Well, it's been a long, been a long, been a long, been a long day

Sep. 26th, 2016 09:31 pm
aris_tgd: Guildenstern, "Address Me" (Address me)
[personal profile] aris_tgd
It's kind of been one of those. Last night I was informed (at 10pm) that if I could make it to the lecture section of the course I was TAing, that would be great. The lecture course is at 8am on Mondays.

Halfway through the lecture, which I did make it to on time! I realized I left my wallet at home with my ID in it.

So I biked back home and got that and came back to campus, and found that some of my classes ran on time, some ran short, some were cancelled without warning, and basically stuff was all out of order for how I envisioned it. Now I'm short on time and have to get stuff done for the lab I'm TAing tomorrow.

Grad school!
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Miss Manners: Electronic invitation takes on a life of its own

Sep. 27th, 2016 04:40 am
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(no subject)

NSFW Sep. 27th, 2016 12:38 am
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Tue Sep 27 todo tada

NSFW Sep. 27th, 2016 12:33 am
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On Dedications & Radio Plays

Sep. 27th, 2016 02:59 am
[syndicated profile] neilgaiman_feed

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/09/on-dedications-radio-plays.html

posted by Neil Gaiman
I finished the last of the last of the read-throughs of Norse Mythology this morning. I caught one paragraph that had somehow duplicated itself, fixed a couple of clunky sentences, and changed the word stone to iron somewhere I had thought one thing and typed another. I checked over the glossary

And then there was one last thing.

Dedicating books is an odd process, combining whim and whimsy and debts owed and gods to be placated. Mostly you ponder who would be made happiest by having this book dedicated to them, and what the most appropriate person would be for the book you have written.

But sometimes you do not have to ponder. Sometimes it's nice and obvious.

I've dedicated Norse Mythology to someone who wasn't even around a couple of days ago, and is now here, and whom I haven't yet met and held and hugged and sung songs to (but I will, soon). My first grandchild, Everett, born to my oldest son Michael and his wife Courtney (Courtney obviously did all the hard work) about 48 hours ago.

I get a grandson. Holly and Maddy and Ash get a nephew (and Ash gets someone to play with as he grows up). I am a proud and happy grandfather.






Norse Mythology is Everett's book.



...



This is a photograph of the cast - almost all of them, there are some secrets and surprises - of the two part BBC Radio Four adaptation of STARDUST that's coming out in December. (Here's the cast list: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1CJhmxQCq99GBn26FLh7qnk/stardust-whos-who)

The BBC is holding a competition for original STARDUST art for UK residents -- details at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4m9W7cDHhnCDrBlBrkmL2YW/competition-draw-neil-gaimans-stardust-for-radio-4

You will not need to be a UK resident to listen to it, however. You can listen to it anywhere in the whole wide world, via the magic of the Internet, or the BBC iPlayer app, for a month after it broadcasts.

That's not the only Radio Four adaptation of one of my stories happening this year, though. There's also the (smaller) cast of How the Marquis Got His Coat Back:


and yes, I'm in there. I got to be in the room, acting with Bernard Cribbins and Adrian Lester and Paterson Joseph and Don Warrington and everyone and IT WAS AMAZING.

How the Marquis Got His Coat Back will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in early November (I think).

...

You can get registered to vote in the US via text messages: https://www.hello.vote/ has the details. Get registered. Vote. Your vote actually matters. Vote.
Labels:  Radio four, how the marquis got his coat back, Everett Gaiman, Stardust, grandfather me


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http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/09/on-dedications-radio-plays.html

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D.O.P.-T.

Sep. 26th, 2016 08:44 pm
weofodthignen: selfportrait with Rune the cat (Default)
[personal profile] weofodthignen
Someone had left (abandoned? forgotten?) his sneakers on a seat on the bus. White and blue, well used but not tatty, placed neatly side by side. Fortunately my sense of smell is poor and I couldn't tell whether they stank.
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D.O.P.-T. (yesterday)

Sep. 26th, 2016 08:43 pm
weofodthignen: selfportrait with Rune the cat (Default)
[personal profile] weofodthignen
Back to high 80s and then high 90s by day, while still cool at night - and to bad air days.
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Science Fiction Films and Miscellaneous

Sep. 27th, 2016 01:21 pm
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[personal profile] tcpip
Last night was a vist to The Astor for the classic SF double, The Thing and Videodrome. Prior to the movie we ate at Kabul Flavour which is inexpensive, tasty, and with friendly staff. The films were absolutely superb of course - I have seen them multple times previously, and at $12 for the night, a steal. Unlike so much popular SF both films are founded on fairly hard science premises, the notions of an alien life form that mimics and assimilates other life on a molecullar level, or the ideal of extreme subliminal stimuli generating hallucinations and madness. What especially appeals to me (as a founder of a science fiction club at university) is that the stories are disturbing on a psychological level. They are, in my opinion, what science fiction should be about. SF (or fantasy) which is just contemporary culture with spaceships can, at best, provide humour (Red Dwarf, Quark) or even some camp charm (Dr Who, Star Trek). But when a person walks out thinking "that was disturbing", or even better still, "that was alien", science fiction has done its job. Which is part of the reason I play Eclipse Phase and look forward to the day that someone has the courage to make a film of I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.

