[links] Link salad wanders into Friday
A reader reacts to Kalimpura — Generally rather favorable. I loved this bit: There are several big themes in the book that I really like too. First, Green is a bad-ass queer woman of color. Her story isn’t about any of those aspects of her, they just are facts about her. Sometimes those facts contribute to her interactions with other characters and sometimes they don’t. This is so important. Especially because Green is young and brave and flawed and impetuous and foolish and special all at once. She’s an individual, not a stereotype, and we need more of those depictions of queer women of color in our literature.
Bride of the Girl Cooties — Cora Buhlert with an excellent link roundup and commentary on the current iteration of arguments about gendering in SF.
Will McIntosh, On Choosing a Title for Your Novel — I’ve had a things or two to say about this in the past. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)
The Secret to a Video-Game Phenomenon — I always thought Minecraft is what Lego should have invented.
The Renaissance Military Compass — Ok, that is cool. 500 year old milspec technology. Scroll down a bit when you land on the page. (Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=1)
threeoutside.)
Excel Is An Art Form: These Beautiful Images Are Proof — Wow. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)
U.S. Supreme Court Says “Natural” Human Genes May Not Be Patented — Huh. Some unlooked-for sanity in patent law.
Gene/culture co-evolution
Oxygen mystery: How marine mammals hold their breath
Why Rational People Buy Into Conspiracy Theories — Because reasons, damn it! (Thanks to David Goldman.)
Antarctic ice melting from below, finds study — Ice loss in Antarctica is largely driven by warm ocean currents, a discovery that could lead to more accurate predictions of sea level rise. Must be scuba diving liberals with blow torches. Everyone knows climate change is a fraud, no matter what the evidence says.
‘Spiritual’ young people more likely to commit crimes than ‘religious’ ones — Which is why atheists are one of the most distrusted groups in America. No, wait, what…? (Thanks to shsilver.)
California Prepares for Fallout as High Court Ruling on Prop. 8 Nears — Prop 8 is institutionalized bigotry driven in large part by funding from the Mormon Church, which has joined the Catholic Church as an example of total failure of moral leadership and social conscience because of that. It would be very nice to see Utah’s exported religiously-branded hate run back out of California.
[Iowa GOP governor] Terry Branstad May Need To Approve Medicaid Abortion Funding — Yes. Every single one of them. Because one thing conservatives believe absolutely is that the government shouldn’t come between you and your doctor. Which is what makes Obamacare evil and government oversight of abortions good… that much-vaunted conservative intellectual consistency. You know how much Republicans hate those situational ethics. (Via scarlettina.)
GOP congressman Trent Franks: It’s hard to get pregnant from rape — Republicans apparently cannot keep themselves from being both vile and stupid on this topic.
QotD?: Force choke or Vulcan nerve pinch?
6/14/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (too many errands, not enough time)
Hours slept: 5.75 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 246.8
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: Art, Books, climate, Cool, Culture, gay, gender, Kalimpura, law, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, reviews, Science, Tech, weird, Writing
Posted: 5:36 am Fri June 14 2013 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad listens to the children of the night
fledgist reviews Kalimpura
Why Aren’t There More Woman Sci-Fi Writers? — (Thanks to Marta Murvosh.)
#Womentoread — Kari Sperring wants you to recommend SF by women.
The Prejudices We Permit — I’ve certainly been on the sharp of this stick. The point still stands.
What Kind of D&D Character Would You Be? — I scored out as Neutral Good Human Druid/Wizard (4th/3rd Level). (Snurched from james_nicoll.)
Giant floating head found in Hudson River — Headline of the week.
Scientists in Antarctica Find Invading Neutrinos from Another Galaxy!
Remains of a supernova fall to Earth — Tiny pieces of silica in meteorites predate the Solar System.
What Happened When One Man Pinged the Whole Internet — A home science experiment that probed billions of Internet devices reveals that thousands of industrial and business systems offer remote access to anyone.
20 Pounds? Not Too Bad, for an Extinct Fish
Elephant Bird Egg Fetches Over $100,000 At Christie’s Auction In London
Placentas provide clues about autism risk at birth, study says
Antibody triggers bone marrow stem cells to become brain cells — Wow… strange. (Via seventorches.)
Conservative evangelicals’ persecution complex and same-sex marriage — Despite being one of the largest voting blocs in the most powerful and wealthy nation in the world, American evangelical Christians often have a penchant for framing themselves as a persecuted minority. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)
30 Of The Most Offensive, Idiotic, And Bizarre Conservative Arguments Against Marriage Equality — It’s pretty clear from these kinds of statements that conservatives have no concept of “consent”. But then, this isn’t exactly a surprise. (Via Slacktivist Fred Clark.)
Liberty Counsel redefining ‘Christian’ just as Falwell did — Now, as then, the word “Christianity” is being used as a synonym for unvarnished bigotry. Yet another of the myriad reasons I am an atheist. I have no use for a God whose followers can do this in his name and still consider themselves good and moral people.
Oregon same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional, federal judge says in employee discrimination case — Another bigotry domino falls. As usual, conservatives are on the wrong side of history with this one, too.
Bobby Jindal: I’m fine with teaching creationism in public schools — Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal says that he wouldn’t mind if public school students were taught creationism and intelligent design in addition to evolution, as long as it’s “the best science.” Conservative willful ignorance is so hermetically sealed. And an entire state elected this fool to be their governor…
House GOP Freshmen Feel Left Out Of Failed Obamacare Repeal Rituals — This story is just sad. It encapsulates everything that’s wrong with Republican party politics today. The saddest part is that the people involved don’t see anything wrong with it at all.
Bush and the American Right Wing: Top Ten Ways they are Like the Children of an Alcoholic — This piece is sort of Poe’s Law in reverse. Satire that is also way too close to the truth.
Truman, Bush, and Rehabilitating Presidential Reputations — The core Bush loyalist assumption is that a more dispassionate interpretation of his presidency will redound to his benefit, but that’s probably wrong. The less that people have at stake in defending Bush, the less eager they will be to bother. In another forty or fifty years, there will hardly be anyone interested in salvaging Bush’s reputation, and the truth is that he leaves behind no significant positive domestic legacy that later Republicans will feel obliged to defend and mythologize. Wow, how deluded do you have to be to imagine that anything of the Bush administration will be vindicated by history? Thanks to the Bush administration, we have stark, objective evidence about what happens when Republicans are allowed to govern: political, military and economic disaster.
QotD?: What beautiful music do they make?
4/26/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (400 words on Original Destiny, Manifest Sin plus quite a bit of background reading)
Hours slept: 6.25 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (foot hurt all night)
Weight: 248.2
Number of FEMA troops on my block helping welfare recipients buy cell phones and big screen tvs: 0
Currently reading: The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Books, Christianists, Culture, Funny, gender, healthcare, Kalimpura, Links, nature, Oregon, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, reviews, Science, sex, space, Tech, weird
Posted: 5:22 am Fri April 26 2013 | Comments(1) |
[events] The Kalimpura reading
Yesterday’s dinner and reading was a lot of fun. We had a good turnout for the pre-reading meal, about 15 people. Here’s the table full of us, on the McMenamin’s patio:
Going clockwise from the lower left, I think I can capture all these names. mlerules, Debra Stover, Janet Happe Lunde, Brian Hunt, Rachel Sinclair Hunt, the Niece, tillyjane (a/k/a my mom), martianmooncrab, Michelle Carlson, Jenna Miller, Stacey Hale Hankins, Jersey Girl in Portland, me, Lisa Costello. delerium3 is taking the picture, and MtnSk8tr is out of the frame.
Also, martianmooncrab gave me this fetching hat:
Which I wore through dinner and partway through the reading.
We had a pretty good turnout at Powell’s. Peter Honingstock did his usual wonderful job of hosting. I tried to shoot some footage for Donnie Reynolds, which resulted in moderate hilarity around adjusting the field expedient camera stand. I spoke briefly about some of the things going on in my writing and personal life, read the very beginning of Kalimpura, then the calming-the-storm scene from the book’s second section, took some Q&A, and a signed a bunch of titles. All in all, it was quite a good evening.
My thanks to everyone who turned up at dinner, and all the more so to everyone who made it to the reading.
Photo © 2013, Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and E. West.
This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. and E. West is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: Books, Conventions, events, Family, Food, friend, jerseygirl, Kalimpura, Portland, radiantlisa
Posted: 8:38 am Sat March 09 2013 | Comments(14) |
[books|repost] Kalimpura reading March 8th, 2013
I’ll be reading from Kalimpura [ Powell's | BN ] tonight, Friday, March 8th, at the Powell’s Cedar Hills location. This will be my one and only formal public event for the book due to my continued battle with cancer.
