chexmix's 2014 thread-o-dread

Behold:




1. Davis, Phillip J. and Hersh, Reuben - The Mathematical Experience (G)
2. Nashe, Thomas - The Unfortunate Traveler and Other Works (G)
3. Daniel, Tony - Metaplanetary (G)
4. Aiden, Erez and Michel, Jean-Baptiste - Uncharted (G)
5. Clampitt, Amy - The Kingfisher (L)
6. Sullivan, Woodruff T. III - Cosmic Noise: A History of Early Radio Astronomy (L)
7. Wittgenstein, Ludwig - On Certainty (G)
8. Kandinsky, Wassily - Concerning the Spiritual in Art (G)
9. Cherkovski, Neeli - Elegy for Bob Kaufman (G)
10. Gribbin, John - Q is for Quantum (G)
11. Miller, Frank - Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (L)
12. Panek, Richard - The 4% Universe (G)
13. Berrigan, Ted - The Sonnets (G)
14. Hessler, Peter - River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (L)
15. Coolidge, Clark - Sound as Thought: Poems 1982-1984 (G)
16. Hearnshaw, J. B. - The Measurement of Starlight (L)
17. Hartwell, David G. and Cramer, Kathryn - The Hard SF Renaissance (G)
18. Tolkien, J. R. R. - The Hobbit (G)
19. Daniel, Tony - Superluminal (L)
20. Hirshfield, Jane - Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems (S)
21. Vonnegut, Kurt - The Sirens of Titan (L)
22. Odifreddi, Piergiorgio - The Mathematical Century (L)
23. Loy, Mina - The Lost Lunar Baedeker (L)
24. Gray, Jeremy - Plato's Ghost (G)
25. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - Love in the Time of Cholera (G)
26. Vonnegut, Kurt - Mother Night (L)
27. Neruda, Pablo - Selected Odes of Pablo Neruda (S)
28. Pratchett, Terry - Pyramids (G)
29. Oliver, Mary - New and Selected Poems (S)
30. Hallman, J. C. - The Chess Artist (L)
31. Hawking, Stephen - My Brief History (G)
32. Pringle, David - Science Fiction: the 100 Best Novels (L)
33. Hirshfield, Jane - The Lives of the Heart: Poems (S)
34. Geroch, Robert - General Relativity from A to B (G)
35. Vonnegut, Kurt - Cat's Cradle (L)
36. Milne, A. A. - Winnie-the-Pooh (S)
37. Chateaubriand, Francois - The Memoirs of Chateaubriand (L)
38. Shea, Ammon - Reading the OED (L)
39. Liddle, Andrew - An Introduction to Modern Cosmology (L)
40. Vonnegut, Kurt - God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater (L)
41. Broderick, Damien and Di Filippo, Paul - Science Fiction: the 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 (L)
42. Odenwald, Sten - The Astronomy Cafe (G)
43. Rexroth, Kenneth - 100 Poems from the Japanese (S)
44. Vonnegut, Kurt - Slaughterhouse-Five (L)
45 Rexroth, Kenneth - 100 Poems from the Chinese (S)
46. Sparke, Linda and Gallagher, John S. III - Galaxies in the Universe (G)
47. Nadler, Steven - A Book Forged in Hell (L)
48. Purdom, Tom - Lovers & Fighters, Starships & Dragons (G)
49. Eco, Umberto - The Island of the Day Before (G)
50. Hoffman, E. T. A. - The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (L)
51. Currey, Richard - The Wars of Heaven (G)
52. Veltman, Martinus G. - Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics (L)
53. Saunders, George - Pastoralia (S)
54. Elmegreen, Debra - Galaxies and Galactic Structure (L)
55. McCray, W. Patrick - Giant Telescopes (L)
56. Silverberg, Robert, ed. - The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol 1 (G)
57. Updike, John - Rabbit, Run (L)
58. Markson, David - Wittgenstein's Mistress (L)
59. Suskind, Ron - The Price of Loyalty (S)
60. Ahearn, Barry, ed. - Pound/Zukofsky (L)
61. Horowitz, Al - Chess for Beginners (G)
62. Milton, John - The Portable Milton (G)
63. Hirshfeld, Alan - Starlight Detectives (G)
64. Wilson, Robin - Four Colors Suffice (L)
65. Gibson, William - Neuromancer (G)
66. Bogle, John C. - The Little Book of Common-Sense Investing (L)
67. Vance, Jack - Trullion: Alastor 2262 (G)
68. Vance, Jack - Marune: Alastor 933 (G)
69. Odenwald, Sten - Back to the Astronomy Cafe (G)
70. Brennan, Jack - Straight Talk on Investing (L)
71. Cajori, Florian - A History of Mathematical Notations (G)
72. Riley, Tim - Beautiful Testing (G)
73. Trevor-Roper, Hugh - Renaissance Essays (L)
74. Ellsberg, Daniel - Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (L)
75. Peter, Rozsa - Playing With Infinity (L)
76. Barry, Lynda - Cruddy: An Illustrated Novel (S)
77. Caputo, Philip - A Rumor of War (L)
78. James, Henry - The Ambassadors (G)
79. Brin, David - Existence (G)
80. Kinzer, Stephen - All the Shah's Men (L)
81. Edge, David - Astronomy Transformed (L)
82. Woolf, Virginia - The Waves (G)
83. Poundstone, William - Labyrinths of Reason (L)
84. James, Henry - The Letters of Henry James, vol 1 (L)
85. Bainbridge, Beryl - The Birthday Boys (L)
86. James, Henry - Washington Square (L)
87. Farlow, Stanley J. - Paradoxes in Mathematics (G)
88. James, Henry - The Europeans (L)
89. Kaplan, Fred - Henry James: The Imagination of Genius (G)
90. Boyd, William - Waiting for Sunrise (L)
91. James, Alice - The Diary of Alice James (L)
92. Aristotle - On the Heavens (G)
93. Kaplan, Robert & Ellen - Out of the Labyrinth (L)
94. Plutarch - Moralia, v. 1 (L)
95. Campbell, David G. - The Crystal Desert: Summers in Antarctica (G)
96. Eckert, Wallace J. and Jones, Rebecca - Faster, Faster (L)
97. Aspray, William, ed. - Computing Before Computers (L)
98. Ryabov, Y. - An Elementary Survey of Celestial Mechanics (L)
99. Banville, John - The Sea (S)
100. Epictetus - Discourses, Books 1-2 (L)
101. Wilson, Edward O. & Hass, Robert - The Poetic Species (G)
102. Vallejo, Cesar - Trilce (G)
103. Guthrie, W. K. C. - A History of Greek Philosophy: Volume 1 (L)
104. Fitzgerald, F. Scott - This Side of Paradise
105. Epictetus - Discourses, Books 3-4, Encheiridion (L)
106. Cage, John - Composition in Retrospect (G)
107. Apollonius Rhodius - Argonautica (L)
108. Sacks, Oliver - Uncle Tungsten (G)
109. Wharton, Edith - French Ways and their Meaning (S)
110. Heidegger, Martin - Introduction to Metaphysics (G)

