Category Archives: General

Why I don’t watch the news (and why this journalist hates it)

Posted on December 2, 2020 by smellincoffee

I can’t remember the last time I watched televised news; it was around 2008, I believe. If I hadn’t stopped by the time I read Amusing Ourselves to Death, that would have been its death knell. The video in sum: … Continue reading →

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Scaling Mount Doom: November 2020

Posted on December 1, 2020 by smellincoffee

After three months of ruthlessly driving the enemy before me, my advance on the Pile of Doom has er…not been so advance-y. Here is hoping that I have not met my Marne. TBR Books Read in November:Defeat in the West, … Continue reading →

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Monday musings: games, books, and hikes

Posted on November 30, 2020 by smellincoffee

Reading has slowed down as of late, between Thanksgiving, weekend hikes, and another round of computer upgrades. I’m now running on a SSD, and was able to resolve a power issue that prevented me from playing PC Building Simulator or … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Tuesday: Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2020 by smellincoffee

This week’s TTT has a Thanksgiving theme, and it’s a freebie so we can play around with it. I’m going full-throttle stream of thought here. I’m thankful for bookish friends who aid and abet my addiction, but more importantly, who … Continue reading →

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Whole Earth Disicpline

Posted on November 8, 2020 by smellincoffee

Whole Earth Disicpline: An Ecopragmatist Approach © 2010 Stewart Brand344 pages Sustainability is context, not a gadget or a single technology. From Stewart Brand, a lifelong environmentalist and creator-editor of the Whole Earth Catalog, comes this fascinating argument that the … Continue reading →

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Drowning in books

Posted on November 3, 2020 by smellincoffee

This is something of a catch-up post. I’ve been slowly reading The Dictator’s Handbook, an impressively cynical analysis of political science, and had hoped to finish it by Election Day so I could post an amusingly-timed review. Between the hurricane … Continue reading →

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Top Ten Nonbookish Hobbies

Posted on November 3, 2020 by smellincoffee

Today’s TTT should be especially fun, and perhaps more varied than these lists usually go – -we’re talking about Nonbookish Hobbies! PC Gaming. A hobby, a vice, call it what you will; if I’d put as much time into anything … Continue reading →

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Scaling Mount Doom: October 2020

Posted on November 2, 2020 by smellincoffee

So hey, it turns out having COVID is really good for working on one’s literary goals. I realized when trying to reconcile my list with goodread’s that I never reported reading The Demon’s Brood: A History of the Plantagenet Dynasty … Continue reading →

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Zeta Aftermath

Posted on November 2, 2020 by smellincoffee

Well, when my coworkers and I bid each other goodnight on Wednesday, we didn’t realize it would be nearly a week before we came back! Although we knew the system was headed our way, we’ve had so many gulf systems … Continue reading →

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Zeta

Posted on October 29, 2020 by smellincoffee

Zeta hit last night. Surreal 3 hrs, I will say. Total power loss in county. Will be days before I’m back online. No damage to my home but many friends and famy were not so lucky. I’ve been cleaning up … Continue reading →

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