May 29, 2014

Trust, But Verify...Aw Hell, Don't Trust Either.

Impressive, isn’t it? It took about 5 minutes to make this. It would have taken less if I hadn’t messed about with the fonts. One reason to distribute quotes this way is that images are easier to share than text, so it more likely that it will go “viral.” Another seems to be to make it more memorable or even more credible. We love quotes, especially when they validate what we already believe.

May 27, 2014

Haters Gonna Hate. And Get Nothing Done.

I didn’t get a harrumph outta that guy! Poke around the ‘net for more than a few minutes and you’ll find plenty of blogs, pictures with inspirational text, tweets, and statuses, telling you how you have the power to change the world. I’m not here to debunk that. Absolutely not. I believe you do have that power and if we disagree on anything, it’s probably about scope. But that’s a different conversation.

May 20, 2014

Outrage Fatigue

Yes, a variation on XKCD’s Duty Calls. Decided to be a little different. Somewhere on the Internet, right this very second, someone is writing a post or comment that you would find utterly unacceptable and outrageous. I’ll give you a second to get over that. Ready now? Good. The upside to the Internet’s gift of near instantaneous communication to people almost anywhere in the world is that we can share our thoughts and opinions.

May 12, 2014

How to Not Be Happy and Share It Far and Wide

Check out this comic. If you click on the image below, the entire strip will show up on the original site. You may have to click on it again to zoom in. (It will open in a new window.) This strip is from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. SMBC is one of my favorite web comics. It’s aways different, usually funny, and sometimes very thought-provoking. The obvious metaphor here is for religion, and it is certainly apt.

June 22, 2007

About Me

Good science fiction is about real life. It shows how individuals thrive when they have free will and wither when it’s taken away. How fear makes us stupid and understanding makes us smart. How civilizations inevitably arc toward tyranny, but also how heroes, who are normal folks like you and I, pull us back from the brink. Working on another masterpiece. The Great War of the Worlds is my attempt to write one of those stories.