09:57 – We just got our first offer on the Winston house. It was low, at about 89% of the listing price, but it’s a start. We countered, of course.
I’m reculturing bacteria. I just made up and sterilized a liter of phosphate-buffered saline, which is the medium for the suspension, and a 50 mL centrifuge tube of broth media that I’ll later inoculate with the culture.
We’re making up chemical bags for the biology kits today.
Hey, now, check your privilege. The bacteria’s culture is just as valid as yours, and you have no right to be telling them to change.
Wizard!
All round!
Gorgeous today thus fah; allegedly we are gonna get strong rain showers tonight, which is fine; I’ll have a backyard jungle to chop through and cut down in the next several weeks.
new 1TB SSD and 500w power supply are here; now waiting on new graphics board and then I’ll overhaul this 4-year-old HP Pavilion running Win8.1.
And speaking of power, and the genny chatter here yesterday, does anyone know anything about solar-powered generators? Ya know, quiet, run forever on the sun’s energy, no fuel to worry about, running about $1-5k? Not sure it would be worth the effort and expense here with our limited sunlight, though.
Off shortly to jump MIL’s car down in beeyooteeful Shelburne Bay and then to the vets group meeting, after which a visit to my friendly local gun shop on South Hero Island out in the lake. The dude’s gotta be ten or more years older than me and has quite an operation there; mainly specializes in custom shotguns, but does everything else. Well laid-out shop with all the tools and up-to-date pooters, dual-screens, card reader, etc. Also surveillance webcams hooked up. He was a TOURIST in SEA while yours truly was there working for Uncle. Says he heard and saw the smoke and flames and explosions outside Saigon and other places during his time.
Wife sez the temps are hitting 100 out there in Sacramento this week; screw that. OFD digs the ice, cold, snow, fog and wind. Keeps the riff-raff, venomous reptiles and other scum fah away. So fah, that is.
Scientists Create Embryos That Are Both Animal And Human
Pssh. Old news. How else do you explain Moochelle?
“How else do you explain Moochelle?”
And she’s got the latest post-modern attributes, too. Earlier beta versions were done with Cankles, thanks to Dr. Frankenstein, and their not-so-distant ancestress was Queen Victoria.
“Still, Ross acknowledges the concerns. So he’s moving very carefully, he says. For example, he’s only letting the chimera embryos develop for 28 days. At that point, he removes the embryos and dissects them.
If he discovers the stem cells are going to the wrong places in the embryos, he says he can take steps to stop that from happening. In addition, he’d make sure adult chimeras are never allowed to mate, he says.”
So RIGHT NOW he’s killing them at 28 days, but he’s already planning how to manage them when they are alive, adult, and in pens in the lab. Holy fuck. Un-holy fuck.
Uplifted pigs. Jebus wept.
nick
It’s so unfair that he’s not going to let adults mate. I sniff a burgeoning movement for transspecies rights.
In all seriousness, this is something that we should all support. As Glenn Reynolds frequently says, “Faster, please.”
All this talk about chimeras mating is missing the big money-making opportunity: when will we get to see chimera porn on the internet?
Fascinating article.
The potential for life-saving treatments is staggering.
So are the ethical implications.
If a male chimeric pig mated with a female chimeric pig, the result could be a human fetus developing in the uterus of that female chimera,” Newman says. Another possibility is the animals could give birth to some kind of part-human, part-pig creature
There, I think that is how you explain the Mooch.
“Evaluating the Political Chess Board”
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/144606430606/evaluating-the-political-chess-board
“Trump has pulled ahead of Clinton nationally in both the new FOX poll and the Rasmussen Poll. And Trump passed Clinton in favorability according to the newest national poll on that topic. The Megyn Kelly interview (including the hyping of it ahead of time) marked Trump’s third-act turn.”
“Meanwhile, Clinton is losing one primary after another to a dehydrated dandelion in her own party. That doesn’t bode well for the coming cage fight with Godzilla.”
Yup.
And speaking of power, and the genny chatter here yesterday, does anyone know anything about solar-powered generators?
