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February 1, 2000

An Explanation and An Apology

Those of you who have been here more than once or who have taken the time to glance through the updates archives will have noted that I haven't really had a major update in quite awhile. In particular, I hadn't posted any new episode analyses since back in November, for crying out loud, despite my intentions to get caught up during the rerun season of December and early January.

What's been going on? Real life, primarily. Some of you may know that the start of December, I opened up a discussion board to replace the one 'lost' when SG-1.Net went to MGM. The first few weeks of that board's existence were full of arguments, complaints, conflicts, and a lot of stress. It basically meant that I had no energy left to work on the NNG. In fact, it nearly drove me to give up on the Stargate community in general, but fortunately there's a lot of great people in our community who really helped me get through it.

Then, right during the holiday madness, my job search led to a great new offer. January was thus extremely busy as I worked long hours to get all my projects wrapped up or ready to hand off during my two weeks' notice at my old job. I've been at the new job a little over a week now, but there's been no working into this one slowly--I'm even busier now than before (and loving it!).

So I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize for the lack of updates, but more importantly I'd like to apologize to those of you who've taken the time to write in with nitpicks or comments or suggestions. I've been extremely lax in replying, but please do be assured that I have everyone's emails staring at me whenever I open my mailbox, and I will get to them shortly! Please bear with me. ;-)

What's next? I am definitely still working on the NNG, I do intend to fill in the obvious gaps, and I even have ideas for other content once that is done. However, I can't say at this point how quickly or how often I'll be updating from now on. Perhaps once I'm a little settled into my new job I'll be better at balancing everything. In the meantime, I thank you for your patience.

-- Meli

The Book Nook

This month we have two books that serve as companion pieces to great science television series. They provide interesting background material for a lot of the science in science fiction, but they're anything but dry and dull textbooks. Both have been reissued in paperback during the past five years, though you may still prefer to track down an old hardcover version, as they are as beautiful as they are intriguing.

Connections by James Burke (February 2000)

Companion to James Burke's original Connections series, in which "Burke charts the course of technological innovation from ancient times to the present, but always with a subversive eye for things happening in spite of, and not because of, their inventors' intentions. Burke gives careful attention to the role of accident in human history."

Little Brown & Co. / ISBN 0316116726
Cosmos by Carl Sagan (February 2000)

Based on Carl Sagan's superb series from the 1980s, Cosmos "is a magnificent overview of the past, present, and future of science. Brilliant and provocative, it traces today's knowledge and scientific methods to their historical roots, blending science and philosophy in a wholly energetic and irresistible way."

Ballantine Books / ISBN 0345331354