h/t The Jawa Report
NOTE: Clicking the photo will bring up the full size version in this window, which is VERY LARGE (in Firefox; may open a new window in IE) – to close it, scroll to the lower right corner of the picture and click the ‘x.’
(Originally posted this day last year on my political blag, Zero Sheep.)
It started raining here midday Tuesday, and has rained almost continually since. We certainly needed the rain, but poor Boy 1 is getting tired of hearing me yell at him for running in the house. He’s at daycare this morning (goes Tuesdays & Thursdays), so that will help some, but it looks like another soggy, too-wet-for-outside afternoon for him.
Boy 2′s been sniffly and not feeling very well, so papa is a bit sleep deprived and really, really needs the manic 3 1/2-year-old to be able to play outside. Really.
We’re going to shift gears a bit today, and talk about pipe tobacco instead of about writing.
I tried smoking a pipe for a while back in college. Even with cheap pipes (such as Dr. Grabow) and cheap tobacco (Borkum Riff, Captain Black), I enjoyed it pretty well but not enough to stick with it through the tongue bite and health concerns. A little over a year ago, I got the urge to try it again, and I was able to actually buy some quality pipes and tobacco this time. The wealth of information on the Internet now also makes it easier to learn about all the aspects of pipe smoking (packing and lighting, breaking in a pipe, types of tobacco, etc.). I’ve smoked off and on since then. (For the record, I started because something made me crave the smell of pipe smoke, not because of Mad Men — which I’d never heard of at the time — or any similar external stimulus.)
I’ve tried a lot of tobaccos over the past year — after buying and then tossing my old favorite, a whiskey flavored Borkum Riff. I like the taste of English blends best but, for those of you that don’t know, they tend to smell a bit harsh. So far, Lord Methley’s from 4noggins is the only tobacco I’ve found so far that smells great, tastes good, and is easy to smoke.
A well rounded blend of flavorful Virginia’s, mellow Burley’s, and Black Cavendish give Lord Methley’s the fragrance of a berry filled pie just out of the oven. A true aromatic with no tongue bite makes this a great all day smoke. Developed for the real Lord Methley of West Yorkshire, UK.
If you’re just starting with the pipe, or are an experienced smoker that likes an occasional aromatic, I can’t recommend Lord Methley’s highly enough.
AutoREALM is primarily designed for D&D type gamers, making maps for campaigns and dungeons. From the website:
AutoREALM is a Free GNU mapping software (a “cartographer”) that can design maps of castles, cities, dungeons and more. AutoREALM is generally used by Role-playing Game practicants who enjoy doing their own maps. But it could fit the needs of other people.
I can imagine that it works great for role-players, because I have been extremely happy with my more general use of it. » Read more…
Whenever I talk about how much the boys wear me out, or complain about something they did or about housework, or whatever, my wife usually responds that she’ll gladly change places with me. Meaning that I can get a job outside of the house and she’ll stay home with the children. Even though the arrangement is by mutual choice, there’s not much I can say to that, so it always annoys me.
But then when she’s home for a while, and starts getting frazzled just dealing with the boys for a couple hours, I can’t help but grin. To myself. Quietly.
To be fair, I know that it’s because she isn’t home all the time with them, but still . . .
So the wife (an architect) has been working long hours lately trying to get a big project together before its upcoming deadline. That means it’s just been me, Boy 1 (3 1/2), and Boy 2 (11 months) at home, all day, every day.† Despite having to feed, clean and amuse two young boys solo, I’ve done pretty well over the last couple weeks of getting back into the groove of writing. I just broke 10,000 words on my latest effort yesterday, but more importantly I’ve started feeling the urge to write — the furor scribendi — that I remember from writing and re-writing my first novel 18 years ago. It’s the feeling that, when you’re not writing, you need to be. It’s not a guilt thing so much as a feeling of something missing. Kind of like knowing you walked into the room for something specific, or that you were going to say something. That kind of nagging-at-the-edge-of-your-consciousness that there’s something . . . but you can’t quite put your finger on it. It’s that sort of sensation, except you know what’s missing: you need to be writing. » Read more…
A community-written and -edited encyclopedia isn’t the best choice for serious, scholarly research. But you simply can’t beat it for a quick overview of a topic.
As a fantasy writer, pinpoint accuracy is not my highest priority. As an example, I recently wondered what an upper-class gentleman would have worn in the mid-1800s. A book on 19th century fashions might have been the best source, but that would be overkill. I just needed a good, general idea of what my hypothetical lord’s suit might look like. And, boom, Wikipedia tells me about frock coats — and even has a few pictures. I still spent longer than necessary reading through the article’s text (history geek here), but I got the information I needed and thumbing through a physical book would have been far worse.
As long as you understand Wikipedia‘s weaknesses, it is an incomparable research tool for a writer.
Here’s a fun but mostly pointless link for you: generate random faux-Latin filler text at the Lorem Ipsum generator.
This post will necessarily be a long one . . .
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Praesent magna enim, viverra nec molestie euismod, lacinia in tellus. Duis molestie rutrum dictum. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Vivamus eget elit eget tortor tempor venenatis id id leo. Vestibulum sit amet turpis lacus. Sed diam ligula, scelerisque eu tempus sed, consequat non massa. Proin feugiat rhoncus lacinia. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Phasellus id nisl sit amet nisl gravida sollicitudin. Nulla tellus nibh, lacinia id cursus quis, accumsan non nibh. Nulla facilisi. Mauris dapibus tincidunt rhoncus. Proin id eros ut justo condimentum varius. Proin hendrerit mauris non ligula commodo condimentum. Sed lacus orci, egestas sagittis cursus eu, molestie vitae diam. In egestas dapibus sodales. Sed sodales pharetra nulla, ut blandit elit faucibus at. Morbi sit amet metus felis. Mauris id tristique nulla. Fusce tristique, leo sed tincidunt dictum, tortor nisi laoreet dui, vitae ultricies orci erat sed urna. » Read more…
This little program can come in very handy if you find a useful website in the course of your research. What it does is download a copy of the complete website to your computer where you can access it offline — and not have to worry about it being taken down or changed. You can set the various options to follow both internal and external links.
And it’s free!
The site is still just kind of a generic placeholder, but one thing I wanted to do even if I never get around to putting anything more meaningful here is to give some links and shout outs for resources I have found useful in my writing. Most entries will simply be a short description of the resource and a link, but there are a few things for which I want to post a more extensive review. The things I find most useful will also get a permanent link in the right sidebar.
