I’ll be leaving tomorrow for a couple days in the sophisticated metropolis of Portales, NM, for the fortieth annual Jack Williamson Lectureship.  Fun will be had. In the meantime I’m deeply enjoying my schadenfreude at the continuing revelations of the Panama Papers.  The premiere of Iceland has resigned.  And the Great Firewall of China has been […]

For some reason this blog seems to be tracking a number of history stories.  Here are some more Satellite photos seem to have revealed a Viking settlement in North America. Magnetometer readings later taken at the remote site, called Point Rosee, a grassy headland above a rocky beach an hour’s trek from the nearest road, […]

The Heavy Water War (UK title: The Saboteurs), streamable on Netflix, is a six-episode Norwegian television production that tells a number of parallel stories: that of the Nazi nuclear program, the British and Norwegian saboteurs who tried to stop it, and the management of Norsk Hydro, the company who owned the heavy-water plant at the center […]

Here, meeting in what is perhaps the most unflattering lighting ever, is last weekend’s reunion of Taos Toolbox grads. Included in the unflattering light is Melinda Snodgrass, who is not a Toolbox vet but has twice been a special lecturer.  It hardly seems fair that she must share the dismal lighting with us. This group […]