Neuromancer; Sprawl Trilogy (William Gibson): Shears, by LizzyChrome.

Fandom: Neuromancer | Sprawl Trilogy - William Gibson
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Sally Shears | Molly Millions & Yanaka Kumiko
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 1,225
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply (but a character’s dark backstory is hinted at.)
Creator Tags: Cyberpunk, razor girl, Friendship, Mentors, Mentor & Protégé, Yakuza, Missing Scene, Female Friendship, Backstory, Fanon
Creator Links: (AO3)

LizzyChrome; (BlueSky):

lizzychrome; (DeviantArt)

lizzychrome; (Dreamwidth)

moon_custafer; (Facebook)

LizzyChrome; (Instagram)

lizzy_chrome
Theme: Female Relationships, Backstory, Female Friendship, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Older Characters, Worldbuilding

Summary: How do Molly's claws and lenses actually work? Kumiko pries. (Missing scene from "Mona Lisa Overdrive.")

Author’s Notes: If you havne't read MLO yet, I won't spoil anything. I'll just set the scene, without giving anyway any important story elements: Molly is now middle-aged, goes by "Sally Shears," and is working as a body guard for a Japanese girl named Kumiko.

I do not own "Mona Lisa Overdrive."

This oldie was written probably over ten years ago. I originally posted it to Fanfiction.net, then took it down, feeling it was pointless. But in light of the new "Neuromancer" show coming out, I want to preserve this little ficlet, to see how my fanon explanation for how Molly's claws work compares to what (if anything) the show gives us regarding that explanation. After a quick re-read, I decided that no edit was needed. What you see here is what I originally posted ten or eleven years ago.

Reccer's Notes: This vignette expands upon an exchange in Mona Lisa Overdrive between aging cyborg mercenary Sally Shears (AKA Molly Millions, Cat Mother, Steppin’ Razor, Rose Kholodny, and Misty Steele—this lady’s got more names than a Wuxia hero) and her charge Yanaka Kumiko; Sally confides measured bits of her backstory to the crushstruck Yumiko, including stripping to bare a torso-long scar (from a near-fatal cagefighting injury, kept “to remind her of being stupid.”)

It’s a precious moment of trust, an elusive commodity in both women’s lives; LizzyChrome expands upon this to let Sally hold forth on how her prosthetics work—a question that Gibson chose to bury under Rule of Cool, and that’s challenged two generations’ worth of illustrators and cosplayers.

With the upcoming Neuromancer series on Apple+TV, Molly finally leaves the roster of visually iconic SFF characters not yet defined in the popular imagination by a screen adaptation (1). The Molly in my head admittedly didn’t resemble Brianna Middleton, but I look forward to seeing her interpretation of the role (as well as how faithful to the spirit of the book the script gets to be, now that Hollywood has gotten their hands on

(A) a Beloved Property™,

(B) whose cyberpunk dystopia has been coming uncomfortably true in a number of respects—thanks in no small part to megacorporations like Apple.)

(1) Gully Foyle from The Stars My Destination and Elric of Melniboné also come to mind.

Fanwork Links: Shears, by

LizzyChrome.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

Entry tags:

BtVS Fic: Slayer Instincts

Title: Slayer Instincts
Fandom: BtVS
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Buffy, Ted, Joyce, Xander.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1140
Spoilers: Ted.
Summary: Anyone who seems too good to be true probably is, but how can Buffy make her mom and her friends see that? They all love Ted…
Written For: Prompt 071 - Skeletons In The Closet at

fandomweekly.
Disclaimer: I don’t own BTVS, or the characters.

( Slayer Instincts... )

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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Ficlet: No Way In Hell!

Title: No Way In Hell!
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Ianto, Jack.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 670
Spoilers: Nada.
Summary: On a journey from Cardiff to London, Jack and Ianto get stuck in a major traffic jam.
Written For:

thatspacebird’s prompt ‘Any, any, get comfy’, at

threesentenceficathon.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

( No Way In Hell!... )

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Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (1993)

Flashing forward 75 years from The Autobiography of an Androgyne...

Stone Butch Blues is an autobiographical novel following Jess Goldberg, a queer working-class Jewish kid from upstate New York. It covers her 1950s childhood in which she is punished and rejected by her parents for not conforming to gender norms, her coming-of-age and finding a place as a butch in the lesbian community despite relentless police brutality, her decision to pursue medical transition, her partial detransition when she realizes she's neither a man nor a woman, her loves and losses, and her political awakening as a union organizer.

