Sarah wants this spread, so I am doing my tiny part to do so. Go read:
Review
The theme, as such, of this year’s Penguicon was “Rising from the ashes” which is a very apt way to put things as how much good will, etc. they were burning up for a decade or more. Pretty much all, if not all, of the ‘woke’ on the part of the convention itself is gone – and good riddance! There are some.. curious ideas… by many of the attendees, but that cannot be directly blamed on the convention. And, there is inertia and lead-lag and such things. I will say if a guy wishes to present as a gal, that’s his business. But he really ought to take the look seriously enough to not have (beyond) “Five O’clock Shadow” at 9 AM. There were more folks wearing masks (ala 2020 silliness) than I am used to seeing nowadays, but it was no longer a universal requirement.
The convention felt a bit rushed, and it likely was. Beyond even the usual, typical, take-care-of-things-at-the-last-minute that seems common to most all conventions. The weekend was early for Penguicon as it was the only free weekend (and hotel) that wasn’t Easter weekend so timing might well have been a factor beyond the usual. The programming was a mix, with new and historical tech., stuff about writing and fandom(s), and some health related panels, with a couple about things societal.
I attended a few panels. There was a fellow who had a hobby of old tube based displays, from Tuning Eye (aka Magic Eye), Dekatrons, Nixies, and even the Numitron (the tube version of the LED display, most commonly 7-segment). Also ESR talking about how to use LLM’s (“AI”) in coding. A bit on the history of home computing pre-IBM 5150, and a panel I wanted to go to but it was cancelled on health/healing with aid of Infra-Red. There was another panel I missed due to a schedule conflict.
When there was a lull in panels I cared to attend, I brought out Legend the unicorn. This happened sometime Saturday afternoon and again Sunday morning. Legend was well-received (or just ignored, but that’s non-negative). I realized I need to make a checklist for the unicorn as I missed packing a couple (fortunately non-critical) items.
A couple purchases were made. I now have my first fountain pen that is not a Platinum Plaisir. It came with one cartridge (that I need to find more of, it’s not the same as the Plaisir uses) and a converter for using bottled inks. And after the cataract surgery, while reading glass are helpful, sometimes I need more and thus a good looking magnifying glass. A couple books as well, one an anthology, and the other… well, when someone decides the way they are, the thing to do is to write a letter to Krampus rather than Santa Claus.
During the convention (early or lack of communication), it was said that they did not make the convention room block and thus there was no official room party floor or wing. Unofficially, I was told it might worthwhile to check out the 4th floor… and the 10th floor was a designated quiet floor… that Barfleet (not exactly known for quiet) wound up on. I did not visit the 10th floor. There are some things best to not be around, lest they detonate while you are present. Friday there were two parties on the 4th floor. One had alcohol and some interesting stories – that likely were just stories, but had a signup sheet and ads for a silly “No Kings” protest on Saturday. They were open again Saturday night, sans the signs. The other party was dry on Friday, but said that would change for Saturday and they had a Chicago theme. Malort was asked about (and not by me) and it was possibility. It was there Saturday night. I think a few folks were stunned when I asked about it and then for it – and then disappointed at my non-Malort-face reaction… and truly stunned when I asked for more. Saturday there was another room party, which was dry, so was relativity uncrowded. Some discussion of the convention happened as a previous con chair and current event organizer (or at least panelist) was there. I mentioned I would have been at one of his panels but there was a timing conflict. His reaction was that it was great news to hear they had gotten enough interesting stuff to have such timing conflicts.
Not a whole lot happened Sunday morning, beyond Legend’s outing and packing and loading. This was done in phases such that there was no need to wrangle a luggage cart.
I knew ESR (and Cathy) would be there and that ESR likes spicy things. I did NOT know they would be flying to and from the convention and so baked two pans of Weapons Grade brownies. Where the recipe called for water, I used a Carolina Reaper mash instead[1]. I should probably cut the reaper mash in half or to a third and add the water back in. Not only were the brownies thinner than normal, a piece the size of your thumbnail was probably more than enough spicy for any one morning or afternoon… or day. Since the Raymonds were flying, they weren’t going to try to take them home. The brownies wound up, with a warning, in the con suite. And were then stowed out of sight, after a sampling? I suspect the majority were simply “disposed of” and given the… intensity… I can’t say that was a bad move.
