Robert A. Heinlein - The Authors List

Robert A. Heinlein - The Authors List. I read 11 books by this classic science fiction writer that included nine novels and two collections of short stories. The first book I read was Stranger In A Strange Land in 1975. Grok. It was a controversial book because of the free love and communal living situations. It was excluded from many school reading lists and banned from many school libraries.

I read 8 of these books during the period 1975-1976. The last book of his I read was in 1992.

The books of Robert A. Heinlein I've read:

• Stranger In A Strange Land, 1961 - Apr 1975
• The Past Through Tomorrow, 1967 - Jun 1975
• Starship Troopers, 1959 - Aug 1975
• Time Enough For Love, 1973 - Nov 1975
• Glory Road, 1963 - Sep 1976
• I Will Fear No Evil, 1970 - Oct 1976
• Farnham's Freehold, 1964 - Nov 1976
• The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, 1966 - Dec 1976
• Methuselah's Children, 1958 - Sep 1987
• The Green Hills Of Earth, 1949 - Nov 1987
• The Puppet Masters, 1951 - Dec 1992

Markwayne at DHS

So who is this Markwayne guy that trump just appointed to head the Department of Homeland Security after he fired that puppy killer. Now we have the cabinet member Secretary of Homeland Security named Markwayne Mullin.

Here is a photo of him cowering in fear of the magas who attacked Congress on January 6th and trying to break into the hall where he was hiding.

Here are some other things about him...

He's the only senator in America without a college degree. No law degree.

He challenged a union leader to a fistfight during a Senate hearing. On camera.
In the United States Senate. Bernie Sanders had to tell him to calm down and act like an adult.

In one year while serving in Congress his personal wealth jumped $45 million.
One year. Forty-five million dollars. While making our laws.

He believes abortion should be illegal even if you were raped. Even if your life is at risk. He has said on the record that even if his own wife were dying in a pregnancy, neither of them would want an abortion. Now he gets to make that call for every woman in America now.

He found out he got the job on social media. Trump's announcement called him "a MAGA Warrior and former undefeated MMA fighter." That's the qualification. He hits people. No national security experience. No law enforcement background. No security, intelligence or emergency management skills. He never served in the military although he likes to talk about what "war" is like as if he experienced it. I guess he watched too many war movies on TV.

He now runs:
- ICE
- FEMA
- The Coast Guard
- The Secret Service
- Counterterrorism

Long Dark Night - Protest Songs FV

Long Dark Night. Another mix of protest songs from albums in my collection. Day 6 of the trump regime illegal war.

Never had many Black Sabbath on any of my mixes but this one works. Sun Ra too. 

Long Dark Night - Protest Songs FV

1. Long Dark Night – John Fogerty
2. War Pigs/Luke’s Wall – Black Sabbath
3. When The Generals Talk – Midnight Oil
4. There’s A War Going On – The Brian Jonestown Massacre
5. Holy War – Matthew Sweet
6. War – Edwin Starr
7. Nuclear War – Sun Ra
8. War Ina Babylon – Max Romeo & The Upsetters
9. The Guns Of Brixton – The Clash
10. Throw Down Your Arms – Sinead O’Connor
11. War Party – Eddy Grant
12. War Dance – XTC
13. New World – The Strawbs
14. Lost In A Lost World – The Moody Blues
15. Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Patti Smith
16. Political Science – Randy Newman
17. Call It Democracy – Bruce Cockburn
18. First We Take Manhattan – Leonard Cohen
19. Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner – Warren Zevon
20. Masters Of War – The Long Ryders
21. Living With War – Neil Young
22. War On Peace – The Jesus and Mary Chain

PM with Dave Last Night

Dave and I decided to head down to the PM last night. I thought we might go down on Thursday but the weather forecast was for heavy rain in the evening and yesterday was such a beautiful day. So I contacted Dave and we made arrangements to meet down the street on the corner and walk over to the PM like we've done many times before.

I don't think I've ever been there on a Wednesday night before and was expecting it to be kind of slow. We got there a little after 6:30, walked in and the place was shockingly packed. There were no seats at the bar and no empty tables in the dining room. The back room was not in use but the rest of the place was full. We stood around for a minute or so when one of the waitresses offered us their station table and found us a couple of stools. So were were in a good spot to have our conversation.

I was really interested in getting updated on Tom L's condition which we talked about for awhile. Eventually we saw a couple of people leaving their seats at the bar and I claimed them. The waitresses were happy to have their station back in service and Dave and I moved to the bar. A little while later Matt G and his son came in to pick up some take out food. We talked with them for awhile. Dave and I both used to work with Matt at Canisius and it was nice catching up although I do see him occasionally as he lives around the corner from us. Eventually they got their food for the family and Dean, his son, took the food home while Matt stayed and hung out with us for another hour. He did order some food for himself and ate at the bar around the time we were leaving. We had a great time with Matt and he wants to get together with us again when we come down to the PM which we try to do once a month. 

So Dave and I were down at the PM for about two and a half hours and got home a little after 9.

