Linkee-poo, what's it to you if it's Wednesday at noon and I've traded my ice-tea for scotch

"From October 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2013, The Jim Henson Company and Grosset & Dunlap of the Penguin Young Readers Group will be accepting writing submissions to find the author for a new novel set in the world of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. This author search is open to all professional and aspiring professional writers." Just in case you wanted to try for it, or if you just wanted to see what it's like to write in a media-tie-in world. (Grokked from Kelly Swails)

Just because your world isn't weird enough (I can tell from here), have eight real life vampire related crimes. When I was but a young pup running wild through the western marches of the NJ Pine Barrens in a little town called Gibbsboro, we had a vampire. He assaulted something like 6 people, biting them on the neck. The local gossip was he also wore a cape (can't be a vampire without the cape I guess). IIRC, they had cornered the bastard twice, but never actually did catch him (not like our local police were much above Barney Fife level anyway). We also had a high degree of environmental pollution with heavy metals from the Sherwin-Williams plant. These two things might be connected. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"(N)ew research suggests that it’s possible you weren’t even able to taste that fatty goodness, which may be why you just kept on eating. A paper published last week in PLoS ONE suggests that there is a complex relationship between emotional arousal, symptoms of depression, and taste perception, and that this phenomenon could have links to emotional overeating." Why stress eating is a double whammy. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Yup, good government can't do anything. You know, like institute public heath programs that help eliminate destructive diseases like leprosy. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

A recently discovered NPR show, Ask Me Another. Because who doesn't like word games? Also the podcast is free, unlike Says You which is also great fun, but I never seem to catch it on the radio and I'm too cheap to buy.

"If someone combined the fierceness of a wolf and the adorableness of a corgi…" The Viking Dog, like a wolf mixed with dachshund and thrown into a drier wet. And now I have an image in my head of the fierce Viking sailing the North Sea in their dragon boats carrying these little dogs in their man purses. (Grokked from Tor.com)

The question isn't who, who wrote the book of love, but who invented the computer mouse. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

In the public's mind the most noticeable product of the marker culture is printable guns. But printing out prosthetic hands is more what the community is about. I think I linked to this story before, but here is a recent incarnation. Material costs? $5. And the new version snaps together. (Pointed to by Dan)

Uploadable brains by 2045? I wonder if the Singularity and it's dream of digital immortality (doesn't seem like a dream to me) will be the next generation's "I want my jet pack"? (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

Apparently Antonin Scalia could be bothered to upgrade his education when it comes to molecular biology. :: shakes head in disbelief :: (Grokked from Jay lake)

"But helium has a trick. When cooled below about two degrees kelvin, it becomes a superfluid, which has the odd property that it crawls up and over the walls of containers by capillary forces… It crawls along at about 20 centimeters per second, so it would take the liquid helium less than 30 seconds to start collecting in the bottom of your boat… If it's any consolation, as you lay dying, you would be able to observe an odd phenomenon…" XKCD on floating a boat on mercury, bromine, liquid gallium/tungsten/nitrogen/helium. So at the next party when someone says, "Science is boring," you can say "Pshaw! Let me tell you about rowing across liquid helium…". And yes, I expect you to actually say "pshaw!". (Pointed to by Dan)

Rapid correction of severe acute hypernatremia caused by soy sauce ingestion." Sometimes I wonder if we aren't inventing our own methods of evolutionary pressures. (Grokked from Kelly Swails)

"Most Americans say they want to die at home, but 75 percent die in hospitals or nursing homes. Hospitalization often means aggressive, high-cost treatment at the expense of quality of life. And life-prolonging care accounts for 30 percent of total Medicare spending. Now, two Harvard doctors are making movies that visually depict common forms of end-of life care in hospitals. The short films show real patients receiving treatment such as emergency CPR and feeding tubes. Clinical studies show that patients who view these movies overwhelmingly opt out of costly, life-prolonging treatment." The Diane Rehm Show on making better end-of-life decisions. I didn't get to listen to the whole thing, yet. But what I did hear sounded very interesting. Did you know that when you're put on a vent(ilator), they have to bind your hands so you don't accidentally rip it out?

Tobias Buckell points to an article on hyperdensity. And I have to mirror some of his comments. Having lived most of my adulthood in cities, when I moved out to "the country" I was astounded at how little the people valued green/open space out their. I would think it was a matter of perspective, but I think it really boils down to lack of vision.

"Congressional critics must abandon their futile efforts to repeal Obamacare and focus instead on improving it. Their core premise — that greater government involvement in health care provision spells disaster — lacks support in the wealth of evidence from around the world that bears on it… The truth appears closer to the reverse: Because of pervasive market failures in private health care markets, this may be the sector that benefits most from collective action." Reality once again shows its liberal bias with things like "facts", "studies", and "data." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart: @MykeCole: All writing advice encapsulated: Work constantly and don't be a dick on the Internet.

Double dip: @camillealexa: Then I'm a hybrid mutant:"Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work"-Stephen King

Weekend Linkee-poo needs to get back to work

Miranda Suri on what works when it comes to writing retreats.

Neil Gaiman shares his top 10 mythical characters. At least a third of them are tricksters, plus the Lilith.

"I think it is because, in fiction, if you like the person telling you the story—which is to say the voice, not the author—you generally will let them tell you a story." Ta-Nehisi Coates on the importance of voice. Some people don't understand voice, what it is and how you develop it. Think of two people. One person could tell you how to make a thousand dollars a day, but the way they tell it makes you feel like listening to nails on a chalkboard (is that an idiom that should be going away?) and at the same time wanting to go to sleep. The other person can tell you about snails crossing the sidewalk and they have you laughing and interested in what happens next. Find out how to be that second person. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Where do you get your ideas? Well, going out an living while keeping your eyes and brain open is a real easy way to develop them.

Jay Lake's advice on titling.

