Net is casted, breakfast is had, doggies are fed and walked, now for leaflet delivery!

(don't forget, LJ folks, if you want to follow my netcastings you can do so by adding jennier_lc_feed)

((also, don't forget to watch Uncle David tonight at 9 if you have access to the BBC!))

Doing nearly a full day at Marsden and then an eight hour shift at work too yesterday may have taken it out of me a bit. Especially given that I had to work today as well. So I'm going to have a nap in a minute. But before then, there's a couple of things I'd like to share with you.

1. The not-very-active but still lovely LJ comm fountainpens has a really cool post today - a picture of not only the pen, but what it writes like. Fellow Pen Porn devotees might wish to have a look, and, maybe join in? I shall possibly be doing so later.


2. Gravelly Voiced Sex Pot has put up the first Carnival of Modern Liberty on LC. Is it me, or does the "modern" in that, seem incongruous? Like we don't want any of that old-fashioned liberty where everyone just has freedom, we have a NEW definition! It's all a bit Newspeak... Anyway, thankfully, most of the stuff James links to isn't Newspeaky


3. Mr Quist shows why I adore him, with this piece.


4. Charles Darwin has better reasoning skills than Michael Brooks. Which would be less remarkable if Darwin weren't dead...

That's yer lot, for now. Night night.

Today's netcast is up (fashionably late) and many of you will find yourselves linked in it. ginasketch has some more original art for sale. Malady of the weekend appears to be random nosebleeds. Lego Batman Wii game horribly addictive. Small Person has fanvids on YouTube. Quote of the week goes to Andrew Hickey:

if you look at Doctor Who fans between the ages of (roughly) 30 and 60 you’ll find that an astonishingly high proportion of them are gay (or in some way of an alternative sexuality), members of the Liberal Democrats, middle class, very interested in computers, readers of 2000AD, or all of the above.

I resemble that remark... Oh, and today's APOD is GORGEOUS. All I could think when looking at it was Saturn is my favourite planet, mummy! It has thousands of rings and LOADS of moons!, which is what Small Person always says whenever Saturn is mentioned in any context.

And... yeah. Haven't been posting as much as usual, have I? Life is pretty busy right now, that's fer sure. And there hasn't been anything that I have felt moved to post about which hasn't been posted about by better folks than me many times over. So, in lieu of more substantive content, and since I haven't written fic for ages, here is a meme, via netgirl_y2k:

The One Sentence Fic Meme!

Pick a fandom, and try to write different categories of fic (angst, fluff, UST, etc) in one sentence.

( click for fic )

And finally, inspired by Mr Quist's latest hobby horse (three posts on the subject in the last few days):

Poll #1329222 Private vs Public
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 30

The fact that everything everyone does is increasingly public OUGHT to eventually lead to:

The fact that everything everyone does is increasingly public WILL eventually lead to:

I have the freedom to post whatever the hell I like on this blog, and am not subject to random and unpredictable "editorial control".

This makes me happy, even if it might be a downside for the rest of you.

I have two srs bznss posts brewing in my head - one for here about Doctor Who and Liberalism, and one for LC about how it's vitally important for the liberal left NOT to present a united front at all costs. I also have to nag Mat to post his post about Brian Coleman. And I have to go to my mum's. So, obviously, I am participating in a fandom meme (via lizbee):

The first five people to comment in this post get to request a sketch of a character/drabble/icon of a pairing or character(s) of their choosing from me. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their drawing/fic-writing ability level.

Obviously I would prefer it if they are characters I am familiar with, especially if you're requesting a drabble. I think, however, that you're probably more likely to ask to see my meagre drawing skills, aren't you?

Anyone for McGruder/Judge Death pr0n?

Oh, and the net is casted. Castees today include el_staplador, j_rentoul, and everyone's favourite gravelly-voiced Sexpot. Do add jennier_lc_feed to your f-lists; if you're on mine and you post publicly in interesting ways it's likely you'll be featured every so often.

OK, I have done the netcast again today. I have started to feel like I am treading over a lot of the same ground, and would like to broaden my reading list - 200 or so blogs is not a lot to pick from when you're looking for the best of the Liberal blogosphere. This is where YOU come in. If you are reading this post please comment with ONE blog that you think I should add to lcreadinglist, and tell me why. Preferably one that's not already on there, but, you know, I'd be too lazy to go and check, so I won't be cross if you don't either.

