Friday June 21, 2013 "I was drinking a vampire's blood when the phone rang."
Story potential: ? I don't yet know what the phone call is about.
Stimulus: Reading Down These Strange Streets, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. It's a collection of original supernatural detective stories. "Original" in the sense that they're not reprints; only three of the sixteen were original enough for my taste.
***Returning to the real world, there's an English politician who's certain his real mother was an alien. Via nwhyte on LiveJournal:
Other people believe equally unlikely things, says Simon Parkes. And anyway, aliens know more about Whitby's needs than Scarborough council does
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/mar/27/whitby-councillor-alien-mother-simon-parkes
***Seen at the Wedge Coop: Crapola. Cranberry-apple granola.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Thursday June 20, 2013 The May/June issue of Writers Digest has an article on writing dialect. Okay as far as it goes.
What it doesn't say: Other people's dialects have sounds you might not hear. If your dialect conflates two sounds which are separate in another dialect, you might not hear the difference between "Don" and "Dawn" or "Erin" and "Aaron." Or between "horse" and "hoarse."
There's evidence that at least some speakers of some English dialects can't tell when Americans end a syllable with "r" and when they don't. Ian Fleming stated that Americans pronounced his name as "Iarn."
And you don't know what your dialect sounds like to people who speak differently.
***Butch Malahide, rec.arts.sf.written:
Yes, a televised moon landing was predicted in one Golden Age story that I know of: Harold M. Sherman, "All Aboard for the Moon" (novel, 55000 words), Amazing Stories, Volume 21, Number 4, April, 1947. Never reprinted as far as I know.
****Spam: Escape Death With This Natural Mineral From The Ocean
****From Twitter:
ANNE LAMOTT @ANNELAMOTT
Write because you have to, want to, and can; because you have a story to tell, & because no one, not even you, is going to stop you again.
Retweeted by Shira Lipkin
What it doesn't say: Other people's dialects have sounds you might not hear. If your dialect conflates two sounds which are separate in another dialect, you might not hear the difference between "Don" and "Dawn" or "Erin" and "Aaron." Or between "horse" and "hoarse."
There's evidence that at least some speakers of some English dialects can't tell when Americans end a syllable with "r" and when they don't. Ian Fleming stated that Americans pronounced his name as "Iarn."
And you don't know what your dialect sounds like to people who speak differently.
***Butch Malahide, rec.arts.sf.written:
Yes, a televised moon landing was predicted in one Golden Age story that I know of: Harold M. Sherman, "All Aboard for the Moon" (novel, 55000 words), Amazing Stories, Volume 21, Number 4, April, 1947. Never reprinted as far as I know.
****Spam: Escape Death With This Natural Mineral From The Ocean
****From Twitter:
ANNE LAMOTT @ANNELAMOTT
Write because you have to, want to, and can; because you have a story to tell, & because no one, not even you, is going to stop you again.
Retweeted by Shira Lipkin
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Wednesday June 12, 2013 To Waite House, for the monthly NAPS (Nutritional Assistance Program for Seniors) distribution.
And the twice-monthly produce distribution. Which this time included ten pounds of chicken leg quarters, and a large amount of pork patties.
***New Kind of Dark Matter Could Form 'Dark Atoms'
by Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com Contributor
Date: 10 June 2013 Time: 06:05 PM ET
http://tinyurl.com/ktnm3o7
***From politicalwire.com:
Maine State Rep. Ken Fredette (R) declared that he and most of his Republican colleagues oppose accepting federal funds to expand health care coverage because the genders think differently.
Said Fredette: "From the other side of the aisle I hear the conversation being about 'free this is free, we need to take it and it's free and we need to do it now' and that's sort of the fundamental message that my brain receives. Now, my brain being a man's brain sort of thinks differently, because I say, well, it's not if it's free is it really free because I say in my brain there's a cost to this."
Here's the video....
http://tinyurl.com/pe42srs
Perhaps this gender difference in brain function explains why it's always been women who fight duels?
And the twice-monthly produce distribution. Which this time included ten pounds of chicken leg quarters, and a large amount of pork patties.
***New Kind of Dark Matter Could Form 'Dark Atoms'
by Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com Contributor
Date: 10 June 2013 Time: 06:05 PM ET
http://tinyurl.com/ktnm3o7
***From politicalwire.com:
Maine State Rep. Ken Fredette (R) declared that he and most of his Republican colleagues oppose accepting federal funds to expand health care coverage because the genders think differently.
Said Fredette: "From the other side of the aisle I hear the conversation being about 'free this is free, we need to take it and it's free and we need to do it now' and that's sort of the fundamental message that my brain receives. Now, my brain being a man's brain sort of thinks differently, because I say, well, it's not if it's free is it really free because I say in my brain there's a cost to this."
Here's the video....
http://tinyurl.com/pe42srs
Perhaps this gender difference in brain function explains why it's always been women who fight duels?
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Tuesday June 11, 2013 Late last night, thinking what a sane human might be like.
Answer this time: calm and relaxed.
And what is your answer?
***In the morning, thought about science fiction stories in which anyone can easily spy on anyone else.
***Shopped at the Wedge Coop. Then across Lyndale Avenue to Steeple People Thrift Store, where I bought a deck of cards.
At Southeast Library, picked up a book on hold: Becky Lang & Jay Gabler (eds.), Future Cities, a fiction compilation by the Tangential. A couple of the stories were mildly interesting.
***James Nicoll asked for titles of famous problematic short stories.
A high percentage of the ones which fit his criteria could be summed up as "There is only one solution, and it's morally repugnant to the reader." An innocent young woman must die; most of Earth's population must die; civilization must die in atomic wars again and again if the human species is to survive.
Problem with the first two: I can think of other solutions.
There are other things which can be tossed out the airlock.
The inferior people who can't be persuaded to use contraception could be sterilized; or the superior minority could donate sperm and ova to raise the average intelligence.
With the third? Other intelligent species reach their limits and die out. I don't think that's really a worse outcome. If humans become extinct, Earth can spawn another intelligent species.
***From Twitter:
Davho Pldal @SnarkOnTap
Donald Trump called Edward Snowden a 'grandstander'. In other news, irony just took cyanide and stabbed itelf [sic] while jumping off a bridge.
Retweeted by Mark Brooks
Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy
The academic paper that predicted the NSA scandal http://atfp.co/12jYrAh
Answer this time: calm and relaxed.
And what is your answer?
***In the morning, thought about science fiction stories in which anyone can easily spy on anyone else.
***Shopped at the Wedge Coop. Then across Lyndale Avenue to Steeple People Thrift Store, where I bought a deck of cards.
At Southeast Library, picked up a book on hold: Becky Lang & Jay Gabler (eds.), Future Cities, a fiction compilation by the Tangential. A couple of the stories were mildly interesting.
***James Nicoll asked for titles of famous problematic short stories.
A high percentage of the ones which fit his criteria could be summed up as "There is only one solution, and it's morally repugnant to the reader." An innocent young woman must die; most of Earth's population must die; civilization must die in atomic wars again and again if the human species is to survive.
Problem with the first two: I can think of other solutions.
There are other things which can be tossed out the airlock.
The inferior people who can't be persuaded to use contraception could be sterilized; or the superior minority could donate sperm and ova to raise the average intelligence.
With the third? Other intelligent species reach their limits and die out. I don't think that's really a worse outcome. If humans become extinct, Earth can spawn another intelligent species.
***From Twitter:
Davho Pldal @SnarkOnTap
Donald Trump called Edward Snowden a 'grandstander'. In other news, irony just took cyanide and stabbed itelf [sic] while jumping off a bridge.
Retweeted by Mark Brooks
Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy
The academic paper that predicted the NSA scandal http://atfp.co/12jYrAh
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Saturday June 8, 2013 Picked up Alan Weisman, The World Without Us from Southeast Library. So far, looks like the best speculation I've seen on what Earth might be like if humans died out.
***Damnation Army
Disassembly of God
Unethical Culture Society
***From Facebook:
Virginia Tadrzynski via Anne Rice
So, apparently the Queen, in all reality, could have been a 'Queen'........
Is this proof the Virgin Queen was an imposter in drag? Shocking new theory about Elizabeth I...
www.dailymail.co.uk
According to a controversial new book Queen Elizabeth I died aged 10 of a fever, and a young male imposter was put in her place.
***Via nwhyte on LiveJournal:
What if…Ireland had joined the Allies in World War II?
http://tinyurl.com/lc3283f
***From Twitter:
BringMeTheNews @BringMN
With cigarette tax eminent, sales catch fire as smokers stock up to save bucks http://dlvr.it/3V4HPv
***"This peanut butter is loved by many in our office, so much so that we can't keep a jar full! The unique blend of spicy jalapeños, sweet honey crystals and sea salt make for the perfect mixture of salty and sweet."
