Jay Lake: Writer

[personal] JayCon preparty

Last night we had the JayCon preparty at Cartlandia here in SE Portland. That’s a pretty substantial food cart pod with a big central tent into which we fit about twelve or fourteen people for a couple of hours of food and chitchat. Always a good thing.

Today is of course JayCon. That should be loads of fun, as always. By Monday, things will have calmed down, and I won’t know what to do with myself.

Also, it would be nice if I could stabilize my sleep schedule.

Tags: Family, Food, friends, JayCon

Posted: 5:44 am Sat June 15 2013 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad says it’s time to celebrate a birthday

Jay Lake – Próba kwiatów — An (apparently) largely positive review of the Polish edition of Trial of Flowers.

How we feel can change how we taste fat — Content people can detect changes in fat content, unhappy people do not.

Australian squid eat sperm for better bodies and babies — Presented without further comment. (Via David Goldman.)

Leprosy’s disappearing act came from public health improvements

Japanese eyeball-licking craze carries blindness risk

The Invention: 1928 — Flat panel display?

How Google Will Use High-Flying Balloons to Deliver Internet to the Hinterlands — I do love Google, except for the banal evil that is the Google Books Settlement.

Using Metadata to Find Paul Revere — Both funny and sobering. (Via David Goldman.)

Feds to comply with NY morning-after pill ruling — Conservative sexual paranoia really isn’t a good basis for national policy. I’m glad to see sanity prevailing once in a rare while.

The Tragic Fall of the White Race in America — Yup. Too bad for the Republican angry white man freakshow.

QotD?: Going to be at JayCon today?

6/15/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (too many errands, not enough time)
Hours slept: 5.5 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (exercise room was occupied)
Weight: 246.6
Number of FEMA troops on my block leaking intelligence secrets: 0
Currently reading: Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Program by Sharon Salzberg; Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Books, Food, gender, healthcare, Links, nature, Personal, Photos, Politics, race, reviews, sex, Tech, Trial, weird

Posted: 5:36 am Sat June 15 2013 | Comments(4) |

[photos] Emily’s birthday party this past Saturday

mlerules, the birthday girl her own self

Me and Baby E— (no relation to Team E—)

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Family, Food, friends, Photos, Portland, radiantlisa

Posted: 5:30 am Wed June 12 2013 | Comments(6) |

[personal] Birthdays, birthdays

Thursday night we had my birthday party in Omaha, about which I will post more, perhaps tomorrow. That was the actual date of my 49th birthday, 6/6. Last night, we had my family birthday dinner and party here in Portland, about which I will also post more, soon. Today mlerules is celebrating her birthday (out of season), at which I, my family and most of the tribe will be in attendance. There may be posting about this as well.

Tomorrow will be socially quiet, though we are busy around the house. Monday we tumble into JayCon week, with a wide number of events and dinners and whatnot, culminating in JayCon XIII a week from today.

I am supposed to make my heart attack potato salad [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] today for mlerules‘ party, but the hand-foot syndrome from the Regorafenib is driving me crazy, so I cannot cook. Specifically, I cannot stand on my feet for any length of time, gripping things such as knife handles and spatula handles is quite painful, and I am severely heat sensitive, which makes roasting things in the oven or frying them in a pan a somewhat ill-advised activity.

Happily for all concerned, tillyjane (a/k/a my mom) and the Niece are coming over this morning to pinch-cook on my behalf.

So, yeah, food and fun have abounded since Thursday, and will abound through next weekend. After which we doubtless go back to our usual state of starving and miserable.

Or maybe not.

Tags: Cancer, events, Family, Food, friends, health, JayCon, Omaha, Personal

Posted: 6:37 am Sat June 08 2013 | Comments(14) |

[personal] The week goes on

Not a lot of big doings to report. Plenty going on in my writing life, but it’s either administrivia or stuff-not-ready-to-be-announced. Day Jobbery has been busy. This is convenient, as I am in the Omaha office this week. Been seeing a lot of old friends while I’m here. It’s fun to introduce Lisa Costello to this part of my life, and the people in it.

I’ve been working in Omaha (in a remote sense) since 1999. Over the past fourteen years, I’ve made literally a hundred trips to this city. Kind of weird when I think about it. This has been my home away from home.

Working a lot on paving the way for the life changes in progress. Those are financial, medical, emotional, business and personal changes. And, of course, ultimately mortal changes. These days I’m so caught up in the details that sometime it’s a surprise to remember what I’m really doing.

My actual 49th birthday is tomorrow. We’re having a dinner for me here in Omaha. We fly home Friday, where I have some medical stuff in the afternoon, then my family birthday dinner Friday night. Saturday is the birthday party for mlerules, for which I am planning to make my heart attack potato salad [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. That of course presumes my problems with my hands and feet will allow me to cook, which may be a major issue.

Next week I see the oncologist, the attorney, the accountant and the financial planner. Plus JayFest and JayCon XIII. And my very dear friend fjm comes from England to visit me. And, and, and…

So the week goes on.

Tags: Cancer, Family, Food, friends, health, JayCon, JayFest, Omaha, Personal, radiantlisa, Travel, work

Posted: 3:09 am Wed June 05 2013 | Comments(7) |

[events] Rio Hondo, day three

More critique yesterday. More food. More fun. My Aunt M—, who lives in Colorado, turned up with pies. @dratz of Waterloo Productions arrived last night to shoot some Lakeside footage here at Rio Hondo.

My METAtropolis: Green Space novella “Rock of Ages” is being critiqued tomorrow. This means I don’t have to do any critical reading today, so I’m cooking momos [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] for tonight’s dinner.

Still struggling a bit with the altitude. Had a terrible night’s sleep last night. I did okay the night before, thanks to my friend Lorazepam, and will probably have to do that again tonight. And I regret not being able to go out hiking here during the day, as my UV issues from Vectibix linger on.

All that being said, I am very glad to be here.

Tags: events, Family, Food, New Mexico, Writing

Posted: 6:02 am Wed May 22 2013 | Comments(4) |

[links] Link salad wonders what’s the fuss

Save Trent’s Teeth, Save His Life — Trent Zelazny needs help with a medical fundraiser of his own.

The Algorithm That Automatically Detects Polyps in Images from Camera Pills — Analysing the footage from camera pills is a time-consuming task for medical professionals. Now computer scientists are attempting to automate the process.

The British ‘Atlantis’ is mapped in detail — Using dual frequency identification sonar, the ruins of Dunwich rise again.

8BBC News – Close-up on Japan’s amazing lunchboxes — Mmm, bento. (Via willyumtx.)

Watch 32 discordant metronomes achieve synchrony in a matter of minutes — Huh. (Via David Goldman.)

‘Junk’ DNA Mystery Solved: It’s Not Needed — I am dubious of this story. National Geographic with more.

Happy whatever — Blogess Jenny Lawson says some very important things about women in general and mothers in specific.

Transgender woman wins right to marry in Hong Kong — Not exactly a noted hotbed of progressivism, that.

Dalai Lama Calls For Care For Our ‘Only Home’ Earth

‘Dramatic decline’ warning for plants and animals — More of that liberal conspiracy to keep the climate change hoax going.

Researchers Create “Hate Map” of the U.S. With Twitter Data — The same researchers previously mapped racist Tweets about President Obama. In both cases there’s reason to be a little skeptical.

Pediatricians take on gun lobby – carefully — Well, the NRA is better armed, and unlike doctors, some NRA members have a habit of publicly threatening people.

QotD?: Tell me what’s a-happening?

5/13/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (1.0 hours of revision, plus WRPA, editing METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 7.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 249.4
Number of FEMA troops on my block digging for fossils in the yards of God-fearing Republicans: 0
Currently reading: The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Cancer, China, climate, Cool, Culture, Food, gender, guns, health, Japan, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Science, sex, Tech, UK, Videos, weird

Posted: 4:36 am Mon May 13 2013 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad has been telling you it’s a genius since it was seventeen

Omega Coaxial Ad — Which very much puts me (and others) in mind of my novel Mainspring. (Via OldMiser.)

Amazing potato salad minus the WOW factor — Jersey Girl in Portland on her potato salad and mine.

20 of the world’s most beautiful World Heritage Sites — Bucket list stuff, if I had time and money for a bucket list before I die.

Army Airship: 1922 — A cool photo from Shorpy.

Crystal Puzzle Solved with Sea Squirt — The story’s interesting in its own right if you’re into biology or materials science, but you have to love the headline regardless.

Memory Implants — A maverick neuroscientist believes he has deciphered the code by which the brain forms long-term memories.

Privately Financed Spaceship Roars Closer to Space — SpaceShip Two breaks the sound barrier.

ESA: Herschel space telescope blinded by heat, retires for good

The World’s First Website Gets Its Original Web Address Back — It’s not often you can follow something back right to the beginning.

Your Mac, iPhone or iPad may have left the Apple store with a serious security risk — This is mildly boggling. (Via goulo.)

Seattle Police And Phoenix Jones – A New Chapter — Because, um, reasons. Nope. Come to think of it, I got nothing. (Thanks to my brother.)

About History — Shortpacked is making fun of a specific subset of geekdom, but this pretty much captures the conservative mind in general.

Report: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s repeated requests for a lawyer were ignored — There is zero legal or ethical justification for denying a suspect in custody this fundamental right Because reasons! After all, we treat white conservative terrorists exactly the same. Or we would, if there were any white conservative terrorists. “Patriots” like McVeigh and Rudolph certainly had a right to counsel. (Via David Goldman.)

Congress tries to reset science grants, wants every one to be “groundbreaking” — If lawmakers get their way, research like recent Higgs findings could disappear. That’s what happens when you put anti-science willful idiots in charge of national science policy.

