Run Away!

    It always pays to have a detailed and well-thought-out Emergency Plan.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “We’re actually going to collect someone from a space station inhabited by pacifists.”

    “Fierce warrior pacifists?”

    “No.”

    “Edible pacifists?”

    “I would advise against it.”

    “Will we then deliver this coward into the sun?”

    “No.”

    “Is anything good going to happen on this holiday?”

  

    (from Space Captain Smith, by Toby Frost)

     8½*/10.  The full review is here.

.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

    They may be overdoing it with all the "Pumpkin Spice" variations this year.  But I don't mind.

Siberian Huskies

    A long time ago, I used to dog-sit two Siberian huskies.  I can say from experience that the above image is accurate.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Casper looked at the toys and immediately saw the possibilities.  Any show could have a midget.  Casper’s Cavalcade of Living Curiosities was going to have a genuine fairy.

    This was show business.  Nobody came to see the sad or the ordinary.  They came to witness the stupendous, the fantastic, that which is beyond belief.

    (from The Midget’s House, by Anita Bartholomew)

     7½*/10.  The full review is here.

.

Ice Bucket Challenge

    I'm not keen on things like the recent Ice Bucket Challenge craze.  But if God takes part in it, I guess it's okay.

Nerdvana

    I don't want to brag, but I've attained Nerdvana.

Friday Night Mantra

    Actually, it should read "there's no drink like RED wine."

Deus Ex Machina

    In case you ever wondered about what the phrase "deus ex machina" means.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    Instead of drawing closer, Tilla sat up and started chattering about next door’s cockerel.  “He has stopped crowing at night now: Did you notice?”

    He agreed without thinking, and reached for her.  “I’m well rested.  Come here.”

    She dodged his hand and stood up, still looking more cheerful than anyone who had been awake half the night had any right to be.  Only slowly did it dawn on him that there might be a link between the silence of the cockerel, Tilla’s smile, and the rather stringy meat in last night’s stew.

    He was not going to ask.

    (from Caveat Emptor by Ruth Downie)

    8½*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Freudian Sips

    Oh my.  This is going on my Christmas list for Santa.

Preacher Selfie

    Ah, Preacher.  You're looking young here.  We'll use this one if we ever need to find you.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “Did she have a sofa, your aunt?”

    “No, just an armchair and a pair of pouffes.”

    “Ample seating.  Did she live on her own?”

    “She does now, the pouffes moved out.  They’ve opened a candle shop in Kemptown.”

    “The air’s very bracing in Kemptown.  Someone told me that it was good for rheumatism.  So I went there and caught it.”

    “You can’t catch rheumatism, can you?”

    “It all depends who’s throwing it,” I said.  “Boys will be boys.”

    (from Waiting For Godalming by Robert Rankin)

    9*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Let the festivities begin

    It's true.  I saw it on the Internet, so it has to be true.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “What’s that?”

    “A dog,” Vin said.

    “Ah, blunt as ever, I see,” Breeze said.  “And, why is it that you now have a dog?”

    “I gave it to her,” Elend said.  “She wanted one, so I bought it for her.”

    “And you chose a wolfhound?” Ham asked, amused.

    “You’ve fought with her before, Ham,” Elend said, laughing.  “What would you have given her?  A poodle?”

    (from The Well Of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson)

  9*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Xmas T-Shirt

    Dear Santa.  You're awesome.  Please bring me this.
    Your Friend,

Dancing With The Stars

    Sadly, I fear that tonight it will be Tommy Chong's time to go home.

Sunday Mathday

Book Excerpt for the Day

    The first one hadn’t actually run, he’d walked.  The patrolman on the switchboard it was, and he said, “Sir, the phone’s gone dead.”

    “Oh?  We’d better call the phone company to fix it pronto,” the lieutenant said.  He liked the word “pronto,” it made him feel like Sean Connery.  He reached for the phone to call the phone company, but when he held it to his ear there wasn’t any sound.

    He became aware of the patrolman looking at him.  “Oh,” he said.  “Oh, yes.”  He put the phone back on its hook.

