Man is not saved by faith or works alone
(Ephesians 2:8-10).

What if one’s motivation is not salvation, but simply that faith and good work seem the only natural and right thing to do?

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1218896.html"; you may comment either there or here.

The needle she used to pierce her lip with? Only my best darning needle.

So. Think I should point out to her I last used it to darn a hole in the seat of David's jeans? *evil grin*

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1218269.html"; you may comment either there or here.

Kathy just walked into the living room and smiled at me to show off her "snakebite" labret piercings that she did herself last night at about 3am. Apparently she got bored. Looks like the tendancy to do mad things at 3am is an inherited family trait; we'll have to start a list of "Things Kathy is Not Allowed To Do".

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1217873.html"; you may comment either there or here.

Current Mood: amused

Most little girls, at some point or other, dream of wearing pretty dresses, being a princess and dancing with their Prince Charming.

It's probably rather telling that I wanted to be Prince Charming.

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1217772.html"; you may comment either there or here.

Discussion on a friend's phpBB forum turned to corsets earlier today; one of the girls had just ordered her first ever corset - a Vollers. She was asking for advice on what size to go for and how to lace it up yourself. MM, who is a few years my senior and a regular at Torture Garden, posted up a couple of shots of herself; she mentioned that about 3" reduction was as much as she was comfortable with although she could get down to 4" with effort. I happened to mention that although I've gone from a natural 28" waist to 30" post-pregnancy, I could still tightlace to 24".

Which led to this photo:

Current Mood: pleased

Trafigura and Carter-Ruck backed down shortly before the 2pm High Court hearing and lifted the gagging order; it must have been obvious it was going to be overturned even to them. The overwhelming response from the blogosphere and Twitter must have been a very nasty surprise for them!

Kudos also to the Spectator, which was the only other media outlet to report on the story. And a big thumbs-down to the BBC and Channel 4 who refused to report on it even when directly asked. Even now that reporting restrictions have been lifted, there is NO mention of it on the BBC website. Shame on you, BBC.

It has been revealed that Trafigura were indeed trying to cover up the injunction against reporting in the British press of the Minton report, on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura. In several incidents, Trafigura dumped thousands of tons of sulphurous coker naptha mixed with caustic soda off Côte d’Ivoire in 2006, with full knowledge as detailed in internal emails that doing so would likely cause thousands of injuries and deaths. The chemical waste came from a ship called Probo Koala and in August 2006 truckload after truckload of it was illegally fly-tipped at 15 locations around Abidjan, the biggest city in Ivory Coast. This led to 16 deaths and 31000 injured.

Trafigura can now thank Carter-Ruck for having ensured that by trying to gag the British press, pretty much the whole world now knows exactly what Trafigura did.

[Edit to add] The BBC finally reported on the lifting of the gag nearly three hours afterwards with a very mealymouthed piece.

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1216556.html"; you may comment either there or here.

London solicitors Carter-Ruck, who specialise in suing the media for clients (who include individuals or global corporations), have actually gagged the Guardian newspaper from reporting Parliamentary proceedings on legal grounds which appear to call into question privileges guaranteeing free speech established under the 1688 Bill of Rights. It's apparently about the question highlighted in red, which has already been on Newsnight(take a good look at the picture Trafigura are responsible for). The blogger Guido Fawkes also covers it.

Please repost this and spread this widely. Carter-Ruck may have gagged the Guardian (for now), but they cannot silence every voice in the blogosphere.

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1216387.html"; you may comment either there or here.

Apparently in the US, the 11th October is National Coming Out Day. Here in the UK it's now the early hours of Monday the 12th, but over on the other side of the Atlantic it's still the 11th.

I don't think I've ever been particularly secretive about my (lack of) sexuality, but nor have I felt the need to particularly push it in people's faces; but then again lack of sexuality isn't seen as threatening as being differently sexual. So, in solidarity with those whose sexuality has made them the targets of small-minded bigots, I am hereby coming out.

Hi, my name's Arkady, and I'm an asexual, polyamorous pan-romantic. I am somewhat genderflexible, though I've finally adjusted to being reasonably tolerant of my physically female body.

And I firmly look forward to the day when the phrase "coming out" is rendered obselete, when no-one ever has to fear again the reactions of others based on one's personal preference of gender and/or numbers of partners; when sexuality and gender are no longer political but purely personal matters and all are truly equal.

Sadly, I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. But I can hope for it within the lifetimes of my children.

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1216056.html"; you may comment either there or here.

The following is an open letter (I'm not sure by whom, but it's been reposted by rozk amongst others, which is good enough for me); please read and repost.

London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th

We are a group of trans activists who wish to make known our concerns about a demo, claiming to support the depathologisation of trans people, in London on 17th of October. The facebook group for the demo can be found here:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147494409183

The description of the event reads:

"Being transgendered is not a mental illness. We are simply part of the diversity of humanity. Gender Identity Disorder is therefore not a valid diagnosis. Homosexuality we removed as a mental health diagnosis diagnosis in 1987. For us to achieve true liberation and recognition we need to throw off this unjust stigma. We are not ill, just different"

A large number of people were invited by the demo organiser, a non-trans man by the name of Dennis Hambridge, and some of us were initially concerned by the rationale for the demo. In particular, we were worried that campaigning for the removal of Gender Identity Disorder as a medical diagnosis without proposing an alternative mechanism by which transsexual people would be able to access medical transition resources was premature and dangerous, especially in a climate where NHS primary care trusts need only a minimal excuse to deny funding for our hormonal and surgical procedures. We do not support the labelling of our gender identities as disordered, and realise that our relationship with the medical community is far from ideal, but do not wish to support a movement which may give the impression that we seek complete divorce from the medical community.

These concerns were put to the Facebook group by a number of trans activists. Rather than address them, Mr Hambridge entrenched his position, making claims that gender dysphoria was an artefact of society and the medical community, and that removal of any form of classification of gender dysphoria by the WHO was "non-negotiable".

In moves more reminiscent of the actions of transphobic radical feminists than supposed allies of trans people, Mr Hambridge started deleting some of the comments from those trans people who were concerned about our future access to hormones and surgery. Subsequently he banned a number of those trans people from the group, silencing them in that space.

To reiterate - Mr Hambridge, who is organising a demo which is allegedly supporting the rights of transsexual people is using his position as a group organiser to silence and shut out the voices of the very people he claims to support.

In light of Mr Hambridge's intransigence and refusal to listen to the voices of actual transsexual people, we are calling on all activists who support the concept of transsexual people having a say in our own medical care to boycott this demo. We further call on Mr Hambridge, who is not trans himself, to stop claiming to speak on our behalf when he is ignoring our protestations and silencing our voices, and to call off his demo.

Please spread this open letter widely.

Barack Obama has won the Nobel Prize for Peace after less than a year as President of the US.

Rather impressive.

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1215707.html"; you may comment either there or here.

Patrick Swayze has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 57.

:-(

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1214968.html"; you may comment either there or here.

It's now three days on from my first time hennaing. I've been taking photos for comparison as the henna continues to oxidise, and I must say I'm very happy with the result.

( Click for pics )

I washed my hair today and let it airdry down, hence it being much straighter in the bottom two photos; in the other photos, I've got some serious braid-waves going! I'm very pleased with how my first experience with henna has turned out; my hair feels much softer and smoother, very silky to the touch. I've noticed far less static, too. I even loved the smell of freshly-hennaed hair; it reminds me of freshly-mown green summer hay! Sadly that scent didn't linger past the first wash post-henna, but otherwise I'm delighted. The colour is gorgeously rich, and I think it's safe to say I'm a complete henna convert! :-D

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1214616.html"; you may comment either there or here.

I decided I wanted to make a switch to henna; this was for a number of reasons including to improve hair condition and to get a truly permanent colour (instead of one that slowly washes out over the next few washes until it's more a dark orangey-pink instead of dark red). My henna order from Henna Boy arrived on Monday, so I mixed it up on Monday afternoon then left it overnight to let the dye release. Then yesterday was a very messy day indeed!

I left the henna in for just under 8 hours before rinsing out with lots of conditioner, and braided it for bed as I usually do. Today I have serious braid-waves, even moreso than usual - I'm not sure whether that's due to the henna or perhaps I didn't quite rinse out the conditioner enough.

This is how it looks this morning, day 1 after henna:

With flash


Without flash

Marie deSoto of Uncommon Threads was asked to create a one of a kind pair of BJDs for a special auction to be held at the Modern Doll Collectors Convention 2009. The theme of the convention is "Enchanted Adventures" so she chose to bring Arthur & Guinevere to life, using Elfdolls K & Emma donated by Modern Doll Collectors, Inc. and Elfdoll-Artmaze USA. The entire project from face-ups to costumes to accessories took about six months, and the final dolls are absolutely exquisite. I love Guinevere's peacock robe in particular.



Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1213933.html"; you may comment either there or here.

It's lovely and sunny outside, so I got David to take some pictures of my hair. I've been letting it grow out for over three years now; I last cut it in 2006 to a chin-length bob, and apart from trims to neaten it periodically and letting Kathy put in some layers a couple of months ago, I've pretty much let it do its own thing length-wise.

It's now nearly a foot longer, thick and glossy and the healthiest it's been in years, and I recently switched the colour from purple to a deep red; I'm planning to switch to henna soon though.

So it was time for photos in the sun and a new icon. :-)

( Eve and the Apple )

The sorting hat says that I belong in Ravenclaw!

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose intelligence is surest."

Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.
Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron's affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine's editor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

I scored 89 as Ravenclaw; interestingly, my scores for Slytherin and Gryffindor were exactly the same - 70. I scored only 61 as a Hufflepuff.

The Wikipedia flagged revisions story is still going strong, and David is very much in demand for soundbites - he's going to be on BBC Radio 2 with Chris Evans for a three-minute segment around 17:30ish (plus or minus who knows what) and Sky News around 19:15 BST. He'll be in black shirt and no tie for this one, unlike last night's formal suit.

Originally posted at "http://arkady.dreamwidth.org/1213103.html"; you may comment either there or here.