Some Catch-Up

When last I wrote, Androcon was about to start (the invasion of Doctor Who fans at the Gjovaag house) and I'd just had a couple of very nice weeks of writing for the newspaper again.

Ok, first off... Inkwell is very healthy, and in fact has been playing more often than before. He's a bit befuddled by all the people who have visited, starting with the Androgums, then my parents, sister and niece, then the appraisers looking at the house. Now he's in the habit of running upstairs and hiding behind the bed when anyone comes to the door, which was actually useful today because I knew when the newspaper arrived.

He's also back in the habit of announcing when he gets into his box. I find it really amusing every time and I don't know why.

The Doctor Who on Twitch marathon is ending today. While none of the other Doctors reached the heights of London 1965, it was an excellent and fun way to see other people's reactions to the show as some of them saw it for the first time. I didn't watch continually, but I caught enough to be amused.

I have put in a hold for Hope Never Dies at the library in the hopes that it will be as goofy as the cover illustration indicates.

I am absolutely convinced that someone made this San Diego Comic-Con graphic just for me:

I saw this Facebook post on Friday the 13th and immediately submitted two stories I happened to have written that only needed a little polishing. I did not expect any response at all until after San Diego Comic-Con, and so was surprised to get acknowledgement of my submission in only a week. Very cool.

I was able to see Doctor Who meet the Muppets thanks to people taking videos at the shows in London, but I'd really like to purchase an official DVD of the shows. I've heard they don't do that, which is a shame. I bet it would raise a bit of money for charity even with the production costs.

If you know about or have played the Uncharted games, Nathan Fillion did a MAGNIFICENT job in a short video based on the games.

Yes, this made me squee. A lot of the Aquaman news recently has made me happily squee away. I mean, the movie poster was fun, but the trailer... oh, the trailer...


I must confess that I laughed hysterically for about a half hour about this particular headline:

News from San Diego includes a new creative team for Aquaman. I'm iffy about the art, but there's nothing wrong with Kelly Sue DeConnick as the writer! And she's the first female writer to take on Aquaman, which is interesting, but I won't cut her any slack.

DC's new young adult books are going to include both Mera and Jackson. I'll be getting the Aqua-related ones for sure, but some of the others also look pretty good.

I have not had a major depressive episode in three and a half weeks. Some of it is all the awesome Aquaman news, some is certainly being able to write for the newspaper again. Sadly, while the depression seems to be holding at bay, the anxiety and fibro pain have been as bad and worse than ever. Ug. Still, no depression is a win!

Hey, a super-relaxed Inkwell!

I really like this starry night house and kind of want to paint our house like that, only with a TARDIS in it. But I've been warned that blue paint fades very quickly, so I'm not sure. Maybe someday we'll just get a nice TARDIS blue door.

Yes, I have pre-subscribed to DC Universe. I suspect I'll get my money's worth out of it. Yes, of course I pre-subscribed in time to enter the Aquaman sweeps, although there is almost zero chance of me winning.

At the same time, DC Universe Online, the game I play, announced their next "downloadable content" (DLC) will be Atlantis. As the game has already had a ton of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern content, it's nice to see a couple of DLCs (including the recent Deluge) featuring Aquaman and his friends.

If you haven't seen the winners of the Eisner Awards yet, here they are. I hate to admit I'm not familiar with most of them, but the ones I know I like.

I was happy to read this story about a kid and a hot dog stand. Someone called health inspectors on him, but instead of shutting him down they helped make sure he was up to code then paid for his license. Excellent news!

The moment Jason Momoa met the son of Aquaman's creator, Paul Norris.

Get your orders in for Ahoy Comics. I'm looking forward to most of their books, and I don't easily jump on new publishers.

Lastly, the Washington State primary is August 7th. We just received our ballots a few days ago, and last night both Eric and I voted. We dropped off the ballots in the drop box this morning. Now we wait and see.

Some Links (Linkdump!)

I'm going to start today with curses and damnation at the NRA for turning into a gun-selling organization bent on preventing all reasonable gun laws. I also urge everyone who reports on the shooting in Santa Fe to NOT repeat the murderer's name. He should have a nickname, like Stupidface Murderscum. His true name should be forgotten.

Ok, let's get on with less painful stuff...

