So a couple of weeks ago, the iCalendar on my laptop stopped working. Not a good thing; I’ve grown hooked on using that to map my schedule (oh, if you’re here to check out my response to the commenters on my latest column, scroll down).
Then my Internet browsers stopped working. My Mac-savvy friends said the hard drive was probably going, so I ordered a new one and my friend Mike Boretsky put his computer-repair skills to work on my laptop last weekend (by which time, my Appleworks had died too).
Argh. Turns out it’s not the drive, it’s the logic board, which is several times more expensive. Mike is scrounging to see if his contacts have a replacement; if not, it’s off to eBay to look for a pre-owned laptop (it won’t cost much more than the logic board, trust me).
On the plus side, everything on the hard drive is still good and can be transferred; I save all my writing and photos, but I’d hate to have to re-input all the music to iTunes again. And there’s a couple of photos of my girlfriend I don’t think were saved.
Which leads me to the moral of the story: If you’re working on something on your computer, save! Not just once, but regularly! I’m sure most of you know that, but when I was younger, I became very sloppy about it … and as a writer, when I lose whatever I’m working on, it hurts! And if I recreate it later, I never feel it’s as good.
When the problems with the laptop manifested, I began saving every day. Right now, I’m very glad. And also glad that my friend John Leake loaned me an iMac I can work on until I get my replacement/repaired laptop up and running. Thanks to him and Mike for their generous help.
So the moral is, save and save often. And have friends.
The Destin Log is the twice-weekly newspaper devoted to covering the crown jewel of the Emerald Coast.
Archive for the 'Myself' Category
Woe, black woe
May 11th, 2009, 8:07 am by fshermanDisappointing
April 27th, 2009, 11:33 am by fshermanFaced with a $15 million shortfall, the Bronx Zoo has announced it will close several of its less popular exhibits, such as a the World of Darkness display which allow bats and naked mole-rats to run around in daylight (by convincing them it’s actually night), and a rare animal range that holds some rare species of antelopes. The occupants will be up for sale to other zoos.
I know the zoo has to do what it can to stay afloat, but one of the reasons I’ve always felt zoos were worth keeping animals in cages is the work they do preserving rare species and exposing people to them. Getting rid of “unpopular” animals while keeping the elephants and giraffes is the same kind of problem that bedevils a lot of endangered-species and environment-preservation efforts: It becomes Save The Cute Animals! because that’s simplest. I don’t think it’s a good thing, and I don’t think it’s good for zoos to hop on that train.
I will admit that I’m biased: I think seeing bats and naked mole rats is fun. In fact, I can’t think of an animal I wouldn’t want to see at a zoo.
A challenge for cooks?
March 30th, 2009, 2:34 pm by fshermanMouse Print, a blog dedicated to critiquing the fine print on various too-good-to-be-true offers, also keeps track of companies that shrink the amount you get while adjusting the packaging so you can’t tell. Haagen-Dazs, for instance, has reduced its pint bucket to 14 ounces by very slightly narrowing the container.
One commenter pointed out that as this trend continues—and I’m quite sure it will—how will it affect cooks using recipes that call for “one can of X?” If the recipe was written for a pound can or eight ounce can and the contents are a couple of ounces less, that’s going to throw the recipe off.
As a cook, I find this an interesting thought.
Argh
March 20th, 2009, 1:05 pm by fshermanThis blog has gotten onto the spam-comments list again, so I’m having to reject comments one after the other.
If any of you were actually looking for a site with treatments that would er, enhance your masculinity, I suppose I’m short-changing you … but hey, it’s my blog.
Now that’s a fun assignment!
March 2nd, 2009, 1:02 pm by fshermanA brief (200 yard) voyage on the Nathaniel Bowditch to learn how the harbor silting up makes it impossible for the boat to get out. Which is bad, but it was beautiful out on the water.
And then I visited Emerald Coast Coffee for some of their excellent chai.
Pretty darn good for the Monday.
On spreading rumors about Destin Airport
February 20th, 2009, 12:33 pm by fshermanAn article in Thursday’s Daily News cited evidence that Bay County airport officials are stirring up rumors the Okaloosa Airport will close and that some tourism officials from PC are actively working to have the airport closed.
Which is, of course, wonderful for their airport. As someone who doesn’t want to drive (or be driven) any further than I have to, it’s crappy conduct.
If they really don’t believe that there’s enough airport traffic to fly into Okaloosa and support Bay County’s shiny new toy, they shouldn’t have a shiny new toy.
Published
January 29th, 2009, 8:11 am by fshermanMy short story One Hand Washes the Other is now out at Abyss and Apex , an online fantasy magazine.
I started it two or three years ago with something quite close to the opening scene of the finished story: A teenager bargains with a wizard to save his best friend (whom he’s in love with—not reciprocated) from dying of cancer. The deal they settle on is for him to perform one favor for the wizard, whatever she asks (with a few limits like no murders).
This then lay fallow until I decided I was ready to give it a shot. The rambling adventure that resulted from Tranh trying to carry out the witch’s favor is surprisingly close to the finished tale in tone and in plot, though it took multiple drafts to refine the details of the quest.
What did change was the protagonist: I decided it would have more punch to turn Tranh into a 35 year old (he was also no longer Vietnamese), someone who’d carefully mapped out his life plan only to lose the woman who was supposed to be a part of it. Worse still, Ryan couldn’t seem to let go and move on (I drew a lot on personal experience from a few years earlier for that bit).
That worked much better for me. Then my good friend Dori pointed out Ryan was being so noble in all this, there was never any doubt what would happen when the time came for a moment of decision. I rewrote him to be much more selfish, and apparently it worked: The last magazine I submitted to told me he was far too unpleasant a lead for them to accept the story.
