Here's an interesting tidbit: James Nicoll on his blog pointed out that Fun fact: Andre Norton's first novel is equidistant between us and the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species. On mentioning that, a friend pointed out that the interesting thing is her novels are still readable, in a way that many writers from the 1950s and 60s aren't. There's a nuge number of SF novels that have aged very badly; either the novels are built on a scientific fact that's later proven wrong (Niven's "The Coldest Place") or posits a short-term future that hasn't worked out (Harrison's "Make Room!"), and a few, like Norton, Schmitz and the like that survive. So what are some of the characteristics of novels that last the ages?

Here's a couple thoughts:

1. Don't sweat the science: sad to say for a genre with "science" in its name, but if you build your novel around some neat new cutting edge scientific theory or technology, you have a really good chance of it being completely wrong. Norton's science is at the level of "and then they pushed a button; likewise is the space opera science of authors such as Schmitz and Farmer.

2. Make your background concepts universal, not contemporary: Norton deals a lot with backgrounds and character problems that have resonated throughout history: war refugees making a place for themselves, the fall of empires, exploration of new lands. Those writers who wrote about the Soviet-U.S. war continuing into the 21st century, or the massive overpopulation of the 1990s, turned out to not be such universal concepts.

I'm kind of developing a couple other rules, but this is what I have so far. Any thoughts?

I would totally read every Wonder Woman comic published if they were written and drawn by Kate Beaton, of Hark a Vagrent.

Best Wonder Woman Ever.

I found an interesting little monograph on how pies were used in medieval times to preserve meats for extensive periods of times, especially for traveling. the pies in Pyes de Pares aren't all that much like modern pies: the crust is designed to protect the food inside, and so is thick and rough, and salty to the point of being inedible.

The interesting thing is this method of preservation seems to work quite well for periods of several weeks, and the paper actually has tests by a microbiology lab to demonstrate this.  So this might be something to think about the next time people want to save on food costs at a convention.

We got a new used microwave this weekend, one that fits into our kitchen better. In discussing how to dispose of this piece of e-waste (the creek-bed next door was ruled out, even though it is traditional for the neighborhood), I got to thinking.

Thinking about those traditional SF societies ALA Heinlein and company, where they have such a casual attitude toward atomic power that nearly everything is atomic powered. It occurred to me that even in those civilizations they couldn't have a completely blase attitude toward atomic waste- hence the notion of R-waste. As in: "Ah man, I gotta take the kitchen's atomic power cells down to the dump today." "Well, could you take the cells for the household computer with you?"

Of course people being people, gullies and creek-beds in neighborhoods like mine in those worlds must glow with a quite pretty blue color at night.

Indeed my cold was courteous, in that it waited until after the LARP was all finished to manifest. Or maybe it just couldn't stand the excitement of the day, since it seems to be a pretty mild cold, more annoying than anything else.

But the weekend was wonderful- I survived a bout of zombie movie on Halloween, to attend a brilliant Dragaeria LARP that involved governmental change and macroeconomics. Since it's Dragaeria, it all worked out well. I got to play a brilliantly decadent Phoenix, something like a Bertie Wooster with a deathwish. I bumbled around, insulting Dragons and inserting the occasional pointed observation or question between my calls for drinks. And then abruptly, solved a mystery that turned out to be far more personally important than the turning of the cycle. Lots and lots of fun, and I actually got some fairly intense acting in. I'm looking forward to the next LARP.

If you ladies are still strapped for costume ideas at this late date, well, there's this original idea from a Japanese designer:





This is one of a collection of 15 chemograph plates from Military Costumes in Old Japan, by Kazumasa Ogawa, published in 1895.

Yay! A very wonderful birthday to a swell guy!

...Waitaminute...didn't you have one of these LAST year?

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Over at the 20 Sided Women's Project, there is An Open Letter to the Gaming Industry, where a group of gamers make some complaints about how their gender is depicted and treated in the hobby. It's made a bit of a stir, here and there.

My thoughts? Things have improved in the last decade or so, but there is still huge room for improvement, especially in the way that women are depicted, both in game, and especially in art. The trope of "sexy useless female armor' for example, is pretty much a cliche, and has been for years.  And the discussions over this letter have revealed that there's still a large mix of misogyny and general cluelessness out there.

But what do you all think?

After a week where I worried about the flu catching me in time for the party, my belated birthday went off pretty much perfectly.

