BL> to a fury, clockwise here in the Southern Hemisphere, and
BL> backwards where you are, upside down.

RB> ;-)

BL> Hurricanes and toilet bowls suffer the same rotating force.

RB> Although that's true in principle, I believe that water
RB> swirling out of a bath, for example, is so likely to be thrown
RB> off course by minor variations in shape of outlet and things
RB> like that that the Coriolis effect is swamped.

 Pedant!

 Personally, I like the idea of my toilet bowl and Cyclone Tracey
having the same parent... but then, I'm half-Irish.

 I'm reading THE CONFUSION by Neal Stephenson, a sort-of historical
novel set at the turn of the 17th Century, and it's amazing...
Corsairs, Spanish gold and pirates, high finance, the Perils of
Pauline, French spies... you name it, Stephenson has mastered it! He's
not only too-educated, clever and erudite - he's funny!

 So how did someone so good get in under my radar? He's written
earlier books, so I looked him up at the local library and Lo! - I
know him; he wrote an SF marvel called SNOW CRASH, years ago...

 SNOW CRASH is a sort-of William Gibson insane world that makes
sense. Stephenson starts from the premise that the only thing America
does really well, is fast-delivery pizza. In the future, everything
else has been moved offshore. They have privatised the Army and the
CIA, and the Mafia has taken over pizza delivery. In case you're
wondering... it's a satire. How weird is that - an American who does
Monty Python?

 The reason I lost track of Stephenson is that he doesn't write SF
any more; he's switched to cryptography and history, and *huge* books
full of information and funny people. For once, I don't feel the loss.
This guy is a genius - and to prove it he's written *two* books at
once, interleaving them - hence the name (Confusion... con-fusion -
get it?).    

Regards,
Bob


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