In which I see all, and then regret it somewhat

[bodlon]

About a week ago I installed a more comprehensive site stats plug-in. This is a mixed blessing.

It’s generally satisfying knowing readers come from, or how they find me. It helps me know what brings people here, what they’re looking for. I’m curious about which posts get read more often, or what’s being linked to most. The Internet is very big, after all. This is interesting and useful information.

Every so often, though, my surname and my candor collide, and the result kind of makes me want to break out the shotguns and steel wool.

All of which goes to show I probably should have changed my name to Count Von Groovy or MC Sodium Benzoate or Johann Gambolputty de von Ausfern…of Ulm when I had the chance.

~*~

- I don’t write or even read much romance, but I really love Smart Bitches. In particular, they’re funny, smart, and pretty good at noticing and reporting on it when weirdness goes down in the publishing industry. Case in point, Publishers wanting to limit ebook lending through libraries. It’s sort of a magical clusterfuck of privacy issues colliding with a paranoia that takes works out of the hands of readers. Memo to publishing industry: I’m pretty sure your authors want people to read them. Libraries are not the enemy. Get off my lawn. (Pleasant side-effect of this idiocy: an amusing captioning contest.)

- Okay, fine. You don’t want to read about Harper Collins capping ebook check-outs at a place called “Smart Bitches”? Fine. Read about it at the NYT. Are you happy now? (The correct answer is, “No, because HC capped e-books at 26 check-outs.”)

- Via Jim C. Hines, Introduction: So You Want To Make an eBook. I am excited about this series. I know people who do this work, but don’t understand it well. A series like this can only be a good thing, both in terms of people making better stuff for themselves and non-producers having a better understanding of how labor-intensive digital media can be. (Note, incidentally, that you can tip the author as well…)

- Via Slashdot, the Tolkien estate is getting weirdly proprietary. Or would that be the Tolk_en estate? I kind of want to buy one of the censored buttons/stickers. Hm.

- Two planets sharing one orbit. And yes, I am already trying to shoehorn this into a story. Why do you ask?

- Pagan news resource The Wild Hunt has officially had to bump up its hosting plan. If you’ve got a few bucks and think they do good work, I’m sure they’d appreciate your support.

- While I am in no way prepared to explain to my mother why I know who Buck Angel is (and yes, she reads this), I found out this week that he’s the guy who plays the PoV character in the video for Porno for Pyros’ song “Cursed Female.” I’m still processing the ways in which this makes me feel more like I exist, but suffice to say it’s kind of a thing in my head and heart right now.

- The Pew Forum has done some interesting data analysis about the Tea Party and how the movement intersects with religion. It’s worth checking out.

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com