Some folks (especially Americans) seem to think that their AR-15s are a guarantor that they can resist tyranny. But guns are an 18th century response to 18th century threats to democracy. Capital doesn’t need to point a gun at you to remove your democratic rights: it just needs more cameras, more cops, and a legal system that is fair and just and bankrupts you if you are ever charged with public disorder and don’t plead guilty.

[caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“180”] Photo by Chris247[/caption]

Happy Lunar New Year! Happy Year of the Goat! Hopefully snow doesn’t mess up your festivities. You can use my Vietnamese Zodiac program to find out what animal you are!

Shambling Towards Hiroshima by James K. Morrow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

That is definitely not what I thought it was going to be. I was sure that somehow this actor would be transformed into a monster.

What we got instead was a short, witty, and fun book that posited an alternate World War 2 strategy to win the war - (view spoiler)[ create Godzilla (hide spoiler)]. The book’s main character is great, especially when trading verbal barbs with an anti-semetic FBI agent.

There’s a lot that’s gotten to feel old with my Acer Aspire One. I hate the pitifully low screen resolution and it doesn’t even have enough oomph to run KDE netbook. But one thing I DO like about it - it has lots of USB ports. I hear many of the newer computers are aping apple and reducing ports.

So, this paper in Nature reveals that sex is much more complex than just having XX or XY. I think an awesome followup would see if trans and/or gay/lesbian people had more of these chimeric conditions. Although, everything has potential for evil, I think this would be super helpful to parents of kids who were going to end up trans to educate themselves in order to be more supportive.

Listening to Jim Gaffigan talking about raising 5 kids in a NYC apartment and suddenly found myself thinking - I could have 5 kids! I have a whole house!

Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In my Homeland review, I mentioned that many of Doctorow’s novels post-Eastern Standard Tribe are depressing reads; especially Little Brother, Homeland, and For the Win. Since he’s trying to spur people to action by making them realize how the world works, they can be pretty dark. Thankfully, while Pirate Cinema did have some moments of depression, there was some hope. While Homeland describes the world as it is - the dirty tactics used to arrest protestors and keep us from expressing ourselves as outlined in our constitution/Bill of Rights - Pirate Cinema describes the world as it could be. So it’s possible that, with some work, we can prevent Trent’s world from coming about.

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t know what’s different this time. Maybe it’s me; maybe it’s Sir Pratchett. This book just never seemed to have a climax. Had the journey not been sufficiently fun I might have scored it 2 stars.

This book reminds me of what was to be Five Iron Frenzy’s last album. The ska band had its fair share of joke songs - at least one per album. For its final album it had one song that tied together all the joke songs and references from the past decade. Similarly, this book seems to have a cameo or mention of everyone you’ve ever seen in the Discworld. Anyone who is in Ankh-Morpork makes an appearance. From the newspaper guys to CMOT Dibbler to the Wizards. The main plot even references Small Gods. I would have to say that this is the first Disworld book that cannot be enjoyed if you haven’t read most of the old ones.

I can’t believe I’ve been blogging on here for TEN YEARS! Here’s a link to my first post. Time has really flown by! Ten years ago I didn’t even think blogging would still be a thing in ten years time. So far I’m still on Wordpress, although I finally moved away from the server. prefix in the domain name. I still enjoy expressing myself and I still love when I get engagement from my readers.

I’m not letting near-freezing weather stop me from eating awesome food. Pre-heating the BBQ for some ribs!