Old School Blog

My daughter Erica pointed me at this excellent (long, 7.4k words) article from placesjournal.org titled "Maintenance and Care".

It talks about how maintenance is shortchanged by new development. There is much talk that growth is required to keep an economy stable, but, if those resources were shifted to maintenance of existing stuff, it seems like there would still be plenty of economic activity? I'm about 1/4 of the way through the article. It is reminding me of "The Economics of Arrival", and also of "Foundational Economy". Also, of "Mutual Aid" - I have the book, haven't read it. But, important in "Debt: the 1st 5000 Years".

I went to tag this post, and "economics" also brought up "stability economics", which seems completely appropriate to me. Here is that tag in my blog, 5 posts (including this one). Note, to my knowledge,I invented "stability economics", yay me! I wanted to use Foundational Economics, but, it was already taken. :-(

We have to rework capitalism before it has completely converted the world to capital, with the complete collapse that represents. Once everything is capital, where does the stuff we need to live come from? Mining asteroids and/or gas giants, dudes, that is not going to happen before the planet has burned.

From my working years (1972-2012), when I was mostly running a software development shop, it was pretty close to 50-50% new development / maintenance.

But, I am guessing that, as the software development industry began to become financialized, fucking VCs & hedge fund vultures investing & demanding their 10% ROI, the balance totally shifted to >70% new features (splashy press releases, oh boy!) & and the pittance left to maintenance (users? fuck those losers.)

Zoom ...

Hands are better, playing more guitar, but I still seem to be reading more. Watching almost 0 TV, 1-2 movies/month. I'll prolly start watching some college basketball soonish. Reading-wise, a lot more novella length stuff (plus 1 very short story).

1. "Firewalkers", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2020, 165 pages, 45k words. Book 2 of the Terrible Worlds: Revolutions series. Book 1 was blogged here. In a globally warmed world, venturing outside of the air conditioning is a perilous occupation. But, for those with nothing to lose, eh, it's a job. A quick and targetted read.

2. "Flint and Mirror", by John Crowley, 2022, 292 pages, 90k words. There have been so many works of Crowley's that were things that gave me hope. Here's the query of my blog for his stuff. This novel makes you turn the pages, but, overall, I didn't find the content that interesting. And, what should have been the defining turning point of the book, faery rides in support of the Irish vs the English, is a total shit sandwich. :-( Characters, etc., are of course well done. Set mostly in Ireland, towards the end of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.

3. "Precious Little Things", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2021, 26 pages, 7k words. Wow, a very short story, apparently the prequel to a novella level piece. A really nice concept, that a moment frozen in time with a wizard casting a spell provides the magical energy for many generations of puppets to animate their puppet children. The Zombie Apocalypse via Pinocchio. :-0

4. "Dogs of War", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2017, 264 pages, 82k words. Book 1 of "Dogs of War". Just purchased book #2 in the series "Bear Head", starring Honey, FTW! Anytime I meet a dog, I immediately ask "What is his/her name?". And then it's "Good boy, Gambino!". "What a good dog, Gambino!". "Good dog!", "Good boy!".

   So now we have the cyborg dog Rex with lots of human DNA, 7' tall at the shoulder, with laser-targetted cannons mounted on his shoulders. And Rex REALLY REALLY wants to be a good boy! Plus his teammates Honey, the uplifted bear/philosopher; Bees, the honeybee group mind; and Dragon, the 12' long iguana/gecko/who knows, who likes to climb buildings to get a nice sniper vantage point for his back-mounted sniper rifle. Plus the sadist who conditioned them all to kill whomever he says, in exchange for a "good boy". Very compelling, very well-paced.

5. "Starling House", by Alix E. Harrow, 2023, 367 pages, 114k words. Harrow has written some really great, compelling stuff lately. Here is the query for Harrow in my blog. I am so sad that Harrow is no longer my neighbor, 30 miles to the SE in Madison County, KY - I read where Harrow was relocating the family to Virginia. :-(

   Well, before they left, they left a gift to their old KY neighbors. This book is set in Muhlenberg County, just like in the John Prine song "Paradise", but in a town called "Eden". The magical Starling estate has some very nice coal seams below it, so, civilization ho! Time to revisit verse 3 of "Paradise".

   Then the coal company came with the world's largest shovel
   And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
   Well, they dug for their coal till the land was forsaken
   Then they wrote it all down as the progress of man

   My friend, excellent singer/guitarist Marty Nelson, was playing this song, I got up to sing harmony on the choruses. But, verse 3 came along, I was screaming these lyrics as loud as I could, and crying.

   So, point is, my KY sensibilities were inflamed by this book. It is a great story, not a haunted house, but, maybe, a possessed house, with a purpose.

   I just today was talking with a bridge engineer who had designed a bridge to carry the 250,000# dump trucks carrying coal ash to whatever location they have decided to environmently destroy. He said he always liked to go look at the bridges he designed, but, not that one :-(

   My wife was active in Sierra Club for many years. Maybe ~10 years ago, we went to a site in far western Louisville/Jefferson County, KY. On the east bank of the Ohio River, LG&E had mountains of coal ash: 10 stories tall x 1/4-1/2 mile. The extent of these coal ash mountains was completely jaw-dropping.

   There was a residential community nearby. Their kids would go outside to play, and come back inside covered in coal ash. They complained. LG&E hired "scientists" to come study the problem. "What problem? That coal ash on your children is totally harmless! No problem!". Yeah, fucking right. Driven To Tears.

6. "The Dispatcher: Murder by Other Means", by John Scalzi, 2021, 137 pages, 37k words. The Scalzi novella "The Dispatcher" came out in 2017, blogged here. How was I not notified of these 2 follow-up novellas being published? Kobo is normally pretty good about this, as opposed to Apple & Amazon, who salivate for me to subscribe to their streaming music and all-you-can-eat ebook services. WHICH I WILL NEVER, EVER DO, ASSHOLES.

   Anyway, the premise of these novellas is totally odd and off-the-wall, but, it makes for an interesting universe in which to have murder mysteries. A quick and fun read. The King of Snark almost never disappoints (I didn't like "Red Shirts" much - so of course, it won the Hugo Award).

7. "The Dispatcher: Travel by Bullet", by John Scalzi, 2023, 133 pages, 41k words. Well, I liked #2 in the series, and it was short, so I decided to plow on through to #3. More of the same, a well-paced, enjoyable read. The protagonist has just a little bit too kind of a heart. Good for him.

8. "After Many A Summer", by Tim Powers, 2023, 62 pages, 19k words. What an odd book, but it totally felt like vintage Tim Powers. Short and punchy, and then ... it just ends! Better than the last of his I read.

9. "The Power", by Naomi Alderman, 2017, 343 pages, 106k words. Not sure where I got this from, but, OMG, must read! (Mostly) Women develop the abiity to deliver up to and including lethal electrical shocks from their hands. Mmm, does the balance of power between males/females shift, maybe? We'll find out 5,000 years in the future, when this mess sorts itself out?

   I recommended to my wife, who started watching the Netflix series version. Not sure if she is going to continue. But I told her, as bad as some episodes of "Breaking Bad" were, there will probably be episodes of this show much worse. OMG, I get it, but, well, damn, I'm lying curled up on the floor, kick me in the head, back, wherever a few more times, for good measure.

Okay, removed these 9 books from the Unread collection in the Kobo eBook app on my iPad, Unread collection is down to ... 147 books. Well, I got that going for me. It's always good to have things going for you.

Music In, 2023, Batch 3

• The Mountain Goats, "Jam Eater Blues", 2001, 3 tracks, bandcamp. Mountain Goats is confusing me, publishing a lot of small collections of old tracks like this. So, 3 stars.

• Harry Nilsson, "The Point!", 1970, 14 tracks. Somebody told me I had to get this album, so I did. Hmmm. A theme album about a place where everyone's head comes to a point, except for the protagonist. Social commentary, I guess. I remember the song "Me and My Arrow" (his dog), an OK song but not particularly a fav. The rest of the album is lackluster and additionally has alternating spoken sections advancing the narrative. I really didn't care for it much. 3 stars.

