48 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 9/24/16 The Scroll Glows White On The Mountain Tonight, Not A Pixel To Be Seen”

1. ooo
   shiny new file just for me

2. (13) Heh. I think I’d set the little pipe cleaner thing on top of the rocket.

3. //hopeful ticky//

4. (5) TECH APPLICATION

   The potential applications for those of us on the “face-blind” spectrum would rely on how well the algorithms are designed with regard to the people we regularly interact with. A lot of facial recognition software turns out to have significant racial bias problems.

5. “If you have never tasted my lasagna, it’s universally conceded to be the best in the world.”

   And if you have? Does that provide evidence to the contrary?

   Fifth?

6. I think the gray and white stuffed thing in Jemisin’s photo looks like it might be a bedazzled tortoise. I’m guessing there might be an interesting story behind that.

7. How many SFF authors call out, by name, conventions in their blog posts for not inviting them as guests? Why would any con want to invite someone who does this? It’s just terribly self-pitying and pathetic. 🙄

8. (5) But if you’re avoiding eye contact, your Google Glass won’t be pointing at the person’s face either…?

   (7) That is a really great cast. I will watch this.

   (13) It’s probably a whale, though I first saw it as a Firefly.

   (15) I can guaran-damn-tee I’ve eaten at least two lasagnas better than CUL’s, and didn’t have to put up with a delusional asshole to do it. Pass.

9. Now I’m hungry and it’s 1:30am. I will eat bread and jam and pretend that it’s mushroom lasagna. I think I now now my Sunday afternoon project.

10. @JJ: I think you’ve come up with a perfect title. “Terribly Self-Pitying and Pathetic: The Sad Puppies Story”.

11. Huh, a second trailer for Star Wars Rogue One has apparently leaked.

12. Still hopeful for a ::ticky::

13. (7) UNKNOWN CONTRIBUTORS TO SPACE AGE.

    I’m really looking forward to this movie.

    It’s more than a bit discouraging to see how many true stories like this keep coming out, in so many different arenas.

    I guess I should be glad that they are coming out eventually… but the fact that it’s usually far too late to do any good for the main characters makes me really sad.

14. 5) Unless the software can also tell you where you met, just facial recognition would have limited utility.
    14) it’s not as simple as online/offline. Online, I might give a book a scathing one star review on amazon, but I wouldn’t go to the authors website to post the book was terrible – that would be rude. Offline, I might tell a friend I dislike X, but still be pleasant to them in person. It’s all about context.

15. bbz: Mmmmmmmmmmm, mushroom lasagna…

    (Which reminds me that I haven’t made lasagna in years and should remedy that, although not on Mr. Antonelli’s account.)

16. Antonelli’s also rewriting history a bit; “I didn’t attend Fencon last year; I went to so many conventions earlier in the year I didn’t want to attend any after Labor Day.”

    Um, anyone else recall back when we were at war with Eurasia, er, when Antonelli claimed that in self-punishment for writing to the Spokane police dept. as to how David Gerrold was dangerously insane he wouldn’t attend any post-Sasquan conventions for six months? A bit different from having convention burnout.

17. Tom Galloway: anyone else recall… when Antonelli claimed that in self-punishment for writing to the Spokane police dept. as to how David Gerrold was dangerously insane he wouldn’t attend any post-Sasquan conventions for six months?

    He also said he was going to abstain from social media for 6 months. I don’t think he ever left, never mind coming back.

18. 14) It’s notoriously difficult to judge tone on the Internet, because a whole lot of non-verbal cues don’t come across in text-only interaction (and no, emoticons are not a viable substitute!) So, when you’re reading someone’s posts, you tend to assign things like tone of voice, level of seriousness – a whole lot of emotional information that goes towards our assessment of their personalities. And there is no earthly reason to suppose we make those assignments correctly.

    So, if I were to say to someone (in the flesh), “you seem different in person from the way you do online”, it seems to me that I’d be saying “you actually have your own personality and not the one I’ve invented for you”… which is, I think, only to be expected, really.

19. Steve Wright: when you’re reading someone’s posts, you tend to assign things like tone of voice, level of seriousness – a whole lot of emotional information that goes towards our assessment of their personalities. And there is no earthly reason to suppose we make those assignments correctly.

    You’re right — I think people tend to say to themselves, “Well, if I posted that, it would be because I was hurt / angry / trying to be nasty, so therefore, the person who posted this must be doing so from that motivation as well.”

    It’s entirely possible that the poster wasn’t feeling any of those things, and was just posting what to them was a dispassionate statement of fact.

    And then you also get the cases of people who post nasty stuff with a smiley or winkie emoticon as if that excuses what they’ve posted, and they expect other people to give them a pass for it, because of the emoticon.

    Online communication can be a difficult thing to parse.

20. I suspect that we are a loooong way off from facial recognition software being good enough to provide reliable clues to the autistic and face blind. Ever get those “identify this person” quizzes from Facebook when they are trying to confirm that you are really you? They choose images from your gallery and those of people on your friends list? And “faces” that they highlight include segments of random inanimate objects and folds in clothing? Also, things like this?

    I think the gray and white stuffed thing in Jemisin’s photo looks like it might be a bedazzled tortoise.

    That’s a dolphin. I was about to make a comment about her being careful to not jump the shark with her Hugo, until I noticed that the tail fluke was horizontal, not vertical.

    A lot of facial recognition software turns out to have significant racial bias problems.

    Which brings to mind one of the best episodes of the insanely underrated Better Off Ted.

21. I can speak with some authority about the grey and white stuffed animal in Jemisin’s photo. It’s Bravo the Dolphin.

    On the JoCo Cruise last year, Jemisin was one of the featured guests on the Writing Track. We were in port one day, and she was doing a short story reading in one of the ship’s bars; really more of a large lounge than a bar. So she’s standing there at the microphone, reading, and the mic cuts out, and suddenly we hear the ship captain’s voice, informing us that there was about to be a crew drill, and we passengers should ignore it.

    Since the mic is part of the ship’s systems, as a safety measure it cuts out every single time there’s a PA announcement. Which makes sense, of course. So she backs up a sentence or two, and continues reading. And the ship’s horn goes off, giving the emergency signal.

    So she backs up a sentence or two, and continues reading. And the captain’s voice comes back, and tells the crew to assemble at their designated (emergency? fire? I don’t remember) stations.

    So she backs up a sentence or two, and continues reading. And the captain’s voice comes back, and says “Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!” and then cryptic orders which sound like they mean “there’s a fire at this particular place, but let’s not scare the passengers”.

    So naturally, what can we do? All of us in the lounge cheer, and say “Bravo!” to Jemisin.

    And meanwhile it turns out that the lounge is a crew assembly area for condition Bravo, as crewmembers in high-vis vests and jumpsuits start lining up along the walls.

    And with the mic cutting out all the time for announcements, Jemisin abandons it, calls on her classroom teaching experience, and simply projects her voice.

    It was a good story, told under challenging circumstances. And near the end of the cruise, a group of people (not including me, alas; I didn’t find out about it until the presentation) took one of our JoCo Cruise swag items for the year, a stuffed dolphin wearing a fez, and blinged it up, named it Bravo the Dolphin, and awarded it to her as a prize for grace under fire alarm.

22. I’m not “face blind”, but I am clueless when people “hint” at things. The best example I can give is, I was doing a tournament series (for paintball) and one of the sponsors spent an inordinate amount of time praising everything we were doing and then, towards the end of the premiere event, sat down and basically said “this was really cool and we want to sponsor a series next year…we’d really like to be involved…think we can help…yada yada…”
    My response was “that’s great, lets figure out how many events…yada yada”.
    What I came to realize several years later (after the series was NOT picked up by the sponsors, in fact, replaced with their own carbon copy) was that “we’d like to be involved” was code for “you give us a piece of the action and we’ll bring in the sponsors”.
    I ask myself almost every day what other “opportunities” I’ve missed because people don’t seem willing to come right out and say what they want: “I’m willing to do my thing if you cut me in”.
    This is not the only arena where this occurs. Women. Turns out there have been a few interested in me, but brushing shoulders and flattery obviously don’t penetrate. “I like you and would like to have a relationship” would penetrate.
    White lies too. I receive them at face value and am often upset when I find out what someone was really trying to say – gently.
    Apparently, I’m clueless about these little interpersonal levels of communication. So, if you see me somewhere and my fly is open, don’t make “closing zipper” motions. Be up front about it and say “hey Steve, your fly is open”. Otherwise, I’ll think you’re demented, or have an itch you can’t scratch – it will never occur to me that your gestures are relevant to my personal condition.
    This leads me, I think, to be pretty blunt in my own communications.
    Anyone else got this going on?

