Reading Wednesday
Jun. 11th, 2025 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Just finished: Dakwäkãda Warriors by Cole Pauls, I don't have tons to say about this comic—it'll take you maybe an hour to read if that, and it's really cute and fun, and then you read the context around it and it's quite moving and beautiful as well. It's basically a language revitalization project wrapped up in a pew-pew-pew space opera story. It's cool that this exists and I want there to be more of it.
Withered by A.G.A. Wilmot. Listen, cozy horror and other cozy authors! I will make you a deal. You get one (1) scene where the asexual protagonist comes out to their appropriately diverse love interest and they talk about their sexuality and consent in a mature, healthy way, infused with Tumblr therapyspeak, and agree to just hold hands or whatever. In exchange, I want y'all to try excise or subvert toxic tropes like having your main human antagonist being a woman who is haunted by a ghost no one else can see and locked up in a mental institution for 25 years, who has no agency at all, and who at the end realizes the error of her ways and is...cut loose to just be homeless and wander forever, I guess????
Like, aesthetically, I hate cozy. I fucking hate it. I try really hard to not judge the taste of people who like it, because intellectually I get the appeal and there's nothing wrong with liking what you like, but it's very much not for me. And when I have to read and rate a cozy book, I try to keep the ideal reader in mind, not me, a grim and cynical person who likes messy characters and tension in my storytelling. I think there are some cozy, or cozy-adjacent books that are done well (Regency and Regency+magic does low-stakes, mostly good characters in ways that I enjoy, for example) and I don't want to judge the entire subgenre either.
But I do think that there's a tendency for specifically cozy fiction to use didactic storytelling (casts include one of everyone and/or a lot of twofer characters, but these identities tend to be very shallowly written except for where they reflect the author's, conflicts are easily resolved by talking things out, good behaviour is rewarded and bad behaviour is punished or reformed, discussions about emotion or sexuality are always direct and never in conflict). So if you are going to write a book that includes, for example, instructions for the reader on how to navigate a relationship with an ace person, or how to approach therapy for a mental illness, I'm going to also need you to examine your work for unintentional messaging in a way that I wouldn't necessarily do if you're writing, say, Gothic horror where the protagonist can't decide whether she wants the vampire to eat her or fuck her.
Which is to say that in a world where we get to see multiple Zoom therapy sessions, I do not buy that a mental institution merely drugs a character and does not attempt to help her heal at all. I think that sets up a dichotomy between Good Mental Illness (you know, the kind that makes you pretty and kinda tragic) and Bad Mental Illness (where you get your mess all over other people/try to burn down the family house) that is not good or wholesome at all.
Also, the climactic battle at the end was a huge WTF.
The voice in this is great—the first two chapters are basically the robots navigating their way through the murder without being able to deviate from their programming, and it's bitingly satirical and very funny. I'm rather enjoying this.
Withered by A.G.A. Wilmot. Listen, cozy horror and other cozy authors! I will make you a deal. You get one (1) scene where the asexual protagonist comes out to their appropriately diverse love interest and they talk about their sexuality and consent in a mature, healthy way, infused with Tumblr therapyspeak, and agree to just hold hands or whatever. In exchange, I want y'all to try excise or subvert toxic tropes like having your main human antagonist being a woman who is haunted by a ghost no one else can see and locked up in a mental institution for 25 years, who has no agency at all, and who at the end realizes the error of her ways and is...cut loose to just be homeless and wander forever, I guess????
Like, aesthetically, I hate cozy. I fucking hate it. I try really hard to not judge the taste of people who like it, because intellectually I get the appeal and there's nothing wrong with liking what you like, but it's very much not for me. And when I have to read and rate a cozy book, I try to keep the ideal reader in mind, not me, a grim and cynical person who likes messy characters and tension in my storytelling. I think there are some cozy, or cozy-adjacent books that are done well (Regency and Regency+magic does low-stakes, mostly good characters in ways that I enjoy, for example) and I don't want to judge the entire subgenre either.
But I do think that there's a tendency for specifically cozy fiction to use didactic storytelling (casts include one of everyone and/or a lot of twofer characters, but these identities tend to be very shallowly written except for where they reflect the author's, conflicts are easily resolved by talking things out, good behaviour is rewarded and bad behaviour is punished or reformed, discussions about emotion or sexuality are always direct and never in conflict). So if you are going to write a book that includes, for example, instructions for the reader on how to navigate a relationship with an ace person, or how to approach therapy for a mental illness, I'm going to also need you to examine your work for unintentional messaging in a way that I wouldn't necessarily do if you're writing, say, Gothic horror where the protagonist can't decide whether she wants the vampire to eat her or fuck her.
