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Boot(redirected from Bell boot)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.
Money or an asset added to a trade in order to make it reflect the fair market value of the assets being traded. A common example of a boot is a trade between a new car and an old car. The person trading the old car will usually add money or another asset to the deal in order to make it "even." The boot is often taxable even in an otherwise tax-free transaction.
(1) Money or other property that is not like-kind and is given to make up the difference in value between two properties exchanged in a like-kind exchange under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code.If a gain would otherwise be recognized on the transaction,except for the intervention of the 1031 vehicle,then gain must be recognized and taxes paid to the extent of the value of the boot. (2) Especially in Texas, it is common among property developers to require some type of boot to show that more than money is involved in their business transactions.
Example: A seller might agree to sell prime property for $12,000,000, but only if the buyer throws in a particularly handsome bronze statue sitting on his desk.
Cash or property of a type not included in the definition of qualifying property for purposes of structuring a nontaxable exchange. The receipt of boot will cause an otherwise tax-free transfer to become taxable to the extent of the lesser of the fair market value of the boot or the realized gain on the transfer. Examples of nontaxable exchanges that could be partially or completely taxable due to the receipt of boot include transfers to controlled corporations and like-kind exchanges.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ridgefield, Glastonbury, 1-1; share state title
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WATERBURY -- After 110 minutes, the last hour of which they played shorthanded, members of the Ridgefield High boys soccer team staggered off the field at Municipal Stadium. There were half-hearted hugs and handshakes, and even some tears.
Finally, the voice of coach Phil Bergen cut through the gloom.
"You should be excited," Bergen shouted. "You're state champions!"
With 2:25 left in Saturday's bruising Class LL final against fourth-seeded Glastonbury, the unthinkable happened to the second-seeded Tigers, when Evan Grenus' corner kick resulted in an equalizing own goal.
The Tigers and Tomahawks would remain tied, 1-1, through two 15-minute overtime sessions, and per a recent CIAC measure, will go down as co-champions. Denied outright ownership of a fourth state title and first since 2007, the Tigers felt deprived of some of the glory.
"It's a weird feeling," said Ridgefield senior Dan Standish, whose timely run at the net following a Dean Kouroupas shot in the 24th minute gave the Tigers the early advantage. "It's very mixed. We can be very proud of our season, and of today's performance. We didn't hold anything back. We just couldn't get that (game-winning) goal. ... I couldn't be more proud of my brothers."
"I have to confess I wasn't excited as I should be," said Bergen, whose team went unbeaten over its final 16 games and also claimed a share of the FCIAC title. "This is something we've earned, we deserved it, and I'm just a little shocked based on what transpired in the game on our end. I felt we were given the short end of the stick a little bit in terms of the (referees') decision-making. But that's life."
The Tigers incurred two yellow cards in the first half for physical play deemed overly so. They played a man down over the final hour-plus, the result of senior sweeper Ryan Casolo's second card for a hard challenge in the 53rd minute, which is cause for a red card and an automatic ejection.
The Tigers were on their heels over the final 10 minutes of regulation, with goalie Nick Steer (11 saves) rising to every challenge until Grenus' service from the right corner yielded a scrum in front of the net. A Ridgefield defender tried to clear but found the net instead, and the goal was credited to nearby Tomahawks junior Tyler Peterson.
"We were a man down and we were just so emotionally and physically drained," Standish said. "Credit to them, they kept pushing and they put a ball in. Just two more minutes. We were so close. So close."
"I think when these kids get home and they realize they're state champions, they'll get reenergized," Bergen said. "We have nothing to be ashamed of. I think we showed championship character by playing with 10 men and overcoming the constant pressure from them."
Records: Glastonbury 16-1-4; Ridgefield 16-1-4
Goals: G -- Tyler Peterson; R -- Dan Standish. Goalies: G -- Chase Conway (9 saves); R -- Nick Steer (11 saves).


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Daily Slice: Solo Pizza, Alphabet City, NYC
A different slice profiled each day.
Daily Slice gives a quick snapshot each weekday of a different slice or pie that the folks at the Serious Eats empire have enjoyed lately. —The Mgmt.
Perhaps you're at the Summit Bar on Avenue C, at Manitoba's, or the Ace Bar on 5th Street. Or maybe you're stumbling home from somewhere else, wandering hungry near Avenue B and 3rd Street, and you need a slice. Solo Pizza has your back.
The regular slice is super crispy (though the end crust is on the floury side for my taste) and the cheese is creamy, quite rich and gooey. There's not much sauce, so a Solo slice is a bit like that cheesy bread I remember from neighborhood restaurants growing up in the suburbs. It's junk food, for sure, but it gets junkier: Solo offers slices piled with every possible meat, a "lasagne" pizza, and even a Mexican slice topped with a mountain of olives, jalapenos, salsa, chicken, and cheddar cheese.
The Sicilian (made "upside-down", like this Philly slice) is more sauce-heavy, with decent cooked tomato flavor, and the crust is tasty if slightly dense. There's some crunch on the bottom, which I appreciated. The slice I had didn't seem to have much mozzarella under the sauce, but there was a ton of salty Romano cheese showered on top.
Next time? I'm trying the Hot Buffalo Chicken deep dish topped with blue cheese.
Solo Pizza
27 Avenue B, New York NY 10009 (map) 212-420-7656; solopizzanyc.com
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Teresa Benvenuti scored on a penalty stroke in overtime, sending the Princeton field hockey team to the national championship game with a 3-2 victory over Maryland Friday afternoon.
The Tigers (20-1) twice took the lead in the first half, but were unable to hold the lead, and the Terrapins (18-6) forced overtime on Ali McEvoy's penalty stroke in the 58th minute.
Kathleen Sharkey wasted little time putting Princeton in front. The nation's leading scorer weaved her way past several defenders and fired a shot past goalie Natalie Hunter.
Sharkey, who has 37 goals this season for the No. 2-ranked Tigers, restored the advantage with a shorthanded tally, jamming home a rebound off her own miss.
The Tigers face No. 1 North Carolina in the national championship. The Tar Heels beat No. 5 Syracuse, 6-1, in the other semifinal.
WOMEN'S SOCCER Virginia 6, Rutgers 1
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Jonelle Filigno scored her 15th goal, getting the Scarlet Knights (13-8-1) off to a perfect start in their NCAA tournament second-round contest, but the Cavaliers (18-4-1) answered with three goals before halftime and never looked back.
Caroline Miller tallied twice while Makenzy Doniak, Danielle Colaprico and Kaili Torres were also on target.
Kate Norbo added insult to injury, completing the hammering with a Virginia sixth in the 86th minute.


text: Sculpey III polymer clays are non-toxic, man-made modeling materials that can be manipulated easily, but won't dry out when exposed to air. We stock 29 colours. Sculpey becomes permanently hard after baking in an ordinary oven and can even be baked with jewellery findings embedded. Just like other polymer clays, such as fimo, sculpey has a wide variety of uses. Once baked, the sculpey can be sanded, carved, drilled, buffed and re-baked if necessary. This clay is ideal for making millefiori canes, moulding, extruding, embossing and sculpting. Tools are available to help with your creations.


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I suspect that this is an option that guilds have considered at some point. After all, in Cataclysm, one of the methods guilds can gain reputation and experience is through rated battlegrounds and rated arena. It was something I had considered for a while since a good number of players in the guild do love their PvP. But as it is, I do not have the time to organize players and run the necessary strategies for a successful PvP team. Not only that, I'm the last person in the world who should do any sort of PvP. I only have enough time to invest seriously in raiding or PvPing (and I much prefer raiding). What I do have is the resources and the infrastructure to support a group of dedicated players.
Conquest is now expanding
But I found a solution.
A couple of players in the guild were leaders within the QueueQ cross-realm pre-form group. After a bit of discussion, it was decided we would have both PvE and PvP interests in mind. The commander of the PvP team would have complete control of his group. As long as the recruits he selects adhere to the basic standards and ethics of the guild, they would be welcome. Just because one player is accepted into one part of the guild doesn't necessarily mean they'll be green lit into the other. A raider shouldn't expect an immediate invite into a dedicated PvP team and vice versa. Obviously on days where either groups are shorthanded, we'll consider all of our options. Common sense, right?
Naturally there were a few concerns.
What about players who both raid and want to commit to PvP? Would scheduling affect it? – PvP nights would not coincide during raid nights. They would be held on other days to maximize availability. We also minimize incidents of players having to choose between say arena or raiding to get their points in.
What would the voice infrastructure be like? – I had to rearrange and setup a few extra channels. Now we've got two battleground channels and a channel called the waiting room. Any player in the waiting room can be dragged up into the battleground channels when players are needed.
Gear acquisition? – There is a concern that PvP players would want to duck into raids, get PvE weapons, and leave. Loot council helps address that. If we reach a point where our progression oriented players don't need weapons anymore, then we'd be able to work something out. Otherwise, raiders get priority.
Why PvP?
Why not stick to something simple? Why not just stick to one primary focus of the guild instead of splitting it into two? I guess I wanted to diversify a bit more. It doesn't hurt to be a little ambitious. Even though they're not players I have any say in handpicking, I trust the PvP commander has the right people skills and instincts. Not only that, I mentioned earlier about the guild perks. Having multiple methods to gain guild experience will be beneficial in the long run.
