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[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.] | |
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| Here’s today’s progress on the west coast steampunk Victoriana book with zombies, air ships, toxic gas clouds, mad scientists, dead folk heroes, secret criminal societies, and Bonus! extended deleted scenes from the Civil War:
Project: The Boneshaker
New Words: 3510 (pretty good!)
Present Total Word Count: 123,267 words
Goal: 130,000 words by July 1st.
Observations: Steampunk is fun to write. It is also complicated, and reaching the end of this book has started to feel like a sisyphean undertaking. But if nothing happens to eat my life during the rest of this week, I might be able to cough up a Draft Zero by Friday afternoon. Then again, I might be an overly optimistic liar. Stay tuned.
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Two loads of laundry, including bedding; sent off book review; corresponded extensively with distant friends and colleagues; learned my way around my twitter account a little better; determined that I might be far too boring to maintain this twitter account; decided that maybe I’d just use it as a link dump or something, but I don’t want to ditch it yet; spent a downright silly amount of time chatting in gmail with my college roommate and a fashion-fixated Australian woman.
Reason for Stopping: Came to the end of my chapter. Also, it’s Tuesday night — and that means that The Helvetica Quartet shall ride again … or at least, we shall drink and giggle and participate in a pub quiz over in West Seattle. Ergo, I ought to brush my hair or throw on some respectable clothes or something. Also [:: glances out the window ::] I need to drag out my rain boots. The weather is sucking ass.*
Total Fiction Words Composed in 2008: 191,842
* I hear that — starting tomorrow — it’s supposed to get pretty for three or four days in a row … but then the weather will return to its regularly scheduled ass sucking. Oh yes. You can count on it.
[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.] | |
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| I hate grocery shopping. No wait, I dislike grocery shopping. I hate grocery shopping alone. Yes, I am one of those lucky people, I get my partner to go food shopping 9 times out of 10. Today, was the one of those time he didn't come with me. I dislike pushing the cart, I am too busy pushing and avoiding the running toddlers that I can't find what I need. Also while pushing the cart I have to put my bag in it this again does not let me find what I need. When I am alone I seemingly forget the layout of the store. Now while this is good for getting that little extra exercise but still I am standing in paper pick up the napkins look at the list, need coffee, only to look at the list again, yup we need TP. Damn it! Back to paper section I go. Then there's checking out. Where I need to find my keys get all the stuff out of the cart, so I can put it back in again! By myself. Yup, no baggers at the store today. The older woman who checked me out says to me "So are you going to fit everything in there?" Meaning my IKEA bag, and I while trying to get everything in there "I think so." And start to pack faster. Then THREE FUCKING seconds later asks me to push a button on the keypad. Which of course requires me to put down the red cabbage in my hand, run around the cart, ask the person be hind me in line to move back so I can GET to the keypad to press Yes and then go back to my bagging all the while the people behind me are thinking "Can she move faster?" I'm trying to save the environment here people I don't want plastic bags, give me a minute. Did I mention today was a bring the cans back and get rid of plastic bag day before all of this even started. At least with Kevin this all happens, but he makes me laugh and I don't get nearly as pissed off about it all. I suppose that's my problem lately. The things that should only bother me a little bit - are making me go from zero to totally FUCKING raving mad. For stuff that is really just a scratch on the surface and nothing that I can fix either. I would like to become a duck, and just let it all roll off my back. How does one become a duck. I know if I want to BUY a duck I just need to call ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) awfief. | |
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| This clip is from a French musical film (2007) called Les chansons d'amour and features sexy Louis Garrel as Ismael and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet as Erwann in a beautifully romantic and exceedingly erotic scene of love. Enjoy! :)
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| Back in State College for don't know how long. I have other things to post, but this issue takes precedence. (Also, this is my first time perusing my f-list in a while, so let me know if I missed anything of importance.) Last night, I was over at David's, and his roommates and I got into a heated discussion over a particular idiomatic expression. James was on my side, but Mike was adamant that I am just insane. So I thought I'd ask you lot. (Feel free to link this poll to your friends.) NO CHEATING! If you don't know, don't look at the answers until you've voted. Poll #1187359 The Great Purple Debate, Part I
