Captain's Log, Stardate -309422.08742389653

[Note:  This is a report of my first test flight of the Mirror Ha'apax Advanced Warbird in the MMORPG Star Trek Online, done in-character as Vice Admiral Gessatra ir'Virinat t'Prell, Fleet Admiral of the Tal'Diann, the Military Intelligence fleet of the New Romulan Republic's Star Navy, a fleet allied with the Orion Syndicate and the Klingon Empire in their ongoing war with the United Federation of Planets and its Starfleet.]

Captain's Log, Stardate -309422.08742389653

Dhael'aishaes ch'Mol'Rihan LivianaCharvanek (literally, 'Warbird of New Romulus LivianaCharvanek' which would be designated "R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek" in Federation Standard Aenglish, the prefix standing for "Republican Romulan Warbird"),

Khre'Enriov (Vice-Admiral) Gessatra ir'Virinat t'Prell, Galae'Enriov s'Tal'Diann (Fleet Admiral of the Tal'Diann, the Romulan Military Intelligence Fleet) commanding.

Recent activities of the crew of the D.Ch.M.R. LivianaCharvanek (R.R.W. LivianaCharvanek) and myself had left me somewhat interested in testing some other ships which had come into my personal squadron.

I have and have had for some time the D.Ch.M.R. LivianaCharvanek as my personal flagship, and the flagship of the Tal'Diann.  The LivianaCharvanek is a T'varo Light Warbird Retrofit with Advanced Romulan Battle Cloak and Destabilized Plasma Torpedo Launcher standard.  I have had the ship outfitted with the Breen Absolute Zero set, and armed it with torpedoes and warheads.  Consoles are geared toward flying under cloak with the Breen set, without shields, and launching projectile weapons.  Stations are assigned based on skills advantageous for a cloaked torpedo boat.  The department chiefs and active bridge crew are the best of the best, and include Romulans, Remans, and Orions.  The duty officers and crew consist of Romulans, Remans, Orions, Klingons, Gorn, Nausicaans, Vorta, Jem'Hadar, Humans, Vulcans, Trill, Betazeds, and Letheans.  Our alliance with the Orion-Klingon Empire has provided benefits, but we also manage to recruit dissidents from the Federation on occasion as well (hence the Vulcans, Humans, Betazeds, and Trill), and have also demonstrated our might to the Dominion, whence came the defectors from the Dominion.

The LivianaCharvanek is, thus, a truly magnificent ship with a truly magnificent crew.

I also have in my squadron a variety of other vessels of both Romulan and Klingon design, and may be getting an Orion vessel or two in the future.  The likelihood that I'll be getting some Orion small craft for the hangars of my carriers is high, but that's more a long-term goal.

However, I had recently come into possession of the A.R.W. (Alliance Romulan Warbird, a captured ship from the Mirror Universe) Dhael'Temarhkh, a Mirror Ha'apax Advanced Warbird.  I have already commanded the R.R.W. Ssaedhe, a Ha'apax Advanced Warbird, and I was curious to see how the Mirror Universe counterpart would compare.  Admittedly, I did not have it outfitted as well as the LivianaCharvanek (and possibly not as well as the Ssaedhe, either), but for all that, I hoped it might prove an interesting diversion for my crew and myself.  The LivianaCharvanek, during battle, is ordinarily under cloak without shields.  This means the ship's hull is exposed to kinetic damage from torpedo and warhead explosions, warp core breaches, singularity core breaches, and so on.  Missions in the recent past had been a bit ...

