Which is quite different from the rhetorical cudgel that gets used these days when one dissents from a majority point of view.Historians say there is no doubt that the educated in Columbus’s day knew quite well that the Earth was not flat but round. In fact, this was known many centuries earlier.As early as the sixth century B.C., Pythagoras — and later Aristotle and Euclid — wrote about the Earth as a sphere. Ptolemy wrote “Geography” at the height of the Roman Empire, 1,300 years before Columbus sailed, and considered the idea of a round planet as fact.“Geography” became a standard reference, and Columbus himself owned a copy. For him, the big question was not the shape of the Earth but the size of the ocean he wanted to cross.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Around World - A Round World
A small curiosity that I found on Columbus Day. Most people of Columbus' day did not believe the world was flat.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Skateboarder vs. Deer?
About 30 years ago, I would have been very interested in this sport. Although I would have worn elbow and knee pads.
I also would have glued deer horns on my helmet to reduce the chances of this happening. And yes, I read the article. I don't care what it says. Every time I've had deer horns installed, the deer have frozen in place until I passed.
Other things happen when the horns are not installed.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Oh....The Humanity
I had a chat with a friend of mine the other day. Folks that know me, either know him or have heard of him. Such is the high esteem in which I hold him.
He is a veteran of Desert Storm. His uniform contains some serious fruit salad.
A decade or so after that conflict, he entered the healthcare field as a paramedic. There are lots of stories to tell there.
But the comment that made us pause was the moment self realization that he had begun to care about people...again.
The irony here is that while he wore our nation's uniform, he was charged with being a living implement of mayhem, destruction, and death among our enemies. Yet during that time, he possessed a significant sense of caring and compassion for other humans.
Years later, that sense of compassion was severely undermined by his near decade long experience as a paramedic. When most people would have assumed that he would have cared the most for others, he found that sense of compassion slipping away.
Spend a little time reading The Most Interesting Ambulance Crew In The World on Facebook. Paramedics and EMTs spend waayyy too much time servicing people that could either drive to a hospital, wait to see their doctor in the morning (and yes they have doctor's), or just need a little better sense of perspective.
My friend tells stories....lots of stories...that are just as bad and many that are worse. The one that comes first to mind is the run to a home where a teenage girl was undergoing a severe emotional crisis...because of a bad haircut. And her parents called EMS.
He is a veteran of Desert Storm. His uniform contains some serious fruit salad.
A decade or so after that conflict, he entered the healthcare field as a paramedic. There are lots of stories to tell there.
But the comment that made us pause was the moment self realization that he had begun to care about people...again.
The irony here is that while he wore our nation's uniform, he was charged with being a living implement of mayhem, destruction, and death among our enemies. Yet during that time, he possessed a significant sense of caring and compassion for other humans.
Years later, that sense of compassion was severely undermined by his near decade long experience as a paramedic. When most people would have assumed that he would have cared the most for others, he found that sense of compassion slipping away.
Spend a little time reading The Most Interesting Ambulance Crew In The World on Facebook. Paramedics and EMTs spend waayyy too much time servicing people that could either drive to a hospital, wait to see their doctor in the morning (and yes they have doctor's), or just need a little better sense of perspective.
My friend tells stories....lots of stories...that are just as bad and many that are worse. The one that comes first to mind is the run to a home where a teenage girl was undergoing a severe emotional crisis...because of a bad haircut. And her parents called EMS.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Double, Double, Boil, And Bubble
For those that have been following the news, we had the dot-com bubble, then the housing bubble, and now we have the education bubble. The education bubble is the government subsidized debt that students (and their parents) acquire in pursuit of a college/university degree. The primary problem is that we have too many former students carrying more debt than their incomes can support.
While there are a lot of issues in the education bubble to unpack and explore, one big issue is the type of degrees that colleges and universities are selling. Altruistic issues aside, colleges and universities are businesses that get paid up front based on the theoretic economic benefits that their products can create throughout a person's life.
Unfortunately, some people graduate from college and still cannot get a job that is worth having. One list of collegiate majors suggests ten careers where borrowing money to fund the necessary educations is foolish.
