Go to Making Light's front page.
Forward to next post: Why the Boston Police Department has no credibility
Subscribe (via RSS) to this post's comment thread. (What does this mean? Here's a quick introduction.)
You know the sheriff’s got his problems, too
And he will surely take them out on you
In walks the village idiot; his face is all aglow
He’s been up all night listening to Mohammed’s radio
Yes, we were down for over six hours last night, for exciting technical reasons affecting everyone hosted by Hosting Matters. Repairs have been performed, charges have been dropped, and we've all agreed to forget about the poodle and the volleyball team. It's better that way.
We null routed Boston to support the Mooninites.
Sherriffs and poodles? Sounds like an episode of Brisco County to me. (Isn't that series now available in one big DVD set? Yes, I think it is.)
Is anyone else reading For Better or For Worse and feeling a strong desire to shake someone? Not because of the usual contrived plots, but because they're doing publishing now.
Welcome back.
While we're at it, could we also agree to just forget that whole business with the pig? I'm afeared I may never live it down.
I've been encouraging a catch-and-release program for village idiots, but uptake's been poor; too many companies enjoy collecting them.
I googled up the last few FBoW strips. They're proposing to publish his book in their "Fall lineup"? Presumably next week's comedown will be when he discovers they mean Fall 2008. Here on Earth-1, Fall 2007 is just about set in stone for most trade publishers, leaving aside instant books and bestseller opportunities.
Re: For Better or For Worse. Remember, he also just finished his book last month, after rescuing it from a fire, too.
I miss Farley.
re: "Joe Biden, Racist Dingbat": maybe everybody's already seen it, but Language Log has a nice discussion of his comment, showing pretty clearly that the folks who quoted him left out an important comma.
I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.
FBoFW, sadly has seen better days. Lately it's just fun to snark on it, but reading it is like watching a train wreck. The artwork has suffered, the plots are laughable (and not in a good way) and most distressingly the characters no longer behave in a manner consistent with how they were originally portrayed.
That said, it's the author's work and her characters and I guess she can do as she likes with them.
J K Richard #11: Old pirates, yes they rob I.
Oh and one further silly FBoFW thing:
The fire? Given recent posts on safety, etc. the last few months it was somewhat distressing to see a family comic strip advocate leaving one's wife and small children in a bedroom filling up with smoke (they were getting dressed warmly before exiting through a fire escape) to race up, presumably through flames to the attic where his precious manuscript and laptop lay. A few days later we're told he needed to be rescued by firefighters (he passed out from smoke inhalation) and Mom made it to the escape after dressing and carrying two children, some blankets and the scrapbooks.
Is it me? We have taught our kids that you hear the alarm and you leave first, ask questions later and no the birds can't come. You certainly don't stop to get dressed, collect belongings etc when the house is in flames.
Implicit in #14:
Should a comic strip teach people how to behave correctly?
It's too easy to snark on the strip lately; if you mention it, everyone grabs hold. Like mentioning disappointment in a certain vampire series. But hasn't Lynn Johnston had experience in at least some part of publishing? She should know better than to have the apparent first draft of a first novel be accepted by the first publisher (with no agent) to be on the shelves in... eight months?
Bill at 15--A comic strip shouldn't teach them how to die in a fire. It's realistic that the family wouldn't know how to react to such an emergency and that they'd do at least a few things wrong, but recent events in this strip have had the message that nothing this family does can be wrong.
I'm not sure what I think of the bigger issue of stories teaching people by example. It gets boring if all your characters are doing the right thing, especially if the author has only one right thing for every situation. It's infuriating when characters make boneheaded elementary mistakes, but real people would screw up anyway.
Hmm. Now I have something for my brain to chew on today. Many thanks, Bill at 15; I'll try to figure out how to say what I'm trying to say.
Diatryma...Now I have something for my brain to chew on today.
Your brain has teeth?
It's infuriating when characters make boneheaded elementary mistakes, but real people would screw up anyway.
Yes, but when characters make boneheaded elementary mistakes they should pay the price for them. Preferably a big one.
Good to see a new Open Thread, but now we need a new Pitch Bitch as well -- lest it hit 1000 and vanish (as threatened)!
Re FBoW: I could almost believe the book sale if it went to a small indie publisher in Canada, but not with that much of an advance. (And I agree with those who say Fie on all the recent melodrama. Too bad.)
Faren... I missed ugly Betty again. That's what happens when I have a looong day at the office, with only one cup of coffee making its way into my bloodstream. If this keeps up, I'll have to just forget it and then buy the DVD of the first season when It comes out.
Sounds like an episode of Brisco County to me. (Isn't that series now available in one big DVD set? Yes, I think it is.)
Holy crapola, you just improved my life immeasurably.
Unrelatedlyish, I have a simple question that probably does not have a simple answer.
So I've been posting on here like I'm one of you and everything, but actually I'm an impostor: I've been pretty far away from the whole SF world for years and years and years and I'm having a great deal of trouble figuring out how to get back in. To those ends, if I were to, say, subscribe to one SF publication, which one should it be? Asimov's, which I subscribed to years ago? Something else?
