REC: Long Live by Llin (Star Trek, Ensemble)
Aug. 14th, 2025 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Long Live by
Fandom: Star Trek (TOS through to AOS)
Characters: Ensemble from TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, and movies
Medium: Vid
Length: 5:19
Rating: SFW
My Bookmark Tags: drama, slice of life, happy ending, established relationship, celebration, legacy, nostalgia, friendship, family
Song: "Long Live" by Taylor Swift
Excerpt:
You held your head like a hero on a history book page / It was the end of a decade, but the start of an ageThis vid is a warm bowl of good soup, nostalgic and comforting. I love the conceit of starting out following one character who shares a scene with a second, and then following that character, and so on, through the crossovers between the different series, and then across the themes that unite them. This is one I go back to often when I need a smile.
wait wait wait
Aug. 14th, 2025 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
What do you mean, Brandi Carlile and Belinda Carlisle are TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE???? I thought Belinda Carlisle had reinvented herself and made a comeback, what do you mean it's a completely different person.
I have not been this betrayed since finding out that Carl Sandburg and Carl Sagan were different people, but at least these are still two singers. WTF.
Daily Check-In
Aug. 14th, 2025 08:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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How are you doing?
I am OK
5 (71.4%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now
2 (28.6%)
I could use some help
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single
2 (28.6%)
One other person
3 (42.9%)
More than one other person
2 (28.6%)
Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
2025 OTW Board Voting Now Open!
Aug. 15th, 2025 02:02 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
The election has opened!
Every OTW member who joined between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, should have a ballot by now. If you didn’t get one, please check your spam folder first, then contact us via our contact form. If you are unsure whether your donation was made before the deadline, please contact our Development and Membership Committee by using the contact form on our website and selecting “Is my membership current/Am I eligible to vote?”
The election will run through August 18, 2025, 23:59 UTC; check this time zone converter to find out what time that will be for you.
Song of the day: Ji Suyeon, "Love Without Pain" (cover
Aug. 14th, 2025 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Going through old links today, I came across this cover from Weki Meki's Ji Suyeon that I'd set aside to listen to back in February and then forgotten about.
The original, sung by Choi Yu Ree for the Disney+ original series Call It Love is available here, if you're interested. Choi Yu Ree's voice seems to be stronger than Suyeon's, but that could be a side-effect of production — even though they're both singing over the same backing track, they're not recorded under identical conditions, so it's still not completely a 1:1 comparison. If you skip ahead to 3:00, I think Suyeon's voice is stronger on the higher notes (come on: did you really expect me not to find a way to defend Suyeon?), but they both sang really well.
(no subject)
Aug. 14th, 2025 08:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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I’ve got a 14-year-old son and 9-year-old twin daughters. My son lives primarily with his mom, but has always spent plenty of time at my place, and the kids are all quite close. But there is a real problem with how he treats one of his sisters. The two of them share many traits and are quite similar in disposition, and when things are good, they have a very sweet relationship. They’ll go on walks together and chat and laugh the whole time. They also really enjoy play-fighting—e.g., hitting each other with foam swords. But at other times, my son will relentlessly pick at his sister, teasing her for things like not being as good at video games as he is, or questioning her abilities in other ways. It’s unkind, and although she sometimes claps back or does her best to ignore him, more often it sends her into a rage.
I’ve talked to him about it repeatedly (and yelled at him about it), and he has said he has trouble controlling himself. Maybe that sounds like a cop-out, but having observed it so many times, I believe him. It seems like an impulse-control thing, like the comments pop into his head and are out of his mouth before he can stop them. We have a good amount of neurodivergence in our family, and I strongly suspect that, like the sister in question, he’s got ADHD. I’ve wanted to get him assessed, but his mom—with whom I have a good relationship—is resistant, and he hasn’t had any issues in school yet that would offer more reason to push for it. I’ll tell him to knock it off and he’ll be chastened, but then 30 seconds later he’s picking on his sister again. What do you think I should be trying to do here? Yelling obviously isn’t the answer, and I can tell my son is feeling demoralized. I feel like this is about their similar personalities to some extent, because he doesn’t have the same issue with his other sister. But even if that’s the case, I want him to stop cutting his sister down, because she adores him and I’m pretty sure he actually adores her too.