Were we talking about any other industry, the howls of outrage would be deafening.
Now I can hear other howls right now. I am not being "anti-education". People should still go to college.
But they should be aware of their choices. If you have a college fund and can afford to spend $200,000+ on an Ivy League BA in sociology, then have a great time! But if you are borrowing money to get the same degree, then perhaps you ought to consider a local community college for the first two years before transferring to a more affordable four year school.
The flip side of that coin is that colleges and universities should be providing the sort of detailed counseling that will give accurate information to prospective students. As of a few years ago, the standard collegiate sales technique was to say that possessing a level of education (associates, bachelors, masters, doctorate) was worth "X" amount of additional income over a person's lifetime...on average. What they did not do was to break down the different fields of study so that the prospective student knew that the average BA in fine arts was using the phrase "would you like fries with that, sir" in their current employment while the average BS in engineering was earning three to four times (or more) what burger flippers earn.
I have felt less slimy after talking to certain used car salesmen.
This is not a problem that is solely limited to the "squishy" fields of study. The Blogfather continues chronicle our nation's over-production of lawyers. Law schools continue to heavily solicit students for their programs while knowing full well that a significant portion of those students will not be able to find jobs in their career field.
Again, the less slimy feeling and used car salesmen come into play.
Fixing the problem seems pretty straightforward. Colleges and universities should be required to publish detailed and accurate average earnings information for their graduates broken down by field of study. An accurate description of the jobs held by those graduates should be included.
And loans given to students should be conditional upon the college or university rebating a portion of the tuition received if a graduating student does not find work that pays enough for them to repay those loans. Institutions of higher learning need to have "some skin in the game".
While there are a lot of issues in the education bubble to unpack and explore, one big issue is the type of degrees that colleges and universities are selling. Altruistic issues aside, colleges and universities are businesses that get paid up front based on the theoretic economic benefits that their products can create throughout a person's life.
Unfortunately, some people graduate from college and still cannot get a job that is worth having. One list of collegiate majors suggests ten careers where borrowing money to fund the necessary educations is foolish.
- Anthropology
- Fine Arts
- Film and Photography
- Philosophy and Religious Studies
- Graphic Design
- Studio Arts
- Liberal Arts
- Drama and Theater Arts
- Sociology
- English
Were we talking about any other industry, the howls of outrage would be deafening.
Now I can hear other howls right now. I am not being "anti-education". People should still go to college.
But they should be aware of their choices. If you have a college fund and can afford to spend $200,000+ on an Ivy League BA in sociology, then have a great time! But if you are borrowing money to get the same degree, then perhaps you ought to consider a local community college for the first two years before transferring to a more affordable four year school.
The flip side of that coin is that colleges and universities should be providing the sort of detailed counseling that will give accurate information to prospective students. As of a few years ago, the standard collegiate sales technique was to say that possessing a level of education (associates, bachelors, masters, doctorate) was worth "X" amount of additional income over a person's lifetime...on average. What they did not do was to break down the different fields of study so that the prospective student knew that the average BA in fine arts was using the phrase "would you like fries with that, sir" in their current employment while the average BS in engineering was earning three to four times (or more) what burger flippers earn.
I have felt less slimy after talking to certain used car salesmen.
This is not a problem that is solely limited to the "squishy" fields of study. The Blogfather continues chronicle our nation's over-production of lawyers. Law schools continue to heavily solicit students for their programs while knowing full well that a significant portion of those students will not be able to find jobs in their career field.
Again, the less slimy feeling and used car salesmen come into play.
Fixing the problem seems pretty straightforward. Colleges and universities should be required to publish detailed and accurate average earnings information for their graduates broken down by field of study. An accurate description of the jobs held by those graduates should be included.
And loans given to students should be conditional upon the college or university rebating a portion of the tuition received if a graduating student does not find work that pays enough for them to repay those loans. Institutions of higher learning need to have "some skin in the game".
