jadesfire

For the foreseeable future, this journal is largely going to be fic and links to cool stuff I think you might like.

Hope no one minds...

Fun stuff!
Watch dolphins blowing bubble hoops!
If Abe Lincoln had a Facebook
The 10 worst inventions in history. Cat wig, anyone?
Pink elephant - no alcohol required

In honour of 40 years of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Google have changed their logo. My own contribution to one of books to have the most impact on my life (no, really - I am the Very Hungry Caterpillar, you have no idea) is to link you to Mitch Benn's Rock Opera Version.

And if you click nothing else, watch this wonderful animation, a reimagining of the Red Riding Hood story like you've never seen it before.

Generallly Interesting
Texting and the literary enlightenment. Fascinating Radio 4 programme about the nature of written and spoken English. [let me know if the link doesn't work - I got it through my podcasting software, so I don't know if it's still valid!]
Why people steal valuable books. Not always for the reasons you might think.
Alexander the Great's tomb found! Er. In Australia...
Making sense of the financial mess. Guides to how we got here. With pictures!
Convert any text to Morse Code

Slightly more seriously
The UK government may track social networking sites. You mean they don't already?
Thought crime to hit the statute books?. This isn't just about child pornography. Neil Gaiman has had much to say about this, specifically in relation to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. I'm still reading up about this.
The Way Back machine is about to get bigger

I think the gremlins stole my sleep again *slurps coffee*

Since I have no actual content for you, these are some places you should be that aren't here:

Gen Battle over at fox1013's. Not surprisingly, it's not getting nearly as much traffic as the porn battle usually does, so hie thee hence and try out some Gen!

Fluff Battle at miss_zedem's. See above. Although just my hair qualifies as an entrant today.

In more serious blogging, the Times is publishing a list of the top blogs from around the world. There's lots of good stuff, but the one that's caught my attention is the Harare bloggers. It's an honest, eye-witness account of what's going on in Zimbabwe at the moment from people who know what they're talking about. Fascinating.

I'm not a huge Austen fan, but this is pure genius:

Pride and Prejudice, Facebook style

braaaaaaaaaaaainzzzzzz

*ahem*

I actually slept last night, so my body was supremely unimpressed when I had to get out of bed this morning because it wants more, and it wants more now. I'm keeping it at bay with coffee* and work, but it may be a losing battle.

...I'm sure there was meant to be actual content to this post....um...oh yes.

There are mornings when io9.com saves my sanity. A quick skim this morning produced 5 Things I Learned About Women From the James Bond Books, Space Porn, David Tennant In Glasses, An Article About Fibre Optic Sponges That I Lack The Brain Power To Get Through But Looks Intriguing. Also, the new Watchmen trailer, that makes me cautiously optimistic about the film (I can live without the squid, I promise, just make it a good film, okay?)

I've got a long list of stories I want to write, as usual, as well as some non-ficly stuff. There's the Audacity tips that I picked up the other week, a meta on writing action (why is there not more of this? I mean, you don't have to Google very hard to get lots of guides to writing sex scenes - why is there no action meta?), and something that has the working title "In Defence of Gen" that's been brewing for a while now. That last one might not get written, because I'm struggling to find a way to put it that doesn't sound either terribly "entitled" or horribly snide. Still, it'd be good to get it off my chest...

I'm going to be doing a proper promo to sga_noticeboard later (so that the US is actually awake when I post) but the last of the artword stories has gone up, and it's the one that I started! Breathe turned out in a direction I could not have predicted, and the art for it is just...guh. Go read and see for yourselves.

Oh, and while I think of it, I'm not doing a "do you want a holiday card" post this year, for the simple reason that I'm going on holiday a few weeks after Christmas, and will send postcards from Morocco to anyone who wants them. I'll put a post up nearer the time. I am, however, contemplating the Holiday Wishes meme, if only because I'd like to see if there's anything I can do for you guys :)

Oh, and also, can I recommend as strongly as possible two new podfics: Rebuilding Babel is one of my all-time favourite Atlantis stories (seriously - language and telepathy and Rodney-centric. I don't think I have a button that this story doesn't push) and the reading is great. For something lighter and shorter, Torture Most Bizarre and Terrible is wonderfully silly.

That's so not everything, but it's all for now. I'm off to do things to invoices, contemplate my Last Fic Writer Standing entry, back up my LJ and mull over some other stories. If there's anyone out there who wanted to do the team challenge at sga_flashfic but lacked a writing partner, I have some braincells you can use if you want...

*ETA: Have switched to diet pepsi. No noticeable improvement, but I didn't have to get out of my chair to go get it, which is definitely a plus.

ETA2 Son of ETA: Since I either want to eat or buy everything in the whole world right now, I used my usual distraction technique of raiding the stationery cupboard instead. ( Cut for stationery porn )

...it's possible that I need to get out more...