Harry Connolly's Blog, page 194

Yay Museum of Flight!

The layout is kinda funky, and why did the WW1 and WW2 planes have to be in such a dark environment? (My wife thinks it's to preserve the planes, but I'm doubtful.) I had to take those photos w/out the flash on my little camera, so I apologize if I blurred the picture by moving during a long exposure.

But aside from that, it's really a fantastic place. Truly awesome and amazing.

Here's the Gossamer Albatross II, the human-powered plane from a few years ago.

Here's a V1 rocket and...

Randomness for 4/17

1) Hire an evil clown to stalk your child! Does this scream "Media hoax!" to anyone else?

2) This only needs one word: iPie.

3) Short hair is the new long hair.

4) Porn for blind people.

5) Automated online blackmail.

6) The internet was made for this: Betty White in a Metal Bikini Wielding a Flaming Chainsaw While Riding a John Ritter Centaur

7) The trustworthiness of beards. via pnh's Sidelights.

I love my wife.

Really, I love her like crazy.

But she uses a pencil to mark her place in books. Hardbacks. Right up close to the spine.

At this point, I've gotten in the habit replacing the pencil with a combination of one actual bookmark and a little nagging. But I love her anyway.

Armbinder's "Beating Obesity" and half-hearted measures

Has everyone (with an interest in the subject) read Marc Ambinder's "Beating Obesity" article in The Atlantic? He's posted responses to some of the most common replies, but they're only marginally interesting.

What is interesting to me, aside from the news that bariatric surgery often cures type 2 diabetes, sometimes immediately(!), is that the author acknowledges the tremendously difficult challenge the country faces, and basically admits that there are powerful cultural forces driving...

Health and vision insurance

If my rent went up by 10 percent a year, that would be a horror show.

If my electric bill went up by 8.8 percent a year, I'd be rendering oils for my lanterns before the end of the decade.

But because these increases are happening in my vision and health care insurance (respectively), I'm supposed to be grateful, because those increases have been bartered down from 17%.

Even stranger, my supervisor and co-workers keep talking about how they "don't know how much longer I'll be sticking with m...

Child of Fire reviews, Part (lucky) 13

Behind the cut, as always:

1) LiveJournaler spartezda gave it a big thumbs up: "Definitely recommended for Dresden fans, but for most other fantasy readers as well."

2) Simon Bisson (as @sbisson) says: "Recent reads: Child of Fire. Harry Connolly tells us magic isn't at all nice and Olympic werewolves are worse. The result? Blood and fire." In this case, "Olympic" refers to the peninsula, not the games.

3) Carl Rigney (as @carlrigney) says: "Good choice! I really liked @byharryconnolly 's...

Randomness for 4/14

1) Hoarding TV shows cured my hoarding.

2) Old comic book Hostess and Twinkie ads repurposed for the KFC Double Down.

3) An old Randomness entry revisited: House made of Lego blocks destroyed.

4) Propaganda posters for 80's arcade games.

5) 3D without the glasses. Not for folks who are drunk, hungover, or slightly queasy.

6) Ta Nahisi-Coates on "The Lost Cause."

7) Electro's secret identity revealed!

In which I am annoying

You know that annoying thing writers do when they announce that they have something awesome in the works but can't talk about it yet? A Soopah Sekrit Project? You know how they do that thing?

Well, I'm doing that thing. It's totally exciting and I hope I don't fuck it up.

In other news, what happened to memes? I used to see memes cruise through my friends list all the time, but I almost never see them now (and I'm hankering to do something simple in a post). Maybe I should create one.

MacSpeech Dictate

Does anyone reading this use MacSpeech Dictate? How's it working out for you?

Dreams

Don't worry, I'm not going to describe my dreams to you. I am going to point out that I've had three days in a row of rest and rehab and paying back my sleep debt. Yesterday, for instance, I woke at my usual alarm-clock time (just before 5 am) and went into the living room with no writing work on my plate. Man Bites World is turned in and awaiting editorial notes. My proposal for Project Number Next is in the mail. I even shipped off a couple copies of Child of Fire for reviews. I...