I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Linkee-poo goes the extra mile

Two posts about writing across gender. First is from Jennifer Dubois which also has a good summation of the white male privilege, and then Beth Bernobich with some commentary. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

A photo looking inside the J20's cockpit showing the HUD projection unit. The J20 is China's 3rd (?) generation tactical jet fighter with stealth technology.

Jennifer Jackson is giving away books because of her agent anniversary. Some good stuff in there, but it's only open until Sunday.

Goodreads is giving away copies of Jim Hines' Libriomance. I heard Jim giving a reading of this at Penguicon. You really want this.

The abandoned ships in the desert. (Grokked from Miranda Suri)

Easter Island statues (Moai) have bodies. Huhn, go figure. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Shamanism has been an interest of mine since high school, when writing a research paper I stumbled across a few first hand accounts of missionary encounters with shamans in the Americas. It was an eye opener and broke me from the "magic indian" stereotype (so I hope I've never written that character). Joseph Campbell makes quite a few references to shamanism in many of his lectures and in a part of The Power of Myth. Then, when attending my first con, World Fantasy in Madison, Teri Windling was GoH, and she was making some interesting points about the early lives of the writers she knew. So my first question ever at a con was to ask her how she felt those experience tracked with the shamanistic initiation path, where upon she pointed at me and said, "Yes, exactly that!" Lightning struck and that moment has stayed with me (obviously). So now Miranda Suri shares two links to stories about one of the earliest graves found believed to be that of a shaman. This one is in a cave called Hilazon Tachtit, and is near the Sea of Galilee.

I wonder if the conservatives who cry about how their being censored in the public square will come to the defense of a woman who was forced to miss a connecting flight because of the message on her t-shirt. Probably not. While it could be because the word, "Fuck" was in there, I can tell you that over my vacation I saw worst sentiments on t-shirts (although avoiding "dirty" words) and those people were seated and serviced. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Paul Krugman on some more of the insanity that is Wall Street and banking. What he fails to mention is that those big bankers who were responsible for the crash like being called, "The Masters of the Universe." This more than about fragile egos and calling people names, this is about a class of people used to being stroked who are no longer getting that service. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And just in case you think Paul is being a little over dramatic, here's event staff grabbing a mircophone away from a reporter asking a hard question of a CEO who was hosting a press event on Capital Hill. Ask me no questions I'll tell you no lies. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

2 comments:

Rick said...

I've always worked with my hands, Steve, and come from a poor working class family. My dad and mom always said people lecturing each other means they like their own words more than the life itself.

When I was younger, I didn't understand it. Now that I'm older and grasp the point. Anger kills. Sharing a bowl of soup is better than words.

Before I die, I must just move back to the hills.

Hey, are you going to DragonCon in Atlanta this year or FandomFest in Louisville, KY? I'm going to Louisville for sure and almost positive I'm heading to Atlanta.

Steve Buchheit said...

Hey Rick, unfortunately I've blown all my vacation time and money (Maine was more expensive that I estimated). I think I'm going to wait for DragonCon until I have a book to flog (although here I'll make the comment that I go to Cons to have fun, the business side is an aside). Getting to cons that are more than an half day's car ride will be waiting until I either have more expendable money, or something I can write off on my taxes.

And DragonCon to me is in the same category of Comic Con. It's something I want to do, but can't quite swing in the near term.