Like Trying to Hide the Daylight From the Sun

Science and History: Why Scientists Should Stand Against the New Texas History Textbooks Too

Sat, 13 Sep 2014 01:25:25 GMT

The Texas Freedom Network started back in the mid-1990s with two top issues: keeping Texas schools in line with Supreme Court rulings on school prayer, doing the same for ~~Creationism~~ ~~Intelligent Design~~ Emphasizing Alternative Theories to Evolution. Once they got involved in raising awareness of truly embarrassing textbooks mandated and approved by the Texas State Board of Education (TXSBOE) in biology, their expansion into the health "abstinence only" curriculum was pretty organic. And their efforts are not just for Texas students: because Texas is one of the largest states to have a state mandated list of approved texts (New York, while populous, lets school districts select their text books independently), about half the textbooks sold in this country are written to conform with Texas State Guidelines (the other half are written to conform with the California State Guidelines). I've been supporting them pretty much since I moved down here to study history. because historians have a strong interest in science (it's hard to talk about the Ice Age one period when your biology teacher tells you the world isn't old enough to have had an ice age the next one).

This year, however, it's texts for the History/Social Studies curriculum that are up for approval. TFN having been largely science-oriented before, realized that the social sciences were just as vulnerable as the hard ones. So they rounded up a group of volunteer professors, teachers, and doctoral candidates to independently review all 43 proposed texts, covering Texas, US, and World History, as well as US Civics. Some of those reviewers are friends of mine. "[TFN was] a little shocked at how detailed our submitted reviews were," one told me. He's going to have 120 seconds to explain to the Board why the text he reviewed is inaccurate, glaringly biased, and downright unprofessional in its presentation. If you've been following this through the abbreviated articles touching on the worst inaccuracies, my friend is the one who (though he didn't read the overall worst rated text) had the pleasure of reading about how all problems in the Middle East result from Jihad, and that sub-Saharan Africa is populated by "the Negro race."

( Now, conserve your energy, because I have his first draft, no snark spared, and it got worse. And this is reason number one why Scientists should be equally appalled as historians about Chapter 13, the home of that delightful phrase. )

comments

More Than Half a World Away

Sat, 30 Aug 2014 06:28:01 GMT

I'm sitting at my favorite musical perch of all time – a small, concrete abuttment at Stubb's in Austin, Texas, watching G-Love, Special Sauce, and the racial divide of the country play out in front of me. I should have known from my arrival: out of work and in search of free parking, a homeless man helped me parallel park a few blocks up. “Thank you,” I told him, shaking his hand through the passenger side window.

“Thank you for not spitting on me and calling me a nigger.”

I blinked. “Why the hell would I do that?”

“Plenty of folks take it upon themselves. Probably because I'm homeless.”

“Well, fuck that.” We live in an ATM world, so I handed him a twenty. “Thanks again, and please: go do something that makes you feel good,” I tell him, echoing the words of the friend who'd bought me the ticket to the G-Love show: please, go do something that you think is fun.

( And yes, the G-Love show is definitely fun... )

comments

Things I'm Done With

Fri, 29 Aug 2014 22:06:09 GMT

( Read more... )

comments

Shrugging off the Onus

Sat, 23 Aug 2014 04:16:44 GMT

I may have mentioned in the comments to my last post that I live with Major Depressive Disorder (recurring), and that at times when the laughingstock that is the cultural treatment and understanding of depression, I can't help but take on the onus of education. It drives me nuts when people, especially people who've known me since before I received my diagnosis, need power point presentations to explain that no, the pills are not going away, then be told "well, it's that can't attitude that's a self-fulfilling prophecy." And I'm going to cut for a trigger warning now because just reliving that conversation in my head is enough to make me... well, I'll explain.

( Longwinded discussion about depression... )

comments

Five Lessons No One Seems to be Circulating in the Aftermath of Mr. Williams' Death

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 02:32:08 GMT

NB: Edited to fix a few typos and grammatical errors.

( Trigger warning: contains extensive exploration of my opinions about suicide )

comments

Who is the most awesome-sauce in the world?

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 02:29:50 GMT

fish_echo is, that's who.

Back in Halloween she dressed up as Delirium-Who-Was-Once-Delight, in particular, the design from my icon.

I just got a package from her. It contained

One (1) card in an enveloped marked "To: [Morag] Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas (much belatedly) P.S. open presents before the card (card contains spoilers)" with many stars on

AND

One (1) boomerang from Australia (I'm hoping she wasn't intending this as a death threat ala Scandal in Belgravia, but then I remembered I can't even make a yo-yo work, there's no way I'll actually get a boomerang to come back

AND

Twelve (12) crocheted and knitted fish of many varieties.

So, if I find a cheap old black leather jacket, here in meatspace, I can actually look like I do on the internets.

As I said, who is made of awesome-sauce? fish_echo is, that's who. Thank you, sweetie, I love the presents and you too.

comments

Fic: Sad Sappy Suckers (Inception-SPN), (Gen, pre-slash Sam/Arthur, PG-13)

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 06:37:57 GMT

Title: Sad Sappy Suckers
Author: moragmacpherson
Betas: sistabro and callowyn
Fandoms: Inception-Supernatural
Rating: PG-13
Series: Not Such as I Was
Pairings: Sam/Arthur, pre-slash
Timeline: Pre-canon, Stanford-era
Disclaimer: None of the canonical characters contained herein belong to me and this work is not intended for any profit or other commercial purposes. Title from the Modest Mouse album of the same name.
Contents include: Language, disturbing dream imagery
Summary: Everyone needs their secrets, Arthur knows that, but there’s something huge he’s missing here and without it, Sam’s a puzzle he can’t quite solve.

September 4, 2001

( Arthur's sitting in a diner booth across from the Winchester kid (emphasis on 'kid'), who's sucking down a milkshake like he’s going for a prize, giving these tiny groans of pleasure every time he pauses for breath. )

comments

Fic: Lost in Her Loving Embrace (Inception-SPN), (Gen, R)

Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:55:06 GMT

Title: Lost in Her Loving Embrace
Author: moragmacpherson
Betas: sistabro and callowyn
Fandoms: Inception-Supernatural
Rating: R
Series: Not Such as I Was
Pairings: Mal/Dom, Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames
Timeline: Set during the first half of season four in Supernatural, during an in-movie flashback for Inception.
Disclaimer: None of the canonical characters contained herein belong to me and this work is not intended for any profit or other commercial purposes.
Contents include: Insanity, suicidal ideation
Summary: There are many reasons why Mal must make Dom wake up with her.

( November, 2008 )

comments

Wherein Morag proves she's as inappropriate in gaming as she is everywhere else

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 22:43:31 GMT

Okay, so these are a little random, so short captions while I remember it all, yeah? Bear in mind I slept through about five hours of the entire beta and wrote this up last night before going to sleep and forgetting why I'd taken each shot in the first place.

First screencap, just to prove that my health cap was, at one point, 666, possibly because dear Yoavina, my character, is in fact The Whore of Babylon. More signs to come.
( I apologize for using the epithet but the stuff under the cut is straight from the Book of Revelation... )

comments

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) Master Post

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:49:36 GMT

Title: Penrose Stairs
Authors: moragmacpherson dragonspell.callowyn
Betas: callowyn, sistabro
Fandoms: Inception-Supernatural crossover fusion-AU; let's just call it Superception
Rating: NC-17
Final Word Count: 19,541
Pairings: Sam/Arthur, Eames/Arthur
Timeline: Set during "Mystery Spot" (3.11) for Supernatural, pre-movie for Inception.
Disclaimer: None of the characters contained herein belong to me and this work is not intended for any profit or other commercial purposes.
Series: Not Such As I Was
Contents include: Language, graphic sexual situations,canonical character death, angst
Summary: The stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher. This is clearly impossible in three dimensions.

Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace

Wednesday's Child if Full of Woe

Thursday's Child Has Far to Go

comments

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) 3/3

Tue, 22 May 2012 16:40:27 GMT

Title: Penrose Stairs (3/3)
Authors: moragmacpherson dragonspell.callowyn
Betas: callowyn, sistabro
Fandoms: Inception-Supernatural crossover fusion-AU; let's just call it Superception
Rating: NC-17
Final Word Count: 19,541
Pairings: Sam/Arthur, Eames/Arthur
Timeline: Set during "Mystery Spot" (3.11) for Supernatural, pre-movie for Inception.
Disclaimer: None of the characters contained herein belong to me and this work is not intended for any profit or other commercial purposes.
Series: Not Such As I Was
Contents include: Language, graphic sexual situations,canonical character death, angst
Author's Notes: Included at the end.
Summary: The stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher. This is clearly impossible in three dimensions.

Master Post

Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace

Wednesday's Child if Full of Woe

( Thursday's child has far to go )

comments

Fic: Kaddish (Inception, Eames/Arthur, R)

Mon, 07 May 2012 05:06:08 GMT

Title: Kaddish
Author: moragmacpherson
Beta: callowyn
Fandom: Inception
Rating: R
Pairings: Eames/Arthur
Characters: Arthur, Mal, Philippa, Miles, Eames, Dom, OCs
Timeline: Pre-movie
Contents include: Canonical character death, religious imagery, language, graphic sexual situations
Author's note: Never mind that I made her beta it, this is kind of a graduation present for callowyn inspired by this conversation with my roommate (Further proof that just knowing Cally will enable you to inject angst into anything). Congratulations, hon: you made it out alive (which is more than I can say for many of your thesis characters).
Summary: Regardless of which calendar Arthur uses, Mal has been dead for thirty-four days now.

( The sun has set and now it's Monday, the Twenty Fifth of Kislev, first night of Hanukkah in the year 5769. Winter twilight does not linger and it is Sunday, December Twenty First, the Solstice and the longest night in the Year of Their Lord, 2008. )

comments

Not Such as I Was Timeline (Superception)

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:37:56 GMT

"I...OK, not a crossover that would have occurred to me right off, but it works kind of scarily well." - Ao3 bookmark comment by MollyC

This sums up about half the comments this series has received, reminding me that not everyone has spent the last six months obsessing over Superception the way I have. For me, this is a parallel head canon, so I'm always confused by people being surprised that it works. Of course it works! This is how it happened!

The thing of it is: I love this crossover and I will never be able to write all of the fic that I want in it. Plus, I'm lazy and would like to read some without having to write it first. Hence this post: the merged timeline of my Superception 'verse, "Not Such As I Was". If you're curious how to pull the two canons together, here are the basic mechanics and back story for how I chose to do it: a mix of canon, fanon, historical fiction, applied phlebotinum, miracles, and, of course, True Love(s).

I post it in the hopes it may inspire some people to cross these canons over in completely different ways. It's also an open invitation for other people to join this sandbox; after the timeline, there are some general guidelines that I'm using while writing the series, further details on Project Lavoisier, quite a bit of miscellany and some story ideas that I don't know if I'll ever get around to incorporating. But maybe one of you will.

Needless to say: here there be spoilers-- probably. This is a living document: it's how I think the two canons interacted prior to June 2012 (with the help of my accomplices - Cally, Squid, Sis, DS, Mel, Lass and anyone else whose ear I've talked off: THANK YOU.). Particular details about events may change in the process of fic writing, or if someone happens to come along with some much better idea about what happened. Also, these are by no means the only places where the canons intersected: others almost certainly happened, it's just they haven't been noticed yet. So if you notice 'em, feel free to tell us all about 'em.

