Jane and I celebrate Christmas, and while this has been a rough year for Jane, there is brightness too. We have made new friends and we are getting the house in order.
And a Christmas note on the kitty front: as you know, Jane and I have sis-Lynn’s elderly snowshoe Siamese we have been trying to integrate into our household, with the Bengal and the Scottish Fold, aka Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley (their online pseudonyms)…Tanner is of a fighting disposition, and it has not been easy. But he longs for company. Interspersed with absolute fear of our two. We have tried Feliway, Feliway calming collars, melatonin chews, and yes, hemp oil. We have moved Tanner up from the lonely basement to reside in a round canvas kennel under the Christmas tree, and let him out during the day while our two are asleep in my room. Come evening, out ours come and he goes back into the kennel.
We HAVE made progress—we have gotten Mr. Bingley to sit calmly, even doze on the cat tree about 8 feet from Tanner sitting on the sofa; and we have gotten Mr. Darcy to tolerate him with baleful stares from across the room. We shall not speak of the moment Mr. Bingley popped up on one side of Jane while Tanner was sleeping on the middle console. But there will be set-backs. The real news is, they are not cuddles, but they are beginning to define spaces and rights-of-way, and nobody has bled. Some fur has flown, but nothing serious. We’ve come a long way since April.
So from the felines of the household, Meowwwrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhissssspityyyyy Christmas!
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Merry Christmas, and Hopefully a calmer new year.
From all of me to all of you, dear salads, the best of the season and hopes for a better year next year, with peace on Earth and good will to kitties.
P.S. CJ, Did you get an envelope from Tx?
I agree, to salads and such of their owners. I’m expecting a better 2019 after my epidural Friday. Unfortunately, it means I can’t be taking any ibuprofen now, when I so much want it.
Just saw the “local” Flame Point Siamese checking out my backyard. I figured it was a “he” when I saw him doing the “Shake your Booty” thing on one of my Acer palmatum pots. Hadn’t seen him for a while, nor heard the coyotes in a while, but one never knows. Well, he’s gotten to be quite the “big boy”! No question of gender now.
Seasoned greetings to all the salads, and a better new year than the last one!
Alas, I fear that’ll take a couple years, not one.
Merry Christmas to all, all twelve days of it!
Merry Christmas to all. 2019 should be a good year, I got an email saying Alliance Rising will show up January 14. But did I miss a memo? It called the book Alliance Rising:The Hinder Stars l. That’s a great Christmas present
Herself had said that during the writing, the story expanded, so that there will be a second volume! This is wonderful news. She had also said there will be a history volume available through Closed-Circle.net, which is CJ’s, Jane’s, and Lynn Abbey’s site for their other books for which they have the ebook rights.
And of course, Herself is writing the next Foreigner book. So, good news all around. 😀
The 14th? I may have missed seeing an email, then. (I’d pre-ordered the ebook and HB editions many moons ago.) — I will be looking forward to the second book, haha, as soon as I finish the first.
I intend to curl up with Alliance Rising when it comes out and keep with it for a good old-fashioned marathon binge read-through.
Merry Christmas to all humans and fur friends — and the fishy ones, too! And I am convinced 2019 will be the best possible year.
A very Merry Christmas and Hannukah and happy holidays to all.
If anyone has a little kid or possibly a bigger kid who’s of the right disposition to appreciate it — there’s a very neat, cute Astronaut / Spaceman Kid stuffed toy that popped up while I was looking for something else. If I had a kid or grandkid, this would definitely be it.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/picassoRedirect.html/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?ie=UTF8&adId=A08639132LJDTJVKZCTC6&qualifier=1545693649&id=820325147702935&widgetName=sp_detail&url=%2Fdp%2FB01H3KWO76%2Fref%3Dsspa_dk_detail_2%3Fpsc%3D1%26pd_rd_i%3DB01H3KWO76%26pd_rd_w%3DC2TM3%26pf_rd_p%3D21517efd-b385-405b-a405-9a37af61b5b4%26pd_rd_wg%3DmIEEG%26pf_rd_r%3DNGQTNTT3FVS00R4MEM6W%26pd_rd_r%3D8c54e085-07d2-11e9-bb5a-dff16524fffe
Search Amazon for ( storklings spaceman plush soft toy ) and that should get it. — Size: 32cm; Cost: US $21; from the description, it’s super kid-safe;
In the links below, a primary / elementary-level kids’ book on space / astronauts turned up, plus little kid and older kid sized, reasonably realistic-looking astronaut costumes and space helmets.
