I once had a bonsai tree at my desk. It died. I have now replaced it with the fake bonsai below. Under the fluorescent lights, it somehow does not look so garishly plastic.

Below is a wee beanbag Mrs The Fyd bought me some years ago. Yes, it is a place for my phone to rest, and is indeed where my phone lies when I am at work and not using it to take pictures of wee beanbags.

Historical Atlas of the Northwest: Maps of Exploration and Discovery Derek Hays

The Patron Saint of Liars Ann Patchett

The Science Fiction Century ed. David G. Hartwell

The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians Peter Heather

The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Brief Introduction John Blair

Baader-Meinhof: The Inside Story of the R.A.F. Stefan Aust

Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami

Cyteen C.J. Cherryh

Portland: People, Politics, and Power 1851-2001 Jewel Lansing

It has been a while since I  have updated this irregular series.  Look away if a long list of books bores you.

Diplomatic Theory from Machiavelli to Kissinger G.R. Berridge, Maurice Keens-Soper,  T.G. Otte

International Politics: A Framework for Analysis K.J. Holsti

Conflict and Cooperation: Evolving Theories of International Relations Marc A. Genest

The Federalist Papers Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison

Alexander Hamilton Ron Chernow

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 Gordon S. Wood

A Home for Scared People Chris Onstad

Toussaint L’Ouverture: The Haitian Revolution ed. Nick Nesbitt

Champion: Joe Louis, Black Hero in White America Chris Mead

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War Max Brooks

Toussaint Louverture: A Biography Madison Smartt Bell

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution C.L.R. James

Manufacturing Revolution: The Intellectual Origins of Early American Industry Lawrence A. Peskin

Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans Joyce Appleby

Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic Joanne B. Freeman

The Forge of God Greg Bear

The Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World ed. David Geggus

Vermeer: A View of Delft Anthony Bailey

Homage to Catalonia George Orwell

Encountering Revolution: Haiti and the Making of the Early Republic Ashli White

The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece Paul Cartledge

Slave Revolution in the Caribbean, 1789-1804: A Brief History with Documents eds. Laurent Dubois & John D. Garrigus

Soldiers & Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity J.E. Lendon

A Proslavery Foreign Policy: Haitian-American Relations during the Early Republic Tim Matthewson

Toussaint’s Clause: The Founding Fathers and the Haitian Revolution Gordon S. Brown

Orders from France: The American and the French in a Revolutionary World, 1780-1820 Roger G. Kennedy

Beowulf transl. Seamus Heaney

The End of the Bronze Age: Changes in Warfare and the Catastrophe ca. 1200 B.C. Robert Drews

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe

Grant and Twain: The Story of a Friendship that Changed America Mark Perry

Presumed Innocent Scott Turow

The Savage Detectives Roberto Bolaño

Geek Love Katherine Dunn

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer James L. Swanson

Beowulf and the Critics J.R.R. Tolkien

A Dance with Dragons George R.R. Martin

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection ed. Gardner Dozois

The Giants are just about out of the playoff race, which is no huge surprise given the injuries to their lineup.  Anyway I wouldn’t want to get greedy, not after last season.  Below is a picture taken during a game I attended earlier this season.  The first five pennants, in black, represent the World Series victories of the New York teams.  Finally, there is a last pennant, in orange, to celebrate the first Series win in San Francisco.

I was reading this article and, beyond being struck by the national shame of the subject matter, was intrigued by my reaction to the photo accompanying the piece.  Doesn’t the guy in the lower left look like he’s on a cell phone call?  Not quite so possible in 1961, and I’m sure his posture indicates a dazed or wounded head.  And yet in a half hour, on my short walk to the bus stop, one in five people that I see, walking or standing or sitting, will have a hand to their head and I won’t need to worry that they’ve just suffered violence.

This is what happens when you open your car door without checking your mirror: Yes, if you make that mistake, that bus will crunch your car door real good.  And yes, that did happen, despite this picture angle and the sun’s glare not showing it in detail.  And yes, that bus full of passengers will have to disembark to wait for the next bus, so there will be plenty of strangers to gawk while you and the bus driver figure it all out.  And certainly there might be one amongst that gaggle who will snap a picture for posterity. But will you realise that those two white lines to the side of your car are the boundaries of a bike lane, and that this street is a busy one for bicyclists?  It could just as easily have been a biker that you doored, instead of getting your door wrecked by a bus.  This kind of inattentiveness is why I’ve pretty much given up on my work bike commute. In other news, here’s a picture of an abandoned syringe I took while waiting for the bus one morning:

Awhile back I posted about a website devoted to simple (i.e. minimalist) desks, and how I liked the idea but used my computer with a lap desk so it was all moot.  That got me to reconsidering my situation and so I started using the desk I had previously set up in the basement, just to have desk space when necessary.  It wasn’t actually my desk, being an old computer desk belonging to my wife; my prior desk, that I had owned for years, had suffered an unfortunate exposure to rain and had to be put down.

Anyway, I came to realize that I worked better sitting at the desk than with the lap desk.  My only complaint was that the desk was rather small, something that could have been solved if I actually embraced minimalism and cleared off all the clutter, but that is not my way.  Wanting a desk and needing one are two different things, however, so I gave it a low priority, but asked Mrs The Fyd to let me know if she came across a certain type of no-frills desk.  And she spotted on Craigslist an ad offering up such a desk, for free, provided one brought “a couple of large men” to take it apart and carry it away, the desk being a heavy thing.  That desk is now in my basement, thanks to the labors of myself and another large man, and is pictured below.  It is made of a solid wood door, placed on top of another door that was sawed into thirds to make a base.  The whole thing is held together by about a dozen screws but is heavy and solid.  The dings and scratches that show up in the picture are not so evident in person, but don’t bother me anyway.  The desk is a little outsized for the space it occupies, but that just adds to its charm.

Anathem Neal Stephenson

The History of Money Jack Weatherford

The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-sixth Annual Collection ed. Gardner Dozois

The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America: 1815-1846 Charles Sellers

The Jacksonian Promise: America, 1815-1840 Daniel Feller

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 Daniel Walker Howe

Baseball Between the Numbers The Baseball Prospectus

Hunger Knut Hamsun

The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl Tim Pratt

Spell Games T.A. Pratt

Broken Mirrors T.A. Pratt

Bone Shop T.A. Pratt

Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 Eric Foner

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era James M. McPherson

The Rats James Herbert

Her Smoke Rose Up Forever James Tiptree Jr

In Search of Ancient Oregon: A Geological and Natural History Ellen Morris Bishop

Under the Dome Stephen King

The Anglo-Saxons ed James Campbell

I See Rude People: One Woman’s Battle to Beat Some Manners into Impolite Society Amy Alkon

Mrs The Fyd alerted me to this blog, where the blogger is transcribing his father’s family journal a day at a time.  The entries start in February 1945 in New York City.  I was almost startled to read this:

Eugene saw “Heil Hitler” written on a bus by some prankster and wanted to know what it meant.

It almost seems anachronistic to think of some disaffected teenager toward the end of WWII hoping to shock the normals in that fashion, but I suppose every age had such types.   I look forward to the series, and to more adjustments to my notions of the past.