Found this at Lemur Girl, who found it at Special K:

FIRSTS
First job: Flower delivery man for a florist in Dallas.
First self purchased CD: Brain Salad Surgery, by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in July 1987.
First piercing/tattoo: Summer 1983, left ear piercing (long since closed-up).
First enemy: 10th grade - Some guy named Jeff Anderson who borrowed my bass guitar longer than appropriate and teased me until we got into a fight; although I outweighed and out-reached him, he knocked me down with one good punch to the face in my one-and-only after-school fight. He dropped out of Jesuit a year or so later, and I graduated Salutatorian of my class. Guess I won after all.

LASTS
Last big car ride: Dallas to Corpus Christi and back, to visit the USS Lexington.
Last kiss: 20 minutes ago (my lovely wife)
Last library book checked out: Ummm. . . some gardening books in 1999, the last time I did a vegetable garden.
Last movie seen: In the theater? The Alamo. On DVD, Master and Commander.
Last beverage drank: Guiness Extra Stout.
Last food consumed: Buffalo Wings at The Cheesecake Factory.
Last phone call: my wife, on my way home from work earlier today.
Last CD played: Fragile, Yes.
Last annoyance: The jerk in an SUV who did such a sloppy job parking at Stonebriar Mall, where we went to eat tonight
Last pop drank: Coke.
Last ice cream eaten: Blue Bell Country Vanilla (w/ Hershey's Hot Fudge sauce).
Last shirt worn: Dallas Sidekicks T-Shirt.

I....
I AM: Ready for a break.
I HAVE: The Summertime Blues.
I WISH: I could find more time to write.
I HEAR: The air conditioner humming, my dog breathing.
I SEARCH: For filler like this to keep this blog running.
I REGRET: very little.
I LOVE: my fantastic wife and three outstanding kids.
I ALWAYS: wonder where my paycheck went.

FAVORITES
NUMBER: 13 (My birthdate is April 13)
COLOR: blue
DAY: Saturday
MONTH: November
SONG(S): It Had to Be You, Harry Connick; South Side of the Sky, Yes; Natural Science, Rush; Cliffs of Dover, Eric Johnson
SEASON: Autumn
DRINK: Guiness, Shiner Bock, or Coca Cola

Posted by: JohnL at 11:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My long-time readers (all 1 or 2 of you!) might remember the good-natured back-and-forth between this blog and the Llamabutchers about SF Babes a couple of months ago.

Well, I thought of those posts the other day when the guys at SFSignal linked to the "Top 75 Heroines of Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror."

In the process, they also introduced me to RevolutionSF, which now finds a home on my sidebar.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Robert Anson Heinlein, who coined the word "grok," who created the speculative future histories and alternate worlds that have captivated the imaginations of millions of readers, who, with Ayn Rand, laid much of the popular literary foundation for libertarianism, died 16 years ago on May 8, 1988.

I missed the date, as I don't usually mark the "death dates" of people, even those whom I admire. But fortunately Bill Dennis keeps track of the information at his Heinlein Blog. He also links to a good essay by J. Neil Schulman, which describes Heinlein's works as "how-to" manuals.

RAH, RIP.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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There should be a clause in the Photoshop licensing agreement that forbids putting it to this kind of use:

(WARNING -- GRAPHIC IMAGE -- DO NOT CLICK ON THE EXTENDED ENTRY IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH) more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:03 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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LeeAnn at the cheese stands alone posted a challenge the other day: "for each letter of the alphabet, list a band you truly like," in her words. Here goes:

Aerosmith
Booker T and the MGs; Bowie, David
Cream; Cure, The
Deep Purple; Doors, The; Dream Theater
Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
Folds, Ben; Foo Fighters
Genesis; Gabriel, Peter
Hendrix, Jimi
INXS; Iris, Donnie
Jackson, Joe
Kinks, The
Led Zeppelin
Monkees
Numan, Gary
Orbison, Roy
Pink Floyd
Queen
Rush
Styx; Seal; Santana; Steppenwolf; Supertramp
Triumph; Traffic
Ultravox
Van Halen; Vangelis
Who, The; Winwood, Steve
X, Planet (OK, that's kind of cheating)
Yes
ZZ Top

Feel free to leave your list in comments, or post it and trackback to here or LeeAnn.

