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| Monday, November 9th, 2009 |
daytonward
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11:55p |
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| Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 |
infinitydog
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12:51a |
Why Google Books Is My Friend…
For years I have been trying to remember the title and author of a short story I once read during my adolescence. I was fairly certain it had been published in OMNI magazine, and I recalled clearly that it was about a couple who gain the ability to stop time whenever they maintain physical contact while in the loft bed of their New York City apartment.
I tried many times over the years to find this story by searching for various terms, with no luck. Until tonight. A simple Google search for: “the loft” “stop time” short story returned a Google Books result that I recognized instantly as the story I had been trying to remember:
“Rent Control” by Walter Tevis.
They have an excerpt of it on Google Books; it’s currently available as part of a collection titled Home and Beyond: An Anthology of Kentucky Short Stories. Which, not coincidentally, I am now adding to my Amazon wish list.
Thank you, Google Books.
Mirrored from davidmack.pro/blog. |
| Monday, November 9th, 2009 |
foryoursplendor
|
9:41p |
mash-ups
I'm feeling better this week, and I've got much more energy. I'm getting into the groove of going to bed, waking up and eating on a schedule finally. I never want to do shift work again, and especially not overnights. Work has been going really well, its actually exciting to go there every day. The people that I hired are super interesting and fun to spend 8 hours a day with.
I downloaded a bunch of music that I've always wanted to listen to, but never did this week: The Cure, Morrissey, The Smiths, Adam and the Ants, etc. I've become a huge Cure fan... I'm in love with It's Friday, I'm In Love. I also downloaded a bunch of M.I.A and must admit that I am very guilty of listening to it while walking home from work, and pretending that I'm fucking Billie Piper in Secret Diaries of A Call Girl walking down the streets of London... not that I didn't do the same thing all the times I've actually been in London... Okay, I confess I walk like that all the time. Sue me. I've lost a bit of weight recently due to good old WW, and I'm back wearing my Top Shop skinny jeans also.
I've been walking to and from work, so thats helping the weight loss along with the fact that I just bought the new DDR. That should speed up the process even more. I've never thought of myself as a video game player, but I've been getting into them more lately. I've been trying to convince Brian to buy DJ Hero with me, but he's much better at being frugal than me. I just wanna hear the mash-ups... but I guess I'll just have to settle for girltalk for now. I almost died of delight when I heard No Diggity and 15 Step together just then.
*wonders why friends never go dancing anymore*
Oh yeh, and:
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steve_mollmann
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10:48p |
The Mists of Time
 There's another review from me up on Unreality SF: it is sort of related to my regular Companion Chronicle duties (which I'm trying to limit myself to at the moment), as I am reviewing the Companion Chronicle that came free with issue #411 of Doctor Who Magazine, The Mists of Time, written by Jonathan Morris ( Max Warp, The Glorious Revolution) and starring Katy Manning as Jo Grant. This came out with the July issue, actually, but I kept on letting it slide, wanting to work my way through Cyberman as well as some "just for fun" audio dramas (mostly the Mila trilogy) first. So I've finally gotten around to it four months later. I justified the delay to myself on the basis that as it was free, no one really needed to know if it was any good or not; it's not like they could be ripped off if they got it and it was crappy (though it wasn't). Steve |
daytonward
|
7:58p |
For ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) terri_osborne....
Hey, did you know there was a novelization for the first Librarian movie, Quest for the Spear? I didn't.  I stumbled across a copy today at a local Half Price Books. So far as I can tell, there were no novelizations for the next two films in the series. However, Amazon lists a graphic novel for Return to King Solomon's Mines (which I also somehow missed). The book was published by Atlantis Studios, and their website also indicates some sort of ongoing Librarian series in comic form. However, Mines was released in 2006, and the Atlantis site still lists the series as "coming soon." The Librarian is a franchise I'd love to play around in, should a license for original tie-in novels ever come about. If the rumors are true and the next entry in the films series gets a theatrical release, a tie-in license isn't out of the question. That'd be fun. :) Current Mood:  intrigued |
tiggerallyn
|
8:33p |
So I'm watching House, and I see Hugh Laurie in that costume, and all I can think is Prince George and his magnificent trousers. |
seweccentric
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6:26p |
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tiggerallyn
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5:38p |
On Carl Sagan’s Birthday
The Writer’s Almanac tells me that today, the 9th of November, is Carl Sagan’s birthday. He would have been seventy-five.
