Spring in Pittsburgh

Two signs, one a little old but one from today, that spring is really here:



I'm not sure what the salmon-colored flowers are, but we thought they were pretty so we'd planted a bunch of them.



We live on a busy street, so seeing some three deer in our teeny-tiny back yard during rush hour was a tad disconcerting. They stayed long enough for a photo session, then wandered away. We alerted the Mt. Lebanon police to warn them about this possible traffic hazard.



I've been doing some contract work for PennFuture recently. It involved mostly database work, but I've been distributing posters for the Growing Greener II referendum on May 17. I brought posters to Shadyside and Squirrel Hill yesterday, and to the South Side yesterday. I lived in Shadyside in the late '70s and wish I could afford to live there again!

My novel has been coming along slowly this week, because in addition to the contract work, I also had a very lengthy and interesting job interview yesterday. I'll probably hit at least 51,000 words tonight. Tomorrow, we'll probably go see Kingdom of Heaven. I like that it's both ambiguous and doesn't have a tight narrative structure - it was about a war, after all! I don't like that it seems to have put crossbows about 400 years early in time, but...

Up to 45,000 Words...

I hit 45,000 words today. Well over 1/2 way through it.

I've been envisioning this story for a while, since at least late 2000. The first chapter hasn't really changed much in over four years. Just after I wrote the first chapter, I realized what the structure of the novel would be, and have pretty much stuck to that structure.

Of course, some of the details have changed, but the character arcs are basically intact. And during most of the last four years, I really didn't have all that much of the novel actually written. I was up to about 17,000 words as of about six weeks ago, and have written over 28,000 words since then (probably closer to 30,000, but have periodically gone back and pruned). I also keep jumping around what I'm writing. Now that the beginning is solid, I'm mostly writing chapters in the middle and chapters near the end.

Now that I'm having some success at getting the writing done, a contract job is beckoning and I'll have a second interview for a permanent job that sounds pretty interesting. It never rains but it pours...

Letter to Senator Specter on S. 786

I appeal to you to please not vote for Senator Santorum's S. 786 - National Weather Services Duties Act of 2005. As written, it could privitize the excellent online services already provided by National Weather Service. It sounds like an act written only to protect the business of AccuWeather in State College - it again puts the interest of a private business (and contributor to Senator Santorum's re-election campaign) above the interests of the taxpayer.

Where will this kind of behavior end? Can we rely on at least one of our senators in Pennsylvania to care at all about its citizens?

Sincerely,

Laurie D. T. Mann
Mount Lebanon, PA

My Linguistic Profile...

45% Yankee

35% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I'm not sure how 5% Dixie crept into my speech as I've never lived further south than southern Ohio... The rest of it makes sense.

Santorum Bought by AccuWeather, Lock, Stock and Barrel

Do you think you have a right to get free weather information from the government's weather service? Rick doesn't think so - he thinks his constituants who own AccuWeather in State College should control online access to weather information. He's filed legislation (S. 786) that would, essentially, force much government meteorological information off-line. The relevant part states:

(b) COMPETITION WITH PRIVATE SECTOR- The Secretary of Commerce shall not provide, or assist other entities in providing, a product or service (other than a product or service described in subsection (a)(1)) that is or could be provided by the private sector unless--

(1) the Secretary determines that the private sector is unwilling or unable to provide such product or service; or

(2) the United States Government is obligated to provide such product or service under international aviation agreements to provide meteorological services and exchange meteorological information.

In short, since AccuWeather is in the private sector, it means that the NOAA Web site (http://www.erh.noaa.gov) and its data could be forced off the Web.

This is a typical Republican response - protect your corporate pals at all costs. Never mind that citizens, scientists and other people whose taxes have already paid for the collection of the data can't access it as easily. Just keep your buddies employed.

Thanks to The Daily Kos for picking up on this - no one in the Pittsburgh media seems to have yet.