-MM
______________
( The Road So Far... )

comments

Excuse me while I fan-girl spaz because Neil Gaiman asked me a question

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 07:25:20 GMT

I was just procrastinating on tumblr. I reblogged one of his posts and answered a question he posed within, because, well, A Game of You was on the shelf right next to me.

Then I got an e-mail from tumblrbot saying that Neil-Gaiman had asked me a question.

This was obviously from a universe with zeppelins in, except:

As calmly as possible, I tried to piece together a coherent reply.

Then I got to look at my dash again and find this:

And now I'm just sort of in a daze.

comments

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) 2/3

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 19:27:40 GMT

Title: Penrose Stairs (2/3)
Authors: moragmacpherson & dragonspell
Beta: callowyn
Fandoms: Inception-Supernatural crossover fusion-AU; lets just call it Superception
Rating: NC-17
Final Word Count: 19,541
Pairings: Sam/Arthur, Eames/Arthur
Timeline: Set during "Mystery Spot" (3.11) for Supernatural, pre-movie for Inception.
Disclaimer: None of the characters contained herein belong to me and this work is not intended for any profit or other commercial purposes.
Series: Not Such As I Was
Contents include: Language, graphic sexual situations,canonical character death
Summary: The stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher. This is clearly impossible in three dimensions.

Master Post

Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace

( Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe )

comments

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) 1/3

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 20:32:57 GMT

Title: Penrose Stairs
Authors: moragmacpherson & dragonspell
Betas: callowyn and sistabro
Fandoms: Inception-Supernatural crossover fusion-AU; let's just call it Superception
Rating: NC-17
Final Word Count: 19,541
Pairings: Sam/Arthur, Eames/Arthur
Timeline: Set during "Mystery Spot" (3.11) for Supernatural, pre-movie for Inception.
Disclaimer: None of the characters contained herein belong to me and this work is not intended for any profit or other commercial purposes.
Series: Not Such As I Was
Contents include: Language, graphic sexual situations,canonical character death
Summary: The stairs make four 90-degree turns as they ascend or descend yet form a continuous loop, so that a person could climb them forever and never get any higher. This is clearly impossible in three dimensions.

Master Post

( Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace )

comments

Out of Hand: A User's Guide to Unraveling Morag

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 18:41:30 GMT

Psych #1: Why is the first word you always use to describe yourself "short"?
Me: Because it's the obvious one. "Look for the short chick." People pick me out of a crowd every time.
Psych #1: You seem to focus on being small, it comes up almost randomly in conversation. Why is that?
Me: Because it's not something I ever have a chance to forget about.
Psych #1: Why? Do other people always bring it up? Because you seem to be the one always bringing it up in our conversations.
Me: No, it's because... well, being as short as I am is really tedious.
Psych #1: I don't understand. How is being short tedious?
Me: Like when I cook, if I need something in the pantry, I have to climb up a stool to grab it. God help me if I forget to grab everything I need in one trip, otherwise it's back up the stool. And standing in grocery aisles, waiting for someone, anyone to show up to grab something for me. People are always nice about it, but I'm still the one always stuck there waiting for them.
Psych #1: Huh. I never thought of it like that.

Hi. I'm Morag! There's a number of new people about (I'll get to that in a minute), and it's been awhile since I posted anything that wasn't, well, porn (there's an explanation!), so an intro/update post isn't uncalled for. I've been doing a lot of tumblr-ing too, which has added think-y things, as well as thesis-ing, so more thinking. But yeah, first thing to know about me: I'm 4'9", short enough for it to be annoying, not quite so short that people ask if it's a symptom. Also probably a good giveaway up there: the necessity of numbering my psychiatrists and psychologists.

( Knitting, porn, philosophy, fic, and more disturbing insights... )

comments

Self-Cest Meme Update: Looking for Authors!

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:06:46 GMT

Banner by thecookiemomma

So, the response to the meme has been rather overwhelming. I couldn't be happier: there are some prompts in there that I'm absolutely dying to read. I'm also not entirely sure how word of is spreading: there are people promoting it on tumblr (thanks!), I posted a promo at crossoverfic and at a couple specific fandom communities; but I've never met half the commenters (which is awesome, nice to meet you all!), and what's more, I've never heard of some of these fandoms before!

Which is fantastic, but I do have one worry. It's great to see such diverse prompts, but it's a Comment-Fic Meme and those aren't nearly as fun as they should be if there aren't fills to go with the prompts. I've been doing my part, but my f-list is obviously dominated by people from my fandoms and this has become a truly multi-fandom meme.

So while I don't want to stop the prompts (not for another week or two at the least), if you're an author in any of the following fandoms, consider dropping in and seeing if you can make a fill (and feel free to leave your own prompt while you're there). Anonymous commenting is ON and IP logging is OFF for now; so if you're feeling a little shy about filling or prompting a kinky situation, feel free to do so anonymously.

Bear in mind, these are only the fandoms with existing prompts (and if I classified a fandom incorrectly, my apologies, I had to wiki more than a few of these and make my best guess).

( At least forty four different fandoms )

comments

Self-cest Comment-Fic Meme

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:18:09 GMT

Many thanks to thecookiemomma for this lovely banner
This is a multi-fandom comment-fic meme based on the following exchange:

Callowyn: to me, there is no such thing as a crack pairing.
Morag: Would you ship Arthur from Inception with Tom from 500 Days of Summer?
Callowyn: dude, I invented a verse solely for reasons of misha kissing misha. I WOULD SHIP ANYONE WITH THEMSELVES. AND YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT.
Morag: Challenge accepted.

And there’s so much to work with! How many times have characters canonically met their past selves, or alternate reality versions of themselves, or an evil doppelganger, or even run across the actors that play them? How many crossovers have you read where someone meets their look-alike from another universe? Think of the classic Buffy episode The Replacements, in which Riley Finn says of two Xanders: "Doesn't it make everyone wanna lock them in separate rooms and do experiments on them?"

Fuck that shit, let's see what happens when they're locked in a room together! Maybe they'll have sex? Awesome. We all love imagining pretty faces making out with each other. Now it’s time to imagine pretty faces making out with themselves!
( We can all pretend that this meme had nothing to do with Mirror!Spock’s goatee, but we would be lying. )

comments

LOL

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:26:40 GMT

If you haven't been watching, the spontaneous transformation of E! Online's TV's Top Couples poll comment section into a Doctor Superlock RP session is one of the greatest and most beautiful things ever. My favorite moment? When Jim Moriarty started flirting with Lucifer.

comments

Today

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:47:08 GMT

This is a fair summation of my achievements and plans for today.

Groundhog Day is so much less exciting when you're in Texas.

comments

An Open Letter to Google

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:11:56 GMT

You came to power on the same wave that gave us Web 2.0, the one built on user-provided content. As it turns out, people were a lot more interested in each other than we were in pretty much anything else (okay, except for porn). One of the reasons many of us were comfortable sharing content was because it was not necessarily linked to our meatspace identity. We could be different people on different sites (there are things said on this site that would not be said on sites linked with my meatspace identity -- in turn, information on my meatspace life here tends to be descriptive but not specific).

Has there been a single instance since the inception of Web 2.0 that users have reacted positively to post hoc information sharing without explicit consent? Or has there been massive outrage until users were permitted to limit data sharing in accordance with individual comfort level? IT HAPPENS EVERY FUCKING TIME.

And yet you don't seem to learn. So here we go again.

