{"id":109,"date":"2008-06-26T05:39:46","date_gmt":"2008-06-26T13:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevenrbrandt.com\/wordpress\/?p=109"},"modified":"2010-09-04T05:29:21","modified_gmt":"2010-09-04T13:29:21","slug":"thursday-13-things-i-learned-from-reading-sci-fi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevenrbrandt.com\/?p=109","title":{"rendered":"Thursday 13: Things I learned from reading Sci-Fi"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. McNugget’s will some day be all-natural health food, relatively speaking (Caves of Steel, Asimov). <\/b>Apparently our diet will consist largely of yeast grown in vats.<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. My cockroach problems really aren’t so bad (Starship Troopers, Heinlein).<\/b> Mr. Rico has to face giant bugs carrying death rays. Don’t watch the movie, by the way, it does not do the story justice.<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Don’t trust your computer (2001, Clarke).<\/b> One of the early stories about a computer that goes nuts and kills everyone. If you use Windows, you know what I’m talking about.<\/em> <\/li>\n
  4. Don’t drink while sitting on an 8th floor window ledge (Inferno, Niven & Pournelle).<\/b> The protagonist did this and woke up in Dante’s version of Hell.<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. You can’t get away from bugs by moving to the desert (Dune, Herbert).<\/b> Giant sandworms are everywhere. Fortunately, you can ride them.<\/em><\/li>\n
  6. Asteroids and burritos are a bad combination (The Dragon’s Nine Sons, Roberson).<\/b> This really cool alternate future history has the Mexic Dominion (a cult nation that worships Mexico’s ancient bloodthirsty gods) on a secret asteroid base.<\/em><\/li>\n
  7. It’s a bad idea to make Libertarians angry (Freehold, Williamson). <\/b> This piece of Libertarian science fiction is sort of a Klingon’s version of utopia — justice served by dueling, armed citizens, and a highly efficient military.<\/em><\/li>\n
  8. It’s a bad idea to set your alarm clock for too early a time (Coyote, Steele). <\/b> One character wakes up early from cryosleep and has to spend the rest of his life alone on a starship.<\/em><\/li>\n
  9. Never take your wedding ring off (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Donaldson). <\/b>In this story about a modern day leper, we find that a white gold wedding ring has enough power to stop all the forces of evil.<\/em><\/li>\n
  10. Cats are telepathic (On Basilisk Station, Weber). <\/b>Specifically, the book is referring to a race of six limbed tree cats. But you know the regular ones are telepathic also.<\/em><\/li>\n
  11. Puns are magic (A Spell for Chameleon, Anthony).<\/b> I probably read 10 books from this pun-based fantasy series.<\/em><\/li>\n
  12. Those secret Vatican organizations? They’re here to help (Carpe Demon, Kenner). <\/b>These books are about what Buffy the Vampire Slayer would be like if she grew up, had kids, and lived in the burbs. The heroine works with a secret demon-fighting organization in the Vatican called Forza Scura.<\/em><\/li>\n
  13. Make sure you have good health insurance (War of the Worlds, Wells). <\/b>The big powerful aliens with their war machines all died from the common cold. Apparently, they didn’t even have an HMO.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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