Getting It Started
Question: Are you, the reader, familiar with both the recording artists a) Shirley Bassey and b) “Pink”?
If you are a member of that exclusive club, you would only be punishing yourself by not clicking “play” on the associated video.
Otherwise, you may still enjoy it, but you will sadly be unable to perceive the true levels of awesome presented here.
Dragon*Con 2005 report, pt. 1
Thursday, 9/1
I couldn’t sleep Wednesday night – a combination of a wired state and generally poor sleep lately anyway. I had to get up quite early to get cleaned up, tuck last-minute stuff in the suitcase, and make a trip to the bank. I finally got to meet thatwhichisgene – a very intelligent, charming fellow, even if we don’t agree on Shadowrun and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Gene made good time driving down, and we arrived less than 9 hours out from Norfolk – without speeding! Gas was as high as $7.00 a gallon in Atlanta, so after determining that the rented station wagon’s tank was good for about 400 miles, we made sure to gas up about 150 miles out where the prices were more reasonable.
On Thursday evening, the Dragon*Con registration lines are non-existent – I strongly recommend getting one’s badge this early. Hall costuming was already starting, though the Con was not to begin until 9:00 the next day. I found David Allen (once of Starfleet, now of Plan Nine Publishing) outside the registration hotel, and chatted for a few minutes before returning to the hotel where I was staying.
Dragon*Con 2005 consisted of three hotels – the Hyatt, home of filking, gaming and half the panels; the Marriott, home of two dealers rooms, the art show, an artists’ walk, and more panels; and registration, buried in the Atlanta Hilton. I stayed in the Hyatt. It wasn’t as crowded as the horror stories would have had me fear, but the five elevators where always unusably queued. Luckily, our fifth-floor room was easy to walk up and down to and from. (Room 523 – a nice Discordian number.) During the con weekend itself, every room in the Hyatt was occupied by con-goers: one wasn’t allowed in the hotel without a Con badge. The street between the Hyatt and the Marriott was blocked off for Con traffic. I began to get the idea that this was a big con.
It was late. I was pooped. I went to bed.
Whizzo Replicator Distribution
This one’s been on my mind for a few days. I blame the alignment of the planets.
Situation: you have a shiny-new Starfleet food replicator, the kind that takes molecular building blocks from storage and makes any kind of food you want based on patterns you’ve loaded or scanned in.
Poll cut to protect the squeamish
Not a large tax base
From an Associated Press story:
“Newly sworn-in President Alfredo Palacio, who was vice president under Gutierrez, installed members of a new Cabinet Thursday in an effort to bring stability to the South American country of 12.5 people.”
12.5 people? Tell me that’s not a banana republic. i think I’ve ruled bigger countries than that.
Fwip!
I got a forwarded email about ip addesses today. The subject line was “fwip”. This is brought to you by the Easily Amused Association.
I saw the screener for the new Doctor Who this week, and really liked it. The episode was fun, and avoided Fox’s mistake of trying to cram too much continuity down a new viewer’s throat – though there were a few tips of the hat to we long-term fans. I was going to post some specific opinions behind a spoiler cut, but I can wait until after Technicon to do that. I imagine that TV torrent sites are getting more queries on “rose” right now than the last time “The Bachelor” got pre-empted. I’m looking forward to more!
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately reading the archives at http://www.randi.org/ – some of the anecdotes are pretty wild. I can’t honestly say I’m likely to attain the level of skepticism displayed by Randi or the late Carl Sagan, but I did work out at an early age that there are a lot of charlatans out there waiting to take advantage of anyone they can. I’m a tongue-in-cheek adherent of Discordianism partially because it doesn’t want my money and would be disappointed in me if I started doing everything it told me to 🙂
Part of the fun of being Tech Support here is getting to play legitimately with the Developer Preview of OS X 10.4. Shiny beta plaything!
Further reading from The Book Of Muffin
Try me! I’m Chocolate Chip
Or at least, I would be if I was a muffin. *grin* People who match chocolate chip muffins are modern and fast-paced, if a bit generic. We’re usually go-getters that like flashy new things and socializing. Just don’t try eating us before we’ve baked; raw eggs and baker’s chocolate are a bad mix. *wink*
Take the Muffin Quiz to find out your variety. Quiz created by LJ user Seeking_Insight.
Remember, Muffin is the path to Illumination. No Hot Dog Buns!
