The Unseen Sea August 31, 2011
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I have shown my photos of the San Francisco bay, but this fellow’s time-lapse photography shows what I see much better than any set of stills I ever made.
Technology in the Wrong Hands August 30, 2011
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I knew it was a bad idea for the TechShop to open up here in San Francisco. If ever a community was interested in creating life to satisfy egocentric motives, unleashing entities beyond human control and comprehension, tampering with the life-sustaining forces of the Universe, exceeding the limitations of the human body via grotesque metamorphoses, new applications for old technologies (alchemy, necromancy, etc.), ill-advised collaboration with alien and/or supernatural intelligences, life-long devotion to researching the pointless and inane, callous disregard for human experimental subjects, or exacting bizarre revenge on contemptuous and derisive peers, it would be San Francisco, or possibly Moscow.
I’m just sorry I was out of town that day. 
Why Lassen Isn’t Open Year-round August 30, 2011
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This image was taken June 27, 2011. It’s not even the summit, just a piece of the road to it.
100 Years of Style, Stylishly August 30, 2011
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If my sainted, white-haired mother would read Boingboing.net I wouldn’t have to repost this.
Donner Party August 30, 2011
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When relatives come to dinner.
The Diary of Samuel Pepys August 27, 2011
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Once again, primarily of interest to history geeks and others of my ilk, the Diary of Samuel Pepys Excerpts audiobook is probably the best in episodic drive-time listening. Lots of juicy historical stuff here, especially as it is re-interpreted by the reader to make a little more sense to the modern ear. It suffers from a lack of context a little when one hears references to the Fifth Millenium men, for example, making me wish that Wikipedia could whisper in my ear while I drive (I did just look it up. No reference in Wikipedia…see? there’s plenty of writing left for history geeks to do).
Pepys’ entries about the Great Fire of 1666 are pretty damn riveting, too, but really there’s just a lot of juicy historical background for the period of the Restoration wherein Pepys was a high-level government official who didn’t think his diary would ever come to light…and therefore is remarkably candid. Following what is apparently a very old tradition indeed, the racy parts are all in French.
Pepys was candid enough that he has a well-deserved reputation for, uh, well:
Very Bad Deaths by Spider Robinson August 27, 2011
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One of Spider Robinson’s most interesting stories, Very Bad Deaths
It turns out Smelly had a reason for his hygiene choices.
Smelly (also known as Zander) is a telepath, but listening to other minds is distance-sensitive and very, very painful so he adopted a coping strategy. He’s dropped in on Russell (protagonist and persona of the narrator) to enlist his help finding a serial killer.
Yeah, that got my attention, too. Interesting introspection, divergent and even tangential thoughts and/or vignettes and self-description are sometimes the hallmark of great writer, and I think Robinson is one of them. I certainly enjoyed listening to his podcasts when I was subscribed to them (a while back). This book has some truly chilling moments and heart-warming ones as well; a good read by my admittedly peculiar lights.
There is a sequel of sorts called Very Hard Choices which I may review when I have the energy. It’s also pretty good.
Fabulous Footage (Eight Feet, Actually) August 27, 2011
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Science Friday video.
The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick August 26, 2011
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The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood 
I do not hesitate to mention that this is of interest only to the unique intersection of history buffs and science geeks, like me. This book offers lots of things to look further into, like the African Talking Drums (which really do mimic African speech by rhythm and are therefore magical to Europeans…now sadly no longer in use, since cell phones seem to work OK there. John F. Carrington, in his 1949 book The Talking Drums of Africa explained how African drummers were able to communicate complex messages over vast distances. He found that to each short word which was beaten on the drums was added an extra phrase, which would be redundant in speech but provided context to the core drum signal).
Lots of stuff here for further inquiry (Carrington’s book is only available on Carey Kingsgate Press, and Amazon does not carry it! Blasphemy!!…neither does spfl.org, which is much, much worse), if I can find the time.
Echo, by Jack McDevitt August 26, 2011
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Echo
secretary personal assistant, of an antique dealer (Alex Benedict) who gets the idea that a strange monument to be sold is an artifact of a yet-to-be-recognized alien race.
The antiquarian’s search for the provenance of the artifact has innumerable twists and turns, each but the last leading to a humans trying to discourage further searching: First, the last girlfriend of the original(?) owner, who tries to destroy the artifact, then her former employer, now a hugely successful entrepreneur and ambitious politician, then a retired survey pilot. The antiquarian’s search comes to a strange, tragic end, more truly frightening than the mere uncertainty of first contact.
I found Echo pretty interesting in a matter-of-fact sort of way; not riveting at all, but I did want to see where the puzzle was going so at least it didn’t bore me very much. It seems more like detective fiction to me, although I don’t have much experience with that genre. I’m not sure who the market is for this kind of work, but it seems to combine detective fiction with science fiction in a pleasant enough mix.
Apparently there are other Alex Benedict books as well, but I haven’t had the time (so many books, so little time).
