Sunday, March 29, 2020

Galaxy's Edge 7: Turning Point by Jason


This part of the ongoing saga is light on "magic," heavy on close-combat, and more fun, 4/5 stars.

xenophobia, nationalism on the rise


The Guardian is reporting a new wave of Chinese government official policy of Xenophobia to blame all wrongs on foreign devils.  The Global Village is in decline.

"the focus on foreigners – surprising given that 90% of imported cases were Chinese passport holders, according to the country's foreign ministry – is the leadership's attempt to shore up its image."

And volunteers are needed to shore up labor shortages in farms to complete the harvest in Israel under continued rocket fire from Gaza.



Saturday, March 28, 2020

Cases, Tests, Hospitalizations



Here is another good source of data to track the contagion.  Drill down to your county. 

I am waiting for a tracker with a variable radius from a lat-long (geographical location) as we had in the 1960's for H-Bomb blast, damage, and radiation damage.

'Murican Makers making medical makeshift magic




Yankee ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit, open source, and a gofundme page.  Awesome!

Surface Transmission


Johns Hopkins has published an interesting guide to which surfaces are more or less effective at transmission and how to maintain safe near-sterile techniques while handling fabrics, cardboard, plastics.

At-Home Workout by Ellie Woods


These ideas seem safe simple, low-impact, and flexible for time.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

The Far Shore of Time by Frederik Pohl


Does not hold up very well, unfortunately.  Interesting story but very dated and contrived, 2/5 Stars.

American Butt Ball is 3,400 years old


An odd form of MesoAmerican soccer portrayed here:


is over 3,400 years old.  American Butt Ball  is not as old as the American baseball game aka protoball portrayed in the epic of Gilgamesh, of course.

Monday, March 23, 2020

The Year's Best Science Fiction (1986) edited by Frederik Pohl


Some of the stories are dated and do not hold up; others are fine, 3/5 stars.

The Singularity Trap by Dennis E Taylor


I loved the Bobiverse books and this story does not disappoint.  The nanotech capabilities and limitations were poorly defined so parts of the story were a little too deus est machina, (contrived) but the characters and story line were great, 4/5 Stars.