Jay Lake: Writer

[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 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 questions the universe

Olympics 2012: A Bruce Schneier Moment — Charlie Stross on the deepening weirdness of security theater.

Pat Robertson explains which parts of science you’re allowed to believe — Simultaneously appalling and hilarious takedown of Pat Robertson and Christianism in general.

Dan Savage Points Out the Hypocrisy in the Bible… So Young Journalists Walk Out on Him — But but but… Teh Gay is wrong!

Breaking the chains of religious tradition — Where I come from, girls are married off as teenagers to men they barely know and are expected to spend their lives caring for their husband and children. They are required to cover their hair and nearly every inch of their skin, and to remain behind a curtain at parties and religious events. Where I come from, if a woman wants to feel her hair blow in the wind or wear jeans or attend college, the courts have the authority to take her children away from her. Where I come from, you might be surprised to learn, is the United States. Specifically, New York and then New Jersey, in the Orthodox Jewish community.

Why I am an atheist – Libby Anne — From Pharyngula‘s ongoing series of guest posts. This one really struck me as interesting, as it’s almost the prototypical reason why conservatives and especially Christianists work so hard to miseducate their children and stunt their intellectual growth. Which I suppose would be fine if my friends on the Right kept that evil shit to themselves, but unfortunately they’re working just as hard to miseducate and stunt everyone else’s children as well, which makes opposing all that a political issue for everyone that cares about America’s future.

Romney’s Disconnect With Average Americans — Ya think? Nicely sourced piece, which no one on the Right will ever read. This is as silly as John McCain calling Obama an elitist. (Snurched from Slacktivist Fred Clark.)

?otd: What’s the frequency, Kenneth?

4/30/2012
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours
Body movement: airport walking to come
Hours slept: 5.75 (solid)
Weight: 240.0 (!)
Currently reading: Between books

Tags: Christianists, Links, Personal, Politics, Religion, weird

Posted: 3:30 am Mon April 30 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) |

[links] Link salad skids into Friday

Everything You Need to Know about the Hugo Award — In one handy chart. (Snurched from Andrew Wheeler.)

Sticking With Dropbox — A cursory but alarming analysis of Google Drive’s terms of service. Short form: if you’re producing copyrighted material for which you wish to protect first rights (i.e., if you’re a working or aspiring professional author), for the love of God, don’t use Google Drive. More comments on this from the same source, indicating this might not be such a big deal after all. I remain dubious. (Via danjite.)

Dogfights on Your iPhone — This is cool. I want one. (Thanks to Dad.)

Descriptive Camera, 2012 — This is also very weirdly cool. A text-based camera. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

‘GPS brain cells’ seen in pigeons — Researchers have spotted a group of 53 cells within pigeons’ brains that respond to the direction and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field.

Jupiter and the Moons of Earth — APOD again. Though I have to wonder why the phrase “Earth’s largest natural satellite” was used to describe the moon in this photo’s cutline. Did we really need the adjective “natural” for clarity there?

What are Those Weird Spirals on Mars’ Surface? — The giant coils suggest a mysterious network of valleys on the Martian surface were formed through volcanic activity.

Les Très Riches Heures de Mrs Mole: A Real-Life Ronald Searle Love Story — A lovely piece about coping with cancer through art. (Courtesy of fjm.)

More debunking of the ex-NASA 49 climate change deniers — Remember that embarrassingly bad letter written by 49 ex-NASA employees saying that global warming is a fraud and that NASA shouldn’t support it? Not that the people who need to read this piece will do so, and even if they do, they’ll just dismiss it as part of the hoax. Sorry, climate change denialists, but the facts are seriously biased against you.

Women’s Prayer Group Praying That the Women at MRFF All Get Incurable Breast Cancer — As the hymn goes, “They will know that we are Christians by our love.” And people wonder why I am an atheist.

Study of the Day: Even the Religious Lose Faith When They Think Critically — New research in Science shows that, unlike intuitive thinking, activating the analytical cognitive system promotes religious skepticism. Which dovetails nicely with the GOP’s decades long effort to tear down education in this country.

Satanazis III: Night of the Satanazis — Maybe you’re thinking this is just a snarky post, mocking a bunch of fringe characters for their over-the-top rhetoric and their literal demonization of their political opponents. But these aren’t just fringe characters telling us that liberals are Nazis who murder babies and love the Satan whom they serve. These are Roman Catholic bishops, state governors, influential clergy and elected officials saying this. The great legacy of conservatism of this era will be how it legitimized absolute lunacy.

Using U.S. Dollars, Zimbabwe Finds a Problem: No Change — (Thanks to Dad.)

The Children of Fallujah – Sayef’s story — The phosphorus shells that devastated this city were fired in 2004. But are the victims of America’s dirty war still being born?

GOP Sets Up A Showdown On Violence Against Women Act — “Unfortunately in Congress, there are some who’d like to make this a political play. They’d like to make cheap shots and try to politicize it in an election year,” said Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD). Right. Because no Republican ever has done anything like this, especially not to President Obama. We all know how principled the GOP is, after all.