—Bro, Chill
( Read more... )
The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Thursday, August 14
Aug. 14th, 2025 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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Willow: Good! That'll show 'em... Did it show 'em?
Buffy: They didn't hurt him, did they?
Giles: They, uh... ate him.
~~The Pack~~
[Chaptered Fiction]
- Sacrifices, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, R) by GuinevereSummers
- The Choice To Stay, Chapter 32 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Spikelover4ever
- Buffy and the Slayer - Season 2, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Sunnydale Sentinel
- Undead, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Nora
- Thursday... what a concept, Chapter 67 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by NotYourGrave
- No Truth Left Behind, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Maxine Eden
- An Abundance of Buffys, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by JayeMaru
- If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck..., Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, R) by zinjadu
- The Spooky Tree Strikes, Chapter 25 (Buffy/Spike, R) by GuinevereSummers
- Fake It 'Til You Make It, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Cazzy
- A Demon With No Name, Chapter 4 (Buffy/Spike, AO) by Cazzy
[Images, Audio & Video]
- Artwork:My partner and I just finished S1 and we are already obsessed. Here's some artwork I did 🦇 by alt_retro
- Artwork:practice sketch of spike by professeurm
- Gifset:"And Buffy, be careful with this gift." by bangelgifs
- Gifset:Buffy the Vampire Slayer 4.09 | Something Blue by marril96
- Gifset:Buffy the Vampire Slayer | 1x11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight by mikimeiko
- Gifset:BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER // 4.15 "This Year's Girl" by loisfreakinglane
- Gifset:favorite drusilla looks -> season 2 by lovebvffys
- Video: Once More, With Feeling "Rest in Peace" (Acoustic Cover) - Stephen Santouris by Behind the Curtain Theatre Productions CIC
[Reviews & Recaps]
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 3 Episode 3 | Daughters First Watch | Reaction by Maya and Gareth
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer "OLDER AND FAR AWAY" S6E14 REACTION by JerBear Reacts
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1X2 & 1X3 | Reaction by Heathen Reactions
[Fandom Discussions]
- Here my prediction for the buffy reboot by sanshofox
- If I were a Slayer and I met Angel (= a vampire with a soul), the first thing I’d do is study him by angrysandwichphantom
- They needed to define Willow's problem earlier [Cont.] by multiple authors
- Why did Drusilla torture Angel in What's My Line? by multiple authors
- Question "Villains": Why were the demons so sure Buffy's healing factor alone would help her survive the gunshot? by multiple authors
- Dopplegangland is a work of art! by multiple authors
- Finished Buffy for the first time and some thoughts by multiple authors
- Anya by multiple authors
- Why Tomorrow/Deep Down are so hard to watch by multiple authors
- what are some random BTVS moments you think about? by multiple authors
- Favorite weapon? by multiple authors
- What do you think Spike's reaction to the Vampire versions of Xander and Willow would have been? by multiple authors
- Why did Wolfram and Hart bring back Darla? by multiple authors
- Two Angel/Buffy Window Scenes — Intentional Parallel or Coincidence? by multiple authors
- Main Characters as Vampires by multiple authors
- Would Tara have been insulted by Giles comments to Willow by multiple authors
- Cordelia knocking down the wall in her apartment by multiple authors
- "Villains": Why were the demons so sure Buffy's healing factor alone would help her survive the gunshot? by multiple authors
- *SPOILER* First video of Chase Sui Wonders on set as cameras roll by multiple authors
- The way Oz made it Willows fault for him turning into a wolf again infuriates me (S4 EP19). by multiple authors
- What’s the smallest thing that bothers you in Buffy the vampire slayer? by multiple authors
- 10 minutes of quietly waiting to present your case at Angel Inv. Is interrupted by a man’s erratic blubbering in the next room. What’s he crying about? by multiple authors
- New Sunnydale by multiple authors
- Buffy revivals attempts by multiple authors
- vampire's sense of self? by multiple authors
- What are your "derp" moments about Buffy? by multiple authors
- Do we expect to see any cameos from the Angel cast in the Buffy sequel? by multiple authors
- Choice as a central theme by multiple authors
- Giving Angel the Gem of Amara?! by multiple authors
[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]
- Podcast/Interview: Emma Caulfield Full Interview | Back To The Best Podcast by Back to the Best
President Trump’s War on “Woke AI” Is a Civil Liberties Nightmare
Aug. 14th, 2025 11:46 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
The White House’s recently-unveiled “AI Action Plan” wages war on so-called “woke AI”—including large language models (LLMs) that provide information inconsistent with the administration’s views on climate change, gender, and other issues. It also targets measures designed to mitigate the generation of racial and gender biased content and even hate speech. The reproduction of this bias is a pernicious problem that AI developers have struggled to solve for over a decade.
