I Have Bedroom Furniture!

This may seem like a "so?" statement, but I haven't had a nice set of bedroom pieces since I left home for college. You may recall the excitement I expressed in my "I Have a New Bed!" post in March of '06 (the picture of the bed appears to have disappeared - I wonder why?)

As newlyweds my ex and I bought a multi-piece set from Sears that can charitably be called basic. I continued to use the stuff after the divorce, but when I moved up here I didn't bring it along. So there have been those build it yourself closet storage things and baskets and bins, in the bedroom or closets, but no real furniture.

Daughter and I were shopping when she was out here and the pieces I'd been eyeing at Bombay Company for quite some time were on mega sale. I snapped up a chest of drawers, a smaller chest for the bedside and a lingerie chest for a really good price.

The delivery people arrived today, hauled three large boxes up the stairs and left. I had to unpack them. It was challenging, but I did it. The lingerie chest was upside-down, which was also fun to fix all on my own considering the weight and seven drawers to keep from falling out or breaking. Fortunately, I could see it was upside-down while it was still wrapped up in its protective cocoon of saran-wrap and foamy wrap so the drawers didn't turn out to be an issue, just the weight.

The upstairs hallway is full of box remnants that I'll have to deal with pretty soon. The cats love it, but when my son comes home later tonight, if he has to fight his way through them, it wouldn't be pretty - so I'll haul the stuff down the stairs and out to the back porch for final breakdown into pieces our recycling bin can manage.

Of course now the walls look too bare and I'm pondering what goes on top - a small flatscreen TV might go on the chest of drawers, my clock and jewelry box will go on the bedside table but as for the lingerie chest - maybe some dust-catchers - I'll have to give it some thought.

Today I'll Grumble

Apparently whining brings out the comments...but I won't make a habit of it. Instead, I'll grumble.

Today I did some shopping at the local grocery. I used the self-check out kiosk. As I was scanning my twenty bottles of Diet Arizona Green Tea (they were on sale for a dollar a bottle - I cleared the shelf), a lady stopped and told me in no uncertain terms that by using the self-check out kiosk I was depriving people of their jobs.

I didn't pause as I told her that, no, the grocery chain might be depriving people of jobs but, since they didn't ask me if I'd rather they have fewer employees at the store just so I could check my own groceries, I didn't feel responsible. She wanted to argue some about it and made another couple of statements that I mostly ignored and then I asked her if she'd please go bother someone else with her crusade as I wasn't interested.

She made one of those little sniffy sounds and stomped off in her Birkenstocks, net bag in hand to the produce section. Nervy gal.

In fact, since I get charged exactly the same as someone who goes through the line and gets two employees' services - a checker and a bagger - it appears that I'm the one getting ripped off in this equation. As I looked around the store it also appeared that there was a 1:1 ratio of employees and customers at that moment. If they're depriving people of work because I'm using self-check out, they certainly weren't looking too understaffed, considering.

I got home and was sharing the story with my daughter, and she noted that there are the same number of check out aisles as ever in the store it's not like they closed a bunch of them down to make room for the kiosks. This is true, and I don't remember ever being there when they were all in use. My daughter is pretty smart.

Yes, self-service may cost some jobs. I don't know, I don't have the facts. But stores are in the business of serving the customer. If self-service is something customers want (and those kiosks always have people at them, so I guess it is) then it's a smart business move to put them in. I'd guess that keeping the store competitive so they don't have to go out of business and fire all the employees is a good thing. I hope the employees that lost their jobs found new ones at one of the other new, very large grocery stores that have gone up within 5 miles of here.

Wherein Dawno May Be Thought of as a Whiner

Ever see something somewhere in the blogosphere and initially want to make a comment about it, but then decide "Nobody cares what I have to say, and certainly someone around here is going to say it better, so why bother?"

I have that experience quite often at two particular, very popular, blogs I read daily (and sometimes follow all day long when the conversations get really good).

In fact it just happened, and that's why I'm writing this. I start to compose a comment and then get all self-conscious and delete it. I just can't get over that the regular commenters at those particular places are all so incredibly smart about the topics being discussed, to say nothing about just being incredibly smart people, and I'm not.

I know, it sounds whiny and self-absorbed. Well, "It's my blog and I'll whine if I want to, whine if I want to...."




And I'm not posting this to get scolded or sympathy (feel free to comment that way if you want to). I'm actually interested in knowing if that's anyone else's experience and what you do about it. Do you just tighten up the bootlaces and march on in? I've done that on occasion, but mostly I remain a lurker - I just don't have anything of real substance I can contribute.

Excuses, Excuses, a Shaved Cat, Beading Frenzy, and Ducklings

Back two posts ago, I posted some excuses about my sporadic blogging - just got a great comment from J M McDermott with his excuses that I wanted to share:

1) I'd update my blog, but I'm way too busy reading other people's blogs.

2) I'd update my blog, but every time I try to write something, World of Warcraft somehow, mysteriously, loads without any help from me whatsoever. Promise.

3)I'd update my blog, but I'm just not that interesting. I've run out of interesting things to say. Isn't that interesting?

4) I've been updating my blog... my SUPER-SECRET EASTER EGG BLOG! If you search my blog thoroughly, you may piece together the clues that lead you into the vortex of recent updates! Keep looking. You'll find it.

5) I assigned a guest-blogger, and I guess that person just let me down. I'll never put my cat in charge of that again!

Speaking of cats - one of the grandkitties, Pudding, is a longhair and in the summer it gets pretty miserable for him so he spends too much time lying around under things and trying to stay cool. We had him shaved and he's much perkier now - although he looks very weird and big headed.









I've been on a bit of a beading frenzy this month. It's so relaxing to just string beads.

Most of my work is done with glass, ceramic, semi-precious stone beads, and metal findings/spacers. Some of my favorites up there are the ones with hematite and the ones with smoky quartz. Most of the pieces were designed with specific outfits I like to wear in mind. There's a lot of pink in my wardrobe so I've done a lot of pink sets - (I also like to make earrings and bracelets to match the necklace or badge chains I've done).

I'm going to (eventually) hang each set on a nice display frame - I bought one covered in white and one in black - and take individual pictures then post them on my own website. I need a tripod and a clear place to photograph them - the picture above was taken in my bathroom using the styrofoam pinboard I use to keep my work propped up right next to my beading desk (previous stuff inspires new stuff). I propped the styrofoam up on a pretty shoe box and placed it all on top of the toilet tank in the bathroom next to my office.

There are 57 pieces on that pinboard (counting pairs of earrings as one "piece"). I guess I've been a bit obsessed...

My husband just sent me a link to a story about two rescued ducklings. I defy you to look at the picture of these ducklings swimming in a teacup and not say "awwwwwwwwwww" at the total cuteness. If you can, don't tell me, I'll just never look at you the same way if you do.

A Brief Outline of Dawno's Recent Adventures

Since last I posted

NASFiC: aka Archon 31, Aug 1 - 5
Flight delays in Dallas - Mary Kay ladies everywhere
Rental car not fun to get or drive
Hotel night clerk = jerk, got what I wanted anyway, I'm a stubborn b*tch
AW buddies everywhere!
Great art show, cool jewelry purchased, books too
Drinks and talk, talk, talk, in the Cigar bar, dinners at Ruby Tuesday - more AW buddies - fun!
Panel discussion on "Modern Mythology"with Laurell Hamilton, Barbara Hambly, Richard White (also AW buddy!) interesting but what was the topic supposed to have been? Need to work on that, guys...talking about it with AW buddies in Cigar Bar more fun.
Big AW dinner Sat Nite - salad had a whole fist sized minced raw white onion on it - should have had the pasta!
Trip home - upgraded to 1st for long trip home, gate clerk was rude and surly and screwed it up but Flight Attendent got all fixed - love that gal!

