I'm still working on wrapping up the second novel in the Trickster universe and getting the third going. So to help with that, I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo. Which is intend to work in the same the same way That I did NaNoWriMo anyhow: set your own goal and it doesn't have to be a new project.
In related news, I have spent a frightening amount of time this week using Scapple to map out some family trees and the subplots and complications of book three.
I received an enthusiastic review and demo of A Novel Idea earlier today. While I'm not sure it does things I don't already do with WriteRoom1, I think I will give it a try because my Mom has been asking about more apps she could use on her phone for plotting and planning her book3.
Thinking about this reminds me that I need to migrate my PlainText app stuff over to PlainText 2 at some point... or, alternatively, look into a different iOS doc editor that synchs with Scrivener.4.
Footnotes:
1. Which is no longer available for new purchase on the iTunes store, alas2.
2. While there are lots of things I like about app stores and mobile computing on phones and iPads, one thing I don't like is that the current models don't allow app developers a revenue stream for updates. I love WriteRoom for iOS and for Mac since I first got them several years ago, and have recommended them to people looking for a good distraction-free writing solution that works across devices. But updating the software to keep up operating system upgrades takes effort, and developers find themselves in the very unpleasant position of either doing that work for free, or trying to convince loyal customers to pay the full price of a new app in order to upgrade. Which means that the small developers who create software that meets any sort of specialized need are constantly going out of business and customers having to find something new to do what they were already doing with a tool they liked perfectly well.
3. Mom was one of my writing buddies last year for NaNoWriMo, and wants to do it again this year.
4. Since the maker of WriteRoom and PlainText sold his iOS apps to another company, said company has come out with an updated version of one of those products, PlainText 2. The original PlainText only worked on iPad, while WriteRoom worked on iPad and iPhone. WriteRoom was meant as a distraction-free program, so it was stripped down to the bare essential features of a writing program, while PlainText could do a lot more. PlainText 2 does work on both the iPhone and the iPad, and seems to interact with my other programs as I like, which is good. Right now I'm using the free version to test it out5.
5. On the other hand, if I'm going to have to go through the process of switching to another app anyway, and if getting all the features I want on said apps will require me spending some money, I should look at more than one, which is why I'll probably also be playing with Textilus, which has been strongly recommended by a few friends.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Friday Links! (an asteroid with rings??!)
Amazingly, it's Friday, again! Here's a collection of news and other things that struck me as worthy of being shared:
A recent study has shown that if American parents read one more long-form think piece about parenting they will go f—ing ape shit.. Worth at least a couple of chuckles.
The Genderbread Person v2.0. Thanks to Dehd for pointing out this adorable and concise way to talking the topics of gender identity, sexual orientation, and all the tangled related topics!
Why the bizarre ocean dandelion is like an ant colony on steroids.
Astronomers Surprised to Find Asteroid With Rings.
New Dwarf Planet Found At The Solar System's Outer Limits.
We Are All Mutants. On the hunt for disease genes, researchers uncover humanity’s vast diversity.
The real, true story about how parents adopted out their child when he came out as gay.
Oregon's Next Export? Discrimination, the Anti-Gay Ballot Measure That You Will See On the Next Ballot.
New trailer for new Spiderman movie opening next month:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Famed cartoonist Mark Fiore explains the Miracle of Anti-Gay Denial:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
X-Men: Days of Future Past:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Calculated - Brett Gleason:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
A recent study has shown that if American parents read one more long-form think piece about parenting they will go f—ing ape shit.. Worth at least a couple of chuckles.
The Genderbread Person v2.0. Thanks to Dehd for pointing out this adorable and concise way to talking the topics of gender identity, sexual orientation, and all the tangled related topics!
Why the bizarre ocean dandelion is like an ant colony on steroids.
Astronomers Surprised to Find Asteroid With Rings.
New Dwarf Planet Found At The Solar System's Outer Limits.
We Are All Mutants. On the hunt for disease genes, researchers uncover humanity’s vast diversity.
The real, true story about how parents adopted out their child when he came out as gay.
Oregon's Next Export? Discrimination, the Anti-Gay Ballot Measure That You Will See On the Next Ballot.
New trailer for new Spiderman movie opening next month:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Famed cartoonist Mark Fiore explains the Miracle of Anti-Gay Denial:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
X-Men: Days of Future Past:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Calculated - Brett Gleason:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Friday, March 21, 2014
Friday Links!
