Mount Chipotle

There really are few words that can describe the hilarity that is Mount Chipotle. It has a blog! And check out the article in the Daily Progress.

It's going to snow again next week... twice.

On the bright side, I went to a conference today and gave an official "interpretation" of someone else's paper. So that's a nice experience (both personally and for my beloved CV - whether it was good for Heather... well, she was probably too jet-lagged from being snowed in for a week at her job interview to notice ;-) ).

I Can Has Funding?

Yes, this is a LOL cat picture.

I created it in celebration of my completing the latest fellowship application - and a chapter of my dissertation. Phew!

For anyone who's wondering... this is Curious Georgette (1991-2000).

Proof That I Really Should Be Graduating

My first semester at UVA, way back in 2003, saw the Dreaded Hurricane Isabel. (Yes, I did just link to Wikipedia. As I tell my students: it does have its uses, but paper citations is not one of them.) UVA closed, though not until the hurricane was already upon us. I vividly remember biking home through the hurricane - not an experience I'd care to repeat. My apartment was full of hurricane refugees from my undergrad institution of William and Mary, which lay close to the coast and got walloped - it was closed for over a week.

UVA hasn't closed since then... until today. The picture above comes from last week, when a "mere" 10" of snow fell (more than we usually get in any given year). As I type, a predicted 24-30" of snow is pouring down outside. After I finish typing, I'm off to dig out my car (again) in the vain hope that when the snow stops (predicted circa 10 P.M. tomorrow night) and they plow my complex, I might actually be able to get it out.

It would have been so cool to start and end my graduate career with UVA's rare closings.

Alas, that is not to be. And after I finish shoveling out my car, it's back to work on writing chapter 2 of said dissertation. Fingers crossed I don't lose power, but at least my laptop has a good 4 hour battery life. Maybe I should figure out where my flashlights ran off to....

Google and Amazon and MacMillan, oh my!

Yes, I admit it. I'm putting my cart before my horse. In fact, the cart is SO far in front of the horse that the poor beast is just standing there in the middle of the road, looking around in confusion and wondering, "Wasn't there supposed to be a cart somewhere?"

In other words, I've started trying to follow the news in the publishing world. And yes, I know I haven't finished writing my dissertation, much less gotten it into book form (hence the metaphor above).

Then again, given the insanity that seems to be the publishing world, maybe I got too late of a start and now I'll never understand....

On-going Example: The Google Book Settlement, in which

1) Google suddenly discovers it's okay to scan copyrighted books and post them online

2) Some authors decide to sue

3) Said authors decide to settle, not just for themselves but for all authors everywhere (yea, class action)

4) Other authors say WTF are you doing, you're not representative and we disagree with you anyway

5) Google allows that if you'd like, it will take your copyrighted material off the internet, though it reserves the right to break your copyright again in the future - but it's okay, you can still sue them

6) Foreign countries get involved

7) Legal insanity ensues (and is continuing to ensue)*

*My interpretation of the insanity might lack a complete understanding of all the legal wrangling and logistics. And I'm okay with that. Look it up for yourself if you're horrified/interested/thinking about becoming Google Junior.

New, Late-Breaking Example: The Amazon-MacMillan War, in which

1) Apple announces the iPad, a sorta halfway model between the iPod touch and a MacBook Air.

2) MacMillan (one of the 6 major publishing companies in the U.S.) brokers a new eBook deal with Apple

3) MacMillan tells Amazon that they can either match the deal with Apple, or continue under the old terms of sale with significant windowing (aka the eBook will not be available until several months after the hardback comes out).

4) Amazon decides to stop selling every book, print or electronic, published by MacMillan (this late Friday/early Saturday)

5) Everyone in publishing says WTF just happened?

6) The Amazon Kindle team declares Amazon will cave with the most hilariously stupid statement I've read in a long time, but as of yet Amazon.com has not reinstated the buy buttons for MacMillan books, so far as I can tell.*

*N.B.: to my knowledge everything Amazon has done is completely legal. Whether you think they're justified or idiots is up to you to decide.

Publishing. It's like a soap opera. You know you shouldn't watch it - switch off the daytime TV and get back to writing your dissertation! - but you just can't help it....