Scurvy Waters

The Last Christmas Story

2011-12-16T15:27:00.002-05:00

It was Christmas morning and a child played with his new toy, a “L’il Scientist” kit. There were test tubes and beakers, scales and diodes, a microscope and telescope, a mass spectrometer, and a pristine particle accelerator buried in the back yard. He mixed up chemicals for awhile: turning water into wine and back again, learning the joys of vinegar and baking soda, nickel-plating his sister’s

2011-05-04T18:59:00.002-04:00

John Hodgman: A brief digression on matters of lost time

2011-03-31T20:11:00.002-04:00

Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues

2011-03-31T19:58:00.000-04:00

Timothy Leary's Last Trip

2011-03-29T19:34:00.002-04:00

William and Mary

2011-03-23T19:35:00.000-04:00

Good Eye/Bad Eye

2010-09-20T17:38:00.001-04:00

He met her in church on a Sunday morning. Since he was in town for only one day he invited her to breakfast afterwards. They got along so well that he gave her a couple of passes for the evening’s match in Boofterville. To his surprise she showed up with her brother. They returned with him to the dressing room for a few minutes and her brother got his autograph, saying that he was a huge fan. She

Manipulating the Monkey

2010-09-13T18:26:00.002-04:00

Winter was the quiet time in Jocobo. Most of the shops closed up and those who could afford it went to Florida or some other warm far-off place. But, believe it or not, some people actually lived in Jocobo year round. When the cold north wind whipped off the slopes of Mt. Elb and the legendary Vinegarroon snowstorms left 45 feet on the ground these hardy folks brought a few more cans of food up

The Pirate of Peppercorn Creek

2010-09-07T14:01:00.003-04:00

It was the time of year that many in the Liars Bunch lived for. When the streets of the village of Jocobo were packed with strangers looking for a good time. They were searching for an answer and the Liars Bunch—a’settin’—on their bench, were there to give it to them. Some of the boys even dressed up for the part although it was hard to figure out what part exactly they were playing. Joe “Peets

A Quick and Dirty Tour of The Liars Bunch

2010-07-04T14:50:00.004-04:00

“Vinegarroon County is one of those places where anything can happen,” reflected Babe Martin to the visitor as he absent-mindedly guided his hurtling pickup down the steep, winding mountain road. The guardrail was bashed and bumped and occasionally breached but Babe never gave it a thought. When they reached the overlook he pulled the truck to a sudden halt, tossing a few empty beer cans into

The Zenith Angle and The Caryatids

2010-05-29T18:43:00.001-04:00

by Bruce Sterling I like science fiction that I can recommend to friends who don't read SF and have a hope they'll enjoy it. Philip Dick comes to mind, as does Neil Stephenson. Bruce Sterling doesn't fit this category unfortunately, but I like science fiction for its own sake and as a science fiction author Sterling excels. The Zenith Angle Believable characters with believable motivations

The Peace War

2010-05-29T18:40:00.000-04:00

by Vernor Vinge (SPOILER) An early effort by the 3-time Hugo Award winner. His mastery of storytelling is already present, the characters are well-motivated, the science part inventive and plausible (sort of), the action part well-paced and exciting, the politics thought out—so why did it leave me cold? Well, the linchpin of the plot depends on two characters switching sides at the most

2009 Flickr

2010-05-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

2010-02-05T18:14:00.002-05:00

by unvmebad86

What I'm Watching.

2010-01-02T20:32:00.001-05:00

Ergo Proxy

Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest

2009-12-30T18:32:00.001-05:00

by K. Jack Bauer When you start looking for books about the more obscure presidents they get hard to find. Fortunately, my public library has been open to acquiring these books when I ask. I also have a university library I can access nearby when things get tough—say, for Thomas Hart Benton or Stephen Douglas. Anyway, Taylor was the ultimate outsider, a wild-card president, who barely had a

My Goodness

2009-12-15T08:54:00.006-05:00

“My goodness, it’s Christmas time again,” said old Aunt Sallie. “Wonder what the Claus brought you this year?” “Socks,” said little Agamemnon, disbelieving. “And turtle eggs.” “Chinchilla coat,” Louise reported. “Again!” “Got me a choo-choo,” Tarvis grinned and then chugged out of the room in the general direction of the kitchen where Maw was serving up breakfast—lots of biscuit, a little bit

The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay 1776-1854

2009-11-29T06:41:00.001-05:00

by William W. Freehling While this book doesn't completely answer the question as to the why of the Civil War (that's for Volume 2), it still paints a complete picture of the wherefores. Freehling dissects every aspect of the North/South divide as well as the South/South divide (the diversity of Southern opinion, from the bitter South Carolina slavocracy to the Alabama cotton kings). At its

WOMEN THROUGH THE AGES

2009-11-27T15:43:00.005-05:00

This three-minute video created by EggMan consists of images from 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art. From: The Saatchi Gallery : London

Mary Chesnut's Civil War

2009-11-26T08:41:00.002-05:00

Edited by C. Vann Woodward I kept thinking of Scarlett O'Hara while reading this. It's the portrait of a hot-blooded, cocky, pugnacious society that was teetering on the brink of destruction, like Carthage during the Punic Wars. It's hard to have much sympathy. Chesnut is snide, hard-nosed, delusional, insightful, and vulnerable all at the same time. Her view into the minds and actions of the

"A Government of Our Own": The Making of the Confederacy

2009-10-16T18:31:00.008-04:00

by William C. Davis This book is about three months in the life of a small Alabama town when the Confederacy was born. I kept thinking it would make a moderately less violent television series ala Deadwood. Lots of compelling personalities with itchy trigger fingers. I liked this author's book Three Roads to the Alamo, about William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett. This is a far denser

Kurokami

2009-09-28T16:29:00.009-04:00

It's violent, erotic, and cutesy all at once. Most people I know are not interested in Anime. It's not an older person's thing to do. So I don't have anyone to talk with about it. I used to work in a comic book store and was introduced to Manga there, so I have a good idea of what to expect from the art form and from its adherence to formula. It's the subjects explored within that framework

Abraham Lincoln: With Malice Towards None

2009-09-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

by Stephen B. OatesI had originally decided not to read a Lincoln bio since Lincoln is one president that I know something about but the Fillmore and Buchanan bios gave such a "peculiar" perspective towards Lincoln, Seward, Weed, and other so-called "black" or "radical" Republicans, that I needed to get their side of the story. Also this book popped off the shelf when I was idly looking at

2009-09-15T17:55:00.001-04:00

President James Buchanan: A Biography

2009-09-15T16:53:00.003-04:00

by Philip S. KleinOne thing that distinguishes the presidents of the 1850s is that they were all "Party" men. Each built and maintained major party apparatus in their home states. They were all very skilled at the art of compromise and yet they all failed miserably when it came to trying to broker a compromise between North and South over the spread of slavery.Instead of building a bridge between

2009-09-11T17:08:00.002-04:00

From TheOneMuse:

Old Jack City

2009-09-11T17:03:00.008-04:00

“Dang,” thought Banner Brummett as he listened to the sound of axes falling in the distance. It had been hardly a year since he and his family had built their cabin on the high point between Salt and Greasy Creeks and it was already getting crowded, the way it’d been up by Scarcity Fat before he’d left. Back there Fleenersburg was growing so fast they said that someday it might be bigger than

2009-08-28T20:11:00.001-04:00

Millard Fillmore

2009-08-23T13:15:00.001-04:00

by Robert J. RaybachThis biography is great in the sense that it examines the nuts and bolts of party politics. Fillmore makes it to the top the hard way—building a party, placating inner-party opponents, finding the right man for the job—until he finally reached his level of his incompetence—the Presidency.Of course he was in a nearly impossible position. The country needed a visionary leader,

Franklin Pierce: New Hampshire's Favorite Son, Volume One

2009-08-18T17:07:00.003-04:00

by Peter WallnerHe might be New Hampshire's favorite son but not history's. It has a lot to do with the fragmented, clique-like nature of politics in his day. His vision was very parochial, he did not see the bigger picture.The year is 1853. Southern politicians are bent on getting their way and many northern politicians were willing to let them in the name of Union. Men like Pierce, Fillmore,

2009-08-15T20:26:00.000-04:00

Anathem

2009-07-27T12:45:00.001-04:00

by Neal StephensonThis book is a showcase for Stephenson's strong and weak points. It was going great guns when his hero decided to trek across the tundra, then it improbably started reading like a return to Snow Crash. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good writer but I would argue that this book could have used stringent editing. Less is more. Also, it's time to retire the ninja fetish. I'm

2009-07-20T19:13:00.004-04:00

They put them all in the Blockhouse eventually.

Confessions of a New York Squid

2009-06-19T18:22:00.009-04:00

From White HarlemI look down the street warily. Every man is suspect. One approaches me even now. Leather jacket. Shades. He stops, still too far away to see well. He takes something from his pocket. A gun! He cleans his glasses against the light of a streetlamp. I relax a little. What if he is polishing his gun! Behind him comes a smaller man. What’s he up to! You had to suspect strangers in the

2009-06-12T18:29:00.001-04:00

John Tyler: the Accidental President

2009-05-25T12:56:00.018-04:00

by Edward D. Crapol I had trouble with this book and didn't finish it the first time I tried. This is why. My problems: Tells the reader what to think instead of presenting facts and guiding through the rough parts. Overwrites. Peats and repeats. Gives many pointless facts, like a kid padding his term paper. Confused narrative. Seems more like a meditation than a biography. It was expedient

Misquoting Jesus

2009-04-25T17:06:00.004-04:00

by Bart D. EhrmanWhat if the Bible were more like the Wikipedia than the exact Word of God? With thousands of people making changes over hundreds of years, except with no track back. How could you ever trust it, much less condemn people to hell because of someone's interpretation of it? Hold onto your head, because that's exactly what happened. All kinds of basic, dare I say—fundamental—changes

John Quincy Adams: a public life, a private life

2009-04-25T16:52:00.002-04:00

by Paul C. NagelThis biography proved be a real treat. It focuses on our 6th President's personal life rather than his political one and is both introspective and poignant.JQA aspired to be a writer. Largely educated in Europe while his father was envoy to France and the Netherlands, Adams strived throughout his life to improve himself and was never satisfied. Which was the tragedy of his life.

Inferno and Escape From Hell

2009-04-21T17:46:00.002-04:00

by Larry Niven and Jerry PournelleI couldn't finish either one of them. I'm a big fan of both these boys but whenever they focus on current events it turns into a parade of straw men dutifully set up and knocked back down. Boring. If Carl Sagan was alive today he'd kick both their butts!

Wuthering Heights

2009-04-07T10:45:00.003-04:00

by Emily BronteThis book has been hard for me to read. I don't know what it is about British novelists—from Dickens to Rowling childhood is always about torment, abuse, and innocence violated.On the other hand Bronte was a gifted novelist with a solid grounding in classical drama. That Heathcliffe is such a godawful pr*ck is tragedy—for him and everybody who comes in contact with him. That he and

Martin Van Buren: the Romantic Age of American Politics

2009-03-12T12:11:00.006-04:00

by John NivenMatty Van Buren, alleged illegitimate son of Aaron Burr (according to the Bill O'Reillys of his day), perennial bottom dweller in the "best president of all time" polls, unknown guy in a little known time. Why bother reading about him when I could be keeping up with the latest pop star fistfight, or stew about the latest right wing outrage? The truth is that I'm trying to escape all

2009-03-02T17:01:00.001-05:00

John C. Calhoun and the Price of Union

2009-02-24T11:13:00.002-05:00

by John NivenAny reader of this blog knows that I've been on an early 19th-century american history jag recently but, you know, I didn't get much history in school and this period has always been a mystery to me. Henry Clay was just a name. James K. Polk barely that. John Calhoun . . . something to do with the south, right?Something, all right. As the intellectual architect of Nullification

2009-02-03T10:12:00.001-05:00

2009-02-03T09:40:00.000-05:00

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2009-01-25T06:04:00.000-05:00

Marsbound

2009-01-20T16:20:00.002-05:00

by Joe HaldemanI almost didn't finish this one when I realized it was a "juvenile" but Haldeman is a favorite of mine and younger fiction can be quite entertaining. Haldeman's stories always unfold in surprising ways and this one is no exception. It follows the exploits of a young woman emigrating with her family to the newly founded Martian colony where she immediately falls afoul of the local

American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House

2009-01-20T16:16:00.002-05:00

by Jon MeachamThis book focuses on the human side of Andrew Jackson's administration. As the first "common man" to become president, Jackson has always fascinated historians. Besides being the ultimate outsider—it was during his administration, more than any other, where it was decided whether or not America's privileged class would hold all the political power—he also expanded the presidents'

2009-01-08T12:29:00.001-05:00

2009-01-08T10:50:00.000-05:00

Incandescence

2009-01-05T11:59:00.005-05:00

by Greg EganAn excellent example of "Hard" science fiction. Egan takes the premise: "How can a nonindustrial society living within a rock embedded in the plasma disc surrounding a large black hole discover General Relativity?" and uses it to explain the nature of gravity and how our view of the universe is limited by our preconceptions and common-sense view from inside a gravity well. It's also

Rainbows End

2008-12-30T10:15:00.002-05:00

by Vernor VingeThis novel is about Web 3 or 4.0. Considering that Vinge places his story about 18 years in our future (god willing) it makes figuring out a blog, IM, or searching in Google look like absolute child's play. Get ready for a time when the world you see is the world you want to see; when memory and experience mean less than good searching skills; when real life is more like Second

2008-12-05T17:02:00.001-05:00

28:31

City at the End of Time

2008-12-05T16:44:00.002-05:00

by Greg BearOne of the best of current science fiction writers, this is Bear's latest novel. It takes place well beyond the end of the universe as we know it at a time when the universe has decayed into almost total chaos. The humans that are left are reaching back to an earlier time (our time) to try and save something from the encroaching chaos. We follow several of these people as they prepare

2008-11-20T09:56:00.000-05:00

2008-11-18T12:12:00.000-05:00

Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union

2008-11-15T17:12:00.003-05:00

by Robert Vincent ReminiClay was the man who might have been President of the United States if fate had been kinder and he hadn't made a few critical errors of judgment. Born in a hollar in Virginia, Clay made his fame as a Kentucky lawyer and politician. He was a persuasive orator, often compared to Patrick Henry of the previous generation. He was charismatic, personable, a notorious gambler, a

2008-11-05T16:30:00.000-05:00