[links] Link salad can’t always get what it wants
What About Genre, What About Horror? — Peter Straub on gene. (Nicked from ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
nihilistickid.)
The Schilovski Gyrocar — A truly odd bit of automotive history. (Thanks to danjite.)
A Russian ekranoplan rotting — x planes with a striking bit of aviation decay. Plus ekranoplans rock the weird.
Scott and Scurvy — Fascinating essay about medicine, science and misconceived theories. (Via elfs.)
How to Build a Superluminal Computer — This article manages to be simultaneously fascinating and annoyingly vague. Also, isn’t it “supraluminal”?
More church sign lunacy — Ah, Christianism. Wonder what color the sky is in their world?
Fox’s Beck not tickled pink by Massa confession — Hahahahah.
Family Feud Politics — Slacktivist nails the “party of no” strategy of the GOP with a simple metaphor.
Updating Our Political Dictionaries — Got to account for the justly famed principled consistency of Republicans somehow.
?otD: Have you received your fair share of abuse?
3/10/2010
Writing time yesterday: 2 hours, 45 minutes
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 4.0 (iffy, grr)
This morning’s weigh-in: 232.8
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 2/10
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: cars, Cool, Funny, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech, weird
Posted: 4:15 am Wed March 10 2010 | Comments(0) |
[cancer] More new symptoms, and a very strange dream
I made a mistake yesterday. ( Under cut for digestive and medical TMI. )
Through all this, starting from before I woke up at 10:30, I had some kind of serial or continuous dream that continued into my morning waking. I suppose I was in a hypnagogic state the whole time. I don’t normally bother to recount my dreams here, and much of it is lost now anyway, but it was weird and symbolic enough for me to want to give this a shot.
( Some rather ludicrous and self-evident, yet strangely entertaining, dream neepery. )
About there I woke up for the morning, not really wondering what the heck my subconscious was on about as the symbolism of all that was stupidly obvious. Or maybe not. Perhaps it will unpack as the day goes by. I’m rather more interested in the experience of the dream’s framing and structure than in the obvious details of cancer anxiety and digestive issues. Still, strange even by my usual loose standards.
Tags: Calendula, Cancer, family, Funny, health, Personal, shellyrae, weird
Posted: 5:46 am Fri February 12 2010 | Comments(2) |
[links] Link salad will steer for you
A page is turned — UK’s Financial Times with some actual industry analysis of the Amazon-Macmillan negotiations. (As opposed to the generally simplistic US press coverage of “Macmillan is raising ebook prices, oh well”.) There are some errors here, such as an odd comment about ebooks having no marginal costs, and a mistake in describing bookshops as working on the agency model, but this is still some pretty interesting work. (Thanks to blog commentor Stevie.)
Has Amazon Moved Your Buy Button? —The Author’s Guild is funny and practical.
Highlights from TED 2010, Wednesday: “We can eat to starve cancer” — Angiogenesis, diet, exercise and cancer. Of obvious interest to some of us. (Via both shelly_rae and @gralinnaea.)
The Two-Streams Hypothesis — Art neuropsychology guru James Gurney with a fascinating piece on how the human visual system works. As Dr. Egon Spengler said, “Don’t cross the streams.”
Saturnalian Moon Dance — Some seriously ‘wow’ photos from Cassini.
Give ‘em the old razzle-dazzle — Interesting piece (with lots of photos) on disguise and camouflage of capital ships in the era of optical range finding. And yes, that’s a lot more interesting than I just made it sound. (Via Interrupting Gelastic Jew.)
Ancient Human Genome Sequenced — I think I went to high school with this guy, actually.
Dubai court annuls marriage to ‘bearded lady’ — Juan Cole with some interesting thoughts on Islamic veiling, identity and culture hacking thereby.
madwriter with a point about where the money goes — Must be nice to be on Wall Street. This stuff might drive even me to be a Socialist.
Rachel names the GOP hypocrites — This video is worth watching, especially if you somehow imagine the GOP retains any intellectual or moral consistency. Maddow names names and gives examples, over and over, of GOP congressmen and senators who slam the stimulus hard in the national media as an abject failure, then take credit for money and jobs at home. Her larger point is that the Republicans have utterly abandoned policy for politics. Not that this is news…
Pastor Wiley Drake prayed for the death of John Murtha — Ah, Christianism. That deranged, righteous intersection between conservatism and religion. Worst of both worlds, the virtues of neither. I don’t understand why the GOP ties itself to these moral monsters. (Well, votes, of course, but at such a cost to the character and credibility of the conservative movement.)
Affirmative Action and Political Hypocrisy — On both sides of the aisle in fact, but guess which major conservative party leads the league by a mile in the hypocrisy standings?
Human microchips seen by some in Virginia House as device of Antichrist — Uh, yeah. Check out this gem: “I just think you should have the right to control your own body,” [Republican] Cole said. That’s a pretty bizarre sentiment from the party that enthusiastically supports forced pregnancy and criminalization of private sexual behavior between consenting adults. I’m sure Cole will be walking this little mistake back any time now.
?otD: Do you want a driver? Climb inside.