It’s all in the batteries.
Once things settle down around here and our bank balance is again up to a reasonable number, I plan to start ordering some solar stuff. I’ll start small, with one or two 100W panels, a couple of deep-cycle batteries, and a couple of inexpensive charge controllers. I want to do some testing before I buy much more. I’m guessing that one 100W panel will produce on average 300 W-hrs per day here, but I’d like to find out for sure. Then I need to figure out how many panels/batteries/inverters I need to produce as many kW hours per day on average as I need, with some safety factor for both generation and storage. Then I’ll buy all of that, test it to make sure it works, and stick it all in Faraday cages.
“Poll: Two-thirds of US would struggle to cover $1,000 crisis”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/two-thirds-us-struggle-cover-110221321.html#
This is bad, very bad. That means that everyone is waiting for a government handout.
How many cycles can you get on those deep cycle batteries?
Are you going to limit them somehow to how far you take them down?
I’m not going to worry too much about battery life. ITSDEHTF, there’ll be car batteries galore available. Their charge/discharge characteristics are high-draw/short-time versus the DD characteristics of low-draw/long-time, but the former actually fits our needs better, because the primary job of any solar installation I do would be to run the well pump (which I also need to buy a spare for).
For long-term storage, do the batteries need to be taken out and discharged and recharged once in a while? Topped up? How much ongoing maintenance are you committing to?
Perhaps get drainable batteries and then fill them yourself when needed. Dr. Bob is a Wizard ya know.
Yep. Rather than gel cells I’ll go with standard lead-acid batteries, stored dry and unused. If I need them, I’ll break the seal and fill them with battery acid.
Lead-acid is the kind of battery you do NOT want to fully discharge. They have a finite number of charge/discharge cycles, and a deep discharge effectively kills them.
There are some new-tech lead-acid that are better that way ( you can fully discharge them and they’ll recover), but they’re more expensive as well.
For longest life, keep lead-acid charge topped off – trickle charge or charge weekly.
That does NOT apply to dry batteries. They’ll store for very long periods without special attention.
The weather here is starting to get ‘nautical’ as the Deadliest Catch guys say. I’m currently just getting the southern edge of the front, but it’s drifting south and east as it goes by. The worst is yet to come if the red swirls on the radar image are any indication.
My back is killing me. The cool and the damp, and sitting in my desk chair seem to have triggered something really unpleasant. Bending and twisting are ‘right out’ at the moment….
even sitting hurts.
nick
For those of us who sit at home in a desk chair too much, a good desk chair is a necessity not a luxury. This from the cheapskate who repaired his current chair by pulling a wheel off his worn out desk chair in the corner of the basement. My biggest backache recently was from sitting on an antique folding chair in the basement in front of my workbench while playing around with my Raspberry Pi 3.
It’s worse than that. It’s the old joke about democracy being two wolves and a sheep voting on what is for dinner writ large.
I’m thinking of a couple panels, a charge controller and a deep cycle battery to power a Ham radio setup for field day.
This is the best battery I have found locally. This is a better deal than anything on Amazon. Menards carries a larger battery in some stores, but none are near where I live.
From what I’ve seen, the most expensive part of any system may be the inverter.
That you got an offer so soon leads me to believe you have a good agent who priced the property properly.
@OFD “does anyone know anything about solar-powered generators”
We’ve been down this road before:
http://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2015/09/24/thursday-24-september-2015/#comment-90648
We also discussed in detail about the batteries I bought but I’m too busy (and lazy) to find that right now.
Summary: 4 x 100W kit with inverter and charge controller ~$1500, 4 lead acid golf cart batteries ~$700, other stuff ~$200. It all qualified for the fed 30% tax credit and the MA 15% tax credit.
It just works. Not a hiccup since I installed it. Minor maintenance once a month on batteries (check water and specific gravity). Since I’m generating ~1kWh a day, societal collapse or not, I use it. I run stuff in my basement (where the inverter is) and I wired an outlet upstairs to be always on solar. The batteries usually cycle between 85%-100% full as measured by a charge monitor I put on the system.
I just hurt my back this morning at the gym. Not in lifting weights or anything. Nope, I leaned over to tie my sneaker before working out and pulled something. I blame Global Warming.
Hey does anyone want to go on a flight on Egypt Air today? I think that I will pass.
Egypt is a festering cesspool.
I was supposed to go there for work back in ’99 or 2000 and it was bad. Lots worse now.
Pity I’ll never see the pyramids with my own eyes, but there are a lot of things I won’t be able to do. I’m over it.
nick
WRT chairs, I’ve got an Aeron desk chair. I recognized that need a long time ago. Even so, sitting too long or not paying attention to body mechanics ends up hurting. Nothing like today though, for a long time.
Sucks to get old but the alternative isn’t fun either.
nick
The really bad thing about the EgyptAir crash is that it will kill Egypt’s tourism industry, which was the basis of their economy.
WRT chairs, I’ve got an Aeron desk chair.
I’ve had an Aeron for 10 years. I added a powered sit/stand desk several months back. My watch tells me to stand periodically through the day, so I just push a button and the desk rises to the occasion.
WRT chairs, I’ve got an Aeron desk chair.
URL?
I am sitting in a 1976 Steelcase leather desk chair. With four legs. I’ve been using this particular chair since 1990 or so. In fact, I’ve worn a path in the office concrete floor since we moved here over four years ago.
https://www.chairish.com/product/203857/steelcase-pollock-style-chair-8-available
I added a powered sit/stand desk several months back.
URL?
A couple of things interesting in a ‘peer behind the curtain’ way:
From a briefing email I get:
“First Amendment Training, Resources for LE
It is always important for law enforcement personnel to maintain a good awareness
of civil rights and liberties, but with the events, rallies, and potential protests surrounding this year’s politics and election, it would be a good idea to brush up.”
“The Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council (CICC) developed two free resourc
es to help with this. “Recommendations for First Amendment-Protected Events
for State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies” is a 36-page guide to help define
the roles and responsibilities of law enforcement agencies at protected events. It
covers pre-event, operational, and post-event stages, as well as “red flag” areas
to avoid. A operational red flag, for example, would be collecting names and oth
er identifying information of participants and bystanders if there is no evidence of
wrongdoing.
The second CICC resource is a 2-page First Amendment Events Reference Card,
which lists the rights of participants under the Constitution as well as what officers
will and should not do.
In addition, the CICC has online training available. The longer video – only 9 min
utes – gives an overview of the topics along with a short quiz and the option of a
certificate. The shorter video – 4 minutes – is designed to be used during pre-event
briefings and roll-call.”
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiT4-OZ9ebMAhWGJiYKHc79BHkQFggdMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fit.ojp.gov%2Fdocuments%2Fd%2FRecommendations%2520for%2520First%2520Amendment-Protected%2520Events%2520for%2520state%2520and%2520local%2520Law%2520Enforcement.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEvAKE6rW2FFL-kRXqvDnBOkcJggw&sig2=q46bLBtLu83yeKWWBGBCfg
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwin5cTL9-bMAhUM1CYKHblMCnwQFggdMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fit.ojp.gov%2Fdocuments%2FFirst_Amendment_Reference_Card.pdf&usg=AFQjCNG6q5w7r1HWuSzrmmTvQX_1_qLT6Q&sig2=5hOjG6fFOOr1gy90O5sDOA
Training video for officers responding to “first amendment assemblies.”
https://www.ncirc.gov/OnlineTraining/modules/first_amendment/index.html
nine minutes.
I added a powered sit/stand desk several months back.
URL?
I have this Autonomous. Nothing fancy other than the programmable buttons. I backed them on Kickstarter, so got it for $100 less. I recommend them as a solid, cheap replacement for the $1,000+ models you’ll find Googling.
I have this Autonomous. Nothing fancy other than the programmable buttons. I backed them on Kickstarter, so got it for $100 less. I recommend them as a solid, cheap replacement for the $1,000+ models you’ll find Googling.
https://www.autonomous.ai/desk
Thanks, wild!
