The 50 Greatest British Writers since 1945

The 50 greatest British writers since 1945 - Times Online: "What better way to start the year than with an argument? The Times has decided to present you with a ranking of whom they consider the best postwar British writers, and are awaiting your responses."

Hat tip to the Dark Forces Book Group.

D. B. Cooper Update

A commenter has provided this link to an eBay auction of the money.

Where is Janice Gantry? -- John D. MacDonald

I may have mentioned before that I sometimes like to do some comfort reading when I'm in hospitals. Here's another example. It was originally published in 1961, a few years before MacDonald published the first of the Travis McGee novels, but this one could have been a warm-up for those.

Sam Brice is a former pro football player who's returned to his small hometown (this is a bit like Deadly Welcome, come to think of it) in disgrace, though of course he's actually a noble knight in slightly tarnished armor. A young woman named Janice Gantry disappears, along with an escaped convict to whom Brice has given aid and comfort. So Brice decides he'll dig into things and find out what's happened. He does, and while what happens won't surprise you, it's typical fine MacDonald storytelling, with some comments even 47 years ago about what the developers are doing to Florida.

MacDonald has his flaws, the irritating male/female dialog exchanges chief among them, but when it came to getting down the details of his time (he seemed to know everything about everything) and creating memorable characters, situations, and stories, he was hard to beat. I know some younger readers find him slow. I can't imagine that, but maybe the attention to detail, character, and description has something to do with it. Times and tastes (not mine, though) have changed.

Celebrity Geeks

My favorite is Kate Beckinsale.

WKRC or WKRP?

This is great. I don't know if it's real or faked, but either way, it's still great. I hope it's still there by the time you take a look. Be sure to click the play or pause button; otherwise, you'll just get the audio. And this needs video of anything ever did.

Croc Update (Plague Edition)

Photo at link.

BBC NEWS | South Asia | More deaths of rare Indian crocs: "The number of endangered crocodiles that have died this month in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has risen to 67, officials say.

The crocodiles, known as gharials, have been found dead of an unknown disease in the Chambal River sanctuary."

The Cold Spot -- Tom Piccirilli

When Chase's pregnant mother is murdered and his father disappears, an apparent suicide, Chase's upbringing is taken over by Jonah, his grandfather, a professional criminal. Chase becomes an expert getaway driver, but at age 15, he's involved in a situation (the novel's fine opening scene) that convinces him it's time to break away.

He does, and for a few years he leads more or less straight life. He meets the right woman (a deputy sheriff, no less), marries, and starts teaching school (auto shop, of course).

Then, bad things happen. Violence, and a lot of it, results. Chase, looking for revenge, gets involved with his grandfather again, and their relationship is just as strained and enigmatic as before. At the end of the book, several things remain unresolved, and there's plenty of room for a sequel or two. Because this book was so well done, so sharp, fast, and involving, I'm looking forward to reading them.

Personal Stuff

I'm just using the blog to whine a little You should just skip over this. I don't particularly want anybody to read it. I just need to get it out of my system. Today we're bringing Judy's mother home from the hospital. From now on, she'll be living with us, and I'm pretty darned scared. I'm pretty helpless as a nurse. We've signed up for home health care, but we have no idea why. We don't know what it involves or how much help it will be. We don't know how long Judy's mom will be able to communicate and get around. Did I mention that I was scared? I'm most worried about taking Judy to Houston for her appointments. Will we be able to leave Judy's mom here, or can we take her with us? Or what? What I fear most is the uncertainty, and of course the change in routine. I'm a guy who loves his routines.

In a Lonely Place

Gator Update (Theft Alert)

It wasn't me. And I'm not in the market for one. Photo at link.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Brazil's rare alligators 'stolen': "Police in Brazil are investigating the disappearance of seven rare albino alligators from a university zoo in the western state of Mato Grosso.

One theory is that they may have been stolen to be sold abroad.

The animals, said by officials to be worth around $10,000 (�5,070) each, have no skin pigment and their eyes are a distinctive pink."

Reel Geezers

I like 'em. And stay off their lawn.

No Comment Department

Cost of coitus: Male monkeys pay for sex: "Selling sex is said to be humankind's oldest profession but it may have deep evolutionary roots, according to a study into our primate cousins which found that male macaques pay for intercourse by using grooming as a currency.
Michael Gumert of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore made the discovery in a 20-month investigation into 50 long-tailed macaques in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia, New Scientist reports on Saturday.

On average, females had sex 1.5 times per hour.

But this rate jumped to 3.5 times per hour immediately after the female had been groomed by a male -- and her partner of choice was likely to be the hunky monkey that did the grooming."

I Passed!

Looking for payday loan?

D. B. Cooper Update

Arkansas man to sell cash from '71 hijacking as case rekindles: "LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- In 1980, 8-year-old Brian Ingram found the sole link to the only unsolved airline hijacking in U.S. history buried in the sandy banks of the Columbia River.

Now 36, Ingram hopes to auction the weathered bundle of $20 bills as the FBI launches a new effort to find the unknown hijacker who parachuted into the night after taking over the 1971 Northwest Orient Airlines flight."

This Can't be Good

Scientists can read your mind... sort of | NEWS.com.au: "THOUGHTS are successfully being read for the first time by scientists using nothing but a modified MRI scanner and a special computer program.

Researchers from the Carnegie Mellon University in the US city of Pittsburgh have managed to find out if a person was thinking about one of ten physical objects, the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper reported.

The readings, which the newspaper said were 97 per cent accurate, were formed by measuring how the brain “lit up” when a person was thinking about one of ten drawings of buildings and tools."

Been Looking for a new Gig?

Bloomberg.com: Exclusive: "Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Farid Mesbaah, male belly dancer, hopped on a car in Cairo's Shobra district and strutted his stuff.

He clanged metal castanets, magically converted his hips into pistons and twirled his head around like a centrifuge. The crowd at tables lining a dirt alley clapped rhythmically. Young men in jeans jumped up to wiggle along."

This Guy is Texas Tough

Worker cuts off own arm to free himself from machinery | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Latest News: "MANOR, Texas - A worker at a concrete company who got caught in machinery amputated his own arm to free himself Wednesday.

The 52-year-old man went to warm up some equipment at Alamo Concrete at about 4:30 a.m. when he got his sleeve caught. Austin/Travis County Emergency Medical Services spokesman Warren Hassinger said the man cut off his arm at the elbow to free himself."

Makes Sense to Me

Attorney installs shark tank in office - Yahoo! News: "BOZEMAN, Mont. - It started out as a joke — a lawyer putting a shark tank in his office. 'I said, 'What would it take to put a shark in a lawyer's office?'', and it kind of took off from there, said attorney Christopher Gillette.

On Monday, a crane hoisted a 1,000-gallon aquarium up to a second-story window in Gillette's new office."

George MacDonald Fraser, R. I. P.

George MacDonald Fraser has died. What a loss to fiction. When the first Harry Flashman novel was published in paperback, I picked it up off the paperback rack at the T. G. & Y. Store in Brownwood, Texas, attracted by the dandy cover. I read a couple of paragraphs and bought the book. Ever since that time, I've been a Flashman fan, reading each novel as it appeared in the U. S., either in hardback or paperback, whichever came to hand. I also thoroughly enjoyed The Pyrates, and I also liked Mr. American. When I read on The Rap Sheet about Fraser's passing, my first selfish thought was, "Now we'll never get the story of how Flashy fought on both sides during the Civil War." But now I'm just glad that he wrote the books he did and that I was attracted to that cover.

Evan Tanner and The Owl Take Note

Snorting a Brain Chemical Could Replace Sleep: "In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness."