I expect you all know what day this is?

[rolanni]

That is correct.  Today is the second anniversary of Warrior Princess Jasmine Sprite's triumphant arrival at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.  She immediately took to the basement, to begin her conquest of the denizens thereof, before ascending to the Administrative Level to take up the merciful and orderly governance of Her People, to whom she is known, fondly, and probably 'way too often, as Boopsie the Wise.

Here is one of the first photographs of Princess Sprite, after she had ascended to the light:

In addition to the Royal Anniversary, this is a bread-baking day; in which I shall make my second attempt at Pullman Bread.  It is also a writing day, and the goal for the day is to break 50G on The Gathering Edge.

Tomorrow, work may or may not happen.  We expect the Propane Guys (finally!) to arrive at 8 a.m., ditch-witch in hand, to install the propane tanks for the generator, lay the lines (hence the ditch-witch) and hook them up.  In theory, this should not disrupt the schedule here at the Confusion Factory at all.  Note operative phrase, "in theory."

Once the propane hookup is done, we will call the electrician back in.  He will make the final adjustments on the electrical side, and! Bob's your uncle (or possibly not, but bear with me) -- we will have a whole house generator installed and ready to rumba before Thanksgiving Day.

Steve and I are very grateful to everyone who has made this project possible.  We're convinced it will make our continued residence in the country house much more comfortable.  Especially as Murphy's Law clearly states:  Install a generator and you will never lose power again.

Which leads me, not as tangentially as you might at first suppose, to the topic of Patreon.  We are funding the pay-off of the (ahem) Rather Substantial Costs associated with generator installation through donations made through the Lee and Miller Patreon account.  We hope to have the whole thing paid off in about 18 months.

Now!  Patreon is on a Quest to make their service More Useful and More Transparent, and in pursuit of this they have adjusted the way they're showing total donations and patrons on the left side of the main creator page. Those numbers used to reflect the total number of patrons, whether or not their credit cards were in denial, and also the Total Amount pledged.

What Patreon is trying out, on select creator pages -- and ours is one of those chosen as a test site -- is displaying the total number of patrons whose credit cards have not been declined, and! the amount of money the creator will actually receive at the end of the month -- which is Total Amount LESS fees and declined pledges.

I'd like to know what people think about this change from the patron side: Is this confusing? Enlightening? Disturbing? Something else?

Thanks.

And that?  Is what's been happening around the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.  More or less bidness as usual as we settle into winter.

We are not planning to travel until mid-February, when we will be attending Boskone 53 -- February 19-21, 2016.  Writer Guest of Honor is Garth Nix; Artist GOH, Richard Anderson; Special Guests Arnie and Cathy Fenner; Featured Filkers Vixy & Tony; and NESFA Guest Bob Eggleton.  Looks like fun, and we're looking forward to seeing you there!

Here is a photograph of Princess Sprite among a few of her favorite objects, this morning:

Comments

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Happy Boopsie Anniversary to all at the Cat Farm, and many many more!

Having long since fallen under the enchantment of your Coon Cat reports and photos, I yesterday took the momentous step of applying to adopt a young MC mix kitten fellow from a NYC cat rescue, to be a companion to my incumbent 7 mo 9 lb Tuxedo shorthair princess.

They are checking my references, and if all goes well a charmingly floofy 5 mo. old greyish-brown tabby guy may be joining my ménage a deux sometime in the near future.

Of your courtesy, could you all keep your fingers crossed?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Best of good luck to all three of you! Let us know when he arrives.

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

*crosses all crossable body parts*

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

*crosses all crossable body parts*

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

You inspired me to try a making a Pullman loaf. Oh my. Yum! So amazing that it comes out square.

[bbu26.livejournal.com]

This sentence "and the goal for the day is to break 50G on The Gathering Edge" stuck out for me.

Just to have a little fun commenting on this...

It today's parlance, 50G is typically expressing 50 Gig, or 50 Billion. That's a rather large novel you're writing! :-)

Of course, I believe you're actually using the more archaic usage, where 50G refers to 50 Grand.
This was much used in pre-history, as reckoned in internet Time, currently supplanted with the metric 50K.

Linguistic evolution at work! :-)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I'd call it compartmentalism, myself, in which the inhabitants of one compartment think that their slang is the One True Slang, when, in fact, there are not only historical slangs which may still be brought into use from time to time, for flavor, but also slangs in use by the denizens of other compartments.

For instance, a "century" is, simultaneously: one hundred years; a Roman army unit of +/- 80 soldiers, commanded by a centurion; a one hundred dollar bill. It may be other things to other groups, but these are the definitions that leap to mind, for me, given my background, and age.

I used to deal more often than I really wanted to with a gentleman who often gave a price as "two bills" which was two hundred clams -- by which I of course mean, two hundred dollars. A "bill" in his parlance being a one-hundred dollar bill.

Linguistic evolution is when a word changes. "Hoi-poli" for instance -- meaning the Masses, or the Common Folk -- appears to be on its way to flipping its meaning entirely, being used in depressingly many venues to mean The Few; The Great; The Important.

Back in the day, "nice" meant "slightly foolish" and then moved on to mean "precise" (as in "nicely reasoned"), and is today used to describe someone/thing that is innocuously pleasant. Just by the way, "nice"="precise" is still in use among some speakers of English, too.

That's what I think of when I think of "linguistic evolution."

Patreon

[debbie jones (from livejournal.com)]

Referring to the Patreon question, I hadn't logged in for several months and didn't immediately notice any difference. I get updates by email any time you post a message, so I don't need to log in to the actual site often.

I see now that the little question mark indicates totals are now actual, less fees and declines, and estimates actual amounts to be received by you.
That is interesting to me as I'm a numbers person, and I'm glad to see an indication of definite financial support.
...all of us being well intentioned persons with flaws, including occasionally overwrought credit cards. :)

[sharon murphy karpierz (from livejournal.com)]

Bob is my uncle, but he is deceased now, alas.

[filkferengi]

Congratulations all 'round!