books

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Rick Mc

I enjoyed the first book by Black Crouch I’d read – Dark Matter. (2016)

Recursion is my second. Another weird and wild science fiction novel.

This time it’s a world where an increasing number of people are suffering False Memory Syndrome.

Some vividly recall their lives differently. Different spouse. Different kids.

It drives some to madness and suicide.

Turns out a scientist named Helena Smith has discovered a way to go back in time to correct mistakes they made in the past.

However — as in the Butterfly Effect — the timeline of humanity changes. Sometimes drastically.

But people can still recall their former live(s).

As a plot device it’s interesting. But makes no real sense.

I enjoyed it and plan to read more Crouch.

TV

Black Space – season 1

Rick Mc

Intense.

Very watchable.

A rogue detective with unorthodox means leads an investigation into a massacre committed by unicorn mask-wearing assassins at an Israeli high school.

Guri Alfi is very good as the troubled detective.

Black Space refers to a fictitious Israeli social media text app using phone service.

The plot is not believable, however. It would have been easy to narrow down the list of possible shooters if they had made any effort.

Reviews have been mixed. But there will be a season 2.

books, movies, TV

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell

Rick Mc

In 2002 Mankell published Before the Frost as the first in a 3-book series with Linda Wallander as the main character, rather than her father.

However Mankell abandoned the series after just one novel when the actress playing Linda in the Swedish films, Johanna Sällström, committed suicide in 2007.

Linda Wallander is bored. Just graduated from the police academy, she is waiting to start work at the Ystad police station and move into her own apartment. Meantime, she is living with her father and, like fathers and daughters everywhere, they are driving each other crazy. …

Linda’s boredom doesn’t last long. Soon she is embroiled in the case of her childhood friend Anna, who has inexplicably disappeared.  …

Like other Mankell books, this one involves a cult. A survivor of the  Jonestown massacre in Guyana 1978 returns to Sweden organizing his own death cult.

Apple, hiking, photos, video

Flash Drive Back-up for iPhone

Rick Mc

For my purposes, an iPhone X (for example) is better in many ways than a dedicated camera like the Sony ZV-1.

I want 4K video at 60 frames / second. The iPhone does that. The Sony doesn’t.

One BIG downside of using your camera for video is running out of storage.

But I solved that with the purchase of a tiny SanDisk 256GB iXpand Flash Drive Go for iPhone CAD $82.

It works well and quickly to back-up all your photos and videos, freeing space to take more.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

books

Firewall by Henning Mankell

Rick Mc

Firewall is the 9th book in the Wallander series, chronologically.

It’s good.

A series of bizarre incidents sweep across Sweden: a man dies in front of an ATM, two young women slaughter an elderly taxi driver, a murder is committed aboard a Baltic Sea ferry, and a sub-station engineer makes a gruesome discovery while investigating the cause of a nationwide power cut. As Wallander investigates, he uncovers a sinister plan …

The major background theme around which the action takes place is the dilemma of the Western economic system versus poverty. …

Wikipedia
economics, ethics, government

Should BILLIONAIRE$ pay less tax than YOU?

Rick Mc

Someone in the American IRS leaked to Propublica:

  • Warren Buffett ~ 0.10% true tax rate
  • Jeff Bezos ~ 0.98% true tax rate
  • Michael Bloomberg ~ 01.30% true tax rate
  • Elon Musk ~ 3.27% true tax rate

What’s your true tax rate?

American politicians write complicated tax laws which result in loopholes used by the richest donors.

BUT — can it be fixed?

The best summary of the issue I’ve seen is the second podcast in this list.

Policing and the New York Mayoral Race – The Daily

In the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, a central question of the New York City mayoral contest has become: Is New York safer with more or fewer police officers?Today, we see this tension play out in a single household, between Yumi Mannarelli and her mother, Misako Shimada.Guests: Misako Shimada and Yumi Mannarelli, a mother and daughter who live in New York City. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The New York City mayoral race has been fluid, but the centrality of crime and policing has remained constant. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
  1. Policing and the New York Mayoral Race
  2. A Crucial Voting Rights Decision
  3. The Sunday Read: ‘Finding My Father’
  4. Day X, Part 4: Franco A.
  5. The Transformation of Ralph Northam
books

Bloomsday Dead by Adrian McKinty

Rick Mc

Bloomsday Dead is the 3rd book in McKinty‘s Michael Forsythe Trilogy.

Though he’s one of my favourite writers, the Michael Forsythe series is too violent for me. I was surprised I got through this one.

… living in Lima, reasonably well-hidden by the FBI’s Witness Protection Program, but Bridget Callaghan, whose fiancé he murdered twelve years ago, has an enduring wish to see him dead.

So when her two assassins pass him the phone to speak to her before they kill him, Michael thinks she just wants to relish the moment. In fact, out of desperation, she is giving him a chance to redeem himself.

All he has to do is return to Ireland and find her missing daughter.

Before midnight.

officialadrianmckinty.com

hiking

West Coast Trail after the pandemic

Rick Mc

For the next couple of weeks I’ll be mostly disconnected from the internet attempting a West Coast Trail YOYO.

Hiking the trail. Resupply. Then hiking back to where I started.

June 10 starting SE from Bamfield.

June 15 starting NW from Port Renfrew. UPDATE – I quit after my first crossing, due to minor injuries and gear problems. Rescheduling part 2 for July.

TV

The Bay – season 2

Rick Mc

More intense than season 1, but still well worth watching.

Detective Constable Lisa Armstrong was suspended. But is brought back with a demotion.

A lawyer is murdered at his front door. In front of his 10-year-old son.

Shocking.

Solving the murder is the main plot line. But secondary stories are more interesting. And there are quite a few.

Lisa’s ex-husband Andy shows up, for example. That’s a drama.

Again — the acting is good.

I’ll quit here as Morven Christie is leaving before season 3. She’s been the main reason I watched.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

books

The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries

Rick Mc

I tried book #1 in the Mrs. Jeffries series by American author Cheryl Lanham under the pseudonym, Emily Brightwell.

And easy, fun read.

It was written 1993.

There are dozens of sequels.

The central character of this cozy historical mystery series is Mrs. Jeffries, who is a housekeeper by profession and along with her staff, secretly helps Inspector Witherspoon of the Scotland Yard to solve the murder mysteries taking place in and around Victoria, England.

In fact, Witherspoon is a nice guy. Well meaning. But basically slow witted. His housekeeper and staff do a lot of the investigating for him.

A cute premise.

I don’t need to continue, however.