Jay Lake: Writer

[writing] The style of another time

“But I must be advised, how I be over-liberall, in publishing these wonderful mysteries, till the Sages of our State have considered how farre the use of these things may stand with the Policy and good government of our Countrey, as also with the Fathers of the Church, how the publication of them, may not prove prejudiciall to the affaires of the Catholique faith and Religion, which I am taught (by those wonders I have seen above any mortall man that hath lived in many ages past) with all my best endeavors to advance, without all respect of temporall good, and soe I hope I shall. ”

Reading this book is almost like reading a foreign language. Fascinating precursors to the science fiction of the modern era. I’m just glad I wasn’t Godwin’s copy editor.

Tags: Funny, Language, Writing

Posted: 6:21 am Mon January 30 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad is wet and chilly

The Drudge and the Architect — superversive on the distinction between hard work and working harder, as applied to writing.

Fifty Pens Are Better Than One — mrockwell talks about writers and cancer. (And mentions me briefly.)

What would Jesús do? — Language Log on, among other things, cross-cultural naming conventions.

CultureInfographic: The New American Marriage — (Via Curiosity Counts.)

Humans in big gatherings — A visualization of the scale of human groups.

The airship Norge being pulled out of its hangar in 1926

Saturn’s Moon Titan May be More Earth-Like Than Thought

Circumbinary Planets: A New Class of Systems?

Darwin’s fossils rediscovered in cabinet

Science education group decides it’s time to tackle climate change — Soemday rather soon climate change denial is going to look like Flat Earthism, and a whole lot of people are going to work very hard to pretend they weren’t on the wrong side of the question.

How Fares the Dream? — Paul Krugman on MLK’s legacy.

Why I want to bring down the internet – for a day — Jimmy Wales, the Wikipedia founder, hopes sites from Google to Twitter will join his protest against a legal crackdown.

What the Right Gets Right — I just can’t get past the moral diktats and rampant bigotry on the Right.

?otd: What the heck is winter mix?

1/17/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (took the day off)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 (solid)
Weight: 220.4
Currently reading: Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore<

Tags: climate, Cool, Culture, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Process, Science, Tech, Writing

Posted: 6:33 am Tue January 17 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad stays indoors

Albert Einstein on the intuitive mind — Reminds a lot of how I, and many others, think about writing.

Apostropocalypse Now — Language Log is funny about linguistic peevery.

Our new basic ‘Portlandia’ image: One, two, twee

Project to pour water into volcano to make power — What could possibly go wrong?

After Fukushima, fish tales — The possibility of radioactive contamination in Japanese food exports.

Elusive particles could help to stem climate change

Survey: U.S. Protestant pastors reject evolution, split on Earth’s age — Proof that theological education is no barrier to willful ignorance. (Via shsilver.)

Evangelicals, Seeking Unity, Back Santorum for Nomination

Untruths, Wholly Untrue, And Nothing But Untruths — Paul Krugman on GOP rhetoric and reality. Mind you, he’s talking about objectively, provably false statements, not political spin.

?otd: What are you reading today?

1/15/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (2,500 words on short story)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (solid)
Weight: 219.0
Currently reading: Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross<

Tags: Christianism, climate, Funny, Japan, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, Portland, Process, Religion, Science

Posted: 7:21 am Sun January 15 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad is home

The Writing Life: The point of the long and winding sentence — Pico Iyer says writing longer phrases is a way to protest the speed of information bites people are subjected to each day. (Via scarlettina.)

Uneasy Neighbors in a Southern Gothic Tale — A strange story of racism and real estate. (Via my Dad.)

Role reversal: Employers say they can’t find workers

Americans scaled back on health spending during recession — Hmmm.

Processed meat ‘linked to pancreatic cancer’ — A link between eating processed meat, such as bacon or sausages, and pancreatic cancer has been suggested by researchers in Sweden. Oh, my bacon!

Salad-bar strategy: The battle of the buffet — Why buffet tables are a microcosm of greed, altruism & sexual politics. (Snurched from Curiosity Counts.)

Every presentation, ever — Hahahah.

For Priests’ Wives, a Word of Caution — A weird little squib that does nothing to make me feel better about the Catholic church.

How Likely Is a Runaway Greenhouse Effect on Earth? — The results of the latest analysis are not entirely reassuring. This is science. Asking questions, exploring uncertain answers. Certainty without full and consistent proof is for ideologues.

