Lovejoy goes to Ireland this time, lured into a particularly implausible (though for once fairly comprehensible) scheme involving fake gold copies of a Celtic torc, and Lovejoy becoming very entangled with the women behind the scheme. As with the Hong Kong of Jade Woman, this Ireland is of an earlier time period than the one the book is ostensibly set in; but also (as indeed in most of his work) Gash largely avoids ethnic stereotypes. Can’t quite say the same for his women though.
Back from Georgia
Blogging has been a bit light over the last week, because I have been in Tbilisi, working with Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream coalition on this week’s parliamentary elections. As you may have heard, he won, scoring 54.85% of the vote to the government’s 40.43% (officially at least; the campaign’s exit poll showed a bigger margin) and is now negotiating the process by which he will become Georgia’s new prime minister when the new parliament meets later this month.
Ivanishvili went into politics just over a year ago, to general surprise; he was known as a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, who made his fortune initially by importing push-button phones and personal computers into the dying Soviet Union and then diversifying into banking, mining and much else, and had given vast amounts of money to various charitable causes in Georgia. He was originally a supporter of President Saakashvili, who took power in the 2003 Rose Revolution, but they fell out after the brutal suppression of opposition demonstrators in 2007 and the disastrous war with Russia in 2008.
Ivanishvili built a coalition of pre-existing opposition parties (including basically all the sensible politicians in Georgia, which was quite a strong recommendation) and also activists who had never been in politics, and ran for election on a platform of moving away from the creeping authoritarianism of Saakashvili’s government, and continuing Georgia’s EU and NATO integration which restoring pragmatic relations with Russia. For his pains, he was stripped of his Georgian citizenship as soon as he announced he was going into politics, and throughout the last few months he and his campaign colleagues were subjected to vast and arbitrary fines through a hastily constructed new legal structure (most of whose senior officials mysteriously ended up as government candidates).
The crucial moment – though internal polling suggested that the campaign was already ahead – was the release of videos two weeks ago showing some pretty awful abuse of prisoners in Georgian jails. Everyone in Georgia had known this was an issue – successive Ombudsmen had been vocal about it for years, and Council of Europe officials had told me it was a serious concern (along with the 99.8% conviction rate in the courts). Saakashvili’s policies had given Georgia a per capita imprisonment rate higher than any country bar the USA and China, so everyone is likely to know of someone who knows what it is like to be inside (unlike in the USA, where it’s possible for many people to be unaware of prison conditions because the criminal justice system primarily targets a visible minority). But the videos brought the reality home in a way that was impossible to ignore.
I was working in the party headquarters on the day of the election, and Ivanishvili watched the TV coverage of the first exit polls as voting ended on the evening of 1 October on the big screen in our office. The news was good, with even the government-run stations agreeing that he had won the popular vote. We were still watching as someone took this shot:
There were a couple of wobbles subsequently – notably a rumour that the opposition might win the popular vote but still lose out on number of parliamentary seats, which I shot down after some number crunching. But just after lunch on Tuesday President Saakashvili grumpily conceded on TV that the vote had gone against him. He now must endure a year of cohabitation with Ivanishvili until the presidential election which is scheduled for late 2013, at which Saakashvili must step down because of term limits, and also constitutional amendments kick in transferring a number of significant powers from the President to the Prime Minister.
I close with the official campaign anthem, a rap performed by Ivanishvili’s son Bera at every rally. If you listen carefully you will hear the words “Georgian Dream” in English as well as “Kartuli Otsnega” in Georgian.
It’s been amazing.
The Georgian single-mandate constituencies #gvote
The single-mandate constituencies
It has been inaccurately suggested that the UNM might quite naturally maintain a lead among the single-mandate constituencies in the Georgian election, even if it loses the proportional vote by a significant margin.
Examination of the actual results from the 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections demonstrates that this is not true.
It is the case that if the UNM and opposition got the same vote nationwide, the opposition could expect to win 28 or 29 seats, and the UNM therefore 44 or 45.
But if the opposition lead nationally by 5% – which is the lowest figure proposed by any of tonight’s exit polls – they should win 35 or 36 seats, and the UNM therefore 37 or 38, with the opposition also sufficiently far ahead from the proportional vote to be the largest group in the parliament.
If the opposition lead nationally by 6% they should get a majority of the single-mandate seats as well.
Please see details below, identifying constituencies and ranking them in order of how vulnerable they should be to a uniform swing of votes from UNM to the opposition, based on the two 2008 polls.
