The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little:

Another question: What is there an employee can do when the employer gives them a certain amount of sick days on paper, but makes it clear that they're On Notice if they use up more than one of them in a month (and they were given enough that by using up only one of them per month they'd have some leftover)?

Which is to say - You got sick days, but Gods help you if you use them. You get called into the office for a Serious Talk.

I ask not for myself (who am gainfully unemployed and happy about it) but for friends who have shared this anecdote. At the time I thought, "Bastards!" Reading this thread, I now am thinking, "Wow, that *is* a form of embezzlement, isn't it?"

So... what does joe/jane schmoe employee do? Something that's not prohibitively expensive or complicated? Is there a body to whom they can make a simple complaint?

FWIW, "find another job" is untenable, and besides does nothing for everyone else subject to the same bait-and-switch policy at that company.

Sara_k - awesome. Do you know if there's a cut-off age? Seems to me that my husband asked around last summer (his doctor, Planned Parenthood, etc.) and kept getting told "We can't give it to men".

(We're in Boulder, CO, btw; HPV vaccine is non-controversial in these parts.)

That'll make yer Ramen sit up and beg.

(Blasphemy!)

Lila @288 - You're not the only one.

(In my writing group, they say "Even if others have made the same critique already, it's useful for the author to hear that multiple people have that reaction." But clearly I need to catch up on the zombie thread.)


Way upthread, someone mentioned something being "proscriptive not descriptive." I'll go out on a limb and pick that nit with my Handy Dandy Mnemonic:

PRESCRIPTIVE: Thou shalt do it.

PROSCRIPTIVE: Thou shalt not do it.

DESCRIPTIVE: It is done.


Re: HPV vaccine - My husband and I both want it, but are under the impression that it's not covered for me (too old) and it's not even available for him (not yet approved for males). I have been given conflicting info about this over the web and over the past year, possibly because the status is changing. Can anyone offer helpful pointers?


Also, wasn't acutely aware about shingles, which seems odd since usually I get good info from the medical professionals in my family on this stuff. As I had chicken pox in 1990 or 1991 (relatively mild case, thank goodness), perhaps I should be looking at the varicella vaccine....

(makes new list of questions to bring to annual check-up)

#18: I for one am doing what I can for werewolf advocacy.

And I for one appreciate it more than I can say. (Although that doesn't stop me saying stuff. *poing* *poing* New book! *poing* *poing* Denver Book Mall! *poing* squeeee)

Your post also reminds me that it is well past time for me to watch The Serpent and the Rainbow again.

Patrick, you clearly missed your calling as an Onion horoscope writer.

(Is it just me that finds it an annoying misuse of the term that people call these things "memes"?)

In The Graveyard Book I was surprised and delighted to stumble upon a very strong Mary Poppins allusion among the Jungle Book ones. It's the last story in Mary Poppins in the Park, unmistakeably so.

Which I think I need to reread now.

{{tucks self into bed with book}}

Terry, congratulations on your milestone.

It's the kind of book you put down early and often just so you don't run out of pages quite as soon.

I'm afraid I didn't have that kind of self-restraint. Alas. I tried, but I ate everything from chapter 4 onward in a single morning between the hours of about 4 and 8 AM. (John had to be to work in downtown Denver for 5, which meant a horrifically early morning for the whole household, all two humans and two cats of us.)

I was excited to hear Neil read chapter 7 (part two) here in Boulder, and I'm so glad that the entire tour is available to posterity. Hearing Neil read makes me gently, wistfully envious of his kids.

Great, now I need to buy a new copy, one that has the Newbery Medal embossed on the front cover.

But seriously - this is wonderful news! I'm so happy for Neil.

Hi again, open thread!

Has anyone posted this link yet? (Almost every time I ask that, the answer is "Yes" but do I learn? Nooooo.)

It's a game (associated with Code Name: Kids Next Door) called "Flight of the Hamsters."

It made me think of Teresa and Porco Bruno and the rest.


(Am very much loving the song lyrics. My brain is too fuzzy at the moment to add to them, sadly. The Spanish one in the linked thread that ends with "I wanna tell George to suck it" made me laugh and laugh and laugh.)

Of course, he's still a radical muslin terrist borned in the country of Africa....

Word is he's actually a satin worshipper.

Argh! I had not revisited the Open Thread today, and missed your post. I'm very good at telling the ML community what they already know, aren't I?

(At least this time the response wasn't, "Already particled, ya ditz!" In the nicest possible way, of course.)

Has anyone linked this in yet?

US Democracy Server: Patch Day

Not as simple nor as factual as the robots.txt particle, but a well-crafted piece of satirical beauty nonetheless.

Dan: I think "flirtation" is the right word. They outgrew at least the hardline version of it pretty quickly. Although I did get into an argument around the time Counterparts came out as to whether "Cut To The Chase" proved Peart was still purely an objectivist!libertarian (I said not, he said yes).

Btw, are you familiar with their latest outing, Snakes & Arrows?

Earl: I just got home and turned on the TV, and CNN was all "Breaking News" about that. They're wittering about why the White House didn't bring in TV cameras and wondering whether this calls into question the new Administration's commitment to transparency. Whee indeed.

Serge: Good thing you've come to your senchas and restrained yourself, then.

#26: hee. There was a great riff on that sort of joke in an episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law. Redacto's shrink-ray misfires and enlarges Inch-High Private Eye to normal human adult size, at which point the overjoyed detective tells the court to hold on just a moment, there's something he's gotta do... Cut to an amusement park ride entrance with a "you must be this tall to ride" sign, and an exasperated ride attendant.

Inch-High: "Again. Say it again."
Attendant: [sighs] "Sir, will you please get on the ride."
Inch-High: "Again!"

hee hee hee hee hee

Dan - very much appreciated! Following the lyrical segue from that song to "Closer to the Heart" is also incredibly apt: the idea that change begins with those in power, but that everyone at every level has a role to play in making it happen.

When the astronauts saluted and paraded with the flag as though freshly on the surface of the moon, OMG the smiles again on the First Couple! So big and happy and wide! I teared up again.

I don't know whether it makes me a good spec fic fangirl geek or a very bad person that, when I saw CNN reporting on the collapse of Sen.s Kennedy and Byrd, I thought to myself, "See, this how zombie movies start." Best wishes for their recoveries and care, and forgive me my perverse Muse...

Ooh, Barack and Michelle have gotten out of the "tank with windows" and are waving at the crowd. Look at those smiles!

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