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Hey who turned off the lights [May. 21st, 2013|12:37 am]

tigertoy
[Tags|, ]

My power went out a few minutes ago. Will my creaking old XP box finish installing the F***ING updates that it decided it should install instead of doing what I F***ING TOLD IT TO DO and SHUT DOWN NOW? Oh, there, it finished. I don't know how long the batteries in my UPS will last; it's not as creaky and old as the computer, but it's not exactly new. Now it's really spooky quiet in here, without any fans. Well, except for the UPS, which is still beeping because the answering machine is still plugged into it. I could sit here on the laptop while it has power, but it's time I should be in bed anyway. Sure hope the power comes back on before morning.
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Freecycle marches on [May. 20th, 2013|09:10 pm]

dreamshark
[Tags|]

Since April 30, when I signed up for freecycle.org, I have gotten rid of 3 good-sized boxes of random electronic detritus, 2 boxes of magazines, a 15-year-old cell phone, a small bag of mixed inkjet cartridges, a box of computer game demo disks, and a 1998 version of Partition Magic (disk-management software).

However, I have discovered one thing that absolutely nobody will take: a 50-year-old, 50-pound, electric typewriter.

And I have to say that things aren't looking too good for the box of brand-new unused floppy disks.
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(no subject) [May. 20th, 2013|08:11 pm]

novapsyche
[Tags|]

NC woman accused of trying to poison 5 with cheese -- Although we were all taught in kindergarten to share, sharing isn't mandatory.

Press rewind: The cassette tape returns -- Amongst analogue purists, that is. (Yet even when cassettes comprised the height of recording media, they were annoying & temperamental. I almost prefer LPs.)

Police: Suspects Mistakenly Dial 911 During Crime -- The worst kind of butt-dialing. (I can't verify that is what happened, but if 911 wasn't on a shortcut how did four buttons [three numerals & enter] get pushed? The worst luck ever?)

Dead monkey, elephant meat and reptile purses seized at LAX -- The picture of the macaque is so sad.

This entry posted originally at Dreamwidth Studios. You may comment here or there.
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Recent entertainment [May. 20th, 2013|06:04 pm]

dreamshark
[Tags|, ]

I finished Ivanhoe, continuing throughout to be surprised by how good it was. I now understand why it was one of Richard's favorite books as a kid and suggested that he read it again to be surprised at the undercurrent of dry humor and political commentary that sails over the heads of the 12-year-old audience. It's much like the Baum Oz books in that way. I liked Ivanhoe so much that I moved the 1997 Ivanhoe mini-series to the top of my DVD Netflix queue. That's the filmic version that got the best reviews. I may read Rob Roy next.

But first I galloped through my Mother's Day gift from Thorin, Below Stairs. An interesting bit of background for both Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs although the "upstairs" folks certainly don't come off as well as they do in the television versions. mle292, you might be interested in the view of the class situation from the kitchen.

Finally watched "Lincoln," which I liked considerably better than the disappointing "Argo." It's pretty much "The West Wing" in 1865. It's kind of an uphill battle to generate suspense for the passage of the 13th Amendment, but I learned a lot about the Lincoln household that I either never knew or had forgotten. Incidentally, Lizzie (the black woman who always seems to be at Mary Lincoln's elbow) was a real person, not a character inserted by Hollywood to be the token black person in all those scenes. Daniel Day-Lewis does indeed create a compelling and human portrait of Lincoln.

I can't even remember what it was like to watch a historical movie in the days before Wikipedia.
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The return of the catbird [May. 20th, 2013|05:31 pm]

pameladean
There's a catbird in the front yard doing a concert from the peabush. Earlier it or a relative was tuning up in the back yard in a mulberry. This one has been talking to a lot of song sparrows and red-winged blackbirds, as well as the odd robin and house finch. I haven't had a mimicking catbird right in my yard for a number of years now. I heard one singing in the yard of the Minn-Stf meeting last Saturday, too. While I doubt that it followed me home, it too had been listening to song sparrows and red-winged blackbirds.

I am so far behind that I don't even know where to begin. David has a job he likes better than the previous one. This means we can go out for dinner together again, which is lovely. (If we go out with other sweeties there's some outside contribution, but we share finances and I have not made money from writing in quite some time now, so just the two of us doing something requires greater consideration in difficult times.)

I have a Secret Project with someone who is not on LJ. I have never had one before! Perhaps it is not really so very Secret, but I am too entertained to actually ask my fellow conspirator whether it is or not.

I know people are still waiting for photographs of Saffron. There are some, but I'm having trouble getting them onto LJ. Soon, I hope. She has settled in pretty well. She seems an insouciant and self-sufficient cat, with a high distractability quotient. She does provide what Raphael calls "affection blitzes," where she will descend on you, purr madly for a very short time, and then go about her business, which mostly involves watching birds and squirrels from the windows, running about very fast, and sleeping. She has not yet decided to play with Cassie, but Cass is allowed to lollop along behind her when she races through the house, as long as a certain minimum distance is maintained.

I am still writing the Liavek novel. I have gotten to the point where I need to stop and consider the shape of things and move stuff around and look at the plot outline and think, "Uh-oh." I am postponing this until after Wiscon.

Hiking season started very late this year. But Raphael and I have been to Elm Creek Park Reserve and to Nerstrand Big Woods State Park for the ephemerals. Nerstrand was alive with red-headed and red-bellied woodpeckers, orioles, redstarts, robins, and chickadees. Eric and I have made three very different visits to Eloise Butler and one to Elm Creek. At Elm Creek, we heard spring peepers in the various small marshes we passed on the Meadowlark Trail, and also a gabble that sounded exactly like ducks. But there were no ducks. There were blue-winged teal and mallards on the creek, but no ducks in the marshes. Also, the gabble started when the peepers thought it was all right to sing and stopped when they thought it wasn't. We concluded that it must be a frog. When Raphael and I went to Elm Creek a week and a half later, I heard a similar gabble in the pond near the Nature Center, and actually saw a frog in the water. It swelled out its cheeks and gabbled. It grabbed another frog. "It's the mysterious duck-frog!" I cried to Raphael, who was peacefully photographing some lichen. "Oh, they're mating!" The frogs broke apart. "Well, maybe flirting." Raphael kindly took some photographs of the frog. We looked it up later, and it looked like a wood frog. Since the first hit Raphael got for "wood frog" said that its call sounded like the gabble of a duck, we felt we had managed the identification. Later on I found a good link to send Eric and discovered that the only way a male wood frog can tell if he has found a female who is ready to have her eggs fertilized is to grasp any handy wood frog. If the grasped frog is thin, it's either male or not full of eggs. If it's fat, then he's got the right idea. I expect the frog I saw had grasped a thin frog and let go at once.

