dulcimergecko

[dulcimergecko]

Got my plane tickets for 221b Con!

[dulcimergecko]

Could Canada PLEASE annex some red hell-hole states too? A desperate liberal stuck in the red zone...

How about if Canada annexes Blue America? 

It’s a perfect way out for Trump, who doesn’t like these states anyway. 

ROBERT REICH

DEC 30

Friends,

Trump wants to buy Greenland and annex Canada as the 51st American state. 

When I first heard these ideas I thought he was joking, but as with all things Trump, he’s not … quite. 

Last week, while naming a new ambassador to Denmark (which controls Greenland’s foreign and defense affairs), Trump made clear that his first-term offer to buy Greenland could, in the coming term, become a deal the Danes cannot refuse.

He seems to want Greenland because of its strategic location at a time when the melting of Arctic ice is opening new commercial and naval competition. He’s also interested in Greenland’s reserves of rare earth minerals needed for advanced technology.

But Trump isn’t stopping there. He also wants to annex Canada. This proposal appears more a public needling of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau than a serious plan. 

Yet Trump has continued to tease the idea of annexing Canada on social media. “I think it’s a great idea,” he wrote in a recent post.

This is all bonkers, of course. 

But as long as we’re considering changing national borders, why not do it in a more sensible way? 

How about the West Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California becoming the 11th province of Canada? After all, the politics of these blue states would fit much better with Canada’s than with Trump’s America. 

Meanwhile, the New England states (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) and New York could become the 12th Canadian province, for much the same reason. 

While Trump is toying with the idea of annexing Canada, these blue American states should bid him goodbye and be annexed by Canada. 

Hell, Trump might just go along. He doesn’t like these blue states anyway. They all voted against him in 2016, 2020, and again in 2024. He’s been looking for ways of getting even. Why not simply disown them? 

Letting Canada annex these blue states would also simplify Trump’s war on undocumented immigrants, since many of them reside in these states. 

America First Legal, a nonprofit run by Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, has already written to local elected officials in California and New York warning them not to try to become sanctuaries — threatening that the officials could be personally “criminally liable” if they refuse to support federal government efforts to detain and deport illegal immigrants.

But if California, New York, and other blue states were annexed by Canada, the problem disappears. 

Of course, this leaves the pesky question of whether Canada would accept America’s West Coast as its 11th province and New York and New England as its 12th? I’ll leave that question to Canadians. (Please, Canadians, post your responses below.)

[dulcimergecko]

IT WORKS!

every time I do a web search, right at the top I have AI info dumping on me

just give me the top result please

[dulcimergecko]

*hissssss at the mention of his name*

this blog hates donald trump

Look how many people hate him. I’m pretty damn happy about that 😁😁😁😁😁😁

[dulcimergecko]

Sunday Six(ish)

“Alright everybody, we’re going to give the band a chance to rest their fingers, so get yourself something to drink and we’ll be back in thirty!”  The caller stepped away from the microphone and turned back to answer one of the musician’s questions.

“Pardon me for a moment, I want to ask the band something,” Sherlock made his excuse to Molly, taking care to keep to the edges of the room where he’d be less likely to be noticed by John. 

“Hi there,” one of the musicians greeted him as Sherlock walked up.  She was a middle-aged woman holding an instrument that looked like an unholy cross between a guitar and a mandolin.  “It’s an Irish bouzouki,” she explained in response to Sherlock’s unasked question.  “What can we do for you?”

“I was wondering, what’s the etiquette for joining the house band?” Sherlock asked, not bothering to disguise his natural accent.  “I know what it’s like in Ireland, but I’m not sure about here.”

–Excerpt from the upcoming chapter 30 of ‘The Devil’s Blaze’

[dulcimergecko]

[dulcimergecko]

Plus they have free stuff for all ages/abilities/socio-economic levels. Cooking classes for teens? Check! Bringing special fun programs to developmentally different individuals? Check! Zumba for seniors? Check! Learning to sew classes for kids? Citizenship classes? Social workers? We've got those too!

I'm almost 30 and still amazed you can just walk into a library and pull a book off a shelf and read it, don't even need to ask anyone, can just sit down and read book for free until closing time. There is nothing that free anywhere else that isn't serreptitiouly religious or requiring registration. that's how stuff should be. Libraries are so good

[dulcimergecko]

canon: they died

fanfic: fUCK YOU

[dulcimergecko]

Sunday Six!

