I was planning to take down the shutters sometime between yesterday and Easter, depending on the weather. But on Saturday it was so nice and warm I just decided to do it then, even though we are supposed to get a few more cold nights next week. I think the chilly nights will be made up before by warm days, and it’s nice to have more fresh air blowing through, plus I like being able to see the animals through the screens. In fact, I am planning in the next few weeks to extend the fence around the north side of the house, so the animals will be able to walk anywhere completely around the house except for the west side. Not only will that allow the animals access to another large expanse of green grass, it will also allow Cicero and Shiloh to get at fallen apples in the autumn. And since there are two large windows on the north side of the house, that will also allow us to see the animals in that direction. I like having animals around, so the more ways I can casually see them while going about my day, the more I like it. And I plan to install a sliding screen on the window behind where Grace normally sits, so that she can open it up and give treats to Cicero that way. It may seem silly, but that’s part of the pleasure of country life to me; being able to look out a window and see grass and trees and animals, even wild animals sometimes, is so much better for my mental and spiritual health then being subjected to a “view” which consists of nothing but concrete, glass, and automobiles, and background noise consisting mostly of traffic and sirens (occasionally broken by some person yelling in the distance). And now that I’m mostly finished with the building projects, maybe I’ll be able to actually relax and enjoy it this year.
Archive for the ‘Biography’ Category
Diary #664
Posted in Diary on March 21, 2023| 2 Comments »
Annex 100
Posted in Diary, tagged Sunset, Washington (state) on March 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I was born and raised in a very wet climate, so I’m used to it; I lived in a drier one for almost a decade, and eventually decided I did not care for it, so here I am living in an extremely damp one again. What that means is, while people in much of the world are concerned with conserving water, our problem is a surfeit of water. And that means I’ve had to spend a great deal of time and effort, and more than a little money, on structures and measures designed to keep water out of places I don’t want it to be. There was a drip in the new bathroom which took me a year to finally stop, and of course I just finished fixing a leak in one of the hot tub seals, but I still can’t figure out what’s causing the persistent leak on the north porch every time it rains. I took off a ceiling panel so I could get in there, installed a new flashing with plenty of rubber sealant, and used several cans of expando-foam to close up the gap between the metal roofing ad the shingles of Chekhov’s cottage roof, and though most of the problem seems to have been solved from above, there’s still a drip below that I just can’t track down. I guess it isn’t really important; it’s on the porch rather than inside the walls, and it’s nothing like it was. But it still makes me crazy that try as I might, I just can’t see where the damned water is coming from. Worse come to worst, I’m just going to slather a lot of Durabak over the area when I’m waterproofing several other things this summer; with any luck that’ll also solve the intermittent problem in the walkway behind the tub.
Diary #663
Posted in Diary, Philosophy, tagged animals, Sunset on March 14, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Despite my age and its attendant painful levels of maturity, I always look forward to this as the time of year when I get to have a box of tiny dinosaur clowns in my bathroom for three weeks. Regular readers will remember that the bathroom is the best place to raise them; it’s warm, safe from cats, and in a location where everyone in the household can set eyes on them several times per day. When I go in to wash my face first thing in the morning, I can change their water and top off their food (if necessary), and I always like to spend a few minutes watching their silly antics (running around banging into each other, standing in the corner peeping as if unable to turn around, etc). In just a few weeks they’ll be gawky pullets, well on their way to chickenhood, but in the meantime they’re terribly cute for a painfully-short time. And that’s OK, because let’s be honest: if they stayed baby chicks for long, pretty soon their constant peep-peep-peeping would be just another background noise like dogs barking or floorboards creaking. Some of life’s greatest pleasures are pleasant precisely because they’re so ephemeral; if rainbows were always a feature of the sky, few would ever bother to look up at them in wonderment and appreciation.
Links #662
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged animals, California, consensual crime, cops, Florida, Georgia, Hollywood, imaginative fiction, lawheads, Mexico, politicians, psychology, restaurants, Texas, Twitter, video, Washington DC on March 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »
No one wants to hear the Cookie Monster say he’s going to kill their family. – LA business owner
Some of you may know the name of Wayne Shorter, the great jazz saxophonist whose passing is commemorated by this week’s video. But few will know the name of Ricou Browning, the diver, underwater stunt man and underwater cinematographer who played the “gill man” in The Creature from the Black Lagoon and also directed many underwater action sequences in movies of the ’50s & ’60s, notably Thunderball. The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Franklin Harris, Jesse again, Franklin again, Scott Greenfield, Joe Lancaster, and Fiona Harrigan, in that order.
- Headline of the week.
- Serious anger management issues.
- Where’s Kolchak when you need him?
- R.I.P. Ricou Browning and Wayne Shorter.
- Bureaucrats claim threats motivated by “safety”.
- Crime: shoplifting. Penalty: summary execution.
- No pleasure is so small that a puritan won’t try to ban it.
From the Archives
- Cops, movies, censorship, Max von Sydow, the One Ring, and much more.
- Those who actually need “correction” are the ones who enable this horror.
- A “study” claiming such impossibly-tiny numbers can be safely dismissed.
- Prohibitionists demonstrate their sociopathic need to control others’ lives.
- Whores are morons whose lives must be micromanaged by governments.
- It took fifty pigs to entrap a woman for the “crime” of introducing people.
- I’m sick of the current popular obsession with people’s genes & genitalia.
- Burying government in lawsuits is the only way to slow its depredations.
- Even journalists reporting these abuses euphemize them as “correction”.
- 41% of cops admit to beating their wives; some don’t stop with beating.
- So many “enlightened” countries still pretend disease is caused by “sin”.
- ”Happy endings” have apparently become a matter of national security.
- China has adopted a method of subjugation invented by the Assyrians.
- Did somebody in charge actually develop a particle of moral judgment?
- Future historians will refer to the 20th Century as “the Prohibition Era”.
- While sex work is marginalized, sex workers will be targets for creeps.
- Repurposing a disused tag to feature sex worker activism of this type.
- Another article trying to elicit sympathy for a cop’s criminal behavior.
- If they actually punished wife-beating cops, they’d lose half of them.
- Louisiana can always be counted on to make a bad idea even worse.
- The urge to control women cannot be stopped by a mere pandemic.
- Will WA politicians accept progress, or demonstrate their hypocrisy?
- One can never have too many anti-Swedish criminalization articles.
- It’s about time they started using their money to fight censorship.
- Do prosecutors think scoring points trumps a harassment lawsuit?
- Disgusting men never tire of blaming women for their own rapes.
- Politicians don’t think “science-driven policy” applies to sex work.
- Mar Brettmann will say anything to sell her anti-whore snake oil.
- Far too many people adore authoritarian public health schemes.
- Cops lie so frequently, they can’t tell which lies are believable.
- The typical politician’s response to criticism: doubling down.
- Sows cry, “We didn’t know the leopards would eat our faces!”
- Harassment like this will continue until FOSTA is overturned.
- Ever notice how often predatory cops’ targets are underage?
- Support posts for the northwest roof section of my annex.
- Indian politicians want to help demolish the internet, too!
- Cops, bureaucracy, tea, Emilio Delgado, and much more.
- Costumed criminals regularly abduct and torture people.
- Cops, beer, Norton Juster, Doctor Who, and much more.
- It’s a bad idea for a sex worker to pay no income taxes.
- Still think this djinni can be stuffed back into its bottle?
- Signed copies of Ask Maggie, Volume II are available!
- Florida prohibitionists are completely out of control.
- The old strip club business model is a dead duck.
- The conclusion of my 6-part review of Blake’s 7.
- I called this a hoax as soon as the story broke.
- Just another cop demonstrating what he is.
- Sex worker rights is not an isolated issue.
- The Swedish model protects sex workers!
- What is wrong with doctors who do this?
- Crypto-moralism rots people’s brains.
- A nice review of The War on Whores.
- A panel on the idea of “free love”.
- Why we can’t have nice things.
- The orgasm tool for women.
- Fan letters are so inspiring!
- On the death of Orville.
- Rapist cop of the week.
- It’s chick time again!
- R.I.P. Jack Hammer.
- Presents!
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Annex 99
Posted in Diary, tagged STEM, Sunset on March 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I was a bit nervous about climbing down below the floor again to put in the seals my hot tub guru sent me; beside the fact that it’s cold, dirty, and uncomfortable down there, I was concerned that it would be too difficult and I wouldn’t be able to get the union off without breaking something. But luckily, that wasn’t the case; I had already drained and cleaned the tub, and the union came loose with an amount of pressure even my soft little hands could manage (with the help of Grace’s biggest set of channel-lock pliers). After I let the residual water drain out, the seals went in with a few minutes of fumbling, and though I somehow managed to gash the knuckle of my right forefinger in the process, everything was soon tightened back up and I refilled the tub. After that, everything went as my guru had said it would: I turned on the power, the unit went through its startup routine, and before long I was able to take this picture. I had been warned to recheck the union after the pump ran for a while, and sure enough it was dripping; however, retightening it was easy and I’ve checked a few times since, with no issues. The water level has remained steady now for a couple of weeks and it seems to be running like it’s supposed to, so I’m beginning to feel more sure that I’ve fixed the problem. And if something like that ever happens again, at least I won’t be working completely in the dark.
