Mitch Wagner

I started reading “Pursuit of the Pankera,” which is I think the only book by Robert A. Heinlein I have not read. I am enjoying it so far. I’m finding it a pleasant surprise.

The book was initially published in 1980, as “The Number of the Beast.” The first third of “Pankera” is the same as “Number,” and then they go off in different directions. They are two different novels with the same beginning, and many of the same characters throughout. “Pankera” disappeared for 40 years, and was finally published in 2020.

So far, I’m still in the first third, which is the same as “The Number of the Beast.”

I read “Number of the Beast” when it first came out. I was 19 years old. I was and am an avid Heinlein fan–he was and is my favorite writer by far.

“Number” was Heinlein’s first novel after a hiatus of six or seven years, nearly as long as I’d been reading real books (as opposed to children’s picture books). So the availability of “Number” was a big deal for me.

Like many fans, I found “Number” very disappointing.

Now I see something I managed to miss then: The book is an action-comedy. I think many critics missed that too. The situations and much of the dialogue are ridiculous, but they’re supposed to be. Their ridiculousness is not a failure of the book.

The Life I Never Intended to Love: Dog Owner. Katherine Bindley: “During the pandemic I chose a breed often compared to a velociraptor. It ruined my life–until I discovered that he’s the best dog who’s ever lived.” www.wsj.com/articles/…

I can absolutely relate. Minnie is a high-energy dog. She’s mellowed now, but in her first few years she ran us ragged. Even today, I walk her for more than 90 minutes a day and she’s ready for more. Many times when we get home from walks, she does zoomies just for the heck of it.

And she’s 10 years old. In dog years, that’s the same age as I am. I do not do zoomies.

Also, Minnie is a hybrid between a german shepherd and basenji. German shepherds are highly trainable, which is the reason why so many of them are working dogs. Basenji are among the most stubborn, hardest-to-train breeds. You might think that would even out and make Minnie average in trainability. But no, she swings wildly from one extreme to the other. Sometimes it seems like she can read my mind and does exactly what I want as soon as I think it. Other times we give her commands and she knows exactly what we want, and she says nope.

So yeah in several ways Minnie was a poor choice for us as sedentary first-time dog owners … but we would not part with her. There’s a lesson about life decisions in there.

The Criminal podcast: A Glamour and a Mystery.

In the summer of 1917, 16-year-old Elsie Wright took a photograph of her 9-year-old cousin, Frances Griffiths. It was the first photograph she’d ever taken – and it became the source of a mystery that lasted for most of the 20th century.

thisiscriminal.com/episode-2…

The girls' photos appeared to show them interacting with fairies: winged humans a few inches tall. Spiritualists worldwide, including Arthur Conan Doyle, were fascinated. More than a half-century later, one of the girls, now an old woman, admitted the thing was a hoax (although she said one of the five photos were real). She said the girls only intended to fool their family for a couple of hours.

The Cottingley Fairies en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cott…

Related: The Fox Sisters were three sisters from Rochester, New York, who became worldwide celebrities when they claimed to be in communication with ghosts in 1848, launching the spiritualism movement. In later life, the Fox sisters said they made it all up. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_…

When posting memes, is it a good idea to put the text of the meme in the alt-text of the image? Can screenreaders read the text of a meme, if the text is in a simple, legible font?

Things I saw walking the dog this morning. I like the lines of that building, and the stone facade. There was a shopping cart in the way of the shot, so I moved it.

The Eagles are the ultimate 70s band, and “Take it Easy” is their ultimate song.

https://www.tumblr.com/allhailthe70shousewife/724246770029314048/some-lovely-anonymous-person-sent-me-crabs-for-my

A surprising number of you seemed to enjoy the video of Minnie walking down stairs. Here is another.

On my walk with the dog this morning, I saw this gentleman living his best life.