resonant8

Follow-up Heyer story: "Unnatural"

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 09:01 pm
posted by: [info]resonant8

Well, I began to worry that a life of happy perversion might be more difficult for the ladies than it was for the gents. So here: have

a sequel in thirty-two words )
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dsmoen

My Decision

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 06:24 pm
posted by: [info]dsmoen

I'm going to go for it. (med change)

But holy hell that 7-10 days of withdrawal's going to suck.

Probably start a couple days after Loscon so the worst of the headache will be on the weekend.
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lingtm

Vanessa Carlton

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 09:52 pm
posted by: [info]lingtm

I am doing my entries all out of order. But as long as I post something right? At some point, I went to see Vanessa Carlton as Epcot’s Eat to the Beat. She came with only one other person, a guitarist. From what I could tell he really didn’t need to be there. But I think touring on your own gets really boring. Having someone to travel with and talk to during the down times is much better. Even if you have to pay him.

I read that she liked touring this way because she liked the intimacy of just her and the audience. But when you’re doing this more intimate way of performing, I think that maybe you should talk to your audience a little bit too. Like tell them a story about traveling here or loving this song because it’s about your first love. Or you were inspired by this painting. Or just chatting with you. But she really didn’t do that. She just sat at her piano and sang mostly.

When you hear the songs back to back like that, they all sound a little bit the same. Which isn’t bad. I like her songs. But she did swear when she messed up, which is a total no-no at squeaky clean Disney. She apparently swore at an earlier performance as well. I won’t be surprised if we never see her at Disney again. It’s what I call self-sabotage. Too bad. She could really use this Disney gig. What else was she going to do?

Crossposted to Samantha Ling, Dreamwidth and Livejournal

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sdn

dental update.

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 08:49 pm
reading: relieved
listening to: dishwasher
posted by: [info]sdn

i went to the implant dentist today. the implants have integrated well with the bone, and so in a few weeks he will take off the tops, put on the fittings, and then i go straight down to my regular guy who will take an impression and make me temporary teeth.

soon i will have bottom molars again

i can't wait to stop eating what is, basically, pre-chewed food.

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charmingbillie

Back

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 07:15 pm
posted by: [info]charmingbillie

Back in Iowa, that is.

No more car problems so apparently the front and rear of the car have decided to continue speaking to each other.

Beautiful weather going out, while there, and coming back, which was nice.

I got to see pretty much my whole family without driving all over the countryside, which was also nice.

Sometimes western New York seems excessively over-treed to me (yes, I've lived in Iowa a long time) but it looked quite lovely this year.

I finished The Name of the Wind and American Prometheus (finally!). I also read Front and Center and two-thirds of Bag of Bones. I listened to about three-quarters of Master and Commander on the way out and back.

Blue survived the kennel and the kennel survived him, though word has it he was obsessed with the Bull Mastiff in the next run over. Mostly with his tail. We don't have any in this house.

And that's about it for the moment.
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msagara

Progress report

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 07:59 pm
posted by: [info]msagara

I love breaking new words most of the time. I love the sense of exploration and surprise. I dislike it when I have to fight the book for every single sentence, but that's part of writing novels. I also have the nagging sense that I'm not doing anything productive if I don't produce new words on something. This is, of course, entirely writer-neurotic.

What's harder with multiple projects on the go is that much of the 'writing' process doesn't involve new words -- it involves the necessary iterations that follow them.
What I've done in the last several weeks )

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therinth

Spellwright

Nov. 13th, 2009 | 12:31 am
posted by: [info]therinth

All those times they mention paraneoplastic syndrome on House, and I *finally* had a patient with it last night!

My friend Blake Charlton has a fantastic interview about his upcoming debut novel Spellwright and the state of the fantasy industry. As he's one of my most favorite people in the world (even though he's a doctor!), y'all should all go check it out.

