Riba Rambles:
Musings of a Mental Magpie

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:40 AM

Jim MacDonald has started a filk circle over at Making Light.

Sing and laugh along, and maybe add your own verses.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:37 AM

Barack Obama has said he'd announce his running mate thru a text-message to anyone who gives the campaign their contact info.

In other words, someday soon, millions of cellphones will be start chirping:

Posted by Lis Riba at 9:12 PM

Threads That Are Golden Don't Break Easily, a crossover between Narnia and Torchwood, focused on Susan Pevensie and Jack Harkness.

Spoilers for most of the C.S. Lewis series. [I've never seen an episode of Torchwood and only know Captain Jack from the first season-and-a-half of Doctor Who, yet had no trouble following the story.]

I'm loathe to say too much, because I don't want to spoil it for you, but here's a short excerpt from a few paragraphs in -- two days after the Pevensies first returned from Narnia:

Susan had rather thought that the Macready hated her and her siblings more than anything (oh, children should be seen and not heard) but the way she addresses Captain Harkness implies that she would like to see him dead in the very near future.

"Mrs Macready." An American accent; Susan lived in another world full of creatures like centaurs and fauns, and yet the sound of a voice from the other side of the Atlantic still sounds exotic. "You're looking gorgeous as ever."

Susan blinks in surprise, heart thundering so hard in her chest that she can scarcely hear the people down below. She curls her fingers against the wall.

"I suppose you're here to see Professor Kirk," Mrs Macready says testily.

"Yeah, I am. Is he in his study?"

There's a moment before Mrs Macready replies; Susan pictures her pursing her lips tight. "Yes," she allows at last.

"I'll see myself up."

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:21 PM

I just saw Halloween candy in the drug store, 80 days ahead of the holiday.

Posted by Lis Riba at 7:17 AM

Hope you survive the experience

Via fibro-witch

Posted by Lis Riba at 3:21 PM

Every time I have to plan air-travel, I start thinking about eBook readers.

A single lightweight device storing multiple books seems much more convenient to carry-on than my usual stack of hardcovers.

For anybody else considering such matters, the MobileRead Wiki is a good resource for comparing features among the devices.

In the U.S., there are two main e-ink devices on the market: the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader.

Given my reading habits, the Sony device, which can read PDFs, has a slight edge. [I don't actually buy many new books: I get much of my reading from libraries, and I've also got a lot of PDF content.]

However, I've also seen many suggestions to just spend a little more and get a full-function subnotebook. Of those, the most popular seems to be the Asus EEE.

I've made no decisions yet, but since I've been talking about this with a few people, I thought I'd share this info if anybody's interested in further research for their own sakes.

Posted by Lis Riba at 12:51 PM

Silicon Alley Insider has the scoop (links in reverse chronological order):

• Aug. 10: NBC Olympics: We Don't Care If You Hate Us, You're Watching USA-China Basketball On Tape Delay
• Aug. 10: Olympic Committee Outraged About USA Fans Watching Live Online, Sends Takedown Notices
• Aug. 08: Where To Watch Beijing Olympics LIVE On The Web: Gymnastics, Boxing, Beach Volleyball
• Aug. 08: Watching The Beijing Olympics On The Web: How To Use A Proxy Server To See The Sports You Want, When You Want
• Aug. 08: NBC Lawyers In Panic Mode, Scrambling To Stamp Out Internet Olympics Feeds
• Aug. 08: How To Watch Beijing Olympics LIVE Today: Opening Ceremony, Beach Volleyball, Basketball, Weight Lifting
• Aug. 06: How To Watch The Beijing Olympics LIVE On The Web -- Even If NBC Doesn't Want You To
• Aug. 04: Three Days and Counting Until NBC Blows Olympics Coverage
• Aug. 04: YouTube At The Olympics: Exclusive Video You Can't Watch
• Jun. 30: NBC's Online Olympics Policy: Big Win For Pirate P2P Sites

Posted by Lis Riba at 11:25 AM

Seen in the bookstore yesterday:

• You Are A Miserable Excuse for a Hero! by Bob Powers

The cover proclaims it's Book One in the Just Make A Choice! series.

From the book's introduction:

In this book, YOU get to be the main character in an exciting kidnapping adventure that YOU WANT NO PART OF.

You're a thirty-three year old struggling actor with VERY LITTLE HOPE of ever being successful, and you feel like time is running out for you to make something of yourself. Your friends have all settled into lucrative careers that you resent and fruitful marriages that you envy, while you've done everything you can to commit to nothing for fear of limiting your options. With every passing day you are that much closer to giving up, and every choice feels weighted with the possibility that it will send you down a path to FAILURE. So you've been doing your best to make no decisions whatsoever. For YOU, as long as you choose to do nothing, ANYTHING is possible.

Enter JULIA! She's the pretty girl you went out with last night and she's been KIDNAPPED! It's up to you and you alone to rescue her. The ensuing adventure will force you to make a series of choices that will not only determine the life or death of an innocent girl, but will force you to ADD FOCUS to your career and your love life in ways that you've been avoiding ever since you got out of college.

BE VERY CAREFUL! You're DIRECTING THE STORY and the CHOICES you make can result in MURDER, GRADUATE SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, TORTURE, MARRIAGE, POST-APOCALYPTIC SLAVERY, UNWANTED PREGNANCY, even TEMPING! It's YOUR STORY and YOUR LIFE. All you've got to do is decide which page you want to turn to. JUST MAKE A CHOICE!!!

It makes a disturbing amount of sense.

Choose Your Own Adventures began in 1979 when we were kids.

Why should we lose out on that kind of fun now that we're adults? [Unsurprisingly, the author was born in 1973, making him part of the original target demographic.]

The official website includes some pages where you can try out the book.