So, I came out as trans in the late 1990s, and two questions I soon grew to hate hearing were "Have you seen Boys Don't Cry?" and "Have you read Stone Butch Blues?" No, I hadn't, because I was already having a difficult time and I did not think I would find it helpful to consume media about people like me being raped and murdered, thanks. Well, I still haven't seen Boys Don't Cry (not planning to!) but now I have read Stone Butch Blues and I think I was right that reading it back then wouldn't have helped, except in that it would have given me more context for what some of the older people in the queer community had been through and why some of them treated me the way they did.

( Cut for length and content: hate crimes (in the book) and in-community hostility towards nonbinary people (in my own life). This post is more about me than about the book. )

Stone Butch Blues is available for free on Feinberg's website.

Review: Once Upon You and Me by Timothy Janovsky

Posted by JayHJay

https://joyfullyjay.com/2025/06/review-once-upon-you-and-me-by-timothy-janovsky/

https://joyfullyjay.com/?p=111455

Rating: 3.5 stars Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK Length: Novel Ethan Golding is the general manager of the Storybook Endings resort in the Catskills. He used to co-own the resort with his ex-wife, Amy Lu, but he sold his rights in the divorce and she has since expanded the business. While Ethan knows […]

https://joyfullyjay.com/2025/06/review-once-upon-you-and-me-by-timothy-janovsky/

https://joyfullyjay.com/?p=111455

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Hawk and Dove (1988) #1

Writers: Barbara and Karl Kesel

Pencils: Rob Liefeld

Inks: Karl Kesel

It would make more sense to start with the Silver Age series, but I have a strong aversion to Silver Age nonsense. You get this series instead.

( Read more... )

Nonfiction

Rana Mitter, Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II, 1937–1945: China fought imperial/Axis Japan, mostly alone (though far from unified), for a long time. A useful reminder that the US saw things through its own lens and that its positive and negative beliefs about Chiang Kai-Shek, in particular, were based on American perspectives distant from actual events.

Gregg Mitman, Empire of Rubber: Firestone’s Scramble for Land and Power in Liberia: Interesting story of imperialist ambition and forced labor in a place marked by previous American intervention; a little too focused on reminding the reader that the author knows that the views he’s explaining/quoting are super racist, but still informative.

Alexandra Edwards, Before Fanfiction: Recovering the Literary History of American Media Fandom: ( fun read )

Stefanos Geroulanos, The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins: Wide-ranging argument that claims about prehistory are always distorted and distorting mirrors of the present, shaped by current obsessions. (Obligatory Beforeigners prompt: that show does a great job of sending up our expectations about people from the past.) This includes considering some groups more “primitive” than others, and seeing migrants as a “flood” of undifferentiated humanity. One really interesting example: Depictions of Neandertals used to show them as both brown and expressionless; then they got expressions at the same time they got whiteness, and their disappearance became warnings about white genocide from another set of African invaders.

J.C. Sharman, Empires of the Weak: The Real Story of European Expansion and the Creation of the New World: Challenges the common narratives of European military superiority in the early modern world (as opposed to by the 19th century, where there really was an advantage)—guns weren’t very good and the Europeans didn’t bring very many to their fights outside of Europe. Likewise, the supposed advantages of military drill were largely not present in the Europeans who did go outside Europe, often as privately funded ventures. Europeans dominated the seas, but Asian and African empires were powerful on land and basically didn’t care very much; Europeans often retreated or relied on allies who exploited them right back. An interesting read. More generally, argues that it’s often hard-to-impossible for leaders to figure out “what worked” in the context of state action; many states that lose wars and are otherwise dysfunctional nevertheless survive a really long time (see, e.g., the current US), while “good” choices are no guarantee of success. In Africa, many people believed in “bulletproofing” spells through the 20th century; when such spells failed, it was because (they said) of failures by the user, like inchastity, or the stronger magic of opponents. And our own beliefs about the sources of success are just as motivated.

Emily Tamkin, Bad Jews: A History of American Jewish Politics and Identities: There are a lot of ways to be an American Jew. That’s really the book.

Roland Barthes, Mythologies (tr. Annette Lavers & Richard Howard): A bunch of close readings of various French cultural objects, from wrestling to a controversy over whether a young girl really wrote a book of poetry. Now the method is commonplace, but Barthes was a major reason why.

Robert Gerwarth, November 1918: The German Revolution: Mostly we think about how the Weimar Republic ended, but this book is about how it began and why leftists/democratic Germans thought there was some hope. Also a nice reminder that thinking about Germans as “rule-followers” is not all that helpful in explaining large historical events, since they did overthrow their governments and also engaged in plenty of extralegal violence.

