Dispatches since 2005
The journal
Announcements, new editions, travel, diving, cooking and the working life of a novelist — 3,174 entries, all of them here in full.
April 20, 2016 · 357 words
Dark Horse, Mad Dog, Warrior Monk
You’ve probably heard of dark horse candidates, right? Now, if certain deep-pocketed conservatives have their way, we may have a candidate that’s a mad dog. That would be James “Mad Dog” Mattis, USMC, retired. Former lieutenant general, former NATO Supreme Commander (Transformation), and David Petraeus’ successor as Ce
Read entry →April 19, 2016 · 506 words
Walters of the World
All my life, I’ve been keeping track of the other Walter Williamses out there. On the whole, we seem to be a pretty distinguished bunch. To start with, there was my father, who was another Walter Williams. We had different middle names— his was Ulysses, believe it or not. After my dad was born (in […]
Read entry →April 17, 2016 · 147 words
Clip Officiel
After a few days of perfect springtime weather, winter descended again with wind and rain and cloud. Which made me long for the tropics, so I thought I’d check out the music scene on the island of Mauritius. (Which calls itself Maurice, by the way.) I used to stream music from a radio station in […]
Read entry →April 13, 2016 · 801 words
Interactivity
The entertainment has been interactive around here. And no, I’m not talking about Xbox games. A few weeks ago we visited License to Spy, a traveling exhibit of spy gear sent from Australia to (for some reason) the New Mexico Museum of Natural History. (See a dinosaur, spy on your neighbor . . . all good […]
Read entry →April 10, 2016 · 107 words
Last Chance for the Toolbox
There are still a very few places left at Taos Toolbox, this year’s master class for science fiction and fantasy. But if you’re planning to apply, you’d better get the applications to us in the next couple weeks, because after that, you’ll have to wait till next year. Remember, this year’s special guest instructor is [
Read entry →April 6, 2016 · 299 words
Fiat Lux
I’ll be leaving tomorrow for a couple days in the sophisticated metropolis of Portales, NM, for the fortieth annual Jack Williamson Lectureship. Fun will be had. In the meantime I’m deeply enjoying my schadenfreude at the continuing revelations of the Panama Papers. The premiere of Iceland has resigned. And the Great F
Read entry →April 5, 2016 · 560 words
Panama Gold
So I was about to write something along the lines of, “Once again, the global financial underbelly has been exposed.” But then I thought, Hey, how many global financial underbellies are there, anyway? Lots, apparently. Maybe 11.5 million of them. 11.5 million is the number of documents extracted from the Panamanian law
Read entry →March 31, 2016 · 461 words
This Week in History
For some reason this blog seems to be tracking a number of history stories. Here are some more Satellite photos seem to have revealed a Viking settlement in North America. Magnetometer readings later taken at the remote site, called Point Rosee, a grassy headland above a rocky beach an hour’s trek from the nearest road
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