23. I’m a bit sad for Terry Jones. Aside from everything else I have fond memories of a series he did on the Crusades. Perhaps if he were to build a giant rabbit…?

24. @ JJ, Pretty sure that’s the international trailer that’s been out for a while. I like it better than the first one b/c it just has the one whoop-siren thing in it. The first trailer always summons my wife into the room to tell me to “let that damn wookie out already!”

    7) UNKNOWN CONTRIBUTORS TO SPACE AGE.
    I hope Janelle Monáe shines in this. Someone in Hollywood needs to dump a pile of money on her so she can make the big-budget science fiction musical her videos have hinted at already,

25. Ebook sale!

    Shadow Ops: Control Point, #1 in the “Shadow Ops” series by Myke Cole, is $1.99 at iTunes USA, Kobo, and probably other places in the USA, too. Courtesy of Ace (uses DRM). I’ve enjoyed this series. Some call it MilFantasy.

26. Having worked registration at a couple of cons, I’m all for guests with gifts, but oh dear, crazy uncle lou. Does it turn out that calling the cops on a gutsy of honour mean cons are reluctant to invite you? Who’d a thought it?

27. http://gothamist.com/2016/09/25/artist_tricks_tourists_with_elabora.php

    If you are in New York, you should probably grab your photo op while you have the chance.

28. Keep your scrolls close, but keep your pixels closer.

29. New bird for my life list yesterday: the pine grouse.

30. @steve davidson – My reading of social cues got so hypersensitive for…erm…life-related reasons…that it became effectively useless. I came out the other side, as it were–if somebody across the room scratched, I’d check my fly. Like having very sensitive equipment and pointing it directly into a rave.

    Well, you can’t live like that forever without things burning out. I was hyper-sensitive to the point of paranoia, my friends now would probably describe me as cheerfully oblivious. (Medication helps a LOT.) I’m fine at most normal social interactions, but every now and then I’ll run into a person who is expecting me to notice something and…well…it can go badly. (Passive-aggressive stuff rolls off me, which would be much more beneficial if there weren’t so many passive-aggressive people. See also: first marriage.)

    @ Simon Bisson – Pine? Oh–Dusky? Or did they split them again when I wasn’t looking?

31. Scrolls to the left of me, pixels to the right,
    Here I am, stuck in the middle with you

32. (2) HOLLYWOOD POWER COUPLE SPLITS.
    He didn’t take me to hyperspace much, and the few times he did, it was over so quick!

    (3) PYTHON MEDICAL UPDATE.
    Sad news.

    (7) UNKNOWN CONTRIBUTORS TO SPACE AGE.
    It’s good that they are being recognized now. The Good Old Days weren’t good for everyone.

    (15) THE LASAGNA STRATEGY.
    I’ve never been invited to a convention; I’ve just gone as a fan. Like you know, thousands of other fans.

33. I’m gonna make one final comment about “This Census-Taker” in this thread due to the Great Ticky Crisis after much percolation.

    Gur puvyq va n wne vzntrel vf nyfb cebonoyl n zrgn-pbzzragnel ba gur ernqre. Jr ner oynax fyngrf, yrneavat bayl jung gur aneengbe pubbfrf gb gryy hf guebhtu gur cresbezngvir frpbaq obbx.

    I will likely be nominating this for novella, just from how much it’s been twisting my brain.

34. I feel like Catstronauts will appeal to people here.

35. (3) Sad to hear that.

    @Cally – thanks for sharing that story.

    @Steve Davidson – I have similar issues. I was also terrible at noticing when someone was coming on to me when I was in my 20s. And that went both ways – I’d imagine interest when there was none and completely not notice it when it was there. It also took me years to learn to tell when people were being passive aggressive or subtly insulting to me, and I still often miss it. Which is good, because I’d rather not notice that stuff. And when I do try to pay attention to that stuff, I go the route @RedWombat discussed, and start reading too much into everything anyone says or does.