Felix Salmon: How Capitalism Kills Companies

Italy’s Financial Turmoil Turns Mafia Into Nation’s Largest Bank

Missouri Republicans Introduce Bill That Forces Educators To Teach Creationism In Schools And Universities — Because willful ignorance isn’t spreading fast enough? (Via shsilver.)

Haley Barbour’s pardons put Southern redemption on trial — Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour defended his mass pardon of over 200 current and former convicts, quoting the Christian principle of redemption enshrined in Southern law and tradition.

Israeli Mossad Agents allegedly Impersonated CIA in fostering Baluch Terrorism against Iran

Obama challenges Republicans on goal they embrace — Given that their stated number one priority is to unseat Obama, this isn’t hard. The GOP isn’t interested in jobs, or the economy, or running the country more effectively.

Everyone’s Got a Right to Their Own Opinions… — Another day, another bald-faced Republican lie that Your Liberal Media won’t be challenging.

?otd: Are you in your own space this weekend?

1/14/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (2,500 words on short story)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.75 (solid)
Weight: 220.6
Currently reading: 7th Grade Stories by the_child and her class (last year)

Tags: Cancer, Christianism, climate, Culture, Food, Funny, healthcare, Iraq, Language, Links, Occupy Wall Street, Personal, Politics, Process, racism, Religion, Science, Videos, Writing

Posted: 8:32 am Sat January 14 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad head back west

The unbearable loss of words

Dear 16 year old me — A video about malignant melanoma. (Via David Ivory.)

Mercedes apologizes for using Che Guevara image — Using a mass murderer to sell cars. Classy.

Great Science Frauds — Science is not known for drama, except when a researcher commits fraud.

New Storage Device Is Very Small, at 12 Atoms

NASA able to observe a long time ago, in newly found galaxies far, far away — Researchers used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to find five tiny but bright galaxies clustered together 13.1 billion light-years from Earth.

Saturn’s Iapetus: Painted Moon

Exosaturn — Discovering a ring system around a planet orbiting a distant star. Wow.

How Do Iraqis View the Effects of the Iraq War? — Ahem.

Uncompassionate Conservatism — The point isn’t necessarily that Romney has lived in privilege all his life; so did FDR. It’s his apparent inability or unwillingness to imagine what it’s like for those less privileged, his complete failure to try, even in his imagination, walking in someone else’s shoes that stands out. This echoes a point I’ve made a number of times in the past is that the contemporary incarnation of conservatism involves a failure of both empathy and imagination. (Via David Goldman.)

?otd: How many of you have never flown in an airplane?

1/13/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (not enough time)
Body movement: Airport walking to come.
Hours slept: 6.5 (fitful)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Lion’s Blood by Steven Barnes

Tags: Cancer, cars, Cool, Culture, healthcare, Iraq, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Science, Tech

Posted: 3:52 am Fri January 13 2012 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad slopes into Monday

Advice on Writing from Modernity’s Greatest Writers — I like (but do not agree with) Mark Twain’s: “Write without pay until somebody offers pay; if nobody offers within three years, sawing wood is what you were intended for.” (Snurched from Curiosity Counts.)

Defining Words, Without the Arbiters — Unmediated lexicography. (Thanks to Dad.)

BFTP: The myth of bra burning feminists — (Via @tansyrr.)

A Nigerian criticizes the ‘First World problems’ meme — As I have as well. (Via danjite.)

Boston’s Brain Drain: The Cost of Being America’s Drunkest City — Speaking of legal drugs.

States say it’s time to rethink medical marijuana — I haven’t bothered with recreational drugs in over a quarter century, but I still strongly favor legalization. Prohibition has been a disaster for everyone except law enforcement budgets and criminal profits.

12 Hangover Cures From Famous Heavy Drinkers — And speaking of drinking… Back when I occasionally drank enough to worry about hangovers, my cure was some vitamin C or orange juice, two aspirin or Advil, a Pepcid AC and a huge glass of water before going to sleep. Seemed to work pretty well for me. How about you?

International Linear Collider race starts in physics — Ah, big science. Too bad the US abandoned our leadership role in this stuff with the SSCL cancellation.

Will China Outsmart the U.S.? — The value of research and intellectual property. You know, that science stuff that the GOP voting base hates.

Manhunt in Mount Rainier park after US ranger shot dead — Another fine citizen exercising his Second Amendment rights to his defense of essential liberties. Aren’t you proud of your NRA for helping make this kind of patriotism so much easier?

?otd: Back to work today?