28 seats where UNM loses, if level with opposition nationally:
Vake, Didube, Nadzaladevi, Saburtalo, Gldani, Chugureti, Mtatsminda, Stefantsminda, Mestia, Samgori, Isani, Bordjomi, Rustavi, Chiatura, Kutaisi, Batumi, Vani, Kharagauli, Zestafoni, Lanchkhuti, Samtredia, Krtsanisi, Tsageri, Oni, Foti, Tikibuli, Tskaltubo, Baghdati
8 more seats (running total 36) where UNM loses if opposition is 5% ahead nationally
Khoni, Khelvachauri, Keda, Telavi, Sagaredjo, Sachkhere, Khobi, Kvareli
1 more seat (running total 37 – majority of single-mandate seats) where UNM loses if opposition is 6.03% ahead nationally
Ambrolauri
6 more seats (running total 42) where UNM loses if opposition is 10% ahead nationally:
Dusheti, Ozurgeti, Dedoflistskharo, Terdjoa, Tetritskharo, Abasha
7 more seats (running total 49 –two-thirds of single-mandate seats) where UNM loses if opposition is 15% ahead nationally
Chkhorotskhu, Kobuleti, Sighanghi, Gurdjaani, Tianeti, Gadarbani, Lagodekhi
Projection of results from presidential election 2008
29 seats where UNM loses, if level with opposition nationally:
Dusheti, Saburtalo, Vake, Chugureti, Nadzaladevi, Mtatsminda, Didube, Stefantsminda, Gldani, Isani, Samgori, Ozurgeti, Dedoflistskharo, Batumi, Lanchkhuti, Chokhatauri, Gurdjaani, Bordjomi, Rustavi, Khelvachauri, Kutaisi, Tianeti, Foti, Zestafoni, Akhmeta, Telavi, Chiatura, Lentekhi, Kobuleti
6 more seats (running total 35) where UNM loses if opposition is 5% ahead nationally
Mestia, Kharagauli, Mtskheta, Krtsanisi, Sachkhere, Samtredia
3 more seats (running total 38, more than majority of single-mandate seats) where UNM loses if opposition is 6% ahead nationally
Kaspi, Kvareli, Sagaredjo
6 more seats (running total 44) where UNM loses if opposition is 20% ahead nationally
Projection from Parliamentary vote 2008 – detail
| rank | district | district # | UNM vote in 2008 | opposition lead nationally to win seat |
| 1st | Vake | 2 | 33,7% | -49,4% |
| 2nd | Didube | 8 | 37,0% | -43,0% |
| 3th | Nadzaladevi | 9 | 37,7% | -41,5% |
| 4th | Saburtalo | 3 | 37,8% | -41,3% |
| 5th | Gldani | 10 | 39,3% | -38,3% |
| 6th | Chugureti | 7 | 40,1% | -36,8% |
| 7th | Mtatsminda | 1 | 44,1% | -28,7% |
| 8th | Stefantsminda | 29 | 44,5% | -27,9% |
| 9th | Mestia | 47 | 45,8% | -25,3% |
| 10th | Samgori | 6 | 46,0% | -24,9% |
| 11th | Isani | 5 | 46,9% | -23,2% |
| 12th | Bordjomi | 36 | 48,7% | -19,6% |
| 13th | Rustavi | 20 | 48,7% | -19,5% |
| 14th | Chiatura | 56 | 49,6% | -17,7% |
| 15th | Kutaisi | 59 | 50,1% | -16,8% |
| 16th | Batumi | 79 | 50,2% | -16,5% |
| 17th | Vani | 53 | 50,3% | -16,4% |
| 18th | Kharagauli | 48 | 50,3% | -16,4% |
| 19th | Zestafoni | 51 | 51,2% | -14,6% |
| 20th | Lanchkhuti | 61 | 52,4% | -12,2% |
| 21st | Samtredia | 54 | 52,9% | -11,1% |
| 22nd | Krtsanisi | 4 | 54,5% | -8,0% |
| 23rd | Tsageri | 45 | 55,1% | -6,6% |
| 24th | Oni | 43 | 55,2% | -6,6% |
| 25th | Foti | 70 | 55,3% | -6,4% |
| 26th | Tikibuli | 57 | 55,8% | -5,3% |
| 27th | Tskaltubo | 58 | 57,6% | -1,8% |
| 28th | Baghdati | 52 | 58,3% | -0,3% |
| 29th | Khoni | 55 | 58,7% | 0,5% |
| 30th | Khelvachauri | 83 | 59,1% | 1,4% |
| 31st | Keda | 80 | 59,2% | 1,5% |
