Home Safe

[james_davis_nicoll]

Went to Montreal, had fun, now own small bowl with secret message hidden at it that can be read with a handy blue-white supergiant star or if one is not available, a small UV source (for which I am grateful), aunt is fine, cats are alive and I am probably not even going to try to catch up on news.

I didn't make an unlocked announcement before going because that struck as posting a loud "come break into my home" or at least if I was a burglar, _I'd_ google for local people announcing that that they are off on hols.

Surprise discovery of the trip: noted Family Compact member John Strachan not only shares a surname with my mother's father, he actually was a relative. Gosh.

Comments

[cheshyre]

Oh good.

I was going to ask how the cats were.

It was a real pleasure to meet you, and I look forward to seeing you again sometime in the future.

[ckd]

It was really great to meet you!

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

Likewise!

[xinef.livejournal.com]

So how do you pronounce Strachan? :)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I pronounce it to rhyme with John ...

[xinef.livejournal.com]

That is how we were taught to pronounce Bishop Strachan's name when I was in grade school, so I'd agree. But I've heard folks pronouncing it phonetically (ie pronouncing the "ch" in the middle).

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

We pronounce the "ch".

[lpetrazickis.livejournal.com]

Strychnine?

Compact Family Tree

[(Anonymous)]

Surprise discovery of the trip: noted Family Compact member John Strachan not only shares a surname with my mother's father, he actually was a relative. Gosh.

Welcome back home, James.

Does this mean you take back your '... bunch of @$$ hats ..." comment of just a few days ago? [Think wisely before doing so: this most recent revelation proves that, yes, it's true, the Gods of Irony are always taking inventory.]

Cheers,

TSM

Re: Compact Family Tree

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

No, being related to me doesn't make people's actions better or worse.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I was wondering, when I saw a post from montrealais yesterday that referred to his having met you on the weekend. (I don't recall seeing any reference to this trip prior to that, but I plowed through about 700 posts on my friendslist in the two days after I returned from Atlanta, so I may have missed it in my haste to get caught up.)

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Sorry there wasn't enough depth of field for Jon Singer to be in focus; so it goes.

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Note to self: work on posture.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Ha! It was a Jon Singer bowl! What's the message?

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I was told it's the "hobo sign" meaning "a kindly woman lives in this house". It's a cat with a heart inside the outline.

http://www.worldpath.net/~minstrel/hobosign.htm shows it first and translates it as just "kindhearted lady". (The cat drawing is significantly different -- and less suited to being in the bottom of a round bowl).

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, I know that sign. I always joke that there must be a woman with heart sign to be seen with kitty vision on my condo because of all the cats who want to move in with me.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

A jonsinger bowl?

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

they'll make their own light source.

[joenotcharles.livejournal.com]

Sorry I didn't get a chance to come see you while you were here - I was out of town on vacation all last week and had to miss the Farthing Party.

[iayork.livejournal.com]

James, I've been wondering this for a while and will take this excuse to ask: Did you ever run a used SF store in Guelph? I used to buy from someone there, around 1979-1983-ish, who may have been vaguely reminiscent of you (but other details don't match, I think, so it's a long shot).

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Nope. I ran a game store in Kitchener, 1984-2001.

Other comments

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

My aunt's cat does not like me.

I needed one more book than I took.

There's nothing funnier -- and I mean this statement completely at face value -- at recognizing a throw-away event in an upcoming novel as having been inspired by an old post of mine in soc.history.what-if.

Re: Other comments

[sethb.livejournal.com]

There's nothing funnier -- and I mean this statement completely at face value -- at recognizing a throw-away event in an upcoming novel as having been inspired by an old post of mine in soc.history.what-if.

I'd vote for Charlie Stross thanking Geoff Miller for a memorable line (and the line itself). (The thanks alone was enough to let me guess what the line was.)

It's interesting now how many memes can be traced back to their actual origin, rather than being "folklore" in a couple of years. (cf "nasal daemons")

What I took

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Read on the way:
The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

(It was long but to compensate for this, it is in no way an actual complete story so I wasn't burdened with closure)

Read during the con:

Bone Song by John Meaney
Ha'penny by Jo Walton

Read on the way home:

A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
The Merchant's War by Charles Stross
Humpty Dumpty in Oakland by Philip K. Dick

With all due respect

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

It happened that I had this LJ entry in mind when I was reading A Companion to Wolves. (http://matociquala.livejournal.com/888999.html)

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Congratulations, by the way. :)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Unrelated, but if you have a moment would you mind linking to these polls? I think your readership is demographically quite different to mine.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

It was so good to see you, I'm so glad you could come, and also that the cats are OK.

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

... now own small bowl with secret message hidden at it that can be read with ... a small UV source ...

Interesting. Is there a commercial glaze to do that, or is something that was whipped up for the purpose?

(I have occasionally committed pottery).

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Whipped up for the purpose, I believe.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I believe you're correct. While I'm not postivie about that particular piece, I remember (and can still find) several posts online where Jon reports work on fluorescent glazes.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember him shining a light on bowls some Minicons back -- I think the last one in the hotel downtown with the big space on the second floor and the nice red chairs.

Glow in the Dark Ceramic Glaze

[le-trombone.livejournal.com]

And if I had searched before asking, I would have found this: http://www.glo-net.com/ceramic.html.

Glow in the dark ceramic glaze comes in powder form and is suitable for applying on or under glaze or directly on ceramic products like ceramic tiles, to produce glow in the dark designs on ceramic products. This product can be applied by painting, pouring or firing under temperatures of 1050°C.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Is that a Jon Singer bowl? Glad to hear you had fun and everybody is fine.