Aidan Rhiannon

If nobody turns up, I'll survive somehow. XD Anyhow, I've gone ahead and made a brony chat room.

Network: irc.nightstar.net
Chan: #brony

I'm aiming to collect people who write/draw/sew/otherwise create pony related content, so artists in particular ought to join, but everybody is welcome. I'll always be in the room but might be afk or sleeping, I forget to change my status sometimes.

For people who don't have an irc client, http://www.nightstar.net/ has java, webchat, and flash chat, check out the links on the left.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality

THIS. READ THIS. If you like Harry Potter, read this. If you enjoy reading, read this. If you like fanfiction read this. But more than that, if "for Science!" is a call that can stir your heart, if "humanism" means something to you, READ THIS.

IMHO if it finishes out as wonderfully as it's gone so far it will be better than the original Harry Potter. Far better. This alternate-reality version of the story keeps many of its strengths, and removes many of its weaknesses. It's not as fluffy, mind. Harry Potter in the original deals with some harsh realities, but it does so in a way that's pretty conventional. Nothing in that story challenges your ideas about reality, or self, or how stories are meant to go. It's a safe sort of reality. Maybe people die, but love will triumph over all. Well love isn't the answer this time. The answer is a lot more complicated, a little bit darker, and quite possibly a great deal more profound. Love might be part of it, but it's only part. And the problem isn't so simple either, this Harry probably isn't going to end up saving the world from a clear-cut evil by killing an obvious villain. The Voldemort here is a far more interesting character than I ever could have dreamed.

The whole thing is brilliant. I laughed so hard I just about fell out of my chair. I also cried. I don't think the original ever quite made me do either. I am going to anticipate new chapters of this story with a lot more eagerness than I've anticipated any new books in quite a long time. I'm honestly having a hard time remembering the last time a story stirred me this much.

http://crooksandliars.com/node/34099/print

I've said pretty much exactly what's in this article before. But given how very few people are saying it, compared to the massive bombardment from the "other side" it can always stand to be said again.

http://therumpus.net/2010/07/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-44-how-you-get-unstuck/

Read it.

I'm doing an evil thing, maybe, because it will probably make you cry. If it doesn't I'm not sure you're a human being. Read it anyway.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1697635

Said better than I could. (I would be unable to resist putting in some snarking about idiots.)

http://overkill9000.com/2010/05/19/too-much-funny-pictures-you039ve-caught-them-all/

I think that no matter how much Pokemon I collect, I'm never going to collect that many.

http://consumerist.com/2010/01/text-message-donations-for-haiti-may-be-delayed-up-to-3-months.html

I've never quite trusted texting money to somebody... not sure why, honestly. I have no problems with paypal. Maybe that's because paypal is very transparent about how sending money works, but phone companies aren't, they just run around going "Text ZOMGMONEY to donate to this great cause!" without even a lick of further explanation. And that may well be because of things like taking fees out of your money and taking three months to deliver it to where it's going.