Which is to say that in a world where we get to see multiple Zoom therapy sessions, I do not buy that a mental institution merely drugs a character and does not attempt to help her heal at all. I think that sets up a dichotomy between Good Mental Illness (you know, the kind that makes you pretty and kinda tragic) and Bad Mental Illness (where you get your mess all over other people/try to burn down the family house) that is not good or wholesome at all.
Also, the climactic battle at the end was a huge WTF.
If you, like me, would like to join in on Cozy Horror Discourse multiple years after it was live, here are some links I appreciated:
The Material Basis of Cozy Horror by Moreau Vazh
In Praise of Discomfort by Simon O'Neill
The voice in this is great—the first two chapters are basically the robots navigating their way through the murder without being able to deviate from their programming, and it's bitingly satirical and very funny. I'm rather enjoying this.
US Politics: Vaccine Advisory Committee decimation.
Jun. 10th, 2025 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
For folks following RFK Jr's attacks on healthcare and public health, you may know that yesterday he dismissed ALL 17 MEMBERS of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee. He intends to replace them, almost certainly, with people who will go along with his antivax agenda. Public comment is open now for this committee's next meeting. Here are instructions, talking points, and a sample comment folks can feel free to share: Tell the CDC: We Need Broad Access to Vaccines and Science-Based Expert Advisory Committees (by Precaution on Substack)
Public comment to CDC ACIP vaccine committee opened on 6/9, and closes 6/20 at 11:59pm EDT . If you think that sounds bafflingly short, that’s because it is. The current regime changed the rules for public comment periods and didn’t tell anybody, probably to make it sound like the public are less invested in politics than previous administrations, and prop up the illusion of confidence in this regime. 🤬🤬🤬 Fuck THAT noise!
Link outside the HTML if anyone needs that:
https://precaution.substack.com/p/tell-the-cdc-we-need-broad-access
Public comment to CDC ACIP vaccine committee opened on 6/9, and closes 6/20 at 11:59pm EDT . If you think that sounds bafflingly short, that’s because it is. The current regime changed the rules for public comment periods and didn’t tell anybody, probably to make it sound like the public are less invested in politics than previous administrations, and prop up the illusion of confidence in this regime. 🤬🤬🤬 Fuck THAT noise!
Link outside the HTML if anyone needs that:
https://precaution.substack.com/p/tell-the-cdc-we-need-broad-access
Conclave made me do it
Jun. 10th, 2025 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

I first got interested in Sophie Clark's "Cruel is the Light" because the cover is really pretty. I wasn't going to read it because while the marketing said "enemies to lovers" the summary wasn't sound "enemy-ing" enough.
Then the Pope died.
And I thought I'd read a book sent mostly in Rome because I had no idea what to read next, fiction-wise.
Cruel is the Light is... Fine. It's fine. It indeed isn't enemies to lovers, it's more rivals to lovers forbidden love fake dating. The love story isn't unbelievable, anymore than any two week love story is. I guessed both that
from the summary
Jules was a demonfrom early in the book
the Vatican's god was a demonThen the Pope died.
Ok, in the book he's "Exorcist Primus". Point is they're going to be doing X-Treme Conclave next book and I am intrigued.
Two grassroots jail-support orgs re: L.A.
Jun. 9th, 2025 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
I am aware of both these community orgs through their ties to the MALDEF and Raices. Happy to discuss more via DW message if you want more vouching.
Short-term/immediate bail and jail assistance for protesters: Jail Support LA
Jail support campaign of a long-running SGV mutual aid network: Operation Healthy Hearts
Short-term/immediate bail and jail assistance for protesters: Jail Support LA
Jail support campaign of a long-running SGV mutual aid network: Operation Healthy Hearts
Years when decades happen
Jun. 9th, 2025 07:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I dunno, what do you guys want me to rant about? The Freedom Flotilla? LA vs. ICE? The fact that my government is planning more pipelines while sending in the army to deal with out-of-control wildfires? Or, closer to home, Bill 5 or the Toronto bubble zone law, or...?
This is why people curl up and retreat into fiction.
This is why people curl up and retreat into fiction.
