Alive in the zombie apocalype

Here at World Fantasy and having a good time, I think. Sitting in on various panels and also catching up with friends. That may seem like it's an expensive way to keep in touch, and it is, but it's worth it. There are so many groups of people I know now that I don't have to many moments of not bein around friends.

I did try and take an hour to study. The flip size of the knowing people is that I didn't get to actually study which means tomorrow night is going to be difficult.

I'm getting a little better with the iPod Touch. Although I have too big of thumbs. 

Another issue is the lack of wifi connectivity.

But tonight, on the way back from dinner we passed a big zombie contingent. And I don't think they were con related. Ah, Halloween.

Early Morning

Up early to head to World Fantasy. All the cool kids got there yesterday. Oh well. If you're going, hope to see you there.

Don't mind me

You know, one of these times I'd really like to have time off where in the days leading up to it other people think, "Hey, you know, Steve told us he'll be off these days, we'll get wrapped up before hand so he can finish out the work without a great deal of stress or anxiety and maybe have time to do those little things one needs to do before vacation/travel/events." Instead of the "Oh, we're going to wait until the last moment and then dump and run with projects that need to be done before he leaves."

Yeah. I need to clip my toe-nails and I don't know when I'll be able or if I'll be able to do it. (I've already chucked the "trim beard" and "scrub bathrooms" before I go)

And I'm remembering now why I was so whacked and can barely remember Viable Paradise last year. Same thing, same stress, and (this I forgot until recently) I had my flu shot right before leaving and had pain for half the week.

Wednesday's Linkee-poo

And now that we're under a week before the election, prepare for the slinging of accusations that have no basis in reality, but can't be disproven before election day. Yes, as world views crash, one of the instantaneous reactions is "they're cheating." So expect accusations of stealing the election, massive voter fraud, bussing in voters, intimidation, corporations/lobbyist/foreign money distorting, and the ever popular, eating babies. It's still early, and all those early voters don't mean that's how the election well turn out.

Strange what happens when you remove political appointees with ideological charges from government agencies, you finally see the evidence. That's a NASA page showing some evidence of the global warming and making the connection to increased CO2 in the atmosphere. The top chart is most interesting and also matches to temperature variations (although they don't show the chart overlap, which they really should have).

Some more proof that life on this planet is weirder than we think. That's an article on "The Scientist" about a new giant, marine virus being discovered (well, giant as compared to what we thought viruses would top out at). Besides the talk of genetic mixing going on with this viruses (and it's also happening in larger scale animals as well, just look at how retroviruses work), there was this little tidbit most of the way down. (grokked from Jay Lake)

… scientists now realize that there are some 50 million viruses in every milliliter of seawater. Every day, marine viruses kill about 20 percent of the ocean's microorganisms, which produce about half the oxygen on the planet.

An interesting take on the death of the browser. Not that I agree, the browser is a great piece of kit, when it works right (and not doing stupid things like a certain company's hijinx). Somewhat related is this link from Dan on Windows being the Cadillac of OS and the death of the concept of "a PC in every home." As someone who now carries two cell phones and a Touch, I see the argument here. But I think heralding the death of both the browser and the big box computer is a little premature.

Gemini Linkee-poo

Adorable girl test global warming hypothesis. Of course, it's not as comprehensive as a whole atmospheric test, but it's a good start. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Here's a steampunk short primer on the 19th century. You know, before government got all that involved in business and taxation and such.

To everything there is a season, set spin cycle to max

Well, it seems those filthy liberals are just trying to trash conservative America's world view again by actually not having an enthusiasm gap and going out to vote early in numbers that match to the 2008 election percentages (where electors declare parties and have early elections). What's a conservative to do? Well, you say there's massive voter fraud and people are stealing the election, of course. Because they can't be in the minority of opinion, they're the Permanent Majority.

Just spent my lunch reading way too many articles about voter fraud allegations that are false on the face of them, the prospect of voter intimidation by "poll watchers" and way too many screeds about "ZOMG, the election isn't going they way we predicted, it must be voter fraud."

Despite the Bush Administration's Justice Department's intense search for voter fraud cases (you may remember the scuttle-butt about a few attorneys being fired over not pursuing cases strongly enough), between 2002-2008 only 100 cases were found. Mostly on minor infractions (and I seem to remember at least a few conservative vote rigging schemes in there, I think in Michigan). Of course, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

Keep looking. Keep praying. Keep telling ourselves that "it just can't be that way."

Story Bone

From idle speculation... So, we have present day zombie tales, and near future zombie tales, even far future zombie tales. However, for the life of me, I can't think of a historical zombie story (except, you know, stories written in the past, but those were also present or near future for their time). Now, for other monsters, we have all types of stories, especially about vampires (period pieces, present, far future, SF, Fantasy, horror, humor, mainstream, etc). But I wonder if you could do, say, a Victorian, Edwardian or Napoleonic? I doubt a medieval piece would work (needing the whole Caribbean/African Slave culture as the germ of zombie lore).

