Lessons from Journalism in the Age of Twitter (Tumblr, Whatever)

So most of you probably have heard about the John Green events last week, but in case you haven't, in a nutshell, this is what happened:

A young woman on Tumblr Posted:

I bet John Green thinks people don't like him because he's a dork or a nerd or whatever, when in reality it's because he's a creep who panders to teenage girls so that he can amass some weird cult-like following. And it's always girls who feel misunderstood, you know, and he goes out of his way to make them feel important and desirable. Which is fucking weird. Also he has a social media presence that is equivalent to that dad of a kid in your friend group who always volunteers to 'supervise' the pool parties and scoots his lawn chair close to all the girls.

Hard to find the guy not smiling. Honestly, he looks nice to me

And then a bunch of internet instigators kept tagging John Green demanding he defend himself (not to mention several very famous authors defending him). Finally he'd had enough, and he DID respond with this:

His entire response, btw, which included a note that he didn't want anyone sending hate to the OP:

"You want me to defend myself against the implication that I sexually abuse children?
Okay. I do not sexually abuse children.
Throwing that kind of accusation around is sick and libelous and most importantly damages the discourse around the actual sexual abuse of children. When you use accusations of pedophilia as a way of insulting people whose work you don’t like, you trivialize abuse.
I’m tired of seeing the language of social justice–important language doing important work–misused as a way to dehumanize others and treat them hatefully.
So we all seek (and seek to share) the jolt that accompanies outrage and anger. As studies have shown, the complicated dopamine rush that comes with righteous indignation is very powerful, and I’m indulging it simply by responding to the outrageous accusation that my work is somehow evidence of sexual abuse.
But the outrage cycle is exhausting, and while there are wonderful examples of outrage fueling long-term, productive responses to injustice–We Need Diverse Books and the UPLIFT both come to mind–too often the Internet moves from jolt to jolt, from hatred to hatred, ever more convinced of our own righteousness and the world’s evil. And getting caught up in that is very painful.
I realize that will seem privileged to many of you (and it is), or like an excuse (maybe it’s that too), or lacking in empathy (maybe so), and I’m sure there is plenty here to deconstruct and reveal my various shortcomings (which are legion).
But this stops being a productive place for me to be in conversations if I’m not allowed to be wrong, if my apologies are not acknowledged alongside my misdeeds, and if I’m not treated like a person.
I think at this point it’s impossible to continue to use tumblr in the way I’ve used it since 2011. My life is different (in ways that are both good and bad); this community is different (in ways that are both good and bad); the world is different (in ways that are both good and bad).
So if this blog begins to look more one-way, with more original content and less reblogging/commenting/answering asks/etc., that’s why.
I want to emphasize that I am ridiculously lucky to work on stuff I love, from Crash Course to The Art Assignment to writing books. And I trust that many nerdfighter communities–whether vlogbrothers or Dear Hank and John or the Wimbly Womblys or the kiva group–will continue to be open and collaborative and constructive. Also, I’m not angry or anything like that. I just need some distance for my well-being.
Thanks for reading. DFTBA.

EDIT: To be clear, sending hate to people who say this stuff is counter-productive and only continues the outrage cycle, so please don’t abuse anyone. Thanks."

And then he started getting a bad time about being insensitive to the poor girl and yelled at not to victimize her again...

Erm yeah...


So here is my assessment of all that (because I'm wise and all that):

A young woman perceives what she perceives and has a right to that. But there are things you say about people that fall into hurtful territory at least and slanderous at worst. So the girl DID deserve to have the effect of her words explained.

But see John is a video guy... he is used to his four minute platform, a chance to build up his audience and educate us. I think that training failed poor John here. See, his response WAS thoughtful and educational. By the third paragraph. He GOT to the kind lesson. But he was offended first and in the age of the tweet, THAT was what people responded to.


So here are some things that could have saved the pain:

REMEMBER we are in a 140 Character Age! That doesn't mean he couldn't post his whole response, but it makes the order critical. In fact ideally he gets in a full summary in the first sentence and THEN expands:

“I'm sorry your experiences make you feel people who care about young adults are creepy, but your hurtful words suggest something untrue.” (135 characters—took a little work)

There is only the room there is...

REMEMBER the Journalism Rules!

One of my first degrees is journalism and unlike ALL other forms of writing, journalism rules require you to start with the MOST important details and trickle from there. The reason was that made the guy formatting the paper's job easier—if he needed an extra inch, he could just chop the last inch of any article. But the reason it applies HERE is we've all developed such short attention spans. You never KNOW when a person is going to quit reading, but you better bet it is before the end. Front load the main message.


REMEMBER the Image You Want to Present!

Do you want to be the guy on the defensive? Or do you want to be the patient teacher? Are you the ranting loon or the author who rose above it all? A statement of compassion right up front buys a lot of good will.


So there you go. Now you're smarter. Or something... Anybody else have advice to add or cases where a fiasco might have been saved with a bit more thought?

Boys, Girls, Rape and Personhood

Some things make me hostile. Forgive me a brief rant today, but sometimes I need to get some stuff off my chest. I will be back to my usual shenanigans next week.

You've surely ALL heard the asshattery related to the Steubenville high school boys who raped the girl at the party... she was passed out, which they took for consent... They shared pictures of her naked online...

Found guilty! Justice is done!

But wait, boo hoo, look at all this lost potential! They were promising ATHLETES *cough* SEVERAL news stations fell into this pattern. Seriously?

Okay, maybe. I will give them that. There IS a lot of lost potential. These boys have a permanent black mark and some jail time, WHICH THEY EARNED. There is lost potential, but THEY lost it. There was nobody forcing them to rape that poor girl. They had not only a STUPID lapse of judgment (which teens sometimes have) but also a complete FAILURE at socialization. So these poor boys WERE disserviced... by their parents, their community, and our society. These boys have badly failed morals and that is only partially on them.

We live in a society where Kobe Bryant gets away with rape. Where OJ Simpson gets away with murder. Where rapists have shorter sentences than people who use drugs. Where congress dawdles MONTHS before passing the Violence Against Women Act because a huge group of elected officials don't recognize women as PEOPLE.

But you know whose fault these boys' lack of moral character is NOT?

 The girl who was raped. And any failure to acknowledge the DAMAGE these selfish little pricks did for WHATEVER reason they think they did it is missing the point. SHAME on the reporters. Shame on ANYBODY who felt sorry for these boys without giving a much LARGER dose of sympathy to the girl who did nothing wrong--who was VIOLATED AGAINST HER WILL.

This week I've seen articles on college women EXPELLED (or threatened with expulsion) for going after the men who rape them on campus, (oh, no, it brings shame to our poor campus) while the men continue to matriculate. Say WHAT? The SHAME is that you have RAPISTS walking around and nobody is safe.

Folks, we are DOING THIS WRONG.

I saw a joking tweet that was very funny, but sadly I hold no hope for it. After Senator Portman came out in favor of gay marriage (in support of his gay son—YAY, Senator!):

“Eventually one of these Republican congressmen is going to find out his daughter is a woman, and then we're all set.”

I wish I believed that would actually wake them up. But unless they realize their daughter is not only a woman but a PERSON, it probably won't get there.

Sadly, though, that brings me to another point I saw yesterday, which is valid. I haven't had a heaping dose of feminism in a long time and I needed it. People pull out the argument 'how would you like it if this were your daughter/sister/wife/mother?' And nobody would. But to frame it this way makes it so a woman's only value is because of her relationship to OTHERS (meaning men). Women are PEOPLE in their own right. NO PERSON deserves this treatment. Ever. I can give a pass to daughters because I can add sons and know I'd feel exactly the same—everybody has parents and parents can (and should) feel protective of their offspring. But our language needs to change around ALL of this.



We should not be telling girls how to avoid rape. We should be teaching our SONS:

Don't rape.


Here is why. A brave friend of mine shared this yesterday, a woman who is a rape survivor:

“Do you know the effects of rape on a female mind? Nothing can cleanse the pain and regret of the situation. Are you internally scared for the rest of your life. Every relationship you will ever have is affected by this incident. An innocent girl dies when she is violated sexually in any way.”

Affects every relationship she EVER has. That's huge. These boys did this to her. Poo on them and their poor prospects being branded as rapists. They deserve that and so much more. Castration has a ring to it. Seriously.


We should also be teaching ALL OUR CHILDREN:

*   If you SEE a rape (or a situation that seems to be going that way), intervene (get help, if you don't feel physically able to do it yourself)

*   Don't leave your friends alone if they've been drinking. In fact don't leave them alone at all.

*   If you notice ANYONE 'out of it' ANYWHERE, designate yourself protector. Keep an eye on them.

If people feel responsible for the SAFETY of others, they are less likely to perpetuate any crimes against people—they've been given a responsibility, and to do the opposite become antithetical. And as a perk people will be less likely to be in that situation because more eyes will be looking out for more people.

Yes. I've had this talk with my kids (one girl, one boy), but it might be time to revisit it.

Mental Health (or Lack Thereof)

We’re a country in crisis. There are more people with mental health issues getting poorer care and they have fewer places to turn and it just makes me SO SAD. Last Friday’s crisis had a fair bit to do with guns, as I mentioned yesterday, but more than that, it had to do with a person who desperately needed help.

First: Mental Illness

Mental illness is an extremely varied thing. By far the most common diagnosis is depression, which in women is more a sad, bluesy thing and in men is more an irritable, crabby thing. SOME depressed people are a danger to THEMSLEVES. Most though, are not that extreme, and they are NOT a danger to others. This is the very most common mental illness.

In addition, the OTHER things that can be wrong vary hugely. Depression and bi-polar disorder are MOOD. Schizophrenia is a PSYCHOSIS, which means hallucinations (either aural or visual—more often the former). There are disorders that disturb picking up on social cues. There are disorders related to conscience (or lack thereof). Some disorders can only occur when there is something wrong with the brain, others are more a response to external stressors, the most extreme of which is dissociative identity disorder which results from long-term abuse (usually sexual).

With so many faces, caring for people is complicated and expensive. Even just getting a diagnosis is a big job. Then you add to that teens and young adults, for whom choosing medication is a moving target. Their bodies are changing, so even finding the right thing NOW, may not be the thing that will continue to work.

Talking About It

Part of the problem is most people are pretty poorly informed. Oh, sure, we’ve heard of ‘disorder of the day’—which will go drastically overdiagnosed because it’s ‘popular’. But the real experience? It’s not talked about much. It’s stigmatized so people don’t feel comfortable sharing. And because it’s varied, when somebody shares a story that doesn’t fit somebody elses view on the matter, it can get really sensitive.

There were two great articles, one of which I will just describe, as the author is getting a lot of backlash for ‘outing her son’ as having a dangerous disorder—she was amazing to read—really experiencing a son with a snap temper that causes violent outbursts. The trouble is she didn’t think about his privacy in sharing—she used a false name for him, but not herself, so anyone who KNOWS THEM now knows.

But we CRAVE hearing that voice. It shows just how hard it is to navigate caring for somebody with that extreme an illness.

The other article I am happy to share (there is some swearing—you’ve been warned) about the REACTIONS and how difficult it is to have public discourse because everybody is so freaking sensitive.

Wonkette: Not Allowed to Talk About It

I ALSO strongly recommend Carrie Fisher's books. She has bi-polar disorder and a GIFT for humor when talking about her mental illness. Wishful Drinking is the one that comes to mind, but she has several.

Why So Much of It?

It seems like there is a lot more mental illness than there used to be, doesn’t it? I think there IS more, but in addition, I think we HEAR ABOUT MORE for three reasons: 1) more people actually seeing doctors that have SOME CLUE and get somebody to a system for diagnosis—plus people no longer just shut their ill family in an attic and hide them from the world, 2) over diagnosis (a false positive of those flavor of the week diagnoses) and 3) loss of ‘community’. People used to live near family—a collection of people who could help keep an eye, assist, and otherwise channel that ‘special’ family member. But families don’t tend to be proximal anymore, so there are a lot more incidents of someone getting ‘out there’ and causing all sorts of problems.

But in addition, life has more stressors (poverty, crime) and people experience more trauma. Both of these prime our brains to maladapt. Lack of near social resources. In addition, new medications, food alterations and environmental pollutants of things that NOBODY REALLY KNOWS the long term effects of probably are altering our brain chemistry. Look at the increase in allergies from when we were kids. Doesn’t it seem like if something can make kids allergic to stuff, it might be messing with their processing a little?

And then there is the bigger tools thing… Guns, like I mentioned yesterday. Bomb-making information as handy as the internet.

Filmed at Damasch--Oregon's old mental hospital

A History of Care

I mentioned shutting the nutty relative up in the attic. I’m glad we don’t do this anymore. There also used to be mental health institutions, lovingly referred to as Insane Asylums… These places were fraught with mistreatment, but they DID keep society safe, yeah? In addition, some people had nowhere else to go. The vast majority of publicly owned mental health facilities closed in the 70s. “Isn’t it better to have people at home?” Well, sure. If that’s an option. But some people don’t have help. And some help isn’t equipped for the HUGE undertaking.

Down the street a woman died last year who was seriously mentally ill. Her mother had taken care of her for decades (while the mentally ill daughter beat on her, no less) but the mother died maybe 8 years ago… The daughter had bouts of institutionalization, getting out and doing okay on medication for a while, but then falling back into a pattern that caused me to make my kids walk on the other side of the street. When she died, nobody knew for MONTHS. Alone. Shut in. I can’t help but think if we had facilities now that we might make a better attempt at keeping them safe, pleasant places. Though I know nursing homes often have abuses, too, so maybe I’m delusional.


The Solution?

You think I have a solution?

*cough*

I do have some ideas though. I think the new health plan will help because more people will be eligible for coverage. I think wherever we can, increasing our sense of community helps. I know with HWMNBMOTI’s health trouble, neighbors and friends have been invaluable. I can’t imagine that wouldn’t be the case with mental health stuff.

But there needs to be an investment, too. And I think it starts in schools. Teachers are amazing and fabulous, but they need the backup. When I was a kid, ALL the schools had counselors. My kids’ elementary shared a counselor with 2 other schools. We’ve cut resources when we need to be ‘adding them’—well child type ‘visit and get to know’ meetings with ALL the kids once or twice a year, so there was no longer the ‘Oh, so and so had to go to the counselor’ ring to it.

PARENT RESOURCES—ohmygawd are parents already overstressed. Any system that would increase how easily they could find WHO they need and HELP they need would be good. Even respite help—taking care of somebody day in and day out is exhausting.

Extreme Measures?  Should there be institutions again? Yeah, probably. And I also would advocate, for a few rare diagnoses and with multiple doctors agreeing, that there are cases forced medication is wise--the two diagnoses I'm familiar with where people are fine medicated and can be dangerous (at least to themselves, but sometimes to others) off of meds are schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder (more so with the former)

I ALSO, and this may be controversial, believe there needs to be SOME SYSTEM whereby people can be flagged as potentially dangerous—spot the neighbor kid blowing up squirrels or something? That HAS to be reported. Animal cruelty is a high risk marker for sociopaths and psychopaths.

Would any of this have helped Friday? Maybe—I suspect that mom who made such poor choices wouldn’t have, had she had better resources to understand the risk her son posed. But maybe not. A school counselor might have flagged him. I have no idea. But I know there are a lot of people who could potentially be dangerous and we are very poorly equipped to cope with that right now.

[hey guys, be sure to read my friend Patti's comments, too. I have psychology education, but she is actually a clinical practitioner, so more informed than I am]

The Truth About Guns

 This might be too soon. The wound too fresh. Then again, if it isn’t fresh in memory, people fall back on old attitudes, where when we are raw and aching, maybe we are open to new information. I am thinking this is the first of two important posts whereby I prove I should be ruling the world. Or not.

I am not anti-gun.

Okay, I AM, but for ME, not for people broadly. Exactly. I grew up in Idaho and come from a long hunting tradition. In 7^th grade PE we had gun safety because it was the belief (backed by statistics) that many YOUNG people who died in gun accidents weren’t the children of gun owners, but the curious friends who came over and didn’t know how dangerous the things could be.

We learned RESPECT. SAFETY.  And to load and unload, and SHOOT a rifle. I was good, actually. It just required a steady hand and the patience to line up the site. I have decent special skills. I didn’t just get a bulls-eye; I pierced the X at the very center of the bulls-eye, and ALL my bullets hit the target.

I’ve also shot tin cans off fences at my friend Tammy’s house, and then there were my b-b experience with cousins, but that was pre-gun safety. THAT I was bad at (having never been taught). My dad had guns and hunted. My step-dad had guns and still hunts.

My point? I grew up IMMERSED in gun culture. MANY of my friends are die-hard advocates.

But what I do, when I am not being naked and silly and ridiculous or writing (or all of the above), is statistics. That’s it. My day job is to run numbers and find truth in them. Not graphic, single-incident anecdote, but collective FACT.  THAT is what I am here to talk to you about right now.

First… A Lesson:  Philosophy versus Science

People use philosophy to guide what they believe. And that is normal and rational. But when a philosophy is DISPROVED by science, it can no longer be held by reasonable people. Take the flat world view of the middle ages. A lot of OTHER beliefs centered around the WORLD being the center of the universe.  Decisions and conclusions factored this in. When SCIENCE proved the SUN was actually the center, it undid ALL the stuff that posited the earth at the center.

I apologize here as I step into a sensitive topic, but it runs so perfectly parallel. Creationism and evolution: the former being philosophy, the latter being science… if someone sees creationism happening THROUGH evolution, they are good. If they see creationism as allegory (which was the intent of the authors, by the way—that is HISTORY, or rather anthropology of how lessons were taught—Biblical literalism only arriving about the 11^th century at the word of the Pope), they are good, but if they believe creationism means evolution is wrong?  Then THEY are wrong. Philosophy CANNOT EVER trump science. Science is testable. We see ACTIVE evolution in near lakes here and now. It HAPPENS. Faith in a particular philosophy is FINE, so long as it isn’t scientifically disprovable. But if it is, science trumps.

So now, while I’ve already offended some subset of my audience, though presumably the portion who was chased off long ago by my nakedness…

Applying Philosophy and Science to GUNS.

You know what makes science?  NUMBERS. Statistics. Tests, though honestly, in real life, randomization is hard… though there are a lot of ‘prisoner experiments’ and they aren’t very promising. (for an entertaining, yet still enlightening version of this, there is a Veronica Mars episode, season 3…) 

Most people evaluate on GUT. Something rings true, and they believe. And this is normal. But it gives too much power to the case study. Because of my background, I am far more inclined to look at collective data. YES, the individual examples are moving. But what should guide POLICY is the collective. The COLLECTIVE shows us what is most likely.

Let me delineate these for you, as they apply to gun themes.

If someone is determined, they can still get a gun. 

TRUTH:  Yes and no. They can, but it will be harder. And so a person set on SPECIFICALLY guns who has a long-retained determination can get them. But anti-gun laws mean they have to go through criminal routes (something not all people are willing to do—even murderers), and more importantly, this instills a ‘cool down’ time… so if a person is being IMPULSIVE, this will be an effective deterrent. Some portion will still get them, but another portion WON'T, so the events won't be eliminated, but lives will still be saved.

Sidenote:  THREE women from my high school have been shot by partners. In TWO of these cases, I believe the partner regretted it the minute he did it. Still abusive assholes, yes, but not having a gun present would have prevented the deaths.

Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.:  I suppose this is true. But a person with an automatic or semi-automatic weapon or even just a handgun can be much more deadly in far less time than a determined person with another weapon. Take the Chinese episode the SAME DAY as the US one:  man with knife in elementary school… attacks… wounds 23, 22 of them children, but not a single one is dead.

So a gun without a person can’t kill. Right on. Gotcha.  But a person with a gun instead of another weapon is FAR more deadly. That is just the truth of it.

The crazies and mad men can still get the guns:  (I know this sounds like the first, but I have another argument).  Yes.  They can. But if a crazy steps into a crowd with a gun, and someone ELSE pulls a gun, he will shoot MORE. After the Colorado Theater shooting one of my friends… spouse of a cop… said when a gunman appears the WORST thing to do is to ADD MORE GUNS. The body count amplifies VERY fast. The BEST thing would be to get the gun OUT of the situation (jump and disarm him).

“I feel safer with a gun.”  Feel away my friend. But that is an emotion that is actually contradicted by facts. Gun owners, FACTUALLY are far more likely to die by gun than non-gun owners.

Several years ago, there was a well-done blog post by BarryEisler--and here is a more recent update--that contrasted countries without guns with the US, acknowledging how the US probably COULD NOT give up our gun addiction, and so in the presence, it is reasonable to have certain attitudes, but people in countries where nobody has them are absolutely safer.

There was also a terrific article yesterday by NicholasKristof of the New York Times.  He proposed a number of ideas that put guns in a similar place as cars legally.  People can HAVE THEM, but there need to be rules about it.

I’ve heard some promising ideas. Re-enacting the automatic weapon ban that expired in 2004 for one. The most innovative is requiring gun owners to hold insurance for the damage the firearm might do—cost dependent on storage, who has access, how it’s normally used, and damage potential it has (so faster firing and larger magazine potential means more expensive.)

I really get that some people feel philosophically that they should be able to have guns. I just really wanted to make sure you all knew that IN REALITY, guns in our presence makes us LESS safe. I promise.

As Lunatics Descend...

You know how there are these REALLY COOL events you anticipate and are thrilled to attend... and then you move to the city where they happen and the novelty wears off really fast and you suddenly are ANNOYED at the existence of said event? Yeah, that.

It happened to me in Portland... about the 4th year of Rose Festival I began totally avoiding downtown when it was there. It was crowded and the grass got wrecked and smelled faintly of sewage (sometime strongly of sewage). I mean sure the ships were still cool. And there were sometimes great bands. But mostly it was the same old food and a LOT of extra people.

Self-identified 'stupid art' (though it amuses me)

That happened to me about our third year in Ann Arbor with Art Fair.

I mean I love Art almost as much as the next guy... I'd probably love it as much or MORE, had my own art skills not seized around kindergarten. And there is a LOT of art...

Admittedly, some of it is STUPID art. And MUCH of it is pretentious art (hello, please pay $500 for this lamp I made from this branch). But really, there is also a lot of COOL art. Seriously—wicked cool. My neighbor has a ton of it—tiki statues and bobbing birds by her pool. Fairies and other friendly creatures inside. I love the stuff. And I know her well enough to know she isn't paying the $500 per piece prices.

But what BUGS ME is the VOLUME of people and the interruption of life. Ann Arbor's city limits can hold about 100,000 people. A football game brings that many extra... art fair? 300,000 in attendance... our city QUADRUPLES its volume for five days.

And unlike those happy beer-drinking, cheering football folks, these people are a mixed bag... I mean SURE, a ton of them are cool artsy folks. But a lot of them are annoying rich people with too much time on their hands and way too many of them are even MORE annoying pretentious people with superiority complexes who think they know Ann Arbor because they descend on it for 36 hours each year.

You know how I like Ann Arbor? Free of Art Fair Patrons and free of college students. There. I said it. I like college towns with no college kids. You get all the joys of a college town with none of the annoyance.

True story. I've lived in four cities, three of them college towns, and other than my time in high school that I was trying to SOCIALIZE with college kids, I always prefer them student-free...

Maybe it's my anti-social tendencies. I'm not normally a person to get too worked up by a hassle. But honestly... I don't MIND football days. There is a fun contagion (and money to be made). This repulsion is art fair specific. I wish I could get into it, but mostly it just means I have to reroute all week to avoid the darned thing. Maybe though, I will look at it this way. What an excuse to stay home and write.


To give you a little perspective:

This map is downtown Ann Arbor and central camplus. ALL the colored lines are normally streets you can drive on and are completely blocked for artfair. Purple is 'downtown' and while I know a downtown that is functionally 3 blocks by 4 sounds small and lame... this is ALL of downtown. Red is campus. And then the 'trolley' (aka city and campus buses moving in an off route so THOSE streets go a lot slower, too) So seriously... there is only really ONE route north and south through town and the primary east west 'part of downtown' is blocked (though going east/west Huron is a bigger street—but MAIN STREET? Yup. Main Street.

Liberty--the red part near campus

<------  Liberty is part of my daily commute—ALL of it. I walk it from 7th, which is several blocks west of where the map starts all the way to the end every morning. Now Art Fair isn't open yet when I walk to work, so there IS a little fun with walking up the middle of the street and having several intersections blocked so there is no need to wait for a light. End of the day though... there are so many people I can't read while I walk (you ALL know how I hate THAT) but worse, I can't even walk at a pace I like. I'm a speedy walker and HATE going slow.

All this fun arrives tomorrow... *sigh*

Anything you know you should think is fun that annoys you? Do you have any local 'claims to fame'? How do you feel about swarms of sweaty bodies in 100 degree heat?

Venting: Vicious Vermin

Whereby I have a wee tantrum about my Publisher's Weekly Review...

ROUS (rodents of unusual size)

See, when I entered the contest this year, I didn't realize Publisher's Weekly had hired ROUS to judge the semi-final round. But BOY, do I feel like that's what I just wrestled! MAN, it was scathing. Somehow I'd thought I was going to scrape through this writing thing without a lot of nastiness... I'd thought my writing had passed that phase where somebody would just be mean and rotten to me. Apparently not.

So you know what I'm talking about:

ABNA Publishers Weekly Reviewer
A teen girl escapes her mother’s risky lifestyle and joins forces with three children living in hiding in this absurdly plotted story. In 1988 Portland, Ore., 13-year-old Athena Garnett runs away from home after her heroin-addict mother tries to sell her daughter’s virginity for another hit. With nowhere to go, she lives on the street, sleeping in a park and scrounging food from the McDonald’s dumpster. Meanwhile, in the suburbs, the three Popescue siblings -- Kade, Tasha, and Peter -- are also lying low, but for a different reason. The children of a Romanian professor and a possible spy, they watched their father get gunned down in their house and hid in the secret passageways their father had built. A chance meeting downtown between the trio and Athena brings the kids together and soon they’re all hiding out in the Popescue family home, taking turns keeping watch for men responsible for Mr. Popescue’s death, who also turns out to be linked to Athena’s own past. The deeper they dig, the more links they discover between the four, including evidence of a potential art thievery ring, with a dangerous man named Balto at the center: someone with direct ties to the Popescue murder and Athena’s heretofore unknown past. While the sections detailing Athena’s life as a homeless youth are intriguing and could easily be a stand-alone story, the connections to the Romanian quasi-orphans are ludicrous at best.

