Posted from the New Navel of the Moon . . .

Herein I present three random things found online that have nothing much in common other than the fact that I came across them at more or less the same time.

Via Constance, the Guardian’s review of Deep State. I may be wrong, but I believe this is the first time I’ve been reviewed in such an upscale UK publication.  Cutting to the pull-quote:

Williams has crafted a slick, intelligent techno-thriller that never allows the melodramatic storyline to swamp the cast of sympathetic characters.

A splendid map of our terraqueous globe, with the place-names translated to what they actually mean.  Thus we have countries with names like Land of the Shrewmice and Rainy Place, and we find that the second-largest country by land mass is called “Village.”  Plus, “Land of the Tanned” turns out not to be Florida.

Plus a bonus video, the Alchemist’s Clocktower, complete with automata and blasts of flame.