As is usual, I’ll have an open dinner from 5 pm to 6:30 pm, at McMenamins Cedar Hills, at the north end of the same retail complex Powell’s is in. If you’re planning to come to the dinner, please do let me know in comments or via email so I can include you in the headcount.
Due to chemotherapy, I’ve cancelled all my other convention and workshop appearances through this summer (at least), so if you want to see me on the hoof and Hawaiian clad, this is your only chance. Due to the reduced chemotherapy prescription I’m embarking on, this will be the first of a small series of public events and appearances I’ll be doing this spring, and into the summer if my health holds up. Hope to see you there.
Tags: Books, Cancer, health, Kalimpura, Repost
Posted: 5:53 am Fri March 08 2013 | Comments(15) |
[links] Link salad has got to believe that it’s magic
Kalimpura by Jay Lake — A fascinating review of my latest novel. I really like this analysis.
BASFA 2013 Hugo Award Recommendations: Best Novella — My Nebula-nominated novella “The Stars Do Not Lie” is on this list.
US doctors cure child born with HIV
Google Wants to Install a Computer on Your Face — Some commentary on how Google Glass would need to work.
Mars Curiosity rover put into ‘safe mode’ after glitch
We’ve got some UltraEverDry—what should we put it on? — Hah!
Please stop looking for the ‘original sin’ gene — Ah, the workings of the Christianist “mind”.
Underworld saint becoming more popular in US — Popular in Mexico, and sometimes linked to the illicit drug trade, the skeleton saint known as La Santa Muerte in recent years has found a robust and diverse following north of the border: immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor, among others — many of them non-Latinos and not all involved with organized religion.
The Story of Romney’s Career: “What I Said Is Not What I Believe” — Romney supporters often relied on his record as a famously unprincipled political weather-vane to defend him against any substantive criticism of what he said during the campaign on the grounds that he didn’t or couldn’t “really” believe it. Since Romney couldn’t be trusted, it was taken for granted that he never said what he “really” believed, and Romney supporters tried to make a virtue of their candidate’s worst character flaw. Yeah, pretty much.
QotD?: Can nothing stand in your way?
3/4/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (traveling)
Hours slept: 9.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (traveling)
Weight: n/a (traveling)
Number of FEMA troops on my block faking evidence for climate change: 0
Currently reading: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Awards, Books, Christianists, Cool, healthcare, Kalimpura, Links, Mars, Personal, Politics, Religion, reviews, Science, stories, Tech, weird
Posted: 5:45 am Mon March 04 2013 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad heads for the airport
Bastard Giveaway: Kalimpura by Jay Lake
From Inspiration to Execution — Art guru James Gurney quoting Robert Louis Stevenson.
H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon (Portland, OR) — A fun local convention is looking for a little Kickstarter help.
The Google Glass feature no one is talking about — A contrarian view of the Next Big Thing. (Via danjite.)
Scientists Uncover Invisible Motion in Video — (Via Daily Idioms, Annotated.)
Handling Luggage Problems, From Damage to Delays
Same Genetic Basis Found in 5 Types of Mental Disorders
Human sexuality is naturally promiscuous, primarily amorous — I know nothing, I say nothing…
Study of Ice Age Bolsters Carbon and Warming Link
On Purposely Getting Arrested, to Get Life-Saving Surgery — Any patient with end stage liver disease who does not have insurance (and is not eligible for Medicare) has the option of trying to qualify for state-funded Medicaid (which includes demonstrating both poverty and disability), stealing moisturizing cream from a department store, or dying. Best healthcare system in the world, yep. (Via willyumtx.)
After Benedict: Religions have to Democratize if they are to Survive
Van school worker shot during gun training class — Clearly what we need is more guns. What could possibly go wrong? (From various sources.)
Back in 19 and 70… — Tea Party idiocy (or more likely, willful ignorance) on the subject of the minimum wage.
QotD?: Is it a bird? is it a plane?
3/1/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (2,000 new words of draft on the current nonfiction project, to 6,900.)
