Encyclopædia Britannica thinks I am a Web Publisher

Quite a while back, I think it was in December, I noticed that the Encyclopædia Britannica was offering free access to Web Publishers, and applied at once. Whatever a Web Publisher is (and the Encyclopædia doesn't include the term, funnily enough), the term appearantly includes small-fry bloggers too, because I just received an email that I've been accepted.

That means I can link to stuff on Britannica, and you can then go and look at it. I know, exciting, isn't it?

See for example this article about moths.

Nuts, isn't it?

Mi-Go

Sure, many people would think it is a moth. More fools they, when the thing staring at them is actually a Mi-Go from the frozen wastelands of Pluto.

The blasphemies which appeared on earth, it was hinted, came from the dark planet Yuggoth, at the rim of the solar system; but this was itself merely the populous outpost of a frightful interstellar race whose ultimate source must lie far outside even the Einsteinian space-time continuum or greatest known cosmos. 

H.P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness 

 Oh aye, it is the winged horror, the fungoid abomination which hails from the darkest abysses of Yuggoth. The cries of it's worshippers, the hideous ululations of their twisted rituals have finally advised it of Pluto's reduction in status to dwarf-planet, and it has come in answer to visit wretched retribution on all the younger races...

Stagnight

it started on the roof of the Vienna University of Technology:

A beautiful view, but the evening soon descended into madness:

The rest, as they say, is silence.

Dark Haven

I am a cad.

A while back I got an email by the most excellent Gail Z. Martin, asking me if I wanted to review her newest novel, Dark Haven, part three of the Chronicles of the Necromancer. She'd send me one, for free.

Clearly, Gail knows the way to my heart: Novel. Free. Aaand, you're in!

I got the novel by the end of March. So why did it take me more than a month to review it? Because I am a cad, that's why.

I didn't even notice at first that she even signed it for me:

 How awesome is that?

Anyway, onward to the review (read my review of The Summoner here):

We rejoin Martris Drayke and his friends, who finally put paid to Martris evil brother Jared and the Obsidian King in the novel The Blood King. The first two novels of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series are a self-contained story by the way. Dark Haven isn't, but fortunately Dark Lady's Chosen will be out by 2010.

But all is not well in Margolan. The country has been devasted by the war against Jared (and by Jared himself before that). Martris is all set to wed Princess Kiara of Isencroft, but Isencroft nationalists are very much against that, since this would eventually unite Margolan and Isencroft under the rule of Martris and Kiara. A good way to prevent that would be assasination...
While Martris has to deal with an insurrection of a southern lord, his companion Jonmarc has been made Lord of Dark Haven, the vampire stronghold. And not all vampires are happy with having a mortal lord...

So, what did I think about Dark Haven? First, the bad: Martris is still called Tris, and I still don't like the name ;)

Then, the good: Martin's writing keeps getting better. The characters have more depth to them, and I really liked the way all is not well in Margolan, even if the evil ursurper is gone. People are poor, starving, looking for scapegoats and generally miserable. The subplot with the vampires was very interesting - the moderate vampires that recognise that having a human lord will allay the suspicions  and predjudices of mortals, thus preventing another war, the hotheads (uh, figuratively. vampire=cold) that don't see why a mere mortal should hold power over them, the pragmatists who see that mortals are just better in caring about things like fields and crops... add to that all the vampire trouble is really the hero's fault, because they used vampires as shock-troops against Jared in the previous novels and so gave a taste of what it is like to hunt humans again to the more radical vampire elements - very nice.

So, Dark Haven gets a warm recommendation from me. Read it, it's fun. Also, go to Gail's website, where there's excerpts and maps and stuff.

And, Gail, thank you so much again for sending me Dark Haven for review!

Shieldwall

So, there is this guy, Magnus Larsson, who won the  Holcim Foundation’s Awards for Sustainable Construction. He proposed using the bacterium bacillus pasteurii to convert sand into sandstone and built a 6000 km long wall in the Sahara, to stop (or at least fight against) desertification.This is all very humanitarian, but of course Larsson and the whole Holcim foundation  have missed the point here:

Arrakis and the Shield-wall, baby!