Chryss (#9): I miss Farley. Though Phil Frank was ill for a while last year and the comic went on hiatus, it's back and can be found here every day except Saturday.
ethan @ 21
You should subscribe to whatever magazine you enjoy reading. My mileage might not be your mileage, after all.
Probably depressing for some of you,but this Guardian piece -- with reader feedback -- on why the US tourism industry is in a nose-dive is worth reading. Hint: screaming 'how long you planning to live illegally in my country?' at a tourist who's trying to make a connecting flight between the UK and Canada is, like, so good for the tourism industry. (And the posting by the traveler who found Iran more welcoming is priceless.)
Ethan at 21: Buy individual issues at the bookstore if you can find them until you know which one you like best. You can also read things like Strange Horizons, which is free and online.
Serge, of course my brain has teeth. My instincts are mostly those of a gerbil-- nervous, easily startled, likes to chew on things. And most people here have brain teeth too-- haven't you noticed the biting wit?
Diatryma: And our incisive commentary? Not to mention our wisdom (teeth?).
Re: FBOFW -- a $25,000 advance? For a first draft from an unknown author? What the hell is Lynn Johnson smoking?!
A $2,500 advance I might believe (although that seems a bit steep to me). The strip is just so unreal -- the only characters I have any sympathy for are April and Shiimsa.
But of course, Diatryma. "...likes to chew on things..." sounds like my family's latest addition. Puppy Cagney so far has chewed on the usual assortment of cardboard and soft-plastic items. And on two of my wife's nicest shoes (and they didn't belong to the same pair). And on an extension cord that was plugged in. And on a pen, thus ruining the bedroom's carpet with ink stains. We should have known better than to name him after an actor better known for playing disreputable members of society.
Faren, #22: I meant the For Better or For Worse original dog, wasn't his name Farley?
(starts getting sucked in by yet another comic strip, auuuugh!)
Even though I've heard "Mohammed's Radio" more times than I can count, the part of my brain that delivers next lines of songs is clearly broken, because all the lyrics I'm getting are from "Accidentally Like A Martyr" instead.
Obviously it's time to put those CDs in the work rotation again.
From an e-mail notice dated yesterday, but arriving this morning (my emphasis):
The production area will include helicopter activity during the hours of 3:00 p.m. through 11:00 p.m. (flying over 500ft, flying under 500ft and helicopter landing & taking-off at 831 Francisco Street), stunt driving, Molotov cocktail car on fire, auto crashes into prop newsstand and wetting down of streets. There will also be equipment on the sidewalk.
A what kind of car?
P J... Maybe they're bringing the Pinto back under a new name.
Serge @ 17:
My brain will have teeth as soon as the zombies break down the door.
Err - hang on, that's just my co-workers after an all-staff meeting.
Patrick and Teresa, this is Rachel Kronick, head of programming for Minicon. I've tried writing to both of you about it but not gotten a response yet. I assume you're both busy, but in case my e-mail found its way into your spam filters: please write to my e-mail address when you get a chance. Thanks.
Lori: the strip is drawn in Canada, so presumably they're speaking in Canadian dollars, not US dollars. That should make the numbers slightly better, although still wildly out of range.
Charlie Stross #24: I live in Atlanta, and I travel a little bit (well, two overseas trips last year). Each time I come back to Atlanta I'm puzzled by the fact that after going through customs I then have to go through a Homeland Security check and turn my baggage back in. I can understand the second part (and that will be fixed when the new airport terminal is completed) because the airport doesn't want people carrying loads of baggage onto the train and then manhandling up the escalators. I can't understand the first part at all. I asked once and was told 'that's because you're going from an unsecured area [customs and immigration!] to a secured area'.
"Incisive, biting..." as adjectives relating to brains:
Don't forget molar authority.
Fragano (#36): it's logical consequences of stupid airport design.
To clear customs you must have your checked bags. Ergo, you could have taken something out of said bags that isn't allowed in carry-on baggage. Therefore, you must re-clear security.
Seattle has the same problem.
Re FBoW -- IIRC Johnston is retiring later this year, so perhaps she's trying to sew up the stories of these characters. I try to keep in mind 20+ years of good characterization, anyway.
Connie -- that doesn't excuse this ignorant treatment of the publishing industry. $25K isn't chicken feed, even if it is Canadian dollars. That sort of money --might-- be offered to authors with a string of best sellers (Michener, Sheldon, King, even Nora Roberts come to mind) but not some first-timer who doesn't even have an agent, much less a lawyer! Sheesh...my ability to attain suspension of disbelief has been badly wounded here.
I'm enjoying seeing poor, purehearted Liz suffer terribly. Now if she can just end up with Anthony...
Lori:
A friend of mine got a $30K advance for a first novel. She didn't have an agent when the novel was submitted, though she acquired one sometime before signing the contract, I believe. I don't know the details of the contract; it's possible it was for the next two novels as well (unwritten at the time).
Susan -- I stand corrected. I have friends who have had books published, their advances were not that generous, obviously this is a case of YMMV.