You can also buy just the frame and controls. The frame slides in and out and you attach it to your own desktop. Like Dr. Bob’s old door he uses for a desk.
I am extremely impressed. But a little worried about my two monitors and 500 PMRs (program modification requests) scattered around my 48 in x 30 in desk going flying when I moved it. I would also have to get some video cable extenders for at least one of my monitors as it is stretched already (my pc is on the floor next to my desk).
I have five other desks and tables in my 18 ft x 20 ft office. I’ve got stuff strewn XXXXX carefully stacked and ordered all over them.
Oh my goodness, I am a hoarder.
One workspace innovation that I love is an adjustable keyboard tray. This one works well, it’s a little cheap, but when everything else is so much more expensive, this one will do. I just got it as a replacement for a similar model that served me well for several years. I had to replace the old one because I kept knocking one of the ends off the tray. Eventually the end wouldn’t stay on at all, and then the exposed part the end protected cracked. I’ll probably pop the ends off and glue them on permanently when I get a chance.
I kludged up a sit-stand desk by putting cardboard boxes on my normal desk and then putting my laptop, keyboard, and mousepad on top of the cardboard boxes. Changing between sitting and standing configuration takes maybe 30 seconds — in theory, as I haven’t removed the boxes from the desk in months, maybe more than a year.
My approach wouldn’t work with large monitors, of course. Considering the cost of adjustable arm monitor holders, Mr Atoz’s $300 adjustable desk would be cheaper.
Over the last few weeks I’ve come up with a few things we need in our in car emergency kits that are not in there yet:
-Sunscreen
-Mosquito repellent
-Baby wipes
-Toilet paper
This is all stuff that will not make my wife think I am crazy, and that the backpack is actually useful.
@dave, put anything wet inside a ziploc freezer bag. Put anything that must stay dry inside one too. Leaking bug repellent will ruin your whole bag….
nick
(freezer bag because they are thicker and stay ‘zipped’ better) (you can also find uses for the bags in an emergency- water holders, waste containers, etc)
I include one large black “contractors” garbage bag, rolled up, in my kit. Or you can put it in the car elsewhere.
They have a multitude of survival uses.
nick
you can look for the sunscreen and repellent in little squeeze packs, like a restaurant ketchup packet. They will take up less room and probably be less likely to leak. Chik-fil-a is a great source for hand wipes in packets.
Add some carry out salt and pepper packets too.
nick
Not. Like. Us.
one not so obvious lesson to learn from this is, if you come to official attention, you will end up fucked. They will get you for whatever you are doing. Goes for media attention too. (with the caveat that the really big fish get a pass)
nick
grey man
“We’ve been down this road before:”
Thanks, Mr. JLP; I’ve now cut and pasted it to my notes file accordingly, like I shoulda done originally, but I plead increasing senility and decrepitude, plus global climate change, and the Twelve Years of Reagan-Bush.
“…I leaned over to tie my sneaker before working out and pulled something. I blame Global Warming.”
And of course the Twelve Years of Reagan-Bush.
“Hey does anyone want to go on a flight on Egypt Air today? I think that I will pass.”
Ditto. I’ll take a flight to Iceland in July, though, if anyone cares to buy my ticket. Or Greenland; I’m not particular.
“Egypt is a festering cesspool.”
No chit. The festering cesspool we sent $3 billion a year to in aid, not counting military sales, while we did the same with our wunnerful pals, the Israelis. See how we did that?
“Sucks to get old but the alternative isn’t fun either.”
Jeezum Crow, I hope my own back issues didn’t somehow set off everyone else’s here; I did the four Prednisones per day, plus three doses of four each Motrin, plus a combined codeine/Tylenol hit or two at night to help sleep. The first three or four weeks sucked, because I got the sciatica down into my pelvis, groin and right leg, too. Only stay on my feet or walk for about ten minutes. Ice and moist heat did nothing for me, but of course YMMV. Also, leaning against a tennis ball right on the pain trigger point for five minutes helped for a half-hour or so. It’s still a little sore and gets tired after moving around for a while, but it seems to be fading….very….slowly….getting older and shit takes fah longer to fix.
