[links] Link salad for a chilly hump day
Starship Sofa with, among many other good things, a podcast of my flash piece “A Conspiracy of Dentists”
The Fix reviews The Best of Abyss & Apex
Amazon Aims at Content Delivery — Interesting future state stuff.
APOD with a photo of the smiling heavens
Polar opposites — Some coverage of the possibly imminent (in geological terms) flipping of the Earth’s magnetic field. (Thanks to lt260.)
And for LJ readers, because flist display of my posts continues intermittently borked, something which I’m told wasn’t visible to everyone the first time:
The writing career meme
If you’ve missed recent link salads, believe me, they’ve been there. Try this.
?otD: I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?
12/03/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.2
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: audio, Cool, Links, lj, Personal, reviews, Science, stories
Posted: 5:40 am Wed December 03 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad is woozy with the heady smell of December
Wondermark on Rudolph as R. Clement Moore fanfic
Asher at The Guru Handbook on grading and concurrency — I’m more interested in the grading model Asher cites as applied to writers, both in a workshop environment and as a critical tool in the published world. There certainly are books and stories which can be identified as “first wave” and “second wave” — I’m not so sure if the reviewer step is better reflected in the critical/critiquing apparatus or in another layer of writing.
My new word for the day: Abugida — Picked it up while reading this fascinating piece on textual analysis being used to investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks. (Specifically, the comments section, which is very good on this post.) From an auctorial perspective, the whole thing is worth reading if you write fiction about multilingual societies.
Fuel-cell powered devices getting closer — Mmm. Multiday batteries.
Injuries and Deaths Due to Firearms in the Home — For every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides. (Thanks to swan_tower.)
From my cell I scent the reeking soul of US justice — Conrad Black writes from prison. (Thanks to danjite.)
Obama Birth Certificate Rears Its Head - Again — Mmm. I can smell the bipartisanship from all the way over here. Because there’s nothing Republicans love more than a good, enraging lie. Keeps the base energized, donchaknow. This is like Whitewater, it will never go away. (Thanks to lt260.)
Jones at NSC; Even knows French (Eat your Heart out Tom DeLay) — I’m posting this one mostly for the headline, which I find hilarious, but it’s also a discussion of Obama’s new National Security Advisor.
This Modern World with a brief (and sadly fictional) history of the past eight years
?otD: Why oh, why oh, why oh; did I ever leave Ohio?
12/02/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 220.8
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Funny, Links, Personal, Politics, Process, Science, Writing
Posted: 5:24 am Tue December 02 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad for a new workweek
Holiday weekend reacharound, for those of you who weren’t online much:
Here at this blog, we read Herman Melville so you don’t have to. [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
A writerly career meme: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
More wit and wisdom of the_child: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Wisdom of Fred: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Plus the usual assorted bill of fare:
Lego safe — Um… (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Next Year In Birobidzhan? Stalin’s Siberian Zion — Strange Maps with a very odd bit of Jewish history.
Climate change juggernaut on the horizon, UN talks told — More liberal balderdash from the world scientific community and the pinko climate itself. Thank God we have the Republican party and its talk radio surrogates to keep us politically insulated from the inconvenience of reality.
A Handpicked Team for a Foreign Policy Shift — The New York Times on Obama’s foreign policy and national security team. …the United States has more members of military marching bands than foreign service officers. Because that’s what the War on Terror demands! The GOP, keeping you safer with clarinets.
The GOP’s McCarthy gene — Think Goldwater is the father of conservatism? Think again. A fairly cogent explanation of the profound cognitive dissonance between the GOP’s idealistic self-image and the party’s vicious behaviors. (Hat tip to Talking Points Memo.)
Juan Cole on Pakistani Reaganism — A very illuminating precis on the history of radical Islam in South Asia, and how much the current issues with the Taliban owe their roots to Reagan’s anti-Communist policies. Not news to most reality-based readers, but very well-explained. (Facts not valid for FOX News viewers.)
?otD: Who let the dogs out?
12/01/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 221.4
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Child, Cool, Culture, Funny, Links, Memes, Personal, Politics, Process, Science, Writing
Posted: 6:12 am Mon December 01 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad, culture edition
An Apollo 15 Panorama from APOD — In case you had moonscapes on the brain today.
Fluegar — A car from car heaven. :: wants :: (Thanks to danjite.)
Rockets help build bridge higher than the Empire State Building — Um, wow. (Thanks to lt260.)
Poodles — Wrong. Just wrong. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
?otD: Why are you fixing a hole for the rain to come in?
11/30/08
Body movement: 85 minute suburban walk
This morning’s weigh-in: 221.6
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Cool, Culture, Links, Personal, Science, weird
Posted: 8:09 am Sun November 30 2008 | Comments(1) |
[links] Link salad needs to finish a novelette
Atomic Tarantula — Some very cool sf-themed wear.
Autoportraits — Finding expression in unlikely places. This is fairly amusing.
Honeywell’s Kitchen Computer remembered — A idea whose time never came, apparently. Still, there’s something wistful about this. (Thanks to danjite.)