A new executive order called “Preventing Woke AI in the Federal Government,” released alongside the AI Action Plan, seeks to strong-arm AI companies into modifying their models to conform with the Trump Administration’s ideological agenda.
The executive order requires AI companies that receive federal contracts to prove that their LLMs are free from purported “ideological biases” like “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” This heavy-handed censorship will not make models more accurate or “trustworthy,” as the Trump Administration claims, but is a blatant attempt to censor the development of LLMs and restrict them as a tool of expression and information access. While the First Amendment permits the government to choose to purchase only services that reflect government viewpoints, the government may not use that power to influence what services and information are available to the public. Lucrative government contracts can push commercial companies to implement features (or biases) that they wouldn't otherwise, and those often roll down to the user. Doing so would impact the 60 percent of Americans who get information from LLMs, and it would force developers to roll back efforts to reduce biases—making the models much less accurate, and far more likely to cause harm, especially in the hands of the government.
Less Accuracy, More Bias and Discrimination
It’s no secret that AI models—including gen AI—tend to discriminate against racial and gender minorities. AI models use machine learning to identify and reproduce patterns in data that they are “trained” on. If the training data reflects biases against racial, ethnic, and gender minorities—which it often does—then the AI model will “learn” to discriminate against those groups. In other words, garbage in, garbage out. Models also often reflect the biases of the people who train, test, and evaluate them.
This is true across different types of AI. For example, “predictive policing” tools trained on arrest data that reflects overpolicing of black neighborhoods frequently recommend heightened levels of policing in those neighborhoods, often based on inaccurate predictions that crime will occur there. Generative AI models are also implicated. LLMs already recommend more criminal convictions, harsher sentences, and less prestigious jobs for people of color. Despite that people of color account for less than half of the U.S. prison population, 80 percent of Stable Diffusion's AI-generated images of inmates have darker skin. Over 90 percent of AI-generated images of judges were men; in real life, 34 percent of judges are women.
These models aren’t just biased—they’re fundamentally incorrect. Race and gender aren’t objective criteria for deciding who gets hired or convicted of a crime. Those discriminatory decisions reflected trends in the training data that could be caused by bias or chance—not some “objective” reality. Setting fairness aside, biased models are just worse models: they make more mistakes, more often. Efforts to reduce bias-induced errors will ultimately make models more accurate, not less.
Biased LLMs Cause Serious Harm—Especially in the Hands of the Government
But inaccuracy is far from the only problem. When government agencies start using biased AI to make decisions, real people suffer. Government officials routinely make decisions that impact people’s personal freedom and access to financial resources, healthcare, housing, and more. The White House’s AI Action Plan calls for a massive increase in agencies’ use of LLMs and other AI—while all but requiring the use of biased models that automate systemic, historical injustice. Using AI simply to entrench the way things have always been done squanders the promise of this new technology.
We need strong safeguards to prevent government agencies from procuring biased, harmful AI tools. In a series of executive orders, as well as his AI Action Plan, the Trump Administration has rolled back the already-feeble Biden-era AI safeguards. This makes AI-enabled civil rights abuses far more likely, putting everyone’s rights at risk.
And the Administration could easily exploit the new rules to pressure companies to make publicly available models worse, too. Corporations like healthcare companies and landlords increasingly use AI to make high-impact decisions about people, so more biased commercial models would also cause harm.
We have argued against using machine learning to make predictive policing decisions or other punitive judgments for just these reasons, and will continue to protect your right not to be subject to biased government determinations influenced by machine learning.
Podfic!
Aug. 14th, 2025 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: DCU - Comicverse
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Stephanie Brown
Additional Tags: Introspection, Podfic, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Audio Format: MP3, Audio Format: Streaming
Summary:
A rundown of Robins
Podfic of Only a Robin by Merfilly.
