This May Be A Dead Zucchini...

A little research suggests that if I keep the ground moist around the plant, there's an even chance it will recover, even from this state. If it does, I'm renaming it Zombie Zucchini.

Memorial Day

Let us not forget those who have sacrificed in our name.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "Escape From Mystery Manor" - This one is all about the ongoing storyline, and as such is very strange. I mean, really really strange. But fun. The final shot lent some real mystery to the whole thing, much to my surprise.


• Primeval: "Season 5 Episode 1" - Yay, Primeval's back! A burrowing creature from the future causes lots of problems. Connor was good in this one, although I'm still finding the Connor/Abby thing strange. The ongoing plotline is becoming more of an issue. I just hope it's solved quickly.


• Doctor Who: "The Almost People" - I *KNEW* the Doctor would do that. KNEW IT. As soon as I figured out how they differed. Anyway. A lot becomes clear in this one, except for *when* the change happened. I'm guessing first story, but I'm not sure which part. This story also suggests a way out for the Doctor. After next week's mid-season finale, I think Eric and I may have to rewatch the first part of the season.

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This week's movie was Young Indiana Jones: Passion for Life (British East Africa and Paris, 1908-09). I don't know if I should be treating these as movies, as I know we're going to have to watch a lot of them this summer before we return the borrowed DVD set. The first part of this edit was originally the third episode of the season, the second half was from the second season. The age jump wasn't quite as dramatic this time. The first part was Indy meeting Teddy Roosevelt in Africa and finding a rare animal. The second was Indy running around in Paris with a young Norman Rockwell meeting various artists. Both parts were pretty good, and you would think that the tutor has figured out by now that Indy will run off given the chance, even if he promises not to. But I really enjoyed how the tutor and Picasso got along. Again I wish that we could see the framing sequences with old Indy. That's the worst flaw with this DVD set.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• April 27th
• Brightest Day #24 - Well... wow. That's over. And started. Aquaman has a new story all set-up, I guess we'll have to wait until after Flashpoint for that. But Hawkman, ouch. That's lousy. Not half bad.
• Action Comics #900 - Thanks to the news media, I thought this had been spoiled. Fortunately, that whole thing was just a part of a back-up story. The main story was just as interesting as the rest of this series has been.
• Justice Society of America #50 - After reading the first few pages I had to check the cover to see if I was reading the wrong book. It all made sense eventually.
• Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #9 - Well, Kyle seems to be getting the hang of the Blue spectrum, but I don't think John is anywhere close to what the Indigos are supposed to be.
• Doctor Who Vol 2 #4 - End of the Jack the Ripper story. Still lousy artwork, but the end of the story wasn't that bad.
• May 4th
• JSA All-Stars #18 - That was a bit unexpected. Did the good guys win or not?
• Batman Beyond #5 - Poor Terry. He's going to end up alone and bitter like the old man.
• Ozma of Oz #6 - Yay, Dorothy guessed one correct! Ahem, one of my favorite scenes of the story, as the Nome King tricks people into becoming statues and other items in his collection. I love Billina's role in this, although she hasn't actively done anything yet.
• Usagi Yojimbo #137 - Unexpected twist near the end leads to an even more compelling cliffhanger... I really want to see how this turns out.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Stepford Plants Report

I'm not feeling very well about my plants this week. I think I'm messing up. I need to get on the ball and deal with the problems of the plants... I need to get back to watering them regularly. And I have a little terror of the plants that I put outside. I think they will die, but then I remember last year, and... Argh. Ok, let's start at the top, right?

The plum stick is surviving nicely, but is beginning to look a little droopy. Again, watering issues. The biggest problem is that it keep raining, and it's really hard for me to judge how much rain is enough. If I had an automatic system like almost every neighbor around here, they would just get watered. But since I have to do it manually, I keep second-guessing myself. Well, judging by this picture compared to last week's, I need to water more, rather than less.

Linkdump

It's Towel Day.

Yeah, I'm here, too.

Superman crossover.

The problem with Seattle for cartoonish super-villains.

I have trouble believing this is a photo. Very cool.

