Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

This is my first test of DreamWidth's crossposting feature, to see how it works.

I've made some more decisions about this journal, since last night, when I created the account:

(start list)

• I'm keeping my LiveJournal as my Internet Homepage, because I've designed it to be an easy-ish hub to my favorite places. And I've just added a link here so I can access both spots at once.



• I will continue to be a paying user of LJ for the foreseeable future, so I can continue to have access to favorite communities (Especially NaArMaMo*), and have access to my LJ scrapbook.



• If this crossposting thing works, and works well -- both for ease of reading and ease of commenting for people on my lj f'list, especially -- however, my default practice may be to post via DreamWidth by default, and just echo it on LJ. But only if it's headache-free-ish. I ain't running away from anyone. Just so you know.

(end list)

Now, to the heart of my matter. When I created this account, I imported all my special features, including my custom filters.

When DreamWidth started asking me about my filters, I realized something important: Most of my filters have been around far longer than most of the people on my f'list. And so most of the people on my friends list might not even know certain filters exist, much less whether they'd want to be on any of them.

So here they are: with brief descriptions. Tell me which ones you'd like to be on, and I'll put you on. If you want to be taken off a filter, let me know that, too. I will use this mostly to edit my LJ account information, rather than DreamWidth, because, like I said, this place will most likely just be a mirror.

(begin list of filter names)

Pagans:
I don't use this one very much, any more. I started using when I still self-identified as Neo-Pagan (I now identify as Agnostic and/or Atheist), and was concerned about the prospect of Bible-Thumping trolls coming in and hijacking an conversations about spirituality or worldviews that don't center on the Judeo-Christian deity. I still sometimes talk about this stuff, but I'm not as worried as I used to be. Still, the filter is there, so if you want on, let me know.

Doctor Who:
For talking about my favorite sci-fi franchise. I'm not so much afraid of trolls, here; this is more a do-not-annoy-the-nice-people filter (My love of Doctor Who is one reason why I'm reluctant to use DW to refer to DreamWidth; it confuses my brain).

Women:
Again, one I don't use very often. But sometimes, I want to talk about women-specific issues without feeling like a man might possibly be reading over my shoulder. Note: whether or not I put you on this filter depends entirely on how you see yourself, not how some stranger sees you, regardless of what may, or may not, be between your legs.

Men:
I actually don't think I've ever used this filter, in posting, but, for the sake of fairness, I didn't want to denegrade men into second-class people on my friends list, as: oh, yeah -- all those other people, over there. The same Note applies here as above.

GeekErotica:
For discussing my erotic fantasies, which just so happen to often take place in a sci-fi or fantasy context. I also tend to get very intellectual and philosophical about such things. What can I say? I am a Geek, after all. This is an "Explicit Adult -- only 18+" filter.

Frontiers of Justice:
For discussing the book Frontiers of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership by Martha C. Nussbaum (a book about the shortcomings in, and the author's alternative to, predominate social contract theory in philosophy). I bought the book back in the beginning of year. And I've read the introduction. Mostly, it's still in my "I really ought to read that" pile... But when I get up the energy to tackle it, I promise to use this filter more often.

Novel 2009:
For discussing, asking advice on, posting excerpts of (etc.), the novel I set myself up to write this year, as my new year's resolution. (I'm currently wrestling with my Inner Critic about that, and trying to see and hear the secondary characters more clearly)

And filters which I only use to help sift through my friends list page, which is a feature DreamWidth doesn't have yet, so it's kind of a moot point. But for the sake of completeness:

Communities:
Just what you'd expect.

Fiction and Roleplay:
For those secondary journals, created by friends, that are written in the voice of fictional characters. This is a very small filter.

(End list of filter names)

And there you have it. Let's try this experiment out, and see how commenting, in particular, works. Just in case you don't want all and sundry to know what filters you're interested in, all comments will be screened.

*Sorry, but I can't find the instructions for linking to an LJ community from the dreamwidth site; the rules for individual users don't seem to apply

I'm capriuni over there, just as I'm capriuni here. I've imported all my lj entries, tags, and special friends groups, filters, and all.

I've titled the journal the same ("Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains"), and have the same default icon (Jester in red, yellow and green motley, reclining on a treble musical staff), because these things are part of my "online face," and my real face doesn't change when I go different places in the three-dimensional world; I don't see why it should be different in the cyber world.

I made the decision in favor of DreamWidth over other LJ-alternative sites for three main reasons:

• It just feels more stable than DeadJournal, InsaneJournal, or Inksome ever did -- like it may actually (or perhaps, already has) reached the Hundredth Monkey state.



• The people there seem to be making a real effort to make it barrier-free to everybody as a matter of course, instead of as an awkward, and embarrassing afterthought. This should be supported.



• The TOS allows users to keep control of the copyright of everything they post; so I'm more comfortable posting my own fiction and poetry over there, especially stuff I'll know I want to publish in other ways and places.


• And a bonus reason: so far, no swarms of Russian-friending bots

So -- if you're on my friends list, and have a dreamwidth account, let me know your user name there, so I can add you to my circles.

