Synova

Prickly Pear growing by the road.  A cactus I bought, bloom for the very first time TODAY. Cholla cactus.  Not a good picture of the flower. Wild claret cup somewhere south of Belen. Claret cup in my garden. A local claret cup I moved two yards to my garden. "Single spined" claret cup I bought, blooming for the very first time. Tiny pink blooms on a wild cactus. Small local cactus with green-yellow flowers.

I heard a rumor this collection of novellas by John C. Wright was going to be FREE tomorrow... It looks like something my husband would probably like.

I just put up a review for this on Amazon.   Was it the best, most amazing book ever?  No.  But I started reading it, not *meaning* to read it but just meaning to look at it and read it later, at bed time and finished the book at 3:30 AM.   It's over the top adventure with Space Marines.   I wasn't quite expecting what I got but the price was right ($2.99) and there's that 3:30 AM thing...  at the point that a story keeps you up all night reading it, it counts as a success in all ways that matter.   Fun, adventure, intrigue, a looming threat, and Space Marines.

So... this seems to be a thing.  I'd assume it couldn't be a thing, only a strange aberration, a case of "tweeting before thinking"... but I'm not sure. The "thing" is Ms. USA... she's apparently pro-rape. She answered a question about rape in a pro-rapey sort of way.  So, is this a "thing" or just a couple of accidental tweets, like when you've eaten beans and aren't paying attention and they just sort of sneak out there and make a stink way way out of proportion? In any case... this is the horrible horrible pro-rapey answer given by the woman who eventually wins Ms. USA. She just makes the one statement, I think that the video repeats it a few time... so once she says it you can stop... there really isn't something more pro-rapey coming at the end. Ace of Spades HQ had this *promptly* and included one of the offended tweets.   Larry Correia has a very nice run down of all (all?) of them.   A sample: ’I'm sor...

Salvia in the rock garden by the road. These irises like their new location. The dianthus are spectacular right now. My "bought" cactus is blooming.

Well it's about time! If the FAA approves we'll have Virgin Galactic spaceships launching from New Mexico.   The only thing sort of nearby is Whitesands, but I'm assuming they've got this figured out with the Air Force already. Bill Richardson made a big deal about building a spaceport here (he was big on film kick-backs too) and while I'm skeptical of the economic wisdom involved I'm extra excited that maybe, just maybe, the facilities of  Spaceport America  aren't going to resemble one of those photo documentaries of  abandoned Soviet architecture. Spaceport America - from above it looks slightly like a bed pan.