Filed under: Gardening, Habanero | Tags: blogging, gardening, Habaneros, jim downey, tomatoes
As a follow up to Tuesday’s post about tomatoes, here’s what I just brought in from the garden:
From left to right:
- Red Savina
- 7 Pot
- Mix of Moruga and Trinidad Scorpion
- Bhut Jolokia
- Devil’s Tongue
Oh, and Tuesday’s tomato harvest? In addition to plenty being used in meals the last couple of days, they also made 9 full quarts of rich, delicious sauce. Yum!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Gardening | Tags: blogging, gardening, jim downey, tomatoes
I haven’t talked about it too much, but this has been a rather astounding year for my garden. To wit:
The bucket on the end? That holds 5 gallons. It’s full. All told, I think there’s somewhere between 60 and 70 pounds of tomatoes sitting there. That’s just this morning. And I only planted 12 plants (4 of which are now past bearing).
Blimey. Time to make tomato sauce …
Jim Downey
Filed under: Augmented Reality, Civil Rights, Connections, George Orwell, Government, Heinlein, Humor, movies, Predictions, Privacy, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Society, tech, Writing stuff | Tags: 1984, augmented reality, George Orwell, Heinlein, humor, jim downey, movies, NSA, predictions, Robert A. Heinlein, Science Fiction, Steve Jobs, surveillance, technology, writing, Zombies
I wouldn’t have the nerve to include this kind of thing in a novel … no one would believe that such an agency would have such a twisted sense of humor.
The magazine printed several slides alleged to have come from an NSA presentation referencing the film “1984,” based on George Orwell’s book set in a totalitarian surveillance state. The slides – which show stills from the film, former Apple Inc. chairman Steve Jobs holding an iPhone, and iPhone buyers celebrating their purchase – are captioned: “Who knew in 1984…that this would be big brother…and the zombies would be paying customers?”
Jim Downey
*Referencing this, of course.
Filed under: Augmented Reality, Google, Humor, Privacy, Society, tech | Tags: augmented reality, Gmail, Google, humor, jim downey, privacy
“Can I show you to a table?”
“Yeah, sure.” I followed the young, trim man over to a small table by the window.
“Will this be OK?”
“Fine.”
I sat down. The waiter stood next to the table.
“Would you like to order your mocha and cheese danish?”
“Sorry, what? I haven’t even looked at the menu yet.”
He glanced at a pad in his hand. “Our records show that you usually order a mocha – slim – and cheese danish whenever you come into the cafe at this time of day.”
“Um, not yet. I’m waiting for someone.”
“OK.” He glanced to the door. “Here she comes now.”
I turned, saw Sam enter. I looked back at the waiter.
He looked back. “Samantha Jones. 37. Two kids. Her husband, Joe, isn’t aware that you’re having an affair.”
I goggled. Sam came over, glanced at the waiter, sat down.
“Good morning! So, that’ll be coffee, black, for you, sir, with a fresh fruit platter. And Samantha will nibble at a blueberry muffin and drink water.” He gave us a wink. “Don’t want to get too full.”
Sam blinked, looked at me a little confused. We both looked to the waiter. “Yeah, sure.”
He nodded and smiled. Tapped a few keys on the pad, then just stood there.
I looked at Sam. She looked at me. I looked at the waiter. “Something I can help you with?”
“Oh, no sir. But thanks for asking.”
“Then, will you go away?”
“Oh, no sir. I’m here to facilitate anything you may need. Perhaps interest you in a special offer for a weekend getaway?” He glanced at the pad. “It’s been almost three months since the last one.”
“Um, but we’d like a little privacy.”
He smiled. “Not to worry, sir. I won’t share your information with anyone. This is just a service we provide. Completely routine.”
“Yeah, but, you know, we’d like to be … alone.”
“Sorry sir, but you agreed to the terms of service when you came in here. And the courts have ruled that you have no expectation of privacy in a public place such as this.”
“Yeah, but …”
Jim Downey
Filed under: Emergency, Preparedness, Society, Survival | Tags: blogging, crime, jim downey
“Did you hear all the excitement yesterday?” asked our back-fence neighbor when we saw him on our walk this morning.
“Um, no, what happened?”
“Guy walked in my front door about 4:15, holding a knife.”
“Good lord, what happened?”
“He said ‘Give me your keys.’ And I threw him my keys. He took my truck, and headed out.”
“What the hell???”
“Yeah, he’d evidently assaulted someone at one of the ‘gentleman’s clubs’ up off the highway. So the cops were already looking for him, and caught him a little later. He was pretty drunk. I got the truck back – it didn’t have any damage.”
“Damn.”
* * *
So, a friendly reminder: lock your doors, people. Be prepared, even when you’re enjoying a pleasant holiday afternoon. There really are nuts out there.
I’ll update with a link to the actual story when it shows up in the local press. UPDATE: Here it is.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Humor, Marketing, Promotion, Science Fiction | Tags: 1554, beer, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, free, humor, jim downey, New Belgium, promotion, Science Fiction
This is post number 1554.
One of my very favorite numbers. If you ever get a chance, be sure to tour the New Belgium brewery.
Sometime today or tomorrow we should hear the results of the latest drawing from the official judge. In the meantime, enjoy this holiday weekend — maybe with a nice beer. I think I know one I’m going to enjoy …
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Promotion, Publishing, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, art, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, feedback, free, jim downey, Kindle, leather, promotion, reviews, Science Fiction
You have until midnight tonight to get your entry in for a free copy of a full leather binding of Communion of Dreams. If you haven’t posted a link with your review on Amazon in this blog post, then you are NOT entered into the drawing. And we’ll also be drawing for the last of the “nearly perfect” cloth copies. Full details in that blog post.
And my judge for this drawing has posted some information about how and when she will handle the particulars: Planning ahead [echo]
Good luck everyone!
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Art, Connections, Feedback, Gardening, Humor, Marketing, Predictions, Preparedness, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction | Tags: Amazon, ants, art, blogging, bookbinding, canning, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, drawing, feedback, free, gardening, humor, jim downey, leather, MargoLynn, planning, predictions, promotion, reviews, science, Science Fiction, tomatoes
It’s been said that our ability to conceive of and plan for an uncertain future is one of the hallmarks of human intelligence. Some ants and other critters might beg to differ.
Nonetheless, today’s crop from the garden is largely going to be canned for enjoyment this coming winter:
That’s about 20 pounds of mixed tomato varietals in the dish drainer, and another 5 or so pounds of Roma tomatoes in the colander. I’ll chop and can the bulk of them, then sauce all the Romas and the left-over juice/bits from the canning. So far this season I’ve put up 44 pints of chopped tomatoes and about a gallon of sauce.
I like to plan ahead.
And you should too. There’s about 36 hours left to get your entry in for the drawing for a full leather, hand-bound edition of Communion of Dreams. And we’ll also be drawing for the last of the “nearly perfect” cloth copies:
Finished product.
I’ve managed to talk my old friend MargoLynn into handling the drawing for me, so you should send all bribe attempts to her. Winners will be announced sometime Sunday.
Jim Downey
Filed under: Amazon, Apollo program, Astronomy, BoingBoing, Connections, Feedback, Kindle, Marketing, Mars, movies, NASA, Paleo-Future, Politics, Predictions, Promotion, Publishing, Science, Science Fiction, Society, Space, tech, Travel, Wales | Tags: Amazon, Apollo, ars technica, blogging, BoingBoing, bookbinding, Communion of Dreams, direct publishing, feedback, free, jim downey, Kindle, Mars, movies, NASA, politics, predictions, promotion, reviews, science, Science Fiction, space, technology, The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, travel, Venus
Imagine three astronauts, 125 million miles from the Earth, talking to Mission Control with a four-minute time lag. They have seen nothing out their windows but stars in the blackness of space for the last 150 days. With a carefully timed burn, they slow into orbit around Venus, and as they loop around the planet, they get their first look at its thick cloud layer just 7,000 miles below.
It might sound like the plot of a science fiction movie, but in the late 1960s, NASA investigated missions that would send humans to Venus and Mars using Apollo-era technology. These missions would fly in the 1970s and 1980s to capitalize on what many expected would be a surge of interest in manned spaceflight after the Apollo lunar landings. They would be daring missions, but they would also be feasible with what was on hand.
Somewhat surprisingly, I don’t remember this at all. Though of course these were just “proof of concept” studies which were put together for NASA. Still, they were fairly well thought-out, as the article on ars technica demonstrates. As is often the case, technological limitations are less of an absolute factor in accomplishing something than economic/political limitations are. To borrow from a favorite old movie: “You wouldn’t believe what we did. It’s possible. It’s just hard work.”
What isn’t hard work? Getting entered into the drawing for a leather-bound copy of Communion of Dreams. Full details here. Yesterday’s Kindle promotion pushed us over 500 copies of the electronic version given away this month, and that puts the total number of copies out there somewhere in the neighborhood of 26,000. There are already 65 reviews posted to Amazon. Yet so far only 9 people have entered the drawing. You have until midnight this coming Saturday.
Jim Downey
Via BoingBoing.
Communion Of Dreams 