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| 2009-07-11 11:12 |
| [links] Link salad, largely creative edition |
| Public |
| art, books, cool, funny, links, personal, process, science, tech, writing |
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Scale tip — Art writing guru James Gurney on telling details.
Barbie heals space martians, and cures interspecies racism! — Um, yah. (Thanks to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) mikigal.)
A field guide to reproductive health — Art madness.
Welcome to Lunarville — Ah, me. Missed opportunities.
Robot land-steamers to consume all life on Earth as fuel
?otD: Virus or bacteria?
7/11/2009 Body movement: n/a (overslept due to ongoing chest cold) This morning's weigh-in: n/a (no scale at beach house) Currently reading: Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
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tor.com on Steampunk Tales — In which I have a story.
How to tell a riveting story — (Thanks to goulo.)
Toy ray guns of the world
Portable DNA Purifier for Poor Countries — A new handheld device isolates DNA from human fluid without the use of electrical power. Like Bill Gibson said, you have "to be pretty technical before you can even aspire to crudeness".
Hemingway as failed KGB spy? — Weird.
A Housing Market Built on Mud Takes Off, and Then Goes Thud — Ironic, sad and darkly funny story about housing in West Africa.
The invisible hand of god — Pace Adam Smith. (Snurched from Scrivener's Error.)
Hannity again crops Obama's comments abroad in order to smear him — Your Liberal Media, hard at work bending the truth for the GOP. And conservatives wonder why the rest of us see you as crazy and deceitful. Hannity isn't some fringe figure, he's a major spokesperson for your philosophy with an audience of millions.
?otD: What would Heinlein have titled a sequel to Friday?
7/10/2009 Body movement: n/a (overslept due to ongoing chest cold) This morning's weigh-in: n/a (no scale at beach house) Currently reading: The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
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I think it is teh awesome! Artwork by Mari Kurisato.
Avatar © 2009 Mari Kurisato.
Original photo © 2009 B. Lake.
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| 2009-07-07 04:58 |
| [links] Link salad yawns into another Tuesday |
| Public |
| books, cool, green, health, links, personal, politics, publishing, religion, reviews, science, travel, videos |
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An interesting review of Green [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ]
A "dumb copy editor" story from George Lakoff — Don't get me wrong. Copy editors are my friends, both figuratively and literally. But this is hilarious.
The Astronomer's Dream — A short animated film.
The blue and the green — Awesome color spiral illusion... (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Fixing airport security
Blinded Man Regains Sight With Tooth For Eye — Um... (Thanks to tetar.)
A Pound of Cure — The federal government is about to spend big on health-care IT. Too bad the medical industry has a vested interest in inefficiency. I find the viewpoint of this article overly cynical, but some interesting stuff here nonetheless.
Arizona is 6000 years old? — Pssst. Hey. Conservative America. Listen up. Religion doesn't have to make you stupid.
What The Right Means When They Say "America"
?otD: How many roads must a man walk down? Show your work.
7/7/2009 Body movement: 40 minute beach walk, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: n/a (no scale at beach house) Currently reading: The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (re-read)
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bravado111 with a photo spread on Green [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ] — Heh.
Flags of forgotten countries — Dark Roasted Blend with one for the vexillologists among you. Actually, I remember most of these countries.
Igniting Fusion — Mmm, warm.
Centauri Dreams with a roundup — I draw your attention to the subsection entitled "Superluminal Radio Waves and their Uses", in turn referring to this article. Paging Sam L. Tannaity to the office. I'm just a poor little low-rent SF writer with a liberal arts degree, so maybe it's just me, but I'm really struggling with this one. Comments from the better informed?
?otD: How long is Long Beach?
7/6/2009 Body movement: n/a (will beach walk later) This morning's weigh-in: n/a (no scale at beach house) Currently reading: n/a (just finished P.S. Your Cat is Dead by James Kirkwood)
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The toaster project — A British artist tries to build a toaster from scratch. More here. (Snurched from Freakonomics.)
Stunning new technology allows parents to hold a life-size model of their unborn child — Weird. And cool. (Thanks to danjite.)
Can Aging Be Solved? — Gerontology pioneer Leonard Hayflick discusses the biological causes of aging.
