Jay Lake: Writer

[links] Link salad drives that hot rod Lincoln

The frequent fliers who flew too much — Many years after selling lifetime passes for unlimited first-class travel, American Airlines began scrutinizing the costs — and the customers.

Eating Well Without the Flavor of Shame — Diet and flavor. Interesting.

The Quantum Biology Conundrum — If quantum mechanics plays an important role in biology, we’ll want to copy it. If it doesn’t, we’ll want to know why not.

Jewel Caterpillar — Weirdly beautiful. (Via willyumtx.)

Light from Alien Super-Earth Seen for 1st Time — This is so damned cool.

Unmanned vessel could soon be working for Navy — What could possibly go wrong!? (Via David Goldman.)

Methane Leaking through the Cracks — The fragile and rapidly changing Arctic is home to large reservoirs of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. As Earth’s climate warms, that methane is vulnerable to possible release into the atmosphere, where it can add to global warming. Once again, the natural world joins in the liberal conspiracy that is global warming.

Jon Stewart, Religion Teacher Extraordinaire — (Snurched from Scrivener’s Error.)

The Myth About Marriage — Those who do not want to let gay partners have the sacredness of sacramental marriage are relying on a Scholastic fiction of the thirteenth century to play with people’s lives. Walking through Seatac Airport this morning, I caught thirty seconds of some Christianist talking head desperately clinging to the notion that marriage was between one man and one woman, and had been so for five thousand years of human history. (My slight paraphrase.) Taking that statement in purely religious terms, I’m an atheist, and even I know King Solomon had more than a few wives, and that modern religious traditions from Islam to Mormonism support polygamy. In other words, his statement was blatant, knowing lie. What the Bible likes to call false witness, right there in the Ten Commandments. Why do the Liars for Jesus get to on television and spread this counterfactual crap in support of their personal bigotry?

Obama says same-sex couples should be able to marry — This is what being a liberal-progressive means. Standing up for what is right regardless of the bigotry and intolerance of others. Conservatives were wrong about slavery. They were wrong about women’s suffrage. They were wrong about child labor. They were wrong about segregation. They were wrong about interracial marriage. They were wrong about birth control. And just as they’ve been on the wrong side of every major social issue of the past two centuries, conservatives are wrong, dead wrong, about gay marriage. I’m glad to see our leader leading from the front. Slacktivist Fred Clark with a good link roundup on this.

White House Tours Do Not Require Fetuses To Be Counted As Full Humans — The fact that this is even a story is further evidence that conservatives are basically nuts.

Bipartisanship Is a Lost Cause — I still remember Barney Frank’s comment about “unilateral bipartisanship“.

?otd: Gonna drive your daddy to drink in’?

5/10/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (brain break)
Body movement: n/a (airport walking to come)
Hours slept: 4.25 (fitful, and yes, that is not a typo)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton

Tags: climate, Cool, Food, gay, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Religion, Science, Tech, Travel, weird

Posted: 4:44 am Thu May 10 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad has never been more ready in its entire life

One in six cancers worldwide are caused by infection

Bandersnatch Cummerbund: not a typo, not a cupertino — Hahahah.

An Economic Lifeline of Barley and Hops — An interesting story about beer and small town economics in rural Oregon.

Abraham Lincoln Filed a Patent for Facebook in 1845 — As it were. Weird. (Via danjite.)

Space weather expert has ominous forecast — Mike Hapgood, who studies solar events, says the world isn’t prepared for a truly damaging storm. And one could happen soon.

Pacific ‘garbage patch’ changing insect mating habits

Physicists Store Short Movie In A Cloud of Gas — Sometimes the jokes just write themselves. (Though this is in fact a cool science story.)

Shuttle Enterprise Over New York — Very nice photo from APOD.

NC pastor created lies about gay sex because of his ‘religious views’ — This is why ‘real Americans’ vote Republican – for the moral leadership provided by conservatives. What are a few bald-faced lies so long as they validate your worldview, right? That bit about bearing false witness in the Ten Commandments isn’t nearly as important as God’s hatred of gay people, right?

North Carolina voters approve amendment defining marriage as union between a man and woman — Another victory in the conservative march toward a closed and intolerant society. I really don’t want to live in their America. Do you?

Moving the economic goalposts — But the other concern here is historical — over the last three decades, the unemployment rate has dipped below 4% just four times out of 496 months. Each of those four months was during Bill Clinton’s presidency. In other words, Romney’s goal was achieved, but only after a Democratic president raised taxes in 1993. Ah, conservatives and their cherished ignorance of history.

The Opportunity Society — Does Tagg Romney actually believe that his dad had nothing to do with his successful entry into the private equity game, and the millions he has made and will continue to make are the result only of his own merit? That his life is radically different from those of the millions of people struggling to get by only because they don’t work as hard as he does, or have his gumption and entrepreneurial spirit? (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Romney: I Take Credit for the Auto Rescue — Wow. He’s not even pretending to consistency any more. This would be the same Mitt Romney who wanted to let the automakers fail, right? Good thing for him that likely Republican voters are largely divorced from reality and will fall for the Etch-a-Sketch routine every time. It must be nice to have a low-information, ideologically blinkered base like the GOP does. Helps avoid those pesky requirements for accountability and consistency.

?otd: Could it be nice to be alive?

5/9/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (brain break)
Body movement: 1.0 hour urban walk
Hours slept: 6.25 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton

Tags: business, Cancer, Cool, Culture, Food, Funny, gay, healthcare, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, Science, sex, Tech, weird

Posted: 5:47 am Wed May 09 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad hangs out in Seattle

Non Sequitur on the glamor that is publishing

Terminally Illin’: A Graphic Novel About a 20-Something Battling Cancer — Yeah, this. (Via mikigarrison.)

Something in the prehistoric air that helped keep it warm – methane from dinosaur digestion

Google gets a license for self-driving cars in Nevada

Radio-Controlled Genes — Radio waves can be used to activate calcium-sensitive genes by heating injected nanoparticles.

So you’re a cyborg — now what? — The brain and information technology.

Do as I Do, Not as I Say — An interesting essay on the differences in thinking between conservative Evangelicals and secular liberals. Unfortunately, the author doesn’t at all address the pervasive intellectual dishonesty, shrieking bigotry and gospel of hatred that are so deeply entwined in the Evangelical movement, but rather seems to idealize the movement.

Advocates of same-sex marriage in Maryland hope to break losing streak — Speaking of shrieking bigotry and the gospel of hatred.

Don’t blame the Bible — Many in North Carolina — many around the country — are swimming against the tide of human freedom and blaming God for it. Again, this is not a new thing. We saw it back when God was for segregation and against women’s suffrage.

The most, and least, safe states in America — Amazingly enough, those law-and-order Red states full of gun toting’ “real Americans” are the least safe. All us unarmed coastal liberals live in better, safer conditions. I’m sure Rush Limbaugh can explain this.

Mitt Romney Was Arrested For Disorderly Conduct In 1981 — The charges were dropped after Romney threatened to sue. Yeah, that works so well for most of us. Can you say ‘entitlement’?

Treason? — At live event, Romney doesn’t dispute questioners suggestion that President Obama should be tried for treason. A bit later, in response to reporters’ questions, he said “of course” he doesn’t believe the president should be tried for treason. Wow, the Romeny Etch-a-Sketch is operating in near realtime. Wonder what Your Liberal Media is saying about this?

Obama’s Afghan war unhindered by partisan fights — “Should Mitt Romney win the election,” he observed, he doubts many on the left “who have refrained from criticizing President Obama for such things as the use of drones will extend the same courtesy” to Romney. Sigh.

?otd: Been to University Books lately?

5/8/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (0.75 hours and 1,400 words on Their Currents Turn Awry to first draft completion at 149,100 words; 1.25 hours of WRPA)
Body movement: 1.0 hour urban walk
Hours slept: 7.0 (fitful)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton

Tags: Cancer, cars, Cool, Culture, Funny, gay, healthcare, Iraq, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech

Posted: 5:31 am Tue May 08 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad changes color like the sea

Steampunk weapons in real life — Or possibly dieselpunk. From Russia, with weird. (Via danjite.)

A Word Heard Often, Except at the Supreme Court — Fuck no! (Snurched from Scrivener’s Error.)

Organic Soda ‘Made in Germany’ Takes on the World — German reader Cora Buhlert passes on this story of localization and globalization in a comment response to my recent mentions of non-USAnian snack foods. And I do agree with her assessment of USAnian snack foods.

Gesture Control System Uses Sound Alone — SoundWave lets an ordinary laptop function like a Kinect sensor. Though I do wonder why this story about an experimental project from Microsoft shows an Apple MacBook in the accompanying photo.

NASA uses moon as mirror to watch Venus transit sun

Ouarkziz Impact Crater, Algeria — A spiffy skiffy photo from NASA’s Earth Observatory.

Sarkozy’s Loss in Part due to his Islamophobia — Interesting how his rhetoric so closely parallels American conservative rhetoric on immigration and crime.

Howard Dean: Women, Latinos “terrified” of GOP — “Women are terrified of what the Republicans are talking about. They’re talking about basically stripping away their ability to have insurance pay for their birth control pills,” Dean said on “Face the Nation.” “Latinos are terrified of the Republicans, because they seem to have a total tin ear when it comes to the basic needs of treating people with dignity.” Gee, I can’t imagine why this would be so.

Heartland Justice — Iowa, gay marriage, and the casually cruel intolerance of conservatives.

Biden endorses same-sex marriage, White House tries to take it back — And the open, tolerant society gets a walk back from the Democratic White House. Way to stand up for progressive principles, guys. One of the reasons I’m a liberal-progressive is that we’re morally better than the haters. Don’t play to them.

?otd: Does the sea not change?

5/7/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.5 hours (5,700 words on Their Currents Turn Awry)
Body movement: 0.5 hour stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.0 (solid)
Weight: 240.2 (!)
Currently reading: The Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie

Tags: Cool, Food, gay, gender, Language, Links, Personal, Photos, Politics, race, Religion, Science, steampunk, Tech, weird

Posted: 4:54 am Mon May 07 2012 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad’s flag boy and your flag boy, sittin’ by the fire

Angelesen: Die Räder der Welt (Jay Lake) — What appears to be a positive review of the German language edition of Mainspring.

A natural history — Roger Ebert with a moving essay on growing up, and lost friends.

“Crab” chips, fruity Oreos? They’re big overseas — More on on-USAnian flavors. Snack food crack for me is Maui onion flavored Hawaiian kettle chips in creamy French onion dip.

Tornado near Tokyo kills 1, injures dozens — I’m always a bit surprised when I read about tornadoes outside the North American Great Plains.

Reminders of Secular Authority Reduce Believers’ Distrust of Atheists — Many of my Christian friends seem to have grown fond of the self-valorizing myth that they are being oppressed or persecuted in modern America, but it is still true that atheists poll at the bottom of trustworthiness. Amazing, the power we secular types have as a small and least-trusted percentage of the population.

The ‘Big Four’ markers of the evangelical tribe — Slacktivist Fred Clark with some fascinating social history of the Evangelical movement.

Family Battle Offers Look Inside Lavish TV Ministry — This is precisely what our country needs more of, not those godless, immoral liberals.

Biden on gay marriage: ‘Absolutely comfortable with men marrying men, women marrying women’ — Good. As it should be, assuming you value an open, tolerant society. Which conservatives explicitly do not. Another of the many, many reasons I can never be a conservative.

Republicans! Get in my vagina! — Very sarcastic video, funny as hell decidedly not worksafe. (Via willyumtx.)

The Right-Wing’s 20 Biggest Sex Hypocrites — The ones who scream the loudest about how godly they are often turn out to be the exact opposite. Only twenty? But, but, but, Clinton had a blow job! (Via danjite.)

How to End This Depression — Paul Krugman is, as usual, sensible.

Republicans on ‘Politicizing’ Terrorism, Then and Now — Well, it was fine when Bush did it, just not when Obama does it. Like so many other things. Just ask any Tea Partier about deficit spending, foreign wars or corporate bailouts. Those only became a problem for conservatives after an African-American progressive was elected to the Oval Office. The GOP: setting the standards for intellectual consistency in political discourse since, well, never.

Schwarzenegger: GOP, take down that small tent — You didn’t mind that ‘small tent’ when it got you elected, Arnie. I despise so-called moderate Republicans almost more than I despise the whackaloon conservatives that dominate the GOP these days, simply because while in a lot of cases the whackaloons really can’t seem to help being who they are, the Republican moderates are people who know better and went along with the nuts anyway for electoral advantage.

Historic campaign collision of race and religion likely to arouse both pride and prejudice — Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney, an African-American and a white Mormon, representatives of two groups and that have endured oppression to carve out a place in the United States. How much progress has America made against bigotry? By November, we should have some idea. Hint: which man is running from a party that has built and sustains its political fortunes foursquare on bigotry and intolerance?

?otd: Jockamo fee na nay?

5/6/2012
Writing time yesterday: 3.5 hours (2.5 hours and 5,600 words on Their Currents Turn Awry, 1.0 hours of WRPA)
Body movement: 1.5 hour suburban walk
Hours slept: 9.25 (solid)
Weight: 240.0 (!)
Currently reading: The Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie

Tags: Books, business, Christianism, Culture, Food, gay, gender, Japan, Links, Mainspring, Personal, Politics, race, Religion, reviews, sex, Videos, weird

Posted: 9:38 am Sun May 06 2012 | Comments(4) |

[links] Link salad’s man MCA’s got a beard like a billy goat

Making Progress Against Clutter — This has nothing to do with me. Nothing whatsoever. Nosirree, Bob.

The Surprising Shortcut to Better Health — A discussion of body movement which happens to dovetail well with my own exercise strategy.

Grief in the Time of Facebook

Map’s Hidden Marks Illuminate and Deepen Mystery of Lost Colony — Virginia Dare, where are you?

11 Rivers Forced Underground — A cool piece from National Geographic. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

‘Supermoon’: Large Full Moon Tonight — For all you skywatchers.

Full Moonrise — Speaking of the moon…

Heartland Institute compares belief in global warming to mass murder — US thinktank launches poster campaign comparing Unabomber and Osama Bin Laden to those concerned about global warming. I don’t even know where to begin with this. Heartland Institute’s logic for this is identical to saying Hitler was a Christian, therefore to believe in Jesus is equivalent to Nazism. As is so often the case with conservative causes, they fail on the merits and so resort to sensationalism. Also, I disagree with the headline. It misleads in implying that climate change is an article of faith rather than objective reality overwhelmingly supported by both data and theory and a nearly-universal scientific consensus. “Believing” in global warming is like “believing” in gravity. (Thanks to gummitch.)

Never forget — Never forget…Dorothy Counts being mocked by an entirely white audience on enrollment day at Harding High School. September 4th, 1957. It’s moments like this that make me ashamed to be white.

Tagg Romney has twin boys through surrogate — Good for them. But, um, isn’t this pretty unconservative?

Missouri Republican Rep After Coming Out As Gay: “It’s A Moment Of Peace” — Man, do I feel sorry for this guy. To be a gay Republican these days must be an intolerable tension.

Love the people, hate the plumbing — Hahaha. As tipster Gabrielle Harbowy points out, “This is what happens when aggregator bots repost any mentions of their keywords, without human audit. You get a plumbing news site accidentally promoting a queer sf book when the author’s “love the people, not the plumbing” post is retweeted.”