My in-progress list:

(G) = Glenn's
(L) = Library's
(S) = Someone else's
(E) = Electronic

Banner, Adrian - The Calculus Lifesaver (G)
Caesar - The Gallic War (L)
Dozois, Gardner, ed. - The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth
Annual Collection (G)
Duhem, Pierre - Medieval Cosmology (G)
Fletcher, Colin and Rawlins, Chip - The Complete Walker IV (G)
Guthrie, W. K. C. - A History of Greek Philosophy, vol. 2 (L)
Johnson, Charles W. - Ice Ship (G)
Kitchin, C. R. - Astrophysical Techniques, Fifth Edition (G)
North, John - Cosmos (G)
Rich, Adrienne - On Lies, Secrets and Silence: Selected Prose 1966 - 1978 (G)

Total: 10

Dude, you and I need to spend more time talking. That in-progress list is dangerous for me!

Heh. Catching up for all those years in the arts letting my brains go mushy.

HERE you are. Lost you in the crowd.

Those books would make my brain explode.

Hiya Suz!!

Don't go brain-exploding now. It's very messy. :^)

Oh, friends, I reallllllly didn't want to add that 17th book ... but I got Uncharted via the Early Reviewers program and my review is late, so ...

... the list of 17 is a trifle misleading anyway. I am reading them all, but only about 4 are really active.

Overall I am going to work to chip this number down. I think that makes for more effective reading.

Well, it probably makes for longer-lasting comprehension, anyway...

Oooh, Big Data. A very Hot Topic in financial markets as well as technology-land.

The cats would appreciate the drama of the exploding brain, I suspect. They're bored now that the squirrels have retreated from the freezing temps.

Hey found and starred you!

Being starred is better than getting served. ;^)

Wow. My in-progress list is a whole lotta BRICKS. I'm over halfway through about three of them, but still ... few of them are books you can hold comfortably in one hand while you are lying in your darkened bedroom, whimpering through a headache & marveling at the unexpected snow.

I feel the temptation to add something short to the list, but but but ... I really want to knock the numbers down. Oh why couldn't one of them be a fat comic novel? Brickish, but light at brickish heart?

Get beter soon, Glenn. I believe that is one of the occasions that I really like having a reader. Reading in bed, with or without a headache.

I am doing less reading than I otherwise would on a three-day weekend. That may seem a tad heretical, but it's not: NO reading, now, THAT would be heretical.

The background. I'm 52 years old, morosely but now determinedly single, and have been living like a grad student since ... well, since I was a grad student. I was last a grad student in 1992, unless you count scattered courses since (I don't).

There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but ...

... my apartment is a cluttered hole (I'd rather read than clean, of course), I count a card table as a legitimate piece of furniture, and even when the apartment is clean(er) there are stacks of ... things ... all over the place -- part book, part not-book.

Again -- there is nothing wrong with this, especially when there is only one other person (Stacy, my ex) who regularly SEES the place, and she sees it only once a month or so. Plus I have never had, ahem, the most directed / concentrated motivation toward sheer money-making, so what little money I do earn tends to go to ... you guessed it: books. So there it is; here I am.The cat who I share the space with is old but healthy for his age, and is regularly fed and adored. I'm not a hoarder, not exactly. I wouldn't call the apartment filthy. Not quite.

