Thoughts, ramblings and other stuff

When I was going home I was watching Americans wrapped in national colours going to watch their match with Belgium. The streets were mostly empty and the only places where you could see people were bars and restaurants with TV screens. And all those screens were showing the match. The whole main street looked like a dead town with almost noone around except for places showing the World Cup. It was funny how you could tell which places were showing it just by the fact that there were people there. Even on my bus I could here people listening to the match on their phones.

And I know that many people already left for the long weekend and the students are no longer here but still it was eerie. And kind of familiar - because that's how it should be when your country is playing. Even when you know they are going to loose. (With all the group winners advancing now I kind of want the Colombia, Costa Rica, France and Belgium semifinals. Yes I am fickle and contrary.) You just hope to lose well and be proud of the team and thanks to US goalkeeper Americans suddenly gained some cred (according to my male football obsessed friends it helps finding friends to drink with in foreign countries). Because in the end 31 teams loose and this was never going to be US year. And it hurts but if it hurts it shows you really care and this is as big part of World Cup as the game itself.

Of course it's just a game. The endless discussions about whether this is the moment when scoccer makes it in US doesn't really mean anything. Whether it is or isn't popular here doesn't really matter. Because here it's just another sport and even if it becomes more popular it won't really impact much.

But I do feel angry when those right wing pundits dismiss it because it's cheap (no, in rich countries it isn't - kits and boots can be a small fortune as my boss complains) and therefore can be played by poor people (true - because you can play it even without all this expensive stuff but how is that a bad thing?). I get angry because they act like the fact that anyone can be good at something, without putting insane amounts of money into it, makes that thing less valuable. Like the effort to be good doesn't matter - only how much you paid to get there. But the value of sports is measured in passion not by the cost of becoming a player (or the price of the minute of advertisement). It's measured in the power to change lives. And this is the only reason why football really matters. Because sometimes it can make all the difference in the world.

I'm pretty sure that for those girls that win mattered more than World Cup ever could to whoever wins it this year. And I say it knowing that winning the World Cup means everything to millions of people.

Tatiana Maslany just got her second consecutive Critics' Choice TV Award in the Best Actress in a Drama Series category. Since this is just the 4th time CCA were awarded she has half of them.


Other notable winners include Orange is the New Black (3 awards - Best Comedy Series, Supporting Actress in a Comedy (Kate Mulgrew) and Guest Performer in a Comedy (Uzo Aduba)) and Allison Janney winning in two categories (Supporting Actress in a Comedy for Mom and Guest Performer in a Drama Series for Masters of Sex). Photos of winners also include this for all those Orphan is the new Black people:


This also reminds me I need to finally watch Fargo. It's been piling up on my DVR ever since the trip and it's probably a good time to binge watch it.

On Sunday the winners of the 2013 Nebula Awards, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, and the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy were announced:

Best Novel
Winner: Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Marian Wood)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (Morrow; Headline Review)
Fire with Fire, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
Hild, Nicola Griffith (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Red: First Light, Linda Nagata (Mythic Island)
A Stranger in Olondria, Sofia Samatar (Small Beer)
The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker (Harper)

Best Novella
Winner: The Weight of the Sunrise, Vylar Kaftan (Asimov’s 2/13)
Wakulla Springs, Andy Duncan & Ellen Klages (Tor.com 10/2/13)
Annabel Lee, Nancy Kress (New Under the Sun)
Burning Girls, Veronica Schanoes (Tor.com 6/19/13)
Trial of the Century, Lawrence M. Schoen (lawrencemschoen.com, 8/13; World Jumping)
Six-Gun Snow White, Catherynne M. Valente (Subterranean)

Best Novelette
Winner: The Waiting Stars, Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky)
Paranormal Romance, Christopher Barzak (Lightspeed 6/13)
They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Asimov’s 1/13)
Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters, Henry Lien (Asimov’s 12/13)
The Litigation Master and the Monkey King, Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/13)
In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind, Sarah Pinsker (Strange Horizons 7/1 – 7/8/13)

Best Short Story
Winner: If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love, Rachel Swirsky (Apex 3/13)
The Sounds of Old Earth, Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed 1/13)
Selkie Stories Are for Losers, Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons 1/7/13)
Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer, Kenneth Schneyer (Clockwork Phoenix 4)
Alive, Alive Oh, Sylvia Spruck Wrigley (Lightspeed 6/13)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
Winner: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, director; Alfonso Cuarón & Jonás Cuarón, writers) (Warner Bros.)
Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor (Nick Hurran, director; Steven Moffat, writer) (BBC Wales)
Europa Report (Sebastián Cordero, director; Philip Gelatt, writer) (Start Motion Pictures)
Her (Spike Jonze, director; Spike Jonze, writer) (Warner Bros.)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, director; Simon Beaufoy & Michael Arndt as Michael deBruyn, writers) (Lionsgate)
Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, director; Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, writers) (Warner Bros.)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy
Winner: Sister Mine, Nalo Hopkinson (Grand Central)
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Indigo)
When We Wake, Karen Healey (Allen & Unwin; Little, Brown)
The Summer Prince, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Levine)
Hero, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
September Girls, Bennett Madison (Harper Teen)
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Levine)

Service to SFWA Award was given to Michael J. Armstrong.

Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award was given to Samuel R. Delany.

I got my wish and neither Doctor Who nor The Ocean at the End of the Lane won. I love both Doctor Who and Neil Gaiman but they tend to dominate the awards not always for the right reasons. Also I loved Gravity and I wanted it to win so I'm happy about it.

It's also notable that all the writing Nebulas were awarded to women. Nowadays there is nothing unusual about women winning the award (happens pretty often) but I think this is the first time they all went to women. Women writing SFF used to be forced to hide their gender under male pseudonyms and initials to even get published and only few decades later we at least got progress on the award field. One day we'll even might get the fandom to follow.

So today March ends and it's time to look back at the polls. f_march_madness champion this year is Abbie Mills so for the second year in the row the winner from a new show. And female. And not white. And I remember the times when everyone was pissed about Dean Winchester winning.

In similar vain Firefly was eliminated by Star Wars which went to win the io9 March Madness - Science Fiction vs. Fantasy. In the final it beat Lord of the Rings. The best part of this were the paintings of the match-ups.

Suvudu's 2014 Cage Match is only on round 3 and we still have two Aryas, Eowyns and Leias in the running. I'm still a little confused which is which but I like the Minecraft Roleplays for each round.

And I just mentioned Jupiter Ascending as something I'm planning to see - just look at those starships - they are so pretty I feel totally justified.

Yesterday was a very, very bad day and I'm too tired to even think about it but today is Pi Day (because Americans write the date as 3.14) so let's think about something nicer.

It's March so the time for the match up polls have come again. The f_march_madness is almost done already (I always forget how fast it is - I have too much to do in RL to keep up and always miss few rounds). Today is the last, final, championship round and you have just few hours left to vote but it looks like Abbie Mills has got this one. Even if the vote would turn and she loses this will be another one (after Joan Watson won last year) for a new character in a new show.

Suvudu Cage Match 2014 theme is Page vs. Screen so they have books and movie/tv versions of characters competing in Page and Screen brackets. It's a little confusing but I wonder what would happen if at the end we'll end up with Arya vs. Arya or Katniss vs. Katniss. How do you decide which version is more deadly? Is it done by more numerous screen version fans or by the number of people on the website who think books are always better? The first round just finished but the second will start the next week so you can check if anyone you like survived.

And last but not least - io9 March Madness this year is Science Fiction vs. Fantasy. The first batch of polls for round one has opened for voting today and next ones will be happening Monday, Wednesday, Friday for the next two weeks. It's books, comics, movies, tv series and for works with multiple incarnations you are to take all versions under consideration (not just the most loved/hated ones) when picking a winner. Of course everyone expects Firefly to win anyway.

It's March 8 - International Women's Day. It's one of those horrible communist holidays - which was like Valentine's Day only non-sexual and with more speeches - that was turned into something positive and actually about women.

The Guardian has a whole section dedicated to the day and it has everything - from quizzes to pictures showing the lives of women around the world to protest marches to new laws protecting women.

Here are women talking why it's important it exists and why it matters. The inequality persists and the statistics still show how much needs to change - from lower access to education to lower pay to danger of sexual assault - there is something to be done for all women all over the world. Even if there are always those who can’t see the point of International Women’s Day and don't believe problems exist. The fact that in many ways it's better for more and more women doesn't mean we have solved them. There is a tendency to see other people gaining similar position as losing something. And the justifying the acting as inequality is the fault of the person being mistreated because it's obviously not my fault.

It gets even creepier when these type of justifications are used by rape apologists. New research, however, suggests that men who harass women in bars and clubs aren’t misinterpreting women’s signals because they are drunk. Rather, they may be singling out women who appear intoxicated as easy targets. Here, now you have a scientific explanation why Blurred Lines are so incredibly creepy. And you know you should blame that guy in the bar even more - he did it on purpose.

On nicer end of celebrations - this year's theme for UN celebrations is “Equality for women is progress for all” and was as commemorated at UN headquarters in New York on 7 March.

Scientific American has 15 portraits of women in science and technology and IFLS has 8 not well enough known women in science (so Maria Curie isn't your only answer).

