Okay, now here's a couple that I'm looking forward to getting...

The first two are game books: <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786932775/fantasistnet">Serpent Kingdoms</a>, which is a D&D supplement about reptilian races and <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786934239/fantasistnet">D20 Future</a>, which is, well, a D20 supplement for futuristic gaming. I'm looking forward to that second one, in particular, for all the cool Star Frontiers information that they've included. Star Frontiers was a great little science-fiction game that TSR put out back in the 80's. It was smart, slick space-opera and it was really, really fun. So, back a couple of weeks ago when I read that Wizards of the Coast was putting all that info into the new D20 game, was really excited. Too bad that it isn't due out until September! Luckily, Serpent Kingdoms is due out later this month.
So is my third reading list book, <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345464028/fantasistnet">Iron Council</a>, which is the third book set in the world of New Crobuzon. A very different and innovative fantasy series by an acclaimed author. It's really a very interesting world filled with magical creatures, but not any elves! (Hooray!) This one seems to be set back in the city of New Crobuzon itself and promises to be a good one. (Okay, who am I kidding? I'm a drooling fanboy who would worship almost anything China Miéville would put out. There, are you happy?)

So, it looks like I'll have more reading to do!

Wondered where we've been this Summer?

Well, besides changing jobs, I've been reading. One of the books I read was <a target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0886779308/fantasistnet">The Chanur Saga</a>, though I didn't read it all at once. This is actually an "omnibus" of the first three books in the Chanur series. There are, to my knowlege, two more. Now, I have to admit, this is not my "usual" kind of book. I like science-fiction, but I often have trouble with female writers because they focus on things that don't often interest me. (In otherwords, they write romance novels in space or fantasy settings!) But, my wife read these and really liked them, so I gave it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did!
More along the lines of a "space opera" in the fact that the author, C. J. Cherryh, didn't focus on the hard-science aspects of the Chanur universe, but instead on the "people", mainly aliens, who live there. The story through out the three books in the "omnibus" follow the discovery of humanity by the Compact, which include a lionlike race called the <i>hani</i>. The Chanur are a clan of <i>hani</i> who have a trading spaceship who take in a castaway human, who's lost in Compact space. Along the way, we meet the mahendo'sat, the stsho, the chi, the t'cha, the knnn, and the kif, who are all members of the Compact and have their own ideas about what to do with humanity. The kif are the bad guys, generally, but each race has their own goals regarding this newly discovered race. All in all it's fairly interesting and entertaining.
One of the things I like the best is that Ms. Cherryh uses language and language barriers effectively and realisticlly in her work. We've got a bunch of races with various languages among them all trying to work together, and take advantage of each other, without having too many misunderstandings. At times, it makes for very entertaining reading! And, it provides quite a bit of food for thought for my own work in this regard.
Very well done and I look forward to reading the next two in the series!

No, really....

I read it on the Internet! Right here at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.watleyreview.com/2004/012704-2.html">the Watley Review</a>, so it <i>has</i> to be true!

Hey, it's Friday, so cut me some slack and read the article....

No, it literally stinks!

According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/06/27/britain.smells.reut/index.ht… article on CNN</a>, there's a company that makes very, very unusual smells for museums and advertising firms. Most recently, they recreated the stink of a Tyrannosaurus Rex's breath. But, they've done all kinds of things, pleasant and, er, well, less than pleasant for verious special needs. It's really an interesting idea, when you consider how strongly we tie memories to scent. A very interesting article. And, just the right amount of fun for a Friday!

You can help save endangered languages.

Okay, so this isn't exactlly a conlang thing, but most of us who are into conlangs are into unusual languages and language issues. So, toward that end, I give you <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ling.yale.edu:16080/~elf/">The Endangered Language Fund</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.rosettaproject.org:8080/emeldbase/index_html.http://www.rose… Endangered Language Query Rooms </a>. Two great resources for languages on the edge of extinction. And, possibly, inspiration for a conlang or two.

Remember that eriee music in that old movie?

You know, that really bad, old sci-fi movie? Well, that music was most likely made by a Theremin. So, you're asking yourself, what's the point? Well, now you can get a Theremin of your very own. No, really. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=99">This link</a> will take you to Moog Music who sells a variety of kits and pre-built Theremins for your spooky music pleasure. Well, I thought it was cool, anyway....

Okay, this may not seem like "fun" to everyone...

But, <a target="_blank" href"http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/22/1839207&mode=thread&tid=103… article on Slashdot about rail guns</a> got me. Apparently, the US Navy plans to have rail guns installed by 2011. That's not all that far away.
For those of you not familiar, rail guns are basically high-speed catapults driven by very, very powerful electromagnets. Very science-fiction stuff. And, the Navy plans on having <i>working</i> rail guns on actual ships by 2011.

Cool.

Is it the most elaborate hoax ever?

Well, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciam.com/print_version.cfm?articleID=0000E3AA-70E1-10CF-AD1… article from Scientific American</a>, it very well could be. In fact, it might be the most famous con, too. Experts have analyzed this manuscript, found by Wilfrid Voynich, an American rare-book dealer, in 1912, but haven't been able to come up with either the code or language in which the book is written. One theory is that English adventurer Edward Kelley may have created the document to defraud the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II who reportedly paid a sum of 600 ducats (about $50,000 today) for the manuscript.)
The article goes into the details, but it seems quite plausable. So, I guess conlanging can be profitable after all!

Notice that I've been a little behind in posting?

Well, for that one person who reads this blog, I've been busy! As I mentioned in <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/netgeek/">my other blog</a> <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/netgeek/archives/000520.html">I've changed jobs</a> which has been a little stressful. And, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/backup-freeware-net.html">I've been Google spammed</a>, so that's been taking up a bunch of time. But, I hope the new job will allow me more time, thanks to less travel-time on my commute, to write, so it'll be worth it. I hope. But, I do promise to do better on keeping this blog up to date.

I figure fuel-efficiency is a good trade off.

For speed, that is. Mostly, I don't want to go anywhere in <i>that</i> much of a hurry. Which is good, because, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63541,00.html">this article on Wired News</a>, hybrids don't help save gas if you have a lead foot. But, it also isn't effective if you're too slow, either. A happy medium is the key to taking advantage of the battery power that makes the hybrid cars so effecient, but accelerating too quickly or slowly degrades that efficiency. So, all this time, the way Coach taught me to drive really was more fuel efficient!

In any case, it's sort of an interesting article about the new hybrid cars. So, go check it out.