As protests continue in Iran, and dramatic pictures keep flowing out, check out these pre-election images to get an idea of what the difference is: part one and part two. People go skiing, feed dolphins, catch trains, bowl, hang out on fast-food playsets, compete in chess tournaments…it’s all overwhelmingly normal. If you haven’t seen Jason Jones’ reports from the country, those, too, are well worth a watch.

Keeping the news of that kidnapped journalist off Wikipedia, in a very personal case of “freedom of information vs. security.”

For the GLBT(TSQQIAAXYZ) folks: a quick roundup of ways in which Jon Stewart is an awesome ally. (Although Stephen tweets that it wasn’t so bad before Stonewall.)

Speaking of Twitter, it’s apparently great for customer service.

White dad willing to put in hours of hair care for adopted black daughter. Probably ought to come standard, but doesn’t, so it’s good to read.

The Practical Guide to Help Spurned Political Wives Survive Old Problems in the Era of New Technology. More and more relevant these days.

News that sounds like an urban legend, but isn’t: one study found that gay men have, on averages, larger penises than straight men. (I know someone out there is thinking it: “And people wonder why straight women like slash.”)

The third chapter of Drifters is out!

Colbert wants justice for vampires. Good to know he’s on the right side.

Two Twilight crossvers: Alucard finds Edward amusing; Seras is less merciful.

Have returned, safe and sound, to my native home. Which contains my scanner. Expect a lot of art forthcoming.

In other news, Stephen just posted a tweet referring to the time zone change I was making at that moment. This is clearly a Sign, you guys.

A slightly early roundup, because my plane leaves in a couple of hours. I’ll be traveling for the next couple of days, and should be back in action by July 1.

Doctor Whoniverse
Gooey (art | Donna, Gwen | worksafe)
Donna Noble, Government Super Temp (art | Donna | worksafe)

Fake News/Strangers With Candy
Why Should I Care? part 13 (fic | Seamus/George, Chuck/Geoffrey, Jon/”Stephen”, Jerri | R)
Tattered At The Seams (art | Seamus/George, Chuck/Geoffrey, Clair | worksafe)
Perfect (mix | Seamus/George, Chuck, Stephen | worksafe)

Fake News
Free Iran (art | Jon, liberal!”Stephen” | worksafe)
Stay, part 3 (fic | Senators Jon and “Stephen”, Sam/Jason, Rob R., Aasif, Scarborough | PG-13)

Next Week in Shine:
“Let’s beat the fangirls at their own game.”

A BBC program about the early Doctor Who novelizations.

Speaking of Doctor Who – the Children in Need special looks like it will be freaking awesome. (Spoilers, obviously.)

How to be a more ethical fan. (Turns out it basically boils down to “no stalking.”)

More on-point: The Rules of Fandom (Part 1). These are words of serious wisdom, these are.

Fanart for the planned American partially-live-action version of Sailor Moon, with a link to actual video. It is kind of terrifying. (And looks like it was made in the ’80s.)

Excerpts from a comic that is obviously destined to become a classic: Barack the Barbarian. (Starring Sarah Palin in a chainmail-and-fur bikini.)

Roland Hedley gets meta re: TCR.

“Disney only ever made one movie, and they’ve been tracing it ever since.” I’d noticed a couple of these, but seeing them all juxtaposed is kind of amazing.

Spontaneous vintage lesbian erotica party. Just plain hot.

Fareed Zakaria gives an analysis of what this means for the Iranian theocracy, and how the US should keep doing what it’s been doing. The NYT has some long-term predictions.

Time has a pretty good recap of things that have happened during protests. Deaths on Saturday included an uninvolved nineteen-year-old; photos are circulating of an uninvolved seventeen-year-old who was beaten [warning: graphic]. Also, arrested: a journalist recently interviewed by Jason Jones.

WhyWeProtest will bring you up to speed as far as Tuesday.

Amnesty International is following the human rights news in the country, including this particularly interesting article on how web traffic is defying the government crackdowns.

The implications of the Cute Cat Theory of Internet Censorship for the attempted crackdown. And if you want a way to help but are completely non-tech-savvy, this post walks you through setting up a proxy with clear screenshots.

Some thoughts on the clothing worn by protesting women, as well as the misconceptions Westerners tend to have about women’s rights in Iran.

If you want some mood music, there’s a round of mixes collected here.

And, for a lol, a parody: Ahmadinejad speaks out.

In other news from the region: just in case anyone was forgetting about Iraq, a truck bomb went off there Saturday, killing at least 68 and wounding almost 200.

But to end on at least one bright note: an NYT reporter kidnapped by the Taliban seven months ago has escaped, and made it home.

The difference between liberals and conservatives, explained in terms of family dynamics. Or, in other words: Would you slap your father? If so, you’re a liberal.

A documentary about trans people in Iran. Homosexuality is outlawed, crossdressing is anti-Islamic, but sex changes? Completely legal.

And, while on the subject, a collection of links to fic about trans characters. Frequently updated, multifandom.

The shadowy cabal that moderates Wikipedia, and how they dealt with a fight over Scientology.

Gorgeous examples of lighting effects used in website design. The same source (Smashing magazine) also has a glossary of web design jargon, and a guide to using CSS3.

The need for better accomodation for people with disabilities, illustrated by a seven-year-old girl just trying to take ballet.

From the Onion: Reclusive J. D. Salinger brought out of hiding by the new Terminator movie.

John Hodgman plays to the President with analysis of the rise of nerd culture vs. jock culture. (Of course he knows the three types of hobbits.)

Doctor Who
Companionapalooza (art | Jack, Grace, River Song, K-9, Ace, Rose, Martha, Donna, the Rani, Sarah Jane, Leela, Romana, Peri, Susan, Dodo, Liz, and Jo | worksafe)
Doctor’s Girls: The Musical (mix | seventeen companions, one song each)

Fake News/Strangers With Candy
Why Should I Care? part 12 (fic | Seamus/George, Chuck/Geoffrey, Jon/”Stephen” | PG)

Fake News(/Doctor Who)
Four Fics That Never Would Have Worked In The Liberalverse, And One That Actually Might Work Better (fic | Jon, liberal!”Stephen” and family, Martha, Gwen, Ten, Jack, the Master | R, locked)

Fake News
Stay, part one, part two (fic | Senators Jon and Stephen, Sam/Jason, Rob R., Aasif, Scarborough | PG)

Real News
Tell the world how they have stolen our election (mix + linkspam)
Green Revolution (new DevArt ID)

Next Week in Shine:
Our heroes (er, villains) do their best to come up with A Plan.

Website Updates
New poll! Let’s find out how old Shine readers are.

Letter from an Iranian student.

Word cloud based on the #IranElection tag.

The citizens of the Internet speak.

So does the White House.

So does Pete Hoekstra, who compared the plight of the Iranian citizens to that of House Republicans last year. The Internet brings on the macros.

So does Mousavi, speaking at the June 20 rally in Tehran. Context here.

There’s video [warning: graphic] going around with a woman who was shot and killed at this rally. Her name was Neda. [ETA: she was sixteen. ETA II: Or twenty-seven. More details here (today, 6:55 PM ET)] See also footage of another body. Confirmed death toll is 19; unconfirmed is as high as 150.

Current live thread is here.

I have non-Iran-related links piling up. They’ll get blogged too. Eventually.