(note to non-LJ folks, click here. LJ-based blogs that I am reading are under friends/feeds; non-LJ are under feeds)

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I am planning today to actually post one of the Posts I Have Been Promising For Ages. There's the Nich Starling one, which has mainly been procrastinated because I can't find an electronic copy of his article in The Total Bollocks Guide to Bloggers Who Have Sucked Up To That Tory Blogger, and I can't be arsed typing in quotes; or SB's Guide to Pub Etiquette, which has mainly been put off because it's huge and rambling and full of ranting... How about you help me to decide which one to post?

The former is narrowly focussed, and will probably only be of interest to a few people, but will be less stressful to write; the latter will be a ginormous spleen-vent, and will probably be more socially useful, but will be a lot harder work. Make your choice!

Poll #1290352 Posts I have been promising for Ages
This poll is closed.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

Which of the outstanding Posts I have Been Promising For Ages would you like to read more?

ETA: SB's Guide to Pub Etiquette is written, and is here.

... but getting there. Beer Festival continues today, and I am knackered. I was ill anyway before it started, and the level of hard physical work involved is tough when you're healthy.... Oh well, tomorrow I can safely die.

In the meantime, netcast is up at LC (don't forget to add jennier_lc_feed to your f-lists!), and I thought I ought to post just so that you all know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

Netcast is up. There's all sorts of important stuff in there - hope of victory over Dorries and stuff - but my brain won't work for actual thinking. So I'm going to go back to sleep. G'night all.



(link here)

Am doing the netcast this morning, in lieu of Douglas, poor baby. So you get an extra dose of ME this week, you lucky, lucky people! Therefore this morning's entry is somewhat rushed...

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Terrible news: the Tories are using nefarious measures to obtain our bogs! I support Lord Bonkers in his crusade to liberate the commode from the forces of conservatism!

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Best comment on yesterday's SJA comes from lizbee:

Anyway, I am pro-Rani, and pro-Rani's family. Even though we know from Secret Diary of a Call Girl that Rani's dad regularly visits prostitutes.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahaaa

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Am I the only one who thinks that this is completely ridiculous? So what if Jack Ryan wanted to take HIS WIFE to interesting clubs? Is sex so taboo in America these days that you're not even allowed to do it with your WIFE? OK, I accept that as a Republican he's supposed to be socially conservative, but seriously? This is very very scary to me, and I hope that this sort or moralising doesn't start to take hold over here. It's one thing for there to be scandals over affairs and such, because that involves lying, and although it doesn't matter to me, I can understand (with sadness) why it matters to others. But Cthulhu on a pogo stick, the guy wanted to spice up his sex life WITH HIS WIFE and she demurred and divorced him because they weren't compatible. Why is this even a story, let alone a reason for the poor dude to lose his candidacy?

I have a couple of comments on this one, though. Firstly, what is it with quizzes that ask book questions without an "all of the above" option? Secondly, for question 19, I selected the last option for two reasons: 1, it applies to beer, and 2, I'm allergic to two of the others.

Your result for The Which Ancient Language Are You Test...

Ogham

You scored

Take The Which Ancient Language Are You Test at HelloQuizzy

Oh, yeah, netcast is up on LC. As always, you can follow my stuff on there at jennier_lc_feed

Not in a good headspace tonight. dmatthewman: I do intend to reply to your comments. But not right now. And yes, I'm aware I still owe Nich Starling a post too. Really, not right now.

I have a bottle of brandy and a box of Star Trek films. I'm going to kill some braincells in the hopes that they'll stop thinking. Thinking is not good at the moment.

Oh yeah. Because I'm a masochist I posted to LC asking Labour voters why the hell they vote Labour. Go me.

Have just looked at Lib Con for the first time in a week. I have a feeling of weary resignation and mild regret. My choice to do my conference blogging on here rather than Lib Con (or indeed, pushing for inclusion on Lib Dem Voice) was a conscious one, and yet now Lib Con is full of reports from the Labour Party conference, when even people like Diane Abbott aren't going...