Yet another reason that Rick must be voted out next year. If you need any more evidence, read DumpRick (yes, I know it's another Web site I own...).

Progress Continues on the Novel

I hit 37,000 words this afternoon, which I suspect is somewhere close to being half way through. If I continue at my current pace, I should be done in June.

I spent last weekend in California, in Palo Alto, which is becoming one of my favorite places in the country. One of the colleges I'd considered going to over thirty years ago was Stanford, just because it sounded so wonderful. Last week, I got to visit Stanford, and was very much impressed.

Jim and I went to Palo Alto to work on the scheduling of the Programme for this year's Worldcon, which will be in Glasgow. Scotland. Only in fandom! After a weekend of dealing with Post-It Notes on a large board, we went to Gilroy for dinner with Jim's employees and his boss. Then Jim stayed in California for a week of IBM meetings, and I came home on Monday.

Missing in Action: Environmental Protection Agencies...

I spent last week working on Pittsburgh 2005: Conference on Health and Environment. It was a fascinating conference. As I wound up helping with A/V during the conference itself, I got to hear a number of researchers and public policy folks give very interesting talks on medical and public health issues around the environment.

This conference attracted about 250 folks from all over the northeast, probably about 1/3rd reserachers, 1/3rd activists and 1/3rd others. There were even a few people from the Centers for Disease Control, which was good - at least one governmental agency was paying some attention.

However, one agency that seemed to be completely unrepresented was the Environmental Protection Agency. There did not seem to be anyone from either the federal or the state EPA at this environmental and health conference.

Why not?

In the case of the federal EPA, it shouldn't be a big surprise. When was the last time the federal EPA considered health more important than business? I was a little more disappointed by the state EPA's failure to show up, but given the state had just given permission for a coke plant to blast even more mercury into our environment, I shouldn't have been surprised about that, either. Heavy metal toxicity is probably going to be a bigger problem to our health than nuclear power ever was threatened to be.

If Ya Can't Beat 'Em...The Unitarian Jihad (Reform) Strikes Again!

I saw the Unitarian Jihad comments from Jon Carroll all over the place, both in political and SF-related blogs over the last few days.

So I decided to join the reform movement...

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Sister Switchblade of Moderation. What's yours?

This is kind of ironic as Mary Kay Kare, who looks a little like me but is rather smaller than I am, got to be the "Flaming Sword of Moderation." So does that mean I'm more moderate than she, or less? ;->

Been working on the novel more. It keeps getting darker and more marginally sfnal. Oh well, and there I was going for a contemporary novel with a few satiric twists. I hit 29,000 words today, after a few days of working on a local conference and recovering from that.

Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace

Russell wrote the splendid The Sparrow and Children of God in the late '90s, and went on to win the Campbell Award for best new writer. Then she spent the next seven or so years researching and writing A Thread of Grace, a book about the Holocaust set against the background of the Italian resistance, 1943-1945.

The book works pretty well on many levels, but it is a little hard to follow. However, as you finish it you understand why she had so many characters and so many locales and why this is so important to the story.

Russell's ability to write completely haunting scenes is very much in evidence in this book. One near the end caused me to burst out crying in a public location and will stay with me for a very long time (luckily, I was alone and managed to pull myself together before anyone happened by).

I highly recommend this book, though it's a shame that the one scene set in 2007 probably isn't enough to to make it nominatable for the Hugo next year. However, no doubt that this book is much closer to history than to speculative fiction.

Really Writing, Not Just Tinkering

So up until about three weeks ago, I had about 17,000 words of a novel on my PC, one I started thinking of about four years ago. From time to time, I'd change a word here or there, but really made little progress.

I've written nearly 6,000 words over the least three weeks, and still have some notes and miscellaneous scenes not yet online that I still plan to integrate. So I might have close to 30,000 words total. The story is taking an unexpected turn or two, but the basic outline is the same I came up with in early 2001.

