This article in the Wall Street Journal is about a cryptologist who recently solved a coded message sent to President Thomas Jefferson 200 years ago, a message no one had solved until now.

Coolness.

I've always found cryptology fascinating, but I've never been enough of a math geek to solve (or develop) such codes myself. Oh, I paid my dues as a kid, getting one of those special "Detective Kits" available in the backs of comic books, where for only $1.99, I could become a Super Sekrit Detective! And Solve Crimes! And Decode Codes! The super decoder thingy was a piece of plastic, of course, a wheel with the alphabet inscribed on two concentric circles. It was made for "substitution" ciphers, where each letter in a message is replaced with the one it lined up with on the circles . . . like the "Little Orphan Annie" decoder, in the movie "A Christmas Story." After all his anticipation, the thing just translated an Ovaltine advertisement for poor Ralphie.

Those are the easiest ciphers to use, and the easiest to decode, too. The cipher in the message sent to Jefferson was so complicated, though, I'm not even sure I understand the solution. No Geek prize for me.

On Thursday, an Iowa woman took a photo of what might possibly be a new category of clouds. Since forever (or 1951, if you'd rather), there's been three types: cumulous, cirrus, and stratus. Cirrus clouds are high, icy clouds. Stratus are layered, low-lying, rainy-day clouds. Cumulous are those with upward development and are the dark, thunderstorm type of cloud. Each of these categories has its own sub-classifications based on the specifics of formation.

The clouds in Jane Wiggins' photo look kind of like stratus clouds, but also have characteristics of the cumulous variety. According to Wiggins, the clouds were undulating, with lights and shadows and a greenish-yellow backdrop. A debate is raging now in meteorological circles, fueled by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, author of "The Cloudspotter's Guide," and his England-based Cloud Appreciation Society, who are determined to establish a new variety of cloud based on this photo. But Brant Foote, a longtime scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO, said the clouds in the photo fit into the existing cumulous classification.

Honestly, I don't care who wins, but it's just pure fun geekery that a debate about cloud formations is happening at all.

I know this post of Neil Gaiman's is about a month old, but it's still a cogent missive that readers of series' should take to heart. Writers write because they have to, because they have a story to tell, because they both need and want to tell it. Sometimes, though, the stories just don't flow, whether as a result of health issues or personal issues or story problems or a million other things.

Writers are not working for the readers, Gaiman (not so gently) reminds, and gives some advice to those waiting for the next installment of a long series. Rather than complaining that the writer has a life outside of writing, he says:

"Wait. Read the original book again. Read something else. Get on with your life. Hope that the author is writing the book you want to read, and not dying, or something equally as dramatic. And if he paints the house, that's fine."

Amazingly, guilt trips from readers don't make the stories flow better.

Also, Pouncey posted again. He wants me out of the house, apparently, but guilt trips from the cat don't get me a job any faster.

Not only is today the 65th anniversary of D-Day, but it's also the 25th anniversary of Tetris! Created by Alexey Pajitnov while a student at the Soviet Union's Academy of Science, Tetris was named for a combination of the Greek prefix tetra and Pajitnov's favorite sport, tennis. Even though, according to this article, "it's the best selling cell-phone game and one of the top 10 iPhone apps of all time" and "sold a staggering 35 million units for the Game Boy alone," Pajitnov never saw a ruble for his creation. He only received profits from this addictive game -- reportedly, even Pajitnov could not stop playing long enough to finish the program -- once the rights reverted to him in 1996. But the royalties were in greenbacks; he'd moved to the U.S. in 1991.

So, June 6th: one step forward for the Allies, one giant leap for gamerkind.

If life begins at 40, I'm being born today!

I am trying to take new direction with my life, though, especially when it comes to what I do for work. I've been laid off enough times from various jobs with shrinking workforces that it's become important I find a field that's expanding. You know, 'cause money matters . . . at least when the mortgage comes due, alas.