One of the truly horrible things about chronic pain is that most of the time no one can do a thing about it, so why would you want to burden someone with your hurt? This society requires us to nicely ask after other people's pain, but doesn't provide guidance on what to do once you know someone is hurting. So those of us who literally hurt ALL THE TIME tend to stop telling the truth about our pain after awhile because it just stresses out our loved ones and bores everyone else.

Now, anxiety is pretty bad too, but this woman came up with a list of helpful actions when her boyfriend asked what he could do. I particularly identify with 1, 8 and 9.

Next:

I'm reminded of the Checklist of Early Warning Signs of Fascism. It appears we can, as a nation, check off most of these. Fortunately, some people are still being ostracized for being racist scum, even if the racist scum-in-chief is being protected by the GOP.

And lastly, for the day, here's How Mueller's First Year Compares to Watergate, Iran-Contra and Whitewater. I want Mueller to finish this investigation as thoroughly as possible. I want everything he presents to be watertight. If he somehow concludes that Deadbeat Don is not guilty, I will accept that. But I want every guilty party punished to the full extent of the law. I also truly believe that anyone currently calling for the investigation to conclude prematurely is probably either guilty of collusion or essentially a traitor to the idea and standards of the United States of America.

Some Links

I hope Carrie Fisher fully recovers. She has no idea how many fans echoed her heart attack when they heard about it.

The thing about this story that makes me very curious is why the letters are sent to that particular address in the first place.

Yes Virginia, there is a Spider-Man.

Here's a gingerbread creation I can get behind. I want a C64!

I was delighted to hear a great story about my hometown police department:

"Adrian and I were driving on Lincoln Ave. Towards Wal-Mart when I saw a police car with 2 officers and they were talking to a lady and her little (maybe 3 year old) daughter I thought something must have happened...Well it did in front of my eyes I witnessed these 2 policemen handing the little girl a wrapped present from the trunk of the car...I was almost in tears and I gave the officer a thumbs UP and a Honk of approval and he waved back . It made my Christmas seeing this Act of Kindness in my Town !" -Betty Lynn Garza on Facebook

I love this video that sets two pug puppies against a mostly indifferent kitten. The fact that the puppies aren't sure whether they should be playing with each other or trying to get out amuses me.


I still haven't been able to wrest control of my Twitter account from Inkwell. At least he is still allowing the blog posts to go through.

A new vaccine developed to protect against ebola was apparently 100% effective in a trial during a live outbreak. If that's really the case, it would be an amazing success. A total of 5,837 people were given the vaccine. Two people had serious side effects (including an allergic reaction) while many others had general soreness. The World Health Organization has a good summary of the results. While the vaccine only protects against one strain of ebola, it's a good start and the trial is definitely promising.

Author David Brin answers the question "Is Government Useless".

Question: If you are pro-life, are you for preventing unwanted pregnancies, or are you for punishing people who have unwanted pregnancies? Because there are many ways to reduce abortion that don't involve making it illegal and punishing people who are in desperate situations - but the pro-life movement rejects them all. Which suggests to me that the movement isn't about preventing abortion as much as it is about punishing people who have sex.

Inkwell left me a present...

Apparently, I haven't been paying close enough attention to him, as he managed to throw up in the front window sill without me noticing. I'm not sure how long ago it happened, as I don't open the front window unless I absolutely have to. In addition, I'd built up a "cat castle" in front of the window, making it a safe space for him to get away from humans.

Well, he took advantage of it.

I just spent the last half hour scrubbing the area and vacuuming up the remaining chunks. It looks to me like it was a dinner, so it probably happened in the middle of the night sometime. It was dried enough that cleaning it wasn't too bad, it just required some scrubbing.

I have been in a major depression with some anxiety attacks for the past few months. It's been bad enough that I've been trying to stay inside and away from people. I'm going to have to break out of it soon. It's not a comfortable way to live. As a meme on Facebook said, "Depression is when you don't really care about anything. Anxiety is when you care too much about everything. And having both is just like hell."

In lieu of forcing myself to be creative, here's a summary of some of my recent Facebook posts - stuff that I found interesting enough to share.

