Walter Jon Williams's Blog, page 222

Political Idiocy Week, #3

Well okay, this happened over a week ago, but it's still priceless. Georgia congressman Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) wondering whether the addition of 8000 troops will cause Guam to capsize. Not the USS Guam, which might make sense, but the island, which last I heard was anchored solidly to the planet. The naval officer he is questioning stifles his hysterical laughter with admirable military

Portales

I'm out on the Llano Estecado, in Portales, for the annual Jack Williamson lecture.Having fun with Connie Willis, Ian Tregillis, Melinda Snodgrass, Patrice Caldwell, and all the regulars. Tomorrow I meet with students, do panels, and--- y'know--- stuff.

Avatar Comparison Chart

There's nothing wrong with this Avatar Comparison Chart except that it leaves out A Man Called Horse, which with its sequels has exactly the same story. [via Janice:]

Shadow Network

Another enormous online spy network, dubbed Shadow Network, has been revealed by those wonky Canadian online cowboys of the Munk School of Global Affairs. Shadow Network's targets included the Dalai Lama (who was targeted last year by another spy network, the Ghost Net), but they were interested primarily in India.According to the report by the researchers, "Shadows in the Cloud", the documents

Premium Channels

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled 3-0 that the FCC has no legal authority to enforce net neutrality on broadband providers. Providers could, for example, charge extra for larger files, or restrict access to sites that provide content they don't approve of, or--- as Comcast has already done--- sent forged packets to their own customers to terminate peer-to-peer

From My Dream Life . . .

The yodeling of the Baka pygmies, which tonight will feature in my dreams.

One Lonely Star

I am rarely delighted by my one-star Amazon reviews. Especially when I'm taken to task for making up dumb stuff, when in fact I did scrupulous research and the reviewer didn't bother to simply google the topic and find that out. (Okay, that one still rankles.)But at least I'm in good company. Jeanette Demain over at Salon has been brooding over one-star reviews of the classics. Jane Eyre by

Russia Breaks IKEA

So Swedish blond furniture giant IKEA decided to open outlets in Russia. Turns out it was a bad idea.From the start the company announced that even in Russia it would be adhering to its clearly-formulated Swedish rules, based on the Protestant work ethic and unanswerable logic. As a result, Khimki officials turned off the electricity just before the first Moscow shop opened. There was no

Istanbul

On April 1, one year ago today, I looked out the window of my hotel room and saw this. My oh my.

The Leaf, Trembling

I put aside my Nebula reading for some stories by W. Somerset Maugham, his collection The Trembling of a Leaf. These are stories set in Samoa or Honolulu or on the long passage somewhere between, and include "Rain," the story that introduced the world to Miss Sadie Thompson, the hooker with a heart of sulfuric acid played variously on the screen by Gloria Swanson, Joan Crawford, and Rita Hayworth