Small addition to previous post

It turns out that our image not only featured in the top images for 2013 by Nature, but was actually also used as cover for their 2013 summary.
Cheers all
http://www.nature.com/news/specials/2013-1.14378

Updates

I know, I know, it's been a long while since I last posted. I could probably launch into explanations as to why that is, but I won't.

So, a few things happened lately that require some updates. First of all, I passed my comprehensive exam and was officially accepted into candidacy for PhD. I had fun writing the written proposal since it was on the subject that I would like to research in real life if/when I get a faculty position. This last semester I also sat in a class on grant writing and it was very helpful in preparations for the comprehensive.

I also received a fellowship from the Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience (NCMN), with a small press release on the subject. Always good for ego-stroking.

On with the updates!

The paper in Advanced Functional Materials finally got out in an issue (as opposed to a preliminary view). In addition, it got to be a front piece with an image designed by Joel Brehm.



The paper also received a press release from UNL, which is always nice.

Surprisingly, we got a very nice present for the end of the year, as our image was included among the images of the year by Nature. I think I will take this opportunity to post that nice image again :-)


I think that's about it for now. Hopefully, this blog will have more good news in the next year. Happy holidays to those who might happen to read this.

Cheers all

Paper out at last

The paper in the Advanced Functional Materials is out at last (at least on the Internet). It can be found here.

Hilarity ensues

Well, it was only a matter of time with the publicity surrounding the paper. Those who can read Russian are welcome to check out the link. The problem, of course (beyond the rather sensationalist coverage), is that I have as much to do with Russia as with ballet. I was born in Ukraine when it was still a part of USSR. I came to Israel with my parents when I was a child of 13 (USSR still existed at the time). So, any connection to Russia is, as they say, purely coincidental :-). Incidentally, it is interesting that they didn't try to claim Dr. Dzenis as having connection with Russia, though he left the USSR as an adult and has a PhD from Riga University. Then, there is the claim that I have a Masters in EE. I wish. I tried to start Masters in EE when I was in the army. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and I only took a few courses. And, finally, we are obviously not from Akron. Only Dr. Cheng who is a coauthor on the paper is. I guess these reporters at least tried to find out a bit about us (most likely found my Linked-in profile). It is more than I can say about other articles. In most cases people very obviously didn't read the paper, but only the JournalStar article or even subsequent coverage (it is like watching a children's game of "broken phone"). It is funny nonetheless.

Now this is getting silly

Well, not so much silly, but definitely an uncharted territory for me. Literally almost two dozen different versions of news coverage of the paper are out, and new ones popping up all the time. https://news.google.com/news/story?pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&topic=snc&ncl=d1_FY25uvPAQoAMBjzQeUH9jrgZgM&cf=all&scoring=d

A good day (more news on the papers)

Well, I have to say that I didn't anticipate such a rush of publicity for our recent paper. After being featured in Nature, it is also got the cover of the upcoming issue of ACS Nano and, in addition will be featured in Nano Today and Materials Today. There also was a phootoshoot of our group for a University press release on the subject. My advisor was also invited to write a feature article on the subject for Polymer with a promise to appear on the cover as well. All this is kind of overwhelming. In a good way, though. This day of good news was topped by the fact that another of our papers was accepted with really minor revisions to another pretty big journal. Lots to be cheerful about (there is, of course, Israeli Independence day coming next week as well :-) )

Paper is out

Well, the paper i mentioned earlier is finally officially out on the ACS Nano webpage. As promised, there is more. The paper was also highlighted in Nature.

Some good news

Well, apparently good news come in packs. There are some very exciting things happening with the paper I mentioned in my previous posts. I will update once those are finalized. In the meanwhile our previous paper got a news release on the University of Nebraska -- Lincoln web page. It's, obviously, not the Washington Post, but it is still cool.

Back from the dead

Well, it's been a really long while since I posted anything here. I am planning to change that now.

So, a couple of updates, I've written drafts for three papers during the last couple of months. I will update on their fate (hopeflly they would move along fast).

I am also finally starting the final edits on the novel. The goal is to finish by the end of September.

So, check in later for updates.

News from the Bookshelf

I've recently had several additions to my bookshelf, which make my reading list extremely long.

First of all, did mention I love my e-reader? I do. It has a small problem with glare, and I would have liked it to ave the option to invert the black and white colors for reading in a poor light, but other than that... It is handy, easy to handle, just the right size etc.

