Monday, March 28, 2011
The best argument against the internet on the internet
We've created a system where the consequences of ocean acidification are put on a plane with the predictions of Nostradamus, and the threat of global warming is given less consideration than fictional interpretations of Mesoamerican legends.
This is the way the world ends
Democracy depends on a citizenry making informed choices, and the wealth of information burying people is actually reducing the information value of our choices.
My take on it is that human culture is really good at absorbing new information, but really bad at purging old information. This is why ancient, discredited nonsense like astrology still exists. In fact, it's hard to find any idea from history, no matter how absurd, that doesn't have its own website now.
We need a way to disprove, and hence dismiss, bad ideas. And given how fast ideas come at us these days, we need it more than ever.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
More exciting news
The praise keeps rolling in. Sara's book has been nominated for the 2010 Aurealis Award, in the Science Fiction Novel category. Woohoo!
Song of Scarabaeus Nominated!
Song of Scarabaeus Nominated!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
A statement of principle
There's a lot of great xkcd strips, but none of them so perfectly summarize me:
Seriously. That's me in the comic. It's a comic about me. And my phone.
Seriously. That's me in the comic. It's a comic about me. And my phone.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
If this is true, I barely got out in time
From the Phoenix New Times:
And her daughter is already there:
Just typical. I leave, and the place goes to the grizzlies.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, we learned earlier this week, is rumored to be planning to base her hypothetical presidential campaign in Scottsdale, but GOP sources tell New Times the one-time darling of the Conservative movement might be coming to the Grand Canyon State for a different reason: to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Senator Jon Kyl.
And her daughter is already there:
Bristol Palin, daughter of one-time vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, seems to have settled into her new Maricopa home quite nicely, but the question remains: why the f*** did she move to Maricopa, Arizona?
Just typical. I leave, and the place goes to the grizzlies.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
A hostage situation
I have Civ 5, sitting right here on my desk. Unopened.
Why is it unopened? Why am I not enjoying the bountiful delights contained within? The answer is because of two women.
One, my agent, has requested a rewrite of SotBL's opening. I can't argue with that, because it's always been the weakest link. And the opening is the wrong link to be weak.
The other is my wife. She has decreed that I can't have Civ 5 until said rewrites are complete. I can't argue with that, either, because Civ 4 is like a drug that sends me into a 4 hour coma. Who knows what this advanced technology will do?
Anyway, I'm hard at work on those rewrites, pausing only to answer the call of nature, or to deal with the baby, or to make blog posts complaining about my misery. So it's working. Just think of how much writing I could get done if Sid Meier released a new game every month!
Why is it unopened? Why am I not enjoying the bountiful delights contained within? The answer is because of two women.
One, my agent, has requested a rewrite of SotBL's opening. I can't argue with that, because it's always been the weakest link. And the opening is the wrong link to be weak.
The other is my wife. She has decreed that I can't have Civ 5 until said rewrites are complete. I can't argue with that, either, because Civ 4 is like a drug that sends me into a 4 hour coma. Who knows what this advanced technology will do?
Anyway, I'm hard at work on those rewrites, pausing only to answer the call of nature, or to deal with the baby, or to make blog posts complaining about my misery. So it's working. Just think of how much writing I could get done if Sid Meier released a new game every month!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Car Talk
Filled up the car today. $100 - a quarter of that for LPG and the rest for petrol. And that's real, Australian money.
I remember the first time I saw somebody spend $50 to fill their tank in America (only a few years ago). That stranger and I shared an intimate moment, commiserating over the sad state of affairs that the world had come to. And now I spend half again as much and it's just business as usual.
This would be a good time to import a Chevy Volt... if they were actually for sale.
I remember the first time I saw somebody spend $50 to fill their tank in America (only a few years ago). That stranger and I shared an intimate moment, commiserating over the sad state of affairs that the world had come to. And now I spend half again as much and it's just business as usual.
This would be a good time to import a Chevy Volt... if they were actually for sale.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Refreshing Honesty
It's nice to see that the political debate in America is finally producing some frank honesty.
For example, after weeks of making the patently false claim that breaking the Wisconsin public unions was necessary to save the budget, the Republicans have finally come clean and admitted the truth.
That's right, they stripped all that confusing, irrelevant budget stuff out of the bill, and passed just the union busting parts. Because it was no longer a budgetary bill, they could do it with a smaller quorum. Once they admitted what their real goal was, and stopped pretending to care about absurd concepts like "deficits," they were able to accomplish something.
And people say American politics don't work!
For example, after weeks of making the patently false claim that breaking the Wisconsin public unions was necessary to save the budget, the Republicans have finally come clean and admitted the truth.
That's right, they stripped all that confusing, irrelevant budget stuff out of the bill, and passed just the union busting parts. Because it was no longer a budgetary bill, they could do it with a smaller quorum. Once they admitted what their real goal was, and stopped pretending to care about absurd concepts like "deficits," they were able to accomplish something.
And people say American politics don't work!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
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