One comment on something about which I’m actually qualified to have an opinion. Chappelle lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio. When I was a graduate student in the 1980s, I lived about a ten minute drive outside of Yellow Springs. Been back many times since then. For sure there are plenty of “poor whites” (his term) in…

The problem with being crazy wealthy is that you’re just as time limited as the next guy. Well, okay, you *can* pay others to do a lot of time consuming things for you. But you can’t pay someone to sleep for you, eat for you (although they can cook for you), go to the bathroom for you, and have sex for you (that’s…

Even weirder: I googled for “Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer” and got a result for what was clearly an IMDB entry with Billings’ name. I clicked on it, and got a 404 error. It’s as if the entry for her for that character was there when Google indexed the page, then subsequently removed.

Cool. I recognize her from THE CONNERS - yes, I’m still watching THE CONNERS - where she played a trans character, Becky’s boss.

Gibson may be my favorite fiction author. I sure hope he keeps writing long enough to finish what I assume will be the third book in this series, after THE PERIPHERAL and AGENCY, working title JACKPOT; he tends to write three novels in a common universe and sharing some characters.

This is like why I own several USB A-to-USB A cables. Yes, they totally violate the USB specification. Yes, you can get them on Amazon. The hardware guys had built an embedded system prototype with USB A connectors where the convention would have been to use USB B or similar. I had to use the A-to-A cables to connect…

Ditto. We had both cars packed up and slept in everything but pants and shoes so we could get out as quickly as possible if we got a reverse-911 call or a sheriff’s deputy banged on our front door. Fortunately, neither happened. It was a sobering experience.

“It is a singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of humans. We don’t know who struck first, us or them. But we know that it was us that warmed the globe. At the time they were dependent on petrochemical power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as…

I’ve owned my Subaru WRX Limited for four years, and I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve opened the sunroof.

Four years ago I bought my first car with heated seats - a Subaru WRX Limited - and I love them. Great until the heater gets going. I had a similar experience years ago when I bought my first motorcycle with heated grips - a used BMW R1100RT that I still own. I thought it was just a gimmick until I took my first long…

The opening credits of THE HAUNTING (1963).

It’s the color it is to indicate it’s lethal to both androids *and* humans.

My 2016 Subaru WRX has the CVT automatic transmission (which simulates a six-speed in software) and the “EyeSight” driver assist feature which includes “lane keeping”, “collision avoidance”, and “intelligent cruise control”. After the Spousal Unit and I attended the WorldCon in Kansas City Missouri, having driven from…

So unless in the history of the future folks it was already known that they themselves show up in their own past, then the people being taken from the past are by definition from a different time line (one which may not even include an alien invasion in its future) than the people from the future. Sounds like a scam…

Only one way to find out.

It was a Starbucks compilation CD that introduced me to trip hop and to what would become one of my favorite groups, The Supreme Beings of Leisure. Can’t complain.

Way back in the summer of 1979 when Skylab was going to reenter the Earth’s atmosphere, a friend of mine hosted a reentry party. We all wore hardhats, sat in his front yard on lawn chairs, and drank beer. Good times.

If he were any prettier, it would have been unbelievable, in the context of the story, that he wouldn’t have already been dating someone else.

“Pretty sure this should be a ‘Magic 010 Ball’.” - elderly C programmer

If you’re into this kind of thing, this is my home-brew GPS-disciplined NTP server with a cesium chip-scale atomic clock (CSAC) sitting in my living room, with my lab assistant Sophia keeping an eye on it.