another reason to love patrick rothfuss, author

When obvious is awesomeness.

Because it deserves its own post. Found here.

ignore the fan-girl squeee

September 14, 2013, update:
I am so glad I spent 1.5+ hours in line, in the middle of the street in downtown Seattle right outside the Paramount Theatre, for the chance to watch this event. My sister and her girlfriend joined as well.

It was my favorite part of PAX 2013.

Here's a little video I cobbled together from videos I took before I was laughing too hard to bother trying to memorex the moment.




July 19, 2013:  I just learned that Patrick Rothfuss, favorite author (Name of the Wind and A Wise Man's Fear) and entertainer of mine, will be coming to the Penny Arcade Convention (PAX) in Seattle this year.  My entire family, as well as my sister's, has made an annual pilgrimage to enjoy this con's barrage of cos players, crowded vendor halls, sneak-peeks of upcoming new games, gaming rooms (where I once spent hours discovering Bejeweled, of all things), gamer & nerd panels, concerts and -- simply -- all things nerd. It's a magical 3 days, even for a non-gamer like myself. And the addition of one of my favorite authors to play in a live D&D game means I'm going to have to give watching this event a try, too.



It'll be a new one for me, but since I used to love playing D&D, it can't be too bad watching someone else make a fool of themselves in front of a huge crowd, right? :)

cryptonomicon by neal stephenson (book review)

Cryptonomicon
by Neal Stephenson
For more reviews, check out Goodreads.com

Another amazing book from Neal Stephenson, with the usual emphasis on "mathematics" yet again from another interesting angle... encryption and code-breaking.

Now I'm the first to tell you I "hate math." I passed it in school, sure, but without passion. This guy has that burning passion in spades. What Stephenson's books do for me--among other things--is reintroduce math in all its complicated glory, each book a presentation of a different branch on the same theme. The framework (mathematics) is the same, the same ol' ho-hum. But in each book, he'll take you down a different path that leads to something fascinating and only recognizable to a fellow mathematician as its original form. And I have no trouble finding these diverging paths absolutely fascinating.

All this, astonishingly enough, written in such simple, straight-forward language that even a newbie like me has no problem following. Stephenson's really got a way with words. I find it kind of unfair how much talent he has in both sciences and language. I never realized this about myself before, but apparently I subconsciously believe a person should only excel in one of those areas, and I'm a jealous, jealous bitch. Ahem. (This is also where I'll brag that he lives in Seattle, which, ya know, goes to say something.  About something. Like, Seattlites are all arrogant snobs.)

Anyway. True to form, Stephenson uses that branch (in the case of Cryptonomicon, encryption) as a means to explore the effects it's had on society and history (or, like his other book titled The Diamond Age, the future). Usually in a meandering way... but always exploring so many concepts page by page that even though the story is complicated, difficult, sometimes a little boring*... you still don't want to miss out on the next concept he's going to open up for you. Like a school textbook you actually want to read.

*And to that, I want to add as a caveat that I am very much a character-driven reader, when it comes to fiction. I don't recommend Neal Stephenson as a character-writer; his characters are very much vehicles for expressing ideas that interest him intensely, and sometimes they just get in the way and he has to kill them off. It's a fascinating process to watch, but tends to leave me unable to really identify with, or willing to invest myself emotionally in, any of his characters. I believe this is the root of my "difficult, a little boring" description, and not that the story is slow-paced. It's not.

This sounds like a less-than-glowing review for fiction readers, but it's really not. I highly, highly recommend Neal Stephenson books for everyone. I think you'll like them no matter your reading preference, from memoirs to history to fiction to non-fiction sciences... it's all there. All you need is... time. Lots of it.

karin lowachee, author

EDITED September 14, 2010

My review of Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee, as seen at Goodreads:  If you're expecting that this book may be part of the same sci-fi series as Karin Lowachee's last three publications (Warchild, Burndive and Cagebird), it's not. It's a fantasy, and a really interesting one. It also appears to be the first of a set or series, as well, as it ends with a cliffhanger. (Arrrgh! :D)

I heard something about steampunk... also, I think, a misleading idea. Think Inuit and Old West Rangers, and the effects of colonialism. Wrap that up with some "magic" -- though Sjenn would disagree -- and a really diverse set of characters, and you'll have a closer idea of what to expect from "The Gaslight Dogs".

I didn't feel quite as immersed into these characters as I did with her previous books. This could be many things: from the fact that it's written in third person vs. first person, to the fact that there are more characters in this story and she's setting it up to delve into these characters through multiple books, rather than having to fully flesh out the character in one open/end book. Another reason I feel this way: the characters of this story have such a different voice/existence from the hectic drive of her sci-fi characters; inevitable if you consider their experiences, but somewhat less engaging if you're in for the short haul.