Mason B. Williams, City of Ambition: FDR, La Guardia, and the Making of Modern New York: Mostly about La Guardia, whose progressive commitments made him a Republican in the Tammany Hall era, and who allied with FDR to promote progressivism around the country. He led a NYC that generated a huge percentage of the country’s wealth but also had a solid middle class, and during the Great Depression used government funds to do big things (and small ones) in a way we haven’t really seen since.

Charan Ranganath, Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters: Accessible overview of what we know about memory, including the power of place, chunking information, and music and other mnemonics. Also, testing yourself is better than just rereading information—learning through mistakes is a more durable way of learning.

Cynthia Enloe, Twelve Feminist Lessons of War: War does things specifically to women, including the added unpaid labor to keep the home fires burning, while “even patriotic men won’t fight for nothing.” Women farmers who lack formal title to land are especially vulnerable. Women are often told that their concerns need to wait to defeat the bad guys—for example, Algerian women insurgents “internalized three mutually reinforcing gendered beliefs handed down by the male leaders: first, the solidarity that was necessary to defeat the French required unbroken discipline; second, protesting any intra-movement gender unfairness only bolstered the colonial oppressors and thus was a betrayal of the liberationist cause; third, women who willingly fulfilled their feminized assigned wartime gendered roles were laying the foundation for a post-colonial nation that would be authentically Algerian.” And, surprise, things didn’t get better in the post-colonial nation. Quoting Marie-Aimée Hélie-Lucas: “Defending women’s rights ‘now’ – this now being any historical moment – is always a betrayal of the people, of the revolution, of Islam, of national identity, of cultural roots . . .”

Ned Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America: American history retold from a Native perspective, where interactions with/fears of Indians led to many of the most consequential decisions, and Native lands were used to solve (and create) conflicts among white settlers.

Sophie Gilbert, Girl on Girl : How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves: ( Read more... )

Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Message: Short but not very worthwhile book about Coates navel-gazing and then traveling to Israel and seeing that Palestinians are subject to apartheid.

Thomas Hager, Electric City: The Lost History of Ford and Edison’s American Utopia: While he was being a Nazi, Ford was also trying to take over Muscle Shoals for a dam that would make electricity for another huge factory/town. This is the story of how he failed because a Senator didn’t want to privatize this public resource.

Asheesh Kapur Siddique, The Archive of Empire: Knowledge, Conquest, and the Making of the Early Modern British World: What is the role of records in imperialism? Under what circumstances do imperialists rely on records that purport to be about the colonized people, versus not needing to do so? Often their choices were based on inter-imperialist conflicts—sometimes the East India Company benefited from saying it was relying on Indian laws, and sometimes London wanted different things.

Thomas C. Schelling The Strategy of Conflict: Sometimes when you read a classic, it doesn’t offer much because its insights have been the building blocks for what came after. So too here—if you know any game theory, then very little here will be new (and there’s a lot of math) but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t vital. Also notable: we’ve come around again to deterring (or not) the Russians.

'The void found a void and filled it with love': After losing his wife, grieving grandpa gets adopte

Posted by Blake Seidel

https://cheezburger.com/41123845/the-void-found-a-void-and-filled-it-with-love-after-losing-his-wife-grieving-grandpa-gets-adopted-by

Usually, dads and grandpas are the ones who resist getting a cat the most. They always protest and say things like, "Not in my house!" until the cat starts loving them, and then they turn into big puddles of goo that end up loving the cat more than anyone. Especially if it's a kitten. It happens literally every time. However, in this story, it's the cat that adopted the grandpa, and he seemed purrfectly happy to welcome this new furry friend into his life.

After losing his wife, this wholesome grandpa was feeling all sorts of lonely. Well, you can purrobably guess what happens next - a bold black kitten just wandered right up to his house and adopted him. The CDS heard his need to be loved, so they sent him their most loving angel in the form of a feline. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was grandma who made the call for him, or maybe it just happened on purre coincidence. Either way, it's pawsitively sweet!

Your inbox deserves hissterical cat content. We deliver. Weekly. Subscribe here.

https://cheezburger.com/41123845/the-void-found-a-void-and-filled-it-with-love-after-losing-his-wife-grieving-grandpa-gets-adopted-by

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Marvel Fanfare #6

( Read more... )

New Journalism Curriculum Module Teaches Digital Security for Border Journalists

Posted by Josh Richman

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/new-journalism-curriculum-module-teaches-digital-security-border-journalists

Module Developed by EFF, Freedom of the Press Foundation, and University of Texas, El Paso Guides Students Through Threat Modeling and Preparation

SAN FRANCISCO – A new college journalism curriculum module teaches students how to protect themselves and their digital devices when working near and across the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Digital Security 101: Crossing the US-Mexico Border” was developed by Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Director of Investigations Dave Maass and Dr. Martin Shelton, deputy director of digital security at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), in collaboration with the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Multimedia Journalism Program and Borderzine.

