Neil Fein's Blog

Beyond This Horizon
by Robert A. Heinlein

Hamilton Felix is the ultimate in Heinlein protagonists: An uncaring, sharp, and perfect superman of a human being with a similarly intelligent, perceptive, and gorgeous woman who's been set up with him in a eugenics scheme. The background is a revolution that's misgguided but perhaps justified in intent. Not as absorbing as some books of this time, but an enjoyable volume on an excessively dark and rainy evening.

Labels: books

This picture has been making it's way around the net. There's a good blog entry about it at Cozy Beehive that goes more into depth about it.

Riding a bicycle is safer than driving a car, swimming, and walking, but it's more dangerous than flying and playing with fireworks.

Labels: bicycle, bike, me too, statistics

Last Thursday: I was Towelling off as I stepped out of the shower, and I found I didn't have the strength in my arms to dry the backs of my shoulders. The same problem presented itself on with my left arm and right shoulder. I made do with that old move where you use the towel like a two-handed backscratcher.

Martha's been attending classes at the Family Martial Arts academy in Highland Park. A class a beginner can attend basically consists of doing components of sparring alternating with assorted stretches, specialized pushups and situps and stretches. Picture a room of people all doing these together.

I'm not sure if the martial arts are for me, but the class I was in is a very constructive and focused environment. The senseis are friendly and encouraging, and I liked the few people I spoke to. It has the advantage of being a kind of exercise I obviously don't get. Riding a bike is getting to be, if not effortless, at least a kind of exertion I can roll with. Riding also only exercises me below the waist.

Labels: exercise

Starman Jones
by Robert A. Heinlein

Typical Heinlein juvenile in many ways. A hillbilly gets a berth on a starship crew, mostly by trickery, and makes friends and enemies on the bridge and in the hold. More math- and testosterone-intensive than most. A dark but thoughtful book, Starman Jones has shadows of the upcoming Starship Troopers in tone.

Farmer in the Sky
by Robert A. Heinlein

More representative of RAH in his Boy's Life phase, a city boy and his father join the fledgling colony on Ganymede and find it's even harsher than they expected. The hours and days in the promised land are not just filled backbreaking work but also with politics, arguments over land and gumption, and fields of rock. Very strong characters and story.

Labels: books

The Uncommon Reader

by Alan Bennett

The Queen of England discovers that the joys of reading highlight the sterility of her life. Fun, intimate, and very much a good read.

A Deepness in the Sky
by Vernor Vinge

A thoughtful, wide-screen epic with a smart story and memorable characters. A civilization (or entity) from the enthralled heights of the galaxy has gone bad, turning younger races into zombies. Seen from the point of view of the disinformation and speculation produced by galaxy-wide newsgroups. One of the best hard-SF novels I've read in some time, along with Fleet of Worlds.

Labels: books

It's been a while since I posted. Here's the latest route I use to bike to work. The different crappy bits are from around mile 5 to mile 8, a side route to avoid the nastiness that is Raritan Road between Walnut and Westfield avenues. This section goes from Clark into Cranford, I think, but the Clark bit is where I've been cussed out and honked at more.



There are turn-by-turn directions here, but they don't print worth an 90's Schwinn. That's the biggest problem with bikely; otherwise, I love the site.

Labels: bike