Additional exposure
Just like how running an alt raid for a guild can help drive additional exposure, running weekend PvP premades is another way to attract attention. With two capable preform leaders, we could fire off two 15 mans and a 25 man raid at the same time.
Now if players ask whether or not we're a PvE or PvP guild, I tend to reply with both. I'll continue to oversee the raiding team along with my officers. Anyone inquiring about PvP gets directed to the PvP leaders. This all looks fine on paper. Now it's just a matter of determining whether or not it'll work. I'll never know unless I try. This is a chance to change up guild beliefs and philosophy for a bit. If PvP battlegrounds is something you're interested, you might want to check us out.
I do remember reading about one other guild that was going to do the same thing. I can't remember so I at least know that there's someone out there who will undergo the same types of problems or issues. Has your guild thought about extending into formal, organized PvP?


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Attempting to spin up more internal strife in Israel, Haaretz lets loose with another anti-religious article, designed to make your blood boil...and "cleverly" contrast previously reported "anti-feminist" behavior by religious soldiers in the IDF. I've highlighted in bold a few key phrases and sentences.
About 100 female soldiers left the main celebration sponsored by the Israel Defense Forces marking the end of the Simhat Torah holiday on Thursday after they were asked to move to a separate women's section.Too bad Haaretz was more interested in writing an inflammatory article than in ignoring a non-issue. Following is a first hand, eye-wittness report, from one of the female soldiers present -- translated from rotter
The traditional "Hakafot Shniyot" event, which comes after the holiday's formal conclusion and includes dancing with the Torah, was held in the Eshkol regional council area in the south. The commanders of the women soldiers decided to have the women board buses and leave after some objected to their being directed to a separate area cut off from the main event.
The separate women's section was set off by cloth sheeting, but according to one of those present "it was very hard to feel connected to the event there." The event was attended by about 500 people, including a mix of civilians and soldiers, among them, about 100 women soldiers. Those in attendance said before the request was made for them to move, the women had been dancing at one side, separately from the men and also separated by a long table. The women soldiers were then ordered by an officer from the military rabbinate to go to a separate, closed area about 50 meters away, following complaints over the initial setup.
Orthodox Jewish religious authorities call for separation of men and women in certain circumstances. For many observant Jews in Israel, however, it is the custom for men and women at Hakafot Shniyot to dance separately but without the women being relegated to another designated area. The IDF's chief rabbi, Rafi Peretz, as well as the commander for the IDF's Gaza division, Yossi Bachar, were present but did not intervene in the matter. The rabbinate has been under pressure recently to adopt strict interpretations of halakha, Jewish religious law.
The IDF Spokesman's office said in response: "As is the custom at these events every year, there is an area designated for women," adding that "no IDF official was directed to verify that men and women were separated." The IDF rabbinate is unaware of some of the complaints made over the issue and the matter will be looked into, the spokesman said. (Haaretz)
"[Haaretz Reporter] Anshel Pfeffer wrote an article in Haaretz with a headline that hundreds of Female IDF soldiers angrily left a Simchat Torah event after being forced to celebrate in a segregated area. This is a lie and absolutely false.I would add that when IDF cadets walked out from an IDF event of women singing, because it offended their religious sensibilities -- the IDF summarily threw the cadets out of their officers' course. Even though the Haaretz article isn't factually correct, why should the IDF soldiers and their commanders have gone unpunished for "angrily walking out of an event?" Not that Haaretz would ever ask such a question...
I am a female IDF solider that was there in the Eskol Regional Council [at the Simchat Torah event]. The seperation was via long tables, which were regular table height, and they had food and refreshments on them. We all danced in merriment. No one thought there was an issue to mix the sides, because the dancing was similar to the hakafot (Simcaht Torah dancing) in a synagogue and not one of us [who were dancing] left.
There were some "Ashkenazi" soldiers who left because the event didn't interest them...and if anything, there was about 30 of them that left, not "hundreds".
(phone number is with the rotter website editors)
Update: Israel's Channel 2 TV can't resist quoting a great anti-religious story, and reprints the Haaretz story almost word for word. Fact checkers need not apply.
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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד


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During the last ice age the island of Anglesey in north-west Wales lay beneath a thick ice sheet that flowed down the Irish Sea. After the ice melted away it left a distinctive 'footprint' on Anglesey in the form of gently rolling landforms and glacial sediments.
The interactive Anglesey i-Map shows the landforms and sediments, and provides summaries of how the main glacial features (striae, drumlins, meltwater channels) were formed.
The Anglesey i-Map is for school students, geography and Earth science teachers, undergraduates and academic researchers, as well as anyone interested in how the landscape around them evolved.
The Anglesey i-Map allows the user to navigate, reconfigure and expand the content revealing additional information on the bedrock geology and landform assemblages.
You can also browse a gallery of annotated images of the glacial landforms and sediments for summaries of how the main glacial features were formed.
After the introduction you are taken to a detailed landforms map of Anglesey based on the 1:50 000 scale geology map of the area.
The map has a variety of tools that let you zoom in and navigate around the map, as well as a legend with tabs for each content theme that allows you to reconfigure the content display of the map in numerous ways.
To the lower right of the map screen you can access the content menu which is divided into two parts:
From the main menu found in the top left corner you can navigate to the glacial gallery section.
This is a gallery of annotated images showing the evidence left on the present day landscape by the ice stream as it moved over Anglesey.
These images are accessed from the linked picture flow list menu and map of their site locations.
Three short movies that demonstrate the functionality and navigation are available, one covering each of the main sections.
On starting the application you are first taken to an introduction screen and from there into the main content starting at the landform map.
Navigating around the various sections is done from two collapsible side menus.
There is the main menu in the top left corner of the screen and the map content menu on the right hand side of the landforms map.
A flow diagram showing all the sections and the navigation controls is available in this pdf.
Anglesey i-Map also offers printer friendly A4 pdfs of some of the pages. You can change the language and set for eco printing (reduced ink requirement) by clicking on the icons at the foot of the pages.
Anglesey i-Map is also accompanied by a series of maps and posters available at A0 paper size (1189mm by 841mm) in landscape format. These are available both in an English or Welsh language version.
For more information visit the BGS Bookshop.


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Over the past couple of years, there has been a significant push to provide more cell phone coverage to the Catskill Mountains. This discussion is about a proposed tower above Twilight Park in the Kaaterskill Clove. It has been reported that a Public comment period will occur on January 2, 2018 at the Hunter Town Hall. But, there is no announcement at the Town of Hunter web site.
Over the past decade attempts to install cell phone towers was met with significant resistance and opposition. Most proposed cell phone towers were not approved. Mainly from significant opposition. But, in the past couple of years the opposition has been declining, and it is now at approximately 50%. Never-the-less, about 30 proposed cell phone towers are moving forward in the Catskills. This is being driven by Gov Cuomo, and down the political chain to local officials. And, they are determined to go forward with little input from the public.
Officials in the Catskills state that one of the primary reasons for the need of cell phone towers is because hikers want them for safety reasons. This is simply not true. Most hikers across the country are very much opposed to cell phone tower in hiking regions. The Catskills are no exception. Many hikers now carry SPOTs or PLBs for safety. Due to the deep ravines, cell phone coverage just doesn't work, where a PLB would. Furthermore, hikers are now using their cell phones as GPS tracking devices. So, hikers don't see cell phone towers as an advantage. They see it as a disadvantage. While people traveling in cars, or using their cell phones as phones in their homes would be the primary reason for installing cell phone towers. Many homes in Twilight Park do not have land lines, so they see this as an advantage.
Over the last couple of years, the cell phone industry has been pushing to change the frequency of cell phones to the range used by FM radios. In this case, a single tower would cover a 50 mile radius. The need for 30 cell phone towers in the Catskills would be a mute point in the future. Then the community in the Catskills will be stuck with rusting towers. We will get stuck with the bill for taking them down.
The primary disadvantage of a cell phone tower in Twilight Park would be that it would stick up far above the tree line. It is proposed to be 129' high, where the tree height is approximately 40' high. So, it will stick up above the tree line by about 90'. It will be an eye sore. It is not proposed to be a camouflaged tower to look like a tree. It will be a galvanized piping, that would have a significant reflection from almost anywhere in the Kaaterskill Clove. With the way that the sun light shines up the clove in the morning, and afternoon, it will be an eye sore for almost every one. AT&T has taken an intolerant position on it's location and height. If AT&T can't have their way, then they are not going to install a tower. AT&T's position is that they are only concerned about car traffic and homes in the clove and surrounding area. They don't care about hikers. AT&T refuses to consider other locations for the tower, or modifications to the tower. Officials say that the tower will provide signals on the trail to Kaaterskill Falls. But, due to the shape and walls of the Lake Creek Clove, cell phone reception will continue to be a problem there.
We understand that there is a need for more cell phone reception in the Catskills. But, we need to be wise about where we place them, the ability to remove them easily at a future date. If they really want to put a tower in the Kaaterskill Clove then, at a minimum, it should look like a tree. But, the wise position would be to wait for better technology in the near future.
Cell Phone Tower that looks like a tree
Cell Phone Tower that sticks way above the tree line


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The future of self-driving cars is upon us, and the North Carolina General Assembly is, well, paving the way.
