Songs from the Little Bird

Art class picspam

Sun, 22 Sep 2019 20:21:25 GMT

California impressionist piece is finished!
Here's the final painting plus progress pics..

(Click my user name at the top of that post to see previous paintings as well, including an exercise who's finished result frustrates me, but that's because it's hard to drape a cloth gf exactly the way you had it five weeks earlier.)

Blergh. This is migraine weekend, and today is a nasty one. Time for my second attempt to knock it down with maxalt.

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One time when I wish I could reblog

Tue, 29 Sep 2015 19:23:34 GMT

Ladybusiness' Gender discrimination in SFF awards has the hard research and numbers breakdown.

Abstract:

"This project demonstrates that SFF books by or about cis women are less likely to win awards than books by or about cis men. Trans and nonbinary authors do not win awards at all, and trans or nonbinary protagonists are extremely rare. Overall, there were more award-winning books written by cis men about cis men than there were books by women about anybody. While there have been recent gains in terms of diversity in awarded books, this is likely part of a cycle of gains and pushback that has repeated itself throughout the history of SFF awards. SFF awards have a problem when it comes to gender: they privilege cis men and the cis male experience over that of cis women and trans and nonbinary individuals."

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waves hands with incoherent glee

Sun, 19 Jan 2014 23:24:16 GMT

Imagine one of those shows you loved as a kid. Two years, five years, seven years. However long it ran, there came a day when it was over, or, on that rare show that didn't get canceled, it moved away from the characters or story styles you loved.

Now imagine you just discovered a cache of ten more years worth of episodes. Good, bad, ugly, who cares. The actors snuck off and made more, and the writers listened to them to make sure their characters were right. It's the show you remember, only they've fixed some of the problems (sexism!) with the luxury of hindsight.

It's like finding more Narnia books, or more Dorothy Sayers. BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE. I've found a way into Lucien's Library from The Sandman, for at least this one shelf!

I was listening to yet another episode last night, and it was a perfect popcorn-quality story (not great art, but with all my buttons pressed and Favorite Characters Being Awesome), and I found myself literally waving my hands in the air with pleasure.

Afterwards, I sat up writing for an hour or so. We'll see how long that lasts, but it would be a lovely side effect if my ever-so-dead creative writing muse finally stumbled awake.

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Out of Context Theater

Tue, 24 Dec 2013 03:26:09 GMT

"it fell off, so I ate it." -- my dad

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Went to 50th Anniversary Who showing at theater

Tue, 26 Nov 2013 08:17:41 GMT

I think the best bit about watching the 50th anniversary special in the theater was looking around and seeing all these kids who weren't born when my Doctors were on the air.

I remember the day a friend came into the dining hall in college to tell us that Doctor Who was cancelled. "But they can't!" we said. "They just can't!"

They couldn't!

Also a delight seeing it start with the opening sequence of the first-ever episode redone in color and 3D. (Not to mention the original opening credits.) And of course the cameo(s).

I suppose I should really sit down and catch up on the new series, with their manpain, "sexed up" companion-Doctor ships and all. I'm so out of touch; I hadn't seen Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter, and she's great.

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Oh Joy...

Fri, 31 May 2013 00:24:38 GMT

... budding musician in the apartment complex across from my home office is learning to play the clarinet.

I approve of musicians and understand that drills are necessary, but I am rapidly becoming less fond of "Sakura, Sakura" than I was a day ago.

Also, I have rather frequent headaches now due to eyestrain, so... rrrrrgh.

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Saturn and moon playing peekaboo

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 07:23:42 GMT

I really really REALLY wish I had a camera I could clamp onto a good telephoto lens AND tripod, or else a camera that fit my ancient backyard scope.

Holding a point-and-shoot camera against the scope's eyepiece and trying not to breathe yielded these:

(Contrast boosted on most of them to try and make it more visible)

It seemed awfully dim after the first bright snap (top left).