Eric and I saw only the mallards and blue-winged teal; when Raphael and I went, there were trumpeter swans, hooded mergansers, and some kind of diving duck as well as the teal, mallards. And Canada geese, too. Both trips also yielded migratory green darners, always a satisfying sight.

I should do a reading post if I can find my notes. I am reading all your journals and wish you a good remainder of the spring.

Pamela
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Flickr Changes [May. 20th, 2013|03:19 pm]

dsmoen
[Tags|]

So, there’s a whole bunch of changes at Flickr. I’ve been with Flickr since 2005 and been a pro member since those memberships were available.

Essentially, pro accounts are going away except for those of us grandfathered in, and that means Flickr’s going to be a serious ad platform.

So here’s how I feel about that: A lot of my photos on Flickr are, like my Twitter photos, incidental photos. Like this one.

Those that are more seriously nice photos and the big galleries, along with the photos I’ve had in gallery shows (like this one)? Well, let’s put it this way: when nice photos are used in an ad [1], the photographer gets paid. Yahoo! hasn’t offered to pay me; in fact, I’ve been paying them.

Those photos and sets will be going away. I may move them to one of my own sites or another ad-free platform, but they will not remain on Flickr.

They can use my crap to sell their ads, but I won’t be paying them for the privilege.

[1] To clarify, they are not re-using my photos in a new context but intend to show ads with photos.

They are selling an ad-free experience for double what the old Pro accounts cost, which — seems high.

Not interested.

Also, it’s not clear if things like statistics are going away, but I’m guessing they won’t be putting energy into it, either.

Originally published at deirdre.net. You can comment here or there.

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hot day [May. 20th, 2013|12:07 pm]

mactavish
hot day by marymactavish
hot day, a photo by marymactavish on Flickr.

I have friends, even here in the northern hemisphere, who are still hearing about snow and frost in weather forecasts.

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new Star Trek movie - what you really want to know [May. 20th, 2013|02:05 pm]

laurel
[Tags|]

A non-spoilery post about the new Star Trek movie for Trek fans, I guess. Or ones like me? Here's what I'd want to know, were I trying to decide whether (or when & where) to go see it:

There is character development here and some good character moments that make it worth sitting through the other stuff. Lots of chewy character stuff, if you know what I mean.

Yes, there are loud action sequences. My Mom gets motion sick at movies but still wants to see this so I've advised her to take Dramamine (or whatever she takes for this problem these days) beforehand and be prepared to look away from the screen for some sequences. I suppose if you know of theaters which crank up the sound for movies, you might want to avoid those or bring earplugs or just prepare yourself mentally if LOUD MOVIES bug you.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty, and Chekov all get moments to shine. (Yay!)

If the first movie of this reboot was Spock's movie, then this is Kirk's movie. Though honestly both movies feature events that are a Big Deal to both of them. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are both really good in this one, I think better than in the first one.

(And if you're a Kirk/Spock 'shipper, I think it might have been the Wall Street Journal that made a crack about taking the "b" out of "bromance" in this movie and well, yeah. I'd say fans of Kirk/Spock have plenty to work with, but folks who like Spock paired with Uhura have lots of material too. Read it whichever way you prefer or both or pay no attention to that sort of 'shipping.)

There are lots of callbacks to original series and the original series movies. I think Abrams & co. succeeded in making a movie that would work for people new to Star Trek, but also for people who know their Trek. So many echoes, some of which are distracting and some are clever and I'm still pondering what worked for me and what didn't. (I laughed out loud at a dramatic moment that shouldn't be laugh-worthy and I'm still trying to figure out if it's the performance or directing or echo of previous movie or what.) I still think the best decision they made with these new movies is making them in an alternate timeline because that gives them the freedom to change things quite a bit; I think the events of the first movie were awkward and stupid in some respects, but the goal of making this all an AU was a good one.

While it stands alone in a way, you really should see the 2009 Star Trek movie (the first one with this cast & creative team) before you see this. In fact, if you haven't seen it in some time and/or don't recall it very well, I'd revisit it before seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness. Because this movie builds on that one and refers to events in that one and uses technology from that one. And I also think keeping in mind where/when the timeline diverges from Star Trek original series canon is good (and deeply fascinating to geeks like me, seeing how this Kirk in particular is similar and different to the other one).

Happy to answer any other questions folks might have. Cannot guarantee comments on this post won't have spoilers.
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Games, Trains, and Radio... [May. 20th, 2013|03:57 pm]

hrrunka
Wednesday evening there was an astronomical society committee meeting. It was over well before 10pm!

Thursday the weather was not wet. It stayed not wet long enough for the dew on the back lawn to dry, and in the afternoon I mowed the back lawn for the first time in over a month. It looks better for it.

Friday evening there was gaming. Or rather, there was conversation about gaming and Eurovision and other things, but none of us had enough mental energy to actually select and play a game. Sometimes it's good to just chill. Discussion did at one point wander into considering a game form of Eurovision as a sort of mashup that seemed to involve elements of 7 Wonders (build your band), Scream Machine (perform your entry) and Red Empire (the judging), with a side order of Munchkin. Or something like that.