 Clearly this technique (if it works as advertised, and I am a bit sceptical) is ment to construct a shieldwall around the sahara, so that we may raise genetically engineered sandworms there. I mean, look at Larsson's concepts:

This clearly is Arrakis. Magnus Larsson must be a proto-Fremen!

Bollocks to this...

I am off to Vienna, for a wedding.

Peacock

Jardin Botanique, Génève. There is no entry fee, and the peacocks run around free. I'll have to return with my DSLR and the macro-lens. This was taken with my new Canon Ixus.

Canon Ixus 870 IS

A few weeks ago, abonimable criminals stole my iPhone and my semi-broken Casio Exilim Ex-V8. I got my new iPhone two weeks later (it is my favourite toy, after all), but it has taken me some time to find a new smallish camera.

The iPhone has a camera as well, but despite amazing iPhone-photos you can find on the internet, and Ken  Rockwells favourite saying: The best camera is the one you have with you, I have never had much luck taking pictures with it. Enter the Ixus 870 IS (or SD880 for the american market. Don't ask me why Canon insists havin different version numbers for them.), a sweet mid-priced pocket camera (and Rockwells recommendation for it's class).

Why the Ixus and not one of it's siblings? First of all, it has one of the widest angles of it's class (28-112mm in 35mm equivalent) which is important to me, because I like to keep either my 50mm equivalent or a long  lens on my DSLR, and use my pocket camera for landscapes.

Secondly, Rockwell waxed poetic about the interface, and after using it for a few weeks I have to agree. It is very intuitive, nothing (important) is more than two clicks away. How Canon can come up with such a sweet interface while it's DSLRs sucks so much, I don't know.

For the first time I've found an automatic mode that I actually use: The awesome panorama stitching mode, that really helps in shooting panoramas. It keeps the right edge of the previous shot on the left side of the screen, so you can line up your next shot. The Geneva lakeshore panorama from Sunday was shot with it.

The LCD is bright enough to see in full sunlight which is partly due to it's anti-reflection coating. Battery is a removeable Lithium Ion pack, which unfortunately doesn't charge over USB. But it is good for a few hundred shots, so this isn't too much of an issue.

The verdict? Sweet camera. If you need a pocket-sized one, go for it.

Geneva, lakeside

Taken on Saturday evening, with my new small camera. Details to follow.

Obscene tool spread

A while ago I noticed to my shock that I did not posess a single swiss-army knife. I had a couple of them when I was a kid, but now that I am actually living in Switzerland: Not a single one.

I had to remedy this situation before the governement got wind of it and had me deported. So I did some research, and found out that I didin't actually want a swiss army knife - what I wanted was a SwissTool (depicted to the right). Now I am not a hundred percent sure that this counts as a swiss army knife posession, since it's not red, so I probably will buy one of those too, just to be sure. But for now, let me wax poetic about the SwissTool, which is an awesome specimen of the genus "Multitool".

I've owned multitools before, a cheap knockoff called "Mammut" and a Leatherman, but none of them have had the built-quality of the SwissTool. In fact, it makes such a satisfying "snick" when you fold out one of the tools (they lock in place), that I've been playing with it for hours. Blade out. Snick. Blade in. Snick. Saw-blade out. Snick. Saw-blade back in. Snick. Then my collegues asked me to put it away, because it made them nervous. Can you believe that? But no matter, I can still hear it in my mind. Snick.

The tools included are:

Pliers
Screwdriver (2mm)
Screwdriver (3mm)
Wire cutter (for wire up to a hardness of 40 hrc)
Screwdriver (5mm)
Bottle opener
Screwdriver (7.5 mm)
Large blade
Scissors or serrated blade
Metal file
Metal saw
Wood saw
Reamer/punch
Phillips screwdriver
Chisel/scraper
Strong crate opener
Wire bender
Wire stripper
Wire scraper
Wire crimper
Can opener
Ruler (9 inches)
Ruler (230mm)
Hard wire cutter
Lanyard hole

Length: 11.5 cm closed, 17.1 cm open

Weight: 280 gram

 I got the version with a serrated blade instead of the little scissors, since I have neaver seen the reason to have some feeble scissors on a knife. What can you do with the scissors you can't do with the blade?

