(1) John Green of the Vlog Brothers waves Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber at the camera and heartily endorses it to 2.6 million subscribers at the 2:00 mark in his “Pizzamas Day 4” video posted November 12.
Today Hopkinson’s book – originally published in 2001 — ranks 2,902 in Amazon’s Kindle eBooks>Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Paranormal & Urban category. I wish I knew where it was ranked the day before for the sake of comparison.
(2) NPR interviewed Stan Lee about his new autobiography.
The man who dreamed up lots of backstories for Marvel characters has now put out his own origin story: A memoir, Amazing Fantastic Incredible, in comic book form. It begins with Lee as a boy, transported to other worlds through books by Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells and William Shakespeare. His real world was the Depression, a father mostly out of work and a dingy New York apartment with laundry hanging in the kitchen and a brick wall for a view. Lee says his mother doted on him; he remembers she’d just watch him read. “One of the best gifts I ever got — she bought me a little stand that I could keep on the table while I was eating, and I could put a book in the stand, and I could read while I was eating. I mean, I always had to be reading something,” he recalls.
(3) Discovery Times Square is hosting “Star Wars And The Power Of Costume: The Exhibition” which includes costumes from the forthcoming movie.
Featuring 70 hand-crafted costumes from the first six blockbuster Star Wars films, this exhibition reveals the artists’ creative process—and uncovers the connection between character and costume. George Lucas imagined and created a fantastical world filled with dynamic characters who told the timeless story of the hero’s journey. The costumes shaped the identities of these now famous characters, from the menacing black mask of Darth Vader and the gilded suit of C-3PO, to the lavish royal gowns of Queen Amidala and a bikini worn by Princess Leia when enslaved by Jabba the Hutt. A special presentation for the showing at Discovery Times Square in New York will feature seven additional costumes from the highly anticipated film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
(4) James H. Burns denies that “love of the Three Stooges is a guy thing” at TV Party.
One night, in one of the popular Broadway joints, I’m having a couple of drinks with an actress I had recently met. A lovely, musicals-type gal….
And. somehow, I mention the Stooges. She tells me she LOVES the Stooges…
So, being a little devilish, as many of you know I can be, I say to her:
“Great…. What’s the only known defense for this…”
And I start doing a, slow-motion, split-finger, eyepoke. She INSTANTLY raises her hand, sideways, to her nose.
(5) Get the electronic Mythlore Plus Index for free – or at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. Order fulfillment goes through PayPal which won’t take a zero-price sale.
Available as a fully searchable digital file downloadable in PDF format, this newly, updated edition of the Mythlore Index covers issues 1-127 and has now been expanded to include all articles and reviews published in the Tolkien Journal, Mythcon Conference Proceedings, and Mythopoeic Press Essay Collections. Articles are indexed by author, title, and subject, and reviews by author and author of item reviewed. The index is illustrated with classic black and white artwork from early issues by Tim Kirk and Sarah Beach. This essential reference in mythopoeic studies will be updated after the publication of each Mythlore issue.
Add it to your cart and when you check out you’ll be sent a download link.
(6) Today In History
- November 16, 2001: First Harry Potter film opens
(7) Christopher M. Chupik, guided by his own reading experiences, says there is a tendency to shortchange the appeal of classic sf, in his guest post “Reflections of a Golden Age” on According To Hoyt.
My high-tech Kobo e-reader has a copy of Edmond Hamilton’s The Star Kings on it. Does it matter that I was reading this novel with a device more sophisticated than any of the computers contained within? Of course not.
One of the complaints made was that the younger generation can’t relate to “futures” where men still wear hats and they can make intelligent positronic robots but not personal computers. I say you’re not giving the younger generation enough credit. When I was reading Bradbury and Asimov, I was very aware that I was reading of future’s past. It doesn’t matter that Orwell’s 1984 is behind us (or is it?) any more than it matters that the Mars that Burroughs and Bradbury wrote about has no more foundation in reality than Middle-Earth.
It didn’t matter to me because I could see the things that hadn’t changed. Ultimately, the human experience remains consistent across the ages. Sure, superficial things like slang and fashions change with the decades…
Feel free to ignore the slur on this blog in the first paragraph; I did. (Almost.)
