Sundays are always a bit of a downer. Today, however, has been awesome. I rode my bike ten miles down the levee. As usual, my friends deserve the credit for this -- I never would've had the guts to do it, if not for them.
They even forgave me for nearly causing a pile-up on the trail. In my defense, I'd just seen a red-headed woodpecker. I had to stop and shout, "look at that!" Red-headed woodpeckers used to be common around here, or so I'm told, but the invasion of the European Starling has reduced their numbers to the point where this was the first one I can remember seeing. They are beautiful birds, with unmistakable black and white plumage.
The other common woodpecker species around here are the red-bellied woodpecker, the downy woodpecker, and the northern flicker, all of which are speckled birds. Only the red-headed woodpecker has those dramatic zones of red, black, and white.
When we got back to town, we ate hamburgers. Then I came home and mowed the lawn. Now it is time for crochet.
If it does not rain tomorrow, I will ride my bike to work. It is only two and a half miles each way -- not far at all.
June 03, 2012
June 02, 2012
Xenon
I missed the Element of the Month for May because, well... it was xenon.
What do you say about xenon?
It's good fuel for ion engines, but I'm not sure I understand why. It's a noble gas, which means that it should be completely inert, but xenon was discovered forming bonds with halides and, of course, oxygen. It's good for making lamps.
And... that's xenon! Let me know if I've missed something -- it seems unfair that such a cool-sounding element should be so dull.
What do you say about xenon?
It's good fuel for ion engines, but I'm not sure I understand why. It's a noble gas, which means that it should be completely inert, but xenon was discovered forming bonds with halides and, of course, oxygen. It's good for making lamps.
And... that's xenon! Let me know if I've missed something -- it seems unfair that such a cool-sounding element should be so dull.
May 30, 2012
Better Things to Do
I keep having the same conversation about Pinterest. It starts when I mention that I tried to use Pinterest once, and ended up losing three hours of my life. Seriously -- I sat down to see what all the fuss was about and when I looked up, three hours had passed. I think Pinterest simulates the sensation of accomplishment without requiring much work... anyway.
The next part of the conversation comes from the woman sitting next to me, who turns around and says, "Oh, I use Pinterest to keep track of recipes."
So far I've been unable to come up with a rational reply. I mean... recipes? What do recipes have to do with ANYTHING? The conversation wasn't about recipes. Or cooking. Or anything like that. I don't cook; why would I care about keeping track of recipes? There's a disconnect here, and I don't know what it is.
The next part of the conversation comes from the woman sitting next to me, who turns around and says, "Oh, I use Pinterest to keep track of recipes."
So far I've been unable to come up with a rational reply. I mean... recipes? What do recipes have to do with ANYTHING? The conversation wasn't about recipes. Or cooking. Or anything like that. I don't cook; why would I care about keeping track of recipes? There's a disconnect here, and I don't know what it is.
May 29, 2012
Home from Wiscon
Imagine if you took a big science fiction convention, like Worldcon, and wrung all the unthinking nerdish bigotry out of it. When you shook it dry, you'd end up with something that looked a bit like Wiscon, but with less fried cheese.
In describing one of the parties at Wiscon, I mentioned a drink called She-Hulk and what it had done to two of my friends.* My interlocutor laughed and said, "they didn't know what was in it, did they." I had to correct him: No one at Wiscon is going to serve you anything without explaining exactly what is in it. In this case, each rack of test tube shots** had a label listing the ingredients. The ingredients in a She-Hulk just happen to all be alcoholic.
I had conversations about comic books with other women. I've been told to read (writing this down so I remember) Brian Q. Miller's run on Batgirl and someone whose name I can't remember's run on Thor.
Ann Leckie began the panel on building your own religion by telling us to never, ever, ever have evil worshippers of an evil god. She pointed out that no one believes in an evil god -- their god may be flawed, or its actions may need to be viewed as metaphor, or human sacrifice may simply be a necessary part of life, but no one is going to announce that their evil god has told them to go do evil things.
The last time I went to Wiscon, I was delighted to find that the local brewpub -- The Great Dane -- had Strongbow cider on tap. Since then, I've discovered many superior ciders, such as Ace and Angry Orchard. This year, when I asked the waiter at The Great Dane about their cider, he informed me that they were serving Angry Orchard.
