There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact*
It's FRIDAY. I do love Friday, but you probably already knew that. It's been a big week; we had a sudden and very surprising retirement that has, through a chain reaction, resulted in a small promotion. FOR ME. I'm ambivalent about it, but I know I could help. Well. Something to think about.
In addition, there was a huge multi-car crash on the highway I commute to work on, thirty-one cars smacked together in the dense fog! I come to work early so fortunately I missed it by almost an hour, but I had trouble sleeping last night because of it. I guess having two accidents in three years will do that to you.
Oh, I posted more meta! Yes, me. I just can't stop thinking about all the Sherlocks and Johns I've loved over the years, and I really love the BBC version. Anyway, it's here.
Enough of that. I have a lot of links today, but not many fannish ones. Hmm.
Fannish stuff:
» Benedict Cumberbatch to star in new radio adaptation of Rumpole of the Bailey. The Sherlock star, who has lent his voice to several of the famous fictional barrister’s adventures on Radio 4 in the past, will play the Young Rumpole in Rumpole and the Man of God. Starring Timothy West as Rumpole, the story takes place in 1959, when the cheroot-smoking lawyer is given the task of defending a clergyman accused of shoplifting who risks being defrocked if he is convicted of the crime. ON MY CALENDAR? CHECK.
Kind of fannish stuff:
» Where's the social networking on Star Trek? Nobody sits around and plays Farmville. Nobody gets embroiled in a flame war concerning the portrayal of Klingons in human vids or just sits and watches vids with their feet up.
» What Sherlock Holmes Can Teach Us About the Power of Mindful Decisions: Our senses -- and here I don't just mean vision; I mean all of them, touch, hearing, smell, taste -- are powerful forces. Every day, countless items, some glanced, or heard, or felt, or smelled only briefly -- perhaps without ever registering in our consciousness -- affect our minds and play into our decisions. But for the most part, we don't pay attention; and we fail to realize what it is that is guiding us at any given moment -- or fail to note something that would have made a crucial difference to our decision calculus. Has a link to Lessons from Sherlock Holmes: Preconceptions and the Blunting of Imagination written by the same author. At the bottom are links to other "lessons" we can learn from Holmes. I haven't read many of them, but they seem kind of fun.
» The Composites Blog -- drawings of literary figures based on their descriptions. REALLY COOL and kind of creepy.
Non-fannish podcasts and videos:
» Killer Empathy. Sometimes being a good scientist requires putting aside your emotions. But what happens when objectivity isn't enough to make sense of a seemingly senseless act of violence? Kind of creepy at times -- about really really unpleasant bugs -- but I hate bugs and managed to listen.
» Reap What You Sow, an episode of This American Life I found unusually compelling and upsetting. Alabama's new immigration law aims to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will "self-deport." And in a way it's working. Immigrants are fleeing Alabama...but not just the undocumented ones. This and other stories of people living with the unintended consequences of their decisions. I skipped Act Two, though.
» Multilingual Babel No More video: a preview of the book Babel No More by Michael Erard. Fun.
» Via Txvoodoo, a video of Bruce Springsteen's We Take Care of Our Own. That is an angry, angry song that matches my mood about my country.
where's the eyes, the eyes with the will to see
where's the hearts that run over with mercy
where's the love that has not forsaken me
where's the work that set my hands, my soul free
where's the spirit to reign, reign over me
where's the promise, from sea to shining sea
Non-fannish non-podcast stuff:
» Straight Talk: We Don't Know Anything About Heterosexuality. While "everyone knows" a great deal about heterosexuality, researchers and experts actually know very little.
» My Faith: What people talk about before they die: We don't learn the meaning of our lives by discussing it. It's not to be found in books or lecture halls or even churches or synagogues or mosques. It's discovered through these actions of love.
» One of my dearest friends is from a rice farm in southeast Texas, so this article really caught my eye: Drought May Cause Shutdown of Texas Rice Production: Come March 1, if there is less than 850,000 acre-feet of water in reservoirs along the Lower Colorado River, water managers will be forced to take the unprecedented step of withholding water from agricultural users, which will mean severe cuts to Texas rice production this year.