I’m very pleased with the finished product, and I found myself quite fond of the leads; it may be there’s at least one more adventure in store for Ryan and Clothilde. We’ll see.
Some clarification is in order
January 27th, 2009, 1:18 pm by fshermanA letter from a Mr. Bill Pope of Mississippi is running in tomorrow’s paper as follows:
“It is interesting that the viewpoint of the Destin Log is totally dominated by the views of Mr. Sherman, your resident liberal.
His main purpose now is to attack the columns by Ron Hart. While Mr. Hart represents the stated views of your owner Freedom Communications, which promotes “Freedom and Individual Rights for All,” Sherman stands only for liberalism for all.
Apparently the publisher and editor agree with Mr. Sherman or his column would not exist. Either that or they lack the will or ability to express conservative views. Sherman attacking Mr. Hart is like a pea-ant attacking an elephant. ”
Setting aside that as with some of Ron Hart’s other fans, Mr. Pope doesn’t actually refute anything I said (admittedly that would be difficult, since I’m right), my column, as they say, does not represent the views of this paper or this company. Hart says one thing, I disagree, The Log runs us both; obviously, therefore, we’re not being selected because the editor agrees with our views. And the fact that Hart’s column does run shows we’re willing to run conservative pieces (we’ve had former columnists who were much more so).
It’s not my “main purpose” to take shots at Hart’s writing, as witness that this was my first column about his views since 2007. I’ve written fewer columns in response to Hart than I did to that former local conservative columnist, or to the Ayn Rand Institute when we ran their columns.
I do take a semi-weekly shot at Hart in my blog, for the same reason I used to write regular letters to the Daily News (before I became a Freedom staffer) about some of their columnists (Casey Brooks, Walter Williams) and write columns about the Ayn Rand Institute: False claims appearing in my local paper annoy me more than when they come out of the White House spokesperson or some national pundit. So as long as Hart’s writing for us, I’ll be blogging to explain why he’s wrong, just as I frequently do with letters in the Daily News or The Log.
As for not representing the views of Freedom, in the column Mr. Pope was referring to I was criticizing the government for the use of torture, illegal detention and the violation of the Constitution; opposition to those things is surely a good libertarian position (I’m not a libertarian, but there are things on which I agree with them). Mr. Hart, like a dutiful Republican, voted for McCain who would have continued those policies so no, I don’t quite see him as pro-freedom as much as pro-Republican.
Why I’m pro-24 and anti-torture
January 22nd, 2009, 5:20 pm by fshermanI hate torture: It’s immoral, evil, and illegal and our country has no right to do it.
I don’t think even the ticking-bomb scenario justifies torture: I used to, but it’s been pointed out to me that it invariably leads to “Well, there’s a bomb that’s going to be ticking somewhere soon, so let’s torture this guy in case he knows something.”
Nevertheless, I love 24.
For those who’ve never seen the show, it’s a suspense drama shot in real time, with Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer, the federal agent who has 24 hours a season to stop some sort of terrorist/foreign attack on America (technically, 24 hours less commercials and credits—I think it works out to about 16 hours of actual story). As the show has gone on, torture has been an increasingly important tool in his toolbox, and unlike the real world, there is always a real ticking bomb.
Of course, unlike the real world, torture works perfectly on 24: There’s been exactly one occasion when someone didn’t give up information almost immediately, and nobody ever makes stuff up just to stop the pain. Then again, since nobody innocent has ever been tortured (Jack’s just that good) nobody really needs to, they can just ‘fess up.
This season, with Jack hauled in front of a Congressional committee to answer questions about his activities, the producers are beating the pro-torture drum very loudly: Five hours in and an FBI agent working with him has already realized torture is the only way to get anything done before the bad guys strike.
Nevertheless, I still enjoy the show. It’s tense, exciting and while the preachiness about torture is annoying (and I have a feeling it will become more so) I’m still watching, even though the pro-torture message is completely opposite my personal beliefs.
This confirms my longstanding opinion that “suspension of disbelief” applies not only to facts (e.g., accepting for the purpose of a story that voodoo works, vampires are real or black holes are sentient) but to ethics. I can accept torture on 24 the same way I can root for a thief to succeed if they’re suitably goodlooking and handsome; take the side of a monarchy in a space opera story or an old swashbuckler (as one critic pointed out, movie swashbucklers invariably assume the solution to an evil king is to put in a good king, not to give up on monarchy); or watch the Shadow gun down mobsters without due process in old pulp stories. For the purpose of a story, I can accept a moral principle that I don’t believe in, just as I can accept a physical or spiritual reality I don’t believe in.
That doesn’t always work. I have much less sympathy with present-day super-heroes playing judge, jury and executioner than with an old pulp hero doing so, and I’ve never been able to stomach stories that show rape as a sexy act of love (a number of 1980s romance novels have the hero rape the heroine—a number of publishers even required it). And I think it would take a really amazing talent to make me accept an oppressive government (and I mean genuinely oppressive, not the concept of some free-marketeers that requiring dairies keep their milk free of poison is an act of tyranny) as a good thing, or to buy into the kind of loathsomely judgmental God in a Chick tract (not that God doesn’t make judgments, but I don’t think he’s the hanging judge so many fundamentalists fantasize about).
I don’t really have an underlying principle as to when suspension of moral disbelief works and when it doesn’t, but I know it’s there, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who experiences it.
Or else I’m just too pathetic to give up a show I like.
Gone, baby gone
January 14th, 2009, 10:32 am by fshermanOff on vacation so posting will be nonexistent until next week.