• Chris Hillman, "Bidin' My Time", 2017, 12 tracks, bandcamp. Hillman was the original bass player for The Byrds. He moved into country rock, americana. I changed the genre for this album from Country to Southern Rock. I think I saw where Tom Petty produced the album, and the 3 Byrds' songs on the album are done like Petty did "Feel A Whole Lot Better" - as very faithful renditions of the Byrds' originals, complete with 12 string guitar. Notable to me is my fav Gene Clark song, "She Don't Care About Time".

  I saw Hillman (maybe with Herb Pedersen?) the year (2007?) we had a subscription to Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour in Lexington. I think I remember reading that he was somewhat of a christian cultist. I am sad to say that he may have progressed to christian nationalism. 2 of the songs - "Given All I Can See" and "Such Is The World We Live In" - are full of RWNJ and MAGAt dog whistles. 1 star for those. 4 stars for the rest. Here's 1 of The Byrds' tunes, that he cowrote with Jim McGuinn Back In The Day, "Here She Comes Again".

• Kaidi Tatham, "The Only Way", 2023, 11 tracks, bandcamp. The 4th of his albums I have acquired. I continue to like the Afro-Jazz sounds. 4 stars. Here's "Not Suffering (feat. Matt Lord)".

• Andrew Bird, "Outside Problems", 2023, 9 tracks, bandcamp. These are good tracks, but, Bird has been very prolific lately, and these are all instrumentals, so I think I'm going to go 3 stars instead of 4.

• Madeline Kenney, "A New Reality Mind", 2023, 11 tracks, bandcamp. I 1st saw Kenney several years ago when she opened for Soccer Mommy at The Burl in Lexington. She continues to be very productive, and her style continues to evolve. 4 stars. Here's "I Drew A Line" - nice sax part.

• Willie Nelson, "To All The Girls", 2013, 18 tracks. I saw a reference to this somewhere and decided to give it a go. It is Willie singing duets with 18 different female artists, as complete an all-star list as you can imagine. I would guess all covers, of Willie & other people's songs. Great harmonies, great harp parts, great pedal steel, really fun and easy to listen to. 4 stars. Here's "After The Fire Is Gone", with Tina Rose - originally a Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn song.

• Bonnie "Prince" Billy, "Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You", 2023, 12 tracks, bandcamp. 1 of Louisville's favorite sons does us all proud on this album. Some top notch tunes. Great vocal harmonies. 4 stars. Here's "Behold! Be Held!".

• Aimee Mann, "Queens of the Summer Hotel", 2021, 15 tracks. Aimee Mann is back! And she sounds just like Aimee Mann! And the tunes are great! I can't believe I am just now getting this album - yet another example of the ongoing enshittification of the Internet. This is the 10th album of hers (including the "Magnolia" soundtrack) that I have. I'm sure many of those were purchased from Apple or Amazon, but they won't tell me she has a new album (they used to) because they want me to buy a subscription to their fucking streaming services. No thanks, assholes.

  What a pleasure this album is to listen to! I think most of the harmony singing is her. 4 stars. Here's "Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath".

• Becca Mancari, "Left Hand", 2023, 12 tracks, bandcamp. This is the 3rd album of hers I have. Very nice tunes. I remain a sucker for chill vocals, particularly female vocals. 4 stars. Here's "Over and Over".

My pc in Lexington got fried a couple of months ago - based on the Avast anti-virus package's recommendation, I moved a file into quarantine and lost my mouse - oops! But, yay, it just yesterday, after having been rebooted a few times, started working again! So I moved all the new music from my MacBook, rated all these songs, and now hopefully will be able to sync my iPhone. Fingers crossed ...

Octopuses!

The arthritis in my left thumb was acting up, so I haven't been playing much guitar. (I stumbled on an old blog post from July, 2007 which said that at the time I was taking Naprosyn for left thumb arthritis.) The thumb is better now.

Plus, there really doesn't seem to be a market for my Jaz Dumoz musical act. It has been disappointing to find that the great majority of solo "live" music acts seem to use tracks. Jaz Dumoz was explicitly dinner music rather than dance music - a 1st for me. But more casual restaurants who provide "live" music usually want some dance music. The 1920s-1960s songs that Jaz performs are going to work mostly at more upscale restaurants, and it is very hard breaking into such restaurants' music rotations.

Additionally, I really thought that people of all ages would respond to Jaz's songs - they are such great songs. But by and large younger people treat these songs as old fogey stuff.

I could do a solo Jim Dumas act with looper and harmony box, but then:

1. I'd need to start practicing with the harmony box, which was not usable with Jaz Dumoz.
2. I felt that what Jaz was offering was unique, while there are many other singer/guitarists playing bar standards - Tom Petty, Bill Withers, Stones, Motown, etc.
3. For dance music, tracks are probably better than what I do. You have bass and drums for the beat.
4. I'd much rather play dance music in a rock band.
5. There is too much modern pop music that I have 0 feel for.

So I'm going to back-burner Jaz Dumoz. There's still a few possible gigs pending. I'll keep the (most excellent) web site going, and keep doing a Song Of The Day 1x/month or so. Song Of The Day is currently at #181, I think I'll try to get to 200. So I will go back to playing rock & roll at jams (or otherwise with a band), rather than Jaz tunes at open mics.

The result of less practice time is that I am reading a lot more. Recently I seem to have been finding more novella length sci-fi, which I have been tearing through. Lets start with the octopuses!

1. "The Mountain in the Sea", by Ray Nayler, 2022, 312 pages, 96k words. A species of octopus with language and culture is found! Set against a backdrop of a near future world where "point 5" AIs are in wide use, the 1st generally intelligent android has been created, and most corporations continue extractive madness, there are a couple of 2ndary threads that do finally rejoin the main thread. That junction seemed a little sketchy - overall, the book seemed like it could have been longer, plus, more octopuses, please! I suspect and hope there will be a sequel in the future. A very good read, and an indictment of our human-centric world view.

2. "Station Eternity", by Mur Lafferty, 2022, 489 pages, 133k words. I enjoyed their novel "Six Wakes" - holy moly, that was 6.5 years ago - so I thought I'd try this. Several murder mysteries, including 1 set on an intelligent, organic space station. Interesting races, well plotted, a page turner. This was Book 1 of "The Midsummer Murders", Book 2 is out this month.

3. "One Day All This Will Be Yours", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2021, 125 pages, 34k words. This is Book 2 of the "Terrible Worlds: Destinations" series. Book 1 "Walking to Aldebaran" I recently blogged here. These books seem to specialize in plot twists and possibly monstrous protagonists. This 1 reminded me of "This Is How You Lose the Time War", blogged here, but I think I enjoyed this story more. Some very good thinking about what happens when you try to use time travel as a weapon - followed by causality bonbs. A quick, fun read. Tchaikovsky continues to be my fav active hard sci-fi author. It's great that he is so prolific.

4. "Johnny Mercer", by Glenn T. Eskew, 2016, 408 pages, subtitled "Southern Songwriter for the World". This was not available in eBook, so I read the trade paper hardcopy. I decided that this was probably the best bio of Mercer to read because it is the newest, and Eskew is a professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta, which houses the Johnny Mercer library with most of his personal papers. I decided to read Mercer's bio after consecutively placing songs #16 & #17 by him into my songbook. This is the 3rd biography I have read in my life, joining Albert Einstein and Harpo Marx.

   New heuristic: avoid books written by southern college professors. Eskew is not a very good writer - long, long paragraphs. And there is this drumbeat that he keeps returning to - that jazz, blues, and rock & roll were not appropriated from blacks by whites, but were part of common southern culture, along with hillbilly (now country) music - yeah, right.

