The real reason that dinosaurs became extinct. Science marches on.
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Monday, August 10, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
The
robot was silent. It stared into Stern’s
eyes without expression. Stern blinked
first, necessarily.
“They burned everything, Dr. Kline,” he continued, voice dropping. “They destroyed their own homes to starve out
the enemy. Without shelter, the French
troops froze. Without anything to eat,
they starved.”
“And so did the Russian peasants,” replied Kline.
(from The Andromeda
Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson)
8*/10. The
complete review is here.
.
Sunday, August 09, 2020
Enlightened Maskers
It is indeed an unusual sight. Those who eschew masks usually project a "mad at the world" attitude to others.
Saturday, August 08, 2020
Friday, August 07, 2020
Wednesday, August 05, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
“This
(doctor’s) appointment hadn’t been my
idea. It had been my wife Sarah’s. And “idea” is probably the wrong word. “Ultimatum” would probably be a better
one. “Go see Harley.” She said, “or I’m
going to call a divorce lawyer. Or
smother you in your sleep.”
The threat about the divorce lawyer didn’t worry me that much. Sarah has a low opinion of the legal
profession, and would probably choose sticking with me over engaging the services
of one of its members. But the
smothering-me-in-my-sleep thing, that seemed within her range of capabilities.
(from Bad Guys by Linwood Barclay)
8½*/10.
The complete review is here.
.
Tuesday, August 04, 2020
Ella Minnow Pea
If you want to see this concept skillfully developed into a 200-page novel, pick up Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.
Monday, August 03, 2020
Sunday, August 02, 2020
Family Trivia via Zoom
Played Family Trivia via Zoom for the first time tonight, and thoroughly enjoyed it! Even if I didn't know the name of Willie Nelson's guitar.
Saturday, August 01, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
“We
have beauty, too. We call it ‘scenery.’”
“’Scenery,’” Mhoram echoed. “The
word is strange to me – but I do not like the sound.”
Covenant
felt oddly shaken, as if he had just looked over his shoulder and found himself
standing too close to a precipice. “It
means that beauty is something extra,” he rasped. “It’s nice, but we can live without it.”
“Without?” Mhoram’s gaze
glittered dangerously.
And behind him Foamfollower breathed in astonishment. “Live without beauty? Ah, my friend! How do you resist despair?”
“I
don’t think we do,” Covenant muttered. “Some
of us are just stubborn.”
(from Lord Foul’s
Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson)
.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Thursday, July 30, 2020
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Patriotism
as a word and deed has made a comeback.
At Halloween, costume shops did a brisk business in Uncle Sam and Betsy
Ross getups. Teen pop bombshell Britney
Spears took a breather during her live telecast from Vegas’s MGM Grand to sit
on a piano bench with her belly ring glinting in the spotlight and talk about
“how proud I am of our nation right now.”
Chinese textile factories are working overtime to fill the consumer
demand for American flags.
(from The Partly
Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell)
.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Monday, July 27, 2020
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Paly
Got a microphone for the 'puter so I can do Zoom meetings. But what really excites me is the box's promise that it's also great for "Game Paly Online".
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Serge
reached in a paper sack and pulled out a piece of fruit.
“I
didn’t know you liked to eat bananas.”
“I’m not eating it.” Serge held
it in front of his face and stroked the yellow skin. “I’m having a religious experience. All life is connected, and I just heard last
night on TV that humans possess half the DNA of a banana, so I’m checking it
out to see if I can pick up a family vibe.”
(from No Sunscreen
For The Dead by Tim Dorsey)
.
Friday, July 24, 2020
Thursday, July 23, 2020
Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Wednesday Poetaster - Haiku Edition
BTW, the "a" in "poetaster" is short, as in "master" or "plaster". I've been pronouncing it wrong all these years.
Really. Google it.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Monday, July 20, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
“I
like it. Very much. I’ll take it.”
“Would you have references?”
“I’m awfully sorry, but I haven’t.
I just arrived in New York, and don’t know a soul. Except you.”
I smiled but she didn’t smile back.
She stood hesitating, and I said, “It’s true that I’m an escaped
convict, an active counterfeiter, and occasional murderer. And I howl during the full of the moon. But I’m neat.”
“In that case, welcome.”
(from Time and
Again by Jack Finney)
.
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Saturday, July 18, 2020
Friday, July 17, 2020
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Grant
sighed dramatically. “Ah, San Diego.”
“Oh, my God. You’re not going to
get all mushy about what happened, are you?
You were just there at the right time.”
“Mushy? Hell no. Can’t a guy reminisce about a fun afternoon?”
“Good. Because that’s all it
was.”
“Fine with me.”
They scanned for a few more minutes before Grant said, “But just for the
record, I wouldn’t mind having another afternoon like it.”
Morgan smiled. “Maybe we’ll find
the right time again.”
(from The Roswell
Conspiracy by Boyd Morrison)
.
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Astronomy Wednesday
An actual NASA photograph of the relative positions of Earth, Arizona and the Sun. This explains so much about why our summers are so hot.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Monday, July 13, 2020
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
Because,
Mordak reflected, what’s the defining experience of Evil, taken as a whole,
throughout three Ages of recorded history?
It loses, that’s what. It gets
hammered. It gets the stuffing bashed
out of it, every single time. A Dark
Lord rises, for a while everything goes swimmingly, vast swathes of territory
fall under the Shadow; and then a handful of pointy-ears or a bunch of uppity
humans or even a solitary furry-toed, knee-high hooligan stops us dead in our
tracks and it’s straight back to square one, do not pass Go, do not collect two
hundred zlotyl.
(from An Orc on
the Wild Side by Tom Holt)
.
Friday, July 10, 2020
Wednesday, July 08, 2020
Tuesday, July 07, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
By
1800, the British thought they had found a perfect solution to their tea-trade
deficit, the ideal product to give China something to do with all its British
silver: Indian opium. The Chinese
government thought otherwise, banning opium in 1829 and, when drug-smuggling
increased, dispatching a commissioner, Lin Zexu, to Canton to stop the illegal
trade. After neither Chinese nor British
merchants took any notice of his order to destroy opium stocks, he took action
himself and flushed a year’s supply of opium into the sea. The British retaliated by shelling Canton; war was declared.
(from The Great
Wall by Julia Lovell)
.
Monday, July 06, 2020
Sunday, July 05, 2020
Saturday, July 04, 2020
Book Excerpt for the Day
It
would be better for them not to be sentient, Holloway thought. Just because they were sentient wouldn’t be a
guarantee they’d be recognized as such.
Not when so many people had such a vested interest in them not being
so. Better to be a monkey and not be
able to understand what’s been taken from you, than to be a man and be able to
understand all too well – and be helpless to stop it.
(from Fuzzy Nation
by John Scalzi)
.
Friday, July 03, 2020
Happy Third of July!
I'm already resigned to the fact that the neighbor behind us will start shooting off fireworks tonight.
Thursday, July 02, 2020
Wednesday, July 01, 2020
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)