tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33892062024-02-27T23:07:23.761-08:00Conundrum - the Cosmic PilgrimE-mail me at robspe43@gmail.com. I won't post your email without first getting your consent.<p>
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"Some are born posthumously."
Nietzsche<p>
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"Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she's losing. Well I say, hard cheese." -- Mr. Burns
</p></p></p>Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comBlogger969125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-83200239429632504342013-12-12T12:20:00.002-08:002013-12-12T12:20:44.459-08:00Christmas comingAh, the material madness descends. But at least this Christmas I'll get to see some family. One cousin died, whom I had not seen in many years. That felt pretty bad. I'll have to make more efforts in future to keep in touch. So much going on, though.
I'm getting more and more ideas for my next book, provisionally called "Plenum". It's about Time, it's Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-5621986553108039842013-11-15T11:41:00.001-08:002013-11-15T11:41:48.611-08:00RetirementBeen reading about all these people who want to leave their cubiclejobs to start free-lance writing as a career. They seem to be concerned about how to leave their jobs and survive.I don't have that problem. I am retiring in April of 2015. I will have a pension - if the financial system survives Obamacare and QE and all the other governmental idiocies abounding. I want to Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-19913854293719736762013-11-13T06:01:00.001-08:002013-11-13T06:01:43.459-08:00Cold againForgot what it was like to be cold. Taking Jack the dog out, I could actually see my breath. For the first time this fall. Reading about the Rougon-Macquart makes me a bit contemptuous of Zola. I do much prefer Balzac and Stendhal. They are so much more connected to reality. Zola comes off as an hysteric.Oh, sure, his tale of the people of the family Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-8031722971957767212013-11-07T18:14:00.001-08:002013-11-07T18:14:15.035-08:00W H MallockReading Mallock's Socialism criticism, I am marvelously impressed. All the modern arguments answered. Nay, not just answered, demolished!Also absorbing the Rougon-Macquart saga par Zola. Bit hyperbolic, compared to Balzac and Cousine Bette. What real drama, personally characterized with spirit and insight and humour as well!Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-75153561893078009702013-11-06T15:41:00.000-08:002013-11-06T15:41:55.852-08:00Interplanetary frivolitySo busy at work. Did my 3000 yesterday, though, on the interplanetary colonization
idea. And I do have the tax deed article going. And the germ of a Paris apartment idea. Maybe if I sell enough e-books, we can buy an apartment over there!
I want to explore space through theology.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-48325867611255071872013-11-05T04:27:00.001-08:002013-11-05T04:27:21.162-08:00Clock nonsenseWoke up at 3:45 when I meant to wake up at 4:45. Tricked myself again. And then I get mad at whoever dreamed up this "Daylight Savings" nonsense, which is inconsistent and inexplicable. I realize it's like getting mad at the sky or elections or other inexplicable annoyances. At least the sky is beautiful while there's nothing uglier than an election, even one you win. Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-9098847465154254432013-11-03T14:24:00.001-08:002013-11-03T14:24:59.631-08:00Dark earlyAh, the good old time change. Actually, time doesn't change. How can it? The government, for no clear reason, just tells everyone to change their clocks. And they all do it, because everyone else is. What nonsense!Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-1811572115909767652013-11-03T09:13:00.001-08:002013-11-03T09:13:25.710-08:00PrefaceDoing an Introduction or a Preface or a Foreword - subtle distinctions - is much harder than a continuing historical or fictional narrative. It has to set up the story and "pre-qualify" the reader. I don't want anyone even trying to read my book who isn't a good fit for it - that is, who isn't historically literate and highly skeptical, especially of sacred cows such as the Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-42593482600429036602013-10-29T12:58:00.001-07:002013-10-29T12:58:40.884-07:00Jury dutyBoy, the contact with the unwashed masses makes me deadly tired. Why is it so large a proportion of the population is fat? And I do mean fat? Not just the 198 I am living with now, but, not, I hope, for long, but an extra century rolling about. How do they get around corners without falling over?
Anyway, I didn't get picked for jury duty. I guess that means I'm goodRoberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-51408174726183907142013-10-24T10:43:00.002-07:002013-10-24T10:43:36.214-07:00MoneyI feel like a man dying of thirst, who is forced to carry a huge tank of water on his head and who is forbidden to drink any of the water.
Enjoying David Warren, (Essays in Idleness) as always, and Bruce Charlton, a "usually enjoy".
Lots of intelligent people out there on the web. Maybe it's my choice of reading, but it does seem that the men who strike me as intelligent are Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-20505390490942905872013-10-23T16:50:00.001-07:002013-10-23T16:50:40.982-07:00Cooler and coolerA front came through today to usher us into November, almost. 41 tomorrow at S-ville! David got a deer! It truly is fall. I love it. One more summer going into a cubicle every day.Nothing on tv tonight but Duck Dynasty. Bit of a oe-trick pony.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-40624076729881958402013-10-22T15:32:00.001-07:002013-10-22T15:32:17.083-07:00Rain brings cool70 degrees this morning going to work at 6:30 and at 5PM coming home. Sticking with the low carb diet this week, anyway.
Trying some abuela añejo. From Panama.
