The Capybara – Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (R.O.U.S.)

2012-10-28 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

OK folks. I sometimes get weird urges, and now is the time for one of them. My thoughts keep on going back to the post I re-blogged about the Capybara. I went into research mode.

First thing to do was to get hold of pictures of the giant rodents (I’m a rodent fan). That was the easy part. The net is full of pictures of this “little” creature and most of them are adorable:

The Capybara - Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (R.O.U.S.)

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1241701/thumbs/o-CHEESECAKE-CAPYBARA-PUPPIES-570.jpg?16

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mn0-VShv4ik/Uob35QzS6kI/AAAAAAAAFM0/UuLbtTX-tlk/s1600/Funny-Capybara.jpg

By Tony Crocetta at Biosphoto – http://www.biosphoto.com/

By Stefan Grol – http://www.discoverwildlife.com/gallery/puma-v-capybara-photo-gallery-stefan-grol

The net abounds with pictures of these cute semi-aquatic mammals. Hey, we’re related! There is something irresistible about them. As you can see from these pictures, people do keep them as pets. The capybara with the guinea pig gives you an indication of just how large the capybara gets and how much it and the guinea pig look alike. No wonder I am in love.

Next post on the program was trying to get reliable information about the creatures. With the net that can always be a challenge, but let it not be said that I did not try. And let it also be said that this post is to be taken in the spirit in which it was written.

WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT A CAPYBARA?

Strange thing you should ask that. There are in fact several reasons for wanting a capybara. The pictures above clearly indicate one reason. Cuteness factors heavily into any choice we as humans make, and the capybara is adorable (in a huge sort of way).

I’ll admit it. The capybara is large for a rodent. It ends up at around a metre long and weighs anywhere from 35-65 kg. That is like a large dog, and from some of the pictures on the net, that must be what it feels like when it cuddles on your lap. Affectionate and willingness to follow you around is part of its makeup. Just like a guinea pig in fact (I say this because we have had a few guinea pigs and they are lovable pets).

Herd of capybara in wetland environment © M. Watson / www.ardea.com

Our guinea pigs did not take up quite as much space as the capybara, but when you have a pet that seems to matter very little. As you can tell from this picture, the capybara is a social animal. Like the guinea pig, they like to be surrounded by others. Living in fairly large family groups, makes for survival in the wild. Although their teeth are quite impressive (I would hate to be bitten by one), the capybara are prey, not predator.

Capybara lasooed by a llanero for research © M. Watson / www.ardea.com

Another reason is cost-efficiency. Can you believe it? You can eat it, use it for its leather and the capybara has a cheap diet – as it is way more effective in its digestion of plant material than cattle and horses. Its main diet is grass, but it will also eat grains and aquatic vegetation. (Arkive) As it is semi-aquatic, it would do well in areas that have seasonal floodings. The capybara also eats its own poo, saving you some work in cleaning up after it.

In fact, some places use the capybara instead of cattle (Wikipedia). In Llanos of Venezuela there is even commercially licensed hunting of the capybara.

Some zoos and parks have the capybara as one of their sights.

SO, WHERE IS THE CAPYBARA FROM?

File:Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris range.png Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris range

All of these questions I actually know the answer to. Surprising, I must say. Well, again like the guinea pig, the capybara is from South-America. Imagine that! The capybara tends to live close to water and in the lowlands. Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil are the countries we will find it in its natural state (Arkive).

These are also the places where it is natural to do research on them. However, the capybara are a fairly unknown species despite its size. There are places you can go, if you want to know more about the scientific side of the capybara life. I have listed some of the sites below.

WHAT ARE THE POSITIVE SIDES OF BEING A CAPYBARA PET-OWNER?

The world’s most famous pet-capybara has its own blog at Capybara Madness. There are tons of links to other blogs and sites about capybaras.

The best part of being a capybara-owner is that you go crazy the same way you do with other kinds of pets.

So let’s see about those positive sides. Well, the capybara does fairly well with other animals. Remember to take into account its size. Accidents do happen, and when you weigh as much as the capybara does you have to watch it with small animals (like the guinea pig).

Using the poop bowl

The capybara is affectionate and trainable (at least to the leash and poop/urine bowl/tray) if there is food involved. But it is not like a dog. Or a cat for that matter. They will greet you or even function as your alarm clock in the morning. Thankfully, they are not as loud as guinea pigs can be, but they are talkative. That is what I miss most about my guinea pigs, all of their sounds.