And I'm sure you already saw the Google Doodle for today.

And at for the end, traditionally, carnations*

*In communist Poland women would get flowers for Women's Day and carnations were the popular choice to the point of becoming synonymous with the lack of effort. Still, I'm not against getting flowers. I have to admit that even getting a tulip from a hypermarket is nice even though they just do it so you'd come back to buy more.

On Friday the wind was cold and it barely felt like it was above 0 even if thermometers insisted it was actually +7. Yesterday it was over +20 and I was walking around in sandals and even come back from a birthday party late and night in my summer dress and a light sweater. Now it's snowing and -6. It's supposed to be very cold till Thursday and then the next weekend +20 again. I no longer even put the jackets and shoes away. I just keep everything - from sandals to winter boots and from hoodie to down jacket by the door so I can just grab it in the morning after I check the weather forecast.

It started with cold rain that turned into tiny ice balls and finally into snow. Everyone escaped from work around noon but I have a very time consuming experiment that I need to finish before 13th so I went home only after I saw white accumulating on surfaces around the building. Of course because it was so warm recently some trees started blooming - including the early magnolias - the cold tonight will probably kill the flowers but I got this:


There is a little more snow now on grass, cars and roofs but all that fell on asphalt turned to water and now ice. So tomorrow morning is going to be fun.

I was supposed to write about something else. It was half way done when I left to meet with friends. I was to finish it when I got back. But just as I sat at the computer I realised that there was water leaking somewhere. I could hear water dripping and trickling somewhere. I followed the sound to the water heater/Ac compartment and it was all wet. At first I thought I had a leak but then I realised the water was coming down the water pipes from the flat above. And it was getting worse.

I went upstairs to try to warn the guy who lives there. It was already almost midnight so I was thinking he was sleeping while his place flooded over. After banging on the door several times I realised he probably wasn't there. His neighbour confirmed that suspicion. She also tried to call him but it was late and he never answered. I called the maintenance and waited for an hour for the guy to come. Before he turned the water off and I could finally go to sleep it was after 2 a.m. All because the seals on the water metre got loose.

The room where the water heater is smells like wet plaster and the wall are full of cracks. This is plaster drywall after all - treated with water it just loses shape and dissolves. The stains are all over that wall and on the ceiling. I don't know how the apartment upstairs look likes but the one below has all the water.

I woke up before 8 a.m. because the bank called to get me to confirm a transaction. I twisted something in my left wrist and now it hurts when I move it up and down. Then I got up and forgot I moved a couch away from the wet wall so I hit it with my right foot and tore the nail of my little toe. And when I got to work it turned out a fridge malfunctioned and lots of very expensive reagents melted.

So this was not a very good day and that was even before I learned that Harold Ramis died. So I'm going to leave this under yesterday's post. Lost among the old updates.

So what one does when one gets snowed in and cannot fly to a conference? Take a lot of photos, obviously (as you could see in earlier posts) but I couldn't spent my whole days on taking pictures. I also need to do important stuff like calling airlines (it's kind of hard to do while running through snow). And when you have to wait and hope that a human will eventually pick up there isn't much else you can do. You can post your photos. Sort your emails. And you can also watch TV.

This means I binged on the Olympics this past few days. I don't think I ever watched so much of it. But it was all good to me because Poland has FOUR gold medals in Winter Olympics so far:
2x Kamil Stoch - Ski Jumping both on normal and large hill
Justyna Kowalczyk - 10 km Cross-Country Skiing
Zbigniew Bródka - 1500m Speed Skating

Zbigniew Brodka's story is one of those movies about underdog that doesn't have experience or money and trains sliding in socks on wooden floors or at night when water freezes on asphalt and works as a fireman to support his family and then beats the Dutch that have everything - a medal factory with all the training facilities and equipment and care that technology can make and money can buy. Only it's all true because there are no speed skating tracks in Poland under roofs and only couple in open air and none with good ice. Short Track people can at least train on ice skating rinks. Long Track either have to go to Germany and only see their families through Skype or do the things listed above. At least after women got bronze in Vancouver the sport federation buys them enough skates and pays for the trips. So everyone is in shock, not only because it was 0.003 that decided Zbigniew Brodka won but because we don't deserve him. He certainly doesn't deserve us.