The best rant I've seen about FBOFW's plot contrivances is Shaenon Garrity's essay, "Why I Hate Anthony". (Garrity is the creator of Narbonic, one of the two best online comics about adventure, romance, and mad science.)
Oh man, thank God someone else is irritated with FBoFW and the publishing plot! The ZOMG DRAMATIC TIMING fire was bad enough, and "wunnerful Elizabeth has so many men vying for her affections tee hee even though she's an adult living with her parents what", but the publishing thing really makes several characters leap onto the back of a shark and do a can-can.
The amount of money wasn't near as obnoxious to me as the fact that Michael just finished writing his draft in December. That and a drooling letter of adoration from his editor--- that manuscript could have been a lost book of the Bible wrapped up in the Arc of the Covenant, and it would still have to sit in a slush pile for months. It's misleading and contrived, and really I think I ought to just stop reading the damn strip because it just makes me froth a little more every day.
But then what would I have to gripe about with my wife?
..also, Elizabeth's lips really bug me.
I can't remember if FBoFW ever said what kind of novel it was. Romance? Mystery? Skiffy? Or maybe... I shudder to say it... LitFic? For that kind of money? As Tom Servo would say, I don't think so.
It took me way too long to find this. Sorry to double-comment.
But personally, I like Shortpacked's take on the FBoFW downturn best.
(I couldn't find it. Eventually I just had to ask Joy when she linked me to it.)
Christopher Davis #38: That's a good explanation. It is distinctly annoying, though, for those of us who are not changing planes in Atlanta.
ethan @ 21:
One thing you might do is check out recent Hugo and Nebula nominations for short stories, novelettes, and novelas; that will give you some hints as to which magazines are publishing good stories -- though of course that may or may not have anything to do with your own tastes!
Apropos of nothing (here I go abusing open threads again), it occurs to me that there might be lurking around Making Light some women who are or were at one point in their academic careers interested in science, math, medicine, or engineering.
Anyway, there's an author writing a book with a tentative tile of Where the Girls Aren't: What's Holding Women Back from Careers in Science? who is looking for interview subjects: both women who have left science-related disciplines and those who are still there.
More details at http://www.nasw.org/users/lhall/wtga.html
Peter Erwin... Speaking of the Hugos, rules should be changed to allow Making Light to be nominated in the fanzine category. ML has everything: sonnets, 5-pound bags of flour, Bugs Bunny, knitting, Vitrivius, baking...
Daniel, Infoworld has some information about a decline in women in the I.T. field.
Serge (#52): I don't see why it would be excluded.
3.3.12: Best Fanzine. Any generally available non-professional publication devoted to science fiction, fantasy, or related subjects which by the close of the previous calendar year has published four (4) or more issues, at least one (1) of which appeared in the previous calendar year, and which does not qualify as a semiprozine.Generally available? Yeah. Non-professional? Okay, it's of a professional quality, but it's not being done as a profession. The issue count? No problem.
True, Christopher, but is ML published? I think it is, but I'm not a legal expert.
Think about it. ML wins the Hugo at the Denver worldcon in 2008, so Teresa, Patrick and Jim come on stage... along with half of the audience. Then we each are allowed to make a brief acceptance speech.
But not really devoted to science fiction. While it's Our Hosts' profession, it's not usually a major topic of conversation here.
I think that SF is very much a part of ML's fabric, Xopher. Besides, I wanna a Hugo. So there.
Daniel, I've emailed her. I'm excited to see where she goes with this!
The best thing I can say about "For Better or Worse" is that at least it isn't "Funky Winkerbean."
And yes, "Brisco County Jr." is on DVD; Santa brought it to my family this Christmas, and since 25% of us had to go back to Missoula, we watched it all in the two weeks after Christmas. What a kick in the pants that show was!
Definitely, JESR... How many westerns are there whose premise is that the hero's father was killed by an evil male time-traveller from the year 3000 who stole the device from a nude female time-traveller from the year 5000?
And it had Bruce Campobell and John Astin.
SF may not be the major topic here, but a general interest in, and acceptance of SF hereabouts is why people like myself read and comment here.
If I were to mention that I'm connecting over a frequency-modulated coherent Gridley wave, people on other Jasoomian sites would look at me as if I'd said my calot had only four legs!
Exactly, Nial. For example, just because my wife and I like SF/F/comics doesn't mean that's all we talk about. But, when she asks me for the meat tenderizer, and I hold it before me with a most manly grip, and say "I cry thee nay!", I don't have to explain. It's all understood. (Which is a good thing otherwise she'd have me committed.)
Sorry Serge, gotta go. Some bollocks dropped his dazzling diamond studded harness down the jacks, and now Mr. John Bloody Warlord of Mars Carter says it's Niall's job to crawl down into the many-legged-rat infested pits and fish it out.
Useless rich toss-pots.
Niall... Sounds like somebody needs to go to the city of Helium to breathe in a few whiffs of you-know-what.
ethan@21: I subscribe to F&SF, but I've been reading long enough to find Asimov's averaging somewhat predictable. (Let's not talk about Analog -- even their Hugo nominees bore me.) However, Asimov's does get some good stories; they've had a major fraction of Hugo nominees recently.
serge@55: ML is at least moderated, albeit very lightly. And regardless of the number of formal contributors (let alone letter-writers, which is closer to what we are), the person(s) at the top of the masthead are the ones who go up on stage; usually they thank a lot of other people, but not everyone who contributes....
Gawrsh, guys, you sure are smart. Read the magazines and see what you like, what'll you think of next?
I'm dumb. Advice (soon to be) taken.
(TO BE CLEAR: Any sarcasm is directed at myself.)
Daniel @51: I've sent her an email. But I doubt she'll like my take on it.
Jon @53:
sigh
I think that that article is going to trigger another rant, but I'll put that over on my own blog (short version: this woman doesn't have a job in the tech biz because no one will !@#$%^& hire me).
Jon Sobel #53:
The InfoWorld thing includes a slide show presentation with the title "Why are women exiting IT careers?" Based on the answers, either women can't answer the question asked (which would indeed be a precipitating factor to their exits) or InfoWorld is massively unclear on the concept. (So the rest of you won't get brain rot, of the 11 slides, all but two were about why you should hire women, one was about one possible pitfall specific to women, and the final slide was a teaser for a totally different article.) Based on all that, I have no clue why women are leaving.
Here's a sighting of astroturf in camo which make me think of y'all here: last week, in Israel's Haaretz newspaper, journalist Amir Oren reported that Israel's minister of defense Amir Peretz is very much enamored of the "talk-back" mechanism, boasted by all of Israel's online newspapers. Apparently, Peretz reads every word anyone says about him online, and especially the comments.
In the run-up to the expected sacking of everyone who had anything to do with the Lebanon war last summer, comments have been particularly angry and flame levels have been at "high", "max", and "higher than that".
And so, Oren reports, Peretz came up with a brilliant idea: he'd put together a battery of conscripted women soldiers, in their capacity as clerks, and set them to respond to negative comments about him with positive comments - on news sites and blogs.
The Haaretz piece claimed that cooler heads prevailed and no one forced young women dressed in olive green to pretend to support Peretz online. But that really does make me wonder what interns (the American equivalent) are doing at law firms, PACs, and political parties. Not to mention, advertising & PR agencies.
Re FBoFW: Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed it's totally jumped the shark lately.
The word is that it is not actually ending at the end of this year, as had previously been reported; instead, Lynn Johnston will be scaling back the days per week of original strips. But most horrifying (to me, at least) is the news that the remaining days will be devoted to Michael and his family, and the characters will be frozen in time, i.e. no longer aging.
I think if I'm still for some reason reading the strip by year's end, that's gonna about do it for me.
Okay, well, I like For Better or For Worse. I've been reading it for about 9 years - so maybe I never knew it when it was "good".
(Although Elizabeth's ... most everything about her plot line ... annoys me.)
(And the publishing thing struck me as a little improbable. I confess I found myself wondering if there would be any reaction here.)
Serge at #47: Is Micheal's book about the evil!neighbors downstairs? Or was that something else he wrote?
I'm trying to remember or google the name of a particular artist, and getting nowhere...can anyone help?
I saw an exhibit at the IU art museum sometime between 1988 and 1992-ish. It was a series of sculptures of complex geometric forms, that were painted with really lovely matte colors, so that the overall color effect of the object was different depending on your angle of view. One angle would be all done in blues, and then another angle would be blue fading into green, that kind of thing.
I think the sculptures were made of painted metal. I also think the artist was a mathmetician.
If anyone recalls this and can enlighten me, I'd appreciate it...they were some of the most beautiful objects I've ever seen and I'd like to get my hands on a book or exhibition catalog.
Sorry - IU=Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. He wasn't a local artist, though, so I imagine the exhibit was seen in a couple of other places as well.
Teresa, your latest Particle seems to be in triplicate.
The sidebar is struggling overall - recent comments aren't being updated either.
cap @ 71... No idea what the book is. It must be one of those I see in bookstores, with titles like "Making Light - A Novel".
Jon@53:
I'm wondering what exactly they think the "IT Field" is ...
I suspect I'm not up to date with how colleges treat each other, but I saw a very tasteless bumpersticker today that I think was probably made by the enemy of the college on the bumpersticker. It had the Texas A&M logo and said "Erny zra gnxr vg hc gur nff."
Do you think this was from another college? It seems unlikely that Texas A&M or their supporters would be putting it out. Or maybe there's something even more I'm missing.
Mary Dell at #72: any chance it's Bathsheba Grossman? Something like this?
Marilee, #79: Well, when I was a student there, gays were an endangered species. I don't think it's changed all that much, somehow. I'm positive that the university administration wouldn't authorize the use of their copyrighted logo in such a context. So it's either faked by The Enemy or bootlegged by gays who are willing to risk getting the snot kicked out of them by Jeezly yahoos.
