RIP Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky

    He passed away Sunday night, 28 September.

Poetry Monday

    Kinda reminds me of the song Highwayman by (of course) The Highwaymen.  Kinda.

Yellow Lights

    Really.  Yellow doesn't mean "Slow down and stop."  It means "Hit the gas pedal and floor it!"

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I don’t know what to expect,” she said in a tight voice.  “Everything is different here.  I’m trying not to expect anything – but that doesn’t keep me from worrying.”

    Dahleven blew out a deep breath.  “You should stop that.  Worry is a waste of time and energy.”  He slanted a sideways glance at her.  “Now planning, that’s another thing altogether.  Right now, I’m planning on a bath, hot food, and rest.  You should do the same.  Beyond that, only the Norns know what the future holds, and they never tell.”

    (from Dangerous Talents,  by Frankie Robertson)

  

    7½*/10.  The full review is here.

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Science Fridays

   The rollover caption reads : "I tried oxidizing them, but your bank uses some really weird paper and it wouldn't light."

    My gawd, don't we chemists have a crazy sense of humor?!

Neutral Milk Hotel

    Actually, this is a pretty freaking fantastic album, despite the fact that Jeff Mangum can't carry a tune in a bucket.

"The Beatles or The Stones?"

    Some of us think the correct answer to that question is "The Doors".

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Two-thirty comes during Testifying.  Aunt Helena is here, as well as Aunt Lydia, because Testifying is special.  Aunt Helena is fat, she once headed a Weight Watchers’ franchise in Iowa.  She’s good at Testifying.

    It’s Janine, telling about how she was gang-raped at fourteen and had an abortion.  She told the same story last week.  She seemed almost proud of it, while she was telling.  It may not even be true.  At Testifying, it’s safer to make things up than to say you have nothing to reveal.  But since it’s Janine, it’s probably more or less true.

    (from The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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About that election

    I can't say that I had an opinion one way or another on the issue, but I was mildly surprised that, given Scottish history, the measure didn't pass.

Art Appreciation Sunday

    And I always appreciate a great twerk of art.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Drumknott continued, “A lot of this is to do with the crossword, of course.  You know how he is about that.  I intend personally to write to the editor.  His lordship considers elegant completion to be a test of his integrity.  A crossword is meant to be an engaging and educational puzzle.”

    And then, his normally pink face reddening, Drumknott added, “I’m sure it’s not intended to be a form of torture, and I’m certain that there is no such word as lagniappe.”

    (from Raising Steam,  by Terry Pratchett)

     7*/10.  The full review is here.

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Universal Remote Control

    I was devastated, I tell you.

Flu Shots

    Sound advice.  Although for the record, I will be getting my (free) flu shot, at work, in a couple of weeks.

Science Wednesdays

    Aptly put.

Oooo, that smell

    The litter mates that sleep together, keep together.

Dancing With The Stars

    DWTS starts tonight and I'm so excited!!  This means I get to play on the computer for two hours while my wife watches DWTS.

Demotivational Sunday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Major Benjamin Mapp-Flint, the town’s only resident warrior, enjoyed an esteem even greater than had been his when, on one never to be forgotten occasion, he had briefly (and erroneously) been clothed in the glamour of the desperate duelist.  The fact that both participants in this affair of honor had sought to escape to London by the early morning train and had converted their rencontre into a round of golf in no way diminished the antique splendour of the incident.

    (from Lucia In Wartime, by Tom Holt)

  

    6½*/10.  The full review is here.

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What about "Swine"?

Never Forget.

    The 9-11 historical event they DON'T want you to remember.  Arguably the most blatant illegal CIA activity ever.  And the CIA has done a lot of illegal activities over the years.

Math Wednesday

    Or LOTR Wednesday.  Your choice.

The Circle of Life

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Dogs are colour blind, did you know that?”

    “Of course, what has that to do with it?”

    “A dog can’t see a rainbow.  And nobody will ever be able to teach it what colours are.  But you know as well as I do that red, yellow and blue exist.  Who’s to say that isn’t true of people, too?  There may be things that exist, even though we can’t see them.  Like evil.  We know it’s there only when it manifests itself, by which time it’s too late.”

