Escape Pod - Sci-Fi Audio

MUST go see this–an early draft of the Declaration of Independence at the NY Public Library. Too cool. (ping.fm/fnrO2)

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

Um... okay.

That was strange.

It was everything that was great about RTD scripts and everything that was bad about them at exactly the same second .

It was a great big lardy bucket of FAIL that, if you turn it around, is the biggest fountain of WIN.

It was one of the most awfully wonderful episodes ever, full of deus ex machinas up the wazoo all seamlessly and organically stitched in to the story.

Imagine your favourite band playing a tune you don't recognise in the middle of a concert. Your attention starts to wander, you start to think about things like what you're going to do after the concert, how you're going to get home and then, someone on stage starts playing a different tune, you're not sure but- no, you know this. As they play you realise they've been leading into that song , the one you love. Each member of the band comes round and it's the intro but it's different, it's richer than you are used to, louder, fuller with life. Where's the orchestra come from? That choir of terrible, beautiful voices, who opened the gates to heaven to let them come down? And there, at the end of everything, you realise where the music comes from. Every atom of your body is singing, every particle of your soul is the accompaniment. That wasn't what it was like at all.

I think it broke me.

Pushups this Friday went on and on. I spread the reps out over a couple hours. It appears I've injured my elbow.

At first I thought it was my RSI flaring up, seeing as its the same arm. This time though its up in the triceps not below my elbow. I dunno, it could be a contributing factor, but I'm thinking I pushed the arm a bit too hard. I struggled through all the reps yesterday, though waiting extra-extra-long made it possible for me to actually do them.

Caught a bug somewhere along the line. Woke up tired and sore this morning and I haven't been able to shake it off. Add nausea and bathroom visits related to Lovcraftian horror and you have a bug I hope is only visiting for 24 hours.

And that just adds to drama of the 2-week endurance test I need to do. I was going to shoot for tonight, but I'm looking at tomorrow morning as being more likely. And then we'll see if the elbow is really hurt or just a growth pain. (Its tender to the touch, so I'm thinking injury.)

I'm not succeeding with the smoking. Haven't had a cig today, but I'm seriously looking at getting some later ('cause apparently I have no willpower), though being run-down with now real desire to move could help with that.

Sipped the WoW kool-aid this last couple of days. More on that new addiction later.

Your humble narrator...

• 18:21 @templesmith Dude! You're in Singapore? I live here! Where the hell are you? Any chance to meet? #
• 18:21 can't believe the douche nozzles that stole laptops from some participants at Clarion West. #
• 18:24 just got some excellent writing time in at Pacific Coffee while Janet has been painting portraits for MAAD July at the Red Dot Museum. #
• 18:33 admits that he is now full in love with BooksActually. New favorite local indie bookstore: achieved! #

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About 85% of my friends-list has posted this news already, but I'll also pass it along, just in case you haven't yet heard. My friend Maggie Lance (whom I published in Scattered, Covered, Smothered) is currently attending Clarion West in Seattle. Like the original Clarion that I attended at Michigan State University in East Lansing (and which can now be found in San Diego), Clarion West is an intensive six-week writing workshop, where pretty much all you do is write, read, critique, eat, and sleep, mostly in that order of priority. A lot of people try to write a brand new story each week, so that you can have the chance to get at least one piece of fiction critiqued by each instructor (the instructors are professionals in the sf field, writers and editors who know an incredible amount about writing).

As you can imagine, this entails a lot of time spent writing.

Yesterday morning, some complete asshole decided that it would be a good idea to sneak into the sorority house where the Clarion West attendees are staying, and steal a bunch of stuff. This included four laptops (one black Dell Inspiron 1520, one silver colored Sager with a 17" screen, one silver/red Dell XPSm1710, and one Sony Vaio Sz780), some bags, clothing, and possibly other items. Maggie and the other participants are okay, but she emailed me to let me know what had happened, and asked if I would pass it along in case people want to help.