Saturday the weather was dry enough for some more gardening to be done. Mostly, I applied myself to some late spring pruning. It should have been done a few weeks ago, but I was elsewhere at the time, and everything's growing so fast at the moment that if the pruning didn't get done then parts of the garden would have turned to jungle. That risk hasn't been completely averted, but there's a chance I might more or less keep up with it.

On Sunday I went over the other side of Croydon to visit the Sutton Model Engineering Club's exhibition. I also spent a little time operating the Surrey radio club's demonstration station, which had been set up there. HF wasn't playing particularly nicely, but we made lots of contacts within the UK and a few from further afield. The weather, however, stayed fine, and there were model trains of various gauges and propulsion systems running, some of them taking passengers on rides round the club's circuits. An excellent day out.

The rain originally forecast for Sunday arrived overnight. Today's been a grey damp gloomy chilly sort of day. However, this evening there's a radio club meeting, tomorrow evening there's another, and thursday evening there's an astronomical society meeting, so it's looking like a busy week.
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PSA - deletion of old lj accounts [May. 20th, 2013|10:13 am]

birdfigment
http://lj-releases.livejournal.com/82710.html

Deletion of old accounts

With this release, we're making a change to the criteria used for removing old, inactive accounts. Accounts which have posted two entries or fewer will now be considered inactive, instead of just journals with zero entries. An account will be defined as inactive if ALL of the following criteria are true:

The account has 2 or fewer entries posted to it.

The account has not been logged into (or posted to for communities) in the last 2 years.

The account is not a Paid or Permanent account.

The account is not in a Memorial or Locked status.

An email will be sent to the current email address for any account which will be affected by this. The owner of any such account can prevent their account from being deleted by logging into or posting to that account. After two weeks, if no action has been taken, the account will be marked as deleted and the account owner will be notified again. Once deleted, the owner will still have 30 days to login to the account to undelete their account. After 30 days, the account is purged and the username will become available for anyone to use through http://www.livejournal.com/shop/renameaccount.bml.

**************************
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FPN etc [May. 20th, 2013|08:18 am]

ericcoleman
[Tags|, , ]

This Thursday we go into the studio to record the second single. Later that evening I am going to finally get around to doing something I have been meaning to do for a couple of years now ...

I am finally going to record a version of Folsom Prison Nightmare. Be afraid. I want your opinion on this. It will be 5 verses, the first verse being the first verse from the original. I need 4 more. The list of what I have so far is below the cut. What do you think I should do to you?

( I've got a little listCollapse )

This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, after which it wandered out to various other sites. Feel free to reply where ever you want. I should still see it.
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Wells Dry, Fertile Plains Turn to Dust [May. 20th, 2013|07:23 am]

lsanderson
HASKELL COUNTY, Kan. — Forty-nine years ago, Ashley Yost’s grandfather sank a well deep into a half-mile square of rich Kansas farmland. He struck an artery of water so prodigious that he could pump 1,600 gallons to the surface every minute.

Last year, Mr. Yost was coaxing just 300 gallons from the earth, and pumping up sand in order to do it. By harvest time, the grit had robbed him of $20,000 worth of pumps and any hope of returning to the bumper harvests of years past. Moar
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(no subject) [May. 20th, 2013|05:00 am]

maiac
[Tags|]

May 20 is Aviation Day.

On this day in history:

( Go to The ListCollapse )

Picture of the Day
Wright Brothers Birthplace
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Work tonight... [May. 20th, 2013|12:33 am]

gridlore
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Location |Santa Clara, Ca, 95050]
[Current Mood |drunkdrunk]

There is too much to explain in detail, too much even for a summary. So I'll be brief.


  • To every stupid, lack-of-prior-planning, moron I dealt with; may a moose become erotically obsessed with your ass.

  • To every single airline I had to deal with tonight: may your trip to paradise involve a flight on your own airline, with a tricky connection in Chicago.

  • To my whiny, piss-ant drivers (not all of them, but a select few): may you be evicted because you didn't make enough money after demanding that every job that inconvenienced you be taken away.

  • and finally, To the webmasters at United and American; may your lives someday depend on machinery that is as stable and dependable as your fucking "track flight" pages.



But I have to give a shout out to the drivers who dealt with all the shit tonight professionally, calmly, and who asked "how can I help?" I'll remember you guys when I get add-ons and juicy trips.

This entry was originally posted at http://gridlore.dreamwidth.org/1822339.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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The Culling [May. 19th, 2013|08:33 pm]

dsmoen
[Tags|, ]

We’ve accumulated a ton of books through various conventions and have run out of shelf space. So here’s what a quick read of page 1 and page 119 helped cull.

For books with prologues, I use the first page of the first chapter as my page 1. If page 119 isn’t a full page, I use the closest full page.

You shouldn’t assume that a book is bad or good because of my answers. This was merely a “do I think I’d enjoy spending the time with this book?” test. I read almost exclusively in e-book these days anyway, so I’d probably get the samples of the e-books to see if I wanted to finish reading the book.

Yes to both

Gabaldon, Diana: Outlander, but print’s too small, so I’d read it in an e-book
Scholes, Ken: Lamentation
Lima, Maria: Matters of the Blood
Hanover, M.L.N: Unclean Spirits
Lindskold, Jane: The Buried Pyramid (good thing since my copy is signed)
Gross, Dave: Prince of Wolves. However, the title implies wolves, and I don’t like wolves, so I’m passing anyway.
Evans, Chris: A Darkness Forged in Fire
Marquardt, Michelle: Blue Silence
Cadnum, Michael: Can’t Catch Me
Higgins, Peter: Wolfhound Century
Knight, Francis: Fade to Black
Kadrey, Richard: Sandman Slim (Her voice is like honey and heroin.)
Devoti, Lori: Amazon Ink
Habel, Lia: Dearly, Departed (but: it’s a zombie novel, and I don’t like it enough to overcome my dislike of zombie novels)
Shea, Michael: The Extra
Lackey, Mercedes and Mallory, James: The Phoenix Endangered
Cooper, Brenda: Mayan December
McKinley, Robin: The Door in the Hedge
Williams, Sean: Cenotaxis
Kimberling, Nicole: Turnskin
Ogawa, Issui: The Lord of the Sands of Time

Yes to page 1 but not 119

Abraham, Daniel: A Betrayal in Winter
Goodman, Alison: Eon
Myklusch, Matt: The Accidental Hero (lots of leading, but why not larger type and less leading?)
Parker, K.J.: The Hammer
Bennett, Robert Jackson: Mr. Shivers
Greenwood, Ed: Falconfar
Tryon, Thomas: The Other
Hill, Laurel Ann: Heroes Arise

No to page 1

Cunningham, Elaine: Winter Witch. Paragraph 1 was a non-starter for me
Abraham, Daniel: An Autumn War
Teppo, Mark: Lightbreaker
Sutter, James L: Death’s Heretic
Adrian, Lara: Kiss of Midnight
Downum, Amanda: The Drowning City
Weis & Hickman: Secret of the Dragon
Farland, David: Chaosbound
Williams, Tad: Shadowmarch
Pierce, Meredith Ann: Birth of the Firebringer
Langan, Sarah: Audrey’s Door (partly the annoying typography)
Destefano, Merrie: Feast
China, Cinda Williams: The Gray Wolf Throne
Duncan, Hal: Escape from Hell! (annoying layout doesn’t help)
Saunders, Charles: Imaro
Anderson, James G. and Sebanc, Mark: The Stoneholding
Keck, David: In the Eye of Heaven
Hodgell, P.C.: The God Stalker Chronicles

Originally published at deirdre.net. You can comment here or there.

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If you're interested [May. 19th, 2013|08:33 pm]

amaebi
This morning I taught the last of seven sessions on early Christianities, though the class was called Heretics for Armchair Theologians, after the book we worked with and against.

If you're interested in seeing notes on the book and some background material, feel free to have a gander at http://wpcheretics.livejournal.com/ .
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Thanks to y'all [May. 19th, 2013|08:27 pm]

amaebi
Since they're screened I want to let you all know how valuable I'm finding your answers to my question about "worship"-- I'm delighted to find them so universally intelligent and well-considered, and so helpful as I think on a project I'll tell y'all about shortly.

Please consider responding if you haven't yet: http://amaebi.livejournal.com/832110.html

Soon I'm going to ask the same question on fb, and I suspect I'll get more pedestrian answers, by and large. :)

And after, I'll tell a bit about what this is about.
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Classic Math Geek Sunday [May. 19th, 2013|06:41 pm]

markgritter
[Tags|, , , ]

...will not become a regular feature, unlike timprov's classic photos.

But I did get a question from a high school student about a calculation I'd done about the game Tonk, five years ago on 2+2: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/21/draw-other-poker/profitably-dropping-tonk-315444/

I didn't mention the technique in the forum post, but I used a generating function to count the possibilities. If you multiply (1+yxk) together for each value of "k" in the deck (as a multiset, not a set), you get a polynomial whose coefficient on yixj is the number of ways to make a "j"-point hand with "i" cards.

Back in 2008 there wasn't a readily available symbolic manipulation tool available on the web, so I hacked some python together to do the math. Today there's Wolfram Alpha, whose limited-duration (free) computation is powerful enough to give:

simplify | Coefficient[(1+y x)^4 (1+y x^2)^4 (1+y x^3)^4 (1+y x^4)^4 (1+y x^5)^4 (1+y x^6)^4 (1+y x^7)^4 (1+y x^8)^4 (1+y x^9)^4 (1+y x^10)^16, y, 5] as

4368 x^50+7280 x^49+10640 x^48+16720 x^47+22496 x^46+31216 x^45+40436 x^44+52556 x^43+65532 x^42+82176 x^41+92548 x^40+105176 x^39+116832 x^38+127484 x^37+136344 x^36+143676 x^35+147784 x^34+149268 x^33+146936 x^32+140224 x^31+134052 x^30+125188 x^29+115520 x^28+103808 x^27+92416 x^26+79416 x^25+67600 x^24+55712 x^23+45584 x^22+36708 x^21+28948 x^20+22144 x^19+16520 x^18+11988 x^17+8344 x^16+5724 x^15+3784 x^14+2492 x^13+1552 x^12+920 x^11+484 x^10+240 x^9+92 x^8+28 x^7+4 x^6

which (fortunately) seem to be the numbers I came up with in October 2008.

I wonder how well Wolfram Alpha's freemium model is working for them. :)
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(no subject) [May. 19th, 2013|06:54 pm]

sraun
[Tags|]
[Current Location |home]

Happy Birthday michaellee & ursusmarkos

This entry was originally posted at http://sraun.dreamwidth.org/1018163.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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All things atevi! [May. 19th, 2013|06:24 pm]

mrissa
[Tags|]

This is the spoiler discussion thread for talking about C.J. Cherryh's Protector and all the books that came before it. This is #14 in the series, so there is plenty to spoil here--careful of the comments section.

( here be the aforementioned spoilersCollapse )
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Ittsa Star Trek Movie! [May. 19th, 2013|05:23 pm]

lsanderson
It's got Kirk in bed with two! count 'em two! female creatures with tails.

[Spoiler (click to open)]
It's got two! count 'em two! starships.

It's got Benedict Cumberbatch! Sadly, never in bed with two! count 'em two! female creatures with tails.

It's got two! Spocks count 'em two! Spocks.

And it's got Mr. Spock talking to Mr. Spock! That's two! Spocks count 'em two! Spocks.

It's got two! count 'em two! bar scenes.

But, it's only got one zombie tribble.


Yes, I saw it just after dawn clacked at an iMAX 3D theater here in Our Fair Cities.

Ittsa Star Trek movie! Leave your Mack truck at home.
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(no subject) [May. 19th, 2013|06:11 pm]

novapsyche
[Tags|, , , , ]

Inequality Today: Worse than a Century Ago? -- Answer: yes.

Mild brain shock may improve math skills -- The key word here is "may". The original sample size was far too limited to make any broad conclusions, the final sample size even more restrictive.