I am puzzled and saddened by people whose opinions I respect enormously (Diane Abbott included, actually) continuing to cling to the twitching corpse of a party that hasn't represented The Workers in a long long time. I was brought up Red, and although my political views differ in some important respects from my parents... well, put it this way, I'd eat my own elbow before voting Tory, even though I know that psephologically speaking there might sometimes be good reasons for me to do so: I just couldn't physically bring myself to do it.

I share Ian Hislop's views, as stated on Question Time a few days ago. It takes a very special kind of person to call vehemently for a whole raft of things, but laugh at the idea of voting for the party that actually has those things as policy. And this country is stuffed with that kind of person.

It's very depressing.

Anyway, I have a shitton of backreading to do, and then two posts still to write. See you soon, I guess.

... here's a very silly video:



(via theridiculant)

Also, a link to some macros on padawanpooh's LJ, comparing McCain and Palin to Tigh and Roslin on BSG. Now McCain as Tigh I can see, because ( SPOILER! ), but Palin as Roslin? That's a hell of a compliment to pay Palin, isn't it? I mean, yes, at the beginning, Roslin is inexperienced in command and a little unsure of herself, but she knew damn fine what the job entailed, and she also does her best to be fair to all sides, rather than just some kind of female Yosemite Sam. Roslin is a LIBERAL, dammit!

Speaking of Palin, all the stuff about her and her family? innerbrat has said everything there is to be said about it. Expect no further comment from me on this particular matter.

And finally, I posted on LC with regard to Ros Scott's most excellent website (and her campaign in general), which went live earlier today as I predicted. I'm quite proud of the post on LC, and proof read it really carefully, several times before I hit post. All except the title... Stupid Wordpress, embedding the title of the post in the url. Now my typo lives on forever... Still, if James is a girl in his twenties, Ros might as well grow a pair of bollocks and become Ross. I wonder what the Honourable Lady Mark would think if she did?

Today, one of the other editors¹ of Liberal Conspiracy made the following suggestion to me:

I am thinking that we can take the shackles off the Saturday/Sunday edition. Jennie you'd be in charge, and I'd want you to be a little more broader with the content. Maybe include a link to a movie review or a piece (for instance) on green cooking. Keep it liberally-minded, but many of the readers are quite geeky so be prepared to experiment.

(emphasis mine)

Yep. I'm a girl, and a male editor² suggested to me that I might like to concentrate more on showbiz and cookery. I still haven't stopped laughing.

Still, it's an object lesson that even the most progressive and equality-minded of us (and this guy really is, or I wouldn't have found it so funny) can make the odd inadvertent slip. Something to bear in mind, especially for a person as gobby as me.

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¹ Yes, I did say "one of the other editors". Sunny might be the most prominent, but he isn't and never has been sole editor

² Name withheld to protect the guilty.

1, Dame Helen Mirren says in an interview with GQ that if you get date-raped without violence, there's not much point reporting it to police because it'll never get to court. Tony McNulty, home office minister and EXPERT on these matters says she's not helping. What the blue buggery FUCK right does Tony McNulty have to tell a rape victim off for telling the truth about her experience?

2, The LC netcast is up, and the feed appears to be working. Yay for cocking about with methods of posting ;)

3, Steve has written a fabulous post about religion. Seriously, fabulous. Go, read, now.

Any of you wondering where today's is will have to wait a bit longer. Sunny has made a lot of alterations to the way the site runs, and one of these is that the Netcast is no longer a post in its own right, but edited into the news post. He has forgotten to give me editor privileges, so I can't do it, and I didn't discover this until I tried.. . I've saved the post as a draft and someone might get to it later, but I wouldn't hold your breath. In my experience neither of the people whom I know have editor privileges are online much, if at all, on a Sunday.

For those who are interested, here's what I would have posted, had I been able:

Peter Black AM reports on Gordon Brown's vandalism. Somebody give that man an ASBO!

Alas, a Blog! discusses the Olympics, and their impact on sexism/racism/ablism etc.

Brad Hicks knows why McCain picked Palin. Best post I have seen on this so far.

Moments of Clarity has a brilliant article about Faith Schools.

The Yorkshire Guidon is amused by Tory embarrassment with being Tory in Leeds.

