Just a note that I’m still looking into the comment notification issue and it’s still not fixed. (I’ve not been receiving blog-related emails for 10 days.)
Here’s what I’ve done so far: 1. Dumped my old Bayesian database and re-set my spam settings so no non-RBLed accounts are getting filtered out.

1. Verified that my domain’s host is not on an RBL list. (That has happened before, quite annoying!)
2. Added the WordPress sender email address to my domain’s email accounts. If you need to change the default WordPress sender, here’s a plugin for that. Amazing that it’s not otherwise configurable!

My guess is that, due to a change in my email provider’s policies, it’s getting caught as an invalid IP address for sending mail for that domain. So I’m digging into that next.

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@ataglanceRMC found a blog post that I’d responded to in a drive-by three months ago, and I’d missed Jaid Black’s response to me until today.
I want to respond to part of her response here, though. Here’s the blog post.
Here’s part of my comment:

One point: others have said that their Amazon sales were NOT declining during the same period when EC’s Amazon sales were. Examples: posts 417, 418, and 420 from this thread:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9076108#post9076108

And here’s part of Jaid’s response:

Deirdre, my impression of you is that of a person who deeply cares about her fellow authors. For that reason I respect you despite the fact you believe I’m guilty of doing pretty heinous things. You have good intentions, but then you know what they say about those…

For context, I was referencing this August 2014 letter from Ellora’s Cave CEO Patty Marks, excerpt:

You are probably aware of the quick, sharp decline of ebook sales via Amazon in recent months. EC is not the only publisher experiencing this sudden decrease, and interestingly, we are not seeing the same drastic dip from other vendors. But Amazon is our largest vendor, so we are having to make some fairly large changes quickly to deal with the situation until we can understand it and turn it around.

There’s a Difference Between Doubt and Belief

Essentially, what I was saying was this: Other people’s commentary about their experiences has given me reason to doubt EC’s statement.
Does it mean it’s not true? No, it does not.
Does it say anything about what I believe about anyone personally? No.
Because, you see, I’m a creature of doubt, not of belief. I find it farfetched to think I have any opinion about who Jaid is based on my point about Amazon. (There was another point about tax liens, but even the worst interpretation of that wouldn’t earn heinous as an adjective in my book.)
Had anyone asked, I could have thrown quite a few hypotheticals against the wall about how the Amazon situation could be true. Just for sport, here are a few speculations, off the top of my head:

1. EC titles got caught in adult filtering changes that more adversely affected them compared to other publishers and indies referenced in that and other threads.
2. EC’s contract terms with Amazon are less favorable to Amazon, so other results are filtered higher to make Amazon more profit.
3. EC’s fulfillment has been a problem (as was alleged in the Borders lawsuit), thus Amazon has filtered other publishers higher.
4. People who buy EC titles aren’t buying as many non-EC titles, so are less well-connected via “people who bought this also bought” results used for upsells, and the algorithm for calculating these changed in a way that was less favorable to EC.

None of those would mean I’d feel that Jaid Black was doing heinous things.

The Thing I Least Understand

Out of every single thing that has been said by EC that’s relevant to this whole legal case, here’s the statement that I least understand (emphasis mine, text also from the August Patty Marks letter quoted above):

It is also important to support and promote Barnes & Noble and All Romance Ebooks as well until we are able to determine the reasons for Amazon’s declining sales. Hopefully we will be able to work with Amazon to correct the inconsistencies quickly.

I’m a software engineer and a researcher. My entire career has revolved around analyzing problems and fixing potential future problems. Therefore, I just absolutely can’t understand why this hadn’t already been discovered and known.

Jaid Also Asked

Have you ever considered that you might be wrong, though?

It’s a fair question.
I’m one of those people who’s far more comfortable with many open questions than most people. On the Myers-Briggs types, Js like things planned out. Ps like things open. I’m 99% P. I like open questions.
The answer is: I question myself all the time. Since I hadn’t reached any conclusions about the truth in the EC matter, it’s hard to actually be wrong.
I tend to be very direct, and I’m not a person who means a lot above and beyond what I actually say. I was not, for example, implying that EC’s statement was a knowingly false statement. Or even a false statement.
More like: here’s a string sticking out, I think it leads to interesting questions.
My general feeling about Jaid is that she’s deeply motivated to make things work out given her background, and she’s not the kind of person to give up. These are admirable qualities, generally speaking, but (as every fiction writer knows) one’s strengths in one context can be one’s greatest weakness in another.

But No, Not Heinous

That would be Marion Zimmer Bradley.

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I’m a huge fan of Creative Market. When I started to have items I wanted to sell, I applied for a shop there. I’ve been on a waiting list for a Creative Market shop for a really long time. Probably at least 8 months.
My first product is ready, too!
Last week, I got word that it was finally ready, which meant getting a ton of things done:

1. Setting up e-commerce on desamo.graphics.
2. Setting up a separate email list for desamo.graphics. Which I may have forgotten to complete. Ah well.
3. Removing some of the suck from (you guessed it).
4. Creating a header for my Creative Market site. (Shown below.)
5. Fixing up a product that I’d thrown up on Gumroad a few months ago (and only two people looked at it, ever).

I’ve been working on everything I needed to do for several days, including re-tweaking the CSS on the site and re-generating all the image thumbnails until I was happy with them, and changing the site from the girly pink to a less girly mint—which has the added benefit of receding into the background, as cool colors are wont to do.
Here’s the facebook edition of my new shop header. Bibi is not my cat, but I’m glad that the virtual office mockup included a kitty. Mine would never pose like that!

It covers a bit of what I did last year:

1. Poster (etc.) I did that’s on redbubble.
2. Bora Bora photo from a year ago.
3. One of my funny holiday cards.
4. And a photo I sent out to my email list but haven’t otherwise shown publicly. Thank you to the 42.5% of you who saw it.

If you’re inclined to like facebook pages, here’s the link.
My Creative Market shop is here.

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Sorry I haven’t responded to some comments for the last four days. When I’ve been on my iPad, I’ve seen the notifications, and responded then.
As for the rest….
Four days ago (I can narrow it down to an hour-long span, actually), I fat-fingered marking an email message and accidentally reported an email from my own website as spam. Even though I quickly hit undo, I’ve learned from experience that “undo” on marking something spam does not actually remove it from the Bayesian spam algorithm. Not on fastmail.com, anyway.
I’ve got my settings set as aggressive, meaning: > Known insecure email hosts/relays are always blocked (xbl)

Possible spam is placed in your ‘Junk Mail’ folder
Extremely probable spam is discarded without you seeing it
Email from people in your address book is definite not spam

None of those comment notifications appeared in my Junk Mail folder, so therefore:

1. I’d failed to mark the address sending mail from WordPress as not spam by adding it to my contact list. Oops! (Now fixed.)
2. Further messages were marked as “Extremely probable spam” and hence silently discarded.

One of my comment management strategies I’ve used is to auto-flag incoming comments, then delete the flag when I’ve replied (or determined that no reply was necessary). So, failing that….
Lesson learned, time to go actually look at the comment queue.

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From the eternaltubthumper rolling my eyes:
1) All past and present freelance editors and artists have been paid in full.
2) Many of you received 2 royalty checks in December; More of you will receive 2 royalty checks in January & February.
3) The accounting department will continue to focus on getting the new royalty system online by the end of February and processing royalties on the old system while paralleling them against the reports of the new system to insure all software bugs have been fixed. At some point in the next couple of months expect to receive 2 different royalty statements so you can compare the old way to the new way and make a smooth transition with it.
4) Nothing has changed at Amazon, though more publishers and authors are finally becoming vocal about how Amazon’s business practices are affecting them. Here’s a recent article; note the parallels between what others are reporting and what we’ve been saying all along: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/technology/amazon-offers-all-you-can-eat-books-authors-turn-up-noses.html?_r=0
5) Elisabeth has reacquired 2 of our former freelance editors who remained on positive, professional terms with us and we’re excited to have them back. Also, Susan Edwards is now editing full-time for us, which is excellent for our authors and thereby EC. (FYI: contrary to rumors Susan never left EC; She simply decided she wanted to edit instead.)
6) We still have a few tough business decisions to make, but overall 2015 is going to be a solid year.
Tina/Jaid

My Commentary

Let’s take them one at a time.

1. If I’m reading this right, Tina’s admitting that, as of the time of the lawsuit, the freelance editors and artists were not paid, and have not been until just recently.

   Hey, @pubnt, what is your explanation of why EC editors and artists were not paid for months at the time of the DA article? #notchilled

   — At a Glance Romance (@ataglanceRMC) December 18, 2014

   @ataglanceRMC @pubnt this is a lie, period.

   — Jaid Black (@jaidblack) December 23, 2014

   And yet, at least one of the checks was reportedly dated Christmas Eve. The day after that tweet. The ones I’ve heard of arriving all were postmarked after Christmas.

2. Several authors have reported receiving checks for July and fewer still for August. One reported receiving June and August, but no July. Some have had no report (or check) for months.
3. So EC’s still using the “old” accounting system? After more than a year? Right.
   If it’s still that fucked up, why sue Dear Author/Jane Litte instead of the software vendor?
   I remain unconvinced that there ever was a new accounting/royalty system.
4. “Nothing has changed at Amazon.” And then links to an article about how indie authors are affected by Kindle Unlimited—which has exactly zero to do with what happened before Kindle Unlimited came into effect? That article’s about stuff that happened after DA’s post, not before. H. M. Ward’s post was at the end of November about the prior 60 days.
   Let’s put it this way: H. M. Ward, all by her lonesome, has sold six million books in three years. I’m a huge fan of her work. It is my crack.
   My point here is that Holly’s revenue from said six million books puts her in EC’s ballpark, sales-figure-wise.
5. “positive, professional terms with us” I’m guessing that means they didn’t complain when they weren’t paid.
   On Susan. Well. It wasn’t a “rumor.” Susan Edwards’s LinkedIn page still says she’s freelance. Ellora’s Cave’s Leadership and Staff page doesn’t list her. EC’s Editors and Artists page doesn’t list her.. In theory, those sites are self-reported and authoritative for both parties in question.
   Sounds more like a rumor that Susan is working at EC.

6. Only a few?
   I have a suggestion. The only lawsuit that makes any business sense is the accounting/royalty system vendor. Everything else is a distraction.

