by

The first experiments in directly accessing and manipulating human memory raised more questions than gave answers. No matter what memories were implanted, after awakening all subjects recalled one event that hadn’t occurred: the appearance of an alien craft over Seattle in 2007.

Bookshop over Amazon

by

Most of the books we buy are second-hand, but we do occasionally buy/pre-order new books. We had two on order from Amazon, but I just canceled those orders in favor of ordering them from Bookshop instead. We’ll pay a little more and wait a couple more days for the books, but we can afford both the money and the wait, and this way some of the money goes to support independent bookstores instead of Amazon.

If you’re looking at buying books this holiday season (and beyond) and don’t have to have next-day shipping, I encourage shopping through Bookshop — and use their “find a bookstore” option to see if you can target a particular local bookstore; I set my default to one we just stumbled across last weekend. Until we’re comfortable going in to browse the shelves, we can support them this way instead!

On This Day: Nov 16

by

Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 18 posts previously published on November 16th

  • 2025
  • 2024
    • Mad Max 2 🎥: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: This is where you can really see the world of the modern Mad Max movies taking shape in Miller's mind. ➡
  • 2023
    • Year 50 Day 198 This is my 'getting off campus later than expected for the third day in a row' face. ➡
  • 2020
    • The first experiments in directly accessing and manipulating human memory raised more questions than gave answers. No matter what memories were implanted, after awakening all subjects recalled one event that hadn’t occurred: the appearance of an alien craft over Seattle in 2007. ➡
    • Bookshop over Amazon Most of the books we buy are second-hand, but we do occasionally buy/pre-order new books. We had two on order from Amazon, but I just canceled those orders in favor of ordering them from Bookshop instead. We’ll pay a little more and wait a couple more days for the books, but we can afford both ... Read more ➡
    • Lockdown has affected your memory – here’s why: “Many of us have found ourselves in an isolated routine during the pandemic – and it turns out, that’s not very good for your memories.” ➡
    • On This Day: Nov 16 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from November 16 ➡
  • 2019
    • One nice thing about the aliens being so selective about who they accepted, even if the reasons were unknown, was that anyone who wasn’t an economically privileged cis straight white male could just get on with their lives. Things improved quickly. Microblogvember: selective ➡
  • 2018
    • Book forty-six* of 2018: Deathday, by William C. Dietz. ⭐️⭐️ * Yes, the last one said 44, but according to Goodreads, this one is 46, so apparently I missed photoposting a book somewhere along the line this year. ➡
  • 2006
    • Back already! Well now, that didn't take long! As you can see, I'm back...mostly. ➡
  • 2005
  • 2004
    • Jason Webley Halloween Deathday 2004 Bootleg laurachandae was kind enough to send me a copy of her recording of Jason Webley's Halloween show, so I've converted it to .mp3 and have posted it on my webserver. It's only the first half of the show (apparently a mic cable got unplugged during intermission), but what there is is pretty good quality, and very listenable. ➡
  • 2003
    • World record pillow fight! 766 people showed up at Oregon State on Friday to take part in a jumbo pillow fight in hopes of topping the Guinness Book of Records mark. ➡
    • Bombs? Assassinations? Attacks? Place your bets! Remember the Policy Awareness Market? It was a DARPA-backed plan to establish a 'futures' market wagering on the likelihood of terrorist attacks, assassinations, and the like. Well, guess what? It's back! ➡
    • Bush denied 'license to kill' What's more disturbing? The fact that we have an administration with the unmitigated gall to make such requests in the first place? Or the fact that we have a President who is so mistrusted, disliked, and outright hated by so many people that they feel the need for that level of security? ➡
    • The Democratic parties According to The New Republic, it's looking more and more like we practically have two feuding Democratic parties now: Clinton's version and Dean's version. ➡
  • 2001
    • XP sucks! This is a truely genius piece of work -- someone actually managed to scale up to wherever the sign is and alter it. In other words, this isn't just some joker with Photoshop at work -- this is a real-world hack job. ➡
    • Enterprise: Civilization Random bit of trivia I stumbled across this past week -- Kim Darby, who played Jenny Myer in Better off Dead had, much earlier in her career, played Miri in the Star Trek Original Series episode 'Miri'. ➡
by

We had come so far in the years since we had left Earth. Not just in distance, but in guided evolution as well. After many generations of genetic manipulation to adapt to the low gravity environment, we had started to question whether we could still define ourselves as human.

