Jay Lake: Writer

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[links] Link salad is still in the great southern land

Best SF reviews my story “Permanent Fatal Errors” — It’s from the Sunspin cycle, and appears in Is Anybody Out There?.

Blind Prejudice — An interesting squib from Bad Science on judging by appearance.

Where Dams Once Stood, Prospectors Spur Anger — Panning for gold… (Thanks to Dad.)

The Hunt For Liberaltarian Candidates — Socially liberal? Fiscally conservative? Too bad for you!

?otD: Would you eat bugs? Moreton bugs?


9/4/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (AussieCon 4)
Body movement: convention walking to come
Hours slept: 9.25 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: The Judas Rose by Suzette Haden Elgin

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[links] Link salad learns Strine, eats kangaroo steak

yuki_onna on the glamour of being a writer at an overseas con — As has oft been observed, one of the paradoxes of developing a meaningful writing career is that the issues which are problematic to the writer begin to seem ever more odd to non-writers.

Detective Storytelling — Art guru James Gurney deconstructs the narrative of a painting. As a writer, I use narrative to create pictures. I love this kind of parallax view of the creative process.

The babbling phase: ranting toddler speaks out

WWII Poster: Are You Helping? — I love this image.

The New Science of Network Archaeology…a powerful tool that is likely to generate some interesting new insights into the process of evolution, not to mention the history of the networks.

Beck-MLK flow chart — Because Glenn Beck is the white MLK. (Via lt260.)

Top 10 Reasons for Higher Taxes on the Top 1%

?otD: What’s the Australian word for beer?


9/4/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (AussieCon 4)
Body movement: convention walking to come
Hours slept: 8.5 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: The Judas Rose by Suzette Haden Elgin

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[link] Link salad asks can you hear the thunder?

My short story “The Tentacled Sky” is up in audio at Drabblecast — A wee bit of Lovecraftian pastiche.

Launch Party: 1905Shorpy with an image I find a bit disorienting.

Your Own Hot Spot, and Cheap — And, maybe not so much. Boo on Virgin Mobile. (Both via my Dad.)

The Extraordinary Tale of Red Rain, Comets and ExtraterrestrialsFor years, claims have circulated that red rain which fell in India in 2001, contained cells unlike any found on Earth. Now new evidence that these cells can reproduce is about to set the debate alive.

Terraforming Ascension Island

Put up or shut up — Roger Ebert on the persistent and pernicious conservative lies about Obama.

The Truth-O-Meter report card on Glenn Beck — The amazing thing is that even one of his statements parsed as true. (Via .)

?otD: Which way does the water run when you flush the toilet?


9/3/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (Worldcon)
Body movement: convention walking to come
Hours slept: 9.5 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin

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[links] Link salad flies to Oz today

arcaedia reminds us that today is the release date of my collection The Sky That Wraps — For some value of “today”, as I write this post on the other side of the International Date Line.

Steampunk Wallpaper — (jimvanpelt via lt260.)

Lady Clankington’s Cabinet of Carnal Curiosities — And via danjite, further steampunk curiosities. NSFW.

Is that my son wearing a dress?I’m a progressive, supportive dad. Why was I so troubled by the sight of my little boy dressed as Snow White? (Thanks to willyumtx.)

How to Remake LifeVenter Institute researchers have made the first viable cell with a synthetic genome. Cool stuff. I’m waiting for someone to do this ab initio.

Metrocontextual science map — This is seriously cool as well.

It’s Witch-Hunt Season — ‘Tis autumn and a conservative’s fancy turns lightly to thoughts of impeachment and political harassment.

Beck, Christianity and Social Justice — Yeah, well…

?otD: Have you ever wrapped the sky?


9/1/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (NZ tourism)
Body movement: airport walking to come
Hours slept: 9.0 (fitful, plus 90 minute nap as well)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

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[links] Link salad generates interest

Generating Power from Electricity in the AirA researcher describes a potential new source of renewable energy. This is nicely SFnal.

Poul Anderson’s Answer to FermiCentauri Dreams on one of my favorite topics.

Penn and Teller take on vaccines — Antivaxers are endangering their children and everyone else’s. Period.

‘The Illustrated Man’Obama’s enemies have painted him as an alien threat. Can he fight the flight from facts? But fact-free outrage is so much more fun!

Glenn Beck’s Rally — Asking where the honor went. Speaking of fact-free outrage…

?otD: Where does your electricity come from?


8/31/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (touring Cape Palliser)
Body movement: urban walking to come
Hours slept: 9.75 (interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

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[links] Link salad wakes up, still on the far side of the world

Nick Gevers discusses steampunk on BBC’s World Service

Adjectives from country names? — Another fun post from Language Log. Be sure to check out the comments.