    (from The Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Stamp Collecting

    A little bit of Sunday punnery.  And yes, I was an avid philatelist as a kid.

Dear YouTube

    So will I.  However, I do find it academically interesting to see how the Advertisers construct the opening 5 seconds of the ads to try to entice you to stick around.

E-Card Friday

    This is another cause that I totally support.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I bet they drugged him.”

    “The way they drugged you?”

    “Not quite.  Not the same drug, or the poor bastard wouldn’t have been able to talk at all.  I wonder what she gave me.  It must have been powerful stuff.  It had me hallucinating.”

    “Like acid?”

    “I never had any acid.”

    “Neither did I.”

    (from The Burglar Who Liked To Quote Kipling,  by Lawrence Block)

     8½*/10.  The full review is here.

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The Battle of Carthage

    This is wrong for oh so many reasons.

    First of all, it was a 2-year siege, not a flippin' battle.  The citizens of Carthage put up heroic resistance, but it was ultimately in vain, and Carthage was destroyed by the &!^*$$*& Romans, never to be rebuilt.

    Second of all, there's been - what? - a gazillion battles in recorded history.  Why the frick did Mom choose this particular one?  It wasn't the Romans' finest hour.  It didn't have any brilliant tactics.  No songs or ballads were written about it.

    Thirdly, among my dozen or so multiple personalities, there is a Carthagenian general, and he's been in a royal snit all day over this cartoon.  Let's show a little respect for the crazies of the world.

But it's a dry heat

    Not funny, cell phone.  Not funny at all.

Wasted Life

   So sad.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Indoctrination provides a protective belt, a belt that shields believers from counter-evidence.  Education encourages an openness to evidence.  Whether the indoctrination be political, commercial, or religious – be it glorification of the state, Western belief in free enterprise and that no child should be without a Playstation, or the Qu’ran interpreted as justifying stoning – the outcome is a block on questioning, criticism and further investigation.

    (from Do Llamas Fall In Love? By Peter Cave)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

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Franz Kafka Saturday

    Barney and Clyde is a comic strip that assumes the reader is a literate human being and knows who Franz Kafka is.  I love that.

Philosophy Friday

    Or Situational Ethics Friday.  Either one works.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “What does she want, Mills?” one of the legionnaires next to him whispered, afraid to break the spell that had suddenly fallen over them all.

    The warrior herself answered, but not with words.  Raising her right arm, she pointed at Mills.  Then she handed her weapons to one of the other warriors, who took them for safekeeping.

    “I think,” Mills said slowly, “she wants a bloody duel.  But why me?”  He wasn’t the biggest or toughest man in the regiment, or the best close-in fighter.  On the other hand, he was probably the biggest and toughest who was still standing.

    (from In Her Name – First Contact,  by Michael R. Hicks)

     8*/10.  The full review is here.

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E-Card Wednesday

    So true.  Just ask any of multiple personalities.

Eluveitie

    Eluveitie, a fantastic Swiss Folk-Metal band is coming to the Valley next month.  This borders on being a must-see.  I've been listening to their most-recent album, Origins, this past week.  It is most excellent.

Happy Birthday Walt Kelly!

    Happy Birthday, Walt Kelly!  Born 25 August 1913, and creator of what is still my favorite cartoon strip, even after 45 years or so.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “They have continuity of memory, consciousness, but identity is fluid for them.  You can divide it forever, or even mix it up.  You see it when they debate.  There’s no persuasion, no argument.  They just ... merge ... and make a decision.  But the Gaijin are cautious,” he said slowly.  “They are rational; they consider every side of every argument; they sometimes seem paralyzed by indecision.”

    “Like Balaam’s ass,” Dorothy said, smiling.  “Couldn’t decide between two identical bales of hay.”

    “What happened?” Madeleine asked.

    “Starved to death.”

    (from Manifold Space by Stephen Baxter)

    7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

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What women want

    And now you know.

Mine, all mine

    At least two of our dogs, and possibly all four, would totally agree with this sentiment.