Conversational Spanish Wednesday

    It's always wise to learn the nasty words in any language one is studying. 

Condescending

    Sign me up!

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The gist of quantum physics is that matter’s sense of self is all a bit wobbly when you get right down to it.  Things aren’t really at places, there are only places that they might be (which is the reason you can never find your keys when you are late for work).  So long as no one has thought to look, you might be sitting in your chair at home or you might be at work, or you might be somewhere else entirely – say, Albany.  Some things are so hard to look at that they are really nowhere at all.  This is called the uncertainty principle.

    (from You Are Dead (Sign Here Please) by Andrew Stanek)

 

    7*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Niagara Falls long ago

   The year was 1908.

Legal Advice

    Good to know.

Book Greetings

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Could you possibly slow our speed to a point where we are not actually burning up in the atmosphere?”

    The ship disdained to reply.  There was no sense of deceleration, but quite abruptly the ocean and cloud-banks below stopped flashing past and assumed a more stately progression.  Slowly the glow in the air around and the rock behind faded.

    “Mach 5,” announced the ship, in a satisfied tone.

    “Good for you,” said Lamont.  “Do you have any capacity to, perhaps, steer?”

    “I am reluctant to attempt it,” said the ship.  “I would prefer to attempt a controlled landing.”

    “I think I could live with that,” said Lamont.

    “Ah,” said the ship, sounding imposed upon.  “You require a landing that is not just controlled but survivable.”

    (from Newton’s Wake by Ken MacLeod)

 

    6*/10.  The full review is here.

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Art Appreciation Monday

    "Mother Nature" by Jim Warren.  Awesome.  Just awesome.

Social Distancing

Supervillain Saturday

Dusting

To coin a word...

    I am so proud of myself.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    In a briefing for US ambassadors to Latin American countries in 1950, (George) Kennan observed that a major concern of US foreign policy must be “the protection of our [i.e. Latin America’s] raw materials.”  We must therefore combat a dangerous heresy which, US intelligence reported, was spreading through Latin America: “the idea that the government has direct responsibility for the welfare of the people.”

    US planners call that idea Communism, whatever the actual political views of the people advocating it.  They can be church-based self-help groups or whatever, but if they support this heresy, they’re Communists.

    (from How The World Works by Noam Chomsky)

 

    7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Tuesday Graffiti

Self-Reflection

    That would be my answer too.

Musical Names

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You were there this afternoon, weren’t you?”

    “What do you expect?  I’m supposed to tell Amburgey and Tanner I can’t be in on the meeting because you and I have been seeing each other?”

    “Of course you couldn’t tell them that,” I said in a miserable way.  “But maybe I wanted you to.  Maybe I wanted you to punch Amburgey’s lights out or something.”

    “Not a bad idea.  But I don’t think it would help me much come reelection time.  Besides, you’d probably let my ass rot in jail.  Wouldn’t even post my bond.”

    “Depends on how much it was.”

    (from Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell)

 

    9*/10.  The full review is here.

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Francophone Thursday

Shampoo Marketing

    Good question.

Dust

    Why English is a terrible choice for a global language.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Theory: travel faster than light around the Earth and you can move forwards in Time.

    A likely story.  Like all great hypotheses, the theory of relativity relies on the basic assumption that nobody will ever be able to do the experiment which will prove it wrong; and anything that can’t be disproved must be true.  Garnish with fresh mathematics, heat and serve.

    But supposing it’s true, and feasible.  Think, not of the fame, the glory and the Nobel prize, but of the commercial possibilities.

    Correct; there are none.  That’s why it’s a safe hypothesis.

    (from Paint Your Dragon by Tom Holt)

     8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Art Appreciation Friday

    Goya's fabulous "Witches. Flight".

Safety First

The Pain of OCD

Venn Diagram Tuesday

    True dis.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The judge placed his hands on the ground.  He looked at his inquisitor.  “This is my claim,” he said.  “And yet everywhere upon it are pockets of autonomous life.  Autonomous.  In order for it to be mine nothing must be permitted to occur upon it save by my dispensation.” (…)

    “I don’t see what that has to do with catchin’ birds.”

    “The freedom of birds is an insult to me.  I’d have them all in zoos.”

    “That would be a hell of a zoo.”

    The judge smiled.  Yes,” he said.  “Even so.”

    (from Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy)

 

    7*/10.  The full review is here.

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Science Sunday

   Oh, we chemists are a droll bunch.

Masks vs Guns

    Food for thought.

Science Rules

    I might quibble about Evolution being listed as a fact, but I admit that it is by far the most likely explanation for diversity of the species.

 

Bi

    A handy way to tell if you're Bi.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I don’t get it.  How come you haven’t grown older?”

    “I have grown older, just like everyone.”

    “You don’t look any older,” she said, staring.

    “Put it down to healthy living,” I said.

    “And good food,” added Mrs. Goodfellow.

    “And good genes,” I continued.

    “No,” said Kathy, screwing up her face.  “Mom looks like an old lady and you don’t.”

    “That’s because he’s not a lady,” I said, helpfully.

    She glared.

    (from Inspector Hobbes and the Gold Diggers by Wilkie Martin)

    8*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Word for the Day

    My goal is to find an excuse to use this word tomorrow.

One-Liners Saturday

Art Appreciation Friday

Black Lives Matter

    George Floyd was murdered.  Pure and simple.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    A battering on the brass knocker announced the belated arrival of Foxen Ellsworth-Howard, and the first thing he said on entering was “It’s shracking freezing in here!”

    Shrack was an extremely nasty word, first coined to describe a particularly immoral act that had become possible with twenty-second-century technology.  Ellsworth-Howard’s friends winced slightly, but only slightly.

    (from The Life of the World to Come by Kage Baker)

 

    6½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Philosophy Tuesday

Meditation Monday

Tower of Babel - The *Real* Story

Saturday Pun Day

    It took me way too long to "get" this.