something I need to learn here

By Rob | Published: January 29, 2009

Twice now, in a very short period of time, I feel like I have given my all, my 110% to stay professional, pleasant, keep the lines of communication open, and connect on a real human level with another person whom I’m dealing with and/or negotiating with. Both times, I’ve been stupefied by the lack of ability of that other person to return the same level of connection and true honest communication.

What is it I need to learn here? I feel like maybe I need to be able to face this sort of situation with more equanimity. I firmly believe that all things being equal, people are doing the best that they can given their own history and worldview. That’s ok.

But how do I get through a working relationship with these kinds of people? How do I, who sees connection and genuine caring as essential for a close working relationship, include these folks into close working relationships? Do I need to? What is it that I need to learn here?

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Crowds swarm D.C. for historic moment

By Rob | Published: January 22, 2009

Sorry I’ve been absent from this blog for a long while, but GamesAreEvil and now ThePortableGamer.com are swingin and rockin.

Got an email from a high school buddy who lives in DC. He made it to the inauguration, and was then quoted in USA Today. Here’s the quote, then the link:

Subways arriving into Washington from the Maryland suburbs to the north were crowded but not overwhelming.

“I was braced for much worse,” said Ryan Trapani, who lives in a central Washington neighborhood about a mile-and-a-half from the Mall. He had to let only one subway train go by before cramming into a subway car at 7:45 a.m.

Crowds were reasonable because “people got up really, really early,” Trapani said.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-20-people-reaction_N.htm

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Some eMagazines that might be nice to get for me

By Rob | Published: January 3, 2009

You know, for a birthday or such? There’s also the Kindle, which would be rockin. Seriously rockin. You can read these on a Kindle, Amazon’s new revolutionary eBook reader. A Kindle will save the countless trees and storage space that take up much of any collector’s home. I’d love to be able to get these magazines and newer SF books on an electronic format, and the Kindle is, at this point, the best of the bunch for recreating the sense of reading from a book. But, the mags:

3F1EF326-2F60-4C08-B213-DD0EF162EA23.jpghttp://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook53685.htm?cache

Interzone magazine, which is now celebrating its 25th year, has launched the careers of a great many SF and Fantasy writers. It is often shortlisted for awards and has won the Hugo and British Fantasy Awards. Interzone includes many features including interviews, news, and reviews. The magazine is currently published every other month and continues to publish some of the world’s finest writers and most talented newcomers. Amongst those to have graced its pages are Brian Aldiss, Sarah Ash, Michael Moorcock, Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, M. John Harrison, Stephen Baxter, Iain M Banks, J.G. Ballard, Kim Newman, Alastair Reynolds, Harlan Ellison, Greg Egan, Gwyneth Jones, Jonathan Lethem, Geoff Ryman, Rachel Pollack, Charles Stross, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, John Brunner, Paul McAuley, Ian R. MacLeod, Christopher Priest….

Each issue features fiction, editorials, interviews, reviews, news and gossip. Interzone’s reviews cover a wide range of topics, which have included film, DVD, books, manga, and podcasts. Each new issue automatically appears in your bookshelf when it becomes available, and you will receive an email notification when new issues arrive. Subscriptions are convenient and save you money! [Publisher Note: 6 magazines are delivered each year--the magazine is published every other month.]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000N8V3F0?tag=piasblo-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=B000N8V3F0&adid=0NZ87X4F5ENMG0XMP0CZ&

51WWJHN1f4L._SL500_AA242_PIkin-dp-500,BottomRight,-25,38_AA280_SH20_OU01_.jpgAsimov’s Science Fiction magazine publishes outstanding short fantasy and science fiction by today’s leading authors. As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, we continue to showcase stories that are innovative and entertaining. Our stories have won 44 Hugos and 25 Nebula Awards. n addition to fiction, readers stay informed about SF and fantasy through a monthly editorial column, an Internet column, insightful book reviews, and thought-provoking articles about science and science fiction.

The Kindle Edition of Asimov’s Science Fiction features double issues in the months of April and October. In these instances, you will not receive an issue the following month (i.e. there will be no May and November issues). For your convenience, issues are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle at the same time the print edition hits the newsstand.

Posted in being roblef, books, gadgets, roblog personal, scifi (sf) | 1 Comment

Interview with Clay Shirky, Part I : CJR:

By Rob | Published: December 23, 2008

Interview with Clay Shirky, Part I : CJR:.

