Linkee-poo is long over due

Karen Lord on writing the other and just who is the other. (Grokked from Saladin Ahmed)

Ten disastrous panels you may have been on or seen. Points and says "Yes, this." (Grokked from Mary Robinette Kowal)

Dr. Doyle advises against the prologue. The WIP has a prologue that I think falls into her rule #3, and there really is no way to place it later in the story. I've often thought of cutting it and just publishing it here (I think it's damn funny, which is the whole point of the prologue). It is related to the story, but not the story itself and it happens before all the other parts of the story. And it doesn't concern any of the characters in the story. Mostly it's about 1000 words of "this is the world this story takes place in, you've been warned." It is a stand alone piece that sets the whole tone of the book. Basically, it's two angel friends complaining about the Apocalypse with allusions to Charlie Brown TV specials, Monty Python's "Life of Brian" Sermon on the Mount scene, with a little Douglas Adams thrown in for spicing. It also prepares you for the short "aside" chapters later on (the ones where I have fun with the entire world the story takes place in, the ramifications of the Rapture, and other non-sequiters).

This link points to the video at the top of the post about failing faster. Sarah does have some medical TMI later down the page (don't scroll unless you want to know), but the video is pretty good and having me rethink the posting of the prologue. Lots of thoughts about that.

Ten very creepy places. For your vacation planning.

And a creepy medical tour of the past. BTW, did you know that most of our regulation regarding drug use, labeling, prescription, and the various levels of restrictions all come from the Congress trying to regulate snake oil salesmen and the level of opium in their concoctions? Oh, and that electrical testing of muscles, they still do that (I have had it done to see if the pain I was having was Carpal-Tunnel or if there was permanent nerve damage in my forearms). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

A History of programming languages illustrated with pictures and large fonts. Hahahahahaha. If you like that kind of stuff. (Grokked from Dan)

The St. Chad Gospels, an illuminated manuscript with overlay images (different spectra) that shows how historians try to tease information from these pages. (Grokked from Dr. Doyle)

We don't want government to come between you and your doctor, say conservatives. The unspoken second line is, unless your a woman and/or pregnant, and then we want to have a say on everything you do. "But because of the ban, doctors are unable to recommend termination to patients with non-viable pregnancies or who run an elevated risk of life-threatening complications during labor… This is a dangerous medical precedent, doctors say." (Grokked from Morgan J. Locke)

Photos of Islamic art in Iran from Mohammad Reza Domiri Ganji. And those places loo fantastic, even without the lens effects. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"The United Arab Emirates wants to become the drone capital of the world…" 'Cause that'll turn out well for all of us. Also, you may remember, Dubai wants to be the solar power capital of the world. Remember when the US wanted to be the business and manufacturing capital of the world? (Pointed to by Dan)

A newly deciphered tablet shares the story of the Babylonian flood where the "Ark" was round (like the boats the author knew). American Nutcake Christians (aka, Young Earth Creationists) loose their shit. Here's something that even the YEC know, most cultures around the world have flood stories. YEC use this as "proof" that Noah was real, and the 40x40x20 cubits ark was a real thing. You know, instead of how the logical world looks at them and realizes that monster floods was a major hazard for civilized man (and most animals), which would wipe out their habitations with regular frequency, and would occasionally have "once in a century" events of super flooding, and how the cultures would process those memories and try to "make sense" of them. Look, many of the stories, and all of the themes in the Bible (the Christian version of the books and the New Testament) aren't anything new. If you look at many of the religions you see them all echoed and told through the different cultures' perspectives. It's an amazing testimony to the sameness of the human experience. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

But then, even Pat Robertson believes people like Ken Ham should stop embarrassing themselves and the rest of fundamental Christianity. And if Crazy Uncle Pat is calling you out as the obnoxious relative at the Thanksgiving table, that's saying something. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"Last week, Bob Jones dealt a blow to (the hopes of those who have been abused at Bob Jones), acknowledging that with the investigation (into that abuse is) more than a year old and nearing completion, the university had fired the consulting group, Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment, or Grace, without warning or explanation." You might remember Bob Jones U as the place John McCain had to go to to apologize for trying to take the GOP back from the extremists. You might also remember BJU as the place that was about to loose it's "religious exemption" from property taxes back in the late 70s, and how that helped launch the Religious Right as a political force. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The six male characters women never get to see in movies. Ha! (Grokked from Morgan J Locke)

"What makes 'the crazy ones' crazy… is that they genuinely believe the cynical lies — about government debt, global warming, taxes, healthcare, immigration, Democratic Party fiscal policies and so on — that the non-crazy ones have been feeding the rubes for years." The problem is that the rubes are now in government. This is from a story about someone using private emails of fellow conservatives to send threatening emails. What a wonderful party. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

More proof that Stand Your Ground Laws are basically "permission for white people to shoot non-white people." (Grokked from Matt Staggs)

"The Democrats on the panel asked their Republican colleagues if they could finally move on from Bengahzi. 'This report, produced by House Armed Services Committee Republicans, should finally bring an end to the politicization of the heinous attacks on brave Americans in Benghazi…'" Yea, I wouldn't count on it. Note how well this final report has been reported on. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

"'Because the longer-term reduction in work is expected to come almost entirely from a decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply in response to the changes in their incentives, we do not think it is accurate to say that the reduction stems from people losing their jobs,' Elmendorf wrote." On a clarification (well, actually, an attempt to correct the entirely intentional misinterpretation) of the CBO report on Obamacare. This one is very personal for me. In my last job at the print shop, during one layoff my job was on the line. If one of our older workers took early retirement, I would still have my job. Three of the older workers had enough time in, enough saved up in our various retirement funds, to successfully retire. Except for the fact they were too you for Medicare. None of the three took early retirement, all three told me it was because they couldn't afford to lose their insurance. Fortunately for me the shop was able to create a non-union job to keep me on (my skill set was very important to their continued success, fortunately some of those skills were in an area not covered by the union contract). So let me be clear about this, the people using these stats to say "Obamacare will cost us these jobs" are actually saying, "we don't like that you won't be a wage slave anymore." (Grokked from Jay Lake)