A Nod to Nothing: March/April 2020 Reading

4/30/2020: Food of the Gods by Cassandra Khaw - rolls up all four Rupert Wong books (the cannibal chef).
4/29/2020: Food of the Gods by Cassandra Khaw - rolls up all four Rupert Wong books (the cannibal chef).
4/28/2020: (actually read 5/7, playing a little catch up). "Ahmaud Arbery Should Be Alive" by Jamil Smith. "Convicting his killers is the start. But the family of this modern lynching victim can’t have justice in a country with laws that protect white people who kill black people."
- “Nothing that our legal system can do outpaces the efficiency of racism when it comes to delivering consequences.”
- “Open-carry must be abolished. Stand-your-ground has to go. State codes that allow citizens to arrest people? Those are golden tickets for lynchings. They should be relics of an America that should embarrass us.”
4/27/2020: "How to prepare for big data projects: 6 key elements of a successful strategy" - Techrepublic.

A thorough understanding of present and future business questions the data is expected to yield answers for.
Data centralization (...maybe)
ID data sources to feed central repository
ID future data sources
Defined data prep methodology – extract, transformed, loaded

Effective data prep tools
4/26/2020: "On the Day You Spend Forever" by Adam R. Shannon. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/25/2020: "Godmeat" by Maritn Cahill. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/24/2020: "Skinned" by Lesley Nneka Arimah. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/23/2020: "Dead Air" by Nino Cipri. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/22/2020: "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth" by Daryl Gregory. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/21/2020: "What Gentle Women Dare" by Kelly Robson The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/20/2020: "STET" by Sarah Gailey: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

My least favorite so far....I get the angle around autonomous cars and the value of life, but didn't like it.

4/19/2020: "Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung" by Usamn Malik: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Extremely Cthulhuesque. With snakes.

4/18/2020: "When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis" by Annalee Newitz: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Maybe my favorite so far...clever story about a small AI left on its own who bonds with a human and crows. Really embraces the centaur aspect of AI beyond just the human.

4/17/2020: "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington" by P. Djeli Clark: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/16/2020: THEMATIC THREAD: RELIGION IN HORROR - Richard had a bit on The Wicker Man. Check out Blood on Satan's Claw and Witchfinder General. Should be able to catch them on Shudder.
4/15/2020: "The Kite Maker" by Brenda Peynado: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

A bit District 9.

4/14/2020: " Sister Rosetta Thorpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good" by LaShawn M. Wanak: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Weird, hisorical, and really, really good.

4/13/2020: "Through the Flash" by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Reminded me a LOT of the Heaven, Inc. story I wrote 20 years ago.

4/12/2020: "Variations on a Theme from Turandot" by Ada Hoffman: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/11/2020: "Hard Mary" by Sofia Samatar: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Interesting dig into what makes an AI human....useful....part of a community.

4/10/2020: "Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women" by Theodore McCombs: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Particularly original

4/9/2020: "Poor Unfortunate Fools" by Silvia Park : The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor

Very little mermaid driven with a touch of The Newts.

4/8/2020: "The Storyteller's Replacement" by N.K. Jemisin: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/7/2020: "What Everyone Knows" by Seanan McGuire: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/6/2020: "Pitcher Plant" by Adam-Troy Casto: The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 (The Best American Series ®) - Carmen Maria Machado, Editor
4/5/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
4/4/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
4/3/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
4/2/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Methods and Functions (2 hours and 2 minutes)
4/1/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Statements (1 hour 15 minutes)
3/31/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Statements (1 hour 15 minutes)
3/30/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Comparison Operators (9 minutes)
3/29/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)
3/28/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)

3/27/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)
3/26/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Object and Data Structure Basics (2 hours 2 minutes)
3/25/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Python Setup (40 minutes)
3/24/2020: Udemy. Complete Python Bootcamp: Go from Zero to Hero in Python 3 - Course Overview (15 minutes)
3/23/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning) - enjoyable A bit on the YA side with a weird ending, but the reading of it was enjoyable. A bit of a scooby doo vibe (which they reference in the book).
3/22/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
3/21/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
3/20/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)

3/19/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
3/18/2020: The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (Good Mythical Morning)
3/17/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series) - loved this series. Recommended by Dave. The science fiction is deep hard scifi, almost to the extent you have to reread parts of it to understand what you just read. But overall I loved it - very different.
3/16/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
3/15/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
3/14/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
3/13/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
3/12/2020: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi (book 3 of the Jean LeFlambeur series)
3/11/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey - my apologies to Mr. Tobey but I hated it. I read the whole thing, but the self interest and how it moved situationally for characters made me sort of dislike every single one of them. And the AI didn't seem very smart or God-ish at all.

3/10/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/9/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/8/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/7/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/6/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/5/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/4/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/3/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/2/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey
3/1/2020: The God Game by Danny Tobey