Random question: What cartoon/comic strip/maybe Muppet but I don't think so/something along those lines character was named Mouth? Possibly a bird? I can't remember, it's bugging the hell out of me, and I can't very well just-google-it-stupid because, well, the word Mouth is pretty much all I can remember. Anyone?
wrt 82: this Muppet wiki doesn't turn up anything about a character named "Mouth", though the backup critters for "Mahna Mahna" have been variously called "Snouths" or "Snowths".
ethan @ #21: libraries sometimes carry SF magazines. Free samples!
Serge @ #28: the only dog I ever pulled for rescue that had to be put down had chewed on a plugged-in extension cord. The entire interior of his mouth was either 3rd degree burns or gaping holes. Get a bottle of Bitter Apple (it will also help with the shoe problem), or better yet crate-train the dog.
Speaking of things jumping sharks: does anyone else watch "House"? Anyone else think it's beginning to limber up for the dorsal fin vault?
#38: Indeed, in Phoenix, they spent a couple million causing that problem. Used to be, you went through customs and popped back up in the terminal, right by the gates. Now, you go through customs, and pop up just outside the security checkpoint. The part of me that neesd to walk more appreciates the extra hike, but feh.
Fragano @ #13: The last time I heard that song was several years ago somewhere in the Pacific Ocean at a classified depth. It was sung by one of my favorite junior officers during an underway talent competition. Thanks for bringing back that memory!
-=Jeff=-
Bill @ #21: That's not the same artist, but thanks for the link, her stuff is really cool! The sculptures I remember were all solid-surface - dodecahedrons and whatnot.
Lila @ 84...
I think the only reason that puppy Cagney didn't have to be renamed Zappo after biting into that extension cord is that it must not have been plugged in as tightly as it could have been. Which is just as well. As for using bitter apple, we'd have to spray it over most of the house.
And speaking of House... I too am not happy with what they're doing with the character. I tell myself that they're making him more and more mean for the sake of being mean because they're planning something major for him. I'm skeptical though. At least, the recent plotline had David Morse as the rather vindictive cop. (Morse is another of those actors I like a lot who've been around quite a bit, with Contact and 12 monkeys and, going back quite a while, Prototype.)
For biting commentary on FBoW, Family Circus, Mary Worth and many others, I refer you to Brendan Skwire. Personally, I like his political posts better, but he's really passionate about the comics page.
From Talking Points Memo...Finally, finally. Cully Stimson -- the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs who called for businesses to boycott law firms that represented detainees -- resigns.
Yes! (Commences Snoopy dance.)
Strange . . .
Just got back from the last dog walk of the night, a quick circuit of the apartment complex. It's cold out, low 30s at most.
At one point, we walked along a narrow lawn. Trotting along the inner edge of the lawn, where it meets a moat of bark dust that surrounds the building, was . . . a white mouse.
At least, a small white rodent. Not beige or light tan. White.
Fortunately, Kira was entranced enough with the day's pee-mail not to look up and notice.
The mouse explored the lower terminus of drainpipe, seemed to consider walking down the path toward us, then ambled around a post and out of site.
Lost pet? Albino wild mouse? Escapee from a germ warfare lab spreading a Pox from which I'll short expire?
Between the cold and copious local cats and coyotes, it probably won't last long.
Lightmakers and Fluorospherianoiderites, a question:
What would you do with 80 lemonsworth of Meyer lemon peels? They're full of lemonoil goodness, but I'm not sure how or if to take advantage of that.
I'm having a party, for which I always make fresh lemonade. Unlike previous parties where I'm not quite ready = drafting early arrival guests into lemon picking, this time I'll be juicing the lemons well ahead of start time. Therefore lemon peels, and so...?
84, 88:
I was not at all impressed by the "You stuck a thermometer up my ho-ho and didn't even kiss me, so I'm going to ruin your life and your friends' too" arc on House, especially with the rushed and empty conclusion. I will be even more disappointed if Morse shows back up later with some dread condition that only House can diagnose.
I did like the new episode this week, though. There seemed to be the beginning of a break in the wall of cynicism he's built around himself. There's at least the possibility of an interesting spring there.
Julie L. #83, yeah, I was pretty sure it wasn't a muppet. God, the vague nagging at the edge of my brain is going to drive me nuts.
And since someone brought up comics page criticism, I just want to make sure everyone's seen Marmaduke Explained.
Bathsheba Grossman! I have her Large Scale Crystal. It's really cool. I showed it to one of Katie's roommates, and he wound up commissioning a model of a molecule he worked on, as a going-away present to his ex-advisor.
Another topic: Does anyone here know anything about dichloroacetate? Ulrika O'Brien in her LJ linked to a New Scientist article about it. It's a simple drug, cheap to make, already tested and used to treat certain rare metabolic disorders...
...and it just might be the cure for cancer.
Here's the New Scientist article: Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers.
(In the header, they say "New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers." Uh, yeah. I bet.)
Fascinating (and somewhat depressing) interview with the former head of the CIA's European division:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,462782,00.html
"The rendition teams are drawn from paramilitary officers who are brave and colorful. They are the men who went into Baghdad before the bombs and into Afghanistan before the army. If they didn't do paramilitary actions for a living, they would probably be robbing banks."
and:
"... no president on my watch has had a spotless record when it comes to the CIA. But never before have I seen the manipulation of intelligence that has played out since Bush took office. As chief of Europe I had a front-row seat from which to observe the unprecedented drive for intelligence justifying the Iraq war."