Malaria parasite lures mosquito to human odour

This entry posted originally at Dreamwidth Studios. You may comment here or there.
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Water falling outta the sky [May. 19th, 2013|04:57 pm]

lsanderson
It's not frozen and white. I'm not at all sure about this...

I'm not sure I'm the only one.

The thunder rumbled and rolled for a long time before the first drop fell.

My neighbor was mowing his lawn for quite some time after it started.

Someone came home from a bicycle ride soaked.

A young man in the black velvet jacket, black pants, bow tie, and black umbrella walked by.

The young Somali children ran past with the youngest way ahead of the pack.

Somebody was just walking down the street, and it's pouring again. No umbrella, jacket or rain gear.
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Singing a Happier Tune in Cannes [May. 19th, 2013|04:50 pm]

lsanderson

By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: May 19, 2013
CANNES, France — The applause for Joel and Ethan Coen’s wonderful new film, a comedy in a melancholic key called “Inside Llewyn Davis,” started someplace around the midway mark. Prompted by the hilariously inane “Please Please Mr. Kennedy,” sung by Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver — who play three bearded 1961 folkies warbling and strumming through a space-race ditty — the Cannes audience started to laugh and clap. By the time the film ended, the clapping, laughing and whooping critics at the 66th Cannes Film Festival were over the moon. Moar
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Heavy Metal Sunday is glad to see this come out. [May. 19th, 2013|12:36 pm]

gridlore
[Tags|]
[Current Location |Santa Clara, Ca, 95050]
[Current Mood |bouncybanging]
[Current Music |Newsted - Soldierhead]

Jason Newsted is best known to metalheads as Metallica's long-time bassist, and probably the only person ever to quit his band while being filmed for a movie. Jason's reasons for leaving were complex, ranging from the band's absolute ban on side projects to his feelings that he was the eternal "new guy" even after 15 years and unprecedented success. After leaving Metallica he continued with his project Echobrain, played with Ozzy Osbourne and joined heavy metal band Voivod. None of these really panned out, and by 2006 Newsted was reduced to appearing in CBS' Rock Star Supernova.

Oh, the humanity.

But he has rebounded, and formed new band, Newsted with drummer Jesus Mendez Jr. and guitarist Jessie Farnsworth, with Staind guitarist Mike Mushok joining later in March 2013. From their debut EP, METAL we present Newsted performing Soldierhead



Still looking for Best Hair Metal songs that aren't power ballads.

This entry was originally posted at http://gridlore.dreamwidth.org/1822118.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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Star Trek: Into Darkness, review with SPOILERS: Thumbs down, WAY down [May. 19th, 2013|05:09 am]

barondave
'Ware spoilers.
( long review/discussion of the new Star Trek movie with lots of spoilers and sighingCollapse )
Anyway, just to be clear: I didn't like the movie.
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(no subject) [May. 19th, 2013|06:00 am]

maiac
[Tags|]

May 19 is Pickle Day.

On this day in history:

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Picture of the Day
Daggett Farmhouse
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rip sue lemcke [May. 18th, 2013|07:47 pm]

hitchhiker
suzilem from callahans. my callahanian friends can stop dying any time now :(
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This is just fanastic. [May. 18th, 2013|08:15 pm]

tigertoy
[Tags|, , ]

After I got home from a long day at EFRC, extremely tired and ready to fall over, I put my ice pack back in the freezer, and noticed there was a pool of gunk in the bottom of the freezer. I quickly discovered that all the meat in the freezer is thawed; I have maybe 25 lbs. of meat to throw away. Things don't seem to be cold enough in the regular fridge either.

My fridge is 22 years old -- I bought it when I moved in. So I'm probably due for a new one. But I don't have money for it, even on a non-panic basis. I don't think there's a good time for this to happen but coming home on a Saturday evening, totally exhausted, and with things to do tomorrow other than trying to shop for a new appliance, this seems like a particularly bad time.
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Query: "Worship" [May. 18th, 2013|07:06 pm]

amaebi
This is a question specifically for those who worship. Or if you used to, and stopped, but can channel the self who worshiped:

Can you define "worship," or describe what comprehends worship for you-- activities or company or structure or any other such thing--, or describe what you have found you gained from worship? Positive responses not because negative ones aren't legit-- but because this is for a particular purpose I'll be happy to tell about ex post replies.

I'll be screening replies-- DV.

Thanks!

And FWIW, "I have no idea, but I did it" is a swell answer.
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CHAMPIONS!!! [May. 18th, 2013|01:07 pm]

gridlore
[Tags|, ]
[Current Location |Santa Clara, Ca, 95050]
[Current Mood |bouncybouncy]

Kiri and I went this morning to see Kylie, the Emergency Back Up Niece, playing her Under 9 Division League Championship.

Sparks: 4
Orange Crush: 3 (in 5 innings)

These girls, aged 6-8, showed a ton of heart and some pretty good skills. Kylie had a 2 RBI double, pitched well, and in the bottom of the 4th had a great throw from left to kill a bases-loaded rally.

They normally play to four innings, so for the extra inning they had a weird rule. Each team started with a runner at second and two outs. The Sparks managed to bring that runner home, then held off a ferocious rally attempt by the Crush to tie the game up. Ended on a strike out!

I, being a doofus, forgot to take pictures. So here are some from Wednesday's game: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjF8e3q2

This entry was originally posted at http://gridlore.dreamwidth.org/1821699.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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Arwen home, in hiding [May. 18th, 2013|02:29 pm]

lydy
So, my smile generator came home today. The doctor said that the lump did not have any major blood vessels supplying it, so that's good. Malignant tumors tend to co-op a blood supply. On the other hand, we won't know anything for sure until the cytology is back. I forgot to ask when that will be. If it's like the last time, it'll be back the middle to late next week. As long as she was under, and it was just one tooth, he went ahead and extracted the tooth that has a cavity and is clearly sensitive to the touch.

She seemed kind of out of it. She did not immediately get in her carrier when it was opened up. This is the second time she has done this, and I'm not sure what's going on. Usually, cats understand that the carrier at the vet is the ticket home. Maybe she's totally taken against the carrier, though.

