The Dragon's Eye View

Personal Reference: Linear City

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:12:06 GMT

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/12/roadtown-linear-city.php

http://www.archive.org/details/roadtown00chamgoog

A linear city, built over and around a train line or other transportation conduit.

Interesting for practical potential; moreso as a setting or artifact in the kind of steampunky science-fantasy setting I want to write about.

Playing Our Song: Iris

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 08:24:37 GMT

You're on the other side of the world right now, Fire of my Heart. I'm just going to bed; you should just be finishing your work day.

Know that I'm waiting for you.

Know that I love you.

Iris
The Goo Goo Dolls
from the movie
City of Angels

And I'd give up forever to touch you
'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now

And all I can taste is this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
'Cause sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am

The Hoard Potato: Personal Reference Post (Superheroes)

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:38:06 GMT

Thanks to leonard_arlotte:
On Superheroes

Good night, Fire of my Heart.

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:35:25 GMT

The morning will come too soon, my darling.

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
Far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Well, every moment spent with you
Is a moment I treasure

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you
Feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
And I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna miss one smile
I don't wanna miss one kiss
Well, I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just wanna hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time

Don't wanna close my eyes
Don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
'Cause I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Don't wanna close my eyes
Don't wanna fall asleep, yeah
I don't wanna miss a thing

Dream well, Fire of my Heart, and be safe in your journeys.

I love you.

LHC Down AGAIN.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:29:15 GMT

Yet Another Power Failure Knocks Out The Large Hadron Collider!

This makes me a little nervous; I'd joked earlier that the last few LHC glitches coincided with the escalating assaults on my late, lamented Grape.

I have a NEW car now, dagnabbit!

Public Service Announcement: Thirty Days hath November

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:17:41 GMT

For everyone using the 2009 Ozy & Millie Calendar, and possibly other 2009 calendars from CafePress: no matter what the November page might say,

Today is not November 31st.

State of the Dragon: The Public Announcment

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:24:27 GMT

About a month ago, I made a friends-locked post about this; now it's time to turn the cards face up.

quelonzia and I are separating.

On Friday, she'll be flying to the Philippines for business. Immediately thereafter, I will be moving out.

This is not a divorce. We are not "breaking up". We still love each other; gods, do we love each other. We still want to be together.

However, since I graduated from CSUMB in 2003, I have not held a full-time job for more than three months; they've all been short-term contract or temp positions. My current part-time retail position barely lets me pick up my prescriptions and the occasional grocery run.

She needs to know that, if something happens to her, I can actually survive.

I need to know that, too. I wish we didn't have to do this, but, honestly, until I make some drastic change in my situation, I'm just going to keep spinning my wheels.

The separation will continue until I have a permanent, full-time job that lasts more than six months.

Thanks to thoughtsdriftby, I have a place to stay until I can get my shit together.

I will do everything in my power to insure than the duration is as short as I can make it.

The Hoard Potato rags on Dungeon Fantasy some more.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:29:13 GMT

paka posted some thoughts on LotR Elves vs. D&D Elves, in which he noted that Unca Gary wasn't that much of a Tolkien fan, since the Professor's work "wasn't pulpy enough for his tastes".

I responded:

I have long felt that the reason Dungeon Fantasy mutated into its own peculiar, inbred subgenre that, frankly, doesn't really WORK that well was because players tried to graft the tropes of Heroic Quest Fantasy onto a system whose initial assumptions were rooted in the very different tropes of picaresque Sword & Sorcery.

I may be the only person who thinks so anymore, but to me, D&D's haphazard combination of High Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery isn't so much a matter of "you got peanut butter in my chocolate" as "you're wearing plaid and paisley together."

Soylent Gems, Revisited!

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:29:10 GMT

Several years ago, I discovered a company that was making industrial diamonds out of cremated human remains, to serve as memorials.

I then posted a discussion about the necromantic implications thereof.

In the intervening years, it seems that multiple companies have cropped up to perform the same service -- for pets.

As far as I can tell, while there are several Dead Puppy Jewelers out there, the original company doesn't yet have any competition for Soylent Gems. I suspect that most jurisdictions have substantially more rigorous (and more expensive) licensing regulations for disposing of human remains than for animal remains.