At any rate, having finally gotten the Dhael'Temarhkh outfitted to a better than satisfactory state, the crew of the LivianaCharvanek (apart from three contingents left aboard for security purposes) beamed to the Dhael'Temarhkh earlier in the evening.  We set course for the Kahless Expanse to rendezvous with the R.R.W. Sol Maximus, a T'varo Light Warbird Retrofit commanded by my colleague, Khre'Enriov Satsutekh.  Entering the Expanse, we encountered numerous Federation Starfleet ship squadrons, which invariably fired upon us without provocation;  they must have known that they were trespassing in Klingon territory, and more to the point, they must have been up to no good.  Nevertheless, they fell before our combined might.  It was a glorious battle, the Dhael'Temarhkh's baptism in blood and fire.  The ship's controls took some getting used to, but the bridge crew managed to work them out.

The A.R.W. Dhael'Temarhkh begins her maiden voyage.

After reporting to Klingon High Command and New Romulus Command Center, the Dhael'Temarhkh returned to Drozana Station and the crew beamed over to the LivianaCharvanek.  The security contingents were then beamed to the Dhael'Temarhkh, and ordered to the shipyard at New Romulus.

While the Mirror ship shows some promise, it will take some time to get the vessel outfitted to my preferred specifications.  Until that time, it will remain at New Romulus.  I suspect that I will always prefer the LivianaCharvanek over the Dhael'Temarhkh for my personal flagship, but the right upgrades could change my mind.

Meanwhile, I also have three new Romulan dreadnought warbirds which have likewise recently come into my personal squadron to finish outfitting and pick names for.  I have a Tulwar, a Scimitar, and a Falchion.  I suspect that the Tulwar dreadnought warbird will be very interesting, it being more of a science vessel, and I being a science officer.  Time will tell.  At any rate, the Tulwar will be the next ship outfitted and named, and then likewise baptized in blood and fire.



End log entry.

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My One and Only - Holly Palmer

Lost in the Forest, A Literary Review of the DSM-5

From The London Review of Books, Ian Hacking's Lost in the Forest, a literary review of the 5th edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (more commonly known as "the DSM-5").

Via MindHacks

Kingdom Come - Get It On ( HQ )

Dokken - Heaven Sent HD

One Of The Boys - Katy Perry - lyrics

Katy Perry - Firework

Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl

Katy Perry - Wide Awake

Leonard Nimoy with Geoff Boucher on Hero Complex: The Show - Part 1

Get Your Kicks On Route 66

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Is this really so hard to grasp?

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Behind closed doors - Female Romulan commander

Of hats and parasols, part 1: The Dark Gothic

This is a proper hat.  Still, I hope to find somewhere a black teardrop sinamay with thick black tulle fascinator, something like the one worn by model Sister Sinister in the cropped photo below, but without the white (charcoal grey might do, or a dark plum, or, depending on my mood, cobalt blue or black rose), and with thicker tulle (although I guess I could wear shades for more eye UV protection, and the nice parasol such as is pictured in the second photo below would also help).

  Instructions for making such hats can be found here.

A nice parasol to go with this hat would be something like this:

This parasol can be ordered from Costumes of Nashua.

A Village Invents a Language All Its Own

A Village Invents a Language All Its Own

A linguist has concluded that a new language, with unique grammatical rules, has come into existence, created by children in a remote area of Australia.

from

via
Babel's Dawn

Best Eyebrow Tutorial On YouTube

Exotic Arab Makeup Smokey Eyes المكياج العربي

Arabic makeup 1 /// Арабский макияж 1 (ENG SUBs)

Gaia Scuderi Danza Araba 2

musica arabe lenta

The Bangles - Going Down To Liverpool

60's Italian Beatles Covers (playlist)

Bangles - Eternal Flame - Fiamma Eterna (Traduzione Italiana)

"Verbifying" Language

"Clinical Psychologists are Destroying the Language" | Psychology Today

Interesting read.

Silvia Colloca - Che faro senza - Euridice - Orfeo ed Euridice

Silvia Colloca Interview

Silvia Colloca

Silvia Colloca is an Italian opera singer and actress.  She is also absolutely adorable.

I'll show you what I mean.  :)   Among other things, notice her eyebrows.  Eyebrows are very important.  They can make or break a look.