Volcano awesomeness from Bad Astronomy Blog
You say Burma, I say Myanmar — A post on the ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) cranky_editors group, pointed out to me by garyomaha. The action is in comments, with special guest appearances from danjite.
"The only chance we have as a country right now is" for bin Laden to "detonate a major weapon" in U.S. — And conservatives wonder why the reality-based community thinks they're crazy. Remember, Beck is a major figure in Your Liberal Media. Amazing what that liberal bias gets up to.
?otD: Why not Minot?
7/2/2009 Body movement: 60 minute urban walk (Twin Peaks!), 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 215.5 Currently reading: P.S. Your Cat is Dead by James Kirkwood
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Finding life in the ice — Exobiology!
Japanese Ironsmith Creates Bulldozer Out Of Fiat 500 — Automotive madness at its finest!
The Chaplain General — Cool art from Ellis Nadler.
To everyone who wants prayer in American public schools — What he said.
?otD: Is it hump day again?
7/1/2009 Body movement: 60 minute urban walk (Twin Peaks!) This morning's weigh-in: 220.0 Currently reading: P.S. Your Cat is Dead by James Kirkwood
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| 2009-06-30 04:35 |
| [links] Link salad goes to the oncologist today |
| Public |
| art, books, cool, funny, green, links, movies, personal, reviews, science, stories |
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A reader with small love for Green [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ]
The New Space Opera 2 is out [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ] — Including my novelette "To Raise a Mutiny Betwixt Yourselves", set in the Sunspin universe.
Images from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland — Wow.
Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre — Hahahaha. Serious art humor. (Thanks to goulo.)
Daguerre, Painter — Some awesome apocalyptic art.
Enceladus: Riddle of the Plumes — Centauri Dreams on oceans in space.
Igniting Fusion — Technology Review with some very big science, indeed.
?otD: Have you ever been to heaven?
6/30/2009 Body movement: 10 minutes of stretching and meditation (overslept for walking) This morning's weigh-in: 220.5 Currently reading: P.S. Your Cat is Dead by James Kirkwood
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| 2009-06-29 04:30 |
| [links] Link salad comes back from Iron Springs |
| Public |
| books, cool, culture, escapement, green, links, personal, photos, politics, reviews, science |
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Jay Lake's Green: A Departure for the Clockwork King — ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) jeffvandermeer with a brief interview of me about Green [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ].
mordicai comments on Escapement [ Powell's | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Borders ]
1909 Russia in living color: The photos of Sergey Prokudin-Gorskii — A piece of history most of us don't see much of.
7 Man-Made Substances that Laugh in the Face of Physics — (Thanks to jaborwhalky.)
SETI: A Detectable Neutrino Signal? — Oooh. With bonus Antarctic science pr0n.
To fight deflation, abolish cash. Could Japan make reality of 'science fiction'? — Curious news from the economic front.
The Redder They Are, The Harder They Fall — WaPo somewhat disingenuously asks why Democrats "get away" with more sex scandals, apparently ignores their own answer - it's the hypocrisy, stupid.
Ante Up or Leave The Table — Conservatives and climate change denial, specifically the low cost of such denial in personal, political and social terms. One thing this analysis leaves out is how conservatives have been dead wrong in their opposition to just about everything in the past century or more — child labor laws, women's rights, civil rights, minimum wage, interracial marriage, opposition to entry in WWII, support for the Iraq War. An America run on the principles espoused by conservatives in every one of those losing battles would be a much bleaker, harsher place. Why do they have any credibility on climate change?
?otD: Who put the "Mon" in Monday?
6/29/2009 Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 221.4 Currently reading: P.S. Your Cat is Dead by James Kirkwood
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| 2009-06-21 06:15 |
| [links] Link salad says happy Father's Day Solstice |
| Public |
| books, cars, cool, culture, links, personal, photos, politics, publishing, science, writing |
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Booking the future — One view of the next generation of publishing. (Thanks to lrcutter.)
The Latke number thread — In case you were wondering about literary collaboration with me.
What Amazon Does Not Want You To Know About The Kindle — More DRM hell. (From a mailing list I'm on.)
The Unevenness of Space-Time Convergence — Strange Maps with a rendering of travel times which is pretty interesting, and also somewhat reminds me of the most famousest New Yorker cover EVAR.