With a bipartisan and near-unanimous vote during the short session, our state legislature passed House Bill 469 into law, regulating the operation of fully autonomous vehicles — if and when they become available in our state. The governor signed the legislation on July 21.
According to the new law, a "fully autonomous vehicle" is a motor vehicle equipped with an automated driving system that does not require an occupant to perform any portion of the operational control of the vehicle. The law does not require an operator to be a licensed driver and allows operators as young as 12-years old. Driverless vehicles must still be covered by a motor vehicle liability policy, however, and the vehicle must be registered like other cars. HB469 makes the registered owner of a self-driving vehicle responsible for any moving violations of that vehicle.
In the course of setting state policy, HB469 also preempts cities and counties in the state from enacting any local laws regulating driverless cars.
For the purposes of ongoing review, the new law establishes the "Fully Autonomous Vehicle Committee" within the state Department of Transportation. Consisting of 18 members, including representatives from the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association, and the State Highway Patrol, the group will meet at least four times a year to review changes in technology and how the law needs to keep up.
Federal Law
Those federal laws may be coming soon in the form of the SELF DRIVE ("Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution") Act, otherwise known as HR3388. The SELF DRIVE Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously.
The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a lobbying group that includes Uber, Ford and Volvo, released a statement praising the House for passing the act. "Self-driving vehicles offer an opportunity to significantly increase safety, improve transportation access for underserved communities, and transform how people, goods and services get from point A to B."
According to the American Legislative Exchange Council, the SELF DRIVE Act would preempt state and local laws regarding the design, construction, or performance of autonomous vehicles and their component parts. It would direct the Secretary of Transportation to issue rules relating to safety certifications and establish cybersecurity standards for autonomous vehicles, among standards.
States will still be responsible for vehicle registration, insurance, driver education, law enforcement and other local issues, The Hill reports. Manufacturers will be required to include cybersecurity and privacy protections in their vehicles.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced a new guidance document for automated driving systems. "The new Guidance supports further development of this important new technology," said Secretary Chao. "The safe deployment of automated vehicle technologies means we can look forward to a future with fewer traffic fatalities and increased mobility for all Americans."
The voluntary guidelines, called A Vision for Safety, are a set of standards containing 12 priority safety design elements to facilitate the integration of ADS technology by helping to ensure its safe testing and deployment, as well as encouraging the development of systems that guard against cyber-attacks and protect consumer privacy.
The Self-Driving Coalition continues to monitor developments in emerging standards in autonomous vehicle regulations and standards and said in a press release: "The Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets is pleased to see the Trump Administration continuing the work to bring fully self-driving vehicles to U.S. roads. With more than 35,000 motor vehicle deaths in 2015, the potential safety benefits of fully self-driving technology are too important to delay. We look forward to continue working with Secretary Chao, NHTSA and Congress in pursuit of the right policy solutions to make self-driving technology's safety and mobility efforts a reality."
A white paper developed by the UrbanismNEXT group, a project of the University of Oregon, reports that driverless car technology is already widely anticipated in the United States and elsewhere.
"Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are already being used and their proliferation is inevitable," the report states. "AVs have the potential to fundamentally alter transportation systems by averting deadly crashes, providing critical mobility to the elderly and disabled, increasing road capacity, saving fuel, and lowering emissions."
The National Conference of State Legislatures notes that each year, the number of states considering legislation related to autonomous vehicles has gradually increased.
- In 2017, 33 states have introduced legislation. Last year, 20 states introduced legislation.
- Sixteen states introduced legislation in 2015; up from 12 states in 2014, nine states and Washington D.C. in 2013, and six states in 2012.
- Since 2012, at least 41 states and Washington D.C. have considered legislation related to autonomous vehicles.
- Twenty-one states have passed legislation related to autonomous vehicles: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington D.C.
- Governors in Arizona, Delaware, Massachusetts, Washington and Wisconsin issued executive orders related to autonomous vehicles.
Actual drivers aren't completely sold on autonomous vehicles, however and are lagging behind government in their enthusiasm. A 2016 study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute reported that most drivers still want to some control. Only 16 percent of those surveyed would prefer to ride in a driverless car, 39 percent would prefer a "partially self-driving" vehicle, and 46 percent want to remain in "full control" of a vehicle.
The Long Road Ahead
As states are responding now to the buzz about the promise of fully automated vehicles, their arrival for practical use may be a decade out. Remember, this technology has been in development since the 1980s and it's not quite ready for general use.
However, as more enabling technologies are developed and become cheaper, the prospect of self-driving cars on our roads seems inevitable.
The writers at Automotive News caution that, "the obstacles to perfecting and mass producing fully automated vehicles that can safely transport a passenger door-to-door with no human intervention are formidable: Sensing equipment, such as cameras, lidar and radar, has to get more efficient, especially in inclement weather. It also must get less expensive."
"Software has to be perfected that links the vehicle's controls with all the sensing hardware. And this software must be able to anticipate nearly every scenario a vehicle can encounter, from inclement weather, to a traffic cop's hand signals, to a pedestrian darting into traffic. Infrastructure needs to be improved, from lane markings, to traffic signals, to bridges, as well as the vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication systems. For a vehicle to drive itself safely in all conditions and speeds, it has to know where it is at all times so that, for example, it anticipates a stop sign around a corner."
"In order to accomplish this safely, it is estimated that some 14.2 billion kilometers [8.8 billion miles] of testing, including simulation, are required," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said.
Manufacturers hope they can continue developing driverless car technology without the costly process of trial and error. Mishaps early in the rollout period have made that clear.
On May 7, 2016, a 40-year-old Ohio resident, Joshua Brown, was killed while operating the semi-autonomous Tesla Model S in 'Autopilot' mode. The car's sensors system failed to distinguish a large white 18-wheel truck and trailer crossing the highway in front of the car and neither the operator nor computer hit the brakes.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the accident and concluded that the deadly crash was not caused by a "safety-related defect." The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conducted its own investigation of the crash and concluded that the design of Tesla's Autopilot system should share the blame, because the "automated vehicle control system was not designed to, and could not, identify the truck crossing the Tesla's path or recognize the impending crash."
Tesla posted a blog entry soon after the crash saying that the 'Autopilot' system did not notice "the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied."
"It's a near guarantee Joshua Brown won't be the only person to die at the wheel of a semi-autonomous car," writes Wired magazine. "The systems aren't perfect, but the statistics now show the humans who cause 94 percent of crashes are worse. From that perspective, driverless cars can't come quickly enough."
Studies by the NHTSA have shown that human driver error is the cause of more than more than 90 percent of vehicle crashes.
Another critical question states are grappling with is the replacement of revenues that have come from traditional vehicle use. A state's primary sources of revenue for road building and maintenance are taxing motor fuels and car sales, and charging Division of Motor Vehicles fees. The taxation of motor fuels alone generates $3.7 billion for transportation funding in the state of North Carolina.
With the advent of electric cars, lawmakers need to find sources other than motor fuel taxes to meet their long-term transportation needs. Increases in fuel efficiency has already sent transportation departments scrabbling to restore revenues based on fuel usage. Autonomous vehicles could pose further problems with fewer people owning cars or getting driver's licenses, thereby reducing DMV fee revenues.


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I broke my mixer a few weeks ago while preparing soup -- I guess I went a bit too hard on the motor, and a fuse must have burnt. This is exactly the model shown below over there, except that it's 400W, not 600W: http://i.stack.imgur.com/xSnnk.jpg
Is there any hope I can repair this by myself? If so, how exactly, and will it be worth the effort (in particular, will this be cheaper than buying a new one?)?
Thanks for your help!


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NHL Game Night: 12-17-11 Lightning at Blue Jackets
Almost a must-win.
Mathieu Garon allowed 2 goals on 28 shots for the win. He made it harder on himself than it needed to be. Columbus' two goals came on wrap-arounds that should not have been an issue for Garon or the Lightning defense.
First Period
TB Jones (2), (Purcell), 7:27
TB Brewer (1), (Stamkos, Malone), 18:12
Second Period
CBJ Umberger (6), (Prospal, Tyutin)(PP), 5:43
TB Stamkos (20), (Lecavalier, Tyrell), 10:05
CBJ Nash (10), (Carter, Prospal), 12:14
Third Period
Mathieu Garon and Steven Stamkos were the game's first and third stars.
They had to win this game. To get back in the race, they have to win against the handful teams below them in the standings when the opportunity arises and they have to get positive momentum going over the next week or two. They've set themselves up now with the opportunity to have that positive momentum going into the holiday break if they can split their last 2 road games in San Jose and Colorado. Then, presumably, they can get Martin St. Louis back in practice and back into the games by the end of December, and then really start to put together some bigger winning streaks.
I like Dana Tyrell on a scoring line with Stamkos, a lot. I think it creates matchup problems for the opposition to have two burners like that out at once, and Tyrell can be first man in on the puck, letting Stammer come later and be the finisher he is. It's a good combo. I'd even be interested to see Marty added as the third on that line just to see how that much speed could work together.
