No Café for Me

Other than still being hoarse and coughing, I was finally feeling back to 100% yesterday, and the apartment basically hadn't seen a lick of cleaning since before I got sick, so I decided I was better off staying home and washing dishes (while feeding my latest addiction). I'm glad I did. Although the laundry still isn't done, and I haven't done this week's cooking yet, the place looks fantastic. There's hardly a dirty dish in the house.

For those who are interested, Dave has a post up about the Café Scientifique.

Just a reminder

Next Saturday is Toronto's March Café Scientifique. This month's topic is supposed to be "Nature vs Nurture Revisited: New research is changing the age-old debate". As with last month's topic, it could be good or it could be excrutiatingly post-modern.

Be there or be decidedly unsquare. DendriteJungle and Q. Pheevr, I'm looking at you.

Blearg and blech

This is supposed to be the first day of my last week at my soon-to-be-former job, but instead of going in and toughing it out just 4 more days!, I'm flat on my back with something upper-respiratory and hopefully viral. I didn't sleep for more than an hour at a go last night, and my chest hurts if I take deep breaths or cough too much (lothlyn, poof, got any advice?). Damn.

I can't decide if my peppermint tea tastes funny because I'm sick, or because it's old, or because I didn't wash the teapot before using it (it seemed clean). On the plus side, I was spending the week at my parents' house anyway (because it's closer to the office than my apartment is) so my dad can take care of me this morning before he goes to work.

Ugh.

Awesome Ember concert last night, though.

Pathetic, I tell you.

Via Pharyngula, the top 50 SF&F books of the past 50 years, with the ones I've read in bold (and the one I think I may have read but don't remember and am not sure in italics).

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Sigh. Looks like I've got a long summer reading list.

Eh, wha?

Via the Bronze Blog, one of the most surreal videos I've come across. I'm having a hard time believing I just saw that. I may have to watch it again.