We Are Not Stupid — Romney is still Romney and he’s still running as the head of a party that has spent the last few years pursuing a profoundly regressive agenda. Last few years? Try my entire lifetime.

?otd: Where did your week go?

4/27/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.0 hour (WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bicycle ride
Hours slept: 6.0 (fitful)
Weight: 241.4 (!)
Currently reading: A Game of Thrones (graphic novel), George R.R. Martin with Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson

Tags: Art, Awards, Cancer, Christianists, Cool, education, Funny, gender, healthcare, Iraq, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Process, Publishing, Religion, Science, Tech

Posted: 5:29 am Fri April 27 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad flew home, boy are its arms tired

Tor Books goes completely DRM-free — Old news for those of you who follow ebooks, but just in case you missed it. Also, more from John Scalzi and Charlie Stross.

Beneath an Abandoned Hospital: Thoughts from Places — (Via shelly_rae.)

So Much Life on a Little Patch of Earth — Counting bugs in a backyard in Bellingham, WA.

Mysterious ‘Godzillus’ fossil find stumps scientists — An amateur paleontologist discovered an unusual fossil last year. Now experts are attempting to determine its identity.

Edison’s Revenge: The Rise of DC Power — In a world of more electronics and solar energy, there’s less and less need for AC power. Nikolai Tesla is spinning in his grave. Hopefully wrapped in copper wire while doing so.

Rage Against the Smart Meter — Seeing Big Brother in the grid, some citizens are mounting opposition to wireless electricity meters. Break out the tinfoil hats, boys.

Warm Ocean Waters to Blame for Antarctic Ice Melt — A new satellite survey indicates ice-shelf thinning is due to winds driving warmer ocean currents under the shelves. Yet another example of how liberals get the facts to conspire against the conservative version of truth.

Climate change proponent realizes he was wrong, but for the wrong reasons — What happens when a scientist gets the science wrong. This is as nutty as climate change denialism, from the other direction.

Let’s beef up Social Security benefits instead of cutting them — The best way to improve Social Security’s value is by increasing benefits to better serve the neediest workers and expanding its reach to cover workers and dependents who have been excluded. Except the Republican lies about Social Security make for much better headlines.

Brutality of Servility — An interesting take on the John Edwards trial. Ghu am I glad he didn’t become president. This would have been worse than the Bill and Monica show.

Today We Pray for Women for Whom Pregnancy is Not Good News… — There are still some people in the Christian church who can look beyond their own prejudices and the deliberate misreading of scripture that characterize the Christianists of the forced pregnancy movement. (Snurched from Steve Buchheit.)

How the Pennsylvania Senate Primary Explains Democrats’ Chances to Keep the Senate

Newt Gingrich to suspend campaign — He truly believes he would be the best candidate for the party but recognizes the objective reality that recent primary voters have not agreed and intends to be loyal to the party. Um, Newt. You’re a Republican. A leading light of the political party that explicitly rejects objective reality in favor of ideology, deliberate falsehood, bigotry and sheer wishful thinking.

Hail to Mitt: Romney Has a Big Night—Sort Of — Which he achieved mostly by pretending that the GOP had nothing to do with either creating the current state of the economy under the Bush administration, or with perpetuating the current state of the economy through their absolutist intransigence towards Obama. Luckily for Romney, Your Liberal Media supports that blatantly deceptive narrative, and millions of low information voters are happy to go along with it.

?otd: How high did you go yesterday?

4/26/2012
Writing time yesterday: 2.0 hours (1.0 hour on 1,600 words on Their Currents Turn Awry, plus a fair amount of outline work, 1.0 hour on WRPA)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bicycle ride
Hours slept: 6.75 (solid)
Weight: 241.6 (!)
Currently reading: A Game of Thrones (graphic novel), George R.R. Martin with Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson

Tags: Christianists, climate, Cool, ebooks, Links, nature, Personal, Politics, Publishing, Religion, Science, sex, Tech, Videos

Posted: 5:37 am Thu April 26 2012 | Comments(0) |

[links] Link salad eats Indian

AutoCrit Editing Wizard — Hmm. A potentially interesting tool. Rather spendy, especially given the ridiculously short word count limitations on the lower level subscriptions (do these people actually know any working writers?), but does some things I’ve long wanted a tool to do. (Thanks to lcd_cow.)

A Point of View: In defence of obscure words — (Via danjite.)

Mathematics of Eternity Prove The Universe Must Have Had A Beginning — Cosmologists use the mathematical properties of eternity to show that although universe may last forever, it must have had a beginning. Man, those guys must be fun at parties.

Missing rocks may explain why life started playing shell games — Warning, facts not valid for Young Earth Creationists.

Meteor Over Crater Lake — Wow.

Photos Find Fictional Fun in Amateur Space Program — I find this rather haunting, actually. (Via danjite.)