Retirement Haven Hunts Youthful Violators — A weird twist on the ongoing economic crisis in America.

Olbermann on religious intolerance in the US — Attention Islamaphobes: We have this little thing called the First Amendment. May I recommend it to you? I am certain conservatives of all stripes are with me on this, being the strict Constitutionalists that they are.

The D’Oh of Xenophobia — Must be hard to be a wing nut in America and keep up properly with the hate list…

?otD: Have you seen the Southern Cross?


8/30/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (convention time)
Body movement: urban walking to come
Hours slept: 10.25 (interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 5/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

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[links] Link salad gets didactic

A glowing review for my new collection The Sky That Wraps

A profoundly negative review of my tor.com story, “The Speed of Time” — I continue to be baffled that people seem to think this is political fiction. Unless the absence of white male characters makes it “political”?

Educational Chemistry Crayons complete set of 48 crayons with labels — (Thanks to .)

The power of anecdotesBad Science on research, reporting and anecdotal evidence.

The right-wing, blinded by its own hysteriaYet right-wing commentators and politicians have twisted themselves in knots to portray the Park51 project as a grievous assault — and “the American people” as victims. Victims of what? Rauf’s sinister plot to despoil the city with a fitness center, a swimming pool and — shudder — a space for the performing arts? Hahaha.

?otD: How political is your fiction?


8/29/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (convention time)
Body movement: urban walking to come
Hours slept: 8.5 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh

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[links] Link salad hangs out in Kiwi country

My tor.com story draws a lot of flak in comments — Apparently I write with tired, politically correct tropes. Good thing I always believe the story belongs to the reader.

SMBC on ending sentences with a preposition

Wombats, pangolins and platypuses in a Victorian mansion… in Wales — Huh.

A Battle of Britain anniversary poster — Some very nice design here.

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[links] Link salad has one foot on the platform, the other on the train

My semiautobiographical novelette, “Dream of the Arrow”, is up at Subterranean — A difficult story about my high school experiences, somewhat fictionalized. One of my regular readers here on LJ is a friend from those days, and is actually a character in this.

Editorial Evaluations, Moms and Pedatic Purple Prose — shadowhelm on critique. (Via lt260.)

MolybdomancyArt haruspication guru James Gurney with a new one on me.

A Search Service that Can Peer into the FutureA Yahoo Research tool mines news archives for meaning–illuminating past, present, and even future events.

Space is the final frontier for evolution, study claimsCharles Darwin may have been wrong when he argued that competition was the major driving force of evolution. Oooh! Oooh! Somebody call the Discovery Institute!

Dattoos: Body Art Melds DNA, Computing — Very, very strange. (Via e_bourne.)

How Fox Betrayed Petraeus — A detailed take on GOP shenanigans in the faked-up Park51 controversy, a/k/a “Ground Zero Mosque”. (Via shsilver.)

?otD: Was your mother a tailor? Did she sew your new blue jeans?


8/25/2010
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Kalimpura outline)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.5 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: 244.2
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Pretender by C.J. Cherryh

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[links] Link salad eyes the fall publishing schedule

A rather nice review of Pinion in Analog

io9.com includes my forthcoming collection The Sky That Wraps in their list of “All the books you’ll be lusting for this fall season”

Never Wake Up: The Meaning and Secret of Inception — Some interesting analysis here. Partially dovetails with the take that calendula_witch and I are developing. (Thanks to goulo.)

Pulsar Timing: An Outer System Tool — This is some seriously weird science. And cool as all get-out.

The End of ManagementCorporate bureaucracy is becoming obsolete. Why managers should act like venture capitalists.

Why do pundits think Bush regularly attended church? — He didn’t. Neither did that conservative saint, Ronald Reagan. Obviously Reagan was a secret Muslim!

Stewart: Fox Smears Owner Alwaleed bin Talal! — Hah!

Covert OperationsThe billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama. And the Right gets its panties in a wad over George Soros… (Via danjite.)

What are the Republicans trying to hide behind the Ground Zero Mosque? — Not sure I buy this, but it’s an interesting argument, and not the least bit out of character for the party of Atwater, Ailes and Rove.

The GOP and the “Ground Zero” Mosque — The Cato Institute weighs on rank political opportunism by Republicans. See Competing Perspectives on the Mosque Controversy for more.

The GOP’s Long, Hot, Racist Summer — Ah yes, nothing like standing on your principles to make your point.

?otD: What forthcoming books are you lusting for?


8/24/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.75 hours (WRPA, Kalimpura outline)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.25 (interrupted)
This morning’s weigh-in: 244.2
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 4/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: Destroyer by C.J. Cherryh

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