I put it that the convention “felt like a first year convention, with some experience.” It did not possess the full-on energy of the Penguicon of old, but someone finally pulled back on the yoke and is properly flying the plane again. The aura of oppressiveness I felt in 2016 and 2017 is gone. One big thing was the Build-A-Blinkie (Soldering 101, with a blinkenlights result) folks having a setup of construction/soldering stations in the lobby/hallway. This is the Neat Stuff sort of thing that seemed to have been pushed out by the Social Construct or such folks. Even if I did quip that when I built my first “blinkie” it used NE2 neon bulbs. At a Sunday panel (I wasn’t there, but $HOUSEMATE was) with some of the con staff, it was said that they actually did make the hotel room block after all, were in the black, and there would be a Penguicon next year – hopefully a bit later in the Spring. I plan on attending as it looks like things are improving. And I plan to have ACME there again. I did asked about ACME a few times this past weekend. Interesting, given it’s been over a decade since ACME was there.
[1] I did not label the brownies “Reaper Madness.”
At LibertyCon in 2024 Cathy Raymond seemed to be always looking for a place to charge her phone. She wasn’t staying at the convention hotel, which meant resting a bit in a room and letting it charge wasn’t really an option. And outlets in general public areas are rather rare – and likely already in use by someone.
Not long after returning home I managed to find this gem[1]:
Portable Charger with Built in Cables
A while later, I found the price had gone down so I snagged another one. The reasoning was that two was better than one and one could be left charging and the other taken out and about and used. Or they could both be deployed as his and hers. I even got one for myself.
A neat thing is the built-in cables. Yes, plural, so which connector the phone has doesn’t matter. Cathy’s phone is older and uses a micro-USB connector. Eric’s is newer and uses USB-C. Aren’t standards wonderful?
Aaaaanyway… the first ACME Delivery, such as it was, this LibertyCon was the pair of (fully charged) USB batteries to Cathy, for which she was grateful as it solved a problem[2]. That was Friday afternoon sometime.
I got thanked again Saturday (and?) or Sunday. Evidently, the solution worked and worked well.
What surprised me, however, was that once back home, a further thank you was relayed:
“Please tell Orvan that Cathy and I are both extremely pleased with the most recent Acme delivery.
Those power banks are well designed, have a nice chunk of capacity, and I liked them even before I realized there was an actual capacity gauge on the back.“[3]
[1] WordPress is being stupid and trying to interpret ANY Amazon link as Kindle, so it doesn’t embed.
[2] I was bit surprised it hadn’t already been solved in a similar way, but evidently an earlier attempt had a poor showing due to a lower capacity/quality battery that left rather a bad taste.
[3] Not just a short line of LED’s, but a right proper numeric percentage display.
I heartily recommend a short story by Holly Chism, Light up The Night. It takes place in a not that far off future that is all too easily imaginable in today’s seemingly ever-metastasizing Deep State world of Bureaucratic Rule (über Alles!).
The blurb:
Dane Crockford is tired. Tired of the green energy crapping out and leaving his wife Rose gasping for breath when their air conditioning dies, tired of trying to hide his use of his own solar panels from the nationalized electrical company, and tired of worrying about his daughter and son-in-law, trapped in an abusive indenture program to pay off their student loans. He’s not the only one, either. Everyone in his home town is in a similar situation, many of them with their children doing dangerous jobs without pay to offset crippling student debt. So when his grandson Toby accidentally discovers an energy generation method that isn’t wholly owned by the federal government, he jumps on the possibility of building something that works, in spite of and around the federal monopoly.
