It’s not often that I see a description of a non-fiction book by someone I am not familiar with and know that I must buy it without any other supporting information, reviews, references, whatever. This is one of those, though: Alcoholica Esoterica : A Collection of Useful and Useless Information As It Relates to the History and Consumption of All… Read more →
Month: October 2005
There are some searches you should never do.
No, this is not a post about ass-eels or anything. However, after finding this article at Wikinews… well, between that and the lobsters, I feel I must stop making good-hearted fun of the Minnesota State Fair. That is all. Read more →
Scotland and Nova Scotia
Charlie Stross reports on his LJ that: “The Scottish Socialist Science Fiction Vanguard Party exists, and periodically meets in a pub. I can report that last night’s session was attended by, among other people, comrades Banks and MacLeod, with guest delegate John Meaney from the People’s Reactionary Suburb of Kent. It was resolved that (1) Scotland is even damper than… Read more →
Taxidermy Art
So, seriously, is it wrong that I really, really think that a scotch decanter made out of a dead squirrel would be dead funny? That’s only one of the amusing items at Custom Creature Taxidermy Arts. This artist’s story begins as an unassuming science nerd who attended art school to study painting and sculpture at the Minneapolis College of Art… Read more →
Trial of Saddam Hussein to be televised – Wikinews
You know, I have the feeling Saddam’s TV Trial is going to be the dictionary definition of a kangaroo court, but Saddam’s lawyer’s legal strategy sounds pretty amusing: Hussein’s lawyers have outlined their defense which, according to defense team member Abdul Haq al-Ani, consists of four “pillars”: The first argues that the invasion of Iraq was illegal and as such,… Read more →
When I die
Note to self: arrange something similar for my obituary. The most awesome obituary I have ever read. Read more →
Your next president?
“You guys are missing out on a good deal if you kill me. See, I’m kind of an expert with just about everything” Sounds like a Tom Baker-era Doctor Who quote, right? Actually, it’s a quote from America’s next President. (“His solution for Iraq? A roll of toilet paper, a piece of coal and a bit of string.”) Read more →
Professor Membrane’s Science Stuff
A few stories that could broadly be interpreted as “science related” caught my eye today. Let’s do a quick run through them, with some additional commentary by me… Let’s start with one of the borders between politics and science. The unmatched vitality of the United States’ economy and science and technology enterprise has made this country a world leader for… Read more →
Yet another silly online quiz
Two funny things here: 1) the last time I played D&D–years ago when I lived in Ontario–I played a character of this type (although this predated the specific prestige class mentioned here) 2) I love that spirituality score. If I could completely get rid of that lingering love of the notion of karma, I could probably get that right down… Read more →
Civil liber-what-nows?
USA PATRIOT Act, Domestic Security Enhancement Act, C-7 (see), etc. It just never seems to stop, does it? My thoughts, I’m pretty sure, can’t top the supposed Franklin quotation about people who would trade liberty for security. I’ll quote someone else, just as concise and valuable, for the sake of diversity: “Experience should teach us to be most on our… Read more →
Wednesday Linkfest
B3n (yes, that is a three), who is another online acquaintance from the Delphi days, is just as much of a language pedant as I am, and shows it while talking about the list of recent additions to the OED. I completely agree that they’re taking the whole ‘descriptive’ thing a bit far… While it does slightly warm my heart-cockles… Read more →
Me==Lucky
Not only is my wife an intelligent, attractive, and happy woman, with a professional career, she’s a pretty great mother too. She also does house painting, and all the yard work. As if that weren’t enough, she’s a pretty good cook as well. This weekend for Thanksgiving she attempted her first turkey. This was also the first time we’ve used… Read more →
Child of Privilege?
So, some of my North End friends made a comment a while back about me growing up in some rich suburb. Now, I am by no means “street”–let’s get that right out of the way–but I certainly didn’t grow up in any kind of gated community. Similarly, I have never been poor–my father was always a white collar worker (albeit… Read more →
Authors With Feeds
So, I read an absolute ton of RSS feeds, in a number of different areas that interest me. One of the kinds of feeds I track are the ones from authors whose work I enjoy. I’ve got a pretty big list of them in my aggregator these days, and I’m always looking for more. (Really–feel free to email me lists,… Read more →
Attention durned furrners
This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada. Monday is a real holiday here. No work, probably no blogging, until Tuesday. Remembering that sadness changes into something beautiful, something big, bigger than words; that sadness is warm, like the ocean that welcomes the setting sun, and full of dignity, like the mountain with its iron fist. And finally, your thought for the… Read more →
