[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 looks forward to some turkey
jeffsoesbe on the OryCon cheese party — Mmm, cheese.
First detection of carbon dioxide in an exoplanet — Oooooh. What you can learn from the light of a single pixel.
Bad Astronomy blog with some (retroactively) obvious logic about UFOs — Never thought of this angle before, myself.
Pirates protected from EU task force by human rights —
Eight Is Enough — Comment from The New Yorker with more on the Mormon Church and Proposition 8.
The Edge of the American West reminds us of the Iran-Contra scandal — Look! Over there! Whitewater!
?otD: How many tribbles can fit in a Volkswagen?
11/26/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a [forgot to weigh]
Currently reading: The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Tags: cheese, Cool, Culture, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science, weird
Posted: 6:44 am Wed November 26 2008 | Comments(2) |
[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 listens to Pearl Jam
Don’t forget the voting poll for the Post-Novel Ennui Contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ], here. Vote early, vote often, influence your friends!
Jonathan Strahan on World Fantasy — What he said.
Centauri Dreams talks about the New Scientist article on the future of science fiction — “I’ve long believed that science fiction is less predictive than diagnostic.”
Vintagraph with the world’s best BBQ stand — I want one of these in my neighborhood.
Exploring Old Rome Without Air (or Time) Travel — Google Earth access to Constantine’s Rome. (Thanks to my Dad.)
How rocks evolve — Or how rocks were intelligently designed, if you have a room temperature IQ and an unduly credulous nature. (Thanks to lt260.)
Viewpoint: Bad case of Baghdadophobia — An Iraqi employee of BBC talks about life in Baghdad. I wish every conservative in America would read this, except I don’t suppose they would believe it anyway.
Question of the Day: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could operate a Madill model 1800 log loader?
Editorial note: This blog is now open to suggestions for Question of the Day. Prizes may be forthcoming.
11/15/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
This morning’s weigh-in: 222.2
Currently reading: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Contests, Conventions, Cool, Culture, Iraq, Links, Personal, Politics, polls, Science, Writing
Posted: 8:34 am Sat November 15 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad for a day when I have my computer back
Seizure: from bedsit to paradise — Growing one’s own crystal cave. (Thanks to danjite.)
lillypond, a/k/a my sister, with some Portland car art — Shot right before our lunch together on Thursday. I apparently walked right past this beauty without even noticing it, which is most unlike me.
Hammer and Tongs 1943 — Shorpy with some awesome industrial pr0n.
Evolution of some well known corporate logos — Surely this is a textbook case of Intelligent Design? (Thanks to goulo.)
Stephen Hawking calls for Moon and Mars colonies — I’d go. Would you? (Thanks to lt260.)
Now in Sight: Far-Off Planets — Direct imaging of extrasolar planets. Wow. Just wow. More detail at Centauri Dreams
Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails — A thesis that Abraham Lincoln was the first wired president, courtesy of telegraphy. (Thanks to danjite.)
Russian church ‘taken by thieves’ — The disappearance of the Church of the Resurrection, some 300 km (186 miles) north-east of Moscow, was not immediately noticed. (Thanks to icedrake.)
Obama’s Fascinating Interview with Cathleen Falsani — Our Socialist Muslim atheist terrorist president-elect talks about his Christian faith in detail.
Bush, Out of Office, Could Oppose Inquiries — Executive privilege 4 evah!
Crimes by air marshals raise questions about hiring — Yep, strong on security, that’s our GOP leadership. Character, too! (Thanks to danjite.)
Goodbye GOP — Editorial cartoonists on the fractures in the Republican Party. I don’t see the wheels coming off nearly so drastically, but maybe the GOP will recover some of its principles as a result of this process. Or they might just go with Palin, instead. (Thanks to tetar.)
The Anatomy of Conservative Self-Deception
Question of the day: What price glory?
11/14/08
Body movement: 90 minute suburban walk
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a [forgot to weigh, grr]
Currently reading: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Art, cars, Cool, Culture, Funny, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, Science
Posted: 6:42 am Fri November 14 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad contemplates the unbearable lightness of Thursday
Workin’ at the Internet Cafe: Laptop Dilemma — The agony of the coffee house.
Satellites map cholera outbreaks — Wow. The next time you’re tempted to think intellectual incuriosity is a virtue, politically or personally, reflect on how ideas like this came about. As demonstrated by the policies and rhetoric of the last eight years, a conservative world does not look into the future. (Thanks to lt260.)
Q&A: Islamic finance — Banking, Shariat style. Good worldbuilding, at the least, not to mention an insight into a critically important contemporary culture. (Snurched from Slacktivist.)
The President, the Economy, and the Lag — Freakonomics on presidents and the economy. (Surprised?)
The New York Times: A Senior Fellow at the Institute of Nonexistence — A fake expert and a phony think tank fool bloggers and the mainstream media. Some serious culture hacking here. (Thanks to danjite.)
Question of the day: Are you from outer space, or do you just work there?
11/13/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.2
Currently reading: Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Culture, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science
Posted: 6:06 am Thu November 13 2008 | Comments(1) |
[links] “Madmen, drummers, bummers, and Indians in the summer”
clarkesworld cites a Locus review in which I am mentioned favorably for my story ““The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and into the Black”
A Softer World on the vagaries of authorship
A Balloon in Titan’s Skies — Come on. Say it with me. Zeppelins! In! Space!
Astronomy Picture of the Day — APOD with a lovely image of high altitude evidence of a meteor’s disintegration, plus some cool science squibs anent same.
At the End of Life, a Delicate Calculus — More on the ethics and social implications of medical suicide, which seems to be an issue peculiar to the Pacific Northwest, insofar as the US is concerned. (Thanks to lt260.)
Creationism should be taught as science, say 29% of teachers — England catches the conservative stupid virus. (Thanks to tetar.)
bovil with an open letter to Republicans
Media Matters: All over but the lying — Coverage post-election conservative spin on how the (socialist, Islamic theocrat, most liberal Senator) Obama victory is in fact a conservative victory.
Paul Krugman on the Monster Years — for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people. The GOP and the Democrats really aren’t equivalent brands of political behavior, and they haven’t been for a long time. You kind easily find crazy assertions of the above sort by self-identified lefties, but these were the statements, and apparent beliefs, of the people in charge on the right. (Thanks to chriswjohnson.)
Question of the day: What does Long Island Sound like?
11/8/08
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.2
Currently reading: Love and Mayhem at the Patsy Cline Memorial Trailer Park by Karen G. Berry
Tags: Cool, Culture, healthcare, Links, Personal, Politics, Process, reviews, Science, stories, Writing
Posted: 7:06 am Sat November 08 2008 | Comments(0) |
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