Monthly Archives: April 2011

Joanna Russ, SF author, has died of a stroke at age 74. Link. I liked nearly everything she wrote, but especially And Chaos Died, Picnic on Paradise and We Who Are About To…

A worst case scenario: She freaks out and decides to run. And the official response? Link.

DRM is all about punishing the customer. At some point, your DRM will let your best customers down, and you’d better have a damned good story then. Right now, the person I’m talking to does not have a good story. … Continue reading →

We’re back from a week in California, and visits to relatives and two theme parks. Ordinarily a coaster lover, the Gibber’s very coaster ride of the trip — the large, rickety Ghostrider at Knott’s Berry Farm – set the tone for … Continue reading →

Are we alone in the universe? The recent discovery of /tons/ of planets around neighboring stars has made one of the factors in the Drake equation more solid, to the point where it’s quite possible there are half a billion … Continue reading →

David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King is out, and I am reading it. In 2008 we had arrived for a vacation in LA, and driving from the airport we heard on NPR that DFW had died. My wife and I … Continue reading →