But it's hole-y enough to be depressing, and if I am going to be alone, I might as well be alone in a place that isn't fundamentally depressing. Don't worry -- I am coming to the point, now. This weekend, I am moving the bookshelves around to make a different place, or space (a somewhat roomier living room, for example). I am throwing stuff out. I am cleaning.

It feels good. Although some positive things have been happening lately (my astronomy courses in particular), I've been in the blue doldrums since my last girlfriend dumped me over a year ago. I've been gaining weight, not working out, my work performance has been more than usually spotty, and I've been quite depressed. As comforting as it undoubtedly is, spending all my free time in bed reading, and snuggling the cat, hasn't done much to lift the iron cloud. I'm going to have to do other stuff.

So that's what I'm doing.

Glenn, how wonderful! I'm so supporting you in your effort. You make your place a good one to spend time in. Throwing stuff out. Moving the shelves, let the light in. You go!!!!!!!

Big hug.

Woot, Glenn! Now, I need to follow your lead.

That said, things here are clean & moderately organized. But I still haven't sorted out the spare bedroom, which is too rapidly becoming the boxroom -- home to unopened boxes. I need to winnow the clutter.

Smootches to Skutch. chortle chortle. I know EXACTLY how he'll react to that...

PS -- couldn't you read some T. Pratchett??

OK, so I added an Amy Clampitt poetry book.

She's pretty amazing.

I am now a member of the American Astronomical Society, which is kind of exciting for me. :^)

Excellent! Maybe I'll see you at a conference sometime.

Fabulosity!!!

Glad to see you added some poemz. Have you read any Mary Oliver? I suspect you'd like hers.

You go, Glenn.

Suz, I've read scattered M Oliver pomez ... my ex-gf likes her a lot. I've liked the ones I've read quite a bit.

La la la la, it's the weekend! Cleaning/re-arranging to finish, and book + cats to snuggle.

Happy weekend, Glenn and happy snuggling.

Good on you with the cleaning/re-arranging! I know from experience that it can do wonders for one's outlook. I start feeling down when the house starts getting cluttered, and I know that if I just let it go, it would start a nasty downward spiral. I hope you start feeling the good vibes from your re-arranging soon!

Thanks! I'm far into the blue side today but I know the cleaning/accomplishing stuff will help. Inaction is the, er, enemy. :^)

So be active!! Did you get any re-arranging done? And did the blue go away a bit?

A little. It is difficult to resist the temptation to stay under the covers (and next to the cat) because it is so cold here ... but I have to get up and around soon: have lunch, get cleaned up and go out to the grocery store.

There is so much I _could_ do. Inertia is powerful today.

Indeedy. I've turned into a sedentary blob this winter, which is VERY bad for me, in all possible ways. I did get some stuff done yesterday -- assembled a bookshelf/storage thing & a shoe rack -- but am still procrastinating on the biggest task of all, clearing out the back bedroom and tossing lots of elderly clothes that I know I'll never wear again into a bag for recycling.

I do have to work this afternoon, though. Piffle.

Well a little is good enough, Glenn! just take one more step!

And Suzanne I really hope you got those clothes out!

I may dig into a few more graphic novels this year. We'll see. I've never read Neil Gaiman, for example ...

Snuck in a poetry book. I've read it before, but it's a good one.

A coworker of mine KNEW crazy S.F. poet Bob Kaufman -- I don't know how well. Kaufman's work is read by far too few people.

There is way too much crazy in my RL to do crazy poetry right now...

Almost ended up in Boston tonight. The ice-blocked train doors were almost all frozen shut and I had to run through two cars to find one that wld open in Providence. Thank heavens I don't seem to have left anything vital behind, for once. Except possibly my sanity.

That sounds like quite an adventure, Suzanne. I would panic!!!

Obviously, my efforts to get the numbers down have been in vain. @_@

I posted above that my cat was old but healthy. Alas, I'm no longer so sure that is the case. Skutch has been eating less and less, and has gotten pretty skinny.

It might be something dental -- he does a lot of random "smeck-smeckling." I'm taking him to the vet on Monday. If it is dental and he's not too old for extractions, I'll probably have it done.

I haven't exactly been the nicest person, recently, as a result of this strain on my emotions. And I also think my worry over his health might have something to do with my recent weight gain. Not sure.

Ohh Glenn, that's so very sad. I hope Skutch can be helped with extractions. Is he the cat in your profile photo?

Keep us posted on his health. And it's so understandable that it has its influence on your state of mind. I refused to marry when my cat became ill the night before my wedding. So we went to the nightvet and everything was cleared before the marriage. But I was really panicking.

The cat in my profile pic is Pez, who died around Christmas 2012. She was the sweet to Skutch's grump (Suzanne can attest to this, I think).

I too hope that it is just a dental thing -- but he's going to be 19 this year.

He's crusty, and he has never been very good around other people, but he's my boy.

Bad crying jag today at my desk. Luckily I work with cat-lovers.

19 is really old for cats of course. I'll be thinking of you and Skutch!

Anxiety is a great recipe for weight gain. I can attest to this.

