Month: September 2007

bookmark_borderFront Row Seats to G-d?

Posted on by PaulaO

Got this from My Way News, AP’s Strange News section:

Synagogue Seats Go for $1.8M at Auction
Sep 8, 4:00 PM (ET)

By MATT SEDENSKY

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Just in time for the Jewish high holidays, two lifetime front-row seats to services at a synagogue here are being auctioned off on eBay. The bidding starts at $1.8 million.

Besides getting to schmooze up front with the rabbi, the lucky winner’s family name will be engraved on Seats 1 and 2 of Row 1, Section DD, at Temple Emanu-El. The winner also will receive free parking, two custom-made prayer shawls and yarmulkes, and a hefty tax write-off. Plus, the winning bidder can pass the seats down to his or her children.

“It’s a gift that goes from one generation to another,” said Rabbi Kliel Rose, who came up with the concept with a little bit of chutzpah and the help of two congregants who work in advertising and marketing.

The auction ends Monday evening, but as of Saturday afternoon, no one had made a wager. Rose said he wasn’t surprised. He said the auction was more about gaining the attention of Jews who are disconnected from their faith.

“It has very little to do with the money,” Rose said. “Hypothetically, if the money comes, it would be great, but the idea was really just to be edgy.”

Temple Emanu-El is a 1,400-seat conservative congregation that was founded in the 1940s on South Beach. It had thousands of members in its heyday, but the temple shrunk to a little more than 200 families by the time Rose arrived two years ago.

link to article

I was raised Baptist. Auction off seats in the back row of a Baptist church and watch the bids come rolling in.

bookmark_borderSidewalks and Exercise

Posted on by PaulaO

Oy. Ya know, if the Americans with Disabilities Act (a SEVENTEEN year old law) was followed like it should be, fat obese able-bodied Americans would have one less thing to use as an excuse hindering them from exercising via walking.

From MyWay News:

Exercisers Stuck in Unwalkable Settings
By MIKE STOBBE

ATLANTA (AP) – Nearly one in four people in the Atlanta area are exercise enthusiasts stuck in neighborhoods without sidewalks or other walking amenities, according to a study that illustrates a problem for many Americans. Researchers said the findings point to the need for more exercise-friendly places to live.

“The bottom line is the built environment really does matter to health,” said Lawrence Frank, a University of British Columbia researcher who led the study.

Walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods have sidewalks leading to nearby shops, restaurants or other destinations. They are built in a way that makes it easier to walk and get to buses and trains. Many are older neighborhoods, located in more urban areas.

Frank is among a group of scientists who have shown that people who live in walkable neighborhoods tend to weigh less than people who live in more isolated and car-dependent areas.

“He’s the first one to make a connection between land use and obesity,” said Christopher Leinberger, director of the University of Michigan’s real estate program.

Frank’s current study examined whether a community’s walkability affected obesity rates. The research showed that exercisers had a similarly low obesity rate whether they lived in walkable neighborhoods or not. It was 12 percent for those in walkable areas versus 15 percent in non-walkable neighborhoods, a difference that was not statistically significant.

Among those who prefer to drive, however, about 21.5 percent were obese, and it also didn’t matter whether they lived in walkable or non-walkable neighborhoods.

The distances driven were also noted. Exercisers in walkable neighborhoods drove 26 miles a day, while those in non-walkable neighborhoods drove about 37 miles.

Among non-exercisers, those in walkable neighborhoods drove 26 miles, and compared to 43 miles in areas that were mostly car-friendly.

(link to article)

What? Neighborhoods with sidewalks? Too dangerous for pedestrians to walk on the side of the street? Hello? Wheelers have been asking for sidewalks for eons. Many of us are forced to roll in the street, even when there are sidewalks (curb cuts are not hard to make, folks, really).

A 17 yr old law won’t get sidewalks in American neighborhoods but a study linking the lack of them to obesity will. I think the study and its results are interesting, however.

bookmark_borderVoyager I and II

Posted on by PaulaO

It has been THIRTY years since they were launched. THIRTY years. Amazing. And still going.

Wired News has a series of photos from the two Voyager spacecraft.

NASA has a listing of all missions (past, current, and future) and links to their websites.

