beard5

http://www.scatoday.net/node/22662

Archaeologists in Northampton, England are set to excavate a site that may reveal 1,000 years of local history, from the Iron Age through the end of the Roman period. They believe the site might have been a suburb of the Roman city of Duston.

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http://www.scatoday.net/node/22721

Mistress Sorcha Careman reports that Their Majesties of the Kingdom of the West have placed Lady Lilla aet Sceaphylle on vigil to contemplate elevation to the Order of the Pelican.

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People sometimes wonder why little kids like dinosaurs. Lots of other people know why kids like dinosaurs: they're big and scary and powerful, and a little weird. I think that's why older kids and adults like superhero/action movies: the characters are big and scary and powerful, and a little weird. As a not-very-dangerous middle aged person, I find that transiently compelling. I wonder if fit young men who know how to be dangerous find it as compelling?

Despite not knowing all the characters, and not knowing most of their backstory, the kids and I enjoyed The Avengers a lot. There was at least one place where half the adults laughed and none of the kids got it - a reference to a character from another work of fiction. Lots of other good dialog and special effects. Had fun trying to figure out which real-world creatures the Big Critters were sourced from. Thought at first it was a coelecanth, but decided later that it was mostly more mundane than that.

In other news of the holiday-weekend-in-progress, Elizabeth slept in the tent last night and enjoyed it; she reappeared in the house around 7am. After the movie and before Friendly's, we went to Lowes to pick up an extra hammer and some eye protection, because tomorrow we're doing a daytrip to Ruggles Mine in NH, where you get to whack at rocks hoping for various minerals. I already have a splendid sample of mica, so I'll have to look for something else. Arthur, of course, is hoping that he finds uranium, which is one of the possibles there. We're not bringing Metageek because he's being snowed on while hiking at Yellowstone, and he wasn't very interested in whacking at rocks anyway. We'll bring him some nice warm uranium.

This entry was originally posted at http://cvirtue.dreamwidth.org/108220.html. There are comments at DW. You can comment here at LJ, too.

This was hanging out above the clothesline at Phoxinus' house.  All part of Englishness, along with shepherd's pie, The Archers, pots of tea, and hedgerow jams.

21 April 2012

Nine

Happy Birthday, blythe025!

The past week, foreshortened by recovery and then my mom's birthday dinner and the lecture, has been much about me utterly unable to focus. I didn't know why - my brain WANTED to work, and there is, dog knows, enough work for me to be doing....

And then I thought about what I'd said in an earlier entry, how my apartment didn't seem quite 'right' to me, when I got back, and thought about past periods of distraction, and went "oh." Because I'm very smart, but sometimes not so bright.

So today - in between passes of writing - has been all about cleaning and sorting and the usual summertime rearranging of furniture (moving the sofa so it doesn't block the AC, etc). Because I am very fond of CatSitter B, but her staying here had made it not-quite-so-much-my-own-place. And now it's mine again, properly sorted and everything where I want it to be.

I suspect the focus will be much more, well, focused, going forward.


(it had BETTER be. So damn much to do OMG)

• Fri, 13:06: I weighed in and lost 1.4 lbs. #LoseIt
• Fri, 13:43: I spent 25 minutes walking. 77 calories burned. #LoseIt
• Fri, 13:49: One thing about the apartment: it has a pool (among other things) and will give boyo something to do other than watching TV. lol
• Fri, 13:53: RT @MariAdkins: Teen suspended for controversial anti-bullying video returning to school http://t.co/qBrOX00b via @todaymoms
• Fri, 14:57: The Rostikov Legacy http://t.co/s9rKkQYd
• Fri, 15:01: 3 of 5 stars to The Rostikov Legacy by Charlotte E. English http://t.co/ZgnHKpLc
• Fri, 15:05: RT @MariAdkins: Police seek help identifying three young children found abandoned in Oregon http://t.co/Mh6n7FlZ via @msnbc_us
• Fri, 16:18: Music is helping some, so going to try to get at least a few pages of editing & beta reading down. Not likely to get much done next week.
• Fri, 16:18: Other than packing, that is.
• Fri, 16:20: I spent 2 minutes chair dancing. 13 calories burned. #LoseIt

( Read more... )

Yesterday was even more entertaining that Thursday. I cracked my happy ass out of bed extremely late by my own standards, hit the health club for some time on the stationary bike, then caught breakfast in the Green Room. After some bloggery and email time and whatnot, I had my massage — And how cool is it that World Steam Expo has a masseur on retainer for the pros!? — and then went exploring. This eventually involved use of the hot tub, among other things.

I spent a decent chunk of the day hanging out with the inestimable Howard Tayler, who created a truly impressive steampunk caricature of me. (When I get home, I shall scan and post this, but at the moment it is my badge art.) Howard is his own self hanging out in the Aegis room, which is basically a camp for combat geeks. Inside the Con hotel, these cats have a rappelling tower, weapons training with actual pointy objects, a bunch of Nerf weapons, and a Victorian encampment. They are pretty much a real life incarnation of the Black Briar group in J.A. Pitt's Black Blade Blues [ Powells | BN ]. The Aegis group helped me make a notable entrance to opening ceremonies.

Also spent a lot more time partying with The League of S.T.E.A.M. and a whole bunch of other folks, including briefly running across the few people besides Howard that I actually knew before I turned up here. Specifically, Gail Carriger, G.D. Falksen (who has an important planet named after him in the Sunspin universe) and Evelyn Kriete (who is responsible for me being invited to this convention). I caught the last part of the The Men That Will Not be Blamed for Nothing concert.