Apart from that the past few days have been relatively normal; went to The Luwow on Saturday night to catch up with Stean V's visit to Melbourne. They've done a 'tropical gothic' aethsteic really well, if you can imagine such a thing, and a couple of quite good psychedlia and psychobilly, respectively, bands playing. Preparations for Europe continue as I power through revisions on Duolingo for the four languages of choose (German, French, Spanish, and Esperanto), and bookings of various train connections and hotels between cities. I've also made some progress on Papers and Paychecks, but with a lot to go before the Kickstarter launch date, and played a somewhat truncated session of GURPS Middle Earth on Sunday. My review of Castles and Crusades, originally from RPG Review, has been posted on rpg.net. Finally, the relative break in the training programme at work has meant that I can get back to preparing presentations for eResearchAustralasia and OpenStack in Barcelona, and a bunch outstanding software installs and job scripts.
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Poem: "Fresh Air in Your Brain"

Sep. 26th, 2016 04:27 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the August 2, 2016 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by the "gathering courage" square in my 8-1-16 card for the Survival Bingo fest. It has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. This poem belongs to the Officer Pink thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

( Read more... )
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(no subject)

Sep. 26th, 2016 10:09 pm
meganbmoore: (Default)
[personal profile] meganbmoore
The latest in the Neverending apartment drama is that I've been sent a bill for my next rent and utilities that shows me as still owing utilities and the late fee for the bill that wasn't paid late from last month.



It's like they WANT to make sure no one wants to renew their leases.
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The Die Is Cast

Sep. 26th, 2016 10:54 pm
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Beautiful Harvest

18 Sep. 26th, 2016 09:53 pm
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culture mondays

Sep. 26th, 2016 10:34 pm
wohali: portrait of Joan (Default)
[personal profile] wohali
Video
Finished Lexx finally. It was...brutally bad. I would say if you have any interest in the show at all, watch the first season only. It's structured as 4 movies that actually have an overarching plot and isn't just complete cheezeball sexploitation occasionally set to softporn music. Alternately if you just want to see what made the show what it was, watch any random 2nd season episode. Seasons 3 and 4 are completely skippable.

Plus a couple of Futurama and Kids In The Hall for laughs.

Books
Have completed my read-through of that Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour, for which I posted a summary earlier in the week. I picked up 3 books from the library who are authors in the collection. We'll see how they are, and whether I can work through them in 3 weeks' time or not.

Audio
Still on break as my old Nexus 7 (2012) will no longer hold a charge, and I don't have the other portable device I own set up for audio playback yet. Soon, maybe. Today (with my laptop) I did listen to Movie Sign With The Mads talk about L.A. Confidential which has put that film along with Chinatown on my list of things to watch this week.

Video Games
Guild Wars 2 only this past week, and not very much of it. Going through a phase of "not interested in video games," I think.

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Monday Is the Cruelest Month...or something

18 Sep. 26th, 2016 09:48 pm
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(no subject)

Sep. 26th, 2016 08:50 pm
meganbmoore: (Default)
[personal profile] meganbmoore
I don't have it in me to actually watch the presidential debate, but I'm following tags on tumblr and it sounds like it's going exactly how I expected it to go.



Almost willing to put money on all the media saying Trump was dynamic and passionate and kept getting caught up in the moment, and Hillary being condescending and both Trying Too Hard and just not lika le enough. "Almost" because, I mean, they might actually catch up with reality this time.
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Prompt for 2016-09-26

Sep. 26th, 2016 09:39 pm
brewsternorth: Electric-blue stylized teapot, captioned "Brewster North". (Default)
[personal profile] brewsternorth posting in [community profile] dailyprompt
Today's prompt is "alone on a rooftop".
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Liveblogging the debate...

Sep. 27th, 2016 01:32 am
[personal profile] tangaroa
5:53 they're going to be introducing the spouses. Who cares?


6:06

Subject: Job creation

Clinton gave a smattering of proposals, too many to attempt to contradict any one. With the first opportunity to speak, she stole several of Trump's issues.

