hat tip to dkogan

http://www.reallifecomics.com/     Aug 12, if you use this link later.

( slight spoiler )

Many of you have already seen this, but for those who haven't, courtesy of colliemommie, a filk of Hamlet tto American Pie, with lyrics:

http://thefump.com/lyrics.php?id=1014

A travel column in the New York Times, which requires registration.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/travel/30next.html

(It is about an hour away.  One of the advantages that rural Vermont sees in Burlington is that it is so close to Vermont.  The politics tend to be a bit different.  Also, the population density.)

But it seems to be a pleasant article.

For those few on my FL who don't already know it, the first chapter of volume 2 of Lois McMaster Bujold's The Sharing Knife - Legacy has been posted:

http://outofthiseos.typepad.com/blog/2007/06/the_sharing_kni.html

[EDIT
More is available at this link:

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061139055/The_Sharing_Knife_Volume_Two/excerpt.aspx

end EDIT]


If you have not read the first volume, Beguilement, you really should read it first.  The first 3 chapters still seem to be here:

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061137587/The_Sharing_Knife_Volume_One/excerpt.aspx

Dennis Overbye has an essay on the New York Times (registration required) lamenting the prediction that soon we won't be able to see anything but what's in our local galaxy cluster.  (And that might have merged into a single galaxy.)  That will long have ceased to interest anyone around here, but he is thinking of future societies trying to figure out how the universe works, and not having our ability to see far-off clusters - expansion will have taken them beyond our light horizon.

( Read more... )

or,
We can all be chauvinistic* if we work at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL7uW4TYqbs


*I'm the one accused, (the video is a Vermont-themed rap) not the boys - this was shot about 10 miles, or a couple towns and several farms, away.  No, I don't know them.

Below the cut are some links to related not-locked FL discussions on Heliocentrism=Atheism and "The God Delusion", because some of the discussions are good (and related, in my mind), and I want pointers collected.

( Read more... )

These people email a quiz each week; I thought this week's might amuse some of you.   

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from the LMB list

And then I was eaten by a grue

For those few on my FL who aren't also on the LMB list, there are three sample chapters of Lois McMaster Bujold's The Sharing Knife : Beguilement now up here.   Fantasy, set in a new universe, neither Vorkoverse or Five Gods.  Indeed, one might call this one Absent Gods.  First half of a duology, 2d half already written and in production, you don't have to worry about being left hanging for more than a few months.  The first half ends at a good place.  The three sample chapters don't <evil grin>.

From trixtah and kikibug13 comes a link to Wired's six-word-story exercise:

http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html


trixtah had some favorites.

Some news references:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1215243,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/17/health/17alzheimer.html?ex=1153281600&en=d6b843e3a138073d&ei=5087%0A

The latter requires registration. They have not abused mine to the best of my knowledge, but for those who prefer to avoid that, there is:

http://www.bugmenot.com/.  I have only used it once myself, but it has been recommended by tiferet [EDIT and by dkogan, below].

( Read more... )

Recently, several of my FL have posted the Hugos meme
Partial list:
stoutfellow  http://stoutfellow.livejournal.com/184143.html
sebastian_tombs  http://sebastian-tombs.livejournal.com/210595.html
kd5mdk  http://kd5mdk.livejournal.com/134564.html

I started reading SF before there were Hugos; my greatest unfamiliarity is at this end.   I won't post the list here - I might some day.  But the list brought an issue to mind that connected with something else. ( cut for SF to philosophy to ethics ramble )

Are discussed at http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060703/full/442009a.html .  Note extended list links at the bottom.  Thanks to ase for the heads-up.

Rifle deer hunting season around here.  We walked on the roads.  To stay out of the way of the hunters.  In the past, apparently, not all have been so considerate:

Allingham's The Fairy Folk.

I just posted a comment in the physics community, referring to John Baez' website.  I'll make an entry here for reference.

He seems dedicated to writing clearly and simply on many math and physics topics.  The general entry to his stuff is    John Baez's Stuff  .   He writes to many levels.  Much is understandable by the interested layperson.  Other topics are more for specialists and can be easily skipped. 

Lots of good physics and math there.  Also a pointer to the Physics FAQ as well as links to other useful sites.