- The vet is reasonably certain that Tuffy's tumor is benign, because the malignant ones usually aren't confined to the epidermal layer as this one seems to be. It's going to cost us almost $900, but for that we also get her teeth cleaned and nails clipped, and peace of mind.
- Mrk posted another bizarre accusation today, but it wasn't directed at me. I didn't really know what he was talking about and I didn't reengage.
- And I did not hit "Save" on Barbara Bauer's "Cannoliq" UserTalk page. As Julie pointed out, someone else had already posted a different response to her actions, explaining how easy it is to undo her edit, and inviting her to explain things on the Talk:Barbara Bauer page. This is the same place where Mrk is trying to pick another fight, but that's neither here nor there.
A few explanations, based on your comments:
1. No, Barbara Bauer is not looking for attention, regardless of what kind it is. She spends a lot of her time actively trying to stop people from posting negative information about her, threatening legal action. Her rants have been described as "cartoonish"and "irrational." Heck, she may even really believe that the industry watchdogs who called her out are "terrorists." In case you haven't been following this story or my rants about all this, Barbara Bauer is the fee-charging, non-book-selling "literary agent" who has demanded "a billion dollars" in recompense for the supposedly illegal posting of her business's name (the Barbara Lauer Literary Agency).
2. The term "vandalism"in the Wikipedia template I quoted last night is not a word that I chose. It is Wikipedia's. It has a specific, well defined meaning for Wikipedia editors, which is found behind the link. To say that removing content is considered vandalism on Wikipedia is not an insult, or an accusation of crime. It's a head's up that the user has violated one of Wikipedia's guidelines, with helpful info for learning to avoid such problems in future edits. In point of fact, I didn't even type the word "vandalism" in my text. This is what actually appears on the Edit screen: {{ subst:test2bBarbara Bauer }}. Without referencing templates that mention the Wikipedia concepts of vandalism, blanking, original research and NPOV, those of us who dare to post to Bauer's talk pages cannot possibly convey which rules are being broken, and what possible consequences exist if she doesn't mend her ways. And without these fair warnings, Wiki adminds are less likely to take further action, should that become necessary.
I did read some links that Julie sent me today, most notably this one:
Victoria Strauss Writer Beware interview
...but mostly I read a few alerts, fussed with the Route 66 and George Maharis articles, and did some actual work on Mages. (I'll get to that in a moment.) One of the people who has been contributing heavily to the Route 66 article finally stopped by the article's talk page, so we were able to compare notes. I managed totrack down a few citations for him, and he promised to write up character sketches of Tod and Buz and Linc. Good. Now I won't have to do it myself!
And I edited Chapter Two of Mages of Mâvarin, from beginning to end. I know I already made it through the first third of it recently, because I specifically remember rereading the drowning scene. But the doc on my computer was open to the first page of the chapter, so I just started over. This is just as well, because I rewrote some sentences near the beginning that really needed it.
Then, a little more than halfway through, I came upon a half-finished scene extension that I don't remember writing at all. Part of it didn't make sense, so I cut it, pasted it into my "mage bits" file, and tried to replace it with something equally awkward. This didn't work well, so I pasted the cut scene back in, and changed it almost completely. At the very end, there was a bit that explained what I was trying to do in writing the bit in the first place! Oh, well. This version works better, I think. And now I think I'm back in fiction mode, and weill be able to keep going. This is good, because I'm theoretically within the time frame for hearing back from Tor. If I should sell the first book anythime soon, I'll want to have the second book a lot closer to being ready than it is now.
Enough. I'm tired, and I can see I'm not going to get to The Jace Letters tonight. Catch you all tomorrow! Meanwhile, here are two versions of a sunrise picture John took this week, the day after my own sunrise pictures. He says the sky looked much more amazing before he went looking for the camera, but I think it came out well anyway. Enjoy!
No autocorrection or changes to color saturation
Increased saturation and contrast to bring it closer to what John saw.
I guess it really wasn't sunrise yet in the picture I took. I didn't see any big orange ball!
Karen
*This is a paraphrase of a line from the Tom Selleck film Mr. Baseball.
4 comments:
I did completely understand that the word 'vandalism' was a part of a predefined Wikipedia statement template, and that it has a specific meaning within the context of editing Wikipedia. However, I was thinking only of how Ms. Bauer might react to the word upon first reading, given its common negative connotation, and how that might prompt her to focus some of her negative attention on you. Which I sensed you would prefer not to happen.
Glad t hear the encouraging news on Tuffy; not so glad to hear about the bill. Ouch!
::hands Tuffy another biscuit:: Good dog.
On the subject of vet bills, did I tell you Eowyn has diabetes? My response to this news was "What doesn't she have?" I apparently have a knack for picking the least healthy cat at any given animal shelter.
Way to go, both on getting Tuffy checked out (your peace of mind is worth $900, I think), and on getting back to the Mages editing. Yay!
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