Her male seen in some of these photos is her husband, Richard Roxburgh, her co-star in the 2004 hit Van Helsing, to whom she was married in 2004.

I love her hair in this photo.

Such a stunning smile!

I do not own the copyright on any of these photos.  They are shared here under Fair Use for educational purposes.

Giovanna

-- From Urban Dictionary

Okay, maybe they're not all 100% accurate in all cases, but isn't it a lovely name?  This is the Italian variation of the name whose English variation is "Joan."

Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walkin' (HD)

YouTube Mix (playlist)

Santana ~ Black Magic Woman with sensational belly dancer

Dina Egyptian Belly dancer 'Sert el Hob'

ASENA - TURKEY'S MODERNISING BELLY DANCER - Live on The İbo Show 2000 -

danza turca

Musica Arabe-Mostafa Sax Best Of Bellydance From Egypt And Leb.

New art for the underbelly of the T'varo?

What do you think?

The magenta may be a little loud, although if it and the red changed places, that might soften the blow a bit.

Star Trek Online is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc.. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Star Trek Online or Star Trek art, images, and lore are the property of CBS Studios Inc.

Star Trek - Orion Slave Girls

Star Trek is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc.. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Star Trek Online or Star Trek art, images, and lore are the property of CBS Studios Inc.

Star Trek Orion Women, "Just Dance"

Star Trek is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc.. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Star Trek Online or Star Trek art, images, and lore are the property of CBS Studios Inc.

Gessa G'ian the Succuba dancing on Drozana Station

This was back in December, before the space station in the Drozana system was redesigned.  At the time, Gessa was still a Captain in the Klingon Defense Forces.  Now she is a Lieutenant General and has been for several months.  I'll have more to tell of her story as time goes by, but for now, I'll give brief biographical data:  Gessa G'ian, known as "the Succuba," is a Kolari (Orion) woman, a cousin to Melani D'ian ("the Emerald Empress" and head of the Orion Syndicate).  She is also one of the top spies of the Military Intelligence Division of the Orion Syndicate, holding the position of Chief of the Department of Military Intelligence in the LGBT of the KDF 1st Fleet.  When she earned the rank of Lieutenant General in the KDF, the Tabadi (Matriarch) of her Caj (Great Family, Clan, Tribe) abdicated in favor of Gessa.  Gessa G'ian the Succuba is thus now also the Tabadi of the Ninth Caj of Kolari.  She wears the Ninth Tribal tattoo with pride on the left side of her throat.

Click the link below the thumbnail to watch the video.

Gessa G'ian the Succuba dancing on Drozana Station

Star Trek Online is a registered trademark of CBS Studios Inc.. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All Star Trek Online or Star Trek art, images, and lore are the property of CBS Studios Inc.

George Harrison - "Wonderwall Music" [Full Album]

ॐ George was such an inspiration.


Seven naked native girls swam seven sacred pools . . .
Lone Ranger smokin' doobies said, "You're breakin' all the rules . . .
You'd better get your clothes on or else there'll be a row . . .
If it wasn't for my sunstroke I would take you on right now . . ."

A Few Comments about Feminism (aka "About Feminism, Volume I, Number 1")

A Few Comments about Feminism

(we'll call this post "About Feminism, Vol. I, No. 1")

As I've pointed out before in this blog, I'm a woman.  Therefore, I have every right to talk about Feminism as much as I like, regardless of whether every other woman on the face of the planet agrees with me or not.  As such, I shall do so in this post.

