Monday Misc.

Just to show that reality is too weird for fiction, They (and you know who they are) are developing a fuel cell that runs on blood. Okay, it's actually kinda cool, a small fuel cell that feeds off of glucose in the blood stream that is implantable. Can a Terminator that requires blood sacrifice be far behind. And, "The animatronic zombies on this ride are so realistic." (from a link grokked from Jay Lake's link salad)

And, as they say, astronomy is looking up. And if you do look up in the sky right now, there's a pretty good chance you might see the ISS (International Space Station). I've seen the station twice, and I've gotta say, it gets my geek on. Seriously cool to realize that moving light is man made and that there are humans in space. NASA runs a site in case you want to track when you can see the ISS yourself. (from all around hoopy Dad Dan)

On why most politicians at this level have people to help them write a speech (text of Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation speech). Seriously. Don't do this. And the wild population of freeze-dried whackaloons will grow by at least one at the end of the month.

And finally, Jeff VanderMeer writes about The Fear. He doesn't use that word in discussing the freelance life, but it's there. It's the thing that has kept me in a day job instead of jumping, like Jeff did two years ago (although I would just into graphic design freelancing, something I know rather more about). And his point #5 is something I struggle with constantly and I have #6 engraved in my soul.

Long weekend

A long weekend spent doing a whole bunch of things, none of which was writing. This week will also be a test for writing fiction; we have a committee meeting where I'm standing in as chairman, lots of work for the day job that needs accomplished, and next weekend is our neighborhood garage sale, which we spent some of today getting ready for.

Plus making arrangements for VP. While at my Mom's for the fourth my wife and sister-in-law hatched a scheme that since I would be spending on the room anyway, that they would take a holiday and vacation on the island. I've been looking at various transportation methods over to Martha's Vineyard. I looked to see if I could get a car slot on the ferries, but their websites didn't return that any where available. Fortunately there's a car rental place at one of the docks island-side.

So, a long weekend taken a breather. Jump back into it tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend.

NEWS! - As the ceiling flew away

The Fourth of July is a special holiday for me. Now, I like Halloween and Christmas. I like decorating to make it festive. I don't do that for the Fourth. The Fourth is my time to shout inside my skull. It's my time to watch fireworks and be happy for my freedoms. It's like Christmas, but my presents are freedom and the rights of citizenship, which, frankly, leave anything ol' Santa could stick in his sack wanting.

But now I have another reason to celebrate. I've been accepted to Viable Paradise. Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap.

So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to turn cartwheels 'cross the floor. And then I need to go book tickets to be one of sixteen (well, 28) vestal virgins leaving for the coast.

Teh Stupidity Factor(tm)

Wow. Ever since now President Obama was declared President-Elect Obama, Teh Stupidity Factor(tm) has been a growth industry. Really. If it were a stock I'd have invested in it because, man, it's numbers are going through the roof.

Now, I tend to seethe on friends blogs (Janiece Murphy and her ongoing "'Tard of the Week/Month" posts, Jim Wright and his, well, almost most of his posts that don't concern military history or woodworking, Nathan whenever he's not talking about the movie business, Vince whenever he wants to, and even my friend S. Andrew Swann - although he comes from a different end of the political spectrum, and finally even my friend S.C. Butler asked recently "When did all republicans go nuts?"), and sometimes it overspills here.

And I try not to get involved in government issues that tend not to affect me or have a spill over effect (such as other states passing anti-evolution education bills), but with this one, Teh Stupidity Factor(tm) was so great, I had comment.

Missouri Congresswoman Cynthia Davis, who ironically is the the chairwoman of the Missouri House Special Standing Committee on Children and Families, wrote a recent newsletter to her constituents criticizing the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' summer food program. This is the program that provides free or low-cost lunches to Missouri children. Among other stupidities, including the ever present "why don't they get a job" argument, wrote "Hunger can be a positive motivator."

One in five Missouri children are underfeed. Do I need to run through all the health problems and educational issues that being underfed cause?

And before I get to my comment, with full disclosure I qualified for these programs when I was in school, from when I was nine-years old. Now, I didn't go hungry often, but that extra help during the school year (at the time there was no summer program as there is now) helped my family greatly, even though it was immensely embarrassing and shameful for my little ego (at the time the program had separate meals and even a separate line for the lunch). With my brother and I getting subsidized lunches that helped us afford decent food for dinner. And I've been working since I've been twelve.

So, Congresswoman Davis, and I say this with all respect honoring your choice to step up and serve in government (if you're a new reader, I'm a councilman in my Village), although I believe state legislators even in Missouri make a decent salary, and knowing how hard it is to find places to cut spending to come in line with revenues (although the program is Federally Sponsored), with all that in mind, and I don't say this lightly, fuck you.

Story Bone

Who wants to live forever? Obviously, not Dr. Hayflick, and his research is the cornerstone of most longevity research. And if you don't know what the Hayflick Limit is, you'll definitely want to learn that for this story.

Here's an interview with him (grokked from Jay Lake's link salad). There's lots of good SF material in that short interview. Plenty of plot lines and lead points for further research.

If you read the comments to the article you'll discover our mass obsession with our own immortality. There's plenty of "teh stupid" (which has been on the increase lately) in those comments. And plenty of hackneyed SF tropes being tossed about like they were reality (or just around the corner, which they are not).

Mix in to this the issues Jay Lake has been facing with his own possible recurrence of cancer and my own issues with cancer. Also the pathology of that disease.

And then it comes, to live forever there's a simple formula. We must become cancer. We would need to harness some of the mutative properties of cancer, remove the harmful side-effects, and channel the growth within norms (or we'd become lumpy masses of flesh like the "horrible abomination that was the Dixie Chicks" from Bender's Game). Would you accept eternal life if it came at that price (you become the disease)? How would you solve the standard problems that would come with such extended life spans (just look at what's happened since the 19th Century and our limited life expansion)? What would happen to religion as we become near immortal? All the societal changes that would need to happen to handle a population that never dies (except for accident or major disease), hell just what would it do to marriage and other social contracts (vampire stories have dealt with this slightly, but only from the "limited population lives forever" aspect).

For me, I would write this story with the premise of a serial murderer running rampant. It might be this person has created and is spreading a disease, or they could be doing it the old fashioned way. Would the people treat them as a hero (like the old time gangsters)? Would they hunt the murder down like a rabid dog (because they are adjusting the status quo)? Would the benefit of serial murder to society be greater than the impact of the deaths? What if the murder is being committed by curing the "cancerness" of the people?

You're welcome to use this angle as well.

Dis, dat, and da udder ding

On the novel I got about two hundred more words out today. Sigh. Well, I didn't expect to continue the 1000 word in a half hour clip I did yesterday, especially since I don't know where we're going with this chapter. I think I've decided to build up the tension a little with some extra character building. Can't always have action, have to develop more story.

Things are wacky at the day thing. It's going to be a busy week. And we're approaching a holiday which helps give clients artificial markers along the calendar. So big time control issues. And no matter how hard you push, that camel just ain't going through that needle's eye.

My need still hurts where I gouged it. There's usually some blood on the bandage everyday. I'm hoping it's still healing and it's just that the cut is on a joint that I continue to break the scabbing by walking, etc.

We had a significant rain today. I was at work but Bette could check the rain barrels. Apparently my jury-rigged drainage plan works as designed. I'm somewhat proud of that. Now I just need to design and build the new diverter.

Still darn tired. Must get more sleep.

Strange Days

Wrote out most of Chapter 14 on lunch (I really like writing at lunch, I like having a lunch to write over). I don't think I got everything out about it, and it's one of the smaller chapters at 1195 words. It's some more set up and moving pieces, but it goes pretty quick. While Gary doesn't trust Santana, this is a chapter where he starts learning to trust him. If Santana wanted to pull something over on Gary he could have done it here, Gary will realize that in the cab ride home.

This chapter came out quick (I got about 900 words out in half an hour, the rest when I came home tonight). I knew basically what would happen, although there was a wrinkle they needed to work out that I didn't expect but made sense and I had to put it in.