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Is This Tough Enough
How would you like to run 10 miles? And work your way through 75 obstacles? In a gas mask just to up the challenge?
Todd Love did that.
But hold on. There's more.
He had a hard time running. He left his legs in Afghanistan. And climbing is a bit of a pain as his left hand is still there as well.
Todd Love did that.
But hold on. There's more.
He had a hard time running. He left his legs in Afghanistan. And climbing is a bit of a pain as his left hand is still there as well.
At Dallas Park, Love even joked about his injury. He said: 'I was up front with the minesweepers searching for explosives and I found them. I guess that’s the easiest way to put it.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Book Recomendation - Pyongyang
One of the positive aspects of shopping a local store is the ability to see all the things you do not plan on buying. And then sometimes you do anyways.
We have a great comic book shop in town; Nostalgia, Ink. They sell comic books, graphic novels, and all sorts of gaming essentials.
On one visit, I happened across "Pyongyang - A Journey in North Korea" by Guy Delisle. This book tells the story of Mr. Delisle's time in North Korea working as an animator. I think it is more correct to suggest that he was an animation supervisor as he made sure that the grunts that were doing all the real animation work produced art that was marketable in the west.
Just about every page contains a political or cultural anachronism. One random example would be when his North Korean minder told him he would have to turn down his jazz as it could have a bad influence on "the others". Mr. Delisle was working alone in a room with the door shut.
Another passage talks about the curious lack of any handicapped people walking on the city streets. His minder and his driver cheerfully accept this as appropriate without questioning why how that condition could come to exist.
Mr. Delisle spent a fair portion of his non-working time trying to purposefully be non-subversive.
He also passed a copy of George Orwell's infamous "1984" to his minder. Apparently, he didn't like science fiction.
As regular readers know, I have a mild interest in politics. I've read a fair number criticisms of American Presidents that suggest that each in turn is some sort of "Dear Leader"; someone to be followed unquestioningly. I believe I will find those assertions to be politically tone deaf...if not totally stone deaf...in the future.
Read the book to find out why.
We have a great comic book shop in town; Nostalgia, Ink. They sell comic books, graphic novels, and all sorts of gaming essentials.
On one visit, I happened across "Pyongyang - A Journey in North Korea" by Guy Delisle. This book tells the story of Mr. Delisle's time in North Korea working as an animator. I think it is more correct to suggest that he was an animation supervisor as he made sure that the grunts that were doing all the real animation work produced art that was marketable in the west.
Just about every page contains a political or cultural anachronism. One random example would be when his North Korean minder told him he would have to turn down his jazz as it could have a bad influence on "the others". Mr. Delisle was working alone in a room with the door shut.
Another passage talks about the curious lack of any handicapped people walking on the city streets. His minder and his driver cheerfully accept this as appropriate without questioning why how that condition could come to exist.
Mr. Delisle spent a fair portion of his non-working time trying to purposefully be non-subversive.
He also passed a copy of George Orwell's infamous "1984" to his minder. Apparently, he didn't like science fiction.
As regular readers know, I have a mild interest in politics. I've read a fair number criticisms of American Presidents that suggest that each in turn is some sort of "Dear Leader"; someone to be followed unquestioningly. I believe I will find those assertions to be politically tone deaf...if not totally stone deaf...in the future.
Read the book to find out why.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Shameless
As part of the fallout from the 9/11/2012 terrorist attacks, we had yet another example of the utter fecklessness of Mr. Obama's administration with respect to its sworn duty to protect and defend individual liberty. In specific, the freedom of speech; including the right to make confrontational, offensive, and what some might consider blasphemous statements about any religion.
The Blogfather has the core of the issue precisely right.
A few years back such folks could readily be found having a case of the vapors over the suggestion of by a Whitehouse(1) press secretary that people ought to carefully consider the words they use.
But now that real live police have yanked a real live film maker out of his home, these folks are strangely quiet.
The phrase "Have you no sense of decency" has been sadly used, abused, folded, spindled, and mutilated to the point where it has lost any power it might once have possessed to call attention to uniquely offensive actions by government officials. We are a shameless nation. And we are poorer for it.
