Book Excerpt for the Day

    The Voyager spacecraft and its measurements were directly accessing reaches of space that no mission has ever entered before.  It’s true that the data collection system based on eight-track tapes had to be tinkered with along the way, that it no longer had a working camera, and that its equipment has about a million times less memory than a smartphone does today.  But the spacecraft is still operational and is currently the man-made object most distant from the Earth and the Sun.

    (from Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs by Lisa Randall)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Chemistry Lab

    That's my answer, and I'm sticking to it.

Art Appreciation Friday.

    True story: I used the word "Crip" on the back of my softball jersey because my teammates said I ran like a cripple. Then someone enlightened me about the "gang tie-in", and I lived in fear of a Blood taking me out.

Hi-Lingual

    Is it just me, or are strangers more friendly right now when you pass them on the street?

Nose Hairs

    Something to ponder when it's 3:00 in the morning and you can't sleep.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You look too young for Vietnam.”

    “I looked old when I got back.”

    She smiled.  You could see the booze in her smile, too.  “Peter Pan.  You told Ellen you wanted to be Peter Pan.”

    “Unh-hunh.”

    “That’s crap.  Stay a little boy forever.”

    “It’s not age.  Childhood, maybe.  All the good things are in childhood.  Innocence.  Loyalty.  Truth.  You’re eighteen years old.  You’re sitting in a rice paddy.  Most guys give it up.  I decided eighteen was too young to be old.”

    (from The Monkey’s Raincoat by Robert Crais)

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Jeopardy

    Really now.  Given the letters already chosen at the bottom of the screen, what else could the answer be?

Saturday Punniness

    History Puns are the best kind.

Weekend Words of Wisdom

Book Excerpt for the Day

    In the Second Scroll of Wen the Eternally Surprised, a story is written concerning one day when the apprentice Clodpool, in a rebellious mood, approached Wen and spake thusly:

    “Master, what is the difference between a humanistic monastic system of belief in which wisdom is sought by means of an apparently nonsensical system of questions and answers, and a lot of mystic gibberish made up on the spur of the moment?”

    Wen considered this for some time, and at last said: “A fish!”

    And Clodpool went away, satisfied.

    (from Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Multiverses

    The pros and cons of multiverses.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

        The obligatory St. Patty's Day pun.

Monday Pun Day

    I had to read this twice before I got it.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    There were some difficulties to be negotiated here.  Galileo had been tutor to young Cosimo when his father Ferdinando was the grand duke, and that was good.  But he had also been asked to work up a horoscope for Ferdinando the previous year, and had done so, and found that the stars predicted a long and healthy life for the grand duke, in the usual way.  But then, shortly thereafter, Ferdinando had died.  That was bad.

    (from Galileo’s Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson)

    6½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Labels

    You had one job...

Wednesday Philosophy

    To steal a quote from a great movie, "Always look on the bright side of life."

Rock Collecting

    I have several friends who are rock hounds.  Hmm.

Book Hoarding

    Start preparing today.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Say a soft American Prayer

    A quiet animal sigh

    for the strong plane

    landing

    We rode on opium tires

    from the colossal

    airport chess game

    at dawn, new from glass

    in the broken night

    landed then in quiet

    fog, beside the times

    out of this strange river

    (from Wilderness – Volume 1 by Jim Morrison)

    5½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Weather Forecast

    True dis.

Art Appreciation Thursday

Flooded

RIP Neil Peart

    We are committed to posting any comic strip that mentions Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush who passed away January 07, 2020.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I will never understand how on earth French food has this great reputation.  Those heavy sauces play havoc with your digestion, and just the thought of swallowing snails makes me want to throw up.  As for that cheese that smells like sweaty feet…”

    Selva tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn’t give up.

    “Is there anything to beat the flavor of fresh vegetables cooked in olive oil, for instance?  Can you tell me how they justify ruining the flavor of beautiful fish by smothering it in all those sauces?”

    “Why on earth have we come here, then, if you hate the food so much?”

    “Because their wines are absolutely magnificent.”

    (from Last Train to Istanbul by Ayse Kulin)

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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