Since Carl was kind enough...

...to throw a little traffic my way, it seems like a good time to let y'all know what's up with Upper Left. I'm still here and still itchin' to get back to a regular posting schedule, but I'm also still afflicted with serious computer-fu. My earlier appeal netted enough money to get some data rescue work done and buy the media I needed to store what was saved, but my aging Thinkpad is increasingly unreliable, booting at random every so often and staying up for anywhere from 15 minutes to a day or so before freezing up and shutting down again.

It's almost certainly repairable, but the machine itself is old, underpowered and not worth the investment. I need new, or newer, computer but it seems to remain just out of my reach. It appears on the horizon, only to be blocked by a brake job or something. Anyway, it will happen when it happens. Meanwhile, blogging will be erratic. The way I do this certainly isn't the only way, and probably not the best, but it involves lots of online time perusing the dozens of sources I follow through RSS feeds and following links as needed. There are at least a couple of surfing hours behind the typical post here, and I just can't keep the 'puter up, let alone online, long enough to get a post done most days. Some days the damn thing doesn't come on at all for a couple of days in a row.

On the other hand, I've managed to re-read Gibson's cyberspace trilogy, a couple of Bruce Sterling collections and most of my Phil Dick collection. The Brilliant and Beautiful Bride of Upper Left has brought home CD audio biographies of Andrew Jackson, James Madison and James K. Polk which have filled most of my listening hours lately. Plus more time with the BBBUL and the grandkids, so my technological impairment isn't exactly suffering.

I am, however, anxious to get back to this place more, and hate missing so much of an election season. I'll be doing my best to get it together ASAP, and if you've got the urge and ablility, there's a PayPal button over there somewhere. If you've got a hot tip on a good deal, let's talk.

More sooner or later.

Sooner I hope.

From the "Me too" file.

Laurence Lewis...

To those in the media who are upset that we Democrats keep calling Romney and Ryan liars, I'll offer my own personal deal: if they'll stop lying, I'll stop calling them liars.

Me too.

Friday Mars Blogging

I don't know who Jake Matijevic is, but this Mars rock is named after him. How cool is that? (And sure, it'll click a bit bigger, unless it's Bloggered again, but there's more at NASA's Curiosity page, including life size and annotated photos of the Jake Matijevic rock.)

Friday Mars Blogging

A roving we will go...

Sure, it clicks bigger.

Good question...

...from Digby...

Republicans admit to being liars in order to get elected all the time. Why doesn't anyone believe them?

I love the rhythm...

...in a random riff.

Fats Waller - Taint Nobody's Business
Charlie Parker - Almost Like Being In Love
Steve Turre - Brother Bob
Dinah Washington - Trouble In Mind
John Coltrane Quartet - A Love Supreme Part 1: Acknowledgement
Mel Tormé - Moonlight Cocktail
Rahsaan Roland Kirk - Lady's Blues
Slim Gaillard Quartette - Jumpin' At The Record Shop
Billy Eckstine Orchestra - (I Love The) Rhythm In A Riff
Dizzy Gillespie - Birk's Works

Friday Mars blogging.

Stream bed in space...

Click it to biggify a bit.