    (from The Hot Rock, by Donald E. Westlake)

     8*/10.  The full review is here.

.

Music Friday

        For instance, Mike Oldfield's "Five Miles Out".

Escher Thursday

   And now we know what the "M" in "MC Escher" stands for.

E-Card Wednesday

Color Commentary

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “They only sent one officer?” Roger continued complaining.  He threw his hands up in the air.  “I can’t believe it!  This is an emergency!  Where’s the armada?  Didn’t you hear me?  There’s a dead man out back!”

    The officer raised an eyebrow and did a quick study of Roger.  “Well, then I guess there’s no real chance of him getting away now, is there?”

    (from A Hardboiled Murder, by Michelle Ann Hollstein)

     5½*/10.  The full review is here.

.

Arizona 28 - Dallas 17

    So let me get this straight.  There's just one NFL team anymore with only one loss?  And that is...?

November is Tongue Awareness Month

    Just think about that.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “I learned my way of looking on the world from an old slave I was chained to on the galley.  From the farthest east, he was.  He taught me that as I suffer, so do all, and if any suffer, so do I, that we are all part of one, that in any moment my dark skin connects me to all things, light and dark, and all things, light and dark, are part of me, so to do harm to any man, any creature, is to be ignorant to my own nature, to do harm to myself and all other things.  That is what I believe.”

    “Really?  How did that work as a pirate?”

    “Reality is oft uncooperative.”  He shrugged.

    (from The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore)

  8*/10.  The complete review is here.

Ebola Joke

    I swear, ditto-heads are only happy when they're in mortal fear of something - Russia, gays, Mexicans, ISIS, women, Democrats, Ebola, and so on, and so on...

Blinker Fluid

Philosophy Tuesday

   With apologies to James Dean.

Monday Mathday

    Once upon a long time ago (early grade school IIRC) my sister and I were both given IQ tests.  I have no idea what either of us scored on it, but I do remember discussing one particular question with her afterward.

    We were given five words - Wrist, Finger, Elbow Shoulder, Palm - and told to arrange them in order.   I put Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist Palm, Finger (or the reverse, perhaps).  My sister put them in alphabetical order.

    I always figured that I got a higher score on that particular question, because the IQ peeps were looking to see if we recognized the relation between all five words.  But really, what is wrong with alphabetizing them instead?

    And when you get right down to it, "8" is more curly than "6".

Foow

    Rex the Sheepdog thinks this is hilarious.

Book Excerpt for the Day

    A couple of Klingoffs flirted with her while she waited for her latte.  At least, she hoped it was flirting.  She didn’t speak the language, and they were fair trade snobs, so the relationship was doomed from the start.

    Two robed Fullcons in long flowing gowns and glowing red hearts passed by making the sign for “live well and tidily.”  She returned the gesture, enjoying the opportunity to give it in a friendly fashion – not just to irresponsible drivers.

    (from This Brilliant Darkness, by Red Tash)

     5½*/10.  The full review is here.

.

Just sayin'

Happy Friday Eve!

Book Excerpt for the Day

    “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” she said in a low voice.  “Reading that old book.  You’d have liked to live in those days.”

    Steven shrugged his shoulders.  “What, having teeth drawn without anesthetic, getting TB, raking out the stove at five in the morning early in January, that sort of thing?  Not to mention the high rate of infant mortality, and the filth and the smoke of the cities.  I don’t know if it’s as alluring as ll that.”  His eyes twinkled as he looked at Sara.  “But you’re right.  Sometimes I really do think I’d have felt more at ease in the nineteenth century.  A poor poet surrounded by a great many books, in a little cottage.  Not a bad lifestyle.”

    “Quite a romantic one, anyway.”

    (from The Ludwig Conspiracy by Oliver Potzsch)

    7½*/10.  The complete review is here.

.

Depressing Book for the Day

   Incredibly, this is an actual book.  And if you do a search for "Judith Vigna" at Amazon Books, you'll find a slew of other, similarly-themed books by her.

Ebola and Edgar Allan Poe

    I mean, any strip that combines Edgar Allan Poe and the Ebola virus just has to be hilarious.

Science Sundays