   Pay to settle the DA suit and move on.

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First, I want to say this: though I worked at Apple to September 2013, I have no actual knowledge of Apple’s future hardware plans. So, on the off chance that I happened to sign an NDA relating to the device I’m commenting about, I honestly didn’t know that that was the case. I believe every hardware NDA I signed was for a product that’s already shipped.
9to5mac posted this mockup of a purported future 12″ MacBook Air.
In short, I hated it.
In 2013, I switched from a 15″ MacBook Pro—I’d had several over the years—to a 13″ MacBook Air. I did it after Rick made the same move, and for the same reason: believe it or not, it’s actually faster on day-to-day activities, despite the slower CPU.
It’s also cheaper.
So what’s in the new report that I hate so much?

• No Thunderbolt. I rely on Thunderbolt RAID for backup. That RAID array is Thunderbolt only. I also rely in an external 2TB hard drive I use just for graphics library (and Aperture) storage.
  Look, I love Thunderbolt. I’ve invested heavily in it. If Apple’s dumping it on my preferred laptop model three years in, I’m pissed.
  I don’t use Thunderbolt for displays, and I understand USB-C can drive displays. Thunderbolt is still a better, faster technology. By all means, replace the existing USB connectors with USB-C. That makes sense.

• No MagSafe Connector. It’s proposing to use power through a single USB connector. John Gruber talks about why that’s a mistake.

  As enumerated earlier, I have numerous questions regarding Mark Gurman’s report that the upcoming next-generation MacBook Air does away with all ports other than two: a USB Type-C and a headphone jack.
  But one that I keep thinking about is MagSafe. I can definitely see getting rid of classic USB — it’s old and thick. Thunderbolt, sort of. But MagSafe? When Apple announced MagSafe back in 2006, I knew they were solving a real problem, not an imaginary marketing problem. Tripping over power cables and yanking laptops off tables and onto floors was a real issue. I had an iBook way back when that ultimately died after one such incident too many. If anything, Apple has made MagSafe 2 even easier to pull apart, not harder. Switching to USB Type-C seems like it would take us all the way back to days when tripping over the charging cable would take your laptop along for the ride.

• Keyboard squeeze. I don’t think I’ll like this. If anything, the 13″‘s keyboard is already too narrow.
• Elimination of physical key feedback. That’s a big nope from me. If that’s the way Apple’s headed for all keyboards, I’m going to have to look to Microsoft as my preferred keyboard vendor. That’s a painful thing to say.
• Elimination of the SD Card slot. I love that I don’t have to keep track of some small doodad, and I can just pack my laptop, my cameras, my iPad/Phone, a power cord and a lightning cable when I travel. It’s one more thing I have to track, and I’d really miss this.

In short, this looks like a light-use computer for people who either a) don’t use computers or b) use another computer as their primary computer. I’m one of those people who uses a MacBook Air as my sole computer, and that’s the way I’d like to keep it.

So Why Not Go to a 13″ MacBook Pro?

13″ MacBook Air tricked out with 8G (max) memory and 512G (max) Flash & 1.7 GHz CPU: $1,749 (before other things like AppleCare and any accessories).
Here’s the thing: a 13″ MacBook Pro does not have the same amount of area on the screen. So, in order to get the same effective 1440×900 resolution, I’d have to go back to a 15″ MBP. Further, I can’t go with an 8GB and have the same effective memory because retina uses more memory.
15″ MacBook Pro with 16G (only) memory, 512G (min) Flash & 2.5 GHz (min) CPU: $2,499. I could argue that, for a true replacement, it’d also have to bump up another $500 for the 1TB flash because, again, the retina machine will use more memory for things like swap, so the real price is $2,999.
Twelve hundred bucks is a lot of difference for better external drive support and a better power cable.
Update: more thoughts in this post.
Photo credit: Rick Moen.

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Not a surprise that Ellora’s Cave lost their motion, but I was hoping for more of a judicial smackdown.
Since it’s been two months, here’s the summary. After Ellora’s Cave/Jasmine Jade filed against Dear Author/Jane Litte in Ohio state court (EC/JJ being in Ohio; DA/JL in Iowa), defense filed to remove the case to federal court. EC/JJ filed a remand motion at the end October, and it’s just been ruled upon today.
Five-page ruling here. I’ve also updated the copy of the federal court documents I have on Dropbox.

What’s Next?

The Case Management Conference Scheduling Order specifies that Plaintiffs must make a settlement demand two weeks prior, and Defendants must make an offer one week later.

At least fourteen (14) days prior to meeting with the Court, Plaintiff(s) shall have made a demand with a written description and monetary breakdown of the damages claimed, and no later than seven (7) days thereafter, Defendant(s) shall have responded with an offer. This is to be included in the Parties’ Planning Meeting Report.

Obviously, I don’t expect this to result in an actual settlement unless EC/JJ folds.

Then the Case Management Conference

Main discovery is stayed until after the Case Management Conference on January 26th.
That’s not a meeting that’s public, but this particular judge has very specific instructions for the CMC. From the CMC Scheduling Order:

Lead counsel, parties with full settlement authority, and a representative with full settlement authority of any Insurance Carrier must be present and have calendars available for scheduling.

From his Judicial Preferences Page:

Judge Adams is of the view that the Case Management Conference is of extraordinary importance. He expects counsel to be prepared with the factual predicate from the standpoint of counsel’s client. Judge Adams expects the client to be present; where the client is a corporate entity, he expects a person to be present who has the greatest knowledge of the relevant facts. This is probably NOT in-house counsel. Judge Adams tailors the Case Management Plan based on the information supplied at the CMC by counsel and parties.

Given those two quoted paragraphs, I can’t see how both Tina Engler (as settlement authority based on her majority ownership and the subject of one of the claims) and Patricia Marks (as EC’s CEO of record) can avoid being there. Also, obviously, Jane Litte needs to be there.

How’s This for Irony?

Hat tip to tejasjulia.

Lest you think this is old, the blog post is dated January 3, 2015.
What does this mean?

1. EC has been recently advertising through Google.
2. At least one of those ads was served to Dear Author, who makes ad revenue from Google ads.
3. So, indirectly, Ellora’s Cave is paying Dear Author.

Note: I’ll link to Courtney Milan’s promised post about the remand decision once it’s up.

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I’m sharing my WordPress annual report.
tl;dr version:

1. Almost 1/4 million views.
2. Over 23,000 in a single day, the day after I posted the Marion Zimmer Bradley story. Several weeks before The Guardian article, btw.
3. 4 of the top 5 stories were related to MZB; the fifth’s related to Ellora’s Cave.

Fascinating that the post about supporting authors who have non-EC works is more popular than all my other posts about Ellora’s Cave—by a wide margin.

Best Move I Made This Year

My blog would not have survived the most popular day (nor several other popular days) without the excellent services of my hosting provider, WP Engine. They’re not cheap but you get:

1. A staging area so you have a place to test and goof up. And wipe in a moment if you want to (or need to).
2. Automagic daily backups, and easy-to-create other backups at will.
3. When I had a security issue (my site was defaced after I visited a site with a malicious script), they copied over my site to a third staging area and had a security team look at it. My site was able to be immediately restored, and I had peace of mind knowing my site itself didn’t have security issues.
4. Note that my number of visitors, divided by twelve, almost exactly fits into the personal plan at WP Engine. Almost. The post-May stats were a lot higher than the first half of the year. Most months, I have an overage of a few dollars.

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This song played on iTunes this morning, and I think it’s awesome for today:

My Thoughts on Welcoming 2015: Go for Memorable

I’m just going to glarp this 2012 blog post, “Going for Memorable,” and post it below.
Kate showed me this video of an an audition.
Not just any audition. One where a comedian with a character as a geek gamer crashes a music video dance audition and acts like a goofball (and specifically asks for a rules exception). Despite no formal dance training (but impressive dance skill despite that), he gets the gig.
It’s about rules, about expertise, about genius, about knowing when to throw away something perfectly usable and go for memorable instead.
There are a lot of solid, good dancers in the audition. No question. One comment, though. When people ask what reading slush is like, I point to the guy who does a solo right before Keith at around 47 seconds in. Imperfect execution, some solid grasp of concepts, but not able to stand out from the crowd.
For both of these, may be NSFW due to adult themes, but worth watching when you can.

And the resulting video, clearly re-written to take advantage of their new dancer…..

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There was only one book that I re-read twice this year. I read about two hundred books this year, so that so many good writers and so many good books. However, relatively few books that I loved.
Down and Out by Kelley R. Martin. It’s an indie (self-published) book that hit the New York Times Bestseller list last month.

Two months ago, Savannah went cold turkey on the meaningless one-night stands and decided to show herself some self-respect. Sadly, that didn’t pay as well as waitressing at a strip club, so she’s down to her last few $1 bills and living out of her car.
Meanwhile, Declan’s running a gym—and is a really good underground fighter. When she comes looking for a job, he knows he can’t say no, and she can’t afford to.
Just seriously loved this book, mostly because I love the banter between the two. They’ve known each other for a little over a day at this point. After giving her a job the day before, he’s discovered she’s living in her car and brought her up to his place to feed her and make sure she has a safe place to sleep. This conversation takes place during that dinner.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”
Laughing, I shake my head. “No. I don’t do relationships.”
Declan grabs his beer, preparing to take a sip. “You know, most girls who say they’re not looking for a relationship actually are.”
I shrug, smiling coyly. “I’m not most girls.” That was quick, even for me. He forgot all about asking me how I ended up in my car after only a few suggestive moves.
He takes a sip and asks, “So why don’t you do relationships?”
My brow lifts as I stare at him. “Are you telling me you do?” No. No freaking way does this beautiful, tattooed god prefer monogamy over an endless stream of women who would jump at the chance to jump him.
“Why does that sound so preposterous?” he asks, frowning.
I blink as my eyes widen marginally. Apparently he’s going to make me spell it out for him. “Well…look at you,” I say, gesturing to the sleeves of ink sticking out from the sleeves of his plain white tee. “You don’t really look like the relationship type.”
“What type do I look like?”
The reckless type who specializes in amazing sex.
I shrug, instinctively licking my lips as I look him over. “Short-lived fun.”
He leans back in his chair and folds his hands behind his head. His shoulders lift in a lazy shrug as he gives me a cocky smile. “Well, you’re not exactly wrong. I don’t do relationships either, only casual hookups.”
My lips press into a thin line, trying to suppress my smile. I knew it. I freaking knew it. “You’re giving me shit when I was right? You ass,” I say, playfully kicking him under the table.
He laughs, deep and throaty, as his head tilts back. I kind of like the sound. When he looks back at me, his green eyes are alight with warmth. “So tell me, Kitten, why don’t you do relationships?”
My eyes narrow on him as I pick up my sandwich and take another bite. I shouldn’t like that nickname at all, but it’s kind of growing on me. After I chew and swallow, I say, “Why don’t you?”
His lips twitch in amusement. “I asked you first.”
My eyes roll at the immature response, but this conversation’s turning out more entertaining than I thought, so I throw him a bone. “Because it’s a waste of time and perfectly good mascara. I say, save yourself the heartache and the drama. Buy a vibrator instead.”
Declan’s chair tips forward as his elbows lean on the table, his face growing animated. “Wait—do you have a vibrator? Can I see it?”
I nearly choke as laughter erupts out of me. “No! And hell no.” I’d never show it to him. I’d rather die first.
My face heats under his gleeful gaze. I should’ve known he’d take this whole vibrator thing and run with it.
“Just answer one question for me. How big is it?”

