And while voting I found that the BNP are standing in my area. Ugh.

Speaking of the BNP, it is rather awesome that this got caught on tape. BNP candidate being filmed telling a couple of Asian men "there's more of us than there are of you" and throwing the first hit in a punch-up? Fabulous. Please continue to expose your bigotry in a public and embarrassing manner.

(And it shouldn't need saying, but just in case: I did not vote for the BNP. I nearly voted for the Pirate Party, though...)

Dear Customer,

Thanks for preordering Dragon Age on PC from GAME.co.uk.

Your Begans Bow In-Game Weapon code is: ****-****-****-****,

To access this please follow these instructions:

Create a PlayStation® Network account by visiting eu.playstation.com/registration on a PC.

* Sign in to your PlayStation® Network account.

* Visit PlayStation® Store by visiting eu.playstation.com/registration on a PC.

* Select the Redeem Codes icon, found in the top right hand corner of the Store Top.

* Enter the 12 character promotion code shown above and select Continue.

* Follow the on-screen instructions to redeem the promotion code.

Thanks again for preordering from GAME.co.uk.

The GAME.co.uk Customer Services Team

Please Note: The code is case sensitive and must be entered exactly as displayed. The above code is required to access your pre-order bonus. Keep it safe and don't share it with anyone. It cannot be replaced if lost. Codes are limited to 1 code per PlayStation Account.

I pre-order the PC version of a game and get a PS3 pre-order bonus. WTF.

Not that I really care about the pre-order item. But still. What.

Edit: Okay, I can still get it in the PC version. Even so, major fail.

I am alive. I have been hiding from the internet for personal reasons. I should have known it would take RAGE to bring me back.

LJ suspends 186 accounts of sex offenders registered in New York.

RAGE.

Let's start from the top, shall we?

1) Having read through the comments and the link provided in the post, neither LJ nor the New York Attorney General's Office have provided a reason for the suspension that is more than "they're registered sex offenders".

2) Apparently, pissing on a tree in public can get you on New York's sex offender register.

3) So LJ have suspended these accounts apparently without proof either that the internet was related to the offender's offences or that their current use of LJ is questionable.

4) Soooooo... That little human right about not receiving punishment without trial? Yeah.

5) Soooooo... That little body of research demonstrating the links between social isolation and sexual reoffending? That body "little" enough to form the basis of professional work with sex offenders (like the Thames Valley Sex Offender Treatment Programme) and government-funded projects (like Circles of Support and Accountability)? Yeah. Not that a social networking site like LJ has anything to do with valid social outlets. Of course not.

If those accounts were being used by people to commit further offences, or if those accounts were the accounts of people who had already been convicted of internet-related sexual offences, fine. In that case, LJ's move is a good move.

The problem is that neither LJ nor the Attorney General's Office are saying that's the case. They're just saying they've removed the accounts of registered sex offenders. And that's not good enough.

Law enforcement agencies have a duty to protect the public. However, any actions they take in the execution of that duty must be proportionate to the crime and/or risk, and must not unduly increase the risk of reoffending. Actions must also be accountable.

These actions? Stink.

Everyone and their brother sister sibling has been posting/commenting about Survey!fail, it seems. linkspam has gone a bit mad with all the post roundups - I really love that community.

I don't have much to add to all the discourse, at least in part because I feel kinda of detached from it all. I spent the three years of my degree arguing with determined morons like the "researchers" who sparked off Survey!fail, and I'm just tired of it. They won't change their minds because they have too much incentive not to - behaving like a decent human being with a reasonable set of morals just doesn't weigh against the incentives of privilege, money, and the desire not to take an honest look at their own behaviour.

However, the response from people in fandom has reminded me of just how intelligent, articulate and insightful so many of the people who participate in fandom, however you define "fandom", truly are. Ignoring everything else, a good part of fandom once again shines with the intellects and passions of the people within it.

Unfortunately, that shine has been somewhat tarnished by those who believe the correct response to the behaviour of Ogi and Sai is some quite frankly abusive RPF and photo manips. Please, just ... don't. Those of you who think it's funny should go talk to people who have images of them being sexual abused circulating on the internet. Saying "it's just a story" or "it's just a photoshop" is missing the point, because the effects are the same: a feeling of violation, exposure and degradation. Yes, I know those are feelings Ogi and Sai have caused in many people. Why does that make it okay to do it back?

It's funny how often I'm both proud of and ashamed by fandom in the same breath...

Edit made approx. 2 mins after posting: By "fandom", I mean the collective body of people who read, write, draw, comment, lurk, and so on and so forth in any community setting (in this case internet-based) regarding something that they are a fan of. Argh, bad grammar, but you get the point - I'm trying to be as inclusive as possible. And yeah, that covers a hell of a lot of ground, so it's not really surprising that I should be both proud of and ashamed by fandom as I have defined it. Doesn't change the fact that I would prefer to be one and not the other. Wishful thinking? Probably. Worth thinking? Definitely.

Edited to change the icon, because this one is AWESOMELY APPROPRIATE.

I've just started reading this HP fic, and I've almost been put off it entirely because one of the first things anyone does in the fic is so incredibly stupid it left me gobsmacked, and yet there's no acknowledgement anywhere in the fic I can see of just how stupid it is.

So what's the stupid thing? It's this:

There's a crash involving a motorcycle and a car. Harry sees it. He runs over to the motorcyclist and takes his helmet off.

I hope that most people won't need any further explanation of the monumental stupidity involved in that action. However, I thought "don't take the helmet off an injured motorcyclist" was common knowledge, in the same way that "if it's bleeding hold it up and put pressure on it" and "don't move someone who might have a back injury" are, and yet it's turned up in this fic. So. I have cause to doubt my previous belief.

If you don't have a clue why this is stupid, I'll tell you:

If a motorcyclist is in an accident, taking their helmet off could cause their skull to cave in.

I am not kidding you. Motorcycle helmets are so enclosed and heavily insulated that there's a pressure differential between the inside of the helmet and the outside of the helmet. Leaving aside the fact that to get the helmet off you'd probably have to move the injured person's neck, which is a big no-no for other reasons, removing the helmet after a head injury can destroy a fragile pressure balance where the helmet is quite literally the only thing holding the person's head together.

Right. Basic first aid/common sense lesson over. >.<

May have totally borked my journal layout and ability to customise journal layouts.

Er. Watch this space.

(Or don't, because it's kind of ugly and not worth looking at right now.)

Edit: fixed. I r stoopid. Stoopid enough to post a support request because I apparently can't read, and thought the link to the post that fixed my problem said something totally different.

I think I need sleep.

Today my driving instructor told me that he's going to miss me when I pass my test. This may or may not have been just after I pulled out of a junction while making "brmm brmm" noises. (He normally makes Roadrunner noises back. I like my instructor. :D)

ANYWAY. Following on from this post, I have decided to make a list of Commonly Confused Words I find strewn about many of the fics I read. ( I only have so much tolerance for bad English. )