   Mercer was white and a scion of Savannah, GA. He had an ancestor who was a Revolutionary War general, a friend of Washington's, and another ancestor who was a Confederate general - who, of course, "fought valiantly" in the Civil War. Blech. Eskew comes down on the right side of issues of race and racism, but at times it seems that he does so grudgingly. A "See, the south isn't so bad" kind of feel.

   Following Mercer's career, Eskew declares the 1950s "The Age of the Singer" - I had realized with Jaz Dumoz that I was trying to become a crooner, like in the 50s. But the Age of the Crooner came to an end with Elvis. I totally realized that the older or newer pop music I play as Jaz Dumoz or Jim Dumas is delineated by Elvis. Old pop is up to and slightly overlapping Elvis, new pop is Elvis and later.

   At the end of his career, Mercer bemoaned the end of the good old days - he was having as little luck getting work as Jaz Dumoz is! ;-P

5. "Observer", by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress, 2023, 338 pages, 104k words. Lanza is an influential scientist, Kress the most awarded living sci-fi author. This novel goes all-in on quantum physics, positing that consciousness creates matter, rather than the other way around - and they have hardware and software to prove it! A very nice effort. Kress doesn't push her libertarianism too much, although this is 1 of those stories where a small group of ubermensch accomplish everything.

6. "And Put Away Childish Things", Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2023, 167 pages, 45k words. Book 3 of the "Terrible Worlds: Destinations" series. A nice riff on portal fantasies, particularly "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". Following the theme of this series, the protagonist starts out being completely unlikeable, but does get better with time.

7. "A Stranger in the Citadel", Tobias S. Bucknell, 2023, 220 pages, 68k words. After Bucknell, in response to an email query from me, sent me the ePub files for 3 of his novels currently unavailable elsewhere, I resolved to read all his stuff from then on. He has had issues since the pandemic, but seems to have worked through things. This is an intestering read on a post-singularity society that for a time has outlawed books and reading: "Thou shalt not suffer a librarian to live." A good read, nicely paced.

8. "Ironclads", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2018, 141 pages, 38k words. Book 1 of the "Terrible Worlds: Revolutions" series. Military sci-fi with rich humans heavily mechanized and basically unbeatable, and grunts without weapons to oppose them. Nicely plotted, and with some decent commentary on economic inequality.

So that's 7 ebooks leaving the Unread collection in Kobo on my iPad, which is now down to ... 137 titles. Onward!

A Few => Some => Several

I doesn't seem like I read much during the 3 weeks I spent with my wife in France and Switzerland, but the books have definitely piled up.

Let's start with 1 of my (new) favorite books of all time: "Think in 4d", subtitled "Design Brilliant User Experiences and Valuable Digital Products", by Erica Heinz (my oldest daughter), 2023, 227 pages, 70k words. The conclusion of the Kirkus review:

"[A]n erudite, savvy book that communicates difficult, technical ideas with accessible, largely jargon-free prose. For both the seasoned veteran of interactive design and the unpolished newcomer, this is an invaluable resource. An impressively thorough and clear introduction to a still-new discipline."

The review at Booklife.com correctly notes:

And, as befits the subject, the book is laid out with wit, verve, and eye-pleasing simplicity. This product experience is first rate.

The official eBook release is 10/10/2023 at 10:00am, at a special introductory (half) price of $10.00. Order in that hour so we can boost her ranking! The link to Kobo is above, here's the link to Amazon. Here's the cover, yay!

Back to my more normal reading material:

1. "Broken Stars", subtitled "Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation", edited and translated by Ken Liu, 2019, 489 pages, 133k words, 16 stories, 3 essays. Chinese sci fi is so all-over-the-place, I enjoy reading it.

2. "Walking to Aldebaran", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2019, 132 pages, 35k words. This was a nicely paced novella that definitely did not end up anywhere close to where I expected. Somehow this time around, lots of short stuff, good deal. Book 1 of the "Terrible Worlds: Destinations" series.

3. "Starter Villian", by John Scalzi, 2023, 245 pages, 76k words. The king of snark is always fun to read. Lots of cute stuff in this book - I mean, come on, it's got a cat on the cover! I think I read this on the plane from JFK to Geneva.

4. "The Properties of Rooftop Air", by Tim Powers, 2020, 44 pages, 12k words. Another short piece. Very atmospheric in 19th century London, not that much plot. I should check on what Powers has been up to. Hmmm, ordered a brand new novel featuring the Bronte sisters, but there is a Vickery and Castine series, 3 books 2018, 2020, 2022, possibly set in the universe of "Last Call", a fav of mine, that is unavailable on Kobo???

5. "Wild Massive", by Scotto Moore, 2023, 479 pages, 148k words. I really liked Moore's prior work, "Battle of the Linguist Mages" (BOTLM), and was surprised to find he had another fairly weighty tome ready to go. Note, BOTLM had lots of DJing, gaming, & computer security foo in it that I thought would appeal to my son - he hated the book. This one the riff is more on amusement parks - and the multiverse. It is as wild and freewheeling as the BOTLM, but for whatever reason didn't seem to work quite as well. The ending was actually much less "deus ex machina" than BOTLM - despite this 1 having a "deus ex machina" weapon?!?!? Moore's background in theater might be the secret sauce for writing stuff that seems very, very unique.

6. "Dual Memory", by Sue Burke, 2023, 339 pages, 105k words. I would call this climate fiction, set on an Arctic island with the fascist Leviathan League looking to pick off climate-crisis-weakened countries for conquest. The heros of the story are mostly the machines of the island, who work with the unflappable human hero. They're kind of Star Wars level robots, but people somehow don't realize how sentient they have become. Very laid back writing, an easy and enjoyable read.

7. "Ogres", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2022, 149 pages, 40k words. Another quickie. I thought this was fantasy, but it is sci-fi. A good old-fashioned unsurprising plot twist, but wait, there's still more! A fun and fast read, and, again, climate fiction.

8. "The Eyes & The Impossible", by Dave Eggers, 2023, 154 pages, 47k words. My daughter Erica pointed me at Eggers, who is a web humorist responsible for McSweeney's, a non-profit publisher and the website McSweeney's Internet Tendency. I am getting their posts via my RSS reader, I really don't like the humor much, not sure why. Too obvious, but somehow not cute like The Onion? Anyway, this book got good reviews, I bought a fancy hardcover - carved wood no less - for my granddaughter. I wanted to read it so also bought the eBook for myself. Hah, I just noticed, it says maximum age 12 - same as my granddaughter. Well, I enjoyed it, I think she will too - the main characters are all animals.

How did that wind up being so many books???

Music In, 2023, Batch 2

Apparently I was slacking this quarter, only 7 albums. Getting old ...

• Werkha, "All Werk Is Play", 2022, 14 tracks, bandcamp. Werkha is apparently 1 guy, out of Manchester, UK. A lot of good music out of Manchester, UK, now. Really catchy grooves, catchy tracks. Kudos! 4 stars! I actually would like to include 3-4 tracks from this album, here's the 1 that was on the sampler I found them on.

• Beach House, "Become", 2023, 5 tracks, bandcamp. Their Wikipedia page sez they (2 members out of Baltimore) are dream pop. I concur. Good tunes, but maybe too dreamy? I might have gone down to 3 stars, but it is only 5 tracks, so they get the benefit of a doubt. 4 stars. Here's "Black Magic".

• Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi, "Wildflowers", 2022, 4 tracks, bandcamp. Perth, OZ. Really laid back stuff, "Celtic" popped to mind listening to it. So tentative, but pretty voices & harmonies. Ha ha, like the last 1, I'd prolly go 3 stars, but, it's only 4 tracks, so I'll listen to it some more. 4 stars. Here's "Disguise".

• Half Moon Run, "Salt", 2023, 11 tracks, bandcamp. This is a great album. Out of Montreal, this band is killing it. So many great songs. 4 stars. Here's "Alco".

• Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, "Weathervanes", 2023, 13 tracks, bandcamp. Isbell is completely an inspiration to me. He is our Bard of the South. Steve & Chris performed "White Man's World", "Something More Than Free", and "Hudson Commodore".