Brute-Force Engineering and Climate — Centauri Dreams with some unsettling speculation. Also more fodder for near term futurism of both the apocalyptic and optimistic flavors.
Sunrise over the Parthenon — More photographic coolness from APOD.
io9.com with a visual gallery on the evolution of spaceships in movies — Cool stuff.
Maytag-Mobile: 1939 — Shorpy with home-made car from the pre-WWII era. I'm fascinated by the tiny wheels. That thing must have ridden like holy hell. And speaking of hell, Shorpy has this bus image, a 1938 Greyhound ready for the Gehenna run for certain.
ericjamesstone answers my question from yesterday about the Robert court ruling on DNA testing — Ok, not batshit. Still not happy about it, but I understand the point now. (And wish the reporting on this had done a better job of conveying that point, or that I'd done a better job of reading the reporting, or both.) Thanks, Eric!
?otD: Was it a new day yesterday?
6/21/2009 Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 219.8 Currently reading: n/a (Finished The Human Disguise by James O'Neil)
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Stretching My Legs — Me guest blogging again at Tor.com.
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile patent — With bonus Wienermobile links!
Two Angles on Meteorites — More really cool Deep Time stuff from Centauri Dreams.
Dunhuang Star Atlas — Ancient Chinese star map from APOD. Now this is just darned cool.
A Skin Test for Alzheimer's Disease — Wow.
Did anyone get the number of that Erdos? — xkcd with some deep math geekery.
Ghost Jams — We get those in Portland. I've seen one at 2 am on the Banfield.
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I have audio flash up at the new StarShipSofa — Enjoy!
10 Things You Always Wanted To Know About Robot Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask) — (Thanks to someone who should probably remain nameless...)
Save your eyes, use your goggles
"Human"-Faced Missing Link Found in Spain? — As tetar said when he sent me the link, Out of Europe?
The story of the tell-tale tail
?otD: More green than blue?
6/18/2009 Body movement: 30 minute suburban walk, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: n/a (in hotel) Currently reading: The Human Disguise by James O'Neil
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SF Signal's "Mind Meld" on real life places that inspire fantastical world building — In which I discuss, among other things, Bulgaria.
Puttin' on daubs. — Art writing guru James Gurney on how art happens one tiny bit at a time. You sure gotta know where to put them daubs words.
9 Chickweed Lane name checks the state of Nebraska — I probably shouldn't be laughing at this, but I am.
The French Aérotrain — Scroll down a bit to see it. Also, the prototype pictured at Wikipedia is deeply awesome.
Ice XV discovered — Man, I missed ice-9!
?otD: How green is your valley?
6/17/2009 Body movement: 30 minute suburban walk, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: n/a (in hotel) Currently reading: The Human Disguise by James O'Neil
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| 2009-06-16 02:56 |
| [links] Link salad wakes up in the Midwest again |
| Public |
| art, books, cool, funny, green, links, personal, photos, process, publishing, science, writing |
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Jumping Off the Cliff, Looking for Water on the Way Down — Me at Tor.com, on the process of creating a novel.
Full Bodied with bonus topic cleavage! — Green is so proud.
The infinitely receding future — Tom Tomorrow on working for exposure.
Stephane Halleuxs wonderful steampunk sculptures — Very nice.
Carried down the bay — Screw pile lighthouses?
The story of Schroedinger's cat (an epic poem) — A Straight Dope classic.
"Burning Walls" May Stop Black Hole Formation — Some heavy iron SFnal stuff from Technology Review.
A Longer Life for Earth's Biosphere? — More heavy iron from Centauri Dreams. Deep time rocks!
?otD: Why?
6/16/2009 Body movement: 70 minute suburban walk, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: n/a (in hotel) Currently reading: The Human Disguise by James O'Neil
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| 2009-06-11 03:31 |
| [links] Link salad, title free edition |
| Public |
| art, books, contests, cool, culture, green, links, personal, politics, starship, steampunk, tech, trains |
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The Green photo contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Green readings and signings: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — Including Powell's Cedar Hills here in the Portland area, tomorrow night.
SF Signal with a book cover smackdown including my own forthcoming Death of a Starship
1939 World's Fair on San Francisco Bay — Some mighty fine poster art.
American Garage: 1943 — Mmmmm, trains. Now this is some steamy punk.
iPhone Hackers Get a Break — The difficulty of running nonapproved code on the iPhone has turned off security researchers--until now. Um... Does this count as being unclear on the concept?