And the party! To explain about the party, I should explain a bit about my childhood: The first thing I remember is one of, if not the first moon landing. The early 70s was a time when space exploration was still glamorous and futuristic. So naturally as a kid I got the rocket ship cake. Said cake was a plain sheet cake with a plastic toy Saturn V rocket on it, with a capsule at the top that could be launched by spring. So naturally when I was asked what kind of cake I wanted, I asked for a rocket cake.

I got a rocket cake, and how! Made by the highly talented starseryn It was an actual 3 foot long cake in the shape of a rocket, with rice crispy fins, and covered with buttercream frosting in the actual colors of a Saturn V.



The low-quality picture picture honestly doesn't do the cake justice. It was fantastic, and it tasted wonderful. I am really grateful to both racerxmachina and starseryn.

As for the rest of the party, I had the delight of sharing my birthday with a group of wonderful friends, some of the finest people I know. Really, I was honored to have you all here. Add to that wonderful party foods ranging from pork buns to greenbean pastries, to ma po tofu. And hot sake and champagne, and, and...today I am still sleepy and replete. This is a good start to my year.

How to make a reading garden

This will be perfect for those long summer days (and summer will last 8 months) when we can just sit on the bench with a glass of port, and our dogs will take shifts laying their heads on our laps to be petted.

Oh yeah.

I got a good crop of mythology essays here...ranging from the damned good, to the hilarious. Oh look at this: in this myth, set at the beginning of the solar system, the main characters are Adam and Eve.

......Yep. I'm doomed.

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A quick question for those better versed in mythology than I am: does anyone know of a myth where a race between Iris and another goddess resulted in the sky being painted blue? Are there any similar myths?

Its kind of sad when the quality of a student's work makes one suspicious, but on the other hand, if its all her invention she may have a career as a writer.

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In a discussion of mythology in class today, I made an offhand reference to "bible myths".  Some students seemed a little shocked.

Is this the sort of thing that can get me fired or burned at the stake?

If you're going to shell out the money for an advertisement, make sure that clicking the link doesn't land you here.  That pretty much invalidates the whole point of having a clickable link.

It's worth noting because for some reason recently I'm seeing more and more 404 and 403 results when clicking webcomic links. 

I've been poking through the Universal Leonardo site, and have been impressed by how accessible its making Leonardo for the general public. As well as a decent amount of information, it's got some pretty interesting activities, like "Make a Monster", which distracted me for longer than I expected.

This is an excellent example of how the internet can be used for education,  something I have a more pressng interest in, now that I'm back in the education field..

Posted for Deirdremoon's enjoyment, we have a charming little Russian animation:

Vinni Pukh (+ English subtitles)

And yes, it is exactly what it sounds like.

I honestly don't know what to think of this job offer, as seen on Craigslist:

Looking For WOW ARENA Healer who can also play a DK... (mountain view)

---

Date: 2009-09-17, 4:28PM PDT
Reply to: job-xkhdp-1379738943@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

---

I need to hire a person to play World of Warcraft with me. This person must be at least a Rival+ in arena healing and be able to assist me in getting to arena rating of 2000+. You will need to be able to play at least 3hrs per day during the week and 5hrs over the weekend. You will also need to be able to play a DK to farm honor for items. You *MUST* be trustworthy, helpful, have vent WITH MIC, and not have an holy-then-tho attitude. I have a priest account but you may have to move your healer over to Eitrigg PVE. Must be able to start ASAP (like NOW)!

• Compensation: Pay is $50.00 (USD) per hour played and it goes up to $100 (USD) per hour played after rating of 1850 plus a bonus of up to $5000 (USD) for a rating of 2350
• Telecommuting is ok.
• This is a part-time job.
• This is a contract job.
• OK to highlight this job opening for persons with disabilities
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

I honeslty don't know what to think about this job offer: whether to be amazed at someone so obsessed with wow (and yet so estranged from online friends) that they need to hire a healer, to regard it with a cynical "nice work if you can get it" attitude...or to gnashh my teeth because I no longer have a WoW account.

The 2010 California Marriage Protection Act would follow up on Prop 8, by amending the state constitution to ban divorce in the State of California.  According to the author John Marcotte, this would be the best way to defend traditional marriage, and naturally all the people who voted for Prop. 8 will vote for this one, since they really just want to defend marriage.  After all, voting for Prop. 8 and not 2010CMPA would make them a bunch of homophobic hypocrites right?

The only problem with this joke is it may actually get on the ballot, and hen we'll end up with divorce being illegal in California.  And then we'll be dealing with swarms of Republicans screaming because they suddenly can't divorce...hm.  Maybe Mr. Marcotte has something here.