I'm not sure where we go from here. I'm thinking maybe it's time for another background chapter as Santana and Gary make their way back to the safe house. During the critique there were plenty of questions of just what was the "Disaster" which changed SF so much. I may explain that now.

I've been toying with some of the concepts of the New Weird (as defined by Jeff VanderMeer which he posted yesterday, perchance). I've been having problems defining just what this novel is. It still isn't New Weird as it doesn't have the horror component (although there is some "gore" but we cross over it pretty quick, after all the main character's job is to kill people with a sword, that's not a bloodless job), but it's closer to that definition than the "urban fantasy/noir" classification I've been using so far. Part of Jeff's definition includes alternate history/universe which I think may solve an issue I've been struggling with. The "Disaster" was essentially "The Big One" on the west coast. The earthquake that radically alters the landscape, crashes and burns everything. The big reset button gets pushed for almost all of California and most of southern Oregon. The rest of the west coast isn't in better shape. There's a recession going on at the same time and the US government doesn't have the resources to rebuild an entire state, so California looks across the pacific. Asia comes in to help but also wants business interest control. After about twenty years, the rebuilding is near complete. There's fewer people, organized crime families have risen to prominence because they were able to get things done during the reconstruction. they could funnel the money and move projects forward where the local governments couldn't. The Chinese feel they can't make back their investment and pull out leaving the newly respectable crime families and local governments in charge in a stressed power sharing arrangement. The Federal Government continues to try and make inroads, the State is week and the cities operate more or less as independent City States. Our story takes place about thirty years after that.

However, technology hasn't advanced all that much (it has a little, but not in a "singularity" way, I have issues with the traditional definition of the "singularity", which has now morphed to be where an AI gains sentience). So how do I justify tech that's only slightly forward looking, and a geopolitical situation closer to today than what might be the case 100 years in the future? Well, if the Disaster occurred during the energy crunch of the 70s, that would make the story take place about a decade from now. Alternate timeline via natural disaster. A super-Katrina like event would have been beyond the US economy of the mid 70s to have dealt with. There are internal politics stuff that would change (Ronald Reagan would never had made president leading possibly to a second Carter administration, which would have brought Pat Buchannon in the 1988 race against Walter Mondale).

So that's what I've been toying with. I think it could work. I was also willing to simply never put all that in the book. Maybe it's time to make my characters life a little more hellish, pushing up a counter attack earlier, which then would drag out a subplot longer. But I need to set some of it up first. That might make more sense with returning to the safe house.

Them 'Taters Got Eyes!

All around hoopy frood and frequent commentor Ken McConnell has got himself a gig as Guest of Honor at this year's Fandemonium. Freakin' cool, dude.

So if you find yourself out in the land where the potatoes roam free the first weekend in August, check him out at the Nampa Civic Center (311 3rd St. S, Nampa, ID 83651).

Congrats, Ken. Hope it's a spectacularly good time.

I've got a crummy job. It don't pay near enough to buy the things it takes...

Sometimes I'm a big goof. I saw Todd start up his contest and forgot to give a shout out to it. We shall rectify this situation (said with a German accent).

Hey look, Todd Wheeler has started up his summer reading contest and lassoed a sponsor. Good on you, Todd. This year's charity is the Children's Literacy Foundation. Considering in my own state the Governor and Legislature are cutting library funding like it was the new crack, I wholly support this contest.

This year I'm not eligible for prizes having been a previous winner. BUt I'm sure you all qualify. Read a book, get a chance at spiffy prizes (Random Michelle won the first week) and make Todd and Bear Pond Books fork over the dough and books. What could be easier and more fun. And you know you're going to read books anyway.

A Few Dings

The physical manuscript, check, and cover letter are off to VP. I put those in the mail before I started the work outside yesterday.

What I had originally set out to do with the rain barrels is done. Of course when you start any project, there tends to be things that come up going down that road that alter one's plans. As is the case now. I need to create a ledge for the new rain barrel to hold buckets while filling. Also, Bette tells me that she does have to scoop out buckets of water so I'm going to make that ledge double as a step to get into the rain barrel. And like all major projects it's not complete unless I hurt myself someway. When cutting the rubber edging to put the downspout through, I lost control of the utility knife and took a divot out of my knee.

I'll also need to design and manufacture a new diverter for the old rain barrel. Once I have that in place I can finish loading up the drainage pan with stone.

Also finished up Chapter 13, the first of Act II. Word count now stands at 23182. Most of that is draft zero, so I expect it to expand a little which will place me just about where I thought I would be and where I'd like the novel to finish out at (60-90,000 words). But now I enter the long, dark, tea-time of the writer's soul. The dreaded "middle."

Your Freudian Slip Is Showing - The Annals of Unintended Humor

You know I am a real proponent of new energy and specifically use-point-generation (which means power is generated or captured at the point where it is used) (sorry Matt). But really, any power generation that uses renewable sources (biomass, generated gas, etc) or ambient sources (solar, wind) really gets me going.

Now, only slightly switching topics, I'm sure some consider me an ideologue from some issues because I do take a tough stand on some things which they might consider "political." However if I do have a position on some issue that somebody might find it difficult to knock me off of my point, it's usually because I have thought it through and previously considered their position and found it to be left wanting. Then, at that point, I try to enlightened them to what I've already run through. Only if I know them. If I don't know them I have the option of making fun of their position while trying to keep others from falling into the same mental trap. That's the life of the trickster.

But to show I'm an equal opportunity offender, and a critic of my own "field of expertise" (just like John Hodgman) I offer up this piece of unintended humor. (recent web ad)

Well, at least their only asking us to roll over. Unlike the other energy industries which have been bending us over.

Cat Blogging Friday

See Vivian? Here, maybe this will help.
You can tell what fun it is to go find them to wrangle them inside. And both of them have the same coloring. Fortunately for us that pile is gone now (although the ground still has that color patterning).
Here's Cleo helping us out a little by "hiding" on top of the bright blue tarp. Have I mentioned that she ain't too bright? Actually, this wood pile is her favorite plaything. She sleeps on top, or she can crawl under the tarp and hide is she needs to. Our little special needs kitty.

Chicken Dance

Coolio Daddy Dan sends a link to some interesting technology. Now, I'm not one to buy into the "technology will save us" philosophy, but this is very cool. One of the problems with converting to a hydrogen economy is the storage of the fuel (hydrogen). People are working like mad on battery tech (hello Bolivia!) and trying to get fuel cells to be practical (they are, but they cost too much and are prone to breakdowns). And now most of the promising technology to store hydrogen safely and efficiently in a portable fashion (unless you want all our hydrogen cars to have to carry those "Flammable/Explosive" icons on them) has been hideously expensive (like the price of a BMW, one of the nice ones). Well, necessity is the mother of something and some enterprising people at the University of Delaware have come up with a very cost effective method. Chicken feathers. Baked chicken feathers.

Those scientists. They're always thinking. Even when making a late night KFC run.

Large fuels cells just became more practical.

We walk through the door, so accusing their eyes...

Just finished keying in the fourth round of edits. I think that's it. I could, of course (and probably will) rewrite this part another half-dozen times, but I think it's good enough to show people (again, I apologize to all my fellow Hasting Point Writers One! for having to read such a crazy first draft). I think it's more than enough to get me in to VP. But then, what do I know. I don't think there's anything majorly wrong with it. I chased all the plot bunnies out with a stick.

Applying early does have it's advantages and I'm applying late in the game.

Final word count for the first five chapters, 8690. I did cut some, added elsewhere. Maybe a total of 300 words changed hands (which is below normal for me, again, maybe novel length is my strength). I did a bunch of rearranging but only at the sentence and intra-paragraph level. I didn't move paragraphs around or pull parts out to stick in other chapters.

Tired beyond tired. Tomorrow I'll print out a good copy, write the cover letter, and package it all up for a Saturday trip to the post office.

Seriously hoping this light at the end of the tunnel isn't a west-bound dragon.