At Last, Facing Down Bullies (and Their Enablers) — Gosh, wouldn't that be nice. I grew up in the 1970s, when the response to bullying boiled down to "Well, what did you do to antagonize him?" (Snurched from Scrivener's Error.)
Teaching Children to Spot Terrorists — Um... (Thanks to willyumtx.)
You werent excluded. You lost. — The Edge of the American West on conservative rhetoric over the Tiller murder. The right's mealy-mouthed response to that is another place where conservatism show not that it is simply wrong-headed, but intellectually and morally bankrupt.
?otD: What price glory? Show your work.
6/11/2009 Body movement: 60 minute workout at the gym, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 215.4 Currently reading: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold; A Long Line of Cells by Lewis Thomas
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It's Green day! My new novel from Tor is released today.
To celebrate, I'm having a virtual release party. There's a photo contest (see below), and I'll be shouting out the word "Green!" once an hour today all day long. Get in on the fun, make a Green post on your blog.
And you're all getting your copy today, right? [ Powell's | Amazon ]
The book photo contest [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Readings and signings: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
Green pre-reviewed — Hee. Thanks, Shawn!
"People of Leaf and Branch" — Short story live at Fantasy magazine. This ties in to Green.
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"Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines" — (Nicked from Atrios.)
Orphaned Tweets — Huh. Funny. (Thanks to corwynofamber.)
Animated Short: Clockwork — This is cute and sweet.
Gadget Charger Harvests Wireless Power — A prototype device converts ambient electromagnetic radiation into energy.
When Earth attacks Mars — An extreme case of the observer effect?
?otD: How Green is your day?
6/9/2009 Body movement: 40 minute workout at the gym, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 218.6 Currently reading: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold; A Long Line of Cells by Lewis Thomas
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A bizarre spamblog review of Green [ Powell's | Amazon ] — Which is probably a Babelfish felch of this SF Signal review of the book.
A green aria — No, really. (Thanks to tetar.)
Steampunk Tales is finally up at iTunes for your iPod/iPhone reading pleasure — And I have a story therein.
How fit is your brain?
Steampunk tree house — (Thanks to willyumtx.)
Lear jet repo man — Fascinating. (Thanks t0 danjite.)
US States As Countries of Equal Population — Another one from Strange Maps.
?otD: What's so manic about Monday?
6/8/2009 Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride, 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 221.0 Currently reading: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold; A Long Line of Cells by Lewis Thomas
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Today the_child and I went to the Eco Car Show in Forest Grove, OR with K— and a friend of hers. This wasn't new green cars so much as old mini and microcars, plus a few serious oddities like a US street-legal Nissan Figaro (who knew?) and an Alfa-Romeo 6C engined Lloyd. Go figure.
( The photos... )
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
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| 2009-06-04 04:54 |
| [links] Link salad wakes up in San Francisco again |
| Public |
| art, books, cool, funny, health, language, links, personal, politics, reviews, science, stories, tech, weird |
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JayCon is this coming Saturday! Mark your calendars: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ]
A reader reacts to Mainspring [ Powell's | Amazon thb | Audible ]
A rather interesting review of my short story "The Lollygang Save the World on Accident."
Ekranoplan Showcase Part 2 — Dark Roasted Blend with one of my favorite weird technologies.
Ancient pixel knowledge — Heh.
Sheng — Language Log on the richness of Chinese lexicography. Funny and interesting stuff.
Sustainability: the clue that could solve Fermi's Paradox — If civilisations cannot grow exponentially, that might explain why we don't see any signs of ET
Should vaccines be compulsory? — As regular readers of this blog know, I view antivax protestors as both criminally stupid and profoundly selfish.
Torture Apologia Chart — For all your highly principled conservative double-think needs, when you've utterly abrogated all principles of decent society and a Constitutional state. Yes, Republicans, I'm talking to you guys.
?otD: When is a horse a horse of course?
6/4/2009 Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk (Twin Peaks), 10 minutes of stretching and meditation This morning's weigh-in: 217.6 Currently reading: The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold; A Long Line of Cells by Lewis Thomas
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