One could claim the spaceman plush was a girl spacer with very short hair, rather than a boy spacer, if it seemed needed. — Personally, hmm, I think it would be a fine idea to have both so little girls can have a girl or lady astronaut buddy / role model (or alter-ego self) to pretend with. I don’t know if there are good options out there already, but hmm, it sure seems like a fine idea.
(If I wanted to get really too analytical, I might wonder why that stuffed toy says “male” to me instead of “neutral gender.” But it does.)
He looks great, though, perfectly huggable.
A very Merry Christmas to all!
Happy holidays!
Speaking of which, I may retire my desk job this year and do more writing. It has been a very long time since I last actively participated in Wave, I have missed you all. A question from the fans who also write..is there a good program that I could use to keep track of various notes that I may which to find again? Would One Note work or should I get a self contained program (to buy while I still have income)? 🙂
Of course I will try to search through CJ’s comments as well.
Regards, Byran (aka Jude Aae)
I don’t write myself nor know the program, but have heard from another author (Doug Farren) he’s using Scrivener https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview
Diane Duane uses Scrivener.
I’m still a wannabe author. To keep track of story notes, I generally either keep them in the same file as the story draft, as a chapter; or I keep a separate word processor document and add to it when I think to. — I have a story-universe for which I keep HTML pages with cross-referencing hyperlinks. I organize this with a Lexicon or Encyclopedia section, alphabetical order, and separate sections or pages for things like characters, places and ships and stations, lifeforms, other categories. This may change many ties as I come up with ideas and ideas change over time while writing. Coding up the web pages or transforming any text from word processor to web page and back is, however, still a royal pain in the posterior. As far as I know, no word processor or page layout program generates really clean HTML and CSS, or makes it easy to put things back into the word processor from web pages. And no word processor seems to want to generate a clean EPUB without standing on your head either, or a plugin which, meh, isn’t so great. (I have still not tried to master EPUB 3.2, though I want to.) So — it is what it is.
I have a flash drive where I’m sticking the bits my brain throws out. So far I have neither storyline nor plot….
I end up using plain old hand-coded HTML for my notes too – there’s plenty of programs available aimed at writers, but the longevity of these is doubtful, some are proprietary and you can’t easily export your data (especially online ones), and you can end up spending more time setting up a program than actually writing (another form of procrastination!). So hand-coding HTML is a pain, but it and plain text are the most future-proof methods of making notes on computers (to my knowledge) and can be read on any operating system.
I’ve written a first-draft FanFic sequel to something we all know & love. I did work to keep canon. Perhaps somewhat like BCS, before such a paragraph I just put a coded reference to [one of] the omnibus volumes and [a] page number[s], with a grey background and colored text so they’d stand out. It would be easy enough to pass through the text and delete them were a clean copy needed, that didn’t need to prove it was “according to canon”. I generally find it more manageable to avoid “features”. Word has something I don’t remember the name of, Notes, Tags, Comments, whatever, designed for reviewers to insert something. Seemed too much of a potential compatibility problem to me.
Did you change the RSS feed? My feed reader suddenly can’t read the feed.
After an astounding Solstice Moon and getting to watch my kitty (well, cat) sit on top of a 6 foot ladder lording himself over the Christmas Tree, I Wish all a Happy and Safe New Year. Thank you for the input and letting me join in the Reindeer games.
That visual reminded me of the cover featuring Cat, that Jane made for her story Blood Red Moon, but which ended up on the related short story Flux (free to download on Closed Circle! Look at the bottom of the Ebooks catalog page linked here).
I should reread those, they’re good and spooky winter stories.
Kitty News: I have been saying Mr. Assertive, the junior kitty, would be 8 at the end of the year. Apparently, I dropped a bit in the bit bucket. The first pictures I have of him are from when I’d had him about a week, 2010-01-07. So he is turning 9. (And because I count from when I got him, a known point, since his actual birthday is unknown, then he’s already 9, technically.) My goodness, he’s no longer a spring chicken. (He’s a cat. It would be quite odd if he’d been a chicken….)
Goober, the senior and non-asertive kitty, is still indeed 12, born in 2006. So all is well with both furry feline fellows. For which, I’m glad.
Not sure how I bungled the addition, but now I’m clear on the date again and Smokey’s age is set in my mind.