The Lightning's power play is dreadful. It's somebody-needs-to-be-fired-if-it-doesn't-improve-soon dreadful. Some of Columbus' most dangerous opportunities of the night came shorthanded and the Lightning could not even get into the Blue Jackets' zone, let alone get scoring chances. That's bad, because Columbus is statistically near the bottom of the league in PK. It just feels like the Lightning don't have any identity on the PP right now. They don't know how to gain entry into the zone (it used to be with Stammer or St. Louis carrying it) and they don't really know what they want to do when they get there (other than feed overly telegraphed one-timers to Vinny). There's too many weapons on this roster to be this bad and to be zero-dimensional on the power play. It's unacceptable.
Blair Jones and Lightning fans; reunited and it feels so good. He got his second goal of the season and was +1 with 2 penalty minutes, 2 shots, and 1 gigantic hit in 10:13. He got more ice time with Nate Thompson going out hurt early, and he did something with it. So, I guess we're back in love with Blair Jones.
Box score and extended statistics from NHL.com.
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text: Another reason I'm glad I was never a rave kiddie whenever it was trendy in the US: Trippy lasers beamed into your eyes will blind you. A gaggle of Russian ravers at the July 5 Aquamarine Open Air Festival discovered this after tents erected to deflect heavy rains partially refracted lasers intended for skyward illumination into their eyes, resulting in nastiness: "Retinal burns, scarring is visible on them. Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80 percent, and regaining it is already impossible." Ouch. Strangely, this makes me want to watch Go. [Reuters via Geekologie]


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'Eric Elbogen' tag.
So here's the deal: I have a little more than 70 CDs to review. So I'm going to do a few batches of these short, one-sentence reviews to get caught up.
Sound good? Awesome!
Let's go!
Sleeper "Behind Every Mask" – A nice attempt at making a minimal electronic album from little more than blips and bleeps, but it often relies too heavily on being more noise than it is music.
Various Artists "Luaka Bop: 21st Century, 21st Year" – Luaka Bop offers up this fantastic compilation (celebrating their 21st year in existence) featuring 14 of the label's superstars including Jorge Ben, Shuggie Otis, Susana Baca and Mr. Luaka Bop himself, David Byrne.
Cheer-Accident "Fear Draws Misfortune" – A haphazard and scattered mix of experimental avant-prog-rock that falls somewhere between a watered-down Zappa album and a creepy off-off-off-Broadway musical.
Dazy Head Mazy "Mercury Said 65" – If you ever attended H.O.R.D.E. Fest or own any CD from Blues Traveler, Barenaked Ladies or Hootie and the Blowfish you're gonna have a huge boner for Dazy Head Mazy… and I'll let you decide whether or not that's a good thing.
Say Hi "Oohs & Aahs" – The project of solo singer/songwriter Eric Elbogen, Say Hi's first label debut is an inspired disc of fable-like storytelling laid over subtle sounds and strumming.
Willie Nelson "Naked Willie" – Only Willie Nelson has the power to take 17 of his vintage RCA tracks (originally released from 1966 to 1970) and strip them down to the bare singer/guitar essentials… and thank Christ, because the result is Willie sounding exactly the way he had intended to be heard: on top of his game and naked as hell.
The Prodigy "Invaders Must Die" – Liam Howlett and Co. return with the familiar heavy bass and harsh beats that made their 1997 album "The Fat of the Land" a dance floor favorite, giving us a new Prodigy album that is laced with vintage Prodigy sound.
Dengue Fever "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong" – An ABSOLUTELY AMAZING CD/DVD soundtrack/documentary collection. The documentary follows Dengue Fever lead singer Chhom Nimol as she returns to her native Cambodia to tour during the 2005 Water Festival. The accompanying soundtrack features classic tracks from Cambodian musicians like Sinn Sisamouth and Meas Samoun. And yes, I'm aware this review breaks the one-sentence rule, but it's one of the best things I've been sent to review in awhile and therefore deserves the love.
ApSci "Best Crisis Ever" – A fantastic follow-up to 2005's "Thanks For Asking," this husband/wife duo returns and continues to push the boundaries of experimental hip-hop, delivering familiar ApSci beats in a mixture of the fresh and new; a shining star in Quannum's already bright sky.
Iggy Pop "Preliminaries" – The most bold, beautiful and bizarre Iggy Pop album to date, featuring The Stooge himself crooning in a Leonard Cohen-esque fashion (but in French), singing love ballads and trying his hand at… jazz?
J. Todd "Ryzzynynce" – An electronic instrumental bit of brilliance from Milwaukee's own J. Todd, with sexy-smooth synthesized sounds and sweet samples, "Ryzzynynce" is the perfect album to have playing on loop throughout the day as you bust your ass to get shit done… like writing a thousand CD reviews.
Bibio "Ovals & Emeralds EP" – A new six-song EP from Bibio (who I covered not too long ago), a one-man band whose scratchy, old-timey instrumentals transform your CD player into a phonograph.
Beck "One Foot In The Grave" (Remastered) – This remastered version of Beck's 1994 release gives fans an album that is now nearly twice its original size, with all of its previous tracks as well as a ton of new b-sides… and now it's all cleaned up and pretty sounding!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Your Funeral… My Trial" (Remastered), "The First Born Is Dead" (Remastered), "From Her To Eternity" (Remastered), "Kicking Against The Pricks" (Remastered) – Nick Cave's entire back catalog is getting a major reworking with remastered versions done up in 5.1 surround sound. These mark the first four in a set, and if they're anything like what's coming it's going to be a very nice collection to own. Each disc is now a double-disc set, with one containing the remastered album and the other containing the disc in 5.1 sound. Also included on each disc are b-sides and singles. Sure, if you're a huge Nick Cave fan, chances are you already own all of this music. But you don't own it like this.
More coming… goddammit.


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Drug information provided by: IBM Micromedex
Nateglinide is used to treat a type of diabetes mellitus (sugar diabetes) called type 2 diabetes. With this type of diabetes, insulin produced by the pancreas is not able to get sugar into the cells of the body where it can work properly. Using nateglinide alone, or with metformin or a thiazolidinedione (other types of oral antidiabetic medicines), will help to lower blood sugar when it is too high and help restore the way you use food to make energy.
Many people can control type 2 diabetes with diet alone or with diet and exercise. Following a specially planned diet and exercising will always be important when you have diabetes, even when you are taking medicines. To work properly, the amount of nateglinide you take must be balanced against the amount and type of food you eat and the amount of exercise you do. If you change your diet, your exercise, or both, you will want to test your blood sugar to find out if it is too low. Your health care professional will teach you what to do if this happens.
Nateglinide does not help patients who have insulin-dependent or type 1 diabetes because they cannot produce insulin from their pancreas gland. Their blood glucose is best controlled by insulin injections.
Nateglinide does not help patients who have already been treated with other antidiabetic medicines for a long time.
Nateglinide may be used together with metformin or a thiazolidinedione, but should not take the place of these medicines.
Nateglinide is available only with your doctor's prescription.
This product is available in the following dosage forms:
In deciding to use a medicine, the risks of taking the medicine must be weighed against the good it will do. This is a decision you and your doctor will make. For this medicine, the following should be considered:
Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully.
Studies on this medicine have been done only in adult patients, and there is no specific information comparing use of nateglinide in children with use in other age groups.
This medicine has been tested and has not been shown to cause different side effects or problems in older people than it does in younger adults. However, older patients may be more likely to develop low blood sugar.
There are no adequate studies in women for determining infant risk when using this medication during breastfeeding. Weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks before taking this medication while breastfeeding.
Although certain medicines should not be used together at all, in other cases two different medicines may be used together even if an interaction might occur. In these cases, your doctor may want to change the dose, or other precautions may be necessary. When you are taking this medicine, it is especially important that your healthcare professional know if you are taking any of the medicines listed below. The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines is usually not recommended, but may be required in some cases. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
Using this medicine with any of the following medicines may cause an increased risk of certain side effects, but using both drugs may be the best treatment for you. If both medicines are prescribed together, your doctor may change the dose or how often you use one or both of the medicines.
Certain medicines should not be used at or around the time of eating food or eating certain types of food since interactions may occur. Using alcohol or tobacco with certain medicines may also cause interactions to occur. Discuss with your healthcare professional the use of your medicine with food, alcohol, or tobacco.
The presence of other medical problems may affect the use of this medicine. Make sure you tell your doctor if you have any other medical problems, especially:
Follow carefully the special meal plan that your doctor gave you. This is the most important part of controlling your condition and is necessary if the medicine is to work properly. Also, exercise regularly and test for sugar in your blood or urine as directed.
This medicine is usually taken between 1 and 30 minutes before a meal. If you skip the meal, also skip the scheduled dose of nateglinide.
Use this medicine as directed even if you feel well and do not notice any signs of high blood sugar. Remember that this medicine will not cure your diabetes, but it does help to control it. You must to continue to take it as directed if you expect to lower your blood sugar and keep it low. You may have to take an antidiabetic medicine for the rest of your life. If high blood sugar is not treated, it can cause serious problems, such as blood vessel disease, eye disease, heart failure, or kidney disease.
The dose of this medicine will be different for different patients. Follow your doctor's orders or the directions on the label. The following information includes only the average doses of this medicine. If your dose is different, do not change it unless your doctor tells you to do so.
The amount of medicine that you take depends on the strength of the medicine. Also, the number of doses you take each day, the time allowed between doses, and the length of time you take the medicine depend on the medical problem for which you are using the medicine.
