Happy New Year's Eve!

    And this pretty much sums up my resolutions for 2016.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Careful, Archchancellor,  warned the Dean.  “What you have there might represent pure sobriety.”

    Ridcully paused with the finger halfway to his lips.

    “Good point,” he said.  I don’t want to start being sober at my time of life.”  He looked around.  “How do we usually test stuff?”

    “Generally we ask for student volunteers,” said the Dean.

    “What happens if we don’t get any?”

    “We give it to them anyway.”

    “Isn’t that a bit unethical?”

    “Not if we don’t tell them, Archchancellor.”

    (from Hogfather by Terry Pratchett)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Go To Jail

    True dis.  You can also get thrown in jail in a card game called "Bang!" which we were introduced to on Christmas night, and was a blast to play.

E-Card Monday - Nerd Edition

   Just cuz we haven't done an e-card day for a while.

Back from Seattle

   We're back from our week-long sojourn in Seattle.  The flight schedules were all fscked up due to bad weather in Texas and elsewhere, so we took the Stargate portal.

Magic The Gathering

   I played my second game game of Magic The Gathering this week.  My first game occurred about 20 years ago.  I still don't comprehend WTF is going on or any of the strategy.  But I can now see where it is an exceedingly complex game, and that is a definite plus.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

    ...which is indeed possible for a change.  But a sleety one is more likely.

Seattle Public Library

    We visited the Seattle Public Library today.  I was interested in seeing how it compared to my hometown Phoenix Public Library.  In terms of quantities of books, DVD's, and CD's, the two are pretty equal.

    But the Seattle library has a Coffee/Chocolate snack area, and an adjoining "friend play" zone where you can play library-supplied board games.  No such thing back home.

    So the ball's in your court, Phoenix.

Star Wars - Episode 7

   We saw the new Star Wars movie today - Episode 7.  It was both spectacular and predictable, with lots of action and due homage to the previous episodes/  I'm not going to gush about it. but I wasn't disappointed either.

Happy Winter Solstice!

     The Winter Solstice is the real reason for the season.  Technically, it down't occur until tomorrow, but tonight is close enough.

Darth The Halls

    I will be seeing the new Star Wars movie this coming Tuesday.  Stay tuned.

Just hangin'

    "Nuthin'.  Just hanging out.  What're you doing?"

Snowman Suicide

    This reminds me of an od comic strip, where Donald Duck takes his three nephews - Huey, Dewey, and Louie - on a duck-hunting excursion.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again, staring across the room.  “They took my maps, Kale.  My satchel, my parchments, my ink … what will I do?”

    “I’d say that’s the least of our problems right now.  They plan to execute us.”

    Micah’s eyes widened.  “No, they can’t!  Then I’ll never get my maps back!”

    (from The Clockwork God by Jamie Sedgwick)

    7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Wednesday Wookie Poetry

    To celebrate the new Star Wars movie about to come out.

The Pedants' Revolt

Gandalf the Pug

    Meaningless, but still very Awww.

Tiger In The Rye

   Great comic strip!

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You don’t like anything that’s happening.”

    It made me even more depressed when she said that.

    “Yes I do.  Yes I do.  Sure I do.  Don’t say that.  Why the hell do you say that?”

   “Because you don’t.  You don’t like any schools.  You don’t like a million things.  You don’t.”

    “I do!  That’s where you’re wrong – that’s exactly where you’re wrong!  Why the hell do you have to say that?” I said.  Boy, was she depressing me.

    “Because you don’t,” she said.  “Name one thing.”

    “One thing?  One thing I like?” I said.  “Okay.”

    The trouble was, I couldn’t concentrate too hot.  Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate.

    (from The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger)

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Michael Bublé Hibernation

    It's true!  It's already begun at our house!

Art Appreciation Thursday

   The "Bacon Van Gogh" edition.

Wednesday Awww Moment

    Really, folks.  Adopt a dog from the pound or a shelter.  Boycott puppy mills.  Spay and neuter your dogs.  The number of dogs (and cats) that are put to sleep every day is astounding.

Best Sand Sculpture Ever

    I've seen pics of a lot of great sand sculptures over the years.  But this may be the best one ever.

Christmas Read for 2015

    This is going to be my Christmas read for 2015. Stay tuned.

2048

    I just got back from some chrono-hopping to the future.  Cher's holding up quite well, doncha think?

Book Excerpt for the Day

    All eyes in the pub were by now focused on Mephistopheles, and Geoffrey said, “My goat is cleaner and more knowledgeable than any dog.  He can count to twenty, and when the time comes he’ll go outside to do his business.  In fact, sir, if I can show him your privy now, he will use it when he needs it.”

    One worker appeared to take umbrage at this point.  “Do you think that just because we work on the land, we don’t know nothing?  I have a pint here that says the goat can’t do it.”

    Innocently Geoffrey said, “You have a knowledgeable pint there, sir.”

    (from The Shepherd’s Crown by Terry Pratchett)

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

Friday Rhyme Day

    For the record, "Wine" rhymes with "Friday" as well.

A bustle in my hedgerow

    Truth be told, I've always thought the next line was "it's just a sprinkling for the May Queen".

Science Wednesday

    Or Music Wednesday, if we can sing that old Debbie Boone song...

    "Youuuuu, light up my life..."

