While indifferent to the fate of his wife and daughter, Laurens formed a passionate ‘romantic friendship’ with Alexander Hamilton. In his letters to Laurens, Hamilton was frank in expressing his devotion. The biographer [Gregory Massey] quotes a few of the less steamy passages from the extant correspondence held by the Library of Congress (some of which is now unreadable because it was censored by John C. Hamilton, an early editor of the manuscripts.) ‘I wish, my Dear Laurens…to convince you that I love you.’ (The ellipsis inserted by the biographer refers to the omitted words ‘by action rather than words’ - perhaps a troubling concept.) ‘You should not have taken advantage of my sensibility to steal into my affections without my consent.’ Hamilton assured Laurens that Hamilton’s marriage to the plain but rich Elizabeth Schuyler would have no effect at all on their continued intimacy. He wrote bawdy passages referring to, among other things, the size of his penis and signed off his letters with an affectionate, ‘Adieu my Dear.’ The biographer concedes that the Laurens-Hamilton letters ‘appear to contain homosexual overtones’ if the passages are ‘taken out of context,’ but he dismisses the language as merely an epistolary convention. ‘Their relationship was platonic,’ he pronounces with assurance, ‘a bond formed by their devotion to the Revolution and mutual ambition for fame.’
William Benemann, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America
I remember laughing when seeing Massey omit the ‘by action rather than words’ part in an effort to go out of his way to convince the reader the relationship was not gay.
“to redefine the ‘women’s interest’ category. In addition to luxury lifestyle content we cover tech, science and business, and celebrate high achieving maverick women for the contents of their brains, not their beds. There is no fashion or beauty content in issue 1, unless you count a piece on the semiotics of handbags. There’s nothing like it, and we’re really excited (and relieved!) to have finally got it out there.”
“Amazon Publishing will acquire all rights to your new stories, including global publication rights, for the term of copyright.” What this means is that when you publish a story on Kindle Worlds, you’re giving Amazon the right to do whatever they want with your story, forever. They can sell it electronically, digitally, carve it into a rock, or give it away. It’s up to them, and you have no say. Ever.
“You will own the copyright to the original, copyrightable elements (such as characters, scenes, and events) that you create and include in your work, and the World Licensor will retain the copyright to all the original elements of the World.” Awesome! Exactly the kind of license I would want. Except …
“When you submit your story in a World, you are granting Amazon Publishing an exclusive license to the story and all the original elements you include in that story.” Want to publish your fan fiction on FanFiction.net? Tough. Amazon is the only entity legally allowed to publish your material. And if they decide that they want to stop publishing your material? Sucks for you. You have no other outlet.
“This means that your story and all the new elements must stay within the applicable World.” This is a huge, flashing warning sign, a big neon Danger, Will Robinson! When you submit a story to Kindle Worlds, you give Amazon all of the rights to your new ideas, even ideas that came solely from your head. Come up with a concept for an awesome new character who just happens to interact with a Salvatore Brother? You can never use that character anywhere except within a Kindle Worlds story.
“We will allow Kindle Worlds authors to build on each other’s ideas and elements.” This means that people get to write fan fiction about your fan fiction. Kindle Worlds is essentially a viral license. I don’t exactly have a problem with that. It would be cool if there was a way to be compensated when another author uses some or your original ideas, but I honestly don’t know how that would even be possible.
“We will also give the World Licensor a license to use your new elements and incorporate them into other works without further compensation to you.” One of the big issues authors have traditionally had with fan fiction is the possibility that a fan fiction writer would claim the original author stole the fan’s ideas and incorporated them into their work. This is why even authors who explicitly allow fan fiction almost never read fan fiction. This sentence does away with that fear entirely. If you submit a story to Kindle Worlds, the original creators can use it however they want. Just think! The next season of Vampire Diaries could be based on your story! Except you won’t be paid for it.
…
The exception is the license to new concepts developed within a Kindle Worlds story. That is uniquely the author’s own, and submitting to Kindle Worlds locks it up forever. Stories are an author’s lifeblood, and you should never give that kind of control over your ideas to someone else. Fifty Shades of Gray would have never happened under Kindle Worlds, because Amazon would own all of the rights to that story, not EL James. She wouldn’t have been allowed to change the character names, flush out the story, and publish on her own. Amazon would have owned that work, not her.
Pretty sure all the awesome fandom folks I know are smart enough to have realized what a steaming turd the new Amazon thing really is, but just in case you have to get into an argument over it with someone (yes, these are things I legitimately prep for) here are some clear talking points.
