A while back I came across a list of movies, books and other entertainment items on the International Space Station. I forwarded that list to Baen Books, as I noticed that a good chunk of the titles involved were from that publisher.

Somewhat jokingly I suggested that, in the spirit of their programs to give free books to members of the military and free books to disabled readers, they ought to give free books to the crew of the ISS.

Gee...maybe I should have suggested they give me a book contract. Because it appears they listened to me!

(I can't complain. They get free books, and I got a free Baen Books apron and a bunch of bookmarks and a sheet of autographed bookplates!)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:47 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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One year and a few weeks after we lost a good four-legged friend, we appear to have found another. We are in the process of adopting a young female Doberman mix. Our current dog, Saffron (a 14-year old Rhodesian Ridgeback), seems to be mostly O.K., with it (if the puppy gets too rough, she lets it be known).

The strange thing is that the first dog we had as a married couple was a female Doberman mix. Her name was Java. This dog goes by Mocha.

(Cue Twilight Zone theme music...)

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Well...another night. Madness is starting to take its toll.

Not so much music listened too tonight due to...well...a very, very, very busy night. Good weather, warm weather, a discount on rides equals lots of work in the kitchen!

So, to be brief, as I am fried...

The Beatles: "Glass Onion" (The Beatles, a.k.a., The White Album).

The Clash: "The Guns of Brixton" (London Calling).

Collection: "The End of Words" (Material) (Ambient: A Brief History of Ambient). "Rebel Rouser" (Duane Eddy) (Forrest Gump).

Dead Can Dance: "Tell Me About the Forest (You Once Called Home)" (Into the Labyrinth).

Peter Gabriel: "Down the Dolce Vita" (Peter Gabriel 01). "A Wonderful Day in a One-Way World" (Peter Gabriel 02). "Mahmoud Tabrizi—Prelude in Tchahargah" (Passion Sources).

Genesis: "Domino" (Invisible Touch).

Jean Michel Jarre: "Chronologie (Part 6)" (Chronologie).

Elton John: "I Feel Like the Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)" (Greatest Hits, Volume II).

King Crimson: "Matte Kudasai" (Discipline).

Natalie Merchant: "Dust Bowl" (Live in Concert).

Tom Petty & the Hearbreakers: "Casa Dega"; "Psychotic Reaction (Live)" (Playback).

The Police: "Deathwish" (Regatta De Blanc).

Talking Heads: "Don't Worry About the Government" (Sand in the Vaseline).

U2: "So Cruel" (Acthung Baby).

XTC: "That Wave" (Nonsuch).

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So, I was not even scheduled to work on Wednesday. Naturally, that meant I went in to help set up the kitchen, get the initial batch of food cooked and staying until the scheduled help showed up. A bit of stress, due to one of the other volunteers (nobody can apparently stand her working in the outside food area, so they send her to the kitchen. It is great to have a volunteer, unless they are of the attitude of "I'm a volunteer, that means nobody can order me around"!)

Last night's playlist was kind of interesting in the sequencing. For example, "Taxman" by The Beatles was followed by "The Ugly Underneath" by XTC (on the album Nonsuch, which was purposefully-Beatles sounding throughout). For some reason shuffle mode keeps concentrating on a few artists. Why so many Sara McLachlan sounds (not that I mind) when I only have two albums by her? Why so much by R.E.M. when other artists (Steve Roach, David Bowie, for example) have many more albums on the iPod? Why go from one track to another on the same album (Forgotten Gods by Suspended Memories) when the iPod holds several days worth of music to randomly select from?

It's a mystery! Last night I heard... more...

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Le growl! Le snarl! Le chomp! ...and other madness... Just when you thought you had gotten over those dang cats.

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Phew! 3:30 PM to 11:30 PM. I had to stop the iPod at one point because things were moving too fast (not enough help...or rather, not enough help willing to pitch in on the dirty stuff and coordinate things, so I stepped into both roles). So, not as much music listened too as I had expected. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:52 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Today starts our church carnival, and as usual I was foolish enough to volunteer to work at one of the dirtiest positions (kitchen work—cooking, cleaning, hauling).

Except for Wednesday, I'll be working Tuesday to Sunday. Tuesday to Friday is about 6 hours a night; Saturday and Sunday are going to be about 16 hours each.

I have loaded the iPod to the gills with music. It is going to be interesting to see what "shuffles" it comes up with over this extended period. Look for more Carnival Shuffle postings each day (if I'm not too tired!)

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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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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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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...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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