Lockdown Again

by

Honestly, there are still too many exceptions in today’s new restrictions for Washington state for my tastes (but I recognize that without federal assistance, the state can only support so much).

Stay home. Order delivery and get takeout for food. Let your hair grow out. Order the things you need from small businesses that offer delivery or curbside pickup, or from Amazon or other big retailers that will ship to you.

Travel, restaurants, haircuts, and many other things are niceties, not necessities. And they all depend on the workers who support and provide those services risking their lives to let you have those few moments of faux normality.

If you’re a worker who isn’t able to work from home, take every precaution you can. I’m sorry the federal government refuses to give you the assistance you should be getting so that you don’t have to risk yourself to cater to other people’s selfishness.

When you do have to go out, mask up. And even if you’re out on a trail or hiking and don’t think you’re close enough to anyone else to need a mask, think about those times when you can smell cigarette smoke from far away and reconsider that cavalier attitude towards aerosol transmission. Or, if you still won’t wear a mask, don’t scoff and mock those who do; they’re making the effort to protect themselves and others, and such behavior should be rewarded, not denigrated.

And yes, some of these comments are very pointed, and unapologetically so. As much as I love you all, I’ve seen far too many posts and photos and heard and read too many comments and statements that make it clear that these behaviors aren’t limited to red states, rural areas, and Republican voters.

Yes, this sucks. But death is worse.

If at all possible, stay home. When it isn’t possible, wear your masks. Stop risking the health of yourselves and others.

On This Day: Nov 15

by

Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 18 posts previously published on November 15th

  • 2023
  • 2020
    • We had come so far in the years since we had left Earth. Not just in distance, but in guided evolution as well. After many generations of genetic manipulation to adapt to the low gravity environment, we had started to question whether we could still define ourselves as human. ➡
    • 📚 forty-five of 2020: Doomsday World by Carmen Carter, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Robert Greenberger ⭐️⭐️⭐️ #startrek #tng 🖖 Almost two stars because of the really painfully obvious “twist” that none of the characters managed to see, but otherwise acceptable. ➡
    • Lockdown Again Yes, this sucks. But death is worse. ➡
    • On This Day: Nov 15 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from November 15 ➡
  • 2019
    • Only after she let her fingers slip over the side of the boat to drift through the water did she realize that the lake was more clear than she thought. Or at least, the murky substance wasn’t part of the water, as it flowed over her hand and up her arm. Microblogvember: murky ➡
  • 2016
    • Okay, it’s been a week. Anytime now we should get the reveal that this has all been one big, cruel hoax. Right? (320/366) ➡
  • 2008
    • Are We On? Tim Conway and Ernie Anderson A couple weeks ago, author, actor, and humorist John Hodgman was the guest on NPR's 'Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!' As I listened to John and host Peter Sagal, John's simple, polite, and deadpan delivery of often ludicrous responses to Peter's questions reminded me _very_ strongly of an old comedy album of my dad's that I listened to time and time again growing up, where ABC television announcer Ernie Anderson plays straight man to comedian Tim Conway in a series of interviews. ➡
  • 2007
    • Turtle Butt In lieu of actually posting anything truly interesting, I give you one of my favorite shots from our trip to Hawaii this summer. ➡
  • 2006
    • Lockdown Seeing as I haven't been writing a whole lot lately, this seems as good a time as any to declare this site on temporary hiatus while I transfer over to the new webhost. ➡
    • Vogue No More 1) The Vogue is closing at the end of the year. 2) The new club will be called Blacklight and will be in the upper level of the Capitol Hill Arts Center (CHAC) and opening in the second half of January. ➡
  • 2004
    • Exterminate all rational thought. Mike posted about joining up with NetFlix, and his list of upcoming movies included Brazil and Time Bandits, both wonderfully bizarre films directed by Terry Gilliam. I dropped him a quick note to recommend a few other flicks, which touched off a discovery of something that I've been waiting years for. ➡
    • So punny Last night, as I was standing in front of the Vogue getting some air, there was a guy walking across the street carrying a couple of floor lamps. It was all I could do to resist walking up to him and saying, 'Hey man…' ➡
    • Nov. Weblogger Meetup This month's Seattle Weblogger Meetup is this Wednesday, 7pm at Ralph's Grocery and Deli, kitty-corner from the Cinerama. I'm really hoping to make it to this one, since I missed last month's. ➡
  • 2003
    • Because I suck at remembering names Vogue regulars I met tonight that I should remember the names of: ➡
    • iPod Rocks! Looks like Apple's gearing up for the holiday season with a new teen-focused website at ipodrocks. ➡
    • Justice isn't always black and white Local weekly newspaper The Stranger has an excellent summary of Gary Ridgeway's day in court confessing to 48 counts of murder as the Green River Killer — and plea bargaining to avoid the death sentence in the process — in the form of a 24-panel black and white comic strip. ➡
  • 2001
by

