Friday Flash Fiction: "A Hitch in Time"

Not my best work, but hey, it's done.

Read "A Hitch in Time" at 512 Words or Fewer

SnoutCast #136: Gamer Profile - Richard Malena

A conversation with Portland's own @rmalena, a.k.a. "Nice Math Teacher!"

[ Download mp3 - 26 MB ]

00:00 - promo: BANG 33 rerun +online!
01:30 - "mathematical"
01:48 - cats: better than math?
02:34 - getting mixed up with Puzzled Pint
05:10 - teaching math to teenagers...
06:20 - ...with puzzles!
10:56 - Lies! All lies! (Not really.)
12:02 - how is a proof like a puzzle? besides the arguing?
15:48 - comparing childhood memories
18:13 - college kids love treasure hunts
19:28 - RPGs: impossible to put puzzles into?
23:12 - math skills vs. puzzle skills
24:05 - future events: bikes? Seattle? stay tuned!
25:22 - plug-o-rama: Pacific Crest Community School, Pathfinder Society, Geek Portland, Puzzle Hunt Calendar.
27:56 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast.

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

   

Friday Flash Fiction: "Dying on Mars"

Speaking of Mars:


http://youtu.be/-lsKEE78Izg

If you think about it, just about every piece of unmanned exploration equipment we've sent into space--every rover, every probe, every satellite--has been sent out there to die. But that's okay. Because it's what they did before dying that's important.

Read "Dying on Mars" at 512 Words or Fewer

Lady Grey Cam, Day 12: the return of the humans...

hello... i'm TYE and here's what happened the day the humans got back from PACKS...

as you can see... LADY GREY continued waging her campaign against flat rugs... then the humans sorted their mail... and finally i had a brief supervised visit... too brief for my taste... but i understand... not everybody is ready for the TYEBORG right away... some people have to get used to my company... that's cool... we've gotten to know each other pretty well now... you'll see some more of that soon...


http://youtu.be/z15cDbC7bGA

LADY GREY is up for adoption... please contact the humans if you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home...

Lady Grey Cam, Day 11: Rug Attack!

Jasper here, with more on Lady Grey's activities over Labor Day weekend!

Like Tye, she seems to have something against flat rugs, and did her best to keep the rugs in the bathroom bunched up all the time. Fortunately, she left the one underneath her food and water bowls alone!


http://youtu.be/jEobklzgrXU

Also, as you can see in this still frame, she is clearly aware of the presence of the webcam!



Lady Grey is up for adoption. If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home, please contact the humans!

Lady Grey Cam, Day 10: solitude...

hello... i'm TYE and this is a look back at LADY GREY's activities on the first of the month...

the humans were gone for the weekend... and they didn't want to leave all three of us cats to mingle... i think we would have been okay... but the humans wanted to introduce us slowly over time...

anyway... LADY GREY spent the day mostly by herself... though JASPER and i did play with her under the door a little bit...


http://youtu.be/1GznUlcgOZ0

LADY GREY is up for adoption... please contact the humans if you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home...

Food Robot Redux

Today is Ignite Portland 11 Eve, and I just realized that I never followed up my IP10 blog posts with the promised video of my "Cat Feeding Robot" talk. Oops! To rectify that, below are not one, but two recordings of that presentation.

The first video is from Ignite Portland 10, during which I managed to mispronounce the word "cruise." Fortunately, that didn't seem to damage the audience's comprehension or enjoyment:


http://youtu.be/XZ8Ue3vAYMA

The second video is from Ignite SAO v2, whose organizers generously invited me to present at their event a month after IP10 (I took the opportunity to amend the talk and remove the Cylon joke, which had bombed previously*):


http://youtu.be/rau937D56rY

I've archived links to both of these videos, the slides themselves, and MOAR at www.snout.org/foodrobot . I'm sure the current page does not fulfill everyone's cat-feeding-robot needs, so please, send me your suggestions for improvement!

Finally, if you live in or near Portland, Oregon, you should come see IP11 tomorrow night. (And anyone on the Internet can watch the livestream; check igniteportland.org tomorrow afternoon for details.) As usual, there's a terrific variety of talks, this time including two different talks about gaming and two other talks about doing cool stuff without dying. What's not to like?



* I actually gave this talk a third time, in between the two instances shown above, at the open-mic night on JoCo Cruise Crazy II. I don't think anyone recorded video of that, but you can see plenty of other videos from the cruise (and you should definitely join us on JCCC3 if you can!). The funny story there is that our hosts were not able to pull video from my computer to the big screens in the lounge, so I presented from my laptop (thankfully, one with a 17" display) to an audience sitting on the dance floor. I can honestly say that's an experience I've never had before, but it was just as awesome as the other two times.

Lady Grey Cam, Day 9: Home Alone!

Jasper here, with a look at how Lady Grey did on her own for one whole weekend at the end of last month!

