"A big leather-bound volume makes an ideal razorstrap. A thin book is useful to stick under a table with a broken caster to steady it. A large, flat atlas can be used to cover a window with a broken pane. And a thick, old-fashioned heavy book with a clasp is the finest thing in the world to throw at a noisy cat."

(Mark Twain)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?

Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.

Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.

Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...

Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together—mass hysteria.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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How to Get Into Manga. I'm still trying to figure out how to get into comi—your pardon, "graphic novels". And I'll note that I've noticed more shrinkage at the local big box in exchange for graphic novels and manga.

Overall, I think I'd rather collect this stuff.

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Time lists their choices of the best 25 horror films. A pretty good list, if somewhat top-heavy in the newer gore-splattered films. They miss my favorite, the original filmed version of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, known only as The Haunting.

I'm talking about the original one here. Black-and-white. Almost no special effects, unless you count some nice camera angles and such. No blood. No gore. No visible monsters. Nothing that litters today's horror films.

But I dare you to watch this movie. At night. Alone. In a storm. I dare you. I double-dog-dare you!

Just don't bother with the utterly insipid remake. Please.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:34 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Lois McMaster Bujold has posted an essay about the relationship between one of her most popular characters (Miles Vorkosigan) and the much-maligned science fiction sub-genre of space opera.

In one of those strange but true moments, I started re-reading (for the first time in a long time) Shards of Honor. Whether this leads to a re-reading of the rest of the series, we shall see. more...

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T.S. Eliot's Wasteland...done in LOLCat style.

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Klyde Morris reveals the real reason behind the long life of the rovers on Mars.

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I look at the Airstream website now and again. Maybe when I win the lottery! Today I noticed that they have an "official coffee". Hmmm...a Kona blend. No Blue Mountain blend, though. Espresso, check!

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"...that he lay down his life for his friends."

Quite some time after it was first announced, the mainstream media, and local media, finally have picked up on the tale of Lt. Michael P. Murphy.

More can be found in the book Lone Survivor, by Navy Corpsman Lucas Luttrell.

More stories like this can be found here and here. Seems there are still a few heroes out there, beyond the drug-addled "sports heroes" that crowd the front pages.

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Take a look at today's Astronomy Picture of the Day. And to think that dark skies like this once were seen everywhere. No wonder people have lost their sense of wonder (pun intended).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:10 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A few random bits from my morning reading.

John Scalzi comes across what might be his favorite negative review of Old Man's War.

A biopic on Philip K. Dick...not!

My favorite Brother Astronomer has a new book out! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:53 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A Texan's view of the US. From Strange Maps, where you can see Europe after WWII, the signs of the end times, and much more!

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Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres, quarum unam incolunt Belgae, aliam Aquitani, tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appellantur. Hi omnes lingua, institutis, legibus inter se differunt. Gallos ab Aquitanis Garumna flumen, a Belgis Matrona et Sequana dividit. Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae, propterea quod a cultu atque humanitate provinciae longissime absunt, minimeque ad eos mercatores saepe commeant atque ea quae ad effeminandos animos pertinent important, proximique sunt Germanis, qui trans Rhenum incolunt, quibuscum continenter bellum gerunt.

(Julius Caesar, The Gallic Wars. Slightly less obscure version here.)

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The posting can now be viewed here.

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An online game based on the worlds of Honor Harrington? Will I finally have to get broadband?

Launch is a bit off, so in the meantime, I suggest you pick up the board game from Ad Astra. Nifty miniatures!!!

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Ain't these nifty little gadgets? I can see buying several, because of the MilSpec cuteness factor that is built in. I can also see the TSA having hairy fishnuts when you tried to bring one on a airplane as well.

(Posted, of all places, at BoingBoing!)

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What kind of reader are you?

I'm a obsessive-compulsive bookworm! No kidding! (With thanks to ***Dave for the link.)

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An extremely rapid technique for deconvolving single exponential luminescence decay data is described that involves essentially no mathematical manipulation of the experimental data. The method permits "real time" measurement of deconvolved luminescence lifetimes with conventional pulsed, lifetime-fluorometers and phosphorimeters. The method assumes that the true luminescence decay of the chromophore is accurately represented by a single exponential decay function.

A nomogram for deconvolution of single fluorescence decays, M.G. Rockley.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I haven't seen an official note yet, but Rand Simberg has posted that Robert Bussard has passed away. Wikipedia confirms this. He threw off ideas the way some folks shed skin. Physics will be that much the poorer for his death.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:23 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I'm reading books faster than I'm posting reviews! Just hit 60 for the year-to-date. The complete list, as always, is here. Reviews to come, promise, as soon as the audit is done at the firehouse, I catch up on a couple of other firehouse projects, and (the infamous) etc.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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