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Life Lessons From 2014
by We should always be learning. I’ve learned lots this year as well as others. But some lessons stand out and sometimes because they were hard to learn or relearn. I have four picks for this year, each learned or relearned or reinforced in a different way. If someone is wrong on the Internet, it’s not that important. Rather than telling someone they’re wrong on FB (or Twitter, or wherever), it’s often just as satisfying to comment out loud to yourself without posting. Humans being humans, most people are just going to resent the correction anyway. Make an exception when they’re posing a danger to themselves or others. If you…
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Christmas Eve
by Well, the weather outside may not be frightful, and we are very much looking like a green Christmas from where I’m sitting, but it will still be Christmas tomorrow. The kids may not be restless in their beds, and will probably all have a hard time getting to sleep early enough for how early tomorrow is going to start, and it’s starting early in the morning, whether they like it or not. You see, their mom is working an overnight shift tonight. Shiftwork doesn’t always recognize holidays, doesn’t stop with them. That goes for hers and mine for that matter, but I don’t have to work the big days…
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What I’m Watching for Christmas
by On this edition of “What I’m Watching”, we learn what my favourite Christmas movies are. I love Christmas, although mainly in a Tim Minchin “White Wine in the Sun” sort of way. It’s a secular Christmas and I don’t really care about presents. I want to spend time with my family, nuclear and extended, even the ones I don’t get along with (in fact, a lot of the presents are selected with this in mind). I also want to manage to visit with as many friends as possible, in person, by phone, or virtually. The decorations are fun, but it’s about decorating as a family. Parties are fun, even when I have…
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What is it with People and Algebra?
by You know what really gives me that great heaving sigh with the rolled eye balls? People who don’t get Algebra. How often does something like this pass through your time stream on FB or some other social network: The three most common lies you’ll hear in your life: I love you. We’ll be together forever. You’ll use algebra in real life. Maybe: Why is it important for kids to learn Algebra? Because I had to, and now it’s your turn. Or: Another day has passed and I didn’t use Algebra once. Or: Algebra: it won’t help you in real life. Or how about the pie chart that shows a breakdown…
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Holy Crap, I have a 16 Year Old.
by That is all. by
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What I’m Writing: Draugr Rising
by My current novel project is tentatively titled Draugr Rising. For those not in the know (and if you haven’t done much reading in Norse mythology, why would you be?) a draugr (or draug or draugar) is the Viking version of a zombie or revenant. They’re usually tied to the grave they’re buried in, often guarding treasure, have superhuman strength, and occasionally eat the flesh of the living or drink their blood. Some of them are shape changers. A few of them even have a variety of magical abilities so that they rival sorcerers: curses, entering dreams, driving their victims mad, and other powers. Fun, right? And with a slight…
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Experiments in New Knowledge
by So I’m going to try a new experiment for at least the next 30 days. Yes, it’s a weird time to be starting something like this, but weird is often fun. Have you ever heard someone use the old cliché that if you learned something today then the day hasn’t been wasted? There are a lot of variations on this: “A day spent without learning something is a day wasted.”—Anonymous “Learning is like rowing upstream: not to advance is to drop back”—Chinese proverb “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”—Dr. Suess “When you stop growing, you start dying.”—William S. Burroughs…
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The Care and Feeding of Trolls
by So it will come as no surprise anyone reading this, that I am both an atheist and a skeptic. I’m not aggressive about either, although for quite some time I did have for my profile picture in a number of places, “Demand Evidence and Think Critically”. I do have strong opinions, we all do, but in general, I’m more than happy for you to believe whatever makes you happy, so long as it doesn’t endanger the people around you, or especially the people around me. I’m honestly unsure why certain things polarized people to such an amazing degree, although far smarter people than I am have studied it in…
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What I’m Reading: Star Soldiers
by I’ve enjoyed a lot of Andre Norton’s stories during my lifetime. I wish this were one of them. This is an omnibus edition of Star Guard and Star Rangers, two novels set in the same universe but with several thousand years separating them. At this moment, I’m nearing the end of Star Guard. It’s theoretically Military SF, with humans only allowed in space as mercenaries to keep us locked off from the galaxy at large and from becoming a threat to galactic culture. Along with a reminder of her lifelong theme of tolerance and acceptance which runs through her work, the writing is solid and the universe well realized…
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November Writing Report
by November was all about focus. NaNoWriMo type focus. A quick summary: Novel WIP Scattered On the Wind This was the NaNo project, a YA SF book, more or less, with the main character being a 15 yo girl who’s just emigrated to a new world and the colony is falling apart around her. Not physically, not yet, but something on the planet is giving everyone above the age of 18 or so a variety of neuroses, phobia, and mental issues. It’s also giving everyone below adolescence the symptoms of ADHD. The teenagers, sadly, are staying normal longer than most, but are all sharing the same dream. As of the…
