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July 7th, 2009
10:46 am - Glass!
First I read this article in the NY Times about new innovations in building with glass.
The article mentioned something called "Prince Rupert's drops": drops of glass that graphically demonstrate the principle of tension. Molten glass is dropped into water. The water causes the outside of the glass to cool quickly; the inside, cooling much more slowly, becomes denser than the outside, and so pulls the outside into compression.
This makes the ball of the drop super-hard. Here's a video in which they make a drop and then squeeze it with pliers and hit it with a hammer, and nothing happens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V2eCFsDkK0
However, if one breaks or cuts the thin, fragile tail of the drop, all the tension is released and the drop blows up into smithereens! Here's a really good video showing that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pdy2_vi0FfM&feature=related
Ain't science fun?
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July 6th, 2009
02:21 pm - pimpin'
Another book for the primary-research worldbuilding wonks out there:
Medieval Italy, edited by Jansen, Drell, and Andrews. Link to Amazon here.
Yes, it is expensive at just over $50 (list price is $70), but it could be worth requesting from the library. If you like it, there will be a paperback edition next year.
It's 600 pages of primary source material, translated into English. Some highlights from the TOC:
The Countryside and Its Dependencies
1. Land Leasing and Legal Status in Southern Italy: Three Texts (964 –86) translated from Latin by Valerie Ramseyer
...
6. Giovanni Villani on Food Shortages and Famine in Central Italy (1329–30, 1347– 48) translated from Italian by Katherine L. Jansen
7. A Rebellion in Firenzuola (1402) translated from Latin by Samuel K. Cohn
Spheres and Structures of Power: Ecclesiastical and Secular
...
11. Episcopal Lordship: Scenes from the Life of Ubaldo da Gubbio (ca. 1160) translated from Latin by Maureen Miller
14. Mechanisms of Communal Government: Five Texts (1143–84) translated from Latin by Frances Andrews
...
16. Twelfth-Century Administration of Corleone: Two Texts (1182, 1178–83) translated from Arabic by Alex Metcalfe
The Commercial Revolution
19. A Genoese Apprenticeship Contract (1221) translated from Latin by Katherine L. Jansen
20. Guild Regulations for the Oil Vendors and Grocers of Florence (1318) translated from Italian by Katherine L. Jansen
21. The Venetian Mint After the Black Death: Three Texts (1353) translated from Latin by Alan Stahl
Those are just samples from the first three sections; there are twelve sections in all.
Okay, here are the other section titles:
Violence, Warfare, and Peace
Law and Order
The Built Environment
Rome, the Papacy, and Papal Politics
Disease and Medical Practice
Varieties of Religious Experience: The Christian Tradition
Marriage, Family, and Children
Education and Erudition
Social Memory, History, Commemoration
Opening to any random page is a fast education. For instance, as Italy's wealth grew, they became wary of public displays of finery. It was illegal to bring gifts to a betrothal ceremony in Bologna in 1289, punishable by a fine. Accepting said gift incurred another fine. Having more than 10 guests from either side (10 for bride, 10 for groom) brought more fines.
All that just on page 189. (And of course, while I accept the interpretation of the much-published PhD, the writer in me wants to concoct a more amusing theory for sumptuary laws: all those fines are just an elaborate luxury tax.)
Seriously, who can resist a book that has three pages on the "Regulation of Brothels in Florence"?
It's a survey text, but that means it covers a lot of ground, and is written so as to keep the attention of twenty-year-olds.
It's a lot of fun to read aloud. Here, a sample:That no woman or female, of whatever state or condition, may dare or presume to wear on her head or on her person any pearl, in or out of her house, under penalty of losing the said pearl, and furthermore under penalty of ten lire for each offense; and the husband shall be held accountable for the wife, the said fine being paid from her dowry, by which it is intended that the said woman’s dowry be diminished.
It goes on in that vein for a bit. If you didn't own luxury items in the town of Lucca before 11 April 1337, you weren't going to own any. (If you already had some, you had one month to get them certified so you wouldn't have to pay a fine/tax.)
This book kicks ass.
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July 5th, 2009
12:42 am
Haven't posted much about writing for a while because I didn't do much for the past year. A couple thousand words on a couple of vaguely-begun novels, but nothing that was moving or cooking.
So at the end of May I started on a new novel that is cooking. It helps that it's set in a world I created previously, and most of the plot is known backstory in a novel I've already completed. This one is entirely standalone.