Kevin and Kell talk about teachers: school board meeting and easy targets.

The real problem with the metric system.

As a person very interested in archeology, all I can say is AWESOME!

Joplin Tornado Booklet from 1971.

This is what happens when we don't vaccinate.

I don't think I'd better comment on this, but I want to link to it: Abortion Saved my Life.

Pugs for the in-laws.

Intense Video

Do not watch this video if you are at all sensitive, and I suggest not playing it for children. There is almost no visual, the chilling effects are in the sound. It is almost 6 minutes long, and if you don't watch the whole thing, around 2 minutes in is where it gets truly intense. The video is taken on a cell phone, and is a group of survivors who huddled in a gas station as the Joplin Tornado hit, they were pretty much in its direct path.

There is much more about the Joplin Tornado here, and please consider a donation to the Red Cross if you can manage it. The folks in that area are getting hit very hard this year, and could use a hand.

Update: he went back to the gas station and filmed what was left:

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "The Wild Brood" - A gang of orcs comes to Crystal Cove and is promptly accused of a crime. I love Fred's cluelessness and Velma's genius. I also enjoyed the nonchalance that most people greeted the orcs with. Fun episode.
• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "Where Walks Aphrodite" - The entire town is suddenly lovestruck, and only Scooby seems to be immune. The fact that they remember everything might be important later. Seeing the girls show interest in the guys' interests was actually somewhat thrilling. Maybe there is hope after all.


• Doctor Who: "The Rebel Flesh" - Standard siege episode in many ways, although the Doctor almost manages to defuse the problem before it starts. I think I'll have to wait on the next episode to make a real judgment, but I'm liking it so far.

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This week's movie was Young Indiana Jones: My First Adventure (Egypt + Tangiers 1908). This is the mangled re-edit of the original TV series. This takes the pilot episode, minus the second half, and marries it to an unaired episode from the third season. It's a serious pity, as apparently the original first two episodes worked together really well. The new second half was filmed years later than the first part, so Corey Carrier, who plays Indiana, has grown up considerably and looks completely different even though the second adventure supposedly takes place immediately after the first. The edit between the two episodes was badly done, and it was quite a jolt to suddenly see an older Indiana. In addition, the framing sequences with Very Old Indy are gone.

Ok, so now that I've gone over all the negatives, let's get to the positives. The stories were good, well-written and mostly well-acted. The characters were great, and the filming was incredible. The locations were amazing. I can see why this show got critical acclaim. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of it with hubby-Eric, even in mangled form.

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Here are reviews of the DCBS comic books that I've gotten around to reading and reviewing, sorted by the original shipping date:

