(1) SUPERGIRLS. Carrie Goldman writes “An Open Letter To Supergirl Stars Melissa Benoist and Chyler Leigh, From An Adoptive Mom” in Chicago Now.
Her relationship with her younger sisters is complicated. They are our biological daughters, and this creates deep and unavoidable conflict for her. No matter how much we reassure her that we love her the same as the younger girls, she tests us.
During the scenes in Supergirl where Alex and Kara explore the painful aspects of their relationship as sisters through adoption, our whole family absorbs every word, every expression, because seeing this dynamic on mainstream television makes our family feel less alone. The fact that both Alex and Kara are kickass, strong, smart, flawed, beautiful women who work hard, cry, laugh, yell, fight, and make mistakes has been an incredible model for all of our girls.
(2) READING RESOURCES. The 1000 Black Girl Books Resource Guide database includes several sf/f titles.
[From Marley’s Welcome.] Welcome to the #1000blackgirlbooks Resource Guide. I started this campaign because I wanted to read more books where black girls are the main characters. With your help we have collected over 4000 books; many of them are have the same title, but we do have lots of unique ones as well. This guide includes 700 of those books and more is coming.
I believe black girl books are really important because when you are young you want to read lots of books, but you especially like to read books with people that look like you. While I have books at home about black girls, the books at school were not diverse. Children do most of their reading in schools or because of schools. Teachers assign books that you must read. If those books are not diverse and do not show different people’s experiences then kids are going to believe that there is only one type of experience that matters. Also, if books are not diverse then kids will not learn about the experiences of other members in their community.
(3) BELGIUM CALLING. Nicholas Whyte checks in from Brussels, in “Losers” at From the Heart of Europe.
I finally made it to the office at 1022, those last two kilometres having taken me 90 minutes to drive, to find most of my colleagues gathered ashen-faced in the lobby, greeting me tearfully – I was the only person who was unaccounted for, due to my phone being out of order – and giving me the headlines of what had happened. It’s nice to feel appreciated, still more so when I logged on and saw many concerned messages from friends and family, and even more so when people responded to my posts confirming that I was safe. One of the great things about the interconnectedness of today’s world is that we can often catch up with our friends quickly – Facebook’s check-in system in particular is a source of reassurance.
The horror has hit very close to home. I have flown out of Brussels airport in the morning five times this year, and was originally due to do so again on Friday to go to Eastercon in Manchester (in fact my plans have changed and I’ll take the Eurostar to London for work tomorrow and travel on up by train). My wife was flew out on Monday for a funeral in England and was due to fly back last night; her flight was cancelled and she will now return by Eurostar this evening. Maelbeek metro station (the four-pointed star on my map) is in the heart of the EU quarter, and I go past it almost every day and through it several times a month; a former colleague was actually on the train that was bombed, but fortunately escaped without injury; another former staffer (from before my time) was in the departure hall of the airport, and is recovering well from minor injuries.
… This happened because they [the terror movement] are losing. Less than a week ago, a major figure in the terror movement was arrested in Brussels; perhaps yesterday was revenge for his arrest, perhaps it was rushed into because they were afraid he would start talking (or knew that he already had). On the ground, their allies and sponsors are losing territory and resources in Syria and Iraq. I wrote a week ago about violence as story-telling, in the Irish context. This is an attempt to write a story about the weakness of our interconnected world, attacking places where people travel and meet, where many nationalities and cultures join together and build together.
It is a narrative that must not and will not win…
(4) MIND MELD. SF Signal’s current Mind Meld, curated by Andrea Johnson, asks —
Q: What non-mainstream Scifi/fantasy Graphic Novels do you recommend?
The answers come from: Matthew Ciarvella, Sharlene Tan, Taneka Stotts (Full Circle), Stacey Filak, Carl Doherty, Myisha Haynes (The Substitutes), Pipedreamergrey, Christa Seeley (Women Write About Comics), Martin Cahill, Larry Gent, and Jacob Stokes.
(5) VERICON. Ann Leckie has captioned a set of photos of Ancillary cosplayers from Vericon.
It’s obvious what’s going on here, right? That’s Hamilton/Breq in the middle, and she’s recruited Agent Carter, Lieutenant Peepsarwat, and Translator Zeiat in her search for the Presger gun. That case Agent Carter is carrying?
(6) INHUMAN PASSENGERS. “More ancient viruses lurk in our DNA than we thought” reports Phys Org.
Think your DNA is all human? Think again. And a new discovery suggests it’s even less human than scientists previously thought.
Nineteen new pieces of non-human DNA—left by viruses that first infected our ancestors hundreds of thousands of years ago—have just been found, lurking between our own genes.
And one stretch of newfound DNA, found in about 50 of the 2,500 people studied, contains an intact, full genetic recipe for an entire virus, say the scientists who published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Whether or not it can replicate, or reproduce, it isn’t yet known. But other studies of ancient virus DNA have shown it can affect the humans who carry it.