Junior, Senor Don Gato, the Old Fut, will be 20 this spring. He is not as spry as he used to be, and is prone to getting dreadlocks where he can’t bend right to groom any more. I’ve combed (yowrrrRRRrrlll!) and trimmed (YARRRRARRRREEE!!!!!), and the next step is getting him a poodle-do. He’s had a so-called lion cut before when he went Rasta, and after the initial indignity, found he quite liked it.
Haha! The mental images! So this biker cat clan walk into a bar, somebody casts aspersions on the young dude with the poodle cut, and…. This so needs a manga / anime….
I’m done with my epidural steroid injection. No apparent issue so far. I expect it to take a week or so before the steroids will have made their effects known.
I barely felt it this time, with the mild sedative. Last time, without, my back felt the needle and spasmed on its own.
That image made me cringe. OW! One hopes the steroids will be worth the angst.
I was trying mentally to relax the muscles, but they weren’t paying attention to the brain!
I wasn’t up for trying it a second time! But it lasted a year, all I could wish for. That time she was up above the sacrum in the L5 area. This time in the sacrum, just above my butt fissure. She told me this should relieve the nerves that tell me someone is doing acupuncture on the bottom or toes of my feet, or pinching my toes with pliers. But I’m not sure if it will help the “fine motor control” of my legs. I don’t “step lightly”, I lumber somewhat.
“Doctor, will I be able to dance after this injection?” “I expect so.” “Funny, I never could before.” (Of course that’s due to my autism, we are usually not physically “well coordinated”.)
N.B. Search Wikipedia for “dermatomes” and it has images for which nerves “surface” on different parts of the body.
Paul, I hope you feel better soon. You and our other associates here should not have to live with the daily physical problems we do.
We’ve had visitors and the world was busy indeed! Our son returned to California today and our daughter flies back to Virginia tomorrow. As the year turns, we hope that the approaching year is more felicitous, and the world kinder and gentler than this year past. Happy holidays to all the salads out there.
Greek Myths Question: I think it is in the 70’s movie version of Clash of the Titans, where a bronze automaton man, a giant created by Hephaestus, strides across a beach to create some mayhem, thwarted by Perseus. — Is there a name given for the bronze automaton / clockwork robot? Is this at all based in mythological source material, or did they just cook this up from odds and ends as a cool crowd-pleaser visual?
I find a reference that Hephaestus supposedly created / built his assistants (or fathered them) and that he could imbue his metalwork creations with movement or life, via his godlike skills. I also find a reference that he built tripod wheeled chairs or chariots to move around, since he was lame. (And there’s an explanation on the Wiki page that Hephaestus being lame may have been a tribal memory of early metalworkers and smiths getting arsenic or lead poisoning (or others) through their work.
I’m curious just how imaginatively detailed the Greeks got about these, and whether the Greeks had names for these classes of things, or individual creatures / machines / objects like these, in the same way that shields or swords or horses or ships got names.
My reference source on those was the Wiki article on Hephaestus. I don’t recall much if any mention elsewhere. (I used to and might still have an HB copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology and a book by Edith Hamilton (name?) on Greek mythology. Hoping these are safely in storage. :-/
I had not watched all of Season 3 of the Expanse, so I was going to find where I left off and restart. I then tried with ep 3.01 and…hmm…that didn’t look familiar. Been too long. So I went back to Season 2. And searched backward and…I am going to rewatch Season 2, which I’d watched most or all of in the first half of 2017, now almost two years ago! No wonder I’m not sure. But I did discover, after getting to the end of 2.01, I had indeed watched it, but have forgotten in the meantime. So I will be rewatching seasons 2 and 3 over the next few weeks. No idea when we’ll see Season 4 on Amazon, so I guess we’re still fine. Can’t decide if I’ve just had too much water pass under the bridge, or if it’s a senior moment. Oh well, I don’t mind rewatching, the show’s great.
Looking forward to The Orville season 2 tomorrow night, though I have it via season pass, so I think it’ll be Monday before I get the episode to watch.
And — It’s only 10 days until Alliance Rising arrives. A bit more for some of us to get our copies. — I intend to do a binge read, only coming up for air as necessary. 🙂
Here’s a thought: In two more days, every kid born in the year 2000 will have turned 18. Yeah, gives one pause, doesn’t it?