Andy Borowitz again hits one out of the park with Nation with Crumbling Bridges and Roads Excited to Build Giant Wall. Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure. We need leadership that will rebuild our infrastructure, not make stupid promises about walls on our borders.

U.S. Doctors Call for Universal Health Care. A single-payer system is the only moral system. Companies that profit from denying care, which includes most health insurance companies and many pharmaceutical companies, are basically evil. If the goal is increasing shareholder profits and not saving lives, then the companies should go away. Forever.

CharityWatch ranks lots of charities, including The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Foundation. Note the extremely low overhead of the Clinton Foundation, at only 12%. The charity gets an "A" rating because most of its money goes to help people. The numbers being used by conservative critics are not false... they simply count everything that isn't a grant as overhead. Since the Clinton Foundation assists people using other methods besides grants, the critics' numbers are misleading and basically a giant lie.

When we lived in Frankenhaus, one of the biggest problems we ran into was keeping the blackberries under control. Well, we have Luther Burbank to blame. I've spent many days at Luther Burbank Park, so I was a little surprised to read the history of the man. Kind of strikingly eye-opening, and not in a good way.

I quite liked this tweet:

So Sarkozy calls the burkini a 'provocation.' Whether women cover or uncover their bodies, seems we're always, always 'asking for it.'

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 25, 2016

In case you don't know the backstory, several seaside towns in France banned the "burkini", a full body covering suit that allows Muslim or similarly shy women to go to the beach without exposing themselves. At one beach, a woman wearing one was forced to strip by police. That's right. Police forced a woman being modest at the beach to strip. The French Supreme Court banned the laws, but they are apparently still being enforced and a disturbing percent of the population is just fine with it. On the one hand, I'm kind of relieved that another country is outdoing America for sheer stupidity, but on the other hand, really, France? Really?

Women can't win.

New DeLoreans are being built with original parts. These will reportedly have a much better engine. I'm just going to take the opportunity to note that I got to ride in a DeLorean on Back to the Future Day, something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

On a very light note, the entire British Olympics team had an unfortunate airport problem. Oops.

I don't know if you'll be able to see this if you don't have Facebook, sorry, but Dee Snider did an acoustic version of "We're Not Gonna Take It" that is just amazing and done for all the right reasons. I'm going to try to embed the YouTube version:


Moving on, Phil Plait got really excited about a new astronomical discovery. What does it mean, practically? Not a lot for the average person, but it expands and changes our knowledge and potential understanding of the universe.

A teenager in Montreal showed himself to be a true man by calmly saving a woman from a kidnapper. If that story doesn't bring happiness to your heart, you're probably dead.

A post by a Fort Worth mother of a note from her child's teacher has gone viral. Basically, the teacher was informing parents that the children would not be assigned any homework - only work they didn't finish in class - and urged parents to do evening activities with their children that are proven to correlate with student success. Activities like reading together, eating as a family, playing outside and getting to bed on time. My response is positive. I didn't do homework. I always asked myself if I could pass it if it were on a test. If the answer was yes, I ignored any homework assignments. If the answer was no, I went to the teacher to get it fully explained to me so I could pass it on a test. Homework never figured into my understanding. It was all just busy work. Pointless and useless. If I understood it, why would I want to waste time and energy doing another 50 problems? If I didn't understand it, I couldn't see how struggling through 50 problems would help me in any way.

If you haven't read the Hugo-winning Short Story "Cat Pictures Please", go check it out now. It makes me want to take photos of Inkwell and post them. If only I weren't so upset at him at the moment for his present he left in the windowsill...

A few links

Haven't been thinking much the last couple of days, so haven't gotten much done by way of blogging. Here's a few links to tide you over until I get myself back.

I want to get a projector, and they are coming down in price.

MetaFilter links to a series of ads that are so wrong they are almost right.

A comic on Syrian refugees that uses animated GIFs to great effect.

How to Tell the Age of a Map.

The family that got rich by creating Hot Pockets is giving away their fortune.

And lastly, some new Simon's Cat:

Linkdump!

Did flails even exist?

Here's another article about albinos in Africa. Depressing read, but important, I think.

Atlas Obscura, which has become a favorite destination but threatens to overwhelm with too many articles, had a fun story about a nuclear bomb that was dropped on South Carolina.