Said Garrison Keillor of Sagan this morning: “[He] published a number of books that helped regular people understand ideas about the universe, including Dragons of Eden: Speculations of the Evolution of Human Intelligence (1977), which won the Pulitzer Prize, and Cosmos (1980),which is considered the best-selling science book ever published in English.”
I have read Dragons of Eden, which I enjoyed a great deal. Broca’s Brain is interesting. Cosmos I received at an early age, and I have read it so many times I am surprised that my copy has yet to fall apart. I especially liked Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, his book on pre-human evolution. Comet gets overlooked, but it’s very much the spiritual and thematic successor to Cosmos; it introduced me to the idea of Dyson Trees, which is one of those ideas that are absolutely amazing and I want to write a story about them, but I have absolutely no idea where to begin or what kind of story I want to tell. Sagan’s most recent book, a collection of lectures he delivered in 1985 is entitled The Varieties of Scientific Experience, and I liked that a great deal.
I have never read The Cosmic Connection, his book on SETI. It’s a book I’ve wanted to read for, yes, twenty-five years. I just never have.
And, of course, I remember Sagan’s occasional articles in Parade; he’d write about O’Neill Colonies and space exploration and things like that.
And even though I posted this a few weeks ago, I’ll post it again:
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch,
You must first invent the universe.
For someone who watched Cosmos at a young age and had his life shaped by it, this video is really cool. 
And if you want the song as an mp3 (because who doesn’t, and I love listening to it), you can download it here.
Originally posted at allyngibson.net. Cross-posted to LiveJournal. |
madfishmonger
|
3:23p |
Essay for a scholarship
I'm applying for pretty much anything I can get my hands on to go to school next year. I found a bursary at Cross Lites where you have to reflect on a quote. This is my first stab at it. ( Read more... )I need to add a "how will this scholarship help me" bit, but I can't come up with anything other than "school is expensive". Current Mood:  indifferentCurrent Music: Radio Nigel |
marccarlson
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1:59p |
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scottpearson
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12:18p |
Weekly round-up: Special Basement Renovation Edition
It's an epic battle to the death: me v. the basement project. There is light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully not the light of an oncoming train on fire while transporting nuclear waste and driven by an engineer whose wife just left him for his best friend after flushing all his collectible comic books down the toilet and having his dog put down. But this project has turned out to be a prolonged sucking of the life out of me . . . much like continually seeing previews for the latest episode of Real Housewives of [fill in the blank]. Big progress over the weekend but not much rest. The work week was the usual mash-up of deadlines and meetings, disasters narrowly averted, fires put out, and the occasional bonus of free food. My projects are all more or less on track for now, but there's always the chance that around the next bend the tracks have been torn up by crazed badgers. Friday: Got home from work, had a quick dinner, and then we went to Hamline University's production of the musical Urinetown, which turned out to be an enjoyably silly and self-referential send-up of musicals. Saturday: Spent most of the day in the basement. After previously building a big section of shelves from Ikea, Satan's store, and filling them with books, I now noticed that the whole thing was leaning a bit to the right. Any further to the right and my shelves would be listening to Sean Hannity. That would not stand. So, took all the books off, rebuilt, added additional bracing, shimmed, leveled, put books back. Shelving now stands right in the middle of the road. Took on other basement-related chores almost right up until getting together with friends for a night of wine and pizza, both of which were desperately needed, especially the former. The day went by with no writing, breaking a good streak. Damn basement. Sunday: Back underground, as if buried alive. Ah, the amontillado. For the love of god, Montresor! More getting things back onto shelves. Reorganizing, recycling old boxes, getting comic books and magazines into magazine file boxes and onto shelves, etc. I now have quick access to my Howard the Duck and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comics. Which is good. Ran out to Menards for additional supplies and took advantage of being out of the house to stop in at the comic book store. Got a handful of Trek titles plus the first issue of the cool new Ricardo Delgado Age of Reptiles series. Got home and did a little more work almost right up to when my sister-in-law and company came over for dinner. More wine, this time with a nice rare steak, both of which were desperately needed, especially the former. After everyone else was in bed, I wrote a couple words and tweaked an outline template to get back in the daily writing saddle. Tonight I shall again descend into the basement for an hour or two at least. Another shelving unit to finish building and then populate, in part, with back issues of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. Soon I shall have to post some more pictures. |
kradical
|
12:01p |
Schott's Miscellany 8 November 2009
The Louvre, in Paris, opened as a public museum (1793)BRIC The BRIC states are: Brazil, Russia, India, China. From this group, a number of additional terms have developed: BRIMC = BRIC + Mexico BRICS = BRIC + South Africa BRICA = BRIC + the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar BRICET = BRIC + Eastern Europe and Turkey I can wish the traveler no better fortune than to stroll forth in the early evening with as large a reserve of ignorance as my own.
