Horror movies, of course.
Valentine hearts
Valentine hearts
Valentine hearts
February, 2009:
Happy Birthday Mr. Darwin
Dear Papa Darwin,
On this, the 200th anniversary of your birth, you’d be happy to know that the theory of evolution by means of natural selection that you developed is now universally recognized as the essential foundation of modern biology, and even schoolchildren learn and understand the modern synthesis that led from those first principles.
Actually, that isn’t true. The modern theory of evolution is the foundation of modern biology, including modern medicine, but despite the great advances in knowledge, a remarkably large proportion of Americans are poorly educated idiots don’t believe it. Something like 42% of Americans believe that life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The rest of us make fun of them, but are actually deeply disturbed by the idea that so many people, including candidates for high office, have stated that creationism should be taught in schools. Really, we’re deeply disturbed that this is even a debate.
Our political and educational problems aren’t your fault, of course. I just wanted to thank you for your intellectual curiosity and hard work.
Sincerely,
Sarah
PS I wanted to send this earlier today, but there was a little problem at work. I accidently deleted the entire state of New York. If any of my readers happen to live there, I apologize, and your state will be back by noon tomorrow, better than ever. (I took the opportunity to make some small improvements.)
You ARE prey
The headline says it all: Oldest Human Hair Found in Hyena Poop Fossil?
Three, no four, but not five
Once again, I fail at “5 things make a post”.
Coraline was fantastic – go see it. The stop motion was incredible. I want to watch it in slow motion to try to figure out what they did. The story was short for the length of the movie: there were a lot of gee-whiz scenes that didn’t advance the plot. They were so gorgeous you hardly noticed, though. I would like to see it in 3D, but not sure I’m going to be able to drive two towns south to the closest theater playing that version. I will definitely be owning it on DVD though.
I finished the first round of revisions on a long story/novelette and sent it to a few friends for comments. This is the first substantial piece of fiction I’ve finished in ages. I’ve written several hundred thousand words in the past few years, but never finished anything longer than flash fiction. It’s a bit intimidating, actually, because if it’s done then people get to read it. Oh my. I celebrated its completion by going out for sushi for lunch, and by starting the next story. I write plenty of non-fiction, and some of it is widely read, but stories are more personal. Still, I was persistent, and finished it, and brave, and shared it, and if anyone comments I will revise it some more. And until then I’ll work on the next one.
Circuit City’s going out of business sale has been pretty disappointing. Their discounts on most of the items I’m interested in buying aren’t great enough to overcome their lousy original prices. I bought a camera from them today, though. The 30% discount beat the online prices for that model, though just barely. I took the Sony alpha 300, and the guy behind me took the 200. Looks like waiting for better discounts wouldn’t have worked. The camera in its CC bag is sitting in front of me as I type. I haven’t take a single photo yet, or looked at the manual, but I will report back.
I used to do a fair amount of film photography, and have a small collection of Minolta lenses. I got that camera body at a going out of business sale too, actually. I just don’t take film photos any more, and have gone through a succession of moderately well-equipped digital point-and-shoots. I take a lot of photos for work and pleasure, but the DSLRs have been out of my price range. They’ve come down a lot as the technology improves, and every so often I think that I should look into finding a digital body that will take my lenses. I finally did, and found that the Minolta D7 would work great. But Minolta was bought out by Sony, and the D7 is no longer made. I looked at some used bodies, but they were expensive and hard to find.
Eventually I discovered that the Sony alpha series would also take my lenses. The reviews are pretty good, and it looks like pretty much what I want. I’m not a good enough photographer to need a higher-end DSLR, but I’d like more control than I get with my little Canon. It’s been great, but has let me down on some specific tasks. I’m looking forward to trying the new toy camera out.
Apparently the new rule is, “3 things make a post”, because I’m out of ideas.
No wait, I have a fourth! I was asked recently what the appeal of twitter was. Here’s one answer.
Writing lesson
Today’s writing lesson comes from Elizabeth Bear. As it is short, I will include the whole thing here, but do go check out her blog.
How to take a flabby sentence and make it buff!:
I scorched my palm on the painted wood.Painted wood scorched my palm.
