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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
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| Friday, July 4th, 2008 |
abrinsky
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10:18a |
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| Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 |
nhw
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11:37p |
There was a faith healer of Deal... ...Who said, "Although pain isn't real, If I sit on a pin And it punctures my skin I dislike what I fancy I feel!" I'm sore. The dentist had another go at my tooth this afternoon and prescribed me industrial strength Ibuprofen. And since last Friday, my groin has been very sore and sensitive indeed. Today is the first day for almost a week that I have been walking almost normally. It's been bad timing, because this was also the week that I moved our office (albeit only two blocks, from here to here, but still taxing) - thank heavens for my heroic assistant, and my family and friends, who helped with humping boxes, IKEA furniture purchases, etc. But I also feel rather lucky. The last week has been grim for me in terms of physical discomfort - probably the worst I can remember in my life; other periods of ill health I have had have just involved lying in bed feeling crap rather than actually being in pain at both ends. But other people have it worse. My ground down molar will eventually heal; my groin will return to normal (minus one significant potential ability). My wife has been very gallant in not mentioning too loudly her experiences in delivering our three children. And other people - some reading this, I know - live in constant pain, from whatever reason. It's something I have spent most of my life not having to think about; and the fact that I have spent much of the last week thinking about it has been a revelation of the extent of my own good fortune. |
lamentables
|
7:33p |
Photo of the day 2nd July 2008 |
lamentables
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7:23p |
Photo of the day 1st July 2008 |
lamentables
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6:45p |
Photo of the day 3rd July 2008 |
slovobooks
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12:27p |
Frank's Funeral Notice From ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) meehaneo: DARCY (Dublin 12) July 2, 2008, (peacefully), at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross, Frank, dearly beloved husband of Christine (late of Sundrive Road and An Poist); very sadly missed by his loving wife, children Niamh, Aidan, Fiona and Aoife, brothers, sisters, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, relatives and many friends. Rest in peace. Reposing at Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross. Removal today (Thursday) to St. Agnes's Church, Crumlin, arriving at 5.30 o'c. Funeral tomorrow (Friday) after 10 o'c. Mass to Mount Jerome Crematorium. No flowers please by Frank's request. All donations if desired to Our Lady's Hospice, Harolds Cross. So long and thanks for all the fish.(I added the bold at the end, as someone, I think frandowdsofa, was asking for details of where a donation could be made in his name.) |
lamentables
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7:25a |
good and bad
The good: Am back from London. Seeing Guy Maddin (and his films) twice in two days entirely makes up for current level of sleep deprivation. More later, including many pix of London (I hope).
Bad news: one of our cats, Lucy, is awol. We are worried. |
ephiriel
|
7:07a |
Bad Dream
I hate disturbing dreams they really mess with your sleep!
I was dreaming I was somewhere that was very cold/icy but that wasn't normally so. Anyway I was wandering through a grassy / fieldy / parky kind of place and a cat came sliding by well when I say sliding it was actually trying to walk on the icy path and failing miserably and it was slightly comical so once I got the animal onto the grass it was a bit steadier on its feet but that was when I noticed a huge rabbit stretched out on the grass (I blame my sister for the introduction of rabbits to my dream and 'cause hers is a dwarf my dream rabbit had to be slightly bigger then you would expect) ANYWAY back to stretched out bunny - I went up to look at it and decided it was dead - I made this leap of conclusion when I saw that it seemed to be missing the back of its head. Almost as if somebody had put a square table leg on it the wound was at right angles. Mercifully my imagination doesn't know what the wound should look like so it wasn't gorey. Looking at this non gorey but yet horrific wound I figured it had been there a while because the open area all seemed to be frozen so I'm thinking poor bunny! I change the way I'm standing and all of a sudden I can see that the rabbit isn't dead and it's eyes are open and it's nose is twitching. OMG what do I do?? If the weather changes and the wound melts the poor animal will be in great pain how do I save it from the pain or put it out of its misery? and with this I woke up - and because I was knackered I only lay away being bothered about it for roughly 5/10minutes and flaked out again but jeez it really messes with your head and that's not nice at 3am! |
| Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 |
ephiriel
|
10:21p |
Books Books Books
There is nothing worse then having a selection of books you really want to read next.
I'm reading The Janissary Tree by Jason Goodwin at the moment. Depending on how that goes I might go straight into the second one The Snake Stone.
The others begging to be read are:
The Eye Of The World - Robert Jordan
Something Wicked - David Roberts
Agatha Raisin And The Quiche Of Death - M C Beaton
List Of Seven - Mark Frost
Dead Souls - Ian Rankin
Decisions Decisions |
nhw
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8:39p |
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nhw
|
7:47p |
Frank Darcy, 1959-2008
When I saw Frank at P-Con a few months ago, I complimented him (sincerely) on how well he was looking, and said that I was very glad to see him there. He chuckled in that way he had, and said that he expected to be around for a while yet. Well, he was wrong; but we will remember him for more than just "a while". |
tamaranth
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5:27p |
SAD in miniature yesterday, beach, 28 degrees. today, home, 16 degrees. I have just put on a sweater and closed the patio door: thinking of turning on the heating. (Yesterday I felt quite awake, for me. Today I can't concentrate: just feel like curling up with a trashy novel. Or a warm cat.) Current Mood:  coldCurrent Music: might wake me up |
ianmcdonald
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5:00p |
The downtown lights Because we're (if I can get transports sorted) going to see these guys in Glasgow next week, I though y'all might enjoy this Youtube cut of the Blue Nile's 'The Downtown Lights' with Bladerunner. Hopelessly romantic. And Dolly Parton in the Godyssey last week was tremendously entertaining, including a version of 'Little Sparrow' that wouldn't have sounded out of place on 'Twin Peaks.' 'Sex in the City' my arse; if you want a proper girls' night out, Dolly was it. Blissfully surreal sight to see the Godyssey lit up and twinkling from the LEDs on three hundred pink stetsons. Wni'd Mum's 80th on Mondaym so we did a party with Turkish nibbles and salad from the garden. We felt only luxury was compatible with such an occasion, so Enid booked us all for one night and dinner into Belfast's glossy Merchant Hotel. Cocktails and everythang... And finally, I'm changing dayjob. Moving on from SixteenSouth to Flickerpix and new adventures in animation. And I promise, that Acon post soon. |
tamaranth
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2:35p |
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feorag
|
12:57p |
Going back to bed now. Today has not been a good day. First up was this bad news from Ireland. As soon as I read that, the phone rang and it was I with news that PB is in hospital. I went to my driving lesson regardless. Someone ran into the back of me. This last, I am assured, is absolutely not my fault. I was turning left into a busy road where the view to my right was obstructed (those of you in countries where they drive on the wrong side of the road will need to look at this in a mirror). I was slowly creeping forward, prepared to stop if it was not safe to proceed. It wasn't safe, so I stopped. The guy on my tail didn't. He was very angry, but R, my instructor, has the Zen nature, and calmly proceeded to get on with the legal necessities. The damage was cosmetic, so he then continued with the lesson, with me driving still. No-one hurt. I'm a little shaky, but the adrenaline has yet to wear off. Current Mood:  shocked |
triciasullivan
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11:56a |
Why O Why did I call this the last furlong?
OK, so it was all going good and fine through the end of last week, and then over the weekend we had three minor child-related crises happen at the same time, neither of them in any way dangerous but both UNBELIEVABLY TIME AND ENERGY CONSUMING. The resulting laundry situation is one of epic proportions, completely beyond the capabilities of our ordinary British machine that sits under the kitchen counter. Luckily it is windy outside because we've been hanging out lots and lots of sheets and towels.
Kids were home for a bit, leading to me biting my nails and trying not to picture the child-care money ticking away while I got no writing done. Couldn't work at night because Sean's been so restless that he's kept me up the better part of two nights trying to soothe him and...er...keep the vomit under control.
Sean and Ty are fine today but Rhiannon is still at home with an ear infection. I have been thinking about my family in America a lot because of some hardships they are having, and the other day I realized that two of the kids have no passports. So I took Rhi into Shrewsbury with me to pick up applications at the post office--only to find that there is no more post office in Shrewsbury. I mean, this can't be the case--but I'm damned if I know where it's gone to. The major town-centre office was empty; nearby crammed between Woolies and some other shop was a single wooden door (shut) with a Post Office sign, set in a nook inhabited by a guy selling The Big Issue, and his dog. Hmm.
Out of the loop? Me? Rhiannon and I shrugged and went to Cafe Nerro. I've often walked by it, pushing the pram and towing the kids, and found my lip curling jealously as I looked inside at its patrons, lounging so solvently in a world of dark wood, jazz, and leather sofas....today I needed a treat and HEY--we are no longer BROKE--so I brought Rhiannon in. She sat in a winged armchair and ate a triple chocolate muffin (there's my girl). It would be a great place to write, I thought, wistfully...sigh...
I'm going in to hospital on Tuesday and about ten days later, just when I expect to be feeling better, school is out and the kids are free to spend every waking minute with me and Steve. So, I'm cultivating an attitude of que sera, sera because after all, it's only a bloody SF novel amongst thousands of other SF novels and I know that in September I can get back into a good rhythm. I try not to be frustrated because it doesn't help, but I HATE coming up here and posting excuses about why I'm not making the progress I feel I should.
Still have two days this week, though, so I'm going to do what I can in that time and then not-so-gracefully retire for the moment.
PS sorry for not answering comments...will try to be better in future, cheers. |
slovobooks
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11:40a |
Funeral Arrangements for Frank Darcy Frank will be in the Mortuary in Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross until tomorrow (Thursday) evening. The removal is to St Agnes' in Crumlin at 5.30pm tomorrow, and the funeral mass will be there at 10am on Friday.  |
slovobooks
|
10:24a |
Frank Darcy RIP I have just received email from Michael Carroll: Bad news: Christine Darcy just phoned to say that Frank (xnamkrad) died this morning at around 6:30 in Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross. She said that it was very peaceful and he just slipped away.
No details yet on the arrangements, but later today Frank's body will be laid out in the hospice's mortuary. Friday seems likely for the funeral but it's not yet confirmed - I'll e-mail again when I know more.
I don't have contact detail for that many of Frank's friends, so please pass on the news as appropriate.
Even though we knew it was coming I still can't get a handle on this. He was a great friend and no one will ever replace him.I'm deeply saddened by the news of Frank's death. Irish cons will not be the same without him. |
| Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 |
ephiriel
|
11:40p |
Snoopy/Joe Cool
Because I'm so thrilled with my lovely bag (- see yesterdays post) I went around showing it to everybody. It went down really well and everybody thought it was gorgeous. These were the right things to be saying to me - what I didn't expect was the comment that went - "Aaahh it's a dog!" I'm sorry how are you not familiar with SNOOPY???? how did that manage to miss your little corner of the country/world.
I'm still a little gobsmacked over that. |
nhw
|
6:10p |
July Books 1) Children of the Atom
1) Children of the Atom, by Wilmar H. Shiras
On that list of the 100 most influential sf books that was going round a year or so ago, this was the only one whose author I simply had never heard of. It is set twenty years in the future (ie 1973), and revolves around the assembling of a group of children whose parents all died after a nuclear accident in 1959, and who all display exceptional intelligence. At the end of the book, the children decide that they must integrate into the mainstream of society.
It's obviously at least in part a parable of fandom / geekdom, but a rather effective one. Definitely an under-rated classic. |
lamentables
|
1:12p |
manly food versus girly candy In about an hour I'm heading off to London where I plan to eat sushi and later to see My Winnipeg with live narration by Guy Maddin. *swoons* I am staying overnight and visiting a client in town tomorrow before doing a little light shopping, a little light culture and then going back to the NFT to see Guy Maddin in conversation. *swoons some more* I have no idea what access I shall have to the interwebs between now and Thursday morning, but so that you can pretend I'm here and participating in things, I'll leave you with some thoughts about comfort food. The NYT has a little piece on comfort food such as TV dinners (eeuw) going upmarket. It references an apparently pointless piece of research from Cornell University which claims that when it comes to comfort food men like manly food such as pizza, steak, and casseroles, whilst women go for girly candy and chocolates. If that's true, I must be a bloke. My comfort food? Mashed potatoes, cheese, casserole-type things, pasta, palak paneer, sushi, actually just food in general and pretty much everything we regularly eat for dinner. What's your comfort food? (If anyone wants to do me a manly food versus girly candy poll, feel free.) |
tamaranth
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10:52a |
Palm: end of the road? My Palm T5 is slowly dying (power button temperamental, touch-screen occasionally unresponsive) and I'm thinking of getting a new one. I use it every day, mostly for reading and sudoku, and having something PDA-sized is a key feature, as is the Palm operating system. A quick product search indicates that the top-of-the-range Palm is still the TX, released in 2005. I did have a TX, loved it and lost it -- the T5 was a replacement when cashflow was problematic. I don't have any problem with acquiring another. But is this really the end of the line for PDAs that aren't also phones? Current Mood:  curiousCurrent Music: Robyn Hitchcock - Listening to the Higsons |
nhw
|
8:24a |