  This latest album, what great tunes! Maybe he will figure out a way to bring the rednecks back to ... Reality? Joy? 4 stars. Here's "King of Oklahoma". What great vocal harmonies! Southern rock / Americana seems to totally rule in that regard.

• Guy Clark, "The Essential Guy Clark", 1997, 20 tracks. Steve & Chris performed "Hemingway's Whiskey". Nice song. I'd been meaning to check out more Guy Clark, so I asked my friend & fellow music buff Josh Brown (also since its opening GM of J. Render's Southern Table & Bar) for a recommendation. He suggested this album. "Hemingway's Whiskey" is not on it, but there are a whole bunch of other great tunes.

  Clark was a great songwriter. Born 1941, died 2016, age 74. And, revisiting what was said for the last album, the vocal harmonies on this album are outstanding. I play lead, rhythm, & bass guitar, sing lead, harmony, & backup, have led up to a 12 pc band, my favorite thing of all is singing harmony. 4 stars. Here's "Desperados Waiting For a Train".

• Ella Fitzgerald, "Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Johnny Mercer Songbook", 1964, 13 tracks. I've gotten to be kind of a Johnny Mercer fanboy lately. I ordered this biography in paper from Carmichael's. I am a bit daunted by the font size. I looked for it as an ebook, no go. Actually a couple of other bios are available as ebooks, but the 1 I bought is looking like the definitive 1 - the author is a history professor at Georgia State U, which holds Mercer's papers, and it came out in 2016.

  So, of course, I greatly enjoy my favorite vocalist doing these songs.

  Already in the Jaz Dumoz songbook:

  • "Too Marvelous For Words"
  • "Day In Day Out"
  • "Skylark"
  • "I Remember You"

  "Midnight Sun" is in the work list. Most of these are with Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra, so fairly heavy orchestration. 4 stars. Here's "I Remember You", which Mercer wrote about Judy Garland after they had a love affair.

_unrated songlist is currently 10 albums, 117 tracks.

Last Exit / Battle of the Linguist Mages

As you can see from the title, something new for book blogging - only 2 books.

1st, "Last Exit", by Max Gladstone, 2022, 642 pages, 199k words. This came out over a year ago. The backlog of books on my iPad indicates that I will be reading books more and more after the fact.

This novel was not a page turner. I like the writing and the pacing. The characters are all strong. A lot of the book is dialogues between most if not all of the combinations of the books 6 main characters. The world building is very good. This book, and the next as well, both deal with fighting against basically The Nothing out of The Neverending Story. At the end of this one, the good guys win, although I'm not sure how. Still, I enjoyed the read.

The 2nd book I really enjoyed. I'm going to include the cover here:

"Battle of the Linguist Mages", by Scotto Moore, 2022, 550 pages, 149k words.

I really liked the earlier novella by fairly new author, playwright Scotto Moore, "Your Favorite Rock Band Will Not Save You". "Battle" has lots of pop culture including video gaming and DJing references, and a writing style which I think is similar to mine: an amalgam of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (the movie), "Bill and Ted", and "MST3K". Again The Nothing is defeated, this time in a clear and hilarious manner. This book was really a lot of fun, Joe Bob sez check it out.

IslandWalk Birds, 2022-2023 Season

My overall birdwatching strategy for IslandWalk is posted here. I have made that post kind of the home page for my Birdwatching in IslandWalk project, and will update it whenever I do a new post on IW Birding.

My 1st ever "IW state of the birds" post was for the 2021-2022 season. My 2nd was for 2020-2021 season. I am cloning this post from that post. The 2021-2022 post contains discussions of things I found interesting about a lot of the species - 10 years worth.

I manually entered this data in this spreadsheet.

I will be reporting for all observed species the following 4 datapoints:

1. % of days seen;
2. total birds counted;
3. average;
4. max.

Here's the link to the IslandWalk hotspot at eBird.org.

Each bird name listed below is linked to its IslandWalk activity page in eBird.org. So click on the name, you will get a picture & all the data eBird has on that bird in IslandWalk.

Updates for the 2022-2023 season: I am spending more time in IslandWalk this year: 9 months vs 5 months (trying to score music gigs). I included counts for May: 7 lists! They didn't seem that different from March/April. That made a total of 26 bird lists. The passerine bird counts, like the mockingbird, go way up around March 1, which I would guess is the start of mating season when they become much more vocal. So I think they are still exhibiting mating season behavior through May.

I was in KY June 5 - July 11. I have started counting birds again since I have returned. The #s look different than the in-season #s. So I will not include them in the 2023-2023 Season report. I may do a separate off-season report. But, the in-season #s have a few different periods:

• December & January when the migrating diving ducks are here: ring-necked duck, hooded merganser, lesser scaup. The pie-billed grebe mostly leave by April 1, but it seems like there is always 1 straggler who doesn't get the memo.
• The palm warblers leave by April 1 as well.
• Cormorants seem to be mostly gone by April 1. The Cormorant Menace I was keeping an eye on was a non-event, yay! After a blip last season, #s are back to prior years.

Swimmers

I guess all are dabbling "ducks"? "Dabbling" === "stick your bill down in the water & swish it around & eat what you get from that" - as opposed to diving ducks.

• mottled duck: % days 100; tot 565; avg 21.7; max 53.
• muscovy duck: % days 96; tot 171; avg 6.8; max 20. These #s are way down, I suspect they are trapping & removing these as was discussed before COVID.
• common gallinule: % days 100; tot 382; avg 14.7; max 13. After 1st being counted in IW by me 2020-04-02, their #s continue to grow. Sometimes they seem to be overtaking the mottled ducks.
• american coot: % days 12; tot 3; avg 1.0; max 1. NEW! They look pretty identical to the gallinule, but their bill is white.

Divers

• pie-billed grebe: % days 73; tot 59; avg 3.1; max 7.
• hooded merganser: % days 12; tot 8; avg 2.7; max 4.
• lesser scaup: % days 0.
• ring-necked duck: % days 4; tot 4; avg 4.0; max 4. Back for the 1st time in a few years.
• double-crested cormorant: % days 81; tot 100; avg 4.8; max 12. I'm relieved that the Cormorant Menace was a non-event.
• anhinga: % days 85; tot 51; avg 2.3; max 7.
• brown pelican: % days 46; tot 36; avg 3.0; max 9. Numbers up a little. For a while there were 3 fishing on Lake #9 for the entertainment of the people on the stationary bikes in the weight room.
• belted kingfisher: % days 27; tot 9; avg 1.3; max 2.

Waders

• great egret: % days 100; tot 148; avg 5.7; max 12. This seems to be our most numerous wader, replacing the snowy egret or the tricolored heron. There could be selection effect involved - you can ID a great egret 200 yards up the lake.
• great blue heron: % days 62; tot 31; avg 1.9; max 5.
• snowy egret: % days 100; tot 126; avg 4.8; max 21.
• cattle egret: % days 0.
• tricolored heron: % days 96; tot 115; avg 4.6; max 8.
• little blue heron: % days 96; tot 73; avg 2.9; max 6. Their #s are up, used to only occasionally see 1.
• green heron: % days 50; tot 25; avg 1.5; max 5. 1st counted in IW by Eric Thom 2017-02-20, I am now seeing 1-2 fairly consistently.
• wood stork: % days 15; tot 6; avg 1.5; max 2.
• white ibis: % days 85; tot 170; avg 7.7; max 19.
• glossy ibis: % days 65; tot 45; avg 2.6; max 21. Normally far fewer of these than white ibis, but 1 day there was a flock of 21 of them?!?!? When they are onesy they commonly hang out with the white ibis.
• limpkin: % days 63; tot 28; avg 1.8; max 4. More common this season than prior.

Beach Birds

• killdeer: % days 27; tot 7; avg 1.0; max 1.
• black skimmer: % days 0.

Raptors

• osprey: % days 46; tot 15; avg 1.3; max 3.
• bald eagle: % days 0.
• cooper's hawk: % days 0.
• red-shouldered hawk: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• broad-winged hawk: % days 0.
• swallow-tailed kite: % days 0.
• loggerhead shrike: % days 88; tot 104; avg 4.5; max 11. Shrike numbers seem to be trending up. We had a pair nest in the Clusia bush behind our cage.
• black vulture: % days 8; tot 10; avg 5.0; max 8.
• turkey vulture: % days 23; tot 23; avg 3.8; max 11.

Corvids

• fish crow: % days 100; tot 331; avg 12.7; max 23.
• blue jay: % days 96; tot 241; avg 9.6; max 19.

Perching Birds (Passerines)

• mourning dove: % days 100; tot 186; avg 7.2; max 16.
• eurasian collared dove: % days 65; tot 54; avg 3.2; max 8.
• common ground dove: % days 0.
• rock pigeon: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1. NEW! 1 plain old pigeon, white with black splotches, at the west end of Lake #9.
• common grackle: % days 96; tot 968; avg 38.7; max 70.
• boat-tailed grackle: % days 81; tot 97; avg 4.6; max 11. I think I have started counting more boat-tailed because of 2 secondary ID methods: size and foraging on the lake shore. The sure-fire IDs for this bird are the "shoop-shoop-shoop-shoop" call and the brown color of the females.
• red-winged blackbird: % days 19; tot 6; avg 1.2; max 2.
• european starling: % days 50; tot 148; avg 11.4; max 70. It doesn't seem like you see these that often. They are sometimes in a mixed flock with grackles and crows; there are sometimes a whole bunch of them together in 1 flock.
• northern mockingbird: % days 100; tot 917; avg 35.3; max 67.
• brown thrasher: % days 35; tot 23; avg 2.5; max 5. I seemed to be seeing these on a more regular basis.
• northern cardinal: % days 46; tot 12; avg 1.0; max 1.
• red-bellied woodpecker: % days 96, tot 203, avg 8.1, max 17.
• pileated woodpecker: % days 8; tot 2; avg 1.0; max 1.
• downy woodpecker: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• northern flicker: % days 0.
• palm warbler: % days 54; tot 315; avg 22.5; max 36.
• black-and-white warbler: % days 0.
• yellow-throated warbler: % days 0.
• prairie warbler: % days 0.
• blue-gray gnatcatcher: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1.
• gray catbird: % days 4; tot 1; avg 1.0; max 1. NEW! I don't remember the details but I think I felt pretty good about the ID.

6! (+/-)

This batch had 1 DNR - very unusual for me - so not sure how to count. Anyway, here we go ...

1. "Lords of Uncreation", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2023, 532 pages, 165k words. The 3rd of this trilogy. Humans still being dickheads, aliens being inscrutable, ancient alien assholes being defeated, FTW! Very enjoyable series, great characters, great plot twists. Plus, how can you not like a god-like alien (who is what looks like a 12' tall mussel standing on end) turned demon/gangster named "Aklu the Unspeakable, the Razor and the Hook"? Tchaikovsky continues to be my current modern fav hard sci-fi author.

2. "The Mimicking of Known Successes", by Malka Older, 2023, 123 pages, 38k words. I enjoyed Doctora Older's Infomocracy trilogy, very interesting, forward-thinking ideas. This is more of a standard murder mystery. The pacing is OK, the mystery's resolution somewhat mundane.

   The thing that really threw me about this novel: there's a missing person from a university-type place. The female investigator enlists an old lover from the ~university to help in the investigation. I think they hook up again? Regardless, throughout the book, I was getting references to the investigator being on a spectrum - autistic, ADHD, I never figured it out. I felt like I was missing something.

   Throughout the book, I somehow thought the old lover was male. Maybe a little over-sensitive for a male (crying?). But then, last week, I happened to see a blurb for the novel which mentioned a "sapphic romance".

   ??? Wow, the dude was a woman? Definitely a surprise. But, I did not enjoy this novel anyway near enough to go back through & research whether I should have picked up the 2ndary character's sex.

   I remember a Richard K. Morgan fantasy that had explicit man-on-man sexual scenes, which had and have (somewhat less) a "yuck" factor for me, thinking, they should have smart tech in the eBook that changes sexual scenes into genders that are comfortable to the reader. Did Older achieve this just by writing style???

   But, what about the novels that have explicitly had:

   • human-humanoid alien sex;
   • human-reptilian alien sex;
   • human-robot sex;
   • etc.

   I kind of thought the point of LGBQTAZ-P was, who cares about gender? Whatever gets you through the night ...

   It appears that my old, white male brain is hopelessly confused about what is expected of it. Oh well, no worries, I'll be dead soon enough, younger brains can figure this shit out, given that the planet is still alive.

3. "Red Team Blues", by Cory Doctorow, 2023, 221 pages, 68k words. The latest from The Bard of the Revolution, my hero. A not particularly sci-fi thriller. The protagonist is 67 YO mostly retired forensic accountant Marty Hench. This is the 1st of 3 Marty Hench novels, the other 2 will take place earlier than this 1.

   So, where did all the $$$ pumped into your now belly-up startup go? Marty is the man who will find out for you. I like his terms, he gets 1/3 of whatever he recovers, no negotiation (which leaves him very, very rich fairly early in the book). He is hired by an old friend to recover backdoor keys to secure computing platforms worth potentially billions. Various criminals, governments, etc. would also like those keys. It is a compelling page-turner, a lot of fun.

   Interesting that Marty has a couple of sexual encounters & winds up hooked with up a beautiful & accomplished woman of close to his age. Not sure why Doctorow would include this, I guess as an old guy I should say thanks? Maybe he's trying to establish some good luck for himself in his declining years? Hopefully his wife is OK with this?

4. "A Psalm for the Wild-Built", by Becky Chambers, 2021, 127 pages, 34k words. Industrial robots revolt & go live in the wilderness. Decades/centuries later, a tea monk who wants to go adventuring winds up meeting a robot who is wanting to reconnect with humans. They become friends. The robot learns to cook. The end. Not a bad read, not much action. But, you know, increasingly I avoid all things stressful, which includes action, suspense, etc. Book 1 of "Monk & Robot" series, book 2 is out, I guess I will read it. Although, I didn't read later Murderbot books by Chambers because they seemed pricey for short works, as this is - $8.99 maybe for 127 pages, 34k words?

5. "City of Last Chances", by Adrian Tchaichovsky, 2022, 598 pages, 162k words. So my current fav hard sci-fi writer also does fantasy. I decided to check it out. A really rich tapestry of politics, refugees, demons, intrigue, revolution, very well plotted. A most excellent read.

6. "Crosstalk", by Connie Willis, 2016, 659 pages, 176k words. The premise is an outpatient-type surgical procedure can allow couples to feel each other's emotions, or some such. The female protagonist is a director-level employee of a smartphone company. Her total-catch boyfriend proposes that they get it done before he proposes marriage to her so that they can both enjoy the proposal/acceptance so much more together. Which immediately everybody knows about - including her way-too-sharing & incredibly lame family, and her incredibly annoying pseudo-Irish Aunt Oona, who invade her corporate office.

   I mean, seriously??? Such shit doesn't happen. & the Aunt Oona character reminded me of something out of a take-your-pick execrable CBS TV show of the last several decades, "Barnaby Jones" or "Murder She Wrote" or whatever. I did 2 chapters & just could not read it anymore - really unusual for me, but Aunt Oona was just too, too annoying. Very disappointing, I have loved much of Willis' (current age 77, this was published when she was 70) past work. Per her Wikipedia page "She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than any other writer." Oh well. I marked it as "finished" & gave it 1 star.

Unread collection in Kobo is down to ... 139 books??? Oops. Well, my hand-crank/solar powered emergency radio will keep my iPad going well past the end of civilization, it's always good to have new reading material ;-P

p.s., my birthday was a few weeks ago, I am now 72 years old, old, old ...