ARE THERE ANY DOWNSIDES TO OWNING A CAPYBARA (she asks jokingly)?

YES, plenty. The capybara is an exotic pet, and as such requires a vet with some expertise in that area. You also need a licence to obtain one, and it would be best to have a capybara from a young age – or maybe as a rescue animal. As they are semi-aquatic, the capybara will need access to a pool of some sort. And you will need space – 100 square feet per animal. Being home-raised will be important for the capybara as its body temperature is difficult to maintain when it is young.

Like guinea pigs, the capybara can be aggressive. Those of us who have owned guinea pigs know that means potential biting, except being bitten by a capybara would probably inflict damage. You will also need non-toxic grass for their feed. Like all ecological stuff, that means expensive. And, again, like the guinea pig, capybaras demand a lot of time and attention.

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RESEARCH ON THE CAPYBARA

SOURCES

Reblogged

No Longer Blinded by the Right

Link 2012-10-27 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

The world is unfair. I am lucky and live in a country where water is abundant while people in other countries die of thirst. How is that fair?

Not only that. I live in a country that thus far has been lucky enough to have harvested the income necessary to keep Norway out of the financial crisis that has hit so many other countries hard. How is that fair? While we here in Norway are doing well, people in other countries are having to move in with their parents again, losing their jobs and not able to pay their debts. How is that fair?

Even here in Norway there is plenty of unfair stuff. My children are lucky and have parents who are well-educated and who are lucky enough to be finished with our debts. They have grown up with safe and boring parents. How can this be fair, when there are children here in Norway who live in difficult circumstances and lack the opportunities that our children have?

I have a son that struggles with Aspergers. How is that fair, when others don’t?

Life is a joke. It really is. Most of all it isn’t fair, not for anyone. We do not deserve our lives, we just have them. That is all. Luck of the draw.

BroadBlogs

“It’s not fair that you get a free lunch when my mom has to work to pay for mine.”

That’s what I told a classmate at age 10.

In this view I was like a lot of conservatives.

In his book, Why Americans Hate Welfare, Martin Gilens found that while most want to fight poverty, many don’t like welfare, feeling the recipients are lazy and undeserving.

George Lakoff studies how language affects the mind. He says conservative morality is based on the notion that people should have “liberty to seek their self interest and their own well-being without worrying or being responsible for the well-being or interest of anybody else,” especially since — in their view — welfare fosters a “culture of dependency.”

All we need is equal opportunity, right?

Until taking a high school course taught by a conservative economist and a liberal political scientist, presenting opposing views…

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Reblogged, Young Adult

Wooley, Emma M.: What it’s Like Being a Teen Girl (October 22, 2012)

Link 2012-10-24 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Emma M. Wooley shares an incredibly important message about what it means to be a teen-girl on her blog. Folks, this is what it is like for most girls out there. Girls are treated as objects, and continue to be after their teen-years. It’s just the way things are right now.

But they do not have to be. Each of us has the responsibility to teach pre-teens and teenagers (boys and girls) that some things are off-limits. Talk about sex, boundaries and being wanted with your kids.

If you are a teen-age girl:

YOUR BODY = YOU DECIDE!

Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Lee, Patrick: The Breach (2010)

2012-10-21 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

David Demaret (French cover)

The Breach is the first book in the trilogy about Travis Chase and Tangent.

Travis Chase is an ex-cop just out of prison. He is trying to decide whether to live close to or far from his brother. In trying to make up his mind, Travis takes a trip to the wilderness of Alaska where he feels that he will have the peace to think.

Ok, Ok! We all know that peace is not what will happen to Travis. We just know it. And of course we are correct. Travis wakes one morning and discovers a crashed airplane. When he gets down to the plane, Travis encounters dead people – all of them shot.

When he sees who the the last person he gets to is, Travis worries. This is the President of the USA’s wife, and she has been shot. On her he finds the message:

“I hope that someone from Tangent finds this. If you are anyone else, do not contact local authorities. Go to a phone as quickly as you can, dial …. Hostiles are torturing our two people for info within close range of this crash, they will not leave the area until they have broken them. (Not a guess, there is a reason they can’t leave before then.) …”

This is only part of the message, but you can probably see where the story is going. Travis is going to try to do what the note says and plenty of action will ensue. There is action galore in The Breach. Time/space questions arise and our ability to change our future will be explored in the plot of The Breach and the other two books of this trilogy.

