Monday, Four Comments On

Comment #1 - Station Eleven

Amazon delivered unto me a copy of the wonderful new novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy today. Mandel does a great job on her apocalypse, as well as tying Arthur Leander, her Canadian actor who dies in Chapter 1, into all the events that follows. Really well-written. The "station eleven" of the title refers to a graphic novel written by one of the characters. It plays a key role in the end of the book.

Comment #2 - Worldcon travel plans

I've booked my hotels for Worldcon. I'm planning on a weekend in Seattle, a couple of days in Yakima Washington, which will be the base to explore Mt. Rainier, and then on to Spokane.

Comment #3 - Weekend Update

On Saturday, I drove down to Yuppie Central (Damen & North Ave. in Chicago) and attended a Tor.com author meetup. Tobias Buckell, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Tim Akers were all in attendance. I bought a copy of Three Body Problem because both the interpreter and author were on hand and so I got both to sign the book.

Comment #4 - Getting off my butt

Some time ago, I installed a sit-stand desk at work. On Friday, I decided I wasn't getting enough "stand" out of it. So, I loaded a software package called "Big Stretch Reminder" on my PC. It sends a popup on a timed basis to remind me to stand up you lazy slob stretch.

Puppy Bites Woman, Pictures at 11

So, Irene Gallo, an employee at Tor, said something negative about Sad and Rabid Puppies on her personal blog while promoting a Tor product. The CEO of Tor issued a statement making clear that Gallo was speaking for herself personally. Vox Day demands Gallo resign. Yet when Brendan Eich resigned Mozilla over something he said, Vox was all Stand Your Ground! and Don't Give In to Your Critics! In short, Tom Doherty did exactly what Vox told Brendan Eichs to do, yet Doherty is wrong, per Vox. I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

In other news, dog bites man, water is wet, and it gets kinda dark at night.