what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
{4/5} “That oath cut them off from family, clan, and country. They forswore all thought of vengeance for wrongs done to themselves or their kin. They could not take up arms in war. Instead, their task — impossible as it all too often seemed — was to remain impartial and seek a peaceful solution to […]
{5/5} “I’m your father.” We find out more about the Others — who have captured Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Just as there’s some trouble among members of the group of castaways we’ve been following, all of the members of the Others don’t get along all the time. They’ve been on the island for a few […]
A family lived by themselves in the wilderness of Siberia for 40 years — they were completely unaware of the events of the outside world, including World War II. A group of geologists stumbled across them in 1978. The family had originally fled to the wilderness to escape religious persecution. You can read the details […]
{4.5/5} “It was Christmas morning. I supposed that didn’t mean anything in particular to Julian or Sam, but I was poignantly aware of the date. The sky was blue again, but a squall had passed during the dark hours of the morning, and the snow ‘lay round about, deep and crisp and even.’ Even the […]
{5/5} “We got a misunderstanding, Jack. Your people, my people. So listen carefully. Right here there’s a line. You cross that line, we go from misunderstanding to something else.” We find out what’s in the hatch, what happened to the tail section of the plane, what Kate did to make her a fugitive, why Hurley […]
One more post from Life’s Little Mysteries. Are you more likely to get struck by lightning than win the lottery? Of course. You’re also more likely to be killed by a donkey. I’d like to encourage you not to waste your money on the lottery. $550 Million Powerball: What Are Your Chances?
Natalie Wolchover on the Life’s Little Mysteries web site tells us a bit about the future. The predictions come from an academic conference. Here’s a hint: human migration, urbanization, water wars, and mass extinctions. Also, something big will happen with energy. Either we’ll find new source(s) of energy and have enough — or we won’t. […]
{4.5/5} “Facing up to the truth ain’t always easy.” Frank is retired and his wife passed away a few months ago. His four kids were supposed to all visit on a particular weekend but they all cancelled. So he decided to take a trip across the US and visit them all — as a surprise. […]
{5/5} “To rule the heart of the Phoenix Lord — that was power. Yet what was power if one lived confined? Though the bars of the cage were of carved jade, banded with gold and hung with silk, they were still bars.” Linden and Maurynna have returned to Dragonskeep. Maurynna changed into a dragon once but […]
David Brin, author of books such as Startide Rising and Earth, has a thought-provoking article on Locus Online. It’s about why books and movies have most of their characters behaving as fools. One of his great points: “you never notice propaganda that you already agree with.” He argues that fictional worlds should be more like the real […]