1/2/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 10.5 (solid)
Weight: 210.4
Currently (re)reading: The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

Tags: China, Culture, gender, guns, Language, Links, Nigeria, Personal, Politics, Process, Science, Writing

Posted: 8:50 am Mon January 02 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad lazes

History of Science Fiction — And here’s one for sci-fi geeks: Artist Ward Shelley’s hand-drawn flowchart tracks the literary genre’s 2,500-year legacy, from nascent roots in mythology to the post-Star Wars space operas of today. I object to characterizing space opera as somehow a post-Star Wars phenomenon, but that’s a headline writer problem. The chart is weirdly cool. (Via Curiosity Counts.)

The Law of Online Sharing — Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg will eventually have to deal with the fact that all growth has limits.

Hashtags’ mission creep — Language Log with more than you ever wanted to know about #hashtags.

Disruptions: Norelco on Takeoff? Fine. Kindle? No. — You can shave during takeoff and landing?

Lie of the Jungle: The Truth About Cheeta the Chimpanzee — The truth about Cheeta? Also, an interesting story about publishing. (Via danjite.)

Smokin’ hot island rises up from depths of the Red Sea — How, um, Mosaic.

All Four Oregon Wolf Packs Are Making Babies — The politics of this are rough, as rural conservatives out here hate wolves almost as much as they hate liberals, and for no better reason, but it’s good to see them growing.

Christian Priests Brawl at Jesus’ Birthplace — I think the spiritual life has great value, but when you get to the point in your religious attachments where you are beating people up over your claims to an old building, you’re no longer talking about spirituality, and a sane secularism would be far preferable. Um, good God yes.

Bachmann’s Iowa chairman quits, endorses Paul — Oops.

“Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source,” Mr. Perry said — Um. Canada, she is not foreign? And conservatives wonder why the rest of us think you guys have lost your minds.

?otd: Ever drive a Ferrari?

12/29/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 10.0 (solid)
Weight: 206.4
Currently (re)reading: The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

Tags: Cool, Culture, Language, Links, nature, Oregon, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Tech, Travel, weird

Posted: 8:01 am Thu December 29 2011 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad tries to wake up

Interview: Lilith Saintcrow, author of ‘The Hedgewitch Queen’

Could This Be The End Of Cancer? — It’s a disease that kills millions a year and a slew of hoped-for miracle treatments have gone nowhere. Now scientists say vaccines could hold the key—not just to a cure but to wiping out cancer forever.

Periodic Table of Swearing — Yes, this is NSFW, both visually and audibly. Funny as hell, though.

The assholocracy — Language Log with a useful new word.

Accidental Scientist Hawks ‘Online Marketplace for Brains’ — The headline on this very cool story is a bit misleading. This is about data science crowdsourcing.

Trillion-frame-per-second video — This story makes my brain hurt. In a good way. SCIENCE!

Augmented Reality for Six-Year-Olds — Toy makers bring augmented reality to the masses.

Next Big Bet for Space: Airborne Rocket Launcher — This is cool. More here.

A second life for Vietnam’s bile bears

Did walking evolve underwater? ‘Walking fish’ suggests that it did. — A study of the African lungfish suggests that our evolutionary ancestors first started walking before they migrated onto land.

Pakistan police rescue chained students from madrasa — Pakistani police say dozens of students were at the Madrasa Zakarya, an Islamic seminary, in Karachi. Several were reportedly chained in a basement, denied food and pressured to join the Taliban. The only difference between this and some Christian ‘schools’ in America is a matter of degree, not intent.

Tennessee family home burns while firefighters watch — Life in a fee-for-service conservative paradise.

What Perry gets wrong about religion in America — Everything, basically, outside the narrow box of Christianist bigotry so beloved of the GOP. Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson comments.

Post-American Iraq by the Numbers — In case you labor under the delusion that we somehow improved things in Iraq.

There Is Only One Issue In America — Hmm. Interesting article. I think he ignores the issue of faith-based social conservatism, which fatally distorts the compromise process essential to party politics, but still an interesting point.

?otd: Coffee or hot chocolate?

12/14/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 10.0 (solid, plus plus napping)
Weight: 208.4
Currently (re)reading: Return of Retief by Keith Laumer

Tags: Cancer, Christianists, Cool, Funny, health, interviews, Iraq, Language, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech, Videos, weird

Posted: 6:03 am Wed December 14 2011 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad for a frozen Sunday

A reader reacts to Mainspring — Really, really not with the liking. At some length.

Everyone Speaks Text Message — Technology and ‘heritage languages’. (Via my Dad.)