Diary #662
Posted in Diary, tagged games, imaginative fiction on March 7, 2023| 4 Comments »
I was first introduced to Dungeons and Dragons in the spring of 1981 or maybe a bit earlier; I started my first campaign in the summer of 1981, and I’m sure it will surprise absolutely no one to hear that I rapidly began filling up notebooks with additions, modifications, and what I thought of as corrections to the game system; by the early ’90s the game I was running for my players had diverged so much from the “official” system (was it 2nd edition then? I wasn’t really paying attention) that they could only barely be considered the same game. When Grace and I became roommates early in 1998, I was delighted to discover that she had played a little herself and was eager to expand on that experience. Matt, too, enjoyed it, and I was happy to run a solo game for him as well. But eventually, life intervened as it is wont to do; by the late Oughts we rarely got the chance, and by the early teens we had let it lapse altogether. It wasn’t for lack of desire; it was just that I was so busy with everything from blogging and activism to trying to build a house to dealing with financial disaster to going through a divorce and moving to Washington, that I simply didn’t have the energy. Those who have never played may be unaware that the game takes a lot of preparation on the part of Game Master (AKA “Dungeon Master”) – creating a world and everything in it, and preparing adventures for the players to enjoy – and I had precious little creative energy to spare. Oh, sure, some people enjoy running premade adventures created by others, but to me that was as unsatisfying as a TV dinner, and besides those were created in a version of the system I couldn’t even have recognized. By the late Teens I was really missing all the fun; I considered starting a new game several times, but things just never came together. Then finally this winter, I brought it up to Grace again, and she was enthusiastic; around mid-January we started playing every Sunday, and though neither of us is young any more, we can still recapture a little of the youthful joy of fantastic adventures in a magical land of imagination.
Diary #661
Posted in Diary, tagged holidays, recipes on February 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I decided to cook gumbo on Mardi Gras, so I invited Chekhov and Yellowbird over (because my sister’s recipe makes a lot of gumbo). When I did, Chekhov reminded me that Yellowbird’s birthday is the same week, so I decided to make it a small birthday celebration as well. That of course means cake, in this case devil’s food; I probably should’ve put a thicker coat of frosting between the two layers, but though it may not have been the prettiest cake in the world everyone still enjoyed it. See, though all of my sisters are good cooks. we are all different, and I’m not the one who actually had a side-gig decorating wedding cakes (that sister is also not the one who perfected the gumbo recipe). The other three specialize in one area each, but it probably won’t surprise you to hear that I’m the generalist. And though that’s convenient because I like a lot of variety in my diet, presentation is not exactly my strong point.
Links #660
Posted in Current Events, Links, Miscellaneous, Music, Obituary, Tyranny, tagged Australia, Believe Them, cops, Florida, I can't breathe, Illinois, imaginative fiction, Iowa, Massachusetts, Never Call the Cops, robots, Under Duress, video on February 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I can’t switch off a feeling that I was stupid in the first place … I trusted [a cop]. – “Sonia”
The work of a prolific TV composer may be much better known than its composer; that’s certainly the case with Gerald Fried, who compositions included the theme to Gilligan’s Island, most of the score for Roots, and a number of scores for Star Trek, including this one you’ll probably recognize. The links above the video were provided by Franklin Harris, Mike Siegel, Cop Crisis (x4), and Lenore Skenazy, in that order.
- R.I.P. Gerald Fried.
- A new twist on “I can’t breathe”.
- No, your reason is not an exception.
- Another cop demonstrating exactly what he is.
- I wonder how many tickets he inflicted on others.
- Civilized people see shooting a man in the back as cowardice.
- The systems some people want operating cars at highway speed.
From the Archives
- Never underestimate the human capacity to obsess about the nonexistent.
- Imagine how many others like this are still out there, raping & murdering.
- Prior to 2018, it wasn’t even safe for a politician to support human rights.
- Government invents a new excuse for violently intruding on private lives.
- Even if Clearview is brought down, the djinni is already out of the bottle.
- Australian politicians want to demolish the internet as much as US ones.
- Accept no source as absolute authority, especially when they demand it.
- Just letting sex workers see clients in private never occurs to the Dutch.
- “At least one person noted that the UK was at risk of looking like idiots”.
- The only thing cops seem to love as much as raping kids is kiddie porn.
- Court declares that cops are too stupid and evil to understand morality.
- Oh, oh, my goodness me, who could ever have predicted this outcome?
- Remember this when cops start bloviating about “dangerous criminals”.
