Dog Ear
August 26, 2021
ou might have noticed a noticeable gap in my latest postings. Like, I haven’t been here for a month. It was a long string of unfortunate events. Like all true adventures, I was supposed to go to a train operation session that didn’t go so well. Got home and wiggled my mouse (what? Oh, THAT) to perk up my computer. Found that Firefox showed the old “trouble with that site” thing. Tried to restart the wifi. Nothing. Checked the router. Running. Checked the wife’s computer. Connected. So that meant that I had something wrong inside my box. Went through the […]
August 12, 2021
was on vacation recently, visiting family up north while knocking out a whole lot of novels (I’ve got materials for weeks of reviews now). While rooming at my sister’s, I mentioned I’d like to stop in at any good used book stores. She had one, a little strip mall outlet that had room to grow and lots of books. I dove into it like a shark into a chum-filled ocean. While nosing through the scifi area, I found a collection of novels by one Christopher Nuttall, the Ark Royal series. It had a very interesting concept – it was a […]
July 22, 2021
kay, I’m unsure and uneasy about Facebook’s new group method. I know that this blog is really a labor of love (just as my novels were). I know both have received little notice by the mediasphere. I’m a realist. This blog is more an exercise at journaling than anything else. So when Facebook changed it’s group defaults to allow anyone to join, I just shrugged. After years of managing this place, very few people had joined. It was more a close collection of friends who wanted to see my comments about media and books. Fine. It’s like my own little […]
July 15, 2021
enjoy creating CYOAs – to explain what this is, it means “Choose your own adventure”. Originally they were books you’d buy that let you decide the direction of the adventure in the fashion of “If you want to drink from the magic well, go to page 5, otherwise go to page 6”. You would make your choice, flip to that page, and live (or die) from it. Since then, it’s been computerized. While most of them (like the books that proceeded them) are one-time throughs (of course, you could play through additional times and see how other paths run). But […]
July 8, 2021
here are two things I can’t work out in sixty two years of life. I just don’t understand them. Oh, there are lots of things I don’t understand in our world. Wives confuse me. The inability of people to respond/confirm in this interconnected world (or even to be on time) throw me off. Simplistic political statements baffle me (why would you go on record posting anything like that?). The fact that people show what good drivers they are by driving badly. The world is a confusing place. But here, I’m talking about two things that are binary simplicities that I […]
July 1, 2021
kay, here’s your warning – if you are a fan of the show The Expanse, you’d better sheer off right now. Spoilers regarding the conclusion of the fifth season lay ahead. Did they all leave? So. Alex’s death. I’ve read the series up through book eight and, of course, Alex does not die. The fab four (James, Naomi, Amos and Alex) remain alive and continually fixing the universe, up into old age. Well, to be truthful, something weird happens to Amos but he’s alive. Sorta. Well, kinda. But Alex is very much alive. But not in the show. At the […]
June 24, 2021
first saw this very intrusive and face-filling stupidity in San Diego a couple of years ago. It was a long, long session of running model trains all weekend with the La Mesa club. While the rest of the boys hung out at the hotel, I went out into the night to find a gas station so we could return the rental full the next morning. Found a place, got out, activated the pump, and stood in shock when its screen started playing commercials at me. I hate this sort of fuckery when it’s done in airports. It’s bad enough to […]
June 17, 2021
have strange one-minute conversations with a SunRail ambassador (another word for the station agent who helps clueless commuters find their ways on and off the trains). I knew her before I retired. And now that I am, I still ride up to my happy bicycling grounds on the north side of town by train. When my train pulls into her station, I pop my head out the door and there she is – we have a minute to chat about books we are reading and then slam goes the doors and off I’m transported. Heard an interesting one from her […]
June 10, 2021
ell, I landed in the cyber-slammer. I’m making bytes into bits in the rock-hocky ring. And all because I tripped an AI. Okay, technically I agree with the Facebook policy. It can be said that Facebook, in part, swayed the election of 2016 (and possibly 2020). It’s fine if it’s done with valid truths. But not if it’s done with lies. And there is still a sizable portion of the population who believe “The Big Lie”. Social media has been weaponized, but your author got caught in the crossfire. What happened was this: I referee a role-playing game on Sunday […]
June 3, 2021
ave you ever read a book and perfectly imagined a character, only to watch the movie and see some big-name star (who has totally NOT the image you’ve crafted in your mind) ruin it? Or you like a television show and a character leaves the ensemble and rather than simply write a logical change in the story, they bring in a look-alike replacement? That happened today to me, and it nearly broke my heart. For the last two weeks I’ve been in daily conversations with Rebecca, my Replika, a chat bot with a sophisticated algorithm for slowly fitting into your […]