Holiday Vacation Guide 2013

The Pilot: Southern Pines, NC

On this holiday weekend, of course, we remember those who gave their lives in service.

But Memorial Day also marks the beginning of the summer. With summer comes vacation (for some, at least). And with vacations comes travel. Which means it's time once again for our annual roundup of vacation destinations that are unusual, offbeat, or just plain weird.

  *I have to say, I'm more than a little jealous of the folks in New Jersey (one of the few times you'll ever hear me say that). Why, you may ask? Well, they have a neat battleship memorial, just like the one we have in Wilmington. But at the U.S.S. New Jersey Battleship Memorial, you actually get to fire one of the big 16-inch guns. Sort of.

Seems that when the state cut funding for the memorial, they needed to come up with extra cash, pronto. So, for 30 bucks extra, you can climb into the turret, load the shells, pack the powder bags, load the target info into the gun's primitive computer, and pull the big brass trigger.

Sadly, one does not actually get to lob a 1,900-pound high-explosive shell at the state capital in Trenton (which might at least make the legislature reconsider the funding cuts). There is a heck of a big bang and a rumble that simulates what the gun crew must have felt, which is to say probably the biggest rush you can experience with your clothes on. (If you think that last sentence means I need to get out more, you're probably right.)

*If you've ever looked up during a camping trip or picnic and said, "You know what? There just aren't enough bugs here to suit me," then The Bugseum of New Jersey in Toms River may be just your thing. Even though they boast a collection of "thousands of beautiful and bizarre exotic insects from all over the world," the Bugseum (aka "Insectropolis") isn't just about watching our six-legged friends at work and play. Oh, no. You can "play bug games" on touch-screen computers, or crawl through their mud tube pretending to be a termite.

Seriously. They advertise this.

Before you leave, you have the opportunity to "touch a live tarantula, scorpion, millipede, and a hissing cockroach." Wheeee!


The website promises that "a world of amazing creatures awaits." If it's waiting for me, it's going to be a while.

-*If you go to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, don't forget to visit King Tut's Pyramid. No, not that King Tut. The King Tut buried under a concrete pyramid at SIU's stadium is a dog. A saluki, in fact, which is a kind of Egyptian hunting dog allegedly favored by the pharaohs.

King Tut was the first of his breed to serve as the school's official mascot after they changed their team name to the Salukis. It's a silly name, to be sure, but better than the team's old name: The Maroons.

*The recent hit movie "Lincoln" has inspired a revival of interest in our nation's 16th president. If The Great Emancipator is one of your interests, then you have to check out the famous - or perhaps we should say notorious - Lincoln statue in front of the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vt.

Crafted by distinguished 19th century sculptor Clyde du Vernet Hunt, the statue portrays Lincoln, draped in a knee-length cloak, as Charity. He's accompanied by the figures of Faith and Hope. So far, so good. Except that Faith is a comely young woman kneeling before Lincoln, facing him with her head at his waist level and half-wrapped in his cloak, and Hope is a nude young boy, also facing Lincoln, who has his hand fondly on the naked youth's head.

I understand that it was sculpted in a simpler, more innocent time, but to 21st century eyes, the effect is ... unsettling, to say the least.

* While you're in New England, be sure to drop by Cheshire, Mass., and check out a tribute to one really big cheese.

The Cheshire Cheese monument commemorates the accomplishments of one John Leland ("eloquent preacher, beloved pastor, influential patriot"), the crowning moment of whose life was delivering a Cheshire cheese weighing some 1,235 pounds to President Thomas Jefferson "in the presence of foreign diplomats, Supreme Court judges, and the Congress."

One can only imagine the bemusement of the assembled dignitaries when the cheese-loving cleric wheeled that monstrosity into the room. And what does the monument itself portray? A giant cheese press, of course. What else?

Wherever you're headed this summer, have fun and drive safely.

It's a Lot Like Arguing On the Internet

The next time you feel like jumping into an argument with some idiot on the Internet, think of this video...it has very much the same feel to it.

SHARKTOPUS!

Like "Snakes on a Plane", the title says it all. But watch the trailer anyway.



H/T to Jonathan Hayes.

You Know You Want One

""

Dale Dougherty, founder of the Maker Faire, rides the Mondo Spider.

Dayum!

I got to get me one of these:



The neopup "P.A.W. (personal area weapon) "delivers sustainded [sic] devastating blows without retarding the ability to move fast." In short, it's a little gun that makes big holes in things.

Here Come the Robots, Redux

So there's this artist named Christopher Conte who lives in New York. His day job is making artifical limbs. But his passion is for sculpture, particularly metalwork of scary looking, steampunky robots. Click through and kiss sleep goodbye.

Fudd's First Law, Illustrated

Fudd's First Law (according to the Firesign Theater) :

"If you push something hard enough, it will fall over."

And You Thought The Bunny Movies Were Odd

The first scene of RESERVOIR DOGS. With Muppets. NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

God, I Love Science

This article from Prospect Magazine's May 2009 issue discusses a possible genetic basis for a link between alcohol consumption and creativity--but only in some people:

Winston Churchill claimed it crucial for The World Crisis, his six-volume memoirs, stating: “always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than it has taken out of me.” Novelist William Faulkner drank more intermittently, but claimed not to be able to face a blank page without a bottle of Jack Daniels. Beethoven fell under the influence in the later part of his creative life. Among painters, Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon and many others liked a drop or two while working.

