tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52500252011-10-31T19:08:17.555-05:00The Hill of HimringNews from nowhereFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.comBlogger12841100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-91559674236530992062010-12-14T18:34:00.003-06:002010-12-14T18:37:05.684-06:00Signs of the times VFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-7607330883752278862010-12-05T16:49:00.004-06:002010-12-05T16:53:26.872-06:00Capture and control?This 2002 article by H. Keith Henson provides a lot of food for thought for those who would understand human behavior, particularly the psychological aspects of religious cults and captor/captive relationships.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-58211954372662375602010-12-05T12:51:00.002-06:002010-12-05T13:03:52.403-06:00Law and the MultiverseA few works of pop culture, most notably The Incredibles, have speculated about how superheroes might be affected by the legal system. Few have actually attempted to apply the real-life legal system to such sticky superhero problems as testifying in court, maintaining a secret identity, or accumulating and holding property for longer than a normal human life span. And Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-61460182380845122432010-12-01T13:51:00.003-06:002010-12-01T15:06:49.787-06:00Recent reads:Losing Mum and Pup, by Christopher Buckley. The author of several successful novels of political satire (Thank You For Smoking, Boomsday, etc.) tackles a much bleaker subject: the deaths of his mother and father within a year of each other, and his own memories, thoughts and reactions to those losses. His parents, of course, were notable in their own right. William F. Buckley wasFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-34688429602196113472010-12-01T13:49:00.001-06:002010-12-01T13:51:10.875-06:00Neat link of the day:FedFlix. Free downloadable US government films, including documentaries, training films, etc. "Duck and Cover!"Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-63356412812957889482010-11-30T17:02:00.003-06:002010-11-30T17:08:22.875-06:00Neverwas HaulAn industrious crew busily exploring the applications of neo-Victorian steam-powered gadgets. Although their lumbering self-propelled multi-story turretted house is impressive, I'm pretty sure the peppy little steam car is more fun to drive.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-58022426436751307032010-11-16T20:08:00.004-06:002010-11-16T21:16:34.970-06:00Dulce et decorum"The necessary supply of heroes must be maintained at all costs."-- Sir Edward Carson, supporting a Bill for Compulsory Military Service, sometime prior to 1916. Quoted by Robert Graves in The Double Dealer, Jan. 1924, p. 19.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-23476803853612251062010-11-15T18:32:00.011-06:002010-11-16T21:24:36.683-06:00Recent readsHis Wanted Woman, by Linda Turner. If any scholarly, librarianly, or archival types are obligated to read a genre romance novel for any reason, this might be one to look for. I came across it as a result of an online discussion of an LA Times article about the Archival Recovery Team that tracks down and attempts to recover items stolen from the National Archives which are being Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-24018971185901685682010-11-10T11:21:00.004-06:002010-11-10T14:10:04.882-06:00So you want to be....I guess one of the hallmarks of a lost friendship is that you continue to see things that remind you of the other person's interests and sense of humor, and wish that you could share those things with them. These short animations, for example. Peace and success in all things to absent friends, even (or especially) ones who will never read these words.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-72176581791569866612010-11-08T19:09:00.002-06:002010-11-08T19:54:37.008-06:00Recent viewingsNever Take Candy From a Stranger / These Are the Damned I ordered this double DVD of 1960-vintage thrillers because someone on a listserv said interesting things about These Are the Damned. Never Take Candy From a Stranger is an uncomfortable film, and I'm not sure whether to dismiss it as mere sensationalistic pandering. On the one hand, it's subject matter -- pedophilia -- is Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-58662796843978952042010-11-03T20:37:00.002-05:002010-11-03T20:40:49.319-05:00Poetry WednesdayDirgeby William Alexander PercyTuck the earth, fold the sod,Drop the hollow-sounding clod.Quiet's come; time for sleeping,Tired out of mirth and weeping,Calmed at last of mirth and weeping.Tuck the earth, fold the sod;Quiet's here, maybe God.(Published in The Double Dealer, Nov. 1923, p. 201)Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-23508704525048354612010-11-03T11:24:00.005-05:002010-11-03T11:56:12.756-05:00NaBloPoMo prompt #3"Describe the plot of the next book you want to read, even if the book doesn't exist yet."I expect the plot to be unknown and to unfold as I read the book, not to be a preconceived given.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-38116198013855948272010-11-03T11:03:00.002-05:002010-11-03T11:20:37.772-05:00Cleaning houseUpdated sidebars: Friends of Felix and Biblioholism. Added new sidebar: Authorblogs. Combined the surviving shreds of YpsiAnniana with Michiganiana.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-39715088911369549302010-11-02T11:03:00.002-05:002010-11-02T11:07:18.631-05:00He knew eldritch evil when he saw it"As for the Republicans—how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, steel their emotions against decent human sympathy, cling to sordid and provincial ideals exalting sheer acquisitiveness and condoning artificial hardship for the non-materially-shrewd, dwell Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-50931806595380609032010-11-02T09:27:00.006-05:002010-11-16T21:01:53.778-06:00RefgruntingWhere can I type up a paper? Try the computer lab.Gorgeous blonde girl: I'm researching sex appeal. Can you show me where to find it?Stapler is empty.You know that room, like, on the second floor, where you can do stuff, is it open? Yes, the media computer lab is open.I put my thing in the computer and it won't let me open stuff. What kind of document is it? Like, Word or something. Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-67819993832275157222010-11-02T09:18:00.005-05:002010-11-02T09:51:05.823-05:00News notedThe work of religion continues apace. Congratulations to the religious leaders on both sides who continue to successfully divide people and turn them against each other. Another slaughter accomplished.McDonalds orders workers to vote Republican.SF writer Charles Stross excorciates the runaway popularity, lagging originality, and selective historical amnesia of steampunk.Controversy Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-49660853469893686102010-11-02T09:04:00.003-05:002010-11-02T10:14:33.631-05:00NaBloPoMo prompt #2"Tell us the story of a piece of jewelry you own. Where did it come from, and what does it mean to you?"Well. Let's see. A gold chain given by grandparents, never worn. Two neckerchief clasps from Boy Scout days, one broken. One orphaned cufflink, never worn. A black button-cover, never worn. A couple of watches given by various people, both non working and not worn for years. Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-38437126634979491572010-11-02T08:55:00.000-05:002010-11-02T09:00:34.687-05:00Barbarian or wimp?Wimp.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-23360860157644041222010-11-01T23:45:00.000-05:002010-11-02T09:01:10.957-05:00NaBloPoMoSpotted this just in time to jump onboard: National Blog Posting Month. Because the world has a severe shortage of poorly edited, rambling personal thoughts being batted about the internet.Actually, it does seem that most of the personal blogs I used to read and enjoy have gone dark in the past few years. Perhaps Facebook ate them, or sucked away all the exhibitionistic desire to discussFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-60270808110380025332010-11-01T19:49:00.003-05:002010-11-01T20:34:09.339-05:00Recent readsWar for the Oaks, by Emma Bull. Along with the works of Charles de Lint, this is one of the works that started the subgenre of urban fantasy that prospered through the 1990s and 2000s before recently being supplanted by Sparkly Vampires In Lurrrve, Pretentious Title With Amusingly Improbable Monsters mashups, and reiterations of steampunk set in a conveniently idealized Victorian Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-39256195779485546572010-10-28T10:34:00.002-05:002010-10-28T10:47:24.137-05:00Recent viewingsThe Bicycle Thief. Atmospheric, low-key black & white European film, ostensibly about an impoverished man who needs his bicycle to earn a living. When the bicycle is stolen, he spends the rest of the day doggedly pursuing the thief through the streets, alleys, churches and bordellos of the city, accompanied by his young son.Of course, to me the much more interesting story is not Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-77952806660588515032010-10-27T11:22:00.006-05:002010-10-28T10:33:49.688-05:00Being politically incorrectThis morning's NYT includes a well-intentioned but clueless editorial equating wariness about Islamism with homophobia. The Times, bastion of free speech that it is, has so far declined to accept the comment that Your Humble Correspondent submitted in response to that editorial. So here it is. (I've corrected a couple of typing errors that slipped in during a rather Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-91427328021951822032010-10-25T20:13:00.001-05:002010-10-25T20:15:45.115-05:00Librarians who save the worldCourtesy of IO9.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-55056785983262856022010-10-21T17:37:00.003-05:002010-10-21T17:39:22.601-05:00A new growth industryNiagara County, New York has figured out how to rejuvenate its economy during an economic recession: Charge people $15.00 to apply for a job.