Because civilization depends on continually making the effort, of never giving in. It needs to be cared for by men of goodwill, protected from the dark. These people gave in. They stopped caring. And because they did, this land fell under the darkness of a barbarism which lasted for hundreds of years.
from the book The Dream of Scipio, by Iain Pears.
cherylmmorgan: An Evening With William Gibson Postulating as to why modern SF might be less interested in futurology, Gibson suggested that in order to predict the future it is necessary to have a stable present on which to build. The likes of Wells and Heinlein, he said, were sure of the nature of their world, and could thus confidently predict how it might change. The modern day SF writer is faced by a world that changes month-on-month, where technological advances come as a torrent rather than a trickle, and consequently prediction is a much more dodgy process. SF writers, he opined, were much safer dealing with space opera settings such as The Culture which are far enough advanced that there is no need to question how we got from here to there.
It always works well, I think, to work on a brand new song to see how a new person fits into a band. So here is our rehearsal with a new percussionist, playing cajon along Michael’s drumkit. It’s a quick and dirty recording from last week Wednesday morning, recorded with the most basic setup – just a stereo mic on the drumkit, for example.
One of the drives in my studio computer failed yesterday. Not surprising, really, since they have been in use since 2003. Will replace all of the drives including the system drive. Until then, I will observe radio silence.
Sunbather Singed by Shiny Hotel’s Reflected “Death Rays” Seems perfect for Vegas! Maybe a new attraction, even? How many minutes can YOU stand it? There should be enough rubes out there who will love the challenge. The scent of crispy fried humans… some say they smell like barbequed pork, and some tell me that’s nonsense…
Prof Reverby has previously done research on the Tuskegee experiment, where the US authorities measured the progress of syphilis in African-American sharecroppers without telling them they had the disease or adequately treating it.
The experiment ran from 1932 to 1972, with President Bill Clinton eventually apologising for it.
More playing with the visiting percussionist. Today we played duets in my studio.
I love poached eggs. And do you know what I mean by perfectly poached eggs? For me that means that the egg white is solid, but the yolk inside is still soft and runny. Then I sprinkle a little sea salt, some freshly ground pepper, a few red pepper flakes and a little parmeggiano on it.
I wish I could tell you I perfected the pure method of the Blue Bottle in San Francisco (((just a big pot of boiling water with a tiny amount of vinegar in it… eggs cracked and poured directly into the simmering water…))), but although I tried that many times I never succeeded. Today I tried out a new tool, and it really works. Damn, I think these were better than Blue Bottle’s, because there was no trace of vinegar flavor!!
Perfection, I tell you!! And no scraping egg out of a metal poaching pan… these came out easily with a little squeeze
The link to the poaching pod tool can be found at the end of this post.