*intermission - three days back to work*

Anniversary Las Vegas Trip & 20th Anniversary of Star Trek @ Star Trek Las Vegas convention, Aug 9 - 13
Drive there went well, got there early enough to find Wil Wheaton in dealer's room and got 2 books signed, saw his talk, also wonderful.
Check in at MGM - nice room, wonderful service. Gambled some, no winnings
Shopped, gambled (won a lot at Hilton, lost most of it back at other casinos) went back to Hilton next day for lunch at Quarks, good lunch - saw a lot of costumed con goers, some really good stuff.
Gambled more after lunch - Hilton has two machines that really paid off for me - came out ahead $900
Saw Spamalot at the Wynn - very funny! Huge strawberry daiquiri in souvenir "Grail" to bring home
Checked out and drove back - stopped for gas at a remote station $4.40-ish a gallon!!
Bakersfield - hubby grabs Long John Silver chicken meal for lunch and one to bring home - why doesn't anyone open one of those up here?
Arrive home, tired but glad we went, glad we're back.

Tonight my daughter arrives for a 5 day visit, Sunday my son arrives for two weeks. Will probably not post for a while as a result.

Hello, Anyone Out There? *crickets* Hmmm, I Was Afraid of That.

Twenty days since my last post. I have excuses:

1. The dog ate my blog
2. Geordi LaForge reversed the polarity on my computer and my blog posts all ended up in the Mirror Universe (see #8 of that very funny link for context)
3. I've been re-reading all the first 6 Harry Potter books, then the 7th and then I went into a post-Potterum depression
4. 5 seasons of Babylon 5 on DVD
5. Catching up on all the TiVo'd TV shows I missed because of 3 & 4
6. Blog Writer's block

Guess the real excuses.

And the sporadic posting will probably continue for a while. Wednesday August 1 I'm flying out to St. Louis for NasFic and the week after that my husband and I will go to Las Vegas for our annual anniversary/Star Trek convention trip. This will be our first wedding anniversary, our 16th anniversary of being a couple and our 5th Las Vegas Star Trek convention.

Then, later in August my son will be visiting again. I'm hopeful my daughter will make it out, too.

So, if you don't see much of me here, don't worry, I can't stay away long.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

Crabby suggested a number of things I could write about next, but one of them got a supporting vote from Kira, so the topic tonight is dreams.

I've always had trouble getting to sleep unless I'm ill or exhausted. I need white noise, like a fan, and near total darkness. Yet, even with that, I still have times when I watch the clock go five, ten, thirty minutes, then an hour, sometimes longer, before I drift off.

I have some mental games I've played to help fall asleep faster. The first one I remember using, and this was way back as a child, was an alphabet game. Name animals in alphabetical order, or flowers, or girls/boys names, that kind of thing.

When I got older and had read a lot of Science Fiction, I used to name all the SF authors I could remember for each letter. I think I had trouble with Q - as a matter of fact, I still can't remember one that I've read (and that's part of the "rules" - I have to have read something by the author) whose last name starts with Q. Sometimes I'd be so caught up in the game I'd get to the end of the alphabet and have to start over just to fall asleep. Most times I didn't make it all the way through.

Anyway, about two years ago, I started telling myself a story to help fall asleep. I pretty much kept telling it every night, each night starting at the last thing I could remember from the previous night. Sometimes I'd advance the "plot" other times I'd get stuck in a loop trying to re-tell the same thing. If I got stuck in that loop too long I'd start a new story. I have about four or five of them now. They're all Science Fiction stories, too.

You'd think that as a result of this, I'd have Science Fiction-y dreams, maybe continuations of the stories, but no, my dreams - at least the ones I can remember well when I wake, are all weird, but not what you'd call SF.

I do have a couple of dreams that seem to repeat, and perhaps that's why I remember them. One of the oddest is the one where I'm at my old high school. Thing is, in this dream I'm not a teenager, I'm grown, I know that I've been to college, but for some reason I'm back and I have to take classes and graduate - again. There's usually some part where I have to go to my locker and the locker hall seems to be a mile long - I know I'll never get to the locker and also make it in time for class. There's also the class I have to pass to graduate but I never go to. One of the reasons I never go is that I can't understand a word the teacher says. I keep wondering how on earth I'll pass the final.

Some of the other dreams fall into the realm of "too much information," so I'll spare you.

Back when my daughter was still in high school, I drove her to school every morning and we'd chat about different things, it was always a nice time to spend with her. I had about ten or fifteen minutes with her during those drives.

I remembered a dream I'd had one morning, so I shared it with her - and this is one I've only had once, thank goodness. I had this cage with bunnies in it. Now, these weren't your usual bunnies - they were very very small, they stood on their hind legs and they were a number of different pastel colors. They marched around in lines inside the cage and, like the various little cats that came out of the hat in the Cat in the Hat story, each was successively a bit smaller than the previous one. That was about it, just the marching pastel bunnies. She shared the story of my weird dream with some of her friends at school and I think they still worry about my sanity.

I either don't have, or don't remember, nightmares. I can read Stephen King's worst right before bed and I don't seem to be bothered by it. I consider myself lucky that way. I also don't seem to talk in my sleep, at least nobody has ever mentioned hearing me do so.

Just a couple non-dream things to share tonight. First off, thank you to those of you who commented with suggestions. I appreciate the kick-start. I'll try to come up with my own ideas, but I'm always happy to write on request if there's something about Dawno you're interested in knowing.

Next is a plug for my Drive By Booking blog. On July 11th it will be a stop on Christine Norris's Virtual Book Tour for her new book Return to Zandria from LBF Books. I hope you'll stop by, I've got an author interview and a review of the book to post that day. After that I'll be reviewing two books by Absolute Write authors - I'll post about that on DBB soon.

Lastly, today was the "Live Earth" concert. I didn't watch it, but I heard something on NPR last week about it that tickled me enormously, the continent of Antarctica was also a venue for a band named Nunatuk, comprised of British scientists at the Rothera Research Station - there's a video clip on the Reuters page.

The Lobster Purse and Other Things

The Lobster purse, suggested as tonight's blog topic by Cookie, has a history here on Dawno's blog. I first wrote about it in March of '06. A furry off-white lobster was discovered and I noted that someone had already created a plush toy of it. A Live Journal friend of mine named Cookie was hoping for a knitting pattern and I suggested it would make a cool purse. I never did get around to making it although I've said a couple of times that I might give it a try. Who knows, maybe after I finish the crochet scarf I was going to make for my daughter two Christmases ago, I'll embark on a 5 year mission to make the purse.

So as not to have another dinky post like yesterday's, I'm going to share some links that were sent to me today.

Technicolor Duck Isn't that a beautiful picture of a Mandarin duck? It would make a great subject for an appliqué on a green silk vest, I think. No, I'm not going to even attempt it. Don't suggest I even try. I wouldn't turn it down as a Christmas gift...size 10, long (I'm 5'7" and like the way long vests look)

Then there was this link. My corpse is worth $3950. Thankfully, my insurance will provide my heirs with a lot more than that, so they can afford a decent wake for me.

You might already know that I don't post much that's political here, but this link was sent along today and as I'd been reading some recent comments threads, with a number of folk expressing a very similar opinion over in Making Light, it seemed serendipitous.

When I got home today, I opened my office door and out leapt one of the grandkitties, Pudding. He'd been trapped in there since about 9:30 when I left for the office. He raced to the food bowl, poor dear. I am now certain I'll find something he peed on. I hope it wasn't one of my Buffy comics. This is Pudding in a typical pose. We call it "the bug" for some reason. Ok, I call it the bug and my husband kindly tolerates this, amongst other oddities of mine.




I mention this only as a very weak seque to this link of a comic I also received today about the one person's perception of the difference between cats and dogs.




How does my blog come up in a search for the answer to "why does only one nostril get block"? Nevermind, I don't want to know.

Tired of LOLCats yet? Don't click on that link.

Stumble took me to this fascinating view of the Imperial History of the Middle East. "5000 years in 90 seconds".

Lastly, I spent quite a bit of time on the National Geographic Genographic study site. The Interactive Atlas of the Human Journey is simply wonderful - if you only click one link here, click that one.

Ah, it looks like the first few episodes of Babylon 5 Season 2 have finally finshed downloading - bye!

Thanks Sean, for My Topic of the Day

Sean (a writer and fellow member of Absolute Write forums) commented on my last post that I should write about the problem I'm having with my blog muse. In general it's probably pretty simple - I'm tired at the end of a day and would rather not think too hard - it's easier to surf the web, watch Season 1 of Babylon 5 (yeah, I decided to download it from iTunes) and post the occasional kitten picture on Absolute Write.

It takes mental energy to write anything, even a simple blog post, if you consider that there are readers. I have always thought of these posts as my side of a conversation. I try to put something out for you that you might enjoy reading, because it's something that interests me.

I can only hope that my mental energy returns and I can continue to find something fun, or meaningful, or informative to share.

eta: Thanks, Frank for catching the typo - more evidence that my brain isn't fully turned on at all these days.

The Blog Muse...

...seems to have abandoned me. I'm reading so many other blogs and just feeling like it's all being said much better elsewhere. I don't want to bore folk but I also don't want to give up on the conversation.

So - you tell me - what should I blog about? Give me topics and I'll post something about them one a day, every day, for as long as the topics hold out.

I reserve the right to not post on topics I find inappropriate or icky.

By the way - Happy Fourth of July to my US friends.

Miss Me?

My son's visit and a project launch at work have kept me from posting, but I can't resist the pull of the blog for long.

Thursday night (the 7th) I drove with my son and a friend of his down to SoCal. We spent the night in Bakersfield and hit LA on Friday at about 10:30 am. It's really the best way to make that trip, the 7 to 8 hour drive is punishing if you do it all in one go. Besides, we avoided a lot of commute traffic, as well.

We spent most of Friday at my dad's place. His brother came by and we had lunch. My daughter and her SailorBeau showed up next, just missing lunch with us. Later my sister and her boys came by (the oldest is graduating next week and heading off to UC Davis in the fall). Then my sister-in-law came by with her boys who are 9 & 11. Her oldest was having his birthday that day, so they brought his favorite "cake" with them - two dozen Krispy Kremes. Then my brother-in-law came by after work, making it almost the entire clan, just my brother couldn't get there in time.

I was a wonderful get together - a typical noisy family gathering with a number of conversations going on all over the place. I was very grateful for the effort made on behalf of my son, who will be headed over to Iraq in the not too distant future.

About 8 pm my son, his friend and I headed out to Anaheim. We saw a Wienerschnitzel on the way and he had that for dinner. We got to the hotel around 9:30 and I half unpacked and headed to bed. Shortly after I'd turned off the lights a high pitched whine started. I wondered if it was my ears ringing, but I plugged them with my fingers and it stopped, so no, it was coming from somewhere, I thought, in the room.

I spent about half an hour trying to hunt it down. I shut off the AC, I unplugged the mini-fridge, I made sure all my electronics were off and even moved the alarm clock to the other room. No help. It seemed to be coming from the walls. I gave up and tried to sleep with a pillow on my head. Needless to say, I had a very fitful sleep that night.

Saturday morning my husband flew into John Wayne Int'l. and I drove out to pick him up. My daughter had to work Saturday, so she couldn't join us until Sunday. The trip to the airport and back was pretty uneventful, except that I circled about 20 times waiting for hubs to get outside. The good thing about that is the loop from baggage claim and out around the airport parking structure then back to the baggage claim is short and easy at John Wayne Int'l. - I'm glad I wasn't trying to do it at LAX - that's a nightmare.

There was one guy parked at the curb the entire time I was looping - I kept waiting to see the airport cops chase him off, feeling all self-righteous that I was obeying the posted signs that said "no waiting". The only thing I learned from that is I'm an idiot and should have pulled in behind him instead of wasting $3.50 per gallon gasoline, since not a single airport cop showed any interest in that parked car. However, with my luck, we both would have gotten chased off or ticketed or both. He should thank me.

Disneyland was busy, but not mobbed like I was expecting - I guess it's still early in the "summer" season. The day was warm but not too hot and my one application of Neutragena 45 SPF spray on sunscreen kept me from getting burned all day (yay!). I also bought a nice cap to wear to protect my scalp and face. There were painful lessons learned from my last trip.

What I didn't bring with me was a fanny-pack and I should have bought one when I got the cap. My little shoulder strap purse ended up putting just enough strain on my shoulder to have it aching by mid-day. I remedied that the next day - getting the fanny-pack was the first thing I did at the park on Sunday.

We rode Space Mountain first, and while making our way there, we saw that there was going to be a big media event the next day for the opening of the new Finding Nemo adventure that's taken over the old Submarine ride. A large portion of Tomorrowland was getting screened off for the private event. More on that later.

We were held up at Space Mountain for quite some time. First, before even entering the line, as they had stopped the ride and weren't letting anyone else in until they got it started again. We made it inside - then within a few feet of the place where you line up to enter the ride - they stopped the line again. They also turned on the lights at one point. The guys were disappointed that they hadn't been in the ride when the lights went on, they wondered what it looks like inside when it isn't dark. I just wanted it to be over with. I'm not so good on roller coasters these days - my head and back get really sore. Some of the riders got the choice to go again because they'd been stopped. Never did figure out why the ride shut down.

We did several more rides, including Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise (my favorites) then we walked over to California Adventure, where my husband and son & friend, rode the Tower of Terror and California Screamin' - without me. The California Screamin' ride has a 0-55mph in 4 seconds, magnetically propelled launcher, which they thought was cool. I went shopping and got a neat hoodie sweatshirt/jacket in pink with a small 'retro' Minnie logo embroidered on it and some cute Mickey shaped (you know, just the circle head and ears shape) sterling silver jewelry with little clear Austrian crystals.

We did a lot more walking around, and some shopping, then went to dinner at Blue Bayou. The food was ok, being right next to the ride is strange - some of the riders are rather vocal as they pass the restaurant "what's for dinner" and other things I couldn't quite make out. I had a prime rib slab that was an inch thick and covered more than half the plate (which was a good sized dinner plate). It was very salty and also had cajun spices rubbed into the outside - not bad, but way more than I could eat. After that it was back to the hotel and good night.

I was achy and tired in the morning, but I got up fairly early to get hubby to the airport for his trip home. Then it was wait at the hotel for the AEL and her SailorBeau to show up and then was back to the park. The kids wanted to do Space Mountain right off. The "media" center for the special event had taken over the Star Arcade right next to where the ride ends and where I went to wait for them. All I saw at first was a crowd of people just hanging around and lots of folk who looked like press agents and photographers wandering in and out of the media center. I had to use the restroom, which was around the corner and I saw even more people hanging out around them.

Turns out, some celebrities (mostly TV folk, I'm guessing) had on occasion used those restrooms and the gawkers were there hoping for a glimse or a picture or an autograph - good luck with all the Disney folk surrounding them wherever they went. There was a minor furor after I had returned from the bathroom and been sitting for a while. Apparently Holly Robinson Peete (according to the *squeeing* teen in the mouse ears) was in there with her boys (I think I got a look at her as she headed in past me - surrounded as she was with her entourage, I'm not 100% sure, but I didn't know who she was either - after looking at her picture on IMDb, I'm pretty sure it was).

Later on as I was walking over to meet the kids at California Adventure, I saw Dominic Purcell (Prison Break - but I know him from John Doe, which I loved) and his kids - he was saying "Watch this!" and catching an M&M in his mouth after tossing it about 6 feet in the air. Him, I recognized - what a hunk. *ahem* anyway...the thing about the media day that annoyed me most wasn't that they'd squeezed so much of Tomorrowland out of service that it was packed like sardines, but that these groups of people with their special passes were being led down exits into rides and allowed to cut the line ahead of folk who'd been standing in the sun for up to an hour. It just bugged me for really no good reason.

