DEBlog

The Tornado of 1989 #fb

Ah, the tornado of 1989. I can't believe it was already 20 years ago. It was the summer before I started graduate school. I was in our apartment in downtown New Haven on the 14th floor--well, 13th really, but they didn't have a 13th floor. David was in New York. We had a big plate glass window facing west, so beautiful sunsets. And in the middle of the afternoon it suddenly got very dark and things like plastic bags were flying around outside the window--which I think was unprecedented, since we were up so high. I hadn't had the TV on so I had no clue we were in fact getting a tornado. I was just amazed at how dark the sky was. And I was making runs back and forth to the bathroom with towels because that big window was leaking like crazy along the edges--also unprecedented. Hanging around by the window may not have been wise, in retrospect, but it did save having to clean up a big mess later.

I think that the white house shown at the beginning of this video may have been a friend's house, which was flattened in the storm.

Current Reading: Don't Call Me a Crook [TSS]

Current Reading: Don't Call Me a Crook
Originally uploaded by dhamel.

As I wrote two posts ago, I started Bob Moore's Don't Call Me a Crook last night. It's a new edition of a book that was originally published in 1935. In his introduction the publisher writes, "Don't Call Me never bores. Never." And I thought, uh oh, this is going to be boring. But it's not! Not at all.

Bob Moore--whose real name was Robert Macmillan Allison--was indeed a crook as well as a good many other things. He was an incorrigible rogue. But his memoir has a certain charm to it. The writing is not as polished as it might be, but that's part of the charm too. The style is conversational, and it pulls you in with its simplicity of expression. As well as with the stories that Moore has to tell. Very happy to be reading it today.

Win a free copy of my book! [TSS]

I'm giving away a copy of my book Trying Neaira for BAFAB. Full details of the contest are here but it's super easy to enter. Just Twitter this:

Win Trying Neaira by Debra Hamel (http://snipr.com/neaira) for BAFAB! RT to enter drawing (details http://is.gd/1kWDB). #neaira

Contest ends on 7/7, but you can enter once a day until then. (Open to residents of the US, England, and Canada.)

Current Reading: The Missing Ink

Current Reading: The Missing Ink
Originally uploaded by dhamel.

Alright, I admit it! I'm lying! This was my current reading up until a couple hours ago, but I finished it and wrote a draft of a review. It will be available for public consumption...well, some day. There are five other books I've written reviews for that I haven't posted yet.

Meanwhile, just started a book called Don't Call Me a Crook, which was originally published in 1935. It's the (reportedly) rollicking autobiography of a hell-raising Glaswegian named (pseudonymed, actually, as he didn't use his real last name) Bob Moore. I've only read the introduction by the book's publisher so far, though, so I can't be sure yet whether I'll be sticking with it or not.

Crossword: MNOP

Here are the theme-related clues to this week's Sunday New York Times crossword.

ACROSS
23 Give Axl and Pete a break?
33 Tripping over a threshold, perhaps?
45 Pea farmers?
51 Summer apartment with no air-conditioning?
69 Floral Technicolor dreamcoat?
91 Strutting bird on an ice floe?
94 Residents at a Manhattan A.S.P.C.A.?
105 Move a movie camera around a community?
122 Explanation for an interception?

THE ANSWERS

ACROSS
23 FCRYY GUR EBFRF
33 CBEGNY QNATRE
45 GUR CBQ FDHNQ
51 OBVYVAT CNQ
69 SHYY CRGNY WNPXRG
91 FGHQ CHSSVA
94 ARJ LBEX CRGF
105 CNA NOBHG GBJA
122 CNFF PBASHFVBA

The answers are encrypted. To decrypt them, select whichever ones you want to see, throw them into the Crossword Decrypting Widget below, and hit the red button:

Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge: July 4

It's Saturday, which means it's time for the deblog's Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge! (View a list of winners of the Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge here.)

This week's scores:

• Debra --1:16
• Maxine -- 1:24
• Karen -- 0:44

How to participate:

1. Play the theoretically simple yet maddeningly difficult Set Puzzle. (Remember, the clock starts ticking the moment you open the Set window.)
2. Post your time in the comments to this post.
3. 3. The winner for the week gets to hoist the much-coveted winner's badge. This should be posted in a blog post rather than on your sidebar, say, because, after all, your time to bask in the glory of the win is likely to be ephemeral.

How to post the badge? Some possibilities:

a. Download the badge to your own space and link thereto.

b. Include this code in your post:

<br/><a href="http://www.the-deblog.com/set_puzzle_weekly_challenge/index.html"><img src="http://dhamel.typepad.com/images/setduelwinner.gif&" /></a><br/>

c. Alternatively, you're not obliged to post it. This is all in fun, after all.

Craig, Daniel Edward: Murder at Graverly Manor

Midnight Ink © 2009, 368 pages

Murder at Graverly Manor is the third book in Daniel Edward Craig's 5-Star Mystery series, featuring hotelier Trevor Lambert. Trevor, between jobs and back in his hometown of Vancouver, Canada, comes across a Victorian mansion turned bed and breakfast with a for sale sign in its yard. Intent on buying the creepy house, Trevor agrees to the bizarre demand of its current proprietress, Lady Graverly, that he live and work at the inn for a month while she decides if he's worthy of the property. It's not a thoroughly pleasant prospect: the allegedly haunted manor is saddled with a violent history. Rumors abound that Lady Graverly's husband, not seen for fifty years, was involved in the disappearance of a chambermaid. There are weird noises at night, the staff are hostile or incompetent, and Lady Graverly herself, who is alternately sweet and scary, is less than forthcoming about her plans for Trevor.

Continue reading at book-blog.com »

Twitter to win a book for BAFAB!

Okay, I've been thinking that for BAFAB Week this time around I'd give away a copy of my book, Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece (Yale University Press, 2003). It's the true story (hence the subtitle) of a woman named Neaira who was put on trial in Athens in the 4th century B.C. She wasn't tried in connection with her earlier career as a prostitute, but she was dragged through the mud by the prosecutor, whose speech from the trial survives. (The Sunday Telegraph called it a "gripping story of politics, sex and sleaze in ancient Athens...." This is a book that needs to be read!)

So, if you'd like to enter a drawing to win my book for BAFAB, just Twitter this message (you can enter once per day):

Win Trying Neaira by Debra Hamel (http://snipr.com/neaira) for BAFAB! RT to enter drawing (details http://is.gd/1kWDB). #neaira

Fine print:
1. Contest open only to residents of the US, England, and Canada.
2. I'll hold the drawing and contact the winner on 7/8/09.
3. You can enter once per day through 7/7/09. No entries accepted after midnight eastern time 7/7/09.

links for 2009-06-30

• Prostitute Traded Sex for … Frito-Lay Chips! - Neatorama
  Well, we are talking Fritos here.
• bookshelves of doom: Like the folks at GalleyCat...
  That really is a gorgeous cover.

links for 2009-06-29

• GalleyCat
  On the Alice Hoffman business.

Crossword: Secret Ingredients

Here are the theme-related clues to this week's Sunday New York Times crossword.

ACROSS
23 Battle of Trafalgar hero
38 Oak or ash
60 Lucifer, notably
83 Suffer for acting unwisely
101 New Jersey ecumenical institution
124 Tiny friend of Dumbo

DOWN
17 "The World Is My Home" memoirist, 1991
52 Deadline maker

THE ANSWERS

ACROSS
23 NQZVENY ARYFBA [QVYY]
38 PBNEFR TENVARQ JBBQ [BERTNAB]
60 SNYYRA NATRY [SRAARY]
83 CNL GUR CVCRE [CRCCRE]
101 CEVAPRGBA FRZVANEL [EBFRZNEL]
124 GVZBGUL D. ZBHFR

DOWN
17 WNZRF ZVPURARE
52 ZNANTVAT RQVGBE

The answers are encrypted. To decrypt them, select whichever ones you want to see, throw them into the Crossword Decrypting Widget below, and hit the red button:

In these parts

David, from upstairs: Call Evelyn's house. There are coyotes in the neighborhood.

Pause.

Me: Old women wanting sex?
Rebecca: That's a cougar, mom.

McCall Smith, Alexander: The Miracle at Speedy Motors

Anchor Books © 2008, 240 pages

In this ninth installment in Alexander McCall Smith's Botswana series Mma Precious Ramotswe again confronts a series of small problems that come to her attention at the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Most disturbing is her receipt of a threatening letter, which refers indelicately to her traditional build and to the over-large glasses of her associate, Mma Grace Makutsi. Mma Ramotswe is also tasked with locating any surviving family of a woman who believes herself to have been adopted, an assignment that turns out to be less straightforward than one would expect. As usual, Mma Ramotswe deals with matters with great wisdom and vast quantities of bush tea. And as usual, McCall Smith's writing is perfectly charming.

Continue reading at book-blog.com »

Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge: June 27

It's Saturday, which means it's time for the deblog's Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge! (View a list of winners of the Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge here.)

This week's scores:

• Debra --1:44 That was a hard one.
• Maxine -- 3:30
• Karen -- 0:42
• Kimmy -- 2:18

How to participate:

1. Play the theoretically simple yet maddeningly difficult Set Puzzle. (Remember, the clock starts ticking the moment you open the Set window.)
2. Post your time in the comments to this post.
3. 3. The winner for the week gets to hoist the much-coveted winner's badge. This should be posted in a blog post rather than on your sidebar, say, because, after all, your time to bask in the glory of the win is likely to be ephemeral.

