Miscellany: Google Earth, Foreigner readalong

Sorry, no post yesterday -- work killed me and I fell asleep.

Today, however, I have discovered the wonder that is Google Earth! Looked up various places I have lived, but mostly just had fun searching for widely-disparate locations from novels and going "wheeeeeeee!" as the globe spins and zooms. :D

This means I did not do the photo meme, though, for which I apologise; I'll do it tomorrow, I promise! (Anyone else want to chime in with a last-minute request, since I'm late?)

Still trying to work out logistics for the Foreigner readalong -- would you prefer to do it here on my journal? Or in a specific community? Because I've been toying with creating either a general sci-fi/fantasy discussion comm, or one intended for hosting read-alongs in particular. Any input?

In a similar vein: I know I'm a speed reader; I try to remember that other people aren't always as fast, but this makes it sort of hard to figure out a reasonable number of chapters-per-week for us to aim for. Suggestions, comments, heckling?

Hope you all had lovely weekends!

Foreigner readalong: planning!

From the responses so far, it looks like most would prefer to do the read-along on my personal journal rather than a comm, which is fine by me!

(Some suggested logistical details)



In the spirit of 3W4DW, comments are turned off on LJ, but you can easily comment on DW via Open ID; just follow the fake cut!

SurveyFail rears its ugly head again.

Raise your hand if you remember SurveyFail, a fandom-wide fiasco featuring two idiots trying to profit from the generosity of fen (the old FanLib story!).

(Apparently, they managed to cobble together a book in spite of all fandom could throw at them...)


In the spirit of 3W4DW, comments are turned off on LJ, but you can easily comment on DW via Open ID; just follow the fake cut!

Miscellany: Google Earth, Foreigner readalong

Sorry, no post yesterday -- work killed me and I fell asleep.

(Today, however, I have discovered the wonder that is Google Earth!)



In the spirit of 3W4DW, comments are turned off on LJ, but you can easily comment on DW via Open ID; just follow the fake cut!

Foreigner readalong: planning!

From the responses so far, it looks like most would prefer to do the read-along here, which is fine by me!

cheyinka suggested, and I'm in favour of, making the first two sections our first reading section, and then reading three chapters per week. I'll take a look at my copy and see what that works out to, both in terms of time and in terms of spacing, and we can tweak that if needed.

I was tentatively thinking we could start at the end of 3W4DW -- would that be too soon? (Probably? I don't even know what day it is, argh. Must teach self to look at calendars more often than once a month-and-half...) Since it's just a few people, so far at least, we are probably pretty flexible in terms of start date; if you have some Big Important Thing you'd like to get through before we start, just say so and we'll see if it's workable.

(Relatedly: feel free to invite others to join us, if you have any scifi- or Foreigner-fans on your flists!)

Note to self: acquire Foreigner icon!

SurveyFail rears its ugly head again.

Raise your hand if you remember SurveyFail, a fandom-wide fiasco featuring two idiots trying to profit from the generosity of fen (the old FanLib story!).

Apparently, they managed to cobble together a book in spite of all fandom could throw at them, and now the Freakonomics blog is promoting it... and apparently either believes these guys are genuine, or they don't care a jot whether they're genuine or not -- the description of their book is entirely flattering and does not mention any credibility issues whatsoever; in fact, it reads like a copy/paste of the back cover.

Oh, and they're hosting a Q&A for the authors. *wicked smirk*

A number of people have already expressed their articulate and/or scathing opinions of this; I've added my own to the pile.

Alas for the photo meme; it is cursed.

CANNOT FIND CAMERA CABLE. SPENT LAST 45 MINUTES LOOKING EVERYWHERE. HAD IT IN MY HAND TWO HOURS AGO.

THESE THINGS EXIST SOLELY TO FRUSTRATE ME BY EXPONENTIALLY INCREASING THE NUMBER OF THINGS I MUST EXPEND HOURS OF LIFESPAN LOOKING FOR. (Had already spent thirty minutes finding camera, ten minutes finding charger, and five minutes locating a plug to accomodate said charger.)

Just watch: tomorrow? I will be come home from work and trip over the cable, but be unable to locate the camera for two hours. *makes face*