Disclaimers:

• I'm female.
• I like Carol Queen and Xaviera Hollander, and a lot (but definitely not all) of what Camille Paglia has to say (see below for one particular criticism of Camille Paglia which I hope I will always remember to make on occasions when I note agreement with some of her ideas), to name a few of the women whom I personally regard as Worthy Feminist Icons.  I do NOT agree with everything that any one of them has to say, but I find that I tend to agree with these representatives of an "older" manifestation of Feminism (or more accurately, "older" manifestations, since, as really ought to be obvious to anyone who pays attention, "Feminism" is not one and only one list of doctrines with which everyone who calls herself, or himself, a "feminist" must agree or be excommunicated) more than with some of the representatives of more recent manifestations.  From this, I trust that it is obvious to at least some readers that the manifestations of Feminism which resonate with me will always be "sex-positive" Feminism, rather than pathological manifestations (which might be justifiably referred to as neuroses masquerading as Feminism).
• I do not consider myself "a feminist," but "a person, or a woman, with some feminist beliefs and attitudes, as well as other beliefs and attitudes" (see Identity vs. Role Confusion, as in the Eight Stages of Psychosocial Development).  I will not label myself with this handle so that others can prejudge me and make unwarranted assumptions about who and what I am.  I also refuse to allow Feminism to become my Worldview (because then the dogma of Feminism would color my perception of everything and everyone;  i.e., it would result in a perspective of bias -- it is one of many philosophies/causes which inform my stance in life, but it simply isn't big enough to contain, or restrain, my mind).
• I find some of the views of some other people with some feminist beliefs and attitudes to be, well, silly (and some I find to be absolutely batshit crazy), while I find some views of some other people without some feminist beliefs and attitudes to be even worse.  I'll be discussing both of these groups of views as this blog continues to expand (in connection with Feminism and assorted other things), but in this particular post, I'll be responding to an article from December that I've been thinking about for a while, because it annoyed me, due to what I perceive as something distinctly NOT feminist in the tone of the article.

The following commentary (after the jump) is one I would have liked to offer in response to this reaction to a comment from Katy Perry (but unfortunately, the site where it was posted thinks I should sign up for Facebook in order to leave a comment, and I refuse to do that, for oh-so-many reasons).  More recently (a few days ago), another article was published referring to the same phenomenon (female celebrities not feeling comfortable about publicly labeling themselves as "feminists"), which reminded me of the previous article and my desire to say something about it.  I have to note, in reference to this more recent article, that Ellen Page may be conflating "radical" with "extremist."  Sometimes, "extremist" groups are called "radical" (and sometimes they may even be radical as well as extremist), but the two words are not coterminous, and while radical can be a good thing, extremism tends heavily in the other direction.

Whether we like it or not, the terms "Feminism" and "feminist" have become associated (by some) with the extremist fringe groups like "Equality Now!" -- and when I call them "extremists," I mean that they present themselves as androphobic, erotophobic, absexual matriarchalists (I may be exaggerating slightly, but only very slightly).  This is not "radical," but simply a translation;  if these movements were to gain sufficient influence to have an impact on social policy and so forth, the result would not be an increase in Justice, but simply injustice for some being transferred onto others.  The persecuted do not gain Justice by persecuting those who were formerly their persecutors;  Tu Quoque is a fallacy, and the Cycle of Abuse must end, or it will simply proliferate and lead to ever-increasing abuse.

This association of the word with such extremist positions is, in part, due to the fact that they tend to make the most noise, but is also due in part to the fact that sensationalism sells newspapers and the like;  e.g., a headline like "Feminist Is Sane Like Most of Us" is less likely to catch someone's attention (and thereby sell more papers, get better ratings, etc) than a headline like "Feminist Calls for Forced Castration!!!"  I made both of these headlines up, so, please, nobody freak out, but if you think my exaggeration is too much, you might want to actually look into some of the public statements issued by such groups as "Equality Now!" and see for yourself (and while you're at it, you might want to consider this article from The Guardian as well, in reference to the notion that sensationalistic "news" is what gets attention -- although I don't see anything remotely exremist about what Texas State Senator Wendy Davis did;  it is, maybe, radical, but it's not extremist, and it is exactly the sort of thing our female political leaders should do.).