I even got a bit more work done on Going to Extremes.

Today I have lunch with Howard, a High Tea to host, and a plan to hear some more excellent performances. A bit more programming tomorrow.

Interestingly, I am way off my normal schedule here, even my normal convention schedule. I'm not sure what clock I'm living on, but it's neither Jay time nor Con time. I'm just going with the flow. Which it turns out is remarkably difficult for me to do. I feel twitchy about not being up at 5 am exercising (hard to do when you're going to bed at 2 am) and why I'm not writing more.

But I'm here to have fun, which I am decidedly doing; and to see and be seen, which I am decidedly doing.

Is this what time off feels like?

Your Saturday moment of zen.



Playground equipment, 2006. © 2006, 2012, Joseph E. Lake, Jr.

The current photo series is from my 'favorites' file, hence the dates jumping about



This work by Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Book Review: Grants Pass, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Amanda Pillar — A review that includes an interesting comment on my story "Black Heart, White Mourning".

The Nebula Awards 2012: A Look Back And A Look Forward — James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel in HuffPo.

Calvin and Hobbes on unfettered creativity as a writer — Hahaha.

War of the Worlds: The True Story — A new indie flick coming out that looks pretty cool.

Star Wars Turns 35: How Time Covered the Film Phenomenon

Red Planet Becomes Blue In New Mars Image

Astronauts enter world’s first private supply ship

Impacts Spreading Life through the Cosmos?

Colonel Sanders resembles Confucius — Chicken, anyone?

?otd: Charles Darwin: Man or monkey?

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5/26/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.5 hours (Going to Extremes proposal)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.0 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: Shattering the Ley by Benjamin Tate; Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht

http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/2012/05/deadline-week.html

At the moment I have a novel to wrap up and send off to one editor, a proposal to finish for another, and (possibly) an offer in the works from a third. Family is also descending for a visit, so things are likely to be a bit sketchy around here for the next week. I'll try to check in and post something of interest when I can.

Do you know you can make a word cloud from any blog by feeding it to Wordle? Go to the create page and in the second search box (just below the top text box) enter a URL for any blog, blog feed or any other web page that an Atom or RSS feed. Once you've done that, click on submit and Wordle will generate a word cloud based on the content. It's an interesting way to get a quick profile on what you (or your favorite bloggers) are talking about at any given time. Here's one for PBW, one for The Presurfer (my favorite link goldmine), and one for author Marjorie Liu's blog.

"From the fringes you could see the blue remembered hills; then turning inward, heaven in a haze about the trees."

20 April 2012.

Nine

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

Why today rocked: 1) Short work day; 2) New card at the library; 3) 5 books checked out and three requested on ILL; 4) Learned that the Philadephia Free Library -- Central Branch has JSTOR available on-site; 5) Nommy Vietnamese dinner with Joe Fling in town; 6) Day two of go to the Y before work.Yes, I'm tired, but it is 10:00 and I hauled 5 big (ok, 4 thick and 1 thin) books around the city all evening..

Saw a bear today, driving home from Goldthread Apothecary's farm.

Adult black bear, standing in the middle of the road on S. Shirkshire Road, near the Wilder Hill Rd end. I stopped, he opted to get off the road, I went on.

( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. )

http://coilhouse.net/2012/05/friday-afternoon-movie-dystopian-miniseries-black-mirror/

http://coilhouse.net/?p=31522

Black Mirror is a grim, satirical dystopian horror miniseries that aired on Channel 4 in the UK last year. Consisting of three one-hour episodes, the show, created by Charlie Brooker, is a “a hybrid of The Twilight Zone and Tales of the Unexpected which taps into our contemporary unease about our modern world”, with the stories having a “techno-paranoia” feel. From the program description on Channel 4′s site:

Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we’ve had time to stop and question it. In every home; on every desk; in every palm – a plasma screen; a monitor; a smartphone – a black mirror of our 21st Century existence.

Our grip on reality is shifting. We worship at the altars of Google and Apple. Facebook algorithms know us more intimately than our own parents. We have access to all the information in the world, but no brain space left to absorb anything longer than a 140-character tweet.

Black Mirror taps into the collective unease about our modern world.

The writing is smart, the plots just plausible enough to send a chill down your spine. In the first (and arguably best) episode, “National Anthem,” a video of the kidnapped Princess Susannah, a beloved member of the Royal Family, is uploaded to YouTube with a ransom demand that would do 4chan proud. “15 Million Merits” shows us a dehumanizing world in which green energy, gamification and reality TV intersect. Finally, “The Entire History of You” shows us a near-future in which all memories can be recorded, replayed, stolen and shared.

As piracy continues to be a service problem, there’s no easy way to purchase/view this show outside the UK. Below are the links to streams of each episode. Watch the episodes here, before they’re gone. You won’t regret it:

• “National Anthem”
• “15 Million Merits”
• “The Entire History of You”

[via sfslim]

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Post tags: Film, Friday Afternoon Movie, Future, Horror, Sci-fi

Happy Birthday, careswen and queenoftheskies!

http://www.scatoday.net/node/22764

Do you like your history in small doses - and with a sense of humor? If so, you will appreciate C.G.P. Grey's 5 Historical Misconceptions Rundown, a video posted on YouTube, which debunks five historical "facts."

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Seeing me eat sauteed string beans, Boomer has decided that he too, must have sauteed string beans. In order to keep his nose out of my food, I gave him a piece. So far, he has sniiffed, licked, toothed, and otherwise pushed the bean around, but hasn't quite convinced himself to eat it.

But he is still quite interested in what's on MY plate. Because that's got to be better, right?