For the wallet, that is. It seems every time I pass by the bookstore, I notice a few more "must have" titles. From the end of July to early in September, here's what I either have picked up or will be picking up:

Poul Anderson: The Van Rijn Method (excerpt here).

Greg Bear: City at the End of Time (website for the author and the book here) (mention at Boing Boing here) (purchased).

Ben Bova: Mars Life (purchased).

Tobias Buckell: Sly Mongoose (purchased).

Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl: The Last Theorem (purchased).

Philip K. Dick: Five Novels of the 1960s & 1970s (made up of Martian Time-Slip; Dr. Bloodmoney; Now Wait for Last Year; Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said; A Scanner Darkly) (purchased).

David Drake and Eric Flint: Belisarius I: Thunder at Dawn (excerpt here).

Joe Haldeman: Marsbound (read in serial form).

Robert A. Heinlein: Between Planets (excerpt found here) (purchased).

Paul Kearney: The Ten Thousand (but wouldn't you'd rather read the original?).

George R. R. Martin: A Dance with Dragons (about time!!!).

Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner: Juggler of Worlds.

Jerry Pournelle: Exile and Glory (excerpt found here) (special ordered, then purchased).

John Ringo: The Last Centurion (excerpt here) (purchased and read as an eARC).

John Scalzi: Zoe's Tale (purchased).

Karl Schroeder: Pirate Sun (purchased).

Neal Stephenson: Anathem.

And I'm sure there will be more!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Proving once again, you can do anything with Legos. Now let's see if your typical legal type can submit his or her billable hours this way!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Coming soon from Disney, Pirates of the Canal!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Whenever presented with a startling new scientific revelation, apply the crackpot index!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:40 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Did you know that AI kind of folks consider QWERTY a curse word?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Satirical maps of the First World War.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:05 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I know very little about Halo, given a general lack of interest in computer gaming (something I've mused about in the past). Maybe someday I'll plunk down the $$$ for an Xbox or a Wii or a Whatever. My only connection with Halo are little Halo figures that march across the top of my computer (from a board game that appears to have already died), some CD's of music (not the first time I've gotten hooked on a soundtrack well before seeing the source) and a book of designs for the game. Plus one novel, that made so little sense that I stopped reading it (this was before the Giant Tobias Buckell Announcement, of course). more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I can only hope that one day my one relative looks back and realizes the pain that he/she had caused upon his/her other relatives during this period.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The horror! The horror! Band of Brothers, the Aubrey/Maturin Musical!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I had what seemed to be a pretty good idea for a short story, or possibly a series of short stories on the way to work. Of course, since I was driving, I could not write it down. Traffic was crazy, I couldn't even pull over to write it down.

So the idea fled. And I'm left with the recollection that it was a darn good idea. Ah well, maybe it'll come back sometime!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Gas prices have gotten so low they are practically giving the stuff away!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hmmm...

Fondness for small cups of intense coffee. CHECK.

Uses an iPod. CHECK.

Jots in a Moleskine. CHECK.

Do I pass the coolness test?

Nah.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's about dang time.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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365 short works completed. I wonder what the count will be on December 31? more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Captain Aubrey was a being that confused superior force with superior reason, that was Captain Aubrey's affair: nothing would prevent Professor Graham from telling the truth, calmly and without raising his voice. Volume of sound was in no way related to volume of veracity. Captain Aubrey might speak violently, if he chose; it made no difference to the truth. If Captain Aubrey were to turn his cannon—the ultima ratio regum, and of other bullies—on Professor Graham, the truth would remain unaltered. No, said Professor Graham, now quite hoarse from bellowing, he did not suppose that he possessed a monopoly of wisdom—the remark he might observe in passing was wholly irrelevant and as illiberal as if Professor Graham had referred to Captain Aubrey's remarkable bulk or to his lack of education—but in this particular case an impartial observer comparing Professor Graham's not inconsiderable knowledge of Turkish history, language, literature, policy, and customs with the encyclopedic ignorance and presumption of those who contradicted him, might be tempted to think so.

(Patrick O'Brian, The Ionian Mission)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Sadly, you can't make stuff like this up.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I got a haircut. I am pretty sure that if you took the lengths of each hair remaining, they would not equal the length of one hair before the cut.

Yes, it is summer. It is hot. Enough with the hair, already!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 02:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"What a ghoul you are, Stephen, upon my word."

(Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:51 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So on one hand, honey is an amazingly sophisticated and efficient food source; on the other hand it's bee backwash.

(Alton Brown, Good Eats, "Pantry Raid IV: Comb Alone")

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:10 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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For those of you who might have grown up in the city, these are cattle.

(Alton Brown, Good Eats, "Steak Your Claim")

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:07 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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