This was the first full day the humans were away at something called PACKS, and she seemed to have a pretty good time eating, drinking, sleeping in various places, and playing with different things!


http://youtu.be/4Hps7dyH294

(Note that the humans did have a cat-sitter visit us several times during that weekend. Her image has been redacted for privacy, but you might still see her feet in a few shots!)

Lady Grey is up for adoption. If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home, please contact the humans!

SnoutCast #135: Calibration

In which we discuss the usual, plus Norse mythology.

[ Download mp3 - 25 MB ]

00:00 - teaser: a horse is a horse
01:29 - "precise"
02:37 - the PAX Prime 2012 XP quest
04:14 - cheating?
09:15 - backsolving!
11:26 - prize valuation
16:20 - how we calibrate different puzzles and activities
19:03 - upcoming events: BANG33 re-run (9/29, San Jose & online); Puzzled Pint (10/9, Portland); Mastermind Pub Hunt (10/9, Sacramento); and...
22:47 - ...The Hunt for Odin's Horse (10/13-14, Seattle)
27:03 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast .

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "I Feel Fantastic" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

 

Lady Grey Cam, Day 8: visiting...

hello... i'm TYE and this is another LADY GREY retrospective... this video shows the day when the humans left for their trip to PAX PRIME... so there's some unusual activity as they prepare to depart...

but also... you can see one of the humans bring me into the bathroom to visit our guest... i was very interested to see what she had done with the place... she was not quite as enthusiastic... but she's gotten a little friendlier now...

finally... that very colorful mat which the humans bring in is filled with catnip... that's why she enjoys it so much... JASPER and i also got our own catnip elsewhere in the house... it was a little treat before the humans left for their long weekend...


http://youtu.be/IuhtDjRgh8c

LADY GREY is up for adoption... please contact the humans if you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home...

Lady Grey Cam, Day 7: Hungry is the Hunter!

Jasper here, with a look back at the end of Lady Grey's first week with us! She was definitely getting comfortable--you can see her out and about, playing more, and eating more!


http://youtu.be/AvB3SVrzQ1M"

Also, if you are curious, that's Ascension that one of the humans is playing on the i-pad! I do not really understand how this game works, but it looks like you play by swiping your paws across the screen, and that seems pretty cool!

Lady Grey is up for adoption. If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home, please contact the humans!

Lady Grey Cam, Day 6: a little light reading...

hello... TYE again... i don't know why the first part of this video is so blurry... i guess the webcam didn't want to auto-focus for some reason... but you can still tell what's going on with LADY GREY...



as you can see... the humans spent some time reading in her room to keep her company... and otherwise... she was definitely exploring the space... and getting comfortable enough to sit by the door... i know JASPER and i were sitting on the other side quite a bit... we were very curious about her...

LADY GREY is up for adoption... please contact the humans if you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home...

Friday Flash Fiction: "Birds and Bogeys"

I can neither confirm nor deny that today's story was inspired in part by Terra Nova and The Light of Other Days.

Read "Birds and Bogeys" at 512 Words or Fewer

Lady Grey Cam, Day 5: Put a Bird on It!

Jasper here, with another look at our house guest!

On her fifth day here, Lady Grey demonstrated increased interest in playing, and one of the humans demonstrated that you can make a simple lanyard into an effective cat toy if you simply put a bird on it!



Lady Grey is up for adoption.  If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home, please contact the humans!

Lady Grey Cam, Day 4: minor adjustments...

hello... TYE again with a look back at LADY GREY's fourth day at APARTMENT DE SNOUT... as you can see the humans continued adjusting the webcam to get the best view of her room...



the other big news that day... she found the bird-toy and also enjoyed playing with the feathers-on-a-stick... so she was getting used to her new environment... that becomes more exciting later when she meets JASPER and me... you'll see some of that soon...

LADY GREY is up for adoption... please contact the humans if you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home...

Lady Grey Cam, Day 3: Sleeptastic!

Jasper here, with another Lady Grey retro-update! I guess she was still getting used to her new room on her third day with us, since she didn't do much except sleep. As shown here!



Well, the big news there is that she found Tye's cat-carrier an acceptable sleeping spot! Though she still prefers to lie on the counter most of the time, which is why you don't see her on camera that much!

Lady Grey is up for adoption.  If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a home, please contact the humans!

SnoutCast #134: The Doubleclicks

A conversation with @TheDoubleclicks, Angela and Aubrey--as seen in WarTron! [Get their music from Bandcamp]

[ Download mp3 - 25 MB ]

00:59 - "nerdy"
02:07 - will we ever stop talking about WarTron?
04:16 - sister act
05:28 - earlier: a band named Charisma
08:56 - "Deadlines are good!"
11:04 - creating the "Imposter" song
16:30 - all about the Ladies of Ragnarok tour
22:27 - you can go to Puzzled Pint if you finish writing your erotica song
26:29 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast .

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "Tom Cruise Crazy" by Jonathan Coulton; excerpts from "Imposter" by The Doubleclicks

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]

  

Lady Grey Cam, Day 2: pretty uneventful...

hello... i'm TYE and this is my first blog post... we have another cat visitor right now and i'm supposed to tell you about her second day here... anyway... here's a video...



as you can see... LADY GREY's second day with us was pretty uneventful... she slept a lot and the humans sat with her while playing games on their i-pad...

things get more interesting later... we promise...

LADY GREY is up for adoption... please contact the humans if you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a good home... i like having another cat friend around but i think she'd rather have her own family...

Delay of Podcast

Just so y'all know: tomorrow's SnoutCast will be delayed by several hours, but we have some very special guests lined up. It'll be worth waiting for! Guaranteed! Or your money back.

 

Lady Grey Cam, Day 1: There's a Lady in the House!

Jasper here! As you know, we've got another house guest at the moment. Her name is "Lady Grey," and she's totally up for adoption! Not that Tye and I don't enjoy having a lady around, but she is somewhat less than enthusiastic about our attentions!

Here's a time-lapse video of the day she moved in, about two and a half weeks ago:



You can see the humans attempting to take some photographs to show her off to prospective adopters, and then DeeAnn sits in the bathroom studying Mouse Guard (a game of which I do not approve) to keep Lady Grey company for a while.

Later, our old perch (which, as you can see, is a bit worn out on the side) gets converted to a blanket-cave for Lady Grey's sleeping convenience. She spends quite a lot of time in there now!

And that's it for her first day with us. Tye will be along later to tell you about her second day!

Lady Grey is up for adoption. If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give her a home, please contact the humans!

Lady Grey is Not Amused

TL;DR: Adopt this cat! Backstory below.



Our household seems to have a penchant for attracting foster cats. Last spring, it was a stray kitten (who found a good home, thanks to WCGHS); and earlier this summer, on June 22nd, DeeAnn and Darla found a cat while on one of their morning walks.

The cat was wearing a collar, so D&D canvassed some nearby houses to see if anyone had lost a cat. There were a couple of leads, but they didn't pan out. DeeAnn and I also put up some flyers around the neighborhood later. Those haven't generated any response either.

"Lady Grey" stayed with Darla for two months, but her apartment complex doesn't actually allow pets, and they do threaten periodic inspections. DeeAnn also felt some responsibility for kitty, so on August 23rd, she took up residence in our guest bathroom.



Of course, since we have the technology, we set up a webcam in Lady Grey's room to make sure she's doing okay. I'll be posting videos over the next few days and letting our resident boy-cats, Jasper and Tye, tell you all about our house guest.

Lady Grey is up for adoption. Our local vet has certified her disease-free and estimated she's about five years old. If you or someone you know in the Portland metro area would like to give Lady Grey a home, please contact us!

Friday Flash Fiction: "Extra-Vehicular Activity"

Though this piece was not directly inspired by the toothbrush that saved the ISS, it seems appropriate to mention that bit of news.

I don't have an ending for this story yet (or much of a beginning, to be honest), but I'm working on it.

Read "Extra-Vehicular Activity" at 512 Words or Fewer

New ORC City

This is an unofficial announcement, so don't make plans until you see an update on the OryCon 34 web site, but: I am running the Open Read and Critique (ORC) sessions again this year, but instead of a solid three-hour block of ORCs on Friday and Saturday, I'm splitting off the last hour on each day and moving it to nighttime.

Why the change? Well, ever since I started doing this back in 2009, I've noticed that the final session on each day has been poorly attended. I've also gotten a few requests for late-night sessions, so that people who work the con during the day, or aspiring writers prefer panels to parties--and thus are freer after dinnertime--can also participate.

I personally like to do a bit of party-cruising at cons, but I figured I'd try moving that poorly-attended third ORC session to 8:00 PM on both days and see what happens. The demand is certainly there for the earlier sessions, and people have even asked about having Sunday sessions; but I'd like to see how this modification goes before considering additions.

Anyway, official info should be up next week, and you can e-mail orc@orycon.org if you have any other questions. Hope to see you in November!

SnoutCast #133: One Hundred Years Ago, in a Place Called Yorkshire...

And now for something completely different: Downton MOTHERFUCKING Abbey. [Buy DVD from Amazon]

[ Download mp3 - 22 MB ]

00:59 - "proper"
01:43 - in which we practise binge viewing
02:43 - DeeAnn's reasons for enjoyment
04:58 - Curtis likes science fiction
08:59 - time flies when you only make six episodes a year
12:49 - cf. Grass by Sheri Tepper
15:17 - streaming video: Netflix vs. Amazon
20:29 - run more Games?
22:16 - The End

Tell us we're wrong on the Internet! E-mail podcast@snout.org or post a comment at www.snout.org/podcast .

Music: instrumentals from "Code Monkey" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton

[ Subscribe to SnoutCast / iTunes link ]