Amazingly, it's Friday, again! Here's a collection of news and other things that struck me as worthy of being shared:
Measles was on the brink of being eradicated, but Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in NYC.
Anti-science Wingnut Jenny McCarthy Asks; the Internet Slam Dunks.
ANTI-GAY GROUPS FAIL: ALL THREE ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY WIN PRIMARIES.
Country resistance to gay marriage an urban myth - in Australia.
NASA releases 680-gigapixel interactive mosaic of Lunar North Pole.
Oregon AG Files Brief: Marriage Ban Serves No Rational Purpose And Harms Citizens.
Why doesn’t god kill Bill Maher?.
GOP Obsessed With Birth Control Banning, OK With Penis Pumps And Viagra.
Why Are So Few Books From the 20th Century Available as Ebooks?.
Republicans Outraged Americans Are Happy With The Affordable Care Act.
McConnell fundraiser: Wives have 'obligation' to sleep with husbands. Except he didn't say 'sleep,' of course, he said "sexual relations regardless of their mood."
Louisiana Public School Finds Out It Can't Force Christianity On Students. (You may have seen the story earlier of the teacher who singled out a buddhist student in her class to explain to the other kids how "stupid" such beliefs were.)
How Not to Sound Like a Creationist to a Trans Person.
Fred Phelps, Founder of God Hates Fags Church, Is Dead. My grandma taught me to only say nice things about the dead. "He's dead. How nice."
RIP, Fred Phelps: Your Legacy Is Not What You May Think.
When An Arkansas High School Tried to Silence a Gay Student, He Spoke Even Louder.
Power Lines Look Like Terrifying Bursts of Light to Animals.
Scientists Discover Why Dark Chocolate Is So Good For You In Most Delicious Research Project Ever.
Geek Girls Night Out: Truth Hurts. And I'm not just linking to it because Joi, the author, is a friend. I've written about a similar topic myself.
Harlem parents counter hate sign with support for LGBT youth.
Kylie Minogue - Sexercize:
Measles was on the brink of being eradicated, but Thanks, Anti-Vaxxers. You Just Brought Back Measles in NYC.
Anti-science Wingnut Jenny McCarthy Asks; the Internet Slam Dunks.
ANTI-GAY GROUPS FAIL: ALL THREE ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY WIN PRIMARIES.
Country resistance to gay marriage an urban myth - in Australia.
NASA releases 680-gigapixel interactive mosaic of Lunar North Pole.
Oregon AG Files Brief: Marriage Ban Serves No Rational Purpose And Harms Citizens.
Why doesn’t god kill Bill Maher?.
GOP Obsessed With Birth Control Banning, OK With Penis Pumps And Viagra.
Why Are So Few Books From the 20th Century Available as Ebooks?.
Republicans Outraged Americans Are Happy With The Affordable Care Act.
McConnell fundraiser: Wives have 'obligation' to sleep with husbands. Except he didn't say 'sleep,' of course, he said "sexual relations regardless of their mood."
Louisiana Public School Finds Out It Can't Force Christianity On Students. (You may have seen the story earlier of the teacher who singled out a buddhist student in her class to explain to the other kids how "stupid" such beliefs were.)
How Not to Sound Like a Creationist to a Trans Person.
Fred Phelps, Founder of God Hates Fags Church, Is Dead. My grandma taught me to only say nice things about the dead. "He's dead. How nice."
RIP, Fred Phelps: Your Legacy Is Not What You May Think.
When An Arkansas High School Tried to Silence a Gay Student, He Spoke Even Louder.
Power Lines Look Like Terrifying Bursts of Light to Animals.
Scientists Discover Why Dark Chocolate Is So Good For You In Most Delicious Research Project Ever.
Geek Girls Night Out: Truth Hurts. And I'm not just linking to it because Joi, the author, is a friend. I've written about a similar topic myself.
Harlem parents counter hate sign with support for LGBT youth.
Kylie Minogue - Sexercize:
Friday, March 14, 2014
Friday Links with the Best Gay Possible
It's the last Friday before St. Patrick's Day. Here's a collection of news and other things that struck me as worthy of being shared:
All 7 of Texas’ openly LGBT congressional, state legislative candidates win primaries.