» Via Linaerys, a terrific essay about aging and exercise and, well, life: In praise of older women: Yes, we do lose brain cells as we age. But here’s the cool thing: when it comes to brains, size doesn’t always matter.
» Is marriage only for rich people? Demographics are scary.
» 'Rasputin Was My Neighbor' and Other True Tales of Time Travel: There are people who live long enough to create a link - a one-generation link - to figures from what feels like a distant past, and their presence among us shrinks history.
» 'SOUP' and Sea Pollution. [T]he series particularly references an area in the North Pacific Ocean called “the Garbage Patch,” famous for its exceptionally high plastic, sludge, and waste levels.
» I don't own an iPhone but an Android, and now I'm wondering if the apps on it do the same thing. More on iPhone address book privacy. There's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission, to remote servers and then store it for future reference. It's common practice, and many companies likely have your address book stored in their database.
» The models for American Gothic, the famous painting by Grant Wood.
» This is an excellent example of long journalism; I could not put it down. Animals: It was dark and wet and dangerous in Zanesville, Ohio. Terry Thompson had let his scores of big animals out of their hard, grim cages, then shot himself in the head. The tigers and bears were loose. Night was falling. Everything was out of control.
This week's fanart isn't a single artist but a new (at least new to me) Tumblr called Fuck Yeah Sherlock Fan Art. I am really enjoying scrolling through it. The owner is still working on tagging stuff, but I click on "Johnlock" and am happy for HOURS. Artists can request their own work be posted there, and you can suggest artists you like. I think it's really cool. Here are links to a few examples of stuff I like:
John and Sherlock kiss, by Diaemyung
John and Sherlock hug, by Pimlico
A scene from The Reichenbach Fall, by aishie-chan
Doctor Watson, by beanclam
Anyway, there's loads of stuff and more pops up all the time. If you have a Tumblr and you enjoy fanart, follow this one.
Be sure to check out past artists because they are still producing gorgeous work.
Amanda Tolleson
Genderswapped BBC Sherlock:
+ Genderswapped BBC Sherlock saved to my Tumblr
+ Ask Femlock
Cucumberbatchin (musician)
xxxxxx6x
Coeykuhn
Reapersun
oooyooo
Khorazir
Alicexz
Doublenegativemeansyes
Marielikestodraw
*Arthur Conan Doyle
In addition, there was a huge multi-car crash on the highway I commute to work on, thirty-one cars smacked together in the dense fog! I come to work early so fortunately I missed it by almost an hour, but I had trouble sleeping last night because of it. I guess having two accidents in three years will do that to you.
Oh, I posted more meta! Yes, me. I just can't stop thinking about all the Sherlocks and Johns I've loved over the years, and I really love the BBC version. Anyway, it's here.
Enough of that. I have a lot of links today, but not many fannish ones. Hmm.
Fannish stuff:
» Benedict Cumberbatch to star in new radio adaptation of Rumpole of the Bailey. The Sherlock star, who has lent his voice to several of the famous fictional barrister’s adventures on Radio 4 in the past, will play the Young Rumpole in Rumpole and the Man of God. Starring Timothy West as Rumpole, the story takes place in 1959, when the cheroot-smoking lawyer is given the task of defending a clergyman accused of shoplifting who risks being defrocked if he is convicted of the crime. ON MY CALENDAR? CHECK.
Kind of fannish stuff:
» Where's the social networking on Star Trek? Nobody sits around and plays Farmville. Nobody gets embroiled in a flame war concerning the portrayal of Klingons in human vids or just sits and watches vids with their feet up.
» What Sherlock Holmes Can Teach Us About the Power of Mindful Decisions: Our senses -- and here I don't just mean vision; I mean all of them, touch, hearing, smell, taste -- are powerful forces. Every day, countless items, some glanced, or heard, or felt, or smelled only briefly -- perhaps without ever registering in our consciousness -- affect our minds and play into our decisions. But for the most part, we don't pay attention; and we fail to realize what it is that is guiding us at any given moment -- or fail to note something that would have made a crucial difference to our decision calculus. Has a link to Lessons from Sherlock Holmes: Preconceptions and the Blunting of Imagination written by the same author. At the bottom are links to other "lessons" we can learn from Holmes. I haven't read many of them, but they seem kind of fun.