| 32nd | Telavi | 17 | 59,2% | 1,6% |
| 33rd | Sagaredjo | 11 | 59,5% | 2,1% |
| 34th | Sachkhere | 50 | 60,5% | 4,0% |
| 35th | Khobi | 66 | 60,7% | 4,4% |
| 36th | Kvareli | 16 | 60,9% | 5,0% |
| 37th | Ambrolauri | 44 | 61,5% | 6,0% |
| 38th | Dusheti | 28 | 61,8% | 6,8% |
| 39th | Ozurgeti | 60 | 62,2% | 7,5% |
| 40th | Dedoflistskharo | 14 | 62,3% | 7,7% |
| 41st | Terdjoa | 49 | 62,4% | 7,9% |
| 42rd | Tetritskharo | 26 | 62,5% | 8,0% |
| 43th | Abasha | 63 | 62,8% | 8,8% |
| 44th | Chkhorotskhu | 69 | 63,7% | 10,5% |
| 45th | Kobuleti | 81 | 63,9% | 10,9% |
| 46th | Sighanghi | 13 | 64,7% | 12,4% |
| 47th | Gurdjaani | 12 | 64,9% | 12,9% |
| 48th | Tianeti | 19 | 65,5% | 14,1% |
| 49th | Gadarbani | 21 | 65,6% | 14,4% |
| 50th | Lagodekhi | 15 | 65,7% | 14,4% |
| 51st | Chokhatauri | 62 | 66,1% | 15,2% |
| 52nd | Senaki | 64 | 67,0% | 17,2% |
| 53rd | Shuakhevi | 82 | 67,1% | 17,3% |
| 54th | Zugdidi | 67 | 67,4% | 17,9% |
| 55th | Tsalendjikha | 68 | 68,2% | 19,5% |
| 56th | Martvili | 65 | 68,2% | 19,6% |
| 57th | Akhmeta | 18 | 68,5% | 20,1% |
| 58th | Khulo | 84 | 69,4% | 21,9% |
| 59th | Mtskheta | 27 | 69,5% | 22,0% |
| 60th | Khashuri | 35 | 70,2% | 23,5% |
| 61st | Gori | 32 | 70,9% | 24,9% |
| 62nd | Lentekhi | 46 | 73,1% | 29,3% |
| 63rd | Kaspi | 30 | 73,2% | 29,5% |
| 64th | Tsalka | 25 | 73,5% | 30,1% |
| 65th | Marneuli | 22 | 73,8% | 30,7% |
| 66th | Kareli | 33 | 76,9% | 36,8% |
| 67th | Akhaltsikhe | 37 | 80,6% | 44,2% |
| 68th | Dmanisi | 24 | 82,9% | 48,8% |
| 69th | Bolnisi | 23 | 83,0% | 49,1% |
| 70th | Adigeni | 38 | 86,5% | 56,1% |
| 71st | Aspindza | 39 | 86,8% | 56,7% |
| 72nd | Akhalkalaki | 40 | 90,1% | 63,3% |
| 73rd | Ninotsminda | 41 | 91,7% | 66,4% |
Projection from Presidential vote 2008 – detail
| rank | District Name | District | Saakashvili vote | opposition lead nationally to win seat |
| 1st | Dusheti | 28 | 28,4% | -45,9% |
| 2nd | Saburtalo | 3 | 28,6% | -45,5% |
| 3th | Vake | 2 | 30,0% | -42,9% |
| 4th | Chugureti | 7 | 30,9% | -41,1% |
| 5th | Nadzaladevi | 9 | 31,5% | -39,9% |
| 6th | Mtatsminda | 1 | 31,5% | -39,8% |
| 7th | Didube | 8 | 32,0% | -38,9% |
| 8th | Stefantsminda | 29 | 35,3% | -32,1% |
| 9th | Gldani | 10 | 35,8% | -31,3% |
| 10th | Isani | 5 | 36,4% | -30,1% |
| 11th | Samgori | 6 | 40,6% | -21,6% |
| 12th | Ozurgeti | 60 | 40,8% | -21,2% |
| 13th | Dedoflistskharo | 14 | 41,2% | -20,3% |
| 14th | Batumi | 79 | 41,4% | -20,1% |
| 15th | Lanchkhuti | 61 | 42,0% | -18,9% |
| 16th | Chokhatauri | 62 | 42,2% | -18,4% |
| 17th | Gurdjaani | 12 | 43,8% | -15,2% |
| 18th | Bordjomi | 36 | 44,0% | -14,8% |
| 19th | Rustavi | 20 | 44,4% | -14,0% |
| 20th | Khelvachauri | 83 | 45,2% | -12,4% |
| 21st | Kutaisi | 59 | 45,4% | -12,0% |
| 22nd | Tianeti | 19 | 45,5% | -11,7% |
| 23rd | Foti | 70 | 46,6% | -9,6% |
| 24th | Zestafoni | 51 | 47,9% | -7,1% |
| 25th | Akhmeta | 18 | 49,8% | -3,1% |
| 26th | Telavi | 17 | 49,9% | -3,1% |
| 27th | Chiatura | 56 | 50,8% | -1,2% |
| 28th | Lentekhi | 46 | 51,1% | -0,6% |
| 29th | Kobuleti | 81 | 51,2% | -0,3% |
| 30th | Mestia | 47 | 51,5% | 0,3% |
| 31st | Kharagauli | 48 | 52,3% | 1,7% |
| 32nd | Mtskheta | 27 | 52,4% | 2,0% |