Scientist Scan Brain of Woman Who Claims Out of Body Experiences While She Has It. And prove why the delusion feels so real.
Hal Douglas, 89, Superstar of Movie Trailer Narrators, Dies. In a world without Hal... how do they make movie trailers?
White Man March Coming To NYC To Fight "Anti-White Agenda". One newsblogger from New York says that last time this group tried this, it wound up being two guys with badly made signs.
The 17 Equations That Changed the Course of History. Somewhat misleading title. Yes, they show an important logarithmic equation, but then what they talk about changing the world is the entire concept logarithms. Similarly with Calculus...
Clues to Genghis Khan's rise, written in the rings of ancient trees.
I didn’t come from no monkey, updated.
Diamond Traps Rare Mineral, Brings to the Surface Tantalizing Clues from the Deep.
Dozens of Insect Species Living Only On Two Types of Flower.
Darren Hayes: ‘Come out. In your own time.’.
In One Sentence, Michele Bachmann Proves How Ignorant Republicans are about the Constitution.
Study: Police see black children as less innocent and less young than white children.
CALIFORNIA PUSHES TO FINISH DRIVERLESS CAR RULES.
VLT Spots Largest Yellow Hypergiant Star.
Creatures from Your Dreams and Nightmares: Unbelievable Marine Worms Photographed by Alexander Semenov.
Tea Party Activists Aren’t Gearing Up For 2016 — They Want To Refight 1964.
Op-Ed: The outcry against Rayon in Dallas Buyer's Club is less about Jared Leto playing a trans woman, and more about an industry where Rayon is the only trans woman allowed to exist.
Don't forget to vote in my End-of-the-world Movie poll!
Twins tell story of coming out to each other:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The dance of the strategically placed towels:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Bright Light Bright Light & Elton John - "I Wish We Were Leaving" :
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The ever fabulous Pet Shop Boys have created a lovely dance track from the "Noble Call" speech by Irish drag performer, Panti Bliss. It's a lovely song, includes the whole speech, and yes, you can dance to it:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here -- And it's available on iTunes here!)
All 7 of Texas’ openly LGBT congressional, state legislative candidates win primaries.
Scientist Scan Brain of Woman Who Claims Out of Body Experiences While She Has It. And prove why the delusion feels so real.
Hal Douglas, 89, Superstar of Movie Trailer Narrators, Dies. In a world without Hal... how do they make movie trailers?
White Man March Coming To NYC To Fight "Anti-White Agenda". One newsblogger from New York says that last time this group tried this, it wound up being two guys with badly made signs.
The 17 Equations That Changed the Course of History. Somewhat misleading title. Yes, they show an important logarithmic equation, but then what they talk about changing the world is the entire concept logarithms. Similarly with Calculus...
Clues to Genghis Khan's rise, written in the rings of ancient trees.
I didn’t come from no monkey, updated.
Diamond Traps Rare Mineral, Brings to the Surface Tantalizing Clues from the Deep.
Dozens of Insect Species Living Only On Two Types of Flower.
Darren Hayes: ‘Come out. In your own time.’.
In One Sentence, Michele Bachmann Proves How Ignorant Republicans are about the Constitution.
Study: Police see black children as less innocent and less young than white children.
CALIFORNIA PUSHES TO FINISH DRIVERLESS CAR RULES.
VLT Spots Largest Yellow Hypergiant Star.
Creatures from Your Dreams and Nightmares: Unbelievable Marine Worms Photographed by Alexander Semenov.
Tea Party Activists Aren’t Gearing Up For 2016 — They Want To Refight 1964.
Op-Ed: The outcry against Rayon in Dallas Buyer's Club is less about Jared Leto playing a trans woman, and more about an industry where Rayon is the only trans woman allowed to exist.
Don't forget to vote in my End-of-the-world Movie poll!
Twins tell story of coming out to each other:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The dance of the strategically placed towels:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Bright Light Bright Light & Elton John - "I Wish We Were Leaving" :
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The ever fabulous Pet Shop Boys have created a lovely dance track from the "Noble Call" speech by Irish drag performer, Panti Bliss. It's a lovely song, includes the whole speech, and yes, you can dance to it:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here -- And it's available on iTunes here!)
Saturday, March 8, 2014
What’s your favorite End-of-the-World movie?
I finally watched Iron Sky, which is a very silly movie about a secret colony of Nazis hidden on the dark side of the moon, that has been plotting the “liberation” of earth for 70-some years. It’s got some nice, diesel-punk (that’s like steampunk, except moved forward about 40 years) sets and devices. It has some nice homages to a couple of movies (Dr. Strangelove, Downfall, just to name two) without beating you over the head with it. It was fun...
(The rest of the post, and more importantly, the poll is at FontFolly.Net.)
(The rest of the post, and more importantly, the poll is at FontFolly.Net.)
Friday, March 7, 2014
Friday Links! (Captain America, dark matter, and fake bestsellers)
Friday Links!
It's the first Friday of March. It's March already? Wow! Here's a collection of news and other things that struck me as worthy of being shared:
The Shamelessness of Professor Mark Regnerus. Designed his study intent on proving that gay parents are bad. When he couldn't find the proof, he waved his hands and said his study proved it, anyway.
Religious right’s new panic: How can we practice religion if we can’t discriminate?.
Genetic and environmental evidence indicates that after the ancestors of Native Americans left Asia, they spent 10,000 years in shrubby lowlands on a broad land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska.
Virginia Legislature Unanimously Repeals Unconstitutional Oral Sex Ban.
Senate Rejects Blocking Military Commanders From Sex Assault Cases.
Unreal sales for Driscoll’s Real Marriage. Megachurch spent $210,000 to put pastor's book on bestseller list. How many homeless people or poor children could have been helped with that money?
The Signed Contract That Helped Get Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage on the New York Times Best Seller List. It details the methods of how the copies would be ordered, how fake gift messages are generated on the Amazon orders, many payment types used to disguise the bundled sales...
f only GnuTLS had been open source! Wait..
If the moon were only 1 pixel. A fun, interactive toy. Go try it. Scroll. Click on things. It's pretty awesome!
It's "Embarrassing That The United States Has To Thumb Rides From The Russians".
Dark matter looks more and more likely after new gamma-ray analysis.
Why Can’t Hollywood Get Computers Right?.
All of this post is also available on FontFolly.Net. With an extra bit of cuteness.
The Captain America sequel is looking very good:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The song is beautiful, and just released on iTunes. I'd heard the audio and liked the song before I saw the video, which is quite a downer:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Steve Grand does wistful well:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
This year's entry for Eurovision from Lithuania is a fun number:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Though Finland's entry is a bit more my thing:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
If the Captain America trailer above isn't enough for you, here's a longer scene:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The Shamelessness of Professor Mark Regnerus. Designed his study intent on proving that gay parents are bad. When he couldn't find the proof, he waved his hands and said his study proved it, anyway.
Religious right’s new panic: How can we practice religion if we can’t discriminate?.
Genetic and environmental evidence indicates that after the ancestors of Native Americans left Asia, they spent 10,000 years in shrubby lowlands on a broad land bridge that once linked Siberia and Alaska.
Virginia Legislature Unanimously Repeals Unconstitutional Oral Sex Ban.
Senate Rejects Blocking Military Commanders From Sex Assault Cases.
Unreal sales for Driscoll’s Real Marriage. Megachurch spent $210,000 to put pastor's book on bestseller list. How many homeless people or poor children could have been helped with that money?
The Signed Contract That Helped Get Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage on the New York Times Best Seller List. It details the methods of how the copies would be ordered, how fake gift messages are generated on the Amazon orders, many payment types used to disguise the bundled sales...
f only GnuTLS had been open source! Wait..
If the moon were only 1 pixel. A fun, interactive toy. Go try it. Scroll. Click on things. It's pretty awesome!
It's "Embarrassing That The United States Has To Thumb Rides From The Russians".
Dark matter looks more and more likely after new gamma-ray analysis.
Why Can’t Hollywood Get Computers Right?.
All of this post is also available on FontFolly.Net. With an extra bit of cuteness.
The Captain America sequel is looking very good:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
The song is beautiful, and just released on iTunes. I'd heard the audio and liked the song before I saw the video, which is quite a downer:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Steve Grand does wistful well:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
This year's entry for Eurovision from Lithuania is a fun number:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
Though Finland's entry is a bit more my thing:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
If the Captain America trailer above isn't enough for you, here's a longer scene:
(If embedding doesn't work, click here.)
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