But what the monopoly doesn’t realize is that their grip on Dane, and on his home town, is far less secure than they think. When they disconnect his house from the power grid, they have nothing to hold over him, to force him to work for small rebates on his monthly bill. The utility has unleashed the power of a cranky old man with a rare skill, and they’ve got no idea that they’ve tossed the pebble that starts an avalanche.
“Holly Chism is one of the great, unappreciated authors of our generation. Her work reminds me a lot of Clifford Simak’s.” – Sarah A Hoyt, author of Darkship Thieves
It’s worth the money. It’s worth the time. It’s worth a read. And a RE-READ. Yeah, there is a gimmick, but… while the gimmick might change, this IS a possible future… AND FIX for already encroaching idiocy.
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” — Louis Pasteur
The ‘prepared mind’ is the most valuable of ALL preparedness assets. Be ready: THINK NOW!
I can’t not do this. Those who used the Apple ][ series will know:
]BRUN FID
On to the absinthe. The first thing noticed about this is, as mentioned before, is that is not green. This is rather unusual for absinthe, which has nickname of “the green faerie.” Perhaps it started green, but the charred oak aging masks the green with the brown of such aging.
At full-on strength (63% ABV, or 126 proof USA) it is quite potent and fiery. I didn’t notice much of an anise flavor, then that is a lot of ethanol to take even a small “direct hit” of. Adding water, the classic ‘louche’ (the ouzo reaction, where the liquid goes cloudy) does happen, though it is not as obvious as in drinks of lighter color.
Doing the full absinthe ritual, with a sugar cube on an absinthe ‘spoon’ over a glass of absinthe, and dripping ice-cold water on it to dissolve the sugar and dilute the absinthe takes a bit of time. As I do not have an “absinthe fountain”[1] to let the dripping happen automatically, I wound up using a straw and very slowly releasing the cold water from it. This took several times and a few minutes. When the sugar cube was dissolved or at least nothing much remained on the spoon, the louche had happened. The result in the glass was sweetened, diluted, chilled absinthe. It’s been some time since I last had any other absinthe (Lucid is the brand I can find fairly locally) so I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison[2] but from what I recall, the result is right. This is some good stuff, if you like absinthe, that is.
[1] Those tend to be expensive. Around $50 for a “cheap” one with plastic valving. Easily $200 for something better. Then, absinthe ain’t exactly inexpensive.
[2] Probably not the best idea, considering the amount of alcohol involved, even with the dilution.
This is a pre-mixed cocktail using Basil Hayden dark rye (straight rye), Canadian whisky (their spelling), port wine, sweet vermouth, and bitters. Other than the straight rye, the label doesn’t indicate the exact origins of any of the ingredients.
Unlike the pre-mixed Negroni which has a fairly set standard against which to judge, the Manhattan is a very variable – and variable tolerant – cocktail. I find this a bit on the sweet side (likely from the Port) but not objectionable – unlike Manhattans with an obscene amount of cherry ‘juice’ in them. A little is fine, but a Manhattan is not and should not be a cherry candy.
This is, if anything, perhaps just a bit too “easy drinking.” Mixing a proper Manhattan, as is mixing any drink, a thing that takes at least a tiny bit of time and effort. It also helps give reason to slow down and savor. This isn’t so much a ding on this particular pre-mixed cocktail, but really on all of them: They become like straight liquor where it is possible to simply take a “slug from the jug” instead of having a civilized proper pour. And, yes, minotaurs are… not exactly the most civilized of creatures.
Summing up: Very good. A bit sweet. Would buy again, even if I perhaps shouldn’t. Maybe something to keep in the back of the fridge, out of general sight and mind. Your mileage may vary.
I was going to save this for next Independence Day or maybe Flag Day or something like that. But I can’t wait, and not because of any pride. First, the lamp:
A coworker’s family member “won” this as part of a Silent Auction collection or such. The “winner” had no use for it, and after this and that, I wound up with this… thing.
It’s a nice enough looking design, but there are multiple problems. The obvious one is that the red is, unlike the white and blue, not paint or such on the glass font. It’s red dye in the lamp oil. Dye in lamp oil is to be avoided as it tends to clog wicks. Not as obvious is that the oil is scented and the same warning applies. The scent is listed as ‘spice’ and a whiff of the oil tells you the spice is cinnamon. But neither of those is the real problem. The oil can be burned… wicks can be replaced. The font can be re-filled and, sure, the flag design won’t look right, but…
The real problem is that it simply doesn’t work; that photo was taken at EXACTLY the ideal time. It can be lit, and when the chimney is put into place the flame is too high and soots, or is too low and goes out, or is sort of right but pulses due to lack of intake air and eventually goes out. And if the wick is too low and the flame holds for a bit, turning the wick up results in too rich a mixture or too much combustion product in the chimney and the flame extinguishes. This was clearly not actually tested.
This thing was made by “Lamplight” (now “Lamplight Farms”) and, amazingly, has no statement about being made in China. I can only assume this really was made in the USA, but nobody though to see if it would actually work.
The packaging was interesting. The burner, such as it is, was atop a cardboard ring sitting atop the font. The wick was packed (folded) in tight and had to be pulled out. The font was pre-fueled with a plastic plug to seal it. The plug was difficult to remove, which was a good thing as it held the seal very well.
The wick adjuster was quite loose, and compressing the wick guide helped some. I had to fish the wick out of the font once (hemostats are handy things… and not just as heat sinks for soldering, though that’s one reason I have some) and “re-thread” the wick through the burner.
I doubt you’ll encounter one of these, considering the seeming age of the packaging (I wonder how long it sat around before someone decided to be rid of it via the auction or such), but if you do, don’t bother with it. It is, alas, junk. I had some hopes when I saw the flat, rather than wound, wick. Perhaps a smaller round wick would work better with that chimney and a burner that would take it. The chimney is strangely thick, which is odd. I’m not sure a thick chimney is a good idea due to thermal issues.
I got curious and found that if I lit the thing and left the chimney off, it could be adjusted to not soot and keep on burning steadily. That’s right, this thing works better with a naked flame than it does with the chimney in place. That’s some impressively bad design.
At LibertyCon I spotted this in Author’s Alley and, well, with that cover and title, how could I not be interested? Fantasy… Old school TV, well the set anyway, centaur, but with minortaur-ish horns? And the text that all but screamed NEON and Golden Age. It was was pretty much, “Here, take my money.” though I didn’t say that… I think. I do recall Randee saying it was perhaps the easiest sale ever. As in, I was getting the money out as she started to do the spiel to get me to. I bought the book, had it signed, and got a little ‘mango’ pin that went with it – a freebie every purchaser got. It makes sense in the book’s context.
The book follows an aspiring actress who… starts with the typical hated dead-end job, but is given a great opportunity, only she doesn’t fully realize that the fantasy aspect is… well, real, so to speak. The creatures ‘beyond the veil’ like their TV as we call it. There’s a neat reference to Philo Farnsworth, which is a great touch. But what ‘sells’ and what is real… well, it’s Reality Show “real,” see?
There are plenty of ups and downs and weird close (and too close) calls. Fauns, centaurs, brownies, fae, at least one dragon, and I’ve left out a bunch, no doubt. A minotaur is mentioned (at the end), but that’s all. It was a good ride. I am not sure how a sequel might work, but if there is one, I’m interested in it. Even if the minotaur doesn’t show up.
The recent trip included a trip a larger liquor store, with a larger selection, than can be be found in $HOOTERVILLE. One item picked up was a bottle of Western Son gin. Western Son does vodka very well. They don’t settle 3 not even 5 distillations, but go to 10. The plain vodka is excellent – and not overpriced. The flavored vodkas seem true to the flavors claimed. We prefer the lime, but the others seem to be on-target. Though the prickly pear flavor can best and only be described as “It tastes PINK!”
Given the generally very good result with vodka, and gin being a particular flavor variation of vodka (the production is not as simple as adding flavor to the liquid vodka – it’s added during the distillation) it seemed that Western Son gin should be pretty good. Maybe not on the level of the really fancy high-end stuff, but more than serviceable and quite honest.
