Hanging By My Tale

What's a Poppet?

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 03:57:01 GMT

Lisa Snellings has been producing wonderful artwork for years now, but in the last few years she's turned her attention to a small figurine called a Poppet. She's been exploring all of the strange permutations that Poppets can undergo, and has found that they're bigger on the inside than on the outside.

My daughter and I have done some stop-motion animation of her Poppets. Those videos are on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Aliapoppets

I've been lucky to have been able to help Lisa on occasion with some videos of her Poppet creations. Here's a link to that video:

http://gallery.me.com/davidkirkpatrick44#100007/PoppetVision&bgcolor=black

If you want to find out more about Poppets, here's the place to start:

http://slaughterhousestudios.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-we-know-about-poppets.html

Explanatory Interstitial

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 05:25:36 GMT

For those of you wondering what's up with this blog, a quick word of explanation, so you don't have to go all the way back to the first entry to figure things out...

I am posting, on an irregular basis, short stories. Each story must be exactly 100 words in length. Further, within the story, any word can only be used once - no duplications are allowed. I miss the small stuff the most - 'the', 'and', 'a', 'an', etc.

It's a fun little puzzle; if you are interested in writing, give it a try sometime.

Now back to our irregularly scheduled blog, barely in progress....

TS #13 (Carl Sagan Blog-a-thon Day)

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 18:44:08 GMT

In honor of Carl Sagan, I'm posting a new 100 word, no repeats, Tiny Story:

It isn’t often you see internet bloggers almost universally agree about something. However, today many blogs will center on Carl Sagan’s life, whose impact cannot be overstated. He boosted science’s prestige tremendously within everyone’s minds. Additionally, his books introduced masses of people to basic astronomical or cosmological principles, leading them into seriously considering humanity’s position in the universe. Innumerable scientists, myself included, owe him our careers. How can one adequately measure this man's role as a model, inspiring budding researchers everywhere? Talk with any researcher who grew up at that time; they’ll mention ‘Cosmos’ and Sagan reverentially, for good reason.

No time limit on this one, as it was a special one and I wanted to get it right.

I'm still swamped with the last details of teaching, but I'm hoping that after the New Year I'll have more time to post more stories, as I won't be teaching in the Spring. There'll be grants and papers to submit, but they don't subsume all of my time the way that teaching does...

TS #12

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 04:30:31 GMT

Eons-dead clams, crynoids or horn coral remained embedded in muddy silt until time and pressure fossilized them. Much later their rocky grave broke apart. They tumbled into Lake Huron, where centuries of grinding surf smoothed out all rough edges. Differences among the minerals making up each animal’s new form rendered subtle patterns across every fossil, nearly invisible except when wet. Walking along Huron’s shoreline, I search for these ancient remains. It is a sobering thought, realizing how long ago those animals were alive before having been granted nigh-immortality as fossils, only to have that permanence ground away by mere water.

Started: 10:35 PM
Ended: 11:18 PM
Elapsed time: 43 minutes

This one was re-constructed from another I had written on vacation, but seem to have lost. Time for posting has been almost non-existent, with teaching and the beginning of the school year. I'm not sure when it'll get any easier, too....

Meme

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 05:52:04 GMT

greygirlbeast tagged me for a meme:

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

The closest fiction book was Norm Partridge's 'Mr Fox and Other Feral Tales' from SubPress. Page 123, fifth sentence, and following four:

Chet laughed. "Hey, Stevie, where do lifeguards go after summer vacation?" Steve didn't answer. He hadn't told Chet and Pete about the awful things that lifeguards had to do. He wasn't going to tell them now.

Actually, the closest book was the Genetics text, written by Rob Brooker, that I'm using with my undergraduate class this semester. Page 123 and 124 are full-page diagrams; the fifth to ninth sentences on 125 are, fittingly enough given my research topics, concerned with using recombination frequencies to determine map distance:

As mentioned, a tetratype contains 50% recombinant chromosomes, a nonparental ditype 100%. Therefore, the map distance is computed as: Map distance = [(NPD + (0.5 x T)) / Total number of asci] x 100. Over short map distances, this calculation provides a fairly reliable measure of distance. However, it does not adequately account for double crossovers. When two genes are far apart on the same chromosome, the calculated map distance using this equation underestimates the actual map distance due to double crossovers.

By a funny coincidence, that section is from the lecture that I'm just finishing up for Monday's class...

