A Curious Statistical Anomaly

From 1989 to 1992 WSFA Press published one book each year to honor the Guest of Honor of its annual convention, Disclave, and now for Capclave 2009, WSFA Press lives again, returning to its roots, with a new website, wsfapress.com, a renewed focus, and a new project: a limited run of Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove, a short story collection containing six stories never-before-reprinted, an original story, story notes, and an introduction by Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

Issued in both a 250-copy signed and numbered edition, and a 750-copy limited edition, Reincarnations marks WSFA’s first new project in four years, and the first in a new ongoing publishing program to commemorate Capclave’s author guests of honor. Both editions will launch at Capclave, and be thereafter available from selected dealers, including Edge Books, Wrigley-Cross, Zeising Books, and many more, or available for preordering, now, from the new WSFA Press website, at wsfapress.com.

“Harry can count two generations of my family among his thousands of readers. Since you’re holding this book right now, I’m glad that you are, or will soon be, one of those lucky readers, too.”—Sheila Williams, from her introduction

The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is the oldest science fiction club in the greater Washington area. Its members are interested in all types of science fiction and fantasy literature as well as related areas such as fantasy and science fiction films, television, costuming, gaming, filking, convention-running, and more.

Contact Gayle Surrette or Paul Haggerty, at wsfapress@gmail.com.

I’ve noticed that music can lighten my mood if I’m unhappy. Depress me if I’m sad. Give me that extra energy to go just a bit more on some task or other when I’m tired. Music, even when it’s the music of wind in the leaves and birds at the feeder, makes life just more “there”.

For many years, I’ve noticed that when the music fits a movie it adds to the viewing and the story. When the sounds are right and the music is right you don’t even notice it it just stays in the background — but it can make you cry more at the sad parts, shudder at the scary parts, and thrill to the adventure — it adds to the story but in a way you don’t even notice.

Today, this article in ScienceDaily caught my eye, or rather the title did, “Scary Music Is Scarier With Your Eyes Shut“. Prof. Talma Hendler and Dr. Yulia Lerner at Tel Aviv Universities Functional Brain Center studied people listening to scary music with their eyes open and closed and found some interesting results:

15 healthy volunteers listen to spooky Hitchcock-style music, and then neutral sounds with no musical melody. They listened to these twice, once with their eyes open and a second time with their eyes shut, as she monitored their brain activity with an fMRI. While volunteers were listening to the scary music, Dr. Lerner found that brain activity peaked when the subjects’ eyes were closed. This medical finding corresponded to volunteer feedback that the subjects felt more emotionally charged by the scary music.

The amygdala, the region of the brain in which emotions are located, was significantly more active when the subjects’ eyes were closed. “It’s possible that closing one’s eyes during an emotional stimulation, like in our research, may help people through a variety of mental states. It synchs connectivity in the brain,” Dr. Hendler says.

They’re hoping that this research can be used to design future studies that could help people with dementia and systemic brain disorders.

Music brings balance to the brain and more readily integrates the affective and cognitive centers of our mind. Music may help us think better and even improve our learning abilities.

I don’t know about people with actual physical neurological problems but for many years Hollywood has been experimenting on hundreds of thousands of people by using music to play with their emotions. Just as many students use music to help them concentrate on their studies. Workers the world over use music to mask annoying background chatter so that they can work effectively. Many people have used music to regulate their movements so that everyone is in sync when group efforts are required (rowing, lifting heavy objects, etc.). Guess now science has caught up.

Imagine my surprise when I bumped into this item when scanning through some science sites this morning.   I checked out the website at http://beagle.vpro.nl/#/ where you need to click on the language you prefer to read. I watched the trailer promo there and then moved on to the YouTube Beagle Channel. The website will have the 35 episode after they air on Dutch television.

Even though the voyage started on September 13th (that’s at least what I gather from the promo) you can still catch up and follow along as they retrace the five year voyage in one year on the Clipper Stad Amsterdam. It will be very interesting to follow along and see how the past and the present mesh and what that might mean for the future.

Guess I’ll go dust off my copy of Origins of the Species — oh, wait it isn’t dusty, I’ve also got an electronic copy (available from several online sources including Gutenberg. There’s also a Facebook page and Twitter coverage.

Okay, I’ve just got to let off some steam. I’ve been using computers for years. I’ve built them. I’ve coded the programs that run on them. I’ve been technical support. I’ve even taught classes on how to use them and how to use software on them. But it fries my cookies how many people who send email daily can’t seem to grasp the importance of having a good clear subject line.

