The Michael Canfield Channel

An Oasis on Mars

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Ice lake found on the Red Planet.

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On my way to the Philippines tonight. Travel time: 16 hours. Middle seat -- yeeeesh!

I'm All in ...

... as the Brits say. One of the hazards of being out of work, combined with living alone, is for me the complete fucking-up of my circadian rhythms. I get to bed later and later each night until last night I didn't go to bed at all. I did catch a few minutes doze sometime during Howard Stern this morning. Before that I was too wound up to sleep much before daylight, and I didn't want to go to bed then, or I'd have slept all day. So basically I've gone without sleep right now for 32 hours. To fill the predawn hours I joined a free-entry poker tournament online and placed 20th out of 88. Look out Wil Wheaton and Jennifer Tilly! Still I don't think that's so terrible a rank since this was my first ever tournament.

As for my sleep cycle being screwed --It's not as bad as all that -- tomorrow night I am off to Manila for a few weeks and it's an overnight 16 hour flight. Then I'll be on some other crazy cycle anyway. I'll try to post a few times from Manila although I don't have a digital camera so for all anyone will be able to tell I might really be home in Seattle the whole time.

And if you're interested in how I spend the rest of the time I saved by not sleeping, see the post directly below.

Oh, and then in the last 24 hours ...

  I kicked drugs, rescued the Secretary of Defense, uncovered and executed three moles, gave out 12 Presidential pardons including new identities and safe passage to a neutral country, went double-secret undercover, was forced to assassinate a coworker to keep my cover, promised many women I would come back for them only to arrive seconds after they've been gunned down, dismantled two nuclear bomb, neutralized a killer virus, got fired and reinstated four times, spoke to the President on my cell phone 51 times, got my best friend sober and reinstated as my supervisor after his being previously tried convicted and imprisoned for treason, shot my supervisor with a tranq dart , cold-cocked and duct-taped my supervisor to a chair, executed my district supervisor with a shot to the back of the head to prevent a former MI6 agent from blowing up the United Stated of Los Angeles, broke out of two jails and into one, fought a cougar, ended diplomatic relations with China, was kidnapped by a drug cartel, was kidnapped by terrorists who tried me over the internet, was kidnapped by Kevin Dillon, staged various armed robberies as distractions, tortured 13 subject for information -- a couple of which were even possibly guilty of something, trashed 5 helicopters, two jet fighters, Air force 1 and a maximum security prison, faked my own death, faked my own defection, talked my way back under cover with drug rings that I previously busted, ran into several arch enemies previously presumed dead and cut them new deals under duress, got Kim an internship, -- all while screaming "millions of people will die in the next fifteen minutes if you don't do exactly as I say!

Dark Cabal Deathwatch

May Posts: 5 (begun late in the month: 5/24).
June Posts: 19.
July Posts through today: 2. (one each from two members who've outed themselves.)

Nice run, guys ;-) -- Or is everyone simply on summer vacation?

Funny, to me it just seemed like a typical stunt by some web brats. Then their self-unmasking revealed them having real standing in the genre.  Now, in retrospect, it seems like bullying.   

The Latest Dark Cabal: The Comforts of Horror.

Antartic Storm

A field assistant going for a walk under a Antartic station platform during 35 knot winds: Clip.

Nice review of Flytrap #4

Link: [LitHaven.com] - News.

"Michael Canfield’s “Flight to L.A.” reminded me of Albert Camus’ The Stranger, both in style and character. Keep in mind that The Stranger is one of my favorite novels. Add this to the fact that the style of this story also reminded me of Donald Barthelme’s fiction, a person who just happens to be one of my favorite short fiction writers, then you could venture a guess to just how pretty damned impressed I was with this story. Like many great stories, the concept is simple: An apathetic character goes on a flight to L.A. and sits next to a self-important businessman who feels the need to impress others with how powerful he is. The story is both weird and sharply written, and intrigues the reader all the way through its downward spiral in the rabbit hole." -- Simon Owens

Holy Crap

Blogger Simon and a couple friends decide just working and living in Antarctica isn't quite enough of an adventure -- so they decide to sleep outside in frickin' hammocks. With photos: 75 Degrees South: Roughing it.

Free Joey

Religion: Through poor word choice I found that a lot of search engine traffic's been driven here by folks interested in Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. Sorry that I can't offer any photos of Katie Holmes' feet but if you're interested at all in the the belief system that Mr. Cruise espouses, the following site has an extensive audio interview with a former Scientologist. This is the first time I've heard the Scientology mythos explained from start to finish. Go listen to the information 7th Level Thetans (or whatever) pay up to $300,000 to learn.  The Infidel Guy Show / FreethoughtMedia.com :: Examine What You Believe! (look for the link titled Scientology Exposed - 5/14/2005.)

Covering the Hurricane Coverage (Chris Pirillo)

Podcast: This parody was played on Adam Curry's Daily Source Code Podcast for 7/12/2005, but if you've not heard it there or elsewhere, go to Chris Pirillo's blog and play the clip. Trust me. If you've had your fill of histrionic television weather emergency coverage then hunker down with Chris for 2 1/2 hilarious minutes: Covering the Hurricane Coverage (Chris Pirillo)

Via Celebrity Pundit