Category: Not-politics

New Book of the Week: Storm From the Shadows

Short time for Lullaby to be on the list, but such are the vagaries of life.

I’m replacing it with David Weber’s Storm from the Shadows, which is the latest from the Honorverse. I was actually able to afford getting this one thanks to an early birthday present; it was a tough call between it and Escape from Hell, though. I’m about halfway through it, and it’s good.

Startling Star Wars Trivia of the day.

I wish I could remember where in Lileks I saw that bit that he wrote about why Lucas did Return of the Jedi the way that he did, but this quote of Dan Vebber emailed to me by Erick Erickson has its own charms:

But aside from what we see onscreen, the Ewoks are miserable little creatures for a completely different reason: they are the single clearest example of Lucas’ willingness to compromise the integrity of his Trilogy in favor of merchandising dollars. How intensely were the Ewoks marketed? Consider this: “Ewok” is a household word, despite the fact that it’s never once spoken in the film.

Of course, the advice that I got right afterward from a third party – which was to just get over the entire Lucas betrayed fanboy thing – was probably very sensible. At least, I bristled at it, which is usually diagnostic.

Somewhere, there’s at least three people muttering about how *their* moms…

…threw out their copies:

Rare Superman comic sells for $317,200

NEW YORK – A rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman has sold for $317,200 in an Internet auction. The previous owner of Action Comics No. 1 bought it for less than a buck.

It’s one of the highest prices ever paid for a comic book, a likely testament to the volume’s rarity and its excellent condition, said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles.

Heck, even the 50th Anniversary Reprint Edition has a decent street value. But look on the bright side – and, for that matter, all around you: somewhere in that pile of stuff that we call a ‘house’ is an item that a descendant will be able to hock for a small fortune.

The trick is figuring out which one.

Paralyzed man bitten by poisonous spider, gets unparalyzed…

…and should never, ever play the lottery again. He’s used up that particular well of luck.

Paraplegic Man Suffers Spider Bite, Walks Again

He has been confined to a wheelchair for 20 years. Now a paraplegic man is walking again, and his doctors call it a miracle. CBS13 went to Manteca to find out how a spider bite helped get him back on his feet.

Fark is waiting for the web-slinging abilities to manifest, but I am going to commit heresy and say that making Spider-Man’s web-slingers biological in origin never suited me completely. I liked the idea of Peter Parker being a gadgeteer, sorry.

Oh, well. Even if he doesn’t get them, Mr. Blancarte’s still ahead of the game.

Moe Lane

PS:

Having gone through the Museum of Jurassic Technology’s website…

…found here – I still haven’t figured out if it’s an elaborate in-joke, California weirdness, both, or neither. It’s definitely real: someone from the Steampunk Workshop has been there, and it’s on my wife’s possible visitation list.

Yes, my wife uses Roadside America as a valuable planning resource. And yes, I am a lucky dog. Knew that already, I did.

What a trillion dollars looks like.

PageTutor walks you through the process, starting with a hundred dollar bill, moving up to bundles, piles, pallets, and finally the actual trillion itself. It’s best experienced in full on the site in question; like Arhur Dent, you sort of have to work your way up from the loss of McDonald’s to the earth being vaporized to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

Via American Elephant.

‘Because I couldn’t fly.’

– As Age of Sail reminds us, this was reportedly the reply by Colonel John Cope to the question of why he run all the way from from Edinburgh to Carlisle (about 74 or so miles) to escape a rebel Highlander regiment.

Speaking as the grandson of a MacMillan, I’m not surprised in the slightest.

AoS has the song by the Tannahill Weavers up at the site, as well as another pretty good post right afterward illustrated how AoS naval fiction writers have such a untapped field of historical narrative to draw from. Check ’em both out.

Moe Lane

PS: