tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post72136836141190249..comments2023-11-10T04:17:00.492-05:00Comments on View From The Porch: Well, this is new...Tamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-41140840672171260182014-03-11T22:06:07.514-04:002014-03-11T22:06:07.514-04:00That was much funnier the first time. :(That was much funnier the first time. :(ecurbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-77744827380077141112014-03-03T06:28:10.443-05:002014-03-03T06:28:10.443-05:00Blume,
Thank you for your feedback. It is greatly...Blume,<br /><br />Thank you for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated and will help us improve our product in the future...<br /><br />...you thin-skinned mouth-breathing simpleton.Tamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07285540310465422476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-15433741849616910722014-03-03T04:04:30.282-05:002014-03-03T04:04:30.282-05:00If your previous article was anything other than a...If your previous article was anything other than a pro-diversity rant against the bigoted old white guys in scifi and fantasy, then you failed in the execution. Like everyone pointed out in the discussion, it only looks bigoted if you saw one episode, read one book, or play one game of d&d. The archetypes are used for simplicities sake first and then over time greater complexity is added. It has nothing to do with being bigoted as human and everything to do with making your product easily digestible for the masses. Second using the word bigot is the same as using racist, sexist, or homophobe. It looks like your insulting to gain moral high ground. It's no wonder every body thought you were going on a pc rant. Blumenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-42341703140022699592014-03-02T21:35:49.403-05:002014-03-02T21:35:49.403-05:00Ecurb nailed it. Apparently the PC vermin staged a...Ecurb nailed it. Apparently the PC vermin staged a coup at SWFWA and are busy deciding what everyone should write, complete with diversity quotas for the LGLBT characters, because racist. Most of the PC brigade are mostly un or self published, and it's just not fair!<br /> I suspect most of Sarah's mob like boomsticks and would be good in a pinch.Old Surferhttp://www.thesurfcanoe.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-46706341951161533242014-03-01T22:47:33.403-05:002014-03-01T22:47:33.403-05:00I go to geek school for a week, and come back to r...I go to geek school for a week, and come back to read all this. Still trying to figure out all the butthurt, but I also want to know what the starting bid on Bobbie was, and if there was a reserve price...Gewehr98https://www.blogger.com/profile/14440119702457734221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-5208280616474840242014-03-01T00:35:51.865-05:002014-03-01T00:35:51.865-05:00I'm not clear on the nature of the disagreemen...I'm not clear on the nature of the disagreement, since in my discussions with you both, you would agree about 90% with each other.<br /><br />I think possibly it's because the debate over on Sarah's blog has been going on for months, and there's a context to it.Michael Z. Williamsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13543005122174458805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-66934081858747717552014-02-28T19:51:55.267-05:002014-02-28T19:51:55.267-05:00@Mike_C:
That's some quality geeking, right t...@Mike_C:<br /><br />That's some quality geeking, right there.<br /><br />Well done.<br /><br />(not sarcasm, in case it's unclear)Fodder4Thoughtnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-5719761893846265182014-02-28T14:31:31.085-05:002014-02-28T14:31:31.085-05:00Most of the upset is because the type of people wh...Most of the upset is because the type of people who enjoy Being In Charge and telling everyone what to do have gotten themselves elected/appointed to positions where they can do just that. You know, the kind of busybodies who flock to positions of petty power on neighborhood associations, school boards, convention committees, and guild and union offices. <br /><br />So they're pushing an agenda, and the people who <i>don't</i> like bossiness are figuring out that in forswearing all the weapons of coercion, they've left themselves powerless except for petition and complaint. Griping like Lear is all they've got left.<br />It's the usual "libertarians don't do politics, so politics is done to them" problem, and assholes like Scalzi are taking full advantage of it. <br /><br />Now that they've given up their voice in the organization, it'll be interesting to see how many choose exit over loyalty. How much coercive power to the SFWA union bosses actually have over members, and how valuable is membership in the organization? Ecurbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-33436147714383450472014-02-28T13:23:36.091-05:002014-02-28T13:23:36.091-05:00The whole kerfuffle has been a pretty giant inkblo...The whole kerfuffle has been a pretty giant inkblot. I've only caught the fringe fire because I sensed that the whole thing would exhaust me and make me stop liking a number of writers whose work I love, but one of the side furors I did catch was some sort of Tor essay about how science fiction shouldn't mindlessly uphold gender binaries and how this was evidence of crypto liberal weenism.<br /><br />MY reaction pretty much entirely boiled down to: If you're that outraged over the notion that science fiction writing could broadly do with being <i>more imaginative</i>, you've lost the argument right there. The best science fiction runs on tweaking and inverting notions, no matter whose ideology they may represent.LabRathttp://www.atomicnerds.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-32244717631493278112014-02-28T11:02:29.750-05:002014-02-28T11:02:29.750-05:00@ Fodder4Thought: Good thing I put in the weasel w...@ Fodder4Thought: Good thing I put in the weasel words "If I recall correctly" then! A quick Googling suggests I was remembering Appendix F from LOTR, namely the part that said: "It may be observed that in this book as in The Hobbit the form dwarves is used, although the dictionaries tell us that the plural of dwarf is dwarfs. It should be dwarrows (or dwerrows), if singular and pural had each gone its own way down the years, as have man and men, or goose and geese. But we no longer speak of a dwarf as often as we do of a man, or even of a goose, and memories have not been fresh enough among Men to keep hold of a special plural for a race now abandoned to folk-tales [...] But in the Third Age something of their old character and power is still glimpsed [...] It is to mark this that I have ventured to use the form dwarves, and remove them a little, perhaps, from the sillier tales of these latter days." /geek<br /><br />Thanks for the clarification, OldTexan. I learn something new nearly every day here ;)Mike_Cnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-33068358195952697102014-02-28T00:10:20.978-05:002014-02-28T00:10:20.978-05:00Welp, the 7-day google results for SFWA were a gia...Welp, the 7-day google results for SFWA were a giant "NOPE" warning that made me glad I stopped reading SF a long time ago.<br /><br />But when it comes to people not understanding satire that takes a lot of context to figure out, you should probably make more allowances for all the petrol fumes hanging around before you flick out incendiary gems like:<br /><br />"shove it up your ingonrant ass, fuckstick"Ecurbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-48422885381184430142014-02-27T23:08:43.660-05:002014-02-27T23:08:43.660-05:00Yes, Tam, you're judgmental, 'specially wi...Yes, Tam, you're judgmental, 'specially with regard to bargain gun buyers and folks that need a big shot of Gumout® in their brainpans.<br />So what?Buzznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-28055774156444442992014-02-27T20:49:55.230-05:002014-02-27T20:49:55.230-05:00Roberta, I only know the reference as they use it ...Roberta, I only know the reference as they use it in promos on FX, which plays Archer. I'm an indiscriminate sponge though so I pick stuff up.<br /><br />"Barney here hits on roughly 20 girls a week."<br /><br />Barney Stinson: "Whoa, it’s wayyy more than 20. And B. Smooth don’t do nothin’ roughly."Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05414687981098467556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-63844920602610593582014-02-27T20:14:50.622-05:002014-02-27T20:14:50.622-05:00Matthew: Ahh, see, I never saw me no "How I M...Matthew: Ahh, see, I never saw me no "How I Married Your Mother." I barely watch films and look at television only rarely; the TV shows after about 1970 I know even a little about can probably be counted on one hand.Roberta Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09956807794520627885noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-30978612896500788422014-02-27T18:11:30.813-05:002014-02-27T18:11:30.813-05:00It is a little known fact that Dwarves have feet t...It is a little known fact that Dwarves have feet that turn inward, kind of pigeon toed and Dwarfs have feet that turn outward and this dates back to an old middle English take off of the Germanic Indo-European phraseology not that it makes much difference here in Texas.OldTexanhttp://hpsds.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-35743035409116603102014-02-27T16:44:45.164-05:002014-02-27T16:44:45.164-05:00@Mike_C: Not to come off as contrarian,but the Gr...@Mike_C: Not to come off as contrarian,but the Great and Powerful Wiki suggests that the two spellings predated Tolkien, and that he merely popularized the less common of the two, despite being of the opinion that his usage was incorrect:<br /><br />Modern English has two plurals for the word dwarf; dwarfs and dwarves. Dwarfs remains the most commonly employed plural. While recorded as early as 1818, the minority plural dwarves was popularized by the fiction of philologist and author J. R. R. Tolkien, originating as a mistake (hypercorrection) and employed by Tolkien since some time before 1917 (for Tolkien's beings, see Dwarf (Middle-earth)).[3] Regarding the plural, Tolkien wrote in 1937 that "I am afraid it is just a piece of private bad grammar, rather shocking in a philologist; but I shall have to go with it".[3]Fodder4Thoughtnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-89301578757994506212014-02-27T16:36:29.018-05:002014-02-27T16:36:29.018-05:00Roberta, do you think Tam could hook me up with he...Roberta, do you think Tam could hook me up with her white slavery contacts? I got a little list....Cincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10424218376882403880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-65690608649731884222014-02-27T16:33:11.793-05:002014-02-27T16:33:11.793-05:00Roberta,
Forgive me if I'm missing fellow sa...Roberta, <br /><br />Forgive me if I'm missing fellow sarcasm, or wasn't clear I was referencing "How I Married Your Mother," but I was making a joke, not criticizing.Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05414687981098467556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-1821229373088605192014-02-27T15:47:18.306-05:002014-02-27T15:47:18.306-05:00[At Cons] I was feeling half-homicidal at the utte...<i> [At Cons] I was feeling half-homicidal at the utter lack of social skills involved.</i><br />Funny, I felt that way about a certain magnificent Institute of Technology. The thing was, there wasn't a majority of the aggressively awkward, but a "sufficiently critical" mass to make mIT (sic) personally unbearable after a while. And that goes to Walter Daniels' remarks:<br /><i>The same "qualities" you condemn *all* fans and Rennies for having. [...]</i><br /><br />I don't recall any claim that <i>all</i> SF fans and Renfair-ites (Renfairies?) were whatever the accusation was supposed to be. It just takes enough people behaving unpleasantly or annoyingly that the benefit:want-to-take-a-firehose-to these-people ratio tips in favor of the firehose. And that's a good time to leave if you're already in that environment, and good reason to stay the hell away if you aren't already enmired in it. As an aside, the really scary thing was that CalTech transfers were easily picked out from the mIT background, because <i>they were smart yet <b>so</b> nerdy</i>.<br /><br />@GVI: Haha! Sounds like you have a heck of a daughter. (From this and prior anecdotes.)<br /><br /><br />I think this is the first instance of someone pluralizing "dwarf" as "dwarfs" -- which is of course correct English. The whole "dwarves" thing everyone else has been using up until now is a <i>Tolkien</i> invention. IIRC he wanted to distinguish <i>his</i> people from "silly creatures" like Snow White's companions and the like.Mike_Cnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-70862209955292526482014-02-27T15:45:15.714-05:002014-02-27T15:45:15.714-05:00I do believe you have achieved a degree of noterie...I do believe you have achieved a degree of noteriety, Tam. Awesome.<br /><br />You want me to be embarrassed about that? Sorry, actual geek here. I started reading Niven at 10.<br /><br />I gave up on cons years back, after going, supporting, and helping to run the IT department. The degree of political squabbling and infighting at the local 'big' con made the average mayorial election look like a bun fight.<br /><br />I do think you would make a most interesting Kzinti. I always thought it would be awesome to be recognized as someone who could - to some degree legally - rip you apart if given provocation.roamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03379029137402219659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-12434212514336042892014-02-27T15:43:29.588-05:002014-02-27T15:43:29.588-05:00Yes, Matthew, of course; Tam's been a secret C...Yes, Matthew, of course; Tam's been a secret Commie crypto-lib'ral all this time, as shown by her use of "bigot" and you've caught her out. Why, it's a damn wonder she hasn't murdered me in my sleep -- or sold my fair white bod to the balackamoors, yessireebobamarrooonie.<br /><br /> Gods, some days I regret blogging, ever.Roberta X, remotely.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-19106407032694789672014-02-27T14:23:05.716-05:002014-02-27T14:23:05.716-05:00The Caste system live and in action! In a certain ...The Caste system live and in action! In a certain society they are approaching the event-horizon where they would have their own endogamous "partition," - but that would be a much different Indian name, more like Tamanna Bhattacharya... NotClauswitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14358707844087117280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-6806449621934234232014-02-27T14:13:44.742-05:002014-02-27T14:13:44.742-05:00I do take exception to your claim on Facebook (whi...I do take exception to your claim on Facebook (which I read this morning far too late to comment therein) that your use of "bigot" was "inadvertent."<br /><br />To paraphrase B. Stinson: T Slick don't write nothin' inadvertently. ;) Matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05414687981098467556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-41288854767684012252014-02-27T13:51:13.569-05:002014-02-27T13:51:13.569-05:00(apologies to those of you who've seen this el...<i>(apologies to those of you who've seen this elsewhere but it seems appropriate)</i><br /><br /> I once had to explain Trekkies to my 4-year old daughter when we were at an event which the region's fan club also attended.<br /><br />If you don't have kids, it might be hard to appreciate the difficulty associated with explaining such an organization to a pre-schooler. Take my word for it, though - it isn't easy, particularly when a couple such fans are seated nearby, listening INTENTLY to whether you portray them in a positive, negative or (nearly as bad) neutral light.<br /><br />I ended up telling her, after several attempts which went right over her head, that "Star Trek People" were people who liked to pretend they were part of a tv show about adventures in outer space.<br /><br />She looked at the Trekkies, then at me, and the look on her face clearly communicated her continued <br />bewilderment - I somehow MUST be mistaken. "But, Dad..." she finally replied, "They're GROWN-UPS!"<br /><br />I will take the looks on the faces of the two Trekkies to the grave.<br /><br />There is no smackdown quite so devastating as one delivered unintentionally by a sincere 4-year old with pure intentions.<br /><br />gvi<br />global village idiothttp://www.alpharubicon.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15907727.post-62932467652956976862014-02-27T13:45:59.812-05:002014-02-27T13:45:59.812-05:00Wow, how many dwarfs can dance on the head of a li...Wow, how many dwarfs can dance on the head of a lizard. I too am a daily reader of Tam's site and this uproar is way too funny. I love her humor, gun sense and take on politics so it great to see he poke people in their fantasy.OldTexanhttp://hpsds.comnoreply@blogger.com