Archive for November, 2012
And miles to go while you sleep
Photo of Istanbul from Turkey Travel Resource. Next year Philippine Airlines will fly to more destinations in Europe and North America. One possibility: Istanbul.
200 people will win the air miles for trips to 28 international and 32 domestic destinations including Los Angeles, Tokyo and Palawan in the “Dream Destinations. Free Flights.” promotion of Mastercard, Philippine Airlines and AirPhil Express.
How to join the raffle:
(more…)
Bookstore murder mystery
Man found dead inside bookstore at Global City, Taguig
By Jamie Marie Elona
Inquirer.net
3:13 pm | Monday, November 12th, 2012
MANILA, Philippines—A man was found dead inside a book store at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig early Monday, police said.
Police Officer 2 Vin Abadia identified the victim as Jerry Mamayabay, a maintenance personnel of Fully Booked at Building 6, Bonifacio High Street in Bonifacio Global City, where he was found dead with a stab wound around 7 a.m.
Abadia said the victim’s body was discovered by store manager Minda Teposo and Calvin William at the ground floor of the building when they were about to open for the day.
No other information, he said, was available as of posting.
In the Mystery/Thriller section? Thanks to Butch for the alert.
Paper cuts
Origami Dragon from Best Design Tutorials
Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu has swept the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. No short story has done that before. Read it and tell us what you think.
Options (updated)
A. Brilliant.
B. Good, but it’s not The Star or Flowers for Algernon.
C. Schmaltzy—Cathartic tears and snot, filial guilt response, etc.
D. Schmaltzy—Yucch.
E. I don’t like it, I don’t hate it.
F. Other reaction
Paper Menagerie
by Ken Liu
One of my earliest memories starts with me sobbing. I refused to be soothed no matter what Mom and Dad tried.
Dad gave up and left the bedroom, but Mom took me into the kitchen and sat me down at the breakfast table.
“Kan, kan,” she said, as she pulled a sheet of wrapping paper from on top of the fridge. For years, Mom carefully sliced open the wrappings around Christmas gifts and saved them on top of the fridge in a thick stack.
She set the paper down, plain side facing up, and began to fold it. I stopped crying and watched her, curious.
She turned the paper over and folded it again. She pleated, packed, tucked, rolled, and twisted until the paper disappeared between her cupped hands. Then she lifted the folded-up paper packet to her mouth and blew into it, like a balloon.
“Kan,” she said. “Laohu.” She put her hands down on the table and let go.
A little paper tiger stood on the table, the size of two fists placed together. The skin of the tiger was the pattern on the wrapping paper, white background with red candy canes and green Christmas trees.
I reached out to Mom’s creation. Its tail twitched, and it pounced playfully at my finger. “Rawrr-sa,” it growled, the sound somewhere between a cat and rustling newspapers.
Spies, lies and Gmail
There was some speculation at Boing Boing over whether this letter to The Ethicist in the New York Times was related to the affair that led to the ouster of CIA chief David Petraeus. The NYT says it isn’t.
MY WIFE’S LOVER
My wife is having an affair with a government executive. His role is to manage a project whose progress is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership. (This might seem hyperbolic, but it is not an exaggeration.) I have met with him on several occasions, and he has been gracious. (I doubt if he is aware of my knowledge.) I have watched the affair intensify over the last year, and I have also benefited from his generosity. He is engaged in work that I am passionate about and is absolutely the right person for the job. I strongly feel that exposing the affair will create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort. My issue: Should I acknowledge this affair and finally force closure? Should I suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project I feel must succeed? Should I be “true to my heart” and walk away from the entire miserable situation and put the episode behind me? NAME WITHHELD
Read the reply from The Ethicist at NYT Magazine.
Outed by Gmail: CIA Director David Petraeus Resigns Over Extramarital Affair (WSJ)
Meanwhile, NYT’s top emailed article is How to Devise Passwords That Drive Hackers Away.
The letter-writer is
A. Very civilized.
B. A masochist.
C. Something else.
P.S. Petraeus = Peaches.
GRR vs JRR (Westeros vs Middle Earth)
Get More:
MTV Shows
If characters from Westeros did battle with characters from Middle Earth, who would win?
A Song of Ice and Fire author and Tolkien devotee George R.R. Martin ponders the odds.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