Do I dare to smoke a pipe? Will I ever become ripe?
I do love old movies, like The Lady Vanishes.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-22928530262254052822013-10-22T05:32:00.001-07:002013-10-22T05:32:55.938-07:00Gout day I do not like being out sick on Mondays. Monday always passes by as in a dream. So it's easily endured. Thursday is the day I would prefer to take off, if I had a choice. Already having Friday taken care of, am I getting greedy? Perhaps. But these ten-hour days are not that much longer, to me, than the eight-hour days I used to start at 6:30 anyway, so I Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-85641372425643740102013-10-20T13:35:00.001-07:002013-10-20T13:35:26.842-07:00Football and writingFound a much better way of watching football. It's so annoying to root for one team and find them falling behind for stupid reasons. So I'm now on the side of the offense, only. I root for the side with the ball. After all, I only like to see offensive plays, good runs, long passes, loong field goals. No more agida at the score.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-2870690745867882312013-10-19T19:40:00.001-07:002013-10-19T19:40:25.096-07:00Slaw DogsI know. That sounds like a violent Western movie by Somebody PickenPacker.Drining brandy and watching the Clemson FSU game Flambé!Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-78261335824158602642013-10-18T11:59:00.001-07:002013-10-18T11:59:57.654-07:00Relaxing with YoutubeWatching Edith Piaf videos on Youtube. Frustrated because Netflix is not working. We will make it work, sooner or later. Splendid chef's salad for lunch.Got a tire for the wife's golf cart. Now to put it on!Could be the last warm day. Or at least the last hot one.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-45329824617563744002013-10-17T04:26:00.001-07:002013-10-17T04:26:20.353-07:00Allocating resourcesNo TV last night either. Saw "A Fistful of Dollars" last night. Can't beat Eastwood. Didn't know, though, that he had 8 children by 6 different women all the while he was having a long-time affair with Sandra Locke. Only married twice.
So he's not the hero I thought. Not mine, anyway. No more than Van Gogh or Picasso.
My resources are my attention and my energy. Same Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-44272283073092349832013-10-15T12:21:00.000-07:002013-10-15T12:21:43.677-07:00Back to workOverslept almost exactly one hour today. Meant I discovered a new way to cook sausage - in the oven with the bacon. What? You don't cook bacon in the oven? Oh, yes, much the easiest way, if you get the timing and the temperature right.
Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-35582067191518228352013-10-14T18:28:00.001-07:002013-10-14T18:28:07.868-07:00ContactsChatting at lunch with some serious powers in property tax. How could it be different if I was scmoozing with writers and historians instead? Of course, I would probably have some serious disagreements with whatever historian might show up. Even Nassim Taleb, who sees himself as economist, trader, philosopher, statistician, historian, linguist and whatever else you've got going.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-43134115198124885472013-10-12T16:11:00.001-07:002013-10-12T16:11:54.190-07:00HorseshoesHaven't played horseshoes for, probably, thirty years. Chris and David were into it, so I tried it, too, out in the back forty.It's tricky. You have to able to replicate the same movement easily. The stakes are forty feet apart. That's farther than I thought. I can barely see that far! But I did hit the stake couple of times. Dilemma: spin or flip? Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-91583159621491448582013-10-11T11:54:00.001-07:002013-10-11T11:54:59.241-07:00Peeling eggsThank goodness for the internet. I now know how to peel an egg easily and quickly. Just google it.Watching Le Million (1931) Good for my French. Musical about a lost lottery ticket. Weird. Thinking about buying a book about scarcity and how it affects one's psychology. Find it on Amazon. I love it. With all these modern tools, one doesn't need to cite Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-79859422265027064022013-10-10T17:28:00.001-07:002013-10-10T17:30:12.066-07:00Canadian and hot wingsGood weekend coming up with my darling. Hunting season coming up means the deer are slated for triage and political examination. Just think how few could escape Stalin's show trials!Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-48757015400333225972013-10-09T17:01:00.001-07:002013-10-09T17:01:58.761-07:00Heinz 57 sauce and SrirachaGreat discovery: Heinz 57 and sriracha go very well together, in appropriate proportions. To taste. The hotness and savory flavors combine well. Good on beans.Government still shut down. What if they shut down the government and nobody cared? People could spend their time doing useful things, like trying different combinations of hot sauce and steak sauce.Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-37746889303632273482013-10-08T13:11:00.000-07:002013-10-08T13:11:45.826-07:00Mencken"Nine men out of ten would be quite happy, I believe, if there were no women in the world, once they had grown accustomed to the quiet."
H. L. Mencken In Defense of Women. #32, The Woman Voter
Mencken is on Gutenberg! But not all of him. Now who needs the rest of the "manosphere"?Roberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3389206.post-22203068217336725722013-10-07T13:51:00.000-07:002013-10-07T13:51:50.012-07:00Rain on the highway in the morningHeavy rain today. Hoping it would stay under 80 degrees, but no luck. Not too bad, though. Monday Night Football should be more relaxed now that I've got my writing and my blogging done. Sorting through pictures for the website. Might be much better. Need some more travel photos! Now that I'm looking forward to a reasonable monthly income again, I'm readyRoberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01747859029040319691noreply@blogger.com