(1) I had yet to use the word "Whitehouse" on this computer. The spell-checker suggested other options. The last one was "whorehouse". Amusing.
And just in case, it would have been amusing if this had happened 5 years ago, or 5 months(2) from now when someone not named Barack Obama was in the Oval Office.
(2) A guy can hope, can't he?
The Blogfather has the core of the issue precisely right.
“Just after midnight Saturday morning, authorities descended on the Cerritos home of the man believed to be the filmmaker behind the anti-Muslim movie that has sparked protests and rioting in the Muslim world.”Where are the voices concerned with civil liberties? Where are the people that reject any limits on speech that criticizes religious abuses? Where are the people that bristle at any suggestion that they moderate their tone in the service of civility?
When taking office, the President does not swear to create jobs. He does not swear to “grow the economy.” He does not swear to institute “fairness.” The only oath the President takes is this one:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.By sending — literally — brownshirted enforcers to engage in — literally — a midnight knock at the door of a man for the non-crime of embarrassing the President of the United States and his administration, President Obama violated that oath. You can try to pretty this up (It’s just about possible probation violations! Sure.), or make excuses or draw distinctions, but that’s what’s happened. It is a betrayal of his duties as President, and a disgrace.
A few years back such folks could readily be found having a case of the vapors over the suggestion of by a Whitehouse(1) press secretary that people ought to carefully consider the words they use.
But now that real live police have yanked a real live film maker out of his home, these folks are strangely quiet.
The phrase "Have you no sense of decency" has been sadly used, abused, folded, spindled, and mutilated to the point where it has lost any power it might once have possessed to call attention to uniquely offensive actions by government officials. We are a shameless nation. And we are poorer for it.
(1) I had yet to use the word "Whitehouse" on this computer. The spell-checker suggested other options. The last one was "whorehouse". Amusing.
And just in case, it would have been amusing if this had happened 5 years ago, or 5 months(2) from now when someone not named Barack Obama was in the Oval Office.
(2) A guy can hope, can't he?
Saturday, September 22, 2012
An Endless World?
XKCD had a great comic a couple days ago. I'm not sure that it will link up well here, so just go there and check it out.
Friday, September 21, 2012
In Flight
I traveled to Greenville, SC last week on business. Air travel being what it is these days, I did not take one of my more capable cameras along. However I did have one on my cell phone.
The airport in Greenville is home to a couple interesting scultures.
The airport in Greenville is home to a couple interesting scultures.
"Boy Aviator" by Dennis Smith, Photo by Dann Todd
"Snow Geese" by Jim Dolan, photo by Dann Todd
"Snow Geese" by Jim Dolan, photo by Dann Todd
The camera on my cell phone obviously did a poor job with the back lighting, but you can still get an impression of the total installation.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Johnny Depp Is Coming Home
Apparently, he is ill inclined to pay his fair share of taxes...in France. Now that France is governed by Socialists that really mean it, tax rates on their 1% are climbing.
The natural result? The predictable result? The rich are looking for other places to live.
One illustrative example would be Johnny Depp. He is apparently headed back to the U.S. in order to avoid paying higher taxes in France.
The more pedestrian sorts of top earners (captains of industry and finance) are also looking for the exits for similar reasons.
Attempting to punish success causes successful people to leave? Who knew!
The natural result? The predictable result? The rich are looking for other places to live.
One illustrative example would be Johnny Depp. He is apparently headed back to the U.S. in order to avoid paying higher taxes in France.
The more pedestrian sorts of top earners (captains of industry and finance) are also looking for the exits for similar reasons.
Attempting to punish success causes successful people to leave? Who knew!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
What Qualifications?
What are the qualifications for serving in the United States Congress? 50% of the vote plus 1.
Shouldn't they be a little higher? Case in point, US Representative Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) who believes that Dutch slaverholders existed in Brooklyn in 1898
That would be Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Add to that, Steven Colbert posed the theoretic question about using a time machine to go back in time to 1898 and what would Ms. Clarke have to say to the people of Brooklyn. Apparently, Ms. Clarke is not a big fan of science fiction as she was unclear on the concept of taking modern knowledge into the past and applying it for some benefit.