They're All Full of Stars!

It's been quite a while since I did an Astronomy post. I am now back in Lexington for a month rather than in Naples. When I am in Lexington, I try to get caught up on APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day), because in Lexington I have my desktop PC, with a 2 TB hard drive with 1.1 TB free, to which I can save as much as I like, vs my MacBook Air, with a 128 GB solid state drive, with not enough free to install the latest software update :-(

So I go through APOD from my last forward progress mark. A couple of days ago, I got to the 2023 February 20 post: "NGC 1850: Not Found in the Milky Way". OMG, what a beautiful pic, and this is possibly the largest open cluster I have ever seen! And it is not in the Milky Way, it is in the LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud), the Milky Way's largest satellite galaxy. Here's the pic:

The open cluster is rich enough that I wondered, is this not a globular cluster? But, absolutely not - the stars in the large cluster in the center top of the image are ~50 million years old - globular cluster stars are mostly > 10 billion YO. There is the smaller open cluster to the right, whose stars are only ~4 million years old - very young as stellar ages go.

So it is definitely not a globular cluster, way too young.

Note, the blue filaments to the left of the clusters are a supernova remnant (SNR). I thought that perhaps it was foreground, in our galaxy, but looking at the area in Google Sky makes it clear that the SNR is in the LMC - but I would guess that the open cluster did not form due to the shock wave associated with the SNR, the scale/timing seems wrong.

The most recent APOD pic of a globular cluster I remembered was this one, of NGC 6355, 2023 January 30:

But, this is not really a representative globular cluster. Its stars' average age is 13 billion years, what you would expect, but the description of the pic says "Globular cluster stars are concentrated toward the image center and highlighted by bright blue stars." ??? Globular clusters do contain newly created (blue) stars, but mostly are old red, orange, and yellow stars.

Globular clusters orbit the center of their galaxy, and the orbit of this particular globular cluster has brought it very close to the galactic center. So many/most of the many stars in this image are not part of the cluster. But, still, I luv this pic, so many stars!

Here is a definitive globular cluster: NGC 5139, Omega Centauri, APOD 2023 March 16. I just noticed, this is in my APOD future, I have no idea when I will catch up with this.

The cluster is packed with about 10 million stars much older than the Sun within a volume about 150 light-years in diameter. It's the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy.

How interesting, the largest & best known globular cluster in the Milky Way might actually be different:

Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way.

So no easy attributions, but, OMG, so, so many stars! FTW!

Music In, 2023, Batch 1

Well, it's taken years decades, but I think I have developed a rhythm for processing Music In. I actually started this post when I did the "2022, Batch 4" post back in February. Writing now, May 8, I have written up all but 4 of the albums/EPs, and removed them from the "_unrated" playlist. That playlist is now 6 albums, 58 songs, 3h49m. I will listen to it, with other new albums, until the final 4 albums are ready to be written up.

• Various (First Word Records) Artists, "Two Syllables Volume Nineteen", 2022, 12 tracks, Bandcamp. I like these annual record label compilations, they are a good way to find new music. Early on after I had starting collecting music again, say ~2009, my oldest daughter Erica gifted me the Luaka Bop 10 year anniversary sampler, where I found Jim White & Os Mutantes. [That sampler "Luaka Bop 10th Anniversary: Zero Accidents on the Job: Slow Jams" came out in 2000???]

  This sampler, I've already harvested Takuya Kuroda & Kaidi Tatham from this label. This was my last acquisition of 2022, I'm going to leave it (less the 2 harvested) in "_unrated" to keep listening.

  OK, 10 weeks later, April 8, 2 new additions:

  1. Allysha Joy's latest, "Torn : Tonic", reviewed below.
  2. Werkha's latest, "All Werk Is Play", reviewed next batch.

  4 stars, but no video - that will be for the selected artists.

• Belle And Sebastian, "A Bit of Previous", 2022, 12 tracks. All these years I thought Belle And Sebastion was a female/male duo, named ... Duh. It's a 4-6 piece band, that is just the name. They are indeed Scottish. This is a good album. Very nice tunes. Reminded me of New Pornographers at times - so maybe a slightly less eclectic, more polished sound? 4 stars. Here's the last track "Working Boy in New York City".

• Bonnie Raitt, "Just Like That...", 2022, 10 tracks. Wow, at 73 YO Raitt is still in great voice, and is of course still 1 of the best slide guitar players of all time. Inspirational! Not a weak tune in the lot. 4 stars. Here's a zydeco-ish tune, "Here Comes Love Again".

• Darwin Deez, "Double Down", 2015, 11 tracks, Bandcamp. I still love the way his guitar sounds. Not sure how to describe it - I would think I should be able to describe it ... Oh well. 4 stars. Here's "Last Cigarette".

• Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie, "Ella and Basie!", 1963, 18 tracks. There are 3 extra copies of 1 track and 2 extra copies of another, so 13 unique tracks. 6 of these are already in the Jaz Dumoz songbook:
  1. Honeysuckle Rose
  2. Dream a Little Dream of Me
  3. Tea For Two
  4. I'm Beginning to See the Light
  5. Ain't Misbehavin'
  6. On the Sunny Side of the Street
  2 songs now in process:
  1. Them There Eyes
  2. Satin Doll
  This is a bigger orchestra than I prefer, but still a nice album. 4 stars. Here's "Satin Doll".

• Jakub Zytecki, "Remind Me", 2023, 13 tracks, Bandcamp. The pride of Polish prog rock continues. This album seemed a little less guitar-oriented than the other 1 I have. I didn't care for this as much. Maybe a bit too high energy for me? 3 stars.

• RJD2, "Escape from Sweet Auburn - instrumentals", 2023, 14 tracks. I think my daughter gave me a RJD2 CD way back in the day - confirmed, she gave me the CD in 2002, blogged about in 2020. This is enjoyable listening. The drumming is definitely in the pocket. As much as I like vocals, this still gets 4 stars. Odd, 1st time he's gotten more than 3 stars. Here's "Miss Me With That Bullshit".

• David Crosby, "For Free", 2021, 10 tracks. His last album, I think recommended by the old guy in England. Very nice tunes, harmonies that recall whom you would expect: the Byrds, CSNY, etc. 1 track (not the 1 with Michael McDonald) reminded me of Steely Dan. I should probably go back and fill in his other solo work. 4 stars. Here's the title track "For Free (feat. Sarah Jarosz)" - a Joni Mitchell song off of "Ladies of the Canyon".

• The Mountain Goats, "New Asian Cinema", 1998, 5 tracks, Bandcamp. This must have been a reissue - a fact that I didn't notice? Pretty folky, including an out-of-tune banjo. 3 stars.

• Unknown Mortal Orchestra, "V", 2023, 14 tracks, Bandcamp. I liked their 2018 "Sex & Food". Good stuff coming from Down Under, New Zealand in this case. Wikipedia says they are now out of Portland OR. These songs seem more mature and catchier than that prior album. I really like this album. Even the weaker songs are fun. 4 stars. Here's the 1st track, "The Garden" - "Hold on tight, cause it's violent after dark in the garden."

• Allysha Joy, "Torn : Tonic", 2022, 10 tracks, Bandcamp. This came from the "Two Syllables Volume Nineteen" compilation discussed above. Joy is part of the "vibrant Melbourne soul & jazz scene". So Neo-Motown has moved from London to Melbourne, OZ, nice! 4 stars. Unsurprisingly, the track on the compilation album is the best. Here's "Let It!".

• Lucius, "Second Nature", 2022, 10 tracks, Bandcamp. I love the alto & soprano harmonies, but unfortunately maybe just 1 or 2x they got maybe a bit shrill. Good tunes, particularly after a few listens. 4 stars. Here's "The Man I'll Never Find" on Austin City Limits.

