Cycles, unfinished business, everything old is new again

It's funny how things seem to run in cycles and sometimes old unfinished business comes up again in a way and lets you finish it. Years ago I did a ton of porting and public domain programming for a cheap UN*X clone called Coherent (I almost went to work for the maker, Mark Williams Company, before it went bust). If you search on tcsh and MGR you'll find my name still plastered all over the place in the man pages and acknowledgements even though I bet no one has run that software for a decade. I never got involved in Linux because the bar was set pretty high by the time Coherent went away and they had a tyrannical structure for development; this structure has served them well over the years as you can see by where Linux is today but I just wanted to port and write free software and that shouldn't be work IMO, it should be fun and the level of professionalism required by Linus made it unfun at the time. I wrote a little text editor and everyone in the Linux groups was always harping for one so I said, "here, use mine," and they said, "but it doesn't do kanji or sanscrit or hebrew, no thanks." Tough crowd, high bar as I said. At work lately I've been adding international support to our vi editor (yes, my brother recently said "the '70s called and they want their editor back" so I've heard that joke already). Yesterday I finished adding support for simplified chinese. On to test japanese and korean and check out some hebrew and sanscrit... I was always a vi lover and prefer it to WYSIWYG editors which is what I made years ago. Seeing kanji in vi is an interesting experience.

Speaking of the '70s, did disco ever die? The Village People wrote one of their final songs called "Ready for the '80s" which was ironic as the '80s were not kind to disco but it seems to have made a return, though not quite in sync with bell bottoms which are already out of style again, I think. I saw a video for a remake of ABBA's "Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man after Midnight)" the other day. My parents played a lot of ABBA in the '70s and while my father would cringe to read this, I still like disco (don't worry, Dad, I still love the blues too). I'm also enjoying Alcazar's rendition of "This is the World we Live In" but I can't seem to find the original. Anyone know?

I lost my original hardcover edition of The Matter for Men by David Gerrold so I bought a soft cover edition a year or two ago and finally got around to starting it again (lately there are only a few SF authors I enjoy and they only write a book a year or so, which means I have lots of time to re-read old favorites). I originally read it around twenty years ago when it first came out. The softcover edition says "uncut and uncensored for the first time," which is kind of surprising as I didn't think written fiction was sensored badly in 1983 when it was originally published. That said, I don't remember the male shower scene and wonder if it was present and I've forgotten or if that was censored; it could well have been censored. David Gerrold is openly "alternative lifestyle" and I enjoy reading BGLAD SF by him, Melissa Scott, Nicola Griffith, Spider Robinson and others but I didn't know that about him twenty years ago and I wonder if it was something kept out of print at the time? I'll have to ask him. In the second book of the series, A Day for Damnation, the character with whom he has the shower scene becomes a psi-agent where they pool their bodies and use the one most suited to the job; the male main character has sex with his friend in a woman's body and I guess that was OK for the censors as I remember THAT scene but not the other one. David is still writing that series with volumes five and six coming out later so my blog-pal Jeffrey Carver doesn't have to feel bad about taking so long to finish the Chaos Chronicles; David has a decade head start on you!

Finally, spring seems to be here

Bulbs are coming up, including the grape hyacinths that again fooled me into thinking they were dud crocuses. I didn't put them out or anything but I was making plans on where to move them before I saw the flower stalks starting to come out.

Another weekend spent mostly outside but I remembered to wear my hat this time. More garden work. No story work -- I'm obviously not a writer.

Where does the time go?

Had a good weekend of yard work and playing with the kids, plus some TV (BSG Finale just went on up here in Canada and the UFC finale). Had hoped to pull the telescope out for a nice, dark new Moon weekend but just never happened. Too tired these days with all that goes on during the day, which is kind of sad but its just easier to be a couch potato these evenings. I will have to start going out just for a couple of hours from 9-11pm or something to get at least some viewing in which hardly seems worth it but is better than nothing, I guess.. Now back to the work week and I still have to put out the trash this morning...

More time with the kids

I've rediscovered time with the kids in the mornings. With my son especially I'd gotten into the bad habit of plunking him in front of some toys or the TV so I could get some time to myself on the computer but lately I've rediscovered the joy of playing with them by myself in the morning. This allows my wife to get some more sleep, as she's often still tired as our two month old daughter gets her up some during the night for feedings. It's nice to spend more time with them. I wish I could spend more than an hour or two before work and an hour or two after work before it is time for them to go to bed but that's the way our world works.

Thick skin required

Your online identity seems quite anonymous. It seems like you can say things and since no one really knows its you, it doesn't matter. But this seems backward to me. Online you post your thoughts and rather than having an idea shot down unceremoniously by five friends over lunch or at the pub, you can have your idea shot down by hundreds or thousands of people all over the world, calling you an idiot or worse since they're anonymous too so they aren't worried about what some might consider fighting words. Even though no one else may know who "EagleClaw5" really is, YOU know and you know that no one likes your ideas. Anonymous or not, posting in blogs and forums requires thick skin some days...

Food poisoning

Had food poisoning over the weekend. Not really sure what was the culprit but a fast-food burger joint with a scottish clan name is a prime suspect. As usual it came on fast but went away pretty quick too which is a good thing at least. If only I could put to paper the bizzare dreams I always have with a high fever like that. Wacked out stuff for sure...

April Fool's Day!

Gotta watch those news releases. Already there is a marshmallow shortage and G.W. Bush has cancelled the Space Shuttle Programme. What next???