(1) CALL FOR ACTION. Shepherd is looking for trans people to be supported by others refusing to participate in cons in states that are enacting these kinds of laws.
A Twitter discussion of the proposed Missouri law and link to its text is here.
(2) STILL “HALLUCINATES FACTS WITH GREAT CONFIDENCE”. “OpenAI Debuts GPT-4” and Publishers Weekly describes the claimed improvements.
OpenAI, the company behind GPT-3 and ChatGPT, today announced the release of GPT-4. This is a major upgrade to the amount of textual and image data that GPT relies on for its (mostly) uncannily accurate and verbose responses. OpenAI says that “GPT-4 is more reliable, creative, and able to handle much more nuanced instructions than GPT-3.5.”
The dataset is clearly larger than the earlier versions, though OpenAI is cagey as to the current size. The last version appeared to know little or nothing beyond early 2020; GPT-4 is trained with data up to September 2021.
GPT-4 is a so-called “multimodal large language model,” meaning it responds to both text and images. In the product demo, a picture of food in a fridge was used to generate recipes for the range of leftovers on display.
OpenAI readily admits that GPT-4 has the same limitations as previous GPT models and is not fully reliable—it “hallucinates” facts with great confidence. But the extensive data published on the product web page shows that the new version performs far better than its predecessors. OpenAI claims that GPT-4 is 82% less likely to respond to requests for content that isn’t currently allowed, and 60% less likely to make stuff up….
(3) PATTERSON QUIZZED ABOUT BAN. Martin County, Florida school district officials removed James Patterson’s YA series Maximum Ride from its elementary school library but is keeping it accessible for older students. The author’s reaction? “James Patterson: If Florida bans my books, ‘no kids under 12 should go to Marvel movies’” at MSN.com. The piece includes a Q&A.
You live nearby in Palm Beach County. Would you consider speaking directly to Martin County school board officials?
I almost went up there, and if the book had been totally banned, I would have.
But if I did speak to them, I’d say look, absolutely it’s important for you to keep your kids safe, and you should do a better job at that. If a book comes into your home with your child ask them, ‘What’s it about? Are you enjoying it? Oh, you’re having nightmares, let’s talk about it.’ But there are far scarier things on the internet than there are in libraries.
(4) A 451 DEMONSTRATION. “Worried about book banning, local faith group plans a public reading” of a Bradbury book, and it’s happening in Summerfield, Florida on March 18.
Amid a nationwide controversy over select books being banned, the Tri-County Unitarian Universalists in Summerfield will host a marathon public reading of the book “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury on Saturday, March 18. While not currently banned in Florida, the book has been the subject of restriction efforts in the past.
“We believe very strongly that it is important that people study what’s going on in the world and learn to think critically about everything,” Cindy Grossman of the TriUU said. “Bradbury believed that strongly when he wrote his book. It may be science fiction, but he was trying to warn people about this kind of censorship and how good it is for humanity to expose themselves to different literature.”…
(5) SIMULTANEOUS TIMES IS FIVE. Space Cowboy Books announced a special 5 year anniversary episode with stories from the pages of Shacklebound Books. The episode is available on all podcast players and at Podmatic: “Space Cowboy Books Presents: Simultaneous Times”.
Stories featured in this episode:
“This is the Genesis Ship Arkhaven” by Jonathan Ficke; with music by Fall Precauxions
“A Free Man” by Warren Benedetto; with music by Phog Masheeen
Theme music by Dain Luscombe
(6) SPIN DOCTORING. Radio Times says “Doctor Who bosses ‘planning UNIT spin-off with Jemma Redgrave’”.
This really is shaping up to be an exciting year for Doctor Who fans, as it’s been reported that the sci-fi series’s bosses are planning a brand new spin-off show with Jemma Redgrave at its helm, as head of scientific research Kate Lethbridge-Stewart.
It’s a role that Redgrave has played since 2012, but in this new Torchwood-style series based on UNIT — the Unified Intelligence Taskforce — she will reportedly be taking the lead.
The fictional military organisation has appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures but could very well be getting a proper offshoot of its own….
(7) IMAGINE 2200 OPENS. Submissions are now being taken for the third year of Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors, Grist’s annual short story contest “envisioning hopeful, equitable climate futures.”
