Year of the Jubilee

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Another of those strange thoughts that come to me from time to time: did the Israelites ever actually celebrate the year of the Jubilee?

The book of Leviticus outlines the requirements for the Jubilee year, which was to come after the seven sabbaths of years (7 * 7 = 49 years), so that every 50th year they should “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.”

Yet the Bible doesn’t tell us that they actually did all that was required in the year of the Jubilee: releasing bondservants, cancelling debts, etc. All we have are the instructions in Leviticus 25 and 27, and another reference in Numbers 36. That’s not to say they never did it, just that it’s not plainly recorded.

I wonder if they did, or if they even tried.

And I wonder if I’m better off sometimes not asking these kinds of questions.

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61, 62, 63, 64 … 65

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Boy, those last 5000 words on the novel were slow in coming. I looked back in the archives to check, and am embarrassed to admit it took just over two weeks to make that progress. That works out to about 330 words a day. Shameful. 😮

I console myself by saying “Hey, part of that time you were at Dragon*Con, and for the last few days you’ve been sick, and don’t you need another cough drop?” (Thank you, don’t mind if I do.)

So here I am, at 65,000 words, still fairly happy with the way I’ve arranged the electrons in the file but hoping this month I can put more of them in place.

I’ve got to pick up the pace.

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LOLcats Repudiated

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I’m not a LOLcat fan, although I admit some of them are funny. And if you’re not familiar with the LOLcat phenomenon, the great anti-LOLcat on the Fabianspace Blog won’t make any sense to you. But I liked it. 😀

Fabianspace is run by Karina Fabian, a talented writer whose husband Rob was a speechwriter with me on the Air Staff and is now a Squadron Commander at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. Karina agreed to be the Anti-Running-Mate in the Anti-Campaign, and posted a fake news story about the Anti-Candidate on the same “Labor Day Funnies” page of her blog. I suspect Rob had a hand in producing that segment.

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Honorable Mention

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A couple of people in the Codex Writers Group noted that I received an “Honorable Mention” in the latest Writers of the Future contest. This category of loser — :p — used to be called “Quarter Finalist,” but they changed it a few rounds ago. I guess QF sounded too similar to “Finalist” for someone’s taste.

Several other Codexians were listed in the slate of honorable mentionees, including Alethea Kontis (yes, THAT Alethea Kontis); Ami Chopine and Darren Eggett, who were at Dave Wolverton’s Novel Writing Workshop with me; Rick Novy, with whom I share a place in the recent Tales of the Talisman table of contents; and Pat Esden. Quite distinguished company, I think.

This is the second time I’ve made it this far in the contest, but the first time I’ve found out on-line through a writers’ group instead of getting notified through the mail. Oh, the wonders of modern technology.

Now, to search for a venue willing to publish my losing story ….

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25 Years Ago, in Space

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On August 30, 1983, the Space Shuttle Challenger launched on mission STS-8. Astronauts Richard Truly, Daniel Brandenstein, Dale Gardner, Guion Bluford (first U.S. black man in space), and William Thornton made up the crew. The mission launched the Insat-1B satellite (a multipurpose satellite for India) and was the first shuttle launch in the dark and the first shuttle landing in the dark.

Other mission highlights (edited into bullet format),

– the nose of orbiter was held away from the sun for 14 hours to test the flight deck area in extreme cold
– the crew filmed performance of an experimental heat pipe mounted in the cargo bay
– the orbiter dropped to 139 miles altitude to perform tests on thin atomic oxygen to identify the cause of glow that surrounds parts of the orbiter at night
– the remote manipulator system was tested to evaluate joint reactions to higher loads
– six rats were flown in the Animal Enclosure Module to observe animal reactions in space
– testing was conducted between the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I (TDRS-1) and the orbiter using a Ku-band antenna
– investigations continued on the Space Adaptation Syndrome

[BREAK, BREAK]

In other news, Dragon*Con is going fine. I got to visit with several of my writing friends at supper last night, and I’ll be leaving in a little while for Day 2 (featuring the ever-popular Baen slide show).

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A Solution for the Hillary Democrats

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I understand they don’t want to vote for Senator Obama, and it might leave a stain on their souls to vote for Senator McCain. The solution is obvious: they should all vote for the Anti-Candidate!

No party, no speeches, no promises; just a workable slogan based on Jefferson’s maxim, “That government governs best which governs least”: “Governing least–we’d be happy to.” Your convenient write-in vote for any office, anywhere, any time.

Some of the Anti-Candidate’s positions are available on the Anti-Campaign page, and new positions are put on this forum page before they’re added to the main page. If your favorite issue isn’t represented yet, sorry. “Things take time,” as Piet Hein reminded us, and working 2.5 jobs plus church and community service precludes platform-building.

Besides, when you don’t represent a political party and aren’t even on the ballot, having a platform isn’t that critical.

All I ask is, if you’re going to write in my name, that you spell it correctly. 😉

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Oh, for a few hundred bucks and a day off …

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… and a press pass.

Doggone NASA has scheduled a Lunar Exploration Workshop at Johnson Space Center for September 8th, at which

Reporters will have a unique chance to experience lunar life, including driving across and touching a simulated moonscape….

During Monday’s tour, reporters will visit NASA’s lunar yard to view NASA’s prototype lunar truck as it travels across the mock surface of the moon. They will be able to climb into a concept lunar lander in the Altair development lab and examine moon rocks brought back to Earth by Apollo astronauts.

Here’s the press release if you want to read more about it.

Hey, NASA: I’m writing this novel about lunar colonists and the sacrifices they make to keep their colony alive. Can I come?

You’d better believe I would try if I could come up with money for a plane ticket and could take some more time off from my NC State job. (Baen work I can take with me, which is very nice.)

But, since I’m sinking a decent amount into this week’s trip to Atlanta for Dragon*Con — and need to hold back a tidy sum to pay my estimated taxes next month 😡 — and don’t really have any more time off to spare, I guess I won’t try to wrangle press credentials to attend.

Drat.

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Yesterday in Space History

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Ever suddenly realize you don’t know what day it is? Me, too.

I have a wide range of excuses as to why I didn’t post this yesterday–good excuses, too, I assure you–but rather than enumerate them I’ll just post it now.

Fifty (50!) years ago yesterday the U.S. launched Explorer 5 from the Eastern Space & Missile Center. Or, rather, attempted to launch. It didn’t achieve orbit because parts of the rocket and the spacecraft collided in flight.

Why is that significant? Not just because it was a half-century ago, but because it’s so similar to the failure that hit the Falcon-1 program earlier this month. That launch, back on August 2nd, failed because the first and second stages collided in flight.

Spaceflight, contrary to our best wishes, is still hard.

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Moving Ahead, Word by Word

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Passed the 60,000-word mark on MARE NUBIUM tonight.

I’ve got one couple preparing to undergo a painful medical treatment to keep themselves in the lunar colonization program, and another struggling with whether to continue in the program after he was injured during initial setup operations on the moon. In each case, things will get better before they get much worse.

But it’s good to be creeping toward the goal.

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Public Art News: Artist Selections, Temporary Exhibits

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Last night’s meeting of the Cary Public Art Advisory Board went well. I agreed to serve on two Artist Selection Panels: one for the art to accompany the Walker Street Extension project, and another for art associated with the Symphony Bridge at Koka Booth Amphitheatre.

In related news, Cary Visual Arts’ temporary outdoor exhibit is now in place, with ten different sculptures arranged around the Town Hall campus. If you find yourself near Cary Town Hall with a few minutes to spare, stop and take a walk around; some of the pieces are magnificent.

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