• Barrie, "5K", 2023, 5 tracks, Bandcamp. 3rd effort of her's I have collected. Nice, chill pop songs, right up my alley. Nice vocal harmonies. 4 stars. Here's "Unholy Appetite".

Yay, _unrated songlist is down to 28 tracks! I've started back through the BandCamp emails I have saved, I'll see what new stuff I can find. The oldest email is 2022-11-08, so, as usual, some catching up to do.

4

Man, I cannot seem to get myself to finish up the post on "Debt - The First 5,000 Years". I've done 5 chapters out of 12. I haven't worked on it since early April. I will finish it, but I think that will do it for me and Economics books? We'll see. I kind of felt I was done with dilettanting my way through Economics once I discovered MMT, but "Debt" was so compelling, I felt I had to share. Meanwhile, more SFF!

---

1st & 2nd up, books 3 & 4 of Ken Liu's "The Dandelion Dynasty":

• "The Veiled Throne", 2021, 1275 pages, 346k words. Wow - hefty!
• "Speaking Bones", 2022, 1333 pages, 362k words. Double wow (bow wow wow?), even heftier!

I read the 1st book "The Grace of Kings" in 2016, blogged here - it was released in April 2015. I then forged ahead into the 2nd book "The Wall of Storms", blogged here. After getting the 3rd book, I decided to wait for the 4th to come out and then read both together. If I had realized it had been 5 years between the 2nd and 3rd, I would maybe not have waited. But, totally unsurprisingly, about 1/4 of the way through the 3rd, I was really having trouble remembering who or what the characters, factions, countries, etc. were - this is despite the book having a "cast of characters" section.

So, I found Ken Liu's email, emailed him and explained my problem, and asked him if he had a précis/summary of the 1st 2 books he could share. 17 minutes after hitting send, I received this reply:

Hi Chris,

I can send you my synopses for the first two books. Hope they help!

Ken

Attached were indeed the synopses of the 1st 2 books! FTW! Once again, I Love Living in the Future! I am going to create a tag for that!

I think though, that these multi-volume epics should, in general, include a "what has happened so far". I think Martin did it with the "Game of Thrones" novels. I just started reading the 3rd volume of an Adrian Tchaichovsky series and it starts with "The Story So Far".

As epic as the 1st 2 books were (1275 & 1014 pages), their page total is exceeded by the second 2 to the tune of 319 pages! The synopses did help me get situated, and the books were great reads. The "silk punk" tech is really cool - totally different ways to achieve technology and automation using materials I would never have imagined. A great cast of characters, who are generally rewarded for being good people.

But I have to say, I think the 1st 2 stories were better. The characters there were more archetypal, and there were fewer of them. It kind of reminded me of the 2nd 5 Zelazny Amber stories vs the 1st 5 - those are also the 2nd generation rather than the 1st, and the stories are just not as strong.

---

Next up, "Homeland", by Cory Doctorow, 2013, 444 pages, 120k words. This is the sequel to Doctorow's 2008 "Litle Brother", and is followed by "Attack Surface" in 2020. I read "Attack Surface" late last year and realized I hadn't read "Homeland". This is what comes of buying paper books vs eBooks. I had been buying Doctorow's books in paper so I could pass them on to my now-former-son-in-law - gotta spread those revolutionary memes.

This is an enjoyable book. Doctorow touts his favs Burning Man and cold-brewed coffee. His prodigious output is a moving testament to heavy caffeine intake, LOL! [Note, I almost never have any caffeine, aside from coke with my bourbon when I'm out (at home I stock caffeine-free coke) - it keeps me awake at night.] I think he has talked about kettling and strategies against it and other problems with opposing The Man in large demonstrations on some of his later books.

I wish I had read all these in order. I still haven't read "Pirate Cinema", which I've owned in hardback for what, a decade now? Paper books for me now appear to be bad tech.

---

Finally, I got offered (BookBub) for $1.99 "Blood Music", by Greg Bear, 1985 (expanded from an award-winning 1983 novelette), 288 pages, 78k words. I loved this when it 1st came out. It still reads really well. Really well paced, and it has aged (now 40 YO) very well. LOL, the biggest anachronisms (? is that the correct term, for an incorrectly depicted future?) had to do with smoking! Still a fabulous and quick read.

Oh No!

My wife & I finally decided to get new iPhones. We had iPhone 7s, 256 GB memory, maybe 5-6 years old. We both got new iPhone 14 Pros, me the smaller one with 1 TB memory, her the bigger one. I decided the better camera might help me take better pictures of birds.

They give us $40 each for the old phones, xfer our data to the new phones, and wipe our old phones. I like the new phone.

Next day, I'm going through and notice the Recorder app I have used for the life of the old phone is showing the "needs an update" flag by its icon - but, it is gone from the Apple Store! That app predates Apple adding the Voice Memo app, which addition probably meant it was going to go away someday. So not only did we get new hardware, we got new software, and that app was no longer supported.

For at least the life of my old phone, I had used that app to record snatches of melody or lyrics that would come to me randomly, with the idea that someday they might become the seed of a song. There were over 100 of them. I have lately been thinking that, since I am really not good at songwriting - I've written ~10 songs & none of them are very good - I would pass these on to someone else, maybe my nephew Logan who seems to have some songwriting talent.

Well, that is a moot point now. I looked at app storage usage & saw 300 MB for the Recorder app, got flustered, and deleted the reference to the app. It was now completely gone from the new phone. I don't think that really mattered, I think by that point I was already screwed.

Over the course of this discovery, I probably said "Fuck!" loudly ~20x. That didn't seem to help much.

The life lesson from this: take plenty of time before getting rid of your old phone. [Added 2023-05-08: why did I want to get rid of the old phone at all? 1/4 TB of storage, 22,000 tracks of music, it could have functioned as a 2ndary music player indefinitely. Worth way more than $40 I would guess. I think that was a bit of a bum rush from Apple.] As much as I refer to my devices as my exocortex, you'd think I would have realized that.

Meanwhile, I will take this as confirmation from the universe that I am definitely not meant to be a songwriter - a BS copout I know, but, as I've already said, it is now a moot point. Still hard to believe > 100 song snippets stretching over many years now completely gone. Oh well, live & learn.

Music In, 2022, Batch 4

October, November, and December acquisitions, & 2022 is in the bag!

• katie dey, "the kraken", 2022, 5 tracks, Bandcamp. I commented last time about how prolific dey is, they are not slowing down. These tracks are not hard to listen to, slow & dreamy, but no standouts. 3 stars.
• Björk, "Fossara", 2022, 13 tracks. The World's Greatest Living Composer does not disappoint. Some definitely odd orchestration, yay! Thematically, a lot of earth & nature mystical memes.
  The 1st video, of the 1st track, "Atopos", is LOL - I think I saw a quote "Björk at her Björkiest" - FTW! Bizarre visuals, instrumentation 7 bass clarinets. 4 stars. Here is the "Atopos" video.

• Various Artists, "Good Music to Ensure Safe Abortion Access to All", 2022, 49 tracks, Bandcamp. This was a 1-day special fundraider. Hmmm, apparently they meant it, searching for it on Bandcamp gives no results.
  Lots of good tracks from quite a roster of contributors, including:
  • Amanda Shires & Jason Isbell
  • Andrew Bird
  • Animal Collective
  • Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros
  • Cat Powers
  • David Byrne & Devo
  • Death Cab For Cutie
  • Dirty Projectors
  • Fleet Foxes
  • My Morning Jacket
  • Pearl Jam
  • R.E.M.
  • Soccer Mommy
  It was a "pay what you want" deal, $49 per my normal $1/track algorithm seemed too much, I think I gave $30. I should have given more, even if not tax-deductible. [Bullshit capitalist algorithm running ...] 3 stars.
• Todd Rundgren, "Space Force", 2022, 12 tracks. This took a while to grow on me, but it did. Some good tunes, some odd tunes ("Down with the Ship", "Your Fandango", "Stfu"). A different collaborator, in many different forms, on each track. Here's a really interesting 35 minute video on the album, with Rundgren talking w the Lemon Twigs brothers.
  4 stars. Here's a peppy "I'm Leaving", with the Lemon Twigs, which could have come from anytime in Rundgren's incredible career. Totally a fan, at age 74 he is totally an inspiration to this old dumbass.

