tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post7010073789777545839..comments2023-07-18T07:27:08.516+00:00Comments on Siren Voices: in the zoneSpence Kennedyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-44700777392335911132014-12-08T22:16:07.468+00:002014-12-08T22:16:07.468+00:00Oh my god - that's dreadful. I'm so sorry,...Oh my god - that's dreadful. I'm so sorry, Tpals. And that was 25 years ago? How are things now? Hope everything's okay. <br /><br />Did you ever finish the course? I studied marine radio telecomms when I was 17. Ducked out a year later - for one reason or another. I regret never having gone to sea, but I don't think I really had electrons in my blood. xSpence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-71143782483223052552014-12-08T18:18:11.804+00:002014-12-08T18:18:11.804+00:00It was more of a confirmation that my brain was at...It was more of a confirmation that my brain was atrophying. I needed a real challenge so went for Electrical Engineering. <br /><br />Two weeks after I started classes my husband had a fatal stroke so our parallel paths should stop now.tpalshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05646231041413714929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-52916269411098445142014-12-08T18:14:06.615+00:002014-12-08T18:14:06.615+00:00Hey Tpals
So - did reading W&P influence you g...Hey Tpals<br />So - did reading W&P influence you going to university, then? What did you study? (I'm guessing English...) It sounds like quite a threshold moment! I'd love to go back to university. I don't think I made enough of it last time (like THAT'S headline news!)Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-5449173062835730852014-12-08T16:43:03.527+00:002014-12-08T16:43:03.527+00:00Aha! I read War and Peace about 25 years ago when ...Aha! I read War and Peace about 25 years ago when I felt bored and aimless. After that I went to university and changed everything. Omen?tpalshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05646231041413714929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-42605834838910405732014-12-08T16:39:48.330+00:002014-12-08T16:39:48.330+00:00Thanks Daniel. I'll check out those links and ...Thanks Daniel. I'll check out those links and read some Stross. I think I've definitely seen a shoggoth or two, even this past week. Feels like, anyway.<br /><br />I wiki'd Lovecraft - what an interesting character. Such a shame someone so influential should've died so poor and uncelebrated.<br /><br />I'm working my way through 'War and Peace' at the moment. I know. But it's not that bad - it's just like a costume/soap - plus the book's so heavy it's like doing bench-presses when you read in bed.<br /><br />Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-12565389436157509042014-12-08T10:41:44.635+00:002014-12-08T10:41:44.635+00:00Shit, son! Y'all have clearly been spending to...Shit, son! Y'all have clearly been spending too much time helping the sick and far too little reading awesome things!<br /><br />A lot of sci-fi/fantasy writers have played around in the "Cthulhu Mythos", the horror/sci-fi/fantasy universe created by H.P. Lovecraft back in the Twenties. The original Lovecraft stories remain surprisingly readable today, and there are now zillions of others, ranging from excellent to execrable, set in the same or similar universes.<br /><br />(In the Cthulhu Mythos, a shoggoth is a servitor to the Old Gods, an amorphous creature of fearsome power. As is usually the case for these creatures, just looking at a shoggoth can seriously test your sanity.)<br /><br />Charles Stross has written a number of stories, mainly his "Laundry" series, that hybridise the Cthulhu Mythos with modern spy fiction. They are pretty god-damned great.<br /><br />Here's a standalone story in the Laundry series you can read for free online:<br /><br />http://www.tor.com/stories/2013/09/equoid<br /><br />It was made for a bet. The nature of the bet may become apparent to you.<br /><br />(I recently read another story clearly made for a bet. That one was by China MiƩville, and the bet was obviously, "Make the ball pit at Ikea creepy.")<br /><br />Another great Stross short story online for free, not in the Laundry series this time:<br /><br />http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2007/fiction_missile_gap_by_charles_stross/<br /><br />Aaaaand back to the Mythos, with guest appearances from shoggoths:<br /><br />http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm<br /><br />(And while I'm at it, a thing I put up the other day has about a billion links to interesting things people have 3D-printed in it: http://dansdata.com/gz147.htm )Daniel Rutterhttp://www.howtospotapsychopath.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-10653338631461085162014-12-06T22:43:42.399+00:002014-12-06T22:43:42.399+00:00I must admit I've not heard of Charles Stross ...I must admit I've not heard of Charles Stross - must look him up (shoggoth? - is that like a goth who likes shows?) The whole thing was very much like being on a TV set. Even my uniform started to feel fake.<br /><br />I like that description of 3D printers. Still can't see how it'd make anything that might actually work, but great idea. Didn't those pots give rise to a nominated class - the Beaker People? Although I bet they made loads of better stuff - a bit frustrating to be named after a crude kind of pot, but still - nice to get a mention.<br /><br />Cheers for the comment, Daniel. Hope all's good with you.Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-15188962139949418402014-12-06T22:24:02.742+00:002014-12-06T22:24:02.742+00:00You were clearly in a town from a Charles Stross s...You were clearly in a town from a Charles Stross story and lucky to not be eaten by some technological shoggoth, or in a town from a J.G. Ballard story and lucky to not become so depressed you just gave up on breathing.<br /><br />(And the usual kind of home 3D printer uses reels of plastic, like thick fishing line, to make things. It's melted and laid down layer by layer, building the object from the bottom up, like those simple pots that're made by winding a long sausage of clay around and around.)Daniel Rutterhttp://www.howtospotapsychopath.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-59596888419058569982014-11-26T15:56:04.134+00:002014-11-26T15:56:04.134+00:00The only difference is they'd never hang up. T...The only difference is they'd never hang up. That's <i>your</i> job.Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-54764931951275073372014-11-26T08:27:50.563+00:002014-11-26T08:27:50.563+00:00Perhaps it was someone ringing to tell you it'...Perhaps it was someone ringing to tell you it's not too late to reclaim your PPI Spence...jacksofbuxtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05420847156401984373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-36224077828845275492014-11-23T21:27:36.139+00:002014-11-23T21:27:36.139+00:00I've never really got the whole 3D printer thi...I've never really got the whole 3D printer thing. I mean - what do you put in the printer? 3D paper? :/Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-14990319594658587852014-11-23T19:36:52.741+00:002014-11-23T19:36:52.741+00:00Well, there's a giant 3-D printer somewhere cr...Well, there's a giant 3-D printer somewhere creating entire villages, so a virtual landline isn't that out there.tpalshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05646231041413714929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-34467947607355434312014-11-23T17:18:36.846+00:002014-11-23T17:18:36.846+00:00I must admit it did look a bit like a convict in i...I must admit it did look a bit like a convict in its stripy babygro. It's probably a criminal mastermind.<br /><br />Mind you, still doesn't explain the fact they didn't have a landline. Or maybe the baby <i>does</i>... Maybe the police'll find the number traces back to a Fisher Price pull-along...Spence Kennedyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11183848895584919812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27691111.post-70424223300653711222014-11-23T14:37:46.279+00:002014-11-23T14:37:46.279+00:00Never understimate the baby. My guess.Never understimate the baby. My guess.Sabinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09015827501648296977noreply@blogger.com