Monthly Archives: April 2005
Child-Spotting
Posted on April 29, 2005 8 Comments
“Can I ask you a question? With your child, are you more patient than you would be with the average person?” The question for this was coming from an unexpected source, namely, the lady who stands behind the counter at one of the gas station convenience stores in town. But it was an interesting question, […]
I Like Rhapsody
Posted on April 28, 2005 30 Comments
Yesterday some snark over at Slashdot slathered his ignorant condescension on the Rhapsody music client from Real Networks: “I can’t comment on how good Rhapsody is since I’ve never met anyone who used it. That probably says enough right there,” this fellow posted. What a wonderful argument. Apply it to, say, the Macintosh OSX (currently […]
Now We Call Him “Dusty.”
Posted on April 28, 2005 12 Comments
Here it is: The last picture of Rex you’re likely to see. Inside this box are his little furry ashes — well, the ashes themselves are not furry (and if they are, it’s time to recalibrate the heat elements at the crematorium), but you know what I mean. I imagine we’ll get him a somewhat […]
Immortalized in Comic Form
Posted on April 28, 2005 11 Comments
This is moderately cool: Old Man’s War featured in a comic strip. Here’s the whole thing. You can tell where my brain is because my first thought after “hey, that’s my name in a cartoon strip” was “I certainly hope that man was able to complete his sale before he was dragged off.” Yeah, what […]
Wiscon Schedule
Posted on April 27, 2005 3 Comments
What’s that? You say you absolutely cannot live another second unless you know what my (tentative) panel schedule will be at Wiscon, the world’s premier feminist science fiction convention? Well then, it would be utterly irresponsible for me to delay its publication one minute longer! What Newly-Published Authors Find Out and You Want to Know […]
Odds and Ends and Stuff and Crap
Posted on April 26, 2005 35 Comments
First off, a big congratulations to Naomi Kritzer, whose book Freedom’s Apprentice has its official release today, the second book in her Dead Rivers Trilogy. You’ll recall I praised the first book in the series for being other than the usual rote fantasy and for exploring an unknown and fascinating alternate history, and I reasonably […]
Checks, Books, Bar Graphs
Posted on April 25, 2005 3 Comments
Well. Got my advance check for The Ghost Brigades today. Guess that means I really do have to start writing it. More to the point, however, is the fact that I feel ready to write it, which is to say I’ve reached a sufficient point of knowledge regarding certain key scenes and events that I […]
My Daddy Went to Penguicon and All I Got Was This Massive Copyright Violation
Posted on April 25, 2005 26 Comments
There’s actually an interesting backstory to this t-shirt, which is that over the weekend I called home and Krissy said that when she asked Athena what she wanted to do while I was away, Athena said that she wanted to have them dress up like goths. She’s a real live Kindergoth! Isn’t that precious. So […]
Off to Penguicon
Posted on April 21, 2005 32 Comments
I’m out of here until Monday; I’m off to Penguicon (I’m actually leaving tomorrow, but since I’m leaving early I’m not updating when I get up). Consider this an open thread for y’all to enjoy while I’m away. If the prospect of an open thread frightens and terrifies you, you may instead choose to answer […]
My Music
Posted on April 21, 2005 26 Comments
Because I know you’re passionately interested: My mp3 collection, all 7155 tracks of it. From this you can subtract several incidents of multiple listings of the same track, but add about 200 iTunes files that don’t show up here, which include the most recent albums from U2, Alison Moyet, Petra Haden and Bill Frisell, Garbage, […]
Who The Hell Cares What’s Wrong With American SF?
Posted on April 21, 2005 20 Comments
Charlie Stross speculates, with only the tiniest hint of schadenfreude, as to why all the Hugo nominees for Best Novel this year are all British — or, more accurately, why none of them are American. After politely offering the olive branch of coincidence, Charlie’s off-the-cuff speculation is that American SF writers are depressed: Here I’m […]
Pollen Days Are Here Again
Posted on April 20, 2005 22 Comments
Living out in the country is esthetically nice this time of the year, as everything is in bloom. However, in the last few years particularly I suffer the consequences with pollen and hay fever allergies. Athena and I went outside to play, which involved rolling around in the grass; once we came in I spent […]
Sunsets and Popes
Posted on April 19, 2005 33 Comments
First, here’s the sunset off my porch today: And if you like that, here’s a larger version in pop-up form. And for fun, a picture of the trees back behind my house earlier today: What can I say? It was a pretty day around these here parts. Second, I have nothing of interest to say […]
CUSP
Posted on April 18, 2005 20 Comments
I was sent this the other day: CUSP, by Robert A. Metzger, a Nebula-nominated SF author who is also a frequent reader of the site. I’ve just started reading it, but so far it’s pretty interesting and starts with a heck of an opening scene, in which the sun sprouts an immense jet and high-tails […]
Odd Request
Posted on April 18, 2005 7 Comments
Okay, I gave in totally and configured my e-mail on the Mac. Would you do me a favor and send me some e-mail so I can see whether I did it right (and to train my spam filters not to shunt real mail to the junk folder)? And let me know if it bounces back […]
Krissy’s Birthday
Posted on April 18, 2005 19 Comments
As most of you know, I am fortunate enough to share my life with someone who is so immeasurably better than a schmuck like me deserves that it’s even remotely funny, and it’s her birthday today. So if you are of a mind to, please wish Krissy a happy birthday; I’m sure she will appreciate […]
Reluctant Transformation
Posted on April 17, 2005 43 Comments
All right, I admit it. The Mac is so much prettier and nicer than my PC that already I can tell that I’m going to use for just about everything from now on. Just five days in and I’ve configured everything to be able to access all my important documents via the Mac; I don’t […]
Reader Request 2005: Odds and Ends
Posted on April 15, 2005 30 Comments
Duhhhhhh. For some reason I can’t think coherently for more than 30 seconds at a time, so I suppose today would be a fine day to do a collection of short reader questions. Okay? Here we go: Mark Ensley: “Why do so many people suck?” Well, because it’s easy, as opposed to not sucking, which […]
Your Weird Moment of Synchronicity for the Day
Posted on April 14, 2005 9 Comments
I’m listening to “Every Day I Write the Book,” by Elvis Costello, and came to the part in the final verse where Costello opines: Even in a perfect word, where everyone was equal I’d still own the film rights, and be working on the sequel To which I thought: Hey! I do own the film […]
A Special Edition of OMW
Posted on April 14, 2005 35 Comments
Earlier today, Instapundit posted this entry. This inspired me to do something, which in turn inspired me to send Glenn an e-mail, which inspired him to make another posting here. For those of you too lazy to click through, here’s the e-mail I sent to Glenn: Maj. Tammes’ note about being “hyped up” to read […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying