I was reading this story today about droughts in Texas. It caught my eye because the first line said “LUBBOCK, Texas” where I used to live. The fun part about this story is that there’s nothing even close to Lubbock in it! Most of the story focuses on the Hill Country and areas west of …
Category Archives: Opinion
NPR: Evil Plagiarists
Uh oh. According to Whil Wheaton, NPR has joined the evil ranks of evil evil plagiarists. Bill does not approve. Update: Apparently I should read the comments of WW’s post.
Anathem
A few weeks ago I created an homage to Xkcd by evaluating my experience reading Neal Stephenson’s Anathem. Well, I’m done. Overall, I think Neal Stephenson will be remembered as one of the premier scifi authors of this generation. That doesn’t make his books any easier to read. This one in particular I found to …
Questionable Content
Last week was stressful. During that time, when I was incapable of doing productive things, I read the entirety of the webcomic “Questionable Content”. I found it to be one of the best soap-opera web comics out there and I highly recommend it to you, loyal reader. For full disclosure, this is a risque, homo-friendly, …
On "Journalism" and "Science Education"
This is a rant post. I “read” the cnn.com article today about the Alaska “Volcano” that might go “kablooie” soon. The second sentence “annoyed” the crap out of me. Why? Here’s the “quote”: The Alaska Volcano Observatory said in a statement Friday “volcanic tremor” has increased in “amplitude.” Why, oh why, do we have to …
Racism in Children's Stories
I recently finished recording a story for LibriVox. I rather randomly selected a project to work and had the moderator assign me something to read. I ended up with “The Enchanted Canary” from the Red Fairy Book. I recently picked up a copy of The Red Fairy Book while we were in New Orleans. I’ve …
Wrong Oath, Right President?
Chief Justice John Roberts screwed up the Oath of Office for President Obama and Obama flubbed it in return. He did not state the required “I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute…” etc. Instead he said “I Barak Hussein Obama do solemnly swear that I will execute the office… faithfully.” Does this mean …
President Obama
Say it with me: “President Obama” Dude, that’s like, totally cool. We’re still a racist country, but at least we can say that we’re a bit less racist than we were. And, unfortunately, we can state that we’re one of the least racist countries out there, which isn’t a high bar to clear. Jenn and …
PETA's "Sea Kittens"
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has come up with a new campaign that makes me scratch my head: Sea Kittens, not to be confused with War Kittens. My opinion of PETA is that they are too much of an over-the-top organization. Their goals are laudable, even if you disagree, but their …
MacMillan Doesn't Get It
Peter Hamilton is one of my go-to authors for Space Opera. He writes good stuff, although plenty of people argue that his deux ex machinas get a bit old. He’s a brit and his latest book is published by MacMillan in the UK. It isn’t due to be released in the US until March, which …