The module offers a step-by-step process for improving the digital security of journalists passing through U.S. Land Ports of Entry, focusing on threat modeling: thinking through what you want to protect, and what actions you can take to secure it.

This involves assessing risk according to the kind of work the journalist is doing, the journalist’s own immigration status, potential adversaries, and much more, as well as planning in advance for protecting oneself and one’s devices should the journalist face delay, detention, search, or device seizure. Such planning might include use of encrypted communications, disabling or enabling certain device settings, minimizing the data on devices, and mentally preparing oneself to interact with border authorities.

The module, in development since early 2023, is particularly timely given increasingly invasive questioning and searches at U.S. borders under the Trump Administration and the documented history of border authorities targeting journalists covering migrant caravans during the first Trump presidency.

"Today's journalism students are leaving school only to face complicated, new digital threats to press freedom that did not exist for previous generations. This is especially true for young reporters serving border communities," Shelton said. "Our curriculum is designed to equip emerging journalists with the skills to protect themselves and sources, while this new module is specifically tailored to empower students who must regularly traverse ports of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border while carrying their phones, laptops, and multimedia equipment."

The guidance was developed through field visits to six ports of entry across three border states, interviews with scores of journalists and students from on both sides of the border, and a comprehensive review of CBP policies, while also drawing from EFF and FPF’s combined decades of experience researching constitutional rights and security techniques when it comes to our devices.

“While this training should be helpful to investigative journalists from anywhere in the country who are visiting the borderlands, we put journalism students based in and serving border communities at the center of our work,” Maass said. “Whether you’re reviewing the food scene in San Diego and Tijuana, covering El Paso and Ciudad Juarez’s soccer teams, reporting on family separation in the Rio Grande Valley, or uncovering cross-border corruption, you will need the tools to protect your work and sources."

The module includes a comprehensive slide deck that journalism lecturers can use and remix for their classes, as well as an interactive worksheet. With undergraduate students in mind, the module includes activities such as roleplaying a primary inspection interview and analyzing pop singer Olivia Rodrigo’s harrowing experience of mistaken identity while reentering the country. The module has already been delivered successfully in trainings with journalism students at UTEP and San Diego State University.

“UTEP’s Multimedia Journalism program is well-situated to help develop this digital security training module,” said UTEP Communication Department Chair Dr. Richard Pineda. “Our proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border has influenced our teaching models, and our student population – often daily border crossers – give us a unique perspective from which to train journalists on issues related to reporting safely on both sides of the border.”

For the “Digital security 101: Crossing the US-Mexico border” module: https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/border-security-module/

For more about the module: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/journalist-security-checklist-preparing-devices-travel-through-us-border

For EFF’s guide to digital security at the U.S. border: https://www.eff.org/press/releases/digital-privacy-us-border-new-how-guide-eff

For EFF’s student journalist Surveillance Self Defense guide: https://ssd.eff.org/playlist/journalism-student

Contact:

Dave

Maass

Director of Investigations

dm@eff.org

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/new-journalism-curriculum-module-teaches-digital-security-border-journalists

Last Day for These Deals!

Posted by Amanda

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/06/last-day-for-these-deals/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=147002

Some of these discounts aren’t as deep as what we’d normally feature, but these are some relatively new releases. According to Amazon, these deals will expire at 11:59pm PDT. It also appears that the sales aren’t being matched across the board.

Earl Crush

Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti is $4.99! Many of the Bitchery wase excited for this one when it pubbed in January. It also is in KU, if any of you are subscribers.

In Alexandra Vasti’s newest Regency rom-com, a reclusive earl’s life is turned upside down when a stranger shows up on his doorstep with an astonishing proposal—and an inconvenient connection to espionage.

For three years, wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has anonymously penned seditious pamphlets. And for almost as long, she’s corresponded with the Earl of Strathrannoch, whose political ambition is matched only by his charm. When Arthur’s latest letter reveals his dire financial straits, Lydia sets out for Scotland to offer him the only salvation she can think of—a marriage of convenience. To, um, herself.

Unfortunately, the Earl of Strathrannoch has no idea who she is.

