The Anachronist

The List of Books I've Read This Year

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:35:06 +0200

Fiction:

THE CURSE OF CHALION*, Lois McMaster Bujold
PALADIN OF SOULS*, Lois McMaster Bujold
THE UNWRITTEN*, Vol 1, Mike Carey & Peter Gross
THE FOREVER WAR**, Joe Haldeman
FOREVER PEACE, Joe Haldeman
STARSHIP TROOPERS**, Robert Heinlein
THE SUN ALSO RISES, Ernest Hemingway
BONESHAKER, Cherie Priest
RED MARS*, Kim Stanley Robinson
HOMINIDS, Robert J. Sawyer
A FIRE UPON THE DEEP*, Vernor Vinge
A DEEPNESS IN THE SKY*, Vernor Vinge
TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG**, Connie Willis
SPIN**, Robert Charles Wilson

Nonfiction:

THE CASE FOR MARS**, Robert Zubrin
GEEK WISDOM, Stephen H. Segal (Ed.)

* = Read this.

** = No, seriously. Read this. Everyone should read this.

Questionable Content

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:47:24 +0200

Hey! Today’s Questionable Content is also about robot civil rights.

Just like my published story, Artificial Ineptitude.

Wow, tumblr staff. “Super cool” of you to feature a...

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:09:21 +0200

Wow, tumblr staff. “Super cool” of you to feature a blog where a cab driver tags pictures of ultra-orthodox Jews as “#Yids,” “#Heebs,” and “#landlords.” I’m surprised he didn’t use the k-word; he’s got all the other slurs that people don’t call Jews anymore.

Where by super cool I mean NOT cool. Insensitive is probably a better word. And I’m being generous with that.

staff:

Name Tom Hunter
Location Melbourne, Australia

Animation student Tom Hunter made his first stop-motion animation while in high school: a film about an orange creature named Reg who had the misfortune of losing a sock. He’s been hooked ever since. Today, he’s one year away from finishing an animation degree from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In the meantime, he’s done work for the upcoming season of Yo Gabba Gabba!, created layouts for Adventure Time, and plans some series pitches for TV networks that I can’t even mention.

Also check out…

Rob Dobi
Illustrator, designer, photographer Rob Dobi.

MaterialKillers
Newest trends and hype in urban culture, music, art, fashion, lifestyle, and more.

Things I See from My Cab
A NYC cabbie takes pictures and video of his daily travels.

Watch out for downward dog. michaelk42: Imma climb aboard and...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:12:36 +0200

Watch out for downward dog.

michaelk42:

Imma climb aboard and help

As long as there is life, joy will never die. As long as there is joy, light will never die. As long...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 19:10:25 +0200

As long as there is life, joy will never die.

As long as there is joy, light will never die.

As long as there is light, joy will never die.

As long as there is light, life will never die.

This was a song in a dream I just had. It was being sung in a bomb shelter, during the apocalypse.

…cheery, non?

This is the movement that DHS held a conference call to...

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:12:12 +0200

This is the movement that DHS held a conference call to “suppress.”

The police are SUPPOSED to be our army. They aren’t SUPPOSED to answer to DHS.

So why are they?

mollycrabapple:

Lou Reed using the people’s mic to declare his support of Occupy Wall Street. God, a man speaking in a proper New York accent, brings a tear to my fucking eye. This is beautiful

Excellent tasting notes, these. journalofajournalist: LE TYPO....

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:52:52 +0200

Excellent tasting notes, these.

journalofajournalist:

LE TYPO. LOVE THIS. EDIT FAIL. Lorem ipsum on a French wine label

Just one world? Oh, I think not. notevensurewhy: Projection...

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:23:29 +0200

Just one world?

Oh, I think not.

notevensurewhy:

Projection Graffiti on the Verizon Building, NY

new-aesthetic:

(via Twitter / @cobrirdeverde: Another World Is Possible …)

"Mark Schatzker, a Canadian satirist, told The Lede on Wednesday that it was “a huge surprise” to him..."