Lisa Chron on why the hero's journey is claptrap. When it's looked at as a formula, yep. But I disagree on some points. For instance, the whole Hero's Journey is about the change of the character, it's all about the internal of the hero, unlike what she states. But I can see her point in how the HJ is often talked about. The HJ is a metastory, not the story itself. If you use the HJ like a check list ("Hero must deny call to action… check!") then you're missing the point of both the structure and what Joseph Campbell was all about. Also, the HJ is about myth, not story. It would be like saying, "I'll use Jung's archetypes as a cookbook to create my characters." You're doing it wrong.

"Don’t you dare TELL me that crap." On showing not telling.

So, you now have an offer of representation. What now?

Okay, then you have your novel published in English. Now what? Looking at my friends careers, selling foreign publication rights is where the money is at.

Chuck Wendig demolishes the standard trolling comment lines when it comes to talking about sexism and misogyny. I've never quite understood the Real Man Woman Haters Club stupidity. Even when it was on the Little Rascals. Just always seemed to be the stupidest world view evar.

Creating a Mjölnir that really shoots lighting. Ah, geeks with soldering irons. (Grokked from Tor.com)

A military compass hidden with a dagger. I remember reading a treatise somewhere that said something like for an item with the only intent of using the point at close range, a dagger with a long blade seems to be an awful waste of steel. (Grokked from Jay Lake) The Jony Ive Redesigns Things tumblr. Hahahahaha (Pointed to by Dan)

How could you make a job of tagging all inventory with RFID tags a whole lot simpler? Well, if you weed out 70% of the stock, that'll make it easier. It'll also save employee time and pay, not to mention all those expensive, pesky stickers you would have needed to use up. Just wow. (Grokked from Elizabeth Stack)

Signal boost (oh what little I have). Get your novel professionally critiqued by Saladin Ahmed.

In Ann Arbor (waves at friends there) they have a subculture of tiny doors. (Grokked from Tor.com)

The return of the cougar. Here in NE Ohio are seeing an increase in bear sightings. And while they still remain invisible to the general public, bob cats have also returned (coming in in the DNA sweeps mentioned in the links and by wildlife management cameras). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"(Sgt Jerome Moran, based at Solihull police station) told (a john that called Britain's version of 911 to complain about a prostitute's looks) that she'd not committed any offences and that it was his actions, in soliciting for sex, that were in fact illegal." Ah, it's good to know it isn't only Americans who call 911 services for totally insane purposes. (Pointed to by Dan)

The monsters in your (well, the hospital's) sink. Lately I've been seeing a lot of stories like this where researchers gather up a whole soulful of DNA and then sift through the data to identify what species are in the area. This works for both micro and macro fauna. "Perhaps the most striking thing about (TM6) is the fact that fully 43 percent of the genes appear to encode proteins that we've never seen before. Typically, due to a combination of common descent and gene transfer, many of the genes in new species are familiar. This one is so far out, most of them don't look like anything we know about. Which, of course, makes it hard to predict what they might do." And doesn't that just make you all comfy and cosy. The word you're thinking of is "nosocomial". (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Rent-a-drone.

If you are not around people who will look at you like you are crazy when you make stupid claims about other people's experiences, then you tend to keep saying stupid things about other people's experiences." If you want to stop being known as stupid, the best path is to stop being stupid about things. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Time is the fire in which we burn

Just as a warning to all you other wannabe writers, get the books you want to write written as soon as you can.

Many more years ago than I wish to think about, the ideas that formed the bones of the current WIP all came together. I won't bore you all with the various Big Ideas™ (trademark of John Scalzi's Whatever), but my elevator pitch is "the Left-Behind romantic comedy for those of us that will be Left-Behind." Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Also, it's a great joke Christmas Tree. But I also shouldn't go into all the details about what's in there because I want to talk about timing.

Let's assume for the moment I can pull this writing feat off and this is going to be a killer book, the kind that the young kids in college ask each other, "Have you read this? You gotta read this" (yes, those dreams of being a Douglas Adams keep coming back no matter how many times reality wants to stake them down). If I had finished it in a relative time frame from when I had the entire story structure down, that would have been about 3 years ago. Let's say a year to get an agent and then two years for the publishing process, the book would probably be coming out soon.

Which would have been great given this summer's movie preoccupation with "End of the World" stories (including not a few "Biblical Rapture" movies on all sides of the issue). That book would have hit the market at a time of high-tide for interest. I can't tell you how much internal strife is going on with that thought right at the moment. Seriously kicking myself over it.

Right now my guess is if I can get it done, we're looking at another 5 years until it might be out (unless a miracle happens - I'm looking at you Powerball). Who knows what the public interest will be then.

So, if you have that killer idea, the one you're not seeing on the shelves right now, write that bugger as fast as you can. Because by the time it's out for sale, you'll never know what will be fashionable or riding the wave of public attention.

And in case you don't see the other part of this argument, write what you want to write about, not what you think the market wants (except for short stories, this is one of the differences between shorts and novels).

Get to writing.

Linkee-poo might as well begin to put some action in my life, breaking the law

A post on titling short stories and novels. One of these is not like the other.

Tobias Buckell on the profit structure of hardcovers and ebooks and how they're apples and oranges.

The NYT article by authors on writing. I'll need some more time to go through all that, if I can get any time at all for it. But just a quick overview of the headlines looks like there could be some good stuff to mine there. (Grokked from Dr. Doyle)

Way oh, there goes Tokyo, go go Godzilla. And article about the increasing body count of extras and people off scene who die in droves so the heros can come out alive and victorious at the end. Or, to put it another way, you know several police departments have rules about high-speed chases (specifically not engaging in them) because by not making the chase you end up saving more lives. Or in other words, at the end of the Avengers, we are left with a body count higher than what we experienced during 9/11 (not to mention nearly wiping out NYC with a tactical nuclear weapon), but instead of heading into cultural shock and mourning that last weeks (if not years), the good guys go out for shawarma. (Grokked from Tor.com)

Actor Peter Mayhew (aka Chewbacca) gets stopped by the TSA for his lightsaber shaped cane. Pointed out because while they get points for the "when a wookie loses" reference, but then loses those points for not commenting on the TSA's side of the story by saying something like, "this wasn't the cane they were looking for." (Grokked from Tor.com)

When I was younger, we used to classify this kind of thing as "gathering stars for your crown in heaven." In this case, Wil Wheaton gains even more super cool geek points. I think he's do for a free frogurt or something.

(Note to self, think up kickstarter for "Geek Stamps" nee "Green Stamps")

Some very cool time-lapse sky photography. And the music is okay. (Pointed to by John)

"Well, actually it is a direct quotation, but not from (Rep.) Stephen Fincher (R-TN). It’s a quotation from the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union… The key point for both Fincher and for his fellow-travelers in Stalin’s USSR is that 'work is a duty.'… But Fincher doesn’t understand what that means either. He doesn’t understand that if employment is a duty, then employment must also be a right." And that, friends, is why I read Fred Clark's posts. Mr. Clark also takes Rep. Fincher to task for quoting the Bible, not out of context, but by completely misconstruing both the passage and the content of the passage. When I was a very young, church going kinda guy, my grandfather taught me a very bad habit. He taught me to read the entire Bible chapter being used as the weekly readings before those passages were used in the sermon. And then I was to see if what the passages were actually saying in the context with which they were written in the Bible squared up with what was being preached. Rep. Fincher fails this simple text.

You hear about it all the time, but somebody actually reinvented the (skateboard) wheel. Well, I think I've seen this done before, but they got the patent and are looking to kickstart the startup cash to get a larger production run made. (Pointed to by John)

"Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the court, said the genes Myriad isolated are products (the genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2) of nature, which aren't eligible for patents." I'm not sure if I mentioned this in the link to the Angelina Jolie story, but that test she used to find if she carried the BRCA1/BRCA2 genes is only offered by one company (Myriad), could not be included in other genetic tests (because Myriad charges outrageous licensing rates) and costs a few thousand dollars. Why? Because they owned the patent. They also stopped other researchers from looking into how these genes work with the hope of maybe developing therapies to help women (and men) who carry them. As in, no one else in the world was doing research here and Myriad's own research wasn't nearly close to being able to develop actual treatments. Why should they? They were getting their money from selling the tests.

Eric with a very long piece on the ramifications and implications of the NSA spying controversy. "The first (way to protect the innocent) is to keep nothing… And the second is to keep everything, so that if a pattern emerges from the data--and patterns will emerge…" Yep.

Okay, I'm going to have to alter my opinion of Excel because of this. A man uses Excel to create art reminiscent of Japanese silk painting. Wow. (Pointed to by John)

Dismantling the legacy of The Boston Molasses Disaster. Or the effects of non-regulation and austerity are already known. Most of the time it's described in the terms of "disaster" or "great shame" (like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire). It's really a shame that one segment of our population doesn't understand history and is forcing us all to relearn these lessons (the West Fertilizer Company explosion for instance). And while we can talk about the market forces that would eventually drive these companies out of business and how "that's how it's supposed to work", allowing that to happen ignores the dead bodies left in these policies wakes as well as the money being sucked out of the economy into the stagnant hoards of the rich. Not to mention if we continue cutting welfare, Medicaid (and the cost of rejecting the Medicaid expansion), and SNAP to the poor (which actually is a cost-shiting exercise and doesn't actually save any money while it works for less people) how will Walmart be able to continue their business model. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Linkee-poo has friends in low places

Sorry, this week is exceptionally busy with deadlines and work work work. So, I don't know if all this balances and everything is in the right spot, but gotta get this out.

This article starts off with the questions most often asked by starting writers (waves hand at the crowd), and then goes into the questions we should be asking. Again, waves hand at the crowd. I wish I had thought of many of these questions before the last few years because I had more opportunities to get great answers. Not that I wouldn't get great answers now, but I've sat with more editors in previous cons than I do now. (Grokked from Miranda Suri)

The commissioning editor, gatekeeper to publishing.

"Ignore the haters. You aren’t writing for those weirdos." Writing advice gleaned from The Lorax.

Seven bestseller strategies for writers. When looking at advice like this, the best advice I have is "If 1 – 5 writers did it and were successful, it's a fluke. If you have 30 writers telling you this worked for them, you might want to check it out." Mostly geared toward self-publishers, but also good advice for others. (Grokked from MrsTadd)

Also if you're self publishing, don't allow typos on your cover. Pointed out here as both a book/writing and politics thing. (Pointed to by John)

The Desolation of Smaug trailer appears. It's full of lots of jumpy sword swinging and more elves drawing bows than you can shake a stick at.

If SF/F fandom is inclusionary, why do some of our fans have to go through this crap. Why? Because apparently fandom hasn't had to suffer through 90s with the constant "corporate education videos" about hostile workplaces. Look, guys, can we talk? Cut this shit out. Frankly if you can accept that a geek can be a woman (and you don't understand just how sexualized women have been in our past and how it's not good now) the problem isn't with them. The problem is that the a segment of male fans have decided they would rather throw their wooden shoes, called "sabot", into the modern cultural machinery than deal with a changed world. And if you don't get the reference in that last line (and how I subverted the intent), you aren't a good enough fan to question anyone else. (Grokked from Tor.com)

The Doom that Came to Thonis-Heracleion. The lost city of Thonis-Heracleion, mighty trade port between Greece and a conquered Egypt, now lies under the Mediterranean Sea almost 7 kilometers off the present day coast of Alexandria. If that isn't a Lovecraftian story just waiting to be written, I don't know what is. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

1933 Chicago World's Fair ephemera. From when we designed using flint knives and wore bear skins. Gods I love this stuff.

"What is keming?" Hahahahahaha.

Janiece talks about her own life, but gives good advice for us all. "Virtue unlocked: Perspective."

