I found this link to over 1500 Italian SF magazine covers at Boing-Boing. The covers are from the years 1950-the present. Some great stuff. Check 'em out.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Zowie!
I found this link to over 1500 Italian SF magazine covers at Boing-Boing. The covers are from the years 1950-the present. Some great stuff. Check 'em out.
Lethal Weapon 357. Could It Save Mel's Career?
Slideshow at the link.
NBC11.com - News - Concord School: Hot Sauce Is Deadly Weapon: "CONCORD, Calif. -- A 16-year-old girl is back in school Friday after school officials recanted their decision to suspend her for bringing hot sauce to school, NBC11's Jodi Hernandez reported.
School officials said Laura Martin's $25 bottle of Mad Dog 357 sauce hurt two students on Thursday.
The Concord High School senior said she and her friend Stephanie Goins, 15, were given a two-day suspension for possession of a deadly weapon."
NBC11.com - News - Concord School: Hot Sauce Is Deadly Weapon: "CONCORD, Calif. -- A 16-year-old girl is back in school Friday after school officials recanted their decision to suspend her for bringing hot sauce to school, NBC11's Jodi Hernandez reported.
School officials said Laura Martin's $25 bottle of Mad Dog 357 sauce hurt two students on Thursday.
The Concord High School senior said she and her friend Stephanie Goins, 15, were given a two-day suspension for possession of a deadly weapon."
The Last Match -- David Dodge
This is the most recent book from Hard Case Crime. Written in the mid-1970s but not published till now, the book is set in the '50s and has the sensibilities of that era. Which is to say that if you're a fan of Gold Medal Books, you might like this one. I'll admit that it's loosely plotted (James Reasoner says the plot "meanders," and I can't argue with that), but the narrative voice was so engaging and seductive that I was caught on the very first page. The plot, such as it is, deals with the adventures of a con man called Curly (or Carly, depending on who's calling). His escapades take him from France to North America to South America and back to France, as he engages in various schemes to make money. Not that he cares about the money. The schemes are what matters, and, as he confesses, he wouldn't want to do anything else or be anything other than what he is.
Besides the novel, there's an entertaining afterword by David Dodge's daughter. She clearly inherited a bit of her dad's writing ability.
This book's just one more reason why Hard Case Crime deserves everyone's support. Check it out.
Rick Klaw and Mark Finn Take Note
Local News | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington: "SPANAWAY, Wash. - A 19-year-old man in a gorilla suit who is accused of trying to abduct a 5-year-old boy in Spanaway turned himself in to police Friday morning. Police had earlier caught him but let him go."
Friday, October 20, 2006
Will the Persecution Never End? (A Continuing Series)
The Mutilation of Paris Hilton by M.P. Johnson(Signed Limited Softcover Chapbook)
New Voices Guarantee: "For a limited time, this item is carried under our 'New Voices Guarantee' promotion -- if you read it and don't enjoy it, you can return it to us within 30 days for store credit, no questions asked.
Publisher: Freaktension Format: Softcover Chapbook
This chapbook is autographed by the author and limited to 200 copies."
Thanks to Todd Mason for the tip.
I'm Predicting Jones Will Win by at TKO
Mike Tyson To Fight Singer Tom Jones - Starpulse News Blog: "Welsh pop veteran Tom Jones will be stepping into the boxing ring with Mike Tyson in a celebrity bout planned for later this year. The former world heavyweight champion, nicknamed Iron Mike, revealed his surprising opponent shortly after expressing a desire to also take on female Texan boxing champ Ann Wolfe.
The fights are part of a series of high-profile charity events designed to propel the boxer back into the limelight. Tyson, who served three years in jail for a rape conviction in 1992 and once bit off part of boxer Evander Holyfield's ear, retired from boxing in June 2005."
The fights are part of a series of high-profile charity events designed to propel the boxer back into the limelight. Tyson, who served three years in jail for a rape conviction in 1992 and once bit off part of boxer Evander Holyfield's ear, retired from boxing in June 2005."
So Nobody Had to Flee to Canada After All?
SAN DIEGO - Thousands of U.S. troops are being barred from overseas duty because they are so deep in debt they are considered security risks, according to an Associated Press review of military records.
The number of troops held back has climbed dramatically in the past few years. And while they appear to represent a very small percentage of all U.S. military personnel, the increase is occurring at a time when the armed forces are stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We are seeing an alarming trend in degrading financial health," said Navy Capt. Mark D. Patton, commanding officer at San Diego's Naval Base Point Loma.