Unlike a lot of other books where I’m perfectly happy to read about the characters and be done with them, these two just sound like they’d be a lot of fun if you caught them in the right mood.

Favorite New (to Me) Author

Sarina Bowen, whose books I just inhaled. The Year We Fell Down is an amazing book about two people who happen to be handicapped from fairly recent injuries, but it’s not a book about those injuries. Just—how to move on and live a new normal.
From the Dear Author review:

There is no miracle recovery in this book. Yes, Corey can and does walk at times with the help of arm crutches but most of her time is spent in a wheelchair. Who she is physically at the beginning of the book is primarily who she is physically at the end of the book. But she never lets you feel sorry for her. As you lose yourself in the story, Corey becomes just a student who has a crush on her neighbor across the hall, is adjusting her dreams to something different, and learning to make new friends.

This. Handicapped is a part of Corey’s life, but it’s not the focus of the book.
I also loved her other books, just not quite as much.
Also indie published, btw.

Favorite Author Trick

Laurelin Paige wrote The Fixed Trilogy (Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever With You). I got the first book in a bundle and eventually got around to reading it.
Sometimes, when I read romance novels, it reminds me of the Animaniacs episode where Dot visits a perfume shop.

Fifi: We have “Obsession”, “Repression”, and “Ecstacy.”
Dot: Do you have anything for beginners?

This series tackles the subject of obsession, though. Laynie’s had a checkered past: she stalked her ex to the point where he’d gotten a restraining order and she’d gotten arrested. Since then, she’s been through therapy, and she’s avoided relationships that form attachments. She’s currently working with David, who’s a wannabe boyfriend.
When Hayden comes in, all her bad behavior keeps tickling at the edges.
What I loved about this series is how it’s revealed what exactly their checkered pasts are, and how deep the character flaws go is a card held to the very end.
I’ve never seen it done before and work, especially in a romance. I’ve seen plenty where I didn’t believe the people could (or would) get together, even when they did. But this one worked for me.

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T-Shirts

Redbubble has American Apparel shirts. I totally get why some people won’t buy them, especially in this context, but Dov Charney’s out and the new CEO, Paula Schneider, is a woman. This doesn’t magically fix things, of course.
Zazzle has Hanes shirts (as well as other brands). Zazzle has more sizes, more types of shirts, and so on.

A Note on How the Glitter Prints

I thought I’d mention: this isn’t actually glitter, it’s a glitter-like effect. It prints as different hues, but is more subdued when printed on fiber. (I already knew the color would be, which is why I blew it out.)
I used that same effect when printing my purple 100 Countries pillow. Here’s a photograph:

Other Products

Redbubble also has prints and posters and cards and stickers and stuff.

And there are also man purses tote bags.

If you’d like some other format, let me know. Duvet cover, shower curtain, tech gadget covers, all possible.

Design Element Credits

Top to bottom:

1. Heart: Out of a big pack o’ vector art from Callie Hegstrom over at Make Media, which I got several times over, including in a Design Cuts bundle. Here’s an interview with Callie.
2. Background ribbon: from the same vector pack.
3. “Hell” and “I’m A” are from the Nexa Rust type family, which was designed by four Bulgarian designers, Fontfabric, including Ani Petrova. Here’s a blurb about her.
4. The flourishes around “Yes” are from Showcase, a type family from Chilean foundry Latinotype, and co-designed by Paula Nazal Selaive. I love this family. Here’s a profile of her.
5. “Yes” is Nicky Laatz’s typeface, Stringfellows. She’s a South African designer.
6. “Feminist” is Laura Worthington’s amazing Voltage typeface.
7. Venus symbol is from Jolly Icons. I use their icons for my Twitter, Facebook, and email icons on my site. They’re a team of two, and Jucke’s female, but I don’t know if she drew this particular symbol.
8. Glitter! Is from Nicky Laatz.
9. (print only) Paper textures from Jennifer Howland at Joyful Heart Designs.
10. (print only) Damask overlay from Designious.. They don’t credit individual designers for these, though. Also, not sure which of the many hundreds of damask patterns I have from them that I used….