So... Ouch, huh? Absurdly plotted? See, last year I felt my review was spot on, but I can't just buy this absurdly plotted thing. I think this reviewer had a large stack and was impatient with a complex plot... maybe even MISSED stuff. I mean the plot description sounds accurate, but I'm JUST not seeing what the trouble is except that the reviewer didn't like it... There is no hint.

Guesses? They aren't buying the coincidence? But there are hints that show WHY these secretive kids TRUST this girl (hints related to them really being connected).

I just think it was the complexity.

If it is something OTHER than that, they've given me NO CLUE.

It had me feeling VERY VULNERABLE there for a while... I mean I really LIKE the story... But maybe I don't have a CLUE what makes a good story? THAT kind of vulnerable... I just really feel like the reviewer could have done a far better job saying WHAT was ludicrous... How to a give it a ludicrousectomy? So I am sticking with my original assessment. I was reviewed by a vicious vermin... or maybe a viper... To cope, I had to go drink Vino and eat queso with the couch to keg team. Have I SAID how much I love the wine bar at Whole Foods? Maybe I will tell you more tomorrow...

So for a book plot, what is your tolerance for complexity? Do you LIKE some twists and turns? Or do you prefer it fairly straight forward? I'd REALLY love some feedback from my friends who've read it? Does this look right to you? Jenny? Stacy? Leigh? Leanne? Chary? I mean I can totally take it from someone I BELIEVE gave it appropriate attention, but at the moment I'm doubting this reviewer did.

Who Cares?

It's TMI Tuesday, so I thought I'd talk about this very strange phenomenon of WHO CARES about our writing. I shared my 3 month anticipation post yesterday, and posted it not only to my writing profile, but also my personal profile on Facebook.

The very very COOL thing is that actually a LOT of people seem to care... Friends. Family. Nice notes. People I only knew very peripherally once upon a time. In fact there are people who seem to have known me that I didn't know hardly at all... people I know names for but for whom it never occurred to me it went the other direction. My policy on FB is first and second degree friends for my personal profile—if people know me, or are friends with a friend of mine... I even have a few writer friends I bonded more tightly with—people I've known long enough to establish some trust.

So I felt really really loved yesterday. Hugged and cozy. I loved it.

But there are also the absent... Now I get that not everybody is on Facebook every day. There are people I've been friends with forever who seem completely oblivious, even though they ARE around a lot. I don't feel any fear they will stumble in HERE. I am clearly not on their radar. But how much effort is a freaking 'like' when you see someone post really good news?

A couple of my high school friends have sent me personal notes—email. And I don't begrudge them at all. They aren't online much. But if you ARE online?

I can't help but get a little paranoid that either my nudity or my politics have alienated people.

Now I have a LOT of non-naked or politically incompatible friends—heck, I grew up in Idaho where my politics fit not even a TINY bit. But in OH-so-many cases we can argue civilly, agree to disagree, or stick to other topics. They are great people.

On the not-interested, though... I mean maybe they aren't interested in writing... I get that. No. I don't get that. But... so here's an example. I have some friends who craft. Scrap-booking or jewelry making. I don't do that. And the scrap-booking, in particular, I'm not that interested in. It is one of those super-mom traits that missed me entirely. But if one of my friends was... putting on her own SHOW or something... or had sold a pattern (does that fit—I am a little clueless here)--but you can tell what the successes are, yeah? I could BOTHER to hit the freaking LIKE button. I would recognize it as big in their area of interest, and therefore to be applauded.

Am I being a bitch? I am not holding anything against ANYBODY who says 'yay' every once in a while. I know not everybody sees everything I post. But never? Do I have bad breath? Am I being annoying? Boring?

*cough*

So there is my little Tuesday mini-rant.

The Dark Ages

Okay... so maybe not as brilliant as previously promised... and not appropriately 'dayed' anymore... this was the one lost for Tuesday that you are now getting on Thursday. But YAY! Computer is back up and running! Special thanks to my buddy Kevin who is smarter than me on all things computer (and on a number of other topics, besides)

But since I now CAN... didn't lose (at least much) of it... here goes TMI Tuesday's post.

BECAUSE NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!

*cough *

So what the hell is going on with the Republican Party these days?

Sorry to get political, but it IS (read: WAS) TMI Tuesday, after all. And there is a serious meltdown in sanity going on. I mean honestly, I never much understand the Republican party. But this stuff is BIZARRO world stuff. All this repossession on women's rights stuff...


Now I don't want to get into the abortion issue. I get both sides of that argument, and so while I have a political side (which ironically is NOT the side I would choose personally, though the operative word is probably CHOOSE) that isn't where I want to go.

Where I DO want to go is the very strange things that have happened of late.



What the heck is all this about birth control?

The religious organizations arguing about paying for something they don't agree with, I get. But then Obama said, “Okay, I see your point. Instead we will turn it to the Insurance companies to pay for.” And you see... paying for birth control is CHEAPER than paying for pregnancy, labor and delivery and all the pediatric care of a child, so insurance companies LIKE this... and several religious institutions cheered to have this burden taken off of them... to be able to 'provide' what they know employees want without being culpable of providing it themselves... It allows them to compete for the full spectrum of employees without crossing fuzzy lines.

But there is the ultra-conservative strand of congress and the religious leaders who are significantly MORE conservative than the population they mean to lead making this about something else.

Religious freedom is the right to practice ones own religion, but it is NOT the right to impose that religion on anybody else. Now if you work for a church directly, you may expect some imposition. But say you live in... South Bend, Indiana and just want to work for your largest employer in the county... (I believe Notre Dame was actually one of the institutions that cheered the compromise, by the way).

Now in the US, some 99% of women use some for of contraception at some point. Heck, 98% of Catholic women will or have at some point. The fact of the matter is, it takes resources of time and money to raise children well. Should sex be a privilege of the wealthy (who can afford to raise as many children they might create)? Should sex DOOM a woman to a shorter life? (because after child #1, every child lowers life expectancy). Jon Stewart had a very good point when he stated that Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum both used the rhythm method and had five and eight kids respectively. (which... and I really hope I don't offend too many, though i know I will and a few are people I really love, but in the spirit of TMI, I FIND IRRESPONSIBLE--from a space on the planet perspective, I mean). But Santorum has said 'birth control is not right'.

Is anybody else seeing Margaret Atwood as a prophet? This sounds very Handmaid's Tale to me. That is a book where chemical disaster creates infertility and collides with ultra conservative social values for a scary scary scenario. Do you SEE how this is possible?  Tell me I'm nuts. I dare you.

I have seen a number of posts on facebook of women outrages here, but this is hardly the only incident.

Several states have passed 'personhood' laws, siting personhood begins at conception. And as anti-abortion legislation, I see the brilliance of this tactic, but some of these have opened doors for women who suffer miscarriage to be prosecuted for negligent homicide.

Did you know HALF of conceived babies miscarry?
Did you know a significant portion of babies that miscarry do so because of defects to the baby—the baby would not have been viable and our bodies KNOW and so self-terminate.

Do we really want to blame women for that?

Have you ever known anyone who has miscarried? It is a DEVASTATING ordeal. The women I know who have experienced this are so sad for a very long time—many still quietly acknowledging what would have been birthdays years later. Do we REALLY want to add a layer of legal threat to this already abhorrent experience? Is our society's misguided need for sanctimonious moralizing so great we would do this?

I will tell you an unintended effect of this. Women who suspect they are pregnant will delay care. After all, if nobody knows they are pregnant, nobody can fault them if it doesn't work out. It will INCREASE the proportion of pregnancies that don't make it because SOME early caught things are preventable.

So there I go, ranting...

STOP RESPONDING!!!

Hallo, my friends. I'm annoyed. Know why?

It bugs the heck out of me that people who are famous for NO REASON except being born to someone who is rich or famous, or because they are willing to go on some reality TV show and be an ass keep being talked about.

IGNORE THEM!!!

Reality TV Parody (which is acceptable)

They are not worth your energy, attention, or interest. If we stop looking, they will go away! Leave them to their stupid-ass selves. Never speak of them. Never watch them. Never bother to know who they are. They are NOT WORTH YOUR BRAIN CELLS!


I don't watch Dancing with Stars or … what's that singing one... American Idol, but at LEAST those are TALENT contests. It may not interest me, but have atter... what we should NOT be attending to is ANY reality TV that is just peeping, or eaves dropping, or encouraging bad behavior. If there is no skill involved besides social manipulation, those people DO NOT merit your time.

THIS IS NOT INTERESTING! THIS IS NOT REALITY, NO MATTER WHAT THEY CALL IT! YOUR BRAIN DIES A LITTLE EVERY TIME YOU WATCH!

And more importantly, MY brain dies a little every time I hear the name of one of these people.

I'M NOT INTERESTED!!!

and for PETE'S SAKE! If someone has them write a book, they are NOT PART OF WHAT WE DO!

Never call what they wrote a 'book' (you KNOW they probably didn't even WRITE it).
Never buy it.
Don't borrow it from the library.
But DO go to book stores and stick notes in that say things like 'don't you feel dirty now?' or 'I wiped poo in this book somewhere.' (you don't really have to wipe the poo... this is just a joke.)



Sorry. Just had to get that off my chest.

And because it's Thursday...

Mini Update

Squeaky Wheel 1:  Asshat Telephone and Technology 1


What does that MEAN?  My computer complaint generated a refund of $29.97 which was woefully inadequate. (I was requesting $250, remember). And the internet was not back on... So I CALLED...

The annoying trouble is, if they think you owe then money, the HING BLOODY HINGING AUTOMATED SYSYEM will only funnel you to people who are able to take your money. The man I reached was pleasant, nice, sympathetic... and had no power to do a FREAKING THING but take my money.  So he transferred me.

I waited on hold AGAIN.  And the system asked for my identification number... which I didn't have... BECAUSE IT WAS THE WRONG FREAKING PLACE!  I might have yelled at the person on the other line... they couldn't transfer me BACK which seemed totally unreasonable... Then the idiot HUNG UP ON ME!  You hear that AT&T? One of your subcontractors is REALLY RUDE!

*cough*

So I called back and swore at that automated guy... If you swear at him, he says, "It sounded like you said, you wanted to talk to a customer service representative. Is this right?" *snort*  Who the HECK got stuck programming all that swearing so that was how he responded. I've experimented over the past months. Pretty much any demand as to what he can do to himself gets that response. Most often I just say 'YOU SUCK'.

And I had to wait on hold again... And I reached a nice man who was even MORE sympathetic... a very nice man with a deep soothing (I suspect black) voice, so listening was nice, too, and he had the decency to stay on the line with me to make sure I was actually connected to who he meant to connect me to...

Felicia.... Oh, Felicia... You need a few lessons in customer service.  She CLAIMED that all those repair people would have FIXED my bloody phone... Felicia, were you at my house? I told her to run our records--they could verify in ALL that time that no call lasted longer than maybe 10 seconds. On occasion we COULD connect, but then it would DROP. MOSTLY we couldn't connect. People calling US never got past 2 rings.  I went through the comedy of errors of these repair people, none of whom had the story from the LAST several people who'd been here. We only got it fixed because WE finally understood the problem well enough to walk the guy through all the things that DIDN'T work so he had a fresh starting place (a short in one of our jacks was interfering with all calls, so he had to disconnect that jack entirely from the system). Felicia also said, 'well I SEE here they've already credited you the..."

Ahem!  We were not short service for one half of ONE month. We were short five months... NOT ADEQUATE.

So she said "the only thing I can do is send you to cancellation."

Kathy, in cancellation, heard my tale and was OUTRAGED on my behalf and within five minutes had credited us another hundred dollars--enough that our account was no longer in the red (so internet was on the next morning).  She said for any MORE, I would need to write to corporate headquarters, and encouraged me to do so. She said while I was at it, I should give them an eyeful about the inefficiency of this infrastructure. The people who collect your money should be able to adjust bills RIGHT THERE... no transferring around... Sure, maybe it's a manager, but the current system puts people on hold WAY too long. (my night of calls totaled 2 hours--if I hadn't have been so determined, I may very well have given up--honestly, I think that's their goal)

So the lesson... right from the get go, if you have trouble like this, just SAY "I want to cancel" because the cancellation department is the only one with any power.

Source

My OTHER Ass

*cough*

So Weight Watchers at Work fell through... not enough people in my building... but I was psychologically set to start, so I signed up online. They had a special--buy a 3 month package, get the 4th month free. Plus some discount on the sign-up, I think.  For $65, I have 4 months.