The dos and don’ts of Googling people

NASA: Earth’s Prehistoric Record Warns of Nearing Rapid Climate Change — Yeah, except that since the Earth is 6,000 years old, this can’t possibly be true. Take that, reality!

Study: Greenland faces land crisis as global warming heats up

Searching for Meteorites in Antarctica — A cool APOD photo. I can’t wait for my brain to come back online post-chemo so I can work on my own Antarctica project.

You Press the Button. Kodak Used to Do the Rest. — Kodak saw the shift from analog to digital photography coming. Here’s why it couldn’t win. Young Sidney Kodak will never come to be, I’m afraid, Mr. Bester.

Evolution: The Natural History of Animal Skeletons, Stripped Down — What a flamingo, a capybara, and a guinea pig have to do with the beginnings of recorded time. Offer not valid for the willfully ignorant. (Via Curiosity Counts.)

Won the battle and lost the war? How about lost the battle and won the war? — elusivem on the normalization of being gay.

Imaginary Farm Dust Regulation Banned By House — Ah, conservative “reality”. Where the sky is occasionally blue, even.

There Will Be No Spoilers in 2012 — Conservative commentator Daniel Larison on the GOP ticket. If conservatives were not motivated enough to rebel against the GOP in 2008 at the tail end of one of the most disastrous Republican administrations of the last eighty years, they are hardly going to start casting protest votes in large numbers when there is an opportunity to defeat a Democratic incumbent. In a rational world, after the miserable failure that was the Bush administration, the GOP shouldn’t be able to elect a dog catcher. Their incompetence at governance has solid, very expensive proof.

Mitch McConnell flunks College — So what is Mitch McConnell on about? Does he not know his Constitution? Is he merely pandering to the crowd he was addressing? Hello? He’s a Republican. Both of those things are true pretty much by definition in the GOP these days. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

?otd: Billy or ice cream?

12/11/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 11.0 (badly interrupted plus napping)
Weight: 207.8
Currently (re)reading: Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold

Tags: Antarctica, Books, climate, Culture, gay, Language, Links, Mainspring, Personal, Politics, reviews, Science

Posted: 7:42 am Sun December 11 2011 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad dances the cotton-eyed joe

A reader reacts to Endurance — They liked it. Interestingly, they read and enjoyed this book without having previously read Green. That pleases me.

The Tweets of War: What’s Past Is Postable — Re-enacting historical events on Twitter with realtime WWII. (Via my Dad.)

Fluorescent Spray Could Help Surgeons Identify Cancer Quickly — Having been the recepient of an erroneous surgical procedure which also missed an existing tumor, this might have saved me immense trouble. Though I wonder how much good it does for tumors embedded within healthy tissue, as opposed to on the surface of an organ.

Virtually indestructible robostarfish penetrates tiny cracks

Reverse Mentoring Cracks Workplace — Top Managers Get Advice on Social Media, Workplace Issues From Young Workers. I don’t normally bother to link to the Wall Street Journal, which is basically FOX News for the 1%, with all the same lies and distortions of reality, but this is interesting and nonpolitical.

Flaming Napalmed Knickers — Language Log (again) on the completely and objectively false conservative meme that Obama uses “I” more often than other presidents, and is therefore a narcissist. I especially like this comment, which could apply to virtually all conservative allegations about Obama: Frankly, I’m disappointed in these people. Can’t they invent new fabrications instead of tediously repeating old ones?

God and man and William F. Buckley

When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality? — Conservative David Frum: I can’t shrug off this flight from reality and responsibility as somebody else’s problem. I belonged to this movement; I helped to make the mess. Something very, very few conservatives are willing to say. Good for him for at least partially owning up to the hideous monstrosity the GOP has become.

The Price of Intolerance — It’s early yet for a full accounting of the economic damage Alabama has done to itself with its radical new immigration law. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of small-minded conservative bigots. But I repeat myself. Reality, meet ideology. More on this in other Southeastern states pushing little brown people out in the name of pursuing immigration ‘reform’.

Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad — This is beyond disgusting. Where are those self-proclaimed Constitution-loving conservatives now? (Via danjite.)

?otd: Would you have been married a long time ago?

11/29/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (chemo fatigue)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (fitful)
Weight: 211.0
Currently (re)reading: The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

Tags: Books, Cancer, Culture, Endurance, healthcare, history, Language, Links, Personal, Politics, reviews, Tech

Posted: 6:00 am Tue November 29 2011 | Comments(0) |