Saturday, February 25, 2012

He who laughs last...


24 comments:

  1. May Howard Dean laugh last.

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  2. Be sure to check out the weather-related post that I left at the end of the last thread.

    ;-)

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  3. The Grands all came tonight and we had a truly wonderful time together!!
    They just get better with age. :-)
    The Moms sat on the couch and played Cribbage together while we rode herd.
    A good time was had by all! 8-)

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  4. But, but, I want to hear about the pink cupcakes. . . .

    We had a brief blizzard this morning (about twenty minutes). Enough for Beau to decide to get under the porch. Let him stay for an hour. Gettin' old, this is.

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  5. Been a reasonably chilly day. Mostly dull. And *very* windy. I'll admit of all weather, I least like wind.

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  6. And yep, I did enjoy the weather advisory and Bill's response. I think weather guys are the *most* permanently alarmed profession that I know of. . . . They don't seem to have much fun with: calm; bright; steady. . . .

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  7. Fascinating article about Newt Gingrich and Science Fiction

    http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/newt-gingrichs-fantasy-campaign-and-the-fictions-that-gave-rise-to-it/253172/

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  8. Yes, what about the pink cupcakes?

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  9. Bill Thomasson2/25/2012 07:09:00 PM

    The article strikes me as more about Heinlein than about Gingrich, and I don't fully share the author's views of Heinlein. Perhaps partially because Hear focuses on Starship Troopers as Heinlein's "seminal work," while I have never been able to read that book. But when Hear says, "Imagining the future is Gingrich's default mode, and perhaps explains his lack of attention to the nuts and bolts of day to day campaigning and governing," I can very much appreciate the relation between science fiction and imagining the future. Although I think most SF fans do manage to pay attention to details.

    Notably, Hear's next sentence after the one I quoted is, "In an era where left-of-center voices increasingly paint a dark vision of the future as fraught with ecological dangers, science fiction conservatives have a near monopoly on utopian dreams of a tomorrow of abundance and technological wonders." He seems to be telling me I am not left-of-center. But the word "left" has a number of distinctly different meanings. In his view, perhaps I'm not.

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  10. Bill Thomasson2/25/2012 07:10:00 PM

    Oh. Looking more closely I see the author's name is Heer, not Hear.

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  11. :-) Photo out front.
    And Grandad is very pleased about your interest. 8-)

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  12. Note the gentle shade of pink they chose. Note Eldest Grand's elegant frosting designs.

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  13. Well, I'm pretty sure it wasn't written by a meteorologist, but rather an enthusiastic weather blogger.

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  14. Indeed, lol! In *response* and in *fun of* the meteorologists, perhaps. I will never forget the night of our hurricane in 03, as I was evacuating the animals, and figuring out what else I needed out in the car, I was getting emails from my weather service about every three minutes, the gist of which seemed to be: more, More, MORE!!!! It was a relief to just get out to the car, and sit in the dark with the wind and rain, listening to the water rise. . . .

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  15. Lovely! Tis a rare Grampy that *gets* it, lol! But. The question still remains: did he get the *Prince Grampy* song? I'd hate to think he didn't. . . .

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  16. Bill, I'm relieved to know you have never been able to read Star ship Troopers. I've never been able to get more than about five minutes into it, and have felt vaguely guilty about that. On the other hand, I love both The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Double Star,/em>, both of which I have read multiple times. Also like <stranger>Beyond This Horizon</stranger>.

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  17. Bill Thomasson2/25/2012 09:42:00 PM

    Part of the reason I was unable to read Starship Troopers when it cam out is that I had just been released from active duty and did not want to be reminded of that experience. But I never had any desire to go back to it.

    I agree with you about The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Double Star, and Stranger in a Strange Land. I think Double Star has been unjustly overlooked.

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  18. Bill Thomasson2/25/2012 09:46:00 PM

    It was windy here most of the day, but died down in the evening. Penny hates wind. I don't mind so much.

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  19. I dunno: very hard to imagine Gingrich driving a tractor brightly brightly and with beauty. . . .

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  20. Double Star is a lovely book. In a way it really isn't SF at all, though. Oh, sure, there are spaceships and aliens and colonies on other worlds. But it isn't *about* any of these things. It's about the protagonist, the first person narrator, and how he copes and changes. If I had to categorize it, I'd call it a psychological novel.Maybe that's why it's overlooked.

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  21. Speaking of which: (not *tractors* lol!), just won an auction at eBay with bits and pieces (literally) of three of the world's most beautiful woods: spalted buckeye burl, redwood burl, and flaming box elder. They're sold a turning blanks for pens, but I have other plans. . . .

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  22. http://appalachianblank.com/ebay/d84b.jpg

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  23. I believe that Prince Grandad (not a Grampy, he) will be serenaded yet, but the evening was too chaotic. For that, I believe you need to be alone, possibly in the car, with our Grand singer. :-)

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  24. I believe you! But remember that while you were evacuating there were others who were still trying to decide or were thinking they'd just ride it out. We've lost a lot of good people that way. They can't stop the weather, but they can help stop people from dying in it.

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