Eric James Stone

Apparently, old gas pumps with mechanical meters can’t display prices above $3.99 per gallon. One of the solutions being used is "half-pricing"–displaying the price per half-gallon, but that’s a bit confusing to consumers.  Meanwhile, there are delays in getting the mechanical upgrade that will allow displaying $4+ prices, and some stations can’t afford the hundreds of dollars per pump it costs to upgrade.

Here’s a simple solution, which would require nothing more than some white-out and a permanent marker (or possibly some paint, depending on the colors used by the gas pump):

1. Configure the pump as if gas cost 1/10 of what it does.
2. On both the price per gallon and total price meters, cover the current decimal point with white-out.
3. Make a new decimal point after the next digit to the right.
4. Add a "0" at the end if necessary.

Voilà! You now have a pump capable of displaying prices up to $39.90 per gallon.  If your total price meter only went to $99.99, it now goes up to $999.90.

The only downside is you’re now rounding to the nearest dime instead of the nearest penny on price (or nearest penny instead of 1/10 of a cent, if your pricing went that far.)  But most of that difference probably cancels itself out on average.

It’s a little-known fact that I can sing in Russian.  I rarely do it–I believe the last time I did so in front of other people was at the Writers of the Future banquet last year, where I sang a verse or two of "Katyusha" for the benefit of the Ukrainian and Russian artists at my table.

I can only speak and understand a few phrases in Russian, so I generally don’t understand what I’m singing.  You see, I took Russian 101-102 at BYU, but when I hit Russian 201 I decided the workload was too much.  But I sang in BYU’s Russian choir for two years, and it’s easier to remember things you sing, even years later.

Anyway, the real point of this post is that I got an email on Monday from the editor of ESLI, a Russian science fiction magazine, asking to buy the rights to translate and publish my story "The Ashes of His Fathers."  That’s the first time someone has contacted me out of the blue wanting to reprint one of my stories.  It’s enough to make me want to burst into song in Russian.

In honor of that, here’s me and the rest of the BYU Russian Choir circa 1990 singing "Katyusha":

No, it wasn’t to the Mutara Nebula.

A few weeks ago, I got an email from Trevor Quachri, managing editor of Analog, asking if I would be interested in attending the Nebula Awards Weekend as a guest of Analog.  (The Nebulas are like the Oscars for science fiction writing.)  I jumped at the chance.

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On October 16, 1973, Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  I was six years and seven months old, and I didn’t care a bit about that.  But I did write a story, which my teacher was kind enough to type up for me.  I then illustrated it.

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I’m going to be swamped with stuff tomorrow, so I’m posting this a little early.

In 1990, there was an Earth Day Special on TV featuring an all-star cast. My family still quotes lines from it.  Just because I’m a conservative doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy funny environmentalist propaganda.

So here are a couple of skits that were particularly memorable:

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My short story "Accounting for Dragons" is now available in issue 8 of Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.  The story is accompanied by an awesome illustration of a dragon by Nick Greenwood.

Several friends also have stories in the issue: John Brown, Matt Rotundo, and Aliette de Bodard.

I wrote "Accounting for Dragons" at the Odyssey workshop last year, to read at the Odyssey Slam.

A friend of mine, Nancy Fulda, has created a marvelous website called Anthology Builder.  The basic idea is this: you go to the website, pick a bunch of short stories by various authors, and they get printed up in a nice paperback volume and mailed to you.  (And the authors get a little money when you do that.) This is the kind of application that print on demand technology was made for.

Five of my stories are currently available on Anthology Builder:

• "Betrayer of Trees"
• "In Memory"
• "The Man Who Moved the Moon"
• "Resonance"
• "Upgrade"

Obviously, that’s not enough stories to fill an entire volume.  So I’ve created an anthology titled Eric James Stone & Company, which contains my stories plus stories by friends of mine.  Go take a look. 

And because the anthology contains a story by one of the featured authors for April, Campbell Award nominee Mary Robinette Kowal, if you buy a copy you’ll get one dollar off the regular price of $14.95.

UPDATE: I left "Resonance" out of the original list.

My friends Janci and Drew created a list of the best and worst Buffy episodes.  It’s a pretty good list, but I have my quibbles.

Here’s my list, with commentary.

1. Once More, With Feeling - This is the musical episode, and it’s generally considered by fans to be the best episode.  I agree.  The songs are great, but more importantly, they not only fit the characters very well, they also advance the larger story arc of the season.
2. Becoming, Part 2 - This is the climactic episode of season 2.  This is the episode that turned me into a fan of the series, because of the choice Buffy is forced to make in the end.  The writers knew what they were doing.
3. The Body - This is the most heart-wrenching episode of the series.  One of the interesting things about it is the complete lack of background music.
4. Hush - A spell makes everyone in Sunnydale unable to speak.  Therefore, the majority of the episode has no dialog.
5. Conversations With Dead People - Part funny, part scary, part sad, this episode gives a lot of insight into the characters.  It also features the wonderful song "Blue," by Angie Hart.
6. Help - This is one of the most poignant episodes.  Buffy fights to save a psychic student who foresees her own death.
7. Normal Again - What if Buffy is really in a mental institution, imagining the whole fight against vampires thing?
8. Superstar - Thanks to a spell, a minor recurring character becomes the star of the show.
9. Tabula Rasa - Group amnesia.  Hilarity ensues.
10. I Was Made to Love You - Another very poignant episode, involving a robot searching for its creator.

Wow, it was tough cutting it down to ten episodes.  There are a whole bunch more that are also excellent:  Storyteller; Chosen; The Zeppo; Passion; Prophecy Girl; Lie to Me; Innocence; Becoming, Part 1; Anne; Amends; Bad Girls; Consequences; Earshot; Graduation Day, Parts 1 & 2; Fear, Itself; Something Blue; This Year’s Girl; Who Are You?; Restless; The Gift; Bargaining, Parts 1 & 2; Grave; Selfless; Showtime; and Lies My Parents Told Me.

I won’t do a list of the worst episodes, because I try to forget them.

…then you need to read this news story.

I love my GPS, which I bought a bit over two years ago.  I use it all the time.  But there are a few things that I wished it could do.

First, the maps and location data it has on board are static.  Each year, I can purchase a disc with an update, but that data is already a few months out of date by the time the disc goes on sale.  I wanted downloadable updates on a more frequent basis.

Second, while the travel time estimates are generally fairly good, they don’t take into account the fact that traveling during rush hour is different from traveling at noon or at midnight.  Plus, whatever data they’re based seems to reflect a theoretical speed rather than actual historical speed.  I wanted my GPS to notice my actual travel times at different times of day and adjust its calculations accordingly.

Third, while some traffic data is available through a subscription, it’s rather general data about routes to avoid, rather than specific data on travel times through problem areas.  I thought it would be really cool if GPS units could connect to the cell phone network and upload data about the traffic conditions and travel speeds they encounter.

Well, someone’s gone and built a GPS that does all that: the Dash Express Two-Way Internet-Connected Portable GPS Navigator.

Unfortunately, at $400, I can’t afford one right now.  But it’s cool just knowing that it exists.