Elizabeth Moon's Blog, page 39
May 5, 2011
From Twitter 05-04-2011
08:19:18: RT @The_Rumpus: Do not (!) miss this piece by Lidia Yuknavitch: "The Urgent Matter of Books" http://bit.ly/iFl3Lj
08:19:35: RT @robinmckinley: RT @JSCarroll "The most fundamental form of human stupidity is forgetting what we were trying to do in the first plac ...
08:54:33: RT @KSmithSF: Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th...be with you.
09:01:58: Yellow-breasted Chat (spring migrant) in yard today.
11:37:33: When stuck while writing...keep writing. #amwriting. Though diagramming plot problems is allowable, 'net-surfing is not.
16:01:03: RT @green_knight: WTF indeed RT @MotherJones: Palin goes all Conan, calls Obama a pu**y for not releasing #binLaden pics. http://tumblr. ...
17:23:06: Apparently Palin thinks covert ops is like a hunting trip, where you're supposed to show off your kill. Somebody should show her the diff.
17:59:17: Several new posts up at LiveJournal: http://e-moon60.livejournal.com/ incl. knitting progress with a picture.
21:29:29: Today: Two smallish writing knots untangled. Three rows of knitting completed. Cookies baked. Laundry hung, brought in, folded. Birds.
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May 4, 2011
Tending to My Knitting
As of today, the Project is over three inches long. When it's four inches long, I'll start the pattern (which will be four inches of garter stitched border on either side, and blocks of stockinette and garter stitch between them, down to the bottom border of garter stitch. Here's the Project draped over the arm of a chair in the yard, where I've taken to knitting a row or two out by the water garden. It's a solid 40 inches wide and I'm really glad I have a 40" circular needle.
Today while knitting outside (two rows) I saw a gorgeous male painted bunting take a bath in the upper end, a little Empidonax flycatcher (not sure which one), cardinals, bluejays, mockingbirds, both Bewick's and Carolina wrens, white-winged and Inca doves, and a Common Yellowthroat warbler.
Today while knitting outside (two rows) I saw a gorgeous male painted bunting take a bath in the upper end, a little Empidonax flycatcher (not sure which one), cardinals, bluejays, mockingbirds, both Bewick's and Carolina wrens, white-winged and Inca doves, and a Common Yellowthroat warbler.
Do Not Call means DO NOT CALL
I find it more than a little annoying that politicians are allowed to evade the "Do Not Call" list restrictions, and thus ring one's phone any time they please. They always want something: a vote, a campaign contribution...they're just as needy and intrusive as the guy who used to call trying to sell me aluminum siding or funeral services. But what really, REALLY chaps my hide is the increasing use of taped calls...you don't even get the live politician or one of his/her flunkies/supporters on the line, you get a thrice damned recording. My own Congresscritter, with whom I'm not in agreement (and for whom I did not vote) does this, and he always sounds like someone panicky and a bit unstable and orders me to "Stay on the line." I don't. I might if he were really there (or even an aide were really there) and if he would hold a normal conversation with me (which would involve his listening to what I've emailed and written him multiple times before) but of course he doesn't have time for me. He sends his recorded paranoia instead. Which is, at root, extremely rude.
"This is Mike Huckabee," began the most recent, in the same half-panicky, half-eager tone of voice I'm familiar with from my Congresscritter. Mr. Huckabee is not my Congressman, nor my U.S. Senator, nor a member of my state's legislature. I am familiar with Mr. Huckabee's views from his participation in earlier national campaigns, and it would probably startle him to know that I consider him unChristian and unAmerican, not the Christian patriot he thinks himself. But he is not familiar enough with me to know that having a phone bank service send me his recorded voice urging me to respond immediately to kill health care legislation...is not going to gain my support.
It is the height of rudeness to use the phone service I pay for to send me recorded messages that take up my time. Such recorded messages should be illegal. But at least getting us on the Do Not Call list has excluded recorded messages from the septic tank cleaning service and the home remodeling company. I would prefer that all beggars (which definitely includes politicians) be excluded by the Do Not Call list. If politicians are allowed to evade the Do Not Call list at all, they should be required to call each person "live"--individually--and allot a minimum of 10 minutes per call to listening to--not talking at--the citizen they call.
Needless to say, I will not vote for, or contribute to the campaign of, anyone who uses recorded messages to call voters. In fact, I will be motivated to contribute generously to an opponent's campaign.
