Maybe not the most exciting way to spend an afternoon, but at least the weather is nice so I can wait outside comfortably.
Photos
Photos, usually taken by me. May be mirrored or imported from other services.
📚 forty-three (yes, again; this book was a two-in-one) of 2020: Collision Course by Robert Silverberg ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shaky first half, but the latter half actually reminded me of TOS Star Trek’s “Errand of Mercy” (two warring races forced into detente by a third more powerful race).
According to Photoshop’s new neural filters, this is what an elderly me will look like.
Other experiments were not nearly as flattering, and occasionally somewhat frightening. AI-based image editing at our fingertips has both fascinating and disturbing results.
My ballot arrived on the 16th, and was filled out and placed in a drop box that same day. As of today, it has been counted!
King County voters can check their ballot status here, all Washington state voters can check their ballot status here.
Get out and vote!
📚 forty-three of 2020: The Nemesis from Terra (originally Shadow Over Mars) by Leigh Brackett ⭐️⭐️ 1945 Retro Hugo Best Novel
Rather amazing to think that this is just a year before Asimov’s Foundation win. If this was the best of ‘45, that was a bad year for SF.
📚 forty-two of 2020: Close Encounters of the Third Kind by Steven Spielberg ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A pretty straightforward translation of the story from screen to page, but as it’s a classic of 80s optimistic sci-fi, that’s not a bad thing. Really has me wanting to rewatch the film now.
📚 forty-one of 2020: A Rock and a Hard Place by Peter David ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #startrek #tng 🖖
Riker’s sent off on a B-plot, so a troublesome first officer is temporarily assigned to the Enterprise in the hopes that Picard can corral this loose cannon. He’s an ass, but is he unstable?
📚 forty of 2020: A Call to Darkness by Michael Jan Friedman ⭐️⭐️ #startrek #tng 🖖
Almost a standard 3-star “stranded in primitive conditions/‘Bread and Circuses’ variant” adventure, but had some really weird oversights that knocked a star off.
📚 thirty-nine of 2020: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1969 Hugo Best Novel
While it was good, it was so tough right now to read a cynical dystopian novel about overpopulation, eugenics, and colonialism, featuring endemic racism and sexism, that it was a real slog.
We decided late September was close enough to October to put up our Halloween goodies.