#FckICE 2025 - cumulative leaks and data
Jun. 9th, 2025 12:00 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Note: This piece will keep receiving updates as we receive more data.
fbi.txt
- Note: This is data from 2021 and may be partially outdated.
- Type: leak archive
- Size: 1.8M
- Description: Information on about 20k alleged FBI employees. Its source is difficult to discern (likely from BlueLeaks), but we were able to verify through OSINT that the data is likely legitimate.
- Download: fbi.txt
LAPD citywide and central radio recordings for June 7 and June 8
- Type: public archive
- Size: 26M
- Description: An archive of LAPD citywide tac and hotshot as well as central tac and dispatch radio recordings from Saturday, June 7 from 9:21 PM PDT to 10:42 PM PDT and Sunday, June 8 from 12:04 PM PDT to 9:07 PM PDT. It is publicly available data, archived and provided to us by an anonymous source.
- Download: lapd-radio-recordings-2025-06-08.zip
LAPD citywide and central radio recordings for June 8 to June 9
- Type: public archive
- Size: 13M
- Description: An archive of LAPD citywide tac and hotshot as well as central tac and dispatch radio recordings from Sunday, June 8 at 9:07 PM PDT to Monday, June 9 at 7:56 AM PDT. It is publicly available data, archived and provided to us by an anonymous source.
- Download: lapd-radio-recordings-2025-06-09.zip
ICE political donation public records
- Type: public archive
- Size: 20K
- Description: Data scraped from the FEC public records archive, showing info on ~145 ICE agents who made political donations.
- Download: ice-donations.csv
Hawk Analytics data
- Type: leak release
- Size: 1G
- Description: Miscellaneous documents, recordings, and source code containing police-focused guides about the cellular industry as well as corporate data. It was obtained from an exposed S3 bucket owned by Hawk Analytics, a company providing infrastructure for law enforcement. Hawk Analytics' clients include the DHS and California Highway Patrol.
- Download: hawk-analytics.zip
Flock Safety ALPR applications
- Type: public release
- Size: 1.4G
- Description: The applications that power the Android-based Flock Safety automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras. This was retrieved from the system cache of a cellular-based model, which identifies itself as a "16mm Twilio Cat 4" on its back. Flock Safety ALPR cameras can be found across LA County, and Flock Safety ALPR data is shared with the LAPD, according to a 2023 MOU.
- Download: flock-safety.zip
Every California cop
- Type: public release
- Size: 35M
- Description: A database of "all California POST-certified police officers, their POST ID, names, and every department they've worked for," obtained from a California Public Records Act request in February. Includes 455,919 rows, though some are duplicates due to title changes and others have names withheld. Database columns:
officer_id
,POST_ID
,officer_name
,agency
,employment_start_date
,employment_end_date
,rank
, andapp_status
. - Download: every-ca-cop.csv
Filtered The Post Millenial data
- Type: filtered leak
- Size: 52K
- Description: Personal information from The Post Millenial leak as it pertains to ICE and DHS employees.
- Download: fckice.txt
ICEPatrol/ICWatch LinkedIn Scrapes
- Type: scrape
- Description: 2018 and 2021 scrapes of LinkedIn for ICE and Intelligence Community employees, originally published by WikiLeaks.
- Download: ICEPatrol / ICWatch (via DDoSecrets mirror)
To the public's knowledge, a hacktivist support or attack front is not yet present during this spurt of protests, which is rather unusual for something of its size. If you still have other data to add (insider, leak, or archive), you can reach out to either maia (signal: @nyancrimew.01) or ryan (signal: @rhinozz.1337) directly. We promise anonymity and general source protection.
Unfollowing. Feel free to do the same.
Jun. 8th, 2025 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I’m going on a journal-cleaning spree. If we have not really interacted in the last six months, I am probably going to unsubscribe from following you. I don’t have enough spoons and free time to follow all the people I still kinda want to. I deeply resent having to prioritize some kinds of human connection below real world practical considerations, but … such is life. 😞
I also will possibly be on here less to keep up with things for the next month or two, so if you have my contact info and want me to see a post of yours, please send me a link? School is going to head back into kick-my-ass mode here in another week or two, and possibly stay there as things move from science-heavy to the business and legal classes I am required to take. 😞😞😞
I have a headache just thinking about it.