Working on the novel has been slowed a little by my temporary job (which will be over in less than a week) and still doing some Briany History work. Still, I seem to be making progress.

Ayelet Waldman's Excellent Adventure

I've been a huge fan of Michael Chabon since I read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh back in the '80s. He went on to write The Wonder Boys and the Pulitzer-Prize winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay. A few years back, he came to Pittsburgh to do an informal signing at Jay's Bookstall, and brought along his wife, Ayelet Waldman and their then-youngest daughter.

I was unfamiliar with Ayelet's writing, bought one of her novels, read it, and rather liked it considering that I really don't care for mysteries. Last year, I read Daughter's Keeper, which I generally liked quite a bit more. Today, I found she'd written an essay published by The New York Times on sex and parenthood. It was very honest and fairly funny. I found her (sadly now defunct) blog and her Salon essays. I really like that Ayelet is willing to write about many things that many of us think about but don't quite have the courage to publish!

Dancing Naked Was Nominated for a Hugo!

Phil sent me the good news on Monday night, so other than telling some friends, I haven't been able to say anything here until Interaction announced it officially today. Dancing Naked got a nomination for Best Related Book. Phil's really happy about this, and so am I. We both worked very hard on this book and am glad it has gotten some recognition.

Phil is unable to attend Worldcon due to a problem with his passport, which is a particular shame this year!



NESFA Press, an amature press, did something only one professional press did this year - it has two books nominated for Hugos. Peter Weston's With Stars in My Eyes: My Adventures in British Fandom was also nominated. Orbit also had two books nominated for Hugos; other publishers only had one each. Oddly, Tor, which usually publishes the best SF books and generally has at least one book nominated, has no books on the ballot this year.

Full 2005 Hugo Nomination List

Making Terri Schiavo Appear Before Congress Constitutes Abuse of a Corpse

Of all the sad and tragic turns this case has taken, this is about the most appalling of all. Yet another example that it's better to flog the dead than pay attention to the living - this must be the new quote of the Republicans in America.

People frequently use other people as props. This is most common in families - think of the way most parents dress up and show off their kids. This is a fairly innocent use of people as props. It does no harm to the child to dress the cute six month old baby as a Halloween pumpkin, and, meanwhile, the parents get "Oooh isn't she cute?" from their friends and neighbors. This can become more malevolent over time - did little Jon Benet Ramsey really enjoy being made up, gowned, and paraded at baby beauty pagents? We'll never know.

Or think of the way some older men acquire younger girlfriends or trophy wives. The way some women live through their husbands and children. There are times when people use other people for their own needs rather than letting others stand on their own.

But, increasingly, people use others as political props. The "props" tend to be people who cannot stand on their own. It tends to be done most often to women who are unable to speak for themselves. Twenty-five years ago, it was Karen Ann Quinlan. And, today, it's Terri Schiavo.

Terri Schiavo is being used. She became brain dead in 1990. Brain scans show that the portion of her brain that governs consciousness has been nonexistent for years. It is a sick parody to photograph a brain dead person with an autonomic reflex to light and then treat her as if she was conscious. She is being anthropomorphized the way a person talks to a dog and asks "Oh does Fido want a dog biscuit?" when the dog barks.

When people are so quick to jump up and down and talk about honoring the dignity of the individual, they have robbed Terri Schiavo of any "dignity" she may have had. What happened to Terri Schiavo is extemely sad, but no one can bring her back. She'll never talk to her family, get out of bed or do anything. She's being moved around like a puppet, and her family ought to be ashamed of themselves. People are using Terri to reflect their needs. Their need for her to be alive. She may be still breathing, but she isn't really alive.

People die, and it is fascinating to me that people who say they believe in religious teachings seem the most determined to force physical existence long after the brain had died. Terri died in 1990. It's a sad view, but a realistic view. All the tube feeding in the world isn't going to bring her back.