I am superstitious about my writing. I don't like to talk about it while I'm doing it, because I fear that will take all the magic away and then I won't work on it. So I got the first 7000 words of this down without mentioning it to anyone but ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) oracne.
And my fears have come true, in that I mentioned it to a couple more people about two weeks ago, and I haven't written anything on it in that time.
I forgive myself, though. I haven't worked on it because I've had freelance work, and making sure-money for the house down payment is #1 priority these days in my free time.
But the good sign is that...I want to get back to it. I know where it goes. I know what happens. I know the character arc I want to trace, the major plot points that happen.
That is a good sign.
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July 1st, 2009
01:53 pm - kicky update
Knee continues to improve. If I don't do anything stupid, it should be fine in a week.
In related news, store-brand zip-close bags are teh suxxor if you want waterproof. It's very disconcerting to suddenly realize you're sitting in a small puddle of ice water that has crept down your shorts from your elevated knee.
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June 29th, 2009
09:16 pm - Many thanks...
...to everyone for their sympathy and well-wishes for my knee. Getting around today was comical, to say the least, and I'm very grateful it was my left knee, and I drive an automatic.
Iced it this evening, and it seemed to help. Still stiff, but I'm feeling a little more certain it will continue to improve if I just take it easy for a few days, keep it wrapped, and ice it again tomorrow.
Darn. I was planning to invade a small island nation this week. Just as well, since my backup (sksperry) is hideously overworked for the next month. Curses! Foiled again!
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02:02 pm - Dear self:
Dear self:
It is not a moral failing to Google "how to properly wrap a knee." You should be pleased that it has been long enough since the last time you had to do it that Google didn't even exist then.
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09:45 am - State of the Barbarienne
So. Took a tumble onto a marble floor yesterday. Banged my knee up pretty good. Haven't needed a cane for years, but I'm back on one now. I figure a couple of days for the bruise to clear and the swelling to go down, then I can see if it's dislocated, or if the wobbles are simply because the muscles are in a little shock right now.
A few hours after the fall I was worrying about if I had torn something--it was pretty okay immediately after the fall--but I don't think so. When I hurt it 21 years ago, I knew I was hurt. I don't remember the pain, but I do remember being absolutely certain that I had just done something really bad to my knee, and that I should just lie on the floor and not move.
I'm pretty sure the worst I did this time was just bang the hell out of it. I'm pretty good at falling, and I knew to go limp and let the rest of me absorb some of the impact.
So it's Ace bandages and a cane for the next few days. We'll see how it improves. It already feels better this morning than last night.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/punquinheads/blue/hopeful.gif) hopeful
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June 26th, 2009
11:59 am - Wow, hard to be an icon.
You just know that the news outlets were preparing a huge pile of Farrah tributes, and then MJ goes and dies.
Poor Farrah.
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June 20th, 2009
11:51 pm - Why are there so many songs about...
Went to visit lotusice and her family today, joined by malkatsheva and her kids as well. A jolly time was had!
The weather was mixed sun and storms all day, which always makes for dramatic skies. I kept expecting to see a rainbow. Since I moved to Philly, I have seen five, which is more than I saw in my first 40 years of life.
And, a couple of miles from home, I finally saw one! A full ground-to-ground arc. It was getting on toward sunset, so it was pretty high, nearly a full 180 degrees of arc. Awesome!
I'm quite Pollyanna to be happy to now live in a part of the world that has weather patterns conducive to rainbows. I don't think that will ever get old.
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June 17th, 2009
10:16 pm
Can I feel smug about the fact that I saw today's Google logo and thought, "Hey, is it Stravinsky's birthday?"
--------------
There is something I've been meaning to post but haven't. I'm kind of weird about posting writing successes, as if talking about it will make it go kaflooie. But the contract is signed and all, so I guess it's okay now.
Anyhow, I sold reprint rights to my one-and-only published story! I have to give a shout-out to my Three Musketeers, douglascohen, davekirtley, and johnjosephadams. Some combination of the three of them brought the story to Tim Pratt's attention, because it fit the theme of the anthology he was putting together.
Hooray for my peeps, and hooray for me!
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11:21 am - PSA
Because I know several of my f'list use the stuff...
FDA warns against the use of Zicam and similar cold remedies.
