Scarlett Letters

My ISP has been having email issues since last night. If you've sent me email in the last 12-16 hours, or you need to get in touch, please PM me here. I'll post when the outage has been cleared.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan and my friends in Hawaii. The Earth is an angry, powerful mother. Bad enough the flooding and quake damage in Japan; I hope that nuclear power plant is gotten under control.

The West Coast of the U.S. is under a tsunami advisory and parts of the Washington state coast have been evacuated as a precautionary measure. Seattle is too far inland for a tsunami to be a threat to the city. The Olympic Peninsula and the Straights of Juan de Fuca act as buffers and will diffuse residual energy before any tsunami effects might reach us. I consider us fortunate. On the other hand, more activity like this on the Ring of Fire makes me nervous. But we can't really do anything about that.

Representative King, just so you know: Your hearings are an embarrassment to this nation. They are divisive, expensive, and they won't make this country any safer. All they are doing is putting your bigotry on public record. We've been here before, but I guess you haven't learned anything about some guy named Joe McCarthy. We'll say your name and his in one breath someday, probably this afternoon.

On a completely different subject, I won't be doing the census meme currently making the rounds. It would require more research than I feel like doing right now and I just don't feel like doing that kind of looking back. Right now, I'm trying to do a lot of looking forward.

I've made an appointment to get my computer looked at tomorrow. I'll be doing a major clean-up and back-up tonight.

A difference engine comes to Silicon Valley--CNET

"MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--'Excuse me, Richard, we have a very large parcel.'

With those words, spoken by John Shulver of London's Science Museum, a day of supreme geekery unfolded at the Computer History Museum here.

To be precise, the package in question was the delivery and installation of a difference engine, a brand new model of a 19th-century-era machine designed--but never actually built--by Charles Babbage. It was designed to be a mechanical calculator which can determine polynomial functions."

The piece includes lots of pictures. Go feast thine eyes, my fellow tech geeks. It is a sight to behold.

I was going through my hard drive today trying to find a particular essay that I'd mentioned to a friend this weekend. It was something I'd written in response to a conversation I had with dochyel more than 10 years ago about Adam and Eve and God's reaction to their eating the apple. I couldn't find it; my suspicion is that it's lost to old technology and the dim mists of time. I may try to reconstruct it at some point.

In the meanwhile, however, I found a light thing I wrote when I got rid of my old TV set and purchased the one I have now. It entertained me then and was something of a comfort (because I'm an odd duck) so, since I can't find the thing I was looking for, I'll post this instead. ( Hail RCA, hail mono sound, hail rabbit ears... )

Thanks to oldmangrumpus, I'm online and able to work while the computer situation gets resolved. He's loaned me a PowerBook that will do nicely, bless him. And yes, the decision is to get a new machine. Made the decision after I made my last post but before I got all the horrified responses urging me to run screaming for the cash register. :-)

This evening after dinner, I received a call from the Apple Store saying that my old machine is now backed up and ready to be picked up tomorrow morning. I need to do a little financial juggling and a little research, but I hope to have a new machine by Wednesday latest.

And now that I'm over the irritation and anger about this unexpected development, I'm looking forward to making the new investment. I'm inclined to go with the low-end MacBook Pro 15" because a) I want the new functionality that's available, b) I don't want a smaller screen than I already have, and c) I don't want to spend more than I absolutely have to. oldmangrumpus made an argument for the 13" MacBook based on image quality on the smaller screen and financial considerations, and though I see his point, I'm still edging toward the larger screen and the functionality issues. Anyone who has informed opinions on these issues, opinions would be appreciated.

Well, this weekend wasn't what I expected. I thought, oh sure, I'll commute to the hotel, get things done, see friends, and be responsible all at the same time. Nope, no chance of that happening.

Mainly, this year for the first time I can remember, there was another convention going on in the neighborhood at the same time as Norwescon. That meant that parking was an unprecedented nightmare. I ultimately took a room at the hotel, purely out of self-preservation. In the end, of course, this was a wise choice, but at base it became the most expensive parking cost I've ever incurred.

At this point, on Sunday morning, I can't possibly recount everything that's happened this weekend. I've seen most of the usual suspects, spent a great deal of time at parties, and got to attend several panels that I wasn't on for once. I took the time to do a couple of things I haven't done at this convention before, including going to the StarDance which I enjoyed the hell out of, and which was notable in that a) many of the SLGC folk were there and they can dance like nobody's business, and b) I witnessed the, um, presence and performance of someone who became known as half-naked balloon guy. Really, that's all that need be said there. Spent some time with new people (another thing I rarely do) which was a breath of fresh air. I read at TALEBONES LIVE!, immediately concluding that I'd read entirely the wrong pieces even though one had been specifically requested.

I also got some pleasant news, which is that subject to some revision, it looks like I've sold a story to Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, an especially nice thing to happen a) during a convention weekend and b) after a 9-month response time. Good things come to those who submit stories . . . and wait.

I have one more program item to participate in, and then I'll be heading back to Seattle. It's been a fine weekend, but I'm ready to be home again.

Special Note: The weekend ends, however, in a way I'm not terribly happy about. It looks as though my laptop has suffered some sort of damage (but then the damn thing has never proven especially sturdy when it comes to travel). The screen is not working and the power light isn't working. At this writing, I'm seated at a hotel computer to catch up on LJ and e-mail. After this, however, I have no idea when I'll be online again. Should anyone need to reach me, the telephone is the best bet. I'll be making an appointment with the Apple Store Genius Bar and hoping like hell the repair cost won't be outrageous. I am concerned, however, about the time reapirs will take, given that I've got story revisions to do. Everything is backed up, but this is a helluva time for the machine to crap out on me.