“These people who expect to be saints in heaven, though they were not on Earth, have ignored the wisdom of the founders of the great religions. This wisdom is that the kingdom of heaven is within you and that you do not go to heaven unless you are already in it. The magic must be wrought by you and you alone. God has no fairy wand to tap the pig and turn it into a swan.
People ignore this. And those who believe in sinners burning in hell are, perhaps, not so much concerned with going to heaven as with being sure that sinners-–others-–roast forever in the flames.”
― Philip José Farmer
Author: Finious
Horatius at the Bridge
History Lesson Part 2
As mentioned in my previous post Future History Lesson, a passing quote in the science-fiction novel “Starship Troopers” by Robert Heinlein piqued my interest on two events in real history: ‘Horatius at the Bridge‘ and ‘The Death of the Bon Homme Richard‘. What I discovered in both cases I found so rich in story, that I had to explore them further. Below is what I discovered about Haratius. The surprising story of Bonhomme Richard can be found in Part 3 (coming soon).
Horatius at the Bridge
When first digging I could not find a specific work with this title, but there was a lot of information to be found on the person and the event. I eventually discovered that “Horatius at the Bridge” was the title of some editions of the narrative poem “Horatius“ by the Victorian Era historian Baron Thomas Abington Macaulay which was published in his book “Lays of Ancient Rome“ in 1842. It was very popular in England at the time, memorized and recited avidly, and taught in schools. Even close to a hundred years later Winston Churchill recalled memorizing it. You can download a free public domain digital ebook of the entire “Lays of Ancient Rome” via Project Gutenberg, available in multiple file formats. Continue reading Horatius at the Bridge
Future History Lesson
History Lesson Part 1:
Roman Soldiers & American Revolution Sailors as seen by Starship Troopers
I started reading “Starship Troopers“ by Robert Heinlein today and it inspired me to investigate a little real history.
First, I’ve been a big fan of Heinlein for awhile, but strangely had never read this novel which many regard so highly. I had seen the crappy movie supposedly based on it, but let me say that movie really holds no similarities to the novel except for some characters’ and alien species’ names. Worse the movie turns some of the deeper but controversial aspects of the novel on their head, and turns the entire story into a farce. For example Heinlein’s novel portrays a democratic society in which suffrage is earned by a term of government service – in the case of the main characters this happened to be military service. The movie version portrays a fascist society where the only road to citizenship was through the military — kind of like non-citizen inhabitants of the early to mid Roman empire who could earn citizenship only after serving 25 years in the Roman legions.
I’m getting off the topic, which isn’t so much about the future the novel portrays, but about detailing some things I learned from a “future history lesson” today’s reading inspired me to take. Continue reading Future History Lesson
Review: Dayworld
Dayworld by Philip José Farmer
View book info on GoodReads
My Rating: 
4 out of 5 stars
First Published: January 1985
Read from: December 04 to 05, 2013
Dayworld – An Engaging and Exciting Read
“Dayworld” by Philip Jose Farmer (1985) has elements that remind me of a lot of other classic sci-fi books. For example, some of the police procedural, hi-tech dystopian world elements and pulp sci-fi & action story tropes of “Dayworld” remind me of “Bladerunner”, (the Ridley Scott movie more so than the “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” Philip K. Dick novel from which it was based). I guess its not that surprising as the visually-stunning and goundbreaking vision of a future dystopia that was Bladerunner came out in 1982, just a few years before Farmer published Dayworld. Continue reading Review: Dayworld
Review: Guards! Guards!
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
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My Rating: 
5 out of 5 stars
First Published: 1989
Read from: November 21 to December 04, 2013
Guards! Guards! This much fun must be illiegal.
Wonderful fun! Best of the Discworld series so far. Loved the characters, plot, humor and excellent prose. And underneath it all incredibly deep undercurrents with serious (but ironically funny) truths about life, love, civilization, patriotism, politics, evil and heroism. But all those serious thoughts are delivered in such a way that they only add to, instead of disturbing, the fun.
2011 Summer Vacation Set
A slideshow of some of the photos from my 2011 Summer Vacation to the Durango, Colorado area. Including trips on the Durango & Silverton railroad, stays in both cities, and a trip to Mesa Verde National Park. Continue reading 2011 Summer Vacation Set
Personal Favorites Set
Here are some of my personal favorites of the photos I have taken over the years. Continue reading Personal Favorites Set
Header Images
- Update 12/31/13: Added 2 new header images for a total of 10
- Update 11/27/13: Added 4 new header images for a total of 8.
- Original Post 11/25/13: Posted 4 new header images.
After running the Twenty Eleven WordPress theme for this blog for two years now, (which I still LOVE,) I JUST discovered something I didn’t realize it could do. Namely that it would let you randomly display from a selection of custom header images.
I remember at one point when I first started using this particular theme that the only thing I didn’t think it did which I wanted to do was random custom image headers. I was new to wordpress and programmed my own very crude routine to do just that. But I made my changes to the actual theme files (which is a wordpress no-no), meaning that when I updated the theme to a newer version I lost those changes. And now I’ve discovered that the theme easily supports just what I wanted it to do much more elegantly than what I had jury-rigged together. If I had only uploaded more than ONE header I would have discovered the option to not only select from one of those images, but to instead display a random image.
Below are the images I currently have randomly appearing on every page of this website (except for on those few posts or pages where I have chosen to have a specific header). I will definitely be adding more soon.
Click the thumbnails to zoom.
While zoomed you can click on the left or right side of the image to move to the previous or next image in the gallery. You can also click the “start” link on the upper right of the zoom screen to watch the gallery as a slide show.
The Day After the Doctor
Well, on the Day AFTER the Doctor, I finally managed to watch the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special: The Day of the Doctor. All I can say is:
HOLY CRAP THAT WAS *AWESOME*!
Doctor Who Saves Google
Today in honor of Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary special “The Day of the Doctor”, Google did a Doctor Who Doodle that was also a game. You select the incarnation of the Doctor that you want to play. Then you are transported (via TARDIS of course) to a number of levels to rescue the Google letters that were stolen and are guarded by the Doctor’s enemies: the Daleks, Cybermen and even a Weeping Angel. If you die in the game you re-spawn as the next incarnation of the Doctor.
