Well, too bad I'm not female...but if you are, and need an excuse to drink more coffee!

Of course, once you're done reading all the caveats, etc., you may shrug your shoulders and ignore the article and just drink coffee as usual. Or not. Maybe "balance" is all we need.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:49 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The place I live ranked number five in the top ten best places to live (in America's small cities) according to Money????

Are we talking the same town here? Maybe they just go by tax burden...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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C.L. Moore; Northwest of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith (Planet Stories/Paizo Publishing; 2008; ISBN 978-1-60125-081-0; cover by Sean Glenn).

Review here (no, I haven't given up my "day job").

Made up of: Introduction: Teaching the World to Dream (C.J. Cherryh); Shambleau; Black Thirst; Scarlet Dream; Dust of Gods; Julhi; Nymph of Darkness (with Forrest J. Ackerman); The Cold Gray God; Yvala; Lost Paradise; The Tree of Life; Quest of the Starstone (with Henry Kuttner); Werewoman; Song in a Minor Key.

Part of the 2008 Year in Shorts.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:29 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's nice this time of year when it is clear. The sun is done, it is starting to cool off. You can sit outside with a cool beverage and watch the bats. The stars start to pop out. Speed on to Spica. Arc on to Arcturus. If you know the sky fairly well, you can start to pick out constellations: spot two of the stars in the Big Dipper, and you can make the rest of the stars "pop" into existence.

Look there, in the east. It's the full Moon. To the left (well, to the right if you are "upside down" from my perspective) is Jupiter at its brightest. Even a relatively modest pair of binoculars would be handy right now. You could pick out what of the four largest moons are visible around Jupiter and see features on the Moon (although any phase other than full is best, as the craters show up better when the sun is not overhead!).

Check out the satellite tracking sites like Heavens Above. Check out when the ISS will be visible from your location: I caught it the other night and it was spectacular. As it moves through your sky it'll change in brightness and maybe even color. Keep checking when it'll be visible when the shuttle is up...there's nothing quite like seeing the two of them flying in formation or how much brighter the "dot" is when they are docked.

Yep, it's a beautiful night tonight.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:19 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Yes, I've been delving into classical literature and history of late!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Τιμή σ' εκεινους όπου στην ζωή των
ώρισαν να φυλάγουν Θερμοπύλες.
Πότε από το χρέος μη κινούντες΄
δίκαιοι κ' ίσοι,σ'ολες των τες πράξεις,
αλλά με λύπη κιόλας κ' ευσπλαχνία,
γενναίοι οσάκις είναι πλούσιοι κι όταν
είναι πτωχοί, πάλ' εις μικρόν γενναίοι,
πάλι συντρέχοντες, όσο μπορούνε΄
πάντοτε την αλήθεια ομιλούντες,
πλην χωρίς μίσος για τους ψευδωμένους.

(C.P. Cavafy, Thermopylae) more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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When boyhood's fire was in my blood
I read of ancient free men
In Greece and in Rome where bravely stood
300 men and 3 men

(Thomas Osborne Davis, A Nation Once Again)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:52 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The review can now be viewed here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Nothing like a cold in the summer to knock you out of the game.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:36 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Have you seen the announcement about the new element that has been found?

Research has led to the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take from four days to four years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass. When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:04 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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From the pen of science fiction writer John Wright comes a sequel to A.E. van Vogt's The World of Null-A and The Pawns (or Players, depending on your edition) of Null-A (the less said about Null-A Three, the better). Will Null-A Continuum fare better than Kevin J. Anderson's sequel to van Vogt's classic Slan? I hope so.

The mystery, however...how come Tor/Orb came out with a handsome trade paperback of The World of Null-A but has not, several years later, done the same with The Players of Null-A. I see them out with Voyage of the Space Beagle this month...

It has been a long time since I've read Slan or the two Null-A books; I'll toss them on to Mount Toberead before getting into the sequels by these two puppies.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:01 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Come play in the universe.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:58 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I'm sure you could make one look neater, but this is one of the odder uses of duct tape that I've seen.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In 1971, science fiction lost of its greatest advocates on this day.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:43 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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People keep asking me, where's John; maybe he'll pipe up...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:22 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It's always nice to wake up and find some a$$hat has spammed your site with bogus comments; I wonder if it the same "gentleman" who spammed me with e-mail on how he wants to "advertize" (sic) on the site.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:31 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A fair wind right down the Channel was rare enough: often and often he had had to anchor for the tide, beat up tack upon tack in the narrow seas, winning a few miles only to be driven back again—weeks sometimes before he could get clear into the Atlantic; but now the familiar landmarks filed by in fine brisk succession: the South Foreland, Dungeness, Fairly, and Beachy gleaming through a wall of rain with solid blue-black cloud behind it; and then late in the evening there was the Wight clear on the starboard bow. Jack climbed into the mizentop with a telescope and before the green light vanished in the west he thought he caught the glint of his observatory dome at Ashgrove Cottage. He stared at it in a strange confusion of spirits, as though at another world, farther from him now than when he had been in the Antipodes.

(Patrick O'Brian, The Surgeon's Mate)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:40 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A water main break is one sure way to ruin your usual approach to work.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I'm trying to catch up, honest; but schedule changes and a family member undergoing surgery is making life wacky!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A most excellent movie!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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