Most of her left side is shaved. The incision is somewhat meandering, and almost two inches long. The vet said that in cases like this, it's always best to go wide, so as to remove as much as possible in case it turns out to be malignant. She hasn't been fretting at her incision at the vet's, so they sent her home without a collar. Hopefully, we can continue to avoid the collar.

She at a little dry food, then went and hid under the bed. I'm not sure where she is now. David and I went out to lunch. Pamela said that she trotted around for a while acting like her usual self. I'm pretty sure she's angry with me. She gave me some pretty dirty looks.

But, she is home. She looks good (if slightly goofy, what with the asymmetrical hair do).

I missed her. I'm glad she's home, even if she is avoiding me.
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New dog! [May. 18th, 2013|01:10 pm]

sraun
[Tags|]
[Current Location |home]

Yesterday afternoon about 3:30-4:30 I checked the Animal Humane Society web site. Nothing exciting. I got home, we did the weekly grocery shopping, got everything put away. About 9pm I checked the site again - and there was a new listing. Paris - a one-year-old female Lhasa Apso cross, white/cream/brown.

We were walking up to the door of the Coon Rapids building as they were unlocking it at 10am today. We found Paris' cage, got them to open it and let us take her into one of their 'get to know your prospective pet' rooms. We walked out at 11am with a new dog.

The icon is from the picture on the AHS site - I haven't been able to get one with her face yet.

YAY!!!!!

This entry was originally posted at http://sraun.dreamwidth.org/1018024.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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A month in a nutshell [May. 18th, 2013|11:35 am]

leiacat
[Tags|]

There has been Twelfth Night - and there will be for one more night. The co-stage-management thing has been awesome, and I don't have enough words to express how much I am loving working with the other SM and the AD (and everyone else too). It has been an extra-good experience, because I joined the production crew after much of the pre-planning has been done, and so was not terribly certain what my contribution to the process would be, and you all know how I am extra-good at feeling all unincluded and corner-lurky and outsidery at a drop of a hat. Well, I got incredibly few opportunities to kneejerk about it, because Director and SM made sure I felt included and appreciated, and AD matter-of-factedly trusted me to do my thing.

There has also been the 48 hour film project, in which I have reprised my role of "she who runs around with a clipboard and attempts to herd cats". Lessons learned include "people would have been easier to herd if I made them sign in and leave me their phone numbers, and that would make the credits and signed releases easier to put together, too" and "just because someone signs a location release form doesn't mean they have the authority to sign the location release form".

There has been this cold I've been having the entirety this week, which now seems to be down to a few residual symptoms, but I could have done without spending the week being wholly exhausted and unproductive.

There was Iron Man 3, which has promptly joined the list of my favorite Christmas movies (after Die Hard and Nightmare before Christmas, of course).

In the obligatory food department, the only noteworthy item has been a Columbia-local purveyor of schwarma, which alas turned out to be vastly inferior to the Baltimore kosher eatery we try to get to at least annually.

There shall be the last show tonight, and there shall be a cast party.

On Monday, there shall be auditions for Rudes' next show, Tis Pity She's A Whore. I entertained delusions of helping out at said auditions, but methinks I'd best skip it unless this cold actually goes away.

There has been Balticon prep. There shall be Balticon. Even if the cold doesn't go away.
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(no subject) [May. 18th, 2013|06:11 am]

sraun
[Tags|]
[Current Location |home]

Happy Birthday dduane

This entry was originally posted at http://sraun.dreamwidth.org/1017675.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
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(no subject) [May. 18th, 2013|06:50 am]

maiac
[Tags|]

May 18 is Lion Day.

On this day in history:

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Picture of the Day
Detroit Zoo Lionesses
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Worth reading! [May. 17th, 2013|08:58 pm]

sleigh
[Current Music |You Should Be Dancing - Bee Gees]

David Perry gives us an interesting and cogent essay about absolutism and consistency.
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Friday afternoon email from California... [May. 17th, 2013|06:13 pm]

dreamshark
[Tags|]

... informs us that our CEO resigned today, apparently unexpectedly judging from the tone of the email. I had no particular attachment to this CEO, who has only been in place for 2 years, but it's unsettling.  Our stock, already at its lowest point since the 2001 tech crash, has dropped another $.20 in after-hours trading. 
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The horror of blimps [May. 17th, 2013|12:57 pm]

callahanians
[akcipitrokulo]
I only just found this - it's been around for a few years, so you may have seen it, but I kittened all over my monitor in work :-)

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=160851
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Friday Cat Blogging [May. 17th, 2013|10:00 am]

maiac
[Tags|, ]

Alexander the Great
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NYT Critics' Picks + One Movie [May. 17th, 2013|07:39 am]

lsanderson
If 27 Is Old, How Old Is Grown Up?
‘Frances Ha,’ With Greta Gerwig
NYT Critics' Pick

Doctor and Patient: A Gothic Love Story
‘Augustine,’ by Alice Winocour, Featuring Soko
NYT Critics' Pick

Hollywood Does Arabia, From A to B
‘Valentino’s Ghost,’ a Documentary by Michael Singh
NYT Critics' Pick

In a Vicious Sadist, the Faintest Glimmer of Soul
‘Pieta,’ Directed by Kim Ki-duk
NYT Critics' Pick

An Intrepid Foundling and Her Unlikely Mentor
’33 Postcards,’ Directed by Pauline Chan
NYT Critics' Pick

- Possibly of Interest -

Kirk and Spock, in Their Roughhousing Days
‘Star Trek Into Darkness,’ Directed by J. J. Abrams
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Books read, early May. [May. 17th, 2013|06:39 am]

mrissa
[Tags|]

Mike Carey, The Unwritten: The Wound. There were some fun bits in this, and the plot actually moved, but upon reflection I didn't much care for one of the major plot points. I know why it's there, I just...story is not the same thing as print. This series has understood that elsewhere. Ah well; still interested in continuing.