• April 6th
• Brightest Day #23 - Aquaman comes back again, and Mera, Jackson, and Lorena even make cameos. Not too bad for a penultimate issue.
• JLA 80-Page Giant 2011 - Everyone goes to Dante's Hell, with nice commentary on their personalities. Nifty.
• JSA All-Stars #17 - A superpowered man pleads with the JSA to believe that they've just lost their memories of him. I'm not sure what to think about this... I suspect a lot depends on the payoff.
• Batman Beyond #4 - A issue that sort of focuses on Terry's computer expert friend. New bits and pieces, and what I found to be an impressive piece of continuity with the current DCU. Nice.
• Doctor Who Classics Series 4 #3 - A solid little done-in-one story that I hadn't read before. Very fun.
• Royal Historian of Oz #4 - Scraps is a lot of things, but terrifyingly creepy ought not to be one of them. I have to wonder who is delivering the letters, though. I'm starting to really get into this book.
• Ozma of Oz #5 - Ooooh, I'd forgotten all about the hammering man! Great fun, as the procession goes to meet with the Nome King. I like the design of the Nomes, and the cover makes them seem like minions from that recent movie.
• Usagi Yojimbo #136 - Man, almost as soon as the problem was stated I knew who the guilty parties were. I was thrown off a little for a time, but the cliffhanger was not unexpected. Only question now is what Usagi will do.
• April 13th
• Birds of Prey #11 - A twisted love story as Huntress is on the job. I was a little startled by the whole set up in this one, and by the conclusion. Wow. That's heavy stuff for a comic.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold #6 - J'onn asks Batman to help him perfect his deduction skills. All very cute and clever, even if the cover gives away what's going to happen.
• Northlanders #39 - I'm not really sure how I feel about this one, just a little confused perhaps. I suppose I ought to reread the first parts to understand this issue.
• Oz/Wonderland Chronicles #4 - Ah. So, is it over then, or will there be more of these books coming out? And, if so, perhaps I should wait until we have all of them before reading so I can keep track of what's happening, maybe?
• Spongebob Comics #2 - Huh. No Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Bleah. Maybe next issue.
• April 20th
• Green Lantern #65 - Well, I wouldn't have been expecting that, except for the cover of Green Lantern Corps. Still, the bit with Hal and Guy was sort of fun.
• Green Lantern Corps #59 - This cover gave away too much. I like John's uniform. It's going to be an interesting ride with them in this situation. I wonder if it'll have a good ending, or go out with a pop instead of a bang?
• Justice League of America #56 - More Eclipso, more Doomsday, more yawns.
• Power Girl #23 - A cute little story with lots of little cute bits. Did I mention it was cute?
• Zatanna #12 - A villain who can make time go backwards attacks a bunch of merpeople? Hmmm, almost Aquaman-y, but it's Zatanna that saves the day. Interesting stuff those merfolk were saying, though. Bluff, or something else?
• Young Justice #3 - I like that Aqualad is the voice of reason, I don't like that he went along anyway and I really don't like what happened then.
• Tiny Titans #39 - It was very... pink.
• Fables #104 - Great way to start the issue, and totally fell for it. The rest wasn't bad, either.
• DMZ #64 - Things are definitely winding up, but I'm not sure how exactly this can end up good. And what has Roth got up his sleeve?
• Doctor Who: Fairytale Life #1 - A significant part of me doesn't buy that the Doctor would be that careless. He acts careless, true, but it seems unlike him to be that bad. Then again, this incarnation isn't exactly the most stable.
• Soldier Zero #7 - I felt like this book was about five pages too short. Definitely ended too quickly, and I don't know whether that's good or bad.

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My Kindle book this week was Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know by Hamilton Wright Mabie, a Kindle freebie. I actually got this before I got my Kindle, when I first tried out Kindle for PC. I finally finished reading it this week. It's a fairly standard collection of fairy tales, most of them were familiar to me. There were a handful I hadn't read before. There are no illustrations in this version, just the text, but I enjoyed reading more than a few stories I knew only from other adaptations in a different style. It could have been better, just adding a more useful table of contents and some images would have improved it dramatically, but for the price it really is a bargain.

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Fortean Times #275 (June 2011). This issue arrived on Monday, meaning I'm completely caught up with FT for now. The back cover was showing this time, with a not-too-bad ad. Kind of a spooky cover, featuring a jeweled skeleton. The cover article is all about the tradition of taking the bones of purported saints and posing and decorating them. It's a rather disturbing tradition that thankfully died out over 100 years ago. I admit that the whole thing gave me ideas for stories, which is one good reason to read this magazine. This article has the best final quote of any article I've read in ages.

Strangedays covers a lot of topics, ranging from tsunami survivors in Japan to dead folks being ticketed in their cars. The Cornish apparition may have been more convincing with a second picture taken from the same spot that shows nothing there. There's also a report of a woman who literally has no fear because she lacks an amygdala. A fascinating article proposes that Christopher Columbus was actually a Polish prince (!) and makes a fairly good case for it.

The Science article looks at how newspapers tend to misreport science stories, focusing on a tick-borne disease that was "invading" Britain. Ghostwatch is about celebrity ghost hunts and how pointless they are as serious research. Mythconceptions debunks drunk elephants while Strangedays has a report of drunk elephants... in different circumstances, though. Archaeology has some nice 2400 year old soup for us, while Classical Corner talks about the lives of ancient writers. Police News tells us about the Jumping Ghost of Peckham, which is one of those totally awesome just plain bizarre stories from the 1870s.

