Jay Lake: Writer

[links] Link salad wonders where the week is going

Westward Weird came out yesterday — I have a story therein, “The Temptation of Eustace Prudence McAllen”, first in the doc, which is a nice position. Various of my co-authors have commented on the anthology and their stories, including Seanan McGuire, Dean Wesley Smith, and Steven Saus.

Próba Kwiatów – Jay Lake — A mixed review, in Polish, of the Polish edition of my novel Trial of Flowers.

SF in SF — Just a reminder that this coming Saturday, 2/11, I will be at SF in SF with K.W. Jeter and Rudy Rucker. If you’re in the Bay Area, come on down.

10 Tips on Writing from David Ogilvy — He’s talking about ad copy, not fiction, but this is still interesting and worthwhile stuff. (Via Curiosity Counts.)

Kill the Local News — Writer Jeremy Tolbert on sensationalism.

Mindful Eating as Food for Thought

Scale of the Universe — Another fun take on the “powers of 10″ meme. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

What did people do: in a Medieval City? — (Via danjite.)

Self-Cloning Seagrass May Be World’s Oldest Living Thing

Mars-bound NASA rover carries coin for camera checkup — This is cool and kind of poetic.

Mapping the Road Ahead for Autonomous Cars

Turing’s Enduring Importance — The path computing has taken wasn’t inevitable. Even today’s machines rely on a seminal insight from the scientist who cracked Nazi Germany’s codes. An interesting article, although I wish in mentioning his suicide it had acknowledged the disgusting way Turing was treated by his own people.

The State of Gay Marriage — Being a handy map to show you where bigotry has triumphed, and where respect for basic human rights is gaining ground.

The Single Most Powerful Quote From California’s Prop 8 Ruling — “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples.” Like opposition to interracial marriage forty years ago, Prop 8 is bigotry, pure and simple, a combination of narrow-minded religious privilege and typically unfounded conservative alarmism. Like opposition to interracial marriage today, forty years from now people will be ashamed to admit in public what they once voted and for and believed.

The Business Case Against Karen Handel — John Scalzi with a very sensible take on the (surprising to me) resignation of Karen Handel from the Susan G. Komen foundation. For my own part, I’ll observe that as usual when the Right tries strong-arm tactics, they only see unfairness when they get caught out.

Planned Parenthood’s Deep Bench — Ta-Nehisi Coates with some interesting thoughts on the fight that Komen picked when they decided to show their true conservative colors.

Why the Energy-Industrial Elite Has It In for the Planet — Social and political commentary on the funding impetus behind the intellectual fraud of climate change denial.

Jesus versus the GOP — The man from Nazareth would have been appalled by the “Christian” Republican candidates. The only thing I have to say to political Christianists is “Matthew 6:6“.

‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World — The declining influence of the US Constitution overseas.

Republicans Finally Realize They’re Helping Obama — Like their counterparts from 16 years before, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last year filled with revolutionary zeal, assuming that they could leverage their hold over one branch of Congress into sweeping changes in the national agenda. And like their predecessors, they blundered into high-profile confrontations with a Democratic president and suffered prolonged and deep damage in their public standing, with each new defeat slowly leeching the fanatical determination out of them.

Santorum Upsets G.O.P. Race With Three Victories — I really can’t decide who would be the bigger disaster for this country, Senator Frothy Mix or Governor 1%. Our last Republican president set an extremely low bar for destructive incompetence, something the GOP electorate seems to have very conveniently forgotten.

?otd: How was your Tuesday?

2/8/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.25 (solid)
Weight: 230.8
Currently reading: n/a (between books)

Tags: Books, Cancer, cars, climate, Conventions, Cool, Culture, Food, games, gay, gender, Links, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, reviews, Science, sex, stories, Tech, Trial, Writing

Posted: 6:24 am Wed February 08 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad samples sensual tastes

Dickens v. Lawyers

A Month of General & Trauma Surgery — Excellent, moving short piece by doctor and author Blake Charlton.

What An Autopsy Looks Like — and Why You Need One — I plan to donate my cadaver to the medical school associated with the hospital where I receive my cancer treatments. (Via @marynmck.)