» The Composites Blog -- drawings of literary figures based on their descriptions. REALLY COOL and kind of creepy.
Non-fannish podcasts and videos:
» Killer Empathy. Sometimes being a good scientist requires putting aside your emotions. But what happens when objectivity isn't enough to make sense of a seemingly senseless act of violence? Kind of creepy at times -- about really really unpleasant bugs -- but I hate bugs and managed to listen.
» Reap What You Sow, an episode of This American Life I found unusually compelling and upsetting. Alabama's new immigration law aims to make life so difficult for illegal immigrants that they will "self-deport." And in a way it's working. Immigrants are fleeing Alabama...but not just the undocumented ones. This and other stories of people living with the unintended consequences of their decisions. I skipped Act Two, though.
» Multilingual Babel No More video: a preview of the book Babel No More by Michael Erard. Fun.
» Via Txvoodoo, a video of Bruce Springsteen's We Take Care of Our Own. That is an angry, angry song that matches my mood about my country.
where's the eyes, the eyes with the will to see
where's the hearts that run over with mercy
where's the love that has not forsaken me
where's the work that set my hands, my soul free
where's the spirit to reign, reign over me
where's the promise, from sea to shining sea
Non-fannish non-podcast stuff:
» Straight Talk: We Don't Know Anything About Heterosexuality. While "everyone knows" a great deal about heterosexuality, researchers and experts actually know very little.
» My Faith: What people talk about before they die: We don't learn the meaning of our lives by discussing it. It's not to be found in books or lecture halls or even churches or synagogues or mosques. It's discovered through these actions of love.
» One of my dearest friends is from a rice farm in southeast Texas, so this article really caught my eye: Drought May Cause Shutdown of Texas Rice Production: Come March 1, if there is less than 850,000 acre-feet of water in reservoirs along the Lower Colorado River, water managers will be forced to take the unprecedented step of withholding water from agricultural users, which will mean severe cuts to Texas rice production this year.
» Via Linaerys, a terrific essay about aging and exercise and, well, life: In praise of older women: Yes, we do lose brain cells as we age. But here’s the cool thing: when it comes to brains, size doesn’t always matter.
» Is marriage only for rich people? Demographics are scary.
» 'Rasputin Was My Neighbor' and Other True Tales of Time Travel: There are people who live long enough to create a link - a one-generation link - to figures from what feels like a distant past, and their presence among us shrinks history.
» 'SOUP' and Sea Pollution. [T]he series particularly references an area in the North Pacific Ocean called “the Garbage Patch,” famous for its exceptionally high plastic, sludge, and waste levels.
» I don't own an iPhone but an Android, and now I'm wondering if the apps on it do the same thing. More on iPhone address book privacy. There's a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user's entire address book, without their permission, to remote servers and then store it for future reference. It's common practice, and many companies likely have your address book stored in their database.
» The models for American Gothic, the famous painting by Grant Wood.
» This is an excellent example of long journalism; I could not put it down. Animals: It was dark and wet and dangerous in Zanesville, Ohio. Terry Thompson had let his scores of big animals out of their hard, grim cages, then shot himself in the head. The tigers and bears were loose. Night was falling. Everything was out of control.
This week's fanart isn't a single artist but a new (at least new to me) Tumblr called Fuck Yeah Sherlock Fan Art. I am really enjoying scrolling through it. The owner is still working on tagging stuff, but I click on "Johnlock" and am happy for HOURS. Artists can request their own work be posted there, and you can suggest artists you like. I think it's really cool. Here are links to a few examples of stuff I like:
John and Sherlock kiss, by Diaemyung
John and Sherlock hug, by Pimlico
A scene from The Reichenbach Fall, by aishie-chan
Doctor Watson, by beanclam
Anyway, there's loads of stuff and more pops up all the time. If you have a Tumblr and you enjoy fanart, follow this one.
Be sure to check out past artists because they are still producing gorgeous work.
Amanda Tolleson
Genderswapped BBC Sherlock:
+ Genderswapped BBC Sherlock saved to my Tumblr
+ Ask Femlock
Cucumberbatchin (musician)
xxxxxx6x
Coeykuhn
Reapersun
oooyooo
Khorazir
Alicexz
Doublenegativemeansyes
Marielikestodraw
*Arthur Conan Doyle