What To Write Next

Apropos of nothing (OK, since I haven't talked about writing on this blog for a while), it's occurred to me that an SF or fantasy book that basically lifts as its plot elements of the life of William the Conqueror would be pretty neat.

I mean, get a load of this guy's CV:

Da died while on pilgrimage;
Uncle Walter slept in his room to guard him from kidnappers;
Escaped a kidnapping attempt of Guy of Burgundy, got Henry on his side, and defeated the bloke in 1047;
Spent next 13 years reconquering everything, I do mean *everything* to become William of Normandy;
Married the daughter of the Count of Flanders;
Partly defanged his most immediate competitor (Earl Godwin of Wessex) by marrying his daughter to Godwin's son;
Then offed Harold Godwinson (Oy! In battle) and conquered England;
Undertook to learn English around this time but didn't do too well;
Spent over half his reign in Normandy, 'cause the counts of Anjou were scrappy;
Built a truckload of castles;
Put down a rebellion...here...there...and over there...
Paid off the Scandinavian invaders when the Danish King Swein Estrithson invaded;
Lost in Brittany during a siege of the castle of Dol;
Fought his son Robert and, um, lost, but was rescued;
Undertook a land survey that resulted in the Domesday Book (The Book of Doomsday) [which I just finally bought];
Mortally wounded, split his holdings (England, Normandy, and a honkin' sum of money to William Jr, Robert, and Henry);
Died, decayed, and THEN had his Mass (so they rushed it);
And his death had some cowering in fear, expecting vast natural catastrophes to follow. Nothing else could mark "the passing of so fearsome a king"*.

*"Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs", by Carolly Erickson

I mean, <expletive deleted> you could do a novel on just the first three items. So, I might.

I do want to tackle another book-length project when I'm done with Mitch Chevrolet, Supernatural PI, and it's either this William the Conqueror idea, a star trek-with-extra-psychics idea, or a Dr. Who novel, up next.

Whichever shall it be. Dr. Who? Got an outline. Know some fans. Plenty of canon. And canon. And canon. Dear god, more. William the SOB, or my psychic Swedes in Space tale.

Need to work on plots. Not my strong suit.

(Maybe I need a collaborator. Hence this idea of stealing from history.)

Hum dee hum dee hum.

Secure? What Secure?


Election Worker Fired

"I was asked by Wil Wesley, as my immediate supervisor, to implement a procedure in Johnson County that I personally felt was attacking the integrity of the future election and the security of the future elections in Johnson County. Not to mention that I felt those procedures were illegal..."

I love that the PR rep at ES&S (Election Systems and Software) said this:

"We carry out our mission with the highest degree of integrity and professionalism. For anyone to assert otherwise is unfortunate."

Sure it's unfortunate. But, is it untrue?


Will Your Vote Count? Part One | Part Two

Avi and Me, Election Officials


Avi Rubin (John Hopkins Computer Security Institute) served as an election judge in yesterday's primary in his area (Baltimore, Maryland), using the Diebold Accuvote TS.

He has several remarks, has relaxed about some of his security concerns, and is even more worried about some others. Read on

I served -- similar job, different title -- as an assistant system inspector in my own precinct yesterday (San Diego County, California), using the Diebold TsX, a slightly different system. I'll be posting a detailed description of the experience within the next couple days, including a couple photos.

My biggest concern recently has been about Registrar control over the version of the software used in these units, and election transparancy, and it has not been assuaged.

Gosh, no! We're non-partisan! Really!

(reprinted in whole, by permission)

BUSH SWAPS SCIENCE FOR POLITICS ON BIOETHICS PANEL

President Bush last week added fuel to the argument that he is willing to devalue science in favor of politics by dumping two highly respected members of a presidential bioethics advisory council and replacing them with political appointees whose opinions are clearly aligned with those of his Administration.

The President dismissed renowned biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, of the University of California at San Francisco, and ethics scholar William May, of Southern Methodist University, from his Council on Bioethics. Both had expressed support for human embryonic research, a stance that brought them into conflict with the Administration's positions.

They are being replaced by Benjamin Carson, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, who supports a greater role for religion in public life; Diana Schaub, chairman of the department of political science at Loyola
College in Maryland, who has called embryonic research "the evil of the willful destruction of innocent human life;" and Peter Lawler, a professor of government at Berry College in Georgia, an outspoken abortion critic.[1]

Blackburn told the Washington Post that she believes she was let go because of her political views. "I think this is Bush stacking the council with the compliant," she said, in a Washington Post story that ran Saturday.

"She was one of the basic scientists who understood the biology of many of the issues we're talking about," Dartmouth neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga, another committee member, told the Post.[2]

The bioethics panel is one of several that have been stripped of respected scientists who were replaced by appointees whose views match those of the Administration, as documented in a report released two weeks ago by the Washington, D.C.-based Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The UCS report, Scientific Integrity in Policymaking, and an accompanying statement signed by more than 60 of the country's preeminent scientists (including 20 Nobel laureates), criticized President Bush for a series of actions that "suppressed and distorted scientific analysis from federal agencies," and "undermined the quality of scientific advisory panels."

In the two weeks since the report's release, at least 1, 000 more scientists have contacted the UCS website to add their names to the statement.

