Book Mention: An Atlas of Extinct Countries

Sometimes countries just don't work out.  Sometimes countries weren't good ideas to begin with.  This breezy little book  explores some of these wrong turns of history.  It's divided into four main sections, corresponding to the four main ways these countries were founded: Chancers & Crackpots / Mistakes & Micronations / Lies & Lost Kingdoms / Puppets & Political Footballs.  You have to admit, the names of these sections pretty well sum up the reasoning and mechanisms by which most nations, extinct or existent, were founded.

Here are a few illustrative examples from the book:

• The Ottawa Civic Hospital Maternity Ward, created so that a Dutch princess could have a baby in Canada during WWII without causing a constitutional crisis (on the off chance that the Allies would win the war and The Netherlands be restored)
• Libertalia, a pirate haven on the northern tip of Madagascar, which was not in reality nearly as cool as that sounds
• Dahomey, which had a real existence, somewhat fictionalized in a recent film
• German Democratic Republic, and good riddance to both it and the Cold War

Of course my personal favorites are The State of Muskogee and The Republic of West Florida, living as I do sandwiched in the wilds separating the two.  There are plenty more countries, each accompanied by a map; some extremely brief header material giving the population, language, cause of death, disposition today, and some curious locator keywords; and finally a one to three page history.

As with this week's earlier mentioned The Conspiracy Book, the Atlas of Extinct Countries is comprised of short chapters detailing each each of its subjects in more or less sequential order.  This makes for good bedtime or "five minutes to kill" reading material.  Also, most new nations begin as little more than a conspiracy, so there's that commonality as well.

All in all, this book is fun reading to peck at in odd moments over a couple of months.  As the intro chapter concludes, ALL HAIL NEUTRAL MORESNET.

Home Sweet Home

Book Mention: I Am Legend

You've likely already seen one or more adaptations of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel: The Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price, 1964), The Omega Man (Charlton Heston, 1971), or I Am Legend (Will Smith, 2007).  This short novel however is still very much worth the read, if only for its influence on the zombie and post-apocalyptic genres.

Set in the late 1970s following a short WWIII that the U.S. "won" (for an exceedingly poor value of "won"), Robert Neville is a sort of everyman protagonist stuck in an impossible situation: he – and he alone – is somewhat mysteriously immune to the zombie-vampire bacterium that has brought down civilization.  (A zombie-vampire?  Yes, this symbiotic bacterial infection causes its victims to have some of the features of each: mindless shambling combined with a vicious thirst for blood, fear of sunlight, etc.)  Where did this new hell come from?  It's not clear, but it was probably a last-ditch bioweapon used by one side or the other that got loose in the aftermath.  Anyway, Neville has lost his wife and daughter, and everyone else too.  Each night he has to barricade himself in his home while the monsters cavort and rage through the streets and attack his house.  Each day he goes through the motions to salvage whatever he needs to stay alive.  However, without any hope, how can he keep his mind and sanity alive?  Then hope arrives in a most unexpected form.  But is it the hope he wanted?

OK, no more or we'd be getting into spoilers.  If you read it, you'll just have to power through the first third of the book.  (It took me two tries, but I'm glad that I did.)  It's grim and gray and seems kind of pointless, but it's all about setting the mood for what comes later.  If the twist and the ending seem like something out of a Twilight Zone plot, just know that Matheson went on to write 16 episodes of that TV series.

Recommended, but only if this sounds like your cup of coffee.

Book Mention: The Conspiracy Book

Subtitled A Chronological Journey Through Secret Societies and Hidden Histories.  Sure, you've heard of lots of these: the Pythagorean Brotherhood, the Hell-Fire Club, Skull and Bones, the Thule Society, etc.  You can go down all kinds of ratholes sorting out what is what.  Or... you can let John Michael Greer do the in-depth reading and then enjoy his mercifully brief one-page summaries.  Probably all you need or want to know about most of this stuff.  One page each, with a very nicely illustrated opposing page on each topic.  Also, the binding and design have a deluxe feel, so skip the e-book and get this one in hardback.

While each topic is presented on its own here, there is substantial cross-referencing to show how some of these conspiracies fed into others.  It all makes for an easy episodic read, but there's enough linkage to encourage further research if you are so inclined.

Finally and worth mentioning, there's been a rift between the author and publisher detailed here.  If you are having trouble finding at your local book store, there's a link to the author's Bookshop web site at the link.

Deep Fried Coffee: Why?

Video here.  It's an alternative way of roasting beans, as opposed to dumping your cup of Folgers into the frydaddy.  That would likely be...  explosive, as in turducken gone tragically wrong; not a recommended as a best practice.  Anyway, deep fried coffee sounds kind of interesting, in a completely mad scientist sort of way.

TLDW version:  Coffee, barely.  Espresso, no-just-no.

I will never get those 13 minutes back, but now you don't have to bother.

The Time Change Blues

Not a particular problem around here (solution in a moment), but this kicked over the gigglebox anyway:

And the promised solution:

Auto-sets via WWV's time signal.  You do have to enter your time zone, ONCE.  After that, change batts every couple of years (no leaky AA batts, please), and then forget about it.  Keeps up with both local and Zulu time, on the off chance you need to phone any of your Zulu friends.  All for the low, low price of $79 one can be yours.  Yeah yeah, you could set the stove clock from your cell phone too, but would it be as cool nerd-riffic?

A Weekend at the Seafood Festival

Look, I didn't take many pics, and the ones I did were no where nearly as good as these at The Times.  Here are the links:

• Friday's Festivities
• THE Parade (there is no other, puts Macy's and Thoth both to shame)
• Oysters & Crabs: Racing, Shucking, Eating (do not get out of order)

I'll leave the click-throughs to y'all.  On a more personal note, pretty much all I did was eat fried mullet & roe, and talk & catch up with friends, and ate too much yet again.  Took it easy on Sunday and played radio with the new Yaesu FT-891.  (Preliminary impressions: Overall favorable, a more modern replacement for the FT-857d, with all the crazy menus we've come to expect from Yaesu.  Expect more on this in a couple of months.)

Meanwhile, out in the astroid belt...

Wasn't me.  Not this time, anyway.

Hat tip to one of the nephews on this.