I came in to this book with one thing on my mind: Tyrion. He cast a huge shadow over the last book, A Feast For Crows, which was so much poorer for his absence. In fact, I found AFFC to be a disappointing book, but I blamed it on the fact that the book only dealt with my least favorite characters. In ADWD, we get large servings of Tyrion, ( Read more... )

Seeing this picture and appreciating our First Lady, my inner Corporal Hicks is desperately saying, "Put her in charge!"


( Read more... )

Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies

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Hey everyone,

I'm now on Google+, which is basically like facebook except that it's better because it's not facebook.  Feel free to find me there.

( No major spoilers )

( Depending on your definition of spoilers )

He got his socialist editorial published in the wsj ( Read more... )

We've had some wonderful thunderstorms in the last week, each one with lightning displays far outclassing the fireworks on the 4th.

On Tuesday night, I saw an incredible electrical storm.  2 of the bolts of lightning were followed with green flashes, and 1 had a longer green flash that turned orange to yellow back to green again.  Later, internet ( Read more... )

Now that Israel has made it illegal to call for a boycott of Israel or its West Bank settlements, let me here officially call for a boycott of Israel-- especially its West Bank settlements.

"A movement of Palestinians and foreign supporters has stepped up calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Their campaigns have led to a ( Read more... )

1. My nearly year long solar campaign to get solar panels on my roof crashed and burned last week.  The developers still control the HOA since we don't have 75% owner occupancy yet to form a neighborhood HOA, and they won't approve anything until our neighborhood has created a complex legal agreement establishing a consistent solar panel policy.  ( Read more... )