Tweet lightly: How social media could someday affect your credit score, insurance, and more — (Thanks to lillypond, a/k/a my sister.)

Jurassic cricket’s song recreated

Earth Station: The Afterlife of Technology at the End of the World — The Jamesburg Earth Station is a massive satellite receiver in a remote valley in California. It played a central role in satellite communications for three decades, but had been forgotten until the current owner put it up for sale, promoting it as a great place to spend the apocalypse. It stands feet from a trailer park and down the road from a Buddhist retreat. This is the story of one of the old, weird ties between Earth and space. (Via Curiosity Counts.)

Signs of Ancient Ocean on Mars Spotted by European Spacecraft

Upgrade eliminates Atlantis from Google Earth — Data glitch explanation won’t satisfy true believers.

Rabbi’s ‘Kosher Jesus’ book is denounced as heresy — Shmuley Boteach’s book focuses on Jesus’ Jewishness, portraying him as a hero who was not resurrected or divine. But some other rabbis express contempt for the book and forbid followers to read it.

Running Against America — Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Clint Eastwood Superbowl commercial. I just watched the ad seconds ago, after reading about the Republican freak-out, which I have to say is bizarre. This is the exact sort of gauzy nationalism (to paraphrase Jonathan Chait) that corporations have put out for years and Republicans have, themselves, often alluded to.

Why Mitt Romney should open up on Mormonism

Gingrich spokesman defends Wikipedia edits — While some of the changes were minor, Joe DeSantis has removed or asked to remove factual references to Gingrich’s three marriages as well as mentions of ethics charges brought against him while he served as speaker of the House. Remember kids, character counts! (At least it does if you’re a Democrat. Republicans appear to be immune to their own moralizing.)

The Citizens United catastrophe — In fact, this decision should be seen as part of a larger initiative by moneyed conservatives to rig the electoral system against their opponents. How else to explain conservative legislation in state after state to obstruct access to the ballot by lower-income voters — particularly members of minority groups — though voter identification laws, shortened voting periods and restrictions on voter registration campaigns? Nope, no activist judges in conservative America. No sirree, Bob. Move along, citizen, nothing to see here.

Tea Party ‘Is Dead’: How the Movement Fizzled in 2012’s GOP Primaries — Remember when we were being so loudly told by Your Liberal Media how the Tea Party was “independent” and “non-partisan.” Yeah. Uh huh. Funny how that worked out.

Why Romney is winning — Money.

?otd: How dark do you like your chocolate?

2/7/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 (solid)
Weight: 230.8
Currently reading: n/a (between books)

Tags: Books, Cool, Culture, healthcare, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech, Videos

Posted: 6:23 am Tue February 07 2012 | Comments(3) |

[links] Link salad awakens with slow reluctance

In case you missed it over the weekend, my new cancer tattoo: [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ] — Yes, on the back of my skull.

Christopher Walken reads Where The Wild Things Are

Antarctica – Fantastical World without Borders — An Antarctica travelog, relevant to one of my future projects. (Via bravado111.)

Avería: The Average Font — Interpolative typography. Huh. Fascinating. (Thanks to kshandra.)

Washington Park: 1907 — Detroit’s “moon towers”, as depicted here, later were sold to the City of Austin, where most of them still survive.

One’s A Crowd — The trend toward living alone?

garyomaha on working lunches, or not

Neurocinematic comparison of monkeys and humans — Spaghetti western reveals differences between human and monkey brain. Mmm, neurocinematic. I loved this bit: Like most other films, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a complex multisensory stimulus, filled with rich, operatic imagery and, of course, Ennio Morricone’s unforgettable score. It is, however, fairly safe to assume that humans and monkeys will interpret the film quite differently. (Via danjite.)

Path Is Found for the Spread of Alzheimer’s — The headline is slightly misleading, as the story refers to Alzheimer’s progression within an individual rather than to transmission between individuals. Interesting stuff.

