Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Wiscon 37



A whirlwind as usual.  Late night genderfloomping and biking back and forth to our off campus hotel, plus swimming, eating, arguing, talking, imbibing tasty queer drinks in test tubes, working shifts at the reg desk, and more really wore me out.  But I'll have more to say later.  Fitfully slept and argued with myself in my sleep last night...

I'm very excited about Hiromi Goto and N.K. Jemisin (whose stories I have talked up here before) as next year's Guests of Honor.  The Tiptree to Kiini Ibura Salaam for Ancient, Ancient was a highlight too.  (Caitlin Kiernan also won for The Drowning Girl.  As the Tiptree song said, "Read these books, Read these books.")

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Poorly planned




One of the core functions of city/regional government is transportation.  The Metro Council is all hits and misses.  The light rail has been a hit, mostly.  But the new train cars suck.  They are pretty, yes, more high tech looking.  But they have less seats, less places to stand out of the way, and FOUR less bike rack spaces per car.  As biking only increases, and the racks were already full at rush hour.  Who planned that?

Lucky I'm listening to Galactic Suburbia and my ire is focused more on the usual publisher and internet fail...  My blood pressure rises too much with city planner fail.  Don't even get me started on R.T.'s quiet lack of non-fail.  It's hard being pretty...

My neighbor was ditching his alternate transportation method.  Cute, huh.

Monday, May 13, 2013

A step towards full citizenship 12.5/50




With DC as 1/2...

Still processing sea change, myself.  Not much more to be said, as they covered the gamut in the legislature...  I could listen, though.  I'm too old to care about what the arguments are.  Just get over it.

Addendum:  it's hard to know how to celebrate.  Going to the bars seems the wrong thing.  Plus there are no girl bars here. 

The line keeps going thru my head: "How you like them apples."  It's not over til it's over.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Source Decay


Brilliant, even on rereading:  Charlie Jane Anders at SH.

I'm not sure what anti-con bubble I've been living in where missed  that she's GOH at ConVergence this year, but yow- a great choice, guys.  I might have to brave the crazy parking shuttled multi-hotel nightmare.  I had pledged to avoid it...

Friday, May 3, 2013

May snows



Not so thick here, but southern MN got ten inches two days ago.  All bets are off.

I'm reading, randomly because I searched for running books, the story of Matt Long , a New York firefighter who got split in two by a bus and then ran a 7 hour NY marathon with no right adductor muscle, a two inch shorter leg from a fractured pelvis, and mangled left toes that he'd basically land on with every step.  The reader for the audiobook keeps it lively.