Search this site

Recent Comments

• · James DeCuollo commented on Beowulf Criticism
• · Firestorm Flamio commented on Beowulf Criticism
• · Michael Livingston commented on Beowulf Criticism
• · Blaise Inferno Flamio commented on Beowulf Criticism
• · Louis M. DeCuollo commented on Beowulf Criticism
• · A. MichaelTerry commented on Beowulf Criticism

Posts by Category

• Academics
• Adventure
• Chaucer'd
• Fiction
• Homelife
• Project LJ (Jeep)
• Student Successes
• Teaching
• Uncategorized

Archives

• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007

Work in Progress

Four Shards of Heaven (novel)

words: 108,819 / 100,000 (100%)

Suggested Books

 

External Links

• The Shako

Admin

• Log in
• Wordpress

Blue sky and green trees this morning. We slept through the “worst” of Tropical Storm Hanna, though in the end it wasn’t much more than a lot of rain. A few palm branches litter our yard, but that’s about the extent of the damage.

School’s out!

Oh, just for the afternoon. Seems that Tropical Storm Hanna has taken a distinct turn toward South Carolina, with the most recent models showing the eye passing between Myrtle Beach and Charleston just after midnight. Since South Carolina ain’t exactly Montana in size, that means a whole lotta really big storm is gonna come right over us. It’s already been raining ferrets and squirrels outside (cats and dogs, I’m imagining, will come later tonight).

We’ve done a few things to try and get ready, but we’re pretty new at this whole tropical weather stuff — so basically we’re just planning to hang on tight for the ride.

There’s a decent chance we’ll be without power at some point, so I might not be posting during the event or right after. On the plus side, my feeling is that The Citadel would be quick to regain power if it did go out. No worries.

My favorite piece of advice from a hurricane veteran over the past days was that we needed to prepare by buying lots of bottles: Water, of course, but mostly booze.

I’ve always loved this fan-made video for the song “re: Your Brains,” by Jonathan Coulton:

That is all.

I spent the last couple of hours testing Google Chrome, the new entrant into the web browser wars. I use both Internet Explorer and Firefox, with my preference definitely being the latter of late, and I’m pleased to say that Chrome has got a lot going for it.

Google’s browser is fast, and it doesn’t seem to get as bogged down with multiple tabs as, well, IE does. I really like the “omnibar” — it ain’t perfect, but it’s a great step in the right direction. Moving the tabs to the top and compartmentalizing functions beneath them (so one broken app doesn’t crash all the open tabs) is excellent design. And there’s a lot of little touches that are quite pleasing: the homepage, the download management, and the history search come immediately to mind.

That said, this is beta software, and there are certainly some things that need fixing. For starters, it needs some of the essentials that came with Google Toolbar. Autofill? Google Bookmarks? Gmail Notifier? Chrome doesn’t have them yet, and I can’t go without them. I’d also like to see the user get control over the blue background. Blech. Can we not have something clear?

Oh, and it needs to be available for Linux — ’cause I’m loving Ubuntu. :)

I’m from out West, which means among other things that I have zero experience with hurricanes. Not a lick. Happily, this is my third year leaving in a coastal area, and we’re watching only our second strike possibility: Hanna.

Most of the cadets seem to be a-flutter with excitement, asking whether or not classes will be canceled for the storm. (I doubt it.) It reminds me of my childhood excitement over blizzards that brought “snow days” — I never thought the matter through enough to realize that we’d have to make up any substantial missed time.

Some of the cadets, I’m saddened to report, think in even more dire terms this time of year, conjuring up scenarios whereby Charleston is inundated in a cataclysm of wind and wave. I suspect they doubt the resolve of The Citadel, which is far stronger than they can imagine. I wouldn’t be surprised, should this campus ever be wiped off the map, if we just taught them in tents.

It’ll build character, right?

Students,

Post your summaries in the comments below!

An amazing book, now a terrific trailer:

Mary Robinette Kowal, recent winner of the Campbell Award and long-time awesome human being, has a new story online at Apex: “Scenting the Dark.”

I post the link here because (1) it’s a terrific story, one of the best I’ve read in a long time, and (2) I plan to teach it next week. This way I don’t have to hunt for the link when I need it.

keep looking »