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

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. I guess it counts as steampunk, being set in a Victorian London where Babbages machines are a reality.

Coachella Valley, CA, USA

W 19 Jun 2013, ~8:15pm, PDT




The solstice, the longest day of the year and the first day of summer, comes early this year, tommorrow, Th 20 Jun 2013.

The wind is growing more and more inconstant, alternating in an adiabatic slosh between a branch of the pineapple current coming with considerable force over the San Gorgonio pass, generally blowing from the northwest and a monsoonal system coming upfrom the south, off the Gulf of California (between Baja California and the Mexican mainland).

The winds should stop almost completely soon and then, it will merely be hot.

Long established local residents think it may be unusually hot this summer, with temperatures going into the high 130sF, over 54.5C.

I've installed a 140F thermometer on the front porch in the shade.

Perhaps not adequate for the Persian Gulf, where temperatures max out annually in the high 140s, but probably adquate for our local climate.

The adiabatic maximum is located along the course of Airport Blvd., in Thermal, CA, ~15 miles west of here, and its there that the highest annual temperature for the USA is usually registered.




Current outdoor temperature is 86F/30C, no wind.

Wrong thread, perhaps?

Either that or a candidate for the world's longest book title.

I've recently had a bit of a Stephen King binge - Cell, Lisey's Story, From A Buick Eight, Desperation, The Regulators, Insomnia and Rose Madder.

Just started an Iain Banks binge with The Wasp Factory. I'm amazed at how little of it I remember. It must be quite a few years since I last read it.

Current reading, "The Yiddish Policemen's Union", by Michael Chabon.

As alternate universe sci-fi/crime mysteries go, well worth the reading.

How did that (post 8382) end up being posted here? Intended destination: http://www.h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=190270&post=110766699#p110766699 Thread title, "What's the weather doing where you are?" Sorry about that.

Mais non, monsewer! If a weather log does not qualify as a book
then we must expand our definition and understanding. Yay, verily
let us go forth and expand!


~jwf~

Dern, and the internal link feature still isn't working either, on of the great drawbacks of Pliny, spilling over to Brunel, from which I actually posted.

Oh yeah... the great Pliny < void > of nothingness
the blankness created between the < and >
Well you said < chagrin >
And I said < shagrin >
and < nighthoovers >


~jwf~

Even the 'Search h2g2' feature is working erratically, if at all.

Best way to search h2g2 is to search Google with something like:

"h2g2 conversation weather"

The thread in question is currently item 2 on the results.

Asking specifically 'what's the weather doing' would have put it first
but I wanted to show how broadly google reports on any subject in an
h2g2 thread as long as the search begins with "h2g2 conversation".



~jwf~

You're so right, jwf!

I've just started The Ancient Guide to Modern Life by Natalie Haynes, which looks at the similarities and differences between ancient and modern life. I've only read the first chapter but it's been interesting so far. There's just one problem. The chapter mentioned the early Roman emperors and I've been watching I, Claudius on DVD. Put those together and it makes me want to read I, Claudius again. I know I bought it on Kindle about two years ago, but it doesn't seem that long since I last read it and I have lots of other books on my Kindle.

I'm nearing the end of the fourth and final volume of The Thousand Nights and One Night. It took a programme presented by Richard E. Grant to make me realise I'd been approaching them with the wrong mindset. I'd thought of them as Eastern fairy tales, which is how the best known are often done. When I accepted them as stories told by adults for adults they became more enjoyable. I'll have to read them again some time, but not for a while.

I read 'The Hydrogen Sonata' by Iain M Banks. It was rather a return to form I think, typically good writing and a tightness his last few novels were lacking. Also read Christopher Brookmyre's 'Bedlam', which it certainly was. Reading both back to back reminded me how Brookmyre writes with the same kind of voice as Banks.

Thoroughly enjoyed both.

Recent readings, the Charlie Chan novels, "Beyond That Curtain" and "The Black Camel".

There were only five Charlie Chan novels written before the author, Earl Derr Biggers, died.

I'm reading Love and Louis XIV by Antonia Fraser (tree book) and The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes (e-book)

I'm suffering from lateral epicondylitis (otherwise known as tennis elbow ) so most, if not all, computer-based activities are out. (No, I don't play racket sports. No, I don't know how I got it.) I suspect I'll be reading a lot and I may have to break my 'only three books on the go at once' rule. Having said that, my Kindle is going to be a god-send, as heavy books are hard to manage at the moment.

that Richard Holmes book is fantastic. I have it as a tree book and I just couldn't put it down.

Just finished 'Swann', a delightful Canadian 'mystery' set in
the rural landscape of Canadian Literature and the feminist
movement as it evolved in the 1980s, by Carol Shields...

and now, inspired by her caricature of a Canadian man of literature
and letters, the collected early correspondence of Robertson Davies
selected and lovingly edited under the title 'Discoveries' by Judith
Skelton Grant.

I have also purchased two of the latest Terry Pratchetts
'The Science of Discworld IV: Judgement Day' and a
'Blink of the Screen' (collected essays and short stories)
and I'm trying to save them for the long dark winter to come.

~jwf~

Just started Tutankhamen by Christine El Mahdy. It's on my list of 'Not Read' books, but I've got a feeling that I've read it - I can remember bits of the foreword and introduction. Never mind. I enjoy reading books on Ancient Egypt (anything historical, really).