Kamil Stoch and Justyna Kowalczyk were favourites but that didn't mean they had it easy. Justyna Kowalczyk had to fight with everyone to get to the top - not just rivals. It only got little easier when she started to get medals but now she had to fend the doubts after she didn't medal at first run and revealed she's running with a broken foot (that's right she won gold with a broken foot). They were telling her to give up and go home. I still remember that little kid Kamil Stoch used to be - 12 years old and winning kid ski jumping championships and dreaming of Olympics (the one they replay now again and again on Polish news) - and I remember all the talk about how puberty screws up body and balance and that he probably will never make it as an adult. And for a while he was unimpressive or, at least, he was shown like this when in comparison with Adam Małysz who used to win so much that everyone wanted every Polish ski jumper to be at least as good as him. When he finally hit his stride in last couple of years (he is World Cup leader right now) everyone started expecting everything on this Olympics even though it didn't even happen when Adam Małysz was at the hight of his career. And this time we were not disappointed.

Now they all did what no other Pole has ever accomplished in Winter Games Justyna won gold in second Olympics, Kamil won two in one and Zbigniew one the first one ever in speed skating.

We are a nation of naysayers and defeatists. Always ready to tell someone why it will never work. Maybe it explains why those who succeed in sport in our country are good at ignoring those voices, determined and obstinate. They are just doing what they do and only complain afterwards (you know how other people, when they get awards, thank those who supported and help them? - in Poland that's only half the talk; the other is finally being heard about all the bullshit the had to go through to do it). Sometimes I can't believe we are able to even compete on any serious level in anything but I suppose there just are enough of rough talent among 40 million people that even all of this can't destroy them all.

NBC mostly shows boring stuff like Ice Skating and Hokey on TV so I usually just let the streaming play in the background. I don't know where they get their streaming coverage. It's all done by Brits and in metric (distances in meters, km/h speeds and temps in C so it's easier to relate to for me) so I thought for a moment that maybe they just take Eurosport feed but then it seems like they are talking about US as "our team" but then it creates funny moments when the British commentator completely forgot about it when Lizzie Yarnold was going for gold in skeleton and was all "Go, Lizzie, go" (how can you not when it's your country's only real hope for gold). What really gets me is that those are not the same feeds as on TV. When I watched the final series of Ski Jumping on normal hill they were both streaming it with a British commentator and showing it on TV with American ones (American also shows their measurements so meh). The funny part is that they mispronounce the names of Polish jumpers in a different way. For example the Brit says Kamil Shtoh (it's Stoch - pronounced as Stoh) and Adam Malash (Małysz - Muhwysh - the name of former Polish champion) and Americans say Stock and Malysh (Americans are closer - weird - it's usually other way around). It's a relief to hear the names said correctly by the Russian announcer.

I kind of miss the overexcited Polish commentators (My dad let me listen to some of their talk over Skype). I miss the information and the emotion they show. The only moment I felt a little bit like that here was when one of the NBC commentators said about Marit Bjoergen (Kowalczyk's arch-rival) after Justyna Kowalczyk won - she tried to fly to close to the sun and burnt. Being ridiculously poetic is something Polish commentators do all the time - it felt so right.

I was supposed to fly to a conference today but my flight was cancelled. At least the first part of it as most flights here were cancelled. My boss was also supposed to fly out to a (different) conference and his flight was also cancelled. The sad part is that it only started snowing around 1 pm. It was only bitterly cold before that (as usually felt much colder then it really was). All the planes got stuck at other airports and that lead to all this mass transit disaster. I can't even get to the airline as their lines are permanently blocked by too many calls (most of the time I'm not even on hold - they just kick me out). They did this to themselves by sending emails saying one can only change the reservation by calling. Not that I'm planning to fly anywhere now - it's too late anyway as I'm not going to make it to any of the talks (I was just going for one symposium) - but I need this to get my refunds.

So when I finally gave up on any chance of flying out today I decided to go shopping as I had no food in the fridge because I was to be in San Francisco for the next couple of days. When I was leaving my apartment it was just starting to snow. When I was coming back half an hour later everything was already white. Few hours later there was about 20 cm of snow and then the snow turned into hail. Tiny ice balls were falling from the sky and it sounded like somebody was throwing sand at things.
See the begining and the end:


This time it was cold for two nights and a day before it started snowing so the snow didn't melt so much. It still caused that weird phenomenon that makes it feel warmer when the snow is falling then just before it does and it still melted a little bit by the ground but most of it was sticking. Because it was soft on the asphalt it clumped under tires and because the temperature was below freezing the whole day today it wasn't readily melting under the tires of cars. So all the roads are white and people abandoned their cars all over the place. Mostly on the sides of the roads but there was some genius who left his/hers in the middle of the street.


The forecast says more freezing rain, snow rain mix and then more snow again tomorrow. But, at least it's to be above 0, tomorrow and on Friday we are to start a big melt. At least I don't need to worry about floods.

And now, for a nice ending - birds in snow: