Linkee-poo you can ask for favors, don't talk to strangers, don't ask me why

Scrivener is offering an extended trial period and discount purchases for NaNoWriMo. I'm still trying to figure out Scrivener and if it's good for me or not. But it works for a lot of people. (Grokked from Sarah Goslee)

Chuck Wendig's NaNoWriMo 2016 pep talk.

Saladin Ahmed shares a tweet storm from Alex de Campi ‏on the lie of writing every day. As with all writing advice, use what works for you. Everybody is different. If I could write everyday I would, but as I shared on twitter after having only been scheduled to work 1 weekend at the hospital, I now have 9 nights scheduled plus the full weekend (this is on top of the day thing which on a regular day soaks up between 7am to 7pm usually, with some days only until 6pm). There were more days I could have taken, had I wanted (debating some of them).

Ferrets Steinmetz's NaNoWriMo 2016 writing advice (hint, hardly anyone writes the way they portray in movies). "Don’t forget that it can suck."

"The (British) public is being encouraged to help map Britain’s historic obsession with the paranormal by searching for ancient scratchings in old buildings, used as charms against witchcraft and evil spirits." These things don't only occur in "the old country", for instance in the US we also have haint blue ceilings, vegetable magic, animals buried in walls, and our own apotropaic marks. (Grokked from the Higherside Chats)

"Just like a marriage gone bad, though, things have soured between Washington and Moscow. Bickering over nuclear issues has increased markedly in recent months, with each side accusing the other of cheating." Just as a reminder, each side, even after "disarmament", still has the power to destroy the world ten times over (or more) with existing weapons (and to end human civilization by over 100 times).

"A 47-year-old Ohio man accused of dumping manure at his county's Democratic Party headquarters has been arrested." No no no. You're supposed to put it in a paper bag to light on fire and then ring the door-bell.

Yeah, we're in a post-racial phase of America and don't need any enforcement options in the Voting Rights Act. "The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, along with a handful of individual voters, sued the state's elections board and three county elections boards Monday over an alleged voter purge that it claims disproportionately affected African Americans." I mean, it's not like historically racists states would attempt to disenfranchise minority voters in this day and age.

You know that story line about Trumpster not paying the contractors that work for him? "FEC filings show that the Trump campaign is disputing a payment of more than $766,700 to pollster Tony Fabrizio's firm, as the Washington Post reported Monday afternoon. The Trump campaign also owes Fabrizio another payment of $55,300, which the campaign is not disputing, according to filings." Yeah, it's true.

"So, here, captured in the lab, seems to be the source for the saying that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes the truth. And if you look around yourself, you may start to think that everyone from advertisers to politicians are taking advantage of this foible of human psychology." Fucking Joseph Goebbels. Repeat a lie often enough and eventually it becomes the truth. Which, if you pay attention to Fox News, seems to be the SOP of the conservative mind set (although it could also be a distinct difference in maturity of worldview). Now this can't override what we know already to be the truth, but in the absence of facts repeated lies can build their own truth. This is part of the quote about the best defense of the Republic is an informed public. (Grokked from Dan)

"The researchers quickly dismissed their initial fear that the logs represented a malware attack. The communication wasn’t the work of bots. The irregular pattern of server lookups actually resembled the pattern of human conversation—conversations that began during office hours in New York and continued during office hours in Moscow. It dawned on the researchers that this wasn’t an attack, but a sustained relationship between a server registered to the Trump Organization and two servers registered to an (Russian) entity called Alfa Bank." Holy shit. While this could be completely legitimate, following along the lines that the Trumpster is in deep hock to Russian banks after his numerous bankruptcies. "Tea Leaves and his colleagues plotted the data from the logs on a timeline. What it illustrated was suggestive: The conversation between the Trump and Alfa servers appeared to follow the contours of political happenings in the United States." (Grokked from Wil Wheaton)

Our friends up north, if the person you don't like wins the election, Cape Breton wants you to know you can always go there. Although "Cape Breton is calling you" doesn't have the same flair as "Leipzig is calling you." (Grokked from Dan)

Tweet of my heart: @alexdecampi @saladinahmed Also, don't be afraid to write out of sequence. Got random dialogue for a scene in the middle? Write it down!