I can also testify to Pez's sweetness. She was an adorable butterball of a cat. Skutch is most definitely a grump. He is the only cat I have ever encountered who would stalk me and seek to maim me while I was simply trying to open a can of catfood for him. Which is why Glenn had to leave a broom outside the door for me -- so that I could defend myself from his claws.

Amazing that Skutch is that old. Which, of course, will only make it tougher when the day arrives that he can't go on. Hopefully he has a few good years left in him, but do get it checked out. It could be a diabetic issue or all kinds of other stuff. At the very least, there will be something that the vet can do to make him more comfortable. Fingers & toes crossed.

Oddly, back in 2003 when I was ultra-stressed-out I LOST a crapton of weight. Of course, I was being mis-medicated and had horrible insomnia -- that helped.

I hope I have been a good cat Dad. I want to have done *something* right.

How is Skutch doing?

He's eating a little today. Still very slow.

Thanks for asking, Connie!

I have a 15-year-old cat, so I sympathize with the worries that come with this particular territory. Thinking of you and Skutch...

Skutch, the Obstreperous: 1995-2014.

My heart is dust.

:-( I'm sorry.

O Glenn, I'm really so sorry and sad for you!
Please remember I will be sending al my sympathy and support!

Thank you folks. A great friend of mine has passed from the Earth. The bed looks barren: no one is there to snuggle.

Oh, my dear....

I'm so sorry; you know I am, no matter how obstreperous & cantankerous he was. Big hug, and Tigger, Molly & Cassie send purrs of condolence. You know where I am if you want to talk.

Thanks, Suz. Yeah, he could be awful, but he was always there for me. Every time I put my hand down near him, he touched me with his paw.

I am completely destroyed & I don't know how I am going to get through this night. But I guess this will probably be the worst one.

It will. You will cry your eyes out. Every day will be a bit better. I still miss my sweet Jasper, but I know he was acutely unhappy the way he was living. This is the hardest thing we do for our loved companions, but it's also the compassionate thing. And I know if you made this decision, it was for all the right reasons, because Skutch the Cantankerous was one of your reasons for plodding along from day to day. Just as the resident felines are for me.

I hope things will get better with time, Glenn.

I plucked Ted Berrigan's The Sonnets off the shelf this morning, in a niblet of spontaneity before heading off to work. I'm not sure why ... it is some kind of comfort thing. It isn't that these poems are about grieving or anything (lord knows, they often aren't "about" anything but themselves) ... it's just that they are among my favorite poetic sequences and I felt like it would be comfort(ing|able) to settle into a favorite.

I must say it really stank having to come home and have no friend to welcome me, no one to yell until I fed him (though that had gone away in the last few weeks), just ... no one.

I'm glad to be reading more poetry again. Maybe, who knows, I'll start writing again one day.

A snow day today. Can't say I much like being here by myself.

Hang in there, Glenn!

I would suggest hopping on a train & coming here, but you'd need to deal with Tigger yowls. He wants to go out and play in the snow. Clearly, he is demented.

I wish I could get a snow day! The downside of working from home, I fear.

Oh, no. I'm so so sorry for you. Keeping you in my thoughts.

Still feeling broken and bleary. And feeling self-indulgent for posting about it -- but I seriously have no idea what to do with the emotions apart from feeling them.

I'll go outside in a bit, I promise.

I met this beautiful girl today:

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/25133271/

56: Oh, those eyes!

She is gorgeous!!!

And good for you to get out of the house!

Oh, she's lovely! So does this mean you're adopting her...?

I am trying to decide. She is really lovely, but I'm still pretty broken up ...

Ah, hell -- I sent in the online application to adopt her. :^)

Oh, good for you!

Yes, way to go, Glenn

Approved to adopt! It probably won't happen until after this weekend, though -- I'm supposed to go to NYC, weather permitting.

Yay!

I didn't mention it previously, but I only met Lee Loo (who will be re-named) because my ex and best friend Stacy saw her brother's profile:

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/27428970/

... and fell in love with his wacky expression. I went to a local adoption event hoping to meet Squiggles (it had been pre-arranged) but, alas, he'd proven too Squiggly to capture that day!

I am going to be in contact with Squiggles' foster dad soon -- I may be adopting them both. We'll see how it all goes.

So you get a brother and sister kitty! Wow! Good for you!

I was very grumpy and misanthropic today. But after I came home, I was struck with a huge sense of gratitude that, in the SHIT weather we are currently experiencing, I have a roof over my head. Because not everyone has that.

And a roof that will soon shelter at least one cat and maybe two! If you end up with Squiggles, you may have to keep that name...

I should point out that I adopted Jasper and Molly about a month after Clea (the prior cat) died. I hadn't intended to, or so I tell myself, but I think it was meant to be. It's not the same -- but then cats, like people, aren't interchangeable people. I quickly came to love them for their individual personalities.

That's what I think about cats too.

Cassie thinks Squiggles is destined for your home, too. Because, she reminded me, there is ALWAYS room for just one more cat...

Well, NEW QAT was gonna be delivered to my house tonight, but it's icky out there -- so I'm gonna pick him up at the local Petco (2 blocks away or so) tomorrow. This is actually easier all around, so ...

... but I was all hepped up. @_@

And??? Is the cat home now?

