Book #27 is underway!

I can't say anything about it yet except that I'm doing this one completely on my own--that is, I'm writing it, arranging for editing, cover art, publishing, distribution... the whole schmear. There's no advance, no money up front, and no promises. This book is going to be on a tight deadline, so I'm going to be jamming for the next few months. For all I'm guaranteed, this is completely gerbil-like typing activity that will keep me occupied and off the streets 'till the economy picks up. All this notwithstanding, I'm still looking for fulltime work, but there aren't a lot of jobs here in Eugene. So I'm doing the one thing, looking for a second, and seeing what turns up. I'm having fun. 

Book #27 is underway!

Huge enormous book proposal out the door

After some days, I've finally completed the book proposal I've been working on. When I got it all done, I saw a lot of why it was taking so long: it's 41 pages long.   This sets a record for my longest book proposal ever, by about 15 pages. (A joint proposal with someone else with a 15 page resume doesn't really count IMO.)

Huge enormous book proposal out the door

Important religious truths

During these serious and trying times, people of all faiths should remember these four great religious truths:

1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's chosen people.
2. Jews do not recognize Christ as the Messiah.
3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.
4. Baptists do not recognize each other at Hooters or the liquor store.

(Thanks to Traepischke Graves for this one.)

Important religious truths

Post #193!

At the risk of self-referencing, I just realized that this post is the 193rd post this year. This is not like the Simpson's 138th Episode Spectactular, but is actually a bit of a milestone. I'd promised myself that I was going to be more active this year on the blog, particularly after having gone to SxSW and realizing that I needed to join the 21st century in a big way. So this post is one more than I posted in the entirety of 2005, the year I started this and the previous record-holder for number of blog posts.

That was all; do carry on....

Post #193!

Totally cute

Even though I'm a cat person, this puppy is incredibly cute. It's busy talking in its sleep.

Totally cute

The Bohemian Flow Chart

You'll need to click on this to see it all, but it's worth it. Start in the upper left corner.

BTW, this comes from a collection of funny photos at PhotoNexter.com.

The Bohemian Flow Chart

Jesus, what a brave dog!

Jesus, what a brave dog!

Quote du jour

"Fundamentalist American Christianity means believing that Jesus wanted us to help the poor by voting against helping the poor." --John Fugelsang

Quote du jour

More wrongness (hehehehehehehehe)

I discovered this today. It's from Jim Benton, who does very funny stuff. I'm going to plan to go romping around his site soon.

More wrongness (hehehehehehehehe)

Evil clown cake

This is wrong. So very, very wrong.

For complete instructions on how to make this, check out the instructions at Instructables.com.

Evil clown cake

Video from a homemade spacecraft

Luke Geissbuhler built a weather balloon spacecraft in Brooklyn and let it go. It flew up to 100,000 feet, the upper stratosphere. The curve of the earth and the blackness of space are plainly visible. Wow.

Homemade Spacecraft from Luke Geissbuhler on Vimeo.

Video from a homemade spacecraft

The Old Weather project

I'd not thought of this, but it's a wonderful use of people's time and interest. The Old Weather project has people looking at Royal Navy ship's log books from around the time of World War I to recover worldwide weather observations. The project then uses the transcriptions for climate model projections. There's an historical element, too: the website says that historians will use this information to track past ship movements and the stories of the people on board.

The Old Weather project