If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses.
Take it before your next main meal.
Store the medicine in a closed container at room temperature, away from heat, moisture, and direct light. Keep from freezing.
Keep out of the reach of children.
Do not keep outdated medicine or medicine no longer needed.
Ask your healthcare professional how you should dispose of any medicine you do not use.
Your doctor will want to check your progress at regular visits, especially during the first few weeks that you take this medicine.
It is very important to follow carefully any instructions from your health care team about:
In case of emergency—There may be a time when you need emergency help for a problem caused by your diabetes. You need to be prepared for these emergencies. It is a good idea to wear a medical identification (ID) bracelet or neck chain at all times. Also, carry an ID card in your wallet or purse that says that you have diabetes and a list of all of your medicines.
Nateglinide can cause low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Low blood sugar also can occur if you use nateglinide with another antidiabetic medicine, delay or miss a meal or snack, exercise more than usual, drink alcohol, or cannot eat because of nausea or vomiting. Symptoms of low blood sugar must be treated before they lead to unconsciousness (passing out). Different people may feel different symptoms of low blood sugar. It is important that you learn which symptoms of low blood sugar you usually have so that you can treat it quickly.
Symptoms of low blood sugar include anxiety; behavior change similar to being drunk; blurred vision; cold sweats; confusion; cool, pale skin; difficulty in thinking; drowsiness; excessive hunger; fast heartbeat; headache (continuing); nausea; nervousness; nightmares; restless sleep; shakiness; slurred speech; or unusual tiredness or weakness.
If symptoms of low blood sugar occur, eat glucose tablets or gel, corn syrup, honey, or sugar cubes; or drink fruit juice, nondiet soft drink, or sugar dissolved in water to relieve the symptoms. Also, check your blood for low blood sugar. Get to a doctor or a hospital right away if the symptoms do not improve. Someone should call for emergency help immediately if severe symptoms such as convulsions (seizures) or unconsciousness occur. Food or drink should not be forced because the patient could choke from not swallowing correctly.
Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) may occur if you do not take enough or skip a dose of your antidiabetic medicine, overeat or do not follow your meal plan, have a fever or infection, or do not exercise as much as usual.
Symptoms of high blood sugar include blurred vision; drowsiness; dry mouth; flushed, dry skin; fruit-like breath odor; increased urination; ketones in urine; loss of appetite; stomachache, nausea, or vomiting; tiredness; troubled breathing (rapid and deep); unconsciousness; or unusual thirst.
If symptoms of high blood sugar occur, check your blood sugar level and then call your doctor for instructions.
Along with its needed effects, a medicine may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.
Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following side effects occur:
Check with your doctor as soon as possible if any of the following side effects occur:
Some side effects may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects. Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:
Other side effects not listed may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your healthcare professional.
Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to the FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.
Portions of this document last updated: Aug. 01, 2020
Original article: https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/nateglinide-oral-route/description/drg-20064980
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A jobless Liz Lemon, in Thursday's series finale of "30 Rock," visits NBC-page-turned-network-president Kenneth Parcell and pitches him a show that carries a ring of familiarity.
"I actually think there might be a show in my life – a woman writer, living in New York…" she starts, only to be quickly interrupted.
U.S. & World
The day's top national and international news.
Television audiences, wide-eyed hick Kenneth admonishes her, "don't want to watch some angry New York cranky-pants. I want to make shows that people actually want to watch!"
It marked a vintage meta moment from a series – and a finale – full of them. Tina Fey's TV show about loving TV while lovingly mocking it went out like it came in: fast-and-furiously funny, while always letting the audience in on the in-jokes.
The hour-long finale, like much of the series, flew by on the wings of pop-culture references (Sting, Billy Joel, Mickey Rourke, Yoda) and stunt casting (Conan O'Brien, Al Roker and Nancy Pelosi, who decries right-wing CEO Jack Donaghy as an "economic war criminal").
Much of the humor, like the Liz-Kenneth clash, proved self-referential: Jack decries "Baldwin" as among his liberal enemies. Jenna sings the theme from her movie, "The Rural Juror," James Bond style. Liz and Tracy share a poignant, tender moment – in the sleazy strip club where they first bonded when he joined the "Saturday Night Live"-like "TGS" in the first "30 Rock."
Even the kicker offered the most clever pop-culture reference since "Newhart" ended in 1990 with a dream that took us back to "The Bob Newhart Show." The final image of Kenneth holding a snow globe of NBC's 30 Rock headquarters while a young writer named Liz Lemon pitches him a show named "30 Rock" harkened to the 1988 ending of the NBC medical drama, "St. Elsewhere." In that finale, we learned the whole show took place in the mind of an autistic young man staring at a model of a hospital in a snow globe.
So it proved fitting that the final episode of "30 Rock" centered on mounting one last installment of the show-within-the-show as the characters' worlds are turned upside-down and shaken.
Not only does Kenneth run NBC, but egomaniacal Jenna loses her best friend – her mirror (Brian Williams needed it for his bathroom floor). Neurotic Liz and alpha-male Jack's mentee-mentor relationship, the crux of the show, flips when he becomes a weepy, disillusioned mess after earning everything he's ever wanted ("You're just an alcoholic with a great voice," she scoffs). Worst of all, annoying "TGS" writer Lutz gets to order the staff's final lunch – from Blimpie.
While the snow-globe capper evoked "St. Elsewhere," the finale reminded us more of the last episode of the sitcom closest in spirit to "30 Rock," even more so than Fey's "SNL" alma mater: "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." The comic calculus linking the shows (Liz = Mary + Rhoda, Pete = Murray, Jack = Lou, Tracy = Ted, Jenna = Ted + Sue Ann) carried through to the final summation. Like "MTM," there's nothing left when the show-within-the-show crumbles.
And like "MTM," in which the gang shuffled off in a group hug singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary," the "30 Rock" finale coated its sentiment with enough inspired silliness to maintain its off-kilter comic credibility – whether via Jenna's overwrought "TGS"-ending song, Tracy's emotional strip club moment of self-realization or Jack and Liz' declaration of platonic love as he gets ready to sail off to nowhere.
The closest thing to an all-out sappy "30 Rock" moment came in last week's penultimate episode, in which Liz meets her adopted 8-year-old twins, who turn out to be miniature versions of perennially childish Tracy and Jenna. Liz learned that her work on "TGS" prepared for the most important job of her life. For the rest of us, "30 Rock" ultimately became a lot more than just something to watch while eating our night cheese.
"30 Rock" might not have been a ratings blockbuster. But for all the TV and other pop culture references the show packed in its nearly 140-episode run, "30 Rock" carved an impressive niche in the medium it alternately mocked and embraced. "30 Rock" played by its own rules and at its own speed, which, even after nearly 6 ½ years, went by too quickly.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NYCity News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.
Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media


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SAN ANTONIO, Fla. — Jeb Bush wouldn't say Wednesday night whether he's likely to run for president in 2016, but at Saint Leo University he did suggest a surprising role model for the sort of president he'd strive to be: Lyndon Johnson.
No, the conservative former Florida governor didn't hail Johnson's Great Society initiatives. Instead, he hailed Johnson's forceful, hands-on leadership that, among other things, produced a 25 percent across-the-board income tax cut.
"He went and he cajoled, he begged, he threatened, he loved, he hugged, he did what leaders do, which is they personally get engaged to make something happen," said Bush, who recently read Robert Caro's latest Johnson biography.
Bush's homage to Johnson before several hundred people at the Pasco County campus was one of his only shots at President Barack Obama, who has earned a reputation for avoiding hands-on negotiating with congressional leaders.
"I saw an unnamed person in the White House about a month ago say, 'You know, Lincoln would have had a hard time in the climate we're in today, with the Republicans being so intractable,' " Bush said. "Really? You're comparing what we have today to a civil war? Really?"
Mostly, though, the ex-governor many Republicans hope will run for president talked about the potential for bipartisan cooperation to make several basic steps to generate more economic growth.
His prescription amounts to a three-legged stool: a focus on ramping up North American energy production; comprehensive immigration reform that would make America more welcoming to nonnative innovators and entrepreneurs; and education reforms to ensure America is equipped to sustain the growth generated by the first two legs.
"The greatest news that has happened since the commercialization of the Internet is that the United States has the potential in the very near term to become the largest producer of oil and gas in the world," Bush said, noting that advances in so-called "fracking" and horizontal drilling are already dramatically growing the natural gas industry.
With thoughtful safeguards and regulations, Bush said, the natural gas revolution stands to reindustrialize the country, create millions of high-wage jobs, cut greenhouse gas emissions, save consumers money and require a smaller military presence overseas and "not put the lives at risk of brave men and woman for other countries."
Bush has a book coming out next month about immigration reform, and he argued Wednesday that sensible immigration policies could be another major growth engine. As the population ages, the country needs policies to ensure a strong workforce, and those would include encouraging more people learning science and technology skills at American universities to stay in the country.
Both parties deserve blame for the status quo, he said, with Republicans talking tough about the rule of law "as a way to win primaries," and Democrats sitting back and letting the Republican immigration rhetoric lose them general elections.
The country needs to control the borders and enforce the rule of law, but also should provide a pathway to legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants already here if they pay a fine, learn English and abide by the law, he said.