How Psychedelic Drugs Can Help Patients Face Death — Wow. FWIW, hallucinogens were the only class of recreational drug that ever appealed to me. So much so that I’ve avoided them for the past 25+ years, because I suspect I’d go down the rainbow colored rabbithole and never come out. (Via a friend.)

Debt Collector Is Faulted for Tough Tactics in Hospitals — Nope, no need for healthcare reform here. Move along, citizens, the private sector has your best interests at heart at all times.

Liars for Jesus: A recent sampling — Because when you have eternal, divine truth on your side, of course you must lie out your ass to get people excited enough to donate to your cause.

Fox News’ Steve Doocy Corrects Fabricated Obama Quote — Well, sort of. Much more convenient for conservatives to lie about liberals and progressives than to acknowledge the truth.

Romney’s plan to govern country so vague, allies question intentions — Ya think? That’s because no one likes conservative policies when applied to them personally. Not even, and perhaps especially not, conservatives. Punishing the “other” ain’t nearly so satisfying when you become the “other”.

?otd: Do you like naan bread?

4/25/2012
Writing time yesterday: 3.25 hours (1.25 hours and 2,500 words on Their Currents Turn Awry, including a little bit of outline work; 2.0 hours of WRPA)
Body movement: 60 minute suburban walk
Hours slept: 6.5 (solid)
Weight: n/a
Currently reading: A Game of Thrones (graphic novel), George R.R. Martin with Daniel Abraham and Tommy Patterson

Tags: Cancer, Christianists, Cool, healthcare, Language, Links, media, Personal, Photos, Politics, Process, Religion, Science, Writing

Posted: 6:30 am Wed April 25 2012 | Comments(1) |

[links] Link salad likes both kinds of music

Endurance by Jay Lake — A review of my most recent Green novel from a feminist perspective. As it happens, this comes fairly close to my own view of the book.

Ancient language controls crime rings — Some gang members serving prison sentences are using an ancient language to try to keep control of their criminal organizations on the outside as corrections officers work fast to crack the code. (Via @lilithsaintcrow.)

Pop Culture’s 40-Year Itch

Europe as seen by… — (Snurched from Andrew Wheeler.)

Can You Make Yourself Smarter? — Maybe.

It gets to me, sometimes — Anonymous Doc on the endless round of struggle and pain he sees in the hospital. This line caught at me: That there are lots of people out there living their lives and enjoying them, and not waiting for the next shoe to drop. People who aren’t professional patients. People who aren’t just biding their time until their diagnoses come to get them. I’ve been a professional patient these last four years, especially these past three, and even now am biding my time until my diagnosis comes to get me. I’ve seen this bitterly from the other side.

Silent Hives — Colony collapse disorder and pesticides, fifty years after Silent Spring.

Global Warming & Climate Change Myths — Denialism, whether of global warming or evolution or just reality in general, is like criminal defense. The denialist pecks away at the evidence in individual chunks, never responsible for providing a coherent framework to explain the aggregate hypothesis. Each point the denialist attempts to make is under no obligation to interact sensibly with any other point. So large, well supported bodies of evidence can be safely ignored by otherwise intelligent people blinded by ideology or faith, who are being manipulated by cynical opportunists. Sort of like the OJ trial. (Snurched from Slacktivist.)

Vast Mexico Bribery Case Hushed Up by Wal-Mart After Top-Level Struggle — …a prolonged struggle at the highest levels of Wal-Mart, a struggle that pitted the company’s much publicized commitment to the highest moral and ethical standards against its relentless pursuit of growth. See, this is precisely why we need less government regulation of business, so companies will be free to cover up their misdeeds and protect their profits. Conservative paradise! Industry self-regulation for the win!

Can young evangelicals move beyond the Religious Right? — You know, it would be very easy for me to be snarky and cynical about the message of this piece, but I really want to take it seriously. Maybe this is a step in the right direction. (Snurched from Slacktivist.)

The Bourbon Democrats rise again? — “The Bourbon [Democratic-written] constitution of 1875 was a victory for prosperous . . . Alabamians who did not want to pay taxes to improve the lives of those less fortunate than themselves and who did not want to finance commercial development that did not benefit them directly.” What contemporary political party comes to mind?

Romney blames Obama for factory that closed under Bush — Considering that the entire Tea Party movement is founded on blaming Obama for things Bush did, why is this even news?

Sheriff Joe’s world crumbles — The controversial Arizona cop is prepping for a possible trial. But already, his closest allies have fallen. This amazes me. I always thought Arpaio was one of those conservative Untouchables, the real life version of what Republicans liked to pretend Bill Clinton secretly was.

?otd: Country or Western?

4/22/2012
Writing time yesterday: 1.5 hours (3,500 words on Their Currents Turn Awry)
Body movement: 30 minute stationary bike ride
Hours slept: 6.25 (solid)
Weight: 239.8
Currently reading: Somewhere Else by Sally McLennan

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Posted: 6:20 am Sun April 22 2012 | Comments(0) |