Once the whole concept of time travel was mostly cleared up, and the Dutch slave holding menace of 1898 had been hashed through, she was given another shot at suggesting a message that she would carry to the people of Brooklyn in 1898.
Her best shot? Brooklyn is a great place.
The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918? She didn't see any reason to warn people about it.
The crash on Wall Street of 1929? She thinks history should take its course unimpeded.
The sinking of the Titanic? Let it happen.
Adolf Hitler? Nope....well on second thought, there might be a reason to let folks know what is in their future.
It seems like every party has more than their fair share of under-qualified candidates. And they get elected!
Shouldn't they be a little higher? Case in point, US Representative Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) who believes that Dutch slaverholders existed in Brooklyn in 1898
That would be Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Add to that, Steven Colbert posed the theoretic question about using a time machine to go back in time to 1898 and what would Ms. Clarke have to say to the people of Brooklyn. Apparently, Ms. Clarke is not a big fan of science fiction as she was unclear on the concept of taking modern knowledge into the past and applying it for some benefit.
Once the whole concept of time travel was mostly cleared up, and the Dutch slave holding menace of 1898 had been hashed through, she was given another shot at suggesting a message that she would carry to the people of Brooklyn in 1898.
Her best shot? Brooklyn is a great place.
The Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918? She didn't see any reason to warn people about it.
The crash on Wall Street of 1929? She thinks history should take its course unimpeded.
The sinking of the Titanic? Let it happen.
Adolf Hitler? Nope....well on second thought, there might be a reason to let folks know what is in their future.
It seems like every party has more than their fair share of under-qualified candidates. And they get elected!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Book Recommendation - Mother Of Lies
A while back, I recommended "Children of Chaos" by Dave Duncan. "Mother of Lies" is the conclusion to the story.
Mr. Duncan concludes his tale is a most satisfying fashion. I won't give too much away.
One of the things that he does so well is to convey the duality, the paradoxes, and the many ironies that populate the human condition. For example, consider the pantheon he creates.
Ucrists...worshipers of the god Ucr...obtain great skill at accumulating wealth. The price they pay is that they can never know real happiness. How many times do we see people confusing the acquisition of lucre for the pursuit of happiness?
Worshipers of Eriander know love and lust in all it's forms. Yet the price they pay is to never be loved by another.
Nastrarians possess great affinity for animals. Yet the apparent price they pay is their ability to relate to other humans.
Worshipers of Anziel can produce great works of inspiring art. The price they pay is that they lack the ability to manage the money earned through commissions and are forever poor.
The one disappointing element of this pair of books is that the story is told via exceptional characters. The four main protagonists are a sort of royalty. So too are many of the other characters both good and evil. While there are most certainly characters of common origin found within the story, It hinges most often upon...the 1%...to use an well worn phrase.
In any case, if you took my advice and read the first book, then by all means read the second. The endings are well worth the effort.
This was my first time reading a book via my beloved bride's Kindle. I found the experience to be most enjoyable. The Kindle is not only less cumbersome than a dead tree book, the case we bought allows me to set it on our bed so that I can read without actually holding it. Most convenient!
My wife had already downloaded several games that were quite fun to play. Shopping with it was seamless.
I look forward to my next experience with the Kindle!
Mr. Duncan concludes his tale is a most satisfying fashion. I won't give too much away.
One of the things that he does so well is to convey the duality, the paradoxes, and the many ironies that populate the human condition. For example, consider the pantheon he creates.
Ucrists...worshipers of the god Ucr...obtain great skill at accumulating wealth. The price they pay is that they can never know real happiness. How many times do we see people confusing the acquisition of lucre for the pursuit of happiness?
Worshipers of Eriander know love and lust in all it's forms. Yet the price they pay is to never be loved by another.
Nastrarians possess great affinity for animals. Yet the apparent price they pay is their ability to relate to other humans.
