Linkee-poo is also Sparticus

The Jobs Chart. Yes, that stimulus bill and bailout of the auto industry did absolutely nothing… for conservative ideology. (although they play a little trick with the red and blue bars)

Only one more day to get in on the Heifer International Team Worldbuilders annual fundraiser with plenty of cool prizes. For every $10 donated using the team page, Worldbuilders will match 50% (which is a cool enough prize), but then there's all the cool swag donated by many authors. (Grokked from John Scalzi who is giving away an ARC of Red Shirts and Tobias Buckell who is giving away an ARC of Artic Rising) Come on, let's drain Patrick Rothfuss of all his cash.

Red Dwarf is coming back. (Pointed to by John)

A study on how Alzheimers spreads like a virus (reading it, however, makes me think it spreads like a prion). (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Collateral damage or war crimes? It can be a difficult question at times, even more so when strikes are launched from UAVs in a country were we don't have an adequate SOFA to cover them. But how much are we "winning" and how much are we creating new militants? While we can say that with each strike there is a legitimate target, but what is the ratio of combatant to civilian deaths when it becomes untenable to call it a fair military strike? When war used "dumb" bombs, the questions were a little easier (not that they're ever really easy), but now with "precision guided munitions" does that change the calculus? Not to dismiss these issues lightly, but it's just another example of how war is hell and only insane people wish for war. (Grokked from Steven Gould)

Sixty years on, and still no pardon for Alan Turing. I think the House of Lords has it's collective pin-head up its ginormous arse. (Pointed to by John)

Just in case you think Apple only does things right the first time, the five products Job killed off.

A little on the actual religious history of the US. In many of the colonies, the founding fathers, even those that considered the Puritan Church not righteous enough, desired and installed a wall between church and state. And did so nearly 200 years before the US was founded. It feels strange that 400 years later we're still fighting the same battle. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

The call is coming from inside the neurosis

Okay, the voices inside my head are saying that it may be okay to post about this.

So, you all know I'm doing an agent search, right? Okay, well in my first batch of three agents which I sent out four and a half weeks ago I have two non-respondents and one request for partial. One of the non-responders belongs to the "if you haven't heard from me in two weeks, consider that a rejection" club, so I think that one is safely in the "pass" category. I need to check the other one of the non-respondents rules, but I think they're in the "you will hear from us" club.

For the other one, if you were at Confusion you could probably attest to just how chuffed I was to have one of my first of the first choice agents request a partial. But we're now approaching the 4th week after sending that in and no word.

I know, four weeks isn't long. I should do breathing exercises and just chill the heck out. But those same voices have started in on the "maybe they didn't get the email" or "maybe Apple's email filter bounced their response" and the ever famous "it was so bad they just hit delete."

Okay, I know it's none of those. I know that not hearing for four weeks is a good thing. If it really sucked they would have responded quickly and moved on. So it's either they're busy with other stuff (which they would be, being one of my top choice agents means they have a good client list and reputation for making sales) or they're contemplating and figuring out if my novel would fit into their mix and if they have a reasonable chance to sell it.

I just need to breathe. Chill out. And prep my next submission (to keep the novel in three peoples' hands at all times).

Breathe in, breathe out. You're not that neurotic.

Breathe in, breathe out. Four weeks is a short time to evaluate a novel.

Breathe in, breathe out. It's a good novel, it'll find a home.

Breathe in, breathe out. Stop freaking the fuck out about it.

Linkee-poo gets ready to study

Sorry, no writing posts today.

Rick Ferrel Moore on the guy writing your life's story. A tongue in cheek take on people's realization this week that employers, insurers, creditors, etc are all using your credit scores and social media trails to determine your worthiness (of employment, insurance, credit, etc). Frankly, is this is news to you, you really haven't been paying attention. Yes, your credit score can determine if you get hired for a job. Your social media posts can determine your underwriting score for personal health insurance. I now work at the second place that has told me to my face that if they had know I was a liberal, they probably wouldn't have hired me. Now, it's illegal for them to ask in an interview. It's not illegal for them to find out on their own or to not hire me because of it.

This is also one of the reasons I have a chip on my shoulder when it comes to conservatives. Just so you know.

The backlash against bullying women. An editorial on the SG Komen story this week. Petula Dvorak also pulls in the controversy around the Girls Scouts. Look, I've been saying this for some time now, is it getting clear to everybody? The "Pro-Life" movement is not really about abortion. It's about women's rights and feminism. There is a strong subculture in our society that would like to roll back the sexual revolution. And given that there are islamic women organizations that support forced wearing of the chador, there are women in this country just as keen on giving up the hard women rights they have. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Look, someone convicted of voter fraud. Oh, wait, it's another conservative. Move along, citizen. Nothing to see here. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Linkee-poo is the beast under your bed

A quick one because I'm up to my armpits in freelance and studying.

An article on the Japanese trying to excise the yakuza from their power structures. Interesting to me as the yakuza model of business is in my novel. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Jim Hines hosts a post from Joshua Palamatier, aka Benjamin Tate, on the importance of shelf space and the decline of the large bookstore. Also intertwined are many important tips in the new world of publishing. With the decline of the second large brick and mortar bookstores (Borders), B&N is the only large game left. B&N has never been known to be friends of speculative fiction. Unfortunately with the business models fashioned in the age of large retailers, the existence of the independents isn't as important as it had been. And with all this, Amazon and word of mouth becomes ever more important.

Catherine Shaff-Stump gives some rules for mixing gaming into your writing.

A blood test for depression. Not sure how I feel about that. Time for new legislation I believe, or leave the ACA in place with its restrictions on "pre-existing conditions". (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Jim Wright give you a guide to election year blathering terminology.

Hey TPers, upset about the debt and deficit? Still believe that it's just Obama? Maybe actual statistics might enlighten you. Just in case you ever wondered why some of us say, "you're late to the party" and "where were you during the Bush Administration" and "what reality are you playing with." Now you know. Not to be read by people who can't accept reality. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Linkee-poo is special

I wanted to do a separate post for this one because it's very important. If you remember back at the beginning of the OWS we talked a lot about who is the "99%" and just where the breakdowns of "poor/middle-class/rich/uber-rich" where and how different those categories were. There were links about how most people think the uber-rich are only 40x more rich than they were (when in fact it was more like 400x), and how few poor people there were (most put it under 5%, when it's actually over 3x that large). See, both the rich and middle-class categories are shrinking, but the uber-rich is not expanding (so guess where everybody else is going).

Then there was the comment about Romney not caring for the poor because of the safety net. I'm not so upset about his ignorance and break with conservative orthodoxy concerning that "safety net", but his continued ignorance of just how many people fall into that safety net.

NPR does a good story about those other issues exposed by his comments. And as a general note, since conservative include Social Security and Medicare as part of the "safety net", the number NPR is using are also too small.

Also, in relation to this, notice that American Airline's bankruptcy proceeding have hit the point where they're doing massive layoff, pay cut, and eliminating their pension obligations (that is, if you are currently retired from AA, you're about to get screwed out of what you earned - yes, pensions are earned income, not some "happy happy," BS from companies that they can willy-nilly cancel out). Note here there is no discussion of canceling golden parachutes, cutting back pensions of executives (which you might remember can be as much as the entire pension programs for workers to cover one executive's payments), or ending "bonuses". Consider this my flying-fickled-finger-of-fate pointed right at American Airlines, their executive boards, and their parent company.

Anyway, on that NPR story you'll want to read (or listen) all the way until the end when they take apart Romeny's continued statement about not being concerned about the poor or the rich, "but the 90-95% of the rest of us" (paraphrased). Um, Mittster, you might want to check your math.

Oh, and I'm sure that the Newt is so concerned for "the poor." After all, his advice has been "Get a job, Shananana, shanananana… yip, yip yip, yip, boom boom boom boom, get a job."

If you think the Republican Party gives a wet shit for anybody making less than $350,000 a year, you haven't been paying attention for the past 30 years.

Linkee-poo feels like dirty laundry, sending sickness on down the line

Miranda Suri talks about going from a panster to an outliner. So far, she likes it. My experience, not exactly the same (but I think that's because of other issues).

While I normally point to Eric's posts for political insight (and chicanery), this time it's because of his excellent commentary on Jonathan Franzen's take on ebooks.

Russians are about to dive into Lake Vostok. What will they find there. I expect it'll be the gate to other world's that Charlie Stoss predicted. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

We're now selling naming rights to storm systems? Okay, it's actually the European Weather Service, but I think this is one of those examples of advertising going too far. (Grokked from John Scalzi)

A five-year old analyzes some corporate logos. Interesting social commentary on where we are and the penetration factor of corporate ID.