***Damnation Army
Disassembly of God
Unethical Culture Society
***From Facebook:
Virginia Tadrzynski via Anne Rice
So, apparently the Queen, in all reality, could have been a 'Queen'........
Is this proof the Virgin Queen was an imposter in drag? Shocking new theory about Elizabeth I...
www.dailymail.co.uk
According to a controversial new book Queen Elizabeth I died aged 10 of a fever, and a young male imposter was put in her place.
***Via nwhyte on LiveJournal:
What if…Ireland had joined the Allies in World War II?
http://tinyurl.com/lc3283f
***From Twitter:
BringMeTheNews @BringMN
With cigarette tax eminent, sales catch fire as smokers stock up to save bucks http://dlvr.it/3V4HPv
***"This peanut butter is loved by many in our office, so much so that we can't keep a jar full! The unique blend of spicy jalapeños, sweet honey crystals and sea salt make for the perfect mixture of salty and sweet."
Monday June 10, 2013 Felt better than in about a week.
***On Twitter, Janet D. Stemwedel (aka docfreeride) had discussed certain comments about a philosophy professor's resigning from a university after accusations of sexual harassment. She didn't find explanations of why it couldn't really have been sexual harassment convincing.
A reply I made to her was quoted in her Storify entry: "Baffling things I have read in blog comments discussing Colin McGinn's exit from University of Miami"
http://tinyurl.com/qdtn95n
Recommended for feminists who suffer from low blood pressure, or difficulty in feeling anger.
[Insert advocacy of providing male faculty with vatgirls here.]
***Seen: Packaged naan, with the explanation that naan is Indian pizza.
***On Twitter, Janet D. Stemwedel (aka docfreeride) had discussed certain comments about a philosophy professor's resigning from a university after accusations of sexual harassment. She didn't find explanations of why it couldn't really have been sexual harassment convincing.
A reply I made to her was quoted in her Storify entry: "Baffling things I have read in blog comments discussing Colin McGinn's exit from University of Miami"
http://tinyurl.com/qdtn95n
Recommended for feminists who suffer from low blood pressure, or difficulty in feeling anger.
[Insert advocacy of providing male faculty with vatgirls here.]
***Seen: Packaged naan, with the explanation that naan is Indian pizza.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Friday May 31, 2013 YOUR URGENT RESPONDS IS HIGHLY NEEDED,IF YOU ARE STILL LIVING.
I was tempted to reply that I'm a zombie.
***foreignaffairs.com
Essay - May/June 2013
Africa's Economic Boom
Shantayanan Devarajan and Wolfgang Fengler
Sub-Saharan Africa's GDP has grown five percent a year since 2000 and is expected to grow even faster in the future. Although pessimists are quick to point out that this growth has followed increases in commodities prices, the success of recent political reforms and the increased openness of African societies give the region a good chance of sustaining its boom for years to come. http://tinyurl.com/kdgxvnp
Snapshot
Africa's Accidental Advancement
Morten Jerven
The GDPs of many African countries appear to be soaring, which is partly a statistical fluke due to recent corrections of decades of bad data. African countries now face the challenge of rewriting their poorly recorded economic histories and adopting up-to-date statistical measures that will capture the continent's future growth. http://tinyurl.com/l378l4w
I was tempted to reply that I'm a zombie.
***foreignaffairs.com
Essay - May/June 2013
Africa's Economic Boom
Shantayanan Devarajan and Wolfgang Fengler
Sub-Saharan Africa's GDP has grown five percent a year since 2000 and is expected to grow even faster in the future. Although pessimists are quick to point out that this growth has followed increases in commodities prices, the success of recent political reforms and the increased openness of African societies give the region a good chance of sustaining its boom for years to come. http://tinyurl.com/kdgxvnp
Snapshot
Africa's Accidental Advancement
Morten Jerven
The GDPs of many African countries appear to be soaring, which is partly a statistical fluke due to recent corrections of decades of bad data. African countries now face the challenge of rewriting their poorly recorded economic histories and adopting up-to-date statistical measures that will capture the continent's future growth. http://tinyurl.com/l378l4w
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