More walking and rides - I got tempted to request a wheelchair, my legs were so tired, but I decided that the kids could wander around on their own and I'd go get some rest at the hotel so I'd be fresh for a couple more hours in the evening, which I was. We spent that time at Downtown Disney, shopping and eating at a very nice outdoors restaurant. Then it was time for AEL and SB to head home, he had to get up early for work the next morning, and I wanted to get on the road back home around 10 am.

We did get on the road at 10:30 am on Monday, and the ride home was uneventful, if painfully long. We made it back in 7 hours, though - even with some pit stops along the way. One of the reasons we made good time was that it was a Monday, we missed the worst of the LA rush hour traffic and with passengers I could use the car-pool (Diamond they call it) lane. Then when we hit the 85 in NorCal we were driving counter-commute and didn't even need to use the car-pool lane. The other side of the freeway was a parking lot.

The rest of the week has been work, work, work. My project goes live on the 25th, we're in high gear with meetings and trainings and technology stuff. At the end of the day, I've been just to brain tired to post. I missed International Weblogger's day all together and I'm behind on my reading for my review (still). Lots of catching up to do today!

For those of you who read and are dad's - Happy Father's day tomorrow!

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.

Humaniform Robot Created in Japan

Sorry there was nothing new on Sunday or Monday for you. With my son home and a number of other things going on, I just didn't get to posting. Tonight will be brief, I've been working most of the evening on a project for the day job and I'm still at it!

As you may have noticed, I have a fondness for my little Roomba. The company that makes it is iRobot, so I think that's permission enough to call it a robot. I have been fascinated by robot stories since I was quite young. I may have read an Asimov story, or it may have been from watching the Jetsons...who knows after so long? At any rate when I see a story about a robot, I go and read it.

There's one in the news now that has a lot of folk blogging and commenting, based on a Google Blog search. It's the Child Robot. Here's a snippet of what Salon Tech blogger Farhad Manjoo said in his post from yesterday titled "A child robot that looks like it eats children"

CB2, which is short for "Child-Robot with Biomimetic Body," is 4 feet tall, 70 pounds, and repellent from head-to-toe. Packed with hundreds of sensors sewn into its sick-white rubbery skin, and powered by compressed-air actuators that put halting movement into its elongated arms and legs, the 'bot is purportedly designed to mimic a human toddler but comes off instead like a murderous muppet launching the robot invasion.

He was referring to his viewing of this YouTube clip (the YouTube site says "Embedding disabled by request"). It is a creepy little thing.

The Gizmodo subtitle to its article about Child Robot brings to mind some very disturbing thoughts about who might want to buy this kind of a robot. Ick. Since I don't want that word searchable in my blog (it's bad enough that perverts looking for "sex vides" keep coming here from Jamaica and the Middle East) you'll have to go look for yourself.

Now it's back to that spreadsheet. I'm determined to finish it tonight.

dawno

Maybe Someday All My Posts Will Be About Just One Topic

Writers, do you have trouble making up good excuses for why you're taking so long to finish that WIP? You should consider having a good selection of reasons and rationales memorized andready for all occasions. Remember, "The dog ate my homework" didn't work on Miss Ratzenberger in the 5th grade, why would it now?

You need to get creative. For example, I saw the video below in the comments section of a post on Pandagon, referenced in Making Light Particles as "Pandagon FAQ, draft version". It's a response to the question "It’s so cool that Amanda’s got a book deal! But why is it taking so long for her to finish?"


Click Here for more great videos and pictures!

Here are some suggestions - feel free to use them.

"I got my protagonist lost in some underground caves and can't figure out how to get him out of there until I finish reading these 42 articles I Googled on spelunking."
"My horoscope told me this was a bad week for using my imagination."
"I have to make sure I'm keeping up with this thread on Absolute Write about Pirates of the Caribbean 3."
"I've decided that only celebrities get published, so I'm taking acting (singing, dancing) lessons instead of writing."

Feel free to suggest more in the comments.

Edit: J M McDermott suggested these in the comments:

I'd finish my WiP, but I'm WAY too drunk, all the time.

Also, Helena Bonham Carter keeps calling and calling me. I mean, seriously, how many times do you have to explain that "No" means "No".

My coffee machine broke. I've tried replacing it three times, but so far all I've managed to pick up are a waffle iron, a llama's bridle, and two illegal immigrants named juan valdez who keep offering me matte lattes - NOT COFFEE! shopping for a coffee maker seems to also require coffee.

I'd finish my WiP but people keep asking me what's taking so long. I spend more time answering that question than I do actually writing.

Also, I blame your (whoever happens to be asking) fascinating blog.

Other things around the blogosphere I've seen recently and made me think, on the topic of writing:

"So You Think You Can Write, or Tales from the Slush Pile"
"Five Years Later...(The Origins of International Slushpile Bonfire Day)"
"Five Top Reasons You Should Stop Calling Yourself a Writer, Right Now"

That whole writing thing is hard work. I have enormous respect for anyone who can stick with it. Anyone who says to themself, "I could do that" or "what's so hard about being a writer" should spend some time following links on agent blogs, writer's blogs and reading the forums at AW. If the amount of work needed to become a good writer doesn't faze you, you may have a decent chance. I recommend you start your education at Learn Writing with Uncle Jim.

Whatever you do, no matter how frustrated you get, don't send your book to Publish America. Please.


There's a new AW blog-chain going on - I hope you'll visit them:

Virginia Lee: I Ain't Dead Yet!
writing@cathsmith.com
hunt & peck
Life, Writing, and Other Things
periodically.org
Food History
A View From the Waterfront
Organized Chaos
Willibee
The Road Less Traveled


dawno

First Post of June

Tomorrow my son arrives for his two week leave. We've got an extended family visit/Disneyland trip all lined up for next weekend. My posting for the next two weeks may be sporadic, we'll see.

I don't send much snail mail. So when the postage went up I hadn't gone to buy any forever stamps at the lower price. I just now had to go dig up a 2 cent stamp to add to one of my old 39 cent stamp to send a letter. I had put this letter in my purse with the intent of mailing at the PO after I bought some forever stamps, but the other day, due to what I'm certain is the complete onrush of total senility, I stuck it, unstamped, in my mailbox and put up the "pick up" flag. My husband brought it in with the mail today and I think there was some rolling of the eyes when I realized what I'd done.

so I go to my file folder with stamps and return address labels (I am somewhat organized) to grab a couple stamps for the letter. Turns out I have quite a few stamps in there - even some 37 cent ones from two Christmases ago (Christmas is when I send the most snail mail in the form of cards). I will need to go grab a long strip of 2 cent stamps to use and while I'm at it, I'll pick up some of those forevers. The way I don't go through stamps, they just might last "forever".

I need to ship some stuff, too, so the trip to the Post Office is getting up to the urgent level. I need to get organized again and caught up with my backlogged to do list. Well, I wrote that about an hour ago. I took a break to grab my full page sticky label paper to print out a label to put on the box that now contains my daughter's purses that she left in my car the last time she was down here(some of the stuff I need to ship, along with a way overdue prize to Rob from Standing Rule for making the 2000th post on a thread I started some time ago on AW). I mentioned that I need to get organized? It took me most of that hour to re-arrange all the stuff that's piling up in my office to find the dang sticker package. However, I now have a bit more open space on the floor.

Coyote Wild's submissions period is open again. Do you write short (under 10k in length) speculative fiction? Think about subbing to Coyote Wild. Non-fiction (query first), Flash fic and poetry are also accepted. Please read the guidelines in the link above.

POD People has openings for reviewers. Email me if interested.