It seems to me that Wiscon is making an effort to be more trans* and otherwise queer-inclusive. I didn't overhear any nastiness this year. It really isn't that hard to treat everyone you meet like human beings, and to be respectful of each individual's gender presentation, whatever that might be. There is more to life than male and female. Past a certain point, those categories aren't even useful.
We're science fiction fans. We should be able to handle this. Not just at Wiscon, either.
Anime panels, comic book panels, and writing panels -- I didn't actually have time to attend many consciousness-raising panels. However, there was a discussion of cultural appropriation in the plagiarism panel, discussions about the treatment of female fans in the comic book panel, and one of the writing panels was about how to sell your ground-breaking ultra-feminist literature.*** I did get to see a panelist waving a bodice over her head, declaring "This isn't coming off quickly!"
There was also a request by several editors for no more stories about universe-spanning soul-bonds -- or if you must, then maybe it could be between someone other than a man and a woman? They had a whole list of things they were tired of -- Brothers against the world, women in refrigerators, and heroic orphans, among other things. It was nice to listen to a conversation where topics like rape were discussed without anyone leaping up to defend the writers of rapists.
I spent more money on books than soap, but only just. Wiscon has an event where they lay out a bunch of ARCs on a table and let people buy them for 1$ each. The money goes to charity and the ARCs find loving homes. I got some Elizabeth Bear, Ekaterina Sedia, a collection of short stories and a book that was on Tor.com a while ago, but has a two-star rating on Goodreads.
But all of those will have to wait -- I have my Hugo packet, and it's time to start reading.
* Smash.
** It was that kind of party.
*** Such as a story where the main character is a lesbian but that's not the point of the story.
In describing one of the parties at Wiscon, I mentioned a drink called She-Hulk and what it had done to two of my friends.* My interlocutor laughed and said, "they didn't know what was in it, did they." I had to correct him: No one at Wiscon is going to serve you anything without explaining exactly what is in it. In this case, each rack of test tube shots** had a label listing the ingredients. The ingredients in a She-Hulk just happen to all be alcoholic.
I had conversations about comic books with other women. I've been told to read (writing this down so I remember) Brian Q. Miller's run on Batgirl and someone whose name I can't remember's run on Thor.
Ann Leckie began the panel on building your own religion by telling us to never, ever, ever have evil worshippers of an evil god. She pointed out that no one believes in an evil god -- their god may be flawed, or its actions may need to be viewed as metaphor, or human sacrifice may simply be a necessary part of life, but no one is going to announce that their evil god has told them to go do evil things.
The last time I went to Wiscon, I was delighted to find that the local brewpub -- The Great Dane -- had Strongbow cider on tap. Since then, I've discovered many superior ciders, such as Ace and Angry Orchard. This year, when I asked the waiter at The Great Dane about their cider, he informed me that they were serving Angry Orchard.
It seems to me that Wiscon is making an effort to be more trans* and otherwise queer-inclusive. I didn't overhear any nastiness this year. It really isn't that hard to treat everyone you meet like human beings, and to be respectful of each individual's gender presentation, whatever that might be. There is more to life than male and female. Past a certain point, those categories aren't even useful.
We're science fiction fans. We should be able to handle this. Not just at Wiscon, either.
Anime panels, comic book panels, and writing panels -- I didn't actually have time to attend many consciousness-raising panels. However, there was a discussion of cultural appropriation in the plagiarism panel, discussions about the treatment of female fans in the comic book panel, and one of the writing panels was about how to sell your ground-breaking ultra-feminist literature.*** I did get to see a panelist waving a bodice over her head, declaring "This isn't coming off quickly!"
There was also a request by several editors for no more stories about universe-spanning soul-bonds -- or if you must, then maybe it could be between someone other than a man and a woman? They had a whole list of things they were tired of -- Brothers against the world, women in refrigerators, and heroic orphans, among other things. It was nice to listen to a conversation where topics like rape were discussed without anyone leaping up to defend the writers of rapists.
I spent more money on books than soap, but only just. Wiscon has an event where they lay out a bunch of ARCs on a table and let people buy them for 1$ each. The money goes to charity and the ARCs find loving homes. I got some Elizabeth Bear, Ekaterina Sedia, a collection of short stories and a book that was on Tor.com a while ago, but has a two-star rating on Goodreads.
But all of those will have to wait -- I have my Hugo packet, and it's time to start reading.
* Smash.
** It was that kind of party.
*** Such as a story where the main character is a lesbian but that's not the point of the story.
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