David Goldfarb said (#95):
Bathsheba Grossman! I have her Large Scale Crystal. It's really cool. I showed it to one of Katie's roommates, and he wound up commissioning a model of a molecule he worked on, as a going-away present to his ex-advisor.
Yes, her stuff is really cool; I gave one of her 3D-printed metal scultpures to a friend as a birthday present (it was greatly appreciated).
Also worth a look are some similar sculptures designed by an actual astronomer (Michael Merrifield at the University of Nottingham):
I prefer Grossman's Milky Way model, but Merrifield's "Sun with magnetic field lines" is pretty awesome.
David Goldfarb at #95 wrote:
> Here's the New Scientist article: Cheap, safe drug kills most cancers.
> (In the header, they say "New Scientist has received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers." Uh, yeah. I bet.)
I read the article a couple of days ago and it sounds interesting and exciting and I hope it's as good as it sounds - but it's got harder and harder to trust New Scientist, as they destroy their magazine for the sake of snappier headlines. It's got to the point where if they announce that they've found a new species of dinosuar, related to humans and made of antimatter, which disproves quantum physics, then you know it's a slow news week.
I'm pretty much immune to bad physics articles, having forgotten most of what I learnt at uni, but I do retain some small shreds of computing knowledge (probably because I use it five days a week, but that's just a guess). New Scientist jumped the shark for me when it published a small article noting that an unsung genius in the uk had written a program which would lurk in internet chatrooms, hanging out and acting human, while monitoring all of the other members of the chatroom and working out which ones were secret adult pedophiles pretending to be teenagers. This was printed without comment, as it were something as prosaic as a better antifreeze, or a slightly better solar cell.
And yet... this guy was effectively claiming to have written a program which not only passed the Turing test, but *conducted it* (well - a strange form of it) as well.
I tend to believe in at least the possibility of strong AI, and I guess it's at least conceivable that one previously unheard of genius could crack this problem wide open - not likely, but conceivable.
I could see only three possibilities:
i) fraud
ii) nutter
iii) unheard of scientific genius who has singlehandedly revolutionised the field of computing, and who is sure to go down in history as one of the greatest scientific minds of the last few centuries.
I don't think the right reaction to any of those possibilities is to basically print their press release without comment.
Ok. I'm done. I've been reading New Scientist for around 20 years now, and I've pretty much stopped bothering these days. If you want to read more angry fuming about New Scientist, there's always Greg Egan:
http://golem.ph.utexas.edu/category/2006/09/a_plea_to_save_new_scientist.html
Serge:
Realms of Fantasy:
Single copies $4 plus $1 shipping to Sovereign Media Co., Inc., 453 Carlisle Drive, Herndon, VA 20170, (703) 964-0361. I decided to see Whisperado last night instead of look for either the back issue or my lute music, but the current issue was Right There for this information.
House:
I have zero degrees of separation with one of the actors, which accounts for many of my other actor connections. I saw my first episode at a friend's house last week and was highly annoyed that it turned out to be a to-be-continued, since I've no simple way to see the second half. This is always happening to me when I watch TV; the last time I saw a show in real time it got cancelled in mid-story arc.
Susan said (#99):
House:
I have zero degrees of separation with one of the actors, which accounts for many of my other actor connections.
Wait... that means you are one of the actors! Which one?
(Sorry, couldn't resist.)
Peter: Not having read the whole thread I am probably misunderstanding the connection numbering. I thought zero degrees meant I am directly connected, not embodied. Am I confused here? Wouldn't be the first time.
Anyway, me->connect->actor. Not me=actor.
Things decided last night:
- anyone who thinks Alta Regina and the bleeding edge flowery euphemism dance are choreographically connected is either quite mad or hasn't seen enough cascarde to have perspective
- any time a dancing master starts off his description of a dance talking about how confusing it is, the main thing that's confusing is his written description
Still no sign of the lute music, which means another trip to the library to locate it and copy it again. Sigh. Must organize study.
Susan @ 101:
This got discussed way, way, way down at the bottom of Open Thread 79, so it was easy to miss (here's my pedantic contribution, with links to relevant Wikipedia articles).
The basic idea is that each link (or "degree of separation") counts as one, so you're always at least one step/degree away from everyone else (except yourself). Of course, you can start the numbering anywhere, but the convention from both "Six Degrees of Separation" (and the Kevin Bacon game) and the "Erdos Number" tradition is to start at 1.
Stefan Jones @ #91:
A white mouse? If I'm right, it doesn't have anything to fear from cats or coyotes.
(But I don't suppose I am. You'd have noticed the hamster.)
Stefan Jones... Stuart Little living in your neighborhood?
So, Susan, who is it on House that you can connect to? My House number is Three.
I once met Stephen King.
King appeared in the Langoliers miniseries, where David Morse played the pilot of the plane.
