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April 30, 2002
I wish I had a
I wish I had a function that would warn me that the site I was about to visit references something I said. This is not out of ego, but brain safety. I start reading things that seem so familiar... like it was some situation I was involved in... but no! Couldn't be. But then again... squish: sometimes perfect translatability isn't so bad"
Posted by jason at 04:41 PM
April 28, 2002
Email from Dave (link on
Email from Dave (link on left). He's coming over for dinner May 7th, from England. I've been trying to find Jeff Noon stuff (Pollenation link on left) and have been having no luck in Canada. So, I send dave a list of what I was hoping for, to which he replied, after hitting the shops:
> Pollen (First edition, Hardcover or paper reading copy) ƣ5.59 for paper Don't got it. > *Cobralingus ƣ9.95 for paper Got it, ƣ9.95. > *Needle In The Groove - ƣ5.59 for paper Got it, ƣ6.99. > *Needle In The Groove - CD - ƣ11.99 Don't got it. > *Pixel Juice - ƣ5.59 for paper Got it, ƣ6.99. > Automated Alice (paper or cheap hardcover) - ƣ5.59 for paper Got it, ƣ6.99 (paper). > *Nymphomation - ƣ5.59 for paper Got it, ƣ6.99. > Vurt (British First edition only.) Could be $60 if signed Don't got it.This totally spans me out... all the stuff I NEED, I get."
Posted by jason at 03:55 PM
Would someone explain to me
Would someone explain to me why everything is doublespaced if there is no hard return, and single spaced if it is? It seems to be related to paragraph tags, but I can't figure out what it triggering it. HELP! I hate blogger. CSS is not far behind."
Posted by jason at 03:35 PM
Ok. I am bald. Notice
Ok. I am bald. Notice before? Look to the left. I wear hats (repeat previous two sentences). I wore hats long before I learned to shave my head, so there's not a big congruency, aside from the head itself. To continue... I lose hats with great regularity as well. Especially the baseball like hats I wear these days. Well, Yuka and I spent 3 hours walking around highpark and back home along queen street. I noted that if we walked as far as ""Odyssey"" on queen street, I'd buy a new cap, so that I could wash the one i have left. We got there. If we handn't this topic would be meaningless. Couldn't find the hats I like. And they are particular. The paricularities are namely that they have no name or logo or icon on them. They are plain. THey actually fit on your head, rather than ride high enough to cover a beehive wig. They are dark grey, blue or black, without being cheezy colours. And they have drawstring, rather than elastic. And I couldn't find any. As I said. HOWEVER, Yuka found the famous and fabled unlearn.^TM caps from unlearn!!!! I had one. I lost it. Before I lost it, everyone wanted it. Perhaps someone stole it? I don't know. But Yuka found it again. The store owner/manager/noisy guy told me that the org (unlearn.^tm) had gone through some shakeups, and that's probably why no one had responded to my email in the past 2 years asking to know how I could buy more hats. There you go. The web site doesn't show any greater return to reality... so it may be that someone's just bootlegging the hats. Now I have two (2) of my favourite hats, in blue and black. I have three (3) unlearn hats in Black, Beige and Blue. One is for me. One is for Joel my dissertation supervisor. And one is for Bob Morgan who flipped over them more than anything. Do you want one? The store owner/manager/noisy guy told me that he'd sell me them at a discount if I wanted to order a bunch. And at $35 per, it might be a good idea to make a list. How else can you get the coolest caps on the pedagogical planet."
Posted by jason at 12:59 PM
April 27, 2002
Another image from my
Another image from my Queen Street memory.... somewhere around 999 queen. Yuka is pleased, of course."
Posted by jason at 10:12 PM
April 25, 2002
jason is that which is
jason is that which is those who are not he. And many other things besides. And has nothing to do with those wiggity bits hiding deep inside. Never more and further less and not withstanding thus, he is ever more estrang'ed from that demon of the crust. He is his was, and wills his next, and now is often quite purplexed. But his fine voice, quite clear quite must declare his this here and now or rust."
Posted by jason at 02:35 PM
April 24, 2002
"Ok, first, I am working"
Ok, first, I am working on the soundtrack for Pollenation version #3, and spontaneously include the Bauhaus tune Exquisite Corpse. I look up the lyrics and then post them on Pollenation, because they're just so pollen. Then I go to the bookstore so that I can get my copy of Abraham & Torok's 1994 book The Shell and the Kernel: Renewals of Phychoanalysis that I ordered so that I can complete my review of Castricano's Cryptomimeisis: The Gothic and Jacques Derrida's Ghost Writing for the Journal of Dracula Studies. I open the book and see this: Maria Torok (1968) ""The Illness of Mourning and the Fantasy of the Exquisite Corpse."" Curiouser and curiouser."
Posted by jason at 04:56 PM
"Bread, biscuits may be cancer"
Bread, biscuits may be cancer risk Basic foods eaten by millions around the world such as bread, biscuits and french fries may have high levels of a substance that probably causes cancer"
Posted by jason at 08:03 AM
April 23, 2002
Well... good things do come
Well... good things do come to those who [insert variable]. I was just offered CTL1000 to teach again this summer. And I'd been in a bit of a panic wondering what I would do. CTL1000 is called ""Foundations of Curriculum"" and is a grad course on curriculum theory that every OISE student in the Curriculum Teaching and Learning program must take. It is fun. Of course it will be heavily blogged, as last year's course was."
Posted by jason at 06:30 PM
April 20, 2002
Is this thing on? Testing
Is this thing on? Testing Blogscript again.
Posted by jason at 02:50 PM
"5.5 magnitude, it seems. That's"
5.5 magnitude, it seems. That's pretty big for around here. Probably the biggest I've ever felt anywhere."
Posted by jason at 08:02 AM
"Ok, CBC is now getting"
Ok, CBC is now getting calls about the tremmor. I can go back to sleep now."
Posted by jason at 07:12 AM
Earthquake this morning at around
Earthquake this morning at around 6:55am. Yuka and I both felt it. Felt like the light ones I remember from living in Tokyo. Did you feel it? Haven't heard anything on the news about it yet. This is my third in Canada. First was just before noon in 1986, the same year as the Challenger Disaster."
Posted by jason at 06:58 AM
April 19, 2002
Wow. That was fun. I
Wow. That was fun. I just deleted 3 blogs and removed myself from another 3. I'm getting ready to make the transition to EduBlog for most of my work, and I think Moveable type as my next experiment in learning new stuff. Watch for the changes... especially as I move to EduBlog, as it will be cool."
Posted by jason at 08:52 AM
"With friends like the Americans
""With friends like the Americans, who needs enemies?"" Ward Lynds, a Canadian living in China, wrote to CBC's Web site. ""This is a travesty,"" said Dick Brown, one of the dozens who wrote to The Globe and Mail's Web site. ""It makes you wonder how competent the U.S. military is."" ""If this guy was some kind of slack-jawed half-wit behind the wheel of a F-16, we need to find that out. And if the firing procedures are so flawed that you can drop a bomb on a training area, we need to address that."""
Posted by jason at 08:47 AM
The Globe and Mail: Breaking
The Globe and Mail: Breaking News Cat killers sentenced"
Posted by jason at 08:42 AM
April 18, 2002
I'm in the middle of
I'm in the middle of the Triangle Program's annual workshop on gender and Identity that we run on the Project Achieve CVE. I'm having more fun than I could imagine... and can't wait until Friday."
Posted by jason at 09:22 AM
"Just as I expected, ("
Just as I expected, ( blogdex ) has been hogged by commercial media services. Ho hum."
Posted by jason at 08:48 AM
I've been trying to finish
I've been trying to finish up the end of ENV321Y... and what happens? Suddenly blogger breaks, and students are clamoring for the archives. Can't get them back yet. We'll see. Also, yesterday was the RCAT : What's On : Showcase 2002 for those who got money from the Instructional Technology Courseware Development Fund. We got a grant of $6,000 from them to work on EduBlog. I was helped with the day by Professor Emma Jane, Salmon and Hildegarde. We were all a somewhat sleepy bunch for a variety of reasons. And the room was hot and stuffy. But we blogged about from 9:30 to 4:00. We were all a 'presence' which is what I needed and wanted, and appreciated. Everyone had to come by and see what we're up to. I had a copy of my paper Ceci n'est pas un blog! that was published in E2K: a journal for the new literary paradigm in January (and will be republished in a writing textbook!) printed out, along side our intro to what blogging/edublogging is about. It was a really good day, and I hope that it bodes well for getting some money to continue working on Edublog in the future. Now I'm beat, and taking the day to rest, something I've not done in a long time."