In addition to finding these new stretches, the scientists also confirmed 17 other pieces of virus DNA found in human genomes by other scientists in recent years…
(7) LUNAR POLE DANCING. “Earth’s Moon wandered off axis billions of years ago, study finds” at Phys Org.
A new study published today in Nature reports discovery of a rare event—that Earth’s moon slowly moved from its original axis roughly 3 billion years ago.
Planetary scientist Matt Siegler at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and colleagues made the discovery while examining NASA data known to indicate lunar polar hydrogen. The hydrogen, detected by orbital instruments, is presumed to be in the form of ice hidden from the sun in craters surrounding the moon’s north and south poles. Exposure to direct sunlight causes ice to boil off into space, so this ice—perhaps billions of years old—is a very sensitive marker of the moon’s past orientation….
“The moon has a single region of the crust, a large basaltic plain called Procellarum, where radioactive elements ended up as the moon was forming,” Siegler said. “This radioactive crust acted like an oven broiler heating the mantle below.”
Some of the material melted, forming the dark patches we see at night, which are ancient lava, he said.
“This giant blob of hot mantle was lighter than cold mantle elsewhere,” Siegler said. “This change in mass caused Procellarum—and the whole moon—to move.”
The moon likely relocated its axis starting about 3 billion years ago or more, slowly moving over the course of a billion years, Siegler said, etching a path in its ice.
(8) INDICATION OF TOR. John C. Wright still has one last book on the way from Tor – The Vindication of Man. Rather a dim-looking cover on the preorder page. The release date for the hardcover is November 22.
(9) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOY
- Born March 23, 1952 — Kim Stanley Robinson. The other great sf writer born in Waukegan!
(10) HE WRITES ABOUT THEY. Although John Scalzi’s post about gender-neutral pronouns is interesting, I found his personal demonstration in the comments even more so:
Also, for the record, my stance on pronouns, as they regard me:
He/him/his: My preferred set. Please use them in all things involving me.
They/them/their: Not my preferred set, but I don’t mind them being used for me.
It/it/its: This is a non-gender construction but generally isn’t used for individual humans (excepting, from time to time, infants), and is mostly used for animals and objects. Please don’t use them for me; if you do I’ll wonder why you are, and also wonder if you see me as an object, which would make me wonder if you’re a sociopath of some sort.
She/her/her: Not my gender! Be aware that in my experience when someone uses these for me, they’re usually trying to insult me in one way or another. So unless you want my default impression of you to be that you’re a sexist twit, please don’t use this set for me.
Other constructions: Really, no. “He” or “They” is fine. Thanks.
(11) DO YOU FEEL LUCKY? Claire Rousseau’s series of tweets ends on a rather optimistic note, considering the 2016 Hugo ballot isn’t out yet.
The Sad Puppies are way less threatening now that we've avoided the nuclear arms race of everyone making slates. (13/?)
— Claire Rousseau (@ClaireRousseau) March 23, 2016
(12) GEOMETRIC LOGIC.
lol – B/C being called worse than Nazis is apparently worse than actually being called a Nazi. #caring https://t.co/pjW2SGb4iZ
— finger chomper (@sadrbtpuppies) March 23, 2016
(13) A SELECTED QUOTE. Sarah A. Hoyt takes time out from moving to post at Mad Genius Club.
And after being selectively quoted by Jim Hines who pretended I was calling anyone not with the puppies worse than those who abetted the holocaust and the holodomor, by cutting out the part where I addressed those who destroy lives and reputations for a plastic rocket, we have at least established what Jim Hines is. He’s not duped by those destroying reputations and lives. He’s one of the principals. I have only one question for him: But for Wales, Jim?
(14) PUPPYING WITHOUT UMLAUTS. Some of Declan Finn’s days are better than others. “The Evil of the Puppy Kickers” at A Pius Geek.
But last time I checked, Vox Day has really never dismissed his enemies as being subhuman. Nor has he suggested murdering any of them. Not even NK Jemisen, who has her own little war with Vox going that stretches back at least two years. He’ll still debate, or reason, or scream right back at her, but he’ll at least reply to whatever is thrown his way.
You may not like what he says, but he at least acknowledges that she’s someone worth having a fight with.
Can’t say that for the Puppy Kickers. They like being the ubermensch of their own little Reich, and it’s getting tiresome, really. The ones who are really in charge rarely, if ever, acknowledge any argument outside of their own little echo chamber.
(15) KEEP BANGING ON. Michael Bane, the producer of Outdoor Channel’s Gun Stories hosted by Joe Mantegna, announced Larry Correia will appear in an episode.
Did I mention that the MAIN MONSTER HUNTER HIMSELF, LARRY CORREIA, will be joining us on GUN STORIES WITH JOE MANTEGNA this season? The MONSTER HUNTER books are modern classics. I just finished reading SON OF THE BLACK SWORD, the first book in his newest series, and it was excellent.
(16) CROWDFUNDED CON. The Museum of Science Fiction in Washington, DC is running a Kickstarter appeal to fund guests for Escape Velocity, a convention it plans to hold July 1-3. At this writing, people have pledged $14,348 toward the $18,000 goal.
Something special is coming to National Harbor, Maryland – a science fiction convention on a mission. This July 1st to 3rd, the Museum of Science Fiction will be launching ESCAPE VELOCITY, a micro futuristic world’s fair where STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) and science fiction will collide to create a geeky-fun, educational, and above all, fascinating spectacle for kids and adults alike!
A couple of the guests they expect to have are —
Rod Roddenberry, recently announced executive producer for the new Star Trek TV series for 2017 will make a keynote presentation to celebrate Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary and discuss his work with the Roddenberry Foundation.
Adam Nimoy, son of Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, is coming to Escape Velocity to discuss his father’s legacy and his new documentary film, For the Love of Spock.
In addition to screening parts of the documentary, Nimoy will join Rod Roddenberry on an Escape Velocity discussion panel moderated by screenwriter and Museum of Science Fiction advisory board member, Morgan Gendel, who wrote the Hugo Award-winning Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “The Inner Light.” “I’ve known both Adam and Rod for years and it’s fascinating to see how each has found a way to celebrate the work of their famous fathers,” said Gendel. “I expect the panel to be a very insightful look into the lives and legacies of two Trek icons.”
(17) BALLARD REMEMBERED. Malcolm Edwards will guest on The Guardian’s live webchat about JG Ballard on March 25 at noon (UK time).
Malcolm Edwards was JG Ballard’s editor for several years and worked with him on Empire of The Sun, among other classics. He should be able to give invaluable insights into Ballard’s working methods and the wonderful books he produced – and so is uniquely placed to talk about this month’s Reading Group choice, High-Rise, not to mention the recently released film.
(18) NOT WORTH THE PAPER THEY’RE NOT WRITTEN ON? Max Florschutz takes a deep dive into the value of ebooks at Unusual Things.
You don’t see articles from music sites talking about how MP3 downloads are worthless and shouldn’t cost more than ten cents. You don’t see game review sites asking how dare Steam or Origin have a digital game on launch day cost the same as its physical compatriots.
So why in the book industry is this such a problem? Why is it that a person will look at a digital MP3 download from their favorite artist and buy it without a second of remorse, but then look at a digital book from their favorite author and send them an angry message about how that ebook shouldn’t be more than a dollar?
I don’t actually have an answer to this question. All I have are theories based on what I’m reading and hearing from other people around the internet. Maybe you’ll agree with some of these, maybe you won’t. But all of these are things I’ve heard expressed in one way or another….
1A- Physical books have physical difficulties that imply value to their purchasers. Yes, this much is true. While the story inside the pages remains the same, the trick with an ebook is that it’s hard to compete with an observation of value when looking at one. A physical book? Well, for one, you can pick it up and feel the weight of it, which, to most people, does imply a value. But you can also flip through it, jostle it, check a few pages, see how long it is.
You know what’s interesting? We can do all these things with an ebook. You can flip through it and read a sample. You can see how many pages there are. You can even check reviews—something you can’t do at a bookstore.
And yet … people don’t value that either. And why? Because it’s easy. It’s fast.
(19) GOTHIC INSPIRATION. Paul Cornell starts watching all the Hammer movies in order: “My Hammer Journey #1”.
The Quatermass Xperiment (1955)
The first thing that strikes one is how much of a Val Guest movie this is, and how much, therefore, as a director, Val Guest establishes the Hammer ethos. Guest’s forte is a kind of poetic modernist postwar British craft, a deceptive air of understated hard work that nevertheless not only gets everything right, but elevates, through the little details, the whole thing into art. (Again, that reminds one of the best years of Hammer all in all.) ….
(20) FURY FURIOUS. This was new to me, although it has been making the rounds for several years…
[Thanks to James H. Burns, DMS, Mark-kitteh, Andrew Porter, Michael J. Walsh, 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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@Tasha:
A lot of big houses still do OCR stuff (though not all, and some only for their back list), and that has very much to do with two things: budget, and expertise. I am lucky in having some inside baseball knowledge of these things, as my girlfriend used to work in Random House Canada’s production department pre-Penguin merger, and several of our friends still work there. Publishing salaries are not big, despite what some of the top people can make at the bigger houses (and a good rule of thumb is take the survey numbers that are regularly published for the industry in the US and halve them to get the Canadian numbers), and you’ve got a lot of people wearing a lot of different hats, doing jobs they don’t have the necessary skills to do because the job needs doing, there’s no money in the budget for an expert, and they’ve already got warm bodies in the department who, despite being grossly overworked already, are actually passionate about this stuff and want to at least make an effort. They do learn and eventually acquire these skills, but because it’s just one more thing added onto a schedule that was already full to bursting, it might not be the most important thing on their plate, so it takes time. This is not just the case with ebook conversion, but it’s also about document retention and workflow: these are all people who know about books and language, but there might be one person in the basement who actually knows anything about document control, maybe, and they aren’t in a position to change anybody’s workflow, so by the time it comes around to make an ebook, the text file/Word doc/PDF/InDesign file may not even exist anymore. This is very much the case for the backlist. I’ve heard stories of people having to retype books from a copy they found in the basement.
