ROBUST discussion

Hello,

I'm Jeremy Beard. Currently, I'm working on my PhD in microbiology (specifically virology).

Life-long reader in pretty much every genre (from literary to romance), though in the last couple of years I've been bit by the writing bug. Though I'm still unpublished at this time.

Besides my Good Reads account, I also have:

A blog:
http://www.riftwatcher.blogspot.com/

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/jabeard_author

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

I look forward to talking with you all.

Hi Jeremy. Interesting choice of PhD. I'm fascinated by all things biology, specifically genetics myself but completely uneducated in the field. I like reading about it though.

Are you writing fiction involving viruses and microbes? I'm sure viruses are much abused in fiction generally.

RE: Claudine

Life is inherently interesting, I think. :)

RE: Mehry

Actually, no. None of the stories I've ever written involves microbiology, except, arguably a background reference to a plague in one story.

RE: Viruses being abused

I try to not be "that guy", but sometimes my wife gets annoyed because I can't help but comment on some inaccuracy I see in a TV show about microbiology. :)

Most of what I've written has been urban fantasy/contemporary paranormal or fantasy. However, I did model the advancement system and some academic politics for a group of scholar mages in one of my books somewhat after the PhD system

I guess since I'm so knee-deep in the microbiology otherwise, I don't really feel like writing about it (other than in my scientific publications).

Okay, just wanted to drop a note. We've successful left Madison (not a brigand in sight!). Staying with inlaws until I get an official job offer. My inlaws though live out in a fairly rural area. This being the 21st century and all I still have Internet access but only via this slowish (in relative terms) hotspot thing on my wife's phone where they start hitting us with charges pretty quick if we go over the limit, so probably won't be on much until I'm settled in at the new place or we go to visit my parents (who do not live in a rural area) and I have access to a bit more fancy pants internet.

Also will be all but absent from Twitter and FB. :(

Good to hear from you. A life in transition can be wonderful, but you don't always realize that until the transition is safely in the past. Good luck with the job search.

Good luck to you and your family, Jeremy. We'll miss you, so hurry back when you can.

I used my smartphone in the hospital to make a tethered wifi network for a Mac laptop and an iPad. In two days of reading stuff on the net, some shopping for electronic parts, etc, but no video, I used about 40MB. My smartphone is strictly an emergency phone kept switched off on my bike, so it is operated on prepay cards (card, singular, actually -- all my previous cellphones were still on the welcome money when they broke, or were lost, or given away...). To use it as a personal wifi hotspot, I bought a 500MB chunk of internet connectivity, good for a month, for €4, about US$5, and, as a I say, used only about 40MB of it. I used some more using the phone as a GPS on my bike, just to see how it works (badly -- that wretched little screen is invisible in sunlight) but when the month ran out there was still about 400MB of the allowance left. I think, if you don't watch streaming video, the usage level for text could be quite low.

Did some regular surfing for an hour today. Slow as heck, but we'll see. Twenty-four hour lag on usage reporting. I have some blogging commitments at the minimum, but if it isn't too bad can at least hit forums (maybe shut off images...let's surf like it is 1997!)

Ah yes, when dial-up was high tech.

I remember the Arpanet, which the military let some favoured businesses use for commercial comms. Back then high tech was a special sort of teletext keyboard and printer, and we kept a secretary on standby to paste up the strips of paper. Monitor? What monitor? As I was doing statistics when I was first inducted into the mysteries, I still remember, every time I look at a table, the special pain of trying to transmit a table comprehensibly on such a linear, zero-graphic "communication" device.

Ever use a telecopier? I'm old enough to remember those. Had one, in fact.

Go on, you're burning to tell us what it is. Indulge yourself!

Is that some sort of old-school fax machine?

It was a boxy machine with a telephone connected to it. To send a doc to someone, you put the phone receiver into a holder on the machine, then dialed the recipient's phone number and fed documents into the machine. The machine would "read" the document slowly, line by line, moving back and forth over the lines, transmitting them to the recipient. You had to use a special thermal paper to receive documents. Docs were muddied at the recipient's end (everything came across as "bold" and there'd be bleed in the letters making the centers of some letters -- like an "a" -- fill in). Usually there'd be dark lines running down the paper -- artifacts from the rollers, and not in the docs that were being sent. It took several minutes to send a single page.

There's a guy in England called Mick who collects old computers and related stuff. I bet even he hasn't heard of this "telecopier".

From Wiki:

1964 was a landmark year when the Xerox Corporation introduced (and patented) what many consider to be the first commercialized version of the modern fax machine, under the name (LDX) or Long Distance Xerography. This model was superseded two years later with a unit that would truly set the standard for fax machines for years to come. Up until this point facsimile machines were very expensive and hard to operate. In 1966, Xerox released the Magnafax Telecopier, a smaller, 46-pound facsimile machine. This unit was far easier to operate and could be connected to any standard telephone line. This machine was capable of transmitting a letter-sized document in about six minutes. The first sub-minute, digital fax machine was developed by Dacom, which built on digital data compression technology originally developed at Lockheed for satellite communication.

