Jun 19
In the dog world there are hundreds of different breeds, some ancient and just now gaining recognition, others created recently to fulfill some aesthetic or work demand. These puppies, for example, are Turkish Catalburuns, a rare breed that is born with two noses ** or rather one nose divided into two chambers — split nostrils …
Jun 12
Coffee in Seattle is big business. Small roasters abound, creating their own special mixes and blends. I give name suggestions for those coffee houses here, and as for the specialties they offer, why not one of these randomly generated ones? Coffee Blends Sunny Aztec Down Under Midnight Mountain Eden Southeast Cascade Sunrise Diplomat Lazy …
Jun 05
I did not think too much of Richard K. Morgan’s fantasy novel The Cold Commands, but I do admire the care the author put into his naming systems for the trilogy. Each culture of his universe — Kiriath, Yhelteth, League, Majak — has its own naming conventions, and all are distinct from each other and …
May 29
Uhhh… Casey Kasem was in this? Well, he was the voice of Shaggy in Scooby-Doo… B-movies have long been with us, but after the deregulation of the Hollywood production code in the 1960s, the gateway was open for all sorts of lurid, sensational content. Happily it also coincided with the counterculture, and the two produced …
May 22
When I think of nouveau cuisine, I think of small items of food on very large large plates. Of course there’s more to it than that. Such as an emphasis on freshness and natural ingredients, aesthetic presentation, and novel food combinations. Unlike classical French cooking, there are no heavy sauces and complicated preparation. The portions …
May 15
Not a lot seems to happen in the American Heartland, even in the U.S.A. of an alternate world. The exception is the world of Star Trek, where Captain James T. Kirk (remember the T stands for Tiberius) is stated in canon to have been born in “a small town in Iowa.” When the series was …
May 08
For all my fooling around with steampunk slang, clothing, and book titles, I doubt I’ll ever write one. Why? I don’t like the Victorian Age that much Oh, I’ve tried to like it. I had an older sibling who was infatuated with Victorian decor, china, and 1980s Victorian revival fashions. I liked them from an …
May 01
In Vonda McIntyre’s novel Dreamsnake a herpetologist/healer (also, rather creatively, named Snake) on a post-apocalyptic Earth relies on Mist, an albino cobra, Sand, a rattlesnake, and Grass, an alien creature that resembles a snake, to cure the patients she meets. By feeding them different chemical concoctions, their venom becomes a means of healing rather …
Apr 24
Author Madeleine L’Engle wrote a heckuvalotta novels. In addition to the Wrinkle in Time (or the Kairos series as she called it) books pictured above, she also wrote a second generation series about the same family, plus the Chronos series about the Austin family, the Katherine Forrester series, and the Camilla Dickinson series. One thing …