Well, there's SOMETHING under my bed! And it is BLACK!

We'll want photos of course.

Yes of course!

Last night she stayed under the bed. This morning she was under the couch. When I got home from work she was still under the couch. I'm patient!

How do I post pictures here? I have a few from last night when I picked her up.

http://www.librarything.com/wiki/index.php/Basic_HTML_/_How_to_do_Fancy_Things_i...

O, that's just too funny!! She is a big kitty!

Excellent.

Oh, YAY!! Love it! She's beautiful - congrats!

Thanks!

I woke up deep blue this morning. What are my meds doing -- are they on vacation?

Am cleaning, trying to forget how I'm feeling.

Picked up The Hobbit today partly because I need something reasonably light and uplifting, plus I need to prep for my assault on LOTR (which -- I know it will be difficult to believe -- I have never managed to finish).

85: I know it will be difficult to believe
I've tried LOTR several times, as a kid and as an adult, book and movie, and never gotten far.

I'm sorry that you're not feeling well.

I liked The Hobbit, but had to struggle to get through the LotR books. Loved the movies, though.

Folks, last night I learned the true meaning of the term SNUGGLEBOMB.

Oort Cloud (the cat) emerged from underneath the bed -- upon which I was lying. I patted the mattress. She hopped up, and for a couple of incredible minutes was a squirming mass of petmepetme. It was completely amazing.

88: Oort Cloud
Astronomy courses put to good use?

:^)

You named her after a Dutch Astronomer! Wow.

And you see that you get rewarded for being patient.

So, my story with LOTR: back in high school (think late 1970s) I had made it through the first two books and had started the third, when I 1) became depressed that some of my favorite characters were dying, and 2) became aware that EVERYBODY seemed to be reading this thing ...

Being a young pseudo-intellectual, I couldn't possibly be caught reading something popular, so I put down LOTR and moved on to more obscure things, like The Gormenghast Trilogy (which is wonderful & which I would like to re-read one day).

It's now been on my shelves in a cheapo Science Fiction Book Club omnibus edition for years, and I'd like to finally finish it for geek cred and also to get it OFF my shelves. My library rules (since I've decided I never really will have the space for the library of my dreams) include "Read and pass on unless it is either life-changing and/or difficult to recover." That is, since it appears I will be living like a grad student FOREVER, I need to trim down the weight of things I have to pack up when moving.

So there it is.

Connie,

The head of my department is also a Dutch astronomer. I'd love to think I will get points at work for this, but I don't know that Arnold will be terribly impressed. ;^) Now, if I could only become a better/faster programmer ...

/G

When not hiding under couch or bed or being a SNUGGLEBOMB, Oort Cloud often looks like this:

She looks like she's plotting the next snugglebomb launch up there on her perch!!!

Welcome to Oort Cloud -- can I call her Cloud for short??

Geek cred -- chortle chortle. I've none of that. Have yet to read the Hobbit. Heck, even my 10 year old nephew has launched into LOTR. Sigh. I have watched all the films, however.

Suz,

I thought the films were pretty good. Return of the King seemed to end about 8 times, however. I'll be interested to find out whether this accurately reflects the end(s) of the book.

I have to scurry for my geek cred points after all those years in theatre turning my brains into nougat.

>94 tungsten_peerts:: Oho! What a cool and funny little thing you've got there! Those eyes just peeping over the top - love it!

I love the movies, but I really found the books a slog. Honestly, the man spends 96% of his prose on landscape description and I *still* couldn't follow the dang maps! Sheesh!

I'm going with Amber on the books!

And Cloud or Oort (whatever you prefer) is looking like she planning an attack! Just like Suzanne says! But now she looks smaller then when you held here on the picture!

She's really not that big at all. I think she weighs just over 9 pounds. She looks big in the picture, I think, partly because she is nervous and puffed-up and also sort of folded.

I look enormous in the first picture, because I AM enormous. :( But I joined Weight Watchers at work today.

... and I think a short name would have to be OORT rather than CLOUD. ;^) I may have to quiz Arnold on the correct pronunciation of the Dutch 'oo' sound.

I think she's sorta blending in with your jacket in the first pic, so you can't tell how much is cat and how much is human winter coat!

Good for you on joining WW. If I can get to a point where the head is under control, I'll think about joining a gym. The Y is about $10 cheaper a month, but significantly further to go (about another 30 mins) from the Boston Sports Club, which is right downtown. On the other hand, the Y has a pool. For now, it's all rather moot. I can't contemplate doing anything while my head is misbehaving since I'll have committed myself to something I'll never take advantage of.

ETA: based on my limited (vulgar profanities) knowledge of Dutch, I think Oort would come out sounding a bit like a sealion's bark...

... or (to mix nationalities) the Swedish Chef.

Or, a Swedish chef barking like a sealion.

OO is rather pronounced like the o in bore

Oh, so to pronounce it as 'ort' (as in English) would be fairly close? I thought there was perhaps something umlaut-y sounding about it.

Dutch is an interesting language. I can almost read it, which is strange since I've never taken a class or anything -- but it doesn't sound like anything else. There must be connections to both English and German (which I have taken, though it was years and years ago).