What to say about the judge's ruling on the case of organic farmers suing to keep Monsanto from suing them if GM plants get mixed into their organic seed supplies. It's not as strange as it might sound (in face, it's happening already). "In its ruling Monday, the appellate court said the organic growers must rely on Monsanto assurances on the company's website that it will not sue them so long as the mix is very slight." Um, yeah, how about defining "very slight"? Ten percent, thirty, fifty-five? The problem here (okay, one of the problems) is that as the gm seed infiltrates into the organic supplies the percentage will continue to grow until a balance point is found (depending on the evolutionary advantages of each strain). But then I'm reminded of the quote from Little Big Man, "But sometimes grass don't grow, wind don't blow and the sky ain't blue." 'Cause it's not like companies update their websites all the time. (Grokked from Paolo Bacigalupi)

A famous staked vampire body returns to its native soil in Bulgaria. What could possibly go wrong? Double points for those who get the vampire lore there. And yes, stabbing corpses was a thing back then. IIRC, even in Edwardian times it was customary to prick a corpse with a hat pin before burial (this was in the time before embalming was wide spread). (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

Apple's OS X goes to the dark side (of server file management). Of somewhat interest to the day thing as we have many servers I need to connect to.

Oh look, George W Bush's popularity is finally creeping into positive territory. Well, actually it's his negatives that are going down. And it only took him being out of office and out of the public's eye for six years. Some conservatives will like to think that this is because his policies are more popular. In reality it's just that people tend for ignore and forget the bad of the past because there is so much current crap we have to deal with. Sort of why people think fondly of the 50's and 70's. I wonder what the numbers would be if the poll first reminded people of what the Bush Presidency was like, and then ask them. (Pointed to by John)

Tweet of my heart: @bunsenhoneydew: I'm less surprised that the US government is tapping all communications than I am that there was a successful large government IT project

Weekend Linkee-poo before the weekend is out

What does 100 consecutive days of writing look like? (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

The story spine solution. Defining the bare bones of the story.

Kameron Hurley on the myth of talent. There are several levels to almost any career or pursuit you ever want to go into. Innate talent can get you through the first level, maybe the second level. But here is something I've learned, those people who have a "talent" typically peter-out when the hit their first major obstacle. Sometimes that's the first person who doesn't tell them how wonderful they are (the dreaded rejection), sometimes it's when they get to the point where they have to engage their talent in a way they don't want to, sometimes is that wall where something becomes work (and there is always that wall waiting). Most people I know who were "talented" at something (music, art, writing, sports) aren't doing what they were talented in. They all hit that winnowing wall and, because they had "talent" and never had to "work" at it, they were ill prepared and didn't have the skills to carry on. Hard work will always win out over talent, because even if you have talent you will eventually have to work at it.

Here I will share a secret. I suck at writing. No, really, I do. I never paid attention in English class when it was important. My 7th grade to 12th grade English education was compromised by my raging hormones and a flirtive teacher (whom I found out later was flirting with the guy who always sat next to me). How have I gotten as far as I have? Because I know how to work at it. I would probably be farther along if I had more time to work at it harder. Same thing with being a designer.

Kristin Lamb on getting past the dip. I have a feeling that's where I'm at, in an extended dip. I certainly hope there's a breakthrough coming when I'm able to get back to try part. Also related, my Pissing and Moaning post where I refer to blogging as the methadone.

Mer Haskell in praise of the House of Hufflepuff.

Feeding your inner reader to help make you a better writer.

Catherine Schaff-Stump digs into the SFWA Harassment Policy. Organizational time does take longer than we all think is necessary, but that's the nature of organizations as compared to dictatorial groups. While I sincerely hope this policy is being put into action, there's enough wiggle room in "(taking) appropriate action to prevent, to correct, and if necessary, to discipline behavior that violates this policy" that can allow a multitude of outcomes. Or as they used to say, there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.

Opportunity finds evidence of fresh water on Mars. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Five myths about the American Flag. Oddly enough, I've had arguments about all five with people who supposedly "revere" the flag. Too bad they don't know how to do it (including the people who wanted flags to line the streets who didn't understand if you fly a flag at night it must be lit).

And, like the growing evidence that the World Bank has been a little too aggressive and optimistic about austerity programs in the face of actual data to the contrary, we now have empirical proof of GOP obstructionism. Are the Democrats blameless? No. But like that friend that takes flirting and double-entendre and goes to far turning it into something creepy, the GOP has gone around the bend. This shouldn't be surprising given their public comments about doing just such a thing. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Fred Clark discusses the various revelations this week about the government's domestic spying. As I tweeted, it's so cute that everybody acts like this is something new. Now you know why a group of us were screaming about the Patriot Act, which didn't so much start this as give legal cover for it. I'm not as worried as Fred Clark is about the semi-competence of the NSA, they've had over 50 years of experience sifting through the dross of mass communications with over 20 years of using computers to winnow the stream (search for ECHELON if you want to know more). Does that mean I agree with it? Hells no. I do think every jackwagon who voted for the Patriot Act and its two extensions, and all those who supported them, they don't get to complain about this. This is exactly what they approved of.

So, you think the NSA is bad? How about the new Xbox? All your software are belong to us.

Komen cancels their walks for the cure in many cities. Cleveland is one of those cities. The local reps completely deny this has anything to do with the recent scandals, but is all about the recession. Sure, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the major drop in participation after the scandals, but is only because of the recession that people aren't giving more. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

They're praying for water in Texas. Again. "About 30 communities statewide could run out of water by the end of the year, according to a list compiled by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality." Say, and I thought Texas was the magical state where people moved there in droves because of the permissive environment and created all those job? (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart: @scalzi: Re: Google, Microsoft, Apple, et al and the NSA: Thank goodness the tech world is full of libertarians!

Linkee-poo is a butterfly, and butterflies are free to fly, fly away

"Fiction is dangerous, of course, 'cause it lets you into other people's heads. Fiction is dangerous because it gives you empathy. Fiction is dangerous because it shows you that the world doesn't have to be like the one that you live in. Which is an incredibly dangerous thing for the world." Neil Gaiman's talk at Book Expo of America.

