https://www.inc.com/magazine/19970615/1416.html - farmers' barbed wire fencing pulling double-duty as telephone wire in the 1920s. Frontier ingenuity at its finest. Makes me think of that Warren Ellis quote from Crécy, his woefully under-read comic/history text/treatise- ( Read more... )

'"... Every white nation, even Belgium, found its slaves on the continent of Africa. From then on, African kings learned that they must surrender their sovereignty or accept deportation. The title "King" was changed to "Chief," so that even now if an African ruler calls himself "King," it sounds ridiculous to the uninformed white observer." - ( Read more... )

Orrin of Arrow is, I think, that rarest of things. A truly good man with all the strengths to do what his goodness demands of him. - King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

This quote is everything I ever wanted to say about Captain America and Superman without knowing I wanted to say it.

If transhumanism is about how technology will help us solve the problems inherent to human nature and cyberpunk is about how technology won’t, then technothrillers are about how we'll never get to find out one way or the other.

"When Mimara asked for a third time what was the matter, he decided that he hated the young. Smooth faces and lithe strong limbs. Not to mention the certainty of ignorance. In his soul's eye he saw them doing jigs down blasted halls, while all he could do was hobble after them. Pompous wretches, he thought, with their dark hair and hundred-word ( Read more... )

Generally speaking, espionage offers each spy an opportunity to go crazy in a way he finds irresistible. - Kurt Vonnegut, "Mother Night"

“What you need to remember, with these guys, is that they don’t know they’re con men. They’re wildly overconfident. Omnipotence, omniscience-that’s part of the mythology that surrounds the Special Forces. I had those guys hitting on me every last day in Baghdad.” She held up her fist, showing Milgrim her plain gold wedding band. “Your guy can walk ( Read more... )

The old man was as American as it got, but in what she thought of as some very recently archaic way. Someone who would’ve been in charge of something, in America, when grown-ups still ran things (Gibson, 2007.)

"Ever meet anyone that went to those technical schools that advertise on late night tv. You know -- the "colleges" that exist in mini-malls? Of course not. Anybody who went to those gets recruited into agencies like W.A.S.T.E. and E.M.P.I.R.E ( Read more... )

As of 9:20PM EST on November 23, I have read 56 books in the year 2009. Pitiful when compared to the 118 I had managed at this exact moment one year ago. Clearly, I am paying too much attention to schoolwork.

What was the 56th? The Kundalini Equation by Stephen Barnes. Long out of print, it tells the tale of Adam Ludlum, a 20th-Century everyman ( Read more... )