Author Archives: Anton

escapism within escapism

I recently read the Long Earth saga by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. The story begins in the near future when an eccentric engineer anonymously publishes plans for a “stepper box” which takes the user to a parallel world, adjacent … Continue reading

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you’re no fawn anymore

Three or four days in a row, I’ve stopped to let a doe (usually with fawn(s)) amble across the road. Wondering whether that’s because I now live closer to the edge of town. Of ~twenty residences in ~sixty years, this … Continue reading

Posted in Cascadia | 1 Comment

second-generation royal dukes

Prince Charles succeeds his father as 2d Duke of Edinburgh. There are now three living British princes with the title “2d Duke of…”; how often have there been even two?

Posted in history | 1 Comment

dot product of Cupid’s arrows

The backstory of Methuselah’s Children, by Heinlein, involves a foundation to promote human longevity. Among other activities it studies natural long-lifers, creating its research material by paying a bounty for marriages between people whose grandparents all lived 100 years or … Continue reading

Posted in futures, medicine | Leave a comment

Billy Budd

Last night I watched Peter Ustinov’s adaptation (1962) of Herman Melville’s story Billy Budd. In 1797, a young merchant seaman is drafted onto a warship, where his sweet nature is admired by all except Claggart, the cruel master-at-arms, who resents … Continue reading

Posted in cinema | Leave a comment

of our elaborate plans, the potential end

For three days I’ve had a fever – CV-negative, but likely my highest fever ever! – which provokes me to start this post that I had meant to do someday, listing some projects that I may never finish (or even … Continue reading

Posted in me!me!me! | 2 Comments

a wave in the air

“Radar Love” (1973) is the biggest hit of the Dutch band Golden Earring. Some folks strongly prefer a cover (1989) by White Lion. I don’t; is there a reason for that, other than my notorious conservatism? White Lion’s version fills … Continue reading

Posted in music+verse | 1 Comment