When Trish suggested the name Sarah for our kid, I was happy to go along. I had four reasons, two public ones and two ulterior ones. The public ones were liking the name and being amused at the notion of using a biblical name, especially one with the meaning “princess”. One ulterior motive was all about Thin Lizzy. One was about gypsies and Kali. Maybe some July I should take Sarah to Sainte Anne de Beaupre for the Romani gathering…
You can learn something new every day
I followed a stay Twitter link today that lead to this short discussion of how to deal with someone acting racist: I found that interesting enough that I spent some time looking at other vlogs from the same dude, which lead me to this one, East Coast Cats and Christopher Street Boys, which I particularly liked: I’m pretty New York… Read more →
Aside
I’ve had “ride the Orient Express, all the way, in style” on my bucket list since I was about 14. Apparently I will not get to cross it off. Trish and I looked at doing it the time we ended up rambling around Hungary, but ultimately deferred it. Now the chance has passed. (There is a once-a-year tourist version, but the idea of ponying up $20K US for 5 days seems a bit daunting to me–especially since I want the authentic scruffy and romantic experience, not the conspicuous consumption version.)
Another Fine Free Thing
While I’m posting about lovely things what you can get from the InterTubes for free, I should also point out that the most recent issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is out and that it contains something of particular interest to me. See, as you probably know, I’m a fan of Peter Watts’ writing. And before the whole thing with the US… Read more →
A Happy New Year present from Eric Kleptone
Yes, that’s right, a new Kleptones album was made available yesterday as a New Year’s present for us all. I’ve been a fan since A Night At The Hip-Hopera (and have mentioned The Kleptones several times here over the years) so you can imagine that this is very welcome news to me. Having listened to the new double(!!) album, Uptime/Downtime,… Read more →
Best Of Lists
Generally speaking I hate this time of year on the Internet–I am so tired of year-end wrapups, best of lists, etc. It’s even worst this year, since it’s also the end of a decade. Enough with the lists. Having said that, I did see one list that actually got my attention: Paul Witcover‘s list of his ten favourite F/SF novels… Read more →
A Note On Scanning
I should mention, as a very long aside, that I almost couldn’t scan those picture for that last post. When I left my old job I had to return all the corporate hardware–which meant all the machines that were even vaguely current in my house. Part of what I’ve been doing over the last few days is dragging some ancient… Read more →
Bachelors, Playboy, Cartoons
Since the girls are gone for a couple of days, I am in Unemployed-Until-January Bachelor mode today. This means that I slept in, and that upon waking I was allowed to relish the rare opportunity to lie about in bed and read something without needing to rush off to something or other. Since it is a mini-bachelor holiday, the idea… Read more →
Aside
No Fear Of The Dreaded Two-Day-er
It’s weird–or maybe not so weird, really–but reading certain news items my reactions are almost entirely filtered through my years of training as a science fiction reader. Sometimes I read the story and suddenly see all kinds of comparisons between some real world event and things I’ve read–either direct connections, or analogies. Sometimes I read something and can’t help but… Read more →
Religion, Geography, Scenery
I’ve spent some time thinking about religion today–primarily as part of working on my argument that Christmas as practiced in North America is essentially a secular holiday…with more pagan trappings than Christian ones among the commonly observed rituals, etc., and thus something I can celebrate non-hypocritcally. So I was already primed to appreciate the new map at Lapham’s Quaterly (for… Read more →
Aside
Is it weird that part of my “keeping in touch with Halifax” plan involves watching what the Nova Scotia Archives publishes? And if not, would it then be weird for me to have spent a lot of time today looking at wartime recipe books? The Atlantic War Fund Club of Halifax’s Favourite Recipes (1940) and the Wartime Economy Book Of Recipes For 1945 were both recently posted, and I seem to be weirdly fascinated with them.
Peter Watts on Daily Kos, and Just Worlds
Nice to see the Watts story get some coverage on one of the larger political blogs. I quite like this bit: It’s ironic, though, that the same day I was arrested one Mary Callahan, chief privacy officer for Homeland Security, was up here in Canada reassuring us that the border isn’t so bad a place after all, and the US… Read more →
That’s a new one on me
“Thou hadst a whore’s forehead”. I have to admit I haven’t heard that one before. That’s part of a Bible quote that crazy old Fred Phelps pulled out this week as part of his ever-expanding GOD HATES X empire. This week X has been expanded to include Lady Gaga. I’m sure she’s proud to be in company with all the… Read more →
Aside
I shall very shortly have to get Ontario plates to replace the NS ones. I’m thinking it’s time for personalized plates. I have a couple of ideas for things that might be unused, but I should have some backups just in case. Suggestions?
