Another angle on lying

papersky has a discussion of lying, which reminded me that "It's not the crime, it's the coverup" gets on my nerves. Isn't that common phrase a way of saying "how you treat a government investigation is more important than any injuries you might have done to anyone else"?

Another angle on lying

papersky has a discussion of lying, which reminded me that "It's not the crime, it's the coverup" gets on my nerves. Isn't that common phrase a way of saying "how you treat a government investigation is more important than any injuries you might have done to anyone else"?

Upcoming conventions

The button business will be at both Shore Leave and Connecticon on July 7-9. suecochran will be doing Shore Leave and dcseain and I will be doing Connecticon.

This means that I won't be doing custom buttons at Shore Leave, but I can do them in advance for pickup at the convention. Please get the orders to me by next Monday.

Shore Leave will be having Stargate guests (Amanda Tapping, Carmen Argenziano, and Corin Nemec so I'm interested in any Stargate quotes and jokes you might have.

Upcoming conventions

The button business will be at both Shore Leave and Connecticon on July 7-9. suecochran will be doing Shore Leave and dcseain and I will be doing Connecticon.

This means that I won't be doing custom buttons at Shore Leave, but I can do them in advance for pickup at the convention. Please get the orders to me by next Monday.

Shore Leave will be having Stargate guests (Amanda Tapping, Carmen Argenziano, and Corin Nemec so I'm interested in any Stargate quotes and jokes you might have.

The cat, again

A while ago, I posted about a cat I'm having trouble with. I've given up to the point where I'm willing to put him on craigslist. The first thing I see when I look at listing pets is something from Peta about how incredibly careful you have to be giving an animal away. From what I can gather, their worries about animals being used for research are fairly silly--most research is done on standardized animals. Or is that just a self-serving claim from the labs? It still sounds plausible to me.

Anyway, have any of you guys given animals away outside your social circle? How much care did you take? On the one hand, I feel like he needs someone who'll care enough to give him bottled water (quixtar filtered water is ok, too), and on the other, this situation is driving me crazy. I won't put him in a shelter (there are no no-kill shelters in the area) and at age 14, his odds would be extremely bad. This seems like just giving him a few bad days before the end.

The thing is, I'm feeling overwhelmed with convention prep, and in some ways, Ra's behavior is worse--I've been accomodating him so he won't piss in my room, and I think the result is that he's expecting faster service. He's also started waking me up when I sleep.

Is there any way I can tell the truth but make him sound like a cat someone might want? Taking him on would be something of a challenge, but he's still an attractive, affectionate cat, and it's quite possible that a skilled cat handler could have some good years with him.

The cat, again

A while ago, I posted about a cat I'm having trouble with. I've given up to the point where I'm willing to put him on craigslist. The first thing I see when I look at listing pets is something from Peta about how incredibly careful you have to be giving an animal away. From what I can gather, their worries about animals being used for research are fairly silly--most research is done on standardized animals. Or is that just a self-serving claim from the labs? It still sounds plausible to me.

Anyway, have any of you guys given animals away outside your social circle? How much care did you take? On the one hand, I feel like he needs someone who'll care enough to give him bottled water (quixtar filtered water is ok, too), and on the other, this situation is driving me crazy. I won't put him in a shelter (there are no no-kill shelters in the area) and at age 14, his odds would be extremely bad. This seems like just giving him a few bad days before the end.

The thing is, I'm feeling overwhelmed with convention prep, and in some ways, Ra's behavior is worse--I've been accomodating him so he won't piss in my room, and I think the result is that he's expecting faster service. He's also started waking me up when I sleep.

Is there any way I can tell the truth but make him sound like a cat someone might want? Taking him on would be something of a challenge, but he's still an attractive, affectionate cat, and it's quite possible that a skilled cat handler could have some good years with him.

Stupid but effective ideas in sf

What do writers do if they notice that some really valuable story idea won't hold up to rational examination? Do some of them work to not think about the implications of their ideas? Or do they notice and speed up the distractions in the hopes that the reader/viewer won't notice?

I'll take the Reavers in Serenity (the movie based on the Firefly tv series) as an example. They're people who are extremely aggressive. Atrocity seems to be their only hobby. They work very well in the story as a threat, and the explanation for their existance is suitably horrifying. However, how can people like that possibly use spaceships? Maybe they only attack non-Reavers, but this isn't made clear. Should I care?

