Author Archives: Anton

blowing up a star, and afterward

(This post was previously part of another one, severed for what now seems to me greater convenience.) Charlie Stross‘s recent novel Iron Sunrise has a surprising number of minor errors. The distance between Moscow Prime and Old Newfie is stated … Continue reading

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scifi

The last book I finished was Charlie Stross’s The Family Trade. Spoilers:

Posted in prose | 3 Comments

language peeve of the day

A set comprises its members; a set consists of its members; a set is composed of its members — but a set is not comprised of anything. “Thank you for observing all safety precautions.”

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protecting the public

Argh! No traffic tickets for twenty years, and now two in 16 months – both from BART police. Two more months and I could have cleared both by the curious device of “traffic school”.

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nothing to hide

“Lady Liberty” says it well: So rest peacefully in your assumption that none of the invasive new laws or procedures applies to you because you don’t have anything to hide. You’ll be just fine as long as the police never … Continue reading

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æsthetics

Ah, phooey: I’ve carelessly deleted my preferred “theme”. May as well leave it for now while I go learn how to write one properly.

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para-grammatogenesis

Some people amuse themselves at inventing languages and scripts; that sport’s most famous player was of course Tolkien. And some avidly study whatever notes Tolkien left concerning his Elvish language family. Tolkien invented at least three scripts: Sarati, an alphasyllabary; … Continue reading

Posted in fandom, language | 3 Comments