I’d also like to address this thing Max said in the comments on his piece:
That’s… not true. Like, at all. And here, luckily again, my girlfriend who used to work at Random House is now a professional archivist, and I myself worked for the Internet Archive’s book scanning initiative for 5 years. I have literally held in my hand 400 year old books that were as readable today as they were when they were printed, the pages a creamy white, and the print a deep black. The pages were stiff, but not particularly brittle. Victorian books have not fared quite so well, but they are still in pretty good shape, by and large. Digital files, however, are not so lucky. First, format obsolescence is a real problem, with some digital formats even ten years old no longer accessible except by those with special gear, and even then, not always easily. Second: hardware breaks down. A magnetic hard drive has an average expected service life of, what, five years? We know that in practice they last longer, but you’d be foolish to *count on* anything longer than those five years. Solid state lasts a little longer, but not dramatically so. (And optical isn’t so hot either.) So what, we can just back up from the cloud, right? Well, no. Same problem, really, plus the added bonus of having to count on the appropriate infrastructure still being in place, the company still being around, having the necessary hardware to access that ancient infrastructure, and so on. And about that hardware… the commenters cite old Gameboys, but it’s not just hard drives that fail. You really, really have to figure in things like humidity in how you store old electronics, because you can get corrosion in no time flat if you’re not careful. There’s a *reason* the Internet Archive started storing physical copies of the books it scanned: even when controlling for as much as we possibly can control for right now, it’s not enough.
This stuff isn’t built to last, and right now we couldn’t even build it to last if we wanted to.
RE ebooks… I have lots of complicated thoughts about them as a writer. As a reader, though….
The last time I moved, 2012, I decided I will NEVER AGAIN move this many books. Or anywhere NEAR this many books. Apart from my actual furniture, my books took up more room than all my other household possessions combined. I had to keep going out to buy or scrounge extra boxes for weeks, JUST for the books. I had to hire a bigger storage unit (my house wasn’t ready yet by the time I ahd to vacate my apartment) JUST because of all the books. I had to rent a larger moving van (twice) JUST because of all the books. I had to hire a third mover JUST because of all the books (and also because of the steep Victorian stairs in this house which made the movers wear out quickly when hauling around all those boxes of books). Then, since I’d sworn that upon moving into my own house I would unpack ALL my books for the first time in my adult life… I had to go out and buy 7 additional bookcases.
THIS is where this madness stops! I hope to stay in this house for many years–until such time as my knees become too old for all the steep stairs here. But one day I will move again, whether to a condo or a retirement home, and on that day, I will only take a SMALL quantity of physical books with me. I love physical books, but I am never going through a move like that again!
So bit by bit, over the years, my plan is to replace whatever I can with ebooks. Have started with the fiction, since I think ebooks ware very, very well suited to fiction. After that, narrative nonfiction.
I do not find eBooks well suited to cookbooks and various kinds of references, where l find print vastly superior. Don’t really like ebooks for research either. But bit by bit, over time, I intend to replace most of my books with ebooks–at least before I ever move again, anyhow!
RE: reading paper books in the shower — certainly I don’t put it in a plastic bag or anything, I just hold it as far out of the way as possible, put it on the towel rack when intense splashings are called for, and remove hardcovers’ dust jackets beforehand. Not something I’d do to, say, an autographed first edition — but it’s not as if I own any of those anyway.
I do have a signed copy of the Digger omnibus, but needless to say that is not an item I would be bringing to read in the shower even if it were unsigned and made of waterproof material.
I have a feeling that Hoyt’s full on wingnut post, which was picked up by Village Voices’ Roy Edroso and Wonkette, is more mercenary than idealistic. With her unhinged ‘bullet to the back of the head is coming’ rant, she’s pitching herself as the next far-right go-to artist.
@Greg Hullender I haven’t followed the Rabid Puppies and don’t care to. But as to the Sad Puppies, how is anyone going to get past this resentment if this is how Puppies and…Kittens? Anti-Puppies? keep talking to each other? Wouldn’t we be better served talking about the merits of the items on the list form this year rather than dredging up Facebook posts from a year ago?
@Jim C Hines Yes, Hoyt’s post was rather over-the-top. I don’t know if she’s stressed out from this move of hers, or if she’s naturally this temperamental, or if she’s gotten some truly ugly personal messages like she suggested (anonymity makes people bold, after all) . Or maybe all three. But at the same time…this is just a list. And a list that, by all accounts, was made in a very different fashion than last year’s. I looked at it, found some stuff I liked, some stuff there was no way in hell I’d nominate, and some things I jotted down to read later. Isn’t that a GOOD thing? Isn’t this a sign of change in how things have been done in the past? I just don’t see why people are so bent out of shape on being on a list any more than I understand why Hoyt got so bent out of shape over requests to be taken off the list.