Stupid but effective ideas in sf

What do writers do if they notice that some really valuable story idea won't hold up to rational examination? Do some of them work to not think about the implications of their ideas? Or do they notice and speed up the distractions in the hopes that the reader/viewer won't notice?

I'll take the Reavers in Serenity (the movie based on the Firefly tv series) as an example. They're people who are extremely aggressive. Atrocity seems to be their only hobby. They work very well in the story as a threat, and the explanation for their existance is suitably horrifying. However, how can people like that possibly use spaceships? Maybe they only attack non-Reavers, but this isn't made clear. Should I care?

Filtered water for the cat

Everyone, thanks very much for the advice about rehoming Ra. At this point, I've just scanned it because the whole subject is pretty stressful for me, but I'll be reading it all soon. The idea of being willing to take him back if he can't be lived with, and then having him put down sounds pretty plausible.

There have been a number of comments about him getting bottled water. Here's the story: A while ago, I noticed that he was being frantic about getting his canned food even though dry food was available all the time).

I eventually realized that his voice was scratchy. He isn't as talkative as a Siamese, but sometimes does meow when he wants to get my attention.

After some experimentation, I found that he wasn't drinking enough tap water, and Brita filtering didn't solve the problem. The CVS house brand (currently $1.19/gallon for a while, was a dollar thirty whatsit for a while before that) means he drinks enough to be comfortable. This is a medical issue in the sense that dehydration is a serious matter for cats, especially older cats. I tested him on water which had been put through a Quixtar filter, and that's ok, too.

In any case, the three cats together go through a gallon or so per week since I don't bother to put down two sorts of water. Also a good bit of the water gets wasted--after it's been sitting for some days, accumulating cat hair, I start getting complaints from Ra the extortionist and change the water.

Philadelphia tap water isn't the worst in the world, but it isn't all that good. It frequently makes the tip of my tongue sting, and I prefer Brita filtered water.

It sounds weird to give a cat bottled water, but I think it's a status issue. We're talking about maybe $1.50/week for a big improvement in the cat's quality of life. This is cheaper than supplying some of the fancier cat foods. There are cat trees (constructions with carpeted platforms for cats) that cost over $200 (three years worth of bottled water), but I don't think getting one would sound as odd--a nice cat tree is extravagant, but it's not giving a cat something normally reserved for people.

Filtered water for the cat

Everyone, thanks very much for the advice about rehoming Ra. At this point, I've just scanned it because the whole subject is pretty stressful for me, but I'll be reading it all soon. The idea of being willing to take him back if he can't be lived with, and then having him put down sounds pretty plausible.

There have been a number of comments about him getting bottled water. Here's the story: A while ago, I noticed that he was being frantic about getting his canned food even though dry food was available all the time).

I eventually realized that his voice was scratchy. He isn't as talkative as a Siamese, but sometimes does meow when he wants to get my attention.

After some experimentation, I found that he wasn't drinking enough tap water, and Brita filtering didn't solve the problem. The CVS house brand (currently $1.19/gallon for a while, was a dollar thirty whatsit for a while before that) means he drinks enough to be comfortable. This is a medical issue in the sense that dehydration is a serious matter for cats, especially older cats. I tested him on water which had been put through a Quixtar filter, and that's ok, too.

In any case, the three cats together go through a gallon or so per week since I don't bother to put down two sorts of water. Also a good bit of the water gets wasted--after it's been sitting for some days, accumulating cat hair, I start getting complaints from Ra the extortionist and change the water.

Philadelphia tap water isn't the worst in the world, but it isn't all that good. It frequently makes the tip of my tongue sting, and I prefer Brita filtered water.

It sounds weird to give a cat bottled water, but I think it's a status issue. We're talking about maybe $1.50/week for a big improvement in the cat's quality of life. This is cheaper than supplying some of the fancier cat foods. There are cat trees (constructions with carpeted platforms for cats) that cost over $200 (three years worth of bottled water), but I don't think getting one would sound as odd--a nice cat tree is extravagant, but it's not giving a cat something normally reserved for people.