(8) Heritage Auctions is taking bids on a large selection of classic comics. At this writing, Superman #1 is going for $30,000.
(9) T. Campbell’s nominations for the“11 Weirdest Supergirl Stories” are posted on ScreenRant.
The Time She Was Superman’s Archenemy
No one seems to be quite sure where the Linda Danvers Supergirl is at this point (we last saw her in Hell, of all places), but not long after Supergirl‘s comic cancellation, a Supergirl from Krypton showed up (Superman/Batman #8, 2004) who was just straight-up the cousin of Superman. No angel powers, no shapeshifting, no unfortunate Luthor connections, no alternate-Earth shenanigans… just Kara Zor-El, the classic “Orginal Recipe” Supergirl from before things got messy. Except for the part where she might’ve been sent back to kill Superman.
(10) Lou Antonelli stopped doing the backstroke in the punchbowl long enough to post “You Heard It Here First” at This Way To Texas.
George R.R. Martin will be the next recipient of the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award (The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award).
No, I do not have inside information, nor do I have a crystal ball. It’s simply a logical conclusion, especially if you know how the literary leaders of the science fiction community think.
Regardless of the merit of Martin’s literary output, he will get the award as a reward for helping trounce the dissident nominees for the Hugo awards this year (the so-called Sad Puppies). It’s not really any more complicated than that.
(11) In “A Forthcoming Speculative Fiction Anthology Asks Transgender Authors To Imagine New Worlds” at Bitch Media, Katherine Cross posed this question to Casey Plett and Cat Fitzpatrick.
On that note, what are your thoughts on the controversy around the Sad Puppies, the group who tried to rig the reader-voted Hugo Awards to favor “traditional” sci-fi works. It was clearly a powerful, angry, and organized reaction against the steady diversification of storytelling in sci-fi and spec-fic. What exactly is happening to this genre that’s so explosive and dangerous?
CP: White straight cis men are getting very upset because they feel they’re losing something when a more diverse set of stories is represented. On the one hand, they don’t have to worry—the share of representation of white straight cis male characters in sci-fi is maybe dropping from 98 percent to 95. But on the other hand, they’re right—they are losing some measure of dominance, and they should lose this. And I think acknowledging that challenges a fluffy teddy-bear idea of what an ally is—the idea that no one is going to lose anything. Being an ally requires giving shit up, which is what these people are not prepared to do.
CF: I think the throwing-the-toys-out-of-the-pram thing totally describes Brad Torgersen [sci-fi author and ringleader of the Sad Puppies]. I think Vox Day [another author, who organized an extreme offshoot of the Sad Puppies called the Rabid Puppies] is altogether a more sinister person, with really far-right politics and a desire to upset people to get attention. He’s a serious reactionary, traditionalist, religious, pseudofascist type—he even called leading spec-fic writer N.K. Jemisin an “uneducated half-savage” because she’s Black. And I think he saw Torgersen’s toy-throwing and said, “Here is a tool I can use to hurt people.”
I do fear that the way the story has been reported makes it seem as if spec-fic is going through growing pains that literary fiction outgrew long ago, as if lit-fic is more mature than spec-fic or sci-fi. Yet lit-fic has these same problems [with diversity and bigotry] and actually deals with them in a much less effective way. Part of it is that spec-fic is always concerned with community—you always have to invent the world from scratch, which entails obviously political choices. Traditional lit-fic straight white authors can say, “I’m just writing how the world is,” and even believe it, but if you’re a sci-fi writer who wants every book to be like Heinlein, you can’t escape the fact that you’re making this up, that your choice as a writer is meaningful and political.
CP: I think this stuff does get talked about in lit-fic—the VIDA Count revealed just how male the writing published by prestigious magazines was. That caused a big scandal. But it was still limited to writers. People in my mfa knew, but I think if you asked a person in a bookstore’s fiction section about the VIDA Count, they would have no idea what it was, whereas someone in the sci-fi section would probably know about Puppygate.
CF: Totally. On one hand, that relative openness laid them open to the whole Puppy thing, but on the other hand, it has meant much more engagement with the debate. And in the end the Puppies were voted down in the actual awards, even if that meant not awarding some categories. Which was kind of amazing. And it opened up a really important conversation and brought a lot of people together around it. I’m actually kind of happy about how the spec-fic or sci-fi community as a whole has handled this thing.
CP: I have a friend who said, “When stuff like this happens, it means you’re winning,” and I think they might be right in this case. It also opens up that question, “Who is focused on awards, and why?” I know awards can help sales, and it’s nice to be recognized, but I think it’s interesting these straight white cis guys are so focused on prestige. Whereas our feelings as editors about recognition are, “It’s nice, but it’s a byproduct.” We’re not interested in this writing being prestigious, we’re interested in it being interesting, first of all, to a trans audience—we want to be accountable to them.
(12) Steven Erikson’s guest post “Awards or Bust”, largely devoted to a critique of Stephen Jones’ defense of the WFA Lovecraft bust (on Facebook), concludes —
The time was long past due on getting rid of that bust. And at the table at the banquet at the World Fantasy Awards, I made my applause loud and sustained. And as for the Lovecraft pin I wear to conventions, indicating a past nomination, I’d love to see a new version. In the meantime, however, I will continue to wear it, not in belligerent advocacy of H.P. Lovecraft, but to honour all past winners of the World Fantasy Award.
In my mind I can make that distinction. That I have to lies at the heart of the problem with having Lovecraft as our symbol of merit. To all future nominees and winners, you won’t have to face that awkward separation, and for that, you can thank that ‘vocal minority,’ who perhaps have not been vocal enough, and who are most certainly not a minority. Not in this field, not in any other.
(13) Laura J. Mixon’s conclusion, after quoting one of Lovecraft’s racist statements in “Farewell to the Bigoted Bust”:
These are not simply a few hot-headed opinions popping out of the mouth (or the pen) of a young man, whose attitudes mellowed with age. They weren’t ill-considered Thingish thoughts that he reconsidered later. Nope. He remained hostile and entrenched in these views to the end of his life, despite the sustained efforts of his friends and family.
[Thanks to James H. Burns, Diana Pavlac Glyer, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Will R.]
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@Aaron sorry to see them coming after you again. Good to see you handling it with class. The puppies really do seem stuck in high school given their need to insult others and a lack of decency or common sense when doing so.
In other news. I finished Ancillary Mercy last night. I may be in the minority here as I didn’t enjoy it as much as the previous books. It was a good read but not as compelling for reasons I can’t find the words for.
I’m taking a break from SFF and reading When Someone You Love Has a Chronic Illness by Tamara McClintock Greenberg. I’m hoping this will be a book I can recommend and/or give to family and friends to help them interact with me better so I’m not as frustrated with them. I spend too much time with close family/friends with us going around and around on stuff because they don’t get my life. Beyond the great spoon theory article there isn’t much out there to help them. I find that many don’t remember the spoon theory for more than a few days/weeks and/or still think seeing more doctors/trying the latest homeopathic treatment they heard about/getting out more would fix everything.
The puppies really do seem stuck in high school given their need to insult others and a lack of decency or common sense when doing so.
To be honest, I think of them as more like being stuck in grade school – maybe second grade or so.
Tasha, let us know how that book is, please.
I second this and point out we are being hypocritical to criticize someone for bringing kids into things if we then turn around and do the same.
On a different kid note. I was a free roaming kid in the 1970-1980s. The only difference between my brothers and I was I had more household chores . Being the oldest I was also responsible for keeping an eye on my brothers & friends to keep them from doing anything which might result in ER/hospital visits/death. Dresses didn’t interfere as I generally wore pants unless I had to be dressed up but then the boys would also be dressed up. Doing things which damaged the “one good set of clothes” would get everyone involved in big trouble.
@Bruce Baugh will do. I have a 2nd book which is similar arriving today. I’ll share my thoughts on both in a couple of days. One will hopefully be going to my mother-in-law at Thanksgiving next week.