@Lowell Gilbert I for one will use the tried and true method of reading the works and judging them for myself. And not sweat whose lists they appeared on
IMO, Walter Jon Williams is just an unappreciated writer, whose oeuvre is varied and worthwhile.
Someone was asking for the lighter side of SF recently-his Drake Majistral novels fit that bill.
Jake:
You talk as if there is an obvious need to get past this resentment. Me, I’d be happy enought without having them pushed in my face with their antics. Resentment will be there for a long time unless they change their behaviour.
I would be very happy to not have to talk about their list. Instead only talk about books.
@Jake – I’ve said elsewhere that I thought SP4 was a clear improvement over the previous incarnations. The process was actually transparent this time. The list isn’t set up as a slate, and it’s not full of “Stick it to the SJW” picks. These are good things, and I definitely give props to the organizers for the improvements.
People have shared their own reasons for not wanting to be on the list, and I don’t want to speak for them. For myself, I’d be hesitant because “Sad Puppies” carries a lot of history and nastiness. I think it’s reasonable to wonder whether you can trust this fourth incarnation, or if the improvements are a smokescreen for another round of nastiness. And then when Sarah posts stuff like that, it basically confirms people’s worst fears.
I’m sure Sarah has received nasty comments and messages too, and that’s not okay either. But when you’re the leader and spokesperson of a group that already has a pretty bad history and reputation from prior years’ shenanigans…
So, yeah. I think there were good changes, but I can definitely understand leeriness about being on the list. Especially if you were attacked as “The Enemy” in previous years.
What RedWombat said. Every time people worry about how Apple/Amazon/whoever can yank your digital media, I have to assume those people are way better at both preserving and keeping track of physical media than I ever have been or want to become. I certainly do have books, and had CDs before I decided they weren’t worth the trouble, that I’d managed to keep around for 10+ years without dropping them, scratching them, destroying the spines such that half the pages fell out, dropping them in the bathtub, leaving them on the train, etc, but that’s maybe one percent of my library.
Also, Physical books are visible, and that can have immense value. ebooks aren’t.
But that can also have immense value.
I write romance, and there’s been a lot written about how that’s a big ebook market now because you don’t necessarily want to be sitting on a bench reading a book with a classic clinch pose and loopy font. And in general, I find that anything which gives Desperate McRando a harder time trying to start up a conversation when I’m reading is to be embraced and treasured.
I mean, I know you on this board: I know you are not DMR. But the odds of any given dude who talks to strange women on pubtrans being That Guy are too high to be worth playing. I want a Kindle and a cover with “Shut The Fuck Up” or “This Book Is More Interesting Than You” embroidered on it, really. 😉
But in general, I don’t worry too much about ownership–it’s actually a drawback for me, because if I own a thing, I have to figure out what to do with it. (Same reason I’m an apartment girl and one of the reasons I don’t own a car.) I’d much rather throw some amount of money at people who will make the thing available to me and do the work of storing it otherwise.
I actually read more physical books than ebooks, because a) I use the library a lot and not everything is on ebook there, and b) if I owned a Kindle, I would inevitably leave it on the train. If I leave a paperback on the train, I’d be out $7 and disappointed; if the same thing happened with a Kindle, I’d be out $50.
@Isabel. And I managed, on a driving trip to Colorado, to leave a Kindle in a Qdoba restaurant and not realize it until I was a couple of hundred miles away and ready to get some reading over dinner done…
@Jake
One, looking at the structure and the votes from last year, talking about the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies as if there is a strict separation seems hard to do, and this has been discussed to the point of it being precious to suggest it. Teddy Beale is an ugly person, whose support the Sad Puppies were happy to have. You can’t enjoy his support and then swear y’all had nothing to do with him.
Two, I think that a lot of people felt like they did reach out, only to be told how they were terrible Marxist pedophile apologists.
Three, it’s hard to forget about the past – the Puppies are people who described a lot of books we all love as affirmative action picks no real fan of sci-fi could like. When people say they don’t want to be associated with that, they’re told their the equivalent of the NKVD or the Nazis. We have tastes; they are not yours. I loved Ancillary because of it’s space opera-ness.
Four, we’ve all explained that it was the sneakiness of SP3 and the dishonesty stuffing the ballot box we didn’t like. And we’ve heard how that we’re actually the pawns of vast conspiracy theories when we say this.
@Paul – Ouch!
@Paul: Oh my God. I feel like, in that situation, people would be able to hear my profanity at least as far as Montana.
I am reminded of a PG Wodehouse quote about (roughly paraphrased) how poets have written on the pain of men who’ve lost loves, parents, kings, and causes, but nobody has yet written on the pain of a man who comes to bedtime and finds that he’s misplaced the mystery novel he was halfway through.
re ebooks
No licensed attorney could advise someone who uses Calibre to use some of its plug-ins. No licensed attorney could discuss the uses of some of these plug-ins with regards to DRM. Doing these things would be in violation of the copyright code, and cannot be legally advised.
