some more misc. comments I've posted

In bisexual, responding to junkfood_junkie's assertion that we should have waited on same-sex marriage:

We've been working within the system for years. How long would you wait? "All deliberate speed" is a recipe for inaction, and the first same-sex couple married in San Francisco had already waited fifty years.

Gavin Newsom's position is that what he's doing is not illegal, because the law banning it is unconstitutional. He is thus in the same position as someone who committed sodomy in Texas before the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Similarly, New York law on the matter is ambiguous.

More to the point, the anti-marriage forces suggested the federal ban in response to the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling. Going to court and getting a favorable ruling on state constitutional grounds is definitely working within the justice system.

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In response to misia's statement that she hasn't watched television since 1986:

To a first approximation, I haven't watched television since the 1980s or early 1990s. I'm not sure exactly, because it wasn't exactly a decision to stop; rather, it was a decision to stop paying for a service that we'd already stopped using. cattitude might remember what year it was.

If you're feeling nitpicky, I should note that I tend to see bits of television at the gym (hard to avoid, given the way the place is set up) and in certain stores (ditto). I even watched the news for a little while in the store downstairs on purpose, two and a half years ago.

Oh, and I watched an episode of Buffy while visiting eleanor some months back. And other programs from time to time, while visiting other people: Teletubbies a few years ago, courtesy of bohemiancoast's daughter.

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In response to something treadpath wrote, about people she dislikes for no specific reason:

"I do not like thee, Dr. Fell."

There are lots of reasons for liking people, and lots of reasons for disliking them, and sometimes it seems pretty arbitrary which I notice. But yes, it's easier when I can identify a reason: I don't like this person because he doesn't recognize my personal space, because she insists on dominating every conversation by telling bad jokes, or such. (There's a separate category of "this person is unethical/destructive/too selfish/et cetera"; that's learned caution or avoidance, often of someone I did like at least for a while.

There are people whose virtues I can recognize, and say "Yes, s/he is a good person" and still not want to spend time with. And that's okay: there are 8 million other people just in this city, I'm not abandoning them to a life of complete isolation.

Life in the modern Western world throws enough television at me that I know that (a) there is some good stuff there, (b) there's an awful lot of crap there, (c) neither of these facts is new, and (d) I still don't want a television.

some more misc. comments I've posted

In bisexual, responding to junkfood_junkie's assertion that we should have waited on same-sex marriage:

We've been working within the system for years. How long would you wait? "All deliberate speed" is a recipe for inaction, and the first same-sex couple married in San Francisco had already waited fifty years.

Gavin Newsom's position is that what he's doing is not illegal, because the law banning it is unconstitutional. He is thus in the same position as someone who committed sodomy in Texas before the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. Similarly, New York law on the matter is ambiguous.

More to the point, the anti-marriage forces suggested the federal ban in response to the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling. Going to court and getting a favorable ruling on state constitutional grounds is definitely working within the justice system.

---

In response to misia's statement that she hasn't watched television since 1986:

To a first approximation, I haven't watched television since the 1980s or early 1990s. I'm not sure exactly, because it wasn't exactly a decision to stop; rather, it was a decision to stop paying for a service that we'd already stopped using. cattitude might remember what year it was.

If you're feeling nitpicky, I should note that I tend to see bits of television at the gym (hard to avoid, given the way the place is set up) and in certain stores (ditto). I even watched the news for a little while in the store downstairs on purpose, two and a half years ago.

Oh, and I watched an episode of Buffy while visiting eleanor some months back. And other programs from time to time, while visiting other people: Teletubbies a few years ago, courtesy of bohemiancoast's daughter.

---

In response to something treadpath wrote, about people she dislikes for no specific reason:

"I do not like thee, Dr. Fell."

There are lots of reasons for liking people, and lots of reasons for disliking them, and sometimes it seems pretty arbitrary which I notice. But yes, it's easier when I can identify a reason: I don't like this person because he doesn't recognize my personal space, because she insists on dominating every conversation by telling bad jokes, or such. (There's a separate category of "this person is unethical/destructive/too selfish/et cetera"; that's learned caution or avoidance, often of someone I did like at least for a while.

There are people whose virtues I can recognize, and say "Yes, s/he is a good person" and still not want to spend time with. And that's okay: there are 8 million other people just in this city, I'm not abandoning them to a life of complete isolation.

Life in the modern Western world throws enough television at me that I know that (a) there is some good stuff there, (b) there's an awful lot of crap there, (c) neither of these facts is new, and (d) I still don't want a television.

Idle thought on language and culture

What would be implied by a person or culture (possibly, but not necessarily, one of the Fair Folk) addressing people as "Daughter of Adam" and "Son of Eve"?

Idle thought on language and culture

What would be implied by a person or culture (possibly, but not necessarily, one of the Fair Folk) addressing people as "Daughter of Adam" and "Son of Eve"?

This is not the real issue

I've added several charming space missions--explorers and Earth satellites--to my friends list recently. One of the things about LiveJournal is, of course, that my friends have friends--this is how I found most of these far-flung LJers.

So I was reading venera14's journal. She wasn't sure whether she should be talking to Westerners and capitalists, but decided that it couldn't really do any harm for "an old probe to live out its last days in discourse with like minded friends." mars3 is a lot more political, but assured her that "As for sharing information, is only benefits the Soviet People. By co-operating with the imperialist Americans, the world's population shall see how benevolent the Glorious Socialist Cause truly is and will be more eager to welcome it into their lives."

I basically agreed with mars3 on the advantages of sharing data and said so. But this has led me (via the practicalities of transmitting the True Knowledge to Venus) to wondering about the practicality of building socialism on one planet.

This is not the real issue

I've added several charming space missions--explorers and Earth satellites--to my friends list recently. One of the things about LiveJournal is, of course, that my friends have friends--this is how I found most of these far-flung LJers.

So I was reading venera14's journal. She wasn't sure whether she should be talking to Westerners and capitalists, but decided that it couldn't really do any harm for "an old probe to live out its last days in discourse with like minded friends." mars3 is a lot more political, but assured her that "As for sharing information, is only benefits the Soviet People. By co-operating with the imperialist Americans, the world's population shall see how benevolent the Glorious Socialist Cause truly is and will be more eager to welcome it into their lives."

I basically agreed with mars3 on the advantages of sharing data and said so. But this has led me (via the practicalities of transmitting the True Knowledge to Venus) to wondering about the practicality of building socialism on one planet.