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July 11th, 2009
goamaki
 | 10:19 am
I'm trying to figure out who took this photo at phoenix fest a few years ago:
http://psyphyte.com/bio.html
anyone?
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July 10th, 2009
desdenova
 | 07:55 pm - Dead Men's Boots, by Mike Carey (Felix Castor 3)
It's been a while since I read the first two books of this series, and I'd forgotten how good it is. I mean, I remembered that it was good, but it is head-and-shoulders above any of the other Urban Supernatural books that I've read, even the more-recent Dresden. (I know, sacrilege. Whatever.)
One of the things that makes this series so good is the world-building. As ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rysmiel has pointed out on several occasions, Carey has put a lot of thought into how society would be affected if there were really zombies, werewolves, demons, and ghosts running around. By contrast, in other examples of this genre, the supernatural stuff is either totally secret from the world at large (Dresden, Night Watch), or makes very little difference beyond the supernatural creatures becoming yet another oppressed minority (Mercy Thompson, Southern Vampires). In Carey's series, however, the undeniable existence of the undead has implications for all aspects of human society. In Vicious Circle, we got to see how science and religion attempt to explain and address the phenomenon. The events of Dead Men's Boots show us how law and politics are adapting to it (or not, as the case may be). All of this makes the series feel more substantial and meaty than your average Anita Blake knock-off.
For the first few chapters of this one, I worried that Carey was throwing in too many plot threads for one book: there's the mystery of why John Gittings committed suicide, and the mysterious crematorium, and the murderer whose wife claims he's innocent because he's possessed by a dead serial killer, AND Jenna-Jane Mulbridge's attempt to get custody of Felix's demon-possessed pal Rafi. But, most of the plot threads turn out to be aspects of the same story. (Although the Rafi plot is only tangentially connected, and probably exists to keep the characters fresh in the readers' minds, as much as anything else.)
Spoilery bits:
( Read more... )
If you haven't read this series, don't start here, start with Book 1. But three books in, it just keeps getting better. Totally worth paying the $$ to get the UK editions, and not waiting for US publication.
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qwrrty
 | 08:18 am - here is the whole fascinating story
Thanks to opadit, I now have a splendid replacement for my poor lost office mug. And as an unexpected bonus, a bit of a cure for insomnia, as she points out: "the whole fascinating story of tea." Hurrah!
Also, thanks to moominmolly, I also have the most awesome commuter mug I could ever have or imagine. My cup, as it were, runneth over. Yay for everybody!
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blauzahl
 | 03:06 am - drkonqi: not everyone is home from gcds yet
Drkonqi discussion. Now. 3-1. Till we get bored or hungry.
p.s. for some reason syndication decided to take my "music" tag and make that the subject line of my last post. bah.
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July 9th, 2009
moominmolly
 | 09:28 pm - this is what being three gets you
Natalie's pretty good at making up voices for inanimate objects that we talk to. If I say, "hello, tree!", the tree will often reply, in a surprisingly tree-like voice: HELLO, MOLLY! But it wasn't until today that I learned that her pretend parrot voice was spot on, "braaaawk!" and all.
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qwantz
 | 08:56 pm - RIP CRT
When I moved to Toronto I took a computer monitor with me, and it was an CRT that I'd already had for a few years already. This was this was the monitor I used when I applied to grad school and the monitor I used when starting Dinosaur Comics.
This monitor had served me well, but the past year or so it was clearly dying. The display would get fuzzy, and then snap back. Now I use three monitors and this was on the screen I used mainly for status stuff, so it was okay. I could still read the text when I needed to!
It was getting old though, and this morning I actually thought I was watching it finally die: the screen slowly faded to black, over the course of about 30 seconds, like a movie would fade to black over a particularly dramatic coda. These were my thoughts as I watched my windows fade away. Even the little green power light on the front of the monitor faded with everything else. My old monitor faded to black I watched it die. Goodbye, faithful hardware!
BUT THEN it faded back! You guys, it faded back just as it had faded out. It was a death-bed deke, and I was totally taken in. The monitor did this cycle a few more times, but I was wise to it now. I wasn't going to be taken in again. Eventually the monitor stopped fading out entirely, and we both got back to what we were working on before.
That was this morning. Just now, it faded to black and hasn't recovered. The power light has died with the screen too, but its switch is still in the "on" position. Okay, so just now I turned the power off and on again and the monitor recovered perfectly fine. MAN I GOT DEKED AGAIN.
Okay, so clearly this monitor is sick but doesn't want to die; it wants a peek at its obituary before it goes. Well here you go, monitor, I've moved this window over to you and I'm writing this on you and this is your obituary. If you do anything awesome after I post this I'll update it appropriately, but I think this is where our two paths diverge. You have been a good and faithful monitor and I will probably not forgot many of the things I saw through you.
You were a good monitor!