Google, you provide some wonderful services; I've had a gmail account since the first round of invites. Last time I checked I have... eight separate log ins. But I'm gonna have to limit my use of them now. Announcing a sweeping privacy reform while not permitting users to choose which of your services they want to use? Does not count as asking for our permission. (Completely abandoning google just isn't convenient at this time, especially given the dearth of alternatives without equally troublesome privacy issues of their own)

I won't miss google+ (although given that it's been several hours since I deleted the google+ accounts, those profiles really ought to be gone by now). No more browsing while logged in. No more personalized news. I now have to delete your cookie EVERY DAMN DAY. Basically, chrome is now my google docs viewer and nothing more. And no more logging in to gmail unless I need to search for a conversation-- thunderbird is go. I'll log in to gchat using the less reliable gchat widget, and I'll be annoyed about it. But you really haven't given me much choice, have you?

Moral of the story: Take an inch: watch me pull back a mile.

comments

Sam and Eames and Lucifer and the Creeps (Superception pic-spam)

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:36:46 GMT

Stage directions are over-rated (also, I need to write some porn for the next scene in the next actual story in this 'verse, which means I need my porn writing security blanket, aka callowyn , to settle in for the semester and make me write the phone sex.) Anyway: more Superception pic-spam/pretty things to distract you from exposition dumping.

Warning: While being a PG-13 story, this ficlet contain references to dub-con Samifer goings on.

( Sam and I need to have a word. )

comments

Dean versus Arthur Sartorial Snark-tacular!

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:38:39 GMT

Okay, I admit it: the temptation to pic-spam Dean in his '40s get up is too strong to resist. So I tacked some dialogue from one of the up-coming "Not Such As I Was" stories onto them to justify myself (and that way I get to pic-spam Hotel-Level Arthur and Eames too!). Also, tabaqui was asking about Arthur and Dean's relationship after the last story — this is about as well as the two of them will ever get along.

( I feel like I'm a goddamn Ken doll... )

comments

[Meme] Your sex life in 2012 (aka, fun with bibliomancy grin)

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 03:00:08 GMT

From edenfalling

Pick up the nearest book to you. Turn to page 45. The first full sentence describes your sex life in 2012.

Shit. The nearest book I have is by Dan Savage. All things considered, it could be worse. From The Commitment: Love, Sex, Marriage and My Family:

"They must know people are coming here for summer vacation," Terry said, "and they figure they'll gouge you on drink mix."

Drunken sex after overpriced drinks? That sounds nothing like me at all. =D Of course, when it comes to real life, I am an enormous Dan/Terry shipper, and Terry can make me quadruple margaritas any time he likes.

comments

Like Trying to Hide the Daylight From the Sun

Science and History: Why Scientists Should Stand Against the New Texas History Textbooks Too

More Than Half a World Away

Things I'm Done With

Shrugging off the Onus

Five Lessons No One Seems to be Circulating in the Aftermath of Mr. Williams' Death

Who is the most awesome-sauce in the world?

Fic: Sad Sappy Suckers (Inception-SPN), (Gen, pre-slash Sam/Arthur, PG-13)

Fic: Lost in Her Loving Embrace (Inception-SPN), (Gen, R)

Wherein Morag proves she's as inappropriate in gaming as she is everywhere else

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) Master Post

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) 3/3

Fic: Kaddish (Inception, Eames/Arthur, R)

Not Such as I Was Timeline (Superception)

Excuse me while I fan-girl spaz because Neil Gaiman asked me a question

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) 2/3

Fic: Penrose Stairs (Inception-SPN), Sam/Arthur, Arthur/Eames, NC-17) 1/3

Out of Hand: A User's Guide to Unraveling Morag

Self-Cest Meme Update: Looking for Authors!

Self-cest Comment-Fic Meme

LOL

Today

An Open Letter to Google

Sam and Eames and Lucifer and the Creeps (Superception pic-spam)

Dean versus Arthur Sartorial Snark-tacular!

[Meme] Your sex life in 2012 (aka, fun with bibliomancy *grin*)

[Meme] Your sex life in 2012 (aka, fun with bibliomancy grin)