| 33rd | Krtsanisi | 4 | 53,1% | 3,3% |
| 34th | Sachkhere | 50 | 53,1% | 3,3% |
| 35th | Samtredia | 54 | 53,8% | 4,8% |
| 36th | Kaspi | 30 | 54,2% | 5,5% |
| 37th | Kvareli | 16 | 54,2% | 5,5% |
| 38th | Sagaredjo | 11 | 54,4% | 6,1% |
| 39th | Baghdati | 52 | 56,8% | 10,9% |
| 40th | Keda | 80 | 59,4% | 16,0% |
| 41st | Ambrolauri | 44 | 60,4% | 17,9% |
| 42rd | Oni | 43 | 60,6% | 18,4% |
| 43th | Lagodekhi | 15 | 60,9% | 19,0% |
| 44th | Khashuri | 35 | 61,8% | 20,8% |
| 45th | Sighanghi | 13 | 62,4% | 22,0% |
| 46th | Terdjoa | 49 | 62,9% | 23,1% |
| 47th | Tetritskharo | 26 | 64,2% | 25,6% |
| 48th | Tskaltubo | 58 | 65,0% | 27,1% |
| 49th | Gori | 32 | 65,1% | 27,3% |
| 50th | Kareli | 33 | 65,9% | 29,0% |
| 51st | Abasha | 63 | 66,1% | 29,3% |
| 52nd | Khobi | 66 | 66,7% | 30,7% |
| 53rd | Khulo | 84 | 67,5% | 32,3% |
| 54th | Tikibuli | 57 | 68,7% | 34,5% |
| 55th | Vani | 53 | 69,0% | 35,2% |
| 56th | Shuakhevi | 82 | 70,9% | 38,9% |
| 57th | Khoni | 55 | 71,1% | 39,5% |
| 58th | Aspindza | 39 | 72,5% | 42,3% |
| 59th | Chkhorotskhu | 69 | 72,6% | 42,5% |
| 60th | Martvili | 65 | 73,2% | 43,6% |
| 61st | Tsageri | 45 | 74,1% | 45,4% |
| 62nd | Tsalka | 25 | 74,7% | 46,6% |
| 63rd | Zugdidi | 67 | 74,9% | 46,9% |
| 64th | Senaki | 64 | 75,6% | 48,3% |
| 65th | Gadarbani | 21 | 75,7% | 48,7% |
| 66th | Tsalendjikha | 68 | 78,2% | 53,6% |
| 67th | Adigeni | 38 | 79,7% | 56,6% |
| 68th | Akhaltsikhe | 37 | 82,8% | 62,9% |
| 69th | Dmanisi | 24 | 84,1% | 65,3% |
| 70th | Bolnisi | 23 | 86,6% | 70,4% |
| 71st | Akhalkalaki | 40 | 89,7% | 76,7% |
| 72nd | Ninotsminda | 41 | 89,7% | 76,7% |
| 73rd | Marneuli | 22 | 90,4% | 77,9% |
September Books
Not of this World? by Glenn Jordan
Representing Autism: Culture, Narrative, Fascination, by Stuart Murray
Fiction (non-sf) 8 (YTD 39)
The Very Last Gambado, by Jonathan Gash
Independent People, by Halldór Laxness
Q, by Luther Blissett
The Firefly Gadroon, by Jonathan Gash
The Vatican Rip, by Jonathan Gash
Blood Hunt, by "Jack Harvey" (Ian Rankin)
The Sleepers of Erin, by Jonathan Gash
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
SF (non-Who) 5 (YTD 55)
Assassin's Apprentice, by Robin Hobb
The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, edited by George Mann
Powers, by Ursula Le Guin
Dagger Magic, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
The War of the Jewels, by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
Who 8 (YTD 58)
The Undertaker's Gift, by Trevor Baxendale
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters, by Donald Cotton
The Peacemaker, by James Swallow
Doctor Who (The Scripts): The Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis & Kit Pedler
Set Piece, by Kate Orman
The Banquo Legacy, by Andy Lane and Justin Richards
Sightseeing in Space: Terminal of Despair, by Steve Lyons
Sightseeing in Space: Web in Space!, by David Bailey
Comics 2 (YTD 19)
Aldébaran 1: La Catastrophe, by Leo
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers vol.5, by Fumi Yoshinaga
~7,600 pages (YTD 62,500)
4/25 (YTD 59/213) by women (Le Guin, Hobb, Orman, Yoshinaga)
1/25 (YTD 9/213) by PoC (Yoshinaga)