C.J. Cherryh, Protector. Sometimes it's very frustrating to read the latest installment in this series and realize that I can count on one hand the number of people I can talk to about what it's doing. This is #14, and it's very much a middle-book in its sub-trilogy. But the things it's doing with small events like a child's birthday party having interstellar ramifications--this is what SF is for. It's just not what immediately accessible SF is for. I recommend this entire series, but starting at the beginning.

Nils Cleve and Istavn Racz, Treasures of Finnish Renaissance and Baroque Art. This is mostly black-and-white pictures of what it says on the tin. Some of them were interesting, some lovely, and some neither, but in general it was extremely useful and will be more useful yet if I get back to writing my Finnish stuff.

Megan Crewe, The Way We Fall and The Lives We Lost. YA disaster SF, not dystopian but not sunshine and roses either. I really liked these, as you can tell by the fact that I got The Lives We Lost from the library as soon as they had it checked into their system, once I'd finished The Way We Fall. A lot of speculative YA is aimed more at feelings than at exploring hard speculative conceits, whether fantasy or SF. These two books (and presumably the last in the trilogy, but it's not out yet) have logistics, but they also seem to recognize the value in keeping the speculative conceit relatively simple. The virus in these books is not earth-shaking, not dreadfully new, but it does what it needs to do in the story and then gets out of the way so that it's not competing for focus with the characters' direct feelings and experiences. I recommend these. They're really well done.

Emily Dickinson, Poems. Kindle. You know, if you're reading Emily Dickinson for pleasure, the dose I would recommend is something like one at a time. Not all of them at a time. That was...maybe not the best way to appreciate her unique voice.

Pekka Hämäläinen, The Comanche Empire. Every year I buy myself a book for Grandpa's birthday, a book we might both have enjoyed. This is this year's book. It's really chewy fascinating stuff about the Comanche exploitation of colonial resources and empires in the 18th and 19th centuries. Very much a worthy Grandpa's-birthday book.

Faith Erin Hicks, Friends With Boys. This is a perfect example of why I don't like graphic novels as well as prose, even though I liked this reasonably well. The setup seemed to me like it was going to go farther in several directions, and then...didn't. And I get it--you just can't put as much story in with that much page space being taken up with pictures. I need to expect smaller chunks of story out of graphic novels. It's just mildly dissatisfying, is all.

Val McDermid, The Distant Echo. The story of a murder and its aftermath, including very long after. Also the story of four men's friendship; I am a sucker for books about friendships. Halfway through, I had not guessed who the murderer would be, which is extremely rare for me, and when I started to have suspicions, it was still exciting and interesting to try to figure out how it would be proven and what else might happen (including who else might die) before it was. I have been frustrated because one of the things I want in life is to be in the middle of reading a mystery writer whose work I like and who has already published a gajillion books I have not read yet, most of which the library has. (This also works if it's not the public library but the library of a close friend I see regularly.) It's a pretty specific thing to want in life, I realize, but up until fairly recently I had not been reading mysteries long enough to have gotten through very many of the good ones. I started reading mysteries in my early-mid-20s really. (Dorothy Sayers and Lawrence Block, together again for the first time.) And I have not been dedicated about it the way I am with SF. But it turns out that I'm reading on the order of 50 mysteries a year, and that uses up a lot of the good ones eventually. So hurrah for Val McDermid! Who is good, and who is in supply at the library!

E. Nesbit, The Wouldbegoods. Kindle. I have no idea how many times I read this as a kid. Several. It's not one of the ones with magic, but the Bastables are generally good fun anyway. Even if I did write them into WWI once. Oops.

Susan Palwick, Mending the Moon. Discussed elsewhere.

Doris Pilkington, Rabbit-Proof Fence. This was a very short telling of the author's mother's experiences as a young mixed-race Australian woman, escaping her placement at a white school and returning to her Aboriginal family. I'm not sure how much of the sparse nature of the telling is culturally required, but I had hoped for more here. It seemed like the details Pilkington wanted to provide were pretty much orthogonal to the ones that would have interested me. On the other hand, this is not a perspective one finds much in books in the US, so it's valuable for that.

Greg Rucka, A Gentleman's Game. ...and this is why I like prose novels better than graphic. This is a prose novel that's a sequel to a set of graphic novels. And I like it so much better, because it's able to do so much more. I've heard people complaining that the Queen and Country series is a Sandbaggers ripoff, but I think that what Rucka does with the basic setup is immensely more interesting than Sandbaggers. I don't just mean that, unlike Sandbaggers, he has female characters who are allowed to do stuff and male characters I don't want to kick repeatedly. But it turns out that matters to me.

John Ruskin, Mornings in Florence. Kindle. This Victorian travel guide with an art focus was remarkably personable, modern, and chatty in tone. Also it was not excessively long. If you're at all interested in Florence and art and stuff, I'm sure he has his flaws, but it was a fun read anyway.

David J. Schwartz (snurri), Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib (episode 6). Kindle. That thing I keep saying about letting episodes pile up and reading them all at once: you notice how well that's working out for me with this one. Possibly it's some kind of sign.

Daniel Tammet, Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant: A Memoir. My dad heard this guy giving a TED Talk and was interested, so I got this from the library for us to talk about. Tammet is very clear and expressive, and while he is indeed autistic, he's also synaesthetic, so between the two (I am synaesthetic but not autistic, but I know several autistic people pretty well) it was a pretty familiar, comfortable read for me--of course both conditions vary substantially, and Tammet's expressiveness about his experiences was fascinating.

Oscar Wilde, A House of Pomegranates. Kindle. Lapidary and preachy. Ah well, win some etc.