Back from vets group; one new guy with us who was AF ground radio guy with FACs in remote locales. And our older paratrooper who served from 1955-1962, early SEA war games years, in remote Laotian sites; he had a real nice horror story for us today, thanks, Don! And Moe, another grunt, who after the service spent decades working with the state police EMS and rescue teams up here and figures he’s pulled a couple of dozen bodies out of the Huntington Gorge rapids alone in that time. He’s kinda messed up, like us all.
Then I stopped by my gun guy at his shop on South Hero Island out in the lake; turns out he’s also a former cop, on the Oakland, CA PD many years ago; he was 6’8″ then and with all his stuff on probably close to 300 pounds coming through the door at ya. With his Colt revolver and nightstick, just like I had around the same time down in MA. He’s shrunk a bit and is now only around my height of 6’5″. Showed me pics from the old days and chatted a bit; he does clay and skeet shooting at the same range I belong to, on Sundays while I’m usually at mass. Then I walked out with a Glock 40 in .10mm, 6″ barrel. Holy Chit. How to stop a truck. Through the engine block. Oh, I dunno; I’ll test it out first, report back here, and then post the vid at our pending drop box thing.
@nick,
Everything is already assembled in non-freezer zip top bags. Here’s a video I found today with 10 things people to forget to put in their bags. Of course, I have none of the 10 things he mentions.
@Dave, that there video ain’t no video.
And this is why you don’t swim in east Texas ponds, alligator snapping turtles weighing 250 lbs:
http://www.chron.com/lifestyle/travel-outdoors/article/Threatened-monster-turtle-found-on-East-Texas-7711532.php
I’ve got some of these in my ponds but the biggest is only 12 inches long. I would not swim in my ponds either.
Yo, dat’s a lotta turtle soup right there, podnuh!
Won’t catch OFD swimmin’ in ANY dang ponds in the south or west. Bad enuff around here with northern pike and Champ. Or catching your foot or leg on somebody’s damn submerged snowmobile or pickup truck.
Couple of years ago a local guy was taking vids underwater here in the bay and posted them online; it’s a very green marine jungle down there, limited visibility. Chit-loads of fish, though. Only four to sixteen feet or so deep out to the channel and then it drops off drastically, on out to the greater Inland Sea and lake itself, with some depths of 400 feet plus.
“Incredible Prepper Retreat For Sale in northern South Carolina”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N6lnkJmrrs
22 minute video on a nice power (diesel generator and solar) system with constant 800 amp battery backup system and inverter with a secure load panel system. Heating via wood boiler hot water system. 5,000 ft2 home with multiple garages, etc. Dual well pumps (main and battery backup). Probably long since sold but shows you some of the systems installed.
“Poll: Two-thirds of US would struggle to cover $1,000 crisis”
I must be weird. I’ve been able to do that since my 20’s when I made 5.25/hr.
Not a big deal.
I get accused of being able to make a buffalo nickel bellow. My mom says I’m just cheap. And who is watching a 55″ TV and who has a 20″ TV? The cheap guy, that’s who. And yes, she has the money for an 85″ from Costco.
Well, I’ve got a 55 that cost me $26 for a new power supply board and $12 for a stand….
I was just thinking about this today. We need to recalibrate some of our signifiers for ‘excess’. Anyone can afford a smartphone, they give them away for $20 with prepaid plans. Not an Iphone 6, but capability that would have been fantasy 5 years ago. Anyone can afford a flat panel TV. Costco has them, walmart has them, they’ve gotten really cheap. $200 laptops, $500 TVs, even McMansions are going cheap in some places. Flash cars, boats, and really big houses are still pricey.
Not sure what the next things will be, but the old things don’t really correlate well anymore.
nick
(they’re still excessive if you have no food or safe housing and you spend on them, or if you are spending OPM, just not that expensive in the grand scheme)
“Probably long since sold but shows you some of the systems installed.”