Owned for more than a year: 14 (Not of This World?, Doctor Who – The Gunfighters [reread], The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction 2007, Doctor Who – The Tomb of the Cybermen: Script, The Banquo Legacy, Blood Hunt, Dagger Magic, Representing Autism, A Tale of Two Cities [reread], Powers, Independent People, Set Piece, Peacemaker [reread], Q).
Other rereads: none for a total of 3 (YTD 17/213)
Big 2012 reading projects:
September 30 takes me to Book XII, Chapter XI of War and Peace, and 1 Maccabees chapter 4 in the Bible.
Also started:
The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
The Tartan Sell, by Jonathan Gash
Consequences, by James Moran, Joseph Lidster, Andrew Cartmel, Sarah Pinborough and David Llewellyn
The Twilight Lords, by Richard Berleth
Adventures on the High Teas, by Stuart Maconie
Coming next, perhaps:
Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, by James Weldon Johnson
A History of Christianity, by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Conquest of the Amazon, by John Russell Fearn
The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
The Invention of Childhood, by Hugh Cunningham
Grendel, by John Gardner
The Light That Failed, by Rudyard Kipling
Catholics in Western Democracies, by John Henry Whyte
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection, ed by Gardner Dozois
Non-stop, by Brian Aldiss
Bleeding Hearts, by Ian Rankin
Toward the End of Time, by John Updike
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
[Doctor Who] Combat Rock, by Mick Lewis
[Doctor Who] Infinite Requiem, by Daniel Blythe
[Doctor Who] The Ancestor Cell by Peter Anghelides
Doctor Who Book 5: Monstrous Missions, by Gary Russell and Jonathan Green
The Irish Constitutional Revolution of the Sixteenth Century, by Brendan Bradshaw
A Book of Silence, by Sara Maitland
Kraken, by China Mieville
Links I found interesting for 01-10-2012
- A deeply polarizing election in Georgia
I’m in Tbilisi for this potentially historic moment!
- Georgian grape pickers show government’s challenge
They won’t say who they are voting for but their hints are pretty clear.
- Georgia election on a knife edge as two visions collide
Sub-title is slightly unfair!
Links I found interesting for 30-09-2012
- Mrs Astor Vanishes
Brooke Astor’s Estate Is Auctioned, and a Friend Recalls Her Fondly.
Links I found interesting for 28-09-2012
- Kids Today, French Version
“tu” vs “vous”. (And “ты” vs “вы”, “þér” vs “þú”, etc.)
- A journey in Kyrgyzstan
Peter reports.
- Education hope at UN General Assembly
“There are more girls in 3 secondary schools in Oxford, UK, than in the whole of South Sudan, which has a population of 10 million people.”
The Secret of the Paradiddle
As some of you know, a paradiddle is a drumming rudiment. The point of it is to practice even tempo and rhythm even if you are doing something a little counterintuitive with your hands. Rather than strike the drum Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right, the paradiddle goes Left-Right-Left-Left-Right-Left-Right-Right, repeated over and over, without a break, until, as Arthur Dent might have said, you’ve had enough.
