the girly who shall end all girls

due to my brain being full of work stuff, the weekend wasn't as restorative as i hoped. but there was still plenty of goodness.

as mentioned previously, the science GOH is a costumer with a magnificent beard, and i will always treasure in my heart the memory of him using his trident to point out features on projections of Pluto and Charon.

i didn't do much with the other guests...not very interesting to me, or already in my social circle. i did enjoy the Angry Robot books panels. their founder is a character, but in a good way*. the household ended up with three of their books as swag, they all sound good.

loose panel notes:

• The key to pinup art is extra vertebrae. More length in torso shows off hip and breasts. (Most people are 5.5 heads tall.)



• Chris Wahl beefcake Popeye and Shaggy



• Lunar soil is too spiky for plant roots. It will literally cut through them. To farm on the moon we need to tumble the soil. Mars is easier since there has been water. Mars dirt is more like diatomaceous earth.



• (on radiation exposure) Lung tissue collects alpha particles



• Neutron radiation is only an issue in places like Hanford where the concentration is crazy high



• glacial lake Missoula flood



• Harold McCluskey accident



• Radioactive kitty litter



• Helium comes from decaying radioactive material



• Nagasaki material came from 100b. Now open for tours.



• Tritium contamination treatment: half rack of beer on the way home

*ask me about my impressions of Jim Baen for contrast

this is the worst spring allergy season i've ever had. maybe at this point i have a dollop of con crud on top. sneezing, itchy eyes and ears, running nose, postnasal drip that leads to sore throat--the gang's all here.

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Norwescon continues to fill my cup. i think when it comes down to it, a few thousand people are busy being happy for a few days and that's infectious. i periodically think that the internet has made conventions irrelevant, then i find myself locking arms with Dr. Doom in a kick line and i get over it. this year we stayed at a boutique hotel off the reservation, which may be what we do every year from now on. we had great food, free ice cream, beautiful grounds*, and a giant bathtub that were all a brief walk away from the crowds. (it's probably no further from the center of the con hotel than the party wing.) i ate well, and i still managed a nap on Saturday when i needed it. i got to lots of space science programming, i saw solcita in rockstar mode backing up Molly Lewis, and the "Supporters Anonymous" viewing event in the con bar was a good time even though my Sounders lost. for the most part the convention runs more smoothly every year, although i worry that the schedule conflict with Sakuracon is depressing attendance in the 15-30 year old bracket. i've heard rumors that a dual-membership pass is in the works. transit between the convention center and seatac is so easy; i'd love to make the light rail a little more surreal for a weekend.

* * *
Molly Lewis graduated from high school in 2008. we're all old.

* * *
i recently learned that a cat is a station master in Japan. why was i surprised?

* * *
i've been trying to make C a pair of socks for a good six months. stuff just kept going wrong with the gauge or my hand health or the yarn tangling into a hideous snarl. i've probably knit and unraveled enough stitches to make three or four pairs. but i finally finished them! the legs aren't as long as C would normally like, but now that i have a pair done and good measurements logged, there's nothing stopping me from doing more. he's wearing them today, let's see if they give him blisters or something.

i am making myself ridiculous sparkly ones.

i've lost interest in my ambitious shawl project. i seem to need to be doing some thumb sucking, and the lace just isn't comforting. nor apparently do i find something endlessly large and complex as satisfying as knocking out a pair of socks.

* * *
i started watching Call the Midwife last night. i described it to C as All Creatures Great and Small with people instead of animals.

i'm also digging into the new Cartoon Network content on Netflix. (frex, we got rid of cable before Adventure Time started airing. so that's all new to me even though all of the characters are familiar sights from using the internets.)

i haven't seen the new Doctor Who yet. or not in its entirety - i caught part of it at the hotel on BBC America and was completely offended by the hack job they do with adding commercials. i liked what i saw of the episode when i wasn't busy putting together the profile of the typical BBCA viewer: cat owner, with a weedy garden and terrible allergies.

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i read some of this a while ago, but came across a hard copy of the original article today: a linkfest about the connection between lead exposure and crime. compelling stuff.










* which included a movie moment of kissing in a cloud of falling cherry blossoms. magic.