Some day, I don't want to be a breathing husk in a hospital bed. I signed an organ donor card in 1978 and have discussed living will issues with my husband. Today, even though I'm middled aged and in reasonable health, I am filling out a lengthy living will. I absolutely do not want to exist indefinitely in a kind of "Nazgul" state - neither living nor dead. If I'm seriously injured, sure, use the heroic mesures if I have a chance, but don't keep the feeding tube going years after all real chances have gone.

I hope that any disabled people who may be reading this essay aren't reading this essay as an anti-disabled people piece. If you are reading this piece, you are conscious, you are capable of reading and comprehending the world around you. After Christopher Reeve was so tragically injured back in 1995, he was understandably devastated by his condition. But his wife Dana turned to him and said, "You're still you." That acceptance made a huge difference to his acceptance of himself after his accident. He understood precisely what happened to him. Terri Schiavo is incapable of understanding what has happened to her.

Terri Schiavo isn't the person who collapsed in 1990. To make Terri a symbol of all disabled people is just wrong. Simplistic and wrong in every way. To keep Terri breathing does not celebrate or honor life. It means that people cannot comprehend the difference between living and breathing. I don't want to be in a state where I'm merely breathing. And I would hope all adults would make the same point by thinking about and signing a Living Will and giving a trusted friend or family member a durable power of attorney.

On Writing...

I didn't just tinker yesterday - I wrote over 1,000 words. I haven't written that much fiction at once in a long time. And I've added about another 500 words today, so far.

I've battled writers block for nearly 30 years. As a result, I haven't really submitted very much, and focused on writing at work (which generally went fine) and Web writing (which has generally come pretty easily to me).

Most of the fiction writing I've done since 1973 has been SF/horror, mostly short bits and story outlines. Four years ago, when I was finishing up my long-delayed BA and taking a wonderful writing class with Chuck Kinder at Pitt, I started writing a contemporary novel. I've worked on it a little at a time since then, and, at one point, didn't look at it for a year. A few months ago I looked at it and found it really had possibilities, but, other than a little tinkering, I just wasn't writing then.

A few weeks ago, while sick, I was watching daytime TV and heard Jennifer Weiner talk on the Jane Pauley Show. I remembered seeing her book, Good in Bed, while I was working at Borders and thought it looked amusing. What I didn't realize was that it had a fat protagonist, and she discussed this point in detail. I also started reading her blog that day and enjoyed her writing. But would her book mean I shouldn't even bother to finish my novel, which also featured the humourous/amorous observations of a fat, female protagonist?

So I bought Good in Bed and started reading it. It's, on the whole, very funny and reasonably different from the book I've been writing. Without knowing it, I've been writing a response to her book. And maybe that's been helping me subconsciously - there's a market out there buying books with "nonstandard" heroines.

On Getting a Research Contract!

I've always loved doing research on the Web. Some of the Web sites I've put together, particularly Dead People Server, demonstrate that I'm pretty good at it. At one point a few years ago, I even started a Web page called "Fact Checker" in an effort to get some contract research jobs, but nothing came of it.

Last week, while perusing a site I'd looked at some, I noticed some errors and submitted corrections to the Webmaster. We started to correspond, I offered to lease him some Dead People Server content and do some additional research. Long story short, I've just finished my first research job for BrainyHistory and will continue to do some some jobs for them over the next few months. As I'd had a bad experience with telecommuting a few years ago, he even paid in advance, and I submitted my material on time (today). With a little luck, it might lead to some additional research contracting work.

I've been feeling better for about a week now, so I've been getting caught up on some miscellaneous stuff like taking my laptop to the shop, cleaning the office, doing some work for Interaction, and completing my first research job for money. I'm even starting to think about returning to my novel, something I've been tinkering with for about four years.

Allegheny County "Uncertified" Assessments - Way, Way, WAY OFF!!

Our county administrator, Dan Onorato, says that while initial assessments are available, they probably aren't the "real" assessments. He says, "his plan" would mean that real estate taxes would not rise by more than 4% on any property.