I went to a Burns Night celebration with my spouse last night and got a ton of writing done (3000 words total!). Have some!

~*~

The last notes died away and the audience burst into applause.  Sherlock ignored them, far more interested in judging John’s expression.  In response to Sherlock’s unasked question, John jerked his head to one side, indicating the hallway off to his right that would grant them a bit more privacy for whatever was to come next.

“John?” Sherlock asked tentatively, staring at the angry set of John’s shoulders.  

The vet whirled around to face him.  “What the Hell was that?  How did you even know that song?”

–Excerpt from the upcoming chapter 30 of ‘The Devil’s Blaze’

[dulcimergecko]

Sunday Six!

Not rodeo!lock, because I'm still struggling to frame the chapter sequence. *blech* so a snippet of a Good Omens one-off I've been warming up with instead.

~*~

After marking his place with a piece of yellow ribbon, Aziraphale closed the codex and swiftly ascended the winding staircase to the tiny flat located on the second floor.  The lavatory door was open and Crowley was slumped forward far enough that his face was almost touching the water of the porcelain bowl.

Carefully, ever so carefully, Aziraphale crouched down and laid a hand on Crowley’s shoulder.  “Crowley?  My dear?  What is it?  Is there anything I can do to help?”  

“Nnnnnrggh…”  

Aziraphale looked over at the wine-coloured contents of the bowl wrinkled his nose at the odour rising from it.  It was sickly-sweet and reeked of cinnamon and…artificial grape flavouring?

What <i>had</i> Crowley been drinking?

--Excerpt from 'Mauled Wine'

[dulcimergecko]

Aziraphale looked up from the codex he was studying and frowned as a frisson of demonic energy suddenly whispered through his bookshop, bringing with it the scent of brimstone, myrrh and leather.  That in and of itself wasn’t especially concerning–he’d recognize Crowley’s distinctive signature anywhere, under any circumstances, and Crowley often popped in uninvited (though he was almost always welcome).  Normally, though, the demon preferred to make his entrance through the front door of the shop, oftentimes carrying nibbles and being as obnoxiously loud as possible to boot to help deter any potential shoppers.  On the rare occasions he’d forgone the front door, it had been to appear in the back, so his decision to appear in Aziraphale's virtually unused lavatory, accompanied by the sounds of violent retching was not only unusual, but concerning as well.

Excerpt from 'Mauled Wine'

[dulcimergecko]

Some words better than no words!

“Yeah, well, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  Imagine it, Aziraphale,” Crowley said, his voice becoming dreamy for a moment.  “An entire army--over half a million angry people--marching while wearing knitted cunts on their heads.”

[dulcimergecko]

Quick & Easy Way to Back-Up AO3 Fics in Bulk

It's always a good idea to back-up your fics periodically just in case your favorite fanfic site goes down. That goes for fics you wrote or your favorites to read (because we all know the pain of a fic we loved getting deleted right out from under us).

Here's a quick and easy way to do it!

Grab the AO3 eBook Download Helper bookmarklet.

(If you're not used to using a bookmarklet it's a link you drag to your browser's bookmark bar that executes an action once pressed. Better than an extension or script bc nothing's actually running so it won't slow down your browser!)

Once you've got the bookmarklet set up, you're ready to back-up your fics!

To download your favorites by other people, navigate to your AO3 bookmarks and press the bookmarklet. It'll give you a pop-up with a quick list of easy download links for all your favs! Download and enjoy forever mwahaha!

To back-up your own fics, head to your Works page and hit the bookmarklet for an easy list of the download links for all your own fics. Download to back-up to your local device!

A voila! You've now got your fics and favs downloaded to back-up using the means of your choosing!

There's only one downside to using this method: it can only do one page at a time. So if you have multiple pages of bookmarks or fics, you'll need to repeat this process for each page.

Note: You can also do this with someone else's bookmarks (as long as they are public) or author page which is great for when you discover your new favorite writer and want to load everything they've ever written or recommended directly into your veins (and by veins I mean eReader).

[dulcimergecko]

*pokes at abandoned message boards and dead IRC links*

I NEED somebody to babble writing ideas and plots with...

[dulcimergecko]

Needful things...

I need to find another writing* group. My writing thrives when I have somebody to bounce ideas off of and squee at. :(

*Preferably a group of smut-minded, queer loving, geeky adults. The local groups are all older women writing cozy mysteries which just isn't my jam.