robert.admin – Page 46 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

December 12, 2021

A Pirate’s Life in the Golden Age of Piracy (Review)

y friend Brian loaned me this one, a book about the history of piracy over the golden age (1600’s, mostly). I went into it with my engine room set to dubious speed – author Robert Jacob notes in his opener that he isn’t really a historian in any way. He is just into pirates (his author picture shows him in pirate cosplay garb). So, I figured, let’s see about pirates. I’ll give him this – he did a very competent and thorough job. He works his way from 1640 onward, following each captain as he plunders and blunders about, picking […]

December 10, 2021

Bebop (DOG EAR)

ust one of these nice stories. Had all sorts of crises over the last few weeks. Outside of the overshadowing disaster of a month ago, I caught something from a friend (how do you catch things, what with doing a good job with a mask?). Had to go to the ER and make sure it wasn’t Covid. Upper respiratory infection. Then, to top things off, a crown popped off a day ago. So I was worried about going in with my hacking – what happens if I accidentally cough and blow the not-set crown across the room? But things settled […]

December 5, 2021

OpsLog – FEC – 12/4/2021

nother day on the Florida East Coast and since Ken and Bev were short, I was able to bring a couple of N-trakers along. With all these newbies (and long-aways) we were expecting a very chaotic session and in that, we were not disappointed. Session started out great (from the moment I was assigned the dispatcher sheet). There were some wobbles early on as trains were delayed getting out of the yard (usually we sweep everyone out quick and make room for more but dial-up issues and throttle-chasing put us in the hole). After that, things settled down (or so […]

December 5, 2021

Redshirts (Review)

love John Scalzi’s writing – enjoyed Old Man’s War and The Collapsing Empire. And I’ll admit I was looking for a light-hearted book, a lampoon of sorts of Hollywood sci-fi franchises and the characters who are in them. Expecting nothing more than a reheating of Galaxy Quest, I dove into Redshirts. So Ensign Andrew Dahl of the Universal Union has just been assigned to the Intrepid, flagship of the fleet. Since it is a forward exploration and combat vessel, one would expect casualties. But, as the nerd joke goes, the security forces (i.e. the “redshirts”) suffer appalling losses. And they die […]

December 2, 2021

The Inviolability of Books (DOG EAR)

ooks represent a number of things, particularly the containment and storage of thought, knowledge and wisdom. That is why book burnings (by Nazis) and book bannings (by school boards) seems like such an evil thing to those who wish to see humanity reflect on its mistakes, realizations and histories. And which is why throwing out books made me a bit queasy recently. You see, I had to intercede in a friend’s medical crisis and breaking into his house revealed that he was a hoarder. Marie Kondo would have run screaming from the piles. Me, I found it a bit disturbing. […]

November 28, 2021

Make Room! Make Room! (Review)

ritten in 1966 (just as overpopulation was becoming a known concern), this novel by Harry Harrison was the driving force behind the movie Soylent Green. Focusing on the book (the whole cannibalism aspect is absent), we have detective Andy Rusch sharing a small tenement flat with Sol, a retired engineer who has cobbled together a bike-generator for their small fridge and TV. Andy has been assigned a case looking into the murder of a known racketeer – it’s thought to be the work of a new mob moving into New York (it’s actually the result of a frightened burglar who […]

November 25, 2021

oally Unaccepable (DOG EAR)

hort piece on hanksiving day. The “” key sopped working on my keyboard. I press i and nohing happens. I really pisses me off. So I lay in bed hinking about he keyboard and wha I migh wrie, and I figured why not about his supid failing key? Sared the piece and hen remembered he can of jet spray in the close. Sure! hat migh work! So I sprayed he key from all sides. …. How is it working? ttttt. Seems whatever was stuck under there, whatever crumb or dust or gunk, it’s blown out. No “T” problems anymore. At […]

November 25, 2021

OpsLog – LM&O – 11/24/2021

ow that was depressing. It’s my birthday. My wife is in the hospital for observation for her dicky heart. I need something to take my mind off everything. It’s ops night! Great! Nobody showed. Honest, our other pre-Thanskgiving events were always well-attended. Everyone stayed late because it was a holiday tomorrow. But this time some people had to work, some people were traveling, and some people took the cheap way out and had passed away. We had six guys running the layout on their own. So no dispatcher and not a lot of chatter. We ran two freight trains, a […]

November 22, 2021

OpsLog – TY&E – 11/21/2021

remember when there were five N-scale layouts in this area. Every Monday night, younger versions of myself and my friends would meet and operate. We’d stick through things until 11pm or so and run the crap out of whatever home layout we found ourselves at. But everything changes. People. Relationships. And clubs. Now here are three layouts that can operate in this area (and two of them are mine). The other belongs the Python-quoting JW, the Tipton, Youngstown & Erie Railroad. And in a creepy Frankenstein way, the TY&E is made up of 30 year old modules (which our club […]

November 21, 2021

The Last Emperox (Review)

or this review, I’m going to avoid spoilers. It’s the last book of the The Interdependency Trilogy. I won’t tell you who lives and who dies. However, the flow passages between the planets of the Empire are shutting down, entire habitats with billions of souls dependent on trade will die, and the only planet (End) with a natural biosphere that could keep humans alive is controlled by evil Noble House Nohamapetan, and even if they lifted their blockade the planet would be overrun by billions of displaced people. So it’s pretty grim. We see Emperox Grayland II trying to mature […]