Lou just got “fan mail” from Adam-Troy Castro on FB:
Vasha:
Gur gebcr eneryl vaibyirf n jbzna jub “ernyyl” ybirf gur zna naljnl, fvzcyl bar jub vf n zber pnabavpny cnegare naq gura shpxf jvgu gurz anfgvyl gb xrrc gurz ncneg, fb V crefbanyyl srry gurve abg ernyyl orvat va ybir qbrfa’g vagresrer jvgu gur gebcr ng nyy. Gur ratntrzrag vf rabhtu.
Tenpr, sbe nyy ure vavgvnyyl fgebat punenpgrevmngvba, vf onfvpnyyl n Znpthssva gb xrrc gurz ncneg naq perngr gur pbasyvpg gb znxr gur ernqre purre jura gurl trg gbtrgure. Gurer’f ab bgure checbfr sbe gur punenpgre. Fur jnf n cheryl negvsvpvny bofgnpyr gb urvtugra gur eryngvbafuvc fgnxrf, naq jvgubhg ure va gur obbx, vg jbhyq unir ghearq bhg zhpu gur fnzr. Gung qvq srry n ovg yvxr n onvg naq fjvgpu, orpnhfr fur jnf jbaqreshyyl qenja ng havirefvgl, naq V gubhtug fur’q unir fbzrguvat zber vagrerfgvat gb qb guna or gur ernfba n thl pna’g or unccl jvgu uvf fbhyzngr evtug njnl. (Naq, yvxr n ybg bs onq snasvp, fur’f gura chavfurq ol gur ybff bs gur cebzvfrq puvyq, naq gur gjb thlf nqbcg naq ohl phegnvaf ng Vxrn. Hayvxr n ybg bs onq snasvp, fur raqf hc jvgu n cerggl frafvoyr naq nccrnyvatyl-qenja frpbaqnel punenpgre, fb va gung erfcrpg, fur’f gerngrq jvgu gur flzcngul gung ure rneyl punenpgrevmngvba fubjrq.)
Vg’f uneq gb xabj jub gur haeryvnoyr aneengbe va gung fgbel vf, ohg gurer ner frireny uvagf gung vg’f abg Zbev. Tenpr’f zbzrag bs nfxvat urefrys vs fur pbhyq unir ceriragrq nyy guvf ol abg qrpvqvat gb orpbzr n znq obzore naq gur zbzrag jurer fur’f jvyyvat gb hfr gurve ubzbfrkhnyvgl gb trg evq bs Zbev, juvyr ur’f bss znxvat gblf sbe na haobea qnhtugre… vg’f cerggl pyrne gb zr gung vg’f Tenpr jr’er zrnag gb frr nf gur zbenyyl ercerurafvoyr punenpgre.
V qba’g guvax V qvfyvxrq gur obbx nf zhpu nf gung fbhaqf, ohg V jnf irel qvfnccbvagrq va ubj Tenpr jnf hfrq va gur obbx.
That said, I do like the idea that gur ivyynva vf fbzrbar jub zrnag jryy, jub vf gur ureb bs gurve fgbel, naq fbzrbar jr’er yrq gb flzcnguvmr jvgu. V whfg jvfu fur’q orra n ovg yrff gnpxrq ba sbe eryngvbafuvc fgnxrf.
Gods, yes. This.
It’s not decent. Please cut it out.
@Aaron: My son will graduate from high school this spring. I think that when he has to deal with some hard realities, his attitude may change
I was at university when the divorce happened, but a year or two later, dropping out, stomping dramatically away, and then working sixty hours a week waiting tables effected a major change in my attitude! ;>
Thirding or fourthing the need to leave people’s children out of the intermet imbroglios.
Weird that article about roaming, but I guess it depends on country or where in it you live. When I was a kid, I walked to school myself, then walked with my friends to – what the heck is name of a kindergarten for kids in their first years of school?
On weekends, my parents shooed me out of the door and I walked around where ever I wanted, which mostly was to the forest outside our house or away to my friends. There were no set limits. And that’s still the standard of the suburbs as far as I know. In the cities, there is the traffic to contend with.
I remember articles about a swedish mother in US who left her kid in its pram when she went into a store to shop and how she was arrested and there was discussion if she could keep her child. In sweden that is still the standard, to leave your pram outside the store.
Hampus Eckerman said:
Kids have a much higher degree of autonomy in Japan, too. I recall when Ponyo made it to the US, some reviewers were horrified about how okay the movie was with 5-year-olds being self-reliant.
@Amoxtli: Thanks, I’ll have to turn that over in my mind some.
Lis Carey, thank you very much.
@Hampus Eckerman:
In the US Kindergarten is for five and six-year-olds.
Earlier than that is called Preschool, and usually starts for three-year-olds.
Peace Is My Middle Name:
In sweden, we have something you go to after school from first to third grade. More or less a place to be for 3-4 hours until your parents quit work. What is that called?
Hampus Eckerman asked:
If it’s school-like or some kind of structured program, it’s an “afterschool program” or just “afterschool”. If not, it might count as daycare.
Stickman Communications is a spoonie-run business with some light-hearted stuff partially aimed at Explaining Things. It doesn’t go super in-depth but I find that the humour sticks with some people better.
At my sons’ school in Florida it’s called Extended Day. The school runs it and parents pay for the service, unlike the normal school day which is funded by property taxes.
When I was growing up in Texas and in the early grades I sometimes went to day care after school.
Daycare then, I guess. It is not run by school and have no afterschool program (even if some kids do their homework there). It is funded mostly by tax payers though.
It is funded mostly by tax payers though.
Marxism!
Just a general FYI. Brad Torgersen has blocked a number of people on FB, which means that we can’t see his FB comments, even when they’re on the “public” setting. There was very long discussion thread on FB a couple of months ago with quite a few people noting that he had blocked them, so there are probably other File 770 readers who, like me, can’t see what he says on FB.
I can quote anything mentioned if people are curious about seeing the original.
There was very long discussion thread on FB a couple of months ago with quite a few people noting that he had blocked them, so there are probably other File 770 readers who, like me, can’t see what he says on FB.
Also me. I don’t consider it a big loss, but it does mean I have to rely upon others reporting it to me. On the plus side, some very nice people have reached out to me on FB over LA and BT’s asshattery over the last few months, so there is something of a silver lining.
Yes you could, but beware rewarding the behavior by propagating the statements.
@Mike Glyer
Hm. Point.
Laura Resnick: I wonder if he blocks people who sign off on insults to him, then insult him even more when he states in civil terms that he is unhappy about it.
You will hear no disparagement of “Watchmaker” from me; I’m one who wants a Katsu. My heart-eyes have settled back to normal, but it’s still on my list for both Hugo and Campbell. It’s just so good, and I’m not a steampunk person (enough with the gears and cogs already, people). Tenpr qvqa’g ybbx ivyynvabhf ng nyy gb zr. Naq n ybg bs jung fur fnvq nobhg Zbev jnf nofbyhgryl gehr! Vg jnf fgevpgyl n zneevntr bs pbairavrapr sbe cebcregl’f fnxr, naq ng gur raq, gur zra tbg rnpu bgure, Tenpr tbg gur cebcregl/zbarl naq tbg gb geniry jvgu gur zna fur npghnyyl yvxrq, naq vg jnf nyy tbbq rkprcg sbe cbbe Xngfh, jub V’z FHER tbg erohvyg.
@Jonathan Edelman: I kinda liked the italicizing, just because some of the words were really long. But the story functions fine without it since you explained everything in context very well. I mean, I don’t remember the words NOW, but I did at the time (And the parallels with AIDS in Africa make it extra-poignant).
Aaron: I am entirely unsurprised. Puppies have absolutely no class, manners, or empathy. But I’m sorry you had to read all that. Internet hugs.
MACII is going to need a robust weapons policy, and a serious commitment to peace-bonding everything, if not banning them outright. As a private event, I think they’re well within their rights to ban any actual weapons, concealed or not, one strike and you’re out. I hope they can afford metal detectors for the Hugos and Masquerade. Between Puppies and terrorism, passive metal detectors are looking pretty keen, even though they’re a hassle.