Another article is about Andy Kaufman, and the more I read and learn about him, the more interested I am in him. I remember him on Taxi well, because I watched that a lot as a kid for some reason. Latka was one of my favorite characters, and I think that would really annoy Kaufman. The article discusses Kaufman as the traditional Trickster, a role he fits almost too well. Two more articles round out this issue with information on Holy Wells and Water and a more thorough explanation of the Trunko debunking, including all three newly rediscovered photos.

The forum is up for more debunking, with a discussion of whether or not Constantine the Great ever really saw a vision from God that inspired him. The second forum article points out that crop circles existed before the pranksters who admitted to making them. And a third article rips apart the author of the precognitive dreams article from issue #273, accusing him of cherry-picking his data (oooh, writer-fight!). The reviews are pretty good, although one rating is missing sending my OCD side into tizzy fits. Letters are good, and the simulacra is the dirtiest one I've see in many ways (oh, your minds are in the gutter!). Another great issue, and now that I'm completely caught up, it'll be another four weeks before the next one. WAH!

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

I feel fine

If you're still here, go watch this.

It's the Alpacalypse

I Choose YOU! ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH....

Stepford Plants Report

I really should have gotten up and gone out to mow the yard the instant I was fully awake this morning. We've got brilliant weather out there, and it's supposed to get into the upper 70s and low 80s over the next couple of days. A nice change from the series of storms that have been hitting us the last few months. And the yard needs a mow. But I waited, and when I went out to get my pictures I could tell it was already too warm for me to successfully do any mowing. If I get some energy, I may try to clean up the garden plot, but no mowing today.

There have been a handful of developments in the plant life over the last week. Two plants have made their way to a friend's house, where they have already been transplanted outside, shaming me a little. One of the zucchini and one of the Moneymaker tomatoes are gone and shall provide fruit for someone else. I also finally repotted one of the peppers yesterday, and if I'm lucky both will survive long enough to bear fruit. But why don't I go into detail after the cut?

Kindle Converter App - Another Reason I Should Get a New Kindle

The makers of Kindle Notepad have done it again, this time coming up with an application that quickly does simple conversions for you, Converter. From the product page:

Converter is a simple utility that lets you convert between different units of measure on your Kindle and answer common conversion questions. How many Cups are in a Quart and how many Teaspoons are in a Tablespoon? Having trouble converting between Celsius and Fahrenheit while visiting a foreign country? Quickly convert among 76 units of measure...

The help page for the app gives you a little more information. Again, this is a simple converter, useful for minor needs, but probably not that useful to scientist types. But it sounds very handy for people who always have their Kindles with them and sometimes need to do some quick conversions.

Ego Feeding Time at the Blog

I've added one of Blogspot's less useful "features" to my blog. I don't know how long it will remain, because it's a clumsy and poor implementation of a what actually is a pretty good idea. If you have Javascript enabled (which, in general, you shouldn't), you should be able to see a check box at the bottom of each of my posts with the words "Feed My Ego: Click if you appreciated this blog entry." followed by a number in parenthesis.

This is my version of the "Reaction Button" that Blogger added to their blogs a few years ago. I wanted a "Like" button, but didn't want to link to Facebook to get it. So I took the reactions, which are actually designed to allow you to have multiple reactions to an entry, and just put one option instead of 3 or 4 in.

Again, I'm not sure if it will remain on my blog for very long. It doesn't look great, and there's no way to customize it. The counts are a little too easy to reset. And it's javascript, which is blocked by most responsible web browsers anymore. If I find a better way to do this, I'll probably use it. In the meantime, feel free to click it and see what happens.

