Monthly Archives: November 2016

Massive fail here. I think that the election and various other distractions have really hit my usual rota of book reading, both last month and this. My pathetic total is, er, 3. Fiction (non-sf): 1 (YTD 28) Kramer’s War, by … Continue reading →

New Montenegrin government Delighted to see Srdjan Darmanović foreign minister, AA Pejović EU minister!(tags: montenegro ) Juncker’s time is running out Glorious from @Stollmeyer_EU(tags: eu ) Kitchen gadgets review: Food Sniffer – ‘It smells fishy to me’ More tech madness … Continue reading →

Second paragraph of third chapter ("What if Lyndon Johnson had been shot down in 1942", by Robet Waller): The B-26 Marauder bomber in which he was flying, named the Heckling Hare, was attacked on the outward journey by Japanese Zero … Continue reading →

This $1,500 Toaster Oven Is Everything That’s Wrong With Silicon Valley Design “Instead of teaching ourselves to cook, we’re teaching a machine to cook. And while that might make a product more valuable in the long term for a greater … Continue reading →

This is the eleventh in the series of Les Mondes d'Aldébaran, the lush sf graphic novels by Brazilian-French writer/artist Leo (Luiz Eduardo de Oliveira), and the start of Antarès, the third of the four sequences within the cycle. Good news, … Continue reading →

NASA Didn’t Find Life on Mars—But It Did Find Something Very Cool West Wing not prophetic yet in this case.(tags: mars astronomy )

Here's a nice graph. "Yes, Nicholas, but what does it mean?" Let me tell you what it means. Along the bottom you will see the names, in order, of the US Presidents to date. Immediately above them is a blue … Continue reading →

Trump Grasped What Others Missed Short but clear.(tags: uspolitics )

Alas, our valiant household computer is dying, and much of the day was spent tactfully lining up a replacement. Current Kings of the North, by Cecelia Holland AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, ed. Nnedi Okorafor Tolstoy, by Henri Troyat … Continue reading →

The Shape Of Emily’s Coffin Trying to grasp a ghost.(tags: Death literature bronte )

Second paragraph of third chapter: No one had been more surprised than Neely. One critic had actually called her the freshest new talent to come along in many a season. This accolade, coupled with the new apartment, made her almost … Continue reading →

We Need To Talk About Alek Brilliant on Vučić by @DejanAnastasije.(tags: serbia ) Demographics, Not Hacking, Explain The Election Results @NateSilver538 pours cold water.(tags: Uspolitics ) Probability of descending from Edward III If you are of British or Irish descent, … Continue reading →

Second paragraph of third chapter (on the earliest remaining scrap of written Latin): The text is in many respects extremely frustrating. It is incomplete, the top third of the pillar not surviving. It is close to incomprehensible. The Latin is … Continue reading →

Why every office should scrap its clean desk policy Excellent.(tags: work psychology ) The truth about trade agreements – and why we need them A useful corrective.(tags: economics uspolitics ) Watch out for Hammond, the potential PM no one saw … Continue reading →

Second paragraph of third story ("The Copsy Door", by Terry Dowling): Not for the first time that morning, Amberlin wondered if the strange lanky creature had found a new way to slip his holding spell. This is a collection of … Continue reading →

How Your Brain Decides Without You Duck? Or rabbit?(tags: psychology ) Pat McCrory is trying to steal the North Carolina governorship. Nothing like democracy, eh?(tags: uspolitics )

Second paragraph of third chapter: Not that in the event this mattered. The incoming ship he was meeting was itself three hours late. And that was on top of the four hours late he already knew about from the spaceport … Continue reading →

A tale of two countries: Brexit and the ‘left behind’ thesis Crunching the numbers.(tags: brexit ukpolitics ) Donald Trump voters and Twitter: 10,000 Twitter words according to their similarity with Trump support Hee!(tags: Uspolitics english Twitter ) US banks lay … Continue reading →

I am way way behind on book-blogging, but one has to re-start somewhere. Second paragraph of third chapter: The clink of armour rang out through the crisp, sharp air as a squad of guards, splendid and sinister in coal-black breastplates … Continue reading →

How Fake News Goes Viral Sad!(tags: facebook twitter uspolitics internet ) Carrie Fisher on Harrison Ford: ‘I love him. I’ll always feel something for him’ Wow.(tags: sf )

There is an infinite set of numbers with nothing in the middle. By that I mean a positive whole number whose first digit and last digit are not zero, but any and all digits in between are zero. The 81 … Continue reading →

I’ve really slacked off in my reading in the last couple of weeks – lots of travel, and also reaction to the US election and other intense things going on behind the scenes. Next couple of weeks seem likly to … Continue reading →

Why Europe will drive a hard Brexit Home truths.(tags: brexit ukpolitics eu )

Oettigate: Juncker’s depressing spectacle Searing stuff from @TimKingBru.(tags: eu )

Obama Reckons With a Trump Presidency Another brilliant David Remnick piece.(tags: uspolitics ) How the British press lost Merkel in translation on Brexit Too kind about deliberate misinterpretation.(tags: germany ukpolitics brexit eu )

I told conservatives to work for Trump. One talk with his team changed my mind. Wow.(tags: uspolitics )

‘There is no plan’ for Brexit, leaked memo says What a surprise.(tags: brexit ukpolitics eu ) The Myths Democrats Swallowed That Cost Them the Presidential Election Aimed at Sanders supporters. Strong.(tags: uspolitics )

Surveillance Self-Defense Against the Trump Administration Protect yourself.(tags: internet uspolitics )

you can’t be held hostage to a bad employee Words of wisdom.(tags: work ) Making Light: What now? Many good links.(tags: uspolitics )

Clinton’s Popular-Vote Lead Will Grow, and Grow, and Grow But the result will be the same.(tags: uspolitics ) ‘I feel truly ashamed.’ Sheffield VC on Theresa May’s trade mission to India Ow.(tags: india ukpolitics migration )