"This is Mike Huckabee," began the most recent, in the same half-panicky, half-eager tone of voice I'm familiar with from my Congresscritter. Mr. Huckabee is not my Congressman, nor my U.S. Senator, nor a member of my state's legislature. I am familiar with Mr. Huckabee's views from his participation in earlier national campaigns, and it would probably startle him to know that I consider him unChristian and unAmerican, not the Christian patriot he thinks himself. But he is not familiar enough with me to know that having a phone bank service send me his recorded voice urging me to respond immediately to kill health care legislation...is not going to gain my support.
It is the height of rudeness to use the phone service I pay for to send me recorded messages that take up my time. Such recorded messages should be illegal. But at least getting us on the Do Not Call list has excluded recorded messages from the septic tank cleaning service and the home remodeling company. I would prefer that all beggars (which definitely includes politicians) be excluded by the Do Not Call list. If politicians are allowed to evade the Do Not Call list at all, they should be required to call each person "live"--individually--and allot a minimum of 10 minutes per call to listening to--not talking at--the citizen they call.
Needless to say, I will not vote for, or contribute to the campaign of, anyone who uses recorded messages to call voters. In fact, I will be motivated to contribute generously to an opponent's campaign.
From Twitter 05-03-2011
09:16:09: I really, really hate politicians who "call" to play their recordings in my ear. If you can't bother to talk to people "live", don't call.
09:19:33: Specifically, Mike Huckabee, whose recorded message yesterday interrupted my work and whose positions are opposite my own.
09:22:34: But of course, Huckabee does not have a "contact" button on his website, and no easy way to say "Let me alone, you scumsucker."
11:20:57: RT @noahWG: Keeping memories sharp - Structural traces keep memories precise by preventing unrelated activations: http://bit.ly/iTWa2D / ...
11:22:26: RT @NatureNews: Overfishing hits all creatures great and small http://goo.gl/fb/hRZmq
12:54:06: Migrating warblers arrived here in numbers today. Common Yellowthroat and two other species (at least) not yet seen clearly enough.
15:59:00: RT @USGS: There is Land Subsidence and then there is Land SUBSIDENCE...http://go.usa.gov/bpF #water #California #agriculture
16:11:49: Lovely afternoon. Went out an knitted a row by the lily pond--nothing blooming, but pretty anyway. #knitting.
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May 3, 2011
From Twitter 05-02-2011
09:21:36: RT @mudmamba: Remember, Osama bin Laden is not dead until Donald Trump has seen the death certificate.
10:02:40: RT @NYTimeskrugman: Me On Surpluses http://nyti.ms/jIoJQH
23:37:29: RT @NYTimeskrugman: Prognosticate That! http://nyti.ms/mlzGf0
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May 2, 2011
From Twitter 05-01-2011
08:12:43: Two water lilies blooming, a pink and a yellow. Pink is cup-shaped; yellow is star-shaped and stands taller. Both lovely.
09:41:44: It's easier to knit sitting up in a comfortable armchair with a tall back than in bed propped up on inadequate pillows. For me, anyway.
09:50:10: One way to know when the weather's going icky is that local NWS radar cuts out. Ours cut out w/in last hour. Worse in OK/AK--big red blot.
11:39:39: 2 rows. Knitting project now 2" long. #knitting. Hair washed, some other chores done and some not done. Diving back in.
11:42:24: Big lump of green on radar mostly between I-10 and Victoria, TX. Few showers starting over hill country. Rain chance dropped 10%.
12:30:55: "Women & Children Last" http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1102915, med journal perspective on funding cuts.
12:44:53: In fact, the other policy articles from the 4/28 issue are worth reading--full text is free: http://www.nejm.org/toc/nejm/medical-journal
12:47:00: Had last of lamb curry for lunch. YUM.
17:21:59: Rain chances dropping by the hour, despite the boisterous clouds and wind. Morning--60-70-50. Now: 50-40-20. Yup, it's the Dry.
22:02:29: RT @patinagle: RT @stevengould: "@Rhiarti: RT @JMMShaw: Dear film makers: can you stop making films in 3D, please? Thanks!" AMEN!
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May 1, 2011
From Twitter 04-30-2011
17:47:50: How many times can you hop back & forth between Twitter & an LJ friends page before realizing you're just avoiding work? (too many!)