The issue is also being monitored by Rep. Henry A. Waxman, ranking member of the House Committee on Government Reform, whose website lists numerous scientific advisory panels being investigated for "manipulation" by the Bush Administration. They include committees advising federal agencies on environmental health; HIV/AIDS; global warming; lead poisoning; and substance abuse.[4]

"In case after case, scientific input to policymaking is being censored and distorted," said Dr. Neal Lane, senior fellow at
the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and head of the National Science Foundation under
President Clinton. "This will have serious consequences for public health."[5]

###

TAKE ACTION
Let Bush know that you want to protect the integrity of science at http://ga3.org/ct/tp1m7uE1yBmn/.

###

SOURCES:
[1] Washington Post, "Bush Ejects Two From Bioethics Council," February 28, 2004.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Union of Concerned Scientists press release, "Preeminent Scientists Protest Bush Administration's Misuse of Science,"
Feb. 18, 2004.
[4] Politics & Science, http://ga3.org/ct/g71m7uE1yBmk/.
[5] Union of Concerned Scientists press release.

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Holy Leaks, Batman!

Well, I've just ordered replacements for the copies of my Writer's Markets that were ruined during the Great Drip Catastrophe of 2004. (Trust me, it was underwhelming in the end.) My Borland manuals are probably ruined, too, but I haven't touched that app in seven or eight years, I'm probably OK without them.

Pure luck I didn't lose half my dictionaries. Pure luck, and a cat catching my attention right on my way out of the house to go to work. (Looks at cat. Cat looks funny. Walks over to cat. Is struck by water. Yells expletive deleted and removes laptop from danger area. Cat stalks away scornfully.)

Some People have even called me Extroverted

And I score a 32 on this thing. Practice, baby, practice.

The Autism Quotient Test. An interesting test. Autism (I've mentioned this before, I think) to me reads as an extreme INT personality, specifically INTJ, and I wonder how much of considering "mild autism" a problem is related to cultural expectations regarding extroversion.

Found via The Bog of Lost Scholars

And then there's Baron-Cohen's systemizing-empathizing brain theory, which I'm sure has merit (in part because I'm a woman INTJ with a male twin, and thus the recipient of prenatal testesterone at a much higher level then a sole XX fetus would experience, with measurable effects on physiology, so why wouldn't there be brain differences?), and you can read more here, though the tone is way too women=fashion and romance and men=cars, which I resent greatly.

But you know what I realized after reading this article?*

If you read this article from a pro-woman perspective, as you undoubtedly won't, which is why I'm taking the trouble to pull out a sledgehammer and drive my point home here, you may note:

Women are experts at the far more complex and subtle systems of human interactions. Cars and computer games are just too simple to hold our attention.

Look, they're all systems.

Computers are easy. H. sapiens is a challenge.


*Bear in mind, I don't hate men. Honestly.
I do hate sexism, both subtle and overt, and I think how we go about categorizing sociobiological differences between men and women has a lot of sexism in it. And...I do so enjoy turning ideas on their heads, as regular readers may or may not have noticed.

Soy, Breast Cancer, and Male Infertility


Soya 'link' to male infertility

Soya 'reduces breast cancer risk'

So. Guys, eat less fast food (your burgers have soy in them, did you know that?) and look at TVP (textured vegetable protein) instead of tofu, women, go ahead and down some tofu or have soy milk.

US Budget Simulator


Wow.

National Budget Simulator


US Budget (Excel)

Go, Chicago!

Chicago mayor has 'no problem' with same-sex marriage licenses

[Chicago Mayor Richard] Daley also dismissed a suggestion Wednesday that marriage between gay couples would undermine the institution [of marriage].

"Marriage has been undermined by divorce, so don't tell me about marriage," he said. "Don't blame the gay and lesbian, transgender and transsexual community."

Kudos to K, for the tip!

Bush Administration Making It Up. Again.


Laureates say Bush is twisting science

Union of Concerned Scientists -- USA
their report -- Executive Summary (PDF)
their report -- Full Report (PDF)

(full report also archived here)

Polio, Smallbox...bubonic plague?

Vaccine for Black Death

Wow.

And Which Rights Are Those?


Semicolon keeps same-sex marriages going

A Christian legal group has urged California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to arrest [SF Mayor Gavin] Newsom for his defiance of state law. The American Family Association Center for Law and Policy called his move "an arrogant stunt" proving "the radical homosexual movement will trample the rights of all who stand in their way."

What rights?

What heterosexual rights are being trampled by this "radical homosexual movement"?

Which rights?

Which rights?

From the WTF? Department

Let's decide what deaf people are allowed to 'hear':

Censor 'Scooby-Doo'? Words fail

The Bush administration has decided that people with bad hearing have bad judgment, too, and need special guidance from the federal government.

So the U.S. Department of Education is declaring about 200 television programs inappropriate for closed-captioning and denying federal grant requests to make them accessible to the hearing-impaired.

'Cause y'know? It's not like deaf Americans are real people or anything.

Or vote.

Contract with America

Some? Many? Most? All? Members of the 104th Congress signed this
REPUBLICAN CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

in 1994.

*Looks at calender, notes a decade has passed.*

Hm. How many of these have they delivered?

Jumping Up and Down with Joy

My first girlfriend just got married, in San Francisco!

Go, SF!!

'Thrilled' doesn't even begin to cover it.

To call her my 'first girlfriend' doesn't even begin to cover it, either, I mean, the impact of the relationship, in my life. This is someone who helped make me who I am, and I am *literally* thrilled beyond belief that she has married the woman she's been with for god-knows-how-many years. ('Cause I sure don't remember.)

*snif*

I -- honestly -- the only thing I wish is that I could have been there with them on this happy day.

*happy dance*


Go on, explain to me how this will lead to the downfall of civilization. I dare you.