If you haven’t done it before, try it now, with your fingers against the table if you don’t have a convenient drum and sticks. It’s surprisingly tricky to get an even beat. But you get a glow of achievement when you get near it; and you also now know what a paradiddle is.
Links I found interesting for 27-09-2012
- Buddhist ‘Iron Man’ found by Nazis is from space : Nature News Blog
Best. Headline. Ever.
- London surnames mapped.
Dubious about some of the affiliations but big picture probably accurate.
- Mid-Ulster indecision hastens end of UUP
A party that has learned nothing and forgotten many things.
Quick pop quiz
What is a paradiddle? (No sneaky googling!)
I once passed an exam where I had to know the answer, but I was just curious as to how widely known it is.
Links I found interesting for 26-09-2012
- Sentinelese people – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An introduction.
- Mysterious North Sentinel Island | ContemporaryNomad.com
Short piece with video showing Sentinelese.
- The most isolated tribe in the world? – Survival International
Survival International claims a success.
- North Sentinel – “The Undiscover’d Country”
Comparing the Sentinelese with the builders of Stonehenge.
- North Sentinel Island, Captain Robert Fore and previously unseen photographs of the 1981 Primrose rescue
Rescuing a shipwrecked crew.
- The Last Island of the Savages
Long piece, but well worth reading.
- The Sentinelese of the Andamans
On the two fishermen killed in 2006.
Links I found interesting for 25-09-2012
- A ‘Politically Motivated’ Prison Scandal Before Georgia’s Election | World Affairs Journal
Misha’s slogan: “I’m not vicious, just stupid.”
- Georgia’s prisons: roots of scandal
Interesting points about the penal system in general.
- Traynor’s Eye: Meeting A Troll…
Extraordinary story of confronting a cyber-bully.
- Romney Doesn’t Know Why Airplane Windows Won’t Open, Calls The Closed Window Policy ‘A Real Problem’
No comment.
Links I found interesting for 24-09-2012
- LEGO Great Ball Contraption (GBC) Layout 2012.9 – YouTube
This is just awesome!
- SciBricks: Difference Engine
Another amazing LEGO construction.
- Poland and Britain: Sikorski in Oxford (again)
Sikorski tells it like it is: why Britain needs the EU.
Culinary meme
Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.
I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.
Not as much of a foodie as I thought I was!
Links I found interesting for 23-09-2012
- Georgian Billionaire Launches Leadership Bid
I’m briefly visible at 0:30 (reflected) and 0:40 (real).
- The Brussels Bloggers’ Guide to Food and Drink
With extra guest appearance by @astroehlein !
- Peacebuilding by the international community
“I’m here to help you make peace.” “…Great…” by my old friend Roger.
- Stuff some envelopes, then ask questions
Election coverage: Why reporters should volunteer for a political campaign before covering one.
September Books 20) The Banquo Legacy, by Andy Lane and Justin Richards
The authors of this Eighth Doctor novel, when on form, are among the best writers of the Who range. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by this joint exercise of their talents, in which they attempt to jointly channel Agatha Christie, Mary Shelley, Marc Platt and a little H.P. Lovecraft, and the result doesn’t quite take off. Having two viewpoint characters who don’t quite know who the Doctor, Fitz and Compassion are is rather brave, but unfortunately I found them a bit interchangeable and at times implausible.
September Books 19) Representing Autism: Culture, Narrative, Fascination, by Stuart Murray
Rather an academic book, but very interesting, looking at the way in which autism is portrayed in culture: Rain Man and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, obviously, but many other examples are invoked including a couple from long before the formal definition of autism (Melville’s Bartleby, Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge). Murray uses these to warn us to be very wary of stereotypes which are reinforced by these popular narratives – of the autistic person as idiot, or savant (or both), or as family wrecker or tragic victim of a condition that can be “cured”. He very much reinforces my own prejudice that autism as an extraordinary window into what it is to be human, and punctures some lazy assumptions along the way.
Links I found interesting for 22-09-2012
- How many ice cubes would it take to put out the sun?
“I am five, and have been wondering about this for almost half my life now: how many ice cubes would it take to put out the sun?”
- Nesbitt coy on Mid-Ulster by-election
“The options … are pretty embracive.” Er, “embracive”???
- If you thought Apple’s maps were weird, look at these
Some of the best from Strange Maps.
Links I found interesting for 21-09-2012
- Georgia prison abuse: Interior minister Akhalaia quits
Hooray!
- Georgia’s Abu Ghraib: The horrific stories of prisoner abuse
Content warning – really awful details. Really awful.
- Georgia’s rowdy election campaign
“The malware was cleverly designed: It could turn on the computers’ cameras and microphones, capture screen shots every 10 seconds, and record keystrokes and passwords”
- Walk and Talk the Vote
On a lighter note, I know who gets my vote for the Supreme Court of Michigan.
Links I found interesting for 20-09-2012
- The Myth of the European Court of Human Rights’ “War on Britain”
A little reality (in the Spectator of all places).
Links I found interesting for 19-09-2012
- Take a Number: Everest Deaths in 2012
Why people die on the roof of the world.
- Save Our Inboxes! Adopt the Email Charter!
Ten excellent rules!
- Rich’s ComixBlog :: The Ten Doctors
Excellent.
- Look How Far We’ve Come Apart
Tracking political polarization in America (and how it could be fixed).
Links I found interesting for 18-09-2012
- My two alien life forms
Children in Brussels.
- Intelligence chief: EU capital is ‘spy capital’
Espionage in Brussels.
- Belgian intelligence chief talks to EUobserver: transcript
Espionage in Brussels (full detail).
September Books 18) Dagger Magic, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
Well, I was warned. Starts with Irish coastguards discovering a long-wrecked Nazi submarine and being promptly murdered by sinister Asian monks. Then we shift across the water to Scotland where the police are aided by a psychic order of nobility linked to the Templars (and white so therefore not sinister). The first line of page 72 is, “At the heart of the Inner Planes lay the Akashic Records” – and at that point I decided I could read no further. Sorry, life is too short.
September Books 17) Set Piece, by Kate Orman
The Doctor, Ace and Benny find themselves confusingly distributed between Akhenaten’s Egypt, Napoleon’s Egypt and 1871 Paris, facing implacable foes intent on dismembering the Doctor. It was all very vivid and enjoyable to read, and only now that I try to summarise it do I realise that the plot was really all over the place. Ace departs the series at the end of the book, and Sophie Aldred writes her character a farewell afterword; Big Finish was still several years in the future at this point…
September Books 16) Blood Hunt, by “Jack Harvey” (Ian Rankin)
This standalone tale by Rankin is about a Scottish SAS veteran seeking revenge for his murdered brother (NB that brothers crop up a lot in Rankin’s plots). The story is supposedly about the global chemicals industry’s conspiracy to poison our food, which was even more topical back in 1995, but actually the real point is the central character’s quest for vengeance across America, England, France and Scotland, and how it unexpectedly ties into an old and forgotten personal feud. Exciting action stuff at the end, but presumably our hero would end up facing a significant jail term for the methods he uses to deal with his brother’s killers.
September Books 15) The Vatican Rip, by Jonathan Gash
Haven’t been well enough to do anything but read today, and have therefore got through a number of books, the first being this tale of Lovejoy going to Rome to steal an antique table from the Vatican Museum. Lovejoy is at his most psychopathic here, gratuitously violent to bad guys and to women, and so utterly besotted with antiques as to be unaware of any other person’s feelings. Gash redeems the novel as a reading experience with loving detail on Rome, on the Vatican and on Lovejoy’s audacious plan to rip an exhibit from the tightly guarded city-state, and also by Lovejoy getting a mildly comical if emotionally improbable comeuppance at the end, after the bad guys have met their just deserts. But I think the narrator’s sheer unpleasantness makes it a weaker entry in the series.
Links I found interesting for 17-09-2012
- Memorabilia Antonina: Richard III
Tony looks at the Princes in the Tower.
- Marissa Mayer Just Gave Every Yahoo Employee An iPhone 5
Strictly speaking, anything but a Blackberry!
- Mitt Romney’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Campaign
“If [Obama] ends up winning, the skeptics—of whom I have been one—will have to acknowledge that the Obama team understands something important about twenty-first century politics that we don’t.”
- Inside the campaign: How Mitt Romney stumbled
The post-mortems begin!