Second, I had bought a couple of DVD's with an extended list of classics to read. I won't read them all, obviously, but even those I already downloaded to my e-reader make for a long but satisfying list.

I bought the electronic version of the "Warriors" volume (I had already read the "Mystery Knight" and Martin is excellent as always, but other stories are also very good so far), and I also bought the second volume of "Dreamsongs" (I already had the first one) and a couple of books by my friend Don Platt (check his site out).

All in all, this makes me very happy and busy with reading in the future.

Shameless Promotion Time

Well, I think it's about time for some self-promotion and self-aggrandizement :)

My story Something for Nothing had appeared in the 12/39 volume of Allegory magazine (here is a link to the story itself). I urge everyone to go to the site and read the story (and all the other stories, of course).

Have a great week

A dilemma

Well, it seems that good news go in packs. I got a phone call today from Jenna Lucas, who is responsible for admissions to the UNO writing MFA program. I was accepted to the program. Now, it looks like I have a small dilemma on my hands. If I get some form of scholarship (if I don't then there is no real dilemma), do I go to this program, do I go to the Materials Engineering PhD or do I try to do both? Theoretically I think it is possible to do both, since the writing program is low residence program, but it will be very hard and there will still be a problem of the few residences. I'll have to think about this till the end of the month.

Happy Dance

I have great news.
First, I have been accepted for PhD studies at the Nebraska University at Lincoln (Materials Engineering).

The second bit, I had mentioned about a month ago. Now it's official. I made my first sale. Something for Nothing is going to appear at the Allegory magazine issue 12/39 on May 1st.

News, changes and a kitchen sink

Well, ok, there isn't really a sink... per se.
I've slightly updated the blog and created a blogroll, where I will add from time to time blogs I like to read. It isn't comprehensive, and some of the blogs don't have a direct connection to the issues of this blog, but I see it drifting into a more general direction anyway.

I hadn't written about it before, but i applied for an MFA in Writing at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. It looks like a nice program. We'll see. In any case, I needed recommendation letters, and it was a bit of a puzzle for me. The situation is different than the Engineering programs where I have plenty of people who worked with me in the past and would be able to vouch for my abilities. So, thankfully, AbsoluteWrite provided me with the opportunity to ask people I know there. Here are my deepest thanks to Celina Summers (I got a mention on the blog), to Don Platt and to my former team leader Sagi Abramovich for their recommendation letters.

There might be more to come out of my communications with Celina, but I will update if and when it happens.

Yesterday I had a pretty nasty shock in my work. I even felt emotional enough to send Sagi an e-mail on the subject. I translated a document talking about various money laundering schemes by Hamas to fund their operations. In one of the bits it talked about an arrest (several years ago) of a guy who was responsible for the Zerifin Camp hitchhikers' station. For those not familiar with the situation, there are hitchhikers' stations near every military camp in Israel, and Zerifin is one of the largest camps around. It is situated in the middle of Israel, near the town of Rishon-Le-Zion. I lived in that town for several years and served at that camp. It is mostly a training base with the addition of some other non-combat bases. During the Second Intifadah, there was a bombing on the hitchhikers' station near the base. I remember it very well, because I had spent the whole evening trying to reach the soldiers from the base to make sure they were ok. All the guys from my department were on the base at the time, but our unit was a small one, and I knew every soldier personally. This translation brought back those memories, and the two thoughts I had were, "what a small world" and "what a fucked up country we are".

Writing

I've been having a rather productive week in writing. Which is great. I had something of a writers' block for a long while, but, hopefully, this is over now. I am also arranging the submission package for an MFA program at UNO. I am not sure I will end up going, but it looks like an interesting program. So, yesterday I wrote a self assessment letter of my writing. It got me thinking about what my goals really are, what is stopping me etc. It doesn't happen often. Maybe it should. Makes you sharper.

Good news

Well, I had some bad and some good news with y story submissions. The bad news were the usual rejections for a number of my stories, both in English and in Hebrew. The good news, I'll tell you in a couple of weeks when and if they are final :)

Weekend updates

A Ghost of a Man I Used to Be in its Hebrew version was rejected by Bli Panika. The comments are very similar to what I previously got for it and for the English version. I sent the English version out again. Unfortunately, I fear that my belief that the positives about the story outweigh the negatives (I am well aware of the problems) isn't shared by the editors and I would have to throw in the towel on this one (certainly on the Hebrew version, since there aren't any magazines left for me to send it to). This is sad as I still think it is a good story. All the more reason to finish the translation of Ascension and start working on turning this into a novel. Embellished and explored, the issues touched in the story should make a killer novel.