Posted by: JohnL at 08:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Venomous Kate takes aim at reality TV and proceeds to inflict multiple deadly bites upon it.

I'm proud to say I've never watched a single episode of any of that trash. Life's just too short. Fortunately, for people like me who are alien to this unsavory bit of pop culture, Kate provides helpful links to each of the shows in her post.

It's scary to think that the concept has propagated as far and successfully as it has.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:49 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Ace of Spades HQ links to a bunch of creepy European art, movies, and games.

My favorite: http://www.beksinski.pl/

(Described by Ace as "Lovecraft-meets-Giger").

Posted by: JohnL at 08:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ace-of-Spades summarizes the factors that make Lara Flynn Boyle "dirty kinky right-wing hot."

Posted by: JohnL at 11:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I meant to blog on this a couple of weeks ago, when the LlamaButchers first pointed me to it.

Things I'm not ashamed to admit, but probably should be:

• I am a huge Neil Diamond fan, even if he has questionable politics.


• I played AD&D in High School. And still have the books. And dice. And miniatures.


• Barry Manilow? Musical genius (for his genre). Really. Just listen to Copacabana with an open mind.


• I know how to buy women's clothing. My wife's a knockout but is too modest to acknowledge it, so I occasionally have to buy her things to help her see herself the way I do.


• I know the derivation and meanings of the words "fannish" and "'dane."


• Despite the preceding sentence, I've never been to a "Con."


• I like the Yes album Talk.



Posted by: JohnL at 11:21 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 From a dating book I have: the definition of Romantic when listed in the personals-Owns extensive Barry Manilow collection.

Posted by: JB at May 22, 2004 08:51 AM (0gK4v)

2 all right, you shamed me into it. Talk isn't in the cd jukebox, so last night i popped it into one of the empty slots and relistened. still can't say i like it as much as the rest, though i do like it better than Union. my #1 son is a prog rock fan, so it was a nice variation for him. after that we put on the first half of Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, which he also hadn't heard before. by the way, anyone with fast internet access should frequent auralmoon.com for excellent prog rock internet radio.

Posted by: chris at May 22, 2004 09:49 AM (zH1Gw)

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One reason I don't blog much about politics and the war is that other bloggers have already covered the news in greater detail and in a more timely manner than I could. I don't blog from work, and therefore my surfing and posting are at the end of the day.

If I can't think of anything more than "me too," then I don't write about it, even though I may be in complete agreement. I'll be damned if I'm going to become an online "dittohead." I got into this blogging thing to force myself to write regularly, not to create some grand unified theory of politics. I hope someday to retire from the law racket; I would love to supplement my retirement income as an author.

So I write.

As frequently seems to be the case, James Lileks has already stated this thought for me:

"I’ll tell you why I haven’t written more about [the war, Abu Ghraib, Nick Berg] lately – it’s because there are others who do it so much better, have more to say, and have first-hand experience. I suppose I should be linking to them, but I assume that anyone who’s interested in these matters hits the other spots on the web that provide more authoritative content than I can offer. What’s more, I haven’t wanted to address The Gloom because that would simply add to it, and I think The Gloom is a mistake, a caul we’ve draped over our own heads. It will pass.

"IÂ’m not interested in hand-wringing. Obsession about the details of the current news cycle is the best way to ensure that the future smacks you on the back of the head hard some day. Live micro, but think macro. Inhabit the day, but apprehend the week, the month, the year, and beyond."

Go and read the whole Bleat.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've enjoyed taking my new dog on nightly walks. The neighborhood is even prettier and more peaceful than usual. A chorus of thousands of toads is raising its voice from the creek. Birds are settling down for the night. Venus and a few stars peek through the veil of dusk.

The moon was one of my regular walking companions for the first couple of weeks that we had Jake. But it disappeared a couple of weeks ago, coming out later and later. Tonight, it reappeared, low in the West -- a waxing crescent. Reflected Earthlight illuminated the night-side of the moon.

One of my favorite sights, and one that is evocatively captured in the lyrics of the Rush song Earthshine.

(Lyrics in extended entry). more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Timothy Sandefur has moved his Freespace blog off Blog*Spot to Typepad. Check out the spiffy new look.