Open to: All, results viewable to: AllIf someone used the phrase "this tastes purple" colloquially, would you know what they are talking about? Ok, so what does it mean, smartypants? ( Do not look at the second part of this poll until you've voted in the one above!!! )So, please, feel free to elaborate your thoughts on this matter of pressing importance in the comments. This debate seriously went on for more than an hour. We need some closure, even if most of you who will see this are in my social network in some way, anyway. :-p | |
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| The new Orphan Works Act will effect me enourmously I'd appreciate it if you could take the time to write to your respective legislators. More informaiton here (as well as links to email your legislator-bots). | |
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| Phew, everyone at home has been sick all week and we're finally getting better. It started with Elijah being sick but it only took a couple of days for it to catch up with all of us. My mom is the only one spared but that's just because she's been in Oregon taking care of her recently deceased mother's stuff. It was really worrisome having Elijah be so sick because he lost 2.5 lbs. in a few days. That's a TON when you only weigh 24 lbs.! None of us are quite up to par yet, but we'll get there. Recently I've been working on a blog on wordpress, where it will be moved to another server later on. I can't really get into details right now because everything is so very in the Alpha stage of development, but I will keep everyone posted. I may cross post some things here once things get going. | |
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| http://garrettnudd.blogspot.com/2008/05/welcome-baby-owen.html My youngest brother and his wife, Tabor and Heather, welcomed baby Owen into the world just a few short days ago. Not yet accustomed to sleeping at home in such strange surroundings, it seems Owen prefers to sleep with one eye open to look out for strangers.  ...the reaction when he sees a stranger  Owen has a super-cool room   A 360-degree view of the little man      We're excited for the addition to the family and of course Graycen is excited to have another little cousin to play with. Congratulations Heather and Tabor. What a blessing! We're looking forward to watching Owen grow. | |
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| Two Names You Go By: 1. *no name* I actually prefer it so much to be known as that bloke. I'm the first person to hide my name tags at formal gatherings. Being anonymous stops you getting into trouble even if it breeds suspicion 2. sFK (I'd blush at you reminding me of my past) Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: 1. I've just put on a pair of comfy cotton tracksuit bottoms to keep my legs warm 2. I'm wearing a smile. Two Things You Want in a Relationship: 1. Inspiration 2. Ok, at this point, lots of sweaty bodyachingly good sex. I'm not normally so carnal but inner slut needs a release after the last few weeks of hell. Two of Your Favorite Things to do: 1. Check my comments on facebook, LJ and Flickr. Make my day sometimes. 2. Water my plants. I'm especially fond of how durable they are. Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment: I always end up getting whatever i want in the end, but in general 1. Redemption (in a meaningful sense) 2. Some time to myself without any pressure Two pets you have had: 1. I had my landlords cat. She was a beautiful persian cat who seemed to get exceptionally attached to me. She singlehandedly managed to do what no-one else could do, domesticate me. 2. I had the puppies. I was in love with Tallullah for her little personality. She was so small and all she ever wanted was just to be held in your laps. She'd just sit in mine and curl up in a ball and i knew thats when she was happy. Two people who will fill this out first: 1. annabattista2. ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) melissamaplesI hope they do anyway. I like how people get to know each other secretly through memes when they cut and paste and notice the answers the other person gives. Two things you did last night: 1. Last night i had managed to get my hands on all of Morcheeba's albums. Love those guys. 2. Last night, it finally dawned on me how much time i'd managed to squander that weekend. Two things you ate today: 1. Oh, oh oh ... i must tell you. It was gorgeous. It was a special sandwich i asked this man to make for me. He's a genius. It was a falafel and hummus sandwich with spicy sauce. It was almost like how a kebab should taste but so gorgeous. This guy is brilliant and a hidden secret of Edinburgh. 2. I ate those weetabix mini's with chocolate chips in them. They are bloody good. Quite tasty. Two people you talked to last: 1. Celine, a friend. 2. Neil, a comrade in arms at the University of Edinburgh/ Two things you're doing tomorrow: 1. Going to study in the library at Glasgow Uni. I keep seeing the same asian girl everywhere but i first saw her there. I was sitting there working away and then she started talking to her friend. I feigned disgust and left my stuff except a pen and paper and walked away. 2. Sending Michelle a DVD of Russian Ark that i promised but never got round to because of studies. She's even deleted me from her friends list in the meantime. However, i always keep my word. always . Anyone else want something from my extensive film collection? Two longest car rides that you've been on: 1. When my dad nearly killed us both playing with the radio and not watching the road and going straight into a box junction crossing the red lights. 2. When dad decided to drive me to London from Wolverhampton and ignored my rather easy instructions to follow bloody multi(ple personality)map instructions. I had the pleasure of a unique guided tour of London though. It was like a bad road trip movie made more annoying by the fact that he kept tuning into Chinese radio stations because he liked the accent. cy75 managed to laugh at my expense for two weeks.. Two favourite holidays: I've never actually been on holiday in the conventional sense. Just fulfilling obligations mainly. 1. My favourite sojourn was going on holiday with my fiancee at the time, except it was the bits when she wasn't there and i explored an island on my own. I did a mental run across the length of it through a brilliant thunderstorm and it was exhilirating. I also skinnydipped in the ocean at night and jumped off cliffs. The boyfriendy bits started to suck a bit though her mum was nice to me after i bought her a session at the masseurs for her birthday. 2. The holiday when i met my first girlfriend (this just came to mind now for reasons). It was a LibDem training camp out in the hills and the first time i ever felt a mutual connection to anyone, though i was so clueless at the time. She asked to sleep in my bed, and so i gave her it and slept on the floor after talking through the night to two guys. I walked in on a naked guy. Convinced another one to come up to the hills with me at night where I think we scared the crap out of someone by pretending to be wolves. Oh and played death tabletennis. Don't ask. Just assume i was involved. Two favourite drinks: 1. Bitter lemon 2. Ginger beer (homage to two of the nicest dates i've been on, that was the drink they bought me) Two favorite smells: (will you spell favourite correctly??? americans..) 1. Turkish coffee..oh yeah...*drools.....* 2. Garlic. Love garlic. lots of it. Best food ever. Two dislikes: 1. People who insist on not being able to spell. I'm a former editor and journalist in past lives. I insist on good spelling. Grammar can go out the window though. 2. I really can't stand being in an environment where everything is fuelled around alcohol and nothing on actually having a good time. Its why I've been a useless misfit student. I don't do the "parties" circuit. Two fears: 1. That i'm still going to be inept, socially retarded and in the same position when i'm 30 2. A personal health fear that i need to get checked out at hospital next week, or the consequences are going to hit me square in the face and everything is going to change again. Two things that put a smile on your face: 1. Small animals..today the small cat in my garden comes over to say hello now. She acknowledges me after i left a little saucer of milk. I really want a cat. Miss feline company. 2. Nina Simone | |
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| They've started running more shuttles to the Metro from my workplace--30 (!) instead of 8 per day. This made me check out Metro and RideOn fares and times.
If I take the bus from the end of my street to the Metro, Metro out to VA, shuttle to work, it would be about 40 minutes one way (according to their probably optimistic schedules) and cost (round trip) about $10.20 during rush hour and $8.30 if I go off-peak in the morning (Metro doesn't seem to have an evening off-peak). Compared with 45-90 minutes one-way and $7-8 in gas (round trip), that compares pretty favourably, given that I'd be taking a car off the road.
If I bike to the Metro, I get some exercise and save another $1.70, though I don't know that I'd save any time. :-)
This definitely bears thinking about... | |
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| He's so logical. So sensible. He tracks his gas mileage obsessively. He knows his finances to the penny.
And then there are the decisions that he gets utterly set on, and I can't make the least sense out of. Like yesterday, when I had to debate with him for 50 blocks about why taking Euclid, to get from E. 172 to W. 11th, was NOT a more reasonable choice than taking I-90 (locals will understand why this is so damned baffling, we're talking a total drive time difference of probably close to an hour). And today, when the plan is apparently to come up from their hotel room in Akron (my brother's at Kent), pick me up from work in East Cleveland, and then drive back down to Akron, in rush hour, because "there are all sorts of restaurants and a movie theatre right across from our hotel". Keep in mind, I need to be back in Cleveland, at home, no later than 10pm or so if I'm going to have a hope in hell of being functional tomorrow. Keep in mind that Cleveland has no shortage of movie theatres. No shortage of restaurants. No shortage of these things paired together. WTF, Dad, WTF? Really, if you're set on chain restaurants (my folks seem to have a thing for them), I can and will find them for you up here. I just don't understand why I'm going to spend an extra two hours, minimum, in the car, when we've only got about five to spend together today, in order to get to something that's perfectly available here.
Edit: Finally convinced him that Valley View, and the innumerable restaurants around it, was a better option than driving to Akron just because he already knew where they were down there. Hoorah! | |
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| I went on a field trip today... to our yard. It was windy as hell, but I got some nice pics of some of our bio-diversity before my camera battery and back crapped out about the same time. Taking pictures of flowers is easy, 'cause I can do it lying down. It was the getting up that was tricky :-) Faun, our bloodroot doesn't have any more flowers, but I took a picture of it's distinctive leaf... because I told you I would! | |
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| So, since everyone on Debian/Ubuntu systems should be busily redoing their ssh keys today, I thought I'd write a post about ssh keys. (Some parts of this post will be ubuntu specific, but keys can be used with Putty too under Windows, where Pageant, which comes with Putty, takes the role of ssh-agent. There's no pam-ssh equivalent that I know of under Windows though.)
There are two sorts of ssh keys; usually called host keys, and ssh keys. Host keys are always used when ssh'ing. The machine you connect to will have generated a key, and the first time you connect, your client should show you the fingerprint of the key so you can check that you are connecting to the right machine, and not someone pretending to be the right machine. It will also give big warnings should the fingerprint change, which is to be expected today since host keys will have been regenerated due to a security issue, so you'll have to tell your client to forget the old fingerprint.
Installing the security update will install fixed code, but you should still regenerate your host keys; this can be done by moving /etc/ssh/ssh_host* out of the way, and typing "sudo dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server". (You can use ssh-keygen directly if you prefer, but that seems the best way to redo what it would have done on install.)
Ssh keys are more secure than using passwords. This is for two reasons. Firstly, a challenge/response scheme is used when keys are in use, rather than just transmitting the password, and secondly they're longer (unless your password is more than a couple of hundred characters long...).
You can create a ssh key with: "ssh-keygen" (no args necessary, it will default to a 2048bit RSA key which is just fine.) You will be prompted for a file name and a password for the key. The default filename is probably fine, but make sure you set a password on the key. (You may think this is strange, but the password is only used locally to decrypt the key, and protects against someone getting hold of the keyfile somehow.) It will actually generate two files, a public and a private key. You can then use "ssh-copy-id <server>" to copy the public key to a server. Next time you log in, you will be prompted for the password to decode the key, rather than the password for the server.
This is an improvement in security, but convenience-wise it's just the same; you still enter a password. Enter ssh-agent. If you run ssh-agent on login (on many linux systems, the login manager will start an ssh-agent process for you when you log in), then you can use "ssh-add" (no args is fine) to add your key to it. You'll be prompted for a password to decrypt it, but can now use the key as long as ssh-agent is running without having to enter your password again. ssh finds the agent through environment variables, so if you somehow find you don't have the environment variables set, you can type "source ~/.ssh/agent-<machinename>" to set them up again. (For example, I ssh into my main machine from my laptop, and want to connect to the ssh-agent I have running on there, so I source ~/.ssh/agent-willow to connect, and can then ssh from that machine using the stored key.)
We can make things more convenient still, by installing libpam-ssh ("sudo aptitude install libpam-ssh" on Ubuntu). (Note that this works much better for me in KDE, gnome seemed to have its own ssh-agent replacement, but that didn't set .ssh/agent-willow, which made it more annoying for me.) Now edit /etc/pam.d/kdm or kdm-kde4, or whatever login manager you use (sudo nano /etc/pam.d/kdm or whatever), and add @include pam-ssh-auth above the include of common-auth, and @include pam-ssh-session above common-session. Now when you log in, you can enter either your regular password, or the password of your ssh key. If you enter the latter, ssh-agent will automatically be started with your key decoded and added as you log in, and you'll be able to use ssh with keys without any extra passwords. (Entering your normal password logs you in still, but doesn't add your key.) | |
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| Hawthorn blossom - also known as "the may flower" - that's the "may" the old saying talks about. Once the hawthorn starts to blossom summer is definitely on the way. | |
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| it's that time again, the swans are nesting. Looks like the male from previous years, with a new missus (the female died last summer) - certainly they're using the same nest site. | |
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| The Extraordinary and Unusual Adventures of Horatio Lyle - Catherine WebbCute book. After the first two pages I gagged the little over-analytical, ultracritical know-it-all in my brain and sat back to enjoy this book. Horatio Lyle is a ... eh, he likes to blow things up, basically. But now and then and not-so-voluntarily - because blowing things up is more fun - he engages himself as a sleuth, if the police is at a loss that is. Classical detective story setting (in the London of the 19th century!). And one can undeniably say that Ms Webb knows whom to pay respect to. Well, at least she knows, though I'm not so sure about the respect, which the following excerpt quite clearly shows. ( Not for die-hard Sherlock Holmes fans, though. ) Aw, so much glee in that. ;) So Horatio is summoned before Lord Lincoln's 'calculating mind' and is told that he has the 'honour' to serve the Empire by bringing back an ancient plate which has been stolen from the Bank of England recently. Together with Tess, a cheeky ex-thief, and Thomas, a Young Man of Really Important Descent, he pounces on to the investigations, but soon he has to realize that there are dangerous forces at work who don't care about a human life. The book is fun to read. Neither the plot nor the setting is all too imaginative, but it's charmingly written and the characters are loveable, especially Tess. Only Thomas seemed to be a plot-only character, because the only reason for him being there is his Really Important Descent which opens doors normally closed to Normal People Without Really Important Descent. That is negligible and so is the fact that I totally didn't buy the supernatural aspects of the plot. The sheer cuteness makes up for it, as well as the hilarious phrases the authors uses, my favourite being "clouds raced along like frightened fish, trying to pretend they hadn't been there [...]". I love such imaginative, pictorial use of language; it takes guts to use unusual stylistic devices and it doesn't always work, but in this case it definitely did. The Italien or the Confessional of the Black Penitents - Ann Ward RadcliffeEllena (the Very Pure Maiden) and Vincentio di Vivaldi (the Very Heroic Hero) are madly in love with each other. Sadly, and to my utter surprise, Vivaldi's parents are against the marriage and want to prevent it at all costs. Which brings the eerie monk Schedoni (the Very Villainous Villain) on the scene, who spins a web of intrigues with his mad villainous villain intrigue skillz. But Ellena and Vincention refuse to give up on each other, so that they are now hunted through 18th century Italy which seems to be cramped with sinister monks, bigoted abesses, unscrupulous assassins and merciless inquisitors. While Ann Radcliffe certainly has a knack for atmosphere, this book didn't work for me. Though I found myself ridiculously amused by it at some parts, it's probably just too old to have another effect upon me than this mild amusement. The setting was beautiful and well done, the landscape as well as the dire dungeons, but nothing more, and of course I couldn't see all those absolutely shocking revelations coming. Not at all. Only from miles away. Schedoni is a pretty amazing villain, though, with his luciferean viciousness. If you're stuck with stereotyped characters, the bad guys are certainly more entertaining than the good guys. I cheered for Schedoni. :P Brigitta - Adalbert StifterNot such a big fan of Adalbert Stifter (Austrian writer of the 19th century). In 12th grade we read a text by him about a solar eclipse; after two passages, I got distracted and started doodling on my notepad. Since my grandma gave me a copy for Christmas and it's her favourite book, I gave Brigitta a go nevertheless, mainly because I didn't want to lie at her if she asked me about it. There's not so much to say about the content of this short novel itself other than it didn't particularly impress nor annoy me. The Romantic narrative provides for a whole lot of atmospheric nature descriptions, the oak tree they used to hang people as the most striking example. About the short novel there's a lot to say however. My copy had to different editions of the book, the original one from 1844 and another one, edited by Stifter himself, from 1847. (Funny story - they were set parallel in my copy, that is, one page, one edition, next page, second edition. I didn't realize that when I started reading and it amazed me greatly that a sentence o |
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