On a related note, I like the  filtered B&W function of Picasa.

On an unrelated note, I've overused quotes in this "blarticle", and am disgusted with myself.

Now excuse me while I go play with my SwissTool some more. Snick.

Nearly Summer

Place Bel Air, Lausanne

mutilated via Picasa 3.

Code of Honour

 

Alexander Hamilton showing Aaron Burr the what-for. [Source:Wikipedia]

for duelling, of course. How else would you settle affairs between Gentlemen, I ask you?

Here is the refreshingly short (and deadly) Code Duello from Ireland, 1777:

[Being extracts from pp 33-36 of The Duel: a History by Robert Baldick (first published in 1965; reprinted by Barnes & Noble Books, New York 1996).]

{This is the Irish code duello adopted by the gentlemen of Tipperary, Galway, Sligo and Roscommon at the Clonmel Summer Assizes, 1777, for the better government of duelists, and there prescribed for general adoption throughout Ireland. 'The document was known in Galway as 'the 26 commandments' and is typical of the codes in force at the time in England and continental Europe.}

I. The first offence requires the first apology, though the retort may have been more offensive than the insult. Example: A tells B he is impertinent, etc. B retorts that he lies; yet A must make the first apology, because he give the first offence, and (after one fire) B may explain away the retort by subsequent apology.

II. But if the parties would rather fight on, then, after two shots each (but in no case before), B may explain first and A apologize afterwards.

N.B. The above rules [both I and II] apply to all cases of offences in retort not of a stronger class than the example.

III. If a doubt exists who gave the first offence, the decision rests with the seconds. If they will not decide or cannot agree, the matter must proceed to two shots, or to a hit if the challenger requires it.

IV. When the lie direct is the first offence, the aggressor must either beg pardon in express terms, exchange two shots previous to apology, or three shots followed by explanation, or fire on till a severe hit be received by one party or the other.

V. As a blow is strictly prohibited under any circumstances among gentlemen, no verbal apology can be received for such an insult. The alternatives, therefore, are: the offender handing a cane to the injured party to be used on his back, at the same time begging pardon; firing until one or both are disabled; or exchanging three shots and then begging pardon without the proffer of the cane.

N.B. If swords are used, the parties engage until one is well blooded, disabled, or disarmed, or until, after receiving a wound and blood being drawn, the aggressor begs pardon.

VI. If A gives B the lie and B retorts by a blow (being the two greatest offences), no reconciliation can take place till after two discharges each or a severe hit, after which B may beg A's pardon for the blow, and then A may explain simply for the lie, because a blow is never allowable, and the offence of the lie, therefore, merges in it. (See preceding rule.)

N.B. Challenges for undivulged causes may be conciliated on the ground after one shot. An explanation or the slightest hit should be sufficient in such cases, because no personal offence transpired.

VII. But no apology can be received in any case after the parties have actually taken their ground without exchange of shots.

VIII. In the above case no challenger is obliged to divulge his cause of challenge (if private) unless required by the challenged so to do before their meeting.

IX. All imputations of cheating at play, races, etc., to be considered equivalent to a blow, but may be reconciled after one shot, on admitting their falsehood and begging pardon publicly.

X. Any insult to a lady under a gentleman's care or protection to be considered as by one degree a greater offence than if given to the gentleman personally, and to be regarded accordingly.

XI. Offences originating or accruing from the support of ladies' reputations to be considered as less unjustifiable than any others of the same class, and as admitting of slighter apologies by the aggressor. This is to be determined by the circumstances of the case, but always favourably to the lady.

XII. No dumb firing or firing in the air is admissible in any case. The challenger ought not to have challenged without receiving offence, and the challenged ought, if he gave offence, to have made an apology before he came on the ground; therefore children's play must be dishonourable on one side or the other, and is accordingly prohibited.

XIII. Seconds to be of equal rank in society with the principals they attend, inasmuch as a second may either choose or chance to become a principal and equality is indispensable.

XIV. Challenges are never to be delivered at night, unless the party to be challenged intends leaving the place of offence before morning; for it is desirable to avoid all hot- headed proceedings.

XV. The challenged has the right to choose his own weapons unless the challenger gives his honour he is no swordsman, after which, however, he cannot decline any second species of weapon proposed by the challenged.

XVI. The challenged chooses his ground, the challenger chooses his distance, the seconds fix the time and terms of firing.

XVII. The seconds load in presence of each other, unless they give their mutual honours that they have charged smooth and single, which shall be held sufficient.

{AGB's note: 'charged smooth' refers to the strict prohibition on the use of rifled barrels in duels; ‘single’ refers to one bullet only having been leaded into the barrel.}

VIII. Firing may be regulated, first, by signal; secondly by word of command; or, thirdly at pleasure, as may be agreeable to the parties. In the latter case, the parties may fire at their reasonable leisure, but second presents and rests are strictly prohibited.

XIX. In all cases a misfire is equivalent to a shot, and a snap or a non-cock is to be considered as a misfire.

XX. Seconds are bound to attempt a reconciliation before the meeting takes place, or after sufficient firing or hits as specified.

XXI. Any wound sufficient to agitate the nerves and necessarily make the hand shake must end the business for that day.

XXII. If the cause of meeting be of such a nature that no apology or explanation can or will be received, the challenged takes his ground and calls on the challenger to proceed as he chooses. In such cases firing at pleasure is the usual practice, but may be varied by agreement.

XXIII. In slight cases the second hands his principal but one pistol, but in gross cases two, holding another case ready charged in reserve.

XXIV. When the seconds disagree and resolve to exchange shots themselves, it must be at the same time and at right angles with their principals. If with swords, side-by-side, with five paces' interval.

XXV. No party can be allowed to bend his knee or cover his side with his left hand but may present at any level from the hip to the eye.

XVI. None can either advance or retreat if the ground is measured. If no ground be measured, either party may advance at his pleasure, even to the touch of muzzle, but neither can advance on his adversary after the fire, unless the adversary steps forward on him.

N.B. The seconds on both sides stand responsible for this last rule being strictly observed, bad cases having occurred from neglecting it.

N.B. All matters and doubts not herein mentioned will be explained and cleared up by application to the Committee, who meet alternately at Clonmel and Galway at the quarter sessions for that purpose.

 For a more begnin code (or, as I like to call it, duelling for pussies; Apologising after the first shot, in a duel fought over a blow? Please!) you are welcome to peruse the

CODE OF HONOR;
or
RULES FOR THE GOVERNMENT
of
PRINCIPALS AND SECONDS
in
DUELLING

BY JOHN LYDE WILSON.

CHARLESTON, S. C,:

PRINTED BY JAMES PHINNEY,

In the rear of 48 Broad St,

1858.

over at greymalkns livejournal, here. 

Of course, if duels aren't your thing, you can always apologise...

 

Apology after the Irish Code Duello [source: Wikipedia] 

 or, you can hold it like Rudolf Virchow, who when challenged by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, chose as his weapons two pork sausages, a cooked one for himself and an uncooked one to be infected by  Trichinella spiralis for Bismarck (thus violating the rule of equality of weapons). Bismarck then withdrew the challenge, citing his well-known dislike of sausage, or something. Leave it to the Germans to bring it all down to Wurst.

 

Dueling weapons of an happier age [Source: Wikipedia]

 

Lac de la Gruyère

View south from the Lac de la Gruyère, the longest reservoir in Switzerland. 5 minutes from here you can find Gruyères itself, home to the famous cheese and the second-most visited village in Switzerland.

Yet another lamp

I had so much fun building my last lamp out of plumbing fixtures that I made another. Also, I needed a bed-side light.

This time I incooperated a light switch - see me installing it here:

And here is the finished product, illuminating the head of my couch/bed:

Groovy.