h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Too many changes to list since the last time I logged into this account.

New laptop, so I had to do the whole new account or remember all the passwords for *everything* I ever want to use again. It was about a 60/40 result: New BBC account, one writing site had closed, and so on.

Anyway, did a bit of writing, working on two different stories.

I hope 2019 is nicer than the previous two years.

I hope so too.

It's great to see you again, Evangeline.

Great to see you too, Paul.

Yes, I'm still hanging on here. The Galaxy is a big place, so there's still a lot for me to do.

What have you been up to?

I up to 100 books for 2018. That'show many I read, or started reading. being retired, I keep to a quota of books so I can feel a sense of having accomplished something. Every year I make a list of the best books of the previous year. I compile the list from "best books" lists of numerous different review sources, including Library Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and the leading newspapers such as the New York Time et al. If a title is included on more than one such list, I put a * next to it, and make an effort to read it before the ones that are only on one list.

I do my reading after dark, so as not to interfere with getting out into the world for exercise, errands, and a mandatory cup of mid-afternoon coffee with a cookie or pastry .

I have serious gardening duties from April through November. Right now. the extent of those duties consists of choosing which seeds to order, and actually ordering them.

This Spring I would like to buy a couple of pots of Sea Oats, a perennial grain that lives about ten years. I don't seriously think it will give me much a crop, but the deep roots store a lot of carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. Kernzle, the perennial wheat that is in development at the Land Institute, is intended as a better crop for much of the world. If widely planted, it will store more atmospheric carbon, use much less water, and and help protect the land from erosion. Water use alone is a big issue. Agriculture uses about 70% of the world's fresh water supply.

All worthwhile pursuits.

And I have little chance of changing the world's agriculture. But maybe some day I will mention this to someone who can spread the word.