter, so other things being approximately equal it does make sense to choose someone other than a white male where possible. But relying on that alone is a really dangerous heuristic. (Until last year, I was represented by a Latina right wing Republican Latina, and I'm pretty sure the "Latina" part had a lot to do with it. Now represented by a "centrist" white male Democrat pretty much fellates the military and corporations, but at least votes decently on social issues and whose staff was actually helpful in navigating my exchange. (Tip, if you need help with the exchanges, call your congrescritter if she or he is a Democrat. Call the congresscritter for nearest Democratic district if yours is Republican, because many Republican congresscritters will deliberately give bad or misleading advice in order to increase the chances of Obamacare failing.)

IO9 ran a "fanfic friday" for a while in which one of their regular commenters ripped a random fanfic to shreds. There was a weak disclaimer saying he likes some fanfics, this is just a bad one.

He'd come over from a popular site, and that had been a regular draw there, but I wrote in that unless they were giving weight to celebrating fanfic (like they do fanart all the time--just calling it concept art), this made them sound petty and shrewish and like the bad guys. For a site run by two gay women which will bring up slash organically from time to team in non-demeaning ways, is this really how you want to be positioned?

I was not the only petitioned for the end of the piece (not the guy--he's good at other stuff--his barbed wit is better served someone other than a sixteen year old who's exploring concepts (and anuses) with a story that is enjoyed by someone. You don't have to like everything, but you don't have to use a megaphone when you're not liking either...

The people pissed at the removal were almost all male (and many came over from his site, which was male dominated, with stereotypical values given to manly expressions of geekdom), but the people that petitioned seemed to be fifty fifty.