New Weight Watchers is a little different. I get quite a few more points, but foods HAVE more points too--As best as I can tell, this is an attempt to count carbs, as well as the fat, fiber and calories that have always been part of the formula. They just have it set up to encourage certain choices.

I am on day 3.  Not super hard (though a little). I LIKE the online food diary. The only trouble is I like some transparency for planning... right now, i don't know how many points something is until I plug in a specific thing, where before I had a real feel for broad categories of things "things like this are more, things like this are less". I'm not saying the old system is superior, but i think the online set-up doesn't have the 'okay, it works like this'.

And that's probably ME. I think a lot of people prefer to learn food by food. I'm a big picture person, though... remember?  "what trees?" (which is why I married the guy who sees life for the pine needles).  But I'm smart... I will learn it. I will just need to be diligent for a while.  I've stayed on points so far... used some of my weekly floating points for Friday cocktails (will do the same for Saturday cocktails)

I LOVE that they've added fruit to the freebies... Veggies always were, but when I feel really hungry, veggies don't really do it for me. Fruit can in the short run (had a peach last night at 1am because I felt like hunger might keep me awake--that was my staying up too late, but still... it's not like that's a rarity for me)

So anyway... that's where I am.

Back to normal Monday. Hope you all have a great weekend!

AT&T Sucks Rocks

Fine friends, my land line didn't work from March to August. Internet still worked, so because of how AT&T bills, I paid my bill (the late fee is exorbitant)... until this month... when instead of a payment, I sent them a BILL, with a letter explaining the refund that was due to me.

They proceeded to shut off my home internet. I decided while I raise my stink, it is maybe time to take a blogcation, as I can VISIT blogs from work (though on the light side, as I have a few big deadlines), but I can't take the time to write and post from work.  So I will be back MONDAY (though if service isn't going, I may only do a few a week), and the next few days... if you wonder what I am up to, I am yelling and screaming at the idiots who run Asshat Telephone and Technology.

I will give a shout if it works. My next bill to them will include my TIME for waiting on the phone for all the failed service calls, my cell phone bill, and the new DSL thing we had to buy. If it goes to a 3rd letter, I am suing them for pain and suffering in an amount adequate to make up for lack of sugar daddy.

What can YOU do? 

NEVER use AT&T.
Spread the word that they STINK.
Complain about them TO them and elsewhere.

Customer Primer

Rule Number ONE: Don't be an ass!!!

Now if you are like most people, you might have thought I meant customer service primer, but I don't. My darling daughter started her first job this week—standard service counter job—providing customers with what they ask for, taking their money for it. Her second shift was on Monday. A lady came in, made her order, paid, daughter rang it up and then started making change... THEN the lady said “Oh wait. I have change.” This flustered daughter who was a bit nervous, not very confident about her math skills, and who then needed to calculate change in her head...

This moron proceeded to reprimant MY DAUGHTER about needing math skills for this job WHEN HER BADGE SAID TRAINEE. It wasn't a friendly jibe. It was rude. Mean, even.


Now the mama bear in me would like to track this woman down and thunk her in the head good. But instead, as supreme world leader in my Naked World Domination Plan, I am submitting to you:


A PROCLAMATION.

To achieve PERSONHOOD, ALL people must work three years in the lowly, minimum-wage service industry. This includes but is not limited to: fast food, coffee counter, waiting tables, convenience store. It does NOT include high-end retail or sales. This is service to hundreds of people a shift payment, not six figure commission work.

Until such a time as a person has put in their three years in the service industry, they must have a chaperone to shop who is to thunk them in the head every time they are rude to service people. They will pay this chaperone well, thereby stimulating the economy, and they will pay double price, difference to be kept by mistreated people. If a person cannot afford to pay the chaperone, then the person must wear a badge reading:

“I am a pampered princess who's never had to work. Please correct me when I make an ass of myself as a customer.” and when they DO make an ass of themselves as a customer, they are to pay DOUBLE for their good or service, money to be claimed by the mistreated person. And they must then perform the grimiest task in the establishment.


So THERE.

I just can't believe somebody would be such a miserable lowlife as to give a hard time to a TRAINEE. For Pete's sake, encourage the bloody work ethic.

On the plus side, it was only one bad egg. Everyone else was nice. She likes the job. She is excited about earning money and being very responsible about it. I think it will be a good experience for her.

But in absence of supreme power, I am calling on all of YOU... if you see a pampered biotch or jerk giving a bad time to a young person who is working hard, PLEASE, tell them to cut them a break (in fact if you can do it without a fistfight, tell them they're an ass). Those of us who work for a living are the ones who hold this world up. Those who are just handed everything TAKE TAKE TAKE. They are a pox on us all.


JOIN THE FORCE!!! MAKE PEOPLE BE NICE!!! BY FORCE IF NECESSARY!!!

My Darling Revolutionaries

Children, children, children... 
STOP!


You are DOING THIS WRONG!!!
[warning, this is a little political, though more populist than partisan]


I Feel Your Pain

Seriously. In this economic Debacle, we are hurting, too. We HAVE been hurting since my husband got laid off in 2008. I know we're lucky. We own (some small portion of) our house and nobody is starving, but I also work my butt off and have a master's degree and twenty years experience in my field. It should NOT be this hard. Even now, with hubby at work again, the catching up feels impossible.

We Really DO Need a Revolution

I think at least in the US, this is true. There are people who deserve to be rich, but MOST of the rich have far more than they've ever merited (certainly more than a life of luxury needs). They are the CEOs who got golden parachutes, and the profit skimmers who knew something and got OUT while the rest of us lost our pensions. They are the Sports pros who play games to entertain us and the movie stars. They are lawyers suing needlessly and ambulance chasing to create a society FAR too litigious which costs without creating. They are insurance people dictating that our medical care is paid for based on what will maximize their money.

I hear minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour. When I finished high school it was $3.35—27 years ago. At that time a median new house cost $80,500. This year, it is $235,200. Wage doubles. House price triples. In fact here is some comparing...

Cost of Living 1984 and [now]

Yearly Inflation Rate USA4.3 % [3.6%: a little lower, eh?]
Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 1211 [Dec 31 2010=11,578]--holy CRAP somebody made a killing.
Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 10.75% [hovering LOW—2.5% or less, so WAY cheaper to borrow]
Average Cost of new house $86,730.00 [$235,200, 3X higher]
Average Income per year $21,600.00 [around $48,000, this change is comparable to minimum wage change]
Average Monthly Rent $350.00 [almost $1300, SAY WHAT?]
Movie Ticket $2.50 [$8.00]
1 gallon of gas $1.10 [$3.80]
Dodge RAM 50 Truck $8,995.00 [$21.810]

And did you know in 1984 a CEO made 42 times what an average employee of the same company did?  NOW, it is 235 times. Did the VALUE of a CEO go up six times faster?  REALLY?

