Geekgasm as well as London Fog
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 07:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jesse_the_kI was delighted by the remarkable story in the NYTimes today about modular/prefab bridge building. A steel-concrete bridge that customarily required two years of road and rail closures was fixed in a weekend.
Civil Engineering Geekgasm!
There's a clickable (silent) time-lapse showing the bridge going up, as well as details on the equipment used. We could do a space program, yes we could.
Our lovely Madison-based book group,![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
beer_marmalade, recently read China Miéville's YA book, Un Lun Dun. I was disappointed. The best part of his New Weird detective story, The City and the City was his detailed and lively evocation if the metropolis itself. I was eager to read what an urban enthusiast would do to a doubled London where the fog is the sentient and nasty servant of an exceptional evildoer. Unfortunately, the city seemed generic and flat. There's a nice twist on the hero(ine)'s journey, but the ending just peters out. I assume the YA crowd would enchanted by the ubiquitous puns, which did little for me.
Luckily for me,kestrell recommended a perfect palate cleanser: Boris Starling's VISIBILITY. It's set during the historical 1952 fog which functionally froze London for a week. It celebrates the useful skills former soldiers bring to their societies. It features a truly wonderful character whose blindness enables her to lead when most Londoners feel powerless. (Plus she gets to make ALL the snarky blindness jokes.) The big finale is much better than the muddled fight which ended the first Richey/Downey/Law Sherlock movie. I'm ready to go to London now that I can navigate the cityscape Starling carefully crafted in my brain. Highly recommended!
Civil Engineering Geekgasm!
There's a clickable (silent) time-lapse showing the bridge going up, as well as details on the equipment used. We could do a space program, yes we could.
Our lovely Madison-based book group,
beer_marmalade, recently read China Miéville's YA book, Un Lun Dun. I was disappointed. The best part of his New Weird detective story, The City and the City was his detailed and lively evocation if the metropolis itself. I was eager to read what an urban enthusiast would do to a doubled London where the fog is the sentient and nasty servant of an exceptional evildoer. Unfortunately, the city seemed generic and flat. There's a nice twist on the hero(ine)'s journey, but the ending just peters out. I assume the YA crowd would enchanted by the ubiquitous puns, which did little for me. Luckily for me,
kestrell recommended a perfect palate cleanser: Boris Starling's VISIBILITY. It's set during the historical 1952 fog which functionally froze London for a week. It celebrates the useful skills former soldiers bring to their societies. It features a truly wonderful character whose blindness enables her to lead when most Londoners feel powerless. (Plus she gets to make ALL the snarky blindness jokes.) The big finale is much better than the muddled fight which ended the first Richey/Downey/Law Sherlock movie. I'm ready to go to London now that I can navigate the cityscape Starling carefully crafted in my brain. Highly recommended!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-18 09:22 am (UTC)In far-distant America, do you have London Fog teas?
(I'm very tired.)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-04-18 11:04 am (UTC)