Also, no porn, graphic violence, crossovers or’excessive’ use of curse words. So, like, all the fun stuff about fanfic.
We are the generation of nostalgia. We grew up in the age of transition. From hand-written letters to electronic mails. From film to digital. We were fascinated by new things, neglecting the way we spend our afternoons. Cupcakes and tea. Play-Doh and Polly Pockets. Young and naive. Technology completely changed the way we waited and we grew up too fast. The simple things in life seems more meaningful now. We grew up in the age of transition and have become the generation of nostalgia.
This is the best/truest thing I’ve read in so long (via thesleepingfawn)
You are going to hell!!! GOD HATES FAGS!” A history lesson: A faggot is a bundle of sticks, originally used as a means for fires to engulf gays when they were burned at the stake. People were firewood. But Moses came across wood on fire and saw God in it. What is a burning bush but several branches on fire? Isn’t it funny how faggots and God can look the same sometimes?!- Elliot Darrow
this shit went so ridic at cupsi. this is that ric flar.
Did you estimate what mpg your car is getting? Did you figure out how many hamburgers you could get for six bucks? Did you think about how long it would take you to get somewhere given the speed and distance? Did you plan a meal so all the components would be done at the same time? Did you encounter anything on sale? Did you figure out how many groceries you could get for how much money you had?
There are about a million other daily, unconscious tasks that use algebra or at least algebraic thinking. Just because you weren’t writing out an equation or employing variables doesn’t mean you weren’t using the skills that algebra and other math courses taught you.
Science and math aren’t important because you’re going to need to know the exact steps of photosynthesis or the quadratic formula. They’re important because they teach you scientific and mathematical literacy and rational thinking, and that is sorely needed in a world where charlatans and cheats or people with a political or religious agenda can get away with all manner of pseudoscience and bullshit because people don’t have enough scientific literacy or critical thinking skills to accurately weigh the arguments or even discern where they fail logically.
So study math and science, and art, and literature, and history, and politics, not because you’re going to need it or it’s going to do something specific for you, but because an uninformed populace is bad for the world.
98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in the second world war, walks 10 kilometers from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of sofia, where he spends the day begging for money.
though a well known fixture around several of the city’s chruches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000 euros — towards the restoration of decaying bulgarian monasteries and churches and the utility bills of orphanages, living instead off his monthly state pension of 80 euros.
The idea of a universal food synthesizer sounds like something straight out of the Jetsons or Star Trek, but thanks to a $125,000 grant from NASA, a 3-D food printer may become a reality.
Anjan Contractor, a senior mechanical engineer at Systems and Materials Research Corporation, is already working on bringing the idea to fruition.
NASA’s interested because storing the various ingredients as a power greatly extends their shelf life for lengthy travel through space, but Contractor wants to keep all of the recipes open source, so the general public could eventually benefit as well.
So how will the pizza be made?
Pizza will be one of the first items printed because of its natural layers of ingredients. First, a layer of dough will be printed and baked at the same time using a heated plate at the bottom of the printer. A layer of tomato base will follow — made of powder, water and oil — then a protein layer will top the pizza.
Phenomenal Women in Film I say, It’s in the reach of my arms, the span of my hips, the stride of my step, the curl of my lips. I’m a woman, Phenomenally. Phenomenal women, That’s me -Maya Angelou (x)
Do you want to be in for a chance of winning £50? ‘Something Bad is Happening on the Streets’ is an original, realist play, with gritty writing, tackling difficult subjects, from teenage pregnancy to violence perpetrated on the LGBT community. Having debuted at the Camden Fringe last summer, ‘Something Bad’ is hitting Cornwall at the Performance Centre on the 17th and 18th of June. We’re looking for a GRAPHIC DESIGNER or ILLUSTRATOR to design a poster to promote this exciting production - the winning designer will not only win £50, but have their work on posters, flyers, and programs all over Penryn and Falmouth, as well as distributed on the night. If you want to make an amazing addition to your portfolio, and make some cash along the way, email Joan Passey on jp374@exeter.ac.uk for a competition pack. Happy designing!
the only joan under the age of 70. lives for postmodern literature, sushi, pin-up, red lipstick, white wine, philosophy, 80s films, green tea, snuggies, musicals, olives, christian theology, wonder woman, cats, debate, downton abbey, cornwall, mcdonalds' breakfasts, dystopian science fiction, classic rock, vast quantites of caramel latte, tom cruise in assless chaps, criminal minds, apricot face scrub, cheese boards, bette davis, feminism, laughing at mormons, rare steak. reading english at exeter, cornwall campus. lives in a chapel. loves boys with afros. hates ginger sisters.
