Concomitant Lessons October 25, 2012
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From SF Microcontrollers list on Yahoo Groups: “The other, somewhat dubious, benefit of breadboarding stuff over and over again: they teach you a lot about both troubleshooting and neatness. Usually simultaneously.”
Armor by John Steakly October 24, 2012
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Armor by John Steakley
This ordinarily would be a dull story of war but it’s told from the point of view (partly) of a pirate thief sort of character, who is forced to relive the Legionnaire’s battles when hooked up to the power suit…this is sort of interesting, because he gets a feelings transplant from the dead Legionnaire. Hilarity does emphatically not ensue but a real disgust with war does, and so does the ability to make tough decisions.
Read by Tom Weiner (narrator of many of Larry Niven’s novels), the audiobook is $109.00 for the CDs and $19.95 for the Audible edition…guess which one I heard. Go on, I’ll wait. There is no Kindle version, alas.
John Steakley apparently passed away in 2010, and was the author of Vampires, on which the John Carpenter movie was based. I haven’t read it, but assume it’s close to the movie version because the movie is so damn visceral.
Whatever. October 24, 2012
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I live in the most beautiful city in the world, but the countryside is better (there, I said it. Leave me alone). This photo is from John Scalzi
What the Hell? October 23, 2012
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I used to think myself eloquent, or at least voluble.
Now I think I’m too stunned to ever speak again.
The Book of Mormon, uh, Sort of. October 22, 2012
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Not only does it parody the Book of Mormon advertisements on TV (are those still on? I don’t really watch enough to know) but it has exactly the same level of credibility.
Sushi Fights Back at Last October 22, 2012
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Newsweek is Now The Weekly World News October 18, 2012
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“Citing “the challenging print advertising environment,” Newsweek – which will turn 80 next year – has announced that it is canning its print publication and transforming itself into a single, worldwide digital edition, Newsweek Global.”—theregister.co.uk
Bullshit. They just can’t write anything anyone wants to read. Look at that headline. It’s just like WWN used to be: “Telephone Talks to God”, “Bat Boy Lives” and “Baby Born Talking Gives Father Winning Lottery Numbers” (my personal favorite).
It’s kind of fair, though: no facts, no money. See how that works?
Sunrise on the San Francisco Bay October 17, 2012
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Taken from the freeway up to the Waldo tunnel. No special panorama widget because my phone is not that great of a camera.
Sunset Over Ishi Wilderness October 17, 2012
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Taken from the helicopter pad at the CDF staging area in Campbellville.
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley October 9, 2012
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I will not say that this video captures anything but the spirit of The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
Yeah, I know; but he tells it well. Really. I read this in the Kindle version and it was quite nice. Many snarky remarks which suit my screwed-up personality very well. I’m sure I’d like a beer with this guy. The Audible version is USD 20.95, and I would probably listen to it now knowing how it all works out, just to hear someone read those lines to me.
Close-orbiting Stars at Milky Way’s Core October 5, 2012
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Look at that.
Damn. That’s seventeen years of data taken by radio. The intersection of all those orbits is the black hole at the center of our galaxy. The track in yellow is 11.5-year track of S0-102’s orbit around the black hole. “The fruits of these observations include the measurement of the mass of the Milky Way’s central black hole: approximately four million times the mass of the Sun.”
Take a moment to digest that.
I stole that image from Ars Technica, where I also stole the following one, but it might not show as well, being animated and all (WordPress sometimes doesn’t show them well for me; YMMV):
They in turn stole the data from Science, 2012. DOI: 10.1126/science.1225506.
Ribbon Eel October 5, 2012
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Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson October 5, 2012
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A seminal novel written during the pregnancy of her firstborn, G. Willow Wilson’s Alif the Unseen
Alif is a poor hacker for hire who specializes in hiding people online from the security apparatus of the State (unspecified but Middle Eastern with an emir, if that helps any). His well-to-do lover leaves him for an arranged marriage to the head of said apparatus (“The Hand”—are we ominous yet?) just as the eponymous finger is put upon him thereby. The girl of course has an additional problem to leave with him-a book written by jinn containing perhaps the secret to true artificial intelligence, and a lure for The Hand.
With the MacGuffin securely in hand, Our Hero retreats into the Empty Quarter, a kind of knothole in reality where jinn and related magic critters live, and where interesting bargains are struck…oh it’s ever so much more complicated than that with interesting characters called upon to do frightening things. I will spare you surprises which I think will delight you; they delighted me. Certainly I haven’t begun to tell you the weird stuff. Go buy the book, and be entranced.
Once again, due to gods know what algorithm the audiobook from Audible is more expensive than the CD by seven bucks. I read the Kindle version, myself, which is still more expensive than the CD by one dollar.
Go figure.
Stuffilike.net 