Today is <a target="_blank" href="http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com">William Gibson's </a>Birthday!

For those of you who have been hiding under a rock, or are freshly hatched from the Great Egg, <a target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=fantasistnet&keyw… Gibson</a> is one of the fathers of the cyberpunk movement. He's generally credited with coining the term "cyberspace" and popularizing a somewhat more realistic, if sometimes bleak, view of the future.
He also ran away to Canada in 1968 to avoid the draft. Which is the only bad thing I can say about him. I otherwise admire his work and thought processes. Certainly his literature is beyond compare.
If you're interested in science-fiction <i>at all</i> and haven't read any of his work, you have no idea what science-fiction really is. And not the movies, either, you have to actually <i>read</i> his work.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Bill.

I'm a "Top 10 Conlanger"?

Well, <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conlanger">according to the Wikipedia</a>, yes, I am. That's really interesting to me, since I don't actually have any conlangs at the moment. Apparently, they're basing this ranking on hits in Google, which, of course, means that I am, in fact, in the "Top 10". Mainly for the free tools and such that I have here for conlangers. Still, it's a bit, well, odd to me that I'm in the "Top 10" list of anything, much less conlanging...
It's kind of cool, actually.
Oh, my resources are all at <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/conlang.shtml">this page</a>. Enjoy them!

I finished <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931412758/fantasistnet">The Hiram Key: Pharoahs, Freemasons and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus</a> last week.

It was, er, well.... "Interesting", to say the least. I'm not sure I agree with everything they claim, but it sure made me question what I thought I knew about my own faith and Freemasonry. In a nutshell, the authors claim that Freemasonry is the repository of the "secret" teachings of Joshua ben Joseph (aka Jesus Christ), by way of the Knights Templar. Now, the idea that Freemasonry is derived from the suppressed Knights Templar is not new, and, frankly, one I believe. Too much just fits together too well for that part to not be true. Where it starts to get a little sketchy for me is that they claim the Knights Templar got ahold of some secret, forgotten scrolls that were hidden under the Temple in Jersualem at it's building. And, that the knowlege in those scrolls goes back to ancient Egyptian kingship rites which themselves may be derived from ancient Sumerian religious beliefs. It's all a kind of a stretch to me, but the authors make it seem frighteningly plausable.

It's an interesting book, but probably not the best place to start if you're interested in Masonic history. But, since this book got me so interested in the history of Freemasonry again, I've set myself the goal of reading at least one Masonic book a year. So, keep an eye out for other reviews!

(And, yes, this review first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/netgeek">my other blog</a>.)

Yes, this is a fun book!

Okay, first off, .<A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0297843478
/fantasistnet">How to Keep Dinosaurs</A> is NOT in any way a serious book. It's a fun, little quasi-"coffee-table" book about keeping dinosaurs as pets. It breaks the possibilities down into several groups, ranging from dinosaurs for beginners to dinosaurs for safari parks. Each dinosaur entry is accompanied by picutres of the creature in a modern setting, usually with people. These photographs are so good, they look like they're almost real. And, of course, each entry has notes about what the dino likes to eat and any special care notes that might be usefull. It's a very funny book, but well crafted and informative. It's really a load of fun and well worth picking up if you're a dinosaur enthusiast, or if you're looking for something that will add a bit of surreal reality to your fantasy life. Very cool.

Strange things travelers might need to know...

My step-daughter goes to school with a lot of people from other countries and, right now, there are quite a few kids from Korea at her school. She has at least one friend that's taught her some things in Korean, but she wanted to know more, so when we were out this weekend, I bought her the <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1740591666/fantasistnet">Lonely Planet Korean Phrasebook.</a> Well, we were going through some of it and found some interesting phrases. Things like "I don't do drugs" and "I only smoke marajuana occasionally". But, they also had "My period is ... weeks late" and "Stop harassing me!". How often do "travellers" really need phrases like this? What occasion calls for the discussion of drug use while in a foregin country?
I have some older Lonely Planet phrasebooks, but I don't remember seeing phrases like this in them! I guess they've updated it for the new century. Hmm, at least it gives me some ideas for updating my <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/conlang.shtml#phrasebooks">Conlang Phrasebooks</a>!

