FACT reading group discusses Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon thb | Audible ] — A rather nice write up of the discussion.
davidlevine points to other Launch Pad blog updates so I don’t have to — I’ve decided to concentrate on photoblogging, a great pleasure of mine which fell by the wayside during the cancer. More pictures to come soon.
More on the Knoxville shootings — Per a recent discussion in comments on my blog, eliminationist rhetoric isn’t simply a matter of “some things offend me, some things offend you.” There isn’t an equivalent mainstream institutionalized call from violence from the left, as there is daily from the right. I’ve been accused of confirmation bias for saying that, I’ve been told I’m simply ignoring the rhetoric from the left, but so far the only counterexample any of my conservative friends have come up with is characterizing efforts to challenge the Boy Scouts on their homosexuality policies as “eliminationist.” Um, no. I do not think that word means what you think it means. Isn’t personal responsibility a core conservative value? Leading figures in the conservative movement have been saying, “Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest” for years. (Thanks to my Aunt M for the link.)
Strange Maps on a plan for world government — This kind of mid-century conspiracy thinking would be amusingly cute if it weren’t so stupid-serious.
Obama related to Wild Bill Hickok — I don’t like linking to AP because of their illegal and exploitative copyright position anent Fair Use, but this is the only news lede I can find on this story right now.
Is Mud-Slinging the Only Way John McCain Can Win? — New York magazine on the campaigns. Yep, if Straight Talk and conservative ideals can’t win ‘em over…
8/2/08
Time in saddle: 0 minutes (long city walk this morning)
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Currently reading: Launch Pad Workshop class materials
Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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Late yesterday afternoon we all hauled out to the Wyoming Infrared Observatory…
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I rather like this photo of Alaska author David Marusek, taken at lunch Friday here at Launch Pad.
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And some shots from around campus here…
( Read the rest of this entry » )Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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Three days in to Launch Pad. I did a bit of photo blogging [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]. My fellow attendees have done some lovely commentary. It has been pretty amazing. This is a great group of writers, and the workshop is absolutely stuffing our heads with Real Science ™.
Shortly we’re going hiking at Vedauwoo. I walked for thirty minutes as soon as I woke up, so the planned three miles will be slower paced for photo stops and whatever else presents. The altitude might be an issue too, depending on the elevation changes, but I’ve been doing enough walking since I got here not to be too concerned.
This afternoon we’re doing planetarium stuff, and a discussion on the human element in space, with a reduced schedule for a bit of break. The next two days are crammed very full, then off to Denvention Wednesday.
Personally, I’m having a ball. I still don’t have the dawn-to-midnight stamina I used to, but my energy levels are back to normal, and almost all the GI stuff has cleared up, so long as I keep a weather eye on my food intake. This is a hell of a lot of fun, and I am profoundly thankful that I’ve been able to enjoy it fully.
Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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One of today’s Launch Pad events was a visit to the planetarium here at the University of Wyoming. Mary Robinette Kowal, Alma Alexander and I went over early with instructor Jim Verley as he set up, so I got some photos of the projector and starball. These were shot under very low light conditions, so they’re not ideal, but they’re still pretty cool.
( Read the rest of this entry » )Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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Sunday morning the Launch Pad crew, or at least most of us, went for a hike at the Vedauwoo rocks outside of Laramie. We hiked around this rock feature (which fills most of the center of that aerial view), which is about a three mile trail a bit above 8,000 feet, with moderate elevation changes.
Having already walked half an hour that morning, I charged right into this hike like nothing had ever been wrong with me. A little less than a mile in, Steven Gould, Paul Witcover and Deanna Hoak decided to do a non-technical ascent of one of the rock faces. I followed them up perhaps a hundred, hundred and fifty feet. We hung around, took pictures, had our pictures took, scrambled down again and resumed the hike.
I haven’t done anything like that since long before I got sick. And it felt amazing. The energy from that hike has buoyed me mentally and emotionally through the day since, even as my body is bitching a bit about the effort expended. Amazing stuff. I feel better than I have since the excellent cancer adventure began.
Unfortunately, I only got a few of the photos loaded before some combination of weirdness between Flickr and the campus network here made uploading impossible. So I will give you this one photo of the area, and with luck post many more tomorrow:
( Read the rest of this entry » )Originally published at jlake.com. You can comment here or there.
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Teh Flickr finally cooperated. Here’s a few shots of Launch Pad attendees in the wild…
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Here’s a few shots of the wild where the Launch Pad attendees hiked today…
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