The Explorers Club
№ CCXLIV - Pygmalion & the trope of men loving women who aren't quite women.





Bonus: The statue was only christened "Galatea" in recent centuries.

Science!
A fourth moon of the planet ("dwarf planet" being a nonsensical term with no scientific validity) Pluto has been discovered: moonlink. Boy howdy, the Hubble is just the gift that keeps on giving!

Science!

The Stars My Destination
I have not mentioned the final flight of the Space Shuttle Atlantis because it is too overwhelmingly sad. Not the end of the shuttle program, that is a simple inevitability: manned spaceflight was only twenty years-old when the Columbia first flew in 1981, thirty years ago; the Discovery, the Atlantis, Endeavour, & the late, lamented Challenger & Columbia have served us well, & longer than than was ever intended. The end of the shuttle program is not a moment for sorrow, but a moment for pride in all that was accomplished. But the end of American manned spaceflight is a choice, the choice of one unpardonably arrogant man, a man who promised "hope" & "change" & delivered only change… change for the far, far worse.

For those of you who enjoy baseless optimism, here's a glimpse of the spacecraft meant to restore American manned spaceflight: no go for launchlink. Please take care not to choke over N.A.S.A. Administrator Charles Bolden's baldfaced lie, "We are committed to human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit." If you believe that, I own a lovely bridge connecting lower Manhattan & Brooklyn that I'd simply love to sell you.

The Queue
Poor John Buchan. The Thirty-nine Steps has repeatedly been moved down the queue, but the late Lord Tweedsmuir need not fear; there is not the slightest doubt I shall read the book, unless I meet my demise rather sooner than I expect. I've decided to read Saving the Queen, the first novel in William F. Buckley, Jr.'s Blackford Oakes series, in part because of nationalistic guilt over reading so many books involving the British S.I.S. & none involving the American C.I.A. (Of course, the C.I.A. plays a background rôle in many S.I.S.-centered plots.) I have not read a work of fiction primarily dealing with the C.I.A. since I was a kid & in my teenaged idiocy enjoyed the hackish novels of Tom Clancy. My father has recommended, unsolicited, the modern-day thrillers of Vince Flynn, but given the series's contemporary setting & my father's fringe sociopolitical beliefs that recommendation alone gives me pause.

I am now № 33 in the Genesee District Library's Carte Blanche queue, having begun as № 68 five weeks hence. If that rate persists, the book should be in my filthy mitts by late August.

Recently
E. W. Hornung, The Complete Raffles, Volume One: The Amateur Cracksman & The Black Mask
Anthony Hope, Rupert of Hentzau
John le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy

Currently
Charles Cumming, A Spy by Nature

Presently
John le Carré, Smiley's People
Robert M. Soderstrom, The Big House: Fielding H. Yost and the Building of Michigan Stadium
John Buchan, The Thirty-nine Steps
Keith Jeffery, The Secret History of M.I.6: 1909-1949
William F. Buckley, Jr., Saving the Queen
...
Jeffery Deaver, Carte Blanche

The Rebel Black Dot Songs of the Day
Mad Caddies, "The Gentleman" from Duck and Cover (T.L.A.M.)

Dienstag, 19 Juli
The Aquabats!, "Meltdown!" from Charge!!: Special One Year Anniversary Edition (Captain Thumbs-up)

Commentary: "Meltdown!" is awesome, just awesome.