babbling blue

Long time readers of my blog (all two of you) may recall my rant on how stupid it is to have to dial 9-1 to get to make a call to another area code (and now any area code in Chicago, thanks to 872) from office phones, since it’s so easy to dial 911 by mistake.

You may also recall that a couple months later I actually did call 911 by mistake.

Well it looks like someone finally came to their senses and said enough is enough! We got an email this morning that our phone system is being changed to require the use of the pound (#) to get an outside line instead of 9. About damn time! And the reason stated for this change? “[T]o eliminate inadvertent 911 calls.” I’m such a forward thinker.

I came across this list of “most significant” fantasy & sci-fi books a few years ago and started reading the books on it that I hadn’t yet. But then I kind of forgot about it. I tracked it down again and decided to post it here for the benefit of…well mainly myself. But if anyone else finds this useful, all the better. The ones I’ve read (to the best of my tattered memory) are in bold. I’d like to start working on the list again.

The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley (Started it but got distracted)
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
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From two separate “30 Best Burgers in Chicago” lists, these are the places I want to try, in no particular order. Anything marked with an asterisk(*) appears on both lists; these places are top priority to try.

• Marc Burger* at Seven on State
• HotChocolate*
• Kuma’s Corner*
• Custom House
• Naha*
• David Burke’s Primehouse*
• Bull & Bear – I’ve had their Kobe beef sliders at a Yelp event, and they were amazing!
• The Capital Grille

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fractured her right elbow Wednesday during a fall, State Department officials said.

Clinton fell Wednesday afternoon on her way to the White House and was taken to George Washington University Hospital. She was treated and released, and will have surgery to repair her elbow in coming weeks.

From CNN.

It’s technically been Spring for 3.5 weeks now, but it hasn’t really felt like it. I hate the transition from Winter to “Spring”! As I’ve said before, there are really only two seasons in Chicago: Winter and Summer. But things are looking up. For the first time the forecast is really looking nice.

Today: Partly Cloudy, 55
Tomorrow: Sunny, 62
Friday: Sunny, 67 (!!)
Saturday: Few Showers, 66

Of course, who knows if this will actually come to pass. You know how I feel about weather forecasts! What’s that? You don’t know? Oh, sorry I just assume everyone reads and remembers every word I ever write on here. So for the rest of you, here it is: Why Bother? and The Wonderful Windy City.

I sure hope the forecasts are correct this time. Or…that the weather is even better than predicted!

A Saudi Arabian court sentenced a 75-year-old woman to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation for having two unrelated men in her house. Fahd said he had the right to be there because she had breast-fed him as a baby and was therefore a son to her in Islamic law. His friend was escorting him as he delivered bread to the old woman.

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Dear Self,

Next time you decide to forget your wallet at home and not realize it until you’re at the train station, do it on a day when a) you’re not already running late for work and b) it’s not raining.

Sincerely,
Self

The Top 5 Reasons To Vote In Illinois*
Or: Why It Still Means A Thing Even If It Ain’t Got That Swing
*Or any non swing-state

1. Big margin = big mandate. The popular vote doesn’t put anyone in the White House, but it effects what presidents can do when they get there. Want Obama to be able to actually do the stuff he’s been talking about? Pass universal health care? End the war? Then we need a landslide.
2. The other things on the ballot matter! For example: Congress. Without more support in the House and Senate, Obama will have a hard time getting progressive laws passed. Plus, there are other important local races and ballot questions in some places.
3. If you don’t vote, everyone can find out. Voting records are public. (Not who you voted for, just whether you voted.) Pretty soon, finding out whether you voted could be as easy as Googling you.
4. Help make history. You could cast one of the votes that elect the first African-American president. If we win, we’ll tell our grandchildren about this election, and they’ll tell their grandchildren. Do you really want to have to explain to your great-great-grandchildren that you were just too busy to vote in the most important election in your lifetime?
5. People died so you’d have the right to vote. Self-government—voting to choose our own leaders—is the original American dream. We are heir to a centuries-long struggle for freedom: the American revolution, and the battles to extend the franchise to those without property, to women, to people of color, and to young people. This year, many will still be denied their right to vote. For those of us who have that right, it’s precious. If we waste it, we dishonor those who fought for it and those who fight still.

For information on how, where and when to vote: www.voteforchange.com

(Blatantly ripped off from MoveOn.org.)

If you didn’t vote early (and I did not), get your butt out there tomorrow and cast your ballot! Or else I’ll kick it.

“Is that an earthquake? No, it’s Rrrrramone!” Actually, no… it really was an earthquake. I felt my first earthquake ever last night! It was a bit surreal. I honestly thought I had dreamed it until I got to work and someone else asked if I had felt the earthquake. So I looked it up, and sho’ nuff, there was a magnitude 5.2 quake in southern Illinois, more than 200 miles away from here. I woke up around 4:40am. . it felt a bit like someone jumping on my bed next to me. Very odd. I’m not sure how long it lasted. . . maybe 10 seconds or so.

This quake apparently occurred along the New Madrid fault line, which was also responsible for one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded in the contiguous US, in 1812. There were no measurements then, but experts estimate it was around a magnitude 8.0.

There was also an earthquake in the central Illnois area somewhere in the 3-4 years ago range. I remember hearing about it, but I slept through it that time. Some family in Madison, WI said they felt it.

If I’m going to live in an earthquake zone, I should just move to California where at least there is better weather!