Worshipers of Anziel can produce great works of inspiring art. The price they pay is that they lack the ability to manage the money earned through commissions and are forever poor.
The one disappointing element of this pair of books is that the story is told via exceptional characters. The four main protagonists are a sort of royalty. So too are many of the other characters both good and evil. While there are most certainly characters of common origin found within the story, It hinges most often upon...the 1%...to use an well worn phrase.
In any case, if you took my advice and read the first book, then by all means read the second. The endings are well worth the effort.
This was my first time reading a book via my beloved bride's Kindle. I found the experience to be most enjoyable. The Kindle is not only less cumbersome than a dead tree book, the case we bought allows me to set it on our bed so that I can read without actually holding it. Most convenient!
My wife had already downloaded several games that were quite fun to play. Shopping with it was seamless.
I look forward to my next experience with the Kindle!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Being A Dad
I can manage all four of these thoughts in one head. I can usually avoid saying them all at the same time.
Fortunately...or unfortunately, I don't know which...I've yet to have this issue with any of our kids. However, we have sent two nephews overseas in the military due in some small part to my prior service. And my little brother is on his fourth combat tour. This time in the 'Stan. Yes, the reserves still deploy.
He and I have talked at length about enlisting/re-enlisting and the reasons why people remain in the service. I am simultaneously humbled, honored, and made jealous by his continued service to our country.
I have some combination of the above running through my head every time we talk.
Fortunately...or unfortunately, I don't know which...I've yet to have this issue with any of our kids. However, we have sent two nephews overseas in the military due in some small part to my prior service. And my little brother is on his fourth combat tour. This time in the 'Stan. Yes, the reserves still deploy.
He and I have talked at length about enlisting/re-enlisting and the reasons why people remain in the service. I am simultaneously humbled, honored, and made jealous by his continued service to our country.
I have some combination of the above running through my head every time we talk.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Federal Employment
A great deal of hay was made recently regarding government employment and Mr. Obama's affect thereof.
The only category of government employment that Mr. Obama controls is those employees of the federal government. So how has he affected total federal employment?
The only category of government employment that Mr. Obama controls is those employees of the federal government. So how has he affected total federal employment?
As anyone can see, it has gone up over the last few years. The increase has been from 4,206,000 employees in 2008 to 4,443,000 in 2010. I didn't find numbers for 2012.
Pie by thumb, I'd call that about a 5% increase.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Honored Allies
We pause to honor our Australian allies. They lost five soldiers in Afghanistan last week.
Australia has fought alongside the U.S. in every modern war in which we have been involved. They have been staunch allies in the fight for freedom.
Australia has fought alongside the U.S. in every modern war in which we have been involved. They have been staunch allies in the fight for freedom.
Australian plans to begin withdrawing troops once the Afghan battalion is fully trained, as early as next year. Gillard said the latest bloodshed would not speed up that timeline.And they fight until the end.
"Our strategy is well defined, our strategy is constant. And we cannot allow even the most grievous of losses to change our strategy," Gillard said. "We are there for a purpose and we will see that purpose through."
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Scalzi Blogs About...
Careful, folks. A fair ramble lies ahead.
Author John Scalzi has been touted by the Blogfather as being a latter day Robert Heinlein. I am partial to Mr. Heinlein's work, so I began following Mr. Scalzi's blog some time ago.
I still have yet to read any of his sci-fi. "The Old Man's War" is sitting on the kitchen table. Soon....
Back to his blog, he recently announced that his publisher had put a whole bunch of e-books on sale. He even included a nifty link.
Lo and behold, what do I find? Books by Peter V. Brett. Also books by Robert Silverberg! I've been reading Mr. Silverberg's work for almost 40 years.
The sale is good for the entire month of September. If you use an e-reader, like the Kindle, then you might find some good reading in your future.
Back to Mr. Scalzi's blog again, but finding it was a bit of queer luck. Glenn Reynolds leans pretty heavily toward the libertarian end of things. At least, within the American political scale, he is a much of a libertarian as Barack Obama is a socialist. Which is to say that he's not in the perceived center of American politics, but he ain't exactly way out on the fringe either.
