“Numberless Are the World’s Wonders…”: Clifford Simak’s CITY

Posted on June 8, 2023 by JE

Here’s Davis Meltzer’s cover for the 1970s-era Ace edition of Clifford Simak’s City, an early entry onto my “Always Reread” list.

via @70sscifi

I disliked this cover when I was a kid because of the anthropoid greenmetal skull with human teeth. Now I think it’s great. It has all the essential elements of the book (hyper-intelligent & hyper-friendly dogs, robots that are more human than most human beings, antagonistic super-ants, uncounted parallel Earths, space travel, the hauntingly empty Webster House) all of them contained inside the robotic head and heart of Jenkins, a minor character who becomes the protagonist of the series deep in the posthuman future.

The book is an indisputable classic of midcentury science fiction, but it’s probably the hardest sell of any book that deserves that description.

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R.I.P.

Posted on June 7, 2023 by JE

George Winston (December 26, 1949 – June 4, 2023)

Omnia mutantur; nihil interit.

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She’s Gone Walking

Posted on June 6, 2023 by JE

Omnia mutantur; nihil interit.

Astrud Gilberto (March 3, 1940-June 5, 2023)

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A Trialogue

Posted on June 5, 2023 by JE

ME: “But the claim in that post is NONSENSE. I can prove it!”

MYSELF: “Or I could go back to writing those books I say that I’m writing.”

I: “WHY DRAG ME INTO THIS?”

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Ms. Misty Misprision

Posted on June 5, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is mistura (where I intended mixture). This isn’t exactly a typo, but more like my brain slipping from English to Italian, helped by the fact that, on a QWERTY keyboard, S is right above X and A is just below and to the right of E.

But in the cold climate of an English sentence, mistura looked less like a mixy Italian word than a brandname—say an industrial-strength deodorizer.

“Even the foulest stench vanishes like mist after a spritz of Mistura™!”

A pair of spray bottles with clipart of a wet dog pasted onto them. The caption by the smaller bottle is REGULAR. The caption by the larger bottle is EXTRA-NIFFY!
Use only as directed. Not legal in most jurisdictions. Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
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Solid!

Posted on June 4, 2023 by JE

It’s the right time for some dramatic funk. Because it always is.

https://soundcloud.com/dramatic-funk-themes-3/09-dave-patterson-solid-funk

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Napping in the Bookroom

Posted on June 3, 2023 by JE

Reuben Sandwich (PhD, DND, CBD, etc.) takes a brief respite from researching heroic fantasy.

A fawn French bulldog sleeps in a red beanbag footrest next to some shelves full of heroic fantasy books.
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The Googleslayer?

Posted on May 30, 2023 by JE

I’ve been messing around with the Kagi search engine and their lightweight Orion browser. 

The idea with Kagi is that you pay for it upfront; it’s not supported by ads or telemetry (i.e. selling your data). There’s a free trial plan with 100 free searches; after that you pay from 5 to 25 bucks a month. 

The idea was anathema to me at first, but then I thought about what a useless basket of snot the typical Google result has become. Maybe it makes more sense to pay for the product than to be the product.

Haven’t nerved myself up to pay yet, but my trial searches have yielded more-relevant and less-cluttered results than anything I’ve seen from Google for a long time.

Their canine logo and motto (“Let’s fetch…”) reminded me a little of Lycos. Which I would say is a blast from the past, except that (according to a Kagi search) the Lycos search engine still exists.

screenshot of the Kagi search page; a cartoon dog sits next to a cartoon tennis ball; the slogan in the searchbox reads "Let's fetch...."
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Helianthemumbling

Posted on May 26, 2023 by JE

Typo of the day is sunrose (for intended sunrise). The sunrose sounded like a real thing to me, and Mr. Internet says it is, also known as the helianthemum (from Greek ἥλιος “sun” and ἄνθεμον “bloom”).

a red-petalled flower with yellow pistils in the center of the bloom
image of a helianthemum nummularium
(“money-changer’s sunbloom”) snaffled from here
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Out of the Mouths of Beats

Posted on May 24, 2023 by JE

It’s a little early for a Typo of the Day–not even 1 AM where I sit with my confused but valiant keyboard. Still, I don’t think I’m going to top this one: heartbrat (where I intended heartbeat). Heartbrat–an obviously useful word.

“So use it in a sentence!”

Heartbrat? IT’S A LOVEBRAT!

a package of bratwurst
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