I have been remembering friends long out of contact, or gone from this world into the next, whatever that may be. I am both melancholy and just faintly hopeful. I have been trying to let go of that and move on into the future, and find something better. The past few years have had such big ups and downs, and yet for some reason, I’m still around to face whatever’s next. So…I’m trying to remind myself, hey, I have (presumably) between 13 and 50 more years on the planet, depending on random chance and whose genetics prevails. So…well, I want that time to be as good as possible. There’s been a little improvement, but I want things to be better, personally and in general. I just don’t know what’s ahead yet, or who might be in that future. Too much room for improvement, so maybe that’s a good chance for some.
I am really hoping 2019 is better to all of us. Best Wishes, Everyone. 2019 is here in two more days.
Weird. Apparently, I never watched The Expanse after ep 2.02. So I watched 2.01 and 2.02 yesterday, and plan to watch a couple of episodes every day or two, to get caught up through the end of season 3, and therefore current and ready for whenever we get season 4.
(I’m going to be looking for a première date for Stranger Things season 3.)
Grumbles: Doctor Who New Year’s special upcoming, instead of a Christmas special. The time stream has gone all wibbly-wobbly, timey-whimey…. But at least there is one.
Well, I don’t have a TV or Cable, but I do have a Computer/Internet + Netflix, and I recently got season 3 of The Expanse on my system… Have you heard whether they’re going to produce a season 4?
I heard they changed companies for the third season, and that’s often a bad sign… Also season 3 was DVD-only, unlike season 2, which came out on Blu-Ray…
Plus: Ren & Stimpy say: Happy, Happy, Joy Joy Joy!
@Grognard – At least in the US, you can get The Expanse seasons 1 through 3 on iTunes and Amazon Prime. I haven’t checked about the DVD or Blu-Ray status for season 3.
Yes, Amazon bought the rights for a 4th season (and any future seasons) of The Expanse last year, after SyFy Channel’s short-sighted dropping of the series. — Production on season 4 started, but there has been no official release / première date yet. It will air on Amazon Prime in the US and (I believe) in Canada. I don’t know where it will air internationally, whether on Amazon or Netflix, but presumably there. (Google periodically for info.)
(It occurs to me I need to look up “grognard” in French 🙂 to see if there is another meaning besides the two allusions I can think of in English or French.
I couldn’t help but watch more episodes, so I’ll be caught up fairly soon with all three seasons. Oh, what a great show! (I need to read the books still.) — I’ve promised myself to take time out at night and read more often. Just maybe it will also help me relax. But I can easily get lost in reading a good book and not come up for air for hours. (That’s how I read Downbelow Station and Pride of Chanur and Chanur’s Venture, hah.)
Very impressed (again) with The Expanse. So very glad it was bought by Amazon, and hoping it will get widespread distribution. I’d love to see it on Blu-Ray sets too. It’s a keeper.
(For reasons unknown, Stranger Things season 1 is on Blu-Ray but apparently season 2 is only on DVD. And it’s only available online or for streaming, from Netflix — so far.)
Our library is definitely picking up as many seasons of The Expanse as we can; both production values and storyline are good quality. We should probably grab Stranger Things as well.
@Chondrite, When I was in college as a Chem major those many years ago, my math concentrated on calculus and analytical geometry, not spherical geometry. And I don’t have a globe I could stretch a rubberband on for a Great Circle. But perhaps your local astronomer did.
The speculation has come to me, if one were sitting on Polihale Beach at sundown on the solstices, contemplating a whole lot of miles of pretty much nothing but water, over what lands would the sun be?
At roughly 22°N, and an inclination of roughly 23.5°, I’m guessing at the Winter Solstice the Sun is pointing the way to somewhere just +1.5° north of the Equator. In summer to somewhere about the 45th Parallel, where far to the east Salem, OR, is. Longitude is the perennial question. (180°-158°W)=22° to the Dateline, (90-22°)=62°E, i.e. west of the Dateline? Somewhere around Tashkent in summer, half-way between the Seychelles and Maldives in winter?
That didn’t “feel” right. I got the sign wrong. Should’ve been 112° I think. In summer along the Mongolian border northwest of Beijing, and Sarawak on the Island of Borneo in winter.
And a Happy New Year to all! May 2019 be a peaceful, prosperous and kind new year.
Wishing all the salads a new and better year than last year was!
Many of the salads have undoubtedly already greeted the New Year. From the middle of the Pacific, Hauoli Makahili Hou (and may this year be better in all ways)!
Happy new year to everyone here