Imagine 2200 challenges entrants to write stories that help envision the next 180 years of climate progress. Whether built on abundance or adaptation, reform or a new understanding of survival, the contest celebrates stories that provide flickers of hope, even joy, and serve as a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality.
Read more about this year’s contest and find out how to submit a story here.
The winning writer will be awarded $3,000, with the second- and third-place winners receiving $2,000 and $1,000, respectively. Nine additional finalists will each receive $300.
All winners and finalists’ stories will be published in an immersive collection on Grist’s website.
Stories will be judged by a panel of literary experts, including acclaimed authors Paolo Bacigalupi, Nalo Hopkinson, and Sam J. Miller.
(7) HOW THEY WORK. “Sensitivity readers: what publishing’s most polarising role is really about” according to the Guardian.
… Sensitivity readers can become the implied “baddy” or “goody” (depending on where you stand) in such cases, their service seen as the reason that changes have been made. However, this view assumes that sensitivity readers have more power than they actually do, says Helen Gould, a sensitivity reader who advises on issues including race and mental health issues. “I’m never directly editing text,” she says. When asked to perform a sensitivity read, she will read it, annotate sections where she thinks specific changes could be made – for example, an author might have written an inaccurate description of how a Black hairstyle is achieved (“It’s amazing how much of the work I do is about Black hair!”) – and provide overall feedback. Authors and editors can then choose to accept her suggestions and implement changes, ignore them, or ask to discuss them further….
(8) IN SUPPERTIMES TO COME. Rae Mariz has a wonderful post about “Feeding Future Ancestors” at Sarah Gailey’s Stone Soup.
…Which brings me back to our kitchen in Stockholm, with my twelve year old daughter and the responsibility I feel to show her the skills that will help her feed herself and her friends in the world they’ll be inheriting. There won’t be a recipe I can hand down to her with precise directions for how to recreate familiar flavors. The ingredients we’ve taken for granted as staples might not be available—either because she recrossed oceans, or because the industrialization of agriculture will have come to its inevitable end. How can I help her prepare for the future when I don’t even have the foresight to meal-prep a day in advance? I’m still working it out, doing what I can—in the kitchen, in my prose, on the streets—to contribute to a livable planet and a more caring culture. Kids eat what we give them.
The hard truth is that she’s probably already picked up on whatever I have to show her. I’ve certainly already fed her something that will horrify future ancestors when she reminisces about her childhood in whichever storytelling form arises to replace the internet….
(9) JOHN JAKES (1932-2023). Author John Jakes, best known for historical bestsellers like The Bastard and North And South, both adapted for television, died March 11 at the age of 90.
…Born on March 31, 1932, in Chicago, Jakes published his first short story at 18, earning $25, and would go on to author more than 80 books in his lifetime that sold more than 120 million copies worldwide….
With so many mainstream bestsellers to talk about, the fact that he wrote a lot of sff has been overlooked by the obituaries, the reason why Cora Buhlert has written an extended tribute here: “Remembering John Jakes (1932 -2023)”.
…What is only a footnote in all of the mainstream obituaries is that John Jakes was also an SFF writer as well as a writer of crime fiction, westerns and erotica long before he found success beyond imagination with historical sagas.
I certainly had no idea that John Jakes had written SFF before I came across his name in a review at Galactic Journey and thought, “Wait a minute, the North and South guy used to write SFF?” Turns out John Jakes did not just write SFF, he wrote a lot of it and was also one of the protagonists of the second sword and sorcery boom….
(10) ROLLY CRUMP (1930-2023). Influential Disney animator Rolly Crump died March 12. The LA Times tells how this Disney designer helped define Disneyland.
… Crump would go on to become one of the most important artists to work for Walt Disney Co.
It’s a Small World, the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion are just a few of the projects Crump would contribute to once he joined Walt Disney Imagineering, known as WED Enterprises (for Walter Elias Disney) in 1959. With Imagineering, the division of the company that oversees Disney theme parks, Crump‘s designs would help define the look of Disneyland…
… Crump fought for Disneyland to retain a handcrafted quality. He was a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is artist who was offended at the suggestion that others would be offended by his critiques. Crump, for instance, enjoyed a close relationship with [Mary] Blair, the artist who designed the dolls for It’s a Small World and whose style informed the bulk of the interior of the attraction. An accomplished watercolorist and muralist, Blair, like Crump, was handpicked by Disney to transition out of animation and into theme park design.
