Two months ago, garunya blogged about this map of the planned Intercontinental Subway System. (Well, we can dream.) I've kept the window open to that page in one of my browsers for two months, intending to post about it here, but never finding the right moment. What do you know -- the right moment finally came.

About a month ago, elisem asked people to post about Fourth Street Fantasy Convention. Elise wrote: "Although it's been a little quiet on the publicity end, this revival of the legendary Minneapolis-based fantasy convention of decades back is cheerfully open to everybody who wants to get a membership, and I hope lots of people do, because I'm throwing this big party on Friday night, and [Elizabeth] Bear and Sarah [Monette] and some other folks are going to read necklace challenge stories and other Artists' Challenge works, and the more people who are there, the better it'll be." So please, consider yourself invited. The convention folks have even extended the registration deadline to May 31st.

(Person on my friends list most likely to cave to the last-minute pressure and go to the con: Evan, because he misses talking physics with Marissa. Okay, so it's not likely to happen, but it's more likely than anyone else.)

In about a month, it will actually be time for Fourth Street. A vacation would be nice right about then. Or now -- I'm not picky.

In about two months, it will be time for Readercon... and an art exhibition that rbfineart has been counting down to for months. The same weekend. Oy. What to do?

For garunya, since he mentioned it as an earworm, here's a cover he might not have heard:



I can't think of anything at the moment that's been stuck in my head. My iPod has been on shuffle a lot lately.

A useful site: Down for everyone, or just me?

(found via Making Light -- oh, the irony)

Ladies and gentlemen, Billy Preston.



Keep watching to see him cover Gershwin in the styles of Bach and Ray Charles.

The word "cromulent" is a neologism coined by the television show The Simpsons. Here's a quotation from Wikipedia:

Cromulent means "valid, acceptable", or, possibly, "commonplace". Embiggen, coined by Dan Greaney, means "to make bigger", or, used symbolically, means "to empower". The DVD commentary for [the episode] "Lisa the Iconoclast" makes a point of reinforcing that "embiggens" and "cromulent" were completely made up by the writers and have since taken on a life of their own via the Internet and other media. "Cromulent" has since appeared in the Webster’s New Millennium Dictionary of English. An experimental theater troupe in Minneapolis, Minnesota calls itself the Cromulent Shakespeare Company.

When schoolteacher Edna Krabappel hears the Springfield town motto "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man," she comments she'd never heard the word "embiggens" before moving to Springfield. Miss Hoover, another teacher, replies, "I don’t know why; it’s a perfectly cromulent word." Later in the episode, while talking about Homer’s audition for the role of town crier, Principal Skinner states "He's embiggened that role with his cromulent performance."

1) I took more pictures this weekend and organized some older pictures that had been spread out across several hard drives. So, voila, I've posted more pics at my Flickr page. I haven't decided if I'm going to stick(r) with Flickr, go back to Picasa, or do some of both, and I also don't know if I'm going to keep the pics public. Generally, I don't take pics in places if it's not allowed, but I'm afraid I'll still be told to take some of them down some day.

2) ( skin cancer )

3) ( chicken wings )

4) ( news flash: Logic is not intuition )

5) ( in the wake of the Public Domain Body Parts Kerfuffle )

6) ( the business of writing )

7) I really need to write more and send more stuff out.

For garunya, who misses the one he had:

A Cherry Coke Transformer. It also includes another robot that transforms into a can of Suntory sports drink.

Poll #1176852 The Week in Review
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Last weekend's convention aside, if someone walked up to you in public and asked to touch non-sexually a part of your body normally covered in public because of indecent exposure laws, which computer operating system would that person most likely prefer?

Word or not a word: skeevy, skeezy.

To you, the biggest holiday in the past seven days was

Of these choices, most interesting battle to use as a fictional background:

... by garunya.

Here are the rules. (You've seen this one before, this is just a 'recursive' version)

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to garunya's blog (your taggees will post to mine, etc.) once you've posted your three sentences.

( Want some candy? )

The guy who writes XKCD, the "I Can Haz Cheezburger" folks, the Paperclip-to-House guy, the Tron guy, the people who write Homestar Runner -- do these people mean anything to you?

If so, you may have an internet meme addiction. If you don't get help this weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at ROFLcon, the first convention especially for fans of internet memes, please get help somewhere.

I mean, all these people, in one place? That's the strangest thing I've heard of since that mash-up of "Loveshack" and "Wish You Were Here."

Oh, and Chuck Norris doesn't need an internet meme convention. He needs a job offer. Seriously, send some scripts to his agent. The Total Gym isn't selling as well as it used to.

Hotel room reserved. "Call back and talk to a more clueful employee" was good advice. (Thanks!)

Vacation time scheduled. Readercon is still not completely a go, but the outlook is good.

Where to start, hmm...

1) The block of rooms for Fourth Street Fantasy Con? Sold out. I've booked a room, but it was more expensive than it had to be, because I waited too late.

2) The hotel for Readercon didn't recognize the phrase "Readercon rate." Or the name "Readercon." I've sent an e-mail off to the nice folks on the con com about that one. If there is no Readercon rate, there may be no Readercon for me. I haven't decided.

3) The airfares for Fourth Street were uninspiring, as were the odd combinations of times they offered. Since the con is in Minneapolis, I thought to look on Northwest's website, rather than assuming Orbitz would find a good fare for me. The price wasn't great, but I did get a non-stop flight there, which almost never happens for those of us not in major metropolitan areas. The flight back goes through a very close hub, too. That's about the only bright spot in tonight's travel stuff.

It may be another day or two before I can stomach another round of airline negotiations, this time for Worldcon and VP. Fortunately, I made my hotel reservation in December.

"Mercury Beating Like a Heart" would make a good title. By all means, steal it.



(grabbed from here)

I've uploaded some photos to my Flickr page. These are all urban fantasies, for your urban fantasizing pleasure, even the pork rinds.

I intend to upload some photos from Potlatch and Boskone, but I have no idea when.

You can download a free copy of John Kessel's new collection of stories, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories, at lcrw.net/kessel, courtesy of Small Beer Press. You can also read a few of the stories online from the same webpage. If you like the stories, hardcover copies are available for purchase.

Kelly Link's first story collection Stranger Things Happen is also available for free download. I haven't read it yet. Any recs from it? I reread Link's novella "Magic For Beginners" the last few nights and had forgotten how much I liked it, for the sly voice, the clever connections, and the moments of starlit wonder. I still don't get the ending, but maybe I'm not supposed to.

1) Standard deviation.
2) Charm offensive.

These are oxymorons I haven't seen on any published list. Do you have any oxymorons like that?

Where did the Absolute Write forums go?

ETA: They're back up now. (Thanks, jenwrites and e_underwood!)

( this really needed a cut )

"Babies Sleep Tied To Childhood Obesity"