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Note: this is a much simpler form of this tutorial from Spoongraphics.
The other night, a friend of mine and I were chatting, and she complimented something I’ve been working on (but haven’t yet posted). And I said, “ehh, it’s just a dumpster.”
She replied, “I would not have assumed dumpster.”
So, here’s my dumpster space scene mini-tutorial.

1. Acquire a photo of a rusty dumpster. I used this one ($3), but many others are out there. Or—take your own! I used a blue (sea) + rust (land) combo, but there are many other combinations that work. Scratches, however, make it seem unrealistic (though you can mend those in Photoshop).
2. Cut out a circular piece that you like the water/land shapes on. Spherize (in Photoshop: Filter > Distort > Spherize). Rotate it, if desired, to put the elements where you most like them. (I didn’t bother with this.)
3. Create a black area the same size. Gaussian blur it with a big blur. Then blur it again. This is the most fiddly part, and you’ll need to fuss with it to make it look realistic.
4. Expand the shadow region until it looks right.
5. Add inner and outer glow to the planet so it has atmosphere.
6. Find a good lens flare photo. I used one from Photography planet I had lying around and used it at 80% normal blend mode.
7. A good background is black or near-black, and has stars. I happened to use one from here. You can use brushes to make star patterns, or use photos of sky or nebulae—whatever.
8. I added a different layer above the lens flare, set it to lighten 70%, then filled in a few places (atmosphere, flare itself) with 50%, 70%, or 100% black to keep the stars from peeking through.

From there, the Spoon Graphics tutorial has lovely ideas on how to make the whole thing more realistic, including adding clouds and stuff.

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Yesterday, I posted a link on Twitter and Facebook to a recent John Scalzi blog post:

So THIS is how adults handle being defamed. http://t.co/sEzyenaP6B #notchilled

— Deirdre Saoirse Moen (@deirdresm) December 27, 2014

But some people misunderstood what I actually meant partly because a) one can’t show a lot of context in a tweet, and b) lots of people who read my tweets or FB aren’t following the Ellora’s Cave case, and I meant my tweet partly as commentary on the existence of that case.
I went through a period in the nineties where I was being harassed (and defamed) by Scientology, and I had to consider what I wanted to do about it. Some of what was being posted was true but unflattering (and hence not defamation). Some of it was that was partly true, but not substantially true. And some of it was unflattering but not defamatory (e.g., bullying me about my weight). It was all done with the intent to harass and make me lose status, but, weirdly, I gained status with some people, too.
My own experience made me think a lot about defamation. Scalzi’s viewpoint, as expressed in his blog post, meshes pretty well with my own.

When You File a Lawsuit for Defamation, You’re Saying

1. The other party has more power and more respect than you do, and they had that both before and after the alleged defamation occurred. (Though not necessarily in cases of defamation per se.)
   Think about it. If they didn’t have more respect, then how could what they say actually damage you?
   As Scalzi says in his own post: > However, I would also need to show that Beale’s actions have caused me harm, economically and/or emotionally. Aside from annoyance, which does not rise to actionable levels, I’m not seeing the harm to me personally. Essentially, Beale escapes punishment here because he’s failed to be important enough to be harmful.

   The act of being involved in a lawsuit will also change your reputation, and not always for the better. Some people will respect you more, some will respect you less, and some will lose all respect for you—just because you filed the lawsuit.

2. You believe you know what the alleged defamer’s motivations were.
   Granted, there’s a difference of degree between private person, limited purpose public figure, and public figure here. But how much do we really know about other people’s motivations?
   Even proving negligence (for a private person’s statements) is tricky. I remember having to go over the elements of a negligence claim when I took paralegal classes. The elements are:

   1. Duty of care: one has to show that they had a duty of care.
   2. Breach of duty: one has to so that that duty was breached.
   3. Factual causation: one has to show that that breach of duty actually caused the harm done.
   4. How proximate was the causation to the harm?
   5. There was actual harm done.

   It’s not an easy task, and that’s the easiest of them. You might be surprised how many negligence cases fail to show the required elements of negligence. Three and four are particularly tricky as I recall from the case law I’ve read.

3. You’re willing to remain involved with your alleged defamer for years.
   Cases can go on for 2, 3, 5 years. Not all cases will settle quickly—or ever.
   What does it say about you that you think remaining in relatively constant contact over the course of years is what you feel is your best option?
4. Since you have to file over what the alleged defamatory statements are, you will be dragging your own name through the mud in the course of the lawsuit.
   Further, it’ll all be a part of a permanent, public record. Rulings may be published in federal or state law books.
   A lawsuit creates a tangible, fixed record of what may have otherwise been lost to time.
5. You believe a judge can rescue you.
   I mean no disrespect for judges—or lawyers—here. Judges do have a lot of power within their purview, but one thing a judge can’t do is rewind time to prevent the defamation from happening in the first place. You’ll never get that state back.
   It’s also relatively rare for plaintiffs to get what they expect to or hope to.