Art Appreciation Tuesday - Chalk Art

    I freakin' love Sidewalk Chalk Art.  I suspect the girl is real here, with everything else being the artwork.  For the life of me, I can't fathom how they go about figuring out the necessary distortions in the picture to make it all come out just perfect.

Facebook Etiquette

    Really, folks.  Are you that neurotic on Facebook that you resort to this kind of sh*t to stroke your ego?

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Aye,” Max shouted, almost hanging sideways from the instrument panel.  She slapped up the forward master hydro-lever on the hydrogen board, flooding the front ten compartments of the airship and the portside cells with every last cubic inch of hydrogen left in their main supply tanks.

    If any of those gas cells were punctured, if any were on fire, if flames somewhere licked a cracked feeder pipe, well, they would pop, vanishing from existence in one stupendous flash.  That was the way so many airships disappeared, without a story or a trace for those left behind.  They would live on only in the memories of the clan and perhaps in a children’s story or two about a ghost zeppelin with a Martian aboard.

    (from Romulus Buckle & The City of the Founders by Richard Ellis Preston)

    7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Adele "25"

   The official ranking of Adele's "25" album from Liz & Terry's house : 'better than "19"; not as good as "21".

Christmas Lights

    Black Friday holds two traditions at our house.  Liz gets up at 5:00 AM to go shopping with a friend, and I put up the Christmas lights.

    My task is always an extremely stressful one, usually consisting of three hours of swearing, dropping the staple gun, sweating, and gashing myself at least one time on the f**king step-ladder.

    This year was no exception.  However, I decided to try a new approach.  work on the lights for an hour.  Take a break and have a toot.  Work another hour, take a break, and have a toot.  Then have one more toot, for good measure.

    It didn't lessen the swearing or sweating, and I still gashed myself royally on the right forearm, bleeding profusely without even knowing I was cut.  But somehow it all seemed more bearable.

    And the light-hanging came out pretty good, doncha think?!

Happy Thanksgiving

    A holiday Mythtickle strip from way, way back in 2009.  Which means the strip's been going for at least 6 years.  I like Mythtickle for its fantasy element, and its tie-ins to mythology.  And most of all, I like it because the artwork reminds me of my all-time favorite (and long retired) comic strip, Pogo.

The good old days.

    I also remember the day we invented fire.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “The question then would be, who is the source of the imagination that imagines?  And the answer to that question could be: God.  And this would mean, if, for example, you, June, are the imagination that imagines us and the world, you could call yourself God’s imagination or: the goddess imagined by God.  How does that make you feel?  The man smiled and I admired both his brilliant thinking and his humor.

    For a moment there was silence.  Then someone yelled, “Great!”  That someone was me, I continued, “If these conclusions are correct, then I do hope indeed that the imagination that imagines things is June.”

    “Why?” the prosecutor asked.

    “It would mean I made love to a goddess last night.”

    (from The 92-Year-Old Lady Who Made Me Steal A Dead Man’s Car by Fred Schafer)

    6*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Children of the...

    Hmm.  I think I'll just keep driving until I get to the next little town.

Escher University

    For some reason, I keep thinking that this is the way dorm rooms would look at M.C. Escher University.

Catcher In The Rye

    I try to read at least one highbrow book each year.  I'm running out of time in 2015.  I vaguely remember Catcher In The Rye bring a popular selection for book reports back in high school, mostly because it has a bunch of cuss words to titillate teenage readers.

    As an adult, swear words are no longer an inducement to read a given book.  So the question is - is Catcher In The Rye a worthwhile read?  I'm going to the library next Saturday, and I'm sure there will be multiple copies of it available.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Ben – may I call you Ben?” Narf-win-Getag asked, settling down in his chair.

    “By all means, Mr. Ambassador,” Ben Javna said.  Being of inferior rank to the ambassador, Javna had remained standing and had moved out in front of his desk.  Staying behind the desk would have been considered a breach of etiquette.

    “Thank you,” Narf-win-Getag said.  “I know my people have a reputation for being socially standoffish, but in private we can be just as relaxed as any sentient being.  I even encourage my secretary to call me ‘Narf’ when we are doing private business.”

    “And does she, Mr. Ambassador?” Javna asked.

    “Oh, of course she doesn’t,” Narf-win-Getag said.  She wouldn’t dare.  But it’s nice of me to offer, don’t you think?”

    (from The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi)

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Dali Thursday!

   It was a pleasant surprise yesterday morning, to discover that the comic strip "Zits" found a clever way to work Salvador Dali's limp clocks into the day's cartoon.

America - Land of the Free?

    Land of the Free, my a$$.

Science Tuesday

    Yes, Light really does travel faster than Sound.

Back To Work Tomorrow

   It's been nice to be off work for six days, for various festivities.  Alas, all good things must come to an end.  Tomorrow it's back to work, starting with the alarm going off at 5:30 AM.

Twue Wuv

    There was no post here yesterday due to a lollapalooza of festivities in our backyard.  The highlight of the evening was a "Re-Wedding" ceremony for our son and his wife.

    And the highlight of the Re-Wedding was a flawless recitation of this scene from The Princess Bride.

Birthday Thoughts

    Today's my birthday.  It's somewhat of a milestone, although I'll not say which one.  However, I will tell you that the above picture has relevance.

Support Group

   This is my kind of Support Group.

Missing Kansas

    Especially Pink Floyd.

Step-by-step

    I are a chemist.  I can follow step-by-step instructions easily.