How to post the badge? Some possibilities:

a. Download the badge to your own space and link thereto.

b. Include this code in your post:

<br/><a href="http://www.the-deblog.com/set_puzzle_weekly_challenge/index.html"><img src="http://dhamel.typepad.com/images/setduelwinner.gif&" /></a><br/>

c. Alternatively, you're not obliged to post it. This is all in fun, after all.

Current Reading: Design Flaws of the Human Condition

Current Reading: Design Flaws of the Human
Condition
Originally uploaded by dhamel.

The number of books I have to post reviews for has grown, as I finished Cornelia Biddle's Deception's Daughter and Kyle Mills' Lords of Corruption. The latter I went through so quickly I didn't get around to posting a picture of it here.

I started Paul Schmidtberger's Design Flaws of the Human Condition last night and so far it is a treat. You can get a taste of its clever writing from the title of the first chapter heading:

Chapter One. In Which Ken's "Really Great Day," as Preordained by a Starbucks Employee, Fails to Materialize

Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge: June 27

It's Saturday, which means it's time for the deblog's Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge! (View a list of winners of the Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge here.)

This week's scores:

• Debra --1:44 That was a hard one.
  

How to participate:

1. Play the theoretically simple yet maddeningly difficult Set Puzzle. (Remember, the clock starts ticking the moment you open the Set window.)
   
2. Post your time in the comments to this post.
   
3. 3. The winner for the week gets to hoist the much-coveted winner's badge. This should be posted in a blog post rather than on your sidebar, say, because, after all, your time to bask in the glory of the win is likely to be ephemeral.
   

How to post the badge? Some possibilities:

a. Download the badge to your own space and link thereto.

b. Include this code in your post:

<br/><a href="http://www.the-deblog.com/set_puzzle_weekly_challenge/index.html"><img src="http://dhamel.typepad.com/images/setduelwinner.gif&" /></a><br/>

c. Alternatively, you're not obliged to post it. This is all in fun, after all.

Crossword: Famous Last Words

Here are the theme-related clues to this week's Sunday New York Times crossword.

ACROSS
1 (With 13-Across) "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go"
13 See 1-Across
27 "Die, my dear?  Why, that's the last thing I'll do!"
32 "That was the best ice cream soda I ever tasted"
53 "Where is my clock?"
71 "Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub"
87 "I've had 18 straight whiskies. I think that's the record"
94 "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something"
110 (With 113-Across) "I've had a hell of a lot of fun and I've enjoyed every minute of it"
113 See 110-Across

DOWN
20 "I have not told half of what I saw"
46 "I live!"
48 "Eva is leaving"
68 "I'm going to heaven!"

THE ANSWERS

ACROSS
1 BFPNE
13 JVYQR
27 TEBHPUB ZNEK
32 YBH PBFGRYYB
53 FNYINQBE QNYV
71 PBAENQ UVYGBA
87 QLYNA GUBZNF
94 CNAPUB IVYYN
110 REEBY
113 SYLAA

DOWN
20 ZNEPB CBYB
48 RIN CREBA
68 OB QVQQYRL

The answers are encrypted. To decrypt them, select whichever ones you want to see, throw them into the Crossword Decrypting Widget below, and hit the red button:

Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge: June 20

It's Saturday, which means it's time for the deblog's Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge! (View a list of winners of the Weekly Set Puzzle Challenge here.)

This week's scores:

• Debra --1:19
• Karen -- 1:28

How to participate:

1. Play the theoretically simple yet maddeningly difficult Set Puzzle. (Remember, the clock starts ticking the moment you open the Set window.)
2. Post your time in the comments to this post.
3. 3. The winner for the week gets to hoist the much-coveted winner's badge. This should be posted in a blog post rather than on your sidebar, say, because, after all, your time to bask in the glory of the win is likely to be ephemeral.

How to post the badge? Some possibilities:

a. Download the badge to your own space and link thereto.

b. Include this code in your post:

<br/><a href="http://www.the-deblog.com/set_puzzle_weekly_challenge/index.html"><img src="http://dhamel.typepad.com/images/setduelwinner.gif&" /></a><br/>

c. Alternatively, you're not obliged to post it. This is all in fun, after all.

Current Reading: Deception's Daughter

Current Reading: Deception's Daughter
Originally uploaded by dhamel.

Just started this one last night after finishing Emily St. John Mandel's Last Night in Montreal. Deception's Daughter is the second book in Cordelia Frances Biddle's Martha Beale series. I haven't read the first, but I have read a number of books the author co-wrote with her husband under the pseudonym Nero Blanc, their series of crossword mysteries. So far I'm really enjoying her historical fiction. It should appeal to the crowd who likes Maisie Dobbs-ish books.

links for 2009-06-19

• The Best of School District Bureaucracy: No Summer Break For You! - Neatorama
  No way would I do this to my kids.
• Scott Adams Blog: Happy Negative Christmas 06/08/2009
  I like this idea! (Via @Macine_Clarke's Petrona: http://is.gd/16fOb)