Alan Fisher

@amfisher.bsky.social

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Attorney, gamer (computer, RPG, tabletop), GM, husband, father, occasional author. Hatch Act restricted, so don't expect much politics.

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Insert gif of 'La Marseilles' scene from Casablanca here.

Book 63: "Bringing Columbia Home" by M. Leinbach and J. Ward, about the staggering recovery effort after Columbia broke up during reentry over Texas. NASA's failures were, disturbing and unnecessary, but the book's focus is on the 25000 people, many volunteers, went out to find debris.

Book 62: "Continental reckoning : the American West in the age of expansion" by the aptly named Elliott West. A dense and heavy read with enough anecdotes to keep it interesting. Does a good job of dispelling a lot of myths about America's westward expansion.

Ah, the fun of living in DC. What was that series of faint explosions I just heard downtown? Fireworks? It's that time of year, to be sure. But the brain ever goes back to 9/11 and 1/6 and wonders what I'll find when I leave the office.

Memo to whoever has 'The history of chess in fifty moves' out from the DC Library; it's a lending library, and you're not supposed to keep the book for a year. Bah.

Potentially more than 1000 dead from heat in Mecca during the Hajj. I wonder what plans the KSA has for keeping Mecca survivable for the next century. The House of Saud is supposed to be "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," after all.

‘Fremont became the only presidential candidate in American history to be publicly implicated in cannibalism.’ To date.

Twenty-odd (and sometimes odd) years after graduation and suddenly my law school has my email address and wants money. Never blocked anyone so fast.

I did something right; one of my boys just cooked a tasty dish of chicken tikka masala.

As long as they aren't damaging the local environment when they install the things, more power to the weirdos and/or aliens who are putting up monoliths in strange places.

A large, mysterious monolith was found near a trail in the Desert National Wildlife Refuge north of Las Vegas over the weekend. It was not immediately clear where the object had come from.

A Mysterious Monolith Appears Near Las Vegas. Why? It’s Anyone’s Guess.www.nytimes.com A volunteer search-and-rescue organization reported finding the monolith over the weekend near the Gass Peak trail, which is north of Las Vegas.

The neighbors are quiet.

Book 61: "The Secret Life of Hidden Places" by Bachmann and Tucholke. A series of short entries on secret doors, hidden passages, buried buildings, and other odd places. Light and quick with plenty of illustrations. Good ideas for the RPG GM looking to annoy his players.

Book 60: Iain Banks, "The Player of Games." A fine piece of sci-fi that I've still somewhat surprised I missed over the years. Going to be picking up a few more of Banks' works at the library.

Book 59: "The Not-Quite States of America," by @douglasmack.bsky.social. A loving look at our colonies - PR, VI, AS, CNMI, and Guam, with some historical background and thoughtful consideration of the legal issues that surround the Insular Cases. Good read for anyone who forgets we have colonies.

Hoover FBI building, DC.

Book 58, "Index, A History of the," by @djbduncan.bsky.social. A short but deep look at the humble index, how it grew from identifying scroll locations through concordances, the evolution of page numbers, and indexical fights both serious and humorous. With plenty of Pale Fire references.

The moment you realize you’re in an RPG scenario.

The only guy happy to be at work? Our bomb-sniffing dog, romping outside the building with a tennis ball. Romp on, bomb-sniffing dog, and may your days be bomb-free.

Book 57, "The King of Diamonds," by Rena Pederson, ostensibly about a never-caught jewel thief active in Dallas in the 60s, but more the biography of the city itself as it transformed from an oil town to a culture town. Fascinating more for the characters than the crimes, but a good read.

Stupid thing I enjoy: walking through the library at my office and having the lights snap on in front of me, one by one, as the motion detectors pick me up. It's like the opening credits of Get Smart.

Book 56: "Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation" by Yaroslav Hrytsak. More of a social history than chronological history, gives a good explanation of what Ukraine was and is, with discourses on language, religion, and bread. Inspiration and utterly tragic by equal measures.

Vivid dream last night that I had unleased a giant lizard on Rochester, NY. Not a funny dream; a terrifying dream that I was responsible for the destruction of a city. One of those dreams you wake up from and take a moment to realize it's not true. Strange night, brain. Never been to Rochester.

One of the rare moments the TV in my office is on.

Welp, I guess I know what I'm reading today if things are slow.

List of individual body parts - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

CNN says the jurors have been deliberating for 2 hours, 59 minutes. MSNBC says they've been deliberating for 2 hours, 49 minutes. This ten minute gap may someday enter history along with eighteen and half minutes.

Possible germ for an Unknown Armies campaign; last night was have intrusive thoughts about the famed "Falling Man" picture from Sept 11, thinking about how it echoes the Hanged Man tarot card, and started wondering how the New Inquisition would tie it all together. UA has been on my 'must run' list.

Book 55: 'Operation Paperclip' by Annie Jacobsen, about the cynical program to bring Nazi scientists to the US post-WW2. I was somewhat knowledgeable about the Nazi influence in NASA; this book went deep into medical and chemistry fields that also brought in war criminals. Dark stuff, but well told.

Sunak shows the Brits really know how to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks.

A sign you're getting old; the doctor prescribes one of those drugs that's advertised with a catchy jingle on CNN.

‘The first vice president is Mohammad Mokhber, a conservative politician.’ - the least necessary clause when speaking of a senior GOI official.