Timothy brings a libertarian/Objectivist perspective to several subjects, but most eloquently to constitutional law, theory, and history.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Check out more of Chris Muir's Day by Day.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:56 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This is interesting news.

Rush, which has never been known for covering other artists' material (although their very first single was a cover of Buddy Holly's Not Fade Away), is now releasing a new album to commemorate their 30 years together consisting of eight cover songs representing their earliest musical influences:

• Summertime Blues (Blue Cheer/Eddie Cochran)


• Heart Full of Soul (Yardbirds)


• Shapes of Things (Yardbirds)


• The Seeker (The Who)


• For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield)


• Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield)


• Seven and Seven Is (Love)


• Crossroads (Robert Johnson/Cream)

More in the extended entry. . .

more...

Posted by: JohnL at 11:45 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Scaled Composites appears to have the X-Prize all but in the bag. They are making this look all too easy. I hope they have continued success, and I look forward to their next flight.

This is getting some mainstream coverage, in addition to many mentions in the blogosphere.

A couple of cool pictures from Scaled's website in the extended entry:
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 11:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Also found via Gravity Lens here.

"Ode to Spock"

There once was a commander named Spock
Who sounded so smooth when he'd talk.
From the very first day
The fans would all say
"That green blooded Vulcan, we grok!"

Posted by: JohnL at 11:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Did you know that a couple episodes of Star Trek: The Old Series were filmed on Mayberry RFD sets? Really. The City on the Edge of Forever and Miri were both filmed partly in Mayberry.

(Hat Tip: Gravity Lens).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Well, the Llamabutchers started it, and Ted has kept it alive long enough that I can post on this while it is still somewhat fresh.

What are ten subjects about which I know more than is healthy?

In no particular order:

• Hammond Organs (I own an M-3 with a Leslie 147 and an M)


• The Various Incarnations of the Rock Group Yes


• Larry Niven's Known Space Universe (I even still have my complete Ringworld RPG)


• The Rock Group Rush


• Pipe Organs (I played my full-faculty recital on this one)


• Monty Python (Say no more).


• Alternative Histories (I'm starting Zulu Heart, sequel to Lion's Blood, tonight as soon as I finish blogging)


• Ayn Rand


• Halo


• Space Law

Ted augments his list with an additional ten items. Quite the dilettante, he. I won't bore you with more of my details. Instead, please just read back through my archives to see what other interests I have that verge on geekdom.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:39 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Why wasn't this story on the front page last year, when it happened? Or at least last week, when Marine Capt. Brian R. Chontosh received the Navy Cross for his incredibly heroic actions? Why was it that the media assigned to our military the leering faces of the few bad-apple prison guards? Do they really want us to lose that badly? I wonder why.

Recap of what Capt. Chontosh did to earn the Navy Cross:

On March 25, 2003, during the race to Baghdad, Captain Chontosh's platoon was ambushed, being caught in a pre-sighted kill zone of machine gun fire. Rather than retreat, he ordered his Hummvee directly toward the enemy machine-gun emplacement, allowing the .50 cal gunner to shut down the Iraqi gunner.

Chontosh then directed his vehicle into the enemy trench, where he dismounted and proceeded to work his way down their line, dispatching them with his M16A2 and 9mm side arm. When he ran out of ammo, he twice picked up enemy rifles and continued his attack. He used an enemy RPG launcher to take out a group of Iraqis. When he was done, he had cleared 200 metres of trench, killing at least 20 enemy and wounding many others.

Instituted in 1917, the Navy Cross recognizes acts performed in the presence of great danger or at great personal risk and in such a manner as to render the individual highly conspicuous among others of equal grade, rate, experience, or position of responsibility.

(Hat Tip: Blackfive).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This just sickens me.

First thought: "Nuke the effin' bastards."

Second thought: Which ones?

Third thought: All of 'em. Let their miserable bloodthirsty god sort them out.

Final thought: No, no, no. That would be lowering us to their level. We must remain civilized. That's what sets us apart from these savages.

Bill INDC does a great job summing all of this up.

Supplemental thoughts - we didn't cease to be a decent, just, and civilized society because of Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. Are we there yet? Does the relentless negative reporting by our media lead inexorably towards the "final solution" solution? God help us if that is the case.

Posted by: JohnL at 09:17 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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