Today, I got a document I was expecting, from someone working on a project with me. The subject line was so off the wall that I had clicked to move it to my junk folder before I noticed the email address of the sender and managed to pull it back and read it. The attachment was the document I was looking for. A bit less caffeine or attention and it would have hit the junk folder and I’d have deleted it forever. Until now I thought the problems I was having getting information from this person was because my ISP was blocking them or it was getting caught in my firewall. Who knew that this person couldn’t write a subject line along the lines of: Here’s the document on X. Granted I get spam like that but it would have been better than the line that was used.

We have a friend who either doesn’t enter a subject line at all or who says “hello”. Doesn’t this friend realize (even after being told) that I get about 40 similar emails every day from spammers and those my spam filter usually picks up automatically and puts them in the Junk folder. (Yes, I do check my Junk folder for email address of the usual suspects.)

I moderate a list that is supposed to have only two types of emails posted. To stay on the list they must participate and a program checks the posts against membership and the various subject lines, because anything that does not start with one of  the allowable subject lines, doesn’t count for participation. Guess what? Bet you can — many people can’t seem to do it. When I know they’re new to email and the internet, that’s one thing. But those who have been reminded repeatedly still mess up regularly. I won’t even go near the send-the-email-to-the-right-list rant.

What’s the big deal? I mean when you use snail mail you have to put on the receiver’s mailing address. You can’t just say, Sam Somebody, a street with a tree, East Coast. No, you have to be explicit about where you want your mail to go. It’s the same with email. You have to put the correct email address in the TO field. But if you want the person to actually look at it, the email should let them know, sort of, what the email is about. Our dinner plans for Friday. The proofs for the story. The document on X that you asked me for. Something to trigger the “I should read that circuit”.

When I get spam, and I get a lot, I scan for subject lines that might be valid and then check the address of the sender. If the address is valid, I’ll take a peek at the email (it’s already been scrubbed for viruses and such). If the subject lines is a non-starter, I may not even look at the sender.

I’m sure I’m not the only one fed up with the poor use such an important communications tool — the Subject Line. I’m just not sure why people don’t use it correctly to impart information. How can anyone get them to change? Maybe it’s just me. To some degree, I know it is because I’ve got a lot of tasks piled up and I’m still recovering from being ill so I’m low on energy. But, I had to vent.

And, yes. I’m actually interested in knowing if I’m the only person that gets bent out of shape about this topic. Let’s face it, I can’t cure the world’s ills until I manage to become Supreme Mugwump. So, I’ve decided to worry about the little things that just might be fixable. If not fixable, at least I can get it out of my system and move on to more important things, like the fact that no matter how many spoons I buy, there are never enough.

I was reaching for a book to take it off the shelf and got a pretty bad gash from the dust jacket. That got me thinking that most of the cuts on my hands have been paper cuts. Should books and paper be reclassified as dangerous weapons? Should those TSA people start making us put newspapers, magazines, and books in our check through? I remember that they did forbid books for a while in flights from Britain to the US when there was an incident that had nothing to do with books a while back.

Sometimes, it makes you rethink things, but could it be that they were afraid people would read something scary or incendiary and throw a fit? Do people get passionate about their reading material anymore?

I know that I’ve burst out laughing while reading a passage or been sniffling back sobs and tears and had people step away from the crazy person. Friends have told me that they often react to what they’re reading by laughing, crying, or getting emotional in other ways.

But with my throbbing paper cut, I’m thinking maybe ideas aren’t the only danger that books possess.

What do you think?

Today I ran across an article on IT World by Jennifer Kavur called “How much are you worth on the black market?” Kavur highlights some of the problems that are involved with Identity Theft and highlights Norton’s 2010 site where you can get your risk evaluated and a dollar amount for how much your identity would be worth and how much someone might pay to buy your identity.

The Norton Online Risk Calculator, unveiled within a microsite to coincide with the launch of Norton 2010, calculates your net worth on the black market by asking a few questions about your personal Internet use.

I decided to check out the risk calculator and went to the site and answered the questions. I’d be for sale for about $31 and my risk is very low. The reasons my risk is low include:

• I’m not famous or infamous
• I’ve got a collection of software that protects my machine from viruses, spyware, and other “bad” stuff.
• I turn off my javascript and only turn it on when I trust the site I go to — if I don’t trust it I live with only having partial access to the material on the site.
• If I think the site might be one set up for phishing, I don’t click on the link.
• I’ve got my browser and email programs to show me the link prior to clicking on it. If the link doesn’t match what I think a link to that site should look like I don’t click it — ever — no matter who sent the link to me.

I try to use safe computing/internet practices, but I’m not perfect. Someday, I’ll goof and get caught and I can only hope that I’ll manage to save my identity from being used maliciously and getting me, my finances, or my reputation in a mess.

