(Brought to you courtesy of Day 6 of the Dymaxion adaptation… :))

OK folks, time to open up: What are you reading right now? Should I read any of them??

Because this is my currently-reading list, so clearly I need more:


( Read more... )

Today I randomly figured out that using capitalized passive verbs without subjects* is an elegant and simple way to write a phrase like "our God-given lives" in such a way that it fits with my spiritual understanding (I'm not a theist, if you weren't aware).

Thus:  We practice gratitude daily for our Given lives.

…and that's how ( Read more... )

When I hit a block and find myself staring at a million things to do or think or figure out, sometimes it helps to just try and encapsulate the things I can't do in some meaningful category.  Then, if they sit there a bit, often one or more of them will sheepishly present a useful next step or next piece to be done.  It's like, they love being ( Read more... )

Luke McKinney's new article - a follow-up to his infamous piece on "straight white male" being sexuality's lowest difficulty setting (you may remember John Scalzi's still-famous article expanding that idea) - on 5 Gamer Comments That Give Straight White Guys a Bad Name had me screaming and clapping while simultaneously laughing coffee out my nose ( Read more... )

To remind you who you're dealing with:

the allusive is my everything
(oh lovely self-slogan, all I need and a t-shirt too)

the illusive makes me sick 
(show 'em or go home, gods; this ain't dice)

and the elusive lifts me up 
(mind is the first floor, no buttons needed)

So remember:  They're not puns,

They're pulled punches.

( Read more... )

Lulu Blog » Living in a DRM-Free World.

Count me among the authors who feel that DRM did nothing to benefit us, and who're frankly relieved that it's on the way out.

Has the book been torrented?  Yup.  Does this upset me?  HELL no.

Think of it this way:  The Internet is the biggest communications medium in the world.  If you were an ( Read more... )

Oooo, if you haven't messed with Google Ngram, you shooooould!  Instant pretty graphs of the occurrence of any words and phrases in tons of books over time?  YES PLEASE!

Here, for example, you can see that the phrase "in the beginning" was used a lot in 1800 and has been in steady decline ever since, while "in the end" has been on the rise during ( Read more... )

I love this passage from the Tao Te Ching (chapter 41):

The wise student hears of the Tao and practices it diligently.

The average student hears of the Tao and thinks about it now and then.

The foolish student hears of the Tao and laughs out loud.

If there were no laughter, the Tao would not be what it is.

Hence it is said:

The bright path seems ( Read more... )

Ooooh, I can't not put this up:  So wonderful!  An excellent fellow named JMR Higgs (and points to you, sir, for the spiffy three-letter first name…very nice in the Age Of Acronyms) has written a comprehensive side-by-side of two of my favorite books to talk about*:  The Illuminatus! Trilogy and Atlas Shrugged.

It's a fun, dead-on accurate and ( Read more... )

I'm awesome at grammar, but it's a talent, not a skill:  I do it in my guts, and I have to go back and think it through in order to tell you why something is right or not.

(I can usually do that, because I soaked up all the grammar I learned very easily, since it was just attaching rules to things I already knew - though my early education was ( Read more... )