Linkage:
NASA | NASA missions | current missions | Voyager I and II

Wikipedia | Voyager program | Voyager I | Voyager II

And of course, let’s not forget V’ger from the Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

In related news, 28 Jet Propulsion Lab scientists are suing to be excluded from the Department of Homeland Security’s background check as stipulated in “Directive 12“.

From Wired Science:

JPL Scientists Sue Federal Government and Caltech for NASA’s Background Checks
Over his four decades at the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dennis Byrnes worked on the Apollo 7 spacecraft, set the Galileo probe on a course to Jupiter and received a NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Award.

But because Byrnes won’t let federal investigators snoop into intimate details of his personal life, he could lose his job.

Byrnes is one of 28 Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) senior scientists and engineers who today sued NASA, the Department of Commerce and CalTech over background checks required of all federal employees by the Department of Homeland Security.

“We’re talking about the best and brightest scientists in the world. We’re talking about jet propulsion, the Mars probe, the lunar landing, Galileo, the comet landing project,” said Dan Stormer of Hadsell & Stormer, the civil rights law firm representing the scientists. “And they’re being asked to give up their constitutional rights in order to keep their jobs.”

(snip)

Beyond the legal issues, the scientists say that the background checks will discourage researchers from working for NASA and are irrelevant to their jobs.

“I can fly a spacecraft to any planet in the galaxy, and I’m being judged by people who don’t have a clue as to my technical qualifications whether I’m suitable for government service,” said Byrnes.

He continued, “It’s already an extremely rigorous process when the labs hire someone. We check your degrees, whether you worked where you said you did. All that is normal and fine. This is something else. This is McCarthyism.”

link to article

(also note, as you visit the NASA websites, that since NASA is part of the U.S. gov’t, the images are considered public domain and therefor available for use.)

bookmark_borderBook Notes:

Posted on by PaulaO

From Shelf Awareness:

Barnes & Noble Will Do If I Did It

After initially just saying no to stocking If I Did It by O.J. Simpson in its stores, Barnes & Noble has reversed course and will offer the books, according to the AP. The company cited customer demand for the switch. From the beginning, B&N said it would sell the book on B&N.com, where it has been ordered in advance in large quantities.

“We’ve been monitoring the pre-orders and customer requests and have concluded that enough customers have expressed interest in buying the book to warrant stocking it in our stores,” B&N spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating told the AP. “We do not intend to promote the book but we will stock it in our stores because our customers are asking for it.”

Beaufort Books is publishing If I Did It on September 13. The rights are mainly controlled by the family of the late Ron Goldman.

Awards: The Hugos
Winners of the 2007 Hugo Awards were announced on Saturday during Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention, in Yokohama, Japan:

* Best Novel: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (Tor)
* Best Novella: A Billion Eves by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, Oct./Nov. 2006)
* Best Novelette: The Djinn’s Wife by Ian McDonald (Asimov’s, July 2006)
* Best Short Story: “Impossible Dreams” by Tim Pratt (Asimov’s, July 2006)
* Best Related Non-Fiction Book: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips (St. Martin’s)
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Pan’s Labyrinth, screenplay and directed by Guillermo del Toro (Picturehouse)
* Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Doctor Who–“Girl in the Fireplace,” written by Steven Moffat, directed by Euros Lyn (BBC Wales/BBC1)
* Best Editor, Long Form: Patrick Nielsen Hayden
* Best Editor, Short Form: Gordon Van Gelder
* Best Professional Artist: Donato Giancola
* Best Semiprozine: Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong and Liza Groen Trombi
* Best Fanzine: Science-Fiction Five-Yearly edited by Lee Hoffman, Geri Sullivan and Randy Byers
* Best Fan Writer: Dave Langford
* Best Fan Artist: Frank Wu

The winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines and administered on their behalf by the World Science Fiction Society: Naomi Novik

bookmark_borderOpinions

Posted on by PaulaO

Sometimes it is best to keep your opinion to yourself. Because sometimes that opinion is yours and yours alone and no one else agrees with it.

I have killed my writing career by stating my opinion. The thing is, I still agree with what I said, I just wish I’d kept it to myself. Hero worship is a horrible thing to have due to the intelligence level of the group dropping tremendously when the group is large enough. Or fervent enough. Just take a look at the Republicans and the Village Idiot they put on the throne here in the U.S.

