It's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it

Currently reading Altered Carbon, and I see know why I keep getting recommendations based on my reading habits. It's set in a future of downloadable consciousness, custom-built bodies, and ansible communications but not much in the way of faster-than-light travel. It's a mystery set in a San Francisco of the future, where the narrator is a UN-trained special forces agent gone rogue, hired to rent a body and investigate the murder of a super-rich dude that is more than it seems.

A couple years ago, there was the New Space Opera, of which Revelation Space is perhaps my favorite. I haven't heard as much about it lately--science does come in waves and so perhaps we're gearing up for the New New Speculative Fiction. Or the New Cruelty. Not sure. I still like the New Space Opera in some ways--bigger than life, a bit of the old explodo when needed.

Speaking of the city by the Bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps, something on the radio this morning reminded me of the Urban Iditarod. I was in San Francisco at this time last year, and just happened to catch the running of this.

We were walking down the street, and four guys in dog outfits run by, dragging a shopping cart. "Huh," we said. "That's weird." Then another cart came barrelling by. And another. Looking down the street, there were hundreds of teams, dressed in a wide variety of outfits and being escorted by the police. It was probably one of the funniest things I've ever seen.