Doctor Who Inside Joke

Rory really ought to be renamed "Kenny". (SPOILER ALERT!)Three deaths in the first four episodes this season, not to mention being wiped from existence last season.(END SPOILER)

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Being Human (US): "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Me Killing You" - And we finally see the final episode of the US version of the show. And they manage to surprise at several turns. Oh, some of it turned out the way I expected, but that final fight between Herrick and Mitchell, er, Bishop and Aiden, was completely different for obvious reasons. Good stuff, and I'm looking forward to seeing more next season.
• Becoming Human: Adam, the teenage vampire from the UK Being Human, goes back to school and meets a werewolf in denial named Christa then a ghost named Matt who was murdered. I like the relationship between the characters, and I love the way this whole thing played out. A nice mystery, with room for a follow-up if they choose to do it.
• Doctor Who: "The Doctor's Wife" - The TARDIS arrives in a bubble dimension where strange things immediately start happening. After pondering last week's episode, I recognize that it had plot holes you could float a ship through, but I still enjoyed it at the time. This one seemed pretty tight plotwise, and was also very enjoyable. The title makes perfect sense in the context.

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Fortean Times #274 (Special 2011). I don't mind this cover at all. Ambras Syndrome (hypertrichosis) isn't scary or too freaky, just a little unusual. Certainly better than swastikas. The image is from Illustrated Police News, a newspaper started in 1863 (and ran until 1938) that catered to the lowbrow tastes of the working class public. The four page article is actually less than a page and a half of text, but manages to be fairly interesting despite a lack of detail and a focus on sleepwalkers (four of the five images in the article are "somnambulists", the other is the cover image). However, this promises to be the first in a series of articles about the newspaper, so I'll forgive the faults and simply enjoy the oddity for now.

Into the main mag... Strangedays starts with a lake monster. There is a report of another fish kill, this time a million or so sardines. A couple of reports of coincidence are fun to read about. Then we have a man with 12 fingers and 14 toes (with picture to prove it) and a baby born with two lower front teeth (again, with picture) whose mother has decided to bottle-feed. Reports of animals in the wrong place shows off pictures of racoons and kangaroos in Britain. Another article questions the guilt of Dr Crippen, famous in a 1910 murder case. A rather sickening collection of family members being locked up rounds out the strange news.

The Science article tells us of a Victorian list of human vestigial organs, many of which aren't. For instance, the pineal and pituitary glands. Oops. Archaeology shows us a Tudor garden maze that was discovered via WWII Luftwaffe aerial spy photographs. Classical Corner is about faked works by well-known writers, going back to Thucydides and before. Alien Zoo has a follow-up about the giant heads and a mystery about a giant owl. Ghostwatch is about haunted funeral homes, and the lack thereof. Blasts from the Past is about lake monsters of Italy and Germany. The Random Dictionary is about Time Slips, with some interesting examples.

Britain's X-Files covers the latest release of Ministry of Defense UFO files, and what's in them this time. There's a nice long article about Queen Victoria's stalker Edward "The Boy" Jones, and his adventures in the Palace. The sidebar to the article lists many other stalkers from old. The second part of last month's article about Otto Rahn and his search for the Holy Grail with the help of the Nazis fills six pages and would be more worthy of the cover feature than last month's part.

The Forum has three articles, one about the preacher who claims the world will end on May 21st. The second article is about positive results in a psi test, using strict scientific methods, that either argues that science needs to change some of its methods or that psi is real. The implications are a little more far-reaching than it might sound but I wonder if it will result in any real changes? The third article hunts down facts about a couple of old sea yarns, and finds nothing substantial. The reviews were good, as usual, and a couple of books made it onto my wish and watch lists. The letters were solid, and the cartoon amusing, and I find myself already wishing and waiting for the next issue.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

Now That's Art...

Blogging About Blogging...

In case you were unaware, Blogger went down for about 20 hours, and then it took some time before the last couple of days of posts were restored. Everything appears to be back to normal again, but if something should vanish again it is probably Blogger's fault, not mine. I hope.

Stepford Plants Report

Eric had an unexpected day off on Monday, and it was clear and sunny, so we mowed the yard and trimmed as much as possible. It's still not too bad today, though if it's dry over the weekend I ought to mow again. I think mowing is one of those jobs that will never be done.

Before the cut today let's have another dramatic picture of the Plum Stick. Sadly, I moved as I took the picture, so it's a little distorted. But it's still a very cool image, I think.

It's Raining

Other than that, I haven't got anything to say.