He knew the children had asked for “an old-fashioned Halloween”, and he’d done his best, but even he was surprised by just how spooky the ships corridors were with the lighting low and the spare EVA suits like bodies, tethered near air vents to slowly drift in the low gravity.

On This Day: Nov 14

by

Since I’ll hit 20 years of blogging this November, this year I’m posting a daily list of anything I published on this day in the past.

There are 20 posts previously published on November 14th

  • 2023
  • 2022
  • 2021
    • 📚 45/2021: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1975 Hugo Best Novel ➡
  • 2020
    • He knew the children had asked for “an old-fashioned Halloween”, and he’d done his best, but even he was surprised by just how spooky the ships corridors were with the lighting low and the spare EVA suits like bodies, tethered near air vents to slowly drift in the low gravity. ➡
    • On This Day: Nov 14 Recognizing 20 years of blogging, here are my past posts from November 14 ➡
  • 2019
    • “Ready for your upgrade?” “You know it! Even made sure to shave the back of my neck this morning for the port installation.” “Seriously? Do you have any idea what hacking into your spine like that would do to you? You’ve seen The Matrix too many times.” Microblogvember: neck ➡
    • Short Treks E07: “Ask Not”: A bit predictable — I figured out what was going on long before the reveal — but still enjoyable, and better than the last two. About those views of Engineering, though…how is there room for all that with all the empty space around the turbolifts? 🖖 ➡
  • 2018
  • 2016
    • Part of tonight’s #NotInOurKittCo peace march from #CWU to the #Ellensburg downtown. (#NiOKC is an offshoot of #NiOT/#NotInOurTown, an anti-hate/discrimination movement; the local initiative was formed after KKK flyers appeared around town.) (319/366) ➡
  • 2015
    • Prairie found me an early Thanksgiving turkey! #Lego ➡
    • My thanks to whomever put out the table full of books at today’s #nwc39 meeting. Got some great additions to my collection. Particularly fond of the #StarTrek #TOS “choose your own adventure” (“Which Way Books”) book! ➡
  • 2014
    • The neighborhood kitty was quite determined that it was going to come inside with us. It kept coming into the garage and sitting by the inside door, and each time I picked it up, it would settle into my arms and purr quite contentedly. I felt really guilty putting it back out in the cold. ... Read more ➡
  • 2007
    • Ask Your Doctor For A Reason to Take It Apparently (and thankfully), Prairie and I aren't the only ones watching these ads with more than a little distaste. Consumer Reports is starting what's intended to be a series of video/weblog posts analyzing these DTC (direct-to-consumer) ads. ➡
  • 2004
    • The Incredibles Took Prairie out to see The Incredibles today — my second time, her first. As I said before, Pixar can do no wrong, and the movie was just as good the second time. Possibly better, as I caught a couple lines and gags that I'd missed the first time through. ➡
    • Coriolis Force Do goths swirl the other way below the equator? ➡
    • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory teaser poster There was a bit of discussion here a few months back about the upcoming Tim Burton/Johnny Depp/Danny Elfman version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. As a quick followup to that, the first poster for the film has just hit the 'net. ➡
  • 2003
    • Random encounters In some ways, I'm going to miss being able to wander up and down Broadway on my breaks. Some of the random encounters that go on can be fun. ➡
  • 2001
    • Please? Pretty please? With Muppets on top? I know it's a bit pricey. That's why I'm grovelling. Really grovelling. I'm actually on my knees right now. It's a little hard to type, but it's worth it. ➡
    • Pro-America Pro-America does not mean pro-war. Or pro-Bush. Or anti-Afghanistan. Or pro-little-flags-on-SUV-antennas. ➡