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writertracy

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 06:02 pm
posted by: [info]writertracy

  • 19:42 Hmm. the S, D, an C keys are worn away on my keyboard. Just those. No others. Do I just hit those keys harder? #
  • 19:45 @tmc4242 That's why a bedsheet makes a really good backdrop. It's already creased. Of course I've got to use several, and then photoshop. #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter

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Elbridge Gerry, look what you hath wrought

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 07:00 pm
posted by: [info]ianrandalstrock

The New York Times has a nice editorial on the screwball way we decide who our neighbors are. Well, not so much that, as how we determine which people live in the same district for the purpose of electing our legislators. Read this editorial, and see if you don't agree. The only real problem I have with it is the focus on New York State only. The concept applies nearly nationwide (except for, as they mention toward the end, Iowa). The maps of a few chosen districts are fun, too.

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rwglaub

Oxford honors Neda

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 05:30 pm
posted by: [info]rwglaub

Oxford University in England is honoring Iranian martyr Neda Soltan by naming a graduate scholarship in her honor. Of course, the Iranian Embassy in Britain is outraged. Tough.

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paidmembers

Additions and improvements for Paid Feature

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 02:11 pm
posted by: [info]marta in [info]paidmembers

We've made some additions and improvements to Notes!

The Notes feature has been added to two action-taking pages:
  • You can now add a Note directly on the Add a friend page - handy if you'd like to mark down where you met them or another name you know them by!
  • On the Ban and unban users page (under Account -> Privacy) you can now add a Note, including to a group of users all banned at the same time (so that next year you won't need to ask yourself "hey, why did I ban these guys?")

Other changes:
  • When you're viewing your existing Notes they're grayed out; click in a field to activate it to change the text (this page can be found from the header by using Profile -> Manage Notes)
  • Changes to editing:
    • When you're going to create a new Note but one already exists, you'll get a warning that you're editing an existing Note
    • You can now delete a note from the "Edit note" pop-up in the hover menu
    • You can now delete notes for multiple selected users on the Manage notes page
    • When you change Notes on "Ban|unban users" page, they can be edited and saved with "Save Changes" button
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stevenagy

Story Genesis

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 05:04 pm
posted by: [info]stevenagy

Muse is up and running because of the work I've done the past few weeks on Sacrifices, but she latched onto an idea today after some comments I made to a friend's post. Jotted down the bare bones for a short story. Just the first few ideas--stuff about words and ideas, genesis and entropy--but there's not even a title hanging out a shingle yet. I've got to give credit where credit is due. LJ is the next best thing to face-to-face conversations for me.

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fastfwd

Late In The Day But Not Too Late--

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 10:03 pm
location: Planet Birthday
reading: celebratory celebratory
listening to: hmm hmm hmm hmm to you...
posted by: [info]fastfwd

--with the Sparkly Paddle of Birthday Wonderfulness for [info]kkittydoom, [info]nmg, and [info]erudite_ogre, all of whom need to be spanked into another year!

Hope you've been having the most wonderful Day of Days, full of Teh Bright and Shinies, starting a year with all the Good, the Great, the Fabulous, and the All-Time Terrific. With whipped cream, sparkles, and extra kittens!

And hey--alla youse, without exception, no excuses!--don't forget to live forever!

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james_nicoll

Is contrarianism dead?

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 04:45 pm
posted by: [info]james_nicoll

The answer is not what you expect!

Read more... )

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beth_bernobich

holy crap

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 02:06 pm
posted by: [info]beth_bernobich

A long while back, I posted about finding an advanced bound copy of my novel PASSION PLAY on Amazon. The seller had priced it at $89 originally; last week, the price went down to $83.33. Still, a hugely hefty price for something that has no cover art or interior design. Basically, it's my Word document, set single spaced with underlines.

This week, as I was (insanely, predictably, pathetically) checking on my collection on Amazon, I saw a really weird thing. You know that section where they say, "People who bought items in your viewed list also bought these items?" Well, one of the "also bought" items they listed was the bound reading copy of PP.

WFT?

I passed that off as a glitch with Amazon's codebase. Then today, my husband sends me an email saying he has exciting news about my "Advance Pink Thing on amazon.com". I check Amazon. The bound reading copy is now listed as "no longer available."

I write back to my husband. "Was it X who bought the copy?" (X being one of his co-workers who has been extra-enthusiastic about my writing. He is a damned nice guy, also a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Also a fine musician.)

And yes, it was him.

I think X is mad. At the same time, I am stunned with gratitude.

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janni

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 12:08 pm
posted by: [info]janni

Dear Antagonist Who Has A Different Personality Every Draft,

You've just crossed a line. You realize that, don't you?

Of course you're free to cross any lines you choose. It's just that ... well, if you were hoping for reader sympathy by the end of the book, you're going to have to work for it now.

Oh, well, if reader sympathy doesn't interest you much ... as you were.

Me

P.S. But I think you're lying about that.

P.P.S. Yes, I know you don't lie. Lots of my characters don't lie. They all seem to make an exception for me, and I don't honestly expect you to be any different.

P.P.P.S. Or you could be trying to fake me out into thinking you're lying, yes. I've considered that possibility, too.

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beth_bernobich

the grand promotion tour (first stop)

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 01:45 pm
posted by: [info]beth_bernobich

I mailed off copies of Ars Memoriae on Saturday and Monday. Today the first review and photo appeared. As you can see, her copy was snatched up right away, so if you want a chance to read ARS MEMORIAE, keep a close eye on [info]doc_lemming's, [info]bogwitch64's, and [info]pauljessup's blogs.

(See here for a description of the tour.)

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shadowhelm

Why I'm Upset Ted Turner is Getting Genetically Pure Bison

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 11:42 am
reading: pissed off pissed off
posted by: [info]shadowhelm

Your Federal Government is about to hand over about 80 bison to multi-billionaire Ted Turner -- and no one is crying foul save the Native Americans.  These bison come from one of the last genetically pure stock left anywhere (most bison you see have cattle genetics mixed in).  Ted Turner, who owns Ted's Montana Grill and who has 50,000 head of bison already.  Who also charges $4000 for canned hunts.

Now, I've got nothing against someone making an honest living.  I'm not against canned hunts per se either.  But what I'm against is the Federal Government giving away part of our country's heritage, that being wildlife, and, in particular, the bison.  It's as if the Federal Government gave away Yellowstone to a private contractor.  Too big?  How about Old Faithful, then?  Or maybe Mount Rushmore? 

One of the differences between the United States and other countries is that the wildlife isn't owned by a single person.  It's owned by all the citizens of the United States.  So, when the Government gives away bison to a private individual, they've robbed us, pure and simple.  Those bison don't just below to Ted Turner -- they belong to you and me.  And within those bison are the genetic codes that may mean the survival or extinction of the bison.  What will happen to those bison is anyone's guess, because once they pass into private ownership, all the platitudes mean nothing.  Ted can do whatever the hell he likes with the bison -- offering canned hunts or serve them up for burger or use those genetics to strengthen his own herds.  They're worth more than the $4000 per animal he can get with them.  And even if they weren't, since when are we giving wildlife to individuals?

The tribes who live on Fort Belkap, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes, and the Wind River Reservation tribes, Northern Arapaho and Shoshone tribes, sought to take these bison to repopulate their reservations.  These bison, once found brucellosis free, should go to either public lands or tribal lands for repopulating the Western US.  But evidently, the people who are most deserving of these animals are denied once again. 

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cranky_editors

White List Update

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 12:50 pm
posted by: [info]domynoe in [info]cranky_editors

It's only been 6 months....

The White List

This is a very small update that ended up being mostly deletions. I'll try to get another update next month that includes a number of authors feeds that I've created over the last few months.

If you have any updates you want added to the list, please post at the entry above NOT HERE.

Thanks.

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james_nicoll

Canada to narrow inhumanity gap with US

Nov. 12th, 2009 | 12:47 pm
posted by: [info]james_nicoll

Canada won't be offering Afghan detainees H1N1 vaccine

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