While people may not read a paper on Identity Theft, they just might be willing to answer a few questions to see just how much at risk they may be. Then hopefully, they’ll act on that information to protect their data and their computer access. Keep yourself safe. Know the risks.

How do you protect your identity? Do you think you’re safe? What more could be done?

This has been under-wraps for awhile and we’ve finally got all the technical, or most of the technical, details of the WSFA Press website ironed out.

From WSFA Press:

WSFA Press is publishing a very special and limited new collection of Harry Turtledove short fiction, Reincarnations, containing six stories never-before-reprinted, an original story, story notes, and an introduction by Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

Be one of the first people to own this amazing collection. There is a special rate for those who order early, so don’t miss your opportunity to own a copy. Go to the WSFA Press website: http://www.wsfapressbooks.org/ and order your copy today. Only 1000 hardcover copies will be offered for sale: 250 copies will specially signed & numbered by Harry Turtledove, the remaining 750 will not be signed – unless you come to Capclave and find Harry!

In case you’re wondering why I’m touting this book, it’s because I’m a member of WSFA, on this year’s Capclave committee, and Chair of next year’s (2010) Capclave, and on the Publications committee. I also worked on WSFA Press’ previous book, Future Washington, as copy editor and proofreader. But this time, I’m mostly an observer giving support to a great project.

A bit about WSFA Press:

From 1989 to 1992 WSFA Press published one book each year to honor the Guest of Honor of our annual convention. In 2005 WSFA Press was returned from suspended animation to produce the Future Washington anthology. And now in 2009, WSFA Press lives again, returning to its roots to publish Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove.

I’d been having Just Jane by Nancy Moser popping up on my recommendations on Amazon for quite a while and saw it on sale at Sam’s Club and thought what the heck might as well give it a try. Besides the reviews on Amazon when I checked it out seemed mainly positive.

As a novel of the life of Jane Austen, Just Jane covers the facts of her life adequately. Told from the point of view of Jane, you’d expect the same wittiness that Austen was known for but in that regard it never quite gets up to what I expected. However, the author, as it turns out, didn’t expect to write to the voice of Austen just the facts of Austen. Having recently read, Cassandra and Jane: A Jane Austen Novel by Jill Pitkeathley, I found Just Jane to be much kinder to Cassandra and much more clinical in the laying out of Austen’s life story.

As a narrative of the life of Jane Austen, Just Jane works and works well. It covers all the highlights of the family, their inter-relationships, visits, births, deaths, marriages, moves, the books and their publication. It just never got me to make an emotional attachment to Jane Austen. This was surprising because in many ways Jane Austen was a precursor to the modern woman. She was a woman who chafed at not being able to control her own life, manage her own monetary affairs or even control her publications without a male taking part in the business of publishing. However, with the support and encouragement of her family, she wrote books that are still in print and revered today for her incisive portrayal of her society. Jane Austen was a clear eyed observer of what went on around her. She studied people and herself and managed to give her readers a look at what life was like for people in that strata of society. The fact that they were also in many ways love stories with the female characters getting married at the end didn’t hurt either.

While Moser does an admirable job of presenting the factual time line as a fictional narrative, it lacks the passion and emotional impact that I would have liked to have read for a fictionalized biography of the author. So while it didn’t really tell me any more than I already knew, or make me feel like I understood Jane Austen any better, it was an interesting and factual account of her life as we know it from Austen’s letters and writings.

I’m not going to comment on the religious overtones of the characterization of Jane Austen because I have no real way to know how she acted around others during her lifetime. However, I do feel that, based on the times, that she wouldn’t feel the need to resort to telling people she was going to pray for them or the Lord would take care and so on and so on. Why? Because at that time religion was such an integral part of life that it would go without saying that prayers would be said for those in need. As the daughter and sister of ministers, Austen’s life was steeped in religion and the church and it would “just” be and not need mentioning. I think it’s fairly common now-a-days to point out how religious one is in order to show just how important religion is to their life — actions speak louder than words and always have. It would be unnecessary to continually harp on the religious nature of Austen’s life because her actions in visiting the poor, helping her neighbors, traveling miles to be with a friend who is caring for an ill relative — give the same information via the acts. Since the actions are in the story, the words are unnecessary and without the actions they are not to be believed.

All in all, an interesting fictionalized biography of Jane Austen. However, Cassandra and Jane has more of an emotional undercurrent that infuses the incidents with emotional as well as factual weight while Just Jane remains at arm’s length. I’m not sorry I read Just Jane, and I’d recommend it for someone looking for a fictional biography. I just feel that it could have been better, especially since it is told from Jane Austen’s point of view, if it had approached Austen’s wit and cleverness.