When a bewitching redheaded stranger offers him her hand in marriage, Arthur Baird is stunned—but when he learns that his traitorous brother has been writing to her under Arthur’s name, he’s bloody furious. He’s content to live alone in his moldering castle, and he has no desire for a provocative, radical wife. (Or at least, he shouldn’t.)

But Arthur is desperate to track down his brother, who’s become dangerously entangled in British espionage, and he needs Lydia’s help. What he doesn’t need? The attraction that burns hotter each moment they spend together. As Lydia slips past his defenses and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe—even his heart.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

The Geographer’s Map to Romance

The Geographer’s Map to Romance by India Holton is $4.99! This is book two in the Love’s Academic series and was released in April. Any thoughts on the series so far?

Geography professors in a failed marriage of convenience inconveniently reconnect for an emergency mission in this swoony historical-fantasy rom-com.

Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her—except her own personal disaster, that Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.

Gabriel is also an expert in magic disasters. And nothing fazes him either—except the walking, talking tornado that is his wife. They’ve been estranged since shortly after their wedding day, but that hasn’t stopped him from stoically pining for her.

When magic erupts in a small Welsh village, threatening catastrophe for the rest of England, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they must come together as a team in the face of perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed. But this is easier said than done. After all, there’s no navigational guide for the geography of the heart.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Immortal

Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan is $2.99! This fantasy romance was released in January and was mentioned on Hide Your Wallet. Tan’s books always have beautiful covers.

A stunning, standalone romantic fantasy filled with dangerous secrets, forbidden magic, and passion, of a young ruler who fights to protect her kingdom, from bestselling author Sue Lynn Tan and set in the breathtaking world of Daughter of the Moon Goddess.

“What the gods did not give us, I would take.”

As the heir to Tianxia, Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. But when she is poisoned, Liyen’s grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia.

Upon her grandfather’s death, Liyen ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.

But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano is $4.99! This is book five in the Finlay Donovan mystery series. I remember enjoying book one! This installment released in March and I do believe these are best read in order.

From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave—the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.
Finlay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet . . . but at least there’s not a body in her backyard.

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, have not always gotten along with Finlay’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, the community busybody and president of the neighborhood watch. But when a dead body is discovered in her backyard, Mrs. Haggerty needs their help. At first a suspect, Mrs. Haggerty is cleared by the police, but her house remains an active crime scene. She has nowhere to go . . . except Finlay’s house, right across the street.

Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case—or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. After all, they’ve dealt with enough murders over the last four months to last a lifetime and they both would much rather share their beds with someone else.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2025/06/last-day-for-these-deals/

https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/?p=147002

Entry tags:

fitness fellowship 2025

Fitness Fellowship 2025: Check-in 25

Hello from beneath the sweltering, humid skies of a heat wave! I hope wherever you are the temperatures are a bit more temperate.

As always, please share as much or as little as you'd like of your fitness journey here. Please know that I so appreciate your participation but also understand that sometimes you just cannot. :-)

( My Week in Review )

Have an exceptional week, my friends!

A Journalist Security Checklist: Preparing Devices for Travel Through a US Border

Posted by ARRAY(0x561e37629a68)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/journalist-security-checklist-preparing-devices-travel-through-us-border

This post was originally published by the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF). This checklist complements the recent training module for journalism students in border communities that EFF and FPF developed in partnership with the University of Texas at El Paso Multimedia Journalism Program and Borderzine. We are cross-posting it under FPF's Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. It has been slightly edited for style and consistency.

Before diving in: This space is changing quickly! Check FPF's website for updates and contact them with questions or suggestions. This is a joint project of Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Those within the U.S. have Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures — but there is an exception at the border. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) asserts broad authority to search travelers’ devices when crossing U.S. borders, whether traveling by land, sea, or air. And unfortunately, except for a dip at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when international travel substantially decreased, CBP has generally searched more devices year over year since the George W. Bush administration. While the percentage of travelers affected by device searches remains small, in recent months we’ve heard growing concerns about apparent increased immigration scrutiny and enforcement at U.S. ports of entry, including seemingly unjustified device searches.

Regardless, it’s hard to say with certainty the likelihood that you will experience a search of your items, including your digital devices. But there’s a lot you can do to lower your risk in case you are detained in transit, or if your devices are searched. We wrote this checklist to help journalists prepare for transit through a U.S. port of entry while preserving the confidentiality of your most sensitive information, such as unpublished reporting materials or source contact information. It’s important to think about your strategy in advance, and begin planning which options in this checklist make sense for you.

First thing’s first: What might CBP do?

U.S. CBP’s policy is that they may conduct a “basic” search (manually looking through information on a device) for any reason or no reason at all. If they feel they have reasonable suspicion “of activity in violation of the laws enforced or administered by CBP” or if there is a “national security concern,” they may conduct what they call an “advanced” search, which may include connecting external equipment to your device, such as a forensic analysis tool designed to make a copy of your data.

Your citizenship status matters as to whether you can refuse to comply with a request to unlock your device or provide the passcode. If you are a U.S. citizen entering the U.S., you have the most legal leverage to refuse to comply because U.S. citizens cannot be denied entry — they must be let back into the country. But note that if you are a U.S. citizen, you may be subject to escalated harassment and further delay at the port of entry, and your device may be seized for days, weeks, or months.

If CBP officers seek to search your locked device using forensic tools, there is a chance that some (if not all of the) information on the device will be compromised. But this probability depends on what tools are available to government agents at the port of entry, if they are motivated to seize your device and send it elsewhere for analysis, and what type of device, operating system, and security features your device has. Thus, it is also possible that strong encryption may substantially slow down or even thwart a government device search.

Lawful permanent residents (green-card holders) must generally also be let back into the country. However, the current administration seems more willing to question LPR status, so refusing to comply with a request to unlock a device or provide a passcode may be risky for LPRs. Finally, CBP has broad discretion to deny entry to foreign nationals arriving on a visa or via the visa waiver program.

At present, traveling domestically within the United States, particularly if you are a U.S. citizen, is lower risk than travelling internationally. Our luggage and the physical aspects of digital devices may be searched — e.g., manual inspection or x-rays to ensure a device is not a bomb. CBP is often present at airports, but for domestic travel within the U.S. you should only be interacting with the Transportation Security Administration. TSA does not assert authority to search the data on your device — this is CBP’s role.

At an international airport or other port of entry, you have to decide whether you will comply with a request to access your device, but this might not feel like much of a choice if you are a non-U.S. citizen entering the country! Plan accordingly.

Your border digital security checklist

Preparing for travel

☐ Make a backup of each of your devices before traveling.
☐ Use long, unpredictable, alphanumeric passcodes for your devices and commit those passwords to memory.
☐ If bringing a laptop, ensure it is encrypted using BitLocker for Windows, or FileVault for macOS. Chromebooks are encrypted by default. A password-protected laptop screen lock is usually insufficient. When going through security, devices should be turned all the way off.
☐ Fully update your device and apps.
☐ Optional: Use a password manager to help create and store randomized passcodes. 1Password users can create temporary travel vaults.
☐ Bring as few sensitive devices as possible — only what you need.
☐ Regardless which country you are visiting, think carefully about what you are willing to post publicly on social media about that country to avoid scrutiny.
☐ For land ports of entry in the U.S., check CBP’s border wait times and plan accordingly.
☐ If possible, print out any travel documents in advance to avoid the necessity to unlock your phone during boarding, including boarding passes for your departure and return, rental car information, and any information about your itinerary that you would like to have on hand if questioned (e.g., hotel bookings, visa paperwork, employment information if applicable, conference information). Use a printer you trust at home or at the office, just in case.
☐ Avoid bringing sensitive physical documents you wouldn’t want searched. If you need them, consider digitizing them (e.g., by taking a photo) and storing them remotely on a cloud service or backup device.

Decide in advance whether you will unlock your device or provide the passcode for a search. Your overall likelihood of experiencing a device search is low (e.g., less than .01% of international travelers are selected), but depending on what information you carry, the impact of a search may be quite high. If you plan to unlock your device for a search or provide the passcode, ensure your devices are prepared:

☐ Upload any information you would like to keep in cloud providers in advance (e.g., using iCloud) that you would like stored remotely, instead of locally on your device.
☐ Remove any apps, files, chat histories, browsing histories, and sensitive contacts you would not want exposed during a search.
☐ If you delete photos or files, delete them a second time in the “Recently Deleted” or “Trash” sections of your Files and Photos apps.
☐ Remove messages from the device that you believe would draw unwanted scrutiny. Remove yourself — even if temporarily — from chat groups on platforms like Signal.
☐ If you use Signal and plan to keep it on your device, use disappearing messages to minimize how much information you keep within the app.
☐ Optional: Bring a travel device instead of your usual device. Ensure it is populated with the apps you need while traveling, as well as login credentials (e.g., stored in a password manager), and necessary files. If you do this, ensure your trusted contacts know how to reach you on this device.
☐ Optional: Rather than manually removing all sensitive files from your computer, if you are primarily accessing web services during your travels, a Chromebook may be an affordable alternative to your regular computer.
☐ Optional: After backing up your devices for every day use, factory reset it and add only the information you need back onto the device.
☐ Optional: If you intend to work during your travel, plan in advance with a colleague who can remotely assist you in accessing and/or rotating necessary credentials.
☐ If you don’t plan to work, consider discussing with your IT department whether temporarily suspending your work accounts could mitigate risks at border crossings.