The Rowan Drabble
Aug. 14th, 2025 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: The Rowan
Additional Tags: Drabble, Introspection
Summary:
The Rowan, on music
Musical Choices
Sometimes, the Rowan would find a recording of the show she had attended with Goswina and the others of that class, her mood pouring over the unpleasantness of the aftermath, and the ultimate joy it had brought her in one Afra Lyon, Goswina's little brother.
Other days, she would put music on, purposefully choosing subdued vocals and music with subtle harmonies, to avoid any of the more robust, loud music that Siglen had preferred. Her teacher had been as loud in her music tastes as in her choices of decor.
The Rowan had long since chosen to be quite different.
Two Ted Lasso Drabbles
Aug. 14th, 2025 06:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ted Lasso [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Keeley Jones
Additional Tags: Drabble, Introspection
Summary:
Keeley's thoughts on the direction of the club and life
Supporting Change
Keeley hadn't been sure that any of it was a great idea, but it didn't take long for her to see the change in everyone — especially Roy.
His gruff exterior and piss-off attitude was intact, but there wasn't the same level of loathing for life there. Keeley just pushed into the change, and did all she could to reward the change.
If that meant more sex, she certainly wasn't going to complain. Nor did it take long to realize saying anything to Jamie was enough to rile Roy up in that really good way.
She could get behind the changes.
Excursions (100 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ted Lasso [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Roy Kent, Phoebe [Ted Lasso]
Additional Tags: Drabble, Slice of Life
Summary:
Roy is hunting somewhere, and has Phoebe with him
Excursions
"Fuck."
"Fuck," Phoebe parroted, and Roy had to turn and glare at her. "Frack?"
"Who let you watch terrible TV?" Roy asked, before looking all around him.
"That's from a show? You must have watched it to know the word. What was it about?" Phoebe asked. "I learned it from Billy."
"Billy watches terrible TV then. Where are we supposed to be?"
Phoebe did not make it any better when she giggled and pointed to the tiny hole-in-the-wall candy shop.
Roy took a firmer hold on her hand and walked them over, intent on getting Keeley the best chocolates ever.
Review: Hide and Seek by Willow Dixon
Aug. 14th, 2025 03:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
Hominids, by Robert Sawyer
Aug. 14th, 2025 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)

A Neanderthal from an alternate universe where Homo Sapiens went extinct and Neanderthals lived into the present day is sucked into our world due to an experiment gone wrong. The book follows his interactions with humans in one storyline, and the repercussions in Neanderthal World in another.
I picked up this book because I like Neanderthals and alternate dimensions that aren't about relatively recent history (ie, not about "What if Nazis won WWII?"). The parts of the book that are actually about Neanderthal World are really fun. It's a genuinely different society, where men and women live separately for the most part, surveillance by implanted computers prevents most crime, mammoths and other large mammals did not go extinct, there are back scratching posts in homes, they wear special eating gloves rather than using utensils or eating barehanded, etc. This was all great.
The problem with this book was everything not directly about Neanderthal society. Bizarrely, this included almost the entire plotline on Neanderthal World, which consisted of a murder investigation and trial of the missing Neanderthal's male partner (what we would call his husband or lover), which was mostly tedious and ensured that we see very little of Neanderthal society. The Neanderthal interactions on our world were fun, but the non-Neanderthal parts were painful. There is a very graphic, on-page stranger rape of the main female character, solely so she can realize that Neanderthal dude is not like human men. There's two sequels, which I will not read.
It got some pretty entertaining reviews:
"☆☆☆☆☆1 out of 5 stars.
No. JUST NO.
I am sorry, but the premise of inherently and innately peaceful cultures with more advanced technology than conflict-driven cultures is patently absurd. Read Alistair Reynolds' Century Rain for an examination of how technological advancement depends on strife: necessity is the mother of invention, and the greatest necessity of all is fighting for survival. I will not be lectured for my male homosapien hubris by a creature that would never have gotten past the late neolithic in technology."
Hominids won a Hugo! Here are the other nominees.
1st place: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (Canadian)
2nd place: Kiln People by David Brin (American)
3rd place: Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick (American)
4th place: The Scar by China Miéville (British)
5th place: The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (American)
Amazingly, I have read or attempted to read all of them. My ratings:
1st place: Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick (American)
2nd place: The Scar by China Miéville (British).