2/11/2010
Writing time yesterday: 60 minutes (revisions on
Endurance)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.75 (soundly)
This morning’s weigh-in: 225.0
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 6/10
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: amazonfail, Art, Cancer, Cool, healthcare, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, weird
Posted: 5:50 am Thu February 11 2010 | Comments(1) |
[links] Link salad sleeps the sleep of the dead
lonfiction with a thought experiment for writers — Concerning motivation and unsold words.
Amazon, Macmillan Settle Price Dispute — The Wall Street Journal with more lazy, single sourced pro-Amazon reporting. One of the reporters replied back to my query about their coverage by telling me they were waiting for the iPad release to see how the price increase fell out, without acknowleding my point about the lack of coverage of dynamic pricing or Macmillan’s perspective.
Galleycat with a brief round up of the quiet ending of the Amazon-Macmillan Standoff — Given a continued lack of public statements on the part of Amazon’s senior management, I’m not convinced this is over. I continue very disappointed ghat both the popular media and the general media are treating this almost exclusively as a “price increase: story, when the reality is much more nuanced.
Fritz Lang: Behind the Scenes with a Master Science Fiction Filmmaker — Wow. (Via @pablod.)
Vintage dating techniques from the 1930s — Wow. The past really is another country. (Via vintagephoto here.)
Sun halo over Cambodia — APOD with an alien sky right here on earth.
Scaramanga’s flying car — I was impressed as hell by this when I was 12.
Secret Caves of the Lizard People — Strange Maps with some downright Dero history of hidden Los Angeles.
?otD: Have you danced the Lorazepam tango?
2/8/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0 minutes (infusion day)
Body movement: 30 stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 9.25 (soundly)
This morning’s weigh-in: 225.6
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 6/10
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: amazonfail, cars, Cool, Links, Movies, Personal, Photos, Process, Publishing, Science, weird
Posted: 5:28 am Mon February 08 2010 | Comments(2) |
[links] Link salad takes you down to its place by the river
One of the world’s oldest languages dies — A sad and fascinating article that eventually led to me an even more fascinating Wiki on the Sentinelese people. Some serious First Contact stuff going on there, for you skiffy types.
Lucy Knisley on the comforts of life — I really like this piece.
Children playing at air war — A strange photo from x planes.
I met a character out of Dickens — A love letter to vanishing London from Roger Ebert.
War of the Worlds: 1905 — Detroit, with the moon towers that later wound up in Austin, one near my old house.
Lusi Mud Volcano: Indonesia — From NASA’s Earth Observatory.
The Big Hold-Up — Daniel Larison on the Shelby Senate hold on Obama nominees. I’m rapidly becoming a big fan of Larison, even though we don’t agree on much, because he’s honest about GOP policies and politics. Almost literally no one else on the Right is. Look at the conservative outrage over Obama’s handling of the Underwear Bomber, which happens to be virtually identical to Bush’s handling of the Shoe Bomber, which conservative commentators were perfectly fine with. Larison doesn’t fall into that “Democrats did it, there it’s bad; Republicans did it, therefore it’s good” trap. I am learning a lot from him about both political analysis and rhetoric.
Harold Ford Jr., Michael Steele spar on issues during Arkansas appearance — “Steele attacked President Obama for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for families who make more than $250,000.’Trust me, after taxes, a million dollars is not a lot of money,’” And this is the party that a significant percentage poor and middle class American votes with? The reporting claims this is a joke, but the statement is completely consistent with GOP politics and policy. Confidential to anyone in America making less than six figures: the GOP does not have your interests at heart, and they’re happy to say so quite openly. (And yes, I know I’ve been taken in by a couple of parody links. But when the parody is indistinguishable from the everyday rhetoric, pace Colbert, isn’t that a symptom of a much deeper problem?)
?otD: Did she feed you tea and oranges that come all the way from China?
2/6/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0 minutes (infusion day)
Body movement: 40 minute suburban walk (with the pump on)
Hours slept: 9.5 (fitfully)
This morning’s weigh-in: 232.0 (!)
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 10/10
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: Cool, Culture, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, weird
Posted: 9:07 am Sat February 06 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad plans to go nowhere this Sunday
APOD with a squib on the Voynich Manuscript — I’ve always loved this thing.
Gotham Underground: 1904 — Shorpy with the City Hall subway station in NYC. What a photo…
Supermarine S5 — That is one beautiful airplane. From x planes.
Word of the year? Spokespirate — Um…
Distilled Geography: Europe’s Alcohol Belts
New math — Hahahahahaha.
Texas BOE: Paine or No Paine? — In case you don’t understand why having Christianist conservatives in charge of the nation’s school textbooks (via the Texas state procurement process, which sets de facto standards nationwide), check out this bit. These clowns are controlling what your children learn.
Group Receives ‘Tsunami of Vile Hate’ After ABC Exposé on U.S. Military ‘Jesus Rifles’ — Like the hymn says, “They will know that we are Christians by our love.”
?otD: Where will you go today?