Then I looked at the nearly full moon, and even it seemed awfully dim:

What was going on? Oh, right. Clouds. This is what I saw when I stopped trying to leave the shutter open long enough to collect a little light:

I'll have to try Saturn again on another night. Still can't expect much without the right equipment, but it's at a really good angle right now to catch the sun on the rings.

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Success! (Comet Panstarrs)

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 03:52:46 GMT

I really, really need a camera for astrophotography.

Holding a point-and-shoot camera over the lens of my wee beginner telescope is not, repeat, NOT the way to do this. So these photos are not great. BUT!

It's a comet.

( my Pan-starrs photos )

Taken at Orange County Great Park, almost exactly 8PM. I heard coyotes howling in the distance, which I find beautiful.

(black strips are some sapling treetops in foreground, which I was using to help me find the comet after spotting it with binocs.)

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Captain Kate Says: Earthquake Warning System Worked!

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:52:45 GMT

Monday's earthquake was wimpy, but useful.

An earthquake early warning system being tested in California gave seismologists in Pasadena up to 30 seconds to prepare for Monday morning’s temblor in the desert of Riverside County.
“It was right,” said Kate Hutton, a seismologist with Caltech. “I sat really still to see if I could feel it and it worked.”

-- LA Times

This system can't predict earthquakes, but it can transmit an "Earthquake... incoming!" signal out from the epicenter faster than the ground waves propagate, giving people more than 20 miles away enough seconds to drop and cover, hit the brakes on the train, move away from the window, etc. Japan has had a national system like this for several years, and California is looking into implementing one.

By the way... for those of you who don't live in earthquake country, this is Dr. Kate Hutton:

She is southern California's Earthquakes SpokesExpert. Whenever a quake triggers news coverage, whether it be national TV or a local radio broadcast, chances are we'll hear the reassuring tones of Captain Kate explaining it all to us.

Outside of entertainers, she's probably one of the most visible out lesbians in the world. Unsurprisingly, she is a dyke icon in California.

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I ACCIDENTALLY A COMET

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 05:41:29 GMT

So I went out to the Great Park tonight to look for Comet PanStarrs, after failing last night because of fog on the ocean. I even got a new app, SkySafari, which lets you look up comets and everything else (Comet C/2011 L4 = Panstarrs)!, and then it draws a green arrow pointing to whatever the heck you're trying to find. IT'S OVER THERE, YOU TWIT!

Pannstars is tricky. It should be naked-eye by now, but it's hanging so close to the sun that there's only a very short window after the sun goes down and the sun-glare fades before Panstarrs, also, sets.

I had nearly given up when, suddenly, through the horizon haze, I spotted it (or so I thought) with binocs. YES! YES! THERE IT WAS! Fuzzy little ball with faintish wisp going up.

Except that after writing my "I saw Comet Panstarrs!" post, I found this photo taken five days ago, and now realize that I accidentally a different comet. What I saw looked more like "Lemmon" in this picture: the distinct snowball on the end.

By Juri Beletsky, Observatorio de Las Campanas, Chile [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Nevertheless, comet Panstarrs SHOULD be visible to the naked eye this week -- barely -- and quite visible with binoculars.

( How to find comet PANSTARRS (visible March 10-20 or so) )

I will be trying again all week. There's an astronomy club demo at the Great Park on Friday with big telescopes, but the lines are always looooong. So, we'll see.

I sure hope comet ISON survives its close encounter with the sun later this year and puts on a show for us in November. If it doesn't melt away completely during its swing around the sun, it should be easy to see with the naked eye. Unfortunately, it's cutting the turn really fine -- only 100,000 miles above the sun's surface! -- so it could get vaporized. But if it survives, it may be the brightest comet since the 1600s.

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Built-in Voice Recognition in Mac OS

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:08:56 GMT

Mac voice recognition (video link, includes sound) has been built into the system since 1993.

I used it years ago, but it was much more primitive then and not ready for prime time. My wrists are now very, very grateful that I have activated it.

What it can do:

Switch between programs, play/pause, use voice commands for copy/paste and move up/down.