3rd place: The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson (American)
4th place: Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (Canadian)
5th place: Kiln People by David Brin (American)
If I'd voted, it would be very close between Bones of the Earth and The Scar, both of which I loved. I made a valiant attempt at The Years of Rice and Salt. Like all of KSR's books, I'm sure it's quite good but not for me. I know I read Kiln People but recall literally nothing about it, so I'll give Hominids a place above it for having some nice Neanderthal stuff.
The actual ballot is a complete embarrassment.
One of my favorite things about TOS: men apologizing
Aug. 14th, 2025 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Meanwhile, when we marathoned TOS, I was pretty surprised by how much I ended up liking Kirk, and then I ended up loving him even more on some re-watches, despite the occasional dire writing ("Elaan of Troyius" can't make me hate him; my most beloathèd writer on TOS just decided that, in addition to writing Elaan as an unholy combination of Katharina from The Taming of the Shrew and just a racist caricature in general, Kirk was going to be Petruchio for a day and also that it'd be hot if France Nuyen roofied and had sex with him, which is, um, rape, but the episode doesn't understand its own plot the way e.g. "Wink of an Eye" or even freaking "Catspaw" understand what's wrong—and it was written by the same guy who wrote the virulently antisemitic "Patterns of Force" that goes out of its way to put Kirk and Spock in Nazi uniforms—just them among the main cast for most of the episode, for some reason, though it's unusual for them to be placed on a mission alone—and the script includes extra antisemitism directed individually at both Nimoy and Shatner on different occasions). There are a lot of reasons that TOS Kirk in particular ended up as my peak ST blorbo, even surpassing Spock's hold on my heart (though I love him deeply), but one of the reasons are scenes like these that TNG has very definitely brought back to mind:
KIRK: At least try cutting him off!
UHURA: Sir, if I could cut him off, don’t you think I—!
RILEY: ♪ I’ll take you home again, Kathleen— ♪
UHURA: Yes, sir, I’ll keep trying.
KIRK [apologetically]: Sorry.
KIRK: Yes, I’m aware of that, Mr. Scott.
CHEKOV: And, sir, the fact Earth took twelve centuries doesn’t mean they had to.
UHURA: We’ve seen different development rates on different planets.
SCOTT: And were the Klingons behind it, why didn’t they give them breechloaders?
CHEKOV: Or machine guns?
UHURA: Or old-style hand lasers?
KIRK [sharply]: I did not invite a debate. [pause] I’m sorry. I’m worried about Spock and concerned about what’s happened.
These apologies are quite simple, not emotional or dramatic or detailed at all, but that's fine. Just the acknowledgment that he was in the wrong and apologizing for it without hesitation or taking it to a face-saving private location or whatever, just saying it right there in front of everyone, is incredibly refreshing. In both of these, also, Uhura is one of the people he's responding to—it's possible that he's readier to apologize in such an open and unambiguous way because Uhura is involved and they're particularly close (their obvious and consistent mutual affection was another of the big TOS surprises!). I don't really think so (McCoy also freely apologizes on the spot multiple times, if less often than his behavior merits), but maybe Kirk's apologies are prompted by Uhura's involvement. However, if so, TOS going out of its way to show a very white-coded male hero publicly and correctly apologizing to the competent and justified Black woman who answers to him in front of his other subordinates doesn't make it any less welcome tbh.
(I'm definitely enjoying parts of TNG, but if several of the TOS movies frustrated me by moving towards 80s space explosions blockbuster when I was invested in the Having Things to Say Even if They're Deeply Flawed approach of TOS along with the visual experimentation, generally unexpected nuances of the characters, and sheer joyous camp of it all, TNG has seemed so painfully complacent 80s and essentially cautious in its fundamental perspective that I miss TOS all the more, its many faults notwithstanding.)
WorldCon has Loaded (ISH)
Aug. 14th, 2025 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ETA: Both 10:30 panels I want to see either not streaming or not with sound.
ETA2: Caught the back half of one 10:30 panel (idk if the other one ever worked), and the sound was back for most of the noon panel, though it dropped out completely ten minutes from the end. Folks attending have been amazing with posting running notes to the discord, linking to works mentioned by the panellists.