36. $12.99 for “This Census-Taker.” Ouch. Added to my ereaderiq watch list.

37. latest reading: The Race by Nina Allan. Came with some strong endorsements on the back and an interesting blurb, but left me cold; I might have been willing to trace through the meta a little more if it hadn’t been heaped with apparently pointless natter. (Flap copy says the author is Christopher Priest’s partner; I’ve been fascinated by about half of his work that I’ve read and completely blocked on about a quarter, especially recent work. Did Allan borrow from his recent ideas about what makes a novel?) It is quite possible that there are levels of brilliance I’m missing; I didn’t think Annihilation succeeded at its own goals either, even with all the interesting discussion that went on here. I would love to hear from anyone who read this and liked it.

    Additional personal taste rot13’d in case somebody finds it a spoiler: nobhg unys bs gur obbx nccrnef gb or svpgvba ol n abg-irel-tbbq-nhgube punenpgre va zhpu bs gur erfg bs gur obbx. V’ir urneq bs haeryvnoyr aneengbef ohg guvf frrzf gb zr gb obeqre ba gur fghag Mrynmal chyyrq va gur frpbaq Nzore cragnybtl, jurer obbx guerr ghearq bhg gb or gur qbcr qernz (be ~cflpubgvp shthr?) bs gur aneengbe bs gur bgure sbhe obbxf.

38. (3) Several years ago I saw Terry Jones give a lecture on medieval history at a local college. A student early music ensemble performed beforehand. When Jones came out, they exited to the Gregorian chant from Monty Python & the Holy Grail, complete with head-bashes against their books. I hate (I mean, really, really, really hate these kinds of diseases.

    (I should also read some of his nonfiction books, and watch more of his BBC documentary series.)

39. kathodus: $12.99 for “This Census-Taker.” Ouch.

    Oi, that is really pricey for a 400-page novel e-book — never mind for a slim 200-page story which is largely impenetrable. I was lucky enough to get it from my library.

40. Cally, thanks for “the rest of the story” about Bravo The Dolphin.

41. I’m often simply afraid of people. Afraid I’ll do something that makes them angry. And then I can become convinced that I have made them angry…

    I can miss signals I should be getting, very easily, whether they are good or bad. I have no real expectation that people will like me at all; at the same time, I don’t expect anyone to be malicious. If someone acts badly toward me, I get guilty and confused long before I get angry.

    Until I eventually figure it out.

    But in situations where I know I’m competent, with real confidence in it, I can do what seem to me to be ordinary, helpful things, and occasionally hear back later that it seemed much more important to the other person. I don’t always know what to think about that.

    I am rambling. I had a stressful weekend pet sit ting for a sick, old dog who decided that with his family “missing” he wasn’t going to eat or take his pills. But I did start listening to the audiobook of The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke.

    Im.going to entertain dreams of the ticky box returning.

42. Lis Carey: Im.going to entertain dreams of the ticky box returning.

    Me too. Apparently it’s really important to the way a lot of people participate here. Because now that it’s not working, commenting is slowing to a snail’s pace.

    Actually, I’m giving Jetpack a couple of days to fix their bad update. And if they don’t move, I have two other things to try.

43. Wishing you success, one way or the other.

44. I have never used the ticky box. I just check the most recent Scrolls when I visit.

45. I really appreciate getting notifications days, or even weeks, later, when someone posts a comment on a thread which I would otherwise have no reason to go back and check.

    I think not having the notifications really impairs “the conversation” amongst Filers, and I am sad that it is gone. I hope it will be back soon.

    flicks lighter, holds it high, and sways back and forth

46. SECOND DAY FIVE OF THE GODSTALK TICKY CRISIS

    When will the

    Oh, hell. I’m just going to go have a wine or ten. 🍷

47. Devastated by the the news of Terry Jones.

48. @JJ: Save a glass for me. Also, I got two e-mails from the 9/23 thread. Mysterious!

    /god-stalk (to be regretted later)

Comments are closed.