The Pentagon contends financial problems can distract personnel from their duties or make them vulnerable to bribery and treason. As a result, those who fall heavily into debt can be stripped of the security clearances they need to go overseas.
The number of troops held back has climbed dramatically in the past few years. And while they appear to represent a very small percentage of all U.S. military personnel, the increase is occurring at a time when the armed forces are stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We are seeing an alarming trend in degrading financial health," said Navy Capt. Mark D. Patton, commanding officer at San Diego's Naval Base Point Loma.
The Pentagon contends financial problems can distract personnel from their duties or make them vulnerable to bribery and treason. As a result, those who fall heavily into debt can be stripped of the security clearances they need to go overseas.
New Blog to Check Out
Nasty, Brutish, and Short is the name, and short reviews of short stories is the game. You can read it here.
Gully Foyle Is My Name, and Terra Is My Nation
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Beaming people in "Star Trek" fashion is still in the realms of science fiction, but physicists in Denmark have teleported information from light to matter bringing quantum communication and computing closer to reality.
Until now scientists have teleported similar objects such as light or single atoms over short distances from one spot to another in a split second.
But Professor Eugene Polzik and his team at the Niels Bohr Institute at Copenhagen University in Denmark have made a breakthrough by using both light and matter.
"It is one step further because for the first time it involves teleportation between light and matter, two different objects. One is the carrier of information and the other one is the storage medium," Polzik explained in an interview on Wednesday.
The experiment involved for the first time a macroscopic atomic object containing thousands of billions of atoms. They also teleported the information a distance of half a meter but believe it can be extended further.
This Is Going on my Christmas List
ABC News: Scientists Create Cloak of Invisibility: "WASHINGTON Oct 19, 2006 (AP)— Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before to develop a Cloak of Invisibility. It isn't quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Capt. James T. Kirk or to disguise Harry Potter, but it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs."
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Yep, Old Pooty-Poot has a Taste for Sharp Humor, All Right
Putin on alleged rapist Israel President: "We all envy him": "Russian leader Vladimir Putin showed his taste for sharp humour when he met Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Moscow Wednesday, with an apparent ironic jab at the rape allegations swirling around the country's president.
'Say hello to your president. He really surprised us...,'' Putin said to Olmert as reporters were being ushered out of the room just after the two men got down to their talks in an ornate reception room in the Kremlin.
According to the information posted on The New York Times' Web site, Putin said that Katsav 'turned out to be quite a powerful man. He raped 10 women. I never expected it from him. He surprised all of us. We all envy him.'"
'Say hello to your president. He really surprised us...,'' Putin said to Olmert as reporters were being ushered out of the room just after the two men got down to their talks in an ornate reception room in the Kremlin.
According to the information posted on The New York Times' Web site, Putin said that Katsav 'turned out to be quite a powerful man. He raped 10 women. I never expected it from him. He surprised all of us. We all envy him.'"
Go to Helena Handbasket -- Donna Moore
If "the usual gang of idiots" from Mad back in the '50s had decided to write a full-length parody of mystery novels, Go to Helena Handbasket might have been the result. Some people might be put off by this kind of thing, but, having been a reader of Mad right from the beginning, I loved it. Let's face it: I can't resist a novel with characters named Emma Roids, Evan Stubezzi, Hal Litosis, Aurora deGreasepaint (whose sister is Smilla Senesasnow, er, I mean Smilla deCrowd), and so on. Ms. Moore's clever idea was to introduce into the plot every cliche of mystery fiction you could ever encounter, and if she over looked one, I don't know what it was. You have your serial killer, your psycho sidekick, your cars that explode when someone (never the owner) turns the ignition key, etc. It's all played for laughs, and there's one on every page. Actually, more than one. If you need a good laugh, you don't want to miss this book.
Having heard Ms. Moore read the prologue at Murder by the Book, I think some audio company is missing a bet if she's not hired to read the unabridged book. She was terrific.
Don't Fear the Reaper
New York Daily News - Breaking News: "LIVINGSTON, Texas (AP) -- A convicted killer facing lethal injection beat the executioner to it Thursday, committing suicide by slitting his throat and arm with a blade in his Texas death row cell 15 hours before he was supposed to die.
Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was found in a pool of blood by officers making routine checks on him every 15 minutes, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital."
Michael Dewayne Johnson, 29, was found in a pool of blood by officers making routine checks on him every 15 minutes, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital."
Purely Hypothetical
O.J. Simpson to confess — hypothetically - Gossip: The Scoop - MSNBC.com: "By Jeannette Walls
MSNBC
Updated: 58 minutes ago
O.J. Simpson is confessing. Hypothetically, that is.
The former football great, who was acquitted in criminal court 11 years ago of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, reportedly has been paid a whopping $3.5 million to write about the double murder that shocked and riveted the nation in 1994, according to a detailed report in the new National Enquirer.
But Simpson is not actually confessing to the murder — rather, he’s writing a “hypothetical” book — which the Enquirer reports is tentatively being called “If I Did It.”
The early part of the book tells how Simpson fell in love with Nicole and how the marriage collapsed, reports the tab. He goes on, according to the article, to describe in gruesome detail the killing of his ex-wife and Goldman; he stipulates that the murder scenes are “hypothetical.” But, notes the tab, the descriptions are “so detailed and so chillingly realistic” that readers are left with little doubt as to what really happened."
MSNBC
Updated: 58 minutes ago
O.J. Simpson is confessing. Hypothetically, that is.
The former football great, who was acquitted in criminal court 11 years ago of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, reportedly has been paid a whopping $3.5 million to write about the double murder that shocked and riveted the nation in 1994, according to a detailed report in the new National Enquirer.
But Simpson is not actually confessing to the murder — rather, he’s writing a “hypothetical” book — which the Enquirer reports is tentatively being called “If I Did It.”
The early part of the book tells how Simpson fell in love with Nicole and how the marriage collapsed, reports the tab. He goes on, according to the article, to describe in gruesome detail the killing of his ex-wife and Goldman; he stipulates that the murder scenes are “hypothetical.” But, notes the tab, the descriptions are “so detailed and so chillingly realistic” that readers are left with little doubt as to what really happened."
He Should Have Changed His Name to Dan Rhodes
St. Paul Pioneer Press | 10/18/2006 | Mayberry, not Dodge City, inspires Wisconsin sheriff candidate: "PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (AP) — A local music store co-owner is putting a touch of Mayberry in the race for sheriff in western Wisconsin's Grant County.
The former William Fenrick changed his name earlier this year to Andy Griffith — the name of the actor who portrayed the fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry on TV's 'The Andy Griffith Show' in the 1960s.
He said his goal was to focus attention on a sheriff's race that otherwise gets little.
'Nobody knows who's running or what the issues are, if there are any issues, or how the people differ,' Griffith said."
The former William Fenrick changed his name earlier this year to Andy Griffith — the name of the actor who portrayed the fictional Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry on TV's 'The Andy Griffith Show' in the 1960s.
He said his goal was to focus attention on a sheriff's race that otherwise gets little.
'Nobody knows who's running or what the issues are, if there are any issues, or how the people differ,' Griffith said."
Why Don't I Ever Have Great Ideas Like This?
Embarrassingly amateur video at link.
KOCO.com - News - Candidate: Use Textbooks As Shields From School Shooters: "MINCO, Okla. -- One of Oklahoma's nominees for state superintendent of education has proposed a unique idea for protecting students from outbreaks of violence. Bill Crozier, a Union City Republican going against incumbent Democrat Sandy Garrett, said he believes old textbooks could be used to stop bullets shot from weapons wielded by school intruders. If elected, he said he would put thick used textbooks under every desk for students to use in self-defense. He gave Eyewitness News 5 a videotape showing he and others shooting weapons, such as an AK-47 and a 9 mm pistol, at books in a field near Minco. They conducted the experiment to see how far bullets would penetrate the books."
KOCO.com - News - Candidate: Use Textbooks As Shields From School Shooters: "MINCO, Okla. -- One of Oklahoma's nominees for state superintendent of education has proposed a unique idea for protecting students from outbreaks of violence. Bill Crozier, a Union City Republican going against incumbent Democrat Sandy Garrett, said he believes old textbooks could be used to stop bullets shot from weapons wielded by school intruders. If elected, he said he would put thick used textbooks under every desk for students to use in self-defense. He gave Eyewitness News 5 a videotape showing he and others shooting weapons, such as an AK-47 and a 9 mm pistol, at books in a field near Minco. They conducted the experiment to see how far bullets would penetrate the books."
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