So, are there no secret hidden chambers off King Tutankhamun's tomb, or is Egypt suppressing the truth? I don't know, but I'm curious to see how it turns out.

MetaFilter has a history of Looney pyramids. These come from the same guy who created Fluxx.

It seems to me that if police are scared to beat people up because of viral videos, then that should be considered a good thing.

Ever wondered why it's called "drop candy"? Well MetaFilter has a link to a video that explains it (5 minutes in!). I'd love to try the nector candy, but I'm not a huge drop candy fan and I'm broke, so I'll just share it instead.

A story linked on Slashdot says Apple doesn't know why its online streaming service is deleting people's files.

Transgender folks are, sadly, able to tell us about our biases.

DC Comics honors Darwyn Cooke.

Let's finish with Simon's Cat:

Yes, yet more links!

I'm feeling the need for some more links! Let's start with a bit of personal news...

I took the leap today and submitted an application to The DC Writers Workshop, even though I do not believe I quite fit the profile of what they are looking for. I have no published fiction, yet, so my writing samples were news articles. That alone may disqualify me. However, the experience of forcing myself to fill out that application, instead of a boring job application, felt good. And hey, there's a chance they might invite me to the video workshop, which could lead to new writing skills. That's nothing to sneeze at.

In some other happy news, Variety and DC Comics have confirmed the return of Supergirl for a second season. It will be moving networks and filming will likely move to Vancouver, which could mean cast changes. I hope not, since the cast is the strong point of the entire show.

I wish I could afford a catio for Inkwell. And for me. Inkwell really wants to go outside, but is terrified of it. And I don't want to lose him to a car or coyote. Via King5.

I'd like to hang out with these women, but I don't work in comics at the moment.

Enjoy a video at Boing Boing of skipping sodium into a river. Lovely explosions!

There's a very interesting discussion at MetaFilter about the cost to taxpayers of businesses like WalMart that fail to provide adequate security and end up calling the police four times as much as comparable retail stores. This is a form of hidden taxes and corporate welfare, like how many WalMart employees qualify for food stamps. If WalMart were a responsible corporation, it would take care of its employees and not rely so heavily on local police to handle its security. But read the comments... lots of good views and other examples there.

A bunch of white morons got upset when a group of 16 black female West Point cadets raised their fists in one of many photos during a photo shoot to celebrate making it through the academy. The photo pose was determined to be "inappropriate" by an official inquiry because the raised fist (commonly used to indicate "Army strong!" during football games) could also be taken as a political statement. Personally, I think it's a great photo and the lily-livered idiots who got upset are clearly trying to make up for their own deficiencies.

Speaking of deficiencies... definitely not safe for work: Why ancient statues had small penises.

The Zipper Merge is the only way to drive, but for some reason, it's considered rude by people who don't know how to drive. The Minnesota DOT is trying to teach people how to use it, even including a video of why it works and a video of how to do it. These links are from MetaFilter, which has quite a long and heated discussion on the issue. Personally, I'm for proper zipper merging, but since the majority of Washington state is not, it's too dangerous to do it. People will literally try to kill you if you follow the law and use the open lane until the merge.

Inkwell believes this website is the most annoying thing online.

I really hope this archive is being digitized and preserved for posterity, because it sounds like it might be invaluable when looking at history.

Linkages for Tuesday

No, a kid did NOT find an ancient Mayan city by comparing ruin locations to the stars.

Weapons of Math Instruction?

Ursula K. Le Guin writes about her cat.

Huh. Wizards of the Coast has some tournament judges suing them, claiming they were effectively employees and should have been compensated as such.

The Chronicles of Cisco continues for fans of The Flash tv show: Part One (in which Cisco tries to improve the Flash suit and falls asleep), Part Two (in which Cisco tries to find an intruder at 3:45 a.m.), Part Three (in which Cisco makes a mistake), and Part Four (in which we learn... well, watch and see).

Boing Boing has a list of disappearances that still make people scratch their heads. Some fascinating stories there.

More fascinating stories came out of Remote Year, a social experiment that didn't turn out perfect, but certainly makes for good reading.

Here's a brutal Fortean topic: The terror of albinism in parts of Africa. In short, if you are albino, you do not exist and are constantly at risk of death.

This piece from Popehat has to be read to be believed. This guy seriously wanted an amendment declaring only people descended from white Europeans to be allowed to be citizens? Now the guy is a Trump delegate... what a surprise.

Hugo Corner:

• Boing Boing on Chuck Tingle's epic troll of the rabid puppies.
• GRRM on other awards.
• Bujold on her Locus nomination.
• A review of one of the works I don't plan to bother reading, because it's from the rabid puppies' master's publishing house (It sounds about as worthless as I suspected it would, building strawmen based on scant facts). The reviewer then responds to the morons who support the original piece.
• And lastly, a painful piece on the current status of the comic book industry, which also mentions the Hugo mess.

And now, a four-minute video that will make you cry. Maybe.

The Present from Jacob Frey on Vimeo.

Linkdump for Wednesday

Canada is burning. Well, one town. But it's a scary type of burning.

Honestly? I'm really wishing lab-grown meat would happen more quickly. I would be delighted to switch to food grown this way. It would save water, save land, not hurt animals and still satisfy our carnivore side... if it all pans out. I hope it does.

Metafilter has a frightening story: one person moving out of New Jersey put the state's budget at risk. In other words, the super-rich are so rich that they can devastate a region just by leaving. I don't mind people getting rich, but this is obscene.

On a lighter note, Metafilter finds a jewelry ad to be The Greatest & Most Enigmatic 2-Minute Horror Suspense Film of Our Time. It's... wow. I think it is truly impressive that an ad featuring Gwyneth Paltrow could have so many continuity errors that it inspires crazy theories.

Having recently read a book on the history of Hawaii (I really should review it), this article makes perfect sense in a pathetic way. Yes, people really were that racist and greedy.

Students are now exempt from stringent FAA standards regarding flying drones. I still want a little drone to use inside the house.

Comic book writer Peter David writes about his weight loss battle.

And in other comics, Previews seems to indicate that Rebirth is a reboot after all. I guess I don't mind having my comics rebooted every 20 years, but every five years or so is getting tiresome.

Here I Go A-Gathering Links...

My friend Lou Anders has had a short story published in Boys Life. I used to steal my brother's Boys Life magazines and read all the fiction and cartoons before he even got a chance to glance at them. I still want to read the entire comic adaptation of the Tripods trilogy... I never saw the whole thing.

Ancient footprints are already pretty cool artifacts, but now they are even cooler since professional trackers have been brought in to make sense of them. I love this type of history story... looking at a problem from a different, yet totally obvious, direction.

How about a tale of a very long-running experiment? I've heard of some experiments that have been going for many years, but this is a bit of a surprise. Seeds in bottles, buried in an effort to see how long the seeds would last.

So, Free Comic Book Day is coming. Here's some sneak peeks of Doctor Who comics. I need to figure out what comics we already ordered from DCBS so I know which ones to get when Eric and I go to the store next week.

I stayed up until 2 a.m. reading a book the other night/morning. I haven't done that for ages because I've been too responsible to risk being dead at work, for all the good it did me. But I really enjoyed the book and will be writing about it soon, probably not for tomorrow's reviews, but maybe next Sunday. It was Castle Hangnail by Ursula Vernon, and I strongly recommend it for any young woman, ages 8-18, who isn't very princess-y or girly and likes snakes and slugs and dirt and work. It's very good.

David Gerrold has a post about Hugo asterisks. I just want to say, the asterisks were there the instant the puppies gamed the Hugos. Putting them into physical form didn't make it any worse, since the damage was already done. On the contrary, the asterisks let some of us have a physical memento of their first time voting in the Hugos (me!) and raised money for a worthy cause. The people who were hurt by the asterisks deserved to be hurt because they are the ones who put the asterisk there in the first place by gaming the Hugo nominations. The fact that they still don't get it only proves the point. And it still amazes me that they are stupid enough to think that people gamed the Hugos before they did. The utter willful ignorance of the puppies is astounding.

Below the fold, depressing stories...

Some Links

Promising new treatment for leukemia. I hope this one pans out, but I do wonder about the patients who didn't have a positive response to it.

Here's a creepy tale of a mysterious body found after the Blitz in Liverpool.

Ancient Engineering So Advanced It Is Like Magic. I'd read about these before, but this Metafilter post brings the links together nicely. Ancient Peruvian wells served as part of an irrigation system to use wind power to drive water where it needed to go. Wow.

Atlas Obscura looks at some folks on American money. There are definitely some interesting individuals whose portraits were on currency!

Check out this way cool tale of Victorians who nearly got themselves killed by flying too high in a balloon. In their defense, they really had no clue what they would face up there.

How about a bit of girl power before I get into depressing topics?

Once again, anti-vaxxers are risking the lives of their children from complications of measles because they think they understand science better after 20 minutes of Googling than people who have been studying it all their lives. Measles was eradicated from the U.S. more than a decade ago, but because of anti-vaxxers, it keeps being brought back. If they knew what vaccines were preventing - if they only knew the pain and suffering of "childhood diseases" - those anti-vaxxers would be ashamed of themselves. But they don't, and the only way they are going to learn is when their own children suffer and die from preventable diseases, which is horrible and unfair to the innocent children. It's a pity the anti-vaxxers, who were vaccinated by their parents, won't be the ones to suffer instead.

And my other pet peeve: a woman is forced out of a hotel's public bathroom by male police officers (youtube link) because she doesn't fit their stereotype of "female" (warning, strong language in the video). She should sue that hotel. I spent half my life being told I looked like a boy because I wore baggy clothing and kept my hair cut short. Having a security guard throw me out of the bathroom while I was waiting in line would have been an absolute nightmare for me. This woman said, in comments on a post of the video, that this happened at the Freemont Hotel Lobby bathroom, "not the casino" (so I'm assuming it's in Las Vegas, maybe?) and that she wasn't expecting to have to show ID to use the restroom. Usually she just assures people she's female and that's enough. In addition, she had friends with her, so no one would be stupid enough to just assume she was male, right? Ha. The security guard with his "papers, please" attitude was disgusting. Her word alone should have been enough, but with several other women vouching for her, the fact that they threw her out is obscene. We aren't Nazi Germany and people are NOT required to carry ID with them everywhere. At least not yet. And, by the way, she looks and sounds female to me.

Linkdump

Maisie Williams crashes a Game of Thrones viewing party.

I do not want to travel on these bridges... Google Earth algorithms result in strange images thanks to texture mapping. These aren't actually glitches, they are the result of how the program looks at data.

I'm not sure I get the science behind using seawater for heating, but I'm happy to see an effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels. More here.

How about a little Flash? The Chronicles of Cisco, Part 1:

An Australian politician sets a river on fire to show that fracking isn't harmless. The only people who don't think fracking is dangerous and damaging are people who are profiting from it, apparently. It's causing massive pollution, seepage of methane, and even earthquakes. But the companies insist it's safe. Huh.

The first responses to Seattle's wage hikes ($12.50 an hour now, going up to $15 an hour by January 2018) are coming in, and prices just haven't changed. It's still far too soon to see the long-term impacts, but so far the prognosis is positive.

I'm still trying to remember where I put all my links...

So this isn't going to be much of a linkdump. I'll remember how to do it eventually, I'm sure!

First, today was the first day I left the house since Monday. Eric took me out to lunch and then we hit the local Bi-Mart to check some prices. Yeah, not a huge trip, but enough to get me out and about. I thought Inkwell was relieved to see me finally go, but when we got back he was sleeping under my chair. Hrm.

I also chatted with my sister a bit. Since I am no longer constrained by my job, it might be possible for me to go see my family this week. That would be nice.

I got a strange call this morning from a number I didn't recognize, and it turns out there's a recall on some veggies we purchased at Costco. I checked the batches and figured out which ones are affected. We have two large bags of peas that are in the recall. I'll be taking them back to Costco some time this week, probably.

I was impressed by this story of how someone cannot visualize and wonder how many other people perceive the world differently than I do. I mean, does my orange actually correspond to what someone else is seeing as orange? But this is even deeper. This is a completely different way of thinking. How can a person not picture things in their mind?

Speaking of picturing things, I want to see this guy's version of Aquaman.

How about a little bit of Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch? I love how, once Benedict gets up on stage, everyone in the audience seems to be recording it with their tablets and phones. Lovely. I also love how he's not really sure what he's supposed to be doing... he just goes with the flow and jumps off the stage at the end.

Judi Dench and Benedict Cumberbatch from Hay Festival on Vimeo.

Note: Yes, I know a new Doctor Who companion has been announced. I don't intend to talk about it much, since until I see the character in action (in more than just a teaser) I won't really know what to think. If I could have avoided the news, I would have. But those kind of spoilers are often impossible to get away from, sadly.

In more grim news, the story behind a well-known photograph, which might change your perception of the photo. Or it might not, hard to say.

It's been so long...

... so long since I've done a proper link dump, I can't even remember how to do it! I long ago stopped reading other blogs due to time issues, and cut down my online activity to the bare minimum of what I thought I could manage quickly. I'm not sure I know how to find all my sources I used to read. It's so strange to have time again!

Ok, don't panic. I still have interests. I just haven't been able to share them.

Let's start with Popular Science's article on better batteries that were made by accident. Sometimes I think all the best discoveries must be by accident, considering how many cool things are created by experiments not working like expected. I think it's important to realize that failure in science is almost as useful, sometimes way more useful, than "success". You come up with your hypothesis, you test it, and something is wrong... sometimes that's the moment real discovery starts. In any case, these batteries, with the potential to last 400 times longer than current batteries before needing a charge, are extremely promising.

Drones are the new UFOs. Apparently, lots of pilots who hit things now are thinking those things are drones. That's an interesting twist of perceptions. Having attempted to fly a drone and failed (with a long hike involved to find and collect the drone) I have my doubts that most small drones can get up high enough to threaten planes. Larger drones... you would expect the operators to have more of a clue. Then again, not all drone operators have shown off brains so far.

Southern Fried Science enjoys some Aquaman science. Love it!

Speaking of comics, this report of sexual harassment at DC is very depressing. But I'm hoping by spreading this information, more people will have questions and maybe something will be done about it. I can dream. Comics aren't exactly friendly to women, yet. Not quite as bad as some segments of gaming, but the sexism and boys club attitude is there.

I'll finish up with a piece from Atlas Obscura on pirated research libraries. In short, journal costs can be so high that, in order to cite other recent studies, some broke scientists are turning to pirated documents to get what they need to help science progress. Of course, read that last line to see that it's not all about research.

I still maintain that copyright has been extended so long that it is now meaningless to the current generation. If copyright lasts a lifetime or longer, and it does, then nothing produced today will ever go into the public domain. This makes things that were possible only a couple of generations ago impossible, including a new Disney producing movies using classic public domain stories. I think there should be copyright, and I think it should be renewable, but I don't think it should be automatic after the first term, say 10 years. And renewal should cost some fee to maintain the database of copyrighted works. That means that works that aren't making money for the copyright holder are more likely to fall into the public domain where they can be remixed and turned into new works.

But if we continue the way we have, copyrights are basically going to become a speedbump to cultural progress, bankrupting artists who can't afford obscene fees to use music that should be in the public domain. Corporations will own most copyrights and come down hard on people who violate them, while individual authors won't be able to protect their own work from pirates because of the costs of litigation. For a reason why eternal copyrights are stupid, read Melancholy Elephants by Spider Robinson.

Linkdump

Hugo Recommendation Weeks are coming. Get your thoughts in gear for trying to post some great works.

Another cool Smokecane photo from Sasquan.

Never give fans an opening... A comment left open-ended on File 770 led to a hilarious thread of things fandom says while facing the Balrog. It continued for some time.

Some people are complaining about diversity in Science Fiction and Fantasy... they seem to forget. We've always been here. We just didn't get respect until recently.

Photos from Sasquan by Olav Rokne.

A very stupid book was published, and prompted a parody called "John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative Popularity Levels" by an author who is not John Scalzi. However, someone thought it would be really funny if Scalzi read the audiobook... and Scalzi agreed to do it if $2,500 was raised for a fan charity that helps people get to conventions. Fans contributed more then $10,000 and the audio is up.

Halloween is coming

A book that provides clean water. Literally. The pages are water filters. A single book can filter water for one person for four years.

The Birdwatching Narwhal by Ursula Vernon.

Tiny Linkdump

Matrix patch notes.

Nineteen covers to Doctor Who: The Four Doctors #1.