I said negative things about someone that some fervent people see as a Literary Lesbian Icon. I don’t see this person as a Literary Lesbian Icon and am uncomfortable with her presentation to the Real World as a Literary Lesbian Icon. THE Lee Lynch is a Literary Lesbian Icon. If lesbians wanted someone to represent them to the Literary Real World, then I’d choose her. Not this other person. I’d barely consider the other person a Lesbian Icon and certainly not a Literary one.

But I said what I meant. I apologized to the list. I even included an apology to the person I was talking about. I didn’t offer any excuses or reasons. BUT, I’m not taking it back. I said what I wanted to say because I believe in it. Folks love me or hate me because I say what is on my mind.

On the Yahoo group list, I am being burned alive. Someone has suggested I be removed from the list for breaking the, basically, “no flame” rule. snort. If that is so, then about 3/4 of the people who responded to me should be removed too. I won’t cry if I am. I would rather go to Literary Hell for saying my mind than to slowly die from the idol worship around me.

I’m still going to write books. I am hoping my publisher still buys them. The advance will probably be all I will ever get for any of them and I may wind up owing the publisher money in the long run.

bookmark_borderGoings On

Posted on by PaulaO

Now that the headaches have eased (I’m nervous to actually say they are gone), I have been busy writing and doing the little things I haven’t been able to do.

I’ve mentioned a few times but I thought I would mention it again ’cause, well, I want to. I have several aquariums. Currently, I have four.

  • 2.5 gallon is horribly overstocked with Pomecea bridgesii (brigs) snails and blond juvenile Marisa cornuarietis (marisa) snails.
  • 10 gallon has Neocaridina denticulata sinensis (red cherry) shrimp; Planorbidae sp. (red ramshorn) snails; and Thiaridae Melanoides tuberculatus (trumpet) snails. Oh, and loads of planaria I can’t get rid of. This is my “planted tank”.
  • 10 gallon has the male brigs, striped juvenile marisas, and Viviparus malleatus (trapdoor) snails as well as 3 Loricariidae Ancistrus sp. (bristlenose) catfish.
  • 25 gallon has three goldfish (an Oranda, a Ruyinkin, and a Shubunkin) and two adult Bristlenose.

In a little bin on top the filter on the 2.5 gallon tank are some itty bitty baby Pomecea canaliculata (cana) snails and some itty bitty baby marisas.

In a few days or so, I will be getting a huge honkin’ 150 gallon tank that will house the fish in either the whole tank or about half of it.

Except for the snails, I get almost all my fish stuff at Asheville Aquarium. They’re cool folk who know their stuff.

The little 2.5 gallon tank sits here on the desk next to me. All the female brigs and the un-genderized juvenile brigs are in there so I get to watch them all day (and night). They are so funny to watch! I never thought I would like snails but I actually do. With the big tank about to get picked up, I’ll be able to move them out of there and put the itty bitty babies in it. I’ll get to watch them grow.

Humor is important to me. It keeps me sane(ish). My fish and snails make me laugh. They don’t bark when it is time to eat, they don’t leave fur on my pants and shirt, and they don’t pee in the kitchen because it is raining outside. (sigh) They don’t hog the bed or bark at the slightest sound imagined or real.

So I’ve been messing with them. I’ve been writing. I’ve been reading. Just finished a book (fantasy) called The Prince of Shadows by Curt Benjamin. It is an excellent book and I could not put it down. There’s some weird editing things in it that ticked me off but I think that is normal for most writers when they read someone else’s stuff. Another book I recently read is Paladin of Souls by Bujold. Great book. The language takes some getting used to (very formal) but I got into the swing of it easy enough.

Two things I dislike about many books: can’t find the title because the author’s name is bigger and the back cover is what others say about the book, not a synopsis of the book itself. And recently the quotes on the back aren’t all about the book itself, but other books by the author. Please! I picked up this book for a reason! Don’t give me a better reason to put it down!

bookmark_borderFinally! (not really)

Posted on by PaulaO

After several days, the headache is finally gone. And all the pain drugs kicked in and I slept like a log for over 15hrs. I am so sore today! Lorna made me roll over each time she woke up, knowing that I was going to not move. So I cannot imagine how much I would hurt if she hadn’t done that.

At any rate, I am about to go on a writing binge. I’m going to churn out a massive word count, even if it kills me. Well, maybe not that far.

UPDATE:

It came back. Milder, but still there. But I just sat here and did over 5K tonight (this morning??) so mentally I am feeling better.