The Komen Controversy: Planned Parenthood Claims a New Kind of Victory in the Culture War — I am baffled by the conservative charge that Planned Parenthood “bullied” Komen. What is the Right’s treatment of Planned Parenthood but bullying, if you want to frame it in those terms? More to the point, for decades the entire forced pregnancy movement is about bullying desperate, vulnerable young women and their medical providers. What else is a clinic blockade or a doctor target list but sheer, awful bullying in the name of what? The god of love? Decency? Conservative bigotry and “morals”? Can you imagine the reaction if liberal-progressives blockaded churches and targeted pastors? Project much, guys? The Right can dish it out, but they can’t take it.

A Puritan’s ‘war against religion’ — Roger Williams, the Puritan who founded Rhode Island, insisted on the state refraining from intervening in the relationship between humans and God. Freedom of religion absolutely means freedom from religion. That is the best protection any church has against persecution. Despite the modern GOP interpretation, freedom of religion doesn’t mean the freedom to exercise oppressive bigotry, narrow-minded judgmenentalism, or tear down educational and cultural standards in favor of silly mythmaking.

ericjamesstone points out that I am wrong in characterizing Romney as saying he won’t have a Muslim in his cabinet — This in connection to my comment that I thought making an issue of Romney’ religion was a red herring, until he made an issue of Islam as a religion. Speaking as an atheist, there is nothing more or less at issue with Romney’s LDS membership than there is with Newt’s Catholicism or Clinton’s Southern Baptist faith. To me, the religion of the candidates would only be an issue if there were a straightforward atheist running on a major party ticket. Which won’t likely happen in my lifetime…

Senate GOP: Activist Federal Judges Wanted — The hypocrisy of a group of Republicans who are supporting the lawsuit against Obama’s recess appointments. Republicans being hypocritical? That’s as inconceivable as the idea of Newt Gingrich cheating on his wife.

The true conservative alternative: Ron Paul? — It’s sad that conservatism has become a race to the bottom to display the most ignorance, bigotry and sheer foolishness.

?otd: Dream much??

2/6/2012
Writing time yesterday: 5.5 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 7.5 (solid)
Weight: 229.4
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Antarctica, Art, Books, Cancer, Culture, gender, healthcare, Links, Movies, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, scorner, Tech, Texas, Videos, work

Posted: 6:29 am Mon February 06 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad sleeps in

Patchwork Dreaming — Gerard Houarner on keeping the story going in your head.

Carl Zimmer responds to Jonathan Franzen’s rant against ebooks. — Very good.

The Upside of Dyslexia

“San Diego Demonoid”: you mean that dead opossum?

Does Mars have life? New study says it’s unlikely on the surface.

In Fuel Oil Country, Cold That Cuts to the Heart

Neil deGrasse Tyson on politicians and the electorate

Islam, Women and the West — Some interesting thinking on Western perceptions of the Islamic world by Jonathan Lyons.

Jury finds Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White guilty on 6 of 7 felony charges — No wonder Republicans claim to be so concerned with voter fraud. After all, if they’re committing it, surely everyone else is, too. Right? Anyone?

On eve of Darwin’s birthday, states take steps to limit evolution — It’s the full throated support for lunacy like this that obscures the value of any real ideas the conservative movement has. Like flavoring your stew with rat poison, it doesn’t matter how good your meat and veggies are.

Romney Is Not the “Stealth Tea Party Candidate” — Note to GOP: Romney is Wall Street delusionary conservative, not a Main Street delusionary conservative.

?otd: How much did you sleep last night?

2/5/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (1.25 hours on short story revisions, 0.75 hours on Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 9.0 (solid)
Weight: 228.0
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Culture, ebooks, gender, Links, Mars, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, Science, Writing

Posted: 8:52 am Sun February 05 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad wanders into the weekend

“A Long Walk Home” is on this year’s Locus Poll ballot — In case you liked this Sunspin novelette. You can read it here.

A reader reacts to Visitants, ed. Steve Jones — Including comments on one of my stories.

Not So Wild Review: Schlock Mercenary — I’ve said before that I think Schlock Mercenary is some of the very best long form SF around. This reviewer frames his praise differently, but seems to share my same fundamental opinion. (Via @howardtayler.)

Release the hounds! — Miranda Suri on learning to outline novels. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

I Greet You in the Middle of a Great Career: A Brief History of Blurbs — Heh. (Via @legalnomads.)