CameraPhone Zen

CameraPhone Zen

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Being Human (US): "You're the One That I Haunt" - Sally is freaky at the beginning of this one, and disturbing later on. Starsky and Hutch vampires was ... really disturbing. The werewolf story is getting really scary too. Touching bit with Aidan's Starsky girlfriend. The fire was a fascinating way to deal with that plotline.


• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Shadow of the Bat!" - Batman is infected and becomes a vampire. Oh, fun bit with the Justice League in this one. I really enjoyed the whole thing. Especially Aquaman, although Fire and Ice almost outdid him in this.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "The Night of the Batmen!" - After Batman is injured, the other heroes attempt to fill in for him. I recall an issue of the comic book with a similar plot. As it went, Aquaman made for a hilarious Batman. And the reason that everyone knew Batman was injured was almost too funny... almost painful.


• Doctor Who: "The Curse of the Black Spot" - Answering a distress call, the TARDIS crew find a pirate ship with a problem. The only problem with this episode, if you want to call it that, are the bits that relate to the ongoing storyline. As a stand alone episode, this was a fantastic one. Rory's bits were really funny, but the whole thing was pretty good. As for the ongoing storyline, I think I need to rewatch from the beginning of Matt Smith's run to catch the clues.

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Fortean Times #273 (May 2011). A major annoyance with this issue. The cover itself isn't too bad except for the big swastika in the corner, and the back cover is at least as bad in a grotesque sort of way, with almost nudity from a "Circus of Horrors" ad. Guess which cover had the address slip in front of it? I suppose, from a technical standpoint, swastikas are far worse than nudity and the grotesque, but the address slip was transparent enough to see the swastika through it anyway making the whole thing pointless. I would SO like them to return to sending these in those non-see-through plain white envelopes. I like the contents of the magazine a LOT (if you haven't figured it out from my previous reviews) but I despise a good portion of the advertisements and I often don't like the covers.

One more note about the covers. Because I get the US print version of the magazine, the months are not the same as the UK version. If you go to Zinio and check out the mag, you'll see that issue #273 is listed as April 2011. It also has the price in pounds on the front. My cover is identical except for the month, the price, and the barcode. So I will always be a month off if I continue to subscribe to the print edition.

On yet another note, I am very tempted by the digital version. No more worries about the mailman thinking I'm a pervert (in this VERY conservative town that I call "Churchville" for a reason) and I would get the mag earlier, closer to the time UK subscribers get theirs. The other bonus is that I paid roughly $80 a year for the print version, and the Zinio version is only $48.15. The downside is that I couldn't read it comfortably in bed since I don't have a mobile device that handles Zinio format, and pre-sleep reading of this mag is my favorite. Also, it's too soon to tell if Zinio will last and if it doesn't I could easily lose access to my back issues. I suppose it's just as well my current print subscription runs to August 2012.

Right, getting back to the magazine at hand... the cover story is part one of a study of a single Nazi dude and his interest in the Holy Grail. It's really not worth the cover spot. A better article is about a fellow who appears to have a radio transmitter embedded in his shoulder. The article goes through types of tracking technology that currently exist, and may exist in the future, but the device in the guy's shoulder is unknown because it hasn't been removed. Another article is about the changing types of mediums from Miss Cleo to Lisa Williams. A further article is about streetlight interference, a phenomenon that I've seen in person (I contributed my experience to the author of the article, who is writing a book about it). Another article debunks dreams predicting the future.

Strangedays is decent as usual. My favorite bit would have to be the Fortean Follow-ups (one reason I like access to previous issues). The Science article is about the debate over fluoridation of water. Ghostwatch was a hilarious look at ghostly cars, and sometimes their drivers. Archaeology has a bit on the lost Roman Legion and some folks in China who believe they are their descendents. Classical Corner is about ancient hoaxes. Alien Zoo recategorizes Anubis from "jackel-headed" to "wolf-headed" based on genetic research (?). Konspiracy Korner is about how much Americans love and believe in conspiracies as compared to Brits.

The Forum has two articles this month. One on the uses of psychedelics in medicine, and how those uses were stunted by the demonization of the drugs. The other is about the fate of the body of Richard III. The reviews have a couple of highly rated books including one about John Michell that I shall not be getting and others that I've put on wishlists and watchlists. One of the video game reviews almost makes me want to play the game despite not liking the horror-survival genre. And one of the movie reviews gives the movie a 2 out of 10 while having a great deal of fun with it. The letters and the rest are fairly standard. Another great issue of the best magazine available. Except for the covers, of course.

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Past Sunday Reviews -- Comics at Amazon.com -- Previews -- My Wishlist -- My Kindle Wishlist

CameraPhone Zen

CameraPhone Zen

Stepford Plants Report

Well, I was going to mow today, but it's looking pretty unlikely now. The weather report said clear skies and sun for the rest of the week, so I watered the trees yesterday with a deep watering, figuring that the ground would dry out enough for me to mow today... then this morning it rained for two solid hours. The ground is soaked. The grass is too wet to mow now, and I'm not sure it'll dry out before this evening. Oh well, at least I can still get a few pictures, right?

I'll start today off with a before-the-cut picture of the grafted plum, which shows the leaves on the Santa Rosa bit. The other two grafts look rather barren until you get a nice close up, which I'll put after the cut.

Linkdump Time Again...

First up, May the Fourth be with you. Got that out of the way...

News about Sarah Jane Adventures.

What's with the strange pair of background characters appearing in various comic books?

Follow-up on Gaby's fake pregnancy and the unexpected international reaction to the story.

Page Not Found.

Politician attacks Neil Gaiman. *sigh*

Great, now every Girl Scout is going to want to be paid in monkeys.

In praise of the Public Library.

Oz and Sunday's big news.

I had a bad cold over Easter, so Eric and I decided to delay our usual Easter traditions a week. Last weekend, we had candy and my traditional Easter breakfast on Sunday. Yesterday I overdosed on half-off chocolate that we got entirely too much of. Today I'm drinking water and trying not to think about yummy delicious chocolate.

Pug for the in-laws.

My Personal Response to the Death of a Terrorist

I started with disbelief that the task was finally done, then a small amount of relief.

Next was disgust that it hadn't been accomplished 9 years ago because we didn't have a leader 9 years ago who was willing to put the resources into play, and instead decided that oil profits and money for his buddies in Halliburton were more important than stopping terrorism. This whole thing should have been ended years ago. Instead we had to wait to get a president that isn't into war profiteering, then wait for him to clean up the mess of the war profiteer president before him. Yeah, I'm bitter. How many American lives were lost because Bush couldn't be bothered to actually help the American PEOPLE instead of American Corporations? The only thing better than the death of Bin Laden would be the death of Bin Laden and Bush and Cheney being tried for war crimes, war profiteering, and treason.

So I guess I'm mostly exasperated that this took so long, and that the reason it took so long is still walking around free and wrongly thinking he did a good job as president.

I did manage to get my mood lightened by visiting a few websites and seeing the jokes people made in reaction to the news. The people who want to see the long-form death certificate before believing it were mildly amusing. More so when you consider that President Obama's speech cut into Trump's stupid show. Heh. Another joke I found strangely satisfying was that all the other death reports of Bin Laden were just Harry and the gang taking care of the Horcruxes before they finally got the bad guy himself. Way to mash pop culture with current events.

But mostly, my reaction is just a small amount of relief, a lot of bitterness toward the useless leadership that took us to war in Iraq instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan, and a certainty that this isn't the end of the terrorism story at all.