The list of botanicals is a reasonable one for gin, but the stand-out is the inclusion of cucumber. When tasted (I made a gin & tonic) it was the cucumber that was dominant. It seemed to swamp the other flavors, but maybe the tonic played a part as well in that. Cucumber is not that strange a thing for gin, after all Hendrick’s gin is cucumber-forward and has endured. I’ve not compared Hendricks and Western Son side by side (yet…) but even if Hendricks was a clear winner, Western Son is no loser. The quality is there, and the price point is excellent, at about half the price of Hendrick’s.
So, if you like Hendrick’s gin but the cost is a bit much, give Western Son gin a try. Your wallet will thank you – and so might your taste buds.
The replacement mounting ring for the Mansfield Saloon Hanging Lamp arrived the Monday after Easter and is in place. The mounting setup is great, as is the smoke bell, and the reflector. The lamp itself looks great. But the burner… well, it’s not what I think it should be. The air intake is different from the other dead flame lamps I have (I think they pretty much all use a ‘Queen Anne’ burner) and I am unsure if the draw is excessive or there is hyper-sensitivity to even the slightest of air movement, or what exactly is going on. The flame is never settled and steady. There is always flicker.
Now, all lamps can flicker with a breeze or from the wick being turned up too high and the flame being on or beyond the edge of good (or bad) behavior. But I can find a happy medium on all my other dead flame lamps where the flame is high and bright, and still quite steady. The Mansfield has a different burner and the flame flickers even when low. When at a level I expect, as my other lamps manage it well, the flame dances and the edges are prone to go sharp and soot. Often this will try to hug (or even kiss…) the chimney which results in a soot spot inside the chimney. Fortunately I’ve caught it before it caused thermal shock and cracked the glass.
At first, I figured maybe the wick hadn’t been ideally trimmed. I re-trimmed the wick. Still misbehaved. I swapped wicks with my Railroad Agent Lamp as that one behaves quite well and has the same size wick. No change. I swapped chimneys. No change. I swapped the burners and the problems moved with the burner, no matter the font or chimney.
For what it’s worth, the wick arrived trimmed flat, as is standard. I tried trimming it curved or crowned, and with the ends trimmed at an angle. I have yet to try a an inverted-V cut, but suspect that won’t help. I do plan to try it anyway sometime.
If I wanted flicker as an effect or for atmosphere, this would be great – at a lower light level to preserve the chimney. But I want is steady light and this doesn’t quite provide it. It’s not a terrible headache-inducing flicker, but I can see how it easily would be for some. It’s a distraction. Had this been my first kerosene lamp I might well have figured it was normal, but my experience tells me this is the outlier.
I suppose if this, or a few of these, were illuminating an Old West saloon, the flicker would be no big deal – there’s light, right? And the lamps aren’t on the bar or on table where they could bumped around or knocked over. Perhaps the flicker would be random enough that the overall light from several would be close enough to steady. And…as long as you can read the cards or see the pool balls, who cares? If no cards or pool (or other bar sport), simply being able to see your drink takes very little light indeed,
Now, I like the design, overall, but if I found a replacement burner that fit the font threading (it’s not the same as everything else, of course) I’d likely replace it – keeping the flickery burner as a spare.
That said, I do plan to leave it in place, and in a power outage I won’t be too upset at the flicker. But I won’t be thrilled with it, either.
Further, the tiny little round wick 3cp lamp uses what looks to be a scaled down version of the same style burner. Not exactly so, but close. And it doesn’t flicker at all in still air.
Further research (I am NOT asking for funding![1]) seems reasonable. Just how, not yet sure.
[1] I ever ask for funding, it will be a Dire Emergency (and most likely somebody else’s – and I’ll point you to another site for such) or, hopefully more likely, as a means to at least partially offset a proper site ‘subscription’ so you won’t see all those danged adverts. I will NOT even consider the proven-evil ratfinks of PayPal. If you have suggestions, ox have ears.
The Elegant Ungulate 