If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential — for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never. —Søren Kierkegaard Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking. —John Maynard Keynes… Read more →
Author: Mr. McLaren
And Again
The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of suffering. —Thomas Merton Life is thick sown with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through. The longer… Read more →
Commonplaces
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. —Edgar Allen Poe Reading furnishes the mind only with material for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. —John Locke, Of Reading Why shouldn’t things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and… Read more →
It’s actually not a joke, although it’s easy to come up with a punchline
I’ve been quick to criticize American history for HUAC, and CoIntelPro, and the general internal espionage of the early FBI, as well not recognizing the lessons of history when they swing around again, so I should probably also point out that we do a lot of the same stuff. As you can see in the story that broke this week… Read more →
They love us, they really love us.
Apparently the insidious KentuckianYeah, I know all you Yanks do this, but I first heard of this foul scheme as being based out of Kentucky. plan of using false Canadian flags while abroad to smear the international reputation of my nation has not worked. Canada takes No. 1 spot in global image poll Canada came out best in a globe-spanning… Read more →
And now, from the “headlines I never expected to see” category…
Knights Templar sue the Pope. Yeah. That’s what I said. The Daily Telegraph reports that The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ has launched a court case in Spain, demanding Pope Benedict “recognise” the seizure of assets worth €100bn. The Spanish-based group of Templars apparently says in a statement: “We are not trying to cause the… Read more →
Limits Of Human Ability
Because I have a young daughter, I spend some time every week looking at various clips of dancers on YouTube, for her entertainment. I’ve seen some pretty amazing stuff, but today I saw one that is hands down the most amazing thing. It’s a performance at the Circus Festival of Monaco, by two dancers, Wu Zhengdan and Wei Baohua from… Read more →
Let’s Do The Time Warp Again
This post has nothing to do with the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Do you know the BBC Radio show Twenty Minutes? Do you know the British author Justina Robson, much-mentioned on this blog, and much admired by me? (That’s her picture up there.) Do you know Doctor Who? Did you know I’m a big old Doctor Who geekI’m a Baker… Read more →
How about a Saturday Bookish Links roundup?
On my last excursion to Boston, while I sadly did not get to do the Readercon thingRound-the-clock meetings suck. Next job I work only in North American time zones–the global economy can go hang., I did get to pick up a couple of more Centipede Press books that I had directed to my US mail drop (a.k.a. “Matt’s house”): a… Read more →
CERN Rap
This pleases me. That is all. Also, the Backup Dancers credit made me laugh out loud. Read more →
The Web is… um… big.
As I seem to be saying a lot this month, I’ve been using the Internet for a long time. I remember when Gopher was more useful than HTTP. I remember when with a little dedication you could surf a significant portion of the entire web. I mean, I’m not Berners-Lee or anything, but I started on the web about three… Read more →
Well, this should solve a few problems.
The KGB Raffle winners are up. It appears I have won a wormhole. Could this, combined with my recently acquired Mad Scientist goggles, be the beginning of my career as a supervillain? Or, alternately, the beginning of a mildly comic adventure through time and space? Read more →
What You Get For Being A Grownup
I am the world’s worst homeowner. I never seem to get around to doing the routine maintenance that owning a home entails. Some of this I can get away with because I will pay someone else to do it, and some of it is covered by my awesome wife–for instance, all my neighbours think I am “not a man” because… Read more →
A Previous Engagement
No blogging today, nothing’s getting between me and the new TaltosIf that made you think of Ann Rice, you’re probably reading the wrong blog. book. I’ve known Steve for quite few years now, but I’ve known Vlad since I was 10 years old–we go waaaay back. And unlike many people I knew when I was ten, I’m always glad to… Read more →
A Blast From The Past
You kids today with your webcomics, you don’t know how good you’ve got it. I remember the early 90sRemember kids, Red Meat didn’t appear online until 1996., when getting a comic on the web meant puerile Space Moose sodomy jokes or the banal comedy of Doctor Fun. </crotchety> Seriously, though, there’s a wealth of great stuff out there today–no one… Read more →