Baconed yams — One of my favorite recipes in quite a while, courtesy of cthulhie, whom I don’t actually know, AFAIK. Worth the read just for the cooking instructions. Mmmm, bacon.
20 things to do with a haggis — Unintentional (I think) multicultural humor from the online archives of The Times. (Thanks to Scrivener’s Error.)
Poll riots erupt in Nigerian city — I spent my freshman year of high school (1978-1979) at a missionary boarding school in this city. (Thanks to my brother.)
?otD: Do you have Prince Albert in a can?
11/29/08
Body movement: 2 hour, 35 minute suburban walk
[Important safety tip: do not wear reading glasses for extended trail walking in the dark]
This morning’s weigh-in: 222.4
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Cool, Culture, Food, Funny, Links, Personal, Photos, Tech
Posted: 10:58 am Sat November 29 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad for when Black Friday comes
A couple of reader reviews of Mainspring, here and here
The Town That Neil Young Built — More from Strange Maps.
Patternicity: Finding Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise — Why the brain believes something is real when it is not. Pareidolia, anyone? (Thanks to lt260.)
Black people can’t swim — The Edge of the American West on Peanuts and the politics of race. Another reminder of the many past triumphs of conservatism, such as segregation.
‘The Most Dangerous Woman in the World’ — Chances are that if you get yours news and information from Your Liberal Media, you’ve never heard of Aafia Siddiqui. If you have, you’ve almost certainly heard a highly filtered version of her story. This is worth the read, especially if you think the War on Terror represents America doing good in the world.
?otD: Do you know the way to San Jose?
11/28/08
Body movement: 85 minute suburban walk
This morning’s weigh-in: 222.4
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Books, Links, Mainspring, Personal, Politics, reviews, Science
Posted: 10:53 am Fri November 28 2008 | Comments(1) |
[links] Links salad for a rump week hump day
Top Ten Reasons Books Are Better Than Sex — (Snurched from Scrivener’s Error.)
musingaloud talks about the 12/08 issue of Realms of Fantasy — Including my story, “Achilles, Sulking in His Buick.”
Ancient eyes head for the light — Poetic and fascinating, a piece about precursors to eyes. IDiots will of course decline to note the dreaded transitional forms under discussion.
Brain reorganizes to make room for math — Some cool stuff on training the human mind and its meat machine. (Thanks to lt260.)
$450,000 Watch Features Real Moon Dust — Houston, do you read me? :: wants :: (Thanks to therinth.)
Astronomers Select Top Ten Most Amazing Pictures Taken by Hubble Space Telescope in Last 16 Years — (Thanks to danjite.)
Neil Armstrong’s parents on “I’ve Got a Secret” — Heh. (Thanks to sdn.)
It’s Like Taking Candy From a Multi-Billion Dollar Corporation — This is hilarious. Freelance culture jamming. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Shorpy with online shopping, ca. 1950
Fareed Zakaria on living through history, and the hard realities of economics
Enter Hawks, Stage Right (Part 2) — A rather distressing piece on Obama’s rapid shift to the right on military policy, post-election. (Thanks to dirkcjelli.)
?otD: Houston, can you read me, or have I lost my mind?
11/25/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 222.4
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Books, Cool, Culture, Funny, Links, Personal, Photos, Science, stories
Posted: 6:38 am Tue November 25 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad goes back to work
sheelangig points out lovely airship art here and here
What Would Happen if You Bought 25 Bottles of Nyquil? — A blogger after my own heart. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
A Clearer Picture of Cancer — A new, high-resolution imaging system captures “early” photons. This is cool on a number of levels, though I love this bit: “We’re preferentially choosing photons with more spatial information”
APOD with Martian glaciers — Ooooh.
?otD: Who was the building inspector on the house that Jack built?
11/24/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 224.8
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Art, Cool, Culture, Funny, Links, Personal, Science
Posted: 7:03 am Mon November 24 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad is barely awake
A few more OryCon reports here and here
One model, fifty years — Aging through lighting and makeup. (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Juan Cole on Red Sea piracy and Bush military policy
5 Myths About Our Ailing Health-Care System — Food for thought on healthcare finance reform.
Question of the day: Princess Leia or Barbarella? Discuss.
11/23/08
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Conventions, Cool, healthcare, Links, Politics
Posted: 11:42 am Sun November 23 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad hangs out downtown
Madness of Flowers — A write-up, with cover art, from Night Shade Books.
APOD with a panoramic view of moonrise and sunset — Nice photo. Kind of wide.
Language Log on the Atlas of True Names — This is fascinating, and more than a bit sfnal in its way.
Single-Celled Giant Upends Early Evolution — This story is weird on several levels. Also, an example of science’s processes of self-correction which the IDiots and Creationists may well seize on as evidence of the falsity of evolution.
Question of the day: Han Solo or James T. Kirk? Discuss.
11/22/08
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: Books, Language, Links, Madness, Personal, Religion, Science
Posted: 9:51 am Sat November 22 2008 | Comments(1) |
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