Story Bone

We're building a better moon.

Monday's Linkee-poo

This weekend is World Fantasy, and I plan to be there, as long as the waters don't rise and the damn don't break. And this week promises to be another draining week. I'm really getting tire with how all my extra stuff tends to find the times I have a need to be rested for and then screwing it up. I typically refer to this as "my day job doesn't want me to have a life" (although in this case it's the freelance and the night thing).

Steve talks about what our words say about ourselves. I'll just mention that I try persuasion, but it's damn hard against those who have "religion" in their political philosophy and sometimes it's just more fun to screed that to turn a world view around (laughing as the car goes over the cliff so to speak). While Steve and I disagree politically (sometimes vehemently), I know he thinks about his positions. Also, I'm glad all my commentors here are wise enough to make coherent arguments for their positions.

John Joseph Adams expands his domain of conquest. Or something like that. Actually he's just been names as editor for Fantasy Magazine (as well as keeping his gig at Lightspeed). I've had a beer with John. Nice guy. Hopefully I can sell him something down the road.

And since we're in high spin mode, some of the false things "we know" (or as I call them, the Myths We Tell Ourselves). Yes, it's a biased site, but prove their facts wrong.

And since I'm talking about the myths, here's a photo of a bucket-wheeled excavator. You know all those who say, "humans can't do much to affect the Earth," well, yeah, that. Plus, as you can read from the description, some open pit mines can be seen from orbit (not to mention that with our damns and swimming pools, we've increased the rotation rate of the Earth by holding more water at higher latitudes, granted, it's only fractions of seconds each year, but it is measurable). (photo link grokked from Jay Lake)

The Ferret takes on some myths as well (this time libertarian myths, which I think I've pointed out that we've tried that experiment before, it didn't turn out so well). Also see: In Medieval/Ren Fairs, everybody is of the noble class, when hardly anybody was. Also, they like to run about with swords when very few people could 1) afford them and 2) were permitted to wear them (my lineage on my father's side was allowed). Not everybody is a Jedi. And it sucks when you're not. We get grumpy, and then those Sith people keep telling us things could be better if we'd just let them in power (and I like the various permutations of that sentence, so I'm keeping it, and yeah, in the Libertarian=Jedi scenario of this, the Sith are people like me, which tickles my fancy something fierce right at the moment).

And finally, fun with statistics. That's an article on Amazon's "ZOMG Kindle sales are Fabulous" (said with Jazz Hands) press release. While, you know, not releasing actual numbers. And their new Kindle is selling well? Yes, I guess that means you've hit the right price point (with the nudge from competition). And I would hope you're selling more kindle books this year over last considering the numbers of e-readers (the Kindle and things like my iPod Touch which has the Kindle software) are skyrocketing. Still, let's have the numbers so we can compare "paid" Kindle purchases (compared to the Free books) vs. all the other segments (they're still saying "better than hard cover" but hard covers are the smallest segment of physical book sales - trade and mass market paperbacks outselling them in ridiculous numbers - I wanna be a paperback writer!). (grokked form Steven Gould)

Sunday not doing what I should be

This weekend is not going as planned. Not that it's all bad, but just not going in the right direction. And that it's setting up about two weeks of contention isn't good as well. Especially since next weekend is World Fantasy.

First up was a client bringing some extra freelance work. About 14 hours of freelance. Sigh. So didn't have any time to read for the writers group, so not going this afternoon. Which sucks. But 14 hours of billable is good. I guess.

On the positive side, we got toys this weekend.

Twenty-four inches of snow throwing madness. (insert manly grunting here)

And because this fall we're really time strapped, I also got this.

Set it up and used it yesterday. Have to rethink how I clear my yard, but oh yeah.

Finally, just because it's fall, have a wooly bear.

Touchable Elmo

Here's an argument for tactility. I wish more clients would get this. I do some work for an Amish cabinet maker. I was able to make the case to him and did a brochure on 100lb cover stock, with a felt like finish (not glossy). He's told me that brochure has helped him almost double his business. In this economy (okay, he targets the high end of the market which really didn't taper off). Because the brochure also felt architectural (100lb cover is pretty stiff), and the texture felt like fresh cut wood, it keys into people's emotions. Yet another one of our secrets out. So the legions of "thins as possible for cheapness, oh, and make it glossy" can bite me.

If we call it a week, will it go away?

It's been a week at work.

Hypocrisy, while never in short supply, seems to be running high in conservative media. So far, not much about Mara Liasson who also works for NPR and appears on Fox. And there's also a strange silence about how NPR recently reminded their employees that they're not allowed to attend political rallies, including Jon Stewart's Stephen Colbert's rally. And lest we forget, their was all the monkey screaming over Dan Rather, but in the other direction.

And since we're entering the high spin zone heading into the election, here's some links that may help.
Politifact
FactCheck
and SourceWatch