Day: July 27, 2011

So much for Wednesday

I stayed home today, thanks largely to a bad neck crick that became real pain in the middle of night and kept me from getting back to sleep. It started on Monday, and I’m sure I just slept badly on it, but last night around four or five in the morning I must have really twisted my neck. It hurt a lot, and was still well past uncomfortable when I woke up (late). I took a shower and got dressed, thinking I’d swallow a Motrin and hope for the best, but it was already well past eight when I got anywhere near the door. I was going to both miss my train — meaning I’d have to walk or take the train from Penn Station, getting in even later — and I’d still barely be able to move my head from side to side.

So I stayed home. It’s not something I like doing, but lying in bed and applying heat to the back of my neck seemed like the better course of action. I checked my work e-mail periodically throughout the day, and I seem to have gotten back to the simply uncomfortableness I had Tuesday night before bed. I’m going to get a good night’s sleep and get to work tomorrow.

In the meantime, though, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the latest issue of Kaleidotrope is now available. It’s a little different than usual, though no shorter in length. This issue, which I’m calling the “Summer 2011” issue, features a fantasy novella, a long-form poem, and what I hope is a really nice cover. Check it out, won’t you?

Wednesday various

  • I’m not really sure why you’d want bots to pretend to be you on social network sites, and the confused grammar of the fine print doesn’t really make things clearer [via]:

    The bot does not born with a fictitious identity, but will be added to the real identity of the user to modify it at his convenience. Thus, this bot can be seen as a virtual prothesis [sic] added to an user’s account. With the aim to help him to forge a digital identity of what he would really like to be and by trying to build a greater social reputation for the user. Moreover, this bot can be perceived as a threat by defrauding even more the reality of who is really who on social networks and by showing the poverty of our social interactions on these so-called social networks.

  • The Eternal Shame of Your First Online Handle. I dunno, I’m still using mine on a regular basis. (Though it predates my capping by a couple of years.) [via]
  • Guess the film by the final image. I got less than half. Slightly spoilery, for some films more than others. Of course, I can’t tell you which films without ruining the whole thing. [via]
  • A wonderfully detailed analysis of set design and spatial awareness in The Shining. He concludes, I think rightly, that a lot (if not all) of these “errors” were intentional, meant to disorient and unnerve viewers who would, maybe only subconsciously, pick up on the impossibility of the architecture. It gets to the heart of something I’ve discussed with enthusiasm before: using lies in fiction to tell the truth, creating a more believable world by adding less real elements. [via]
  • And finally, a virtual supermarket in a subway station. [via]