“You know, “Life was better when I was younger” is always an acceptable narrative. Right? And so for anybody who was brought up genuflecting to the literary culture and the virtues of reading Tolstoy—and essentially Tolstoy is a trope in these things, War and Peace is the longest novel in the sort of Euro-centric canon—you could always make the argument that the present is worse than the past by simply pointing to the virtues of the past. And so, what the Web does is that it does what all amateur increases do, which is it decreases the average quality of what’s available. It is exactly, precisely, the complaint made about the printing press. So, the only thing surprising about the Web, in a way, is that it’s been a long time since we’ve had a medium that increased the amount of production of written material this dramatically.

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Locus Online Features: Cory Doctorow: Why I Copyfight

By Rob | Published: November 10, 2008

Beautiful essay on the fight against the old system of copyright:

Locus Online Features: Cory Doctorow: Why I Copyfight
“Culture’s imperative is to share information: culture is shared information. Science fiction readers know this: the guy across from you on the subway with a gaudy SF novel in his hands is part of your group. You two have almost certainly read some of the same books, you’ve got some shared cultural referents, some things to talk about.

When you hear a song you love, you play it for the people in your tribe. When you read a book you love, you shove it into the hands of your friends to encourage them to read it too. When you see a great show, you get your friends to watch it too — or you seek out the people who’ve already watched it and strike up a conversation with them. “

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right on

By Rob | Published: October 27, 2008

Really, this just speaks for itself. This was in Apple’s “hot news” feed this morning.

“Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.”

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YouTube – Wassup 2008

By Rob | Published: October 24, 2008

This is making the rounds of the twittervrese right now, and it makes sense. What a great video. Pop culture will eat itself:

YouTube – Wassup 2008

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privilege

By Rob | Published: October 21, 2008

Some good shit on privilege and how not to be a dick about it.

Official Shrub.com Blog » Blog Archive » “Check my what?” On privilege and what we can do about it: “Revisiting ‘Politically Correct’
Your first instinct might be to dismiss words like ‘womyn’ and being asked not to use ‘gay’ as an insult as ‘that PC crap’. If so, sit back and think about that. Your privilege gives you the power to dismiss the decisions of non-privileged groups, and further deride them by turning ‘politically correct’ into a slur. Part of engaging in a language of respect and equality is in recognizing the validity of a person’s choice to use language, and ‘politically correct’ terms, even if you may not understand or agree with them.”

Posted in education, political, politics, squifnet worthy | Leave a comment

The Brainy Gamer

By Rob | Published: October 21, 2008

Maybe the best summary of how I view my own life that I’ve ever seen:

The Brainy Gamer
“Finding your inner child” sounds like a ridiculous and hopelessly outmoded self-help bromide these days. But as I look at the world around me at this moment, I can’t think of a better prescription. We’ve been steadily increasing our productivity for decades. We work and work and work; when we finally give ourselves permission to play, we party and binge-drink ourselves into oblivion or sleep in restorative seclusion, maximizing the efficiency of even our recreation. Then we crash and recover just in time to report back to work. Somewhere on a hill Sisyphus is smirking.

We need more creative energy, imaginative thinking, and an infusion of earnest, unselfconscious, child-like faith in impossible dreams. We need more playful fun – not simply downtime or vacation time – that engages our minds and spirits in joyful re-creation. In other words, we could stand to bring back a few lessons from the world we enter when we play with toys.

I regret my servitude to relentless productivity. I’m tired of feeling embarrassed to play Animal Crossing in public. It’s time for me to say goodbye to game shame.

Posted in gaming, squifnet worthy | Leave a comment

Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Time

By Rob | Published: October 17, 2008

Great opinion piece up on the ADN today, about Sarah Palin. Using Sinclair Lewis to make your point? Brilliant. Best part was the last paragraph; it makes me have hope in the state I call home these days:

Over-intellectualized academics and stuffed shirt attorneys shouldn’t be vice-presidents, either. But anti-intellectualism and romanticized ignorance masquerading as common virtue are no brief for leadership. Their most serious flaw is a lack of enlightened vision, one realistic about constraints, manifestly respectful of the rules and caring of others in society. That’s what people are listening for in this election.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/story/558736.html

Posted in political, politics | Leave a comment

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