Blog Hiatus

I'm flying to China tomorrow, and won't be back until early September. Given the blog censorship situation there, I likely won't be posting at all until my return. (There is a workaround. We'll see.) Meanwhile, I leave you with this:

I thought it was adorable, if slightly odd.

Hipster Ipsum

A funny, ironic (of course) article I found on Boing Boing:

http://boingboing.net/2011/08/15/hipster-ipsum-filler-text-for-your-next-design-project.html

Lorem ipsum is itself derived from Cicero (and I use "derived from" very loosely in this context, considering how mangled it actually is), so I suppose further adulteration isn't too far from the spirit of the thing.

Oh, and see the illustration, of course. :-)

The Real Wonder Woman: WWII Hero Nancy Wake Dies at 98

Working with science fiction and fantasy, I see a lot of fictional heroines who kick some serious butt. They seem to be all the rage these days -- women who wield flaming swords, rescue their men from the clutches of fell beasts, and single-handedly take on the entire Dark Lord's army. Sometimes it goes overboard in its eagerness to affirm feminist ideals (culinary ability isn't the first step to subservience, really). But there is some real life precedent for all of this:

http://www.bust.com/blog/2011/08/12/the-real-wonder-woman-wwii-hero-nancy-wake-dies-at-98.html

How's that for female empowerment? (Note, of course, that the premise of her mission's success was at least partially that the enemy would categorically underestimate her based on her gender.)

Microsoft Printing Dress: Wear What You Tweet

This is a really amazing bit of textile wizardry:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20089642-1/microsoft-printing-dress-wear-what-you-tweet/

It certainly looks much too impractical for everyday use (not to mention, I can't imagine that a lot of people would want to wear that on a day-to-day basis), but the concept is quite fascinating nonetheless. I can see it having niche appeal, mostly among technorati, and perhaps some specialized applications. Imagine being paid to wear scrolling advertisements, much like people nowadays are paid to advertise products on their websites, or their cars (like those VW beetle skins that show up now and again), or their storefronts. Maybe it'll be a futuristic version of the branding that is now ubiquitous on clothing and personal accessories. It reminds me a bit of Gibson's Pattern Recognition, actually, only in a less depressing way.

NYTimes: Book Tours at Google

Who says fuzzies and techies don't mix? This article says otherwise:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/us/13bcgoogle.html?src=recg

Google seems like a great place for authors to stop on tour, precisely because it (and Silicon Valley in general) has this pseudo-college campus feel. Just like at university, where students are encouraged to attend lectures and presentations outside of their specialties and even their comfort zones, it seems like these author talks are a way for techies to branch out after college. (I imagine these sorts of events are among the parts of college I'll miss most.) And given all the smart, literate (and nerdy) people at a place like Google, I'll wager the audience is perfect for book talks.

Dog Tries to Play Fetch with Statue

Just a funny video that I happened upon:



We have a few statues like this on benches at school. I imagine that similar things must have happened with them at some point.

Overheard in the Office #3

Not so much "overheard" as "was said in a meeting":

"I never know why people can't just write about a nice dismemberment."

Everyone here is lovely and (mostly) harmless, really.