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desdenova
 | 08:08 pm - Painting D&D miniatures: Kassios (Post 1)
So, as some of you are aware, the D&D game I currently play in should be finishing up in the next few months, and we will start a new game, GM'ed by prince_corwin. This means all new characters, which makes me want to do a bunch of all new figurines. Because figurines make D&D battles more fun than using dice as markers.
Since my character is the one I know the most about, I am starting with him, and I thought it might be fun and/or interesting to go through the process for you guys. At least some of you agree, so here we go.
I tend to do these things a little bit at a time, so this will be a series of posts.
( Step 0: Choosing & preparing a figurine )
( Step 1: Base color )
Next: first wash, correcting mistakes, and some detailing.
Current Mood: artistic
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blauzahl
| 03:11 pm - Sleeping in at GC till 10am, then rolling down sand dunes
For the first day here, I was able to sleep in till the grand hour of 10am. This was incredibly luxurious, although I could certainly have used more. Nobody from our place was involved in Plasma or KWin so we could skip that bof. :) We left in time to make sure we caught the bus for the trip, and ended up being early enough for me to catch the Community bof. There we discussed having party packs to give to people who were having parties to promote kde, and how exactly that might work.
After that, it was time to go on the Formal Field Trip Thing. Which involved us splitting up into 3 buses, having one (or two?) of them break down, and us standing at a balcony overlooking dunes while we waited for the rest. Of course, we went to play! I'm sure someone will post photos. Perhaps even me, at least, what I took before I did the ill-advised move of rolling down a sand dune while holding a camera. The mechanism isn't entirely happy with me atm... I'm not sure who started with sand dune rolling: I saw someone do somersaults down a big one early on. That had to hurt somewhat. The idea of it is what tempted me to go ahead and get my shoes all sandy and join in the sand dune play. Indeed, it turned out to be quite fun, and you can go very fast when doing a proper roll from a large, sharp dune. *grin* (Those physics classes were good for something: maximizing angular momentum!) You then sort of stop when you hit the bottom, sand scatters everywhere, and find yourself looking up into the world. Sand dunes tower above you, and you are somewhat dizzy for a bit. I did this at least five times. And ended up with sand all over my skin, inside of my clothes, and even inside of my ears. I kind of wish I'd done it some more. I think I had more fun doing that then playing in the ocean later. (We also later saw a lovely church, and some of the bright pastel-colored city architecture up close. I found myself studying the rock makeup of one of the cornerstones. And identifying Tomaz's beach rocks. Those geology classes were good for something too! :)
I still have sand in my ears. Shower time. :)
We get up bright and early tomorrow: I expect we'll do some DrKonqi work where we can find a whiteboard and a somewhat unobtrusive spot. Amazingly enough, Dario has been working on keeping up with bugs while here. Otoh, he's also been sick at home lots, and is coughing up a storm these days. Hopefully he'll be well enough tomorrow.
Signing off, shower and rumor has it there is food in the Penthouse... At least, they have my gluten-free pasta and just came to take our forks.
Current Location: funroom, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
Current Mood: sad, but not for why you think
Current Music: cars driving by
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July 8th, 2009
princeofcairo
 | 10:26 pm - American History Reaches Its Natural Culmination
... in the form of The Complete Idiot's Guide to U.S. History, Graphic Illustrated, idiot guidance by me and graphic illustration by the redoubtable Shepherd (Stagger Lee) Hendrix. I've seen the art, and I wrote the script, but I haven't gotten my author's copies yet, so this will have to be but a bare and insubstantial plug.
* As a side dish, then, I offer you The Cimmerian's meaty and richly sauced review of The Day After Ragnarok. For those not familiar with the pre-eminent home of Robert E. Howard discussion on the Web, I offer you The Cimmerian.
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blauzahl
| 08:23 pm - "Did you really enjoy eating that?" (or, food help!)
Is what I was asked by someone after a recent meal. The answer is, no, I didn't really enjoy it, but in terms of eating out, so far it was one of the better things I've had that I didn't have cooked in one of our kitchens. The meal? One of the "salads". In this case, tuna in the center, with some tomato, cucumber, something else, and shredded egg on top. I should post a picture, they look really goofy. And not like salads at all. I have celiac disease, so I avoid grain products pretty strictly [#]. I'm going to hit the bottom of my energy bar supply after our little field trip tomorrow. So I'm going to start needing to either figure out how to pack a lunch here, decide that the plain almonds I have left are tasty, or get used to paying 6.50 euros for a bizarre salad.
Ideas?
p.s. Yes, I will admit that the water tastes kind of bad. I wonder if it is more energy-intensive to import bottled water, or to desalinate the water here. Both are pretty bad.
[#] Note that I'm also allergic to milk (yes, allergic; I thought I could just eat lots of manachego while here, but the first time I had some it turned out to be too milky. Opps. My ears are still messed up. Better not be sinus infection.) and I'm quasi-vegetarian. Quasi.
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