I did a translation for Simanim yesterday. The original was pretty bad and it took me much longer than expected. Then again, I was tired and it went slowly and painfully, especially considering that Eden had decided it was time for her to get up and run around (we are talking from 10pm to midnight). Anyway, phew. Sent it off. Good riddance.

I got a bite from Mera Translations for a 10k job. We'll see how it goes.

The Jack dude from London had written again. I thought that one was gone. I can't figure him out. His unwillingness to transfer money to Israel or to open a paypal account is truly puzzling. Makes me somewhat apprehensive about taking this job. The text is interesting, but I wouldn't want to waste my time translating a paper without getting paid in the end. So, I'll wait for his clarifications.

I am going to meet with Prof. Dzenis probably tomorrow. Should be interesting.

Translation Competition

The "Bli Panika" sci.fi magazine is running a translation competition. See details here (Hebrew). I am entering. Even if I don't win, I'll put my translation up on my translation site and link to it here.

Avatar

Well, I've seen "Avatar" yesterday. It was nice, but not something extraordinary. I can see where some of the controversy comes from, but it is overblown, imo. This basic story had appeared many times with different variations.

On a side note, I couldn't stop the feelings of deja vu. Strong parallels with the Matrix (the machines humans had are even similar to those in the Matrix). On the other hand, Cameron had directed "Aliens" and Ripley/Weaver used a similar machine there as well. This, though is a superficial similarity. On the deeper level I saw many parallels with Card's "Speaker for the Dead". I mean, natives who are in touch with there whole planet which might be a one big organism, talking to trees (actually "planting" people to get them to the next level of life as a tree). Some humans defending the natives against the other humans. Well, the similarities aren't exact, but I just couldn't shake the feeling.

Morning updates and ancient history

The morning today was relatively uneventful. I took the kids to the kindergarten, did about a 3k translation, talked to my and my wife's folks and prepared lunch.

I saw the first episode of Caprica yesterday. I have to say I am somewhat unsure what I think. Looks interesting so far, but reminds me waaay to much of Terminator. We'll have to see how it goes.

Now, that that's out of the way, to the main point of the post. Yesterday I was planning how to proceed with The Gathering Clouds. This is my first complete novel and it is near completion. It also has a very long history that I went over in my head yesterday, and that got me thinking a bit about how things had changed over time.

Ok. The basic plot of the novel was written by my brother about 23-25 years ago in Russian. It was barely a novella by standards of length. I, being the easily impressionable boy that I was, thought it was great and all. I should also note that my exposure to science fiction and especially fantasy was very limited at that point in time.

Anyway, towards the time we came to Israel I managed to type the novella on our old machine. After we came to Israel and some time had passed, I translated the novella into Hebrew as a part of my learning experience. I even managed to type it on a computer (though on different types of computer, on different fonts etc). I am pretty sure it was painful to read. I wouldn't know. The translation is long lost and I don't remember. Well, I was even arrogant enough to send it off to a publishing. I knew nothing about publishing, and was probably one of those manuscripts that annoy the crap out of editors. That was 18-19 years ago.

At that point, the manuscript gathered dust in my desk. When I went to college, I started writing myself. Imagine the shock of my folks who always considered me the technical side of the family (and rightly so). After writing some stories (that weren't bad but not good enough to be published) I translated the novella into English. I also translated the second book of the trilogy, that despite being almost as old, was a much more mature book. Together they were barely enough lengthwise to be called a novel. I strung them together with an interlude and that was that for a while.

After Eitan was born (about four years ago) I started looking more seriously at the novel. I finally realized that despite some nice ideas it was extremely undercooked. I rewrote it on a massive scale, basically turning it into what it is today (though I later added another 30k words). At that point I found AbsoluteWrite and really dug deep into the novel. Today it stands before the last round of editing and being sent out. Though there are similarities with the original, it is mostly a new book. I had kept my brother's name together with mine on the byline, though it is by all accounts my novel.

This novel is an interesting exhibit of changes I underwent in my life and how I came to be the man I am today. It is always interesting for me to add another page to that book.