Crump spoke to The Times in 2018 about, among many topics, the creation of It’s a Small World. Still an imposing, broad-shouldered figure in his then-late-80s, Crump was emphatic. “I had Mary’s sketches in a book and gave them to the model shop,” he said. “I said, ‘Whatever you design, make sure they look like these drawings.’ I was given the job of supervising It’s a Small World. I knew it was only going to work if everything looked like Mary Blair. As far as I was concerned, this is a Mary Blair ride. So off we went. The rest is history.”….
(11) MEMORY LANE.
1992 – [Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
Our Beginning is Rita Mae Brown’s Rest in Pieces: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery which was published by Bantam in hardcover thirty-one years ago.
The prefaces are always by Sneaky Pie who is also listed as the co-author of this series.
I’m going do a bit of a spoiler here and tell you the mysteries focus on a postmistress named Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen plus her tiger cat named Mrs. Murphy, a fat grey cat named Pewter and a corgi named Tee Tucker.
Her other series, the “Sister” Jane Mysteries, centers around no-kill fox hunting and has foxes, owls, cats, dogs and others I’ve probably forgotten as characters. Oh, and humans obviously.
I enjoy the ones that I’ve read quite a bit though I’ve by no mean read all thirty she’s done so far in this series.
And now the Beginning…
Dear Reader:
Here’s to catnip and champagne!
Thanks to you my mailbox overflows with letters, photos, mousie toys, and crunchy nibbles. Little did I think when I started the Mrs. Murphy series that there would be so many cats out there who are readers . . . a few humans, too.
Poor Mother, she’s trying not to be a grouch. She slaves over “important themes” disguised as comedy and I dash along with a mystery series and am a hit. This only goes to prove that most cats and some dogs realize that a lighthearted approach is always the best. Maybe in a few decades Mom will figure this out for herself.
The best news is that I was able to afford my own typewriter. I found a used IBM Selectric III so I don’t have to sneak into Mother’s office in the middle of the night. I even have my own office. Do you think I should hire Pewter as a secretary?
Again, thank you, cats out there, and the dogs, too. Take care of your humans. And as for you humans, well, a fresh salmon steak would be a wonderful treat for the cat in your life.
All Best, SNEAKY PIE
(12) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.
[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]
- Born March 15, 1852 — Isabella Augusta, Lady Gregory (née Persse). Irish dramatist, folklorist, theatre manager. With William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn, she created the Irish Literary Theatre and the Abbey Theatre. She produced a number of books of retellings of stories taken from Irish mythology. Gods and Fighting Men, all seven hundred pages strong, is the best look at her work. It’s available at all the usual digital sources. (Died 1932.)
- Born March 15, 1920 — Lawrence Sanders. Mystery writer who wrote several thrillers that according to ISFDB had genre elements, such as The Tomorrow File and The Passion of Molly T. Now I’ve not read them so I cannot comment how just on how obvious the genre elements are, but I assume it’s similar to what one finds in a Bond film. One of these novels btw is described on the dust jacket as an “erotic spine tingler”. Huh. (Died 1998.)
- Born March 15, 1924 — Walter Gotell. He’s remembered for being General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the Roger Moore Bond films as well as having played the role of Morzeny, in From Russia With Love, one of Connery’s Bond films. He also appeared as Gogol in The Living Daylights, Dalton’s first Bond film. I’m fairly sure that makes him the only actor to be a villain to three different Bonds. (Died 1997.)
- Born March 15, 1926 — Rosel George Brown. A talented life cut far too short by cancer. At Detention, she was nominated for the Hugo Award for best new author, but her career was ended when she died of lymphoma at the age of 41. She wrote some twenty stories between 1958 and 1964, with her novels being Sibyl Sue Blue, and its sequel, The Waters of Centaurus about a female detective, plus Earthblood, co-written with Keith Laumer. Sibyl Sue Blue is now available from the usual suspects. (Died 1967.)
- Born March 15, 1939 — Robert Nye. He did what the Encyclopaedia of Fantasy describes as “bawdy, scatological, richly told, sometimes anachronistic reworkings of the traditional material” with some of his works being Beowulf, Taliesin (which was the name of my last SJW cred), Faust, Merlin and Mrs. Shakespeare: The Complete Works. His Falstaff novel is considered the best take on that character. Some of his works are available at the usual digital suspects. (Died 2016.)
- Born March 15, 1943 — David Cronenberg, 80. Not a Director whose tastes are at all squeamish. His best films? I’d pick Videodrome, The Fly, Naked Lunch and The Dead Zone. Though I’m tempted to toss Scanners in that list as well. ISFDB says he has one genre novel, Consumed, which garnered a Bram Stoker Award nominated for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. Oh, and he was in the film version of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed.
- Born March 15, 1946 — Chris Morris, 77. First genre writing was in the exemplary Thieves’ World shared universe, such as “What Women Do Best” with Janet Morris, and “Red Light, Love Light”. He’s also written in the Merovingen Nights, Heroes in Hell and Sacred Band of Stepsons saga series.
(13) COMICS SECTION.
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal begins with someone asking, what is the meaning of life?
(14) ‘WILLOW’ WHACKED. “‘Willow’ Canceled After One Season On Disney+” reports Deadline.
There will be no second season of Willow, Disney+’s live-action original series based on the 1988 fantasy film directed by Ron Howard. The news comes two months after the eight-episode first season of the show, which served as a sequel to the classic movie, ended its run on the streaming platform.
Willow, which picked up years after the events of the film, did not have the zeitgeist cultural impact of the original but was well received by critics, getting a 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. While the series won’t continue, Willow remains an important IP in the Lucasfilm library, so it might be revisited in the future….
(15) HOT ON THE TRAIL. “’Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Leak: Marvel Looks for Source” – The Hollywood Reporter has the story. And allow me to make the obvious joke – it must be a very small hole!
Marvel is closing in on the source of a leak of a script from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania before the movie was released, and it intends to take legal action, a Disney company source tells The Hollywood Reporter.
A federal judge in California on Monday issued subpoenas to Reddit and Google directing them to identify the users who leaked the dialogue. The order came after the company moved for information on whoever posted then-unreleased dialogue from the film to the r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers subreddit.
Marvel is likely to pursue litigation against the person or group responsible for the leak. That could include a referral to prosecutors for criminal copyright infringement, among other charges….
(16) COLD STORAGE. Nerdist traces “The History of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude”, accompanied by many comics panels.
… Today, we think of Superman’s Fortress as an ice palace, far away from humanity in the Arctic. But originally, it was just a mountain cave where Clark stashed his belongings he didn’t have anywhere else to house. This “Secret Citadel” was located in a mountain range outside of Metropolis. It first appeared in Superman #17 in 1942, and it didn’t make many appearances. In those days, Superman’s Kryptonian heritage was more of an afterthought, a mere explanation for how he got his powers. The term “Fortress of Solitude” first appeared in Superman #58 1949, as Superman’s sanctuary located in “the polar wastes.” Interestingly, the name “Fortress of Solitude” actually predates Superman. The pulp adventurer Doc Savage had a Fortress of Solitude located in the frozen north, and DC Comics very liberally took the name and concept….
[Thanks to Chris Barkley, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, Lise Andreasen, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]
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1) Would like to add to Sophie Janes point that boycotts aren’t only about costing someone economically. It’s not even just about showing support. It is also a way of getting a common point to mobilize around, creating talking points, start demonstrations, writing articles, to create an impact.
The boycott might not have a that much of an direct economic effect, but it will cause ripple effects and changes in reputation, just as it will make people more aware.
Personal boycotts do not achieve much. Sitting in your chamber boycotting something won’t matter. A boycott movement with activities around it will.
With regards to fan conventions, I disagree with Shepherd and think that civil disobedience (dress in drag, systematically press limit of law, etc) could have a role too.
RE: Lis Carey
“No problem for you. Maybe a big problem for people whom you’re basically suggesting should go to conventions and readings in disguise.”
I didn’t say I was “suggesting” people go, that’s not my decision or yours, it’s theirs. As far as “disguises,” I’ve seen everything from Azimov generated characters to Xanadu at cons. Another word for that is “costumes.”
I merely suggested, IF someone who is non-gender conforming wants to go to the con to lecture/do readings, etc, that this is one of many strategies to do so.
As far as “it not being a problem,” for me, you’re wrong. I’m a short guy. I’ve had people in my own state call me “miss/her” when I’m not female and never have been. (I also have a beard and mustache), but it’s been my experience that people see what they want to see instead of what really exists.