On the day of travel

☐ Log out of accounts you do not want accessible to border officials. Note that border officers do not have authority to access live cloud content — they must put devices in airplane mode or otherwise disconnect them from the internet.
☐ Power down your phone and laptop entirely before going through security. This will enable disk encryption, and make it harder for someone to analyze your device.
☐ Immediately before travel, if you have a practicing attorney who has expertise in immigration and border issues, particularly related to members of the media, make sure you have their contact information written down before visiting.
☐ Immediately before travel, ensure that a friend, relative, or colleague is aware of your whereabouts when passing through a port of entry, and provide them with an update as soon as possible afterward.

If you are pulled into secondary screening

☐ Be polite and try not to emotionally escalate the situation.
☐ Do not lie to border officials, but don’t offer any information they do not explicitly request.
☐ Politely request officers’ names and badge numbers.
☐ If you choose to unlock your device, rather than telling border officials your passcode, ask to type it in yourself.
☐ Ask to be present for a search of your device. But note officers are likely to take your device out of your line of sight.
☐ You may decline the request to search your device, but this may result in your device being seized and held for days, weeks, or months. If you are not a U.S. citizen, refusal to comply with a search request may lead to denial of entry, or scrutiny of lawful permanent resident status.
☐ If your device is seized, ask for a custody receipt (Form 6051D). This should also list the name and contact information for a supervising officer.
☐ If an officer has plugged your unlocked phone or computer into another electronic device, they may have obtained a forensic copy of your device. You will want to remember anything you can about this event if it happens.
☐ Immediately afterward, write down as many details as you can about the encounter: e.g., names, badge numbers, descriptions of equipment that may have been used to analyze the device, changes to the device or corrupted data, etc.

Reporting is not a crime. Be confident knowing you haven’t done anything wrong.

More resources

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/journalist-security-checklist-preparing-devices-travel-through-us-border

(no subject)

Yesterday one of those deeply shitty things happened where my love of someone's creations got called into question because of their behavior.

No, not Neil Gaiman this time. No -- JRR Tolkien. I learned what's been going around for a long while, since 2003 at least.

1) That when JRRT's eldest son John Tolkien was a boy, he was sexually abused by one of his dad JRR's circle, potentially WH Auden.

2) That John Tolkien went on to abuse boys while an ordained member of the Catholic church.

I have read nothing about this from Tolkien's letters, nor from Carpenter's biography. But the silence here troubles me, especially because it's clear who the favorite son was, and clear that John grew up in an incredibly unfortunate moment in history where he could not get help or support for who and what he was.

I'm still chewing this over and trying to figure out how I feel about it all.

24-year-old "best friend" buys 2 cats despite her roommates both being allergic and installs pet foo

Posted by Mariel Ruvinsky

https://cheezburger.com/41128453/24-year-old-best-friend-buys-2-cats-despite-her-roommates-both-being-allergic-and-installs-pet-food

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that we have seen cats cause… tension between roommates. It happens more often that you think. And not because the cats do something wrong, but because roommates can be insanely insensitive to pretty much everything around them. We have written articles about people locking their roommate's cats in their rooms and not letting them out. We've written about people allowing their roommate's cats to escape, when that could have been entirely avoidable. We've even written about someone demanding that their roommate clean up after their cats, even though it was entirely unreasonable.

And as usual, none of the mess in today's story is the cats' fault. Because it never is. And still, what makes this one special in our opinion are the layers. There are so many levels to the madness going on in this house, the cats don't even begin to cover it. The cats were just another thing that happened. The problem was there much earlier.

Your inbox deserves hissterical cat content. We deliver. Weekly. Subscribe here.

https://cheezburger.com/41128453/24-year-old-best-friend-buys-2-cats-despite-her-roommates-both-being-allergic-and-installs-pet-food

EFF to European Commission: Don’t Resurrect Illegal Data Retention Mandates

Posted by Svea Windwehr

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/eff-european-commission-dont-resurrect-illegal-data-retention-mandates

The mandatory retention of metadata is an evergreen of European digital policy. Despite a number of rulings by Europe’s highest court, confirming again and again the incompatibility of general and indiscriminate data retention mandates with European fundamental rights, the European Commission is taking major steps towards the re-introduction of EU-wide data retention mandates. Recently, the Commission launched a Call for Evidence on data retention for criminal investigations—the first formal step towards a legislative proposal.

