Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 122

More Rain!

It started raining about dawn this morning and has been raining steadily since...Richard checked the gauge about half an hour ago and it was 4.3 inches (that's yesterday's 3.8 plus today's 0.5)

Good, good rain.  The creek will undoubtedly rise, though whether the rain will total out as enough, in the long run, to get the springs flowing again, I can't know at this point. 

80 Acres: RAIN!!

Brief pause in the page-proof-reading to announce that it rained, and is raining, and we had 1.3 inches by 8:30 am and it's raining again.  Has been raining for the past hour and a bit more. 

Pictures at the 80acres blog.

Rain seems to be general over several counties and should lower the fire danger--dunno if it's enough yet to lift any of the reservoirs.   It's a warm Gulf-origin rain, not violent but substantial, almost like hurricane rain without the hurricane. 

Page Proofs Arrive

The page proofs of Oath of Fealty arrived while I was in the city today, so I will dive into them tomorrow morning even though Book Two revision ideas have bubbled up.   Deadlines trump everything else.

But it's another sign that the first of the new Paksworld books is moving inexorably towards its release date.   This is the really scary time for me.  Page proofs are the last time I get my sticky fingers on it (and I can't do much at this stage) so the next thing I hear will be the reactions ...

80 Acres: supplemental water for wildlife

I've posted a long (LONG, lots of pictures) article about supplemental water for wildlife over at the 80 acres blog.  It could've been twice as long, with twice as many pictures but I'm supposed to be working on other stuff.  Stuff that pays for the pumps, the rubber liners, the hoses, the rocks...etc. 

Nose to the Grindstone: More Revisions

I got back to work on the book this afternoon and evening, and re-discovered what a lousy writer I am in first draft.  Of course, my standards are fairly high, but you'd think I'd notice when a sentence started acting like a kitten tangled in a ball of yarn.  On and on with increasing separation between subject and verb and many intervening clauses, phrases, parenthetical bits, etc.  (The solution's easy at least.  Stab one of those commas with a fork and turn it into a period.  Do it...

Mind Reading and Law Enforcement

Some years back, I realized, during the reporting on some cases in the area, that law enforcement personnel rely to a large extent on "mind-reading" when they focus on a suspect.  By this I mean that many law enforcement personnel have a rigid idea of how "innocent" people react to situations and they apply this to define persons of interest or suspects as those who don't react "right."  As I've read more and watched more crime reporting,  it sure seems that police assumptions about "the...

Healthcare Meme

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.

If you agree, please post this in all your social networking accounts.

For those who like unusual (and recycled) building projects

A man in Huntsville, Texas builds houses (conforming to local building code) from durable but nonstandard materials, as described in this article in the New York Times.    He's also started a recycling facility where other builders can drop off materials (odd ends of lumber, a few extra bricks, etc.) instead of taking them to a landfill.  

I was particularly taken with the ceiling made of recycled samples from a framing shop. 

Dumber than rocks, meaner than snakes

So a friend let me know that there's a big hoorah about President Obama making an online address to schools about the importance of staying in school and studying hard...

And oh, my, I went to those links and thought "These people are dumber than rocks or meaner than snakes and maybe both."

See, when President Obama does anything, it's political, but when Bush did it, it was the pure gold goodness of his heart.  Right?   (Sarcasm switch turned all the way on.)

In the Austin-American Statesman artic

Dave Freer could use some help...

Dave Freer, a South African writer, is moving to Australia with his family...and their animals.  What with the economic situation in South Africa, the exchange rate has plummeted, and Australia requires a long (LONG) quarantine period for animals coming into the country...a quarantine that now costs more (thanks to the exchange rate) than he can afford.

For more on this, take a look at his site, Save the Dragons, where those who want to help can find out how.

The pictures of the animals, and their