Leaving

I have just got round to reading oneonthefence farewell post and it saddens me that she has to leave LJ but i do understand her reasons, health and so on. It does seem that people are dropping out of LJ. It means that we who are still here must double our efforts to connect with everyone, and new people too, to see it continue. I would rather not go to FB or Twitter. 

Spooky

How many versions of Spooky is there ? Well read my worldsounz article to find out.

http://worldsoundz.livejournal.com/

Mighty Spooky Versions

So following on from the article on Spooky here is the reggae version by Boris Gardiner.

The Billy Larkin and The Delegates slinky organ version

..and just one other version of it today and is by the Howard Roberts Quartet

Enjoy.

Book 95 - Arthur C Clarke "The Fountains Of Paradise"

Arthur C Clarke "The Fountains Of Paradise" (Gollancz)

One of Clarke's finest! As always his characters are both immensely plausible and utterly empathetic.

The principal protagonist is this novel, set in the mid twenty-second century by which time Earth has already colonized the Moon, Mercury and Mars, is Vannever (Van) Morgan, one of the world's leading civil and structural engineers most renowned for having designed the Gibraltar Bridge. Morgan's current dream is a space elevator, stretching from the isle of Taprobane (a scarcely disguised Sri Lanka) up to the outer reaches of the atmosphere, 25,000 miles in geo-synchronous orbit, using the newly-minted hyper-filament technology.

To achieve this feat he has to overcome opposition in the form of a centuries-old community of Buddhist monks established in a 2000 year old monastery at the faith's most sacred site. Meanwhile Clarke gives us some of the history of the ancient kingdom of Taprobane (incorporating a potted but scintillating history of pre-Medieval Ceylon).

Clarke is not merely a master of the technologies (real and imaginary) with which his characters grapple; he also manages, seemingly effortlessly, to develop flawless plots suffused with totally credible human interests. His work has been one of the most compelling arguments to show that science fiction can also be worthy of the term "literary fiction"

Cat Pics

On a lighter note, and by golly we do need cheering up, a couple of phptos from FB , one from my bro and Riley.



The best rug in the house.




A Xmas tree for cat lovers!

Thumbs Up LJ!

I am so overwhelmed from all the love and thoughts that have gone to oneonthefence in my post "Leaving" , and that in a way it has confirmed the reason why i write here on LJ - it is my extended family - and that it is full of lovely caring people. Twitter and FB do not even come close!

I doff my hat off to her sanguine and brave contemplation of her situation. Thank you all for sharing.

(Now before i well up i am going to watch one of those charity sourced DVD's.)