Hours slept: 7.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 236.6
Number of FEMA troops on my block converting golf courses to concentration camps: 0
Currently reading: Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Books, climate, Conventions, Cool, Culture, guns, healthcare, Kalimpura, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, Science, Tech, weird
Posted: 5:46 am Fri March 01 2013 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad is a handsome ape with girlish eyes
2013 Book Post 3 — Sean Fodera with (among other things) a nice capsule review of my latest novel, Kalimpura.
The Evolution of the Crime Genre
Roko’s Basilisk wants YOU — Charlie Stross with more on this intellectual oddity mentioned yesterday herein.
1967 Futurists Imagine the 21st Century — Um, yeah. Heh.
Flu me to the Moon — I absolutely love this photo.
Astrophile: Evaporating planet shows how worlds vanish — (Via Daily Idioms, Annotated.)
Fragments of ancient continent buried under Indian Ocean — There’s also a lost continent in central Washington State.
How Dinosaurs Grew The World’s Longest Necks
The Sources of Partisan Bias
QotD?: Ook?
2/25/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Research for the current non-fiction project, and drafting to 1,300 words.)
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 236.4
Number of FEMA troops on my block converting golf course to concentration campsi: 0
Currently reading: Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Books, Cool, Culture, Kalimpura, Links, moon, nature, Personal, Photos, Politics, Publishing, reviews, Science
Posted: 5:25 am Mon February 25 2013 | Comments(2) |
[books|repost] Kalimpura reading March 8th, 2013
Health permitting, I’ll be reading from Kalimpura [ Powell's | BN ] on Friday, March 8th, at the Powell’s Cedar Hills location. This will be my one and only formal public event for the book due to my continued battle with cancer.
As is usual, I’ll have an open dinner from 5 pm to 6:30 pm, at McMenamins Cedar Hills, at the north end of the same retail complex Powell’s is in. If you’re planning to come to the dinner, please do let me know in comments or via email so I can include you in the headcount.
Due to chemotherapy, I’ve cancelled all my other convention and workshop appearances through this summer (at least), so if you want to see me on the hoof and Hawaiian clad, this is your only chance. Due to the reduced chemotherapy prescription I’m embarking on, this will be the first of a small series of public events and appearances I’ll be doing this spring, and into the summer if my health holds up. Hope to see you there.
Tags: Books, Cancer, health, Kalimpura, Repost
Posted: 5:55 am Tue February 19 2013 | Comments(4) |
[links] Link salad sleeps the sleep of dreams
Kalimpura — Paul di Filippo reviews my Green trilogy at barnesandnoblereview.com, with a focus on the latest book, Kalimpura. In creating Green and her universe, Lake has not only provided a vivid protagonist and a grittily glamorous world, conducive to high heroics, but also updated the kind of Red Sonja (Robert E. Howard’s heroine) and Jirel of Joiry (C. L. Moore’s swordwoman) archetype for postmodern, egalitarian sensibilities. He’s never obtrusive in this program, but always effective. This trilogy stands as a landmark in heroic fantasy that fuses pulp brio with sharp philosophical underpinnings. I think he liked it.
Australian Experts Report First Known Quintuple Negative — A language funny from Lowering the Bar.
No breasts for our guests — Censored wallpaper? Really?
Male as the Neutral Default — Ah, gender. Sigh.
Alcohol said to have big role in cancer — Not mine, since alcohol never played a big role in my life.
Cuomo Bucks Tide With Bill to Ease Limits on Abortion — As we all know, conservatives don’t want the government to come between them and their doctor, so I’m certain Republicans across America will do the intellectually consistent thing in supporting this bill.
Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence? — A fascinating article that points to some blindingly obvious conclusions about pervasive conservative hypocrisy and the Republicans’ much beloved tactics of social repression.
Preemptive Pessimism Isn’t A Plan — Still, today, after all the debunking, the repeated certification by the State of Hawaii, two successful presidential campaigns and all the background checking that implies, more intense scrutiny than any other single president in American history – after all of that, a significant fraction of conservatives in this country still refuse to openly admit that Barack Obama is a fellow citizen, that his skinny black ass is just as American as they are. They’ll readily believe every silly poorly reasoned, logically inconsistent, idiotic, ridiculous, asinine, soundly debunked conspiracy theory that comes along from every coked-out, crazy-haired, wild-eyed fruitcake with an Internet connection, but they won’t believe Barack Obama is an American citizen, a Christian, and Capitalist. And there’s nothing you can do to convince them otherwise. Nothing. Welcome to the conservative mind. Which Jim Wright analyzes in detail, contrasting their own words and stated policy positions with objective reality. (Via Steve Buchheit.)