You don't want to end up anosmic. I expect most of you would miss your sense of smell.
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June 16th, 2009
02:21 pm - Readercon Roll Call!
Who's going to Readercon?
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June 15th, 2009
10:19 pm - Dear cat...
Dear cat,
Why are you suddenly obsessed with the closets? You're going from one to the other, pawing at the doors. You have never done that before.
Seriously, you're weirding me out. Stop it.
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05:12 pm - I'm linky today
My apologies for the lack of original content today (and lack of content for several days, overall). I've got a "heavy content" post brewing about narrative voice and distance, but it's a complex subject and is kicking my mental ass, so it'll be a few more days, at least.
In the meanwhile...
Orthodox Jews launch Koogle.
The article does that mainstream-"news" thing where they go for the sensational, and spends the first several paragraphs pointing out that Koogle won't return hits on sexually explicit material.
Now, I've never had google kick back sexually explicit material to me when I make ordinary searches--no, not even from "World Fantasy Convention," which I could imagine might be interpreted differently by Google than by SF/F writers. However, that might be because the sexy stuff is buried several pages back. I suppose to make the search engine truly kosher, it has to return zero sexy links, no matter how far down the list you go.
I was intrigued by a couple of things later in the article. For instance, I did not know that ultra-Orthodox Jews are not permitted to have TVs in their homes. Are they allowed to have computers, though? Or is the assumption that they will be Koogling on computers at the library?
I am amused that it won't allow purchases on the sabbath. I wonder if it tracks the origin IP of surfers, calculates their local sundown, and reacts accordingly? I feel a powerful urge to try it out on Friday.
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04:00 pm - Very cool.
The iron-wheel fence at the Dahmen Art Barn in Washington state.
I feel a ridiculous urge to vacation in southeastern Washington all of a sudden.
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June 9th, 2009
03:45 pm - A question for hominysnark
Apparently, Adam Lambert has come out in Rolling Stone. Were you just assuming he was gay (presumably based on not-so-subtle hints), or had he come out before, and this is just a typical example of the press being johnny-come-lately idiots?
I mean, yes, the man sets off the gaydar with a rainbow-colored fairy wand, but I've known a few fellows who did that and yet apparently were straight. There seemed to be something a little more concrete regarding the oh-so-adorable Mr. Lambert.
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10:25 am - You know you haven't had enough sleep when...
...the great-granddaddy of all thunderstorms squats on your roof for a while, and your response is to reset the alarm for another 20 minutes.
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June 8th, 2009
04:37 pm - That works rather well, actually...
Snicked from eeknight, a site that takes your subject lines and makes them into random LOLcats. I bemoan my lame subject lines, but they worked rather well with this program.
Here's the linky--> http://lol.ianloic.com/lj/barbarienne
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03:06 pm - My organs talk to each other
The Scene: inside my skin, Monday afternoon.
Colon: Aaaaugh.
Stomach: What? What?
Colon: I don't feel so good.
Stomach: Well, I'm fine. I've been a little acidy, but nothing strange has come through here!
Colon: What about Saturday night? And Thursday?
Brain: Shut up! Noisy kids.
Colon: Seriously, that was some weird stuff.
Tongue: It was fine! It tasted great!
Stomach: Besides, that was two days ago. Talk to Intestine. She was supposed to get it to you yesterday.
Intestine: Don't drag me into this! I did my job.
Colon: Yeah, leave her alone. It's all Tongue's fault.
Tongue: How dare you! Everything I ate tasted amazing.
Colon: I don't care how it tasted! There was sea urchin!
Tongue: Millions of people eat that.
Colon: By choice?
Brain: Oh, she's just being a prima donna. She's not happy with anything.
Colon: Not true!
Brain: No? I make sure to put plenty of fiber through, just for you, but nooooooo, that's not good enough.
Colon: Of course it is. But on Saturday, you sent down--
Brain: It doesn't matter what I put down. You react completely unpredictably. Giant steak? Sometimes you're fine, sometimes you go on strike. I have no idea what you want! You're like a bipolar girlfriend!
Colon: ::cries:: Everyone picks on me! I'm just trying to do my job!
All: DO IT BETTER!!
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June 4th, 2009
01:56 pm - Another epic author passes away.
David Eddings has died.
I am in the group of people who quickly grew bored with his books, but they first came out when I was sixteen. I was just passing the magical age.
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