It was a very interesting and unique fantasy, and I'll happily read through the series as it's published.

 

EDITED April 2, 2010

Bumping this post up to celebrate the at-long-last publication of The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee.  I know what I'll be buying on my lunch-break today.

Yes!

~*~

Original post dated 7/23/2009
I am tempted to bitch and complain about the amount of time it is taking the The Gaslight Dogs to be published, but perfection cannot be rushed (as a mantra, it works.)

Karin Lowachee has published 3 books in the series preceding The Gaslight Dogs--Warchild, Burndive and Cagebird. Each one of them has been absolutely fascinating. I have never run into another author who managed to write three novels from differing perspectives, while not losing my interest, not compromising on quality of writing and making sure each character is completely unique... basically making me love each and every one of them. No... in fact, I've loved each one even more than the one before.

I can't wait... >.<

No, no, I must. Perfection cannot be rushed. Just another 9 months to go.

long overdue testing of digital textbooks in school

iPads Instead of Textbooks – Trial Underway in California Middle Schools

September 13th, 2010 by Aaron Saenz at Singularity Hub

I used to work in the textbook industry…and it is an industry, not a vocation. Educational publication companies are out to make money first, educate second. They have to – textbook adoption practices in the US mean that every time you write a textbook you are taking a multi-million dollar gamble on the whims of regional school boards. This leads to some pretty complex (some may say devious) tactics on behalf of publishers…

I’m in a complex state of mind over this trial. I believe in interactive digital textbooks and learning systems like HMH Fuse. I think they’ll actually impact students positively and I really wish I had such programs when I was in school. Digital education is the wave of the future. No doubt. …But I’m also very cynical about textbooks and their publishers in the US. These are good people who want to educate kids, but they are trapped by some very strong economic pressures into doing whatever they can to get an edge, and there are few edges as sharp as new shiny iPad technology. [...] I’m warning everyone that we need to be very critical and vigilant in making sure that these new digital systems are providing real benefits to our students. Like so many technologies, we can only reap the positive gains of digital textbooks by working against the negative possibilities.

Go here for the rest of the story, at Singularity Hub.

I agree with the author's reservations in the fact that digital publishing will obviously make it easier for people who want to teach alternative 'history', such as creationism. However, it goes both ways. I believe in freedom of speech not because I want to hear Larry Flynt's hypotheses about womanhood or The KKK's trash about how my husband and children don't actually have "souls" --- whatever that means. No, I believe in freedom of speech because I can counter what they have to say, what power has to say, without fear. Much fear, anyway.

Like the internet itself, I think moving to the digital medium will eventually give more power to the people, in the aspect of more knowledge. My suggestion:  never assume they're telling you everything (or even the truth), keep asking questions, and research... research.... research.

~ * ~

And on a side note, this is just another step in the direction of digitizing libraries.  If students are carrying around iPads, why not offer the faculty library as a resource, as well?  And from there, the public library.  No more inter-library loan requests... <3 *shiver*

global warming makes ninjas of us all

This morning, I slunk down the street to the bus swaddled to the eyes against 17 degree crystal-clear hell. I took a note from my brother T. and executed a Ninja-Arctic-Suspension move, as pictured -->
You can't see me. I am not even here.

In fact, I looked just

like this, nah-ha.

I lived to tell the tale, despite the suspicious looks of bus-riders and building security. I have made it; I am in the building. The weather will determine whether I leave it again this evening or not.

What the hell is with weather in the teens in the Pacific Northwest? This is bullshit. Grr.

Speaking of ninjas and doing good and saving the world, (which we were, yes) check this out. Patrick Rothfuss, author of the wonderful world I like to visit called The Name of the Wind, is offering some really cool prizes to help raise some money for Heifer International. If you are unlike me and have anything to spare after the economy stopped treading on you, check out the amazing things you could win by helping him hit his goal.

And also speaking of ninjas, I am not one. A real ninja would not only have seen that truck coming (which I did), she would have successfully dodged it (which I did not). So I admit freely that I failed it; wanna-be ninj-ette, that's me. The result of which is apparently a spinal lumbar disc injury, which is "incurable", as well as a potential hip labral tear.

All kidding aside, stop reading here if you don't feel like reading protracted whining and complaining.

I thought I was disgruntled about the lumbar disk injury. I mean, the chiropractor says it's incurable, and the best I can hope for is that (with daily exercises and hanging-upside-down-in-strange-traction-thingies, pictured to the left) I will be 'asymptomatic'. But if I fail in doing these daily, time-consuming and vertigo-inducing exercises, then I will be 'symptomatic' and in great pain. By which I mean so much as a cough will send a spasm of significant pain through my lower back. I'm 32! And I walk and sit and sleep like I'm in my 50s or 60s.