That occurred in a state that currently has NO anti-transgender bills pending, and none on the books. Some people believe everything they see on social media, and refuse to bother looking up facts, like the standards of care. Doctors and psychologists are fighting these bills tooth and nail, as the know the harm that will befall transgendered kids if passed.
The unintended consequences of these sadistic bills is to
1) take away rights of citizens who, if transgendered, happen to have birth defects, and it likely won’t stop there.
2) scare the population they’re indoctrinating with hate against anyone who “looks like they might be,” including women with short hair (happened), women who are taller than average (happened), short guys (happened)
3) making it illegal for kids with other issues, like boys with wonky hormones that make them grow breasts (which couldn’t be removed) and preventing them from getting hormonal therapy to balance what they should have (happened), as well as girls whose menstruation starts as young as infancy through some hormonal dysfunction (also happened).
4) inciting violence against a segment of the population based on “grooming” accusations which are not documented in any way shape or form, but circulated and reposed on social media.
5) and worst of all, targeting kids who would have nowhere to turn, taking them from their families for getting them supportive care (which includes psychological counseling and no sex hormones or surgeries until they’re 18 — it’s in the standards of care — and putting them in the potentially exploitive foster situations, all in the name of “protecting kids.”
These anti-transgender bills are not protecting kids, they are TARGETING them, and PUNISHING them. That is reprehensible, anti-American, and inhuman. People regardless of their race, their religion, their country of origin or their parents’ origin, LBGTQ or H, are AMERICAN CITIZENS, and should have the same rights.
Recall the Bill of Rights, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”
I guess certain politicians have forgotten this. I guess political power is more important to them than the people whom they were elected to represent, and that the next target in line may be whatever the readers of this post’s demographic is.
Carl Andor:
This is not a problem solved. It is in fact the opposite. It is the limiting of the writers freedom of speech in which the personal choice of clothing is included.
@bill–I can see the image, but it’s a frustratingly blurry screenshot. Can neither identify nor click through to the original source.
@Carl Andor–
Carl, do you honestly not understand the difference between costume/cosplay, done for fun, and disguise, done because going as yourself is dangerous illegal?
Which is quite bad. Truly.
But you’re not going to get criminally prosecuted for being yourself. That’s what I said was notch problem for you. You’re not someone who has to disguise who you are to travel in those states.
And you go on to describe, in fact, the intended consequences of these laws, which you correctly describe as sadistic.
//If you’re a statistics textbook author who chooses to explain modelling by using as your dataset information from the Implicit Assumption Test (which I classify as pseudoscientific bullshit) and having students solve an equation to find the correlation between racial prejudice and age, I think it’s not unfair to say that that’s an author with an agenda.//
That’s a very weird conclusion to make in the circumstances. You find drawing conclusions about people’s inherent biases from a flawed but well-studied instrument pseudoscientific bullshit but discover that you yourself can detect people’s implicit agendas from even less information. Fascinating.
For those of you not tuned into the debate, the flood of anti-trans legislation is mostly being generated by a tiny group of well-funded theocrats attempting to impose their will on the country. They have a small number of witnesses who they trot around the country to testify in favor of these bills. If you follow the schedules, you see that they’re staggered to allow the same people to be at the hearings, after which they’re flown away for the next stop in their road show.
Jake on March 16, 2023 at 7:54 am said:
Which is of course the point. Call out the hypocrites. Possibly cisgender allies should organize protests in those states where everyone wears clothing that doesn’t meet the gender norms that these vicious, evil people are putting into law. Overwhelm them with “violations” and run them up through the courts. Now whether the current SCOTUS will uphold these laws remains to be seen, but just as some tenacious cisgender legislators are filibustering these laws, maybe cis allies need to choke up the courts with enough cases to make these would-be theocratic dictators think twice about their choices.
Carl Andor on March 16, 2023 at 8:26 pm said:
However, most of these anti-trans campaigners are quite happy with any forms of gender-confirming treatment, hormonal or surgical, as long as it reinforces their cisgender standards. (Of course because to them there’s no such thing as “cisgender,” they call it “normal.”) Breast reduction surgery and hormone therapy for teenage cisgender boys with Gynecomastia? Great! Breast enhancement and facial plastic surgery for teenage cisgender girls to make them look more “girly.” Bring it on! Surgery on intersex infants to make them the “right” gender? Absolutely!
I wouldn’t call this unintentional, since to many of them this one is God’s Will and of course such little girls should be quickly married off to someone so they can start making more babies. The same people targeting LGB and especially T people oppose any laws prohibiting child marriage, especially marriage of girls.
Remember that there are unfortunately too many people who think that children are animate pieces of property to be disposed of and treated like livestock or furniture.
And when I call out this rampant hypocrisy, I’m the one who gets called a “groomer.”
Kevin Stanlee:
When someone calls you “groomer,” look them in the eye and say that you and any transgender people aren’t the ones “grooming” hate all over the country toward children!
Lis:
“But you’re not going to get criminally prosecuted for being yourself. That’s what I said was notch problem for you. You’re not someone who has to disguise who you are to travel in those states.”
Do you not understand, it isn’t anyone who IS transgender, it’s also anyone who looks like they might be, for whatever reason.
In addition, you speculate on the intent of legislators. Their main intent is to unify the base against a scapegoat group. It is a secondary effect that people go out and murder transgendered people, or forbid them from having jobs or a place to live, and then blame them for not contributing to society. With no support from family, few friends to stick up for them, and no way to make an income, things become dire for them, indeed.
@ Mark
When we moved buildings the first time, my monitor was next to the wall of my office. Periodically I’d get static and snow; multiple IT guys/gals couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Two monitors later, the light dawned: I moved it away from the wall, on the other side of which was the elevator shaft. As the car would go up and down, the electric pickup motor on top would glitch the CRT. -facepalm-
Hey, the edit function’s back!
@Kevin: To paraphrase Kwame Ture, pointing out hypocrisy only works if your opponents are capable of self-reflection.
You’re assuming they would charge you (or charge you with those violations).
@Carl Andor
Have you read the background? The Missouri law under discussion in (1) specifically includes makeup (“using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers”) as an indication that a drag performance is going on.
It also specifies that the show must be “for entertainment”, which the tweeter in (1) ignores. A panel or reading at an SF con in which a participant happens to be cross-dressed wouldn’t qualify. (and further, the law seems obviously to be unconstitutional on 1st Amendment grounds).
@bill Are you saying a panel reading at a SF con is not ‘entertainment’?
@ja
The dirt blowers the gardeners use glitch my (non-CRT) monitor.
@bill–
I agree you’re right on the 1st amendment point. However, a reading or panel at an sf con, or a reading at a bookstore or library, would be classed as entertainment.
We can’t be sure what these laws mean in practice until a prosecutor decides to bring a case and it’s tested in court, if that ever happens. As already noted, the real point is to make a statement (state legislatures love doing that) and to spread fear, both in the MAGA base since at this point spreading panic is all they have policy-wise, and in the people they’ve convinced the base to fear.
On the pleasanter subject of weird glitches, at a former job my work computer (a first generation IBM PC, it was that long ago) had a habit of suddenly and randomly quitting completely, without warning, and couldn’t be restarted until suddenly it would boot again. I eventually figured out that the outlet it was plugged into, and only that one outlet, was subject to seemingly random power outages. I never could convince the building engineers of this, or even get them much interested, so I just brought in an extension cord and used a different outlet, and put a night light on the bad one so I could monitor what it was doing.
Is a reading entertainment? Jim Janney said it best: “We can’t be sure what these laws mean in practice until a prosecutor decides to bring a case and it’s tested in court, if that ever happens.”
But the Missouri law in question says:
“”Drag performance”, a performance in which a performer exhibits a gender that is different from the performer’s biological sex as assigned at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers and sings, lip syncs, dances, or otherwise performs before an audience for entertainment;”
The WSFS (and many other convention-sponsoring groups) are literary societies.
I’d maintain that readings and panel discussions at cons are not entertainment events (especially when compared to those in the statute), but are educational, edifying, and scholarly events. (I wouldn’t say that with respect to other convention activities such as skits, plays, etc.)