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April 30, 2011
Thunder at Dawn (and other stuff)
I was lying there contemplating getting out of bed--not eager at all, as the loud blustery wind woke me at intervals during the night--when a clap of thunder completed the wake-up process. After that, no use to stay in the soft and comfort, and besides, I remembered that R- had left a garden cart with several bales of hay in it in the front yard when I insisted that supper was NOW, not a half hour from now. (We'd been waiting awhile anyway, M- and I.) So he came in, leaving the cart. Only--when I'd put on slippers and zipped out to the back door--he'd evidently remembered after supper to take it around to the barn. No more thunder, no rain (yet, we hope, not "as usual.")
Dry thunderstorms were a feature of the '50s drought, along with interminable stretches between clouds in which the sun simply glared down on us. Clouds would boil up, promising rain, and then--with thunder and lightning and wind that raised clouds of dust that put grit between your teeth--they would blow away somewhere else.
Meanwhile, with new tires on the car, I can venture down to a big supermarket to get things not available here--I'm past due to make chicken stock, but if we're going to have hail today, I'll stay home and leave it under the carport. The question with stock-making is always whether to go on and make a really BIG batch (the 20 quart pot) or the far more manageable and easier SMALL batch (12 quart pot.) The question with T-storms maybe in the offing is whether to risk a trip or not (having been almost blown off the road, pounded with hail, and blinded with torrential rains in the past...)
Yesterday--when today's forecast didn't include that clap of thunder--I planned to do laundry that should hang on the line. Maybe delaying it improved the chance of rain--if so, it's worth it. Meanwhile, there's tending to my knitting. The knitting project is growing, and no longer looks like a "What on EARTH are you trying to do?" mess on the circular needle. The variegated yarn (and the very forgiving garter stitch) is covering many of the little (!!) errors and less-than-skillful fixes to those errors in the first half-inch to inch of knitting. I'm pleased to see that the errors are diminishing in frequency as my fingers remember more and more of what this is about. Tension (which was pretty dismally uneven on the original practice patches I did with old wool and old needles) has really evened out (though again, the first few rows--not great.)
One of the problems I had to start with is that the size difference between the needle tips and the cable mean that the work had a strong tendency to slither back off the needle tips and onto the smaller diameter cable, where the stitches moved effortlessly. As the work grew, the weight of it also contributed to this backward pull. Last night, late, I thought of the obvious solution, and with a piece of 3x5 card and scissors I made a movable "stop" to put behind the work--sort of like the end on a straight needle. Holding the work closer to the end of the left-hand (feeding) needle made the periodic adjustments much easier and faster. I may go back to straight needles for narrower projects, though.
Then of course there's the writing. The writing progresses, even though it's hit a sluggish area where I need to do as much thinking and note-taking as writing-in-flow. The first three books of Paladin's Legacy--Oath of Fealty, Kings of the North, and Echoes of Betrayal (now in production, not on shelves) all covered less calendar ground than I'd hoped, and finishing the long story arc in two volumes means pushing those two to cover more calendar ground than the first. Figuring out how to do that--when the story wants to come out in a very dense linear string--is taking some time. I know the end point, but which chunks of time can be skimmed over without seeming rushed? If I had world enough and time, I'd write it as it wants to be written and then cut and snip and shape to fit the allowable length. But the way it wants to be written would involve lots more words than I can write before this book has to be turned in. (Hands have issued an ultimatum on words per day.)
And back to weather...looking at the radar, I see nothing likely to dump hail or whirling nasties on us for some hours, so I'm going to make a run to the store while I can. Then home to cook, work on tomorrow's music, the book, and the knitting project.
Dry thunderstorms were a feature of the '50s drought, along with interminable stretches between clouds in which the sun simply glared down on us. Clouds would boil up, promising rain, and then--with thunder and lightning and wind that raised clouds of dust that put grit between your teeth--they would blow away somewhere else.
Meanwhile, with new tires on the car, I can venture down to a big supermarket to get things not available here--I'm past due to make chicken stock, but if we're going to have hail today, I'll stay home and leave it under the carport. The question with stock-making is always whether to go on and make a really BIG batch (the 20 quart pot) or the far more manageable and easier SMALL batch (12 quart pot.) The question with T-storms maybe in the offing is whether to risk a trip or not (having been almost blown off the road, pounded with hail, and blinded with torrential rains in the past...)
Yesterday--when today's forecast didn't include that clap of thunder--I planned to do laundry that should hang on the line. Maybe delaying it improved the chance of rain--if so, it's worth it. Meanwhile, there's tending to my knitting. The knitting project is growing, and no longer looks like a "What on EARTH are you trying to do?" mess on the circular needle. The variegated yarn (and the very forgiving garter stitch) is covering many of the little (!!) errors and less-than-skillful fixes to those errors in the first half-inch to inch of knitting. I'm pleased to see that the errors are diminishing in frequency as my fingers remember more and more of what this is about. Tension (which was pretty dismally uneven on the original practice patches I did with old wool and old needles) has really evened out (though again, the first few rows--not great.)
