Harry Connolly's Blog, page 199

A totally unexpected development

I am shocked shocked to learn that tea party protesters shouted "nigger" at black congressmen, and shouted "faggot" and yelled in lisping voices at Barney Frank. Representative Emanuel Cleaver was spat on by a protester, but told the police he would not press charges, so the police released the spitter.

Who could have foreseen such a thing? I'm sure leading GOP figures will step forward to denounce the spitting and name-calling against their colleagues across the aisle.

Five things make a post

1) Apparently, Twitter prestige is based on the ratio of followers to following. I'm not prestigious. #statingtheobvious

2) That's the first hash tag I've used. I can never seem to remember to include them in a post tweet. I also realized that my Twitter bio was too wordy. This site might actually be good for me.

3) I wish it was more obvious when people retweeted things I write. Or maybe it is and I just don't know where to look.

4) And because I don't want to talk about Twitter all t...

Randomness for 3/19

1) LOLKIMs

2) WWII, as interpreted by Facebook

3) South Dakota legislators pass bill requiring schools to teach that global warming is partly caused by "astrological" forces.

4) The Twilight Drinking Game.

5) Contact lenses of the future! via SeattleGeekly

6) Obviously fake, but still funny.

7) A picture of Hugo Gernsback sporting the look that kicked off a thousand "parents' basement" jokes.

Understandable impulses

Everyone is all aflutter about the state of U.S. public edgimacation. As I've mentioned before, we homeschool but I don't want to talk about that too much. Instead I want to talk about this NY Times editorial.

Now, I've always understood that people are alarmed about public education nationally, but most people think their school is an exception. (Do note that qualifier–I didn't add it to up the word count of this post.) They (still refering to "most people") believe their teachers are d...

Child of Fire Reviews, Part 12

More reviews behind the cut:

1) LJ user occasionalhope gives it a B+, saying in total: "good new urban fantasy voice, will definitely be interested din his future work"

2) Fiction Kingdom loved it and gave it "five crowns": "I know some people might start reading it because Jim Butcher recommended it, but I have to say, this is NOT a Dresden novel or anything that resembles it. If you're expecting something exactly liked that series, you're going to be disappointed."

3) Kai at Fiction State of ...

From the Department of Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time…

I installed, then uninstalled Wordpress Stats. It seemed like a simple Google Analytics replacement (and I was fascinated… fascinated to discover that someone found by blog by searching for "golden girls" homosexuals') but the negatives were too great.

What were they? Well, I couldn't post to my blog. As soon as I deleted the plugin, the problem went away. So now I have to choose a different Google Analytic plugin so I can continue to ponder why the Lego diorama post and #Agentlove are s...

Completing the circuit

FB users, this is an embed. Click through to watch it.

Randomness for 3/17

1) My son's latest Lego stop-motion movie. Actually, it's part one of a longer story, and yeah, I provide voiceover work. (But just a little).

2) Margaret Atwood sings!

3) Did you know that Amazon.com sells cans of uranium ore? Here's one of the customer reviews: "I purchased this product 4.47 Billion Years ago and when I opened it today, it was half empty."

4) Teal and Orange – Hollywood, Please Stop the Madness!

5) Rob Liefeld's Dreams Are One Step Closer To Reality "You know, I really ...

"I write it because I want it to come true"

A few discussions and comments online have prompted me to revisit some old ideas. For instance, Charles Stross recently brought up the whole fantasy-is-a-pro-monarchy genre idea, and James Nicoll touched on writers working in genres where the "core political assumptions" (such as contempt for the rule of law in UF) went against the writer's personal beliefs.

Leaving aside the Stross comment, which I've sniffed at before, let me throw a question out to you: Do you read/watch/consume...

This is the kind of nice guy I am

I'm going to give you a fantastic but easy apple gingerbread dessert for St. Paddy's Day. Why? Because I care about you and your taste buds, that's why.

Sherwood, you'll want to skip right over this.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Core and peel a pound and a half of apples. Then slice them up into half-inch pieces and mix with 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp lemon peal and spread it out in the bottom of a greased 8X8 inch baking pan.

Sift 1 and 1/4 cups of flour, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2...