I liked The Breach. It will never be one of my favorites, but it has appeal and I would recommend it. It has all of the ingredients a thriller needs and Lee keeps up the tempo throughout the book.

Adventure, Fantasy, Humour, Young Adult

Sullivan, Michael J.: The Riyria Revelations

2012-10-20 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Michael J. Sullivan has been writing his whole life. Not until he began writing the Rirya Revelations series did he get published. Strange thing that. The Rirya Revelations had been a project that he undertook to please himself and his daughter (who has been part of designing the cartoon on Michael’s website). All six books were finished before the first one was published.

After a while the sales took off and Michael J. Sullivan has become a well-known name in the fantasy world. That recognition is well-deserved. His books are fun to read and they kept me wanting to know how the greater plot is resolved. The characters are fun and varied. It is not immediately clear whether the butler did it or not (I know there isn’t a butler in these books) and that is something that I really like in a writer. We should be kept wondering who the baddest baddie is.

All six books are stand-alone books in the sense that the main problem is resolved. However, there is a greater plot spanning all six books, so it would be a good idea to start at omnibus no. 1 – Theft of Swords. That way you get all of those pesky little threads tied together from the beginning.

Royce Melborne and Hadrian Blackwater are essential characters in all six novels. They are the Rirya – a gang of two. Together they get into and out of all sorts of trouble. These books are good for young adults and upwards. There isn’t too much violence and no sex.

The gods of Elan are: Erebus (Father of the gods), Ferrol (Eldest son, god of elves), Drome (Second son, god of dwarves), Maribor (Third son, god of men), Muriel (Only daughter, goddess of nature) and Uberlin (Son of Muriel and Erebus, god of darkness).

The main political parties to be aware of are:

Imperialists: Those wishing to unite mankind under a single leader who is the direct descendant of the demigod Novron.
Nationalists: Those wishing to be ruled by a leader chosen by the people.
Royalists: Those wishing to continue rule by individual, independent monarchs.

THEFT OF SWORDS (2011): THE CROWN CONSPIRACY AND AVEMPARTHA

French covers by March Simonetti

THE CROWN CONSPIRACY

Hadrian and Royce are stopped by highway robbers, incredibly incompetent ones according to Hadrian and Royce. When the highway robbers discover that they are dealing with the Rirya, panic settles in. Before they go, Hadrian gives the robbers advice on how to rob people properly.

Hadrian and Royce are on their way to a job. That is what they do. They get paid to rob the wealthy for various reasons. The two of them are quite successful at what they do. But things are bound to go wrong when they are asked to undertake a job that leaves them practically no time plan. A sword is placed in the chapel at the Medford castle, and the boys are to remove it to give Count Pickering trouble in a duel. What Hadrian discovers instead is a dead king and he and Royce are accused of the murder.

AVEMPARTHA

Hadrian and Royce meet up with the guy who asked them to steal the sword, and you can probably imagine that they weren’t best pleased. But for some strange reason the man walked out of that meeting alive. Royce gets to chat with old friends and the two men are told of a young girl looking for them. They must be in a soft frame of mind, for when they meet this young girl, Thrace, they end up going with her to her village. There, mighty adventure awaits. Ok, that was a bit over-kill.

In the meantime, and you just know there has to be a meantime don’t you?, Arista bounces into her brother King Alric’s meeting misunderstanding the meeting’s intent. She thinks he is about to marry her off, while he is in reality planning on sending her as an ambassador to Dunmore. Arista likes the idea of having something to do, especially as it gets her away from all of the rumors of her witchhood. Along with her normal entourage bishop Saldur comes along with the Pickering brothers. Fanin and Mauvin are going to enter into a contest the church of Novron is holding in Ervanon.

RISE OF EMPIRE (2011): NYPHRON RISING AND THE EMERALD STORM

NYPHRON RISING

Young Amilia works as a bullied scullion maid at Aquesta. She is being threatened once again by Edith Mon, the head maid, but saved when two women enter the kitchen. One is clearly some kind of nobility, having both the manners and the clothes for it. The other is an extremely thin and quiet young woman who turns out to be the Empress of Modina. She does not look the part at all.

