Trains | jlake.com

[links] Link salad wakes up on hump day

My “Don’t have much to say” generated some fairly entertaining comments: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]

The Language of Science Fiction — Various and sundry in an audio hour. (Thanks to scarlettina.)

The World’s 12 Most Beautiful Train Rides — I’ve taken the train from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar, through the Gobi Desert. That was pretty damned impressive.

A Machine-Driven Way to the Stars — Centauri Dreams on (among other things ) uploaded minds. Some great world-building nuts and bolts here for you skiffy types.

Social Media for Scientists Part 1: It’s Our Job

Transgender kids: Painful quest to be who they are — From my male, cisgendered perspective, this actually seems like a fairly aware and sensitive piece for something in the mainstream press. Curious what my LGBTQ friends think of it.

Love in action — 80 percent of unmarried evangelical young adults (18 to 29) said that they have had sex. How’s that whole abstinence education thing working out, then? And I wonder what the STD rate is among this group. Maybe a little rethinking based on the realities of human nature is in order.

‘We know how to get out of this mess’ — Slactivist Fred Clark on how we continue to not fix the economy.

Billionaire Owner of Washington Wizards Wants Obama to Stop Calling Him Rich — The questions asked in this blog post are very, very sharp.

O’Reilly Happy To Let “Totalitarian” NPR Promote His New Book — In which one of the Right’s leading media lights displays an astounding lack of self-awareness.

Government shutdown averted: Why did Congress get this close? — Three letters. G. O. P.

Why No GOP Candidate Can Soothe The Angry Elephant — Good luck with that, guys.

?otD: What’s the worst thing that ever happened to you?

9/28/2011
Writing time yesterday: 4.0 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 hours (solid)
Weight: 224.0
Currently reading: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Tags: audio, Christianism, economy, gender, LGBTQ, Links, media, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, Science, sex, trains, Writing

Posted: 5:17 am Wed September 28 2011 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad is even more ragged

Próba obrzydliwości — A rather negative Polish review of the translated edition of Trial of Flowers, from a reviewer who also disliked Mainspring.

It Must Follow, as the Night the Day — Madeleine Robins on writers who don’t read. Huh?

Don’t Waste Transportation — New in our gallery and store: From WWII, “War Traffic Must Come First.” Mmm, steam locomotive. Trains. Mmm.

Uh oh! Netflix doesn’t own the @Qwikster Twitter account — Glad to see they’re on top of Marketing 101.

Capitalism, Animals, and the Ownership of Icons — This may be perfectly well within the law, but it’s also nuts.

Is the World Running Out of Oil? — Poo pooing the Peak Oil hypothesis. Again.

Harvesting ‘limitless’ hydrogen from self-powered cells — US researchers say they have demonstrated how cells fuelled by bacteria can be “self-powered” and produce a limitless supply of hydrogen.

Circumbinary Orbits and Stellar Radii — “But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!”

Fighting back against creationism — Hooray for scientists in the UK for having the temerity to fight back against the religious charlatanism of evolution denial.

‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ formally ends — Openly gay people will now be able to serve in the US military after repeal of controversial 18-year-old DADT law. One manifest conservative injustice finally ends, at least. (Yes, I know DADT was a Clinton-era “compromise”, but but it was a concession to rank GOP bigotry.) Watch now for all the alarmist rhetoric from the Right to completely fail to come true. As always.

Study Links Medical Costs and Personal Bankruptcy — Harvard researchers say 62% of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. in 2007 were caused by health problems—and 78% of those filers had insurance. Unpossible! Everyone knows Rush said HCR was a socialist plot! Like I’ve said, in general, the people who oppose HCR are people who’ve never had to deal with the real consequences of serious illness. The conservative failure of empathy and imagination is firmly in play, along with some good old fashioned Calvinist/Christianist vindictiveness. (Thanks to danjite.)

Through The Looking Glass: Bachmann’s Long History Of Strange Statements — The national media is now starting to figure something out: Michele Bachmann says a lot of things that aren’t just kind of crazy, but manifestly false. No wonder the GOP base has been so enthralled with Bachmann. She fits right in with FOX News’ twisted version of America.

Boehner’s ‘Tea Party Challenger’ Really a Randall Terry Plant? — Golly. Imagine that. The Tea Party being used for conservative political ends. No one could have possibly foreseen this.

?otD: I still got nothing.

9/20/2011
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (ill from chemo side effects)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.0 hours (severely interrupted, plus napping)
Weight: 218.0
Currently reading: Matter by Iain M. Banks

Tags: Art, Books, business, Cool, gay, healthcare, law, Links, Movies, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, reviews, Science, trains, Trial

Posted: 4:14 pm Tue September 20 2011 | Comments(0) |

[photos] UPRR Pullman Car

Yesterday the_child and I popped by the south end of the Brooklyn Yard of the Union Pacific Railroad, where a ratty old Pullman car has been parked for a while. We got a look at it, and determined the car had been converted to a MOW bunk car. It was fun to take a few pictures, and on a Sunday afternoon the yard was dead quiet except for a fuel truck nosing about some locomotives.

The photos… Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Photos, trains

Posted: 5:40 am Mon August 08 2011 | Comments(2) |