How’s the weather, everyone?
@isabel @jim The worst part of this is that I had days left on my trip, including one where I was laid up in a hotel near RMNP sick as a dog with a bug, with absolutely nothing to read. Not Fun Times–although the rest of the trip besides Kindle loss and the virus was amazingly fun and good–even a failed attempt at a 14er with author Courtney Schafer (who was very cool to meet)
OK, now I’m confusing DMR with DRM. Obviously, no one likes either.
Although as I recall e-ink devices do not necessarily handle cold of the sort one might reasonably expect in Canada all that well. I recall a grumpy report of an ereader dying after being in an outside, uninsulated pocket during a stroll in Ottawa.
(My ipod battery used to run down super fast in winter but this does not seem to be an issue with the BlackBerry I now use)
@Rev Bob
Autocorrect does me in again. Oh well. It’s not the first time I’ve been wrong on the internet. I’m sure it won’t be the last.
@Jake
Your 4 years late to the party. I’ve spent 4 years being insulted, personally and as part of a group, just for voting on the Hugos prior to Sad Puppies 1 (SP1) or suggesting they not insult others as part of their strategy.
You are welcome to either learn why most anti-slaters have long ongoing problems with the puppies or decide to remain purposefully ignorant. Me I usually research things before jumping into a discussion and telling people how to do things and why they are wrong so I don’t look foolish.
@Alexvdl 18) 6. whenever I get a new Kindle, I connect my old one, drag and drop everything off of it into a folder on my desktop, connect the new one, drag and drop onto it, and VOILA! same books, with the same percentages read.
Wonder how well that would work for you if Apple took your iPad away when they fixed/replaced it as in my husband’s case or in my case when upgrading kindle app versions wipes out my only iPad?
What a wonderful idea when you have multiple iPads and can use a computer to help. I’ve never been in that position. We only replace our technology when it’s broke (like no longer works at all). We usually turn our broken stuff in when upgrading for whatever upgrade discount we’ll get. I know it’s hard to imagine people who don’t frequently upgrade and keep the old stuff around. Who knew such dinosaurs existed?
My husband only has an iPad because he lost his iPod and was going to India for close to 3 weeks and it made more sense than bringing a laptop due to weight restrictions. The plan had been for the new iPad to become mine upon his return but he’s become attached. He still uses a flip-phone rather than a smartphone. I’m hoping he’ll soon upgrade to an iPhone which will replace the iPod and maybe I’ll get the iPad and can try your clever copy trick. But then he’ll be screwed as he’ll have to go through the whole thing all over again on my kinda functional partly broken iPad 2.
Sorry for the sarcasm but the assumption that everyone who upgrades has a working device to copy from is a high level of privledge. People creating technology should be prepared for the normal user not just the high privledged ones.
I actually have my phone number and email address on my Kobo. Which, I admit, wouldn’t do any good at all if I was 200 miles away… but I have had it returned to me when I left it in a grocery cart…
People are surprisingly honest when you make it easy for them!
Unfortunately people on the upgrade cycle (or who can at least afford the new gear when they want it) are considered by most in the tech industry to be the ‘typical’ user. The tech industry is one of those places where the class politics usually come baked right in.
@Tasha: “Sorry for the sarcasm but the assumption that everyone who upgrades has a working device to copy from is a high level of privledge. People creating technology should be prepared for the normal user not just the high privledged ones.”
Um, I don’t think Alex ever proposed anything that assumed one would have multiple Kindles/iPads/etc. available. The suggestion sounded a lot closer to what I do quite regularly: when connecting your device to your computer of choice, take the opportunity to make a backup. This has saved my bacon several times, to the point that I do so religiously before updating my Kobo’s firmware. (You do not want to see what synchronizing a corrupted database does to a thousand books in a couple dozen collections! I had to do fairly intensive surgery to fix that. Far better to keep a known-good backup on hand.) You might still have to account for newly-added works, but it’s a lot less effort than starting from scratch.
As it happens, such backups are also wonderful ways to migrate from one device to another. When I won a Kobo H2O, I set it up by copying my Kobo Glo’s latest backup onto it. Presto – no headache, instant library and organization, and the Glo can be handed down or sold with no loss. I didn’t even have to sign into my Adobe account; the backup included that data. I did something similar when I gave my mother my old iPad – back it up, restore that backup to my new iPad, wipe the old one, and let her set it up as a new device. I’m not sure Amazon ever noticed the change; my account is connected to my new iPad. (I may have had to go into my Amazon account settings to make that happen. It has been over a year ago.)
“Plastic rocket: what’s wrong with plastic? It’s the most sf-nal of available materials, being artificially manafactured.”
Plastic is prone to scratches and clouding/crackling. Compare the photos on the Hugo awards website of the 1967 and 1991 plastic Hugos. The older version is showing cloudiness & milkiness due to age and wear.
– – – – –
“I want a Kindle and a cover with “Shut The Fuck Up” or “This Book Is More Interesting Than You” embroidered on it, really.”
