Consider different fading systems.

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Tonight we had a fajita and margarita fiesta, since Cinco fell on a weeknight.

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Infinitesimal gradations.

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Tonight I played keyboards with an old friend.

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Idiot glee (?)

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The category should be self-explanatory.

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It's a great time of the year. Not too hot, not too cold. Neither the heat or the air conditioning kicks in. It's getting darker, later, but you still get to see the stars for a good chunk of the night. Heck, last night I saw the (36 hour young) Moon and Mercury twinkling next to it!

The birds are building nests and singing. We found two nests right around the house, both with eggs in them and yesterday we spotted two fuzzy little baby birds in one of the nests!

In fact, it is so nice I'm almost willing to overlook the fact that I've been up since 0300. I cannot, however, overlook that fact that there is no coffee in the house.

Frakking toasters.

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Grilled cheese. Toasted cheese. Comfort food. Hmmmm...toasted cheese.

A toasted cheese contest!

And...toasted cheese in literature.

'Killick! Killick, there! Bear a hand.'

Killick's voice could be heard coming nearer: 'No peace, no bleeding peace in this barky,' and as the door opened, 'Sir?'

'Toasted cheese for the Doctor, half a dozen mutton-chops for me, and a couple of bottles of the Hermitage. D'ye hear me there? Now, Stephen, give me an A.'

They tuned their strings, that pleasant tentative wailing, and as they tuned he said, 'What do you say to our old Corelli in C major?'

'With all my heart,' said Stephen, poising his bow. He paused, and fixed Jack's eye with his own: they both nodded: he brought the bow down and the cello broke into its deep noble song, followed instantly by the piercing violin, dead true to the note. The music filled the great cabin, the one speaking to the other, both twining into one, the fiddle soaring alone: they were in the very heart of the intricate sound, the close lovely reasoning, and the ship and her burdens faded far, far from their minds.

(Patrick O'Brian, Desolation Island)

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It seems that during periods of stress, some folks turn to comfort foods. Or to cigarettes. Or to drink.

Me, I tend to turn back to music and certain authors. Clifford D. Simak and Spider Robinson, among others, have helped me through previous periods of stress. And this seems to be shaping up to be a spring of stress, and no doubt will also be a summer of stress.

So, it is back to the bar. Back to Callahan's Place and Lady Sally's Place and Mary's Place and The Place. more...

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The ever astounding Ansible is up. Number 250 in the series.

AS OTHERS RESEARCH US. From a positive article on sf (and Ken MacLeod) at the Glasgow Science Festival: 'The whole basis of the internet was famously inspired by William Gibson's book Neuromancer and Isaac Asimov, who recently died, "invented" earth-orbiting satellites in one of his tales.' (Jasper Hamill, Sunday Herald, April) [KM]

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Following up on this posting (which has some notes about some artists that show up again this month), here is the "playlist" for the month.

I probably spent about a third of the month listening to stuff in shuffle mode, a third listening to albums or artists end-to-end and a third listening to the radio (gasp!) or podcasts.

Shuffle mode works well for certain kinds of music, but not for others. It works well for albums where there is no theme, no story. It does not work well for most classical albums, as the composer is trying to create a theme or a story (even if he or she is not using words). It also does not work well for a lot of the "electronic" (I have never been happy with any of the terms "electronic", "New Age", "techno", "drone", "trance" or other labels slapped on by marketing types) composers such as Steve Roach or Robert Rich. Again, a lot of their albums are working on a theme or a story...or a mood.

On to the playlist! more...

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John's Reading Report (April 200

Over the past month I have finished:

Virtual Light, William Gibson.

Idoru, William Gibson.

In progress:

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Douglas R. Hofstadter. I'm really savoring this one this time around. It's taking me longer to read, but I am breaking it into more digestible chunks.

Consciousness Explained, Daniel C. Dennett.

On deck:

The Martian General's Daughter, Theodore Judson

Extraordinary Relationships, Roberta Gilbert.

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemerovsky. My wife loaned this one out, so I'll need to wait to start it later.

Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World, Carl Zimmer.

Spook Country, William Gibson.

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Fred's Reading Report (April 200

O.K., it's that time of the month again!

Eighteen books YTD! 187 short works!

Which is to say...there's good news and there's bad news. For short works, if the goal is one short a day, I needed to be at 121 stories by the end of April. So, I've exceeded that goal. For long form, 18 books is better than one book a month for a year, so I'm way ahead of 99.99% of the people I know (many barely manage a book a year, for all love). more...

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So what do the astronauts do in the off time on the International Space Station? Governmentattic.org has come up with a list of books, movies, music, etc., on the ISS (Adobe Acrobat file).

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Pyramids; Terry Pratchett (HarperTorch, 2001, ISBN 978-0-06-10265-0; cover artist not known).

Pteppic (or Teppic) has a problem. He's escaped from the trap of being part of a dynasty, has spent years training to be an assassin, and had just passed his final exam with the Assassins Guild in the city of Ankh-Morpork when the call comes to return home. His father, the king, has died. He must take his place on the throne!

Back to Djelibeybi (ignore the "D") he goes where he is caught in endless rituals, a life rigidly controlled by the seemingly ageless Dios, high priest of all high priests. There's a handmaiden, Ptraci (or Traci). Or is she his aunt? And how does a camel get involved in higher mathematics?

Toss in a whole string of restless undead, a dimensional accident, pyramid power, and Death (strangely enough, one of the most popular characters in the series) and you have another fun romp on the back of the turtle.

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Highly recommended and on PBS this week (sorry for the late notice): Carrier.

This 10-hour documentary follows a six-month deployment of the U.S.S. Nimitz, ">CVN-68. This is not Top Gun, this is a realistic, honest, excellent look at all levels of the ship, from the air wings to the guys who clean the toilets. It is not glamorous, it doesn't spin too far to the positive or the negative. This is what "reality television" never even gets close to being.

I was in the Army, not the Navy, but this is a very good depiction of the "rough men" who protect us while we sleep.

A darn fine effort. A DVD will be out in May; I've already put in a pre-order.

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An analysis of how best to survive your deployment on the U.S.S. Enterprise.

The red-shirt survival rate is slightly higher when Kirk meets women than when a fight breaks out. This trend necessitates the question: How often did Captain Kirk "meet" women? In 30% of the missions.

As the data shows, Captain Kirk "making contact" with alien women has an impact on the crew's survival. The red-shirt death rate is higher when a fight breaks out than when Kirk meets a woman and a fight breaks out. Yet the analysis shows that meeting Kirk meeting women only happens in 30% of the missions.

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John A. Wheeler, a physicist who sparked his students with the force of metaphor, and who gave us such terms as "black hole" and "many worlds" has moved into another world.

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Well, yesterday I turned 40.

I suppose my advanced age could excuse the lamentable lack of my posting?

Eh, didn't think so.

More later. Maybe.

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You never know what you'll find on the intertubes. A detailed history of Jonathan Quayle Higgins, for all love!

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