Things I have done in the last few days: Driven around Cape Town buying lights and other house fittings. Mostly done now. Not gone into most of the house; the floors have been sanded and are covered in varnish. Driven around in a tiny Hyundai with a very annoying gearbox. Various meetings with various people. More to follow on Monday. Been to gym a couple of times. Been to Cavendish mall many times...

Thanks to extemporanea for the link to the vote for naming NASA's new space station Node 3 . I recommend you take this chance to name it Serenity. This fun activity reminded me of the New Scientist survey run towards the end of last year, asking readers to vote on their favourite sci-fi books and films. Here is the link to the article , but it is possible you need to be a subscriber to...

I just used the word "verisimilitude" in an email. I come all over formal and use big words when writing email to anyone at faculty level. Well, my faculty. I don't seem to have felt the urge with extemporanea who's over the road in Humanities. Although I will if you want, extemp? My major focus this year is my research. While I spend 12 hours per week teaching (compared to my respected...

It's December, and that means you've lived through another 12 months of my online babblings. This is a meme I started doing last year, though it's been around much longer than that. It's a quick and easy post, and I'm tagging anyone who blogs once a month or more to do it too. You go back over 2008 and take the first sentence of the first post of each month. Following extemporanea 's innovation...

Does the story of Leperlot touch you the way it touches me? My Leper Pony Spotted in one of Ursula Vernon's (aka ursulav 's) galleries. The woman is most excellently twisted. Thanks extemporanea for the post linking to the phalloi, which is how I found it.

1) This meme courtesy of extemporanea If you saw me in (the back of) a police car, what would you think I'd been arrested for? 2) I'm gobsmacked. An estate sale in October produced this gem . An early 19th century anti-vampire kit with silver bullets, holy water, stakes etc etc 3) Thanks to burningbooks , my brain is leaking out of my ears. Ruth Beechick's article (and I use...

This weekend was Here Be Dragons. It was very enjoyable. We have two new people in the shire who've moved here for a few years from Canada. I think they're going to be a very exciting breath of fresh air. Certainly the A&S ideas floating around have got me fired with creativity. Well, the sewing machine has helped with that too. P learned some new practice moves, which has pleased him. K went along...

A reader reacts to Mainspring [  Powell's  |  Amazon thb  |  Audible  ] — Several minireviews here. Next year’s Alembical is open to novella submissions — You know you want to do it. Hacking satellite navigation — Hmm. Dead German poet gets TV demands — Oh, to be remembered so. (Thanks to danjite .) Hacking satellite navigation — Hmm. Ceremonial deism — Some recently...

...health department closed the City Market Building for "mouse droppings." the fact is that the Market Building - all food vendors (including the Cuban stand / best espresso in town for only a buck ) - doesn't have any more of a problem than Downtown's other eateries: you could say that "mouse droppings" go with the territory. but we at Tire Sale Confidential smell a rat / specifically City Manager...

There are some scientific sort of words that I have deliberately taught K (and am working on with A) mostly because I think it's awfully funny. Besides, why dumb down a name for something if you know a technically correct one, just because the person you're teaching it to is 2? Words like these include polyhedron and sector. K has, however, picked up other words possibly not used by the average 2 year...