Elizabeth Shack shares some of the writer podcasts she listens to.

The Oxford Comma infographic.

Twenty-two maps that show how we are a nation divided by a common tongue. And, damnit, it is a fargin' hoagie (actually a hoagie is a specific type of sandwich, one which I can't find here in the wastelands of Subway). And what, no map for those people who pronounce the "r" in "wash"? That's just ridiculous. (Pointed to by John)

So, I hear you ask (you didn't know I could hear you, did you), what should I eat come the zombie apocalypse. Why, bug salad is the answer. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"And before you think this isn't a problem, consider this: Ann Aguirre writes about the problem of sexism in our genre, and immediately receives hate mail. Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes about the problem and receives hate mail. Starting to see a pattern?" Jason Sanford on why rooting out sexism isn't just the "ladies'" problem.

And if you don't think it's a problem, don't worry. Daniel Tosh doesn't get it either. I've never really understood his form of "humor". To be it's very belittling and demeaning. And this is what happens when you go down that road. It's the reason I don't listen to Dennis Miller anymore, and Jeff Dunham is getting close. Eventually the angry young man who will offend "everyone they've ever disagreed with" schtick gets old and it just turns in to an ass being an ass for the sake of being an ass. Mostly at the expense of women.

While many people won't see the connection here, Tobias shares a story about a prostitute in Texas who was shot by a John because she refused and is then acquitted. There's a little more to it, but, as Tobias says, WTF?! Well, if you start from the premise that women's lives aren't important to begin with, it starts to make sense. But seriously, this guy killed her because he was "trying to retrieve stolen property"? Um, no, you go to the police for that (of course, the police aren't going to have much sympathy for losing money while in the progress of another crime).

You're also looking for someplace to put your keys and the Bath and Beyond solutions are working for you? Okay, here's three key racks you can use. (Grokked from Dan)

Tips for negotiating your first salary. My addition is ask for what you think you should be earning 5 years from now? Why? Okay, if you haven't had much experience working, let me reveal one of the secrets. Raises (for the most part) suck. If you think you'll start low and then you can get more later, think again. Chances are you will go for years without a raise at some point in your career. Most raises will be "cost of living" (which don't actually cover the increases in your costs of living), and they might be cut by increases in your healthcare costs (shared premiums and or adjusted terms which increase your co-pays). In over 24 years of working professionally in design I have had only one raise that was more than cost of living that didn't involve either a new job (knocks on wood here) or a new title (I've also had change of title without a raise). I've only had one major raise (for any reason) that really did alter my economic condition.

Wait, the Mars icecaps are water ice with a thinner layer of carbon dioxide (dry ice)? Why didn't I know about this before? (Grokked from Tor.com)

It's a whole new battery type. Mainly it uses sulfur (one of the cheapest and readily available materials) in a solid form to make a solid electrolyte. Plus is has some serious power density. I'm starting to feel like an old man when I talk about the batteries of my youth. (Pointed to by Dan)

Where do all those greenhouse gases come from? A somewhat convoluted info graphic. (Grokked from Tor.com)

Are you upset about what happened in Benghazi? Okay, why weren't you upset about all these attacks on our diplomats and embassies?

Congress is shocked, shocked to find out that the administration is using their (many times renewed) powers under the Patriot Act. Which puts them in a strange position that they need to both protect the mainstream media (after years of attacking them) and to say what they approved under the Patriot Act was wipe away our basic protections and civil liberties. Don't expect them to bring up those points during testimony. They'll be just as glad if no one remembers. But on the plus side, at least this administration got a warrant from the FISA courts, unlike the previous administration who felt it was too time consuming to do so.

Linkee-poo is getting stale like yesterday's donuts

Scalzi steps up in the SFWA Bulletin brouhaha.

"And I’m furious, because they can undo all of the good that SFWA does." Mary Robinette Kowal on why the SFWA brouhaha is a problem.

Still not sure it's a problem? Okay, how about this Onion article on "If You Wish to Be a Writer, Have Sex with Someone Who Works in Publishing." We aren't very far down that road. (Grokked from Dan)

Billion year old water found. The world is stranger than we think. Okay, well, most water is pretty old, but it's been recycled through kidneys (and as rain) so many times… (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The best 404 error code I've ever seen. (Pointed to by John)

Recreating the Girl with Pearl Earring on an iPad mini. Which you can't do, because as Microsoft has told us, you can't create on an iOS device. Also pretty good to show how art is built. Thinking of the iPad, it's also not like a hospital that deployed them to its staff saw an ROI of nine-days. One of the things that takes the longest to do at clinicals is the software side of things. (Pointed to by Dan)

Someone is studying earworms, and they're looking for your input. In my first structure of the WIP, I used earworms as a tertiary joke overlay (I've since cut it out, because it doesn't add to the story), so this has my interest. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"Forget the fact that most print journalists are not photographers; that most people who write for a living don't have a great understanding about lighting, composition, the rule of thirds or other tenets of photography… (and) it's ridiculous to think that an iPhone… is anywhere near as good as your basic DSLR." Corporate America at it's best. The bean counters run the world. "Say, this secretary can type, what else do you need to put a newsletter together…" (Pointed to by Dan)

Tired of hearing about the (near magical) Cloud? Well, here's a browser extension that will replace "the Cloud" with "my butt." This, my friends, is exactly what the internet was built for. (Pointed to by John)

Why do I feel the need to mansplain to Rep. Marsha Blackburn that gender equality in the workplace isn't a "special" right, it should be basic liberty. Having a law that makes it illegal to constantly pay a women less than what they're paying men for the same position and responsibilities shouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately it is. Because however many decades since the scandals of paying women sixty-four cents on the dollar, we've made massive progress by bringing that up to seventy-seven cents on the dollar. Progress, baby! Pointed here to demonstrate 1) the effect of drinking the kool-aid and 2) for those arguing why they couldn't be a part of a racist/sexist/bigoted organization because blacks, women, minorities belong to it. (Pointed to by Dan)