Contemplate. And apply.
And also: I have tickets for Coraline tonight (official website not working for me right now). Go see it. In 3D if at all possible. Go. Now. See you when you get back. The only theater in town with 3D equipment is now a discount house, and not showing first-run films. The new theater says that it is installing a 3D projector, and will have it set up in time for the Jonas Brothers in 3D. *shudder*
Comics and creativity
I’m reading through the FreakAngels back issues right now. Damn. How did I miss this, and what am I going to do when I’m caught up and forced to wait a whole week for the next issue just like everyone else?
[And incidentally, this sort of thing is exactly why I needed to start a new blog. Talk about FreakAngels on Stringpage? With mild profanity? Um, no.]
Warren Ellis said something very interesting about the source of ideas in one of the interlude pages.
Here’s the deal. I flood my poor ageing head with information. Any information. Lots of it. And I let it all slosh around in the back of my brain, in the part normal people use for remembering bills, thinking about sex and making appointments to wash the dishes.
Eventually, you get a critical mass of information. Datum 1 plugs into Datum 2 which connects to Datum 3 and Data 4 and 5 stick to it and you’ve got a chain reaction. A bunch of stuff knits together and lights up and you’ve got what’s called “an idea”.
I’ve never understood the question, actually. It wasn’t until I saw so many authors and creative people talk about being asked where their ideas come from, a lot, that I realized that it was a serious question. I can see inquiring about a particular idea, but ideas-at-large? Poor impoverished brains these querents must have. Many authors seem to have a flip response, and many of those are quite entertaining, but Warren Ellis did a good job of expounding on how (I think) it works.
You need raw material. Lots and lots. Good, bad, indifferent. Written, drawn, heard, seen, tasted, smelled. Let all of that simmer together, tucked away in a corner somewhere, and eventually something might pop out of the primordial ooze, or at least coalesce into a proto-idea. Those then slosh around for a while, and maybe eventually evolve into proper ideas that might be good for something. Primordial ooze might be something like sourdough starter (only in odder colors): it must be fed regularly to keep it happy and bubbling.
But you never know what those proto-ideas will stick to, so you need to keep throwing lots of new materials into the mix. You also need to give the ooze time to simmer and slosh, quiet time, creative time. In the shower is good, or walking the dog.
Humans have been stringing together words and pictures and ideas for an awfully long time. There aren’t any new ideas, but there are still plenty of interesting uses for old ideas, combinations of old ideas, fascinating stories to tell, pictures to paint, music to compose. It isn’t usually the ideas, but rather having the skills and perseverance (especially the perseverance) to make the ideas into something good.
And still… are there really people who don’t have a continual stream of bubbles rising to the top of the primordial ooze? Even if they never do anything with them? Maybe, as Ellis suggests, most people use that chunk of their brain for storing more useful things. Me, I like the primordial ooze.
On this date
From the Writer’s Almanac:
It’s the birthday of the first woman to graduate from medical school, Elizabeth Blackwell, born on this day in Bristol, England, in 1821. She wanted to become a doctor because she knew that many women would rather discuss their health problems with another woman. She read medical texts and studied with doctors, but she was rejected by all the big medical schools. Finally the Geneva Medical College (which became Hobart College) in upstate New York accepted her. The faculty wasn’t sure what to do with such a qualified candidate, and so they turned the decision over to the students. The male students voted unanimously to accept her. Her classmates and even professors considered many medical subjects too delicate for a woman, and didn’t think she should be allowed to attend lectures on the reproductive system. But she graduated, became a doctor, and opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children.
Go Dr. Blackwell!
The NIH has a more detailed biography. Dr. Blackwell was the first woman to graduate from a US medical school, which is a more reasonable claim (though still a remarkable achievement).
“She … was accepted by Geneva Medical College in western New York state in 1847. The faculty, assuming that the all-male student body would never agree to a woman joining their ranks, allowed them to vote on her admission. As a joke, they voted “yes,” and she gained admittance, despite the reluctance of most students and faculty.”
I wonder how many important things came about in that manner?