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:58:06 +0200

“

Mark Schatzker, a Canadian satirist, told The Lede on Wednesday that it was “a huge surprise” to him to learn that opponents of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States, including Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, have been using this quote, from a 38-year-old protester named Jeremy puzzled by the habits of bankers on Bay Street, in Toronto’s financial district, as evidence that that the protesters are lazy:

“It’s weird protesting on Bay Street. You get there at 9 a.m. and the rich bankers who you want to hurl insults at and change their worldview have been at work for two hours already. And then when it’s time to go, they’re still there. I guess that’s why they call them the one per cent. I mean, who wants to work those kinds of hours? That’s the power of greed.” - Jeremy, 38

Mr. Schatzker was surprised because Jeremy is a fictional character he invented recently for his weekly humor column published in Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper.

As the Web site Mediate reported this week, opponents of the protest movement were apparently so pleased to read the quote Mr. Schatzker attributed to Jeremy — a 38-year-old protester puzzled by the habits of bankers on Bay Street, in Toronto’s financial district — that they failed to notice that the column was clearly labelled “Satire” at the very top before copying the text and sharing it by on Facebook, in e-mails, on blogs and even in outraged YouTube videos.

The fake quote was so widely cited that it even ended up being repeated on Tuesday by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, at a campaign event.

”

- The New York Times, “Satirist Surprised His ‘Occupy’ Fiction Was Cited as Fact.”

LOL Republicans.

Alternative headline: “People With Common Sense Not Surprised Conservatives Cited ‘Occupy’ Fiction As Fact.”

(via inothernews)

Photo

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:46:03 +0200

Best idea today: orbital art projects. Ten trillion LEDs in a wide orbit around Earth. Anybody want...

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:48:09 +0200

Best idea today: orbital art projects. Ten trillion LEDs in a wide orbit around Earth.

Anybody want to give me like a billion dollars? Kickstarter?

King of Vests: teal-deer: King of Vests: Your job is now your Time Lord name. The...

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:36:25 +0200

King of Vests: teal-deer: King of Vests: Your job is now your Time Lord name. The...:

Hunh…I have fans now? Neat. Someday, I will post reviews of their fiction. It will be glorious.

I guess there’s a meme somewhere in here, and I don’t typically do memes, but since I’m replying anyway, might as well.

Uhhhh:

The 5th Scientist-Writer, in his brown suede trenchcoat, rushes in saying, “Trust me, I’m a writer!” with his companion (and apparently Editor) Teal.

teal-deer:

deflare:

teal-deer:

King of Vests: Your job is now your Time Lord name. The last digit of your phone number is the current regeneration you are in. The…

deflare:

quadhonk:

tigerlilyturnedblue:

The…Cleaner? (does that even count?)
1st
an aqua shirt
Becca :DDD
Archaeopteryx…

Yeah; I met John in high school. I was actually just at his apartment yesterday for hangouts. So… Knew him before he was famous?

Can someone recommend good books about teenagers living in the Age of Sail?

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:20:05 +0300

Can someone recommend good books about teenagers living in the Age of Sail?

Hugo Review: AMERICAN GODS

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 20:58:06 +0300

Okay, so, I think before I begin this one I have a little disclosure to make: I didn’t actually read this one for the Hugo quest, but instead read it a couple of years ago because I wanted to read it. Generally speaking I’ve been skipping books that I’ve already read in the interests of time and not reviewing them because I felt my impression of them was too long ago to give a good review. For AMERICAN GODS, though, that’s not really true, as I read it during the winter of 2009 and I can remember it well enough to review.

A lot of people really love this book. I liked it a lot, but I can’t say I really loved it.

From a viewpoint of cultural discourse, AMERICAN GODS is a really fascinating document. American Gods is about American culture, and about how the beliefs that immigrants brought on their boats with them and the beliefs of modern America can appear to be at war at times. It has a bit of ancient culture, a bit of nostalgia for the lost traditions that wander about our world, and a bit of traveling salesman/world’s largest ball of twine Americanism. It’s a wonderful mosaic of the ingredients of this country.

It’s by Neil Gaiman, who started out his career in the UK as an author of prose stories and comics and has since earned a place as a literary rockstar, moved to the US, and written too many fantastic things to count. Well, actually, you could probably count them, but let’s just finish by saying he’s a legend instead. There’s a great profile of him that The New Yorker did a year or two ago, and if you want to know more, read that.

The point that I’m trying to make with the history is that only a guy like Neil Gaiman could have written this book. I feel kind of confident saying that, but let’s be clear: a lot of what I’m about to say is just guessing. Neil Gaiman was born in the UK to Jewish parents, and his family had some ties to Scientology. Then he moved to the US. He’s got “outsider” written all over him, or at least, he came to US culture as an outsider. I’ve got some of that in my own life; I’m a Canadian-American Jew. There are times when I’d thought about how a book like AMERICAN GODS could be written, before I knew it existed, because there are certain things you see when you feel like an outsider that are hard to see when you’re steeped in the culture.

If the United States is a melting pot, some pieces melt a little slower than others, and Neil Gaiman had that advantage of objectivity when looking at how the US is put together. He researched the hell out of this book, and it really shows. It’s a beautiful work in that respect, showing you a lot of where the US came from in a contemporary style. If you’re looking for what it means to be an American on a deeper level than what you hear from politicians, this book might just show that to you.

A few of these things weren’t so new to me, so maybe some of the mind blowing effects of the book were lost on me, and in the end, I found something lacking in the characters.

The supporting characters, the gods who were created by the cultures brought to the US by immigrants, are all very full and wonderful and exciting, but there’s something about Gaiman’s earlier novel protagonists that I’ve found missing. Shadow and Laura both have a very flat affect, meaning that their emotions do not seem to break the surface of their overall character. I cannot tell you what these people are like, because I do not know if they are really like anything or anyone.

This is a problem I see a lot in novels written by comics authors. It’s also true in NEVERWHERE, of the protagonist Roger. My theory is that comics authors come to rely on the art to convey emotion, and their viewpoint character comes to serve as a “window” onto the other characters that replaces the comic panel. This leads to viewpoint characters being very flat by necessity, because any affect on their part would result in tinting of the window.

It’s the biggest problem—it may even be the only problem—that AMERICAN GODS has.

Either way, I strongly recommend it. It has a good story, it is an important cultural document, and it’s fun to read. Shadow may be a bit empty, at the end of the day, but that shouldn’t stop you from reading AMERICAN GODS.

lowindustrial: Space Activity Suit Since the 1960s, NASA has...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:41:06 +0300

lowindustrial:

Space Activity Suit

Since the 1960s, NASA has also investigated spacesuits that utilize mechanical pressure rather than pressurized gas to protect an astronaut. Such a “space activity suit” is essentially an allover skin-tight leotard, which would be very lightweight and provide far less impediments to motion than traditional spacesuits. As well, a small tear in the suit would only affect the area exposed by the hole rather than cause a potentially deadly decompression event. The only area of the suit that would need to be pressurized is the astronaut’s helmet.

(Photograph by Douglas Sonders)

What's The Difference Between FM And AM Radio?

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:20:05 +0300

fakescience:

charlie-twist: coldarrow: Yeah, need this… Need this NOW!!! I...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:31:25 +0300

charlie-twist:

coldarrow:

Yeah, need this… Need this NOW!!!

I want to be able to MAKE this

“I know who I love, And I know who does love me; I know...

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 06:32:00 +0300

“I know who I love,
And I know who does love me;
I know where I’m going,
And I know who’s going with me…”

From the old (like, Revolutionary War) folk tune “Katie Cruel,” which I much prefer in Moira Smiley’s (the artist in the video) way of singing it.

Aww, thank you! I was just nonchalantly scrolling through my...

Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:00:33 +0300

Aww, thank you! I was just nonchalantly scrolling through my dash, and suddenly I see “hunh, this art has my story title—wait, it’s ABOUT my story! Oh, MM did this. Yay!”

I wish I had a typewriter like that.

Wait, no I don’t. I’d type faster than its heads can move and break it.

iamtwothousand:

A fine gentleman has just had his first story published. Read it here.

It’s like jousting! EXCEPT YOUR HORSE IS A SUPERMASSIVE...

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:20:06 +0300

It’s like jousting!

EXCEPT YOUR HORSE IS A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE.

What now? Bring it.

weareallstarstuff:

Cannibalistic Galaxies

Billions of years just passed before your eyes

Our neighboring galaxy Andromeda (M31) shows evidence of being a past cannibal and is 3 times the size of the Milky Way. We are predicted to be “consumed” within the next 7 billion years. “It would be a beautiful night sky, it will be quite spectacular.” -Author/Astrophysicist Mark Irwin