P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, The Adventures of Sally, and The Politeness of Princes and Other School Stories. Kindle, all of them. Right Ho, Jeeves was a reread, and also one I've seen staged and filmed. Wodehouse on my Kindle is not the most amazing thing ever, but it's a quite reasonable thing to have if I'm looking for something that won't be too much of a commitment while I'm waiting for a big order of library books to come in or some such.
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Silly Old Recycling Rules [May. 17th, 2013|05:05 am]
ddb_net

http://dd-b.net/ddbcms/2013/05/silly-old-recycling-rules/

http://dd-b.net/?p=2218

With luck, this is our last recycling week on the old system where we separate our recycling into categories. Apart from the fact that it’s a small amount of work, the thing that makes that really annoying is that the tubs they give you can’t hold half the categories you’re supposed to divide your recycling into (in the mandated paper bags).

I’ve managed to get the large majority of the recycling out of the house, and get a photo. This is not the amount we produce every two weeks, we’re not good at getting to it each and every recycling period, so we tend to do a big pile and then miss a few. The point here is that even if it was just one period (which is two weeks), the bags wouldn’t all fit in the bins.  And we have three times as many bins as usual—one extra new style because we’re a duplex, and one old style because we haven’t destroyed it yet.

ddb 20130516 010-018

Our recycling pile today

Just for the record, here’s the city’s list of categories we’re supposed to sort into right now:

Minneapolis recycling categories, captured 5/16/2013

Minneapolis recycling categories, captured 5/16/2013

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(no subject) [May. 17th, 2013|05:00 am]

maiac
[Tags|]

May 17 is Feng Shui Day.

On this day in history:

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Picture of the Day
Sneak Peek
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The film may be loosely based... [May. 17th, 2013|12:33 am]

gerisullivan
...on Dave Van Ronk, but the title and album cover bears rather more resemblance than that:

Inside Llewyn Davis

and

Inside Dave Van Ronk, complete with cat.

Sweet.
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New Coen Brothers film coming to the US in December [May. 17th, 2013|12:16 am]

gerisullivan
Awhile back, I was ever so delighted to hear the Coen Brothers were working on a script of a movie based on Dave Van Ronk's memoir, The Mayor of MacDougal Street.

Inside Llewyn Davis is the result. It is said to be loosely based on Dave's book. It's "the story of a singer-songwriter who navigates New York's folk music scene in the 1960s." It only covers a week of Llewyn Davis' life, so I'm not expecting to find a Lee Hoffman equivalent in the cast, but that won't stop me from looking for her. I certainly enjoyed reading about her in Dave's book.

T Bone Burnett and Marcus Mumford (lead singer of the English band Mumford and Sons) were involved with the music; I'll be listening to that, too. Come December, that is. But only because I'll be in Massachusetts this weekend and not in France.

Why France? Because Insider Llewyn Davis is screening this Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was invited to compete for the Palme d'Or. So cool.

The Telegraph has a brief article and the movie trailer.
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Programming Progress [May. 16th, 2013|10:28 pm]

minicon
[mle292]
A brief progress report from the Minicon 49 Programming Department:

We will not be short of ideas this year. Our Programming Brainstorming Page already has more than 30 items, and we haven't yet begun actually soliciting ideas.

You may have seen that Minicon 49 is being advertised as a 3.5 day convention, April 17.5-20. Consuite and Registration will have extended Thursday hours, and other departments have the option of expanding into Thursday.

I would like some feedback about whether or not programming should expand into Thursday for M49.

  • If there was to be programming on Thursday, would you attend it?

  • If you do like the idea of Thursday programming, what sorts of things would you like to see on Thursday? - Standard panel discussions? Interactive art? Round table events? A mix of each?

  • Whether or not you like the idea of Thursday programming, is there any programming that you would prefer *not* happen on Thursday?


Please feel free to reply here or at the linked Facebook post, or send your suggestions to programming@minicon49.mnstf.org If you prefer to discuss ideas in person, there will be a open programming brainstorming meeting sometime in the fall, most likely in October.
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Holy cats [May. 16th, 2013|05:47 pm]

mactavish
Holy cats by marymactavish
Holy cats, a photo by marymactavish on Flickr.

This child amazes me daily.

I did not try to teach him to use chopsticks. He loves miso with tofu and seaweed. I told him he could use his fingers to eat the solid bits. But he tried.

And he succeeded.

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MNStf Meeting (party) this Saturday! [May. 16th, 2013|03:45 pm]

mnstf
[quility]
I spoke with Linda Lounsbury earlier this week and she told me about 2 things I am looking forward to at the MNStf party (meeting) this Saturday.

1) Weather permitting, they will have a grill out back with hot dogs! :) Also, feel free to bring your own meat to grill.

2) (Probably also weather permitting), her neighborhood is having a garage sale on Saturday and she is selling some hardy excess plants she has. Yay garage sales!

So don't forget:
Sat, May 18, 4 PM. Minn-StF Meeting. Linda Lounsbury's, 4125 Dupont Ave S, Mpls. Cat, no smoking. FFI: 612-824-6336

I hope to see you there! :)
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Please help spread the signal [May. 16th, 2013|02:03 pm]

ericcoleman
[Tags|, ]

We have released the first part of Singles and Fiddly Bits and so far virtually no downloads. 4 as of last night and it's been out a week. So please help spread the signal. We intend to do 3 more of these before Susan moves away.

We want this music to get heard. It's pay what you want, so DL it for free. Just DL it and tell others about it.

Out Of The Light - Trio version. The CD version was a full band, so it was missing Susan's marvelous gamba part. This is how we do it live.

A Song About Fog - Maybe Lizzie's loveliest melody. Susan's viola playing is gorgeous (if I do say so myself, and I do say so myself).

Coming up in the weeks ahead ...

Haunted - two versions - Kind of like Daughter Of The Red, the serious, lovely version and the brain melter version.

Catnyp / Narrow Way - A brand new song, only played out a few times so far. And a song for Adam Selzer's sadly unfinished Prospero and The Tempest Tossed project which turned out to be too eerie to leave to that project.

Village By The Sea / Witch In Your Story - Two Susan songs, these versions are fueled by Scotty Moore and Richard Thompson (on the first) and Slade (on the 2nd). I think maybe to her slight dismay.

We need your help to get the music out there. Take a listen, tell your friends.

This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, after which it wandered out to various other sites. Feel free to reply where ever you want. I should still see it.
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