QotD?: Did you dream the dream of sleep?
2/17/2013
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (2,400 words on novella in progress, to first draft complete at 18,100 words.)
Hours slept: 7.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.5 hours (stationary bike)
Weight: 231.6
Number of FEMA troops on my block covering up high crimes and misdemeanors in Benghazi: 0
Currently reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Books, Cancer, gender, Green, healthcare, Kalimpura, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, reviews, sex, Tech
Posted: 6:30 am Sun February 17 2013 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad knows there will be peace when it is done
The Acts of Whimsy cancer fundraiser is still live. It has made goal, but additional support is always welcome, especially given my new complications. Please check it out if you have not done so yet.
The Lakeside Kickstarter has expanded its stretch goals to include documenting the science around my genomic testing by traveling to the testing lab and interviewing the scientists there. They’v also posted a new trailer for the movie, which is very striking. So give a little to support SCIENCE!
An Act of Whimsy video from @ eustaciavye77 — She sings a silly SJ Tucker song.
Lorem Ipsum Transition Fundraiser — Our doors will close forever. Eviction day is coming. The story doesn’t have to end this way. Here’s what you can do right now to save the bookstore.
A review of Dark Faith: Invocations which includes a special focus on my story, “The Cancer Catechism” — I’m not often moved by reviews of my own work, but this one… Wow.
GIVEAWAY: Win a Complete Set of Jay Lake’s “GREEN” Trilogy! — My friends at SF Signal celebrate the release of Kalimpura [ Powell's | BN ].
Carry on My Wayward Son (Trombone Quartet) — My teen years suddenly seem so different.
The material that’s like an octopus — When pressure is applied all around them most materials shrink. But materials exhibiting a rare property known as negative linear compressibility (NLC) are different. (Via Daily Idioms, Annotated.)
Tapeworm eggs found in fossilized poop — Man, I want a coprolith to go with my trilobites!
Carrots for Doctors — A New York Times piece on medical incentives that touches on but then sidesteps the real issue in healthcare costs: profit-taking throughout our healthcare finance system. Countries with single-payer systems take less profit and pay lower costs, a double win.
Climate change may be hitting migratory species harder than we thought — Current methods don’t consider the whole picture when calculating risk. Actually, it’s just Al Gore out hunting them to help keep the hoax going. Ask any Republican, they’ll tell you those liberal “facts” and “data” about climate change can’t possibly be true.
Idaho gun-nut lawmakers freak out over man with gun in state Capitol (irony alert) — But guns make us safer! Just ask the 80 people killed every day by them!
1 dead in Phoenix office shooting; shooter at large — See how much safer those people are because of widespread private gun ownership. The NRA and the GOP, still protecting the Second Amendment rights of angry, impulsive people everywhere to kill at a whim, as should always be in the case in a just, safe and moral society.
Gabby Giffords made me cry. America? And you? — Roger Ebert on gun control.
Moral Perversity In David Mamet — Andrew Sullivan on David Mamet’s recent bizarre and counterfactual piece on gun violence. I read the Mamet piece when it came out, and couldn’t even begin to frame a response to its ghastly amoral stance.
African-American Travel and Jim Crow Segregation — I’ve heard of the Green Book before. A sobering reminder of white privilege and racism.
Can Republicans “Disengage” from Obama? — Because many Republicans and conservatives assumed the worst about what would follow Obama’s re-election (this was the “Obama unleashed” idea), they are going to be more inclined to try “winning a series of confrontations with the president” rather than less. The other problem is that many Republicans are likely to continue reacting to Obama’s re-election as they did to Clinton’s, which was a combination of disbelief that he had won and an increased obsession with “getting” him by way of investigations and scandals.
QotD?: Do you cry no more?
1/31/2013
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (still in post-operative recovery)
Hours slept: 8.0 hours (solid)
Body movement: 0.0 hours (still in post-operative recovery)
Weight: 224.4
Number of FEMA troops on my block protecting women from violence: 0
Currently reading: Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Tags: Books, Cancer, climate, Cool, documentary, Endurance, fundraiser, Funny, Green, guns, health, healthcare, interviews, Kalimpura, Links, music, Personal, Politics, race, reviews, Science, stories, Videos
Posted: 7:07 am Thu January 31 2013 | Comments(3) |
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