The European Commission and EU Member States have been attempting to revive data retention for years. For this purpose, a secretive “High Level Group on Access to Data for Effective Law Enforcement” has been formed, usually referred to as High level Group (HLG) “Going dark”. Going dark refers to the false narrative that law enforcement authorities are left “in the dark” due to a lack of accessible data, despite the ever increasing collection and accessing of data through companies, data brokers and governments. Going dark also describes the intransparent ways of working of the HLG, behind closed doors and without input from civil society.

The Groups’ recommendations to the European Commission, published in 2024, read like a wishlist of government surveillance.They include suggestions to backdoors in various technologies (reframed as “lawful access by design”), obligations on service providers to collect and retain more user data than they need for providing their services, and intercepting and providing decrypted data to law enforcement in real time, all the while avoiding to compromise the security of their systems. And of course, the HLG calls for a harmonized data retention regime, including not only the retention of but also the access to data, and extending data retention to any service provider that could provide access to data.

EFF joined other civil society organizations in addressing the dangerous proposals of the HLG, calling on the European Commission to safeguard fundamental rights and ensuring the security and confidentiality of communication.

In our response to the Commission's Call for Evidence, we reiterated the same principles.

Any future legislative measures must prioritize the protection of fundamental rights and must be aligned with the extensive jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
General and indiscriminate data retention mandates undermine anonymity and privacy, which are essential for democratic societies, and pose significant cybersecurity risks by creating centralized troves of sensitive metadata that are attractive targets for malicious actors.
We highlight the lack of empirical evidence to justify blanket data retention and warn against extending retention duties to number-independent interpersonal communication services as it would violate CJEU doctrine, conflict with European data protection law, and compromise security.

The European Commission must once and for all abandon the ghost of data retention that’s been haunting EU policy discussions for decades, and shift its focus to rights respecting alternatives.

Read EFF’s full submission here.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/eff-european-commission-dont-resurrect-illegal-data-retention-mandates

Entry tags:

movies

28 Years Later

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Guest Post and Giveaway: Office of the Lost by J. Scott Coatsworth and Kim Fielding

Posted by JayHJay

https://joyfullyjay.com/2025/06/guest-post-and-giveaway-office-of-the-lost-by-j-scott-coatsworth-and-kim-fielding/

https://joyfullyjay.com/?p=111482

Today I am so pleased to welcome Kim Fielding to Joyfully Jay. Kim has come to talk to us about her latest release with J. Scott Coatsworth, Office of the Lost. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving Kim a big welcome! Hi! I’m Kim Fielding. I have […]

https://joyfullyjay.com/2025/06/guest-post-and-giveaway-office-of-the-lost-by-j-scott-coatsworth-and-kim-fielding/

https://joyfullyjay.com/?p=111482

Entry tags:

Justice in the Dark fanvid + Silent Reading song translations

Hello! Sharing two pieces of fanwork that

llonkrebboj and I worked on separately but are kind of like companion pieces. The first one is a Justice in the Dark fanvid I made to 以沫 Yi Mo, one of the Mo Du | Silent Reading audio drama theme songs; the second one is

llonkrebboj's translation of the full song. Will also be linking to other translations since I'm a fan of multiple translations.

Justice in the Dark fanvid - 以沫 Yi Mo:
In which Luo Weizhao follows Pei Su into the abyss. Clips from this video were taken from various episodes of the entire series.

Watch on YouTube

Translation notes: on AO3 or Tumblr

Mo Du | Silent Reading: 以沫 Yi Mo (shared breath) song translation (includes some dialogue at the beginning):

Watch on YouTube

Translation notes: on tumblr; more notes here.

Alternate translations:

chaikat's singable translation (Twitter), with very detailed translation notes (Gdoc) that cross-reference with novel chapters.

peachiprint's song translation: text version (Twitter) | subtitled video (Youtube)

Not a translation but I just remembered that I made a piano arrangement of this song here lol (audio preview + downloadable sheet music)

senary

senary (SEN-uh-ree) - adj., of or relating to the number six; consisting of six members. n., the numbering system using base 6.

If I'd planned this better, I'd've run this in the same week as octonary, oops. Fun fact: when expressed in senary, all prime numbers other than 2 and 3 have the final digit either 1 or 5. Taken around 1660 from Latin sēnārius, containing six, from sēnī, six each + -arius, adjectival ending, from sex, six.

Admin note: due to work deadlines and other external obligations, posting might be erratic for the next two weeks.

---L.