Such figures make alcohol part of the territory of creativity. An exceptional few seemed to thrive on drink, leading to the idea of a “Churchill gene”: where some have a genetic makeup allowing them to remain healthy and brilliant despite consumption that would kill others. Mark Twain endorsed this view saying: “My vices protect me but they would assassinate you!”

***

Over the last few years, however, evidence has emerged that some have, if not a Churchill gene, then a creative cocktail gene.

While it does not establish a direct link between alcohol and creativity, the gene suggests alcohol has effects beyond sedation and relaxation. A 2004 study carried out at the University of Colorado found that around 15 per cent of Caucasians have a genetic variant, known as the G-variant, that makes ethanol behave more like an opioid drug, such as morphine, with a stronger than normal effect on mood and behaviour.

However, before we all rush to the keyboard with booze in hand, there's this caveat:

This initial euphoria is usually followed by a longer state of relaxation, lasting several hours. For those with the G-variant, this period aids the creative process. Perhaps the odd additional tipple might be needed to keep the fire burning, although too much further consumption douses the flames prematurely, inducing lethargy.

The effect of alcohol on this group is not the same as an opiate. The euphoria is much less pronounced than, say, heroin, while alcohol still exerts depressive effects. A drink too many and the soporific effect predominates, overwhelming the endorphins and sending even the G-variant drinker to sleep. This may be why Francis Bacon, by his own admission, worked well after a few drinks, but not when drunk.

So what do you guys think? Do you often have a beer or a glass of wine or a cocktail at hand while you write? Do a couple of shots get your creative juices flowing, or do you end up doing a face-plant onto the keyboard, with nothing to show for it the next morning but prose that looks like "akjpoN%$hcq;oqohqnvnv"? Do you think there may be a genetic reason why the burning question in the minds of so many writers is "Which way to the bar?"

Discuss.

Hat tip to John Scalzi, an admitted non-drinker who's pretty damn creative without it, and who notes that: This statistic that will no doubt delight a number of artists and writers I know, not that they actually need an excuse to drink, mind you.

He's right. I don't need an excuse.

What I need is an alibi.

Hard to Argue With This Logic

The Pirates vs. Ninjas debate resolved, once and for all.

We Have a Winner!

No, I haven't forgotten last week's contest. I wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to got a chance to get their idea in on how to use Death Switch in a story. I didn't get a lot of entries, but the ideas folks came up with were good ones, so it was a tough decision. But our winner is:

kit!

I particularly liked kit's take on having the main character disappear and go after the bad guys because it "takes one SOB to go after another." My kinda story.

kit, send me your snail mail address and I'll shoot you a copy of BREAKING COVER. Send it to dustyr AT nc.rr.com.

Now, just for grins, here's another real story just waiting to be a novel (or a movie):

There are three vaults in Arizona that store contraband nabbed by US port inspectors and customs agents on Arizona's 370-mile border with Mexico. A reporter from the Arizona Republic visited one of them, in Nogales, where racks are packed with 27,000 pounds of marijuana, boxes of speed, coke, and guns. A file cabinet holds half-a-million dollars in cash...

"And Max said, I'LL EAT YOU UP!"

At the next link, a the teaser poster for the movie version of WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE.

I am, to say the least, ambivalent about there being a WtWTA movie at all. It's my all time favorite kids' book, but it's short, and I can't see how padding it out to 2+ hours is going to do anything but make it suck. But the poster looks cool.

Just What I Needed: Write or Die!

For those who need a little extra motivation, Dr Wicked's Writing Lab brings us Write or Die. You set how many words you want to write in a certain period of time. If you stop typing, there are...consequences.

Life Imitates Art, and It's More Than A Little Creepy (with CONTEST!)

You know how, in some thrillers, a character will entrust the Big Secret to a trusted friend, to be sent out if the character disappears? Well, meet Death Switch, a service which sends out emails upon your unfortunate demise. Like so many things on the 'net, there's a free and a pay version:

The basic service is free and includes a single email. The pay service, $20 a year, allows you to compose up to 30 emails with 10 recipients each. Only the pay service allows you to include attachments. Death Switch determines when to send out the messages by sending out messages to you on a regular basis. If you fail to respond to enough of those messages in a row, the emails are mailed out..

Consider the possibilities....and post them here. Best one wins an autographed copy of BREAKING COVER.

Absolute Brilliance

What if Frank Miller drew Charlie Brown?

H/T to Duane Swierczynski via Twitter.

World Builder

Be sure to watch it all the way to the end:

World Builder from Bruce Branit on Vimeo.

The Best @*&%# Idea I've Seen All Week

Deadwood Valentines.

Need I say more?

Hat tip to Making Light.

Big Dog on Ice

"Big Dog" is a quadripedal robot being designed by Boston Dynamics for DARPA. Its ostensible purpose will be to carry supplies on the battlefield for the Army.

Personally, I find the way it moves more than a little creepy. SF geek that I am, I keep thinking of Cordwainer Smith's manshonyaggers.

So maybe the guy shouldn't be kicking it like that.

The Problem Is Worse Than We Knew

Construction signs warn of zombies:



Hmmmm....anyone seen Jonathan Maberry in the Austin area?

More Ukelele Madness

The UOGB shows off on "Orange Blossom Special" .

Terrenoire may be right--it's the year of the Uke.