Happy anniversary to me

Seven years today since I opened the wardrobe door/stepped down the rabbit hole/drank the bottle labelled 'Drink Me' and signed up to LJ.

I won't say 'it changed my life!' but it has made, over those years, a significant and beneficial difference to my life and led to various experiences I might not otherwise have encountered.

Some names no longer on the reading list, or at least, no longer posting or commenting (sadness) but also, new names and people.

And in spite of the possible spuriousness of the designation 'friends' for people one reads, I have made real friends here (LJ and DW). Yah-boo to all those journos going 'They're just strings of 0s and 1s' (because after all, in rl people are mostly water and carbon, right? and you can't have a relationship with H₂0 and C, can you, nyah-nyah).

*Pops cork on bottle of virtual champagne, or perhaps, in this weather, handing round glasses of Pimms might be more appropriate?*

Because all knowledge is contained amongst you, dear readers

As I may have mentioned, I am due to be in Baltimore in November for An Academic Conference, displaying mi knowledgez.

It has come to my attention that on the following weekend, Philcon, is happening within reasonable travel distance.

Can anyone suggest whether this is something yr hedjog might enjoy?

Or, perchance, indicate that they will be there themselves?

No, no, no, I'm pretty sure that the women are already aware, really

The UK's biggest music festival group is planning to launch personal safety awareness campaigns for female fans after two rapes at the Latitude festival in Suffolk last weekend.

It doesn't seem to me, reading that, that the women were blithely going about their business in complete ignorance of the possibility of sexual assault:

attacked by a group of men on Thursday, after becoming lost while looking for the toilets in her campsite.
....
another girl had been chased to her tent by a gang of youths on the same Thursday that the gang rape was said to have happened.... had run back from the arena to the campsite in tears after being chased by four "drunken yobs".... "They had stuck their hands down her top and pinched her bum. She hid in the toilets so they wouldn't know where she was staying before coming back".

Do the organisers really think that young girls are ignorant of 'the dangers of sexual predators', and that this is somehow the problem rather than men behaving badly?

***

And also kind of depressing, though in a different way:
Fate of Franz Kafka's literary heritage turns into nightmare ruled on by judge. (Earlier stage of this unedifying saga reported here. See also, conflict over manuscript by Gregor Mendel.)