Author: Justin

Cultural micro-icon and probable ascot wearer James Wolcott is trolling for hits again. I shall oblige the greased (just a dab, please) vienna-sausage twiddler by taking him half-way seriously. More, and I might choke on a small bone. Whatever one might say about Heinlein’s talent and character, worldly he was not. No, of course not.…

George R.R. Martin, that is. And man, have I been feeling that monkey on my back, bad. The wait for his newest book, “A Feast For Crows” has seemed interminable, in no little part because “they” keep announcing release dates, then reneging on them. Cruel they are, the lying publishers. If you like medievalesque fantasy…

If all goes well, today should mark the launching of Cosmos 1, the first fully operational light sail propelled spacecraft. The launch will proceed SMERSH-like from a submerged Russian ballistic missile submarine in the Barents Sea , using a surplus Russian ICBM. The official site for the project is loading unusually slowly today. I hope…

I see that Bill Whittle has posted part II of Sanctuary. If you like Bill’s work you might want to mosey on over there.

Francis Bacon is held in low esteem these days, at least in certain quarters. To hear some folks tell it, the “relief of man’s estate” that he advocated was a colossal blunder on society’s part. We may yet survive the attempt, but things are still looking pretty dicey. Feh. Bacon was a brilliant man, as…

Years and years ago I read the following lines. Lately, not a week goes by that I’m not reminded of them. “Keep clear of the dupes that talk democracy And the dogs that talk revolution, Drunk with talk, liars and believers.” Robinson Jeffers, of course. “The Stars Go Over The Lonely Ocean.” Once upon a…

This is by way of being a companion piece to ?Like A Thousand Iron Curtains.? It?s comprised of relevant excerpts from Poul Anderson?s Hugo winning story, ?The Longest Voyage.? If you ever intended to read it for yourself, you should be aware that I?m about to give away the ending. Fair warning? THE SET-UP? If…

From the pages of The Progressive… Nina Siegal: You have stated that the debate on stem cell research and human cloning comes down to ?whose life matters most: the lives of sick children and adults facing risks of decay and premature death, or the lives of human embryos who must be directly destroyed in the…

Over at Chiasm, John Atkinson reveals his true feelings for that annoying peak oil guy… James “Clusterfuck” Howard Kunstler, “one of peak oil’s bigger showmen,” has been busy getting as much press as possible before “The Long Emergency” gets moved over to the ‘classic science fiction’ bookshelf in a few years. His cartoonish apocalyptica would…

Robert Heinlein’s house in Colorado springs. The one he built himself. From the pages of Popular Mechanics, no less. How about that? Here are a couple of postcards from his boyhood home, Kansas City, made within a few years of his birth. If you click here, you’ll have access to a number of brief audio…

Rand Simberg of Transterrestrial Musings posted this link weeks ago, but I’ve been too lazy to point it out. Till now. Cause I know you want it. The Jedi Order?s mistakes in dealing with Anakin Skywalker are numerous and damning. First, the Order was aware from the very start that Anakin missed his mother, yet…

Reader Clint thinks that I should devote more time to the political elements in “Revenge of the Sith”, and forget about the engineering shortcomings. I am mildly rebuked for focusing on minutiae. He further maintains that the secessionist, tax-dodging villains might have been the real heroes of the piece. It?s an intriguing notion. That interpretation…

Did Starfleet tender the low bid, or what? Given that we’re talking about a lava refinery (or whatever) that is probably worth millions, you would think a smidgen of redundancy would be built into the system, right? So we’re supposed to just accept that a single swipe with a light-saber through a single console will…

If you read Winds Of Change regularly, you may have come across the work of John Atkinson. He’s the fellow who compiles their monthly feature “New Energy Currents”and he makes a pretty good job of it too. I haven’t missed one since he started them and they have never yet failed to put me on…

From the pages of Mossback Culture comes this must see piece of visual persuasion. Please press here. Do it now. Personally, I’m not too keen on either side. It is kind of funny though. This bit from Tom McClintock is good too… Across California, children are bringing home notes warning of dire consequences if Gov.…

The Speculist has sometimes asked the question, ?Where?s my flying car?? So has the Instapundit. What kind of a second-rate 21st century doesn?t even have flying cars? I can tell you what kind. One with diminished expectations. Certain grim, gray, cheerless souls would have us believe that Jetson-like mobility is a hubristic industrial-age fantasy, foredoomed…

Amazing what you can find on the internet by accident, isn’t it? In this particular case it’s only the most beautiful barbeque grill I’ve ever seen. If Tolkien elves did barbeque, they would use a Kamado. You could fit an orc in one. It’s also the most expensive barbeque grill I’ve ever seen. If I…

This blog has been a Kass free zone for an entire week. That’s just not acceptable. And yet, weary into death of his leaden prose, I feel a distinct lack of enthusiasm for pitching in and shoveling. What to do? Sigh. Time for more outsourcing, I suppose. Filched from the pages of Neuroethics and Law…

I saw a Yale professor change his mind recently. It was over on a milblog called Chapomatic, which I’m finding quite enjoyable. It brings back memories of my navy brat days, but it’s not all military. There are pictures of cute little mammals here. Some interesting links to water purification, etc. are here. But the…

All this science fiction must be weakening my mind. I’ve been musing about Star Trek, of all things, and realizing just how much I dislike the Federation’s “Prime Directive.” Sure, it sounds all noble at first. Hands off the little guys. We don’t want to negatively influence them. Let them grow at their own unique…