Create voice aliases for your most-used files and programs. (Say "Google Chrome" to open Chrome, e.g.)

Assign voice commands that trigger any keyboard shortcuts.

Create application-specific commands for macros or other application function.

With Universal Access > Enable access for assistive devices turned on, you can use your voice to select menu items, browser bookmarks, browser tabs by speaking their names.

What it can't do (yet):

Take dictation / transcribe everything you say. For that, you need third party software.
Answer questions, Siri style. For that, go to google.com (which you can set as a voice bookmark) and click the microphone icon.

Ways I'm using it:

Web browser navigation. Boy howdy, web browser navigation. (E.g. "sepdet friends" [checking dreamwidth], "new tab" or "was that an earthquake?")
Closing all the windows I've opened, quitting all the applications I've left running.
Cut and paste.
Flipping between programs.
Opening files I use for work.
Activating macros.
Nearly everything I used to use the mouse or trackpad for.

Custom commands/macros I've made:

"Photoshop" "MS Excel" because who bally wants to say, "Open Adobe Photoshop CS5" or "Switch to Microsoft Excel"
"Scroll north" "scroll down" because apparently I'm so congested that "move up" and "move down" sound about the same. Bleh, sinuses.
"View next tab" for command-right-arrow to flip between tabs in my browser. OMFG useful.
Also, in speech settings, I went into the "commands" area and turned off exact matches so that it'll take "close this" for "close this window" and "what's today?" for "what is the date?"

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Russian meteor videos / links roundup

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 05:51:29 GMT

So, a round-up, partly so I can find this stuff later.

Excellent summary from Sky & Telescope.

( Two astounding video compilations, more links about actual SCIENCE of this thing )

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A complaint I just lodged with the BBB against AT&T "YP" directories...

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:05:10 GMT

Yeah, yeah, I know, first world problems. But think of the trees!

( Complaint I just lodged with Better Business Bureau... )

P.S. If you agree with me that phone book deliveries should be OPT IN, there's a petition for that. I added my signature.

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DEAR UNSEASONABLY THICK CLOUD LAYER THAT OBSCURED MY VIEW OF THE SPACE STATION FLYOVER TONIGHT

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 03:16:38 GMT

... you suck.

(However, this free app does not suck. Best used in conjunction with a Night Sky, as ISS Spotter only tells you, "the space station will be overhead in your location at X time on Y date" or "it's rising in two minutes" not, "it's right over there, that big white dot sailing past Polaris, you twit!")

ISS Spotter

Mediapilot

Category: Education

Updated: Nov 30, 2012

39 Ratings

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Star Wars geeking from the White House

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 21:26:57 GMT

The White House has responded to an online petition with over 25,000 signatures urging the government to build a Death Star...

This Isn't the Petition Response You're Looking For

The response is great. Go read it. :)

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Here's looking at you.

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:47:09 GMT

Today I accompanied my Dad, a volunteer for Hawkwatch.org, to a demo of two raptors at the Utah Natural History Museum. Lighting was lousy, but I got some deent photos.

Here's Kotori the Great-Horned Owl.

(click for full-size)

Here's Calurus the Red-Tailed Hawk.

(click for full-size)

(Both are rescues who can't survive in the wild; see link above for more info.)

Close-up of Kotori:

(click for full-size)

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Not a Creature Was Stirring...

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 22:44:24 GMT

Well, I got my wish... The first snow I've seen falling from the sky in a year.

Mom's cat Jason has postponed wandering the neighborhood until the groundhogs have thawed.

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YAY! Now JPL needs to do one with the rover mockups dancing.

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:10:58 GMT

Houston, we do NOT have a problem with this...

It's really too bad that NASA only recently acquired some social media savvy employees to do their PR. I suspect that we'd have had a lot more public awareness of past NASA missions, particularly the wonders of the shuttle program, if they'd been doing things like this and MarsCuriosity's "GALE CRATER, I AM IN YOU!" Twitter channel all along.

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A not-so-unexpected journey.