I've been reading (on and off this evening) a Salon article about a Harry Potter fan con down in New Orleans and this quote about a presenter just made me giggle where I've italicized. (The article may be in the Premium section, but you can get a free day pass)

At a session called "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Colonialism," 22-year-old Tracy Douglas was giving a persuasive, Edward Said-influenced reading of the post-colonial overtones of Rowling's fourth book. She pointed out the focus on the eroticized "other" -- Fleur Delacour, Cho Chang, Padma and Parvati Patil -- as the female sexual ideal. Douglas' paper sounded like it could have been given at the Modern Language Association conference. Except that afterward, she thanked her mother. Also, at the MLA, you see fewer people with stuffed owls.

Perhaps the MLA needs to think about that. Reading this article makes me think fondly about the upcoming NasFic in St. Louis. I put a countdown ticker in my AW signature:




Check out my meebo chat widget in the sidebar. Meebo allows you to use one chat program (and it's browser based so no need to download an application) to sign in to any IM, Yahoo, Aim, Google, etc. I decided to give it a try because of the widget.

dawno

Last Post of May

I followed a link the other day from a comment on Making Light (thanks, Marilee!) and am now reading through the archives of yet another new (to me) webcomic, Two Lumps! There's a series of strips featuring the Two Lumps cats and a Roomba-like device! (keep clicking 'next' for the whole story-arc). I really believe you can't go wrong with the Roomba + cute mammal combo.

The comic is hosted on Keen Spot, which I can subscribe on my reader, unfortunately I have to scroll through all the strips I don't read to get to the ones I do (and so far there are two, Two Lumps and The Devil's Panties.

Do you remember the fads of your youth? I'm thinking of things like when I was in elementary school and everyone was doing those origami type folded paper "fortune" games - you picked a number (after the paper device was opened and closed in the proper ritualistic sequences) then a letter (more ritual) and finally got to lift the folded paper inside to find something written like "your secret crush knows you love him" or "you're the teacher's pet" (and the spelling wasn't always that good).

Then there was the jacks fad - could you ever get to tensies or higher? We didn't have superballs then, we used these little red rubber balls that didn't bounce all that high.

There was a brief time when all the girls would play on the parallel bar, spinning around and around it until you got sick or wore a hole in the sweater you used to keep from sticking to the bar and scraping all the skin under your knee off.

These days it's LOLcats and all the permutations thereof. LOLpresidents (at FARK, which may not always be SFW), LOLgerbils (hosted at LOLgay) (who spell it gebril and I love that to death - as well as the gebrils which are just so damned cute), LOLPilgrims, for the literate and an entire comment thread on Making Light of literate lolisms...apparently we've reached LOLsingularity.

Finally, for tonight that is, I had read a rumor that said:

On Monday, Publishers Weekly reported that Bookspan, acquired just six weeks ago by Bertelsmann, will cut 280 positions and close some of its book clubs, which include Book-of-the-Month, Doubleday and The Literary Guild. It looks as if the 54-year-old Science Fiction Book Club, which offers a selection of graphic novels and comic novelizations, will be among the casualties.

Although there haven’t been any official announcements, science fiction editor Jonathan Strahan reported on his blog yesterday that SFBC’s only editors — Editor-in-Chief Ellen Asher and Senior Editor Andrew Wheeler — have lost their jobs at Bookspan. Strahan says Bertelsmann probably will merge SFBC with its Doubleday Book Club.

However, an update post raises hopes that this is not the case.

I would be very sad to see the SFBC close. I have been a faithful member for over 30 years. I've been so loyal that about 15 years ago they took me off the "you better send in your card that says you are opting out of the monthly selection or we're gonna send it to you anyway and charge you for it" membership to "you just buy our books when ever you like, no worries about that selection response thingie". And I do buy from there, a lot. I hope it stays around for a long time.

dawno

Keeping Track of My Conversations

For me, one of the best things about blogging is the conversations one can have in comments. I see blogging as the building of communities of interest unfettered by one's location, time of day, sex (see there Medievalist, I didn't use 'gender'), disabilities, race or creed. The more blogs I visit (and I have a huge list) and the more comments I drop about, the harder it is to keep up with them, right?

Well, kinda. I signed up at coComment in February of '06. Recent updates to their software and new features has made it even better for following my comment history, and for knowing when there are new comments on blogs that I've left my comments on. It's especially nice if the blogger responds to something you've said, you'll know about it as soon as you check your conversations page.

So, I wanted to recommend it to you and hope you'll consider signing on - I don't get any compensation from them for this, I just like the service and would love to have more "neighbors" there. You can see where I've commented recently.

dawno

By the Time You Read This...

it will probably be May 30th. May 30th is the birthday of a very special friend of mine. Go wish him many happy returns of the day, ok?

Frank's blog
Frank's Website
Frank's Book

dawno

Measuring Up Mathematically

I don't remember exactly what my SAT scores were - I took the damn test in 1975 - but I know that my math scores were average and my literacy/verbal score was pretty high. This is apparently born out by the fact that my index and ring fingers are the same length, according to a study reported in LiveScience. If my husband wasn't asleep (I'm writing this at 12:45 am) I'd go take a look at his hands - he's the math genius around here. (ETA - just looked, yep, his ring finger is longer than his index finger).

The TV Show "Jericho" (which I haven't watched but am considering viewing somehow - re-runs, if they show them, or iTunes or online) won't be picked up for next season and that has the fans in a tizzy. What are they going to do about it? I saw on Slashdot that they are sending tons of roasted in the shell nuts to CBS execs.

Folks, I'm considering cancelling the next season of this blog.
If you're truly a fan and want to persuade me to keep blogging,
you should send me cans of Arizona Diet Green Tea.

dawno

Gonna Pimp My Review Blog Post and Think About Our Servicemen, Past and Present

I have been working all day on a review for my other blog Drive By Booking (although I do have about 3/5ths of a post specifically for this blog in draft - that'll go up tomorrow). So I thought I'd just post briefly tonight and ask you to take a peek over there.

If you know someone published by a small press (not self-published, but small POD or ePub press is fine as well as offset publishers) ask them if they'd like to have me do a review of their book. They can contact me at the email over in my sidebar.

Hope you've had a good weekend - for my U.S. friends, I hope you enjoy your Monday off as well. As it's Memorial Day, I'd like to also mention my thanks to those who have and are serving in our Armed Forces.

My paternal grandfather was in the Army. My father, the Air Force. My sister and her husband and my brother were all in the Navy. My brother served in the first Gulf War on the USS Tarawa. Now my son takes his place in this line of servicemen as a Army Paratrooper and there's my daughter's significant other who just got back from 6 months tour in Kuwait with the Navy. You can understand, I'm guessing, the significance of this holiday for me. I'm blessed that on this day I don't have a lost loved one to mourn, but I do have a heavy heart for those who do and am prayerful that my son and my daughter's SailorBeau will stay safe during their service.




dawno

Lazy Saturday Posting

Found a new web comic today Marry Me. It has only been around for a few months so it didn't take long to catch up. Clever writing and good art.

Tomorrow and Monday I need to do some housework - my son will be here on leave next weekend! I'll also be putting up another small press book review on Drive by Booking tomorrow. My Brontë books arrived, but I have a couple things to finish before I can get to them, so they aren't on the list of things to do this weekend.

I nearly had a crisis today - due to a completely my fault miscommunication my ohdawno.org hosting company agreement was not renewed and the site was down. A few years ago the husband and I read about this hosting company, 1&1, that was giving away hosting. We took them up on it and it was only recently that our free hosting agreement came to an end. My husband quickly got things turned back on, the monthly rate is very reasonable, and nothing was lost. I, coincidentally, discovered reading Whatever today, that site is hosted there too.

No hamster news. How about a cat picture? These are the grandkitties Pudding (l) and Jello (r)


dawno

Stray Animals, Music and an Incidental Hamster (of course!)

