Good stuff. (Madoka, Empowered, Lancaster County, Abd el-Kader, and more.) December 13, 2015

Fandom good things:

More Madoka is on the way! No idea what I’m going to think of the plot, but it’s going to be lovely. And lend itself beautifully to Princess Tutu crossovers.

Empowered is coming up online! (Legally, even.) The whole first volume is up — and for those of us who have already gotten nine or ten volumes into the hard-copy version, there’s long-winded author commentary as a rereading bonus.

“We invited the translators of the [Ancillary Justice] into Bulgarian, German, Hebrew, Hungarian and Japanese to discuss the process, with particular interest in the translation of gender. What emerges is an insight into the work of translators and the rigidity and versatility of grammatical gender in the face of non-standard demands. Where necessary, translators turned to innovative and even inventive ways to write their languages.”

Nonfictional good things:

“Why do so many ex-cons end up back in prison? Maybe they don’t—a provocative new study says recidivism rates are drastically lower than we think.”

Thanks, Obama: “Between 2007 and January of 2015, overall homelessness fell by 11%, and chronic homelessness declined by 31%. […] Homelessness among veterans declined by 35%, and over a shorter span of time — between 2009 and 2015. The number of unsheltered homeless veterans across the nation has plummeted by 50% in the past four years.”

“In the days following the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, a coalition of Muslim-led groups in Southern California and elsewhere around the nation has committed to raising $100,000 for the families of the shooting victims.” And they were at $97K when that article was posted.

“Your drunk uncle posting ‘Homeless Servicemen Should Come Before Any Refugee’ memes on Facebook is utterly full of it. Lancaster County is doing both. It has ended homelessness among veterans in the county and it is welcoming and assisting desperate refugees fleeing ISIS’s brutality in Syria.”

Best for last: “Given the cowardly, inhospitable opposition to Syrian refugees that all of these candidates have decided to make an issue, it’s safe to say that not a one of them knows anything about the person that gave Elkader, Iowa its name.”

His name was Abdelkader El Djezairi, and when there were riots and a planned massacre of Christians in 19th-century Damascus, he mounted an incredibly hardcore armed defense/rescue/refugee-smuggling operation. Had people crowded in his own house, paid reward money out of his own pocket to get other Christians there, organized his own small army to escort groups of them safely out of the city.

“At least 3,000 Christians were killed before it was all over. Abd el-Kader was credited with saving upwards of 10,000 Christians, including the entire European diplomatic corps.”

This guy is amazing. Where’s his big-budget action movie? (Apparently Oliver Stone is working on a biopic, but it isn’t finished, and we could really do with people going to see it on-screen already.)