Writing is still my "career," of course, even if I haven't been putting fingers to keyboard in the fiction arena much lately -- "depression sucks" is all I'll say about that. But I need steady employment in order to keep the wheels of the household budget greased consistently. This on-again/off-again stuff is for the birds.

Some recent ideas I've floated involve going back to school to get some specific skill set I don't yet have but which is in high demand, and will hopefully be in demand years from now, too. Or perhaps hiring myself out as a tutor or home health aide. Or finding some kind of on-line gig, like writer or tech guru. I have some skill at the latter, but not enough, and would have to learn more before I'd be market material, lending more weight to the schooling idea, but that means finding programs and classes and applying for financial aid and . . .

Anyway, there're obviously lots of possibilities out there, at this second (third?) starting point in my life, so I better get cracking.

John Scalzi writes that, after seeing the latest Star Trek movie, there are a few techie things he never wants to see in his lifetime.

I concur.

Oh, not about the stuff he decries, or not all of it -- I think flying cars are going to be cool, not to mention Transporter Beams'll completely revolutionize the package/food/fuel delivery industry. But I never want to be "plugged in" 24/7 so I can see ads developed just for me, just out of the corner of my eye 'cause of face recog software and my very own personal cookies and purchasing choices.

I'm also not interested in an implanted jack which make cell calls go directly into my ear drum; I don't even have a regular cell phone -- if I'm not home, folks can leave me voice mail, or send me email, which I'm more likely to answer. Oh, and two techs that won't mix: phones like that and flying cars.

I agree with Scalzi about phasers set to disintegrate. That kind of tech would make it too easy for the disreputable to dispose of disruptions to their dishonesty. Too, I have no interest in Minority Report-style pre-crime incarceration, or the technology of far-seeing that can lead us in that direction. (Oh, wait, we already do that.)

Using robots to teach is icky, imo, and puts us that much closer to robot armageddon. Without developing time travel (and the help of John Connor) we'll be sunk.

Speaking of which, while I think time travel might be a bit of a hoot . . . briefly, I'd rather not open that huge can of paradox, thank you very much.

Anything you'd rather not see on our horizon?

Went to an Indigo Girls concert the other night with miriravan. It was fun. The ladies played some new songs from their new album, but also catered to the "faves" folks. And, like I always do, I got a t-shirt to commemorate the experience, this one in red, with an octopus on.

The opening "band" was a guy with a guitar and an amazing set of pipes. I mean, Matt Morris had some great register. He didn't have any t-shirts for sale, though.

"Baby Got Back" G&S style.

As one reviewer says, this take is underviewed, to be sure, and should be in the millions. I found it double-over funny. But then, I heart Gilbert and Sullivan and have since I was knee high to a pirate.

Pouncey has updated again.

Here's a cute idea of seeing whether (and how much) pedestrians are willing to help a 'bot trundle from one place to another. Made me smile.

So, a man has replaced his finger with a USB drive. That's not so surprising, really. It's not like people haven't been replacing body parts with useful things for years.

Some real life cool in prosthetics: the first real bionic arm for a woman.

H/t to Making Light Particles.

Neil Gaiman, one of my favorite authors, was a guest last night on The Colbert Report, one of my favorite shows. What happened next was the apotheosis of cool. Check out the interview.

Fave line:
Neil: "Obviously, until you write F*** It, We're All Going to Die, the Newbery Medal is going to go to people like me."

Was sent a link to this post by vandonovan, about some excrutiatingly purple prose in a novel. One which was actually published by Ace in 1992. I couldn't even get through the whole thing before my eyes started bleeding.

I shall nevermore be afraid of my own written descriptions, thank you very much. Those two pages are scary enough for all of us.

Video clip via The Onion: the world's best source of fake news aside from "The Daily Show".



Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

Nailed it:

The Husband and I recently got back from visiting Ireland. We were there for two weeks and traveled around via rental car, staying in B&Bs, eating humungous breakfasts, looking at Stone Circles and touring castles, et al. And we took a bajillion pictures to remember it all by. Well, maybe not a bajillion.

Coupla hundred, though.

The digital camera is handy at the point of picture taking, 'cause you can see the pic right then and take another if it didn't come out like you wanted, but as for traditional photo having . . . Well, printing photos out and putting them in an album doesn't really happen anymore, not for us. I've got hundreds of photos on my laptop, and so does the Husband, but not one has been printed, not in three years. And now we send emails with pics to the Parental Units instead of sending duplicates of photos themselves. Makes it hard to put nice pictures in frames and hang them on the wall, too.

On the other hand, I can upload a few pictures to my journal or facebook or whatever, so other people who know us can see the proof of our vacation, without having to be in the same room, paging through an album.

Bit of give requires a bit of take, I guess.

( Pictures below the fold. (Heh.) )
Update: More photos located at both my Photobucket account and my Facebook account. How cool is that?

I bet I'm not the first one to consider using this technology to Invisible-ize my ride, to avoid attracting the attention of the local gendarmes. But after a bit, the constabulatory would prob'ly get the technology, too, and they'd be cracking down on hapless drivers while hiding behind stop signs and cats and stuff. Behind cats on stop signs, even.

The tech's a ways away . . . still, I want me some Invisibility now plz.

Don't forget to jump your clocks back tonight for the "Leap Second", a calculated tiny change necessary to balance out the fact that the earth's rotation is not as consistent as we might like. Anyone who has an atomic clock will see an extra second counted at the end of the last minute of 2008.

As if this year hasn't gone on long enough already.

I work for the local school district, so when there's an inch or more of snow on the ground, school gets cancelled and I have an unexpected holiday. It happens more often than you'd think, for a region that's supposed to get somewhere between "very little" and "no snow" during the winter. We usually just have lots of rain, though.

I used to live in New England, where the chance of snow (and the subsequent accumulation) is a lot higher. We had far fewer school cancellations, however, since if school were to be cancelled every time there was a dusting, it'd be cancelled almost every day from November to March. When I lived in Vermont as a very small child, they only cancelled for extremely-likely-to-burst-pipes-or-cause-frostbite-on-little-noses cold, never for snow . . . unless there were a couple feet of it, too much, too fast for the plows to stay ahead of.

There aren't any snow plows in my current location; city officials just wait for the snow to melt off from the sun or from steady traffic on the roads. It's a far slower route to cleared roads, and means it takes a day or two after a storm for the city to get back in business.

In the meantime, I sure don't mind the extra days off. Lazing around, cat-like, with hot cocoa in my belly and a couple of fuzzy four-footers curled around me for warmth, while I read a good book or get caught up with email. Sleeping in late is nothing to sneeze at either, and the lazy day is certainly better on my fibromyalgia. Good deal all around.

The Long Night full moon on Friday, Dec. 12th will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. And the January 2009 full moon will be the biggest and brightest of 2009. Both are Perigee moons, as opposed to Apogee moons, and if those words mean as little to you as they did to me before I read this article, then think of Perigee as being a partying moon, and the Apogee as the apologizing-for-being-unable-to-make-it-to-your-party moon, because the Apogee is actually 50K kilometers farther away from earth than the Perigee.

Which is a helluva distance to go to get out of being at a party, but whatever. Mnemonics are fun.

I love full moons. Always have. Mebbe I'm part werewolf or something. I once saw an enormous and very red full moon, which I have since learned was likely due to pollution (though they can also happen during eclipses), but all I thought at the time was "Oooooh, pretty!" while a friend and I gazed upwards for over an hour, transfixed by that moon, which was so close it seemed nearly touchable.

Here's a couple pictures of red moons, so you can 'Ooooh, pretty' along with me.

For the Long Night Moon, the best viewing will be at midnight this Friday, when the moon will be almost directly overhead and acting like a big ol' spotlight on the earth below. Especially if there's snow, as they're predicting for my region.

Snow: yum! Shiny, ginormous moon on snow: one of the seven wonders, baby!