Have you been following the story of the whales who swam up the Sacramento-San Joaquin River here in Northern California? They don't seem to want to leave quite yet. They've tried using recordings of whale songs about feeding, scary killer whale noises and now they've resorted to water cannon of a fire-fighting boat. The whales get a 3-day weekend's rest, at least. Maybe they were hoping to get a glimpse of Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Not to be left out of the news, Southern California has it's own stray animal story. Down in Los Angeles they've got a locally famous alligator, named Reggie, who made the national wires by finally getting nabbed after taking up residence in Harbor Regional Park's Lake Machado for the last two years. According to CNN "The gator inspired a zydeco song, two children's books and innumerable T-shirts. Students at Los Angeles Harbor College next to the lake adopted Reggie as a second mascot."

Zydeco! I've mentioned it in times past, but newer folk reading here may not know of my fondness. I first heard zydeco on Seseme Street when my children were small. I have a few songs on my iPod, it's great music for lifting the spirits. Lisa Haley & the Zydecats Krewe did the Reggie Alligator (you can hear about a minute's worth of the song at the link) song mentioned above.

In hamster news (and you thought couldn't possibly be going there again, didn't you), there really isn't any but I was looking and found a cute hamster image instead at this blog. Is that not one of the most adorable hamster pictures, ever? If I didn't have three cats, I might be driving out to the pet store for a hamster right now.

Wikipedia had to lock its article on librarians due to bit on Stephen Colbert's May 25th show, The Colbert Report, where he interviewed Jimmy Wales the founder and put up a "secret" message that "librarians are hiding something" during that interview. If I wanted to get intellectual about it I could try and talk about some of the interesting points Colbert made about the "democratization of information", especially the part about for too long the "elites who study things got to say what is or isn't real" and how with Wikipedia "anybody with a computer and the patience to put in a password can change anything". However, it's all been discussed in detail by some very smart people over on Making Light. I wonder if Colbert lurks over there?


dawno

Gay Flamingo Foster Parents, Shaggy Beards and an Occasional Hamster

In my wandering around Science Blogs the other day, starting as usual on Pharyngula, I saw this article about a pair of gay flamingos adopting an abandoned flamingo chick. Apparently the couple wanted to be parents badly enough that "they had resorted to stealing eggs from other pairs as they sought to fulfil their desperate desire to start a family of their own." It's a fascinating article by GrrlScientist, "a molecular evolutionary biologist who studies and lives with parrots and other birds."

Is it a generation thing that I don't find scraggly beards or overlong beard stubble sexy? I was reading the post at Shakesville (formerly? Shakepeare's Sister) about the season finale of Lost and the poster plus a number of commenters thought Jack's untamed facial hair sexy. I like beards but I do prefer them trimmed and neat. Not real crazy about the long stubble look at all.

Found a new web comic (thanks to Joel who left a link in a comment on Making Light) to seriously adore. Sequential Art. It's got an artist guy and a cat girl and a squirrel-girl and a penguin and a platypus and the occasional hamster and evil little things that I'm not sure what they are!

The illustration is good and the story is funny with a number of real laugh out loud moments as I caught up through the archives from the beginning tonight. I wish I could put it on my reader, but there's no feed that my Google Reader could find. *sigh* I'll just have to go there the old fashioned way with a bookmark. Funny how you get attached to new gizmos like the reader and everything else seems like so much extra effort now.

I got an email from the International Weblogger's Day folk today, reminding me of the event and this year's topic. Click the button to learn more. InWeDay is June 14th.



dawno

Cons and Other Places I'm Planning to Go, With Extra Hamster News, Too.

This August I'm going to NasFic, aka. Archon 31, August 2 - 5 in St. Louis, MO. The WorldCon is in Japan this year (and wouldn't I love to go there!).

I'm also going to try and be at the Star Trek Con in Las Vegas on August 9 - 12 held at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel. It's an annual "anniversary" event for the hubby and I. Our old anniversary was August 15th, 1991 our new one is August 19, 2006. This year is the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Should be a pretty good con. Wil Wheaton is going to be a guest. We've enjoyed his previous visits and gotten him to autograph his books (Just a Geek and Dancing Barefoot) there as well as heard him talk and seen some improv/sketch work he does with a group called ACME comedy theatre. He's funny and very generous in giving time to his fans.

I just wandered over to Wil's blog. Apparently AOL has blocked him from emailing anyone with a 'aol.com' email address. Those folk all need to get gmail, IMO. Read more at his blog WWdN: In Exile

Next year I'm going to go to the WorldCon in Denver.




Aside from cons I'm looking forward to a visit from my son and a trip with him to SoCal to visit my family and go to Disneyland. I reserved our rooms online this evening, and called Disneyland for "Priority Seating" aka, a reservation, for dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant. If you've never been to Disneyland it's an indoors restraunt at the Pirates of the Carribean in New Orleans Square. The Disneyland website says of it:

Savor the down-home Cajun flavors at this New Orleans-style eatery with a moonlit ambience, a dining terrace that overlooks Laffite's Landing, entry to the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, and the finest Crescent City cuisine outside of Louisiana.

Menu items include:

• Classic Cajun gumbo and jambalaya
• Dinnertime offerings of Alaskan King Crab Legs and Filet Mignon
• Lunchtime exclusive of the Blue Bayou's signature Monte Cristo sandwich
• Savory choices of broiled fish, chicken and beef dishes
• Mouth-watering appetizers and delectable desserts

Haven't been able to get in the door to eat there on any of our last few visits - it's always booked up. Last year we got there around 9 or 10 a.m. and tried to get reservations for dinner. I even pulled the "we're newlyweds" card - it didn't help. Then I discovered that you can call up to 60 days in advance and book a table.

The only time I can recall eating there (and that doesn't mean I haven't since, I just don't remember) was back in 1977 when a bunch of college theater friends and I drove down for the day in the middle of the week around Thanksgiving time.

Another blog on my reader that writers might find interesting: Craigslist Curmudgeon. He talks about postings on Craigslist that are insulting to writers.

Lots of news posts about researchers discovering a hamster jetlag cure (I picked that one to link because I, 1) like ScienceBlogs and 2) it had the best title) ...how often do hamsters cross timezones, anyway, that this should be a problem for them? (Yes, I know - but don't disabuse me of this notion, I'm enjoying the imaginary world of jet setting hamsters I've created in my mind, ok?) My first notice of this item was via Jaycinth on Absolute Write, btw.

dawno

Meet Some of My New Friends

Found a "new" (to me) blog I'd like to mention to ya'll and encourage you to read - especially any Science Fiction writers/fans out there. It's Biology in Science Fiction and it's a really good read.

I've also decided to add Pandagon and Sadly, No! to my reader. I may not always, or even most of the time, agree with what they say, but they sure are interesting and have a very fun commenter crowd/culture. Sadly, No! seems to have a running feud going with the blogger at Ace of Spades - I'm wavering over whether to subscribe there or not.

The season finale of Heroes was on Monday night. I really enjoyed the show - even though I caught on to it late in the season and had to catch up by buying and watching the first episodes on iTunes, it was worth it. I thought it was a fitting finale to a compelling story arc. Now what am I going to do on Monday night?

Hubby grilled burgers today. mmmmmmm. I love having bbq'd burgers.

There have been some really good and thought provoking comments to my posts (thanks folks!) about learning to read. Christine summed it up best, not to say that any of the other comments weren't equally valuable, it's just she said in a couple brief paragraphs what it took me two long posts to try and say, and said it better - what would you expect of a pro writer? I'll be doing a post about her new book, with some interview questions over on Drive By Booking as part of her virtual book tour in mid-June. I'm very excited about that.

Two other things I found wandering around the net recently. One is the huge fanfic community discussion about a new site called FanLib.com. I'm not linking there, btw, because I'd rather not contribute to any site traffic. Read about it over on Making Light (and click through to some of those links on the fanfic community's reaction) before you visit FanLib (if you must visit).

I am in agreement with the fanfic folk, this doesn't look like a good idea at all for them. It looks fraught with hazards and a pretty ugly attempt to wring major profits for everyone involved *except* the writers of fanfic - who aren't in it for the money, but why should the use of their work line some venture capitalist's pocket?