North Carolina Pastor Sean Harris: Parents Should ‘Punch’ Their Gay-Acting Children — Ah, conservative Christians. You shall know them by their love.

American lifespan by county — Tobias Buckell talks about the gaps in American life. I’d be very interested in a map overlaying this data with political affiliation. I’m pretty sure I know what it would show.

No Separation of Church and State, Say Conservatives (Except on Health Care, Food, and Other Jesusy Things Like Peace) — Conservatives respond to the culture war by asserting that we’re a Christian nation with the can’t-miss implication that our government (when not highjacked by liberals) is godly, founded by Christian men, with laws and freedoms based on Judeo-Christian principle. I know these positions well, having grown up in conservative circles. But when it comes time for the government to act in ways congruent with Christianity, like feeding the hungry (food stamps) or caring for the sick (health care), conservatives grimace, play the small government and personal responsibility card, and argue that we can’t have government in the role of the church. So which is it? (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Do Nothings and Know Nothings — More on Republicans in Congress.

?otd: What’s up with your bad breath? Onion rings?

5/5/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.75 hours (3,900 words on Their Currents Turn Awry)
Body movement: 2.0 hour suburban walk
Hours slept: 8.5 (fitful)
Weight: n/a (forgot)
Currently reading: The Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie

Tags: climate, Cool, Culture, Funny, gay, health, history, Links, Personal, Photos, race, Religion, Science, sex

Posted: 8:25 am Sat May 05 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad has been hauled away by Mr. Peabody’s coal train

More Bad Book Covers — A blogger takes umbrage with book covers on one my Tor books, and one of Seanan McGuire’s books.

Fine-tuning Nanotech to Target Cancer — Programmable nanoparticles have shown promise in early cancer trials, and may finally fulfill the promise of nanomedicine.

Freezing Time — Targeting the briefest moment in chemistry may lead to an exceptionally strong new class of drugs. Wow, does that headline sound like a story title.

Oldest human blood cells found in well-preserved ‘iceman,’ say scientists — Oldest human blood cells: Discovered in 1991, the body of a man who was felled by an arrow in the Alps some 5,300 years ago still has intact red blood cells, scientists have discovered.

10 strange fast food items abroad — Strange from a USAnian perspective, of course.

Finally, a Shark With a Laser — Because sometimes life just has to imitate art.

1859′s “Great Auroral Storm”—the week the Sun touched the earth

A Mélange of Ice — What a beautiful photo.

Student left in cell 4 days recalls hallucinations — The War on Drugs, keeping you safer since, well, never.

The Self-Made Myth: Debunking Conservatives’ Favorite — And Most Dangerous — Fiction

Wife Of NC Amendment One Supporter: Husband Wrote Bill To Preserve ‘Caucasian Race’ — Ah, conservatives. Your racism and homophobia are just part of what makes us all love you so much. There is simply no liberal equivalent to this kind of institutionalized Republican lunacy, not outside the far fringes of the progressive movement.

Chris Christie’s Liabilities as GOP Running Mate — Heh.

‘Hyperpartisan discussion’ ends gay spokesman’s stint with Romney — I continue to be fascinated by this story, mostly in wondering about the psychological train wreck that is any gay American working for the Republican party as it is constituted today.

?otd: Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County, down by the Green River where Paradise lay?

5/3/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (2,600 words on Their Currents Turn Awry)
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 8.0 (fitful)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: The Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie

Tags: Art, Books, Cancer, Cool, Food, gay, health, Links, nature, Personal, Photos, Politics, race, Science, weird

Posted: 4:37 am Thu May 03 2012 | Comments(4) |

[links] Link salad beholds the Underminer

Ruling: Jesus doesn’t heal cancer — Also, this just in: Water is wet. Not offensive so much as offensively stupid, and life-threateningly dangerous to ailing people foolish or desperate enough to place their hope in this. Spiritual seeking can be an important part of healing, but confusing it with actual medical intervention is tragic. As I’ve said time and again, just because you believe it doesn’t mean it’s true.