Why Arrow's Theorem is wrong I have never been all that convinced by Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, which "proves" that there is no perfect voting system and made its author the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics. Arrow's original theorem stipulated five reasonable requirements of a fair voting method, two of which I don't have a problem with (that all voters' views should count, and that all outcomes are theoretically possible). The other three, however, are I think all questionable. Arrow's stipulation of unrestricted domain or universality includes the requirement that a voting system should unique and complete ranking of societal choices. This is incorrect; most real elections require you only to sort the alternative options into one of two categories, winners and losers (indeed, in most elections in the US, Canada and the UK only one candidate needs to be designated as a winner, and we don't really need any information about the ranking of the rest). Arrow's insistence that the outcome of a "perfect" election system gives an individual and distinct ranking to all alternatives is unrealistic. Arrow's stipulation of the independence of irrelevant alternatives (that if A beats B in a choice between the two, A should still beat B when C is also an option) is mathematically neat, but does not reflect real human behaviour all that well. It is often the case that the availability of a third option makes us look at the first two in a different way, possibly even reversing our preferences. In the real world, when a candidate wins against numerically superior but divided opposition, our instinct is to blame the opposition leadership for being divided rather than blaming the system for penalising them for their division or the voters for failing to unite around one of them; and that instinct seems right to me. (Yes, I know that preferential voting 'solves' that particular problem in most circumstances, and I am very much in favour of it, but not for that reason.) Arrow's fifth stipulation is of monotonicity (that A getting more votes should not lead to his getting a worse result, or B getting fewer votes should not lead to her getting a better result). This is the one most often used as a criticism of preferential voting systems like STV. I am not at all convinced that this is a real-world problem. A number of years ago I campaigned in a city council by-election in Belfast where the votes cast were as follows: Alliance (my candidate) 3646 UUP 2805 DUP 2445 Green 89 Local government elections in Northern Ireland use STV (because, unlike in the rest of the UK, our elections have to be *fair*). The votes of the DUP and Green candidates were therefore redistributed between us and the UUP: Alliance 3646 +214 = 3860 UUP 2805 +1783 = 4588 Frustratingly, but not surprisingly, the UUP candidate won, with DUP transfers. Had the UUP and DUP first preference tallies been reversed, our candidate would have won as the UUP voters' second preferences were much more evenly split between her and the DUP. (Votes in these elections are physically tallied in such a way that this information can be gathered by the keen observer, and you can bet we were observing keenly!) This is the sort of situation where the fans of monotonicity can have great fun. If 400 Alliance voters had instead tactically supported the DUP with first preferences, the argument goes, the UUP would have been eliminated after the first round and Alliance would have achieved a better election result (probably winning) despite getting fewer votes. This is all very well, but quite irrelevant to the real world; we had no advance knowledge of the likely gap between the UUP and DUP candidates, and certainly not enough control over our own supporters to get one eighth of them to vote for their least favoured alternative rather than for us. The best way of improving your chance of winning under any preferential voting system is to *get* *more* *votes*, which is as it should be: to exploit any theoretical lack of monotonicity in the system requires superhuman knowledge, which is not available to most election candidates. Anyway, I'm sure that Kenneth Arrow is a great mathematician and economist; I just question whether his theorem is quite the knock-out blow to fans of democratisation (and especially of preferential voting systems) as some seem to think. |
brisingamen
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5:22a |
Matt Harding rocks the world ... This journal will not be updated for the next two and a bit weeks. Have fun, play nicely, don't break the interwebs. Unless, of course, you're Matt Harding, whose new Dancing video seems to have just gone up on his site, in which case, the interwebs are breaking because everyone is having fun, and that can only be good. I came across him when the 2005 video hit the interwebs and have read his blog and watched him dance his way round the world since then with an immense amount of pleasure. He's someone I'd really like to meet sometime (and yes, wouldn't I just love to dance in one of his videos). It's something so simple, so ordinary, yet so endlessly wonderful and joyful. I like all three videos but particularly love 2006 for that fantastic opening sequence, plus the Fremont Troll, the San Francisco clip and a couple of other places I've actually been. And how can you not love a man who manages to get himself attacked by an elephant seal while dancing? Having said that, having finally managed to see 2008 after a bit of a struggle, omigod, the Indian dance sequence about 2 minutes 30 in. Fantastic, though Soweto is pretty special, and the New York bit reminds me I really want to go back to NY and see the Angel of the Waters soon. Mostly, Matt Harding makes me very happy, and god knows happiness is a rare enough commodity these days. |
| Monday, June 30th, 2008 |
pennski
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9:46p |
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calm