Sheesh, and I thought I was leading-edge tech having custom software developed for use as a POS accounting system back in 1983 on DOS. It was still working perfectly when I sold my last business about seven years ago. I sat with a guy several times who had a huge pot-belly, smoked incessantly and never left his desk, giving him my feedback on what wasn't working and why it was important. That was fun, though I swore never to be a beta-tester again. (who knew the whole world would forever be unknowing b-t's for Windows - well, not forever as it turns out, since the advent of Apple and Android).

Jeremy, I hope you soon get things sorted. I'm with Patricia, transition is often hard to live, but the rewards can be magical.

Keep us posted, we miss your wisdom!

Thanks.

I just accepted a job offer from a department of veteran's affairs research center in the Chicago area. I'll basically helping with data management. I may not be able to start until the end of July, but the search is over. Prob move to Chicago in a couple of weeks (woohoo full Internet again).

Yay! Jeremy! Must feel soooo good!

Do you like Chicago?

Yes, I do.

I used to live there. It's a lively city. Congratulations on the job!

Good for you, Jeremy. We hope you'll still find time to writer and even the odd second for us...

Prob have more free time relative to grad school.

Chicago - the Windy City - Bring your winter clothes, you WILL need them in a couple of months.

Break out the Bubbly!

Just spent six years in WI. I have a handle on Midwest cold. :)

Let us know how it is going, moving is a pain.

I love moving and haven't done it nearly often enough. Getting a house put together is great fun ... new beginnings. I'm very happy with my little cottage of a house, but I check out the real estate listings every few days just in case I see something else that's calling my name.

Really? You like moving?

You must have the gypsy gene that my Mom passed down to my Sister. Somewhere it skipped me - though I do get the travel itch once in a GREAT while. Usually in the fall, when it's cool.

Mom and my sister had it bad - Mom was all over the US in a motorhome for 20 years. Sis goes to Renasseance fairs all over the East and Mid-West.

When I say moving, I don't mean to new geographic areas. I just like the clean slate that a new-to-me home provides for decorating. I love finding homes with character and seeing what I can do with them. I'm an unusual house hunter in that, for me, the smaller the better -- and architectural details mean more to me than condition. I don't fall in love with new houses. I am more of a nineteenth century sort of girl.

(Laughes) Well you'd like the Harbor - it's all older houses built in different eras. There are some real dillies in the different neighborhoods.

I've never owned a house that was less a hundred years old. One of them was built in 1854.

If I ever go contemporary, I'd be a minimalist.

I just got a treadmill which my landscaping guy put together for me today. It sits in what in anyone else's house would be a guest room. It's huge (the treadmill, not the room). When the thing was all put together, I realized that it's never leaving that room. It wouldn't fit out the door; would have to be dismantled again to move it. I think this will keep me from ever moving out of this house.

Kench, Patricia!

I'm with you on the character house. Gets my creative juices flowing. But I love space. I can fill a big home in no time flat...

I grew up in a big home. But one would be pointless for me now. If I could, I'd get rid of my dining room. I don't need it. But in its place I'd want a huge closet.

Quiet week...

Is that a good thing?

B-a-a-a-a-d.

Just hope everyone is okay, doing stuff they want, et cetera is all.

Now we'll hear all kinds of imaginative excuses for not writing...

I've been tending a wounded goose, trying to figure out how to poison rats without killing my cats, and other unimaginative chores.

My most interesting experiences this week have been collecting a record number of eggs, and getting rained out at the Farmer's Market two days in a row.

No - take that back - I sold 4 copies of Impressive Bravado on Kobo...unable to account for that bit of good fortune.

I've been busy trying to behave.

Any success with that?

Kench.

I think I've been behaving way too well and it's time to kick up my heels a bit.

Got a haircut today. The stylist invited me to make the rounds of the bars with her on Tuesday when she "finally" turns 21. During our conversation I mentioned Liz Taylor. She said, "Who's Liz Taylor?" I felt so young when she wanted me to go drinking with her, and sooo old when she asked who Taylor is. It made sense, though. No reason she should know anything about Taylor.

Oh dear - nothing like that to bust your bubble. Well, have a good time.

I'm not actually going on the bar hop. For me, a good time is staying home alone and posting on Robust.

I think the whole world took the week off. Everything seems to be quiet. My brain certainly has been having time off. Not sure it's back on, perhaps my barefoot walk later on a low-tide outdoor beach labyrinth will get it back on track, grin...

Patricia, I think that's an offer you should not refuse. I mean, who gets invited to go on a pub crawl at our age?

Well, for starters, I don't drink other than a swallow of wine once in a while, so I'd be a real downer -- and all the others attending are college students. I suppose I could be the designated driver. Maybe that's what she had in mind. She asked me many times to join them.