The end of health insurance? Working for a company that is now self-insured, yeah, I could see that. But that would also tie your health care to your job even tighter. Good thing we don't have universal health care and can watch the private sector collapse under the private health insurance weight. Not to mention with ACO's, don't think about moving or living in the semi-rural to rural areas of the country. 'Cause you'll be fucked. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

A 2002 article on the Komen Foundation, their political ties, corporate political allegiances, investments, and conflicts of interest. It's a long article, but there's lots in there about the long road to the ACA (for those who said, "Where did this come from" when Obama took office) by recognizing the problems in health insurance back then, political machinations in the health care industry, marketing's evils, the lives of the very wealthy, how groups created for specific social causes can actually redirect the conversation from the real problems, exploitation for gain, and quid pro quoing all over the map. (Grokked from ChiaLynn)

In other Komen news, the pink Walther P22 (I wonder if 007 will have that in the next movie? - Grokked from Carol Elaine). And the Komen Foundation does the facepalm (Grokked from VInce) all while saying, "No, that really wasn't why we stopped funding Planned Parenthood." I guess watching $0.5 million in donations walk from your foundation over to PP in three days was a shocker for them. If your "… only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer," then you don't fucking pull funding from an organization that is actually the only option some women have because some dickhead congresscritter is abusing their power. I hope for your sake that many people forgive that lapse of judgement. At least for the next year or two, it won't be me. Given that your Waco operations quickly made sure their local PP had funding, which, again, is the only option for breast health for poor and lower-middle class women in the Waco area, tells me that not everyone in your organization is as schweenzy as your board of directors. Sometimes corporate culture should flow from the bottom up.

So, after spending $20 million on the first "Atlas Shrugged" installment to only make $4.6 million back, they're going to make the second movie. Principal photography is to start in April, and they're looking for a release right before the election. Um, yeah Bob. One, I don't think these people understand economics. And two, with that short a time frame, I don't expect anyone will think it's any better than the first.

Juan Cole with I Don't Care About Your Invisible Jeebus. "(T)hese days, the only thing I see religion doing in the public sector is gay bashing and telling women… what to do with their bodies. I see busybodies deciding what drugs they can dispense to which customers, or deciding that they don’t have to issue a marriage license because of some petty deity… told them to hate their fellow citizens and ignore the law." Yes, that. One of the reasons why theocracies are a bad thing, no matter which God they bend knee to. Plus I agree with his argument about "Obama forcing religions to buy insurance that goes against their creeds" argument. Including his response. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Where the social conservatives go wrong

President Obama speaks at the National Prayer Breakfast and people get confused over his assertion of "(being) more explicit today than in the past about connecting his faith to specific policy measures…"

And then then say, "… some supporters are surprised and angry about a new administration health care policy that requires most employer insurance plans to cover birth control at no cost. The policy includes a narrow exception for churches with a religious objection of birth control but not, for example, big Catholic hospitals or universities. Spokeswoman Mary Ann Walsh of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says that's a violation of conscience."

Bullshit, and apples and oranges. Look, what President Obama is talking about is using your morality, religiously inspired, to craft legislation and give motivation to what we do. What the social conservatives try to do is legislate their religiously inspired morality. There's a difference between those two things.

The first means we develop a government and society that works for the people while respecting their religious identities and embraces free will. The later tries to tell people how to behave, and makes it illegal to behave any other way than what they think.

So if your organization is built of only those religious adherents, your can then say, "We won't pay for this." However, if employment can not be contingent on affiliation (say with a hospital, or social program), then you need to follow the rules of all the other employers. So if that religious organization only hired people of a certain faith for their doctors, nurses, administrators, and the people who sweep the floors, and then only open their doors to those of the same faith, you're good to go. However, try to run a hospital that way and you'll be sued for discrimination.

Now, I appreciate that Catholics don't support birth control (other than the rhythm or abstinance programs), and staunch Catholics shouldn't use that option of their prescription plan. And here's the thing, if you don't, the cost of the plan will be adjust to reflect that (or at least that's what insurance companies do for everything else, your premiums are based on underwriting and past usage). Finally, by excluding one class of drugs, it's not going to change your rate at an appreciable rate (even for 1000+ employee programs). Why? Because birth control pills cost fractions of cents to manufacture (that's not what you pay, but that's the profit of the pharmacy, which then gives kickbacks to the insurance companies). Anyway, the final result is the difference doesn't even come to one cup of coffee.

In fact, because you then throw all the women on your plan into a higher rate of pregnancy, you'll actually raise your rates (pregnancy and pediatric care are very expensive, which is why most insurance plans will fully cover sterilization). And here's the thing, 98% of Catholic women have used birth control during their lifetimes.