But after reading up some on this hip labral tear, I'm upset in a whole new, I-see-needles-and-pain-and squick-in-my-future kinda way. I've been dealing with this worsening pain in my groin area that kept me from rotating my right leg outward or inward. As this article states:

Typical symptoms of a hip labral tear include:

• Groin pain
• Clicking and snapping sensations in the hip
• Limited motion of the hip joint

I got all those, baby. Sprawling in bed is impossible for me--I have to lay very carefully with my legs stretched straight, because though I can lift my leg straight up all I want, the second I let my foot flop outward or inward, or shift as though I'm going to turn right, or try to cross my right leg over my left? yeeee-OUCH! (There's that clicking and snapping sensation.) Trying to tickle my son is increasingly out of the question. So is shifting every day to get out of the bus seat, crossing my legs in a business meeting, leaning down to fetch something from under my desk and last but not least, sleeping. I cannot even search subconsciously for a comfortable position without being jerked awake from a jolt of pain. And the worst part? I've been mentioning this to my chiropractors for months, and they only started taking me seriously about 3 weeks ago... 5 and a half after the accident. And only then because I threatened to go to my regular doctor because I was in so much pain.

But enough of whining. I've reached my tolerance quota for the day. I need distraction.

Wireless readers: Local library revisioned

May 2009: I read with fascination the debut of amazon.com's Kindle. After the Blackberry and the iPhone, the concept of a wireless reading device was obvious; the device for newspapers is way overdue! Amazon's Kindle is a good first step.

The real question is when the technology will becomes more affordable (consider the calculator). I know it's a simple matter of time, and that's when things will get really fun. I can't help getting excited about where this is going, particularly in the arena of public libraries.

I envision the next interpretation of the public library a little something like this: when a sturdier, cheaper version of the wireless reader is developed, library members will no longer get a library card, but instead a Library Reader when they sign up for the service. (Or perhaps everyone will have their own Reader, and a Library account will simply open up the Library's content to that Reader?) They will have access to all the library's books the same way they currently have access to the eBooks libraries offer online now; for 21 days. No more expensive library locations or denuding of forests.

Reference books would no longer have to be available on-site at your local library, but could be accessed by all.

I am excited. Though I am a book lover and collector who fearfully awaits the day hard copy books may become rare and too expensive for me, the convenience and availability of this latest development is inarguable. I expect many new features to be added soon. For instance, I will wait for the Reader with the capability to connect to my PC, because I can't help feeling paranoid about losing my eBook collection in the case of anything happening to amazon.com and the reader itself. I require some sort of back up option before I invest in my own eBook collection. And? I will wait until buying an eBook doesn't cost more than a paperback off the shelf does! Trying to sell me on the idea that what amounts to a pdf has more value than a paperback--trees, ink, binding and lasting value--is going to earn a big fat "good luck!" from me.

But in the end, it comes down to this: I can't wait until I can commute to work on the bus with a light wireless reader instead of heavy hardbacks from the library; I can't wait until I have easy access to all my library's materials without the inconvenience of county locations and interlibrary loans; I can't wait until I have my news and blog feeds all in one place along with my books; and last but not least, I can't wait until publishing becomes less rarified, and open to anyone who has access to Word and a pdf-maker.

Hello, world.

Nov 2009: I am bumping this to the top with an "Ah-ha, I told you so!" As this article states, not only was it quickly obvious that the proprietary format of Amazon's Kindle books was going to be a thing of the past for readers, but apparently Sony's already realized the sense of partnering with the OverDrive (which also partners with libraries for audio-books). According to PC World:

Though ePub is not necessarily without DRM, Google's offerings will have no restrictions. One of the biggest drives towards ePub is that it is not locked to a specific device, so unlike those Kindle books you'd love to swap with friends, ePub-formatted books are easily distributed. This philosophy goes well with Sony's pairing with libraries to establish a "loaning system" wherein customers can check out books for their Sony Readers from the New York City Public Library (with inevitably more libraries to come) for 21 days.

It's coming, I'm almost ready. :)
(Touch screen doesn't hurt, either.)

to crush that inner rebel

At the three-day convention, PAX, this weekend, I had a few hours *yawn* of free time, during which I began reading The Family by Jeff Sharlet on my sister's Kindle. The following quote from this book shall go on my bathroom wall. In calligraphy.

...every man must wipe the toilet bowl after he pisses, not for cleanliness but to crush his "inner rebel."

--Jeff Sharlet

Amen.

the beloved pimpernel

And of course, there is the beloved Pimpernel--beloved book, beloved movie and beloved Broadway play (may I one day be able to see it, amen.)




For sister-mine, who might actually love it more than I.