The other thing is this clip from YouTube (below) a friend of mine, C. Montgomery Stuart pointed out to me. Over 140k views! I did a bit of digging into the group that did the clip. There's nothing on their site about who they are, why they do this, etc., but there's an index of their work. I think it can speak for itself. (note - it's not the greatest in terms of production values, but what do you expect from a hidden camera filming?)





dawno

Another Shameful Confession

Recently I came upon the site "Ask the Brontë Sisters" and recommended it to you, my loyal readers, but my hidden (up 'til now) shame, is that I am a poseur when it comes to having actual knowledge of the Brontë sisters' work (outside of movies, I think I saw Wuthering Heights on AMC) - a fraud - a charlatan! Now it's time to come to the podium again. "Hi, I'm Dawno and I've never read any Brontë."

Well, I've remedied that dire and unwelcome lapse in my education - the Amazon order should arrive this week with the Complete Novels of Charlotte and Emily Brontë (a HUGE volume of over 1k pages) and Anne's novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as well as the Oxford Companion to the Brontës.

I'm having one of those moments where I just wonder if I should go back and get my Masters in Literature just for the heck of it. I wonder if my credits from the post grad classes I took 20 years ago are still acceptable.

By the way, if you like me, please don't tell me about any more wonderful, must read, you don't know what you're missing, writers from the 18th and 19th century for a while. I have quite enough to read now as it is.

dawno

After Due Consideration...More on Teaching Reading

In the comments section of this post, John Althouse Cohen left me this message:

Wait a minute, I don't even see the disagreement here. Althouse: "Kids need to learn to read, and they should also be learning science and history too, so why not combine the two tasks? ... I'm also not opposed to teaching history and science through the kinds of novels and storybooks that present the information accurately." Isn't that precisely what you're describing with using the moose book to teach math or using A Wrinkle in Time to teach science? Those don't seem markedly different from her example of using 1984 to teach history. If there is any disagreement here, it's much subtler than would justify this kind of "I can't believe anyone with a post-graduate degree...!" attack.

I promised I'd take that comment under consideration. Yes, I was heavy handed in my post. Perhaps I should have waited longer and been less riled up before I hit "publish." I am a total fanatic about reading, and fiction reading in particular. It's a huge part of my life. I also taught lower elementary school grades (k - 3) in a poor, rural school district. I am passionate about the subject of helping children become life-long readers. So, let me say that I am sorry I made snipes at Ann. It was really more about the opportunity to get on my soapbox, that I do disagree with the ideas proposed, and that's what I should have completely focused on. I got caught up doing something I dislike seeing when it happens elsewhere amongst other people. So, I want to say that there are points she made that I agree with, albeit conditionally.

Here's where I agree with Ann:

I'll bet if you had a shelf of books for kids to choose for their free time and it had some nonfiction books like this one, lots of kids would pick them over fiction. And I think a lot of boys would be grateful and some girls mind be inspired to go into careers that are more common for boys.

I think using well written and exciting non-fiction books in the curriculum is very important, not just having them available for free time reading, but that's a minor quibble and in general, I agree.

I also mostly agree with this:

In saying that, I don't mean to say they are just for fun and that there's nothing deep. I'm saying that reading fiction books is or should be intrinsically rewarding and that intrinsic reward is best felt when you are exercising free choice. And I also think that the depths in fiction are best absorbed in a free environment without an authority figure trying to lead you or tell you how to think. Much good fiction is about challenging authority, and I worry that authority figures will choose fiction that they approve of because it teaches the values they like. That's not my idea of how good fiction works.

Yes, I think all lovers of reading, and most teachers, believe that reading fiction books should be intrinsically rewarding, etc.

My concern with the above, is that it goes on to make the suggestion that teachers will impose their values on the students by the books they use to teach reading. It's not outrageous to think of the possibility, I will grant. The other side of the coin, I think, is that students will be exposed to many teachers throughout life. They will learn that those teachers have opinions and values, some quite different from theirs, and some quite different from the other teachers they've had, as well.

It's only through being exposed to those opinions that you learn how to challenge values you disagree with (and not only in fiction, but what about the 'facts' in texts - are they always true? But that's a whole other can of worms). If teachers aren't allowed (and don't forget, the basic premise underlying all this is that fiction reading shouldn't be required reading - period) to expose their students, through teaching, to fiction at all, how will they learn to challenge it?

Now, let's look at the context of my commenter's quote from Ann Althouse's second post in defense of her position (emphasis is mine):

I'm also not opposed to teaching history and science through the kinds of novels and storybooks that present the information accurately. And I think a history class could very well have students read novels that had an effect on history or how people think about history, like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "1984." I've taught a couple "Women in Law and Literature" seminars myself. (We'd read a court case and a novel that dealt with the same subject as the case.)

This position is not opposed to teaching history and science 'through' novels and storybooks 'that present the information accurately'. As a supplement, but don't teach reading purely for reading's sake and use fiction (storybooks) to do it. I don't think I'm misreading that. However, I didn't think that was the point of the initial post at all, using fiction to teach other subjects, rather it was not teaching reading as a stand alone but using the reading of texts in other subjects to take the place of reading class. I'll go into that more, later. Here is where I have a fundamental disagreement with the premise in the quote above.

A novel about slavery in the US, a novel about King George III, a novel about the history of Hawaii from the day it rose from the Pacific, through the influx of the Japanese and Chinese immigrants (I really loved that Mitchner book but I sure didn't mistake it for a history text), those novels, as well researched as they might be, are not meant to be textbooks of accurate history or science information - they're made up stories - all "fiction" is that by definition, right?

So, it seems to me, that you can't really teach those subjects "through" novels, no matter how good they are, you can only supplement the facts, and you'll need to spend a lot of time explaining to your students about what are the non-factual elements in those stories. Something an English teacher in a literature class is trained to do.

While good fiction can give one an appreciation of the ideas, and shed much light on the social mores and climate as the author perceived it, of the era, the emphasis in any history or science class needs to be history and science facts. The fiction portion will, necessarily and rightly, be given secondary importance and the teachers of history and science will not spend the time, nor possibly have the right background, to expose the class to the literary aspects of the work.

But, more importantly, those types of books would be taught in upper grades/High School, and if you look at the initial paragraphs of the first post she made, wasn't the whole thing about teaching reading, which occurs in the earliest years of school? Here are two crucial excerpts:

And why does reading even need to be a separate subject from history in school? Give them history texts and teach reading from them. Science books too. Leave the storybooks for pleasure reading outside of school. They will be easier reading, and with well-developed reading skills, kids should feel pleasure curling up with a novel at home. But even if they don't, why should any kind of a premium be placed on an interest in reading novels? It's not tied to economic success in life and needn't be inculcated any more than an interest in watching movies or listening to popular music.

...

I'm not saying reading shouldn't be taught. I'm saying that the reading materials used in teaching reading should be nonfiction, so that students are absorbing information and practicing critical thinking while they read. I consider this to be efficient and appropriate for the school setting. Students would have access to fiction to read on their own for fun (and maybe, because it would be a change of pace, they'd have more of a tendency to experience it as fun).

This advocates using texts *on* other subjects to teach reading rather than using storybook (fiction) texts. So, what I was saying about the moose and the muffin book, is the opposite of that - use the READING to launch learning in the other subjects. But it all starts with the reading lesson, not substituting a history book for a story book designed to teach reading. Did I get it wrong? Maybe it's because that statement isn't really talking about 'learning to read' but the existance of the later grade reading classes?

Separating out history and science as separate subjects does not occur until the later elementary grades, as I recall it was about 4th grade, maybe 5th. I suppose at that point if you stopped having a separate reading class and curriculum, but used well written, interesting texts for those subjects and supplemented them with fiction or simply had a "free reading" period, it might work out ok.