Are sugar substitutes worse than the real thing?

Ancient fleas plagued ancient dinosaurs — And modern fleas plague modern dinosaurs! Or something.

New Device Automatically Slices and Scans Brains, Then Puts Them Into A Google Map — The latest in zombie chic? (Via danjite.)

Draisine, ca. 1818 — A forerunner of the modern bicycle. (Via my brother.)

Do Kids Care If Their Robot Friend Gets Stuffed Into a Closet? — Headline of the day.

Physicists Crack Fusion Mystery — A new theory might help researchers double the power of fusion reactors.

‘Even Jimmy Carter’ — In which the usual Republican ignorance of reality is exposed for the Nth time.

Eight “Scathing” Passages From The News Corp. Report — Maybe the UK’s Parliament could have a go at Fox News next? There’s certainly no accountability whatsoever to be had on this side of the pond.

Conservatives’ Deep-Set Fear of Women’s Rights — Very interesting piece. To me this gets at the heart of the difference between liberals and conservatives. Conservatives by definition want to foster a narrow, smaller worldview. Liberals by definition want to foster a wider, more diverse worldview. The liberal worldview almost always leaves plenty of room for conservative ideals. Don’t want an abortion? Don’t have one. Hate and fear homosexuality? Be straight, with my blessing. Want to deny evolution? Party on with the flat Earthers. The conservative worldview very rarely leaves room for liberal ideals, seeking to deny all of society anything conservatives themselves don’t agree with. On the basis of sheer, simple fairness, I could never be a conservative.

Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake! — The iconic writer scolds the superrich (including himself—and Mitt Romney) for not giving back, and warns of a Kingsian apocalyptic scenario if inequality is not addressed in America. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

Richard Grenell hounded from Romney campaign by anti-gay conservatives — Well, at least the GOP is being intellectually consistent for once.

[Michigan] EM referendum off November ballot, opponents vow appeal — Republicans cited the wrong font size on the title of the petitions circulated by Stand Up For Democracy, a coalition of groups that launched the petition campaign, as the reason for not approving the initiative for the ballot. Opponents gathered 203,238 signatures, roughly 40,000 more than needed to get a repeal question on the ballot. Yep, I can see that as a compelling political argument. Ah, the principled consistency of the GOP, who always believe the voice of the people should be heard, except when they disagree with it. (Via corwynofamber.)

?otd: Is nothing beneath you?

5/3/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (3,500 words on Their Currents Turn Awry)
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 7.25 (fitful)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: The Blade Itself Joe Abercrombie

Tags: Cancer, Cool, Food, Funny, gay, gender, healthcare, Links, media, Personal, Politics, Religion, Science, sex, Tech

Posted: 4:42 am Wed May 02 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad celebrates the birth of a tumor

The New World of Publishing: Respect — Dean Wesley Smith on much-needed changes to trade novel publishing contracts.

Is Google Drive worse for privacy than iCloud, Skydrive, and Dropbox? — Another analysis that finds a more balanced outcome. (Via goulo.)

New York faced with swarms of bees which feed off human SWEAT — It’s the bee zombie apocalypse!

An astrological rarity: Venus moving across the sun in May — An offensively stupid headline in WaPo to describe an interesting astronomical event.

Rubber Chicken in Space — This photo is hilarious.

The Trust Molecule — Why are some of us caring and some of us cruel, some generous and some greedy? Paul J. Zakon the new science of morality— and how it could be used to create a more virtuous society.

What the Secret Service could learn from drunken sailors

“America Does not Go Abroad in Search of Monsters to Destroy” – John Quincy Adams — Old John Quincy Adams ain’t careful, he’ll find himself drummed out of the Tea Party for not following the wisdom of the Founders. No, wait… Help me, Rush Limbaugh!

What’s wrong with American politics

Behind the Right’s Phony War on the Nonexistent Religion of Secularism — Because in conservative America, the lies drive fund raising and votes much better than the truth ever does. My ongoing offense at this arises from the intersection of allegedly high-minded moralism on the Right and the flat-out, knowing false witness borne by these high-minded moralists on the Right. Christian conservatives cynically threw out their own Ninth Commandment decades ago in pursuit of political gain, all the time declaring that atheists like me are immoral. (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

Surrendering On Marriage — A truly conservative party would be pushing marriage equality, as the Tories are in Britain. What the GOP is, in stark contrast, is not a conservative party governing a modern society. It’s a radical fundamentalist and anti-government religious movement, dedicated to a core rejection of almost everything modernity brings but money.

Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem. — We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party. The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. So glad you finally noticed.

Mitt Romney stays put — He hopes to win the White House by doubling down on small-government conservatism. Yeah, that worked out so well for the country under Dubya.

Ready for the Fight: Rolling Stone Interview with Barack Obama — The president, in the Oval Office, discusses his job, the opposition and the coming campaign.

?otd: What do you celebrate?

4/29/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bicycle ride
Hours slept: 8.75 (solid)
Weight: 241.4 (!)
Currently reading: A Game of Thrones (graphic novel), George R.R. Martin with Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson

Tags: Christianists, gay, Links, media, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech, weird

Posted: 6:54 am Sun April 29 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad only let them go so wrong out of kindness, I suppose

Panel Discussion Moderated by Terry Bisson and Interviews with Rudy Rucker, K. W. Jeter, and Jay Lake — Rick Kleffel with a podcast of some of us Being Smart at SF in SF last February.

The Cultivation of Imagination — Art writing guru James Gurney with some interesting thoughts.

Emotion — xkcd on cancer.

Monsanto Blamed For Bee Population Collapse, So It Buys Bee Research Firm — (Via danjite.)

Pacific reef shark populations ‘plummeting,’ study says

Space shuttle with horse and rider — I find this photograph striking.

Big Bang Machine Discovers Brand New Particle

Asteroids Could Be Mined for Fuel, Says Company — Orbiting spacecraft could be refueled with water taken from planetoids—but some experts doubt the economics.

Explaining the CISPA Cybersecurity Bill, the Latest Threat to your Privacy — Hoo boy.

White Privilege — Ta-Nehisi Coates talks about privilege.

Homophobic? Maybe You’re Gay — Why are political and religious figures who campaign against gay rights so often implicated in sexual encounters with same-sex partners? Because water is wet. Typical conservative hypocrisy, in the same vein as “The only moral abortion is my own.”

Legal discrimination, but no name-calling, please — …a desire to avoid being labeled a bigot while defending legal discrimination Hello, Christian Right. Also, this: Christian petition affirms same-sex relationships.

The Public Doesn’t Share Romney’s Cold War Mentality on Russia — Ya think. Confidential to the Romney campaign: The Soviet Union hasn’t existed for over twenty years. And they’re really not a threat to Czechoslovakia, which hasn’t existed for almost twenty years. Confidential to the rest of America: Tell me again why these GOP morons should be in charge?

John Boehner’s poker face — In January, John Boehner couldn’t have been more confident about the state of the GOP majority. It was “nearly impossible” that Democrats might win the House back in 2012. In fact, the Speaker said, Republicans were well positioned to hold the House for the next decade. Ah, for the heady days of the Permanent Majority, when the GOP turned a budget surplus into a frightening deficit, reversed our paydown on the national debt, and launched a reckless trillion dollar war of choice. All of which is now Obama’s fault, of course. Just ask any Tea Partier. No wonder people want the Republicans back in power.

?otd: Where did Lefty get the bread to go?

4/28/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bicycle ride
Hours slept: 8.75 (solid)
Weight: 242.4 (!)
Currently reading: A Game of Thrones (graphic novel), George R.R. Martin with Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson

Tags: Art, Cancer, Christianists, Cool, gay, healthcare, Links, nature, Personal, Photos, podcasts, Politics, Process, race, Religion, Science, Tech, Writing

Posted: 6:50 am Sat April 28 2012 | Comments(1) |