The David Beckham Case (So Far)

Let’s look at an example defamation case: David Beckham v. Bauer Publishing (California’s Central District federal case # 2:10-cv-07980-R-SS). It was filed in October, 2010, and is still ongoing (the most recent docket item is less than a week old). It’s had three appeals to the 9th circuit.
The lawsuit stems from In Touch magazine publishing a story saying that Beckham had cheated on his wife with a prostitute.
There was a settlement last year, but there had been an outstanding issue that the appeal couldn’t be heard on until there was a final order. That is still ongoing.
This article from 2011 sure makes it sound like it would be a slam dunk case:

The Los Angeles Galaxy star argued in a court filing in January that he was visiting his ailing father in London during one of the alleged trysts with the purported call girl Irma Nici.
Kendall said a basic investigation by the magazine would have shown that Beckham was elsewhere when the alleged trysts occurred. He asked the judge to allow the case to proceed so that he could conduct depositions that would bolster Beckham’s case, but Real refused.

Part of the problem, though, was that Bauer filed an Anti-SLAPP motion against Beckham. So this article neatly glosses over some of the case’s complications.

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A few years ago, I came across an awesome resource for seamless patterns, far more professional than most I’d seen before. Best of all, these website backgrounds are free for both personal and commercial use!
These are free for both personal and commercial use, and someone asked about using them in products for sale and was told that was fine. So—knock yourselves out. I know I will. 🙂
The Webtreats site has some truly awesome resources. There’s a lot of broken image links, the search function is dodgy, and it can be frustrating figuring out what you want, but it’s almost certainly in there. Somewhere.
I don’t know how much they have posted, but I know that, over the years, I’ve downloaded 3.3 gigs of images. I’m trying to see what holes I have in my collection even as I write this.
The starry blog background for deirdre.net is from this set.
The almost-black wood background on Ryan Johnson’s fan site came from either the 270 or the 504 set I mention below. I have changed that one a couple of times, keeping within the same color range.
If you truly can’t decide, I’d suggest starting with two collections: 270 tileable backgrounds and 504 additional website backgrounds. These were designed to work with their Awake theme, but can be used with any website where you can change the background and/or control the CSS.

Not Sure You’ll Like It? Preview It!

First, remember that, like paint or wallpaper, the overall effect will be much more pronounced than it is in a small swatch.
Let me show you a trick.
Visit this page of smoky blue seamless patterns.

Click on the middle pattern.
You’ll be redirected to a page that shows that pattern used as the background for the page.

It won’t look the same as it would on your own site, but it will give you a sense of what the style looks like as a background.

Another Trick: Save Directly to Dropbox

If you have a Dropbox account (note: affiliate link), you can save the downloaded files to your Dropbox. The filenames end with:
.zip?dl=1
Cut off everything after .zip (the last five characters), and Dropbox will ask you if you want to save it. I find Dropbox’s mechanism for syncing with a dodgy network far more reliable than a browser download, so that’s what I would recommend if you have any problems.

Still Another Trick: Finding the Image’s Blog Post Again

So you’ve got these great backgrounds, right? And they’re all neatly in numbered folders. A friend asks you where you got it, but you can’t remember the link and God knows it can be hard to find something on a site with so much stuff.
Let’s take my space scene. Maybe your friend wants to check out some of the other color variations.
The file name is: 857-tileable-classic-nebula-space-patterns.zip
Take the numeric part in the front, and that’s the WordPress post number. So, http://webtreats.mysitemyway.com/?p=857 will get you to that package.

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Hey @pubnt if your number includes a lawyer, when does the law assume that all eighty-year-old woman can have children?

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 18, 2014

@ataglanceRMC @tejasjulia @julainestone @deirdresm What did she say? We didn’t see. #nothchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 25, 2014

Hey @pubnt, same question. Since you know law, when are eighty year old women presumed fertile? #notchilled

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 24, 2014

Meanwhile, Pubnt Ignores the Question and Spouts The Following…

Here are some posts in between those where pubnt claimed to know the law:

@ataglanceRMC Thanks. We like to pretend we’re counsel for the side we pick. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 19, 2014

@trista_michaels ID request just needs to be in the claim. The proper motion will be made at the right point in the proceedings. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 19, 2014

@trista_michaels It is, stupid. The Claim is the brief statement of the ful case you intend to run. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 20, 2014

@trista_michaels Properly drafted motions for specific actions in the case are filed at the right pints in the proceedings. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 20, 2014

@ataglanceRMC @trista_michaels Other relevant parties will be enjoined with motions at the right point in the proceedings. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 20, 2014

@ataglanceRMC @trista_michaels Pointless repeating. The proper motions can & will be made at the right point in the proceedings. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 20, 2014

Note that Pubnt’s commenting about what Ellora’s Cave’s legal strategy on the DA case will be.

@ataglanceRMC The only “analysis” that will stop it is a law saying that EC cannot file that motion any time in the proceedings. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 20, 2014

@ataglanceRMC @deirdresm @trista_michaels There is no MOTION yet, stupid. There is a Claim. The MOTION will come. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 20, 2014

@ataglanceRMC We know. We are not going to publicly comment on these at the moment lest we coincidentally reveal EC strategy. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

::cough::

@ataglanceRMC Yeah, we’re not getting involved except where a lawsuit is involved. Not our interest. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC We know this. This is from that Times case whereby the US constitutionalized the previously English libel law… #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

“…the US constitutionalized the previously English libel law…”? That is a serious misreading of New York Times v. Sullivan. Courtney Milan talks about the case in this post on the EC lawsuit.