TS #11

Sun, 27 Aug 2006 17:07:44 GMT

Walking along Lake Huron’s eastern shoreline, my feet pressed first into damp brown sand, then hard, slick pebbles. An enormous storm had roared through last night, rearranging every beach feature. Lines of rock ran parallel to water’s edge; the largest rocks rested farthest from shore. They were left far away, as a big stone requires significant force before it’ll move. Each was rounded, smoothed by constant pounding and tumbling, glowing soft white with occasional pastel shades after drying. However, when water lapped across stones, it brought out their brilliantly colored stripes. Rarely, ancient fossils or tumbled sea-glass could be found.

Started: 11:18 AM
Ended: 11:59 AM
Elapsed time: 41 minutes

This one was actually done on the 22nd of August. I've been away a lot the last month - at a scientific conference for a week, at a graduate student retreat for three days, and then on a family vacation for ten days (completely without internet connection - withdrawal symptoms were definitely felt!) I've got a couple of other Tiny Stories to post from the trip, but I'll spread them out a bit.

TS #10

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 18:21:07 GMT

At first she thought they were insect bites spaced closely together on her upper arm. However, gentle probing revealed a solid core to them, as if splinters lurked within. “Maybe I haven’t been bitten, but stung?” Connie wasn’t really concerned until stiff black hairs began sprouting from every pore in that area, which became tender and tingly, spreading outward. Worryingly, each hair grew remarkably quickly; cutting did not slow its growth. Could imbedded stingers cause such wild reactions? When heavy insectile scales appeared it was too late for any doctor’s help, although by then the new queen no longer minded.

Started: 12:34 PM
Ended: 1:06 PM
Elapsed time: 32 minutes

I enjoy monster movies, especially the man-into-monster subgenre. I grew up watching some of the cheesiest ones on Saturday afternoon TV - The Wasp Woman, The Alligator People, The Reptile, The Amazing Colossal Man, etc. This is a bit of a homage to those B-movie scenes.

TS #9

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 03:40:33 GMT

Sleepiness, drowsiness, it creeps up when one isn’t paying attention, sinking impossibly thin needle-like claws into your brain, smoothly injecting dreamstuff until coherent thoughts drift and fall apart. Thought paths which once were straightforward begin turning upon themselves, spiraling down through areas resembling nothing you’ve ever seen before. But worst is that convulsive jerking head bob, resulting from a sudden falling feeling, ripping cobwebs away, thrusting the world back in your skull. For short moments of time those dreamscape pathways lie clear, then become foggy, indistinct, impossible to follow, eventually fading entirely, not leaving anything behind except swiftly evaporating mist.

Started: 9:32 PM
Ended: 10:14 PM
Elapsed time: 42 minutes

I love those first few moments after waking up, or coming back to reality after beginning to fall asleep, because then I can remember the pathways of my dreams. However, the majority of those dreams fade rapidly, no matter how much I try to hold onto them. Even worse, the feeling of the dream disappears too, even from those sections of which I manage to retain knowledge.

Explanatory Interstitial

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 22:16:04 GMT

TS #8

Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:20:45 GMT

The most remarkable advance in modern plant biology has gone essentially unnoticed by everyone, scientists included. Grasses used on virtually all neighborhood lawns now appear capable of wide-scale communication; individual plants coordinate coloration with their neighbors both spacially and temporally. These coordinated changes can easily be seen when walking through suburban neighborhoods. Almost every lawn possesses amazingly regular twenty-four inch wide stripes, each having differing green hues. Moreover, color swaths are not static; they have weekly periodicity, peaking at weekend’s end but fading rapidly thereafter. Such patterning implies high order communications between individuals, far exceeding any previously suspected interactive ability.

Started: 11:31 AM
Ended: 12:08 PM
Elapsed time: 37 minutes

As a reasonably rational individual, it really irks me when someone comes up with a ludicrous explanation for something when a much simpler explanation is available. Usually the person making up such contrivances has a vested interest in the simple explanation being incorrect, and sometimes even appears to be willfully blind to the very existence of the simple explanation. Such a person could easily overlook the existence, effects and usage pattern of lawn mowers....

TS #7

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 19:10:50 GMT

Our bathroom floor consists of small inlaid hexagonal tiles, edged in black grouting. After staring at this pattern for some time diagonal, horizontal and vertical lines begin to make themselves apparent. When you wait even longer, odder patterns develop, looking like Babylonian cuneiform figures, rhythmically throbbing into your eyeballs. With concentration, each grouping can be triggered sequentially, until you’re writing sentences using an ancient spell-laden language. What horror might emerge from that pulsating white/black swirl if the correct sequence was used? Luckily flushing sounds usually break any invoked spells. Toilets – are they acting as patient guardians against innumerable Cthulhian invasions?

