Linkee-poo cashes in his bad luck

Not only should money flow toward the writer, there should be money to start with.

The opposite of the philosophy that "if you're a novelist you should write novels." There's plenty to learn writing other forms; shorts, flash, radio, comics, novella, comedy, whatever.

Tobias Buckell talks about Blue Heaven and how it's changed over the years. Even the smaller retreats are good, which is why I'm carving out a weekend soon to go to one. Even though it'll leave me exhausted for the start of Summer Session (which will be exhausting to begin with). It also still kills me that I had to say no to one earlier this Spring. If you have the opportunity to join one, do it.

On prejudice and writing the other. You know, if writers aren't able to explore the other, we end up with Friends, know what I'm saying. Now, there are lines out there, but if I include "otherness" in my story, even write from their prospective including cultural references, I don't think we've cross the line of cultural appropriation. However, if you pull something like Asa Earl Carter did with The Education of Little Tree, well, you've probably crossed a line there. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

But this only works when you know the lessons of John Scalzi's blog post "Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is".

It's getting to be time for local carnivals, and Jim McDonald has a post about an old scam. Forewarned is forearmed. Also, he has a link to a carny lingo site.

And the saga of Apple wannabe's who design an impressive campaign with celebrity endorsements, only to be sabotaged when those celebrities use Apple products to tweet about the products, continues. (Grokked from Dan)

You know that whole meme about "running government like a business"? Well, sometimes the government sells infrastructure assets to private companies. And then they go to crap. That's what happens when you run public assets and projects like private businesses. (Grokked from Tobias Buckell)

Algae blooms on the rise. A NatGeo article with several pictures of the big lake in our own back yard, Lake Erie. Yea, nothing us human do affects the natural world; like runaway use of fertilizers or increasing CO2 levels, yea, I'm sure there's some other explanation. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Fred Clark winds up the irony engine. "Once again, those progressive, mainline Protestant and liberal Jewish types are teaming up with the Obama White House to defy clear biblical teaching… In explicit denial of the authority of scripture, these postmodern, anything-goes folks are calling for a 'Global Fund to Eradicate Modern-Day Slavery.'” And then I hit the line, "This is how things started in Germany" and fell out of my chair.

The rise of cancer in China. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Vince runs the numbers on the cost of our war on terror.

"Pathological Democratic weakness is the only way to explain Senate Democrats voting to exclude FAA furloughs from sequestration." Yep. Not to mention the meat inspectors. Screw the poor. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The amazing return of the Lahontan Cuttroat Trout. Environmentalism works. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart: @mightymur: Do you or someone you love have Book Finishing Syndrome? Symptoms include OMFG THIS SUCKS, tears, and copious drinking. #themoreyouknow