In Memoriam: Fred Allen

It's not a complete nonsequitur. Tonight we watched the first 'What's My Line' episode after Fred Allen died. The last guest on the show was Toshiko Akiyoshi. Miss Akiyoshi is an accomplished jazz pianist, composer and the mother of Monday Michiru.

Here's a sample of Toshiko Akiyoshi:



And to lighten things up, here's Fred Allen (with some minor assistance from Jack Benny and Eddie Cantor):

Free Books!

Free books that are available online, that is. The grand daddy of free literature is Project Gutenberg. A similar site is Manybooks. An amazing commercial site is the Baen Free Library. This is a library of free books by current science fiction authors that may be downloaded. Lastly, if you want something to listen to in the car or while mowing the lawn, Librivox has you covered.

All of the books from these sites are available to be downloaded in a plethora of formats. All are free from DRM nonsense. All but the books from Baen are in the public domain. The Baen books are still (mostly) covered by the authors' copyrights, but you have their permission to download, print, copy and read.

Dog Bites Man

In other news, the EU caved and called Russia naughty but took no action to back up their condemnation.

Doubtless this is another manifestation of European 'soft power'. I have no doubt the Russians will take the full sting of EU umbrage to heart.

/sarcasm

I'm So Glad

Gaming Geekiness Joy

I am a (mostly) former roleplayer. My friends and family know that I played for decades. Which is why this movie was just so funny. If you've roleplayed, or know someone who has, get it for them.