So, yeah, they're going to use that benefit.

It's like the abortion issue. It's a religious argument. And here's the thing, just because the service is available, you don't have to take advantage of it. See, there's this "Asian Massage Parlor" I pass every time I go down to Mom's house. Just because it's there doesn't mean I have to stop in and get the "happy ending."

Just because you don't believe abortion is moral, that's great. But you don't get to decide for everybody else. Just because your God says you shouldn't touch the skin of a pig, doesn't mean nobody else can do it. Just because you think the world was created by the verbal emanations of an invisible bearded guy in the sky doesn't mean everybody needs to believe that as well. Just because your messiah says you should smoke marijuana doesn't allow you to make all of us toke.

However, if your God tells you to kill your neighbors, then society does have the right to tell you, "No."

Are we clear here? As long as your beliefs don't interfere with anybody else's liberty, you're good. But once you say, "You must believe and act this way because my God says so," then we have a problem. Within your communities, unless there is a societal need or good which is subverted by your beliefs, you're good.

Linkee-poo and Mona sitting watching the end of the day as it fades into shades of grey

Ken McConnell shows us his ebook sales numbers.

Chuck Wendig shares some results of his ebook "free" experiment.

For all those who like to say we're in a post-racial/post-feminism world, bullshit. "Taking a man’s name opened up a new world. It helped me earn double and triple the income of my true name, with the same work and service." Why James Chartrand wears women's underwear. (Grokked from Kelly Swails)

Hey, you know how you're not allowed to buy drugs from Canadian pharmacies (for those of you in the US), or the Mexican or Chinese spam suppliers? Yeah, doesn't mean the pharmaceutical companies have that restriction. "Too many people believe incorrectly that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the authority to properly monitor our drug supply system for safety." (Grokked from Morgan Locke)

More on how austerity slows recovery.

Huhn, the ACA helps make "Medicare Advantage… stronger than ever — offering more seniors better benefits, higher quality care and lower costs." Whodathunkit? Not conservatives, that's for damn sure. So much for all the claims of "socialized medicine" (Medicare Advantage being the program the government farms out to private insurers).

Also, speaking of insurance, if you ever doubt the phrase, "Got mine, screw you," Rick Santorum is the embodiment of that phrase. "She'd spent thirteen years of her life taking care of her girl… And if her kid died on the 12th of the month, not after 15th, the system as it stands would say, 'Fuck you, starve.'" And that's part of why I'm a liberal, because we want to change that system to make it better for people. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Another reason was I saw too much of this on the conservative side. Oh look, the candy store is open again, thanks to a stacked conservative court full of activist judges. Sure, there's liberals at the pig slop trough, but there seems to be far fewer and they also do it less and with a little finesse (at least their PACs do nominally spend on the issues they were built for). But, you know, for the blessed (in their own minds) all things are pure. I'll also remind you that one of the reasons given by Newt's election staff that quit en mass back in the summer was that they felt Newt and his wife were spending too much on their personal travel (from campaign funds) and treated campaign stops as little more than a book-signing tour.

For those who think oh those liberals, they just love their Obama. Not so much, you know. But I will say he's much better than the former occupant. On the other hand, here's an interesting look at the political camps and what they think of each other.(Grokked from Jay Lake)

Tweet of my heart:
@neiltyson: Groundhog Day: Evidence that Weather Forecasters still haven't convinced people that they know what they're talking about.

Linkee-poo rolls over in crimson and clover

An Elizabeth Bear podcast on plot structures. That's a link to part 2. Elizabeth gave the plot structures lecture at VP, and it was fascinating. Now you too can benefit from her knowledge (although she does a lot of pointing, which makes it a little hard to follow on just the audio).

The 15 most expensive SF/F/H books out there. For those of you bibliophiles.

Austerity doesn't lead to growth? Well, you could have knocked me over… with the damn full history book. I know, conservatives, we're not clapping hard enough. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And speaking of ideology killing people, oh look, it's ideology killing people. Well, so much for me giving any more to the Susan G. Komen Foundation since they're pulling funding to screen for breast cancer from Planned Parenthood (just a reminder, PP is sometimes the only health care provider for poor to middle-class women in certain markets). Hell, breast cancer research is something I support with my money. I've given to the SGK through direct donations and through supporting their "Run for the Cure" events. Well, there's plenty of other organizations, unfortunately. (Grokked from Chia Lynn)