I also will possibly be on here less to keep up with things for the next month or two, so if you have my contact info and want me to see a post of yours, please send me a link? School is going to head back into kick-my-ass mode here in another week or two, and possibly stay there as things move from science-heavy to the business and legal classes I am required to take. 😞😞😞
I have a headache just thinking about it.
Protest Cuts to NOAA
Jun. 8th, 2025 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
The United States used to be the preeminent dealer when it came to forecasting the weather - worldwide. Not just what is going to happen within our borders, but also what is going to happen around the world, interacting with millions of people around the globe. And now Trump is making cuts through his stupid DOGE team of teenage and young 20something losers who know nothing about weather prediction. Even Trump's FEMA director has stated that, as the world entered hurricane season, he had no idea there even was a hurricane season. There are already protests to Trump cutting funding, but we need to make an impact.
Who to send a letter or postcard to:
Here are some things you should include in your letter:
Please take a minute to put your thoughts on paper to the people listed above, and make your voice heard!
Who to send a letter or postcard to:
- Trump himself (remember, you don't have to use your name!): 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC 20500
- Your single Congressperson and Two Senators (click here to get their information including mailing address)
- David Richardson, Director of FEMA (again, you don't have to use your name!): David Richardson c/o FEMA, PO Box 10055, Hyattsville MD 20782-8055
Here are some things you should include in your letter:
- Funding needs to be restored to at least 2024 levels
- No one at DOGE who shut down FEMA funding and projects had any weather knowledge or training
- It's hurricane season and without continued, accurate forecasting people will die
- Short staffing at National Weather Service offices across the country is putting people at risk
- Privatizing the National Weather Service and/or NOAA would cause more death and destruction
Please take a minute to put your thoughts on paper to the people listed above, and make your voice heard!
What To Expect From This Community
Jun. 8th, 2025 02:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
I (SquidgiePDX, who runs this community) first wasn't sure what I wanted to accomplish with this community. But I think the best thing that we can do is something that the Project Mailstorm has spearheaded - and that's overwhelm people in Congress with letters. Real, actual, taking-up-stpace, letters to those in charge in the United States Government.
If you want to read about Project Mailstorm, find the original site here: https://projectmailstorm.carrd.co/
That said, I'm going to post an idea for letters three days a week - Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays - that people can take up on their own, writing a letter about the subject to the targeted audience. But before we start delving in, here are a few things to note:
Remember, it's the object of Project Mailstorm to overwhelm them with paper. So if you can write as few as one or two letters a week, you can be a part of something massive!
And finally, if you can, please spread the word about this community. The more there are of us, the fewer there will be of them.
If you want to read about Project Mailstorm, find the original site here: https://projectmailstorm.carrd.co/
That said, I'm going to post an idea for letters three days a week - Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays - that people can take up on their own, writing a letter about the subject to the targeted audience. But before we start delving in, here are a few things to note:
- You should be a registered voter in the United States (or a US Citizen living abroad) to participate. Not that letters from outside the country wouldn't help - but TPTB is going to look at a letter from someone in Germany or Australia and toss it. You're not their consitutent, so most in Washington will not care.
- For letters going to your local representatives - from state representatives and senators to US Congresspeople and Senators - you should include a name and return address. But if you're sending something to, say, Trump or J.D. Vance, I would leave it off. You can just sign it "A consitutent living in Texas" or whatever state you're from. They don't have to have your name. On the other side, if you've got someone like MTG or some other racist asshole as your elected representative, you may want to skip on your name as well, and just include, "A constituent from zipcode XXXXX" - but just use your 5 digit zipcode and not a Zip+4, as that makes it easier to figure out who you are.
- If you know about the issue, go for it with your letter. But if you don't, take a point or two from the community action post and incorporate it into your letter.
- Each issue will be its own entry here in the community, but they will also be listed under the What You Can Do Right Now post in case you want to see previous actions.
Remember, it's the object of Project Mailstorm to overwhelm them with paper. So if you can write as few as one or two letters a week, you can be a part of something massive!
And finally, if you can, please spread the word about this community. The more there are of us, the fewer there will be of them.
"We don't trade lives" sure, man
Jun. 8th, 2025 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I was rewatching Avengers: Infinity War and it, again, struck me how bloody hypocritical Steve's "we don't trade lives" line(s) is. Friend. Pal. Bro. My man. Do you really think no Wakandan is gonna die fighting Thanos' armies. Like. Get a fucking grip, omg.