Morse was on House and 'butted' heads with Hugh Laurie's character.
And from Morse, I also get to Jodie Foster, from her to Martin Scorsese. (To Freaky Friday too, but I'll pass.)
Okay. Wow.
I must confess that it never even occurred to me that there would be blogs and/or forums in which the degeneration of FBoW is the main discussion.
However, I came across several gems.
There has been (evidently) a huge amount of grumbling regarding the strip's preachy and condescending handling of Lizzie's time among the "First Nations" and (apparently) some grumblings over why her new adopted soul-family of gentle and wise spiritual aboriginals didn't warn her about Paul's screw-job, dumping lovable Lizzie for old girlfriend Susan - after reading several forums, I was lead to this post, which actually had me giggling for a few minutes -
"The part that was of interest to me was readers' reactions to the fact that no one in Mtigwaki told Liz about Paul and Susan in time for her to rush up there and intervene. After all, they had this ceremony adopting her into the tribe - what kind of friends were they?
It may always remain unspoken, but I'll let you in on the secret: the people of Mtigwaki were rooting for Susan."
Ha!
I also meandered into this remarkable blog, in which "Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke
in 500 words or less" - if you have wondered why Marmeduke is considered funny, Joe explains it to you.
For example -
I give you this one.
Or this one, my favorite:
Or perhaps just the overall tone of this one, on why he doesn't bother evaluating the Sunday editions.
Yes, this is how I spent the morning. I should have gone to the gym.
from the does-THIS-sound-familiar? dept..
Salon.com posted the article "Software Is Hard"
(http://www.salon.com/books/int/2007/02/03/leonard/)
The intro:
"...Salon's Scott Rosenberg explains why even small-scale programming projects can take years to complete, one programmer is often better than two, and the meaning of 'Rosenberg's Law'..."
Then the article begins:
"...One way to look at Salon co-founder Scott Rosenberg's new book, "Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software," is as an attempt to tell the story of a specific software development project -- the effort by industry legend Mitch Kapor and a band of ace programmers to create Chandler, a kind of turbo-powered personal information management program that would dazzle users with its ability to enhance their productivity. On that level alone, the book is successful, even though Chandler's development process has been bumpy, and some four years after the project began, it's still not finished..."
I'm not sure I'm ready to read the rest of it yet. It cuts a bit too close to my current situation.
Susan @ 99... Thankyouthankyouthankyou.
Kathryn 92: get one of those superefficient zesters (I have one; it's the size of a large file (the tool kind not the storage kind), and it can zest a lemon in under a minute). Zest them BEFORE juicing them (well, as many as you can before your arm falls off); pack the zest tightly in a container and freeze it.
For the lemons you couldn't zest (likely most) candy the peels and seal them in bittersweet chocolate.
Lemons are about to be superexpensive. Make good while you can.
"The New Adventures of Queen Victoria", and the most recent installment ties Vic into the recent brouhaha in Boston...
http://tnaoqv.livejournal.com/
Serge:
I connect to Robert Sean Leonard, who played the kid at the end of Camelot in the production I was chorus/wardrobe person in back in high school. I have adorably apple-cheeked pictures of a very young Bobby Leonard (okay, a year younger than me, but he seemed younger!) holding Pellinore's dog in the dressing room. He was in our summer stock production of Barnum that year too, right before he left school to go act full time.
That connection leads to most of the other actor ones (though not Paul Giamatti or Ed Norton).
JK Richard #86: You're most welcome.
Xopher @111,
Thanks!
I did my part to lower lemon demand elsewhere... during the freeze week /cold snap* my Meyer was well warmed with xmas lights, cloth covers and a 1500W space heater. For it, the fruit for this year and next winter are safe.
I would not generally recommend the decoration of lemon trees with long strings of lights, nor of any tree with springy branches and long, surprising thorns.
* as said before, it was a cold snap. $800M in lost crops cold. Understood that other places routinely get much colder in winter, but that's irrelevant. Just like our routinely going 5 months without rain doesn't make a 4 week drought elsewhere any less a drought.
Serge:
Um, why impressed? He was the talented one - it was quite obvious even then. No one was shocked when he dropped out to act full time. I don't even get credit for any particular cleverness in my choice of high school - it was the local public school, which just happened to have a very good theater program.
I did so much theater (amateur to semi-pro to pro) as a teen and twentysomething that it's not surprising some of the people I knew then eventually made it. With Bobby it wasn't even an eventually - he made it before either of us were old enough to drink.
Susan... As for your connection to Giamatti and Norton...
They were together in The Illusionist(*), which had Rufus Sewell as the bad guy (**).
Rufus played Fortinbra in Branagh's Hamlet.(***)
Branagh also did Much Ado About Nothing with Robert Sean Leonard in it. (****)
Robert Sean Leonard worked with you.
That's how it goes?
I once met Charlton Heston, who was the King of the play within the play in Branagh's Hamlet.
Branagh also did Much Ado About Nothing with Robert Sean Leonard in it.
Robert Sean Leonard worked with you.
I met you at LAcon.
(*) Great movie, by the way.
(**) What a concept.
