(via Upworthy)
If that put you in a sharing spirit, here’s a suggestion from commentor SuperHrefna:
Con or Bust auctions raise money to help non-white people attend science fiction and fantasy conventions. So not only might you get a cool prize, you get to help increase diversity in SFF and cock a snook at the sad/rabid puppies…
There are lots of cool items up for grabs: lots of signed books (including books signed by Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett), lots of ARCs [advance reading copies] (including Charlie Jane Anders’ debut novel that isn’t out til next year), lots of limited editions (including the new, completely sold out Mira Grant, luckily I have a copy or I’d bid scarily high on that one) lots of cool extras (a card game and stationary for Mary Robinette Kowal’s books!) and loads of cool everything else including jewelry that looks like ticks and handwoven scarves with their own short stories…
Also up for bid, I notice, are memberships (admission passes) to a varied bunch of sf/fantasy conventions. Diversity in fandom has come a long way, praise goddess, since I first encountered it in the early 1970s, but there’s still nasty pockets of angry resistance. If you’re a reader, take a look at the Con or Bust auctions; if you’re a person of color & a sci-fi fan, hope this information is helpful!
Apart from being grateful for our blessings, what’s on the agenda for the day?
Mustang Bobby
Doggie picture!
Back to work after a day of congestion, coughing, and general misery that didn’t need to be spread to co-workers, although I did enjoy the weird dreams that came with the fitful sleep I got yesterday and last night.
PsiFighter37
Looks like the first NYT hit piece from their deal with right-wing hack Peter Schweizer is out. I haven’t read it, but I almost feel like it will be difficult to treat with no bias given that the source of the material is a complete hack.
Going to be a very, very long 18 months…
OzarkHillbilly
The dog (a golden retreiver) at my old man’s nursing home seemed to gravitate to the Alzheimer patients and spent most of his time on their floor. And yes, he too rode the elevator, waiting patiently at the door for someone going up or down to let him on.
BillinGlendaleCA
@PsiFighter37: Yes, but according to Joe and Mika, these are serious reporters and everything must be true. Then again Joe voted to impeach Bill Clinton over a BJ and Mika was on something during the 90’s and doesn’t’ seem to remember a damn thing about that decade. Howard Dean seems to remember the 90’s and got into a shouting match with both Joe and Mika. Yes, a long 18 months.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Is there an actual allegation that’s supported by evidence or just a bunch of insinuations? Haven’t read the article, but it’s usually the latter.
Southern Beale
Rand Paul’s son was arrested for DUI after a car crash.
So now we can cue the “leave the children out of it” chorus, until it’s time to criticize Sasha and Malia Obama for their short skirts, of course.
Mustang Bobby
Bobby Jindal has a screed against gay marriage on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times this morning.
His basic argument is that religious bigotry is a long and proud tradition in American business and no bunch of radical liberals and sodomites are gonna talk him down.
He’s planning on running for president… and will make Fred Thompson’s run in 2012 look like a squeaker.
Baud
@Mustang Bobby:
Jindal needs to start selling reverse mortgages.
OzarkHillbilly
@Southern Beale: Yes. Do leave children out of it. If you want to be better than others, it helps to not stoop to their level.
Iowa Old Lady
I’m getting ready to go to the Iowa SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) conference tomorrow. I plan to enjoy the break from political fury.
Baud
@Iowa Old Lady: Have fun!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Worse. He’s selling Louisiana.
Germy Shoemangler
Electronics Recycling Day is this Saturday. My son has an old laptop and we have an old mac hard drive to get rid of. But I’m concerned about someone at the recycling end being able to retrieve personal financial information from the computers. I’ve been told nothing is ever truly erased from a hard drive.
Should I run a magnet over the thing? Soak it in dishwashing liquid?
Mustang Bobby
@Germy Shoemangler: When I recycled my old laptop they took out the hard drive and put it under a drill press and put a 1/8″ hole in it.
JPL
@Germy Shoemangler: Remove the hard drive.
Late to the dance as always. Good advice about the drill.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mustang Bobby: That sounds like a solution. I’ll ask them on Saturday if they do that.
Germy Shoemangler
@JPL: It’s against the law here to throw away electronic stuff. It has to be recycled.
OzarkHillbilly
Prosecutors release image of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev flipping off camera in cell
Prosecutor says photo from cell shows convicted Boston Marathon bomber ‘unrepentant’ as defence shows other clips from video
Because nobody ever got pissed off about the fact that in jail, you can’t even take a dump in privacy.
Jerzy Russian
@Germy Shoemangler: I don’t think that bit about “nothing is ever truly erased from a hard drive” is true. If this were literally true, then data compression would be much better than it is. If you want to donate a function drive, I would reformat the drive, fill it with random junk, then reformat it again. I think the standard number of times to do this is 2 or 3. If you know how to program, it is easy to write a code that outputs random stuff to a file. Otherwise, you might have to manually make copies of a large file (a movie for example), which could be a pain.
If you don’t care that the drive is not functional, I would think that the water treatment would do the trick.
Patricia Kayden
@Southern Beale: Rand has zero chances of winning the Presidency. Doubt he’ll even make it out of the Republican primaries. Whatever his son does or doesn’t do is interesting in a gossipy way but has no political relevance, in my opinion. You’re right, however, that if Chelsea Clinton was arrested for drugs, some low life Right Wingers would try to make a fuss about it. Sigh.
Patricia Kayden
@Mustang Bobby: So what will Jindal say after the Supreme Court rules in favor of same sex marriage in June? Republicans must know that they’ve already lost the war on gay marriage. I’m going to enjoy seeing them walk back (or try to) all of their bigoted comments.
Mustang Bobby
@Patricia Kayden: He’ll say something about “states’ rights,” which is ironic since this June will be the 48th anniversary of the ruling in Loving v. Virginia which overturned the state laws forbidding interracial marriage. Lucky for him he married a woman from New Delhi.
gvg
@Germy Shoemangler: When I got rid of mine, I was concerned, so I asked my dad who is a retired computer engineer. He got a screw driver out, pulled the hard drive and smashed the disk/plate thing that was revealed, with a hammer. Threw that in the trash and said now its ok to recycle the rest. It seemed pretty simple and obvious AFTER I had seen it. Took him just a few minutes, mostly looking for the tools.
Gin & Tonic
@Germy Shoemangler: You’ve gotten good advice. Anything you do to the drive physically, like cracking the case, drilling a hole, immersing it in water puts the chances of recovery well beyond the capabilities of anyone who’d be interested in your data. An organization with NSA-level funding and resources might be able to get something off the platters, but it would require dedicated engineers and a “clean room.”
germy shoemangler
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks everybody for all the advice and info.
SuperHrefna
Cool! Con or Bust is such a great idea – it’s been going for a few years now ( it formed in response to Racefail ’09) and it has managed to send lots of people to conventions. More power to its elbow!
Yatsuno
@Southern Beale: Complaining about their skirts is SOOO 2012. The new hotness is the Obama children rolling their eyes. I mean jeez even THEY are tired of their dad! Because that never happens with any teenager EVER!!!
Origuy
@Jerzy Russian:
DOD recommendation is seven times. There is software to do this, look for “disc sanitization”.