Somewhat related, think we're a "post-racial nation"? Think again. While blacks and whites use pot at similar rates, if you're black you're four times as likely to be arrested and sent to jail for it. Stick that in the equality pipe and smoke it. (Grokked from ChiaLynn)

"How many people starved (in the Great Depression)? No one." And instead of John Stossel being laughed off the stage at that point, Kilmeade says, "Good point." No, not good point. No points at all. In fact, Mr. Stossel had to correct his statement. Of course, he did that off line and later. Sure, we can do without the Agriculture Department. Only by living in the cities with no ties as to how their food is produced can one remain ignorant of just how much AG is inter-twinned with our food production. I mean, we don't need anyone inspecting our food or making sure manufacturers follow good processes. What's a little HEP A, Salmonella, C. diff, and a few fingers in our hot dogs between us friends? Or maybe some melamine in your milk. These idiots, these conservatives who want to cut everything but defense, really have no frickin' clue how the world works. They're the type of people who may know intellectually that steak comes from cows, but really believe it comes from grocery stores and restaurants. Oh, and Brian Kilmeade, I think you're eligible for a refund on your BA, because obviously you didn't learn squat. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"And those are the 'winnable' ones." The GOP does research on what young people who they think they can win over think of the GOP. That's gotta keep some people away at nights. (Pointed to by Dan)

Tweet of my heart: @phiala: I support govt regulation. @deborahblum: In 1910, they made fake raspberry jam by coloring jelly with coal tar dyes & mixing in grass seed.

Linkee-poo walks around to catch the thrill of the streets we call the zoo

The seven bad storytelling habits we learned from from superhero comics. (Grokked from Tor.com)

How to get permission to use song lyrics in your book. Noted here for future reference. In the current WIP I use lyrics from RY Harburg and Freddie Mercury and a lot of people in-between.

The seven deadly writing sins. The article links to other articles near the end where they list the sins.

Kameron Hurley expounds on the survivorship bias.

Working out the psychology of our characters.

"Fairy tales are, as Ellen says, maps through the woods, trails of stones to mark the path, marks carved into trees to let us know that other women and men have been this way before."

"Your insistence that your’e being bullied by Nazis trivializes the actual bullying, death threats, and sexual threats people get in this industry simply for asking to be treated like human beings." Kameron Hurley on the SFWA brouhaha. What she said.

The problem when your caught out being an idiot and decide the best option is to continue to dig your hole faster is someone will probably call you on it. The ongoing brouhaha over the Resnick/Malzberg Dialogues. Apparently they believe the criticism of their sexism is coming from anonymous quarters. Well, Jim Hines names names which weren't all that hard to find because they weren't hiding. When digging a hole you have two options, dig deeper and faster or stop digging. Since Resnick and Malzberg have decided to keep digging, they might want to use a shovel. And while I haven't really been looking at the whole scope of the argument, I believe it's quickly coming down to the phrase, "Stop feeding the trolls." Apparently they want to dig to China. They're deep enough already.

How writing affects your brain, an infographic. (Grokked from Karl Schroeder)

While researching to write the Other, don't ask questions like this. That's from the NPR segment "Code Switch." What's sad is I've been with friends when they've been asked questions like that. Also was with one of the very few black people in town when President Obama won his first term and a white person congratulated them on "their win." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

You know how the Keystone Pipeline supporters warned that if we didn't build the pipeline, Canada would just sell their oil to China? Well, apparently they were planning to do that all along anyway. Why? Because oil is sold on the world market. But here's the twist, British Columbia rejected the proposed pipeline plans citing a lack of disaster planning. So, to sum up, Alberta was always planning to sell their oil anywhere they could, and they can't even convince their Canadian neighbors that their pipeline plans are a good idea.

"'What good is it to save the planet if humanity suffers?' CEO Rex Tillerson said at the oil giant’s (EXXON) annual meeting Wednesday." And we have a winner, folks. Really, this person is a very highly paid CEO (as in, he probably makes more in a month than you'll see in an entire lifetime). This is the high quality people we're told that corporations need to pay those high salaries to attract and retain. And while I'm making the moral case here (seriously, what kind of asshat says something like that), there's also the complete lack of logic in that statement. I wonder if his epitaph will read, "Sorry we fucked up the planet so you can't live there anymore, but, hey, wasn't that a great road trip?" Or, if the planet isn't "saved", humanity will suffer (and likely die out). Seriously, what fucktard board of directors keeps an idiot like this in the CEO position? I wouldn't trust him to push a broom around competently. And the answer is, a board of directors just as stupid and only focused on the money going into their accounts. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Sure, you've probably heard about the "makers culture" (the advent of cheaper 3D printers, not the conservative libertarian world view), but what about the "bakers culture." NASA helps fund a food printer.

Erik on the facile marketing of this summer's big SF movies. It's like marketing execs are playing key word bingo without understand the context. You know, like they always do. In some cases I see the ad execs or designers laughing up their sleeves (like using Mozart's Final Requiem for a Microsoft commercial), but I think they've looked at Mad Men and decided to start drinking at the office again.

"The researchers have found that the offspring may be benefiting from epigenetic inheritance, in which the parent's (gastric bypass) surgery influences how the DNA they inherit is interpreted by their cells." The world is stranger than we think. It also tends to be more integrated than we think. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Fred Clark with more on Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-TN). This time from a Biblical point of view, since Rep. Fincher decided to use the Bible to justify his being a jackwagon by simultaneously cutting SNAP (food for kids) while increasing farm subsidies which he profited from to the tune of $3.48 million since 1999. Tell me again how the conservatives are the party of "morality", 'cause that joke just never gets old.

