(parenthetical aside)

Shotgun!

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 19:17:19 +0000

Time for a BWSNotW reboot. Not that I have any more time now then I did a few months ago, but hell, how long does it take to pick a website with a funny name?

Best Web Site Name of the Week
for the week ending whatever (I'll figure out a new posting schedule later)

Rock Paper Shotgun

RPS is a gaming news site. RPS is British in origin, so they spell things correctly. RPS uses two heaping helpings of snark and sarcasm, matched with genuine wit and an enthusiasm for the material.

And the Name is Classic. Hence the Award.

"Jan -- Ken -- Pon." [*blam*] Shotgun wins.

(about the award -- past winners)

Look me in the eye.

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 19:33:21 +0000

It must be trendy now to say, "Oh, little Johnny has Asperger's" or to defend oneself by saying "I have Asperger's"

Maybe I do. I'm not sure. The last time I went in for a 'diagnosis' they used the phase "asymptomatic heavy alcohol user" -- meaning of course that I'm a high-functioning alcoholic, someone they wanted to stick into counseling for substance abuse because of behavior patterns but who didn't seem to be suffering in any way whatsoever from addiction (at the time my GPA was 3.5) (yes, I've been an alcoholic for a long time now...)

Given my other problems, and the fact that it was a engineering school (hell, at a tech school we all have Asperger's to some degree) and the fact that this was, um, like 15 years ago and there wasn't such a thing as an "autistic spectrum" back then, let alone specifics like Asperger's or even all that many autism diagnoses -- well, my problems in socializing with other human beings was kind of secondary, at least to the professionals who sought to 'cure' me.

(Then as now, I'll take a six pack over Prozac. Among other benefits, beer is available without a prescription.)

I'm still uncomfortable in crowds, not quite able to connect with others even if I have figured out how to at least talk to you people without awkwardness for 20 minute stretches, and while I have a few friends it usually takes me a couple of *years* to become comfortable with and befriend new people. And I've noticed, it's still a little difficult for me to look someone in the eye.

It's a new biography: Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison. Worth a read.

Hi ya.

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:45:59 +0000

So the comic blog (there's a link around here somewhere) is taking up a helluva lot more of my time then I ever expected.

It's a blast, though.

Roy still has my $20 bucks ($27? ...whatever it is) for this year though, so my tabulas sits there, ever patient, waiting for me to do something

The Novel Project is the obvious application, but hell, I can't even write a daily blog post -- who knows when I'll manage to toss off a whole novel...

There is NaNoWriMo coming up again in just a couple of weeks. Maybe that's the kick-in-the-seat I've been waiting for.

Ah yes, that thing I was going to post...

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:25:35 +0000

I can of course refer you to this 15-month-old post on why I never seem to hit a deadline, though there are numerous examples on the blog already, I hardly need to spell it out for you.

Right now the buffer still stands at zero words; I have ideas, but haven't managed to type anything novel-ish (or even prose-ish) yet. When it does come it will no doubt be a surprising to me as it is to any of my readers.

New deadline: Saturday the 18th; if only because I have Friday off, and at least technically will have time to write something before Sat. AM.

Blogging the Novel 2.0

Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:07:01 +0000

So, here's how this is going to work:

there is no schedule. I plan to do multiple posts a week but I'm keeping the timing flexible so I can go out for beers or take a real day off every now and then. That and I've got a blogging gig with regularly scheduled features already. I don't want the same hassle on my "relief valve" blog
I'm going to try and get ahead of what I post by 5-10k words, if only so I can do a few edits before words go live on the blog, but:
there is no buffer yet...
...and even when there is, it's not going to change point #1: there is no regular posting schedule.
there will be the usual [first -- previous -- next] links that I've used before, so even though I'm blogging, you should still be able to read all the bits in proper order.

So:

Next scheduled post: 11 August. Nothing's been written (I don't even have a working title yet) but we'll give this another shot starting saturday.

"because everything should taste like bacon!"

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:45:25 +0000

Best Web Site Name of the Week
for the week ending whatever

http://www.baconsalt.com/

My arteries are hardening just thinking about it. The first thing I'm gonna do (if I can find a shaker for sale) is put it on popcorn, with lots of melty butter. [*homeresque gargle*]

(about the award -- past winners)

Shiny.

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 03:43:38 +0000

New Laptop.

I'm calling her Minerva; 'cause she's so shiny.

On a completely different note: no updates here, because the next updates on the Tabulas are going to be chapter-ish chunks of hot sweet fresh steaming novel. I don't know what that means for the BWSNotW, but I'll try to do both.

Set your counter for 14 days: the next assault on the ages-old novel project commences in less than two weeks. --M.

though I may be getting a bit sick of the "best damn" etc etc qualifier meme at this point.

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:39:13 +0000

Best Web Site Name of the Week
for the week of 25 June 2007

Best Damn Blog on the Planet -- Pearsonified

To be fair, the domain name is merely pearsonified.com. Short, easy to remember, has the guy's name in it. And maybe a touch boring. If we check out the title tag on his homepage, however, it is in fact the "Best Damn Blog on the Planet"

who knew?

The guy in this case is a GT grad who manages to do something completely unrelated to his degree: web/css design. And he has a lot of good points to make about blogs, whether you're a free-account user or someone who is trying to make a go at it on a "professional" level -- I put that in quotes because a professional blogger rarely makes a living off of just blogging. (is anyone making money off of blogging?)

(about the award -- past winners)

Crazy russian inventors, 90 years on

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:30:24 +0000

If Cee-lo Green has any competition, I guess it has to be the theremin:

http://laughingsquid.com/theremin-cover-version-of-gnarls-barkleys-crazy/

this is worth linking not because it's Gnarls Barkley, but because it shows what someone who knows how to play the theremin can do. (the theremin is so damn cool I don't even know how else to describe it: wiki

as previously noted, citing beer is a good way to win the award

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:47:38 +0000

Best Web Site Name of the Week
for the week of 18 June 2007

Snowflakes in Hell

A friend of mine sent me a link to Snowflakes in Hell, to an article on his home-built kegerator. (lovely. I used to own a chest freezer just like that, in college. We never drilled a whole in the top for a draft arm, but it did hold many a keg for draft in its short, overworked, much abused lifetime.)

We're not giving the award for the draft set-up though; in fact, it seems Snowflakes in Hell is some kind of conservative blog mostly about libertarian leanings and guns. Which is OK, too, I guess... and of course, the name is genius.

(about the award -- past winners)