O.K., I just got back from a Gathering. I had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, and received several good book suggestions. So I have decided to solicit additional suggestions. Please understand that I read to escape. I read to empathize with the hero and enjoy his or her triumphs. I continue to read the Honor Harrington series by ( Read more... )

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From a simpler time when you didn't need to add sex or rap music to make a Holiday message stand out:

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I ran across an interesting web site on the Harvard web page ( Read more... )

Ever wonder how much radiation you are receiving from your cell phone? Ever wonder whether a bluetooth device is better or worse than the phone next to your ear? What about a wired headset? In an effort to out-geek my readers (all two of you), I have the answers! Or at least, I know where you can find the answers ( Read more... )

This is an amazing woman and artist.

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I rode the Bike Psychos century yesterday. For non-combatants, that translates to I got on my bicycle with a friend and rode 102 miles (164 km) at an average speed of 17.7 mph (28.5 kph). I was riding with my friend Q. Earlier in the season I had gone out with him at another organized ride and done 77 miles at 17.4 mph. He was mentioning at the ( Read more... )

The MIT Technology Review has an interesting article posted on its site. Would you believe you might be able to induce break-even hydrogen fusion using compressed air pistons? This is so cool:

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/23102/

For the past couple of weeks I have noticed a slowing of posts on LJ. Perhaps the summer has taken fingers from keyboards? Perhaps not! It turns out that, even though I was logged in to LJ, I had not re-logged in in quite some time. Apparently, LJ decided that since I was logged in for so long, I clearly did not need to see Friend-locked posts ( Read more... )

I got my undergraduate degree from Santa Barbara. A couple of good friends still live there. One has already been hit with mandatory evacuation because of the wildfire. Fortunately he rents, so not a lot of skin in the house game. The other is right on the edge of the mandatory evacuation line (on the "you can stay there but..." side). She ( Read more... )