It's not cheap or easy to go to Clarion. Hard enough to even get accepted (it sounds like the competition was pretty fierce this year), but to be able to take six weeks out of your life is a non-trivial undertaking. That's time spent not working, and therefore not earning money. It's time spent away from your loved ones. More than a few people quit their jobs so that they can go (it's what I did). But there's also the expense of the workshop itself, and housing, and food. All told, it's a significant drain on anyone's financial resources.

And so, the people whose laptops were stolen are very likely not going to be able to pop over to the nearest electronics store and spring for a new one. Plus, they've just lost any writing that they may have been working on, and anything not backed up. Apparently, they've been given loaner computers for the short-term, but it doesn't look like that'll work for the whole six weeks.

If you think you can help, please contact Leslie or Neile, via info@clarionwest.org. If you want to contribute a money donation, cmpriest has the skinny:

Money donations can be made directly here, through the Clarion West website. If you’d like to contribute, please do so through that paypal button and mark it for Computer Replacement, or something like that — so the recipients know it isn’t part of their regular drive. All donations are tax deductible; Clarion West is classified as a non-profit educational organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Federal EIN 91-1352168).

Clarion can be a life-changing experience; please help make it a positive experience for the affected writers at West. And also, please pass this along to anyone you might think would be interested.

bestests to both of you!

Well, LiveBlogging CONvergence seems to have worked out for me, so far. A few posts a day and, well, I feel as if I'm reporting on something in Real Time and letting the world know about the narrowly contained awesomeness! This time, while not getting a full eight hours of sleep (and with my roomies still a'slumber), I'm catching up on what went down after last night's performance of THAC0 and this morning's waking up and taking a moment to write before going up to check on the 22nd Floor.

After foeclan and I watched the play (with both A.J. and Mike Tschimperle with us) he headed off for a late supper with A.J., Mike went to dress up as Father Christmas, and I traveled upstairs to get ready for the evening of Fireworks and the second installment of "Bedtime Stories with th' Pods".

I've never -in all my years of this convention- seen the Gaming Suites so busy! I solidly believe this has a HUGE amount to do with The Source (whose 2204 room is always busy) and the large number of new attendees this year. I'm so floored; there's barely enough space for them all!

Anyway, I shut down both Gaming and the Lit Lounge at 9pm and dimmed the lights in anticipation of the southern suburbs' Fireworks displays. From the 22nd Floor, you can see forever and all of the various Independence Day celebrations show up like giant, dynamic explosions of fireflies on the midnight blue sky for miles around!

The floodgates opened. Dozens -if not over a hundred non-gamers- ascended to the 22nd Floor. My co-host (and the man who had the idea of making this a scheduled event) poured out MinnStf Bhlog to the adults in the crowd (very potent stuff) as I assured people that we didn't know exactly when the fireworks would begin but that they would start up "soon".

Some folk got tired of waiting (or got tired of the crowds) and departed for lower floors before things got interesting.

Then, however, the nighttime sky exploded in a celebration of light and sound!

Around 10pm at least twelve of the surrounding suburbs began their displays, giving us a remarkable show from high atop the Sheraton Hotel! It was beautiful and actually stirred, in me, feelings of patriotic pride. It's a celebration that actually still means something to me and I'm so happy I could share it with such a great cluster of my closest never-before-met friends! Both Wally Wingert (voice actor from "Invader ZIM") and Len Wein (creator of Swamp Thing and Wolverine) also showed up to enjoy the display and it was fun to see them having such a good time...

Eventually, things quieted down and people began to depart. With some volunteers we got things back in shape in the rooms and I prepared for the late night Bedtime Stories: "The Skull-Faced Boy" and "The Run of the Fiery Horse". Sadly, this time, we only had two people and they left before the second story began. Still, I enjoyed myself and made sure the event ran its course before shutting down Lit Lounge.

The only hiccup in the evening was that -once again- we had some airline pilots assigned to the hotel in the floor immediately below us and the noise of the gamers was keeping them awake. However, in true community spirit all it took was letting the folk know -room by room- of the situation, and they voluntarily quieted down.

I was able to shut down my Suites on time, last night, and -then- retire for a good night's sleep.

Ahhhh...