How Do We Get There? — Cat Valente asks about the development of post-scarcity societies.

An obsessive history of The Elements of Style and what makes it a cultural treasure. — Even unto being wrong on a number of points of grammar and usage…

Indie Game: The Movie — For those interested in that sort of thing.

Space voyages shouldn’t become politically incorrect

Komen Reverses Decision on Planned Parenthood Funding, Is Still Likely Full of Shit — Komen blatantly, obviously, and deliberately targeted Planned Parenthood. Their board room is still staffed with conservative donors and at least one vocal anti-choice politician. They’re still a conservative political organization masquerading as a feel-goodery for people who just want to help cure cancer.

Komen May Continue to Fund Some Planned Parenthood Grants — A pro-life site accuses Planned Parenthood of being “dishonest thugs”. This coming from the political movement that operates “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” (profound dishonest fake clinics meant to deceive and entrap desperate pregnant women) and actively encourages the murder of doctors (unconditional thuggery)? Project much? Of course you do, you’re conservatives.

Komen backlash: Public turns fury on vice president Karen Handel

The big backlash against bullying women — Sadly, conservative America controls the discourse, and profits politically and culturally from the bullying of women. It’s not going to stop.

Indiana backing away from bill allowing creation “science” into classrooms — Many similar bills are introduced in state legislatures each year and, in cases where their sponsors speak to the press, they tend to reveal a great deal of ignorance regarding both science and the law. In terms of science, they tend to misunderstand the meaning of the term “theory,” think that there are multiple scientific explanations for life’s diversity, or suggest evolution is a theory for life’s origin. The Indiana bill’s sponsor, Dennis Kruse, appears to get all of these wrong. It’s tough getting ahead when you’re flat fucking wrong in terms of both reality and the law, but conservatives will persevere. And they succeed far too often.

Romney’s political success is a mixed blessing for Mormon Church — His presidential candidacy could be a breakthrough ‘JFK moment for Mormons,’ but it could also stir up more negative publicity for the church. I was sympathetic to Romney on the issue of religious criticism until he made it clear he wouldn’t have a Muslim in his cabinet.

Chris Christie and the Nation-State Project — Ta-Nehisi Coates on conservative ignorance of history. Many of the actual people who were beaten and killed “in the streets”–Medgar Evers, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, for instance–were attempting to secure the very right which Christie, bizarrely, believes they should have exercised. It’s almost as if he doesn’t know what the Civil Rights movement actually was.

As Romney’s slip-ups show, gaffes nearly unavoidable on modern campaign trail — Nush mostly just babbled. Romney’s gaffes are golden soundbites for his opposition.

?otd: Ink much?

2/4/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (busy with tattoos and Dad time)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (solid)
Weight: 229.8
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: gender, healthcare, Links, Movies, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, reviews, Science, sex, stories, Videos

Posted: 8:05 am Sat February 04 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad watches the Child hit the boards

Skungy Art. “Surfing the Gnarl.” Read Feb 7, Feb 11. — Rudy Rucker on (among other things) the February 11th reading in San Francisco, where K.W. Jeter and I will be sharing the stage with him.

Author C.J. Marsicano is running a Kickstarter campaign to get a book out — Go check it out.

Penguin Further Narrows Library Access, Suspending Availability of Audiobook Titles — Hmmm. (Via danjite.)

25 Things I Learned From Opening a Bookstore — (Via willyumtx.)

The Hill Approach — Seth Godin on creativity.

The Story of a Suicide — Two college roommates, a webcam, and a tragedy. Tyler Clementi and Dharun Ravi.

Brains may be wired for addiction

Blood test accurately distinguishes depressed patients from healthy controls — Interesting. (Via @jackwilliambell.)

The Secret of Ant Transportation Networks — Just how ants create the highly efficient network of trails around their nests has never been fully understood. Now researchers think they’ve cracked it.

With Risk, Japanese City Takes On Once Accepted Fact of Life: Its Gangsters

Restored Edison Records Revive Giants of 19th-Century Germany — Talk about your obsolete formats… (Via my Dad.)

A case study of the tactics of climate change denial — But notice what he’s done. He’s taken what is clearly a minor point and blown it up as if it’s my main point. He’s used shady words (predictions, models) to cast aspersions, and to make someone (me!) look bad. Then, by “refuting” this minor issue he can then poison the well, strongly implying that all my arguments are wrong. That’s kind of a big no-no when trying to argue a point. But it packages well. A pretty neat summation of typically wrong-headed conservative discourse on a lot of issues.

Happy days are here again — Roger Ebert on Newt, Mitt and the evolution of political party nominating conventions. Entertaining and interesting bit of history, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum.

The Invincible Nobility Of The Middle Class — Ta-Nehisi Coates on a modern political meme promulgated by both major parties. But the implication of a middle-class patriotism holds that the poor do not work hard, and do not play by the rules. Their poverty is a moral stain. It’s rather sad to see ostensible progressives reinforcing this message.

The Politics of Cancer — This Komen-Planned Parenthood business is one of the more disgusting maneuvers on the part of the conservative movement. I am beyond appalled. Bluntly, the Right has made it clear that they find it preferable for poor women to die of cancer than have any potential access to abortion. A stark indictment of the forced pregnancy movement.

Romney: Context for me, but not for thee — Typical Republican. “Do as I say, not as I do.” Romney brags about mining Obama quotes deeply out context, but protests the unfairness when Gingrich does precisely the same thing to him.

Bush beats Obama’s deficit spending by 5 to 1, but Romney targets the wrong guy to whine about — Much easier to complain about a black Democrat that acknowledge the Republican party’s responsibility for its actions when last in power.

Mitt Speaks. Oh, No!

Blending politics and religion, Obama says his policies are an extension of Christian faith — Ok, I find this kind of thing alarming whether it comes from Republicans or Democrats. This is a secular nation in a secular world, and rational thought should be the basis of our governance.

?otd: What’s the last game you played?

2/3/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (solid)
Weight: 230.2
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Books, Cancer, climate, Conventions, Culture, healthcare, Japan, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech

Posted: 6:35 am Fri February 03 2012 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad joins the Center for the Easily Amused

Five Authors + Five Questions : Goals — Shimmer‘s blog on various writers on various issues. Including me.

Philip Glass on style

Darwin Day — Portland celebrates the Antichrist one of the heroes of modern science on February 12. (Via threeoutside.)

DNA Turning Human Story Into a Tell-All — Humans and Neanderthals and Denisovans, oh my. I especially liked this bit: [O]ur modern era, since H. floresiensis died out, is the only time in the four-million-year human history that just one type of human has been alive. (Thanks to Dad.)

Steampunk Pocket Watch Winds Via Solar Power — So to speak… Some neat lateral thinking here. (Via markbourne.)

Experts Build Crab-Like Robot to Remove Stomach Cancer — Huh. (Via danjite.)

How Neutrino Beams Could Reveal Cavities Inside Earth — Commander Laforge to the bridge.

Scientists close to entering Vostok, Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake

Team to investigate underwater ‘UFO’ – is it sunken ships or Millennium Falcon? — Duh, of course it’s a life size replica of a completely fictional starship. At the bottom of the ocean.

Far side of the moon filmed by Nasa spacecraft — One whole face of the Moon can never be seen from Earth because it does not spin on its axis, meaning we always have a view of the same side. Umm… stupid much?

Bill legalizing same-sex marriage passes Washington state Senate — Someday fairly soon, opposition to gay marriage will have all the social panache and credibility as opposition to interracial marriage, and for much the same reason. This shameful bigotry will be the province of bitter, aging cranks, largely behind closed doors.

I Don’t Care About Your Invisible Jeebus — But from where I stand these days, the only thing I see religion doing in the public sector is gay bashing and telling women, mostly poor and desperate and in deplorable financial and personal situations, what to do with their bodies. I see busybodies deciding what drugs they can dispense to which customers, or deciding that they don’t have to issue a marriage license because of some petty deity that I don’t believe in told them to hate their fellow citizens and ignore the law.

Indiana Senate passes bill putting religion in science class — Conservative America: driving all our children deeper into ignorance every year. Yet another of the myriad reasons I can never be conservative, and honestly don’t understand how any thoughtful, self-aware person can be.

Teleprompters are stupid … only when Obama uses them — Ah, conservative “logic”.

The Conservative Backlash That Isn’t Coming — Some thoughts from conservative commentator Daniel Larison. I will observe that since no one in the GOP seems to remember the eight years of the Bush administration, preferring to blame the disastrous outcomes of his governing on conservative principles on Obama who inherited Bush’s mess, how could there be a backlash?

Have Democrats Succeeded in Pre-Destroying Romney? — A conservative leaning narrative complaining about the Democrats using the same tactics that have been so successful for the GOP these past decades.

?otd: Are you ever bored? Why?

2/2/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.5 (solid)
Weight: 227.2
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Cancer, Cool, Culture, Funny, gay, healthcare, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Process, Religion, Science, steampunk, Tech, Washington, weird, Writing

Posted: 6:32 am Thu February 02 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad enjoyed the reading

A reader reacts to Endurance — I think they liked it.

The Self-Sabotaging Writer — Kameron Hurley on the perils of being a writer. (Via Steve Buchheit.)

What the Nook Means — A new Nook’s on its way. Can it save books?

The Milhous Collection — A meticulously assembled selection of mechanical musical instruments, vintage automobiles and more. (Via danjite.)

Cloud Cover’s Role in Exoplanet Studies

Study measures mammalian growth spurt — It takes 24 million generations for mouse-sized mammals to evolve into elephants — but shrinking back is much faster.

Mind-reading program translates brain activity into words — The research paves the way for brain implants that would translate the thoughts of people who have lost power of speech.

cassiealexander on Rick Santorum, privilege, healthcare, and sick kids — What she says.

The End of Health Insurance Companies — I don’t think I actually believe this piece, but it’s a nice thought.

Inside the heresy files — Interrogation. Surveillance. Ethnic profiling. Censorship. The words come from 21st-century headlines, but they have an ancient pedigree. Cullen Murphy on how the Inquisition ignited the modern police state. (Snurched from Scrivener’s Error.)

McConnell’s Revisionist History: Congress Gave Obama Everything He Wanted! — Can he possibly believe this? McConnell, of all people? More to the point, why does anybody else believe this?

Marsh on Obama: The Party’s Over — Sigh.

Delusions of Obama the Idiot — It’s amazing that the GOP has somehow convinced itself that Obama is some kind of beguiling intellectual lightweight. Once you accept that ideology trumps reality, it’s easy to put faith in any whackdoodle idea that enters one’s head.

Gingrich, Romney, and “Reckoning with the Base”

Romney versus Gingrich slugfest is harbinger of Republican civil war — We can only hope. Meanwhile, I continue to marvel at the Republican base’s vitriolic view of liberals, who are guilty of bringing America such heinous sins as the forty hour work week, paid vacations, child labor laws, clean air and water, and other such violations of our civil rights, all over the strong objections of conservatives.

Welfare Drug Testing Bill Withdrawn After Amended To Include Testing Lawmakers — Don’t worry, it will be back. Oppressing the poor is a club sport for the GOP.

Huh? Mitt claims Newt outspent him in S.C. — Huh. Republicans lying about each other. The candidates and party leadership know it doesn’t matter. The message always trumps facts. The low information voters who make up the GOP base will just nod and follow along like they always do.

The Myth of the American Political Intelligence Gap

?otd: When’s the last time you attended a live reading?

2/1/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.5 (solid)
Weight: 228.8
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Books, cars, Cool, ebooks, Endurance, healthcare, Links, music, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, reviews, Science, Videos, Writing

Posted: 6:23 am Wed February 01 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad lingers over its cereal

Paying Tribute: The Stars My Destination — Ty Franck on Daniel Abraham’s blog.

The self-epublishing bubble — (Snurched from @lilithsaintcrow.)

Pythons linked to Florida Everglades mammal decline

Little Ice Age was caused by volcanism

Russia blames radiation for space probe failure

Toward a New ‘Prime Directive’

While temperatures rise, denialists reach lower — The WSJ OpEd makes a lot of hay from having 16 scientists sign it, but of those only 4 are actually climate scientists. And that bragging right is crushed to dust when you find out that the WSJ turned down an article about the reality of global warming that was signed by 255 actual climate scientists. Ah, ideology: trumping facts in the conservative mind since 4004 BC.

