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Posts Tagged ‘Thoughts’

I believe I mentioned that we are just about ready for a new cat. (Honestly, can I even call myself a writer if I don’t have a cat?) The problem is, how to choose? 

We’ve started the search at our local rescue, the one we turned to when we realized that the local strays were breeding up a storm and both they and their progeny needed to be trapped. Now we’re on the other side of that equation, which feels good. Still, there are so many options, each a door into a different version of the future. (It’s kind of fun when you think of it like that.)

Do we go for a kitten, engineered by evolution to be cute (nice) but without any idea what sort of personality they’ll develop as they get older (feels a bit risky)? 

Do we go for a more sedate, cuddly cat with a couple of years under its collar, both to know what we’re getting and to skip the crazy kitten “It’s four a.m. and you have toes! I will eatz them!” phase? 

Or somewhere in between?

Friday we met a pair of kittens relatively fresh from the trap and still a bit skittish. Yesterday we met the shy adult cuddler. Tonight we meet the in-betweeners.

This is why I don’t visit the animal section in pet stores; I want to help them all.

How to choose?

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“. . . what I like doing best is Nothing.”
“How do you do Nothing?” asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.
“Well, it’s when people call out at you just as you’re going off to do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, nothing, and then you go and do it.”

― A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

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Photo by claire jones on Unsplash

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What do you know, some people actually did read Playboy for the articles!

Read 10 of the Best Stories Ever Published in Playboy ‹ Literary Hub

…while Hefner was indeed a man who collected and commodified women and called it “feminism,” it doesn’t change the fact that the joke about reading Playboy for the articles isn’t really a joke. The magazine has published some fantastic interviews, essays, and—most importantly for our purposes here—fiction over the years, the latter thanks in part to expert fiction editor Alice K. Turner…

Since its inception, Playboy has published work by Vladimir Nabokov, James Baldwin, Shirley Jackson, Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, John Updike, John Cheever, P. G. Wodehouse, Arthur C. Clarke, John Irving, Roald Dahl, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Annie Proulx, and many other greats.

Almost all of the stories on this list are available to read online (via sites that will not get you in trouble at work, bonus). So enjoy the classic fiction, folks, while appreciating the venues we now have for sci-fi and other fiction.

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Photo by Bernd Klutsch on Unsplash

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A drabble inspired by my love for science fiction. Also, the news.

Tipping Point, or, Oil Lobbyists Celebrate Over Drinks (London, UK, Earth)

Four oil lobbyists drank martinis around a mahogany table in a richly-appointed bar, celebrating. Their efforts had finally succeeded.

The lobbyist at the South end of the table grinned. 

“Did you see the news? 40C! God, we’re good.”

West puffed on a Cuban cigar. “They say it’s the new normal. I’d say we’re ready.” 

North shivered in the frigid air. “Agreed. Make the call.”

East opened a communicator that looked like a prop from Star Trek.

“Base? Terraforming is complete. Send the first wave of settlers.”

South looked at his fleshy fingers. 

“Can’t wait to get out of these clothes.”

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Photo by Jarosław Kwoczała on Unsplash

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Shopping

After many months, we are finally ready to start searching our local rescue for a new cat. Or two!

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Progress

It can be hard to measure progress. Incremental gains are often overpowered by a flood of negative, and hard to ignore, counter-programming. But every so often we take a step Up, and if we’re lucky, we can look back and see how far we’ve come.

The Webb telescope is one such step. Images from Hubble are impressive, but while the older platform has done a great job, it’s been at it for twenty years.

What does it mean for Hubble to now have a sibling out there in space? How much does Webb expand our ability to see into the cosmos? 

This much: Webb Compare.

It’s wonderful to see how far we’ve come.

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Photo by David Travis on Unsplash

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I am very happy to announce the publication of Parsec Ink’s latest anthology, Triangulation: Energy

The theme is sustainable energy: can we find a way to keep up with—or exceed—our present and future energy consumption levels while keeping our space livable? 

Is it science fiction? Yes. Does it showcase positive takes on our energy challenges? Yes. Was I fortunate enough to have a story in it, alongside a roster of terrific authors? Yes!

The anthology is available in Kindle and paperback formats. Curious about what’s inside? Check out the Kindle preview for a sample of the first three entries, including my own story, The Jewel of New Stoltz. I know I wrote it and all, but I’m happy to be able to share a story I love.

Hope you like it too.

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Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

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Tonight, if you have a moment and remember that we are, after all, just passengers on a ship hurtling through space with only one true companion, look up. The Buck Moon will be waiting.

Supermoon / Super Moon – Why and When?

“Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”

― Paul Brandt

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Photo by Mateusz Klein on Unsplash

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I may have committed a little Wordle poetry with lunch.

Photo by Chris Briggs on Unsplash

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Welcome to Monday, brought to you by an AI’s idea of a “cat in the style of Vincent van Gogh.”

Not bad, actually.

Running through different versions using the same root prompt (“cat in the style of”) made the artistic differences (and any deficiencies) clear. A lot of the images produced by the DALL-E mini system are a bit odd, particularly when faces are involved. (The site even has a FAQ on “Why are faces so weird?”)

Even so, it was interesting to see what an AI considers the essential style of an artist or technique, and there were a number of attempts I found fun.

Rather than upload all images I made a slideshow. It’s lower-resolution (I shrunk it down to 16MB instead of 80MB+) but you should still get the picture.

Cat in the Style of

(Did I leave out the truly disturbing results? Yes. I don’t know what this AI has against Vermeer but I want no part of it!)

Thanks, Craiyon!

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