Monthly Archives: May 2007
On The LiveJournal Thing
Posted on May 31, 2007
LiveJournal annoyed many of its users recently by suspending a bunch of accounts for specious reasons; my major thought on this is is: See, this is why I keep my own space on teh intarweebs. However, my pal Deven Desai, who is a law professor and who follows technology and IP, has blogged about it […]
A Good Use of Funds
Posted on May 31, 2007
As an alum of the University of Chicago, and one who depended on a scholarship for much of his tuition, this makes me happy: A graduate of the University of Chicago gave an anonymous donation of $100 million to his alma mater, marking the largest single donation given to an Illinois university. The money will […]
Reminder: I’m in Cincinnati Tonight
Posted on May 31, 2007
Hey, if you like science fiction, and you live in or near Cincinnati, and you’re not doing anything around 7pm this evening, and you don’t want to stab me to death or otherwise assault me for some real or imagined slight, why not come down to the Joseph-Beth bookstore and see me do my thing […]
Campbell Award Nominees That I Know
Posted on May 31, 2007
No, not the Campbell Award I’ve got, the other Campbell Award. The list of this year’s nominees is out, and includes a number of folks I like quite a bit, including David Louis Edelman (I believe this is his first major award nomination — rock on, David), Karl Schroeder, Charlie Stross, Vernor Vinge, Jo Walton […]
A Handy Tip on the Blogging Tip
Posted on May 31, 2007
This one goes out to all the MDs out there, and the occasional DO as well: When in doubt, don’t blog your own medical malpractice trial. Especially don’t mock the opposing counsel, who in this particular case found the blog in question and dropped it like a bomb into the courtroom, forcing the MD in […]
Something for the Kids
Posted on May 30, 2007
Lisa Loeb & Elizabeth Mitchell – Catch The Moon: This is a kid’s song, but it’s also one of my favorite mellow songs of the last couple of years. It’s just pretty. Also, both Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb are terribly cute in that “graduate student working in a coffee shop” way. What can I […]
I Feel a Disturbance in the Force, As if Millions of Chubby Geeks Suddenly Decided They Needed a Little “Alone Time”
Posted on May 30, 2007
This is why. Oh, click through, you baby. It’s safe for work.
Update Done
Posted on May 30, 2007
There, most of the heavy lifting is done (I may change the link colors at some point). This is how the site will look for a few months, or at least until I get fidgety again and change it. Yes, it’s very green. I like green. Deal. The background image, incidentally, is actually my lawn, […]
In Case You’re Wondering…
Posted on May 30, 2007
…Yes, I’m fiddling with the look of the Whatever at the moment. Don’t worry, it’ll all be over soon.
One of Life’s Little Ironies
Posted on May 29, 2007
I just turned down this month’s featured selections for the Science Fiction Book Club… which happen to be The Last Colony, and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I turned them down because Patrick was kind enough to provide me a copy of his book, and also, you may be reasonably assured I […]
The Hugos/Campbell This Year: A Discussion Thread
Posted on May 29, 2007
For the science fiction geeks out there: Is it just my imagination, or does there seem to be relatively little discussion of the Hugos/Campbell this year — and particularly little discussion of the Best Novel nominees? Bear in mind this perspective might be skewed by the fact that last year a book of mine was […]
System Check: Politics
Posted on May 29, 2007
The Whatever continues its dearth of political commentary these days, mostly because I still have the urge to jam a stick into my eye whenever I start to write about it. Just tried to write something about the Iraq funding bill the president just signed; blatted out some verbiage, looked at it, and decided that […]
Brian Francis Slattery at Ficlets
Posted on May 29, 2007
Soon-to-be new science fiction author Brian Francis Slattery (whose debut novel Spaceman Blues: A Love Song is getting gushy praise from folks like Jay Lake, Catherynne M. Valente, and some dude named Harlan Ellison) has taken part in the Ficlets Spotlight program, adding a trio of really interesting Ficlets for people to play with and […]
What I Did With My Memorial Day Weekend
Posted on May 28, 2007
For the last couple of years Krissy and I have spent Memorial Day up at Wiscon, but this year our niece Andrea graduated from high school, and we needed to be there for that. Wiscon happens every year; Andrea graduating from high school happens only once. It was a nice ceremony too, full of all […]
My Wife as a Duran Duran Album Cover
Posted on May 26, 2007
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m suddenly hungry like the wolf. And before you ask, no, we will not be doing “My Wife as a Motley Crue Album Cover.” Slap yourself.
A Conversation Earlier Today Between Me and My Archive Hard Drive
Posted on May 26, 2007
Me: Hmmm, I think I want to find a particular picture I know I have in my picture archives. Archive: I don’t have any pictures. Me: Sure you do. They’re in the “My Pictures” folder, right there. Archive: Well, yes, there’s a “My Pictures” folder. But it doesn’t have anything in it. Me: What? Of […]
Technical Notes Update
Posted on May 25, 2007
Well, this is interesting: Apparently 1&1.com is about to institute a program in which it will offer one-click installation (and automatic updating) of various applications, including Joomla, Drupal, MediaWiki, PostNuke and XOOPS. Which is to say I won’t need to try to download and install these babies myself. Well, when this kicks in this has […]
My Policy on Fanfic and Other Adaptations of My Work
Posted on May 25, 2007 12 Comments
In the wake of my recent posts about FanLib, and for other reasons, I’ve been asked a bit about how I feel about fan fiction in my universes and/or people adapting my work to other media (particularly film). So, here’s what I think about that, posted here so I can refer people back to it […]
OMW & TGB Limited Editon Cover Art; News From Russia
Posted on May 25, 2007
As many of you know, Subterranean Press will be producing a special limited edition (400 copies) of both Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades, each of which will include full color illustrations by the fabulous Vincent Chong. To give you an idea of the utter coolness that Chong is bringing to the proceedings, I’m […]
OMW & TGB Limited Editon Cover Art; News From Russia
Posted on May 25, 2007
As many of you know, Subterranean Press will be producing a special limited edition (400 copies) of both Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades, each of which will include full color illustrations by the fabulous Vincent Chong. To give you an idea of the utter coolness that Chong is bringing to the proceedings, I’m […]
Whatever Everyone Else is Saying