All the Nebula winners
In April last year I was able to announce that I had finally completed doing a write-up on-line, be it ever so humble, of every winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel. Now that I have read Ursula Le Guin's Powers, I can say the same for the Nebula. Here is the full set of 49 winners in 47 years:
1967 Samuel R. Delany, Babel-17
1967 Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon
1968 Samuel R. Delany, The Einstein Intersection
1969 Alexei Panshin, Rite of Passage
1970 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
1971 Larry Niven, Ringworld
1972 Robert Silverberg, A Time of Changes
1973 Isaac Asimov, The Gods Themselves
1974 Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama
1975 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
1976 Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
1977 Frederik Pohl, Man Plus
1978 Frederik Pohl, Gateway
1979 Vonda N. McIntyre, Dreamsnake
1980 Arthur C. Clarke, The Fountains of Paradise
1981 Gregory Benford, Timescape
1982 Gene Wolfe, The Claw of the Conciliator
1983 Michael Bishop, No Enemy But Time
1984 David Brin, Startide Rising
1985 William Gibson, Neuromancer
1986 Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
1987 Orson Scott Card, Speaker for the Dead
1988 Pat Murphy, The Falling Woman
1989 Lois McMaster Bujold, Falling Free
1990 Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, The Healer's War
1991 Ursula K. Le Guin, Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea
1992 Michael Swanwick, Stations of the Tide
1993 Connie Willis, Doomsday Book
1994 Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars
1995 Greg Bear, Moving Mars
1996 Robert J. Sawyer, The Terminal Experiment
1997 Nicola Griffith, Slow River
1998 Vonda McIntyre, The Moon and the Sun
1999 Joe Haldeman, Forever Peace
2000 Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
2001 Greg Bear, Darwin's Radio
2002 Catherine Asaro, The Quantum Rose
2003 Neil Gaiman, American Gods
2004 Elizabeth Moon, The Speed of Dark
2005 Lois McMaster Bujold, Paladin of Souls
2006 Joe Haldeman, Camouflage
2007 Jack McDevitt, Seeker
2008 Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union
2009 Ursula K. Le Guin, Powers
2010 Paolo Bacigalupi, The Windup Girl
2011 Connie Willis, Blackout/All Clear
2012 Jo Walton, Among Others
My favourites, in no particular order, were The Healer's War, The Left Hand of Darkness, Flowers for Algernon, Rendezvous With Rama, Parable of the Talents, Speed of Dark, Gateway, Doomsday Book and The Dispossessed.
I remain utterly unconvinced of the merits of The Quantum Rose, The Terminal Experiment, Darwin's Radio, Blackout/All Clear, and, though I realise mine is a minority view, Neuromancer and The Gods Themselves.
My next serial prize-winner reading project was foreshadowed in this poll.
September Books 14) Powers, by Ursula Le Guin
A rather laid-back novel by Le Guin, tracing the life story of a slave boy with very limited powers of seeing into his own future. We are taken in detail through several carefully and intensely described settings – the slave-holding city of his boyhood, a rebel stronghold, his birth village and culture, a flight to freedom which draws from both Huck Finn and Uncle Tom, and finally an enlightened city of learning. She also lucidly shows the narrator’s gradually increasing consciousness of the evils of the world around him.
I’m frankly surprised that it won the 2009 Nebula for Best Novel. The only really sfnal bit is the narrator’s power of precognition, which isn’t actually of any use to him and doesn’t make much difference to the plot except to tell us when we have reached the end. There’s also a cartooney villain who exits the story rather unsatisfactorily. I would put this down as good but minor Le Guin.
The other novels nominated that year were: Little Brother, by Cory DoctorowCauldron, by Jack McDevitt; Brasyl, by Ian McDonaldMaking Money, by Terry PratchettSuperpowers, by David J. Schwartz. I have to say that of the four I have read from that list, Brasyl stands out by a long way as the obviously deserving winner. The McDevitt is on my shelf; I don’t think I have heard anything about Superpowers. It’s a good illustration of why the Nebula system so desperately needed to be changed (as I think happened the following year).
September Books 13) Doctor Who (The Scripts): The Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis & Kit Pedler
The script of what is still the best Cyberman story, published in 1989 at a time when the episodes were still lost. There’s a brief introductory interview with Davis (and a few words also with script editor Victor Pemberton) pointing out the roots of the story in Erich von Däniken, and the advantages of using very few sets and of not giving too much away. Though actually what struck me was that this is partially a reboot, the first time a season had opened without William Hartnell, and so there are a couple of background information moments – the Doctor’s age, and his thoughts about his family – that we don’t often get. Victoria also gets more action than usual, though Jamie is more comic relief and Doctor’s boyfriend. Interesting to approach it from a different angle.