For iPad, not Kindle, but this looks close to what you want.
Caseable.com also makes personalized covers for Kindles, laptops, phones, etc.
In the interests of honesty, transparency, and inundation, I hereby confess that I do not actually read in the shower. It’s a harmless exaggeration. Ha ha, we can all laugh about it now, right?
Right?
Jake on March 24, 2016 at 1:06 pm said: I just don’t see why people are so bent out of shape on being on a list any more than I understand why Hoyt got so bent out of shape over requests to be taken off the list.
That’s because you’re assuming the people bad-mouthing the Sad Puppies list are even faintly interested in the works listed. They’re not, they just want something to scream about.
Look how much screaming there’s been because assterisks didn’t get put next to people’s names right away, indicating they didn’t want to be on the list. Like Kate P. has nothing better to do than slavishly update the thing every time somebody sends her an email. Then the assterisk gets put up, and they scream about something else.
Meanwhile, Sad Puppies continues to be slandered, smeared and generally misrepresented in the press. Sarah Hoyt’s name is on this thing, I’d say that might have something to do with her being ‘bent out of shape’. Getting called a racist/bigot/homophobe might make a person cranky, know what I mean?
Re 3), while I am pleased that Nicholas Whyte escaped the Brussels attack, I have to take issue with this bit here: “… This happened because they [the terror movement] are losing.”
No, it’s really not. On the contrary, they are getting every single thing they want. They are growing. Spreading. Attacking pretty much at will.
I always wonder how many such attacks it will take before the EuroLeft decides the political wind has changed, and they do the thing the EuroLeft always does.
@Rev Bob
Copy =/= backup in my language. LOL please send new brain ASAP
The restore from backup worked great until Larry tried to open a book. At which point the kindle app told him he had to deregister and reregister the device which wiped out all the books.
But yes regular backups are critical and hopefully upon restore you’ll have all your music and books and other apps and everything will work. When that doesn’t work it would be wonderful to have some alternative to trying to restore multiple times.
Plus when your hit by a truck your backup might be destroyed along with your device unless your paying for extra cloud space and not security paranoid. 😉
@Alexvdl I apologize for my tone and words. They were inappropriate and uncalled for. It was wrong because you did nothing but be helpful and should have received thanks not sarcasm. In the future I will try to calm down and take time before responding so I don’t make a similar mistake. Please forgive me.
Filers I apologize for my inappropriate tone in this thread. I should have taken some deep breaths and waited until my husband came home and could read the comment before responding. It was wrong because I was sarcastic and nasty without just cause and the last thing we need on File 770 is more bad attitude. In the future I will try to catch myself before posting like a jerk. Please forgive me.
ETA: thanks Rev Bob for pointing out my mistake
@Jake – There has actually been some discussion of the picks on the Puppy list, and was even when it was still just a recommendation thread on the SP4 site.
And there is a lot of discussion about books and other forms of stories on this site, and debate and discussion about other recommendation lists.
@ The Phantom,
Fuck off, Sparky, you do not speak for me. Frankly, I was one of the people who participated in the open exchange of works on SP4 and if you think I recommended things I was not actually interested in, you are sadly, pathetically mistaken. I do, however, think I speak for the majority of us when I tell you to sit down, shut the fuck up, and stop putting words in our mouths. You have neither insight nor any apparent comprehension of how anyone outside your personal bubble of vituperation thinks.
@Phantom:
Oh, hi. Have you found all those links yet that prove your extraordinary claims against Cat Valente?
I haven’t seen any proof from you yet, and claims that extreme require some evidence.
My parka has an inside pocket that is big enough for a not-too-thick mass market paperback or my Kindle (I think the manufacturer intended it for a pair of ski goggles). The first time Jo Walton saw me tuck my kindle in there, she warned me that cold is bad for them, but I figure that if the inside of my zipped-up winter coat is ever colder than -10 C, I will have more serious problems than the state of my e-reader. (There may be people who are cold-tolerant enough that they don’t zip their coats at that temperature, but I am not one of them.)
We could try not feeding the troll. This one in particular has yet to add anything of value to a single conversation but has sidetracked us a number of times.
I just got Geek Knits by Joan of Dark aka Toni Carr. Has anyone else checked it out? Any thoughts on best related?
I wonder how the chemistry of plastic (or another transparent substance) has advanced since 1991. Or if there might have been a better result with a better quality of of manufacture.
Consider the variation between chrome Hugos — the Weston-made rockets hold their sheen rather well, even better when hand-polished (so I’m told, don’t let me be accused of sitting around doing that all day….) However, rockets made by others often tarnish or rust, or had surface pitting even when they were new.
I’ll tell you a little secret. I think that’s the real answer.
@ Lois Tilton, I stand with thee!
Every time “The Phantom” posts, I am reminded of the wise old saying: It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
@Mike Glyer
I think if we drank to world peace every time someone fed a troll here we’d die. If we drank water we’d manage to be one of the few people every year who die from drinking too much water.
