Harold Covington: A Distant Thunder
Harold Covington: A Mighty Fortress
Harold Covington: Hill of the Ravens
- One more to go in this quintology. Standard disclaimer applies. I do not endorse, recommend, or condone the ideas in Mr. Covington's books.
John Scalzi: Redshirts
Great book. Loved it. The first chunk of the book had me laughing like an imbecile and Coda 3 had me balling like an AT&T long distance commercial.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
April 28, 2013
Busy week. We bought a farm. Yeah!
I've been rereading
The Have-More Plan
How to Grow More Vegetables
And a pile of Permaculture books.
I've been rereading
The Have-More Plan
How to Grow More Vegetables
And a pile of Permaculture books.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
April 13, 2013
Michael Connor: Sneak it Through - Smuggling Made Easier
Michael Connor: How To Hide Anything
- Today's first two books were inspired by the Wall Street Journal. I read one of their online articles today about legislators discussing possible limits on the maximum size of IRAs. Lovely.
Master Hei Long: 21 Techniques of Silent Killing
- Behold my new quinternary backup plan. If IT, Plumbing, Metalworking, and Farming don't work out; I can always become a ninja assassin. Wouldn't you agree?
- Today was a busy day. I tilled one of our flower beds, fixed our swimming pool pump, gassed myself with mustard gas, got the swimming pool topped off and started, picked up a Mazda 6, turned the compost bins, taught the neighborhood kids about some edible lawn plants, asked them not to eat my entire lawn, played PlanetCraft 2 with the boy, bought daughter a virtual baby DS game, fixed my sons DS, went shopping for unmentionables, and read a couple of books.
Mustard Gas is technically inaccurate. I understand actual mustard not to be straight Chlorine (Cl2) but instead a heavier Chlorine Carbon Sulfur compound. I dealt with what I suspect to be the former, thank goodness. To explain, one of the pool's chlorine tablet containers leaked over the winter and was half full of water. When I opened it a plume of choking yellow green gas emerged. presumably Cl2. I poured the highly concentrate chlorinated water solution into the pool and dumped the tablets into a bin. I rinsed the bin into the pool and dumped them into a clean container. I then staggered away and let out the giant breath I'd been holding. Hello Hypoxia. Cough. Hack. Cough. That's not healthy. In hindsight I wish I'd thought to close the container back up when I saw the gas. I read (in the Golden Book of Chemistry) that steel wool will spontaneously combust in a Chlorine gas environment. I've always wanted to see that. Perhaps another time. Perhaps with a gas mask too.
One nice thing to report. I broke a drain plug off in the pump. I tried the broken screw extractors from the Handyman club of America. They actually worked fantastic. I was giddy that a.) the product worked as advertised b.) I'd been able to locate it in the garage. Full Disclosure: I am no longer a member or customer of HCOA.
The pool is running, that's a win. The boy wants to have a swimover before school lets out. I'd like to make that happen.
Last bit: I shared this blog with my lovely wife today. Hi sweetie!
Michael Connor: How To Hide Anything
- Today's first two books were inspired by the Wall Street Journal. I read one of their online articles today about legislators discussing possible limits on the maximum size of IRAs. Lovely.
Master Hei Long: 21 Techniques of Silent Killing
- Behold my new quinternary backup plan. If IT, Plumbing, Metalworking, and Farming don't work out; I can always become a ninja assassin. Wouldn't you agree?
- Today was a busy day. I tilled one of our flower beds, fixed our swimming pool pump, gassed myself with mustard gas, got the swimming pool topped off and started, picked up a Mazda 6, turned the compost bins, taught the neighborhood kids about some edible lawn plants, asked them not to eat my entire lawn, played PlanetCraft 2 with the boy, bought daughter a virtual baby DS game, fixed my sons DS, went shopping for unmentionables, and read a couple of books.
Mustard Gas is technically inaccurate. I understand actual mustard not to be straight Chlorine (Cl2) but instead a heavier Chlorine Carbon Sulfur compound. I dealt with what I suspect to be the former, thank goodness. To explain, one of the pool's chlorine tablet containers leaked over the winter and was half full of water. When I opened it a plume of choking yellow green gas emerged. presumably Cl2. I poured the highly concentrate chlorinated water solution into the pool and dumped the tablets into a bin. I rinsed the bin into the pool and dumped them into a clean container. I then staggered away and let out the giant breath I'd been holding. Hello Hypoxia. Cough. Hack. Cough. That's not healthy. In hindsight I wish I'd thought to close the container back up when I saw the gas. I read (in the Golden Book of Chemistry) that steel wool will spontaneously combust in a Chlorine gas environment. I've always wanted to see that. Perhaps another time. Perhaps with a gas mask too.
One nice thing to report. I broke a drain plug off in the pump. I tried the broken screw extractors from the Handyman club of America. They actually worked fantastic. I was giddy that a.) the product worked as advertised b.) I'd been able to locate it in the garage. Full Disclosure: I am no longer a member or customer of HCOA.
The pool is running, that's a win. The boy wants to have a swimover before school lets out. I'd like to make that happen.
Last bit: I shared this blog with my lovely wife today. Hi sweetie!
Friday, April 12, 2013
April 12, 2013
A couple of Loompanics books today.
Jim Hogshire: Opium for the Masses
- I have no real interest in Opium, but I saw some lovely Poppy plants at a nursery. I wanted to be doubly sure I wasn't opening myself up to legal trouble if I planted them. As it turns out the object of my affections is NOT opiate bearing and I can plant without fear.
Harold S. Long: How to Collect Illegal Debts
- Ironically, the latter book describes many of the same ideas as the last parenting book I read. Primarily the concepts on establishing authority and responding vigorously to rebellion and disrespect. Fun times.
Robert A. Heinlen: Columbus Was a Dope
- This one is fantastic. It's a rehash of the "If men were meant to fly, they'd have wings!" argument about the impossibility of space travel. The characters are a bartender and a couple of Joes, (spoiler) in a bar on the moon (/spoiler).
Jim Hogshire: Opium for the Masses
- I have no real interest in Opium, but I saw some lovely Poppy plants at a nursery. I wanted to be doubly sure I wasn't opening myself up to legal trouble if I planted them. As it turns out the object of my affections is NOT opiate bearing and I can plant without fear.
Harold S. Long: How to Collect Illegal Debts
- Ironically, the latter book describes many of the same ideas as the last parenting book I read. Primarily the concepts on establishing authority and responding vigorously to rebellion and disrespect. Fun times.
Robert A. Heinlen: Columbus Was a Dope
- This one is fantastic. It's a rehash of the "If men were meant to fly, they'd have wings!" argument about the impossibility of space travel. The characters are a bartender and a couple of Joes, (spoiler) in a bar on the moon (/spoiler).
Thursday, April 11, 2013
April 11, 2013
Robert A. Heinlen: Coventry
Robert A. Heinlen: Orphans of the Sky
- The one about the Muties and normals living on the ship that don't know it's a ship.
Robert A. Heinlen: Destination Moon
- The one where the nuclear powered rocket has to sneak off the launchpad to make it to the moon.
Robert A. Heinlen: Delilah and the Space Rigger
- It's funny. When I don't write down the titles as soon as I finish reading them I remember the story but not the name. :D
Robert A. Heinlen: Orphans of the Sky
- The one about the Muties and normals living on the ship that don't know it's a ship.
Robert A. Heinlen: Destination Moon
- The one where the nuclear powered rocket has to sneak off the launchpad to make it to the moon.
Robert A. Heinlen: Delilah and the Space Rigger
- It's funny. When I don't write down the titles as soon as I finish reading them I remember the story but not the name. :D
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
April 10, 2013
Richard Stephenson: Collapse
- Got this one as a Kindle freebie. Good read. The quasi-omniscient AI "Hal" is a nice touch. I wonder how many are in the series? If it's not to many I might follow along.
I should devote some cycles to modeling the current economic climate. This book and several others have talked about global economic issues, and I wonder if that is really a risk or hyperbole. SDDI.
- Got this one as a Kindle freebie. Good read. The quasi-omniscient AI "Hal" is a nice touch. I wonder how many are in the series? If it's not to many I might follow along.
I should devote some cycles to modeling the current economic climate. This book and several others have talked about global economic issues, and I wonder if that is really a risk or hyperbole. SDDI.
Monday, April 8, 2013
April 7, 2013
Robert A. Heinlen: Citizen of the Galaxy
- This was originally published as a serial, and it felt unfinished. I like how the author conveys normalcy bias in the latter parts of the novel. Specifically, "the that's silly, that can't be true.." response to slavery and piracy.
I also had a read through Mr. Heinlen's Wikipedia page. Interesting chap. I would not have pegged him for a Democrat or a Socialist. I need to sit down and matrix out the core beliefs of political parties, as my assumptions on those two are obviously wrong.
I'm going to look at a farm today. With any luck, Plan F proceeds!
Cheers.
- This was originally published as a serial, and it felt unfinished. I like how the author conveys normalcy bias in the latter parts of the novel. Specifically, "the that's silly, that can't be true.." response to slavery and piracy.
I also had a read through Mr. Heinlen's Wikipedia page. Interesting chap. I would not have pegged him for a Democrat or a Socialist. I need to sit down and matrix out the core beliefs of political parties, as my assumptions on those two are obviously wrong.
I'm going to look at a farm today. With any luck, Plan F proceeds!
Cheers.
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