"To me — and I'm here at this great Catholic institution and this is what my church teaches me — it is completely un-American to require people living in the shadows."
But economic growth won't last unless the country gets a grip on its education system, said Bush, who has been crusading for years for greater accountability.
As governor, Bush sought to ban offshore drilling within 100 miles of Florida shores, but he said Wednesday the BP oil spill — occurring in deep water far away from Florida — led him to rethink that. With technological advances, the risks can be minimized, he said.
"I think we should be part of the solution in creating energy security for our country. … We can't be antiprogress, we can't be anti-innovation, antitechnology," he said.


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Science fiction is a pessimistic medium… Most of it is about things going wrong. (Amis in his preface)
Kingsley Amis was a grumpy old bugger. This judgement is based not only on reading his articles and reviews when he was still alive (he died in 1995), but having read and reviewed all twenty of his novels for this blog.
Amis was deliberately middle-brow and flexible. He wrote a James Bond novel (under the pseudonym Robert Markham), a lot of light poetry, reviews and articles, as well as several odd science fiction novels.
In fact he was a science fiction hound, a real addict, and tells us that he leaped at the chance to deliver a series of lectures on the subject at Princeton University in 1959. These were then published as a book purporting to review the history and state of science fiction as it had led up to the state of the genre in 1960, garishly titled New Maps of Hell.
Twenty years after New Maps of Hell, in 1981, Amis was asked to make a selection of favourite science fiction short stories and to write an introduction. Hence this book.
Amis's introduction
With typical glumness, Amis reckons science fiction has had its glory days and is in decline. He judges this decline to have started at more or less the moment he delivered those lectures, back at the start of the 1960s. He describes how, in the 1940s and 1950s, science fiction belonged to 'an embattled few' – hard-core fans who read everything they could get their hands on, despite the sniggers of their parents or teachers. A bit like the 'hot jazz' which he and his buddy Philip Larkin liked listening to, while their mothers and girlfriends told them they really ought to be listening to Haydn.
But all this changed in the 1960s. Up till then Amis and other fans had called it SF. During the 60s it became rebranded as 'sci-fi', symptomatic of the way it got infected with all the other radical experiments of the decade.
Suddenly there was 'experimental' and 'avant-garde' 'sci-fi', as there was free poetry, rock music, women's lib and hosts of other innovations which Mr Grumpy objects to. The first two university courses on science fiction were opened in 1961, and Amis thinks that as soon as you start teaching literature or film, you kill its originality.
Only twelve years separate the hilariously kitsch Forbidden Planet (1956) from the slick and sophisticated 2001: A Space Odyssey (released in 1968, and which Amis found repellently self-indulgent) but they inhabit different cultural universes.
The New Wave
The young writers with their trendy experimental approaches to science fiction who came in with the 1960s, became known as the New Wave. Fans argue to this day about when New Wave started, but most agree a tipping point was when Michael Moorcock became editor of New Worlds magazine in 1964, and Moorcock, along with J.G. Ballard and Brian Aldiss, were the prime movers of British New Wave. All three moved away from 'hard' science fiction stories about space ships and robots and aliens, showing more interest in literary effects and psychology, often in a very garish late-60s, tricksy sort of way.
Planetary exploration
Another problem which the SF writers of the 1960s faced was that a lot of science fiction came true. In the 1960s men actually started rocketing into space and in 1969 walked on the moon, thus killing all kinds of fantasies with their dull discovery that space was empty and bathed in fatal radiation, while the moon is just a dusty rock. So no fantastic civilisations and weird Selenites after all. In the story Sister Planet in this collection, Poul Anderson imagines Venus to consist of one huge, planet-wide ocean teeming with intelligent life, where men can stride around requiring only respirators to breathe. But when information started to come back from the Mariner series of probes, the first of which flew by in 1962, and the Venera 7 probe which actually landed on the surface in 1970, Venus turned out to be a waterless rock where the atmospheric pressure on the surface is 92 times that of earth, and the temperature is 462 C.
Fiction becomes fact
Meanwhile, in terms of terrestrial gadgets and inventions – the kind of mind-liberating technological innovations which festoon H.G. Wells's fantastic prophecies – well, jet planes came in, along with intercontinental travel and it turned out to be glamorous but in a, well, yawn, touristy kind of way. Everyone got coloured televisions, but these weren't used for announcements by the World State or amazing educational programmes; they were used to sell soap powder and bubble gum. Satellites were launched and people were amazed by the first live global broadcasts, but none of this led mankind onto some higher level of culture and civilisation, as so many thousands of sci-fi stories had predicted. Now we have digital communication with anyone on the planet, but the biggest content area on the internet is pornography, closely followed by cats who look like Hitler.
To sum up: a lot of what had seemed like exciting technical predictions in the 1940s had turned into commonplaces by the 1960s. As Amis pithily puts it, 'Terra incognita was turning into real estate.'
So you can see why the New Wave wanted to take a new approach and look for the weird and alien here on earth, particularly Ballard. By the mid-70s the New Wave was itself declared to be over (about the same time that post-war Serialism in classical music breathed its last gasp), at the same time that a lot of the political and cultural impedimenta of the post-war years ran out of steam. As I view it, this led to a decade of doldrums (the 1970s), and then the appearance, during the 1980s, of bright new commercial styles, Post-modernism in art and literature and architecture, the importation of Magical Realism in fiction, and a new era of sci-fi blockbusters in cinema, the rise of computer aided animation which has transformed the look and feel of films, and to an explosion of all kinds of genres and cross-fertilisations in writing.
Specific examples
But to Amis back in 1980, he says science fiction suffers from 'gross commercialism', and uses the Terra incognita argument to explain why many even of the New Wave writers had dried up or gone into alternative forms – Arthur C. Clarke ceasing to write novels, Aldiss writing histories of the genre, and Ballard turning out never to have really been a sci-fi writer, more a writer about modern psychosis who started out by using sci-fi tropes, before moving on.
All this goes to explain why the stories Amis selected for this collection are all from the 1950s (1948 to 1962, to be exact) – from the decade when sci-fi writers had racked up a tradition of sorts to build on, had achieved a mature treatment of recognised tropes – but before those tropes were burned out from over-use and the 1960s ruined everything with its silly experimentalism. You can strongly disagree with this view, but at least it's a clear defined view, put forward with evidence and arguments.
The short stories
He Walked Around the Horses by H. Beam Piper (1948) (American)
It is 1809. A series of letters from officials in Imperial Austria tell the tale of Benjamin Bathurst, who claims to be a British government envoy who, we slowly realise, has somehow got transported from out 1809 to a parallel history in which the Americans lost the war of independence, there was no French Revolution, no Napoleon, no wars raging across Europe, and so Herr Bathurst is regarded as a lunatic.
The Xi Effect by Philip Latham (1950) (Pseudonym used for his sf by American astronomer Robert Shirley Richardson)
Physicists Stoddard and Arnold discover that radiation above a certain frequency is no longer being detected. Radio stations are becoming unavailable. They measure the eclipse of one of Jupiter's moons as happening absurdly nearby. Suddenly they think of Friedmann and his theory of the Xi Effect, namely that space isn't continuous but made up of 'clots', clots which can be disrupted by bigger-scale events. Stoddard and Arnold and then everyone else learns that the world and the solar system are shrinking. Since everything is staying in proportion relative to everything else you'd have thought that wouldn't be a problem except that the one thing which can't shrink is electro-magnetic radiation. In other words, the world is getting too small for light to travel in it. One by one all the colours disappear, and then everyone is left in universal blackness.
The Quest for Saint Aquin by Anthony Boucher (1951) (American)
After a nuclear apocalypse a 'monk' is sent by 'the pope' to find the body of a supposed saint in the hills outside San Francisco.
It's a Good Life by Jerome Bixby (1953) (American)
Genuinely upsetting story in which a child with telepathy and unlimited powers is born and, while still young, either destroys the world or transports his small town into some void wherein the remaining inhabitants must think nothing but positive thoughts – repeating to themselves 'it is a good world' for fear that the little monster – Anthony – will detect negative thoughts and turn them into something unspeakable.
The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C. Clarke (1953) (English)
A computer company supplies its latest model to a Tibetan lamasery whose abbot tells the chief exec that they will use it to work through every permutation of names for God. They have a belief that, once all the names of God have been expressed, the need for a planet and humanity will cease and the universe will move on to the next stage.
Months later, the two bored technicians tasked with overseeing the installation and running of the machine are relieved to be making their way to the little Tibetan airport to return Stateside when the computer reaches the end of its run and… the world comes to an end.
Specialist by Robert Sheckley (1953) (American)
Interesting description of a galactic spaceship made up of living parts which all perform specialist functions e.g. Walls, Eye, Tracker, Feeder. When their 'Pusher' dies in an accident they trawl nearby planetary systems for a new one and, of course, come to earth, where they kidnap a guy who is out camping under the stars, and induct him into the galactic code of co-operation.
Student Body by F. L. Wallace (1953) (American)
Colonists arrive on a new planet where the Chief Exec is keen to get biologist Dano Marin to manage infestations of mice and rats which attack the crops and stores. Slowly Marin realises they are dealing with a species which can mutate at need, almost instantly, in order to survive and which will always manage to evolve into shapes which can elude them. Worse, he realises it will have stowed away on the earlier reconnaisance ships and have made its way back to earth.
The Game of Rat and Dragon by Cordwainer Smith (1954) (pen-name of American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger)
Deep space travel reveals vicious entities which attack man's ships, which get nicknamed 'dragons'. The only way to kill them is with light bombs which disintegrate their bodies, but it all happens so fast that only the handful of humans who have telepathic powers can manage to be plugged into the 'pin sets' which detect the dragons; and the whole effort went up a notch when it was discovered that some cats can be in telepathic unison with the humans, and have even faster reflexes.
The Tunnel under the World by Frederik Pohl (1955) (American)
Maybe the best story, relatively long and persuasive i.e. you get totally drawn into it.
Guy Burckhardt wakes up on June 15 from a nightmare of an explosion, then goes about his humdrum life in the small town American town of Tylerton, dominated by its state-of-the-art chemical works which is run mostly by the recorded brainwaves of technicians. A new guy in the office shops tries to hustle him a new brand of cigarettes. Later a lorry stops in the street and blares out ads for Feckles Fridges. A flustered man named Swanson accosts him on the street then runs away.
Then he wakes up on June 15 from a nightmare, and goes about his day. New cigarettes, lorry ads, flustered Swanson. That night the fuse blows and, rooting around in the cellar, he discovers that behind the brick walls is metal. And under the floor. The reader begins to wonder if he is in some kind of alien prison. He is down there when overcome by sleep.
Next morning he wakes up remembering everything from the day before except that… his wife thinks it is June 15, the radio says it is June 15, the newspaper says it is June 15. On the street Swanson finds him and, discovering that Burckhardt is confused, takes him through shops and into a cinema, all the time telling him that 'they' will be after him. they exit the auditorium, Swanson takes him through corridors, into the manager's office, then opens a closet door into… a vast steel tunnel stretching in both directions.
Swanson thinks it must be Martians? Is it aliens? Or the Chinese who everyone in the 1950s were so terrified of? Read it yourself.
A Work of Art by James Blish (1956) (American)
Richard Strauss is brought back to life 200 years in the future. He immediately wants to carry on composing and Blish gives a very good analysis of the composer's music, its characteristics, what he looks for in a libretto and so on and the whole process of composing a new opera.
But at its premiere, the applause is not for the composer, but for Dr Kris, the mind sculptor who has, in fact, used all the traits of the composer to create him and impose him on the mind of a perfectly ordinary unmusical man, Jerom Bosch. At a click of Kris's fingers, Bosch will revert to his normal workaday self.
The Country of the Kind by Damon Knight (1956) (American)
A rare thing, a first person narrator. In a perfect society of the future (after 'the Interregnum') he has been born a brute and a sadist, capable of killing and injuring and defacing while all around him are placid and calm and sensitive. We see, from his point of view, how intolerable and anguished his existence is, forced to live among 'the dulls'.
Sister Planet by Poul Anderson (1959) (American)
This is a long, involving and bitingly pessimistic story. A small colony of scientists is established on a platform floating on Venus's endless stormy ocean. They have made contact with 'cetoids', dolphin-like creatures and some kind of exchange goes on i.e. the humans leave paintings, sound recordings and so on which the cetoids take off in their mouths, and the cetoids return with various objects, including rare and precious 'firestones'. These are so precious that ferrying them back to earth and selling them has so far funded the scientific research.
In among their practical duties, the half dozen or so scientists on the outstation chat about how overcrowded and polluted and violent earth is becoming. The main figure among them, Nat Hawthorne is particularly sensitive and close to the cetoids. One day he is astonished when the most friendly of them, who he's named Oscar, nudges at his feet (on the pontoon which stretches out from the base, where they distribute goodies to the cetoids and receive the jewels in return, level with the ocean and often slopped over by waves) indicating he wants to give him a ride.
Hawthorne puts on breathing apparatus and Oscar takes him deep under the sea to show him a vast coral cathedral which appears to have been shaped, or grown, by the cetoids. there is no doubt that they are 'intelligent'.
Back in the crew quarters of the colony, he is about to tell everyone about his encounter, when the quiet, intense Dutch scientist Wim Dykstra bursts in to make a major announcement. He has been analysing Venus's core and has realised that it is on the unstable edge of making a quantum leap upwards in size. If it did that, it would project magma up through the sea creating continents and the presence of rocks would absorb carbon dioxide from the (currently toxic) atmosphere. In other words it could be 'terraformed', made fit for human inhabitation – an overflow for what has become a poisoned earth.
it is then that Hawthorne tells the roomful of colonists about his discovery, that the cetoids are undeniably intelligent and creative. At which point there is an earnest discussion about man's right to colonise new planets, even at the expense of the natives – all of which made me think of contemporary, 2018, discussions about colonialism and racial oppression etc. Reluctantly Dykstra agrees to suppress his work in order to let the cetoids live.
But Hawthorne is gripped by a kind of panic fear. Sooner or later more scientists will come to Venus. They will repeat his experiments. Sooner or later humans will realise they can transform Venus for their own use. Tortured by this knowledge, Hawthorne blows up and sinks the research station, flees in a mini submarine and, when the cetoids come to investigate, slaughters them with a laser machine gun. Then submerges to go and blow up their beautiful coral cathedrals. Before calling the ferry ship which is in orbit down to pick him up. He will claim the cetoids blew up the centre despite his attempts to stop them.
His aim is to demonstrate to earth that Venus is a violent environment which cannot be colonised. And to show the cetoids that humans are murdering barbarians who cannot be trusted.
To save the cetoids – he has to destroy them and their cultural achievements.
The Voices of Time by J. G. Ballard (1960) (English)
A classic expression of Ballard's interest in entropy and decline. Among the empty swimming pools of some desert American town, scientists go about their work in alienated isolation from each other. A plague of narcolepsy has attacked humanity. More and more people are falling asleep never to waken, the central figure, Powers, keeps a diary of the way he, too, is falling asleep earlier and earlier, his days are getting shorter and shorter. In what time he has left he conducts obscure experiments on plants and animals which seem to mutate at an accelerated rate if exposed to near fatal doses of radiation. He has a typically distant, autistic 'relationship' with a patient whose brain he operated on and who now is collecting the last works of art, books and so on by famous artists, writers and such. And has discovered that astronomical research centres have come across series of numbers being sent from apparently different locations around the universe, all of which are running down, like countdowns.
The Machine that Won the War by Isaac Asimov (1961) (American)
A short and characteristically tricksy Asimov story. It is the end of the war against the Denebians. Everyone credits victory to the vast supercomputer, the Multivac, which processed all the information and provided pinpoint accurate decisions about the war.
Executive Director of the Solar Federation, Lamar Swift, has gathered the key men in the team who ran Multivac to celebrate, namely Henderson and Jablonksy. But as both hold their champagne glasses, one by one they reveal that the data they received was never good enough, the sources around the solar system and beyond were too scattered, information came in too slowly… and that the head of the team processing it never trusted them, and so falsified many of the figures.
But instead of being shocked, Swift smile and says, he thought as much. He made all the key decisions which won the war by using a much older technology. And he takes out a coin, flips it with his thumb, covers it as it lands in his palms, and asks: 'Gentlemen – heads or tails?'
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut (1961) (American)
A short glib story set in 2018 when everyone is equal because everyone is handicapped by the Handicapper General. Fast athletic people are weighed down by weights. Tall people forced to stoop. Beautiful people wear face masks. Clever people have earpieces fitted which emit piercing noises every 30 seconds. Thus everyone is reduced to the same level, and is equal. Anyone tampering with any of this equality equipment is arrested and imprisoned.
George and Hazel Bergeron's son, Harrison, was born unusually tall and handsome. He was immediately locked up. The trigger for this short story is George and Hazel settling down to watch TV (George's thought processes continually interrupted by the screeches in his ear, to prevent him being too clever) and hearing on the news that their son has escaped from prison.
Then he bursts into the TV studio and throws off his restraints, the handicap harness which weighs him down, the rubber mask which makes him ugly – to reveal that he is a tall god. He declares to the watching audience that he is the Emperor, who must be obeyed.
He had interrupted a live broadcast of a ballet and now he asks who among the ballerinas wants to be his wife. One comes forward, throws off her face mask and feet cripplers to reveal that she is beautiful and elegant. Together they start dancing a beautiful ballet of freedom.
At which point the Handicapper General, Diana Moon Glampers, bursts into the studio and machine guns both of them dead. The TV goes black. Loud sounds burst in George's ear. He goes to get a beer from the fridge. Loud sounds interrupt him on the way back. By the time he's back on the sofa he has a sense that something sad happened on the TV but neither he nor his wife can remember what.
The Streets of Ashkelon by Harry Harrison (1962) (American)
Trader John Garth is happy living alone on Wesker's World, dealing with the slow but logical alien inhabitants, the Wesker amphibians, who have learned to speak English.
One day a fellow trader stops by (his spaceship causing hundreds of square metres of devastation) to drop off a priest. Garth tries to prevent him landing, then is very rude to him. To his horror, the slow logical Wesker creatures are awestruck by the priest and the stories he has to tell about God their father and how they are saved. Garth is a typical trader, rough and ready, a hard drinker, but he has been honest with the Wesker creatures and told them as much about the universe and earth as he thought wise.
One day Garth is called along to a meeting the Weskers are having with the priest. In their slow logical way they have come to the conclusion that the priest needs to prove his religion. The Bible – which he has given them to study – brims over with examples of miracles which God was happy to perform to prove his existence. Surely he will perform at least one miracle to convert an entire new planet and save an entire species.
Suddenly Garth sees where this is heading and leaps up to try and bundle the priest out of the meeting hall but he is himself overwhelmed by the Wesker creatures and tied up, from which powerless state he has to watch the creatures overcome the priest and very methodically nail him up to a cross, just like the pictures in the Bible he had given them, the Weskers expecting him to be resurrected.
But of course he isn't. Days later, still tied up and in a pitch black lumber room, Garth finds the most sympathetic of the Weskers undoing his ropes and telling him to flee in his space ship. Having failed with the priest the Weskers have decided to experiment with him next.
The Wesker asks: 'He will rise again won't he?' 'No,' replies Wesker. 'Then we will not be saved and not be made pure?' asks the Wesker. 'You were pure', Garth sadly replies. 'You were pure, but now…' 'We are murderers,' replies the Wesker.
Old Hundredth by Brian Aldiss (1963) (English)
This is the most poetic of the stories, Aldiss deliberately using onomatopeia and rhyme in his prose, as well as rich verbal pictures, to convey a dreamlike scenario.
In the far distant future the Moon has left the earth and earth and Venus orbit each other. Humans have long ago left the planet which is now populated by a mix of of animals and "Impures', intelligent creatures created by human experimenters on Venus.
Dandi Lashadusa is a giant sloth who traipses round the desert world seeking out musicolumns, insubstantial pillars into which the last people converted themselves, and which become audible music when life forms come close enough to them.
She is guided and advised by a mentor who she is telepathically in touch with, who is slowly revealed to be a dolphin living in a coral cell.
Almost all the stories – 14 out of 17 – are by Americans, the other three by Brits i.e. all very anglophone i.e. wasn't there any Russian, French, German etc sci-fi during the period? Even in translation?
That's probably something which came in to rejuvenate the genre after Amis's day, particularly stories from Russia and the Eastern bloc.
The pros and cons of science fiction
Is Amis right when he says: 'Science fiction is a pessimistic medium… Most of it is about things going wrong'? Well, on the evidence here, Yes. The Xi Effect, Sister Planet, The Streets of Ashkelon, Student Body and, especially It's a Good Life, which I found very disturbing – they are extremely negative and pessimistic. But then gloomy Amis chose them. Is the genre as a whole pessimistic? Well… I'd make a case that most of literature is pessimistic. I'm looking at F. Scott Fitzgerald books next to Flaubert's on my shelves. Not many happy endings there.
Maybe you could argue that there is a kind of 'global conceit' about science fiction. In 'ordinary' novels one or two people may die; in a science fiction story it is likely to be a whole world, as the world comes to an end in the Clarke story, or man corrupts an entire species as in the Harry Harrison.
Science fiction may be more apocalyptically pessimistic than other types of fiction. This is one of its appeals to the adolescent mind – the sheer sense of scale and the world-ending nihilism. But is at the same time one of the reasons it used to be looked down on. As a flight from the trickier complexities of real human relations in the here and now, the kind of thing supposedly tackled by 'proper' fiction.
But all this is to overlook the positive, uplifting and inspiring aspect of science fiction, the teenage sense of exuberance and escape and release conveyed by some of the stories. The sense of the genuinely fantastical and imaginative, that life is stranger and richer and weirder than non-sci-fi readers can ever realise.
A feeling conveniently expressed in one of the stories here:
As a boy he had loved to read tales of time travel and flights to other planets, and the feeling that something transcendent was lurking around the corner had never entirely left him. (The Xi Effect, p.65)
Related links
Other science fiction reviews
1888 Looking Backward 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy – Julian West wakes up in the year 2000 to discover a peaceful revolution has ushered in a society of state planning, equality and contentment
1890 News from Nowhere by William Morris – waking from a long sleep, William Guest is shown round a London transformed into villages of contented craftsmen
1895 The Time Machine by H.G. Wells – the unnamed inventor and time traveller tells his dinner party guests the story of his adventure among the Eloi and the Morlocks in the year 802,701
1896 The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells – Edward Prendick is stranded on a remote island where he discovers the 'owner', Dr Gustave Moreau, is experimentally creating human-animal hybrids
1897 The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells – an embittered young scientist, Griffin, makes himself invisible, starting with comic capers in a Sussex village, and ending with demented murders
1898 The War of the Worlds – the Martians invade earth
1899 When The Sleeper Wakes/The Sleeper Wakes by H.G. Wells – Graham awakes in the year 2100 to find himself at the centre of a revolution to overthrow the repressive society of the future
1899 A Story of the Days To Come by H.G. Wells – set in the same London of the future described in the Sleeper Wakes, Denton and Elizabeth fall in love, then descend into poverty, and experience life as serfs in the Underground city run by the sinister Labour Corps
1901 The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells – Mr Bedford and Mr Cavor use the invention of 'Cavorite' to fly to the moon and discover the underground civilisation of the Selenites
1904 The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth by H.G. Wells – two scientists invent a compound which makes plants, animals and humans grow to giant size, leading to a giants' rebellion against the 'little people'
1905 With the Night Mail by Rudyard Kipling – it is 2000 and the narrator accompanies a GPO airship across the Atlantic
1906 In the Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells – a passing comet trails gasses through earth's atmosphere which bring about 'the Great Change', inaugurating an era of wisdom and fairness, as told by narrator Willie Leadford
1908 The War in the Air by H.G. Wells – Bert Smallways, a bicycle-repairman from Bun Hill in Kent, manages by accident to be an eye-witness to the outbreak of the war in the air which brings Western civilisation to an end
1909 The Machine Stops by E.M. Foster – people of the future live in underground cells regulated by 'the Machine' until one of them rebels
1912 The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Professor Challenger leads an expedition to a plateau in the Amazon rainforest where prehistoric animals still exist
1912 As Easy as ABC by Rudyard Kipling – set in 2065 in a world characterised by isolation and privacy, forces from the ABC are sent to suppress an outbreak of 'crowdism'
1913 The Horror of the Heights by Arthur Conan Doyle – airman Captain Joyce-Armstrong flies higher than anyone before him and discovers the upper atmosphere is inhabited by vast jellyfish-like monsters
1914 The World Set Free by H.G. Wells – A history of the future in which the devastation of an atomic war leads to the creation of a World Government, told via a number of characters who are central to the change
1918 The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs – a trilogy of pulp novellas in which all-American heroes battle ape-men and dinosaurs on a lost island in the Antarctic
1921 We by Evgeny Zamyatin – like everyone else in the dystopian future of OneState, D-503 lives life according to the Table of Hours, until I-330 wakens him to the truth
1925 Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov – a Moscow scientist transplants the testicles and pituitary gland of a dead tramp into the body of a stray dog, with disastrous consequences
1927 The Maracot Deep by Arthur Conan Doyle – a scientist, engineer and a hero are trying out a new bathysphere when the wire snaps and they hurtle to the bottom of the sea, there to discover…
1930 Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon – mind-boggling 'history' of the future of mankind over the next two billion years
1932 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
1938 Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis – baddies Devine and Weston kidnap Ransom and take him in their spherical spaceship to Malacandra aka Mars,
1943 Perelandra (Voyage to Venus) by C.S. Lewis – Ransom is sent to Perelandra aka Venus, to prevent a second temptation by the Devil and the fall of the planet's new young inhabitants
1945 That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-ups by C.S. Lewis– Ransom assembles a motley crew to combat the rise of an evil corporation which is seeking to overthrow mankind
1949 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell – after a nuclear war, inhabitants of ruined London are divided into the sheep-like 'proles' and members of the Party who are kept under unremitting surveillance
1971 Mutant 59: The Plastic Eater by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis – a genetically engineered bacterium starts eating the world's plastic
1980 Russian Hide and Seek by Kingsley Amis – in an England of the future which has been invaded and conquered by the Russians, a hopeless attempt to overthrow the occupiers is easily crushed
1981 – The Golden Age of Science Fiction edited by Kingsley Amis – 17 classic sci-fi stories from what Amis considers the Golden Era of the genre, namely the 1950s


text: One short weekend, two more high-level protestations from former centrists against the Bush Administration and politics in general. First came former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who is basically every dude's last remaining excuse for voting Republican, whose new memoir in bookstores today excoriates the Republican Party for abandoning its rational self-interest, small-government principles, in pursuit of power. And last night came Sally Field, whose censored comment about if mothers ran the country, there would be no damn wars essentially advanced the argument that if everyone had to shove a watermelon-sized being through their nether-regions they'd have too much respect for human life to ruthlessly sacrifice so much of it for power. In both cases, though, "power" is the big enemy, with Alan taking the position that politicians need to understand that human nature is governed by pursuit of cash — even as he, as a lifelong civil servant, wasn't — and Sally taking the position that human nature is governed by lovey-dovey hormonal shit — even though she, portraying a bipolar mom on ER, obviously deluded herself into thinking it was more than complex than that. So who's right?