"But I wonder whether even Republicans really believe that story — or at least are confident enough in their diagnosis to justify policies that more or less literally take food from the mouths of hungry children. As I said, there are times when cynicism just doesn’t cut it; this is a time to get really, really angry." Paul Krugman on why cutting SNAP and other programs is just bad morality, bad policy, and bad for our country. Want to end so much SNAP and other program spending? Here's one thing, support raising the minimum wage. And gee, the same party that's pushing cutting SNAP is also the same party that wants to get rid of the minimum wage. If you haven't put two and two together, they want to "end the taker culture" and replace it with one of wage slaves. And in case you also don't get it, unless you're in the top 10%, you'll be the wage slave. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"In other words, grocery shops, butcher shops, pharmacies, you name it, they have placed large photographs in the windows that if you were driving past and glanced out the window, it would look as if this was a thriving business. It’s an attempt really by the local authority to make the place look as positive as possible for the visiting G8 leaders and their entourages…" Well, if you don't have a a good economy and you're hosting the G8, you fake it to look like you do have one. That way the leadership doesn't need to be bothered with the truth of the matter and the consequences of their policies. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Now that Michelle Bachmann is out (and yea, I'm sure it has nothing to do with the several investigations that are ongoing or her barely squeaking out the last election, yea, nothing like that) apparently Ted Cruz is in. The conservative Tea Party, the whackaloon gift that keeps giving. I'm sure "opportunity conservatism" (or as the rest of us call it, "parasitic economic opportunism") will be big. In Japan or something. And let us not forget that Ted Cruz thought he could be president (hint, he's Canadian). Aren't there any non-whackaloon leaders of the conservatives or Tea Party out there? It's a rhetorical question, no need to answer.

"'I’m so used to liberals telling conservatives that they’re anti-science. But liberals who defend this (40% of households with children have women who are the primary bread winners) and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology — when you look at the natural world — the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it’s not antithesis, or it’s not competing, it’s a complimentary role.'" The gift that keeps on giving. That's Erik Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState. Someone nominate this asshole for the "Hasn't Been Awake Since the 70s" Award.

"He comes off like a liberal's caricature of what conservative men think." Eight responses to Erik Erickson's brain fart of a comment and ideology. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Jay Lake shares the blogroll he uses to generate links. In which my own contribution is listed. I'm honored.

Weekend Linkee-poo was in a hot, dense state

Alex Bledsoe outlines some of the troubles when you write about the other. Cultural misappropriation is definitely something to avoid. Doing research helps with that.

"No, we must destroy those things that we love that also unfortunately don’t belong." Chuck Wendig on killing your darlings.

Kristin Lamb with a longish article on why some of us blog. There's the daily exercise at it (no comments on the daily part) and there is the brand building part of it. There's also the exercising the words, taking them out for a stretch before doing other writing. Also I'll point to the comment about advertising and just say, if you think (or someone tells you) advertising will sell an individual product, you have something to learn. Advertising can lead to a sale of an individual product (and for Internet advertising, if you're focusing on an individual product, when the reader clicks your link they better go to that product to order it or they're not going to waste the time on your site trying to find it, and you'll lose the game of advertising because that person will remember what a pain it was), but mostly advertising is to build brand, remind people you're still alive, or say, "you thought that product we made was great, look at this new thing". Advertising can work (and it can be damn effective in some cases), but if you're expecting to see a correlation between "I placed this ad, I got these sales", that's a grave misunderstanding of advertising (don't worry, people in advertising also make that mistake).

Daniel Hogan with the writing advice he posted over his computer.

On the SFWA brouhaha, "Need to point out that this too is evidence of disparity in power: men can always realign the conversation and suddenly it's the 50s again." And that doesn't just happen in SFWA, I've seen it at various businesses.

"News flash: Feeling heat for your ideas is not censorship. Having to defend your beliefs when challenged is not thought-control."

They say it's a comprehensive overview, but it's more like the lite theological overview of Good Omens.

And here's the interesting thing about SF, there are some who get it. Patrick Stewart, both our beloved Captain my captain (Picard and Prof. X), works hard for a charity that helps women leave abusive relationships, campaigns to raise awareness, and also works for a charity that works with those who suffer from PTSD, both from his relationship with his mother.

Electrically conductive paint. Oookay. (Pointed to by John)

Tobias Buckell with a chart showing the drop in price for solar generation per kilowatt.

"Perhaps once we have satellite images of an ice-free north pole we’ll see a change in public sentiment… My concern is that by the time that happens, it’ll be too late." Unfortunately I don't think it'll happen even then. However, having a discussion about why your house just blew away, the perceived increase in storms and their ferocity, that seems to get people's attention. Unfortunately, weather (except in the meta sense) is not climate, which is why you don't hear many scientists say, "this storm was a result of global warming" (except those who understand the argument and for the sake of expediency say, "Yes, this is global warming", mostly because people don't understand statistics). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"Far-Right Extremists Chased Through London by Women Dressed as Badgers" Okay, that headline should get you to click on that. If not, could I interest you if I said Brian May was also involved? (Grokked from Joe Hill)

What soldiers do. The complicated history of the Greatest Generation in liberated France and what we won't be telling our children.

Speaking of WWII, the Ghost War that went along side. Faking out the enemy is a long held tradition. In the Civil War, the South faked out Northern Generals by marching the same troops around in a circle that looped in and out of a woods. So about 500 men kept the Union Army at bay while 25,000 Southern troops escaped. And don't for a second believe we aren't continuing the same tradition with both physical decoys and electronic ghosts. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Why do muslims have to keep explaining themselves? Because there's money to be made in keeping people angry and fearful. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Just a reminder, even so called progressives can be retro-minded bigots.

Pissing and moaning

Let's watch Steve as he mixes his metaphors like Tom Cruise in Cocktail.

I knew this was going to happen. After Spring Semester I was able to get in a weekend of being a writer again. Sure, I know, once a writer always a hard drinker, or something like that. But I was able to focus on getting words out and didn't have to think (to much) about classes or the day thing. However with the 72-76 hour weeks (between class, clinicals, and work) there hasn't been much time to write.

And I miss it. I miss it the way a heroin addict does their next hit. The anticipation of release and homecoming. Stories I've half finished grip me by my mental sweetbreads, their hooks sunk deep. And there I quiver, a side of meat waiting to be cut, dancing on air.

