Galactic Pushovers
Posted by Sunday on Mar 11, 2008 at 9:25 pm in Daily SpaceAnyone up for some popular compliance? I don’t generally abide by these things, but since CmdrSue is an experienced space captain herself, I feel obliged.
It goes a little something like this:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.
I’m not sure about the tagging five other people part, because this is where memes come to die. We will, however, participate with the other four instructions.
Subspace
In silence they landed, and pushed through the blossom and scented herbage and undergrowth that led up to the level ground, till they stood on a little lawn of marvelous green, set round with Nature’s own orchard-trees — crabapple, wild cherry and sloe.
‘This is the place of my song-dream, the place the music played to me,’ whispered the Rat, as if in a trance. ‘Here in this holy place, here if anywhere, surely we will find Him!’
- The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
Halcyon
“We are, yes. But you see yourself that your acquaintances do not object to giving over their egg,” he said, glancing anxiously at the Kazilik pair, who indeed seemed unconcerned at being parted from their offspring. But Temeraire dismissed this with an impatient flick of his tail. “Of course they do not mind that, they know we will take care of the egg,” he said.
- The Black Powder War, by Naomi Novik
BattleGate
Queers have been worked over by the female Senders. The are a reminder of what the Senders can and will do unless they are stopped. Also many of them have sold out their bodies to Death, Inc. Their souls wouldn’t buy a paper of milk sugar shit.
-Interzone, by William S. Burroughs
Quagmire
If you have trouble walking, just look at your feet. The perspective’s a bitch, if you’re not used to it.”
They were standing in a broad street that seemed to be the floor of a deep slot or canyon, its either end concealed by subtle angles in the shops and buildings that formed its walls.- Neuromancer, by William Gibson
Aargh
“What about your house?” he asked.
“It was nothing like this,” she said. “We didn’t have a-”
“How did you protect your house?” he interrupted.- I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
In fact, the delimiters of the string could even be non-paired. These are all the same:
s{fred}{barney};
s[fred][barney];
s#barney#;
–Learning Perl by Randal L. Schwartz, Tom Phoenix & brian d foy
SuuuuuhWEEEEET! I almost asked you guys to just be my five and I can see now that my instincts were right - that is an awesome “almost story” of quotes. Now you can consider yourselves your own five. Thanks for playing.
And technically I’m not a Captain, I’m a First Officer. But I’ve been “Acting” ever since Captain Dave took off to start his Quasars cereal company and Marvin, the shipboard AI, refused to take command as he had been programmed to do.
(The really funny part of the above? All official USS Bob history. These items are from our historical documents “Return of the Prodigal Dave (The Dangers of Dirty Undies)” and “Who Axed Marvin?” You knew you liked me for a reason.)
Rob:
You know, we actually had a laugh here about how we generally have some kind of manual next to us and how lucky it was that we didn’t for this project. Now that I see yours, though, there’s a inexplicable humor to it.
CmdrSue:
i think an Acting Captain is a real Captain, according to ship law. For reals, isn’t that how it works? That you don’t stop being a Captain until you disembark the ship?
Today’s menu-builder often takes herself too seriously and tops off an impressive edifice with a disastrously rich dessert, forgetting that fresh fruit, with perhaps a cheese, would be a far happier conclusion of the meal for all concerned. Well worth exploiting, too, are the virtues of fruit–in either cup, compote, salad, or sherbet form–as a “lightener” during as well as after a big meal.
If fruits lack flavor, serve them or prepare them with candied peels, ginger, zest, or spices; or add a little lemon or lime juice to cooked fruits and fruit fillings.
-The Joy of Cooking 1975 Edition by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker
The fourth line in Aargh’s entry (I Am Legend) reads:
“By making two different endings … and by NOT placing the explosives so fucking close to the house, nimrod!”