From zoi_no_miko. I'm going to be keeping this short as I'm still incredibly behind on NaNoWriMo but I need a break. Some of these cross-overs are sowing seeds of inspiration but I cannot write them until after NaNoWriMo and Yuletide are finished with.

1. Write down the names of 10 characters.
2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1.

1. John Winchester (Supernatural)
2. Richard Moser (Inspector Rex)
3. Selene (Underworld)
4. Tom Quinn (Spooks)
5. Gene Hunt (Life on Mars)
6. John Shepherd (Stargate Atlantis)
7. Ellie Simm (Spooks)
8. Maisey Simm (Spooks)
9. Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG1)
10. Cal Lightman (Lie to Me)

( 11 Combinations )

My first instinct is to say, absolutely none! Certainly not on religious grounds (e.g. Harry Potter or Twilight). I can maybe see the grounds of banning pornography and things that are already fairly restricted in general distribution. There was a book on drug-taking that we read in 1st year university that was quite disturbing but it was quite educational.

Mostly censorship of books makes me think of the high-school that my brother and sister went to, where they'd probably try and ban books for talking about 'evolution' as science...
Occasionally I fantasize about a reality where books on 'intelligent design' are banned - but then I feel guilty about being prejudiced.

I definitely believe in evolving romantic chemistry. I've known people who I didn't really notice at first who've over time become the focus of a pretty substantial crush. I believe that attraction can be instant but feelings take longer to establish.

From johanirae...

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
Brightbear goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Vampire Queen.
dhaliom gives you 4 light yellow tropical-flavoured gummy bats.
drink_tank gives you 18 light green apple-flavoured gummy worms.
gaudy_night gives you 2 light green banana-flavoured jawbreakers.
johanirae gives you 17 purple watermelon-flavoured gumdrops.
karenanning gives you 14 blue cherry-flavoured wafers.
l_clausewitz tricks you! You get a block of wood.
lady_luinheniel gives you 18 dark blue cola-flavoured gumdrops.
mcicioni tricks you! You lose 72 pieces of candy!
mi_thirteen gives you 2 red-orange strawberry-flavoured pieces of taffy.
pardalote gives you 18 red-orange orange-flavoured gummy worms.
Brightbear ends up with 21 pieces of candy, and a block of wood.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

I'm more likely to speak up on homophobic than racist comments - simply because I have more theory and knowledge to back me up. It depends on the situation, but I find most of the time people believe they're just being 'realistic' or 'logical' and most of the time I have to explain to them what's wrong with what they've said. They often genuinely don't understand, which is the hard part.

i.e. they might not believe in violence against gays but they don't see anything homophobic about believing that gays are flawed parents (despite all the scientific evidence to the contrary). They will try to defend themselves with 'everybody knows...' or 'common knowledge'.

Given that I couldn't possibly finish my PhD in the next six months, I would quit and devote myself fully to my writing for six months. I'd also try and catch up with everyone I knew. Also, paintballing, sky-diving and bungee-jumping. I'd play soccer because I've always been curious to try :)

In regards to Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, I think this article summarizes it well.

I came back from softball training to discover that my side-mirror is falling off. Somebody must have knocked into it (more likely with a hip rather than a car) and it is dangling by cables. Plastic snapped clean through.

It is now attached to my car with duct tape. But black duct tape so it hopefully is slightly less obvious :(

Spent part of this morning reading about science so I thought I'd share some of the more memorable ones.

There was an article about a primate researcher's theory that it is just as natural to be nice as it is to be mean - all I can think is finally and maybe now people will stop using evolutionary science as an excuse to be dickheads (usually a defence used by people who don't actually understand how evolution works).

There was an article on animal masturbation which is not something that I've spent much time thinking about. Ever. It seems very common across species. They have some theories but they don't really know why it is so common.

Also, this is a bit old (it dates from February) but apparently the Catholic Church has announced that evolution is not incompatible with the Christian view of Creationism. Or (to get rid of the double negative) that it is compatible with Creationism.

I'm personally very close to the atheist side of agnostic but I've never understood how the two were incompatible in the first place except when it came to a literal translation of the Bible. Understanding how a heart beats is not usually taken as proof that there is or is not a God. Yet evolution and understanding how species change seems frequently to be taken as proof there is or is not a God. I don't understand the difference. I really don't.