Review: Timeless, by Gail Carriger (2012)

The last installment in the Parasol Protectorate series, Timeless finds Lady Alexia Maccon and her entourage traveling to Egypt to see an ancient vampire queen.

Several years have passed since the events in Heartless. Prudence, the unexpected "infant inconvenience" of Lord and Lady Maccon, who has the ability to turn supernaturals temporarily human (and Prudence temporarily supernatural), is walking, learning to talk, and alternately enchanting and terrorizing her household, including the stylish vampire Lord Akeldama. French inventor Madame Lefoux is atoning for her part in the events of Heartless by serving as a drone in the London vampire pack, now exiled to the countryside. Alexia's friend Ivy Tunstell, her husband, and their theatrical troupe are premiering a ghastly new play, while Biffy, the dandy drone-turned-werewolf is adjusting to his new role in the werewolf pack as well as selling stylish hats in what was once Madame Lefoux's store.

Alexia receives a summons from Countess Nadasdy, the queen of the vampire pack. The countess says that Queen Matakara, the oldest vampire in the world, would like to see Alexia - and, more to the point, Prudence - in Alexandria, Egypt. Against her husband's better judgement, Alexia decides to go, in part to understand what her father was doing in Egypt before his death years before, and to find the origin of the God-Breaker Plague that robbed the supernaturals of their abilities. As cover, she invites the Tunstells and their acting troupe to go along to perform for the ancient vampire queen. Add a murdered werewolf, an unexpected romance, a new parasol, shenanigans, comeuppances, and an effort to wrap up a series, and one can see how the book  approaches 400 pages.

Even at that length, Timeless feels a bit rushed in the last quarter or so, as though Carriger realized a 600-page book would not bring smiles to her editor. That quibble aside, the book contains Carriger's usual humor (and plenty of tea). We've become old friends with the main characters, so it was good to have one last adventure with them.

I'm looking forward to Carriger's Young Adult series, The Finishing School, set a generation earlier than the Parasol Protectorate novels, as well as her Parasol Protectorate Abroad series, featuring an adult (and no doubt stylish) Prudence. Both series are expected to debut in 2013.

Travelogue: Downs, Windemere, Loch Avie

I was on the verge of continuing the tour of Caledon with a trip to Windemere when I saw something strange on the map: Caledon Downs, right where it used to be. The area disappeared last July, replaced with Ahavah. I wonder what happened?

In any event, not much was in evidence. The Caledon railway had an attractive rail bridge:

The C.A.T. station was named after Ahavah:




("Heaven's Gate"? Uh, let's hope the Duke and Duchess didn't join a cult and commit suicide.) The rest of the Downs was on the rugged side:

Moving east to Windemere, one finds a sparsely-populated residential area, divided by a tall hill (or a small mountain, depending on one's perspective).








Past Windemere is the duchy of Loch Avie, which has recently changed hands. The new duchess, Angel, must still be in the process of landscaping the area.


So many changes in such a short time!

The Wrong Target

John Gruber picked up on this press release from Amazon. Gruber focused on this tidbit:

“I’m excited to announce that we now have more than 130,000 new, in-copyright books that are exclusive to the Kindle Store – you won’t find them anywhere else. They include many of our top bestsellers – in fact, 16 of our top 100 bestselling titles are exclusive to our store,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com.

I agree with Gruber's take on this:

So 16 percent of bestselling titles are exclusive to the Kindle Store — and the Department of Justice is investigating Apple’s iBookstore. Got it.

 This is not to condone the alleged coordination among the publishers, if such a thing actually occurred. (At the same time, it seems to me a powerful argument to say that Apple offered an agency model to the publishing industry, and agreeing to an agency model required a certain amount of coordination among the publishers. Thus, even if the allegation is correct, it's not necessarily an antitrust violation, as much as the Antitrust Division would have you believe it.) But one has to wonder about the consumer benefit of attacking an attempt to solve a problem - Amazon's control of the e-book market and an increasing chunk of the physical book market - that, in the long run, likely has undesirable effects on consumers.

Forest for the trees, Antitrust Division.