One of the problems I had to start with is that the size difference between the needle tips and the cable mean that the work had a strong tendency to slither back off the needle tips and onto the smaller diameter cable, where the stitches moved effortlessly. As the work grew, the weight of it also contributed to this backward pull. Last night, late, I thought of the obvious solution, and with a piece of 3x5 card and scissors I made a movable "stop" to put behind the work--sort of like the end on a straight needle. Holding the work closer to the end of the left-hand (feeding) needle made the periodic adjustments much easier and faster. I may go back to straight needles for narrower projects, though.
Then of course there's the writing. The writing progresses, even though it's hit a sluggish area where I need to do as much thinking and note-taking as writing-in-flow. The first three books of Paladin's Legacy--Oath of Fealty, Kings of the North, and Echoes of Betrayal (now in production, not on shelves) all covered less calendar ground than I'd hoped, and finishing the long story arc in two volumes means pushing those two to cover more calendar ground than the first. Figuring out how to do that--when the story wants to come out in a very dense linear string--is taking some time. I know the end point, but which chunks of time can be skimmed over without seeming rushed? If I had world enough and time, I'd write it as it wants to be written and then cut and snip and shape to fit the allowable length. But the way it wants to be written would involve lots more words than I can write before this book has to be turned in. (Hands have issued an ultimatum on words per day.)
And back to weather...looking at the radar, I see nothing likely to dump hail or whirling nasties on us for some hours, so I'm going to make a run to the store while I can. Then home to cook, work on tomorrow's music, the book, and the knitting project.
From Twitter 04-29-2011
07:10:37: RT @NASA: "Go" for filling Endeavour's external tank! On track for 3:47 p.m. EDT launch. Watch tanking at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv at 6:1 ...
07:11:32: RT @NASA: Progress 42 supply ship docking to the space station planned for 10:29 a.m. EDT. Watch it live at http://www.nasa.gov/NTV
07:23:46: I should be out on the tractor. Instead, I'm watching the breeze strengthen, starting at dawn. Red flag warning. Maybe can do hour.
09:49:40: Successful hour on the tractor--more tall dead stuff down, no fires started. Wind and temp both up so I quit for the day.
09:58:50: RT @NYTimeskrugman: Yes, A Log Scale Is Better http://nyti.ms/ldyved
09:58:54: RT @NYTimeskrugman: Flim Flammed http://nyti.ms/lUeR8r
21:36:01: Made lamb curry for supper tonight. Guys ate it up, bowl after bowl after bowl.
21:38:11: And Knitting Project is now 1 1/2 inches long and no longer looks like a snake at all. A belt, maybe. #knitting
21:48:05: Why are knit stitches wider than they are tall? (If 4.5 stitches make an inch, why don't 4.5 rows make an inch?) #knitting
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April 29, 2011
From Twitter 04-28-2011
06:59:15: This morning cool & still. Must take tractor out for an hour & mow more old dry pasture ahead of fire danger. Risky in dry air, tho.
09:27:18: Field mowing, check. Then trip to car repair place, resulting in leaving car at least another day. Home to harvest day's take in garden.
09:27:54: So now I can finally start the day's wordage. Vanishing from here for sev. hours at least. #amwriting.
14:55:44: RT @charliejane: RT: @DalekThay: THE DALEKS WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE DOCTOR'S BIRTH CERTIFICATE, BUT WE WOULD SETTLE FOR HIS DEATH CERTIFIC ...
22:54:32: Watching shuttle prep w/ night lights live: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
22:54:39: RT @NASA: The Rotating Service Structure began moving at 11:58 p.m. EDT. Watch at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv - still on track to launch at ...
22:59:43: RT @nasahqphoto: Lightning Storms pass by Space Shuttle Endeavour. See the pic! http://flic.kr/p/9CMo6M
23:03:32: 3 rows on the knitting project today, 2 while chatting with friends. STILL making mistakes. #knitting. (long rows--extra credit!!)
23:14:20: Saw YouTube of speed knitting. I'm a slow knitter. Half hour for ~180 stitch row, which is 6 stitches/minute except also it's moving yarn.
23:15:58: Because yarn doesn't "flow" off cable onto needle points, there's frequent pausing (every 10 stitches or so) to move yarn "forward.
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