The Netherlands has produced many great astonomers: Jan Oort, Bart Bok, Jacobus Kapteyn, Christiaan Huygens ... the list goes on and on.

Probably has something to do with the fact that they were in the lead in terms of grinding glass.... They also produced some early biologists, like the great van Leeuwenhoek, who was the founder of modern microbiology. Microscopes, telescopes....

True -- the invention of the telescope is often attributed to this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Lippershey

I remember being enchanted by stories of van Leeuwenhoek (and others -- it might have been via Paul de Kruif's Microbe Hunters -- when I was young.

Okay, so today I was chatting with my ex and we discussed another Dutch cat name: Voorwerp. As in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanny%27s_Voorwerp

(read the Wikipedia article if you have the time -- it's actually a great story)

.

I like that... (and "Hanny" for short, since she's a girl?)

108: It is a great story, and "voorwerp" is a cool word. I'd heard of the Galaxy Zoo but not this discovery.

Voorwerp???? uhhh.... a cat named 'object'? Well if you like that, you just go ahead, I don't think anybody in the US will know what the name means, unless they have Dutch Ancestors.

But my vote goes to....tadatatatatda: Oort (with a long OOOO)

OK, I'll compromise ... howzabout "Spinoza"? ;^)

Yes! I like that!

112: I once knew a white rabbit named Spinoza.

LOVE it.

This cat is going to be the death of me (in a good way)! :^)

Nothing really to add - just wanted to say that I'm loving all the cat naming talk here!

What a sweet face!!!

She looks really at home!

OMG, I LOVE my cat; my cat is NUTS.

You can call her that too!

But it's not DUTCH ... unless it is. ;^)

No it is not! That would be NOTEN (literally) or GEKKIE (meaning 'you crazy cat' in a loving way)

Ha! GEKKIE will do quite nicely. It's not cat-specific, is it?

No, it even can be used for humans!

Dutch beats astronomy? The cat is a complex creature and needs a formal name and a nickname?

OORT CLOUD + LASER POINTER = X-TRA GEKKIE

>128 tungsten_peerts:: Ha! Love it!

>128 tungsten_peerts: Leaping for the stars -- or at least, leaping for the little red dot...

>127 qebo: All cats require formal names and nicknames (see TS Eliot "On the naming of cats"...) Molly is known as Molly (formally, for the vet), Mollycat (by Theo, the former neighbor's little boy), Molly-wolly-doodle (no idea why) and from that, Doodlebug. Also Kitten Caboodle.

Tigger is Tigger, but also Tiggy, Tiggy-Monster, Tigger-the-Terror-Cat, Mr. Tigs.

Cassie's formal name is Cassiopeia (guess who had a hand/paw in that choice...) but also is known as the Deli-Kitten, Cassie-Cat, CassKit, Cuddle Cass and Cassie Bean.

Jasper was also referred to as Jas, Jas-Cat, Jas-Purr, Purr Monster and Mr. Tufty Ears.

>130 Chatterbox:: Our cat, Susie, is often referred to as "The Bird," because she makes that sort of chirping sound when she sees a bird out the window.

>131 scaifea: Amber, I sometimes also refer to Cassie as Miss Bird or Birdie-Girl, mostly because she's the antithesis of a bird (she's a roly-poly fat cat) but partly because of the chirping! Which is primarily reserved for when I enter the bedroom, which she believes should automatically be followed by my opening the bag of Greenies and doling out a big pile of 'em. And along with the chirping goes a little "anxiety dance".

You know what I'm nostalgic for? PHONE BOOTHS. And by extension, not being forced to listen to thousands of one-sided, incredibly banal conversations every time I have to take public transit. I have earplugs and an iPod, but some people are so g.d. loud.

Grump over.

Plato's Ghost, man ... that was a slog.

Tomorrow may be an interesting day at work:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/mar/14/gravitational-waves-big-bang-univ...

ooh, interesting may be an understatement... of all measurable time, no?

Wow. Facebook finally grossed me out so much that even my ALTER EGO* left. @_@

I had a fake identity on FB: it was the only way I could stand to be on there.

Really?? Were you monitoring us all surreptitiously?? And what finally caused you to flee? I pruned my list of friends by a third....

Suz,

You no doubt know the vulgar phrase which starts "opinions are like ...".

Well, after a while I felt like I was just, ahem, smelling ... that ... ALL THE TIME.

Plus I just don'tcaredon'tcaredon'tcare about:

1) anyone's kids. Really;
2) what someone had for lunch today;
3) what someone was as the result of a Buzzfeed quiz ("which BLANK are you?").

... all of which means 85% of FB was less than interesting for me.

... and did I mention opinions? I was even reeling at friends' opinions.

My late FB persona was very Dada/Surreal. It was loads of fun for 2, sometimes 3 people (not including me).

/G

PS: Is Fred Phelps fucking dead yet?

I agree that the dumb factor of Facebook can be overwhelming, and I've been much chagrined to discover that some old friends are so seriously conservative and intolerant. Still, I suffer through it because it's still an easy way to keep in touch with many of my grad school friends, who are scattered all across the country. I don't blame you for abandoning ship, though.

Ugh, I've been having dreadful anxiety & depression attacks; wondering if it's the new migraine meds or just (gasp) ME. As we know, the latter is entirely feasible. Just thought I'd vent. Sauce for goose/gander, you know.

Oddly, all three felines have decided that they need to sleep on the bed with me. This is making life... interesting.

Oh Suz, I am sorry to hear this. Of course I know what that headspace is like (sans the migraines).

Don't let the jive bullshit get you down (soon I will have actual anodyne(s) for the jive bullshit at jivebullshit.com, which I own). Cats are fine objects of meditation -- try to live as they do. :^)

Hmm, you mean sleep 20 hours a day? I can do that. Of course, I'd have no career/income left, soon, but hey.

Gonna call the neurologist today and try to jumpstart myself today.

My Amazon Kindle settlement (ebooks price-fixing case) just landed in my account: $192.59...

Whoa! I got $3.65 :^)

I spent that $3.65 on Love and Math, about which I've heard really good things.

Spent the day home from work with a lousy head cold. This had its upside, since I spent much of the time catching up on class work.

I have no words.

>145 tungsten_peerts: My mother just passed that along to me. She was not so impressed.

And clearly the other upside of being at home with a cold came in a qat-sized package....

This QAT is going to QILL me with those eyes.

>146 tungsten_peerts: Wow - gorgeous!

I'll have to come & visit soon so I can meet her... She reminds me a bit of Jass, Paul, Courtney & Theo's cat, from upstairs at my Brooklyn place. Big eyes and round face.

She is lovely!

You can't make this shit up:

"Private eyes are watching you; they see your every move...."

Now, I know it grates to have the lyrics to a Hall & Oates song flung at you. But clearly, Oort Cloud is ON A MISSION. She is WATCHING. She is STUDYING YOU. What, you thought YOU chose HER? Bwhahahaha.

>154 Chatterbox: LOL

I have a ridiculously adorable cat.

*snerk*

>153 tungsten_peerts: *snork!*

>154 Chatterbox: What's wrong with Hall & Oates!?

Folks, The Chess Artist is brilliant, funny and scary. If you care at all about the game of chess -- and maybe even if you don't, but know someone who does -- please read it.

>159 tungsten_peerts: I knew this rang a bell -- his agent is the same guy as my agent. Or wait, should I say that we share a literary agent? Sigh, brain not working; have the dental infection dumb.

>158 scaifea: I can tolerate; I suspect it's not Glenn's cuppa... :-) *snerksnork*

Reading Umberto Eco, I find myself again regretting having sold my one-volume OED years ago because I needed the cash.

"versipellous"??

shape-shifting, I think??

Yeah, Eco will do that to you.... by which I mean, make you want to soak your head in ice-cold water.

Yes, it's sort of akin to "protean."

I guess by rights I should 'blame the translator' as well ... Wm Weaver also translated Calvino, if I recall correctly.

So far I am enjoying the book. I liked Foucault's Pendulum, too, though I thought the "I'm not really a novelist per se" showed up more blatantly. His books are always interesting intellectually ...

>162 Chatterbox: *snork!* i haven't tackled any Eco yet, but I'll be sure to have my dictionary handy when I do...

Yes, friends, you heard right -- I have never read Winnie-the-Pooh.

But then, I've never seen The Sound of Music, either.

At least with Eco. that pose doesn't feel like a pose, it's just who he happens to be. With other people, it's a self-important pose.

Molly is meowing around my ankles, suddenly, and I think wishes to say hello.

I would offer to remedy both defects in >165 tungsten_peerts:, were it not for the howl with which I suspect the offer would be greeted.

Well, I done went and added Pooh to my in-progress list at the behest of yon ex-girlfriend, who has also been supplying me with poetry by women, bless her.

Sound of Music is another matter. I don't need any 'lonely goatherd' songs, yo.

But: Howl, anyway. Just because I can!

When I was little, I absolutely adored the LPs of Pooh books.

But then, I also adored Sound of Music, which my parents took me too when I was 3. It was my third movie (the first was Mary Poppins, allegedly...)

People throwing shoes need more practice.

You talking about the Hillary thing? (Or did I offend you somehow?? Unclear, due to cryptic comment...)

O! Yes, the Hillary thing (and, by extension, the years-ago GWB thing).

Sorry to be a befuddler. :^)

Have lost 14.2 lbs so far on Weight Watchers ... :^)

Congrats! About time for me to do summat. Like walk more. Or something.

I'm listening to the second of two books by Caleb Carr, the first of which was The Alienist. Think you'd like 'em if you're looking for non-serious stuff. Set in historical NYC.

>172 tungsten_peerts:: WooHoo, congrats! That's wonderful!

If only I was competent at my job ... now THAT would make me happy.

Maybe.

My in progress list kinda 'sploded. I was trying to hide it, but there is no point.

Yes:

http://weblog.timoregan.com/archive/2011/03/leaf-blower-culture-a-sickness-with-...

>176 tungsten_peerts: Ha! Welcome to my world!

>177 tungsten_peerts: Agreed!

I highly recommend Reading the OED. It's dang funny.

OORT CLOUD's favorite cat food is something called "Cowboy Cookout." Somehow, this seems appropriate.