Ok, that felt good!

This convention -these people- can heal nearly all wounds...

Now, off to find Breakfast and -then- set up the 22nd Floor for the new day!

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

In hilarious news, after losing his court case Stephen Green faces declaring bankruptcy in the face of court awarded damages against him. Of course, this sort of thing is never nice to happen to anyone, but then on the other hand Green is a deeply, deeply unpleasant individual.

He's basically arguing that because the BBC and Avalon are so rich they should let him off this money, right after they wasted money defending themselves against his ridiculous time and money-wasting prosecutions in court.

'It should be enough for Mark Thompson and Jonathan Thoday that they got away with blasphemy, insulting God and the Lord Jesus Christ, at least in this life. For these rich, powerful men to pursue me into the bankruptcy courts over money I don't have would be vindictive.'

He links to a petition asking those who have lost money due to the actions of Stephen Green to let him off paying them, there's a second petition calling on the BBC and Avalon to insist on receiving the money in full. The 'please pay' petition has about three hundred more votes so far but the bulk of them seem to be people insulting Stephen.

I wonder if Stephen Green will be picketing Pride this year? If he does, perhaps people could help him out by tossing any coppers they have his way?

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

( We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. )

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext90/when12h.htm

Anyone care to make any suggestions for edits?

And I'm bewildered and afraid of the complexities of the software .. and the organizations that might use it. I can appreciate that I haven't worked much for really big organizations, sure. I'm having a lot of trouble wrapping my tiny little UNIX-addled hackery brain around the scale and complexity of some of this stuff. And the fact that MS has seemingly implemented most (if not quite all) of the features of ISS's RealSecure (RSSP) product ... does not make me feel better.

So, Internet, what the hell do people at "real companies" do with their computers? What is the ratio of "servers" (however that might be defined) to users? Is there are rationality to this madness? How much back-end support does a desktop with Mail, Web, Office, IM, Filesharing require? Some users need other apps, and of course hackers and designers are more annoying to support in a managed environment, but I don't see that needing much infrastructure.

So, what am I missing here? If anyone cares, I've skimmed over the rest of the IPv6 masturbation and read over the new features in Active Directory Domain Services and Application Servers (which I barely understand the point of). And this is 70-646 Windows Server Administration, by title anyway.

It's really starting to sting that these folks have very different ideas about what Server and Operating system mean...

( after more perusal, I really just started to rant )

All seriousness aside, if someone in a big company and/or a Microsoft shop can toss me a clue? It's going to get steadily harder for me to slog through this propaganda if there's no kernel of utility. FFS people this smells so bad it's got me defending UNIX here, help me out?

From ThePete.Com: TheNYC 4th of July Umbrellas Suck:

So, we found a good square of con.. tinyurl.com/5cjq5v

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

Leaving South Street Seaport after a pretty cool fireworks show. Tho’ the dickweed with the umbrella should go to hell.

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

Ok, wow ... the play THAC0 absolutely rules!

It's a slice of my life that I still love; that dates all the way back to my youth playing such modules as "Keep on the Borderlands" and "Steading of the Hill Giant Chief".

The play follows -in a "Waiting for Godot" kinda way- three gamers hanging out in the basement, waiting for the fourth player who, as narrator, talks about RPGs in general and "Dungeons and Dragons" in particular. What an amazingly funny show! You've GOT to see this if you've ever backstabbed a fellow player, failed a System Shock roll, or rolled a '1'.

Luckily, I bought a copy on DVD of the movie-version. Rock!

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

Down at South Street Seaport again, killing time before things start exploding. :P

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

From ThePete.Com: TheNYC: Back at the Brooklyn Bridge:

What a diference the date makes.. tinyurl.com/6p2e8b

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

Whoof...

Ok, hurting feet. Gotta rest. Gonna go watch THAC0 in about 45 minutes. Yay!

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

Originally published at ThePete.Com - Year X. You can comment here or there.

Mercury shrinks

Audio dramatization of xkcd's "Choices" (264-268)

Tips for switching from Windows to Mac

Historic scenes in Etch-a-Sketch