It's an old saw of advice, "write what you know." IMHO, people sometimes mistake what that advice is about, narrowing it into "what you have done". But that's not all you know. Jeff VanderMeer discusses the very real basis for SF/F stories. And not in the "researchy" kind of way, but that people are human, and most of us have a lot of experiences both being and being around humans. Also there's a lot in our world that can be made into the fantastic (almost any link I would put with the tag line, "proof our world is weirder than we think"). (Grokked from Tor.com)
So, every think it was totally impossible to build Ikea furniture with their directions and the supplied hardware? Would it surprise you to know that 75% of their catalog images are CGI? Probably not. (Grokked from Dan)
Jim Hines talks about those moments of despair you'll encounter as a beginning (and sometimes even a successful) writer.
A mellified man. Mmmm, mummy candy, just in time for Halloween.
This this article is mostly a stealth ad for Crypto-phone the information on Interceptor towers is good. There's one out by us. Nobody knows whose tower it is, nor will any of the local providers identify the tower as theirs. (Grokked from Matt Staggs)
"In February Carson suggested that liberals could turn the country into Nazi Germany." And he's not sorry about it. Sigh. You know, I always hear about the PC Police, but you can never find a cop when you need one, you know. Also, I don't seem to remember people being thrown into jail for free speech (exceptions for those inciting violence, yelling "fire" when there wasn't any, and those exercising their free speech when under police order - aka like Ferguson). I don't seem to remember any conservatives claiming PC Police getting thrown in jail. And while we say they were "pilloried" for their comments, I don't know of an example when that was literally true (locked in stocks on the public square where people can throw rotten food at you, etc).
In Chile's Gault's Gulch "(t)hey take Bitcoin and everything. You know, to take your Randian dreams and make them a reality. Wow, who could have possibly seen that as the scam it was? But just think of all the jobs that influx of money created? Except they owe "'hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to hardware stores [and] service providers' in the nearest town, 'ordinary Chileans who are acutely harmed by the project's malfeasance.'"(Grokked from Ferrett Steinmetz)
And in this week's fear mongering, will ISIS/ISIL strike America? Oh noes, a "terrorist" group claims they will strike back at a America and bring death to our shores. Yawn. Ever. Single. Group says this. Now, ISIS/ISIL is a somewhat different threat than, say, the Tamil Tigers, Shining Path or 1st of October. They're now somewhat well funded and they exhibit a good form of organization and can field and limitedly effect force on the field. But most of the "ZOMG they're coming fer our wimen' folk" type banter focuses on the fact that about 100 to 300 US Citizens have gone to fight in Syria and some of them maybe in ISIS/ISIL (like some kids went to fight for al Shabaab). Um, this is what the "no fly list" was made for folks. And if you think we don't know who is there, I'll point out that with only the basic metrics the Brits were able to identify the "man with the accent" in the beheading video in less than 3 days. People returning from the fighting in Syria are being prosecuted (some are being let go when it becomes apparent they had no contact with fringe groups). It is damn expensive and dangerous to operate in the US. While ISIS/ISIL is approaching being a successful guerrilla army (which they really are, but we no longer use that term), they aren't able to project power. They'll strike something of ours that's within a day or two's drive from their territory (my guess would be a concerted attack on the former Green Zone in Iraq), but as threats to targets in the Lower 48, Alaska, or Hawaii, they don't have the discipline or resources. The question is, how do we defeat them without aiding Assad. It would be much better if we could insulate Free Syrian Forces and point Assad and ISIS/ISIL at each other.
Bring out your dead! A story on the body collectors in Africa who gather up Ebola victims.
No comments:
Post a Comment