Mr. Scalzi's politics tend to lean towards the left; not unreasonably so. And yet Mr. Reynolds repeatedly plugs just about anything that Mr. Scalzi puts on paper.
I believe the line is firmly drawn at any works on paper that Mr. Scalzi might create in his bathroom.
Mr. Scalzi's blog is well worth your time. I get it via my email. He is pretty reader friendly when it comes to naming his entries. His book recommendations are clearly marked. I don't have time to read three books a week...although I do try....so I can skip those without reading.
Or at least, I should ignore his recommendations. But I can't when it involves Neal Peart of Rush!
I am doomed....
Mr. Scalzi has discussed any number of interesting issues over the last couple of months. One series in particular was about perceptions of presence and when a person steps over the line from friendly into seriously creepy behavior.
He also touched on Todd Akin in some interesting and and also some predicatable ways.
Mr. Scalzi swings a mighty Mallet of Loving Correction. So the comments on his blog are more polite than others. [grumble...I could do the same thing but I don't get enough comments to swing a dead cat, much less a MoLC, at....grumble]
Having rambled on for a bit, you might wonder where all this is going. Well, you are already there. Lots of good reading. Civil exchanges of ideas. Go forth and be satiated!
Author John Scalzi has been touted by the Blogfather as being a latter day Robert Heinlein. I am partial to Mr. Heinlein's work, so I began following Mr. Scalzi's blog some time ago.
I still have yet to read any of his sci-fi. "The Old Man's War" is sitting on the kitchen table. Soon....
Back to his blog, he recently announced that his publisher had put a whole bunch of e-books on sale. He even included a nifty link.
Lo and behold, what do I find? Books by Peter V. Brett. Also books by Robert Silverberg! I've been reading Mr. Silverberg's work for almost 40 years.
The sale is good for the entire month of September. If you use an e-reader, like the Kindle, then you might find some good reading in your future.
Back to Mr. Scalzi's blog again, but finding it was a bit of queer luck. Glenn Reynolds leans pretty heavily toward the libertarian end of things. At least, within the American political scale, he is a much of a libertarian as Barack Obama is a socialist. Which is to say that he's not in the perceived center of American politics, but he ain't exactly way out on the fringe either.
Mr. Scalzi's politics tend to lean towards the left; not unreasonably so. And yet Mr. Reynolds repeatedly plugs just about anything that Mr. Scalzi puts on paper.
I believe the line is firmly drawn at any works on paper that Mr. Scalzi might create in his bathroom.
Mr. Scalzi's blog is well worth your time. I get it via my email. He is pretty reader friendly when it comes to naming his entries. His book recommendations are clearly marked. I don't have time to read three books a week...although I do try....so I can skip those without reading.
Or at least, I should ignore his recommendations. But I can't when it involves Neal Peart of Rush!
I am doomed....
Mr. Scalzi has discussed any number of interesting issues over the last couple of months. One series in particular was about perceptions of presence and when a person steps over the line from friendly into seriously creepy behavior.
He also touched on Todd Akin in some interesting and and also some predicatable ways.
Mr. Scalzi swings a mighty Mallet of Loving Correction. So the comments on his blog are more polite than others. [grumble...I could do the same thing but I don't get enough comments to swing a dead cat, much less a MoLC, at....grumble]
Having rambled on for a bit, you might wonder where all this is going. Well, you are already there. Lots of good reading. Civil exchanges of ideas. Go forth and be satiated!
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Sexual Harassment In The Bush Administration
Why didn't we hear more? Oopsie! Wrong label!
As the Blogfather has sagely observed, this sort of thing gets less media play when the Democrats are in the White House.
As the Blogfather has sagely observed, this sort of thing gets less media play when the Democrats are in the White House.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Amazing Grace Indeed
Spreading peace where e'er they go.
This version works too.
Wishing you all the best on Patriot's Day, 2012. Never forget the price that was paid for our freedom.
Monday, September 10, 2012
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