- A cop shares his sick masturbatory fantasies about Asian sex workers.
- Why local laws banning surveillance technology are feel-good bullshit.
- A rare case of “authorities” actually charging a serial rapist of escorts.
- Nobody will be safe until this odious practice is ruled unconstitutional.
- Crypto-moralists add nationalism to “health” in their war on pleasure.
- This is at least the fifth iteration we’ve seen of this same inane stunt.
- Why does California want to destroy or drive out a lucrative industry?
- Though pimps are uncommon, many of those who do exist are cops.
- Previous HIV cures were accomplished by bone marrow transplant.
- “Give me your huddled masses, so I can torture and deport them“.
- One day, “professional ‘survivor’” will no longer be a lucrative job.
- Even reporters of these abuses insist on calling them “correction”.
- Anti-trans hysteria has shifted from toilets to high-school sports.
- Two previous columns for International Sex Worker Rights Day.
- Headed toward the end of the hysteria, albeit 3 or 4 years late.
- Cops, absurdism, Blondie, Hieronymus Bosch, and much more.
- A nursing home director explores a deceased patient’s secret.
- It’s been too long since I thanked all of you for your support.
- When government is in charge, things can always get worse.
- AirBnB regrets joining the hotel industry’s eager copsucking.
- Retrospectives of my blogging for February 2011 and 2012.
- Conditioning kids to accept constant, intrusive surveillance.
- The alternative press doesn’t mindlessly parrot copaganda.
- California’s annual anti-whore pogrom is worse than ever.
- The “things on cars” branch of “sex trafficking” scarelore.
- Still think this djinni can be crammed back into its bottle?
- Cops, government, books, sleep farting, and much more.
- Internet companies rushing toward self-lobotomization.
- I won’t be surprised if his sentence is shorter than this.
- What it’s like to be arrested in a “sex trafficking” sting.
- Cops, David Bowie, P. J. O’Rourke, and much more.
- 2011’s fantasy scenario is today’s hysterical reality.
- Taking advantage of freakishly springlike weather.
- Congress won’t stop until it controls the internet.
- Thai sex worker activists are made of awesome.
- A pandemic can’t stop dedicated opportunists.
- Until SCOTUS acts, this will only get worse.
- My two previous columns for Mardi Gras.
- A small but important victory in Canada.
- What is wrong with doctors who do this?
- How Annie became part of the family.
- Quite a good week despite my brain.
- Another curated selection of tweets.
- If a “study” sounds benign to you…
- I’m sure you feel safer now.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- A quadrennial occasion.
- “The least bad option”.
I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one. Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful. But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer. So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets. Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements. Thanks so much!
Annex 98
Posted in Diary, tagged Sunset on February 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Jae has been planning this mural for quite a while. She gave me a description of what she wanted to do, and I trust her judgment so I gave my OK. She did most of the two center panels last summer, then started working on the ends a couple of weeks ago; she still has some finishing touches to do (for example, the second coat of blue sky toward the top), but the basic appearance is all done. Other than the paint, the materials are all scrap from other projects or left by the previous owners; for example, the two blond mountains in the middle are made of scraps from the kitchen flooring, and the dark mountain at far right is scrap from the living room floor I installed in ’20. Using scrap was a conscious design choice on her part; given that a lot of the construction itself was similarly built from salvaged materials, she felt it was a kind of unifying theme, and I concur. One final note: in the foreground, you can see that the new hot tub control panel is plugged in, but not affixed to the side yet; I wanted it out of harm’s way while I was working on the plumbing, and installation will only be a five-minute job later. 
Diary #660
Posted in Diary, tagged animals, Sunset on February 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Though another cold snap is due to roll in late tomorrow night, it’s predicted to move through pretty quickly; in general, we’re seeing some pretty mild early-spring type weather. The animals are grazing on little green shoots and sunning themselves, and when I go out to give Cicero his morning peanuts he usually comes from the barn, where he’s hanging out with Shiloh and Jonathan. I don’t believe he actually eats hay, but he’s a very social animal so he likes to be with Shiloh and Jonathan wherever they are, and lately they’ve been breakfasting on the hay I moved in there last week. Anyhow, I’m not unhappy it’s warming up; though my favorite season is autumn, I prefer spring to winter. I’m not really a fan of extremes, and this winter seemed unusually bitter (of course, that may just be age talking). If I had my druthers, spring and autumn would arrive early and stay late, and summer and winter would be well-behaved temperature-wise and last only a couple of months each. But here in the real world, I’ll be satisfied if the weather doesn’t ruin my apple crop this year, and we get the wood-burning stove installed in the atrium long before the arrival of autumn. 
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