A Sunday Review

TV this week:

• Sapphire and Steel: "Assignment Six: The Trap" - Let me start by saying that was the worst ending to a series ever. Ok, maybe not ever, but it ranks up there with some of the lousiest endings. Sapphire and Steel join Silver in an abandoned gas station, only to figure out that time isn't running in the place and several strangers from other times are showing up. The atmosphere was tense, the events were strung together nicely, leading to more and more strangeness. But the ending... ug. I almost want to go buy all the Big Finish Audios just to wash the dreadfulness of that ending out of my head.
• Doctor Who: "Day of the Moon" - I found this episode to be really really frustrating. There were so many pieces that we weren't allowed to see fully, and bits of the ongoing storyline that took over too much of the episode, leaving me disappointed in what we did get. However, there was a discussion between the Doctor and Rory that somehow made up for a lot of the frustration, and there was a moment when Amy called Rory a name that made up for even more. So, overall, not as bad as I started to fear it would be. But I'm still frustrated with the ongoing season storyarc and what little we've seen of it so far. And I don't like the feeling that you have to know the recent continuity to understand what's happening. So there's a lot of room for improvement here.

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This week's comic book related review is Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess. My initial thought upon reading this was that I need to give a copy to each of my nieces. I have a few, and all of them are special in their own way and all of them deserve such blessings. It's a sweet little book, not terribly substantial, but the beautiful artwork and lyrical words lend it both weight and lightness. It's a wonderful little book, and as much as I want to keep it, it definitely wants to be given away. I wonder which niece will get it?

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My library book this week was Ranger's Apprentice Book Nine: Halt's Peril by John Flanagan. I find it mildly hard to believe that this is the ninth book in this series. It picks up right where the previous book left off, with the trio chasing a nasty around the world. The key action of this one is an injury to Halt and how Will and Horace deal with it, nicely done and building on the characters' pasts. As usual, while there is fighting and strategy and all the usual neat action, the book is about how people deal with situations that are difficult. The result is a very good read indeed. Book Ten is newly available, and this series seems to just keep going... but I've read that Ten will be the last of the regular series, and there will be a final volume to wrap it up. So perhaps it's almost over.

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Fortean Times #272 (April 2011). The cover proclaims "Psychic Spies" and has menacing eyes looking over soldiers on a battlefield. I have talked with a person who was in the Remote Viewing program, and so I have a fairly good idea of the limits of the method if you believe it works. The cover article pretty much confirmed what I already suspected. Remote Viewing seems to work better than chance would dictate, whether by subconscious cues or by actual psy, but it doesn't work well enough to be particularly useful. The article has much more info, including suspected espionage that might have thrown off results.

Strangedays starts out with a roundup of bird and fish die-offs from around the world, and assurance that such things have been happening for many years and aren't a sign of the apocalypse. There's a rather impressive photo from China of a truck hanging off a bridge held by a tire and piece of crushed metal, with several similar incidents detailed in the text. Another piece is on Romanian witches who cursed the government for charging them taxes.

Stan Gooch is honored in the necrolog with an obituary and also in the magazine with two related articles about the dual nature of modern humans that Gooch attributed to the intermingling of Neanderthal with Cro-Magnons, an event that he believed led to modern humanity. With the recent discoveries of Neanderthal DNA in modern humans, perhaps he was right. The second article is one of Gooch's last articles before his death.

The Science article is on the intelligence of slime mould, and how it performed astonishly well in a maze test. Archaeology is about Irish giants and the DNA analysis that indicates they may have been fairly common. Ghostwatch is a probably doomed attempt to explain orbs scientifically and convince people they aren't supernatural. The UFO Files has more on the increasingly confusing Rendelsham Incident and a bit on an alleged UFO crash on Berwyn Mountain in 1974. Blasts From the Past covers the Trundle Hill black ball and tries to confirm the legend with historical facts.

Another article finishes off the tales from Worlds of Wonder, which still sounds like something begging for a nice reprinting. The Forum has one article that goes into recent sightings of strange lizards in Europe that match the legendary tatzelwurm. Another Forum article is about the confessions of Isobel Gowdie, an accused witch from 1662 who gives such detailed accounts that historians are fascinated with the cultural clues she gives about peasant life in the era.

The reviews, as usual, give me a handful of books I'd like to read that I probably won't be able to get at the library. Among them is True Giants by Mark A Hall and Loren Coleman, Slaughter on a Snowy Morn by Colin Evans, and Scientific Feuds by Joel Levy. The Letters pages are as strange and wonderful as usual. Another great issue of the best magazine available.

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