Indeed. First rule of prepping on this scale: First: get a million dollars. Then, for “personal reasons,” leave it all to be sold entire, and disappear. Something fishy here. But maybe that’s just cynical me. I subbed to Engineer775’s channel anyway for all the vids and tips that look pretty useful.
“I must be weird. I’ve been able to do that since my 20’s when I made 5.25/hr.”
Ditto here; it’s priorities, pure and simple. Skip the big tee-vee and cable for now; forget about going out to dinner for a year. Whatever it takes.
“…they’re still excessive if you have no food or safe housing…”
Yeah, what effin good is that huge tee-vee or nifty Surface or MacBook or the McMansion if there’s a howling mob of goblins outside with AKs and screaming Alahoo-Akbah or whatever bullshit barbarian moon-god chant they have, or a team of narcotrafficante ex-spec-ops guys, or maybe just neighbors from down the block who ran outta food themselves. Hard to get email and surf the porn sites with the Grid down, too.
I bought two Nokia WindowsPhones or whatever they’re called for $20 each. (This was, I am given to understand, approximately half of the sales of WindowsPhones in 2015.) I didn’t intend for them to be used as phones. They’re MP3 players and cameras for my daughter. Highly functional, for the price. They can be activated as phones with a pre-pay plan, but I don’t exactly trust my daughter to use them only for really important calls. “Really important” to an 8-y-o doesn’t exactly mean “I’m at the dance studio and they’re closing and no one’s here to pick me up” or “Grandma burned the house down* and you need to come home right now”.
That is, one is still highly functional. The other was upgraded from Win8 to Win10 by my wife, for reasons not clearly understood by anyone able to reason logically, and no longer can be seen from a Win7 computer, which was how we put music on it. I set up the second phone and gave it to my daughter with instructions not to let her mother get her hands on it, because I wouldn’t be buying her a third.
* It’s just a matter of time, I’m pretty sure. She’s lit her frying pan on fire not quite once a month that I’ve witnessed and gotten something on the counter lit at least once. I bought fire extinguishers several times but they’ve all disappeared “with no one knowing anything about it” so I’ve said to hell with it. My name isn’t on the mortgage for this goddamned house. She also keeps leaving the stove burners slightly on, with no fire. I put two gas detectors in the kitchen … and she keeps unplugging them and putting them out on the deck because “they keep going off” and she can’t get the batteries out and they’re annoying.
Part of prepping is building up your locally stored porn stash, duh.
“local copies of anything important”
n
“Part of prepping is building up your locally stored porn stash, duh.”
I know, but someone down in Oz seems to have cornered the market in Hillary’s dominatrix videos and Chelsea’s wet dream fantasy collection already.
Porn ennui is just one of the issues MZwilliamson’s characters face in “Long Time Until Now”
Ten soldiers on convoy in Afghanistan suddenly find themselves lost in time. Somehow, they arrived in Earth’s Paleolithic Asia. With no idea how they arrived or how to get back, the shock of the event is severe. – See more at: http://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/bibliography-A%20Long%20Time%20Until%20Now-book.html#sthash.xLhFslnL.dpuf
Then, for “personal reasons,” leave it all to be sold entire, and disappear. Something fishy here. But maybe that’s just cynical me. I subbed to Engineer775’s channel anyway for all the vids and tips that look pretty useful.
One of the comments was D-I-V-O-R-C-E. Most women don’t like eating MREs was a great comment on there.
I was watching “Building off the Grid – Big Sky Ranch” tonight and saw a somewhat unique problem on the reality program. They were putting up a new water well pump windmill and had two wolves come across their pasture. Their dogs, a German Shepard adult and a BC pup watched the wolves but did not chase them. They had to chase off the wolves since one of the Bison had a new calf.
http://www.diynetwork.com/shows/building-off-the-grid-big-sky-ranch
The Bison herd drinks 150 gallons of water a day. Unfrozen so they have to refill the outdoor tank each day using a generator and their current water well. The windmill is to go over a new water well and continuously supply their outdoor water tank. BTW, they are in Montana.
