February 8, 2010
Five Question Meme
Via Rich Ditullio
How to play:
- Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile".
- I'll respond by asking you five questions to satisfy my curiosity.
- Update your blog/journal with the answers to your questions.
- Include this explanation and offer to ask other people questions.
Rich asked me interesting questions...
Continue reading "Five Question Meme"Super Bowl XLIV: New Orleans 31 Indianapolis 17
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010020700/2009/POST22/saints@colts
A couple of days ago, I made a Super Bowl prediction.
The Indianapolis Colts are a machine. Vanilla, straightforward. Implacable. They are all business (although in his commercials, Peyton does let his hair down) and telegraph what they do. Its just damned hard to STOP it.
They also adjust well. The Jets had them on the ropes, and the Colts adjustments turned a Jets lead into a near-rout by the Colts
The New Orleans Saints are gunslingers. Gamblers. Party-loving. Risk taking, try it and see if it works approach. Its a risky strategy that has proven dividends. They also seem lucky, charmed, as witness the Vikings game. Luck is a big factor in football.
This, however, is the Super Bowl. As boring as it might be, I think the Colts Machine will survive whatever the Saints throw at them, and pull ahead by the end of the 3rd Quarter and win.
Prediction: Another win for the AFC. Indianapolis 31 New Orleans 17
Well, the Colts WERE a machine. The Saints WERE risky--the 4th and goal attempt toward the end of the 2nd Quarter. The onside kick to start the second half!
And well, I did get the score right. However, I had the teams wrong. Even if the Colts were better on paper, the Saints won the game. A very entertaining game, even if after the first quarter I thought it might be a rout for the Colts.
Congratulations to the new America's Team. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints.
February 7, 2010
RIP, William Tenn
The list of F/SF deaths gets tiresome, especially with the recent loss of Kage Baker.
Today, William Tenn (real name Philip Klass) passed away.
William Tenn was on only as a short story novels, his novels were less successful. Tenn's work was wickedly satirical in a way only matched in the SF field by C.L. Kornbluth.
My favorite Tenn stories:
The Brooklyn Project: Researchers send a probe back in time, insisting all the while that time and history cannot be changed, even as things get weirder and weirder in the present...
Eastward Ho!: After a nuclear war, Native American nations turn the tables on the United States.
The Liberation of Earth: Two different alien races come to Earth...and the Earth becomes a proxy space for their war.
Null-P: George Abnego, the most ordinary man in the US, becomes an unexpected symbol in a post-World War III age.
It Ends With a Flicker: Two different alternate histories seek to end the disaster that threatens humanity by changing the historical event that made it happen. Only...
And there are many others. Tenn had a gift for stories with a sting in the tail.
Now, I am tempted to pick up the NESFA Press volumes of his collected stories.
February 6, 2010
What am I reading now?
Via SF Signal and other places.
1. What Book Are You Reading Now?
2. Why did you choose it?
3. What's the best thing about it?
4. What's the worst thing about it?
1. Into the Looking Glass, John Ringo
2. I wanted to try Ringo again after a negative previous experience.
3. Competent protagonists that drive the narrative forward
4. The liberal-bashing politics is getting old, fast.
Book Review 2010 #4: The Quiet War
Next up on my book list is the author who previously penned one of my favorite SF series, ever.
Continue reading "Book Review 2010 #4: The Quiet War"February 5, 2010
Super Bowl XLIV Prediction
Since I've done so well this far with predictions, I might as well go for broke and make a Super Bowl Prediction.
These are two high scoring teams with very different philosophies.
The Indianapolis Colts are a machine. Vanilla, straightforward. Implacable. They are all business (although in his commercials, Peyton does let his hair down) and telegraph what they do. Its just damned hard to STOP it.
They also adjust well. The Jets had them on the ropes, and the Colts adjustments turned a Jets lead into a near-rout by the Colts
The New Orleans Saints are gunslingers. Gamblers. Party-loving. Risk taking, try it and see if it works approach. Its a risky strategy that has proven dividends. They also seem lucky, charmed, as witness the Vikings game. Luck is a big factor in football.
This, however, is the Super Bowl. As boring as it might be, I think the Colts Machine will survive whatever the Saints throw at them, and pull ahead by the end of the 3rd Quarter and win.
Prediction: Another win for the AFC. Indianapolis 31 New Orleans 17
The Senate has jumped the Shark
Enough is enough.
Making the majority Democrats get a supermajority of 60 votes to pass meaningful bills is bad. (Whatever happened to the Republican mantra "up or down vote")? Sand in the gears at every turn (let's make them read the bills word by word for no other reason but to slow down the process) is bad. Anonymous holds on nominees for positions for months(!) because a Republican or two has blocked them is even worse
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, is blocking Senate action on executive branch nominations, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said this afternoon in an e-mail.
In response to a question from the Press-Register, Reid spokeswoman Regan Lachapelle confirmed that Shelby has placed a "blanket hold" on most pending nominations.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/02/senate_leader_shelby_blocking.html
Shelby has been tight-lipped about the holds, offering only an unnamed spokesperson to reporters today to explain them. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke the news of the blanket hold this afternoon. Reid aides told CongressDaily the hold extends to "all executive nominations on the Senate calendar."
One Republican Senator. And why is he doing this? Surely there is a noble reason why Shelby would want to do this?
Reports say that it is so that he can ensure a couple of...(wait for it) key earmarks for Alabama.
The Senate, as an institution, has jumped the shark.
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February 3, 2010
Thoughts on the 2009 Oscar Nominations
Thoughts on the 2009 Oscar Nominations
Continue reading "Thoughts on the 2009 Oscar Nominations"January 31, 2010
Frederik Pohl and Isaac Asimov
I'm surprised, in a good way, 90 year old Frederik Pohl has taken up blogging.
Even more delightful, he has recently been telling about his early life, as it intersected with none other than Isaac Asimov.
A must read for any science fiction fans.
Ice on Gooseberry Falls
And to cool you off, here is a picture of some ice at Gooseberry Falls, Gooseberry Falls State Park, Minnesota
Kage Baker, RIP
Via Jeff Vandermeer, and others, Kage Baker's fight with uterine cancer has been lost.
I've only read one of her novels, and didn't particularly care for it. Her work was well regarded. though, by friends, and others in the community. Therefore, I consider the failing to be mine, not hers, and now she will not write any more stories or novels for me to try and reassess my opinion of her work in a more positive light.
Rest in Peace.
January 29, 2010
I Pad and the subtitle of this blog
This blog proudly says that I am "living in the science fiction present".
with the arrival of the I Pad, computers are moving toward the vision of tablet computers in Star Trek the Next Generation...
Science Fiction Present.
January 24, 2010
The Book of Eli
I went to see "The Book of Eli" yesterday with my friend Felicia.
Continue reading "The Book of Eli"
