Linkee-poo for Labor Day

On the plus side, I cleared out my backlog of reading.

Enjoying the Labor Day Weekend (depending on when I get around to publishing this), think of the people who started this and those who fought and died in the Battle of Blair Mountain. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Face the fear. Four aspects of the fear of writing.

In a corollary to the axiom "just because it happened doesn't make it a good story", sometimes writing stuff that didn't really happen can make a good story.

Tobias Buckell relates a lot of good advice in his Getting Past Being Joe Blow Neopro. One of which is the story of Bruce Lee scouring everything he could find on martial arts and body building and distilling the advice that everyone gives and making that the core of the advice they need to follow. Here's the one thing I've seen in every writer's advice column. And you should know by know what that advice really is.

Some advice on aiding your discipline (to write).

Proving that art is in the eye of the beholder, the 11 creative film interpretations you probably hadn't considered. Have you have ever had the conversation with a believer about the "true meaning of Star Trek"? Then these probably won't be so weird to you. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Life advice from Bill Watterson. You may remember him from Calvin and Hobbes. It's advice I wish I could take. Maybe you can, though. (Grokked from Tor.com)

Sure, you maybe an HP Lovecraft fan, but are you willing to create a monument to Azathoth and then leave it in a restaurant's yard? (Grokked from Tor.com)

You may remember me talking about what happens when you ingest high-fructose corn syrup and aspartame. Well, in my personal life there seems to be a synchronicity regarding aspartame toxicity reports. There are several organizations "dedicated" to getting the news out about this as well as several industry sites saying there's nothing to worry about. I'm not going to link to them because they obviously have an agenda (and are questionable sources). So, first here is a SNOPES article debunking some claims. Here's a letter to the FDA in 2003 in support of regulating aspartame that has a nice list of references supporting that side. You'll also note that it's difficult for either side because nobody is officially tracking anything and those people trying to report results are shunted to other departments. It should be noted there is a problem for people with PKU, and this might be an effect of people who aren't diagnosed with PKU or whose symptoms are too mild to fully diagnose them (note, there is also growing evidence of increasing reactions to gluten in people who don't have full blown celiac disease). And while it's anecdotal, I have reactions to aspartame. If I accidentally ingest some, I get all the unpleasant side effects of being drunk (including decreased mental cognition, but not emesis) and I still believe it's responsible for my difficulty remembering names (I used to be very good).

John Scalzi, Troll Slayer.

Sure, you've probably heard about peak oil, but have you considered that we've reached "peak water." And in the West, desalinization isn't an option (although it may allow recouping some limited resources). (Grokked from the Slactivist)

The price of saline solution (salt water). How and why medical costs continue to rise. Tell me again why we shouldn't completely reform this business? (Grokked from Jay Lake)

You know the line about how people don't want electric cars, well in the past year Tesla Model S have outsold other high-end cars in California. Oh, and don't miss how the Toyota Prius is the best selling car, in California. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"Because if that’s the case, if our faith is all about personal gain and being right, then I think Miroslav Volf is absolutely correct… We do have a faith worth losing." Well that's dangerous thought in popular Christianity. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

One of the options being floated for a Syria intervention. I'm not sure I entirely believe the capabilities they're discussing, and it might just be disinformation to make the Syrians wonder. There are reports, however, of Iranian forces being used in country to secure the chemical stockpiles in Syria.

"Obama derangement syndrome." (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"After the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, (Arkansas State Senator) Hutchinson (R) became interested in arming school personnel, he said. He was invited to attend an 'active shooter' training and - using a rubber bullet-loaded pistol - he mistakenly shot a teacher who was confronting a 'bad guy.'" Not sure much else need be said here except fortunately it was an "exercise", but those rubber-bullets can still cause a lot of damage (even death). (Grokked from the Slactivist)

The Onion is 25. (Grokked from Tor.com)

We wish this was fake, but Rep. Steve King once again proves what an ass he is. (Grokked from the Slactivist)

Tweet of my heart: @rosalarian I think the internet has become 40% porn, 20% fanfiction, 10% Netflix, and 30% petitions now.

Double dip: @KateElliottSFF We could power the world off the energy of our as-yet-unwritten-no-time-to-write-yet stories