I need to breathe, but I'm drowning. It's the wrong kind of air. Did you know most drowning victims don't have a lot of water in their lungs? As the iced cold touches the pit of their soul, the trachea spasms shut and then doesn't open again.

It is a hell of searing heartache. A fire that spoils the appetite and sours the mind.

I come from a tradition that says if you love your art, you will find a way to make it. And I've looked. I've tried. And when I have the moments the well goes muddy then dry, choked with the dust of desiccated dreams and the words won't flow. The only thing that comes is sleep, black and yawning to pull the final straw from the Jenga tower.

I pour all this data into my head like the milk into the newspaper cone trick. And I try it again hoping this time to make it stick. More and more I jam the numbers and angles through my eyes hoping they stick somewhere in the back. The more I shove in, the less I feel of me in there. Day job, numbers and techniques, slight of hand and keep skating across the thinning ice. Faster, jackrabbit, faster. Night job, numbers and techniques, throwing myself at the problems until I knock the walls down.

As I thought I was finding my life, relearning to have fun like a quadruple amputee learning to walk, I do this to myself. Self inflicted mortal wounds that will slowly leak me away. The tears hide in my eyes, afraid to pour forth lest I lose even that hope.

And what is this? Anything more than methadone? Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius. Lots of time spent writing words that don't add to the fiction count.

Don't mind me, I'm just cranky. I needed to get some things off my chest.

Linkee-poo, some try to tell me thoughts they can not defend

On the benefits of being a slush reader. If I wasn't already over-scheduled (and really have been for the past decade, although lately has been the most extreme), I would have been working hard to become a slush reader. Many of the writers I know personally who have "broken in" did some slush reading.

Terri Windling on the green man/woman. And another good post on the dark forest.

We have always been at war with Eastasia. SF has been the quintessential phoenix of literature. There is always a new wave waiting in the wings, the purifying fire questing to burn down the ramparts. And like the western (and eastern) forests the fire quickens the seeds and clears their path for growth.

"If you’ve been successful, good on ya. I’m thrilled when any artist breaks out to making a living. But genuinely understand that survivorship bias means there are plenty of people plugging the same formulas and not getting results that look even similar." Tobias Buckell on cutting through the crap and getting to the data about publishing.

Because I gratuitously link to content on his site, we're giving some link love to Chuck Wendig. His new book, The Blue Blazes is out today and he's having a contest. That a nice stack 'o books there.

Fifty writing quotes, (actually quotes about writing).

There's an axiom of writing, "Write what you know." If we all adhered to that line literature (including genre) would be exceptionally boring. The collolory to that is "learn new stuff to know it." And sometimes you have to write what other people know. Here are five good tips on getting someone who has expertise you need to submit to an interview. Sure, it's written from the perspective of getting interviews for your blog, but the skills transfer. I guess if you also want to blog interviews (which you could do worse things with your time, and I think the number of people I've seen going from interviewing writers to being a writer who is interviewed would require me to remove my socks to count).

Google is deploying blimpnet to Africa and Asia. Gotta do something to increase those ad revenues. Yea, that was snark, considering there are some big swaths of country in the US that could use that technology as well (but I guess the FAA would have a problem with that, especially after the Comcast and Time Warner checks clear). (Grokked from Neil Gaiman)

"And that means that scenes from this B-movie — inventions dreamed up by Matheson, ad-libs by Daley or Kendrick or Robinson — will eventually take on the status of holy writ, of scripture. Jokes written for Rapture-Palooza will, a generation from now, have been absorbed into the folklore of premillennial dispensationalist 'Bible-prophecy scholarship.'" Rapture-Palooza, aw crap. Although what Fred Clark talks about here, how what is written or in movies becomes folklore and winds its way into orthodoxy. Especially when it comes to the Rapture (premillennialism), it's all a product of this process as the Rapture itself doesn't appear in the Bible. You have to shred the Bible pretty well and then glue Old Testament and New haphazardly, add a dash of inference and a willingness to see connections where none exist to get to the Rapture.

Will she sink? Like a rock, sir. Some proof that the new ways aren't always better than the old ways of doing things. (Pointed to by Dan)

Death in an individual journey, but it's not a virgin path. Millions have trod the road. Jay Lake is walking that path right now. I don't often point to his posts where he ruminates on his position. Sometimes I feel like the worst kind of voyeur while reading them. But I do so for the same reason I read a lot of the blogs of writers in different stages of their career. They're someplace I know I will be. Seeing how others fare will hopefully help my own journey on that road.

"While (Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-TN) interprets food assistance for the needy as 'stealing,' he has not similarly condemned the Farm Bill’s massive agricultural subsidies. In fact, he supported a proposal to expand crop insurance by $9 billion over the next 10 years. Fincher has a great personal stake in maintaining these particular government handouts, as the second most heavily subsidized farmer in Congress and one of the largest subsidy recipients in Tennessee history…" Tell me again how the conservatives aren't the party of "got mine, screw you." That never gets old. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The problem with short term cuts is they tend to become long term liabilities. While the article Tobias Buckell points to is all about infrastructure spending ("In the GOP’s masterful move to 'save money' they have cost tens of millions more than the initial price tag") the same is true about social spending. Most people don't remember why we have food stamps and Head Start. There have been breathless news reports about how Head Start kids lose their advantage by 3rd grade all the while missing that Head Start was never meant to give kids an advantage, but to level the playing field for the less fortunate. This in turn lead to lower poverty rates and lower criminal prosecutions. SNAP (food stamps) were meant as a way to not just end hunger, but feed kids when their brains are most vulnerable thereby decreasing dependence on government programs. And both programs were successful beyond the hopes of the law makers who initiated them. But since we no longer remember why we did these programs (because they solved the problems) we're no destined to run into the same problems because of short sighted politicians, especially the conservatives.

"Why are temperatures warming faster in the Arctic than the rest of the world?" (Grokked from Jay Lake)