Trump calls for bringing back trickle-down economics. Clinton nailed him on it.

Trump called for protectionist import taxes.

Trump sounds like he has a cold. #TrumpsHealth

Clinton aced this section and got in several jabs against Trump. Trump barely registered and sounded unprepared.

Clinton: A
Trump: D


6:28

Trump told Clinton "you've been fighting ISIS your entire adult life", possibly the dumbest thing he has said in the whole campaign.


6:31

Trump says we are in a big bubble and accused the Fed of being "political" and not doing their jobs.


6:34

Trump refuses to release his tax returns, redirects it into an attack on Clinton's emails. Politics as usual.

Clinton makes up a bunch of conspiracy theories about what might be in Trump's tax returns.

6:38

Trump plays up his businesses again and the "very fine banks" where he stores his money.

Clinton attacks Trump on his businesses that he always talks up. Brilliant assault on what he claims as a strength.


6:44 Moderator changes the issue to race, "how do you heal the divide?"

Clinton says race determines where you are allowed to live and "how you are treated in the criminal justice system." She gives Tulsa and Charlotte as two examples of racism. Charlotte was a black cop shooting someone who drew a gun on him. Big mistake by Clinton.

Clinton blames "the gun epidemic".

Trump calls for "law and order". No details. Supports stop-and-frisk.

Moderator says that stop-and-frisk was ruled unconstitutional. Trump says he was wrong.

Trump calls for taking guns from "bad people".

Trump appeals to blacks and hispanics and blames politicians for allowing gun violence. Clinton accuses Trump of insulting black communities.

Clinton denounces "systemic racism in our criminal justice system" and wants to "divert people from the criminal justice system". She calls for "common sense gun safety measures" to remove "military style weapons".

Trump brings up Clinton's use of the word "superpredator" and acknowledges that she had apologized for it.

Trump credits stop-and-frisk for reducing murders in New York. Clinton says crime has continued dropping since the practice was ended. Trump: "you're wrong."

Clinton: D
Trump: D


6:58
Trump demanded the opportunity to respond, was granted, and started an attack.

6:59
Moderator asks Trump about his past support for the birther issue. Trump blames Clinton campaign. Trump takes credit for Obama releasing his birth certificate. Moderator notes that Trump continued pressing the issue for years afterward.

7:03
Clinton says Trump started his career by being sued for refusing to rent to black people.

7:04
Trump accuses Clinton of treating Obama with terrible disrespect. He would know, he is an expert at treating people with disrespect.


7:06 Moderator changes subject to cyberwarfare

Clinton mentions commercial attackers and Russia, mentions Trump praising Putin. Clinton threatens retaliation for hacking.

Trump mentions his endorsements. Goes on attack on DNC, misses the subject. Talking vaguely about getting tough on cyberwarfare.

Clinton: B
Trump: F

7:12

Clinton calls for increased airstrikes on ISIS. Did she miss that we just gave ISIS air support for an attack on Syrian forces?

7:13 Moderator asks how to prevent homegrown attacks

Trump accuses Clinton and Obama of creating a vacuum in Iraq, forgets George W. Bush. Trump suggests leaving troops behind. Yeah, that would have been popular. Trump suggests we should have seized the oil. Yeah, that would have discouraged a rebellion.

Clinton calls for increased intelligence gathering and working with allies.

Clinton accuses Trump of insulting Muslims and she calls for cooperating with "the Muslim community". Unstated, the part of the Muslim community Clinton works with is al-Qaeda.

Trump accuses NATO of not paying their fair share, says NATO could be obsolete, takes credit for NATO opening a unit to concentrate on terrorism. Trump calls for NATO to invade surrounding nations and attack ISIS.

7:20
The moderator says Trump supported the Iraq war. Trump and the moderator argue about this. No one mentions Clinton's position on the war.

7:24
Clinton notes that Trump called for starting a war with Iran if they taunted our sailors.

7:26
Trump demands tribute from countries in America's sphere of influence.

Trump slams the Iran deal.

Clinton: "It is essential that America's word be good." Unless you're Libya.

Clinton praises the Iran deal as very successful.

Trump demands tribute from our allies again. Does he think he's playing Civ 1?

7:35

Clinton accuses Trump of saying that women don't deserve equal pay for equal work. The factcheckers need to take a look at this.

7:37 Moderator's final question is whether the candidate will accept losing the election. Holy shit! Why is this even a question?


Trump: "I want to make America great again" and he talks about a DHS immigration scandal. Finally he answers the question and says he will support Clinton.



Overall:

Clinton: C
Trump: F

Clinton held steady and performed adequately.

Trump was unready, unsteady. He had little of substance to say. His attacks on Clinton were poorly timed and did not land.
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What this isn't and is

Sep. 26th, 2016 09:14 pm
twistedchick: daffodils in rain, my photo (Default)
[personal profile] twistedchick
It's not a game.
It's not a popularity contest.
It's not about whose clothes look better, or whether his wife's tailored-to-her-body dress is more fashionable than her classic pantsuit. The skin-tight dress is meant to distract you from what is going on.
It's not about unproven slanders, but about proven lies.

It's about truth, knowledge of how things get done, skill and experience to do them well.
It's about relationships among states at home and among other countries we deal with.
It's about peacebuilding, not warmaking.
It's about who has the experience to govern wisely, to follow the Constition in all that is done, to expand liberties to those who are treated unequally when the law requires equal treatment.
It's about getting bills passed in Congress, not shoved in a corner so nothing is done.
It's about repaving roads, rebuilding bridges, repairing infrastructure left undone while the Republican party in power did nothing.
It's about caring enough for the American population to provide health care and compassionate leave and family leave for all Americans -- something that is ordinary in other developed countries.
It's about preserving public lands as public lands, not exploting them for money or selling sacred sites to foreign exploiters.
It's about filling all the federal judicial seats that are empty -- more than 90 at last count -- so that the courts can deal more quickly and equitably with the heavy case loads.
It's about having someone in office who will nominate Supreme Court Justices who will preserve our rights and rule fairly with a thought to the future -- which means this election is about the next 30+ years.
It's about Americans being able to tell the difference between truth and lies, between the real thing and the flash trash.
It's about keeping companies from moving overseas or out of the country, keeping jobs here, keeping industries here. It's about renewing the unions, which protect the rights of workers.

It's about our lives. Nothing less. Our lives, our fortunes (and the lack of them) and our sacred honor.

Think about it.
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You'll never know the murderer sitting next to you....

Sep. 26th, 2016 09:16 pm
aldersprig: (CyaSmile)
[personal profile] aldersprig
Speculative ficlet of Boom, pre-apocalypse. Not even the ficlet I meant to write.

"Hey, you. Are you still alive?"

Feccrick came to conciousness slowly. There was a redheaded woman leaning over him, seemingly unbothered by the raw gaping sword wound across his chest.

"Alive?" Better to feign fogginess. "Yeah, what...?"

"What's your name?"

"Fred. Fred Kirk."

"Good, good." She stood up, talking into her shoulder radio. He couldn't make out any of the words, but he thought he heard his name.

Shoulder radio... a cop. Jeans and a jacket - detective? Feccrick tried to shake himself awake while trying to look as vague and uncertain as possible.

"All right, Fred. What happened here?"

"Some guy. Some..." Mara type, hero complex, swinging his sword around... "Freak with a sword. Came in and started plowing through everyone."

"Why did he leave you alive?"

Alive? The rest were... Feccrick looked around: blood, and body parts, and a broken machete.

"Shit. shit, shit, they're all dead?" Panic seemed like a good idea. He didn't even have to fake it. "All of them?"

"Why'd he let you live?" she repeated.

"Shit, I don't know, I..." Some words came back. You're not to blame. You're not like them. The man had sounded sincere. "...I think he maybe thought I was a good guy. Which I am, I mean..." The guy had clearly been a nutjob.

"Thank you." This time, he heard he words. They started with Abatu Intinn...

He didn't have time to panic before he was gone.
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Three disjointed thoughts about star wars

Sep. 26th, 2016 09:06 pm
sophia_sol: drawing of Combeferre, smiling and holding up a finger like he's about to explain something (Default)
[personal profile] sophia_sol
Three disjointed thoughts about star wars that have been sitting in my drafts for a lot of months:

1. given the way the original trilogy is really good at showing mourning reactions from people wrt to deaths (or even believed-to-be-deaths), especially chewie wrt han, I now understand ppl's reactions to han's death.

2. I am belatedly fascinated by how in the original trilogy both vader and luke have this massive hang-up over the idea of killing their own family member (father/son), but kylo ren DOES THE THING. He fails to be vader in so many interesting ways!

3.apparently star wars is one of those fandoms where EVEN AFTER watching canon I still need to read lots of fic to begin to, like, grok it? I dunno, maybe it's that fandom has developed all these elaborate headcanons over the years to explain some of the more opaque things in the movies, or maybe it's that the tie-in materials have stuff that everyone's drawing on, who knows. But I feel like everyone knows more about how stuff in the star wars universe works than I do.
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