Through luck Regent Saldur (formerly bishop) appoints Amilia as the Empress’ new secretary. Amilia is terrified as she knows the fate of those who disappoint the regent. But Amilia turns out to have a positive effect on the Empress.

Royce and Hadrian have become royal spies, a job they are really good at. They have found themselves willing to be in the service of the Royal family of Medford, trying to keep the kingdom alive and well in a growing Empire. But keeping Medford on its feet is quite a challenge. Princess Arista has had no luck as an ambassador in finding allies. Every country is too afraid of the new Empire to dare to fight it.

THE EMERALD STORM

Merrick Marius is the world’s best and most cunning assassin. He has been hired to kill someone in Arista’s closest circle. It goes off without a hitch, leaving Arista without an important aid in keeping Ratibor in the hands of the nationalists. But he leaves her with a riddle: “Find the Horn of Gylindora … at Wintertide the Uli Vermar ends … Patriarch … is the same …”. Arista knows the message is extremely important but she hasn’t got a clue how to go about it.

Amilia is still the Empress’ secretary. Modena has been moved to better lodgings, but Amilia still feels as though she is treading water. But fortunately she has acquired her own helper in Nimbus, a landless nobelman. Amilia’s life is on the line every day, as Regent Saldur has made it quite clear what will happen if the Empress embarrasses him in any kind of manner.

Royce and Hadrian go off hunting Merrick. Once Royce and Merrick were good friends, but something happened and Merric now hates Royce. Now he has the chance to play with the Ryria and work against the kingdom of Medford. He tries to lure the two into a trap, quite a cunning one it turns out.

HEIR OF NOVRON (2012): WINTERTIDE AND PERCEPLIQUIS

WINTERTIDE

Stealing is what he has to do to survive. But back luck strikes and he gets yelled at when he gets back to his gang. They decide to try to fleece two newcomers to the city. Royce and Hadrian enter the Imperial Square in a snowstorm. They have come to save Degan Gaunt from execution. The boys discover that the newcomers might be more than they have bargained for, but their meeting actually turns out to be fortuitous for both sides.

Arista is trying to stay sane in her cell. Arista’s attempt to save Degan Gaunt has not been successful. She just knows that she cannot give up trying to escape as the fate of the world rests upon her hands, quite literally.

Amilia is still secretary to the Empress, finding her life full of new experiences. Modena is still quite grief-struck at the challenges that have met her. But something happens to slowly wake her from her dull and grief-struck state. She finds something to live for a meaning to life. Revenge and retribution.

PERCEPLIQUIS

The elves are a hunted people by humans. Persecution is severe by the Church of Nypron. They are thought of as terrible creatures who should be struck down whenever they are seen. Now the elves have come on to human lands once again, striking down humans.

Rather than help the humans in trouble, Guy Luis is chasing a young girl called Mercy. She is the ward of Arcadius and Arcadius is trying to save her. But that job might turn out to be insurmountable.

Refugees are arriving at the Imperial city. All of the North is being overrun and the humans have no idea why. As more and more refugees come into the city Arista decides that the riddle Eshraddon gave her must be solved and as soon as possible. However, she soon discovers, once again, obstacles in her way. Royce and Hadrian end up providing the assistance she needs.

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AWARDS

2010 Iceberg Ink Award Best Read (Avempartha)
2010 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fantasy (The Emerald Storm)
2009 National Indie Book Award Finalist (The Crown Conspiracy)
2008 ReaderViews Annual Literary Award Finalist (The Crown Conspiracy)

General, History

Malala Yousafzai on the mend

2012-10-20 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

I admit it. I am a feminist. As a feminist I find it natural to be a supporter of equal rights to all no matter what age, gender, skin tone, sexuality, class or cultural or religious background. But I am not the bravest person around.

One of the candidates for bravery of the year would have to be Malala Yousafzai. Her willingness to put herself in danger for trying to get an education, is worthy of many a prize. And she is not alone in trying to get what she deserves in a quiet but determined manner. Unfortunately, people like this are never popular. Neither was she, and she was shot.

