Monthly Archives: August 2005

17) King of Morning, Queen of Day, by Had been on the lookout for this for a while, partly because of now knowing the author and also partly because of my general interest in sf and fantasy set in Ireland. … Continue reading →

I see Cheryl Morgan’s roundup from Worldcon includes this comment: I’ve also heard a few complaints about Chris Priest. I’m not exactly happy about what happened at the Hugo ceremony myself, seeing as it was on my watch, so to … Continue reading →

As it happens I’m in an internet cafe in the middle of Pristina at the moment. I’m afraid Roger Cohen’s article is fairly accurate. The only extra I would add is this bit When two Serbs were killed last weekend … Continue reading →

16) A Mirror for Observers, by Edgar Pangborn First published in 1954, set in 1963 and 1972, so as usual we can be slightly amused about predictions made about the future which is now the past. But actually this is … Continue reading →

Went to Tetovo in Macedonia yesterday for a meeting with Ali Ahmeti, the leader of the guerrilla uprising of 2001. Since last seeing him, I have read the memoirs of Kosovo guerilla leader Ramush Haradinaj in which Ahmeti plays rather … Continue reading →

I’m just over half way through this trip and finding it very tiring. I had two days non-stop driving coming back from Ireland, followed by four intensive days at work, followed by the last four days being pretty intensive in … Continue reading →

Hot, but surprisingly not too sultry.

Here.

First, five syllables,Seven in the second line,Five more – a haiku!

Once again in beautiful Ohrid. Mountains and lake glowing in the early evening light. Fantastic.

Lovely weather – very different from Brussels!

The Adepts of the Night Court Meme by blueberrypocky Adept (username): Age: House in the Night Court: Cereus (Fragility, Beauty) Servant of: Shemhazai, Angel of Learning Marque: Thistle Price of An Assignation: 26,158 Quiz created with MemeGen! I’m expensive but … Continue reading →

Am rather pleased with myself. I lost an awful lot of sleep last night thanks to Bridget, and had vast amounts of work to do before leaving for Macedonia tomorrow. But two and a half years ago, I was in … Continue reading →

Am off to Macedonia in the morning. In beautiful, beautiful Ohrid until Sunday, Monday in Skopje, Tuesday and Wednesday up north to Kosovo, and Thursday flying home from Skopje. And I’m taking tomorrow week off work.

Jeepers, there’s a real gale and rainstorm blowing out there. I’m on the 24th floor and can barely see the ground.

The new LJ friends map from Google. If you wonder why you’re not there, check if your location is “unknown” or “unfound”.

Have got up early to try and get on top of work before departing to the Balkans tomorrow. Had actually been awake more or less since 4 am; slept very badly, as is often the case when a) early start … Continue reading →

Top 10 Friend Matches srk1 & kennedybak 302 lauriemann & davidstewart 220 lauriemann & pnh 194 dace_holenfor & natural20 188 ianmcdonald & pnh 188 mevennen & ianmcdonald 175 james_nicoll & kradical 175 james_nicoll & davidstewart 173 deannawol & alarielle 171 … Continue reading →

Evaluation form as completed by my departing intern: How did you find out about the Crisis Group internship program? On the website. During your internship what tasks were assigned to you? Administrative tasks – maintaining schedules and contacts. Daily – … Continue reading →

Only yesterday morning I posted an entry praising the Portadown News; now, sadly, Newton Emerson has announced that he is shutting up shop to concentrate on work he actually gets paid for. Shame, but also somehow inevitable. My favourite single … Continue reading →

Elite Reader You have a Geek Lore rating of 80% Sure, fans aren’t Slans, but you’re definitely something special. Your knowledge of speculative literature has to be pretty damned impressive to achieve this score. Long may you flip those pages! … Continue reading →

Just in case you were in any doubt about it, I made it home safely (and so have unlocked the previous entries about my travels this month). It’s 400 km from Loughbrickland to Kidderminster, not counting the ferry. It’s 560 … Continue reading →

Inspired by here (1986) and here (1988). The rules are as follows: Go here. In the search box in the upper right hand corner, enter the year you graduated from high school. The first item returned should be the top … Continue reading →

Ken MacLeod has done me the honour of replying to my last post at length, and deserves a final reaction from me – though I don’t think we can really push this argument a lot further. Ken in red; me … Continue reading →

Your word is BUGGER. You are generally quiterestrained, but sometimes your anger orfrustration come to the surface and it allcomes out. Yet you somehow can’t stop soundingpolite, despite it all. Which Swear (Curse) Word Are You? brought to you by … Continue reading →

Do the quiz, fill in your answers (being much more frank than you normally would dare to be), and then press “reload” to scramble the questions but keep the old answers! (Thanks to and .) The Random Question Meme! An … Continue reading →

…I missed two particularly good issues of the Portadown News: August 1st and August 8th. Particularly glorious is the lead story from the latter:

15) The Black Tor, by George Manville Fenn. Picked this up partly because I had vague memories of praising the author to the skies and partly because I felt I should read at least one ancestral book after spending three … Continue reading →

MindMap

My digital camera, which appeared to have given up the ghost in Glasgow, now appears to have returned to perfect working order after sitting in my coat pocket for a week and a half. (Pictures in earlier entries this month … Continue reading →