Missouri says that concealed carry permits are only issued to Missouri citizens after they pass a test, provide a Missouri firearms safety instructor form, pass a background check including fingerprinting in person, and pony up $100. Now we know that Puppies don’t follow civilian government rules, but as long as someone can spot the gun before they use it, it’ll be enough to get the cops to escort them off the premises. Fingers crossed.
Also waiting on their harassment policy, hope they’ve learned from other cons’ mistakes.
Also, for the most part I don’t really care what BT and LA (or any of the other Pups) say to their little circle jerk of sycophants and hangers on. Let them howl and talk to each other about how super tough they are, and how they really are the true popular writers that everyone loves, and so on and so forth. Their self-puffery and grade-school insults don’t change what we, and they, know to be the truth. Unless they are issuing threats of some kind (and LA has issued some, putting him potentially in violation of 18 U.S.C. 111) they are just pathetic losers howling at clouds as far as I’m concerned.
In the US “daycare” is a kind of glorified babysitting and refers only to sessions for babies and very young children. The only association you will see between daycare and older children is “daycare” offered to the babies of teenaged mothers, or occasionally for those with learning disabilities.
There is no standard US English term for afterschool care for older children, which perhaps says some sad things about the culture.
@ Aaron:
I have no idea when I was blocked. Could’ve been around the time I saw that thread of many others saying they’d been blocked, or could have been months earlier. So it wouldn’t make much sense for me to fret about it or to strike an indignant pose, since we interacted too seldom for this to make a difference. (Well, from my perspective. It presumably makes a difference to him, or why do it?)
Blocking is a good skill to learn. It keeps one from accidentally commenting and throwing insults around. I’ve used it a number of times so I don’t get involved in/escalate drama. I’ve found its good for my mental health/self-care.
I’ve been considering it, and in future I will only copy and paste over contentious or nasty statements if the subject of the comment wants to know the content (since so many are either blocked or don’t use Facebook) and otherwise try to avoid it. Feel free to remind me if I forget. 🙂
@Tasha Turner
Torgersen could certainly do with some help in that department.
I actually find not-WoW groups quite refreshing from the drama point of view. If I don’t want to weigh in – or I do but don’t think it would be a good idea for me to do so – I can just not do so and nothing that happens afterwards is partially my fault. Much easier than being designated peace-maker and/or the please-stop-saying-the-stupid-thing-I-don’t-think-that-hole-needs-to-be-any-deeper person.
Although old habits die hard. *eyes past interactions with certain people here*
Laura Resnick: Just a general FYI. Brad Torgersen has blocked a number of people on FB, which means that we can’t see his FB comments, even when they’re on the “public” setting.
Depending on a post’s settings, it may be possible to see it if you’re not logged in as a Facebook user. So if you get a “This content is not available” message, try logging out, and then looking at the comment URL again.
Laura Resnick: It presumably makes a difference to him, or why do it?
My observation on Facebook after being on there for years, is that there is a certain type of person who takes Friending, Unfriending, and Blocking very seriously: The Massively Insecure Person.
I once blocked someone who had a tendency to post histrionics on the walls of other people, including mine, after a Third Strike post. They were absolutely devastated and kept begging me to Friend them back, and making promises to do or not do certain things if I would do so. They were a massively insecure person, and I realized that they were getting (or trying to get) some of their self-esteem from the size of their Friends list.
I’ve been UnFriended by a couple of people in the past — and didn’t even realize it until something called it to my attention (like seeing them comment on a friend’s post with their name in black and unhyperlinked). My reaction was “well, whatever makes them happy, it’s not really impacting my world”.
People who are massively insecure would be horribly hurt and offended by being de-Friended or Blocked. So they assume that everyone else would react the same way — and no doubt think that they are somehow “getting even” with whoever they’re unFriending or Blocking. In reality, chances are that the other person won’t even notice — or if they do, they’ll shrug and move on.
Depending on a post’s settings, it may be possible to see it if you’re not logged in as a Facebook user.
This assumes a level of caring I just don’t have.
Wow they have a lot of great stuff. I might go crazy on ordering.
Also gives me some ideas for quick stuff I could put together myself or get some of the artist in my life to do as holiday/b-day gifts. *cackles evilly*
None of us are perfect. I make statements like the above about blocking as a reminder to myself to be careful of what I say. Usually they are made after I’ve typed and deleted a bunch of responses which I’ve realized aren’t how I want to be seen online/kind of person I want to be. If only I could do the same IRL but there are only so many bathroom breaks you can take during a family dinner.
Likewise.
I should clarify that I wasn’t bemoaning my inability to see Brad Torgersen’s posts, but rather pointing out that when posting links to his FB comments on the File 770 main blog or in the comments, one should keep in mind that there are people who can’t see those comments due to being blocked.
@Tasha Turner
Glad you liked Stickman Communications! I’ve got some of the books and keycards and they’ve come in quite handy, as well as being funny. The woman who designs them and runs the business is a very lovely person, too, as well as being One Of Us.
Once or twice someone here has complimented me on being level-headed, or responding calmly – which is always very generous of them – and it always makes me so glad that no-one can see the things I typed but then decided not to post. Comment revisions are a beautiful thing. Away from keyboard I’m a bit hotheaded (although I’ve been working on that, too – I had an absolutely dreadful temper as a teenager and I’ve got it quite well tamped down now… Most of the time, anyway). 🙂
Doctor Science wrote:
I worked in the classified department of the Pasadena Star-News in 1980, and I can tell you with certainty that there was no copy-editor for classified ads.
I did vacation substitution for two weeks at the desk of the woman to whom the Jet Propulsion Lab account had been assigned. I found out after the fact that someone at JPL had called one of my bosses and asked “What happened? Suddenly all the science and engineering words became spelled properly, and just like that, they stopped again!”
@ JJ:
JJ, I think there are instances like that. But in this instance, BT and I are scant acquaintances who had relatively little FB contact, so I assume it was just a matter of his not wanting to stumble across my comments on FB. I am very critical of the Puppies and his role therein, and I gathered from the FB discussion among people he’d blocked that this was what most of us had in common.
Bubbles can be nice places. Everyone agrees with you. Wonderful for confirmation bias.
While I don’t enjoy your reputation, mine could certainly be worse than it is. About half the comments I start never get posted. There are the ones I draft on my Kindle in the heat of the moment, only to have it lock up and lose the comment. (I suspect divine intervention.) Then there are other comments I fully work out here on my PC, look at in their finished form, ask myself, “And your point is exactly WHAT?” and delete them….
‘If it feels good, don’t post it’ is the policy I try to follow.
@Mike Glyer
Oh! I didn’t mean to suggest I had some sort of reputation. I try, but I often don’t succeed at hitting the standard I aim for.
I, too, have deleted comments on the basis that I just sort of rambled on a bit and completely lost track of whatever point I was trying to make, if there even was one. I’ve also heavily rewritten them because they’d gone off in wildly the wrong direction from what I intended, but only if I can still remember what the point was meant to be in the first place – and if I still think it was any good post-ramble. Sometimes the ramble convinces me it was a bloody awful point anyway. I enjoy many advantages from delayed conversation. 🙂
I’ve made some comments that I wish technology had saved me from posting on not-so-temperate days… I envy your Kindle’s good timing. 🙂
TIckled to see Stickman Communications recommended here — I first heard of them on the Autistic Flappy Hour podcast.
Regarding whether non-English terms should be italicized, this video by Daniel José Older gives an explanation of why usage is changing.
Hampus Eckerman: It is funded mostly by tax payers though.
I have high hopes that someday the U.S. will become a first-world country like this, which takes care of its residents’ mental and physical health and education needs.
It is incredibly unfortunately that the “bottom-liners” who run the country don’t understand the long-term benefits of treating people well. It’s been my observation that most people who are treated well live up to the way they are treated — and that the increased prosperity caused by that makes up for the much smaller percentage who don’t.
@TYP: “I’m in the position that while MAC II is in road-trip distance, I’m wondering if I want to go.”
I’ve already opted out of two 2016 cons due to Puppy presence, and both of them are less than half an hour from my home. (Not from my hometown, but from the place where my bed is.)
Late in his life, at the end of H. P. Lovecraft’s public readings, he would pull out a guitar and softly strum it while crooning his final paragraph.
But I can’t see why Spanglish words need to be italicized.