you taught me victory's sweet, even deep in the cheap seats

Niel Gaiman is trying on a redemption tour.

I should've stayed in fucking bed.

Misc PSA from various BlueSky users: If you see the research study conducted by Ayagdos, don't participate in it. It's run by transphobes.
More details in the thread.


Fandom Stuff!

fiachairecht's annual Dark Femslash Comment fest!

halfamoon is currently running with daily prompts for fanworks about female characters. (I'm not even trying to participate this year, but I love that it's still going.)

dreamersdare: Stuff I Love: Top Ten Edition (February Challenge)
Each week in February, you are challenged to write a themed top ten list, with a focus on different aspects of media.


Fandom Stuff: The Hockey Gays Edition
CBCArts: Heated Rivalry's Harrison Browne is fighting the good fight for trans hockey players | Here & Queer (Video: 11 minutes).
There is zero mention of HR in this video, but Browne's current project sounds cool!

Province of Canada: Sign Up for Fleece Updates
I guess fans lost the push to make that fleece official merch for the Canadian Olympic team in like two weeks, but you will be able to buy it at some point.

Out Sports: Empty Netters host privately called Heated Rivalry ‘trash,’ show creators ‘losers’ and ‘cowards’
Ah, there's the hockey culture I know.
ETA: The guys have apologised, and there are misrepresentations in the article I linked (because the reporter is shitty). However, I think the underlying homophobia stands.


Canadian Politics
House of Commons: Petition e-7005 (Health)
We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to ensure all eligible residents of Canada can access required healthcare, including gender affirming healthcare, as outlined in the Canada Health Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
(Open to all citizens and residents of Canada. Don't forget you need to confirm your signature via email.)

CBC: Unreserved with Rosanna Deerchild — Greenlandic Inuit and their fight for independence (Podcast: 49 minutes, no transcript.)

Parody Site: Sponsor a Separatist!
(Possibly mean spirited, but I got a laugh out of it.)

The Tyee: As Supports Dwindle, Violence Against Sex Workers Is Up
Women are worried that conditions could lead to another serial killer operating in the Lower Mainland. A Tyee deep dive.


U.S. Politics ( Cut for those who need the break )

I'm still really enjoying it! I think episode three was a little woobly for me (I don't enjoy school bully plots, even if they come to a good resolution), but the others have been great, and I love how the episodic nature is letting us get to know all of the characters better, not just focusing on Caleb and Ake (though Caleb and Ake are great!). And there's 1.5 queer couples!

I like how much of it is about building a better future. The characters come from different cultures, and come with a certain amount of damage because the stable government hasn't been there for them, and that's an organic part of the plot too. So, the kids are trying to grow up and figure out who they are, and they've also found themselves at a pivot point of history, when the Federation tries to decide what it wants to be. It's a lot of the same themes as DS9 dealt with in the later seasons (though in that case, fending off what the Federation ought not to be, which I guess Picard was trying to do too, but in a very cludgy way). I like the credits being about growth and building (though could take or leave the theme), and the show also being that.

And yes I have been watching Jessie Gender again, but one of the things I agree with her about is how it's not leaning very hard on nostalgia, or trying to recreate a Star Trek the show runners grew up with, which honestly a lot of post-Voyager shows have leaned on. (Though Discovery didn't especially land for me, and I never gave it enough of a chance, I think it at least was trying to do something different, so it makes sense that it created the setting for SFA.) Like the shows I loved most, and which re-invented what the show could be in the '90s, they're not on a ship called Enterprise, and they're not on an exploratory mission backed by the strength of the Federation (and don't forget that people loathed every single one of the '90s shows on grounds of: "They changed it, and I don't like it!") The main challenges in SFA are different because the main characters are students, but the way of poking at moral themes remains. The show is about them building a better world, personally and politically, with respect for and in conversation with the world building that came before, but not beholden to it as a prefect object, and I'm really loving that.

(The mix of earnestness and silliness reminds me of this hilarious short by SoOkayHeresTheThing: What It's Like to Watch Star Trek. Summarised in One Minute.)

I especially really liked these specific spoilery things: ( Spoilers for episodes 1x02 and 1x04. )

Two beats that I absolutely hated, for balance: ( Spoilers for episodes 1x01 and 1x02 )

I want to try making this Melt the ICE hat, which of course knits in the round. I haven't done that, so I looked up a couple tutorials on how to knit with double pointed needles. They both said, "these will come in sets of five." The pattern says, "divide evenly on 4 DPNs" (which I assume implies the existence of a fifth needle to work with).

Every single one of the many sets of DPNs I got from Mom comes in a set of four.

Why?