I see lots of political and policy commentary go by on Facebook, and I'd like to respond to some of it, but Facebook is a very annoying place for that kind of give-and-take. People don't write articles or blog posts on Facebook, they post images with text in them, and the only response you can provide is a brief comment. It's not as bad as Twitter, but it's not a great format … [Read more...] about A Few Reasons for Opposing Background Checks For Gun Purchases
The Unreal Liberal Argument for Conscription
I'll always have a warm spot in my heart for the liberal/progressive mindset because I grew up in the immediate aftermath of the 1960's. The era brought lots of changes for the better -- the free speech movement, the expansion of civil rights, Miranda and Gideon -- but the one that most vividly affected me at the time was the abolition of the draft. I was only 8 years old -- … [Read more...] about The Unreal Liberal Argument for Conscription
George Bush is History’s Greatest Monster
George Bush is History's Greatest Monster. No, not W -- he's another matter -- I'm talking about his father.I just finished using an auger to unclog a toilet for what must be the 200th time since we had to replace our old, reliable toilet with one of the low-flow models. We used to have good, working toilets in this country. Reliable toilets. Toilets that we could count on … [Read more...] about George Bush is History’s Greatest Monster
Why Don’t Authors’ Websites List Their Books in the Right Order?
Monday night I finished reading Linda Nagata's far-future epic series The Bohr Maker, Deception Well and Vast back-to-back-to-back, and I wanted to take a break from amazing stories of super-science and find something a little more down to earth, so I looked at my Kindle's recommendations and something about Mark Gimenez's Accused caught my eye. Yeah, a new courtroom drama … [Read more...] about Why Don’t Authors’ Websites List Their Books in the Right Order?
Fighting Crime the Easy Way
Apparently, iPhone theft is a big enough problem in San Francisco that police have come up with a special solution: ...these cops are taking a different approach than just running after iPhone robbers and cuffing them. Instead, they are going after the buyers of the stolen products, in a scheme that they call “cutting the head off the snake”. San Francisco Police Captain Joe … [Read more...] about Fighting Crime the Easy Way