I'm so glad Inkwell hasn't discovered the button.

It took me a moment to get it.

Cats have always licked themselves.

It really is the Berenstain Bears.

Were Dorothy Parker's ashes kept in a filing cabinet for two decades?

Almost another statistic.

Linkdump

The blob is causing the strange weather in Washington state. Also, it's NOT simply global warming run rampant.

Aquaman? Seriously, copy-editing is an important skill. I feel sorry for the writer, who probably had little to do with the headline.

Yes, I admit it. I bought the new Lois McMaster Bujold novella literally the first day it was available. And yes, I've read it. I will read it again soon. It's very good. It will be on my Hugo nominees list.

I'd like to get my hubby a copy of this role playing game. Sadly, I can't get to Sasquan.

Ah, the infamous Max Headroom hack, right in the middle of one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who, The Horror of Fang Rock.

I'm delighted by the Eisner Award Winners, particularly Beasts of Burden and Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland. Generally speaking, the list of nominees is a good "recommended reading" list, as well.

I must say, I'm looking forward to this crossover, and I really hope Jeff Parker gets to write it.

The reaction of Ursula Vernon to being put on the World Fantasy shortlist is lovely, but the best line is definitely "three times--there had been rum". Congrats Ursula! Jackalope Wives deserves the nomination!

Adam Savage had a special guest cosplayer with him at San Diego this year:

Linkdump

A judge ordered a newspaper to remove an article from its website. The paper refused and basically told off the judge. The judge backed down.

I don't have anxiety attacks often, but when I do they are truly some of the worse things I've ever dealt with. Wil Wheaton has advice for a fan who asked about dealing with a panic attack.

This key organizer is tempting to me, but I'm not sure if I want it enough to actually get it.

I don't know why, but I find this story about adding sound effects to real-life lasers to be just... cool.

National Geographic celebrated World Oceans Day on Instagram with lots of great photos. But I think this is my favorite. But then, I'm also a sucker for seahorses.

A lined seahorse at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. Photo by Joel Sartore.

Personally, I prefer to write yyyy/mm/dd for my own records, because it makes a heckuva lot more sense than the default U.S. date format (and because I was influenced by computer standards as well, I'm sure).

Here's a nice list of Nebula Award winners with links to a lot of the stories online. I'm particularly pleased with the victory of Ursula Vernon's Jackalope Wives. Vernon did the fantastic webcomic Digger (which was honored with a Hugo award in 2012). Anyway, Vernon's response to her win was hilarious and humble in the best way. Congrats! I hope to meet you at a convention some day.

Linkdump

There have always been women in comics. Since the very beginning, really.

Dalek Relaxation Tape. "Your tension has been EX-TER-MIN-ATED!"

I'm still amused by the Wheel of Time pilot that was shown early in the morning back in February on the FXX Network.

A scientific explanation as to why cats rule the internet.

Bleeding Cool looks at subscription boxes. I've been tempted, but my tastes tend to be fairly narrow. I suspect I would usually be disappointed by all of these.

Doctor Puppet, videos on YouTube...

Yes in Pictures. via.

That would be a dangerous wedding to attend.

Remember that guy who used Kickstarter to raise $10 to make a potato salad? Then it went viral? Well, Potatostock has happened, and it sounds like it ended up being a win-win all around.

I backed another Kickstarter graphic novel of world's colliding. And the second volume of another Kickstarter as well. I have the first volume.

I also bought a fantasy storybundle, thanks to Sherwood Smith, who mentioned it and made me curious.

Linkdump

Demystifying the opening chord of "A Hard Day's Night".... ooo, music!

Check out this neat visualization of falsehoods that people actually believe.

Fun MetaFilter thread about Ace and Doctor Who and companions in general.

Some people are really annoyed that DC is going to have in comic ads.

Does This Thing Really Work? - energetic reviews of "As Seen on TV" junk.

Literally, gun nuts... lead poisoning. This is an aspect of shooting ranges I never would have suspected.

Life and Death at Cirque de Soleil, the story of how and why an acrobat fell to her death during a performance.

If I understand the history correctly... Yeah, that's Matthew 7:5 for you.

You asked me to write my life, the story of Omar ibn Seid, an educated man who was captured and sold as a slave at age 37 in 1807.