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I don’t normally blog from work but this morning’s mail contained a decision from the state Supreme Court on what is probably the biggest case I’ve argued there. The Court ruled in our favor, finding the state’s current tax on insurance premiums constitutional. Why is that important? The premium tax brings in $50 to $60 million a year and accounts for about five percent of the total tax revenues. Not only did we prevail on that issue, we got the decision within three months after the last brief was filed and just seven weeks after oral argument.
This case has flown under the radar since it got started and while I don’t normally discuss cases in which I am involved, this one is too big to let pass unmentioned here. Besides, I figure I won’t get much work done today now anyway. And for what it’s worth, today’s closing quote is what every lawyer appealing to the Supreme Court wants to read.
The State appeals, and we reverse.
Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Kinsman
I planned on getting some posting done this week, starting after I got home from work Monday night. So, I turned on the desktop PC and….. nothing. It would not boot up.
Long story short, it is now in the shop in the hopes that at least some data on the hard drive is recoverable. Of course, I do have a backup — from August of last year.
That’s indicative of a good news-bad news situation. The August backup allowed me to restore at least that part of my wife’s e-mail address book on another desktop we have at home, although it doesn’t help with the various information in e-mails sent to my ISP-provided addresses I’d saved in Outlook Express. Likewise, while I have a more recent backup of our Quicken data, I no longer have the installation disc, meaning I have to go out and buy the new (and very overpriced) version. Finally, although my password program from the desktop is inaccessible, I had many of them in the same program on my laptop so was able to get them from one to the other.
Still, most of my evenings this week have been and will be spent slowly trying to get things back to normal on the home desktop front. Thus, bloggus interruptus strikes again, although I do plan to at least get up a post or two as time allows.
Look, Dave, I can see you’re really upset about this.
HAL the computer, 2001 – A Space Odyssey
Catching up from my travels, I see a variety of SF-related book award news.
First, the Hugo Award finalists were announced. I’ve actually read four of the five finalists for best novel: Brasyl by Ian McDonald, Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer, The Last Colony by John Scalzi and Halting State by Charles Stross. The only one I haven’t read is The Yiddish Policeman’s Union by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon.
Nominee Robert Sawyer makes the interesting observation that all the authors are children of the 60s. The list of finalists for all the various Hugo awards is here.
Another shortlist announced this weekend was for the Prometheus Awards, given annually to celebrate libertarian fiction. I’ve only read one of the five finalists, The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod.
Braysl‘s Hugo finalist status comes the same weekend it won the best novel category in the BFSA Awards. Also over the weekend, Nova Swing by M. John Harrison won the Philip K. Dick Award. Given that it also won the 2007 Arthur C. Clarke Award, I may have to add it to my “one of these days” list.
SF is an opportunity to have an intense relationship with your own imagination.
M. John Harrison
A couple years ago I read a blog post somewhere about looking back on points in your life and wondering if or how things may have turned out different had you made a different choice. As we think about it, it’s amazing how seemingly insignificant some of the decisions appear at the time. For example, had I rented the other apartment I looked at in 1980 would I have met my wife (who was my next door neighbor where I did rent)?
That blog post has been in my mind the last several days because my oldest daughter is approaching significant crossroads. She applied at what she considered the four best schools for the graduate program she wants to pursue, hoping to get into one or two. She was accepted and offered a graduate assistantship at all four. The winnowing process leads to our current trip to Indiana University.
Part of me is envious of her being able to start on another branch of the road to the future. Yet an even larger part shares the trepidation she must feel making a decision she knows will unquestionably impact the balance of her life. Some factors are objective, such as the type of emphasis the program may have or the financial aid package that’s offered. Yet the choice ultimately is made up largely of intangibles. What kind of “feel” do you get from the faculty and current students? How does the community strike you? Is this too close to or too far from home or where she wants to end up?
You also wonder if there is anything to the concept of fate or predestination. Are some of our major decisions just part of a script that’s been written for us? I tend to think not and still occasionally wonder where I would be today had I, for example, taken that job as the education beat reporter in Independence, Mo., some 25+ years ago. At least the rear view mirror provides an advantage my daughter doesn’t have. I know where I’ve been, not wondering where in the world I will end up.
And the world is busting at its seams
And you’re just a prisoner of your dreams
“Night,” Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run
The travel mentioned in my last post kept me away from the news. Thus, I was extremely saddened and surprised to see this afternoon that Arthur C. Clarke died. It was only three months ago that he celebrated his 90th birthday. As I said then, Clarke was instrumental in helping create my longstanding interest in science fiction.
But as you will see from the various news stories and obituaries, Sir Arthur was so much more than just a science fiction writer. Many of his ideas — whether expressed in fiction or nonfiction — impacted our world. I can’t really improve on some of the excellent pieces that are out in the mainstream press and on the internet that examine these aspects of Clarke and his life.
There is one small glimmer in the sad news, though. Clarke’s latest (and now last) novel will be published later this year.
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Arthur C. Clarke
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