Author: Lawrence Person

Lawrence Person is a science fiction writer living in Austin, Texas. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's, Analog, Postscripts, Jim Baen's Universe, Fear, and several anthologies. He also edits the Hugo-nominated SF critical magazine Nova Express, and runs the Turkey City Writer's Workshop. His non-fiction has appeared in National Review, Reason, Whole Earth Review, The Freeman, The World & I, Science Fiction Eye, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and Slashdot.org. He owns such a large library (mostly science fiction first editions) he had to buy a two-story house to put it in, and then adopted a golden retriever to drag him out of his house on a regular basis. He also makes a mean batch of salsa.

Rob Enderle Hits Bottom, Starts Digging

After years of shilling for Microsoft and predicting Apple’s demise, only to see Apple pass Microsoft in market cap, Rob Enderle finally changes his mind and admits that Apple’s success is due to superior attention to detail and producing products people actually want to use. Ha, just kidding. He says Apple’s success is due to… Continue reading Rob Enderle Hits Bottom, Starts Digging

7 Reasons LeBron James Could Join the Houston Rockets

With another Cleveland Cavaliers season ending in disappointment and LeBron James a free agent, there’s no end to the speculation as to where he’ll end up. Stay in Cleveland? Join the Bulls? Go to New York? Join the Clippers? (No, seriously, some are suggesting that.) The LeBron James Free Agency Saga has been considered from… Continue reading 7 Reasons LeBron James Could Join the Houston Rockets

Neal Barrett Jr.’s Author Emeritus Party

Since Austin’s own Neal Barrett, Jr. was named SFWA Author Emeritus for the 2009 Nebula Awards, FACT threw a party at Casa Siros to celebrate the occasion, with luminaries coming from as far away as Nacogdoches (Joe R. his ownself) to pay homage. Susan Wade, William Browning Spencer (occluded), Neal Barrett, Jr. (holding up the… Continue reading Neal Barrett Jr.’s Author Emeritus Party

Suck It Rob Enderle

Today Apple’s market capitalization passed Microsoft’s. From the mid-1990s death spiral to King of the Tech World following the return of Steve Jobs is perhaps the most impressive business turn-around story…well, possibly ever. In light of that, let’s take a moment to reflect on the awesome prognostication skills of one Rob Enderle, head of “The… Continue reading Suck It Rob Enderle

Frustrating Apple Mail 3.6/RR.com Problem

I have a technical problem I am unable to fix on my own. For some reason, Apple Mail (I’m on “Version 3.6 (936)”) has intermittently not sent email to some recipients from my lperson1@austin.rr.com account, a problem that started (I think) in late March. For a while I thought it might be rr.com’s fault, despite… Continue reading Frustrating Apple Mail 3.6/RR.com Problem

StarCraft II Due July 27 (or How I’ll Spend My Summer Vacation)

While I wasn’t looking, Blizzard announced the drop date for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. You know, the game I (and about ten million other people) have been waiting for for three years. It may come as a shock to some readers that I play video games, since I haven’t talked about it much here.… Continue reading StarCraft II Due July 27 (or How I’ll Spend My Summer Vacation)

Books Read: Paul Di Filippo’s Fractal Paisleys

Paul Di Filippo Fractal Paisleys Four Walls Eight Windows, 1997. I like both Paul and his work, but these stories are so wacky that you probably should read them betwixt other works; read one after another, they seem both too odd and a bit too similar. Overall Strange Trades is the most balanced and interesting… Continue reading Books Read: Paul Di Filippo’s Fractal Paisleys

The Science of Iron Man, and Other Disquisitions on Comic Book-to-Movie Adaptations

So Howard Waldrop and I reviewed Iron Man 2 over at Locus Online. (Executive Summary for the tl;dr crowd: If you liked the first one, you’ll like the second one.) But one point I touch on, albeit briefly, is the question of just how far you’re willing to embrace the looser standards of scientific plausibility… Continue reading The Science of Iron Man, and Other Disquisitions on Comic Book-to-Movie Adaptations

The Houston Texans are the Youngest Team in the NFL

Here’s an interesting breakdown of the average “adjusted” age (i.e., one that gives more weight to starters than backups, etc.) of every team in the NFL. The Texans, with an average age of 25.9 years, were the youngest team in the league. (The New England Patriots, at an average age of 28.7 years, were the… Continue reading The Houston Texans are the Youngest Team in the NFL