robert.admin – Page 142 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

December 4, 2016

M36 and M42 (of course) (12/4/2016)

uddy Greg was supposed to come over for movies and dinner and some Go. I figured, with predictions for a fine night and Orion marked overhead at midnight, to set the scope up. But then he called and canceled (I can’t tell you the reason, but man, what a reason). So here I was with an evening suddenly free and a need to fill it. In the cancelation call, I’d mentioned my intention of the scope. He told me that it wasn’t high on his list. With the planets all shyly in conjunction, he didn’t want to look at pinpoints […]

December 1, 2016

Extinction (DOG EAR)

ated to see this one occur. TheJurassic publishing house has finally announced its closing. Got an email concerning this and ordered their last anthology. I first became aware of Jurassic when my wife and I visited The Tate Gallery in London and viewed apocalyptic biblical paintings by George Martin. In the gift shop I found a collection of books with short stories written by unknown writers, each picking a painting and telling a tale behind them. Of course, some were bad but some were really, really good. And I found that my copy was one of a series, with a […]

November 27, 2016

The 13th Star (Review)

Not much I can say for this review, sorry. I got about 25% of the way in and it just didn’t spark for me. Pretty much most of the self-published novels I’ve read off Kindle have this feature – the writers don’t seem to know their craft. They don’t know rule one – show, don’t tell. And this book was all telling. A planet blows up. Populations are moved from planet to planet. A hero is a saint of a guy. But there aren’t details, tales and anecdotes to support this – just a running account of events. Sorry, I […]

November 24, 2016

Career Stories (DOG EAR)

‘ve fallen into a storytelling genre I didn’t know about. I have no idea what they are called, but me, I’ll call them Career Stories. My Roku box on my TV has given me access to a lot of series I didn’t have originally. And everyone knows about my love of Japanese Anime, those great vibrant, bouncy, elastic stories the Japanese love. Oh, they are crazy and stupid and childish and deep – all these things. They cover a wide range of emotions and intellects. Their entire society loves them, and here in the States, millennials and hipsters love them […]

November 20, 2016

Across the River and into the Trees (Review)

‘ve read a number of Hemingway stories and pretty much enjoyed them all. This one was a little tougher. While, yes, Hemingway could carry a tale of a man fighting an unseen fish along on the open sea, there were some long evenings in this one at a dinner table, a lot of small talk. Yes, a true test for an experienced reader. I can even now imaging Hemingway calling me a bastard for criticizing him. Still, the story is a slow one, a tale of a May-December romance between two people who might have been better off not lingering […]

November 20, 2016

Quiet night (11/20/2016)

unday is my best night for going out. During the week, I’m tired, I’ve got incoming calls from friends, just not good for dragging the scope out. So, yes, it’s Sunday. Yes, it’s clear. Yes, the moon is down. So let’s go scoping. I cast about as best I could given our downtown location. Picked up the double cluster, tried for Andromeda (no joy) and hunted for a couple of other clusters. We’ve got problems with the lights and a restricted viewing area (the trees) so I did as best I could. Still, I got to use the new StarBound […]

November 17, 2016

Shared (DOG EAR)

he election. Yeah, fuck, the election. Nothing more depressing than waking up in a world where the efforts and victories of the past eight years are swept away. The same-sex couple down the street? Their marriage is in real danger now. The freelance writer I know at NationalGeo? Her heathcare will likely be ripped away (leaving her with a pre-existing and no insurance). My Muslim friends are concerned; who wouldn’t be in this sea of rising rage. I mean, fuck. So that Wednesday was pretty gray for me. On the bus-link to work, the black riders and driver talked about […]

November 13, 2016

Beginning Go (Review)

ang, GO is a confusing game!” This from my sister, who is learning this game at my recommendation. And yes, it is a confusing game. Basically, if play your stones, black or white, in turn with the opposing player. If you manage to surround a stone (or group of stones) with yours, you take them. Territory, too. But in this, it’s deceptively complex. There are students of this game who start as children and train, train, train to be pros. Me, I’m just a fifty-seven year old guy who has come about this game late in life and is delving […]

November 9, 2016

Life and Art (DOG EAR)

alking under cloudy pre-dawn skies (Mordor skies) to the train station. Was thinking about what had happened the night before, the breaking of the line, the loss of the field, the fall of our future. Amid these morose thoughts, I noticed a Hillary sign hanging like a defeated frigate’s sail in the sweeping lights of passing suburban FUVs. And it made me think of who I am, what has made me, and the changes before us. My thoughts went to Winds of War and War and Remembrance which I can still largely remember reading while I was in my teens, some […]

November 7, 2016

OpsLog – Tehachapi – 11/6/2016

o this was a long train day. Or a long day with trains. Or a day of long trains. I don’t know. But I broke a personal record here. Started off with a nice railroady breakfast (eggs and bacon) severed up by our hostess Andrea (such a sweetie). Then, the railroad belched to life. Crews reported in. John and I went onto the signup board, separate – my bird was ready to shake off its blood crusts and fly. And off he went to run helpers off Tehachapi. And there I sat. And sat and sat. Last on the board. […]