[Corin Stormhands]

Speaking of Harry Potter, Luke came home with two library books today, one from the Magic Tree House series and The Order of the Phoenix...because it's worth 44 points.

We suggested that we go back and start with the first one and we'll read it with him.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

So, how are you about ‘The Golden Compass’ book and movie. Has anyone actually read it? From what I’ve been reading it is an abomination, and certainly NOT for children.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Actually, when I was 11, the first book by my now-favorite author, Roger Zelazny, that I ever read was The Hand of Oberon, the fourth book in the original Amber series. I got it from the rather small SF/Fantasy section in our small town library.

A few months later, when I got to go to the nearest real bookstore (a B. Dalton's 100 miles away...) I bought every Zelazny paperback that looked like it might be a part of the series. Since I couldn't remember the titles that were in the series, I wound up with the four books that had been published up to that point, plus three other Zelazny books that had a similiar cover design.

I still have them all.

[300winmag]

I got an email about a half-price closeout on Trijicon iron sights. Not all models, but enough to make it interesting.

One major caveat: I've dealt with this company before. They have an extremely bad record for customer service. Mostly, if an item is not in stock, they never tell you, and you never see your money again. If an item is in stock, the deals are usually super.

I also have to add that they appear to be improving their service slightly. It took them only one week to answer my email, and say that an item was on backorder. I'll cut them some slack because I haven't been severely burned by them in the past, and the deals can really be great if they have the stuff.

Trijicon night sights clearance sale

[Rose in RoseBear]

When I was six, I'd read all the Nancy Drews and Bobbsey Twins and Pippi Longstockings and Curious Georges and Babars. A librarian, probably tired of watching me just flipping through books I'd already checked out, pointed me at the science fiction shelf. I came home with Robert Heinlein and Andre Norton and Dr. Alan Nourse ... heaven help me, I'm still warped.