(***) And who do I see but Brian Blessed?
(****) And there's Brian Blessed again.
Susan @ 117... Um, why impressed? He was the talented one.
I am impressed nonetheless. As for talent, I've never seen you act, so how would I know? Besides, you have other talents, don't you?
Serge @118
I'm 2 degrees from Yul Brynner.*
I met you at LAcon.
* My grandfather dated Yul's sister back when they were growing up in China.**
** as I didn't comment in the subthread on expectations about names, I sommetimes get funny reactions when I say that my mom was born in Hong Kong.
Some people will just stare for a while at me and then say 'OK, well, I guess you look Asian.' When I say no, they then ask 'so your grandparents were missionaries?' Seemingly zero knowledge of the great big revolution associated with Russian communities forming outside of Russia.
Serge:
Norton and Giamatti are separated from me by only one and two degrees, respectively.
"Nobody tells this wookie what to do!":
The incident — witnessed by Superman and other impersonators — is the latest clash outside the landmark cinema between visitors and performers dressed as movie and cartoon characters.
I'm interested in the whole question of what really is a degree of separation. To my mind, it's a bit more then simply "met" and is really at least at the level of someone who would take your phone call.
For instance, I met Chuck Schumer when I was a teenager and he was my Congressman. He's met the President. Two degrees? No. I could probably really count the degrees between me and the Shrub at about four or five, via a business school friend of mine who is active in Republican politics. (We agree to disagree.) Traversing this chain would be very hard, but easier than trying to ring up Chuck looking for an introduction.
Robert Sean Leonard is dreamy. I've thought so ever since I saw Swing Kids (came for Christian Bale, stayed for Robert Sean Leonard). I've given up watching House for now though, because I missed a couple of episodes in the middle of the cop storyline, which left me wondering what on earth was happening. I'll go back to it once I can catch up with the DVD's.
Kathryn @ 120... Some people will just stare for a while at me and then say 'OK, well, I guess you look Asian.'
Yes, your blond hair does give you away quickly, Kathryn.
Norton and Giamatti are separated from me by only one and two degrees, respectively.
You're going to make me work at this, eh, Susan?
Meanwhile, yesterday was the eleventh anniversary of the death of Eugene Curran Kelly. Who? You may have seen that slightly competent dancer in nearly forgotten movies like Singin' in the Rain.
Kathryn (120): My father was born and grew up in China (Hunan province), but his parents *were* missionaries--from Germany. It makes it hard for me to answer the question "where is your father from?" "Germany" isn't quite right--he spent less than a year there on a trip "home" when he was about six--but "China" isn't, either.
Oh, and my great-grandparents were Pomeranians. And German shepherds.
I don't play the "degrees of separation" game because, between my cousin the Berkley professor and my husband's cousin the punk princess, not to mention my mom's life-long friend the (old-order, preneocon) Republican activist and my uncle who worked at the embassy in Saigon for ten years, there's not many degrees between me and... anyone, actually. Which is strange, since I myself rarely go anywhere or meet anyone.
I mean me to Cinder to Baby Spice to Queen Elizabeth is just irrelevant.
I've read James Hilton's Lost Horizon, but not Goodbye Mr. Chips. There were two movie adaptations of the latter, one in the Thirties, the other in the late Sixties with Petula Clark(*) and Peter O'Toole(**). Which of the two is more faithful to the original novel? I don't mean faithful to the plot, but to how Hilton depicted Chipping.
(*) Sigh...
(**) I'll spare you the Degrees of Separation between him and me.
Larry Brennan said (#123):
I'm interested in the whole question of what really is a degree of separation. To my mind, it's a bit more then simply "met" and is really at least at the level of someone who would take your phone call.
I'm inclined to agree with you, though it's really a matter for definition before playing the game. (Thus, the original Kevin Bacon game for linking film actors specified "performed in a movie with" as the link, and the Erdos Number is based on "was a co-author on a math paper with" as the link.) Traditionally, I think it's been specified as either "friends or relatives with" or at least "acquainted with"; some versions have used "able to request a trivial favor from" as the minimum qualification for a link.
Larry @123,
Good point. And there's a big gap between taking your call or email, and forwarding your call.
For example, I'm 2 strong degrees to an ex-president of Peru.* It'd be relatively easy to write to him about Peruvian matters, I'm sure. But I'm equally sure there's no way I could use that connection to get Da Silva or Kirchner on the phone.
* good friend of my family hosted him when he lived in California.
"I have decided to come back to the reality of San Francisco."
Fred Astaire in Irwin Allen's The Towering Inferno, where they build the tallest skyscraper ever on top of earthquake country, and where O.J.Simpson plays a security guard who rescues kittens.
I know it's been a while since anyone mentioned FBoFW, but since several people asked about Michael Patterson's novel, I thought I'd chip in with a link.
On the strip's official site, you can read monthly letters from the characters. Michael's past few letters will give you a good idea of the drivel he's just gotten published.
Another source of FBoFW wrongness! Goody-two-shoes leading-strings Michael calls his parents John and Elly?!
Comments on Open Thread 80: