In Sputnik’s Orbit

A few thoughts to tide you over…

 

If you’re tired of losing battles with yourself…

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I’m no Matt Damen, but I did okay with the ladies back in the day–I guess. I was and am a nerd. I grew up in a world of books and ideas. I was that kid in the back of the class with his nose in a book to keep from having to make small talk before class, the kid in the comedy flick who never seems comfortable in his own skin, because at just over 6’1″ and adorned in whatever my mom found on the Blue-Light special, I wasn’t. I towered over the other kids, yet let myself be bullied. I avoided sports…and stayed scrawny. When I reached college with my touring bike and access to a natatorium, that all changed, but it never occurred to me I might be physically imposing until one night in a convenience store when the checkout clerk, unaware that her friend (who had come up to shout through the door and give me shit about my t-shirt) was sleeping with me, shouted her name and flashed the international standard facial semaphore for “are you fucking kidding? He’s gonna kick your ass!”

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Welcome (Back) To the Jungle

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This week began our return to the daily commute, 3 days a week after 14 months fully at home. My day job is in IT, and the first thing we all noticed about working from home, everyone all the time, was the increase in productivity and reduction in stress. It took a while to sink in just how much additional time it bought us, and today, at the conclusion of my first full(ish) week back in the office, I felt the full weight of that additional time being taken away. Writing time–gone. Family time–gone. My wife comes home exhausted every day.

So today I put down the sums and added it up, for real.

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Until Further Notice…

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The saddest thing I’ve seen in a while is a sign, hand-written with a beleaguered blue marker on a folded sheet of copy paper taped inside a glass door: “Closed until 7/13/20.” It had later been scratched through and updated to “until further notice.”

Double-masked, fully vaccinated, yet with no small trepidation, I ventured this morning out of the rain and into the labyrinth of tunnels underlying much of Houston’s downtown, just before 10 am, before any office workers are headed to lunch, when most stores are closed and restaurants are just starting preparations for lunch. Houston’s subterranean business district lives off this market, the lunchtime office worker rush. Aside from the many restaurants, convenience and gift shops, optometrists and printers all serve the needs of the itinerate workforce. 170,000 or so people who come and go every day of the workweek—a force that for the last 14 months has been largely absent.

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Translate 13,000 Application Strings in One Shot

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In a browser, Modern computer applications contain thousands of text strings used within the user interface to populate help text, buttons, dialogs, and other controls. Localization is used to swap these text strings out for those appropriate to other languages so the application can readily adapt to users around the globe. This post isn’t about how that’s done but about a method for addressing the single greatest weakness of localization–getting all those strings translated into every language supported by the application. Generally, they’re stored in properties files of one form or another and sent out to language experts (or volunteers) for translation.

This quickly becomes a logistical nightmare nightmare, and unless each translator is very adept, and every translations is made in the context of the application, results can be mixed. It’s a lot of work and can be a great expense that many smaller developers simply can’t afford, meaning that many applications simply don’t support as many languages as they might, or support them as well as they should.

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2021 Appearances

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I will NOT be attending Comicpalooza this year due to the pandemic, or any other appearances for the first half of the year. AmadilloCon and Fencon…we shall see.

New Stories!

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New stories coming!

Galaxy’s Edge Magazine: The Snows of Maxwell Montes – A cynic finds purpose in sacrifice on the harshest of planets.
Analog Science Fiction & Fact: Sample Return – A woman bets everything on a fishing expedition — into the clouds of Jupiter!

What’s a Free Market Anyway?

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Recently, I found myself in contact with online denizens arguing that Republicans want to destroy trade unions because they are against the free market.

No. Just no. Putting aside what the GOP does or does not want for another (very rainy) day…

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Christmas Lights, 2020

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Some of you may not have been able to get out and enjoy the Christmas lights as you normally would, or may not have felt up to it this year, or may not have had neighbors in the mood….so we did it for you.

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Two Story Sales!

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Hi everybody! I know I’ve been way too quiet of late, and I thought I’d pop in to give a little update–and a lesson in perseverance.

First, I sold two more stories (you are the first to know). One, my 2020 Jim Baen contest winner, sold to Analog. The other sold to Galaxy’s Edge after being my second Jim Baen finalist way back in…I’d have to look up the year.

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The renowned mathematician Paul Erdos, when asked how old he was, used to answer “2 billion years”. His reason was “when I was born, the Earth was known to be 2.5 billion years old; now it’s known to be 4.5 billion years old; therefore, I must be 2 billion years old!”

With respect to Mr. Erdos, that’s a load of BS.

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