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-42268578063893325522010-10-20T23:38:00.002-05:002010-10-20T23:47:06.934-05:00Recent viewingsCitizen Kane. Welles’ epic tale of the rise, fall, and lonely decline of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane is of course a classic, and one described elsewhere with much more critical insight than Your Humble Correspondent can muster even on his best days. I enjoyed it anyway. There are elements to the film that are still visually startling and unsettling even though I’ve Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-75490757094840587912010-10-20T18:40:00.005-05:002010-10-20T18:56:47.659-05:00Fagbug! A colorful visitor to campus. Turns out the cheerful looking critter has a story. After her car was vandalized with the word "fag" in crude spray paint, Erin Davies turned the insult around by leaving the graffiti on her car and taking it on an epic road trip as a kind of rolling display piece. After someone scraped off the original graffitti, she had the car decorated more professionallyFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-48762543257854377562010-10-20T09:33:00.002-05:002010-10-20T09:39:47.774-05:00TropespottingThe "hot/sexy librarian" trope makes an appearance in the oddest of places, a Maureen Dowd column comparing Marilyn Monroe to Sarah Palin. (Ms. Candle-in-the-Wind comes out on top, for at least being interested in books and making a creditable attempt to look smart despite her own self-doubt.)Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-42916814141682788322010-10-18T14:22:00.003-05:002010-10-18T14:26:37.735-05:00Become a magazine publisher for just $1.00Douglas Cohen, editor of Realms of Fantasy, reports sad news:I invested more than $50,000.00 of my own money into reviving this magazine. I tried every traditional method I could think of to increase the circulation, but nothing worked. I also spent a great deal of money trying nontraditional methods.......Ultimately, I believe Realms failed because of a Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-46183175765327076902010-10-16T14:57:00.002-05:002010-10-16T15:00:45.149-05:00Fortunate findOrwell first edition turns up in donation pileI applaud, without necessarily sharing, the selflessness of the volunteer who alerted the agency to which the book was donated, rather than purchasing it for himself.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-84712214146322539842010-10-13T09:38:00.002-05:002010-10-13T09:44:57.798-05:00The gleanings of the morningA couple of interesting articles on the treatment of mind-altering drugs in science fiction, one from eminence-grise Robert Silverberg, ca. 1974, and one from Robert Marcus, the head of a drug-policy lobbying group called Drugscope.http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED112299.pdfhttp://ansible.co.uk/DreamDust.pdf (could use some copyediting....)And with that, off to a meeting Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-75158674553451952532010-10-11T22:56:00.003-05:002010-10-11T23:33:12.463-05:00Airship pirates, now with added aetheritude!An interesting crew of folks made landfall at RealmsCon 2010.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-8790555091256529412010-10-11T12:27:00.000-05:002010-10-11T12:28:06.045-05:00Behold the glories...... of a capitalist, free-enterprise education system!Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-22001105393796161972010-10-08T11:44:00.005-05:002010-10-08T15:16:43.426-05:00Recent viewingsTaking a brief break from fantasy-baseball ramblings:The Sandbaggers, season 1, episodes 1 and 2. Late-1970s British spy drama about a cadre of "special operatives" working for the British government during the Cold War. Interesting for focusing more on the domestic bureaucratic difficulties faced by the "sandbaggers", and their sometimes dicey relationships with their NATO allies,Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-86374329786511499772010-10-06T18:08:00.007-05:002010-10-06T19:34:09.968-05:00Battlin' Boomers season in review : part 1 For the past six months or so, at the behest of old college chum "SteveJ", I've been managing a Yahoo fantasy baseball team called, for no particular reason, the Battlin' Boomers. The season is over, and it's time to review strategies that did and didn't work. To start with, here are the final season standings for the Southwest Sluggos, organized by Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-22310240121359335672010-10-01T12:15:00.003-05:002010-10-01T12:31:32.059-05:00Poetry FridayKit Marlowe to CabellBy Joseph T. ShipleyPublished in The Double Dealer, Feb. 1923.Pastels are diffident. Play a carmine, boldAcross the sheets. Blood, man; pour blood!Have you any in you?Life's not a questing for will-o'-the-wisps,Delicate, flitting a lure;Life is a lust, a fever;Life burns at both ends...... You speak of a veil with twenty-seven slits;Life tears veils aside...... Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-62368611663579678282010-10-01T12:11:00.002-05:002010-10-01T12:15:48.917-05:00Creating ChaosFrom Historynet.com by way of Arts & Letters Daily : a useful and entertaining account of T.E. Lawrence and the Arab Revolt of 1916 which succinctly explains much of the political chaos and anti-western suspicion that has characterized the Middle East ever since.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-26834917360888405532010-09-30T18:32:00.003-05:002010-09-30T18:34:56.939-05:00Banned Books Week displayFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-31352811680994484772010-09-29T19:13:00.005-05:002010-09-29T19:40:07.898-05:00Attention Sherlockians and Adventure Tales... ians(?)Wildside Press's electronic newsletter reports that they have two issues of fiction magazines available for free promotional download. Enjoy, if that's your thing.Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #4 and Adventure Tales#6 may be downloaded via Rapidshare:http://rapidshare.com/files/422176735/shmm4.pdfhttp://rapidshare.com/files/422176143/AT6.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-78142043819549311652010-09-29T18:54:00.002-05:002010-09-29T19:03:30.834-05:00Amber by NightCarlos, should he revisit this dusty forgotten corner of the blogosphere, may enjoy this review by the esteemable and invaluable TangognaT. It appears to fall directly into the "hot female librarian" genre of manga. Amelia is a typical bookworm librarian. But she has a secret. At night, she works as a provocatively dressed waitress named Amber....Sadly, neither Ameila nor Amber areFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-67504190652028054562010-09-29T18:28:00.002-05:002010-09-29T18:42:43.804-05:00Digging up the pastLong long ago in a galaxy far far away, your humble correspondent attended a creative-writing class. One of the students in the class submitted a poem which included a couple of lines that have stuck with me ever since, regardless of whatever merit the poem as a whole might have had.The sands of time bury the past. Without them, life would cease.But sand can blow away Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-61083166751161547762010-09-29T11:30:00.001-05:002010-09-29T19:09:18.438-05:00News of the weirdSome startling news from the Telegraph:Aliens have deactivated British and US nuclear missiles, say US military pilotsThe story below seems more like something I would expect in Texas, but sure enough it's from way up north in "librul" Yankeeland.Assistant attorney general blogs against gay student body presidentHm. A couple of people I know have boasted of their accurate "gaydarFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-68549861726380394062010-09-27T23:45:00.004-05:002010-09-28T12:38:37.912-05:00Lazy librariansI'm late to this party, but it seems I should write a little something for those rare folks who may still from time to time stop by to take in the view from this barren, windy little Hill in the blogosphere.The New York Times reports that Santa Clarita, California, has outsourced its public libraries to a foreign-owned private equity firm, LSSI. The story reports that the CEO of Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-36870104341919878052010-09-27T18:26:00.001-05:002010-09-27T18:27:50.771-05:00Linked without commentToday's Unshelved.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-57923506495468673132010-06-29T12:54:00.003-05:002010-06-29T13:22:51.374-05:00Poetry TuesdayFellow CreatureBy Richard KirkI saw the wind take roadside dust and makeWhat seemed a living thing. In thatGray whorl of earth did pride-in-life awake,Ere wind and dust fell flat?(Published in The Double Dealer, Dec. 1922, p. 279)Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-12929785711140255302010-06-10T12:23:00.003-05:002010-06-10T12:31:48.669-05:00Snark or serious? You decide....The Conservative Bible ProjectThe Conservative Bible Project is a project utilizing the "best of the public" to render God's word into modern English without liberal translation distortions.[1] A Colbert Report interview featured this project.[2] We completed our translation of the New Testament on April 23, 2010.... Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-4649836574171135142010-05-20T15:53:00.000-05:002010-05-20T15:54:42.323-05:00Recent readsA couple of interesting blog posts from something calling itself the "SF Commonwealth Office in Taiwan". Official or not, they offer explanation for some of Smith's elliptic and eccentric (to western ears) writing style.http://danjalin.blogspot.com/2007/11/rediscovery-of-cathay-chinese-elements.htmlhttp://danjalin.blogspot.com/2007/11/rediscovery-of-cathay-chinese-elements_16.htmlFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-59879504828872001692010-05-19T14:26:00.000-05:002010-05-19T14:27:20.583-05:00Worst religious kitsch art ever.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-28074711358421264142010-05-17T18:23:00.005-05:002010-05-17T19:22:05.528-05:00Recent readsThe World Inside, by Robert Silverberg. "Here begins a happy day in 2381." Silverberg's wryly imagined utopia/dystopia presents a staggeringly huge human population living in titanic, thousand-story "urbmons", or urban monoliths, that tower over a mostly depopulated countryside while their teeming inhabitants while away their "happy days" with carefully managed jobs, abundant Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-53811054161865225992010-05-10T19:31:00.003-05:002010-05-10T19:35:38.438-05:00James Branch Cabell has a posseSo says Poictesme, the student literary magazine of Virginia Commonwealth University. This would make a great T-shirt logo. I'd wear it.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-27509786122310595682010-05-03T18:05:00.001-05:002010-05-03T18:06:37.680-05:00HarbingerFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-91502290422996331092010-04-19T13:10:00.003-05:002010-04-19T13:18:27.128-05:00The fall of Mordor?No, it's just that pesky Icelandic volcano, courtesy of photographer Marco Fulle by way of NASA.NASA's own satellite photographs here.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-48484844396492793392010-04-19T10:05:00.001-05:002010-04-19T10:05:45.398-05:00Where did all the money go?Matt Taibbi is itchin' to tell you all about it.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-58470085732735797302010-04-16T17:57:00.003-05:002010-04-16T18:01:14.068-05:00A new library mascot! Sadly, no. Just a biology grad student's pet.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-76590954919764808342010-04-14T15:13:00.010-05:002010-04-18T09:42:51.997-05:00A queen's visitationUP 844, one of the two showpieces of the railroad's steam program, makes a brief service stop at Kingsville, Texas, en route to Harlingen on the Valley Eagle public relations tour.Full picture sequence at my newly-minted Flickr page.Addendum, 4/18/2010: Another railfan captured images and video of the 844's arrival. See if you can spot Your Humble Correspondent.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-73763177448780304892010-04-14T15:11:00.001-05:002010-04-14T15:13:24.212-05:00Signs of the Times IVSpotted during the UP 844's brief visit to Kingsville this morning. The word "little" must be metaphorical in some sense.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-12516010438984781252010-04-13T20:58:00.005-05:002010-04-13T21:04:22.684-05:00Signs of the times IIILocation of signFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-83121770285137234842010-04-10T08:05:00.007-05:002010-04-10T08:27:14.346-05:00Signs of the times II Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-66627058156413674882010-03-30T12:42:00.002-05:002010-03-30T12:43:04.305-05:00Taco BlogCourtesy of a co-worker: Tacotopia, a blog about breakfast tacos in Corpus Christi.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-34140909786346842912010-03-27T18:23:00.003-05:002010-03-30T12:40:17.544-05:00Sign of the Times?Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-29477536322252806072010-03-18T11:41:00.004-05:002010-03-18T13:26:37.894-05:00GTTThe day of Uriah's arrival in Corpus Christi was magnificent in its beauty. It was March and early spring. The stage coach from Brownsville rolled to a stop in front of the St. James Hotel and a tired, worn young man dismounted stiffly, bade the driver a quick goodbye and commenced looking around in a place where he didn't know a soul....-- from Uriah Lott, by J.L. Allhands, a biography of a Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-18335954422668182882007-10-03T09:42:00.000-05:002007-10-03T09:48:16.851-05:00Of Net NeutralityFor those who don't understand why "net neutrality" is a critical issue, this editorial [NYT] explains the issue, and why a recent episode involving Verizon is a warning bell in the night for anyone who wants our electronically-mediated society to remain free and democratic.Unless, of course, you trust your local cable/internet/telecommunications monopoly to make all your Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-89803937259320950362007-09-28T16:38:00.000-05:002007-09-28T17:47:59.668-05:00An announcementS., over at ApartmentCarpet, has some happy news.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-21702612119522753862007-09-28T15:27:00.000-05:002007-09-28T15:28:16.119-05:00Calling Gomez AddamsWorld's Scariest Model Train WrecksFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-35705299792628227892007-09-28T13:19:00.000-05:002007-09-29T12:31:22.717-05:00Your tax dollars at workWant to know where your tax dollars are going? Check out this 2005 "trophy video", from Aegis, a mercenary gang on the US payroll in Iraq. Fair warning: You'll see mercenaries, on your payroll and officially immune from all military and legal oversight, cruising along the highway casually machine-gunning cars and their occupants completely at random to the cheerful Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-28819767425827036302007-09-24T20:38:00.000-05:002007-09-24T20:57:09.321-05:00God Hates the World (He Hates You!)A musical message from Fred Phelps' congregation, via YouTube. This would be simply stupid and comical if it weren't recognizably just an amplified form of the literal worship of hatred and sadism that has hijacked segments of most major religions. As Harold Bloom memorably put it in The American Religion, reading the words of certain fundamentalist religions Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-86072247666772032632007-09-24T09:59:00.000-05:002007-09-24T10:12:41.638-05:00Silly rabbit. Civil liberties are for Republicans!From the New York Times: Larry Craig's Great Adventure: Suddenly, he's a civil libertarian... After his arrest, Mr. Craig was called hypocritical for his longstanding opposition to gay rights in Congress. His legal defense, though, presents a different inconsistency. He joins a long list of conservatives who believe in a fair legal system only Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-67526200545740883512007-09-24T09:32:00.000-05:002007-09-24T09:35:06.583-05:00Train runs through Bangkok marketThis is bizarre. Or bazaar. At any rate, it puts a whole new intepretation on the phrase "urban mixed use". (Note: link is to www.ifilm.com with embedded video clip.)Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-70902833432141280372007-09-23T20:11:00.000-05:002007-09-23T20:12:16.039-05:00The care and feeding of CongressThis is hilarious, if more than a little depressing.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-33634114635153433752007-09-22T17:48:00.000-05:002007-09-22T18:00:17.007-05:00Update re. Blackwater USA massacre of civiliansThe Independent, a UK newspaper, reports more details of the massacre, which US new outlets are apparently refusing to cover. The death toll is now apparently 28 and expected to rise further. Discussion rational and otherwise here.Blackwater USA, of course, claims that they are blameless. A video of the incident reportedly says otherwise. But whoFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-24177568008982066142007-09-21T21:57:00.000-05:002007-09-21T22:03:41.288-05:00No comment really necessary on this one"God" responds to legislator's lawsuit (CNN)The return fax number should have been no surprise. Any well-schooled Christian can tell you that God resides in the Body of Christ.It is somewhat odd that the photograph of the legislator who filed the lawsuit appears to have a halo around his head.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-48464587045805633192007-09-20T21:38:00.001-05:002007-09-20T21:44:09.605-05:00All your ISBNs are belong to usAh, those Ivy League schools. They're so advanced. So far out in front of the rest of society, in research, in science, in intellectual resources.And, it appears, in wildly ambitious interpretations of intellectual property. The Harvard Crimson reports that the campus co-op bookstore expels students who take notes and compare prices on textbooks. The bookstore Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-72101728814838844872007-09-20T14:54:00.000-05:002007-09-20T15:02:52.959-05:00Uh-oh.Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright (Telegraph.co.uk) Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.... China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-14205938142559001922007-09-20T12:55:00.000-05:002007-09-20T13:00:06.401-05:00Yet another scam to be wary of?Beware of e-mail scam offering to rescue friends. ... This new scam has seen bogus e-mails claiming that a common friend is attending a conference in Africa on "Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, HIV/AIDS, Poverty and Lack of Education". Then the person - whose e-mail account has been hacked - is portrayed as being stranded in Africa after forgetting in a taxi a "Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-5534214445023705692007-09-20T12:36:00.000-05:002007-09-20T14:07:29.517-05:00Run away from the scary brown people!That's exactly what the Republican party seems to be doing, as evidenced by the reported refusal of all the major presidential candidates to appear at an upcoming nationally televised debate focusing on "minority issues".No matter what one thinks of "racial politics", this seems like a bad strategy for a political party that wishes to remain relevant in a Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-65688163995326560182007-09-19T17:06:00.000-05:002007-09-19T17:09:12.989-05:00WWGD: What Would Greenspan Do?Apparently he wouldn't vote Republican. At least not for the current crop of R's.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-65666459060448924162007-09-19T15:49:00.000-05:002007-09-19T15:53:29.455-05:00Robert JordanHis demise is not exactly a surprise, since he announced in March of 2006 that he had been diagnosed with a deadly illness. Still, both he and his fans would certainly have hoped for more time to finish his epic "Wheel of Time" series. (Thanks to Fiend, who is much more in tune with the news of the day than I usually am, for initially mentioning it to me.)Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-41362013097206220252007-09-19T15:32:00.001-05:002007-09-19T15:33:08.740-05:00Especially for Carlos... since he's looking for a place to live somewhere out in the burning deserts of the Southwest. How 'bout Arcosanti?Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-34123093684508492572007-09-19T13:22:00.000-05:002007-09-19T13:43:09.239-05:00Exactly as plannedThere seems to be mass confusion about how Blackwater USA mercenaries, on the payroll of the US government, ended up shooting several Iraqi civilians in Baghdad recently. Eyewitnesses unconnected to Blackwater state that the mercenaries were not provoked. Or, possibly, that they panicked in response to a distant explosion. Or maybe they got cranky because of rush hour trafficFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-67095136606731382052007-09-19T11:11:00.001-05:002007-09-19T11:15:33.148-05:00Especially for PabloVampire Population Ecology: a statistical analysis of the vampire population dynamics of Sunnyvale, California.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-2529741336599779092007-09-19T11:09:00.000-05:002007-09-19T11:11:05.662-05:00Perhaps it's KryptoniteFrom The Guardian: Peru meteorite crash 'causes mystery illness'Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-19343033598652761342007-09-12T18:20:00.000-05:002007-09-12T18:24:42.303-05:00Some good newsThe blogger known as Riverbend reports that she and her family have escaped the war-torn wreckage of her native country and taken refuge in a less-chaotic country.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-25721112761656343862007-09-12T16:51:00.000-05:002007-09-12T17:03:13.093-05:00CasualtiesTwo of the US soldiers who wrote this editorial describing their experiences on the ground in Iraq and criticizing the war are reported killed. A third of the group was recently reported injured. Stories here, here, here.It's tough being a soldier. A real soldier, that is, as opposed to a chickenhawk.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-28327286477453152072007-09-12T13:18:00.001-05:002007-09-12T13:37:55.665-05:00Logic, Republican styleFrom today's front-page editorial at www.redstate.org, a refreshingly honest call-to-brutality by one pseudonymous "Frank J.", who has somehow neglected to sign up for the war that he so eagerly demands that *other* people fight for his satisfaction: When someone tells you we should bring the troops back, ask him who does he think will then kill the terrorists. When he Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-66694865294073462802007-09-11T21:32:00.000-05:002008-12-08T23:04:29.634-06:00Piechart"Pacified", over at squarestate.net, makes a point graphically:Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-15033867311666028622007-09-11T15:12:00.000-05:002007-09-11T15:14:04.191-05:00"The creatures looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."An Opportunity for Wall St. in China’s Surveillance Boom (NY Times)Go on, tell me again how capitalism and communism are opposites.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-16400118475225218902007-09-11T11:44:00.000-05:002007-09-11T11:50:46.266-05:00Administrative ignorance, part whateverethFrom the Times of London: Biblical error costs Church £½mAn historic collection of religious books whose sale for £36,000 was approved last year by a Church of England diocese has been sold on by a book dealer for more than £500,000....“Those on the management committee had no idea of the value of the material they were dealing with. The decision was madeFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-67510901911852254042007-09-10T19:46:00.000-05:002007-09-10T20:14:45.099-05:00News notedUpdates to some railroad-related news I've blathered about.The Texas State Railroad, saved from drowning, has been contracted out to a private operator. The mighty Canadian Pacific merges its way into the Powder River Basin coalfield by taking over the persistent little Dakota Minnesota & Eastern, which had gotten regulatory permission to extend its South Dakota trackage into the Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-54418213288397362072007-09-08T13:07:00.000-05:002007-09-08T13:31:53.886-05:00Of publishers and rejection lettersThe diary of Anne Frank: The work was “very dull,” the reader insisted, “a dreary record of typical family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions.”Animal Farm: “impossible to sell animal stories in the U.S.A.”Just two of the enlightening comments dredged out of the rejection letters of the Alfred E. Knopf publishing company, as described here in Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-26790237177440550592007-09-07T14:09:00.000-05:002007-09-07T14:12:20.261-05:00Madeleine L'EngleGone at age 89. PW has a very brief obit. A Wrinkle in Time, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and her other popular and award-winning books continue on. At least until the next library-weeding project.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-90523044595280263532007-09-07T13:16:00.000-05:002007-09-07T15:28:36.543-05:00Random linkynessStarTrek and Simpsons musical mashup on YouTube. (From the Stilyagi list.)From the Chronicle of Higher Ed, the ever-interesting Writer Formerly Known as Thomas H. Benton pulls back the curtain on the eternally-recurring propaganda that this, that, or another profession is expecting an imminent "labor shortage". Am I wrong to think the annual labor shortage claims do the work of Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-16298634784204404352007-09-07T12:55:00.000-05:002007-09-07T13:02:42.342-05:00Belated poetry ThursdayYesterday's selection for Apartment Carpet's Poetry Thursday reminded me of another poem that deconstructs the tradional sonnet:Sonnet ReversedRupert Brooke (1887-1915)Hand trembling towards hand; the amazing lightsOf heart and eye. They stood on supreme heights. Ah, the delirious weeks of honeymoon!Soon they returned, and, after strange adventures,Settled at Balham by theFelixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-30188086684588119072007-09-07T11:30:00.000-05:002007-09-07T12:00:30.957-05:00A Tale of Two Auctions, or, The $500,000 Bottle of Beer. Auction Number One can be found here. It sold for $304 dollars. The buyer then turned around, did more research, wrote a nearly dissertation-length description of the item and its historical significance, and offered it up in Autcion Number Two, with no reserve. The final sale price: a cool half-million.What is this improbably pricy Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-59219060389895092502007-08-29T10:25:00.000-05:002007-08-29T10:46:54.929-05:00PrioritiesWhile the American news media go into paroxyms of ecstatic glee over this week's Republican sex scandal and the shocking (shocking!) news that a Hollywood celebrity is self-destructive, the BBC reports that the Bush Administration continues to ramp up the saber-rattling war rhetoric toward Iran. "I have authorised our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-53130274590435229232007-08-27T11:29:00.001-05:002007-08-27T11:31:58.995-05:00Recent readsShrub, by Molly Ivins. If more people had paid attention to Ms. Ivin's wryly-funny-but-dead-serious dismemberment of George W. Bush's erratic track record before the 2000 election, we might not have ended up in the mess we're in. She is sorely missed, but Jim Hightower, Bill Moyers, and other carry on in their own styles.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-26759512956028247992007-08-25T13:01:00.001-05:002007-08-25T13:22:09.887-05:00Friday Bad-News DumpFrom the Associated Press, by way of that notorious vehicle for liberal political propaganda, Forbes magazine, comes this account of harassment, intimidation, imprisonment and torture of American military personnel.... by the U.S. military. Their crime? Trying to report and stop the black-market sale of US-supplied weapons to the Iraqi insurgents, who then use them to kill Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-14142328500885674362007-08-25T12:37:00.000-05:002007-08-25T13:00:53.109-05:00Belated Poetry ThursdayAn old friend posted a discussion about outlining fiction to her weblog last week, prompting thoughts of Robert Graves' immortal poem:The Devil's Advice to Story-TellersLest men suspect your tale to be untrue,Keep probability—some say—in view.But my advice to story-tellers is:Weigh out no gross of probabilities,Nor yet make diligent transcriptions ofKnown instances of Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-29661161661583055192007-08-23T18:34:00.000-05:002007-08-23T18:36:52.581-05:00Secrets of the British LibraryAfter reading this article, I'm prepared to believe that the British Library might really have giant secret vaults like the ones shown in Read Or Die.And what kind of classification scheme assigns items to the "Cupboard" collection?Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-14788909732753121572007-08-23T18:33:00.000-05:002007-08-23T18:34:43.199-05:00A temporary victory?An update on the BP/Lake Michigan situation.Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-48877090983456362822007-08-22T17:02:00.000-05:002007-08-22T17:48:14.734-05:00Recent viewingsThe Cold Equations (1996). This television adaptation of Tom Godwin's well-known and controversial short story is competently produced on a low budget. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter has overlaid Godwin's starkly simple plot with a framing story about a court-martial, a pennypinching corporate government, and labor issues. This has the unfortunate effect of reducing Godwin's Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5250025.post-15312480033067748532007-08-20T16:56:00.000-05:002007-08-20T17:20:02.299-05:00Recent readsSon of Man, by Robert Silverberg. I actually only skimmed this one after the first few pages, in which the hero, without any obvious explanation, suddenly wakes up in some kind of future world inhabited by utopian, pansexual, polymorphously shapeshifting descendants of humanity and begins exploring all its weird possibilities. It's far off the mark of SilverBob's best work, in my Felixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02972873626450562217noreply@blogger.com1