@ataglanceRMC .. that previously placed the burden of proof of not defaming on the defendant. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

Again, a serious misreading of New York Times v. Sullivan. In the US, the person making the claim (i.e., the Plaintiff) has the burden of proof. Instead, what Sullivan did was change the standard of proof required. As the NY Times published on the 50th anniversary of the decision:

The ruling was revolutionary, because the court for the first time rejected virtually any attempt to squelch criticism of public officials—even if false—as antithetical to “the central meaning of the First Amendment.” Today, our understanding of freedom of the press comes in large part from the Sullivan case. Its core observations and principles remain unchallenged, even as the Internet has turned everyone into a worldwide publisher—capable of calling public officials instantly to account for their actions, and also of ruining reputations with the click of a mouse.

Pubnt’s Claim About When DA’s Article Was Published

@ataglanceRMC We honestly think that EC was in the middle of some staff reorganization from a somewhat bloated structure,…#notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC … and DA/Jane Litte made a mountain out of a molehill before the process was completed and organized again… #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC … into the new lean & mean structure. In that way we believe that the Defendants defamed the Publisher. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC But not to loose sight of the forest for the trees… we still think there was Defamation of the Publisher here… #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC … possibly through reckless disregard by not doing enough investigation to find out the truth behind the rumors. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC …and Reckless Disregard by advancing an interpretation significantly more dire than reality to the extent … #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC …that it’s untrue, where there are other interpretations to the situation that was still in flux and settling. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

@ataglanceRMC …because corporate re-organizations of such a big beast takes about 4 to 6 months to settle back into a rhythm. #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 21, 2014

Pubnt’s claiming that EC had a bad transition period and DA’s article hit at the worst of that time, and unfairly exaggerated the situation. But that’s not what “reckless disregard” actually means in this context. From Sullivan:

Factual error, content defamatory of official reputation, or both, are insufficient to warrant an award of damages for false statements unless “actual malice”–knowledge that statements are false or in reckless disregard of the truth–is alleged and proved.

Let’s see:

1. Those editors who said they weren’t paid still say they’re not paid. Here’s one.
2. Authors are still claiming not to receive timely royalties. Here’s one. Here’s another.

Doesn’t look like either conscious falsity or reckless disregard of the truth from here.

Back to Pubnt’s Legal “Qualifications”

@julainestone @jaidblack As legal bloggers we present valid legal arguments. Only the Judge determines if our legal arg. applies.#notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 24, 2014

Legal bloggers, huh? Sans blog.

@deirdresm @tejasjulia @courtneymilan We like arguing cases on the Internet for the party we support. It’s a great way to learn..#notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 24, 2014

@deirdresm @tejasjulia @courtneymilan … the law as a law student. (One of us) #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 24, 2014

And, my personal favorite, TinaNut’s fascination with dissing hybrid authors (including myself) and self-published people as “slush pilers,” especially given that Tina Engler was basically only self-published for years. In this tweet, Pubnt’s dissing Courtney Milan, who not only went to law school, she’s clerked with some pretty amazing people. Also, Courtney’s been on the New York Times Bestseller list, where Jaid Black/Tina Engler has not.

@ataglanceRMC @tejasjulia Nonsense. Current lawyer beats ex-lawyer turned slush piler. #nothchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 25, 2014

Pubnt Finally Answers Courtney’s Question

@ataglanceRMC @tejasjulia @julainestone @deirdresm Is it something to do with abortion rights law? #notchilled

— Pub Net (@pubnt) December 27, 2014

Bzzt. Admittedly, I know more than the average person about that area of law, but even if I hadn’t, I’d have guessed it related to probate law (which isn’t entirely accurate, but it’s at least in the ballpark).

Background: I asked the Nut this question. https://t.co/9MuOIB3zW4 This is a reference to a VERY PAINFUL legal fiction inflicted on all 1Ls.

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 27, 2014

I got a ton of DMs/messages from people saying “AUGH rule against perpetuity flashbacks!”

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 27, 2014

The Fertile Octogenarian is a fairly decent litmus test. If someone doesn’t know it, they’re unlikely to have legally training in the US.

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 27, 2014

By the way—asking about fertile eighty-year-olds is the way to frame the question. That yields basically zero useful google results.

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 27, 2014

Not sure of the point of this exercise, since obviously the Nut has no legal background. But for the 1 person who doubted, HERE YOU ARE.

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 27, 2014

@nadialee TBF, I really feel like Tina should have a better understanding of basic law than the Nut has exhibited.

— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) December 27, 2014

Deirdre Surveys the Husband

Rick just woke up from a nap when I was starting to write this post, so I asked him Courtney’s question.
He gestured at the air a couple of times, and, within thirty seconds came up with “Rule Against Perpetuities.” Which is correct. Also, not bad for someone still half-asleep. Here’s the Wikipedia page about the scenario.
Oh, and Rick hasn’t gone to law school either.

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