Stephen King - The Authors List

Stephen King is next on my list of authors with 12 books that I've read. The first one was I read was The Shining in 1979. Over the next couple of years I read several more of his novels... Salem's Lot, The Stand, Carrie, etc. The last book I read in 2013 was the 11/23/63 time travel novel about the Kennedy assassination.

Stephen King has written 67 novels. An amazing number of books. I could keep reading a lot more of them but probably not.

Stephen King books that I read:

• The Shining, 1977 - Jan 1979
• Salem's Lot, 1975 - Mar 1979
• The Stand, 1978 - Jul 1980
• Carrie, 1974 - Aug 1980
• The Dead Zone,1979 - May 1981
• Firestarter, 1980  - Jul, 1982
• Christine, 1983 - Sep 1983
• Pet Cemetery, 1983 - Oct 1984
• It, 1986 - Dec, 1988
• Dreamcatcher, 2001 - Dec 2001
• Cell, 2006  - Jun 2006
• 11/23/63, 2011 - May 2013

Eggs & Potatoes

Tonight for dinner we had some scrambled eggs and potatoes along with a nice avocado salad. Becky hasn't made any eggs for a meal in quite some time so this was a treat and it was very good. And of course I enjoyed it with some of that delicious Trader Joe's sriracha BBQ sauce. 

Redemption Song - Protest Songs FV

Redemption Song. A mix of more protest songs from albums in my collection. They keep on going and so does the war into day five.

The pic is Tel Aviv under a revenge attack.

Redemption Song - Protest Songs FV

1. Redemption Song – Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
2. Rich Man’s War – Steve Earle
3. Cheney’s Toy – James McMurtry
4. The Call Up – Chris Whitley
5. Day After Tomorrow – Tom Waits
6. The Man Comes Around – Johnny Cash
7. When The President Talks To God – Bright Eyes
8. I Want My Country Back – Greg Brown
9. Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall? – Tom Russell
10. Prayer For Peace – Dan Penn
11. Handsome Johnny – Richie Havens
12. Joe Hill – Joan Baez
13. When The War Began – Pearls Before Swine
14. What Did You Learn In School Today – Tom Paxton
15. To Be A Killer – Wes Houston
16. I Kill Therefore I Am – Phil Ochs
17. Fortunate Son – Todd Snider
18. Millenium Theater – Ani DiFranco
19. Not Ready To Make Nice – Dixie Chicks
20. War Is Hell – Nicole Atkins
21. Empire – Dar Williams
22. Why Can’t We Live Together – Joan Osborne

76 Degrees in the Backyard Cabana

Today was wonderful to be able to spend some time in our backyard cabana sunroom and I enjoyed every moment of that hour and a half. It was a beautiful sunny day in the 50's but the temperature inside the sunroom was 76 degrees.

I had to take off my jacket. I had the stereo on playing a CD and I had my tablet with me along with a book. I was also enjoying watching the birds and the squirrels do their things. This was only the second time this winter I was able to spend any time in the sunroom. I was out there for a brief time a few days ago but this was glorious. Over the past several years I had been able to spend many times throughout the winter enjoying the cabana but not this year.

I had also gone into the backyard and did some cleanup of branches and sticks that had some down over the winter. There were quite a few. And then I stopped to admire the flowers coming up... the snow drops. And amazingly I saw some bees on the flower blooms.

Later Becky joined me and was amazed at how warm it was in there.

More On The Atlantic Magazine

I've been reading The Atlantic magazine regularly now for a little over three months and have really been enjoying it. I first wrote about getting myself a subscription for my birthday here. I've been reading it almost everyday since either the print magazine, the e-mail articles or the online website and app.

One of the things I really am enthralled with is having for my go-to news source. Having the online subscription is much more beyond just getting the monthly print magazine or even just getting it online. The writers are constantly publishing articles about current events every day.

And now it is much more important because of the trump war in Iran.

I also really enjoy going back and reading articles from their online archives which go back to 1857. I did have a subscription to this magazine many years ago... decades ago actually. I liked reading it back then but there wasn't any online access at that time. Now it's a whole different ballgame. 

William Gibson - The Authors List

Next up on my Authors List is William Gibson with 13 books of his that I've read over the years. One of my favorite science fiction writers and an early innovator of the cyberpunk subgenre. He also coined the term "cyperspace".

I first read his cyberpunk novel  Neuromancer in early 1986 set in a near future dystopia and the first of a trilogy. I would go on to read almost every novel William Gibson has released including some short story collections.

Books of William Gibson I've read:

• Neuromancer, 1984 - Jan 1986
• Count Zero, 1986 - Jun 1990
• Burning Chrome, 1986 - Sep 1990
• The Difference Engine, 1990 with Bruce Sterling - Mar 1992
• Mona Lisa Overdrive, 1988 - Sep 1992
• Virtual Light, 1993 - Mar 1994
• Idoru, 1996 - Dec 1997
• All Tomorrow's Parties, 1999 - Oct 2000
• Pattern Recognition, 2003 - Aug 2003
• Spook Country, 2007 - Apr 2008
• Zero History, 2010 - Mar 2011
• The Peripheral, 2014 - Apr 2015
• Agency, 2020 - Dec 2022