Thankfully, the world rallied and Malala is seemingly on the mend now. I really hope she pulls through and keeps on being a bright light for the world to see.

Reblogged, Young Adult

Objectification’s Role in a Suicide

Link 2012-10-19 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

Taking care of our young should be priority one, not driving them to kill themselves.

Amanda’s stalker was a terrorist in his own right. He tortured her through his relentless stalking. Nothing she did could help her escape. While I strongly doubt it, I hope that some part of him feels at least some shame.

BroadBlogs

More than sexual objectification was certainly involved in 15-year-old Amanda Todd’s death. But it seems to have played a role.

It all began when Amanda and a few of her middle school friends started videochatting with strangers just for fun. Some told her she was “stunning, beautiful, perfect,” a complement any 13-year-old would enjoy. Eventually, a man asked her to flash. And she did.

A year later this same guy found her and threatened to send the nude photos to her family, friends and her entire school if she didn’t “put on a show for him.” When she refused, he did.

Amanda became the laughingstock of the school and lost all of her friends. Anxiety and major depression overtook her life and she turned to drugs, alcohol and cutting to cover the pain.

She moved a couple of times, trying to get away, but her stalker always collected the names of…

View original post 346 more words

Science

Radvansky, Professor Gabriel: Walking through doorways causes forgetting: further explorations

2012-10-14 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Post image for “The PurposePusher’s Process” Season 1 Ep.3 Are You A Thinker Or Feeler? — Photo credit to The Purpose Pusher’s Process

I love science. So many of our questions are explored, and this one is one that I have wondered about many times. How is it that I manage to forget something just because I walked through a door-way???? It is incredibly annoying to stand there wondering what on earth I am doing there.

Professor Gabriel Radvansky from the University of Notre Dame has performed research on the subject and published an article called “Walking through doorways causes forgetting: further explorations.”

This article was published in “The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.”

The filing systems of humans are truly wonderful and complex. It is amazing for a lay-person to get sort of an answer to something that has been bothering her time and again. I have no idea how many times I have walked into another room and immediately forgotten what I was supposed to do there. Phew. Knowing won’t change all of the slips, but it does help to know that there is a kind of a reason for being such an air-head – and not just the fact that I am an air-head.

Biography, Mystery, Reblogged

October 14 1975 Trial begins in Amityville murders

Link 2012-10-14 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

I remember reading The Amytiville Horror (1977) as a teen-ager. It had me freaked out. After that the house on the cover of the novel was part of my nightmares for a long time.

While not as paranormal as the novel, the real-life story of the Amytiville family is just as frightening/strange. What motivates a young man to kill his parents and siblings? Craig Hill gives us a look at the story behind the story.

Craig Hill

On October 14th 1975, Ronald DeFeo Jr. went on trial for the killings of his parents and four siblings in their Amityville, New York, home.

The family’s house was later said to be haunted and served as the inspiration for the Amityville Horror book and movies.

On the evening of November 13, 1974, Ronald “Butch” DeFeo Jr. entered an Amityville bar and told people his parents had been shot inside their home.

Several bar patrons accompanied DeFeo back to his family’s home, at 112 Ocean Avenue, where a man named Joe Yeswit called Suffolk County police to report the crime.

When officers arrived, they found the bodies of Ronald DeFeo Sr., age 43, his wife Louise, 42, and their children Dawn, 18, Allison, 13, Marc, 11, and John, 9.

The victims had been shot dead in their beds.

Ronald DeFeo Jr., 22, initially tried to say the murders were…

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History

Chatwin, Bruce: The Songlines (1987)

2012-10-13 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

My first comment on this book sounds negative. Maybe I mean it that way. I haven’t made up my mind yet. Bruce Chatwin is another white dude in a long line of white people telling the story of the Aborigines of Australia. It isn’t Bruce’s fault that I bought The Songlines at the library. That is mine and I am glad that I did.

Here in Norway there aren’t many books by indigenous Australians that are sold. But what does the term aboriginal Australian mean. After all, there used to be at least 250 languages spoken among the people. Now, all but 20 are endangered. The Songlines represents one of these groups.

Chatwin grew up with a dream of Australia. As an adult he went there and got to know Arkady, a son of Russian and Ukranian immigrants to Australia. Arkady had fallen for the Aboriginal way of living and he had shown the Indigenous people that he was trustworthy and would respect their traditions. That is why they agreed to show him their Songlines or paths that intersected with the Dreamtime (holy places).

This is why Arkady was the perfect go-to person for Bruce. He had answers to the questions Chatwin wondered about and the means to introduce him to at least some of the decision making elders.

The Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976 “defines ‘traditional landowners’ as a group of Aboriginals who have “primary spiritual responsibility” for sacred sites on a piece of land, and who are entitled by Aboriginal tradition to hunt and gather on that land. Traditional landowners are the key decision makers for their land, although Land Councils must also talk to affected communities.”

Arkady Volchok was mapping the sacred sites of the Aboriginals. Part of his mapping was done as a surveyor for an engineer planning on starting the building of the Alice Springs/Darwin railline. But first the engineer had to make certain that the line did not cross the work of a Dreamtime hero.

The Dreamtime has partly to do with the creation of the world and totems. Somehow the world was sung into being from an idea, a singing that is still going on and that the Aboriginal sacred rites help support. Being able to stay off the songline had become important to the railway company – or at least its engineer.

To the Aboriginal people one could even say that all of Australia is a sacred site, one that is extremely important to disturb as little as possible.

I think I like this idea. It makes more sense that the European one and is certainly a whole lot more beautiful and carries a much greater degree of respect toward the preservation of the Earth. Where we Westerners are so caught up in greed and consumption, environmentalism seems to be the way of the Aboriginal people.

I admit it. I got caught up in Chatwin’s writing. I had to go online to research a bit more, trying to figure things out. Great trick that.

Chatwin’s goal with this book is to document the nomads of Australia. Nomad to Chatwin means a person who “moves from pasture to pasture”. He had previously gone into the desert of Sudan with Mahmoud, a nomad. Now he wanted to know what the Australian nomadic trails were like. What he discovers is an incredibly complex world including trade, marriage and survival strategies. I am not even going to try to explain any of this because I do not even begin to understand the songline, anymore than I understand what it means to be a man. Read the book.

Fantasy, Mystery, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Saintcrow, Lilith: Bannon and Clare (2012)

2012-10-12 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

THE IRON WYRM AFFAIR (2012)

All The Science Fiction and Fantasy Books You Can't Afford to Miss in August I’m trying to decide what I thought about The Iron Wyrm Affair. It took a while for it to get off its butt, but once it did it really got going. This is my first experience with Lilith Saintcrow. Looking at her website, I see that she writes to a different audience than myself. That might be why I didn’t get wowed by The Iron Wyrm Affair.

Saintcrow’s Bannon and Clare world is an alternative Victorian one. The queen is Victrix who is also a vessel for the spirit of Britannia. London is Londonium. All the names are changed in minor ways like this. The world shares a similar yet different history to our own.

For one thing, it is a world run on magic. Magic is everywhere and in general the world works on different rules to our own. Machines run on magic and not all machines are only machines. Sometimes there is a mixture of animal and machine or person and machine. I guess kind of like magical cyborgs.

In this world there are (among lots of others) sorceresses/rors and mentaths. Bannon is a sorceress (of the Black, no less) and Clare is a mentath. To reach the rank of sorceress one must have a high degree of affinity to magic. Mentaths are addicted to logic. If they do not get puzzles to solve, they usually end up going insane.

We meet both Bannon and Clare as Bannon is trying to save Clare from being killed. It seems unregistered mentaths are being killed for who knows what reason. Saving Clare from murder, just happens to save him from insanity as well. Being bored just does not suit a mentath. Now Clare gets to join in on solving who is killing off mentaths.

There is plenty of action and some humorous interplay between the various characters.

The Iron Wyrm Affair is probably going to be a good fit for Saintcrow’s target group.

Reblogged

Come Out, Come Out Whoever You Are

Link 2012-10-05 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Coming out of whatever closet you are in will lessen the anxiety we feel and hasten our ability to accept ourselves for who and what we are according to psychologist Carl Rogers. I believe that people who accept who they are and who others are will be people who are able to feel true happiness in their lives.

BroadBlogs

By John DuBois

With apologies to Glinda, I only changed one word to make a point. I’m sure she won’t mind because she’s an ally who supports equality and justice for all, gay, straight, or otherwise.

Whereas Glinda had asked the little Munchkins to come out of hiding, I ask that all future LGBT folk come out, too. Not from hiding in the bushes like the Munchkins were, but hiding from their true selves — or even from themselves.

Today more non-LGBT allies are championing us and lighting the way (thank you Lady Gaga) and we have more opportunity to express ourselves than in other times and places.

Which reminds me, a while back the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was asked how gay people in his country were treated. His response? “There are no gay people in Iran.” To which I retorted (yelling at the TV), “Yeah, as soon as…

View original post 332 more words

Biography

Goldfarb, Alex and Litvinenko, Marina: Death of a Dissident – The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB (2007)

2012-10-05 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Alexander Litvinenko awaiting death

Death by pulonium-210. Pulonium in the blood is not a pleasant way to go. But then I guess quite a few ways of dying are rather unpleasant. What makes it a sensational death is that Litvinenko was poisoned and quite a few people suspect that it is a political death – like the death of Anna Politkovskaya.

So who was Alexander Litvinenko? Why was it necessary to kill him?

Some of Death of a Dissident is bleak reading. Unsurprising but bleak. The lengths to which some people will go to gain and retain power is frightening. It seems there is always someone who is willing to give up their integrity for gain.

Boris Berezovsky with bodyguards

Warning right away. As you read Death of a Dissident you might keep in mind that one of the writers of the book was Alex Goldfarb. Goldfarb was/is employed by Boris Berezovsky. Goldfarb admits to this relationship at the beginning of the book. Whether it is possible to trust all of the information in Death of a Dissident is something worth asking oneself.

DREPT I LONDON: Alexander Litvinenko døde etter å ha fått en dødelig dose polonium-210 i kroppen. Alexander before poisoning

In 2000 Litvinenko decided that it was time that he and Marina ran from it before he was arrested once more. After the claims against the FSB leadership, it had become unsafe for him to stay in Russia. With the help of Boris Berezovsky and Alex Goldfarb they left and finally arrived in the UK.

During their drive across Turkey, Alex Goldfarb felt he got to know Sasja. His life had not been a dance on roses and Sasja felt that Marina was the one who ultimately saved him.

Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was born in 1962 (so a year younger than my brother) in Russia. His route of service went from the Internal Troops of the Minstry of Internal Affairs to the Dzerzhinsky Division of the Soviet Minstry of Internal Affairs. From there he entered the KGB and finally the FSB. He had lived a long life of service to the system and it could not have been easy for him to betray that system.

Before marrying Marina, Litvinenko had been married to Nataliya. Together they had a son and a daughter. In 1994 they would divorce.

Litvinenko’s meeting with Boris Berezovsky changes Sasja’s life Even though he know how much Boris likes money, and that the ends justify his means, Alex sticks with him through thick and thin. This relationship is part of what brings so much trouble into Sasja’s life. When the system wishes to charge Boris with crimes, Alexander’s loyalty to the state gets challenged.

Along with all of the bad military experiences Sasja has in the Chechenian was, experiences with poorly equipped soldiers being asked to do impossible things, Alex is also influenced by the shifting power in the FSB. Deniability was becoming increasingly difficult. When Sasja was arrested after becoming a whistleblower (along with several others) his life in Russia becomes untenable and escape becomes a real option for him and Marina.

Once they get to London, Alexander Litvinenko begins telling his tale of power struggles in Russia – depicting Putin as Mr. Bad while Boris is often the alleged victim. When he is poisoned, one of the claims is that Putin is behind the poisoning.

How much of this book that is truth and how much of it that is fiction is difficult for me to say. Putin is indisputably a bad boy in a country where rules and regulations seem to have taken a vacation. This is a country where survival of the strongest and most brutal is a reality. It is a fascinating story of one man’s journey (along with all of the people around) and well worth reading.

Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

McLeod, Suzanne: The Sweet Scent of Blood (2008)

2012-10-02 humanitysdarkerside 3 Comments

The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod

Sometimes I wonder if power is THE most basic of our needs. The power to control our own lives, the power to control our environment and the power to control others.

Take the power to control our own lives. Genvieve Taylor never had power over her life. Her creation was a genetic experiment between two incompatible races. Once that succeeded she was promised to someone extremely powerful and extremely deranged. And finally, at the age of 14 she was injected with a poison (V3) that made her vulnerable to vampires.

Our main character never seriously thinks about giving up the fight for the right to decide what to do with herself and her own life. The Sweet Scent of Blood is for the most part about that battle. And battle it is.

At the beginning of The Sweet Scent of Blood Genny imagines she has achieved a modicum of control over her life, in fact about as much power as most of us can expect to have. She has a job, protection against the vampires, a place to live and friends. Yet power over our own lives is often an illusion. Illusions are easily snatched away by someone more powerful or someone willing to engage the help of the powerful.

Being one of the sidhe fae, a bean sidhe, would normally make Genvieve one of the more powerful people of the world of Suzanne McLeod. But her mixed heritage is unhelpful and Genny’s inability to accept who and what she is acts as a barrier in reaching her potential. In McLeod’s London she also happens to be the only sidhe fae. Sadly, this only makes her more attractive to both those who wish to use her and those who wish to destroy her.

In my mind the only person in The Sweet Scent of Blood who is wholly on Genvieve’s side is Hugh Monroe. Hugh has an intense need to protect those who are in need of help. Genny came into his life when she was infected with V3 and has remained there ever since. His protectiveness made it natural for him to wish to enter the police force. He works as a DI at The New Scotland Yard and happens to be one of the straight cops at that facility. We soon discover that not all who work for the police do so for the same need to protect and serve the public.

The Sweet Scent of Blood starts out as a mystery and ends up as a battle amongst the mighty of Genny’s London. Genvieve seeks the answer to who killed Melissa. Was is Roberto, her boyfriend, or was it another character? Through the story we see that sometimes Genny is aided in her search for answers but for the most part barriers are thrown up, one after the other.

The Sweet Scent of Blood - Suzanne McLeod

In their scrabble to stay on top, the powers that be have decided that the faery are to remain without civil rights. Civil rights is something a great many of us take for granted. I find it comforting to imagine that if something terrible happened to me then I would be safe because Justice would have its day. Sure, it’s just an illusion but one that is legislated for the likes of me. One hundred years ago women did not have the right to vote nor did they have many of the other rights that men did. Disabled could still be sterilized in Norway a long time after that. Many people have sacrificed a great deal to make it possible for me to have the power over my life that I do.

Faery do not. Vampires do, but faery do not. Witches have civil rights, but faery do not. Regular humans have civil rights, but faery do not. Do I have to look far to find people without written legislation to protect them even today? Sadly, no. In The Sweet Scent of Blood the reason for this lack of power lies for the main part in looks. Some of the faery can be frightening looking and some of them are extremely dangerous. Their ethics are unfamiliar to humans. All of these factors have been utilized by the masters of power games in making the faery less powerful.

The Sweet Scent of Blood is one of my re-readables. I know it is supposed to be Suzanne McLeod’s first published novel, but it holds none of the earmarks of a first novel. Indeed she manages to stay on-key throughout the whole story. Definitely recommended.

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Children, Fantasy, Mystery

Larwood, Kieran: Freaks (2012)

2012-10-01 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Freaks is a mystery with some very unlikely detectives. Detectives who work in a freak-show are kind of visible wouldn’t you say? It must be difficult to blend in when necessary. But this novel occurs in the chaotic and messy London of the 1800s.

Sheba, the were-something (we don’t know at the beginning of the book exactly what she is) is the main attraction of the Grunchgrindle’s World of Curiosities at the end of Little Pilchton pier. One day a man (Plumpscuttle) buys her and the other attraction (a two-headed sheep) for his own show and takes her to London. There she and the other “freaks” of the show set up for the public every evening.

One evening a mud-lark named Till manages to sneak in and befriend Sheba. When Till goes missing her parents come to the show to ask for help. It turns out Till is not the only one who has disappeared on the mud-flats. Then one day, the gang gets a break in the case.

Freaks is a fun read. It has everything a 10-year old would like. The Monkeyboy likes to throw snot and earwax at the public, a ninja is part of the show and so are rats and a giant. London stinks terribly, there is a monster and the gang gets into strange and dangerous situations. Larwood has written a mystery with plenty of humor and action.

Kieran Larwood‘s daytime job is as a Reception class teacher at a Primary School. After working towards being published for quite a while, Freaks finally won The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2011 and publication was in the box.