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Friday, November 30, 2012

Ice on Mercury:
Mercury is a hot planet, perhaps because it is closest to the sun. But it has polar areas that are colder, and ice has been discovered there.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22558-messenger-finds-hints-of-ice-at-mercurys-poles.html
 That suggests to me that there would be a temperate zone between the ice and hotter parts, where temperatures would be compatible with life, and a visit should be possible. Something similar to the Mars rover could be done. Mercury is closer than Mars. There might be other reasons, such as radiation, for not sending people at this time; I'm really pretty illiterate when it comes to Mercury science. I don't even know the term for Mercury science, if there is one.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57556497/water-on-mercury-bodes-well-for-alien-life-search/

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Movies seen in the theater this year: Lincoln. Was pretty good. More parliamentary procedure and fewer vampires than usual. trailer tommy lee jones, sally field, that guy who was Gale in breaking bad, daniel day lewis. Paid $9 in Kalamazoo.

Books read this year. (Will be updating this post as I find them. Should vbe 10-15 books total.)

1 Clarence Thomas: My Grandfather's Son. Compelling story of his childhood, up to the nomination fight. Enjoyed.

2 Robert Caro: Book 4 in the LBJ bio. I think it's called The Passage to Power. Mostly about LBJ's first 100 days. Fewer surprises than the earlier volumes, but the suspense builds as the Bobby Baker hearings, the Life article exposing LBJ's money, and JFK's trip to Texas come together. Worth the $37 I paid. http://www.amazon.com/Passage-Power-Lyndon-Johnson-ebook/dp/B0062B0844

3 Lewis Shiner various online short works and bio  http://www.lewisshiner.com/autobio.html
4 Jennifer Government. Just because it's funny and a page-turner doesn't mean this isn't an insightful critique of consumerism amok.
5,6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Picked it up  at the hostel to kill some time, read another one online, but that site seems to have been taken down.

So either I hardly read anything all year, or more likely I forgot to blog a few of them as I went. I don't seem to have blogged much at all this year, at least here. I had focused some of that effort on a tumblr, and before that on a wordpress site, but those are gone now, censorship. Mostly I reddit.

To read in 2013: The Dangerous Animals Club, Stephan Tobolowsky.
 The Mongoliad excerpt and book trailer. Neal Stevenson. Maybe the Steven Bury novels.
Child, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I have it on my to-read pile but havent gotten around to it.

edit:
7. Do Less, Acheive More. Chin-ning Chu. I only took half the advice.
8. Ted Morgan, Maugham. An ok bio of an interesting, if troubled, writer.
9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Better than the movie. Not sure if that means I have to read the Hunger Games; the movie didn't really speak to me.
I'll assume there was at least one more book I've forgotten.








Wednesday, November 28, 2012

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Koren

My older sister has two boys, adults now. They remind me of the cartoons of that guy in the New Yorker. Shaggy hair, long noses, lumberjack outfits. (They are from New Hampshire and their dad is a lumberjack.) Am reading the New Yorker right now so I finally have the guy's name handy.






Sunday, November 25, 2012

Drudge report, daily dose of police state ism
http://www.infowars.com/california-man-jailed-four-days-for-recording-cops/
http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/11/25/schools-tracking-devices-causes-controversy/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/25/palm-scanners-technology-schools/1726175/






This is one of the two houses I'm going to look at with the realtor tomorrow. $16,000, better neighborhood than where I am now (but a little further from downtown.)

Found out yesterday that my former boss was killed a year ago in a motor vehicle accident (probably accident) while marching for Tibet.





grape expectations

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

chart of when to buy things

starbucks secrets

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

http://www.tomorrowsgarden.net/content/free-gardening-books#

Saturday, November 17, 2012

election results good news for prospects of extending 2.2 cents per kilowat tax credit.
 http://www.greatenergychallengeblog.com/2012/11/13/wind-industry-fights-to-save-tax-credit-before-its-expiration-date/

Friday, November 16, 2012

leonid meteor shower tonight and all weekend. 25 shooting stars an hour. i live downtown where stars are barely visible. i saw one shooting star during the persiads, which come on my birthday august 11th as reliably as gencon.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

How much is the $200 google chrome laptop?

I don't know. They won't tell you how much tax, shipping and handling is until you actually buy it.

There's probably a back button to cancel the transaction after learning this info, but I've been burned before.

Or, if you want to get it at Best Buy BigBox, you can hurry up and wait, because they don't have it yet. or maybe they do, says this review

This is Google striking at the heart of Microsoft, which if they'd done it 5 years ago would have been news. Microsoft seems to be fading from its once-dominant position.

Still, this is the sort of laptop I would want, I think, and can afford. This laptop still works fine, but not as well as it did a year ago, and having a lighter laptop to carry in my backpack would be a big plus. So I might get one of these and "loan" the current machine to my roommate.

Speaking of machines, I listened again to the guy who was the real Van Wilder tell his story of traveling with the Russian mob, as told to Joe Rogan. Will update with link shortly.

update: it looks like the $200 google chrome laptop is $250 at bestbuy right now.

the $200 one is listed at bestbuy at $200 with free shipping, but shipping unavailable,and not at the stores in my city....

Sunday, November 11, 2012

contest to rename Iceland. http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=29314&ew_0_a_id=393591
my thoughts so far:
N'iceland. That's short for New improved iceland.
iland. Brought to you by Apple.(tm)

http://stephentobolowsky.wordpress.com/

 http://www.slashfilm.com/public-radio-international-tobolowsky-files

 http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2005/12/lakeside_shadow.html



Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Gas Tuesday was $3.02. Gas Wednesday was $3.48. Maybe something to do with the election.
Gasbuddy.com

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-25/iranian-nuclear-plants-hit-by-virus-playing-ac-dc-website-says.html?cmpid=otbrn.sustain.story



Sunday, November 04, 2012

word for the day: velomobile.
finally this is the hybrid i've been waiting for.
i'd like to see these races at the indy 500 track.
i'd also like to see an open source design that could printed with one of those 3d printers, at least a lot of it, and solar panels. slashdot.


Boeing 787 Dreamliner is set to take off from Bush Intergalactic Airport

http://hiddenbookcasedoors.tumblr.com/

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