This is not to say that panels, readings, etc. cannot inherently be entertaining. But that’s not their primary purpose. The law, as written, is targeting what we all think of as “drag shows” and a trans person doing a typical event at an SF convention ain’t that.
bill: Nothing wrong with your argument that panels, readings etc. ought to be characterized as educational, however, you remind me of the attempts to make the same arguments in tax cases involving sff groups trying to maintain their IRS nonprofit status. Whether those attempts succeeded depended a lot on the case presented by the litigator. In one memorable failure, the presence of a “dead dog party” and other such things on the program turned the judge against them. However, another group navigated the IRS challenge successfully without getting tripped up by such peripheral convention events.
While the law MAY eventually be ruled not to apply to a trans author giving a reading, it seems cold to state that it’s ok for a con to go on without trans authors unless they’re willing to risk arrest as test cases. Not to mention that there already has been a history of a gay author speciously being denounced to the police as “dangerous.” How much more risk does a trans author run at the hands of malicious denouncers if they engage in an act that (however unjustly) IS an illegal act under a credible reading of the law?
@Lis Carey
The question was how someone might find CRT in a math textbook. I supplied a link to the government’s claim that it had found CRT in a math textbook.
I’m not going to try to defend everything that DeSantis has said on the topic. I know for a fact that if you define “et al.” broadly enough, you will absolutely find people advocating exactly what you claim. The only question one might have is whether they are actually someone capable of implementing that policy.
I’m all for a factual presentation of slavery (and later racist policies) in American history classes. It should not be glossed over, underplayed, or otherwise minimized.
The 1619 Project is historical malpractice.
Much of what Ibram X. Kendi recommends as a response to past racism is counterproductive to the purpose of fostering an open and tolerant civil society.
To the extent that someone is arguing against historical malpractice or counterproductive corrective actions, I agree.
Regards,
Dann
Progressives are not stupid and evil. Conservatives are not racists and misogynists.
Dann665–
Yeah. Including DeSantis, when you’d like to pretend it’s unnamed, unknown others who are relatively unimportant.
In Florida, Texas, and other states, they’re getting the laws passed and are starting to enforce them.
From slavery to socialism, new legislation restricts what teachers can discuss
From the article linked above:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A new bill in Florida would ban public schools and private businesses from making people feel “discomfort” when being taught about racial discrimination in U.S. history.
I could go on, at length.
I’m going with the assumption that Ibram X. Kendi knows a whole heck of a lot more about racism, racial discrimination, slavery, and the history thereof in the USA than you do. The people involved in the 1619 Project, too, given that all claims that I’ve seen that it’s Bad, wrong about the history, Bad, dishonest, badly motivated, and generally Bad, have come from a certain part of the political spectrum. Generally, people who insist that institutional racism is not a thing, but instead just an attempt to make white people feel bad.
Your link in you sig leads to a paywall that slams down so fast that I’m not even sure what newspaper it comes from. Did say Kansas, at least, so likely Kansas or Missouri.
@Lis Carey
Sorry about the delay.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t criticizing his knowledge of history. I was criticizing his proposed restorative actions.
You may see the criticisms being promoted by people from a certain part of the political spectrum, but they originate from historians that are (typically) not part of that same corner of the political pool.
https://www.aier.org/article/fact-checking-the-1619-project-and-its-critics/
and the ever-questionable Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_1619_Project#Historical_accuracy
With regards to the sig, it is the Kansas City Star. I think the essay has only become more useful over the years. The following goes to an Archive.org image of the essay.
https://tinyurl.com/2bsfz7tu
Regards,
Dann
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity. – Dorothy Parker
Ibram X. Kendi is the guy who wrote that white people were fending off racial extinction, using “the aids virus.”
I’m not sure I’d believe him on anything.
That’s a nice opinion piece.
Call me when the Republicans decide to boot George Santos out of the House, or even demand to see his birth certificate.
Or when they decide that Marjorie Taylor Greene talking actual classified information in an open, public, committee meeting means she really doesn’t belong on the intelligence committee after all.
Those asks too big? How about they just stop claiming Joe Biden has dementia, when it’s Trump who has difficulty forming complete, coherent sentences.
I noticed that generally nice, civilized opinion piece was upset that Hillary said Trump got votes from parts of the country that aren’t moving forward, but apparently didn’t think the “lock her her up” chants at Trump rallies needed any comment at all. Or Trump’s encouragement to his followers to bear up reporters at those rallies.
The average Republican, or conservative, isn’t stupid or evil. Trump, DeSantis, and their fanboys definitely are.