Last day for my coworker today ... the fifth one to go. I abide.

I am deep in class project land, so am not doing much reading -- and probably won't do until after the 17th, when this beast is due and I get part of my life back.

Good luck with the project!

Thanks, Amber. It's due on the 17th. I'm a wee bit freaked out. @_@

That's a long wait if you are freaked out. Breath in, breath out!

Hello, Slough of Despond!

Friends, I need a funny book recommendation again, if you get time.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore or another Pratchett?

Thanks for the recommendation, Connie ... I might check into that Mr. Penumbra ... though it is true, TP always cheers me up.

You know, not to be negative or anything, but every time I am on the bus, CLEARLY READING, and a clueless twerp sits next to me yapping away on his / her phone, a few lengths of my last skein of humanity disappear forever.

>186 tungsten_peerts: Have you ever read any Christopher Moore?

>189 tungsten_peerts: I've the same feeling. Perhaps an earphone with your music is a good solution?

Jeepers, I'm having chest pains from stress. Eek.

Connie, you are right -- I have an iPod, I should use it. Still, it burns me that I should have to.

I know that the bus is not a rolling library ... but I don't know that it should be considered a rolling phone booth, either.

> Relax, Glenn. Think ZENNNNNNNNNN.

I know the feeling. I like to read in silence and not with music directly into my ears.
So I would feel restricted in my freedom if I had to use the earplugs because of somebody else's inconsideration.

Well, I turned my project in ... now on to the exam! ... and three or four reasonably lucid, well-researched newsgroup posts (this online class operates chiefly via private newsgroups, courtesy of a piece of software called Blackboard). Yeesh. My head hurts and I am tired, but in a week or so it will be over.

Can I just say? I love what I'm doing. I love that I get to study astronomy/astrophysics. Yes, I regret having left this all behind for theatre at the tender age of 18 ... but I'm back, now, and that is something I have to celebrate. I'm incredibly lucky to be able to do this.

Hurrah! yes indeed...

and you're right, there should be "quiet buses", just as Amtrak has quiet cars. I am a self-appointed quiet car enforcer. I should take Tigger with me to terrify violators into compliance. I think it would help...

LT meetup in Boston July 4-6??

Smooches to Ooort Cloud. My brother has two baby kittens. Myles and Summer. They are absolutely adorable -- tiny furry, purring machines... Cassie still thinks she is that size, alas, but she isn't.

I will soon have a Proper Guest Room set up. Hint.

>195 tungsten_peerts: Very good thoughts, Glenn!

Thanks!

So let me (very characteristically) follow them with: so, ex-girlfriend has scheduled second date with new guy. I was doing okay -- she and I have been hanging out, doing morning walks together -- but now ... suddenly, I feel like monkey shit.

Really _old_ monkey shit.

Sigh. There's a reason to put space between you and exes for a while. Until you aren't going to feel like monkey shit when you hear that stuff.

Incidentally, you're not monkey shit. Ask Oort Cloud. She probably has an opinion on that, too.

To paraphrase Gertrude Stein, "I am I because my little Oort loves me." @_@

Yeah, space, I know. Thing is, I enjoy Paula's friendship. It's ... just ... bleah bleah bleah.

Glenn, I hope this monkey shit thing goes away soon!

I'm going to the ER today -- probably should have done so yesterday.

Went on the first hike of the season yesterday and, toward the top of the first mountain of two, lay back to rest on the sloping rock and started having very unpleasant sensations in my chest.

We had to proceed (going back would probably have been worse -- we were right in the middle of the hike) very, very slowly. Once we were going steadily downhill things began to get better and I was almost back to whatever normal is by the bottom.

I'm not in any discomfort right now, apart from some weakness (but I just did a hike!) but ... I have to get this checked out. Chest pains are nothing to screw with, even if it's just a hiatal hernia or something. I can hope it was just ... whatever from me over-exerting myself, but ...

I'll update this when I can. I hope I don't have to be admitted or anything, but right now I have no idea what is going on or happened.

Scared.

/G

G -- was going to call but then I realized it would be pointless if you're in the ER where they don't allow people to use cellphones. So PLS CALL when you know what's going on and are able to do so... *worried*

Otherwise, will try to reach you this evening.

Glenn, that really is scary! I hope you have had some good news! And I hope Chatterbox can let us know something! Best wishes!!!

Since Glenn hasn't updated: I spoke to him briefly on the phone yesterday before some bustling medical types showed up. It turns out that he did, indeed, have a "minor" heart attack, and is now in hospital for a few days, awaiting some procedures. Oort Cloud is being cared for, and Glenn says he's bored, though he did have the foresight to show up at the ER with lotsa books.

I'll leave it to G. to post further updates, though...

Showed up at the ER with lotsa books... That's a true 75er there! Keep us posted if you can.

>206 drneutron: Not heard anything back from him since then; his phone is now going straight to voice mail. Keeping all crossables duly crossed...

Updating: Just heard back. He's going to have a procedure tomorrow that may end up with the docs putting in a stent or whatever else they feel is necessary. He's tired (one doesn't get much sleep in a hospital), slightly anxious, and rather eager to get out, I think.

He will be back on LT later tonight, when a friend will be dropping off his Netbook.