28 Sept 2008

Talk about an attention-getter of a title, huh?

Anyway. Went to the OSFS meeting, had fun as we discussed the science of finding extrasolar planets. I was mildly surprised by the relative lack of attendance, but it's the first meeting of the fall and the room was smaller than we've gotten used to. Our old space at the Dalhousie Community Centre has been modified with hardwood floors for dance classes to be held. Not good for moving folding tables and stackable chairs.

Feels like the home stretch on the short story SF project, but I'm still trying to nail down a few details here and there. Some of it's trying to listen to the characters, one or two things are research issues.

My camera. My good and loyal Canon A70, after six years...is starting to get cranky about battery pack issues. I know I charged up and loaded a fresh batch not 48 hours ago, and it keeps the auto-shutdown dance. Most recently, just minutes ago in mid-upload to my iBook. Not convenient, and I may have lost all the pictures of the last 2 days in the process. I may just decide to buy one of those discontinued but still being sold models at Henry's tomorrow.

If the day job leads that sprung up on Wednesday and Thursday don't deliver tomorrow, that is.

Stolen From Us All: Malalai Kakar

A lot of times of late, I've been letting the reports of the dead from Afghanistan go unremarked and that's been my mistake.

This time, Afghanistan suffered an undeserved loss, one of many, but this one happened to strike a bell in my memory. Her name was Malalai Kakar.

The part of the story that I know and am angered by thus far is here, thanks to the CBC. You will likely find more on her life in the years from the start of 2002 to its wrongly premature end elsewhere on the Web. My advice, based on half-remembered articles, would be to cross-reference against the Toronto Star.

Humanity lost a good one here.