We need to emphasize the fact that "Feminism" is not one thing, but several.  I refer not only to the so-called "Waves" of Feminism, but also to multiple perspectives from feminists within each "Wave."  Helpful also would be emphasizing statements like this (NSFW warning due to language).

In this discussion, Amanda Palmer states, quite correctly (please read the whole thing for context):
"as far as i’m concerned, the most powerful feminist can do WHATEVER SHE WANTS."

Too many feminists have attempted to dictate to other feminists, and this just isn't cool (especially since "Feminism" is not a monolithic ideology, but is made up of several distinct ideologies).  Such acts do not promote the cause, but instead actually subvert Feminism via a self-righteous, "more-feminist-than-thou" attitude (after publishing this post, I found this article from The Guardian, with which I am largely in agreement).  A few views may be capable of achieving universal feminist agreement, but universalizing all of your feminist views onto "Feminism" (as if it were nothing more or less than your own take on it) is a recipe for making yourself look like a twit (and I'm being extremely nice).

If we are to hope to disabuse those who generalize from the shrillest and most obnoxious voices within Feminism of their fallacious understanding of the meaning of Feminism, we need to reclaim the name from the extremist fringe groups (and stop hating on other women).  Part of that, however, means that we ourselves have to disabuse ourselves of a tendency to mistake our own interpretation of Feminism as identical with Feminism as a whole.

Finally, with reference to Katy Perry herself and what she has done, I suggest you peruse her lyrics, wherein you will find challenges to social norms ("I Kissed a Girl (And I Liked It)" immediately springs to mind, and although LGBT Equality is more popular now, it was less so at the time the song came out;  i.e., she has contributed to this enlightenment), extremely positive messages for young girls ("Firework" and "If You Can Afford Me,"for example), and yes, acceptance of the reality that human beings are, for the most part, sexual beings (exceptions do exist, but that's irrelevant for the present discussion), that sex is natural (not some plot by "the patriarchy" nor a temptation from "the boogeyman") and enjoyable, as well as other messages that produce a positive impact (and I really don't give a rat's ass if you or anyone else thinks that embracing one's sexual nature and working it for one's own benefit is somehow "inappropriate," because THAT attitude, dear, is a product of The Patriarchy, which attempts to paint all women into one or the other of two corners:  a False Dilemma between "Virgin or Whore").  Yes, she wears makeup (so do I, and if anyone has a problem with that, tough shit), dresses nicely (and occasionally provocatively -- so do I, and if anyone etc.), pays attention to her appearance (so do I, and if anyone etc. -- maybe some research into the symptoms of various conditions described in the DSM would be in order here, since when someone has been suffering emotional dysfunction, they may tend to care far less about their appearance or any other way in which they present themselves to others).  None of that is bad (I'll have a lot more to say about this in future posts), and this attempt to paint her as some kind of mindless bimbo is, to be blunt, ridiculous and offensive.  Was Katy Perry in error?  Probably;  unfortunately, she probably has the same misinterpretation of "Feminism" that some others have, about which I have commented above.  Does that give license to anyone to attempt to misrepresent her?  No.  Like I said above, Tu Quoque is a fallacy (and of course, accidental misunderstanding is hardly the same thing as intentional misrepresentation).  Mind you, I realize that the fact that I have "dared" to offer any criticism could be exploited to throw the charge of Tu Quoque back in my face, but it's not criticism to which I'm objecting;  it's pontification, arrogance, self-righteousness, assumptions made without any basis in research or experience (like Mish Way talking smack about Katy Perry while apparently not too hip to what Katy Perry has made public stances on, but also like Camille Paglia deigning to blather on about Transsexuality without sufficient knowledge of the subject) -- and it's the very real situation in which we have allowed ourselves to be subjected to that old imperial policy divide et impera.





For About Feminism, Volume I, Number 2:  Art About Feminism, click here.

For About Feminism, Volume II, Number 1:  Vivi and Gigi - A Love Story, or, Who Is Vivian James and What Is GamerGate? click here.