Justice O’Connor: Maybe Bush V. Gore Was A Mistake — Gee. Ya think? Note: If you don’t know who John Ellis is and when and why George W. Bush called him on election night, you really don’t understand what happened in Florida and why people like me are still pissed about it. And believe you me, if the situation had been reversed, and a cousin of Al Gore’s was involving in the media calling the election results prematurely in Gore’s favor, this would still be a daily topic on conservative media over a decade later. Meanwhile, back in the reality-based community, Your Liberal Media never covered Ellis much, even at the time.

House Republicans Eyeing New Hostage Opportunity — The House Republicans are contemplating a new budget-hostage strategy, the the Washington Post reports in a story that is both highly useful and inadvertently Onion-esque. The hallmark of Onion news reporting is conveying insanity as if it were sane in a completely deadpan way. The Republican party isn’t even pretending to govern any more, and no one cares. At least no one conservative. And they call themselves patriotic?

Maker of Useless Dowsing Rod for Bombs Convicted for Fraud — There are an infinite number of flavors of this sort of nonsense, from astrology to homeopathy, from the antivaccination movement to global warming denial. While you might think some of these are harmless, they all have very serious ramifications: they lead to magical thinking. They tell people it’s OK to stop putting their trust in reality and science, and instead abandon it for nonsense. And that’s my fundamental objection to the Republican party. Not to the theoretical foundation of conservatism, which in many ways is an admirable philosophy, but to the conservatism that requires the magical thinking of evolution denial and climate change denial and supply side economics to function politically, while proudly and explicitly rejecting the evidence-based world. How can you possibly make useful policy decisions when your entire intellectual infrastructure is a fraudulent house of cards? Yes, magical thinking is everywhere (the anti-vax movement is not a conservative fixation), but only in the Republican party and its annexes such as FOX News and Tea Party has such magical thinking been institutionalized and glorified.

QotD?: Are you quite sure what it means?

4/30/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.25 hours (WRPA editing work on METAtropolis: Green Space)
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 247.8
Number of FEMA troops on my block helping welfare recipients buy cell phones and big screen tvs: 0
Currently reading: The Truth by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Apple, Books, Boston, climate, Cool, Culture, Food, healthcare, Links, Mainspring, nature, Personal, Photos, Politics, Sattle, Science, space, Tech, Travel, Videos, weird

Posted: 5:23 am Tue April 30 2013 | Comments(4) |

[links] Link salad wishes happy birthday to its mother

Debut author lessons: Hate mail — Mary Robinette Kowal Is Wise.

Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy Available! — In which I have an essay.

Temple of the Autonomous Machine — Okay, this story about the intersection of robotics and archaeology is just fricking cool.

Happiness Inc. — What makes people happy?

Group kicks off planting of ancient tree clones

The chicken crouton recipe — For them what wants it.

Classifying a Killer Whale for Tax Purposes — Ah, lawyers. And to be fair, the IRS.

For young Soviets, the Beatles were a first, mutinous rip in the iron curtain — The band inspired dissidents and musicians and, a new book claims, meant more to youth in the USSR than in the west. (Via threeoutside.)

Jon Stewart investigates the Australian gun control “failure”

National Debt Graph by President — [T]he Voodoo [Economics] failed just as Bush predicted, and the supply-siders turned a 32-year winning streak into a debt disaster that continues to this day. For 20 years, under Reagan and the Bushes, the national debt increased compared to GDP every single year. In most other years it decreased. Supply side economics never worked. It’s just another one of those counterfactual conservative political fetishes that they justify within their bubble of epistemic closure. Another example of reality’s well-known liberal bias.

Political rhetoric finds its way into post-bombing debate

QotD?: When is your mom’s birthday?

4/22/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (WRPA, plus some work on my archives which I didn’t include in the time tracking)
Hours slept: 7.0 hours (fitful)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (injured foot)
Weight: n/a (couldn’t stand on scale due to injured foot)
Number of FEMA troops on my block faking evidence for climate change: 0
Currently reading: The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

Tags: Australia, Books, Boston, Cool, Culture, economy, Food, guns, law, Links, music, nature, Personal, Politics, Process, Russia, Tech, weird, Writing

Posted: 5:02 am Mon April 22 2013 | Comments(4) |

[food] Smoked meat party

Yesterday we enjoyed some smoked pork butt and smoked chicken courtesy of Team E—. As usual, the meat was fantastic.

There was also smoked avocados, green salad (my style, including chicken croutons), chips and dip, banana nut muffins (made by the Niece) and Mama Dudley cake (made by my (step)mom). Mmm mmm mmm.

Because nothing is worth doing that is not worth doing to wretched excess.

Photo © 2013, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Tags: Family, Food, friends, Photos

Posted: 7:06 am Sun April 21 2013 | Comments(12) |