I don't like it. I bet there are those out there who are much better qualified in how education works that can explain whether it's realistic or feasible to do so. All I can say is that in my gut, it seems wrong to stop teaching reading, using fiction.

That's my promised consideration of John's comment. I feel better now.

dawno

"The Civil War in Four Minutes" (Great!) and the Comments on YouTube (Not so great)

I was very impressed with this clip that my husband forwarded to me - and as it's been viewed nearly 19k times, I'm not alone, I bet. I'd guess that it's from a professionally produced documentary, it's so incredibly well done.



Upon reflection, I would say that I watched it from the perspective of pure visual input, the ebb and flow of the battlelines - the early hesitant movements, where it stalled in various places and the places that kept going back and forth, the eventual split of the Confederate west from the east at the Mississippi, and then how quickly the Confederacy shrank and dissolved at the end. I didn't try to process it intellectually the first time, nor did I perceive what I was seeing came laden with an agenda or any political motivation. I am curious, then, as to why the commenters on YouTube, unfortunately a great number of them, have turned this into a Civil War debate? Unfortunately, as well, one mostly trafficked by trolls and flamers.

There's even someone posting blather like: "When you face an enemy that has no uniform, targets civilians, hides behind women and children: Hides weapons in homes and mosques it is time to FINISH ENTIRE CITIES! NO QUARTER NO PITY NO TOLLERANCE!" there.

Um, mosques? Makes me want to ask, "You aren't talking about the American Civil War, are you...you do know that's the subject of this video, right? See, it's a map of the United States. Yes, that's what our country is shaped like. Have you ever looked at a map before?"

I suppose it doesn't matter. It could be the Swiss Eurovision contest clip, and he'd (yes, I assume it's a he) say the same thing - three or four times.

Uh, dude, do you turn every conversation you have into something about terrorists?

"Do you want fries with that?"

"NO! The enemy is faceless and hides behind them! Bomb them all! I would like a large milkshake, though."

I know that I should only expect the lowest common denominator - it's not a venue for serious discussion, it's entertainment for the masses, by the masses. But sometimes the sheer weight of 'teh stupidz' out there is exasperating.

The only thing you can do as a concerned user on YouTube is flag the post as "spam" which it really isn't. I learned my lesson - don't bother with the comments. I feel sorry for the person who posted the clip - it would have been nice to actually get to converse with the viewers ABOUT THE DAMN CLIP. *ahem* sorry...

When the innernetses grows up, do you think it will finally be reasonably civil?

Later: more on Althouse and teaching reading. Got a comment I'd like to respond to...


dawno

WTF Moment of the Day: "Why Should Any Kind of Premium Be Placed on an Interest in Reading Novels"

OK, who gave this Ann Althouse woman a podium? Can we somehow wrest it away from her and beat those responsible, roundly, with it? If you're a writer, and certainly if you're a reader of fiction, you must have an opinion about this complete nitwittery. Even her defense of her position to the commenters on it, is a crock.

From her original post:

And why does reading even need to be a separate subject from history in school? Give them history texts and teach reading from them. Science books too. Leave the storybooks for pleasure reading outside of school. They will be easier reading, and with well-developed reading skills, kids should feel pleasure curling up with a novel at home. But even if they don't, why should any kind of a premium be placed on an interest in reading novels? It's not tied to economic success in life and needn't be inculcated any more than an interest in watching movies or listening to popular music. Leave kids alone to find out out what recreational activities enrich and satisfy them. Some may want to dance or play music or paint. Just because teachers tend to be the kind of people who love novels does not mean that this choice ought to be imposed on young people via compulsory education. Teach them about history, science, law, logic -- something academic and substantive -- and leave the fictional material for after hours.

From her defense of the above:

Look, my main point is efficiency. Kids need to learn to read, and they should also be learning science and history too, so why not combine the two tasks? Reading would still be taught and, in the early years, would be the central focus of the lesson, but the texts would have an added benefit of getting started learning other academic subjects.

I'm not saying fiction isn't worth reading. I'm saying that it can be held for after hours pleasure reading. Frankly, I think this would increase the love of fiction. Here's this shelf of books that you can read when you finish your other work. You can take them home if you like. I think this would give them an aura of excitement. There are lots of people who have fiction forced on them and avoid it once they're out of school. My father would get passionate about his hatred of "The Return of the Native," which he was forced to read. Me, I read "The Return of the Native" and all of Thomas Hardy's novels on my own and loved them. Look at how kids read the Harry Potter books on their own. Put them outside of the classroom and let kids see them as a leisure treat.

I know I don't often get riled up like this here (unless it's about some scammer trying to shut down AW) but I've actually calmed down considerably and I'm still fargin' mad. I would truly like to see the writing blogosphere refute this to the heavens.

How on earth does someone acheive a post-graduate degree in any of the humanities (that includes law, don't it?) and also ascend to some kind of public status, holding on to this kind of astonishing conceit?

What has the blogosphere said so far? I've found this at alicublog, which lead me to this on Pandagon, and the comments there are really wonderful. Other bloggers have weighed in - mostly, it appears, from the left. (Somewhere MacAllister is grinning liberally, muttering: "she's one of us, she's one of us") By goodness, there have to be some just marginally right of center folk like myself out here that feel the same. I'm not out here on my own am I?

Teaching reading is hard, hard, woefully underpaid work. I know, I've been an elementary school teacher. Something Althouse has obviously not. The objective of teaching reading through fiction is to give students the tools to understand everything they learn in school as well as just be able to sound out (or memorize) all the words they'll see on a page.

Ann says: "Kids need to learn to read, and they should also be learning science and history too, so why not combine the two tasks?"

You try to engage a room full of antsy first graders with straight history or science facts. I'd much prefer telling them a story. One can argue that learning to read If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff , doesn't teach students anything useful about math or science or history, in and of itself - but really, that's the rest of the job of the teacher - to make it relevant. Now, lets get behind that and support the teacher, instead of undercutting his or her efforts even further.

See, this is why teachers come up with thematic units that incorporate what the class is reading in the reading session with what they're learning in the other sessions of the day. For example, the Moose and Muffin story - for math you can bring in muffins and count all the muffins you'd need to feed everyone in the story (I'm not taking this from real life - it's been long ago enough that I don't remember the exact details of the story, nor the lesson plans I used with it, but just go with me here). Then learn subtraction by eating them.

Science - do moose like muffins? Then what do they really eat? Could they eat just muffins?

Nature, geography, ecology: Where can you find moose in the United States? Where do they migrate, what kind of land is best for moose? How does man impact the moose habitat? Trust me, the kids are interested in this. They love the moose - he's the star of that book they had so much fun learning to read. Plus we're coloring maps, building mobiles out of construction paper and yarn, etc.

History - how did the settlers of the west use moose, in trade, as food, as clothing? How about the Native Americans?

See, learning to read from the book is just one tiny part of the curriculum. Now, replace the story with dry factual and age appropriate math, science and history. How excited are the kids about learning to read, now, Ann? You think they'll retain those lessons nearly as long or as well as they did the Moose and muffin related ones? Thousands of teachers will tell you otherwise.

And it just starts there, other longer stories, then "chapter books" and then middle grade novels, are used this way all through elementry school. When the students hit middle school and High School, literature classes are separate, but they're still part of an integrated curriculum that is (hopefully) designed to teach more than just ever more polished reading skills.

Reading Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time gets students exposed to physics and math. Reading Norton Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth teaches logic and number theory (amongst many other things). I didn't know what the Fibbonaci numbers were (or the Golden Spiral and its ubiquousness in nature) before I pre-read that book in order to teach it to my class - so even I learned something that 8 years of post elementary education (High School + college and post college studies) hadn't taught me. I could go on and on. As a substitute teacher for 4 years and a private school teacher for an additional two, I am utterly convinced that teaching fiction to my students was essential to the entire learning experience.

pfft. Ann's a dolt. I'm done - anyone who reads here, gets the point. I doubt she or her supporters ever will.

dawno