martinimade

many things make a post

Short list this week. Both kids have Strep (woo?) and are well enough to require constant amusement, which means that one of them is always on my computer. Which means that I can't mindlessly surf and that I owe lots of folks email. Soon. 

We are, however, taking bets as to which combination of adults will get it. Your options: one, both or (my choice) neither. 

* Patrick Nielsen Hayden on one of my favorite books from the last year. Remember: no one promised a better future, only a different one. (Also, on the Making Light blog: the Top Idea in Your Mind. Glad I'm not the only one who believes this.)

* Question for the science folk, prompted by Slate's series on the elements. Isn't an element just itself, by which I mean, why are there designations like Uranium 233 or Thorium 232? How are those not simply different elements? I find this puzzling. If your can explain, please use small words and assume nothing.

* "Stop, chickens. Stop."

* This just blew my mind, man.

many things make a post

* Because glow-in-the-dark condoms came up in conversation not long ago, Scott and I recently rewatched Blake Edwards' Skin Deep. While it's flawed, there are some moments that are absolute genius, like this one. And, yes, if there is a God, he is most definitely a gag writer.

* This just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

* Knitting pin-ups. (Also: I want to go to Oakland to float. Seriously.)

* Freelance writing is full of time sucks. Chris Hardwick experiments with strategies for avoiding them. Dead squirrels are involved.

* If you've spent much time around me in person, you know my love of plaid shirts. Which is why this speaks to me. Do I dare? (I also have owned a striking number of shoes deemed ugly. And like the Indigo Girls. Which I'm sure says something.)

* Who hasn't been tempted to do this when faced with a question you can't answer.

* I want to go to Oakland to float. Seriously. 

* Mahasti Vafaie  home-delivered sandwiches to me when the Diva was born and I have never forgotten the gesture. She is a kind soul who is deserves all of the love that Knoxville gives her. Go eat at the T'Head.

* Yet another Maker's Market thing I might have to have. Curse them.

* Not only is River Song one of my fave Dr. Who characters, her hair is a style I can aspire to.

many things make a post

* Jezebel.com called Jon Stewart a sexist pig because there aren't more women on air. The Women of the Daily Show rebut, hilariously. (FWIW - my take mirrors Emily Gould's, which is the Jezebel writer was driven by something other than journalistic accuracy.)

* The secret of AA is still a mystery. And, yet, it appears to work.

* For all of your flatworm loving friends. (hat tip to Dave*)

* Cyndi Lee speaks the truth about loving your body. (Also, on a selfish note, I'd like Andre Slob to illustrate the next thing I write that might need an illustration.)

* I loved Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and am still not sure why it was attacked by critics. It's this scene (this is just a snippet of the whole thing, sadly) that won me over. 

* Fiction is always less coincidental than reality.

* Sushi Cat goes on a honeymoon. And there's now an app for that.

* The headline says it all, really: Is Jousting the Next Extreme Sport? (It's worth clicking through just to see the pictures.)

* I admire the work that has gone into these Firefly figurines. 

* I want to go to Launch Pad, which is a week-long seminar between SF writers and actual scientists. If you click through to the blog post, the "launch pad" tab will give you the posts from the week.

* In weird Sweater Quest news: Dave Holmes, who I deeply wanted to win the MTV VJ contest back in the day (he lost to Jesse but ultimately had the longer, better career), started a blog where he reads one "I did x in a year" book per week. And guess what he's been reading...

many things make a post

Sorry about yesterday's radio silence. I was overcome by paint fumes in the Diva's closet. This is not code.

Before the many things list - have you entered the contest?

* Something I spent too much time wondering about: should fashion be protected by copyright?

 * Camelammo? Seriously?

* How do you signal that you are part of the thug class when everyone has a tattoo?

* Why I could never work at the zoo.

* I do think the fact that New York City folk are healthier has a lot to do with the amount of walking one does in the city. Yes, it was different in the days of cholera, when close contact bred disease but until the next great pandemic, city life seems to be conducive to health.

* Also from the Times, 101 fast grilling recipes.

* Brain slug!

* Madeline Holler on Radical Homemaking. Ms Holler and I once both worked for the Babble Strollerderby blog. She's a peach.

* This could either be fabulous or horrifying.

* It's elemental.

* Must make this, now that the sour cherries are trickling in.

many things make a post

* Somehow, I got sucked into this season of the Deadliest Catch. Who knew that a show about crab fishing could work its way into your heart? The next few episodes might just break me.

* If you need a good space opera to sink yourself into this summer....

* Steve Martin's tour rider is awesome.

* On the other blog that I post (infrequently) to: knitting the future. I'd be really interested to hear what knitters think about this idea.

* I want one of these fixtures but know not where I'd put it.

* The rise of the agnostics. Which isn't as cool as the Unitarian jihad but is probably more rhetorically rigorous.

* I might need to serve some crazy-ass crudite on the 4th.

* The Mythbusters need to take this one on.

many things make a post

* The Craig Ferguson episode of the Nerdist podcast is a hi-larious. With bonus Sara Watkins! 

* Have I mentioned that a trip to Wimbledon is on my bucket list? This piece explains why.

* I may never get anything done again ever.

* An Andy Capp for the knitters.

* Mmmmm...interactive infographic porn....

* Why Penn Jilette went on Glenn Beck.

* How having a toddler is like going to a frat party.

* A few months ago, I wondered what had happened to acid rain, which was a big deal when I was in high school. The short answer is: Clean Air Act. However, acid rain is back and has a new source.

* Sound and Spirit may be gone but it is not forgotten. Ah, the digital age.

* More Charlie Harper love.

* Mmm...Frito Pie. It more yummy than the infographic porn, fyi.

* I am a firm believer in donating blood. That, however, doesn't mean that I agree with the Red Cross' policy on excluding gay men. Slate explains why the policy and the argument supporting it makes no scientific sense.

* Purely self-promotional: Sassy Pat interview me about Sweater Quest.

many things make a post

* Note to self: never ever eat at Otarian in NYC. Now that, my friends, is a bad review.

* I've been trying to replicate my grandmother's white pizza for the bulk of my adult like. I have failed miserably. But I think I've figured something out - it wasn't foccaccia, which is what I have been making, but schiacciatta.  Back to the kitchen I go.

* Most video games leave me completely nonplussed. The exceptions have been few. I lost a few months when Myst came out. I had a small problem with Rogue in college. But other than that, nada. I can take or leave 'em. Then I downloaded Angry Birds.  

* I think my head just exploded in a cloud of yum: Chocolate covered pop rocks (scroll down).**

* I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees hand-knitted socks this way.

* What's your unfinished business?

* This show makes me sad that we don't get the GSN channel.

* Via Ellen Kushner: How to dress if you are a female writer. I'm still learning.

* Stolen from Gwenda: Lev Grossman on meeting J.K. Rowling parts one and two.

* From now on, I only want to read recipes written by Joe Hill.

* You are not your stuff. 

* I am happy that Glenn Beck wrote a book simply because it means I get to read this review of it. Don't tease the panther.

* Note to self: you could make these.

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 ** And the pretzel M&Ms aren't bad looking, either. Chow has a review, too.

many things make a post

* Has anyone eaten at the Behavioral Cafe at CMU?

* There is a fine line between madness and genius. I'm not sure where the "Three Jesuses" fall.

* Who doesn't *heart* Jamie Hyneman?

* Want to make. I know at least a half dozen people who would really appreciate this as a gift.

* Heidi apologizes to bananas. I have the same pregnancy-nausea induced response to anything involving curry. In fact, I feel a little queasy just typing the word "curry."

* The Girl from Auntie explains yet another knitting legal issue. This one involves needles.

* Based on these blog entries, I just might have to pick up Sam Bee's book.

* I don't find this result all that surprising, really. Also from the NYT science section: the nomenclature of the "nervous breakdown."

* Apparently Pittsburgh is trying to eat the locals one ankle at a time.

* The periodic table of women in  SF/F.

* This is my dream job. It's unfortunate that it is in Kansas.

* I am clearly not using my waffle iron to its fullest.

* Jo Walton's eloquent take on one of my favorite books ever.

many things make a post

* Red states have the highest teen birth rates. Blue states have the lowest divorce rates. Color me unsurprised.

* If you choose to reject evolution, you should also reject germ theory. 

* Bill Bryson has a new book coming out! So does Mary Roach! And there was much rejoicing. 

* Full disclosure: I know the anthropologist who wrote this post about the political economy of craft fairly well. Still, I think it's an interesting idea to kick around.

* The Readercon programs are up! I'm excited to be going, if only to check out "David Foster Wallace wanted us to do This Panel: Authoritativeness in Fiction" and/or "Everybody Loves Dirigibles: Science for Tomorrow's Fiction."

* Scott and I always mock threaten the children with natto when they won't eat. Now it looks like we could do it for real. *shudder*

* On mothers, knitting and gay men. Read the excerpt. Prepare to giggle.

* Two from Boing Boing: What the Disney princesses teach girls and why you should care about four rare earth elements.

many things make a post

* Thanks, Clara.

* Trucking statistics may be the best economic indicator. Also I offer this as further proof that economists get excited about odd things.

* I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need one of these.

* Further proof that Wonder Bread is not food.

* I can't find a link to the stories themselves there are two excellent stories in the June 2010 Real Simple: Jancee Dunn's Life Lessons column (in which she talks about lessons she learned from her Dad (including "Carry a Hanky")) and See How They Grow (which is about the Wonder Weeders in Woodstock (and, no, the first sort of weed you'd associate with Woodstock is not the focus of the story.))

* Can anyone help Mike out?

* Brain cake! (Scroll down)

* Deb needs a new liver. Deb's friends and family are auctioning off stuff for Deb's new liver. And some of the stuff is amazingly great if you like books and/or baked goods. Please go bid.

* I think Colourlovers is a fabulous site. I'm just not sure what to do with it. Sure is pretty, tho.

* You know it's a trend with legs when the make-your-own jewelry books come out.

* Kids hate vegetables, even in Berkeley.

* A reminder of what the antecedent of "she" usually is.