Oh, and BTW: here are my filters (let me know which ones you'd like to be on; though, natch, whether I put you on that filter will be up to me):


Pagans

Doctor Who Chat

Women

Men

GeekErotica (where I talk about my kinky thoughts, especially in SF and Fantasy scenerios)

Novel 2009 (where I puzzle out [and possibly ask for feedback] the novel I promised myself I'd write, this year)

Frontiers of Justice (where I discuss / review this book I bought, with one of its main focuses being the social contracts and the rights of the disabled) -- I haven't posted to this filter as much as I thought I would, but it's there)

I've been thinking of rewriting my profile page.

Actually, I composed what's up there now when I was in the mood to try an Internet dating site (again), so that's why it's so heavy on the disability info.

( Boy, that turned into a longer rant than I was expecting. ) I have other things I want to do in life. Also, every time you click on a page, Harmony.com installs spyware on your computer, also, they flood your email box (and they charge you for the privilege).

So, yeah. No longer interested, at least in that sort of connection.

So, old friends and new friends: help me (re)write my LJ profile. (I'm thinking, now, that I should rewrite it on a regular basis -- maybe in sync with the changing seasons -- just to keep it an accurate reflection of who I am at the moment.

Note: There was some sort of bug the first (and second -- and third) time I tried to post this poll, and it didn't load properly. So I deleted, and redid, it (trying again -- and again):

[F--- (Dash) this for a game of soldiers!] I'll try posting the poll in a seperate entry.

...Also, I realized that I needed something more generic than my "Four and Romana One Hug" for those people on my f'list who are not Doctor Who fans (yes, those people exist).

"Irish Proverb"!

As promised, I changed a couple of details. I took out the "Irish proverb" bit, because I don't like things with labels and arrows, and stuff, unless it's to be ironic. And I only put it there in the first place because there was too much empty space on the bottom.

There are also a couple of other proverbs along this same vein, but talking about the negative side of the equation:

"It's often a person's tongue slit his throat," and: "It's often a person's mouth broke their nose." (Scene: John comes into work with his nose all bandaged and bruised. Tom looks up and asks: "So what boneheaded thing did you say this time?"). But I prefer the positive spin.

I suppose another Irish proverb would have been even more appropriate for talking about the lingering power of language: "Is buaine focal ná toice an tsaoil" (A word is more enduring than worldly wealth)

The writer who first, in 1915, paired the word handicapped with child probably spent the pay from that piece within the month, and we're still living with the consequences of that idea nearly 200 years later.

But the English translation is so clunky in comparison with the Irish, it kind of sets my teeth on edge. If I could come up with a translation with a similiar combination of meter and alliteration, I might use that instead. Until then, have "A good word."

So, after that recent documentary on pbs, about Helvetica, I became a momentary geek about typefaces. And in a spurt of surfing on Wikipedia, I discovered that I had totally chosen the wrong font if I wanted to be kind to your eyes. Book Antiqua (Or, to the world beyond Microsoft Corp., Palatino Linotype), which I'd been using for the main text for my entries, had never been intended to be read in small sizes, especially for extended lines. It was designed for display only -- chapter headings, and the like. I hearby appologize for the last (however many) years.

I've just now switched to Bookman Old Style, originally designed by Alexander Phemister in 1858, with tweakings in 1901 by workers at the Bruce American Foundry, to make it easier to read in small fonts, for long stretches of time, in places like book and newspaper (and LiveJournal) pages.

I know that, strictly speaking, Helvetica ("Arial" to Microsoft) is the easiest to read for most people. But when I tried to save my changes to my journal style the first time, I'd typed "Old Style" as one word, by mistake, and everything defaulted to Arial, and my first reaction was: "Ugh! How ugly!" It was like speaking, and suddenly hearing a computer-synthicized voice coming out of my mouth, instead of my own. :::Shudder:::

I'm sorry. Helvetica and its kin may be good for tax forms, subway signs, and utility bills, but for anything subjective, like love poems, or political protests, I need something with serifs and variable wieghts in strokes, or my eyes start to glaze over.

It's nice to know what options are available for different purposes, though, and I now hope my journal is kinder to you than it has been.

Sincerely,

Ann

So, in this poll I'm pleased that "Belsnickling" tied for the highest number of votes in the question of which Olde Tyme Christmas tradition to revive.

What I can't remember is whether I've posted the sort-of rant that runs through my head whenever I see the yearly round of Christmas specials that revolve around whether kids believe in Santa, or whether I've just thought it.

In any case, it centers on why I think Belsnickling is an important social phenomenon, and our society would be more just if we brought it back in some form. But maybe we should take out the combination of rock-throwing and alchohol, for public safety reasons ("Toys for Tots" and "The Angel Tree" projects are pale, thin shadows of social justice. Belsnickling is the same but with Direct Action thrown into the mix).


Would any of you be interested in seeing such a post, here (it would involve long quotes from a single book to illustrate my point)?

And a related question:

• Part A: Should I make a dedicated "Folklore" filter, for my f'list, specifically for things like this (and Mother Goose, and Grimms', etc.)?


• Part B: Would you like to be on such a filter?