…I’ve finished the Lone Wolf and Cub series. This is one of the best ‘comics’ I’ve ever read, up there with maus and Nausicaa. The art is fantastic and gives a wonderful glimpse into the architecture and trappings of daily life in midievel japanese culture. The story begins near the end of the samurai era under the Tokurawa shogunate. Ogami Itto, official executioner for the shogun, is pushed into a quest for revenge by treachery. What follows is an epic adventure across ancient japan, with over the top heroic combat, emotionally devastating tragedy, and wonderful insights into the japanese character and their (to western eyes) odd notions of honor and loyalty . I give it 5+ stars.

I got out on my kayak for the first time this season yesterday. The weather was beautiful though there was a strong breeze. I made my way about 2-3 miles up the Royal River, launching from Yarmouth. I had hoped to get out onto Cousin’s Island but the breeze was a bit too much, I didn’t want to spend 3-4 hours fighting the wind. Anyway it was a great paddle, I saw a beaver and numerous beaver dens, I’ll post a few more pictures in the gallery.

…I will be buying up a small arsenal of these. Admit it, who among you wouldn’t want to release your inner child and pilot remote controlled paintball firing tanks, mobile artillery, jeeps and more in a grand scale mock battle of Tobruk? Well, ok so I’m the only one who would really appreciate it. Damned cool nonetheless.

I had my 3 month doctor’s visit recently and got my lab results back. It’s a mixed but generally positive outlook. My 6 months of hard work have paid off, I’m now off of all prescription medications and my bloodsugars have been basically ‘human normal’ for 6 months now. Amazing what hard work, persistance, careful dieting and lots of exercise can do for you. I’m really pleased. That’s the good news. The bad news is, my cholestoral levels have crept back up. Basically I’ve had to eat more fats to replace the carbohydrates I no longer eat. This has led to borderline/just above the borderline cholestoral in basically all of the categories. My doctor thinks I should now go back onto prescription meds to control the cholestoral. I don’t want to have to do that, so for the next three months I’m going to try drinking a glass of red wine with dinner and see if that manages to cut the cholestoral down to an acceptable level – since the bloodsugars are looking good I can afford to experiment with alchohol. If it doesn’t I think I am hosed and will have to go back onto meds. I need to do some research though and figure out exactly how bad my levels are, comparatively. Also since my bloodsugars are now normal, it may be possible that I could start eating more carbs and reduce the fat intake, it’s a question of which is worse for me in the long haul – slightly elevated blood sugars or slightly elevated cholestoral. I don’t know which is worse at this point, though I suspect the answer is the fats are worse.

I happened across a short piece about recent science fiction that any fans might find interesting. I’ve read at least one book by all of the authors mentioned but two and it seems the author of this piece has similar tastes to my own, I basically agree with his sentiments. Oh and Jesse, Simmons is next for you, given that you like Vinge I think you’ll dig it (I’m reading Hyperion now). Oh, and the link, almost forgot about that.

I stumbled across a pretty cool site today. It’s not much to look at but the content is king as they say. Tons of plans for making your own Plasma balls, rods, lightening tubes and more. You know, those things they sell in Spenser’s gifts, cheesy stereo stores and head shops, that project lightening bolts or plasma corona’s inside glass spheres and tubes. They’re surprisingly cheap to make too, it looks like you could make one for as little as $20 or $30. If only I was more adept with electronics I’d be all over this.

I may be eating bread again before I die. I’ve been aware of this as a theory, this is the first time I’ve seen actual evidence of it working. Scientists succeeded in using gene therapy to ‘repair’ the livers of diabetic mice. This is so damned sweet. Assuming everything checks out this is still probably at least a decade away from being useful as a treatment for humans like me who have diabetes, but that’s fine with me, so long as I continue to take care of myself as I have been, it means I should be able to have a longer and healthier old age. 75+ here I come.

(sorry siblings, no inheritance for you! 😉

Tim Powers has the most fertile imagination of any author I’ve read in the past couple of years. I read his The Drawing of the Dark and enjoyed it well enough to pick up The Anubis Gate. It’s an excellent yarn about a time travelling literary critic who happens by chance into the machinations of ancient egyptian sorcerers, an evil clown on stilts in 1870’s London, a wealthy 80’s industrialist who aspires to immortality and world domination, and some of the literary figures of mid 19th century europe. Two thumbs up on the dave scale – it’s by no means an all time classic but definitely worth considering for a weeks light entertainment.

What the hell is with the animals in my neighborhood? I finished raking the yard this weekend thanks to the nice weather. In the corner of the yard I found heaps of animal droppings, deer and dog, piled in layers on top of each other. I’ve spotted the deer a few times back in the corner of the yard but it’s been a while. Why they’re competing with the dogs to see who can leave the latest and largest turd piles is for an animal psychologist to decipher, mainly it’s pissing me off. I had to take a snow shovel to the piles and heave them off into the woods. Hopefully that’ll sidetrack them and they’ll continue their battle off under the pine trees. If not I’m going to bring out the wrist rocket and some peanuts and let them know I’m not a fan of their work.

Hey just a heads up y’all. I am going to try updating the machine that hosts Dave’s Place this weekend, possibly as soon as tonight. I’m more nervous about this upgrade than any I have done in quite a while. It’s possible Dave’s Place won’t come back up once I’m done with the upgrade, which could mean as much as several weeks of downtime depending on how bad it borks things. So….wish me luck, hopefully it will all go smoothly and I’ll be back up and running in Redhat 9 by Saturday night.