So some things have changed in range of income, but some (in particular, places we LIVE) have gone up a lot faster than wages. While the Dow has increased 10 TIMES. So people who need to use their income to LIVE are pretty much screwed. People who can INVEST have made a fortune. And yes... some of us have some money invested... my retirement is largely stocks... but my $100K accumulated over 10 years (that is actually probably only 80K after last week) is not on the same scale as someone making that annually... or twice that... or ten times that...


Do you Want to Know How this HAPPENED? Because I know...

We can place this solidly in the lap of Ronald Reagan and deregulation. In the 80s credit became CHEAP and so workers stopped insisting on better wages for the jobs they did. The lower wages made the material 'necessity' culture fly because 1) manufacturers could charge relatively little, and 2) we had credit so we could BUY it even though our wages weren't enough...

For two and a half decades this worked. But then the credit came due.

Our GOAL should be to equalize this 'too low of wage thing'--It will be painful. We won't be able to have the same level of STUFF, but in reality this SHOULD come largely from the people who got so rich in this climate.


What we SHOULD NOT Do...

Is riot and destroy the meager or modest possessions, places of business, homes, and means of people who are NOT the super rich...

And we should not destroy the businesses that provide jobs... in fact ANY destruction of stuff or harming of people is counterproductive. When there is not enough stuff for the POOR, the answer is NOT to destroy STUFF. Do you SEE how this doesn't work?

What is needed is POLICY change and POLICY change is arrived at through elections, peaceful protests, influencing public opinion with our WRITING.

So spread the word... Don't wreck other people's stuff, but get MAD, write LETTERS, VOTE, get ACTIVE. As Aerosmith says, it's time to Eat the Rich (but only figuratively... the literal thing would be gross)

Where Life Buries Me

So I don't know what I did to tick off the cosmos, but apparently it was a doozy. So I apologize first to the cosmos. My bad. I won't do it again. At least I will try not to, though it would help a lot if you'd just tell me what it was...

Perhaps it is a correction for the good stuff that has happened lately, and in that case I will just suck it up and take it... but not until I've complained a bit, so NOW I will apologize to YIBUS, lovely readers... this is just going to be a grand whine.

Summer Schedule SNAFU

So at work our ADMIN is leaving. She gave notice on the 7th and so we are hiring. The TROUBLE is we need to hire (did I complain about this already? Feels like I may have, but I don't see blog evidence) and then TRAIN... and TRAINING requires PRESENCE of somebody BESIDES said new hiree. I REALLY REALLY hope this doesn't put the kaibash on my Mondays off this summer, but for at least the month of June, I suspect it might. (Have I SAID how sad this makes me? To think I might not get my long weekends when I wanted them SO BADLY)

[not to mention I've gone over 85 resumes in the last 48 hours]


And then there is the DAMN CAR.

By DAMN CAR, I mean only car.

But it was unavoidable. Ann Arbor seems to be experiencing a Car Goblin.[or perhaps it is a Gremlin or a Grindylow]

I was just thinking we were headed for financial stability and then last Wednesday hubby called me... flat tire... bad enough we had to replace both front ones... rear ones will need it by fall... A single credit card had room for said tires...

And THEN... the ignition has been gripping the key rather unforgivingly... won't let go without five minutes of wiggle, and finally today, it not only wouldn't let go, but wouldn't TURN... no turn... no turn OVER...

Another reason pants are evil

Now this is compounded by the fact I just mentioned that at the moment, there are NO credit cards with room for large car repairs... hubby SHOULD have gotten first check Friday, but hubby missed part of the numbers he was supposed to get them for direct deposit (and this is only a check for 3 days anyway) so there was much scrambling... We worked it out, other than the no car for three days part...

[this just in... check CAME... but it is missing the mileage reimbursement, so it helps, but is not sufficient]

So hubby talked to our neighbor who has two cars and she said “SURE, you can borrow my second one for a few days!” (YAY) but when hubby tried, her emergency break is stuck ON. And so another neighbor offered a RIDE, but her Gadget-ometer is gone (so her car drives but she has no clue how much gas, speed, or miles she's got...)... Jean, the fabulous neighbor, even had the goblin creep into her HOUSE and straighten a part of her door that should remain bent, so now her door won't open... THEN fabulous neighbor went to her FIRST car... clutch is gone... no warning (though her SO managed to fix the ONE... still, she has no second car anymore...  GAH!  What is it with these freaking car demons!?


Any of you having goblins interfering with your lives?

And then of course the life stress has make itself known on my writing schedule... but there is bright news, too.

GRANT uploaded and looks good before deadline.
And I've managed to make progress still, so because I was ahead, I am still ahead...

What Ales Me
is 67% complete



33504 / 50000 words written

*67 Top Ten

So in the course of learning the stuff that went into YESTERDAY's post, I learned something interesting about tele-com... if you press '*67' and THEN dial, you come up as calling from a 'restricted number'--there is no evidence you called... the recipient can't see who you are to screen, and the phone keeps no record of where the call came from.

Say what?

Help me here. What would be the PURPOSE of this 'service'? A service that is FREE. The conspiracy theorist in my says SOMEBODY has a vested interest in this, which is never the plain old public. So I thought maybe we'd brainstorm who this would help.


1)  Prank callers (this is in fact what my daughter said was 'the only use' she knew.
2)  Teenaged couples trying to double check their parents aren't around so they can 'sneak in'--if you know what I mean...
3)  Addled parental couples trying to double check no kids are home so they can 'sneak in'--if you know what I mean *shifty*
4)  Burglars double checking that you aren't home, so they can sneak in.
5)  Stalkers who just want to hear your voice but remain anonymous.
6)  Lovers who don't want to leave a record for your spouse.
7)  Militant libertarians who just don't think there should be ANY records. Ever.
8)  Regular libertarians who do it on principal.
9)  Spam calls telling you how to vote and the like that don't want to be screened.
10)   Tele-marketers who don't want to be screened and are trying to avoid getting in trouble because you are on a Do-Not-Call list.

Seriously... Can ANYBODY think of a VALID reason this ought to be available? At least it ought to cost an arm and a leg (payable to the recipient of the calls) so it isn't done lightly. And when we called Verizon to BLOCK restricted calls, you can't—they can block specific numbers, even if they do the restricted code--so if you KNOW who is harassing you (and their number) you can stop them, but you can't make it so you can't receive restricted calls.

Any takers on my conspiracy theory? I'm thinking of taking up a really obnoxious campaign on the matter unless somebody can give me a SINGLE DECENT REASON for the existence of this "service".