A virtual drink to world peace 😉
@Laura Resnick
Yes, oh yes
@Tasha Turner: I’ve seen some discussion of Geek Knits as a Best Related Contender (Not least from Joan of Dark’s mom 😉 ). As I am not a knitter, I’m not voting for it, but it sounded like a great idea to me, if one was a fibre arty kind. If it got on, I would certainly at least look at the patterns and read reviews of whether the directions worked, and give it as much due consideration as a non-knitter can.
@ Laura Resnick: Amen.That is a wise quote.
Unlikely, I am afraid. Even the best made of plastic objects are showing more deterioration than expected:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/09/01/spacesuits-unsuited-for-rarefied-air-of-museum-life/2797e221-7de0-4ff5-a12d-a2036145e52d/
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/art/2009/07/does_plastic_art_last_forever.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2227722/
@PIMMN: This is also why they strongly suggest childrens’ car seats not be resold or used past a certain date; the plastics grow brittle and might not handle the impact the way they do when new. And the damage isn’t necessarily visible.
It’s funny, but whenever we ask Phantom about backing up his claims about Valente, he vanishes again for a day. May I propose we keep this up? It seems to be effective troll repellent.
One might almost start to suspect he was making things up out of whole cloth…
@Lenora Rose:
Nothing for it but to turn them into big Gypsy puppets from MST3K.
Geek Knits looks fantastic to this non-knitter. I’d hoped to have a local knitting friend look over the instructions but it’s not working out.
The various patterns for SF, Fantasy, Everyday Geeky include scarves, gloves, hat, and creatures. It had a dragon which made me miss Meredith. The diagram pictures and directions look very detailed.
Most of the stuff in the book was marked easy/beginner or medium. The introductions to each section and to the individual patterns were a lot of fun and had me giggling and coughing (damn cold).
The celebrity pictures with the creations are phenomenal. The ones with John and Kristine Scalzi playing with various sided cloth dice are my favorite but I might be biased. Paul and Storm with a helpful worm are adorable. The pen holding tie is pretty neat. Ok what I’m saying is celebrity pictures with the creations are worth checking the book out even if you don’t knit. Then find a friend who has a knitting addiction and show them what you want because they’ll want to make it for you.
I still have and use my Kindle, but I’ve discovered I’m buying more paper books in the past year. Not anything really rational about it, I just like that they’re palpable and so they seem to read better. And I love to look at them on my shelves (if they are good enough to keep instead of resell at the used book store).
Vernor Vinge wrote a beautiful bit about physical books in Rainbow’s End, in which a professor protests his college’s planned discard of ‘the stacks’ (the physical books on their bookshelves):
A good library is just a thing of beauty.
@Jayn – yes! In multiple ways. Browsing just isn’t the same with digital books. I do almost all my reading on my kindle at this point, but I still love bookstores.
Well, I’ve been home sick and it’s allowed me to catch up on my reading. Edible By Daniela Martin was an interesting book on entemophagy and I think I need to try some of the recipes. My daughter may want me to try the various bug ranching ideas.
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. Not bad, but I’m not sure this series is for me. But I’ll put Schwab on my watch lists at the library and through BookBub.
The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place By Julie Berry. Neat little period piece and I could see it as a TV miniseries. And oh yeah, it’s funny.
The Fortunate Fall By Raphael Carter. This was a File770 mention. It was a great book. Not comfortable, but worth getting through ILL.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms By N.K. Jemisin. How did I miss this series? That was interesting in terms of setting and characters. I’m adding her to the library watch list and BookBub. And I’ve requested Broken Kingdoms.
Also, The Courageous Princess By Rod Espinoza. Since I had them for the kiddo, I read them and found the an interesting mix of adventure and fairy tales. I think if you like RedWombat’s stories I think you’ll like these 3.
I remember reading that post at her blog back in the day and wondering just why the “Fast and Furious” movies had Ms. Hoyt so upset that she felt the need to declare war on the US. Okay, so they’re not very good, but they’re not that awful either.
It took me a while to understand that she was talking about some rightwing US conspiracy theory instead.
@Phantom
Oh hey, nice to see that you crawled out from under your rock again!
Now, about those egregious claims involving Cat Valente….
[crickets]
And don’t worry, we can keep this up every single time you try to post here!
It boggles me that it only had, what, two printings. Twenty years ago….
I’m with you on the boggle-ment. I don’t know the reason, but I suspect it has a lot to do with it making readers uncomfortable. I know the me of 20 years ago would have abandoned it over some of the setting history. But that was before I’d learned more about US history. And before TWoT.
Still, a damn good book and glad I read it. Thanks for reviewing it.
Jake on March 24, 2016 at 1:06 pm said:
The Phantom is an excellent example of Puppy rhetoric. Imagine entire comment threads filled with Phantoms trying to outdo each other. Imagine entire blogs written by Phantoms. Imagine having this shoved in your face for two years.
Yes, that is why people don’t wan to be associated with Puppies.