1/31/2009
Body movement: 30 minutes on stationary bike
Hours slept: 8.5
This morning’s weigh-in: 223.6
Currently reading: [between books]
Tags: Cool, Culture, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, weird
Posted: 7:23 am Sun January 31 2010 | Comments(1) |
[links] Link salad wears a yellow hat to blend in with the bananas
Werner Herzog reads Curious George — Hahaha.
“I dreamed I was twins in my Maidenform bra” — Um…
The sandpile model of Congress
The Other Terrorisms — Christianist lies, intimidation and murder against abortion. You know, the stuff that it’s persecution to speak out against, despite the deaths and terror? I simply don’t understand the Christianist obsession with forced pregnancy.
[South Carolina] Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has compared giving people government assistance to “feeding stray animals.” — Ah, compassionate conservatism.
?otD: Are you curious, George?
1/25/2009
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 8.0
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a (forgot)
Currently reading:
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
Tags: Culture, Funny, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, Videos, weird
Posted: 5:33 am Mon January 25 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad lives in a house in the sky
A reader reacts to Trial of Flowers
A reader reacts to Metatropolis
Penny Arcade on Herman Melville — I think my brain is broken now.
Photo prayers — A lovely site. (Via Bill M.)
Parabolic days ahead — The subtitle on this sign is even weirder.
The Tet Zoo guide to the creatures of Avatar — A working biologist looks carefully at the movie. Lengthy, cool post.
Chinese farmer builds robot army — I, for one, welcome our new mechanical overlords.
The Rehabilitation Of Joseph McCarthy? Texas Textbooks Process Grinds On — Confidential to conservative America: When one of your cultural heroes is a vile, prevaricating, power-hungry manipulative drunk who was one of the most destructive political figures of his era, you might want to re-examine your principles.
The Manimal Prize — More on the power of pink unicorns, and perhaps the sociology of poverty. (Via private message, thanks to my tipster.)
Hullabaloo on Pat Robertson — This ties in exactly to what I’ve been saying about the privileging of Christianity in American society. Remember: this man used to call up the fucking president of the United States. And he got through. And the president listened to him. You ever had that kind of access to power? Got it now? (This in the context of Robertson’s flatly insane Christianist remarks on the Haiti disaster.)
?otD: George or Jane?
1/15/2009
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 7.0
This morning’s weigh-in: 225.0
Currently reading:
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
Tags: Books, Cool, Funny, Language, Links, Movies, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, reviews, sience, Trial, weird
Posted: 5:37 am Fri January 15 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad drinks from a jelly jar glass
Mainspring garners a rather nice review
Nil by Mouth — Roger Ebert, on never eating again in wake of his cancer surgeries. Stunningly beautiful writing.
Hindenburg letterhead — From Letterheady, a rather curious blog. (Via Drawn!.)
Vintage Sci Fi Pulp Illustrations
The Garden Army? — An interesting and vaguely disturbing WWI US home front poster.
Radio Hat — Um… (Thanks to @ShellyRaeClift.)
Exoplanets: Mapping a Distant Blue Dot — More from Centauri Dreams on using Earth as a target dummy to calibrate exoplanetary observations.
Brit Hume and the right to stupid speech — More on alleged discrimination against Christians in public discourse. (Which is discrimination, I suppose, if one defines any divergence from one’s own views as discriminatory. Too bad, Brit. White male Christians really are not an oppressed class.)
?otD: Fred or Barney?
1/14/2009
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 7.5
This morning’s weigh-in: 226.4
Currently reading:
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
Tags: Art, Books, Cancer, Cool, Culture, health, Links, Mainspring, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, reviews, Science, weird
Posted: 5:32 am Thu January 14 2010 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad flies like an eagle
Another dose of Martian awesome — Wow. Amazing stuff, from Bad Astronomy.
One for the conspiracy theorists: spell “ILLUMINATI” backwards and put .com at the end. Where does it go? — (Thanks to @juhasaarinen via @danjite.)
Media Picks On Poor Ugandan Christians — trying to keep Uganda’s Christians from putting gays to death amounts to “imposing” on their rights — not the right of gays not to be put to death, but the right of Christians to put them to death This effort was fanned by American Evangelical leaders, including the allegedly moderate Rick Warren. To my Christian friends: is this what you really want?
Northern Ireland in uproar over lawmaker’s secret affair with teen — Ah, family values. As usual when moral rectitude is preached by conservatives, it means “for thee but not for me.” (See the meme “the only moral abortion is my own” for a lot more on this tendency of conservatives to let themselves off the very same hooks on which they want to hang other people out to dry.)
The Conservative Case for Gay Marriage — Why same-sex marriage is an American value. Former Bush solicitor-general Ted Olsen goes way off the conservative reservation, expresses sanity and sticks to principles in direct contravention of 30 years of GOP politics. Starting countdown to Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck grovelfest. (Thanks to sheelangig.)
?otD: What does your spirit carry?
1/12/2009
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 6.5
This morning’s weigh-in: 226.4
Currently reading:
Bangkok 8 by John Burdett
Tags: Cool, Funny, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, Science, weird
Posted: 5:23 am Tue January 12 2010 | Comments(0) |
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