• Blossom Dearie, "SINGS ROOTIN' SONGS", 1963, 12 tracks. This album was billed as 1963 hits. You got it by mailing in 3 Hires root bear bottle caps and $0.50. Some interesting songs, some I would have just as soon not heard again. As interesting an historical figure as she is, I think I'm done with Bloosom Dearie. 4 stars for "I've Got Your Number" and "He Loves Me", 3 stars for the rest. Here's "He Loves Me", which I remember from 1963 or so (although it was originally "She Loves Me").

• Takuya Kuroda, "Midnight Crisp", 2022, 6 tracks, Bandcamp. I really enjoyed his last album, this is more of the same, tasty jazz tunes. I almost don't miss vocals. 4 stars. I could have picked any of the tracks for the video, here's the title track.

• Marianne Faithful, "A Secret Life", 1995, 10 tracks. I got this from the old English guy whose "journal of a grumpy old man" I subscribe to - mostly to be aghast at his eating habits ;-> This album really seems like an old person making music for other old people. She was born in 1945, so currently 78 YO, she would have been only 50 when this album was recorded - her 12th of the 21 albums she is up to now. 3 stars.
• Low, "C'mon", 2011, 10 tracks, Bandcamp. An indie band that was founded in 1993, mostly a guitar/drums duo with 4 different bass players. Rick Beato mentioned it last year at the death of the drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker. They were known for slow, sparce music. I like it. 4 stars. Here's "You See Everything".

• Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, "Cool It Down", 2022, 8 tracks, Bandcamp. This band is a fav of my oldest daughter Erica. Their 1st album in 9 years. Very listenable tunes, some punkier than others. Here is my of course favorite track, the upbeat, poppy "Different Today".

• Sylvan Esso, "No Rules Sandy", 2022, 16 tracks, Bandcamp. 5 tracks are short (< 30 seconds), with their name parenthesized. I got their 1st album when it came out in 2014. I like this 1 better that that 1. 4 stars. Here's the peppy & upbeat "Didn't Care".

• Jodi, "Blue Heron", 2021, 10 tracks, Bandcamp. Hunh, very much cut from the same cloth as Low (above): slow, dreamy. Definitely borderline 3 stars, but the title track (last) saves it. 4 stars.

Happy New Year!

5 More

Well, I did start writing the review of the economics book. Got maybe 1/4 of the way done. Then, my wife came down Saturday Feb 10, & Saturday we drove to Miami & flew to St. Martin for a week's stay. Our 1st time back at Grand Case Beach Club in 15 years! After visiting Martinique & Guadeloupe, it was amazing how small St. Martin/St. Maarten is! But Grand Case was as funky as ever. Our favorite restaurant Il Netuno was gone, as was Le California. The FishPot was now Seaside 82 or some such. The French food did us in tho. You have got to be in training to eat that rich stuff. We found a place with a good seafood or shrimp or nicoise salad & ate there 3x.

Unfortunately, either during the ~1 hour I waited (unmasked) in Punta Gorda airport for my wife, or during the (masked) trip to St. Martin from Miami International, I finally caught the COVID. Symptoms Sunday, miserable Monday night, tested positive Tuesday. Still symptomatic, mostly mild but variable, I hope to be over it soon.

But enough brain fog that I don't think I'm up to trying to disentangle / refactor the economics book, so I'll grind through the easy books I've read since last time. I may go on and do another Music In batch too.

1st, "Imperium Restored", by Walter Jon Williams, 2022, 510 pages, 138k words. I think this is the last book of this series! I always enjoy Williams' writing, but, enough of this feudal, classist universe already! I looked back through my comments on the other volumes of this series and there is definitely ambiguity in my views. A little bit of a twist at the end, and, we're done!

2nd, "A Mirror Mended", by Alix E. Harrow, 2022, 132 pages, 33k words. More on the multiversal versions of Sleeping Beauty/Snow White, this time featuring the Evil Queen trying to escape her narrative. Quick & easy read, creative ideas. Harrow was my neighbor for a while, ~40 miles away in KY, it appears she has moved to Virginia :-(

3rd, "Children of Memory", by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 2022, 406 pages, 125k words. The 3rd in the series. It started with uplifted hunter spiders, then uplifted octopuses & a bacterial race with atomic memory encoding. This installment ... CORVIDS, FTW!!! Uplifted 2' tall crows with yet another very odd model of intelligence. Plus a very complex, very rewarding framework. Tchaikovsky continues to delight, he has done really well with this series. Just preordered the 4th book, out in June, yay!

4th, "Lady of Mazes", by Karl Schroeder, 2005, 402 pages, 116k words. Schroeder has some of the most interesting ideas out there, somehow I have found it hard to engage with his writings. Hence just reading this 2005 release. A future post-scarcity utopia, with AIs ruling the solar system & preventing humans from becoming post-human, although there are some "gods" who used to be humans. Virtual reality tech allows multiple, technologically incompatible worldviews to coexist and overlap. But, is it a utopia or a dystopia? A very good read.

5th, "Hopeland", by Ian McDonald, 2023, 495 pages, 153k words. What an odd novel! It starts out reminding me of John Crowley's "Little, Big" - high praise - with 2 "magical" "families" finding each other, plus electromancy with Tesla coils used to fight demons, & winds up a work of climate fiction?!?!? A great, if strange, read.

Only 3

It seems like I usually wait until I have read 4 books to blog them. I am going to go with 3 because I actually read an "economics" book, on which I will shortly begin writing an extensive review. So I want to get these 3 off the stack.

1st, "The Goblin Emperor", by Katherine Addison, 2014, 514 pages, 139k words. Recommended by Doctorow or someone else whose opinion I respect. You've got pale-skinned elves & dark-skinned goblins. A half-breed prince becomes emperor after his father & older brothers are killed (suspiciously) in an airship crash. Ignoring sage advice & conventional wisdom, he acts in a much more egalitarian manner, treating everyone he interacts with with kindness & dignity. It mostly works out. A refreshing read - a protagonist who is notable for trying to be nice to everyone. There is follow-up trilogy based on a 2ndary character - I bought the 1st book, not in a hurry to start it.

2nd, "The Heaven Makers", by Frank Herbert, 1967, 189 pages, 54k words. Another old Herbert I was offered for $1.99 or somesuch. OK, enough of these! This is a story of immortal little grey humanoid aliens who use human history as an entertainment channel - and they don't mind vigorously tweaking the plot. Definitely reads like cheap, pulp sci-fi.

3rd, "Birthright: The Book of Man", by Mike Resnick, 1982, 360 pages, 98k words. I'm guessing another 1 I was offered for cheap. I remembered Resnick from the Year's Best days as having written some good short stories. This book is actually a collection of 26 short stories, strung together by intros, with a prologue & an epilogue, tracing Mankind as, over millenia, it creates a galactic empire, which it then of course finally loses. The various phases leading to and from empire are very sketchily described, very comic book.

Most of these stories are kind of repugnant. Mankind is kind of like the Earthlings in the movie "Avatar" - unrepentant, planet-destroying, alien-subjugating, out-of-control, capitalistic assholes. Can you imagine watching "Avatar" and cheering for the Earthings?

1 thing that was weird was that he mentions that they are still on a precious-metals-backed currency, so of course they need to vigorously extract gold & silver from every planet they encounter - conquistadors, For The Loss!

Resnick lived 1942-2020. He apparently smoked cigars, as cigar-smoking appears in several stories. And WTF is up with "14: The Biochemists": "My bedroom is usually filled to the brim with the fattest, nakedest women money can buy." ?????

I'm currently on the magazine stack. As mentioned above, next up a long review of an "economics" book.