Ever notice I write a lot of poetry about geek jobs?

Spring, and jobs bloom like
flowers, am I stuck in mud?
Time for a new job!

or...

Spring, and jobs bloom like
flowers, why am I stuck here?
Time for a new job...

It's about time I did!

I was on a web BBS for role-playing game development this past week, arguing with someone again, of course, mainly about what seemed to be a willful misinterpretation of a semantic point. But, I got really, really upset by it. As my Dad would say, it "punched my buttons". Boy, howdy! Frankly, that disturbed me. Why should what some faceless, nameless person think about my point bother me? What did I have to prove? Who was I trying to impress?
Well, I don't know. However, what struck me about all that was how childish it all was. Not just the whole arguement, because it got rolling, I felt, as a result of someone else trying to impress everyone with <i>their</i> credentials, but specifically my reaction to it. I was rather like a child throwing a tantrum. And, that's really sad. So, I'm going to stay away from BBSs for a bit. At least until I can get a handle on whatever that all was for me. Maybe that's a sign that I'm growing up a bit. (About time! After 35 years, you'd think I'd have grown up already!)
So, with one last parting shot, I'll quote the Bible:
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. "
<a target="_blank" href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/kjv/co1013.htm#011">Corinthians 13:11</a>

What, my <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/sstarter.shtml">story starter</a> isn't good enough for you?

Well, okay, I have to admit, it's hard to beat Writer's Digest for writer's resources. I mean, they are the tops. Though, I recently let my subscription to their magazine lapse because I didn't like the way the articles or format was going. I still love thier books, though. Nothing better in the "how-to" market for writers, in my opinion. Anyway, if you're still looking for inspiration of somekind, you can try their <a target="_blank" href="http://www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp">writing prompts</a>. There's an "inspirational" thought for writers for every day of the year there. Hopefully, something will get your creative juices flowing.

I can't pronounce mine!

Okay, this isn't the most "accurate" of tools, but it is interesting. Basically, it's a little web gadget that takes some information from you and pops out your, roughly approximated, Chinese "equivalent" name. The disclaimer says that you should get an expert to help you choose a Chinese name before using it in a real-world situation, since the Chinese feel that names are quite important to the character of a person. All of which is very interesting to me in terms of a created culture or created language.
For instance, I can picture a culture that has a separate language for naming. Or who hide their names for magical protection. Or who <i>change</i> their names for the same reason! Really, the possibilities are endless.

Oh, yeah, you can find <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mandarintools.com/chinesename.html">the "Get a Chinese Name" tool here</a>...

No, I'm serious.

My <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/marchand/blog/archives/000423.htm">darling wife posted a link </a>to the <a target="-blank" href="http://calorierestriction.org/">Calorie Restriction Society </a>on her blog and I thought I'd share that with the regular reader of my own blog. (I know there's at least one of you...) These folks are convinced that if a person restricts their caloric intake, they can radically extend their life. Now, I've seen this before and, my wife's obession with caloric intake aside, there's actually some research to back it up. Of course, my wide-load Girl Scout cookie loving butt is somewhat skeptical, but, then, who wouldn't be?
On the other hand, I can see how this might be a really good theme or gimmick for a story. Shoot, it would even work for either a science-fiction story or a fantasy story. In fact, I seem to recall something like this in an Earl Dumarest novel from E.C. Tubb. Though, of course, I can't remember which one. I just remember a nasty zealot who used food only as fuel for his body. He was, obviously, cadaverously thin. Funny thing was, he was searching for a formula that Dumarest had stolen that conveyed, you guessed it, immortality.