Well, that may be, but the "uncertified" assessment for my house is ludicriously high. How that will translate into taxes is uncertain.

So look at my house. It's a small house on a tiny, hilly lot, on the second busiest street of a suburb with a good school district. This house is not undergoing major renovations. Yet the "uncertified" assessment lept up an additional $41,000 in value IN ONE YEAR. And that was after "only" increasing in value $29,000 over the previous TEN YEARS. How logical is that? This isn't Boston, New York or San Francisco - housing prices increase very gradually.

I guess I'll have to call the tax office to complain tomorrow.

More Bad Ideas from Google

I've been a huge fan of Google for years, but given some their current projects, I've got to wonder if going public has been bad for them. Google used to be very ethical, but between gMail and AutoLink, I've got to wonder.

And the problem with both is the same thing - that Google can create links based on content according to what Google has decided upon, not upon what the page's writer has decided upon. This is just unbelievably slimey. As a result, I don't use gMail and never will, no matter how many "free accounts" I've been offered.

AutoLink is simultaneously "better" and "worse" than gMail. Many Google users will never see it. The only ones that will are those who use the GoogleToolbar. But, if you use the toolbar, you'll see links included on Web pages not intended by the Web page's creator.

Sorry, this is wrong. It looks like Google is going down that slippery slope that other search engines have gone down - making advertisers more important than content creators. I'm very disappointed by Google's behavior.

Oddly, I first read about AutoLink in this week's Time magazine. I went in search of scripts to kill AutoLink at my site, and found some at Threadwatch.org.

I guess that's what being out of the country then getting sick will do for you. I am doing a little better - I'm only really sick in the morning. By the afternoon, I start to feel better.

Oscar Stuff

To my surprise, I managed to stay awake until the Oscars were over.

I wrote up a bunch of comments on this year's Oscars, last year's Oscars, and how to make the Oscars shorter.

Best-Laid Plans...

I was laid off, and immediately started making plans for how I would spend my unemployment. First off is, of course, getting a new job. Then, getting caught up on some household projects. And helping the Interaction folks with the Program part of the Web site and drafting some press releases.

*sigh*

I felt pretty good while we were in Dublin. It wasn't too cold and we walked quite a bit. But, when we got to Boston last week, I had a migraine on Saturday, which pretty much blew most of that day for me (aside from a nice dinner with friends and getting to the Saturday night event at Boskone). By Monday, I had a rebound migraine and started having dizzy spells. My concentration was really shot. I felt a little better on Wednesday, and pushed myself to do an hour of brisk mall walking. I've felt rotten ever since. Finally, I went to the doctor's on Friday, said I thought I had a sinus infection. He took a look at me, decided I was right, and prescribed some heavy-duty antibiotics and prescription Sudafed. I've been on them for two days, and still feel worse, though I'm not running a fever or anything like that. The antibiotic has the annoying sside effect of making your mouth taste like metal. I hope I get over this pretty soon, beause I honestly don't like just sitting in the easy chair in front of the TV all day.

More Red State "Family Values"

Couldn't help but notice these two headlines on CNN this morning:

• Dad kills 2 kids, slits own throat


• Seven-month old sexually assaulted

It looks like an awful lot of kid murder/rape is going on in those red states. Y'know, those states where people say they are religious, vote Republican and talk about how evil feminists and homosexuals are. The states where people are too busy protesting the physical death of a woman who was brain dead almost 15 years ago to notice what's happening in their own neighborhoods. States where the divorce rate is surprisingly high, particularly when compared against blue states like Massachusetts. States where the social service net is growing ever smaller as the public is being brainwashed into believing that taxation and government intervention are greater evils than having a stable, supportive society.

People in red states will continue to believe their self-delusion that they are somehow more moral than those of us who eschew religion and believe that government services, particularly education and social services, should be well-funded.