And finally, Mark Pack has an amusing typo on Lib Dem voice (which the Greens among us might find slightly less amusing than me)

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In other news, lizbee is the overall winner of my blogotheyear awards. I shall make her a special shiny shiny graphic later.

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In other other news, I got a comment from That Tory Blogger on my post about whether I should add him on Facebook. I note that even in a tiny comment on an insignificant blog like mine he can't help but fib to make himself appear more important and popular. I also notice that he doesn't appear to be able to manage an open ID log in. Possibly because he doesn't want comment notifications... Oh well. At least I have afforded some small amusement with my antics, which is of course, the purpose of blogging.

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In other other other news, I have played about with my sidebar a lot this morning. Am now having wibbles about it being too big. Hopefully Ros will get elected as party president SOON and then I can delete that button... ;)

First and Foremost, I am currently listening to an EXCELLENT documentary about Flanders and Swann on the radio. Lots and lots of clips from At the Drop of a Hat and inveterate fanboying. Well worth seeking out on the listen again, if it's on there, or finding the repeat when it's on. puddingcat, you want to catch this.

Secondly, Nick Clegg is feeling the bite of the Credit Crunch. Awwwww. Poor baby. Forced to slum it at Sainers like the rest of us. Still, at least we Lib Dems now have our own version of the WebCameron incident for people to poke fun at. There's nothing quite like a posh boy trying to look like he's not incredibly rich and cushioned from normal life, is there? And trust me, if this wasn't Our Glorious Leader, I'd be being a lot more scathing than this. I wouldn't want to defy expectations of people outside the Home Counties.

Thirdly, (thanks Aaron), Olly's Onions has discovered the shocking truth behind Team GB's Olympic success.

And finally, you have just over 24 hours left before the polls close in my very prestigious blog awards. Can anyone catch lizbee and Millennium Elephant? Will Wil Wheaton's Rearguard Action prove effective against the innerbrat whom everyone wants to shag? Can James Graham claw his way back from behind Alex Wilcock and Mat? Can feministsf withstand the sustained attack from BoingBoing? Only you can decide! But if you're a non-LJ person you're a complete weirdo, do go here and find out how to log yourself in first, or you might find it terribly frustrating ;)

If any of you want to change your vote, you only have to click here and select "fill out poll" at the top left...

Andrew Hickey's second Big Finish A Week is Doctor Who and the Pirates. I couldn't have put it better if I had written it myself. ♥ Evelyn.

The New York Times has put up pictures and vital statistics of Olympic Athletes. These people are physically fit enough to be representing the USA at the Olympics. They come in ALL shapes and sizes. Something for the body fascists to consider, perhaps.

Anton Vowl (on LC) has a faking!it style guide to pretending to be a Daily Fail reader when commenting on the intertubes. It's depressing how many of these I hear in the pub, actually...

Steph Ashley has a timely reminder of our legal rights for those of us who like to take pictures in public. Star Trek reference for the win!

I have had three random adders on Facebook this week. Nothing seems to connect them, and they are all refusing to answer "Why have you added me?" messages.

Why would you DO that? I don't get it. If you tell me WHY you added me, I might well add you back. If you don't tell me why you added me, if you refuse to interact, what's the point in me adding you back?

Anyhoo, I have been reading a New-to-Me blog this morning, found via scouring Lib Dem Blogs for material for the netcast when lcreadinglist didn't yield enough stuff I wanted to link to, and it is stephashley_fd. It's very good, and she writes with wit and elan about Lib Demmery and blogging, and she has great taste in films and music, and she hates Hazel Blears! It's almost like she's a prettier, more eloquent, more Welsh version of me!

Inevitably, matgb fancies her...

Anybody have any reccs for blogs of pretty long-haired lib dem boys I can be reading to even things up a bit? Or, actually, given the sparseness of postage for me to link to today, any reccs for blogs of interesting things I might want to link to at LC?

It's days like this when I really wish who_daily was more like Casting the Net. Why do we have to link to EVERY post for WD? Surely nobody actually reads them ALL?

Anyhoo, all three WD posts are up (here, here, and here) and so is Casting the Net.

Don't forget that if you want to point and laugh at my pain follow my netcasts, WD is at who_daily and CtN is at LC, syndicated to LJ at jennier_lc_feed

I go die now.