Henry James (1843-1916) Current Mood:  awakeCurrent Music: "To Ohio" by the Low Anthem |
infinitydog
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12:01a |
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| Sunday, November 8th, 2009 |
daytonward
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11:55p |
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kradical
|
11:54p |
my Sunday feeling
Spent much of the morning and afternoon at the dojo helping out with a promotion, and then went to my parents' place for relaxation and dinner. Last night, I had a wine-tasting night with friends, at which food was eaten, wine was drunk, and the Shore Leave roast of me was screened. I also did some revisions work on Heart of the Dragon, and I'm currently catching up on various bits of TV. Right now I'm watching Stargate Universe on the DVR with a cat in my lap. *smile* Life is good..... Current Mood:  happyCurrent Music: Stargate Universe on the DVR |
gerrileen
|
11:27p |
Horse of the Year: Z or Rachel?
I've been thinking a lot about Horse of the Year. I was moved to tears on each viewing of Zenyatta in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Yes, it was a hell of a race. But a few months ago, Rachel gave us a series of those, too--and she moved me to tears for most of her races, not just this one (if moving me to tears is a factor, of course). Z's race is cool and of the moment, so it's natural to want to hand her the crown 'cause she prances and paws the ground (and yeah, that's freakin' cool, I'm not making fun of her). She looks like an amazon out there and she beat the boys after a rough trip over a mile and a quarter. It's hard not to say she deserves it. A lot of people are saying she deserves it because Rachel "didn't show up." As if not liking the surface isn't suddenly a valid reason to run. Am I the only one who remembers Zenyatta scratching at Churchill on Oaks day for the Louisville Distaff? Why? Because it was raining (the track improved to fast by the feature, was listed as good for the Distaff). So why did Z scratch: because the SURFACE had changed and they didn't want to run her on it. Why? Because they obviously didn't think she'd do her best on it. So why is it valid for Z to have skipped that (at the start of her season, after she shipped there and everything) and not valid for Rachel to skip a surface even more different than slop to fast is, after a long grueling season in which she ran three more races than Zenyatta? (In fact, at three, Rachel has run as many races as Zenyatta's run in five years. Rachel has nine consecutive wins, and an overall record of 11 wins and 2 shows (her only time out of the money was her first race as a maiden). Let's move off the whole Rachel didn't show crap, okay? The real issue is: which filly deserves the title? I blather on behind the cut. ( Blathering--and also some really interesting data--commences: ) |
kradical
|
10:08p |
Schott's Miscellany 7 November 2009
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge, in Washington State, collapsed, only four months after its completion (1940)TUSSER'S PERFECT CHEESE In his elaborate text Five Hundred Good Points of Husbandry (1573), Thomas Tusser presents ten characteristics the perfect cheese must have: Not like Gehazi, i.e., dead white, like a leper Not like Lot's wife, all salt Not like Argus, full of eyes Not like Tom Piper, "hoven and puffed" Not like Crispin, leathery Not like Lazarus, poor Not like Esau, hairy Not like Mary Magdalene, full of why or maudlin Not like the Gentiles, full of maggots Not like a Bishop, made of burnt milk When you're at war, you think about a better life; when you're at peace you think about a more comfortable one.
