Part-time prevaricator
A quick quote for Throwback Thursday:
God does not play dice with the universe; He plays an ineffable game of His own devising, which might be compared, from the perspective of any of the other players, to being involved in an obscure and complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.
From Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Sometimes it’s hard to see the beauty in winter, which is why I like taking photos of things like hoar on trees and frost on windowpanes (like the photo above).
Otherwise, it’s too easy to feel like this—
—when the temperature dips to ‑30°C in the mornings.
For the first time in my lifetime, there are living things on the moon.
Consider: Apollo 17, the last crewed mission to the moon, left the lunar surface in December 1972. (I was born the next year.)
Header image: Gene Cernan in the Lunar Rover. Taken by NASA, and in the public domain.
It’s got a nice ring to it.
Congratulations to William Gibson, one of my favourite authors, on the announcement that he has been named the latest Damon Knight Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
The Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award recognizes “lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy.” Gibson joins the Grand Master ranks alongside such legends as C. J. Cherryh, Peter S. Beagle, Ursula K. Le Guin, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Joe Haldeman. The award will be presented at the 54th Annual Nebula Conference and Awards Ceremony in Woodland Hills, CA, May 16th-19th, 2019.
Via Tor.com, here’s the official announcement.
Header photo by Nikki Tysoe, used under a CC-BY license.
I’ve been a Flickr member since almost its inception. I signed up sometime in 2004. I’ve been there through it all, and mostly enjoyed my time.
But when the new owners (ie, SmugMug) tell me they’re going to start deleting my photos if I don’t pony up for a Pro account, well, that’s it. I’m out.
Bad move, SmugMug.
(Aside to Mr. Pensato: I’ve been doing a bit more work on Blinky.)
PS: I’m in the process of moving my photos off Flickr and onto my own personal site (ie, this one). So I’m not going to lose sleep over the whole “your photos are getting deleted” thing. Let me know if you’re interested in the simple WordPress plugin I’ve built in order to pull my photos.
In my banned books mug.
As it heats up, the black REDACTION bars fade, revealing the titles of books that have been banned and challenged through the years.
Get your own copy here. They don’t sell the mugs anymore, it seems, but Out of Print does have some other “banned books” products available.
It may be ‑35°C outside but at least the sky is a lovely shade of blue.
Things I didn’t expect to see in Victoria Avenue the morning after a heavy snowfall the week before Xmas: this guy.
Judo Canada has ratified it, so it’s official: I have my sandan rank. In English, I have my 3rd degree black belt in judo.
For this one, I had to learn (or perhaps re-learn is a better way to put it) the katame-no-kata, aka the groundwork kata. I quite like it, and hope to sharpen it up for possible competition.
Thanks to all who have supported me along the way.