I was always a science fiction fan, and a big believer in human space exploration, from the time I learned to read. I expected to grow up into a world where people traveled around the solar system as routinely as they took the train from NYC to Washington, DC. I was going to be a space traveler - before they even invented the word "astronaut"! By ( Read more... )

( This is a very long block of text, so I'm putting it behind a cut tag. )

Today, January 4, happens to be the birthday of my friend
( Read more... )

Browngirl's birthday happens to be January 2, which is kind of unfair - I know how it feels to have my birthday get absorbed into the general winter-holiday festivities. But she definitely deserves a whole day of celebration herself! She draws marvelous beautiful pictures. She writes poems and stories. I'm sorry that LJ and DW have disabled their ( Read more... )

I want to state that my "New Year's Resolution" is, as it is every year, to not make New Year's Resolutions.

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I'm going to be out of town until probably Thursday morning, celebrating with relatives-of-relatives. May you all have an enjoyable holiday, and I wish you all tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy!

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I just turned 71, and here's the birthday cake I made for myself. It's in the shape of a five-pointed star, and it's covered with purple edible glitter, adorned with little star-shaped silver candies and purple lightning bolts (pre-made candy painted with purple edible metallic paint). There are seven small silver candles for 70 years, and a large ( Read more... )

Hannukah is coming up. And here's a Hannukah parody of "Bohemian Rhapsody" from a band called Six 13:

(I grew up not far from where this was recorded. And the voice and piano teacher of my childhood, who was a cantor as well as a retired operatic basso, once told me that all Jewish holidays have the same theme: "They tried to kill us. We won. ( Read more... )

I made the same Thanksgiving feast I've been making just about every year - I posted pictures of it in 2015. A rolled turkey breast in the two-pound/one-kilo range, which I brined overnight. Turkey gravy. Butter-dipped pan rolls, which I've made into a tradition. My world-famous three-rice stuffing with walnuts and sherry. Cooked corn, and ( Read more... )

...and for all of us who voted for them! This is blues man Keb'Mo', with Roseanne Cash (Johnny Cash's daughter from his first marriage):

Robert A. Heinlein once wrote that men have run everything for a very long time, and made a complete mess of things in the process. He suggested that we arrange it so that women run things with the same kind of ( Read more... )