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) Current Mood: amusedCurrent Music: "Smokestack Lightnin'" by Eamonn Walker |
kradical
|
9:59p |
Schott's Miscellany 6 November 2009
Tchaikovsky committed suicide by taking arsenic in order to avoid allegations of a homosexual affair (1893)BEZOARS Bezoars are collections of solidified matter that form within the stomach or small intestines. Commonly found in animals (especially grass-eating ruminants), bezoars have been traditionally prized for their "magical" powers. For example, Lapis bezoar orientale, obtained from the stomachs of antelopes and Persian wild goats, was considered to be particularly effective against poison. (The word bezoar derives from Persian badzahr: bad meaning "against," and zahr meaning "poison.") In rare cases, usually associated with psychiatric disorders, bezoars occur in human beings. If bezoars grow to form an obstruction, they may require surgical removal. Three classical types of human bezoar are recognized: Trichobezoar: a collection of hair Phytobezoar: a collection of fruits and vegetable matter Trichophytobezoar: a collection of hair and fruit and vegetable matter Good prose is like a window pane.
George Orwell (1903-50) Current Mood:  tiredCurrent Music: "Let's Take a Walk" by Raphael Saadiq |
tiggerallyn
|
9:45p |
On Christmas Cards
<Professor Farnsworth> Good news, everyone! </Professor Farnsworth> I have my Christmas cards for this year. I do not have Jay & Silent Bob cards this year. Nor do I have vehemently profane Wise Men this year. Unless I'm out somewhere and I see something else that catches my eye. ;) Current Music: KT Tunstall - "Suddenly I See" |
marccarlson
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8:08p |
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gerrileen
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8:51p |
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seweccentric
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6:26p |
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madfishmonger
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5:26p |
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daytonward
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3:38p |
Pinch me, cuz I'm dreamin'.
BUCS
WIN
!!!!
: Ahem. : Bucs 38 - Packers 28. They came from behind. They found out that there just might be something to rookie quarterback Josh Freeman. And they did it all while wearing the Creamsicle Colors of Doom that only die-hard, Day 1 fans can love. And at halftime, they honored Lee Roy Selmo, aka The. Greatest. Buc. Player. Ever. Still Tampa's only member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Selmon became the inaugural member of the Ring of Honor at Raymond James Stadium. That's only about 25 years or so overdue, but better late than never. Oh, and they won. Suh-weet. Current Mood:  WOO-HOO!!!!Current Music: Chargers-Giants game on CBS |
christymarx
|
12:35p |
We're having a long run of cool, but sunny days. Pleasant, if a bit monotonous. I spend most of the days networking, researching job possibilities, dealing with email, and yes, I will confess to playing more WoW than before. {g} My little tabby girl, Zoe, has been a total lap fungus. She's the only one happy about this turn of events. For several weeks, we've had a mother squirrel (obviously nursing) show up in the back yard, grab a couple of peanuts and apparently vanish into the rosemary bushes right outside the kitchen door. That made no sense because there's nowhere for her to go. We finally figured it out. One day after she'd grabbed her peanuts, I went to the front window and sure enough, there she was. She scoots along the side of the house, across our front yard and runs across the street to the house opposite us. We worry about her running back and forth across that street because people drive like such lunatics and she has a tendency to stop about three times while making the crossing. I expect her babies to show up in the yard any day now. Or maybe they have. We've seen quite a few very young squirrels lately. One had the most gorgeous tail. It was lined in exceptionally long white and black hairs. There's one little squirrel that has some kind of neurological problem. He falls to the right when he tries to sit up and has trouble keeping his balance. He also has some kind of deformity on one front paw. But he comes by regularly to scoff up large amounts of seed. I saw another black squirrel while taking a walk yesterday. It was about a mile from here, at the edge of park. Beautifully coal-black. We haven't seen the one that would come to our back yard for months now. |
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