Started: 1:29 PM
Ended: 2:04 PM
Elapsed time: 35 minutes

Slightly more off-beat one today. Mentally playing with the bathroom tile patterns is one of my favorite things to do, but it occurred to me to wonder what would happen if it wasn't the safest thing to be doing...

I've taken the liberty of counting white/black as a single word - I could have dropped an adjective somewhere, but decided not to do so.

TS #6

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 04:37:12 GMT

I miss lightning bugs. Minnesota, where we currently reside, is far enough north to prevent successful breeding; winters are excessively cold or summers too short, and so there aren’t any glowing beetles flashing on-off during hot summer nights. At least our daughter occasionally can enjoy chasing them through back yards, guessing the exact spot each insect will flash next for quick grabs when it’s visible, while visiting her Grandmom in Philadelphia. Still, a cornerstone of my youth isn’t around now, leaving me feeling vaguely as if something’s gone missing. However, given global warming, Saint Paul may yet see their sparkle.

Started: 11:06 PM
Ended: 11:29 PM
Elapsed time: 23 minutes

A very quick one - only four duplications, and of uncommon words, thus making it easy to do substitutions. This one really drove home to me the idea that contractions are our friends when doing these no-repeat stories!

The idea came to me while I was standing on the front porch, looking out into the night, listening to the crickets and other night sounds.

TS #5

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:55:56 GMT

At day’s end, it is Dad’s time to cook our evening meal. Alia isn’t very fond of those items that many people usually consider edible, so her dinner often needs separate preparation. Peanut butter stars practically every night, but mac-n-cheese plays understudy occasionally. Catherine, on the other hand, willingly consumes most culinary experiments I put out for consumption. Food experimentation differs only slightly from labwork, although sometimes supper looks more inedible than research end-products. Still, my cooking process calms me down after commuting. If I’m lucky, all necessary ingredients are readily available; everyone’s happy, except today’s menu item, a catfish.

Started: 6:58 PM
Ended: 7:48 PM
Elapsed time: 50 minutes

This one was difficult - I had too many duplicates, and had to re-work the middle almost completely, which lost some of the narrative connectedness, unfortunately.

As it is the summer, and I'm not teaching, I've got a series of conferences and trips that will interrupt my attempts at keeping on a weekly schedule. Travel is already responsible for the most recent gap. We'll see if I can keep to any semblance of a schedule!

Star Wars meme

Fri, 26 May 2006 15:48:03 GMT

greygirlbeast put up a Star Wars meme, and I decided to give it a whirl:

Your results:
You are R2-D2

R2-D2		73%
Yoda		68%
Obi-Wan Kenobi		66%
Princess Leia		64%
Luke Skywalker		62%
Padme		62%
Han Solo		60%
Qui-Gon Jinn		59%
Lando Calrissian		58%
Chewbacca		56%

What you lack in height
and communication skills,
you make up for in industriousness,
technical know-how and being there
when others need you most.

(This list displays the top 10 results out of a possible 21 characters)

Click here to take the Star Wars Personality Test

As R2-D2 was always my favorite Star Wars character, I'm happy with the results! The rest of the list isn't bad either....

Explanatory Interstitial

Thu, 18 May 2006 18:31:59 GMT

For those of you wondering what's up with this blog, a quick word of explanation, so you don't have to go all the way back to the first entry to figure things out...

I am posting, on an irregular but hopefully weekly basis, a short story. The story must be exactly 100 words in length. Further, within each story, any word can only be used once - no duplications are allowed. I miss the small stuff the most - 'the', 'and', 'a', 'an', etc.

It's a fun little puzzle; if you are interested in writing, give it a try sometime.

Now back to our irregularly scheduled blog, barely in progress....

TS #4

Sat, 13 May 2006 16:43:05 GMT

Small black ants rarely receive attention from anyone, going unnoticed under most people’s feet. If they’re lucky, they’ll avoid a gruesome death by crushing. My daughter, however, loves crouching down over an ant, following its progress through quite tall (for the insect at least) grass with intense concentration. One day, she mistakenly stayed too long next to their anthill, and was swarmed. They climbed her legs, occasionally getting stuck in cotton sock fibers, then pinched ankles, shins, knees – whatever could be bitten readily. Hearing screams, I came running; luckily all of them were easily dislodged. Alia’s much more careful now!

started: 11:15 AM
ended: 11:35 AM
elapsed time: 20 minutes

This one came very quickly; the topic popped into my head without too much effort, and on the first pass through I only had four duplications, all of which were easily altered. It's raining again; I seem to do these on rainy days, for reasons that escape me.

TS #3

Thu, 04 May 2006 16:19:20 GMT

May 4, 2006: 10:41 AM to 11:11 AM

Abe, calico cat extraordinaire, woke up when fire trucks, sirens blaring shrilly, rumbled past his window resting spot. A quick jump down was followed by leisurely stretches, first digging claws into the carpet before pushing backward, then leaning far forward, stretching stiff front and back legs. This ritual accomplished, he slowly, meticulously, washed himself, stubby tail flicking sedately. An especially important part of tongue baths is nibbling between spread toes; tasty things get caught on claw tips sometimes, after all. Food bowl inspection revealed no new treats, unfortunately. What to do next? Ah yes, nap time! Abe’s sun-warmed perch beckoned.

started: 10:41 AM
ended: 11:11 AM
elapsed time: 30 minutes

There are some weeks, such as this last one, where I envy our cat's ability (and desire!) to sleep essentially constantly (as seen in my icon). While I'm sure that I'd quickly come to miss an actual waking life, still it can be a tempting lifestyle in comparison to weeks like I just went through!

Obviously the twice-a-week post of a new TIny Story isn't happening... I'll be happy to do one a week, I think.

TS #2

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 18:32:44 GMT

April 25, 2006: 12:40 PM to 1:22 PM

Newly fallen leaves crackle when trodden upon, but the slick, sodden mass they become after winter has run its course deadens all sound while greatly increasing one’s chances of slipping headlong down hidden inclines. An occasional cloud-broken moonlight shaft barely helps those whose eyes are unfit for darkness. I see perfectly however, and heavy needle-sharp claws prevent any chance slip. Hiram is not so fortunate; spontaneous, quickly muffled, curses accompany his stumbles. A carefully placed step snaps two dry branches loudly under my foot, freezing him in place, gasping from fear, right pantleg suddenly dampening. Fright-drenched meat always tastes best.

started: 12:40 PM
finished: 1:22 PM
elapsed: 42 minutes

I wanted to do one of those scary out-in-the-woods-in-the-dark bits. Definitely a cliche, but I wanted to do one, so I did.

TS #1

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 18:47:37 GMT

Without further ado.... the first 100 word, no repeat, tiny story:

Cool raindrops patter down onto sidewalks and streets, ripping acrid, plastic odors from leaden skies, leaving behind clean fresh air. Where they impact, wisps of steam curl up off hot asphalt. My feet scuff through these tendrils, scattering them. Puddles quickly evaporate into vapor with nothing remaining to mark their momentary existence except dark marks on the sidewalk that lighten slowly while vanishing. Drenched in mere moments, I’m left dripping wet, thoroughly soaked. An umbrella only works if it is at hand, after all. A pity mine was hanging over its hook back home, unavailable, but unlike me, still dry.

started: 12:31 PM
finished: 12:58 PM
elapsed: 27 minutes

Basically a mood piece, attempting to establish a setting and tone. It was raining out while I ate my lunch and wrote. Quite different from the prior Snellings Tiny Story, which was on the edging-towards-creepy side of things.

A Use

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 17:04:17 GMT

Okay, I gave it some thought, and decided on a use for this livejournal. As I said in my first post, I'm not much of a diarist. But, I like to putter around with words. A while back Lisa Snellings http://slaughterhousestudios.blogspot.com/ ran a challenge to her readers to come up with tiny stories - short stories of exactly 100 words, but with the caveat that no words could be repeated in the story. It was a fun little challenge, and I submitted one to her.

So, I think I'm going to do that with this blog. I'm going to post tiny stories - at least two stories a week. To make it even harder on myself, I'm going to stipulate that I should complete each story in under 44 minutes. Why 44? Well, 4 is my favorite number, but there's no chance I could do a story in THAT short a timeframe, so 44 seems like a good compromise. For each story, I'll post a start and end time to keep me honest.

We'll see how many I can amass....

Day One

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 02:32:48 GMT

Time to play around with a new toy...

I'm not much of a diarist, but I may drop the occasional comment or observation here, as the urge strikes. I do a lot of writing at work, but it's all technical, and sometimes I feel a need to write something random and disconnected. It only happens infrequently - the last time it struck, I wrote a turtle care book.... which paid for a new boiler for the house, some art, and a bunch of great book purchases.