Civil War Discussion - Oops

A big slap to the forehead: I realized I missed this month's Civil War discussion, with Sir JJ and Dame Kghia. It never got on my calendar, and my infrequent in-world appearances meant I didn't see the reminder until after the fact.

Apologies to the hosts. I'll try to get next month's meeting on the calendar!

Review: The Great Stagnation, by Tyler Cowen

This little book, available as a Kindle e-book, can be summarized by its subtitle: How America Ate All The Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will (Eventually) Feel Better.

Cowen, a professor of economics at George Mason University, is known for his economics blog, Marginal Revolution, and writings in popular magazines and newspapers. He makes several related points in this brief book.

First, societies - in particular, American society in its fastest-growing phase - create substantial economic growth through substantial increases in productivity. They do this by picking off the "low-hanging fruit" of productivity. In the case of the U.S., a vast, relatively unpopulated continent allowed for rapid expansion of population and production. Technological advances of the 19th century also expanded productivity rapidly. In the 20th century, an increasing fraction of the population graduated from high school, and now a substantial fraction graduates from college. These educational achievements allowed American society to transform from a largely agricultural/industrial society to a higher-payout ideas society.

Second, we've largely tapped out the easy ways to increase productivity. We can put more people through college, but we're increasingly tapping those who can benefit only marginally from the additional education. We continue to make improvements in farming efficiency, but so few people still farm that such increases in efficiency don't free up substantial numbers of people to do other things with their lives. Indeed, with all the examples of low-hanging fruit, Cowen makes the point that further advances are more costly than those that came before.

Third, the implication of the first two points is that we should expect lower productivity growth - and hence lower income growth - going forward than what we have become accustomed to. The 3% annual growth rate that was once considered "normal" has become a 1% growth rate.

Fourth, our financial problems are largely a result of failure to recognize the previous point. We're spending as though we're still in the 1950s, even though growth rates have been low for several decades and likely will remain so.

Cowen ends on a positive note, however, suggesting that technological breakthroughs - perhaps the development of the Internet, perhaps ones not yet widely known or yet developed - will ultimately usher in a new age of low-hanging fruit that we can use to become more productive and, therefore, better off.

The book is largely apolitical, focusing on why we've been stuck in a low-growth economy and not on the political decisions that have been made along the way. When he does mention politics, both major parties are in for their share of criticism.

I'm perhaps not as optimistic as Cowen about the likelihood that we can grow our way out of our economic doldrums through new technological breakthroughs. I suspect we need to become accustomed difficult times continuing. That's not to say that subsequent generations will be worse off than earlier ones; merely that we should not become used to rapid growth in national income. In that kind of world, disputes about how to share the wealth are likely to continue.

The Great Stagnation is a quick read, short and non-technical, and continues the worthwhile trend of making economics more accessible to people with non-technical backgrounds.

Google Drive and Your Data

Google Drive has some interesting terms of service. I like Dan Benjamin's comment on the ZDNet article
about the TOS.

While Dropbox and Microsoft's SkyDrive seem pretty clear that they don't have the right to do anything with your stuff that they host, our friends at Google say

“Your Content in our Services: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. 

 Hmm. As Dan comments:

Somewhere, somebody is surprised by this.

 I dunno, guys. What's so hard about coming up with a simple, understandable TOS that doesn't seem really creepy?

Sanity Falls

I'm not usually a fan of hunts, but this one, from MadPea Productions, caught my attention. Part hunt, part game, Sanity Falls places the hunter in the middle of a narrative. (See the two-minute trailer here.)

You play the part of Alexander Blackwell, a psychologist on vacation with his wife, Livea. The Blackwells decide to recharge their mental batteries with a trip to the town of Sanity Falls. (Why on God's earth would anyone want to spend a vacation here? No accounting for tastes, I suppose.) Alexander finds himself alone and relates:

“I’m waking up with metallic taste of blood tainting my mouth. I look at my clothes and see blood everywhere, but I don’t feel any pain or see any wounds. It probably isn’t my blood. I try to think but realize that I have no memory of the last 24 hours. The last thing I remember is coming to Sanity Falls with my wife. I feel dizzy, someone must have drugged me.

Groggy and confused, I stagger onto my feet and call out for Livea. When silence answers me back, I become aware of my surroundings. I am on the edge of a bridge overlooking the Sanity River. In the puddle of blood beside me lays a phone. It starts ringing..”

Livea has been kidnapped and held for ransom. Alexander must raise a million dollars to get his wife back - which he does, somewhat confusingly, by calling the number of each of the 50 "Missing Person" posters scattered through the town. The number leads to a SLURL which contains a prize, as well as part of the ransom.

The game requires purchasing a HUD for L100. This keeps track of the posters found, the SLURLs, provides hints for locating the prizes, and tracks the progress of the ransom.

The bridge to town

Welcome to the Sanity Inn

Cold beer, anyone?

I found about 45 of the 50 telephone numbers in fairly short order. Descriptions of the game say there are dream sequences that explain more of the story, though I have yet to activate any. As usual, I'm hopeless at finding the prizes, even with hints, so I haven't made much progress there. (Also, I got sidetracked with another project.) We're promised a resolution of the story, presumably once all the prizes are found and Livea is ransomed.

The game is a good use of the free-form nature of Second Life, the sort of thing that I wish was more common.

Aether Salon - Furries

For the April meeting of the Aether Salon, Mr. Blackberry Harvey held forth on a subject close to his fur: furries.

Mr. Blackberry Harvey

Mr. Harvey noted that anthropomorphized animals have had a centuries-long tradition in literature, from the Bible (the snake in the Garden of Eden) to folk characters in 17th and 18th century literature, to cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny.

The talk was lavishly illustrated.

Furries are a natural fit in the Steamlands, he argued, as the sense of created identity and ongoing narrative is strong, while certain…unusual aspects of humanity are tolerated here better than other, more doctrinaire RP areas. He noted that, while acceptance of furries in New Babbage has waxed and waned, residents are generally accepting of those with different appearances.

The audience was a little smaller than usual, with fewer Salon regulars and more furries, as one might expect. One gentleman broke with the usual Salon decorum by suggesting that one reason rabbits, such as Mr. Harvey, were popular characters was that they were quite tasty. Though I can hardly disagree with the statement, it seemed terribly crass for someone to discuss, even indirectly, eating the speaker.

I stood in the back, hoping exhaustion would not overcome me before the end.

Miss Tabby, Miss Tali Rosca, Miss Erica Fairywren, and Miss Zanya

Miss Solace Fairlady and Miss Darlingmonster Ember. Mr. Vic Mornington escaped the picture at the last minute by crashing.

Miss Ceejay Writer

SL Turns 9 and I'm Celebrating at Home

Linden Lab has decided against the traditional Second Life birthday celebration: a series of invited builds, designed around a theme, and placed on a series of temporary sims. The Lab's blog put it this way:

Second Life’s 9th Birthday is coming up in June! This year it’s all about you — the denizens of the grid, the sultans of Second Life and connoisseurs of creativity— and we want to highlight the many unique and innovative ways the community has made Second Life their own.

This year we will focus the spotlight on community events. No one throws a better event or party than the Second Life community! If you’re having an event to celebrate Second Life turning nine, we want to know about it!

Miss Inara Pey calls this the "end of an era" and says

In previous years, Second life’s birthday has been marked through a coming-together of the community as a whole on a set of regions supplied by Linden Lab, to create a glorious theme park of builds and ideas created around a central theme, and in and around which parties and celebrations can be held. While not always free from controversy and acrimony, this approach provided a focal point for events and activities marking SL’s birthday, and helped to bring together residents from across the grid.

Well, not any more.

Hidden within this announcement is the fact that this year there will be no large-scale provisioning of regions by LL; no central place to explore (lag and all) and see builds great and small and enjoy the thrill of celebration and discovery.

And this is a shame.

The SL8B events have traditionally been a marvellous way for the many talents and groups across SL to showcase their work, their talent and their vision. It’s hard to see how such an infinite diversity of ideas and vision can be replicated through a process of complete de-centralisation; one cannot imagine sim / estate owners / groups developing large-scale builds specifically for SL9B, especially with so broad a theme as has been offered.

I confess more mixed feelings about the announcement. On the one hand, the birthday celebrations I've been to had a sense of community about them. I've reported on bits and pieces of SL5B, SL6B, SL7B, and SL8B (spread across three entries), and found things to like about each of them. On the other hand, the lag has always been so intense that moving through the soup-like atmosphere has been a painful experience. While having all the exhibits in close proximity to one another has its advantages, teleporting to different exhibits might be more enjoyable…if people care to build them, that is.

And that's really what the concern is, it seems to me. Without Linden Lab inviting individuals and groups to submit entries, without the Lab to provide the land and organize the event, will there be an event? Why should Caledonians and Babbagers and Furries and, uh, Goreans take time from what they're doing to celebrate our platform if our overlords don't seem interested?

Crap Mariner has what seems to be a reasonable take on things (plus links to other people's thoughts, conveniently lying there for the interested but lazy reader.

Will it work? Will it fail?

I guess we'll see. I kinda like the idea of communities being able to build their own concepts, hold their own events, police their own grounds, work together on their own terms, manage their own resources, and not have to depend on well-meaning (but overwhelmed) folks like KT and Doc and Harper for fear of offending someone.

Sure, it was convenient to have it all in one place, and the hodgepodge of builds gave people exposure to different communities and experiences and expressions and arts with a simple stroll around.

But then, looking back at my spreadsheets of the maps of the past few SL#Bs, they also were devolving into shameless marketing and advertising plots, and if you looked at many of those builds, you'd have no idea what the theme was. At least some folks like RacerX combined art and whimsy in the form of an invitation and not a blatant advertisement, or pallina60 doing out and out magic and beauty.

...

So, it's not all going to be in one place? Fine... with region crossings the way they are, adjacent sims under heavy load are about as crossable as a teleport. And any decent event at SL#B was a sea of grey avatars and people bitching about lag and rezzing, anyway, right?

But when it comes to the barrier to entry, yeah, it sucks for the individuals and rogues and small-potatoes microcommunities, because they might not have enough resources to put something together like larger groups would, but as long as SL's pricing structure remains ludicrously expensive, them's the breaks, baby. Perhaps LEA or some other group will step up and bring those folks together... art galleries and all...

We'll see, won't we? And in any event, "your world, your community," or whatever the tag line was, should mean something, no?

The Humble Commas

I don't have much use for the New York Times, but occasionally the writers remind one of why the paper used to be great. This piece by University of Delaware professor Ben Yagoda on the changing use of commas, is one such reminder. For example:

As a professor at the University of Delaware, I read a lot of writing by college students, and in it a strong recent trend is reversion to comma-by-sound. I attribute this not so much to students’ love of the Constitution and the classics but to the fact that they don’t read much edited prose (as opposed to Facebook status updates, tweets and the like). Two things that you really need to read a lot to understand are punctuation and spelling. (Not coincidentally, spelling is the other contemporary writing disaster.)

As far as comma use goes, my students play it by ear. I see this most dramatically in sentences that start with conjunctions like “And,” “But” and “So.” (Your junior high school English teacher may have told you never to start a sentence with a conjunction. To the extent that was once true, it isn’t anymore.) So students will write sentences like this:

So, students will write sentences like this.

But, they are wrong.

You see this kind of thing all over the Internet as well. People punctuate that way because, if they spoke these sentences, they’d pause after the conjunction (and because the extremely fanciful and undependable Microsoft Word grammar and style checker refrains from applying a squiggly green underline).

One of my work tasks is to edit memoranda (often lengthy documents) of case fact and analysis that will ultimately be read by Commissioners and their advisors. Most people can write fairly coherently, so I spend time fine-tuning grammar, punctuation, and the like. It turns out that even well-educated people have all sorts of trouble with commas (and, worse, semicolons), to the point where I sometimes suspect people of randomly inserting commas.

It's good to know that there are others out there continuing to fight the good fight.