Monsanto, Nitro, WV, and the responsibility of business. This is a microcosm of what is happening across our country. Also, think this is only in the past? Nope, still happening. Oh sure, "It's the other guy doing the bad things." Heard it before. So when you hear conservatives talking about how regulation is "holding back business" (which has pretty well been debunked, what's holding business back is consumer spending), understand that they are playing with lives here. And in their mind, the almighty dollar is more important than the thousands who die needlessly (and painfully, silicosis is not a pleasant disease where you die in your sleep). You may also note that conservatives are trying to do an end run around the President (that has ZERO chance of doing anything more that scoring political points) to approve the Keystone Pipeline, the current plan of which would run through the aquifer that supplies water from the west of the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. Sure, they couldn't pollute it all, but they could make a mess of the Dakotas and Minnesota.

Just in case anyone is still belaboring on the "but the liberals did all the hate first," canard, I call bullshit. Look, conservative dudes, you've got a rage problem. There's therapy for that. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

And about the election in Florida and Newt's "46 more states", I'm beginning to believe Newt is actually a false flag operation to paint Mitt Romney as a "moderate" who might be more palatable to the general electorate. Hell, Newt has gone to replacing "Romney" with "Massachusetts Moderate" in his speeches. So I am thinking it's mostly about positioning Romney back in the middle (a position he has abandoned this round to secure the ever more radical right position of conservatives).

Linkee-poo goes to the doctor

and this is what he say… not my Achilles Tendon, but where it joins to the muscles. That means no surgery, I'm okay with putting weight on it and driving (yippie, what I had been doing anyway), I should wear my boot (from leg break), and use crutches to support my walking for a while. No dancing, but good news. I'm looking at a few months at most (supposedly). So yeah.

But since I had a long doctor's appointment today, my internet time is almost all used up.

The rules of magic for many of the well known fantasies. (Grokked from Jay Lake)

Kameron Hurley on the self-sabotaging writer. Lots of good things exposing a lot of neurosis writers face and the difficulty of accepting success. Hmm, missed her at Confusion, but then I missed a lot of people at Confusion. Her latest book did get some buzz play, though. (Grokked from Jennifer Jackson)

Some ol' timey steam heaters for your Steam Punky goodness.

Writer Unboxed is looking for your vote on their logo. As a design snob, I'm not entirely in love with any, but I can see which one I like the most.

A letter from a former slave to his old master. (Grokked from matociquala)

Things that burn my ass

Gee, it couldn't have been about raising money, could it? And it's not like Gov. Brewster ever got things wrong before. Look, we can disagree all we want, but can you imagine the conservative outrage and blustering if this had been a Democratic governor and a Republican president? I mean, Rush would have had to go back on the oxycontin after blowing an artery. Fox News would be running it 24/7 about how "those dirty liberals disrespect the office of the President" (how do I know this? because I lived through the aughts and I have a memory of when they said that). Now? Crickets. Well, no, actually it's getting play that Gov. Brewer gave it to the President good. Tell me again how this isn't a show of hypocrisy? Tell me again how this isn't dog whistling? 'Cause I keep forgetting.

Actually, I just keep going back to this.

Linkee-poo for a gimped out Monday

Ken McConnell talks about using repetitive tasks to facilitate daydreaming. Using prayer beads can also induce the same state, it's a form of "waking" meditation (or, in the case of Ken's lawn mowing, "walking meditation").

Karl Schroeder talks about one of his day jobs (that is, being a futurist). Specifically in regard to future scenario planning and Shell Energy's "Scenarios to 2050". And then how that research should be applied. This is good for both the writer, and as an insight into the energy struggles we see all around us these days.

John Scalzi reminds us why print is called ephemera. I point this out one, because John is a Very Smart Fella/Gal™ and two, it's one of my obstacles on the next novel. I think when I decided on Bladesman I went into the project with the mindset that is wasn't going to mean much. With Post-Rapture Industries I'm reaching for the brass ring that Douglas Adams left for us. I've already accepted I can't do Douglas' humor (it is very much based on a "magical SF" premise I can't bring into my story). Now I just need to get my head around, "It'll be fun for me. Might make some friends laugh. That's good enough." Instead of the "ZOMG, best. novel. EVAR!"

Another article on the ocean acidification. But this time, we now can see the extent has gone beyond natural variability. Also note the paragraph that discusses plakton's need for calcium carbonate, which is directly assaulted by more acidic waters. Say, what happens when the plankton population crashes? (Pointed to by John)

Ferris Bueller gone commercial. (Grokked from Jay Lake)