Exclusive of periodicals like Punch (1841-1891 run plus large batches after), the Connecticut State Register (1816-1992 run, plus batches before and after), Military History Quarterly, American Heritage, and some comic book series, that's the total. Inclusive of the periodicals, it's likely I have ca. 3,300 books in my apartment ( Read more... )

I saw this quote on an LJ that I see, though the author did not allow comments on it. The context was a deeply negative reaction to a pending initiative in Mississippi that would define personhood in a way that would limit what is known as "reproductive rights" in some circles, and "abortion" in others ( Read more... )

I was made sad today by the news that Earl Kress had passed away from complications due to cancer. Kress was someone whose talents I had admired in shows like Pinky and the Brain and Road Rovers, and the various WB-related comic books. I met him once, under happy circumstances (a lunch I hosted for Kress, Charlie Howell, Tom Ruegger et alia at ( Read more... )

Other than it's very quiet here in the city (they turned off the mass transit system, and there's hardly any traffic on the streets), and it's raining hard, not much going on.

The a-eMum's blood pressure needs a bit of regulating. At the moment, she's not on any specific medication, but the a-e has seen some sharp swings that are pretty painful to see, as it affects her emotions ( Read more... )

In the same sense that doggies go "wan-wan," and mice go "chu," what is the noise associated with deer? Especially the senbei-noshing Nara variety.

I saw TonyFox mention a DC-4 in one of his recent posts; that very plane came up in a conversation the a-e had with the a-eMum over the weekend ( Read more... )

The a-e got in a few more Levenger BookBoxes (modular wooden bookcases that are, well, box-shaped). It's enabled him to get some things off the floor, and/or sorted better and/or more readily available. (He did find where he'd put his copy of Rovere's "Howe and Hummell: Their True and Scandalous History," a hilarious book about two crooked ( Read more... )

Those who know the a-e, and have seen the a-e's apartment, know that he loves to read and collect. Off and on over the last bunch of years, he's been buying volumes of Punch, the British humour magazine founded in 1841 that went West for the first time in the early 90s, and had a brief and failed revival later. But when it was at its peak, it had ( Read more... )

In toying with some antique Keuffel & Esser slide rules, it's occurred to me that: (a) the use assumes you're already quite good at estimating what the answer is, and (b) the use assumes a level of fractions that's pretty interesting.