Linkee-poo, just call me the Breeze

Jay Lake is running a poll on naming his tumors. There's a few of mine in there, although he skipped by my favorite; Bert, Tom, and Bill, the trolls from the Hobbit. Maybe they were too topical. Anyway, go and vote for your favorites.

And we have a winner in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest. Although I so like the end of the sentence. (Pointed to by Dan)

No matter how we deny it, we do judge books by their cover. The cover is marketing, and as Shannon Knight mostly says, they will depict what is necessary to sell the book. Which is why we have memes in covers. The cover is meant to quickly convey "this is what this story is about" and that is more than a concern than "this is exactly what's in the plot of this book." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The Salon article on how to write a negative review. Some good points on when to walk away (as a reviewer and a writer), and unfortunately he buries the lead and most important point, "Fifth, don't be a dick." It's about the work, not the writer, for good or bad reviews. (Grokked from Joe Hill)

Big Bang, Big Boom. Wow. Cool video. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

What. The. Fuck. No, really the acronym is not enough here. Look, hopeful Sen. Akin, if you're so mind fucked about basic biology and clueless about the victimization of women, in this specific case rape, you don't have enough brain cells to drive a motor vehicle let alone be given a vote in the Senate. At least, that's IMHO. You're apology, like most conservative apologies in the past 4 years, isn't one. Basically what you're saying is you realize people are upset with what you said and you're apologizing for the words you used. I'm going to say this very simply, because you don't have the capacity for bigger words. People are upset with what you said because you're a detestable ignoramus for believing what you do. We're not upset with your words, we just can't believe that some candidate is being put forward who doesn't have a grasp on reality, biology, or living in the modern word. I would compare you to what lives under rocks but I fear I would be defaming the rocks.(Grokked from Joe Hill)

And, just in case you think this is an isolated incident. I wonder if all those politicians making those comments are conservatives? Why yes. Yes they are. Strange that. Hey, you know that "War on Women" thing that came to everybody's attention this Spring? Just like the class war we've been fighting this war for decades. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)

And this, I can't find a word that adequately expresses my disdain and utter revulsion that a human being can think this way, isn't new at all. As Justine Larbalestier remains us.

This is not a small problem. This isn't some aberration that can be over looked. These people want to be your elected representatives. People who have the power to bankrupt this country, to take us into war, to negotiate and approve treaties with foreign powers. This is the same as having your car mechanic tell you they can fix your car to run on water; your plumber tell you that copper pipe is overrated and any old PVC line would work just as well, your doctor tell you that coffee enemas can cure your breast cancer. This is like your coworker going on about how he's very tired because the black helicopters were buzzing his neighborhood swiping people away to the FEMA re-education camps run by the UN. Or as Dan retweeted, "@thetweetofgod: The public saying of stupid shit is but a symptom of a deeper problem: the private THINKING of stupid shit."

Fred Clark has a good squib on how this explains the difference between having morals and moralism. It's a very good take on this and explains much of what we've seen growing in the political discourse over the past 30 years. There's a quote, and I'm blanking on it right at the moment, that goes something like, "I believe in the indifference of the universe because it would be intolerable to believe that we somehow deserve all we suffer through."

Eric comes up with what I think will become my anthem for this election season. NSFW because of language. "Assholes get elected because assholes get to vote."

As an example of this in other conservative thinking, contrary to what FRC likes to claim, we don't think they're a hate group because they're Christians. We think they're a hate group because of how un-Christian they really are. On why most clear headed people think the Family Research Council is a hate group, including the Southern Poverty Law Center (which calling out hate groups is their speciality). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart: @jay_lake: "@steampunk is people all over the world doing to the Victorian era what the Victorian era did to them." - Matthew Howden

Alligator Quotient: For a day when they should be bitting and slapping, they're curiously quiescent. They do remember there's a deadline this week, don't they?