when the night falls, there is fire in the bungalow

So granted, there are some further verifications that apparently will be tested out later in the week, but at least as of this writing, Comcast seems to be throttling Netflix video streaming speeds. Which--considering everyone pays for Comcast service, so it's not a freebie, it's wholly an elective service--I'd say is pretty damned infuriating, too.

Also, Facebook's apparently implementing a new gender system. Instead of the more-or-less standard of this:

• Male
• Female

they've apparently done this:

• Agender
• Androgyne
• Androgynous
• Bigender
• Cis
• Cisgender
• Cis Female
• Cis Male
• Cis Man
• Cis Woman
• Cisgender Female
• Cisgender Male
• Cisgender Man
• Cisgender Woman
• Female to Male
• FTM
• Gender Fluid
• Gender Nonconforming
• Gender Questioning
• Gender Variant
• Genderqueer
• Intersex
• Male to Female
• MTF
• Neither
• Neutrois
• Non-binary
• Other
• Pangender
• Trans
• Trans*
• Trans Female
• Trans* Female
• Trans Male
• Trans* Male
• Trans Man
• Trans* Man
• Trans Person
• Trans* Person
• Trans Woman
• Trans* Woman
• Transfeminine
• Transgender
• Transgender Female
• Transgender Male
• Transgender Man
• Transgender Person
• Transgender Woman
• Transmasculine
• Transsexual
• Transsexual Female
• Transsexual Male
• Transsexual Man
• Transsexual Person
• Transsexual Woman
• Two-Spirit

No idea what the asterisk after "Trans" means, or why the separation; and I had to look up "Neutrois", and now that puzzles me, because "Agender" is already on the list. Still, it's...progress, maybe? Even if cumbersome progress.

The problem is--at least to me--that it doesn't seem embracing of various gender identities. It feels like Facebook's asking for more data; like they're actually being more invasive of personal privacy by implementing this. I'm sure activists will welcome this, but...I see it as further intrusion, not more inclusion.

But hey, I'm not on Facebook anyway, so I really have no dog in this fight.



There's also a part one, but trust me, part two's better.

An artist created a staircase and a loft bed out of two salvaged pianos; another artist, Ed Fairburn, creates art out of city street maps; former Who Companion Karen Gillan is front and center for one of the most disturbing movie posters I've seen in the last few years (plus, looks pretty darned cute bald at the end of that articled!); and New Zealand's Prime Minister is (fairly definitely) not a lizard man. The hell, New Zealand.

And that's about all I have for now! More weirdness when I find it. (It used to be, weirdness was hard to find. Now it's daily news. There's something wrong about that...)