Posted by jason at 07:49 AM
April 13, 2002
"Game studies. Issue 1, 2001."
Game studies. Issue 1, 2001. is Espin Aarseth's side gig. Rather cool. Includes an article by Markku Eskelinen too."
Posted by jason at 03:02 PM
(click on the picture
(click on the picture for a brief photo essay.)
Neko passed away last night at around 10:30, as we rushed her by taxi to the Animal Hospital.
She was 13, and had been battling liver disease, and an infection for a while. She had just finished 2 weeks of medication and had, that morning, appeared more active and heathly than she had all winter. Most of her characteristics had returned, and much of her strength was coming back as well. We even felt that she was putting some weight back on. But by 7pm she was lethargic, and by 10pm it was clear that she was fading fast.
Neko was yuka's first cat."
Posted by jason at 08:02 AM
April 11, 2002
Salmon does Tom Waits
Salmon does Tom Waits with her buddy Bog! Metaubercool."
Posted by jason at 12:58 AM
April 09, 2002
EduBlog is making major headway
EduBlog is making major headway to our presentation April 17..."
Posted by jason at 10:38 PM
"Oh, I don't think I"
Oh, I don't think I mentioned... or perhaps I did. I just got a free VIP pass to the Toronto Zoo for a year. Includes parking and everything for me and my family... Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Oh, I'm on the Toronto Zoo's Educational Advisory Committee if you didn't know."
Posted by jason at 10:18 AM
Homer's antics upset Rio
Posted by jason at 09:55 AM
April 08, 2002
It is Brin's Birthday... all
It is Brin's Birthday... all the world rejoice.
Posted by jason at 06:21 PM
It's quitting time. I have
It's quitting time. I have recently backed off from my committments on the AoIR 2003 conference working committee. And this weekend did the same for the Toronto Dark Writer's Group, though I still have the domain. I hope to get back to them soon, but who knows. Life is too much in flux. I'm applying for jobs today, and sending out letters inviting people to participate in the International Handbook of Virtual Learning Environments that I'm editing with Joel and Peter. Feeling rather good, and rather like it is time for a change."
Posted by jason at 09:58 AM
April 06, 2002
Some of you may not
Some of you may not know Judith Merril. I barely did. One Wednesday I talked to her on the phone, and we made arrangements to meet that Saturday, so that I could give her a CD some curriculum I'd written on her short story ""That Only A Mother"". The CD included her story as well, perhaps it's last publication during her life. She passed away before we could meet. Judy, on reviewing the material I'd written on her work, ursula k. le guin and william gibson gave me what will probably be the best compliment I'll ever get as an educator. Her words, as I remember them were ""This is the first teaching guide I've on science fiction that doesn't suck."" She went on to say, about le guin, ""That woman's had her consciousness raised one level too high."" It is amazing to actually have two lines worth remembering from someone you never met, and only talked to on the phone twice. Check out what some other folks had to say about her... BTW, Barry Wellman is the electronic executor of her estate. Hello friends and lit-types, Hi there! Please join us to celebrate the launch of Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril, by Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary, at these free multimedia events: Æ— Friday, April 19, 6 to 8 pm. (note the new starting time) Victory Cafá©, 581 Markham St. (near Bloor), Toronto. Æ— Saturday, May 4, 2:30 pm. The Merril Collection of Speculative Fiction and Fantasy, Toronto Public Library, Third Floor, 239 College St. (near Spadina), Toronto. Æ— Tuesday, May 7, 7:30 pm. Vancouver Public Library, 350 West Georgia St., Vancouver Æ— TBD very soon: upcoming launches in New York City, Madison (at WisCon: feminist science fiction conference), Montreal and Ottawa... Better to Have Loved: The Life of Judith Merril by Judith Merril and Emily Pohl-Weary ""Judith Merrill was not only a vital member of the literary community, but a vital person, in the largest sense of that word. She lived her times and places thoroughly, and enriched us all."" --Margaret Atwood, author of The HandmaidÃ??s Tale and Blind Assassin ""I loved Judy....I didn't care a fig about her taste, but I loved her effect. She was an extraordinary catalyst, a perfect editor."" --Michael Moorcock, author of Gloriana and Mother London ""Merril's science fiction purposely eschewed the...escape for which science fiction is so notorious. Rather, here were a progression of sentences as clean and balanced as sentences could be and they were wielded together into deeply wise stories."" --Samuel Delany, author of Empire Star, Triton, and Babel-17 ""The strongest woman in a genre for the most part created by timid and weak men."" --J.G. Ballard, author of Crash and Empire of the Sun ""Without Judith Merril, neither science fiction nor Canadian science fiction nor Canadian literature nor the world at large would exist in their present form. Better to Have Loved is essential reading for anyone who's interested in How Science Fiction Got This Way. In turning a jumbled heap of bright shards into this amazing book, Emily Pohl-Weary has accomplished a task I secretly thought impossible."" --Spider Robinson, author of The Free Lunch. _______ What was it like for a gender-bender who made it in a man's world fifty years ago? Known as ""the little mother of science fiction,"" Judith Merril burst onto the New York literary scene in 1948 with a disturbing story about nuclear radiation. Learn how Merril and other early science fiction writers lived, argued, dated, mimeoed their manifestos, learned step by step how to write stories, and (in some cases) how to get paid for them. Better to Have Loved journeys amongst the people, places, and things Merril loved. Her life was a microcosm of alternative cultural and political movements. Born into early Zionist circles, she ventured as a teenager into the Trotskyism of the 1930s and '40s. From there she became involved with emergent science fiction, resistance to the war in Vietnam, the Free University movement, and tuning-in and turning-on. In 1968, Merril moved to Canada with the draft dodgers, to live and work in Rochdale, Toronto's student-run university. Judith Merril's contribution to science fiction was summed up by J. G. Ballard (author of Crash and Empire of the Sun) in 1992: ""Science fiction, I suspect, is now dead, and probably died about the time that Judy closed her anthology and left to found her memorial library to the genre in Toronto. I remember my last sight of her, surrounded by her friends and all the books she loved, shouting me down whenever I tried to argue with her, the strongest woman in a genre for the most part created by timid and weak men."" In September 1997, Judy passed away, leaving her granddaughter Emily Pohl-Weary with a partially-completed manuscript, twelve tapes of interviews they'd conducted during her last year, and complete instructions about everything she wanted included in her ""autobiography."" Over the past four years, Pohl-Weary has completed the monumental book. Pohl-Weary, a major figure in the indie culture world in her own right, co-edits Broken Pencil magazine and her own magazine, called Kiss Machine. Her writing has appeared in Shift, Lola, Taddle Creek, Fireweed, This, and Now magazines, and she's currently at work on her first novel, Sugar's Empty. Better to Have Loved will be launched with a slideshow chronicling the history of early science fiction and Merril's life, a screening of Merril's wacky mini-documentaries that ran on TVO after Doctor Who during the 1980s, and a display of 1950s science fiction magazines and book covers. Emily Pohl-Weary is available for interviews. Call Between the Lines at 416-535-9914. http://kissmachine.org/emily.htm http://www.btlbooks.com"
Posted by jason at 10:10 AM
April 04, 2002
CBC radioMorning sports guy was
CBC radioMorning sports guy was complaining about the design of the SkyDome... and who did he cite? Well, Lyotard's PostModern Condition... what else? The announcer felt that the space is too artificial. O Canada."
Posted by jason at 08:48 AM
April 03, 2002
I cannot believe it. I
I cannot believe it. I don't know if this has ever happened in years. I have 275 megs of email at the moment. But I have only 2, yes, two messages in my in box. And I don't mean, like I've done in the past, that I have just erased everything, but that I've dealt with every bit of email that I should, or think that I should, or am otherwise aware that I should. TWO MESSAGES!!! But I'm tired, I have a cold, and they are long... so it won't get down to zero tonight... bye"
Posted by jason at 11:53 PM
April 02, 2002
Edublog will be providing contracted
Edublog will be providing contracted writing support services for ""ENGLISH 3150 THE WRITER-CRITIC"" (2002-2003) at York University, for Professor Roger Kuin."
Posted by jason at 10:13 AM
RCAT : Upcoming Events :
RCAT : Upcoming Events : Showcase 2002 will feature Edublog. Perhaps you can make it?"
Posted by jason at 10:09 AM