The Condom’s Cousins — Health care coverage is one horse that the Church has chosen to ride in order to protect its belief in the sanctity of its beliefs. Sex, rather than God, is its focus. If God’s perceived commandments on how one deals with one’s fellow man come into conflict with the Church’s opinion on sex, its opinion on sex wins out every time, irrespective of the effect it may have on fellow man.

The Austerity Debacle — Haven’t we learned a lot about economic management over the last 80 years? Yes, we have — but in Britain and elsewhere, the policy elite decided to throw that hard-won knowledge out the window, and rely on ideologically convenient wishful thinking instead. “Ideologically convenient wishful thinking” pretty much describes most of the conservative mindset these days, at least on the budget, jobs, climate change, foreign policy, etc.

Brewer Has History Of Getting Facts Wrong — In the past, when Brewer has been confronted about inaccurate statements, her first move has been to maintain she was right no matter how clear the matter was. Republican to the bone.

Wash. Post’s Parker Wildly Distorts Charitable Giving Of Obama, Romney — Because when you’re taking the GOP party line, facts don’t matter, the message does. Even flat out lies like this pass unchallenged in Your Liberal Media.

Trillions in tax cuts — The Republican presidential candidates claim to abhor debt, yet propose tax cuts that would add trillions more. Supply side economics hasn’t worked yet, but why stop believing in it now? Who said New Math was dead?

Election angst hits Hill Republicans — What amazes me is that for most of my adult life, the GOP has had fantastic party discipline. Since about 2006, that seems to have really weakened. Not that I’m complaining about anything that undercuts the toxic conservative agenda, but I find it surprising.

Kansas Speaker O’Neal asks House GOP to pray for Obama’s death — Stay classy, GOP. It’s what you do best.

The Grover Norquist “Impeach Obama” Fantasy — [T]he Republicans wanted [Clinton] removed from the first day he took office, and that they were not waiting for a crime so much as they were waiting for the moment when they had the votes to do it. (That this is a monumental act of contempt for the people who elected him their president should not concern us here, because it apparently never concerned the Republicans.)

Why Gingrich is a Liability to Down-Ticket Congressional Races — And the GOP establishment continues to dog pile on poor, misunderstood Newt.

?otd: Got milk?

1/31/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.5 hours (Sunspin revisions)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 8.0 (solid)
Weight: 228.6
Currently reading: The Man in the Moone, and Other Lunar Fantasies ed. Faith Pizor

Tags: Books, climate, Culture, ebooks, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, sex

Posted: 6:14 am Tue January 31 2012 | Comments(2) |

[links] Link salad ate haggis last night

Trilogies: Third time’s not always the charm

Hello Kitty Darth Vader — JD Hancock strikes again.

The New French Hacker-Artist Underground — (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

No Disrespect for the Meatball Hero — Mmm, food.

X-Ray Laser Turns Up the Heat to 3.6 Million Degrees — I love this line: The advancement represents the first time researchers have been able to produce such plasmas in a controlled way.

Bizarre skin disease Morgellons not infectious, CDC says

Europe, Data, and the ‘Right to Be Forgotten’

The Amazing Government Sting That Cost Google $500 Million (GOOG)

Study: Ocean Acidity Exceeds Natural Norms — Oops.

Five shots against global warming denialism

Who should recuse on Prop 8? — Jed Hartman is funny.

Why Evangelicals Don’t Like Mormons — Oddly, this article refers to Romney as a ‘Protestant’. Are Mormons considered Protestants? I never heard that.

‘Stop-Newt’ Republicans Confront Base Unwilling to Take Orders — Hahahah.

?otd: Have you ever eaten haggis?

1/25/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.75 hour (1.5 hours on Sunspin revisions, plus a bit of misc WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.5 (solid)
Weight: 226.6
Currently reading: Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards

Tags: Art, Books, climate, Cool, Culture, Food, France, healthcare, Links, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech, weird

Posted: 6:16 am Thu January 26 2012 | Comments(7) |