Scattered Thoughts

Hey, it's been a scattered week. This is just the finishing stroke.

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The combined Cuomo / De Blasio / Schumer anti-conservative rants of the past few days have apparently galvanized a backlash against those...persons. Inasmuch as they're a trio of conceited, power-mad assholes, they're unlikely to back away from their statements. That's actually a good thing: now they know that they're being very closely watched. The evidence already available that they "meant it" won't need a lot of augmentation to spur a general revolt.

Got your rope ready and your lamppost picked out?

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People have been emailing me for several days now, pleading with me to leave New York "before they get you, Fran." Thank you, my distant friends. I'm more flattered than I can say. Who am I, to be the focus of so many people's worries? But on the larger subject: yes, smart people are either leaving the deep-blue states for more hospitable climes or are making plans to do so as soon as it becomes practical. The political elites in those states are going to reap the whirlwind in short order.

Myself, I'm looking at a particularly attractive district in Panama.

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A recent post at NC Renegade warmed the cockles of my spiny little heart:

Def: Anarchy: a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority (1)

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies…
Rivers and seas boiling …
Forty years of darkness !
Earthquakes, volcanoes …
The dead rising from the grave !
Human sacrifice,
Dogs and cats living together …
Mass hysteria. (2)

That is what many people envision when they hear the word Anarchy; but not all people …

Please read the whole thing, including the citations at the end. Generally, when I'm cited as an authority, it's for my work in real-time software engineering, so this is rather unusual.

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Sales of Freedom's Fury have been slow so far. It could use more promotion than the little I'm able to give it. (Hint, hint!) Even so, an old sin has come back to haunt me: the short story "The Last Ambassadors," which I wrote well before I finished Which Art In Hope. Those who've read and enjoyed the latest Spooner Federation novel, which I'd intended to be the conclusion of that story arc, are displeased that I didn't fold in Althea's journey to Earth, which was the original point of her drive to become a starfarer. And so, the demands are mounting for a fourth novel in that series. Trilogies with fourth segments have a certain charm -- Douglas Adams, call your office! -- but other readers are demanding other books as well, most especially a novel founded on "The Warm Lands." Please bear with me; I'm writing as fast as I can.

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Apropos of nothing, if you have a taste for fortified wines, I can heartily recommend Sandeman's Tawny Port. I recently encountered the "down-market" edition -- about $18 for a 750 milliliter bottle -- and I find it very much to my liking. However, for those of you with deep pockets, there's also a 20-year-reserve variety. I'm unsure my plebeian palate could tell the difference, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to test it.

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Metro New York is once again caught in a "polar vortex," with the accompanying low temperatures and gusty winds. A couple of my neighbors have discovered first-hand, through burst pipes, dead car batteries, and close brushes with frostbite, that those ten or fifteen degrees' difference between our usual winter temperatures and our current ones really do matter. For my part, I've been staying out of the weather as much as possible, but it's intensified my desire to relocate to some warmer part of the world. (See above)

It's a good idea to keep close to those you love during severe weather -- and I don't mean just to share body heat. As I've written about living patterns in continental New York, there are lessons about that sort of winter weather we downstate types could stand to learn:

    January was harsh; February was harsher still. The snow flew continuously, on bitter, piercing winds propelled by the inexhaustible energies of the Great Lakes. Temperatures dropped to record or near-record lows several times. Blocked roads were more common than open ones. Power outages were frequent. Central New Yorkers endured it as they'd done for ages: husbanding their energies, traveling little, planning few ventures, and keeping their loved ones within eyeshot whenever they could.
    It was a way of enduring winter the Cro-Magnons would have recognized, apart from the lack of caves.

[From On Broken Wings]

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I have an unusually busy day before me, so I'll close here. I'll be back to the political blather tomorrow...or maybe Monday. Stay warm, stay dry, and stay safe.

All my best,
Fran