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:36:10 GMT

Some web flotsam to soothe the soul.

Well, soothing unless you are allergic to bagpipes. (Sorry, akycha.)

Unsurprisingly, I am a YouTube stalker of the Unipiper.

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"Open Source Mythology FTW"

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:31:44 GMT

... a comment from ursulav's most recent blog post that I wish to remember.

UrsulaV is the artist who does fantasy art with aggressive fruit.

And she got a Cease and Desist order for her "Hello Chthulu" postcards a few years back.

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On NonCommunication, aka Common Workplace Complaint #1

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 03:55:47 GMT

I'm too tired to work up a properly entertaining state of dudgeon, and also, I need to continue checking/overhauling/updating my 430+ Squidoo articles. But it's time for a work-vent.

Yesterday, Friday Dec 7, Squidoo HQ decided that in honor of the site's 7th anniversary, they would release an all-new, totally "responsive layout" revamp of the site, which means doing away with a fixed width layout and having elements wiggle all over the place to fit whatever screen and OS are being used.

Squidoo members learn that the site has decided to change ALL THE THINGS, LJ-style.

There were just a few problems with this brilliant plan.

( Ranty rant, including natterings about money )

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AWESOME.

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 04:24:54 GMT

I try not to post holiday stuff because I know some people on my flist get sick of it. (My family celebrates an amalgam secular holiday; the Jewish side of the family was very big on decorations, tree, Santa and presents.)

However. This must be shared.

Tokyo Gojira Christmas Tree is AWESOME.

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Dear gods and little unicorns...

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:00:51 GMT

... I didn't think that there could ever be a worse website than the infamous Glaucoma, Glaucoma site of the mid 2000s (back when bandwidth was much more of an issue):

... but WebPagesThatSuck.com has just turned up something even more terrifying.

I present you with a webpage that truly epitomizes the phrase "Jesus freaks."

WARNING: FLASHING STROBE EFFECT. Possibly migraine-inducing even if you don't get migraines.

So. Are you braced? Are you sitting down? Are you wearing sunglasses? Behold the horror.

I'm partial to the heavenly chorus of Jedi angels cooking popcorn with their lightsabres.

ETA: I dared to run the javascript. It should be virus-free, as Webpagesthatsuck.com does malware checks; it simply plays a goofy 90s MIDI music file to accompany the graphics.

ETA2: On closer inspection, the animated gif representing the Supreme Being is suffering from Nearly Headless Nick sydrome.

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Edible solstice shrub

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:15:52 GMT

Now here's an idea I fully endorse: a solstice shrub made of potted rosemary.

ETA: #@%@!%! iPad camera, why?!

*ports it over to desktop to fix rotation*

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Lolcat...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:28:18 GMT

I'm not sure what the caption should be, but my cat keeps trying to pose for Lolcats.

(Why, yes, I color-coordinated my furniture with my cat. Doesn't everybody?)

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Songs from the Little Bird

Art class picspam

One time when I wish I could reblog

Abstract:

*waves hands with incoherent glee*

Out of Context Theater

Went to 50th Anniversary Who showing at theater

Oh Joy...

Saturn and moon playing peekaboo

Success! (Comet Panstarrs)

Captain Kate Says: Earthquake Warning System Worked!

I ACCIDENTALLY A COMET

Built-in Voice Recognition in Mac OS

Russian meteor videos / links roundup

A complaint I just lodged with the BBB against AT&T "YP" directories...

DEAR UNSEASONABLY THICK CLOUD LAYER THAT OBSCURED MY VIEW OF THE SPACE STATION FLYOVER TONIGHT

ISS Spotter

Star Wars geeking from the White House

Here's looking at you.

Not a Creature Was Stirring...

YAY! Now JPL needs to do one with the rover mockups dancing.

A not-so-unexpected journey.

"Open Source Mythology FTW"

On NonCommunication, aka Common Workplace Complaint #1

AWESOME.

Dear gods and little unicorns...

Edible solstice shrub

Lolcat...

waves hands with incoherent glee