Edit: It seems that LifeGems® will now make a diamond from a lock of hair, as well, so you don't have to wait until the actual cessation of biological activity to have your Permanent Necromantic Conduit. They're making gems from the hair of Ludwig von Beethoven and from the charred hair recovered from Michael Jackson's ill-fated Pepsi commercial.

Think about that last. I mean, that's not just crystallizing the remains of an individual who was the focus of a lot of psychic energy, positive and negative, over the years; it's crystallizing the remains of one of the most painful moments of terror in his life. I've got the perfect setting for that gemstone.

I've made similar gems an integral part of the magic system in my Magnum Opus Fantasy Epic, which I really need to sit down and start writing.

For the record, if I'm ever in a situation where I have a limb amputated or an organ removed, I am TOTALLY gonna have it turned into a diamond.

Auto Motives: I Can Has Car!

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 07:17:38 GMT

quelonzia and I went out car shopping today, and came home in separate vehicles!

I now own a silver 2000 Saturn station wagon with about 107K miles on it. It seems to be in fine shape -- the engine sounds great, there were no obvious oil leaks, the interior is roomy and comfortable. It handles nicely, though it's a Much Longer Car than my late, lamented hatchback; THAT will take some adjustment time.

It's over all a better car than the Grape, and in better condition, too, despite the extra 20K miles. Oddly, despite its larger size, it may actually get better fuel economy.

Over the next few days, I'm going to be putting all the personal gear from the Grape into the new machine. I may not bother with the steering wheel cover, and the old seat covers stayed with the little purple car (because they disintegrated when I tried to get them off), but my dragon-decorated floor mats are definitely goin' back in.

I'll need to drop by the DMV and swap out the plates for my GRAUPH personalized plates.

Oh, and the plastic divinity of my choice is goin' on the dashboard.

Writer's Block: Book review

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:43:58 GMT

What (if any) books would you ban from a high school library? Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit?

View 1448 Answers

I'd think twice before including, say, The Kama Sutra.

Please read the question before objecting on principle: it specifies high school library.

On the flip side, I'm interpreting "ban" loosely, in the sense of "if I had a job purchasing books for a high school library*, I would probably not choose to purchase this item for the shelves."

Oh, I also might question the wisdom of including the private collection of Rupert Giles on the shelves of a high school library. You know, the "don't speak Latin in front of the books" books.

*This would, in fact, be a job I would love.

QOTD

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:57:58 GMT

-- Somewhere in heaven, PT Barnum looks down on Sarah Palin and sheds a single proud tear.

-- John Rogers, co-creator of Leverage

I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:22:57 GMT

A statement like that might seem to need qualifiers, but really, it doesn't.

I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

About very nearly anything.

Film at 11: When Disneys Collide

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:34:04 GMT

True Life Adventures: The Dance of the Hours

Artist's Conception
Crocodile "dances" across a "troupe" of hippos. It doesn't end well.

Auto Motives: Looking for Cars (in all the wrong places)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:18:58 GMT

Okay. Theoretically, the settlement check should be getting here today.

Does anyone have suggestions for places to look in the Bay Area for a decent car for about $2500-3000?

It's got to have an automatic transmission, and I'd prefer something smaller, but otherwise -- I'm easy.

We'd prefer a dealership, rather than a private owner.

This place had some tempting listings, but this review sets off ALL KINDS of alarm bells -- evidently, as recently as Halloween, they were operating under another name at the same address, and that place got lousy reviews.

Coyote Loves Me, but don't take His name in vain.

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:01:51 GMT

If you follow this journal, you know that October has been a long succession of disasters for Your Obedient Serpent. Many of them were car-related, and, of course, the climactic one, the destruction of my car on Halloween morning, was the proverbial bolt from the blue, the quintessential smite of angry divinity, if your metaphysics lean that way, or cosmic irony, if they lean in the other direction.

It's enough to prompt even the aggiest agnostic to wonder, "Why me? Who did I piss off?"

Well, I have a confession to make.

On September 15th, 2009, Jessica Simpson's dog was snatched by a coyote.

This was a minor news item, but one that prompted some small degree of amusement -- in part because so much of the "action" happened on Twitter.

We found one line in particular amusing:

Simpson, 29, has offered a reward to anyone who can reunite her with her 5-year-old, caramel-colored dog.

Quoth halfelf: "It's like she's expecting a ransom note from the coyotes, or something."

One thing led to another, and, before the hour was out, "CoyoteLuvsU" had a Twitter account, and had posted the following:

@JessicaSimpson WE hAVE YouR TAsTY tASTy DoG. DElIVeR 100 bOnz + 1 roDe RUnnEr To THE olD TRee In THE MeADoW. CoME alOnE, NO AnImAL CoNTRoL.

Today, on the phone with my mother, I mentioned this gag. Being no great fan of either Twitter nor Ms. Simpson, she found it uproarious -- but then stopped, and asked, "So, when did you do this?"

"September 15th", I answered.

"Aha!" she said, wise in the ways of Old Man Coyote. "That's when your trouble started. You took His name in vain."

My mother has a wonderful Ominous Prophecy Voice, and it has only improved with age.

I confess, the logic is inescapable. Indeed, at the time, I said, "I am so asking for trouble by doing this."

Friday the 13th seems the ideal time to Confess and Repent one's sins before the Trickster.

Coyote, forgive me! I have taken Your name in vain,
and trespassed upon a Gag that was rightfully Yours!
The forces of Cosmic Irony have weighed heavily upon me,
and more heavily still upon my late, lamented Grape,
who has suffered in my stead. I repent of my sin,
and my hubris in attempting to leech your Yuks!

You know, when I first came into possession of that Little Purple Car, I asked the opinion of a former Aspire owner, who had rolled his on Interstate 5 a year or two before, and come out unscathed. He said, "They may not look like much, but they'll give their lives for you."

Indeed, sir. Indeed.

QOTD

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:18:28 GMT

I also think that a lot of folks who profess to love America love it the way Ike Turner loved Tina.

-- Mark Evanier

Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:01:29 GMT

Mostly for my own reference:

Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design

While Dr. Akin is an aerospace engineer, most if not all of these Laws apply to systems design in general.

normanrafferty should take particular note of the following:

14. (Edison's Law) "Better" is the enemy of "good".

Snagged from theweaselking, whom I forgot to credit when I first posted this.

.

Goodbye, Little Purple Car.

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:15:11 GMT

The tow truck just took my little purple car away.

I loved that little car. It was the first vehicle I ever owned that wasn't a piece of rusty crap from day one.

I had that car longer than any dog I ever owned, and we'd been through a lot more together, so please pardon me if I mourn an "inanimate" object as if she were alive. I knew her moods, I knew her limits. I could and did out-drive Porsches in that little four-banger, because I knew exactly what she could do.

Goodbye, Grape. I loved you.

Feed Your Head: Things I KNOW, but need to LEARN

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:13:07 GMT

Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So is optimism.

-- distilled from Robert Anton Wilson,
"Ten Good Reasons to Get Out of Bed in the Morning".

My thinking is broken. I've assimilated unhealthy memes.

Taking control of my life means, first and foremost, taking control of my head.

Re-Reading List:

Robert Anton Wilson, The Illuminati Papers
S.I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action
R. Buckminster Fuller:
- Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth
- Utopia or Oblivion
- Ideas and Integrities
- Critical Path (Have I actually read this, or has it just been sitting on my shelf for years?)
Sun Bear, The Path of Power
Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity
Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Richard Bach:
- Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Hush. It's my metaprogramming list.)

Film at 11/Jobquest! -- The Walls on which the Prophets wrote are cracking at the seams

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:24:50 GMT

Fed Official Sees High Unemployment For Years

-- Associated Press, via NPR

You know, this actually makes me feel better about the job market in the near future.

Remember the Clinton Boom? (I know it's hard, but it really wasn't that long ago!)

Most "official government reports" of that period just foresaw the good times rollin' along. The few who saw the boom as part of a boom-and-bust cycle were dismissed as Chicken Littles. Same with the housing bubble that ranged through both the Clinton and Bush years.

In the same way, the government officials who currently insist that Recovery Is Just Around The Corner sound impossibly optimistic, seeing unicorns and rainbows in every little upward jig of an isolated economic indicator. Not only don't they convince us, they don't even sound like they've convinced themselves.

Official statements like this one sound so much more plausible. They're rooted in the "common sense" observations every one of us makes every day. They're logical extrapolations of the future from current conditions.

Just like those glorious predictions of the Infinite Boom.¹

Because, you see, deep down, nobody really believes in change. They don't believe that things will ever be different. They find it hard to believe, in their hearts, that things ever were different, even if they experienced it themselves.² My parenthetical comment above, about the Clinton Boom? 'Fess up: it's getting harder and harder to remember those times as genuinely prosperous, isn't it? Instead, it's just the top of a downward slope, not so much "better" as "where 'worse' started".

Don't read too much into this post, really. It's just an early-morning knee-jerk reaction to a headline article. Semantically, it boils down to, "hey, the government says this, so it must be wrong."

I suppose that's as good as any other method of economic prediction.

¹Somewhere along the line, as Boom shifted into Decline and from there to Bust, the treatment of the "Technological Singularity" in speculative fiction shifted from "The Rapture of the Nerds" to the geek equivalent of Left Behind. See Accelerando, by Charlie Stross, for a good example of the latter.

²This is, of course, the root of Global Warming Denial.

Video: Stupid Callous Homophobic Hateful Legislation

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:09:13 GMT

'Nuff said.

Jobquest: Resumes and "trivial" jobs

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:01:48 GMT

You know, I've been leaving my current position at the comic-and-game shop off of my resume, on the assumption that it's somehow "too trivial" and "doesn't look good" for a prospective science professional.

On the other claw, it adds two vitally important things to my resume:

Evidence that I am, in fact, currently employed; and
A position that I've held for more than a year -- the only one I've held for more than a few months, since getting my degree in 2003.*

I think I have far too much ego invested in the wrong places. I've been more concerned with presenting myself as a ⟨jonlovitz⟩Scientist⟨/jonlovitz⟩ than as a worker--and I have no idea if that's for the "benefit" of prospective employers, or to sustain my own precarious illusions.

So what looks better? A resume that says "I work in a comic book shop", or one that says "I haven't worked at all since 2007"?

Or have I already answered my own question?

*Aside from my time at AppleOne, which I treat as a single job instead of listing each contract/position individually.

The Hoard Potato: More Shows I'm Not Watching

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:00:27 GMT

quelonzia and I sat down to watch our recording of the premiere of V last night.

Fans of the original series will not be disappointed: it was completely faithful to the original.

The acting was wooden, the scripting was heavy-handed, the motivations were weak, the characters were unlikable, and the glaring Plot Stupidity of the original was wholly intact.

We didn't get past the first half-hour.

Pity. I had high hopes, considering the cast was packed with veterans of some of the best SF shows of the last decade.

Now I'm kind of nostalgic for the first couple of seasons of Earth: Final Conflict.

Read any good books lately?

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:16:00 GMT

I'm making my Xmas list -- anybody have any good reading material to recommend?

The only book I've got on there so far is The Revolution Business, by Charlie Stross. It's volume 5 of a 6-volume "hard fantasy" series: the classic fantasy "modern-day person falls into a medieval world" trope, cleverly concealing a solid SF what-if premise and a decidedly unromantic view of kings and princesses and wizards.

The Dragon's Eye View

Personal Reference: Linear City

Playing Our Song: Iris

The Hoard Potato: Personal Reference Post (Superheroes)

Good night, Fire of my Heart.

LHC Down AGAIN.

Yet Another Power Failure Knocks Out The Large Hadron Collider!

Public Service Announcement: Thirty Days hath November

Today is not November 31st.

State of the Dragon: The Public Announcment

The Hoard Potato rags on Dungeon Fantasy some more.

Soylent Gems, Revisited!

Auto Motives: I Can Has Car!

Writer's Block: Book review

QOTD

-- Somewhere in heaven, PT Barnum looks down on Sarah Palin and sheds a single proud tear.

I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

Film at 11: When Disneys Collide

True Life Adventures: The Dance of the Hours

Auto Motives: Looking for Cars (in all the wrong places)

Coyote Loves Me, but don't take His name in vain.

QOTD

I also think that a lot of folks who profess to love America love it the way Ike Turner loved Tina.

Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design

Akin's Laws of Spacecraft Design

14. (Edison's Law) "Better" is the enemy of "good".

Goodbye, Little Purple Car.

Feed Your Head: Things I KNOW, but need to LEARN

Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy.So is optimism.

Film at 11/Jobquest! -- The Walls on which the Prophets wrote are cracking at the seams

Fed Official Sees High Unemployment For Years

Video: Stupid Callous Homophobic Hateful Legislation

Jobquest: Resumes and "trivial" jobs

The Hoard Potato: More Shows I'm Not Watching

Read any good books lately?

Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
So is optimism.