Yeah, what effin good is that huge tee-vee or nifty Surface or MacBook or the McMansion if there’s a howling mob of goblins outside with AKs and screaming Alahoo-Akbah or whatever bullshit barbarian moon-god chant they have, or a team of narcotrafficante ex-spec-ops guys, or maybe just neighbors from down the block who ran outta food themselves.
If you have Goblins or MZBs outside then you are in a world of hurt. No matter how many friends you’ve got hanging around. Of course, the old rule is that there must be 3X invaders to defenders so you can do a quick count and comfort yourself that they don’t have enough MZBs as the bullets wiz by.
Until the next wave of MZBs. They never seem to end on TeeVee.
Sheesh, just how many Marion Zimmer Bradleys do you think there are?
If we are to believe her daughter, Moira Greyland, one was too many.
Hey, I am a big fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley. Those rumors about her and her husband do disturb me though.
BTW, I am fairly that you know this, but MZB = Mutant Zombie Biker. From the most excellent post apocalyptic book, “Lights Out” by David Crawford.
http://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-David-Crawford/dp/0615427359/
According to the interview with her daughter, her father didn’t go to jail for rumors. As to MZB, there are allegations from her daughter. Her son also has some not so nice things to say.
MZB: I’m not sure how much of a problem it is. Can one ethically like her fiction while despising her actions? I wouldn’t buy another book from her, due to the allegations. However, when we cleaned out our library, I saved the Darkover series, because I enjoyed it and expect to read it again someday.
Hard not to let it color your reading of the work…
n
I don’t believe there should be an ideological test for the authors I read, and I can usually keep the author’s politics separate, if THEY will.
That said, I won’t give her any money (or the estate) nor will I hold her work up as desirable for my kids. I don’t believe I ever read her much anyway. Due to the overwhelming rise of the SJWs in SciFi, and their inability to write anything BUT their politics and sexuality, I’ve had to abandon SF for a while, and discover a bunch of new writers. I’ve also had to find a way to read a couple who write great stories, but just can’t leave their nonsense out. (NB, see also “Sad Puppies, and the Hugo”)
For example, I read and enjoy Mr Lynn’s cousin, but whenever she gets all SJW, I mentally read it as satirical. Keeps me happy and works surprisingly well most of the time. With another, I just mentally skip over the occasional virtue marker like a gay couple (whose sexuality is irrelevant to the story) or a small bit of conservative bashing.
Most of them aren’t worth ignoring the crap though, when there are good writers who share my values or at least don’t despise them.
nick
(sometimes the smug is so thick you want to slash it with a machete’. Like the ones who don’t just have dogs, NO, they make a point of having RESCUE dogs. Great for you but fuck off. they don’t just have kids, they have adopted special needs kids. Nice trophy collecting fucko.)
Wife and I occasionally read detective/mystery/thriller crap for mindless diversion and the SJW shit has infected that, too; older dicks in Edinburgh being all PC and libtard over stuff; I hate that chit. I gave up on SF a very long time ago, but mostly because I’d moved to different genres and college/grad skool, but other than a couple of Heinlein tomes I won’t bother again, either. Or even in horror/fantasy; you can’t just have a cutesy golden retriever; SHE has to be super-smart, too, and be able to fantastically communicate with humans. GTFOOH.
More reasons for me to fall back, gladly, to much older writers and novelists and poets, primarily well before the 20th-C, and the same with music. I got the Sirius XM Onyx hooked up in the RAV4 now and it’s usually on either the old-school country or classical/Baroque. With no friggin’ commercials or pesky DJ blather.
And now…to clone this four-year-old spinning drive to the new SSD…from there I’ll do the install, along with the graphics card and maybe the power supply, if it will fit in the box, yikes.
To see the possible horrors of the SJW world, I like Marko Kloos Frontlines milsf series starting in 2108:
http://www.amazon.com/Terms-Enlistment-Frontlines-Marko-Kloos/dp/1477809783/
There are one billion people living in the North American Union (2X today). The majority of them are living in PRCs (public residential complexes) of 30 to 50 story tenement buildings. There are no food stamps anymore, just a daily 2 kilocalorie ration of flavored soy. And that 2 kcal ration is dropping, six years later it is closer to 1 kcal due to food shortages.
I’ve got a new author I found via Kindle First and Kindle Unlimited: Craig Schaefer. I’m reading the Daniel Faust series and the spinoff Harmony Black series and enjoying them. Good characters, male and female. It’s urban fantasy and similar in structure to the Harry Dresden books. Recommended.
I like Marko Kloos and John Scalzi, though Scalzi’s public politics make me nuts.
Scalzi is a pretty good author, and writes an interesting story. I yearn for more “Old Man’s War” stories, because it’s an interesting universe, and the stories are always different.
Kloos seems to be a one-trick pony, and after reading the same basic story 10 times in a row, I’ve given up. I would like to read more of his work but I want a different story than the ones that came before.
Alas, I’m re-reading Lord of the Rings now. Something I know I’ll enjoy after having been disappointed too many times with new authors.
For similarity to Harry Dresden, you might want to try the Alex Verus series:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GSYZAM/
The Iron Druid is a little similar also:
https://www.amazon.com/Hounded-two-bonus-short-stories-ebook/dp/B004J4WN0I
And Scalzi has freaked me out also. I have three of his books in my SBR and cannot bring myself to read them since he is so SJW now.
I’ve got a new author I found via Kindle First and Kindle Unlimited: Craig Schaefer. I’m reading the Daniel Faust series and the spinoff Harmony Black series and enjoying them. Good characters, male and female. It’s urban fantasy and similar in structure to the Harry Dresden books. Recommended.
I have added Daniel Faust to my wish list.
http://www.amazon.com/Long-Way-Down-Daniel-Faust/dp/0990339319
Kloos seems to be a one-trick pony, and after reading the same basic story 10 times in a row, I’ve given up. I would like to read more of his work but I want a different story than the ones that came before.
Here is my review on Marko Kloos’s fourth book:
http://www.amazon.com/Chains-Command-Frontlines-Marko-Kloos/product-reviews/1503950328/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop/189-0031501-4765322?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=recent#R1QAW65XWAEX46
I’ll look at the authors listed.
I gave up on Marko. He wants the SJWs who have taken over SF to like him, really really like him. He withdrew from the Hugo because he was nominated by the Sad/Rabid Puppies, who were always big supporters of his work. Nice thumb in the eye for readers there… Well he’s the flavor o the day w/ the SJWs as a turncoat. We’ll see how long that lasts.
nick
Kloos’ Frontlines is one of my favorite series. If anything, he shows what happens to the US thanks to SJWs. I don’t follow his personal views nor the Hugos. Too many great books that never even get nominated.
I admit, he paints a pretty compelling version of a future US and world. The scenes where they are fighting thru the housing blocks especially.
But I don’t like being told I’m the wrong kind of person to read his stories. Lots of other places to spend my money.
I wasn’t sitting on the edge of my chair waiting for the next book anyway.
nick
Don’t tell me you’re on the edge of your chair waiting for the sequel to this book.
The only reason I heard of it is because of the Hugo nomination. -eyes rolling- Very funny, guys.
The trick is to be so dumb that when you act dumb, no one can tell the difference. No, wait. I think I got that backward. How dumb…
The trick is to be so dumb that when you act dumb, no one can tell the difference.
I’ve got that down …
Don’t tell me you’re on the edge of your chair waiting for the sequel to this book.
https://www.amazon.com/Space-Raptor-Invasion-Chuck-Tingle-ebook/dp/B00S4B95RQ?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
The only reason I heard of it is because of the Hugo nomination. -eyes rolling- Very funny, guys.
All of the Nebula award winners this year were women. I am not sure what that means.
http://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/
I’m sure that what it does not mean is that there needs to be an investigation into institutional discrimination.
I am not sure what that means.
I’m sure that what it does not mean is that there needs to be an investigation into institutional discrimination.
Official or unofficial ?