Dubya Khan

According to the Guardian's Technology blog, the list of 20 Greatest Geek Novels has been released. I confess, with a strange mixture of pride and shame, that I've read 13 of the 20 novels. Does that make me 65% geek? Or is that 40%, since I only liked 8 of them? I'm guessing that the higher number is more accurate, or else I wouldn't be wondering about this at all.

The author of the post says he is "amazed Neal Stephenson didn't do better". Granted, Neal Stephenson is a prince among geeks, and he has written some incredible books. But he has three books on the list -- Snow Crash (#11), Cryptonomicon (#13), and The Diamond Age (#18). That's more than anyone else (Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick being tied for second with 2 books each). How much better was he supposed to do?

Finally, to leave you with a special closing thought for this Thanksgiving week, here's a photo of President Bush cheering democracy in Mongolia.

Go on, tell me that picture isn't funny. I dare you.

But seriously folks, Bush and the Mongols actually have a great deal in common: they're just simple country folk with a special talent for trashing Baghdad.