For a brief and all-too-memorable two years of my life, we lived in Sedona, Arizona. It’s a beautiful place, red rock country that will dye your white socks a nice shade of rust whilst hiking. It’s also a total magnet for oddballs. When we first moved there, back in the late 80s, an alarming number …
Monthly Archive: February 2011
Feb 20 2011
Writing is My Science
When people find out I’m a writer, they sometimes venture into uncomfortable territory. They sometimes have the audacity to ask how I write. What is an easier question. I can fend them off with a mumbled “I write speculative fiction.” Alas, that sometimes means I have to explain what speculative fiction is, which means I …
Feb 19 2011
Cantina Quote o’ The Week: Carl Sagan
…No scientist on Earth knows how a planet might blow itself up, which is probably just as well. -Carl Sagan Dearest Carl. Reading Cosmos changed my life pretty much forever, and this is one of the lines that did it. He knew there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy a good laugh while you were …
Feb 18 2011
Los Links 2/18
Damn you, Twitter! So much delicious stuff lately that I’ve been dedicating myself very nearly full time to reading all the wonderful stuff linked. Even when I try to cut down on the number of links I click, I still end up opening too much. I can no more resist the pull of an intriguing …
Feb 17 2011
Juanita in Winter
I only ever really get out in summer, so I’ve seen very little of my favorite Seattle-area stomping grounds in winter. But when we abandoned Darwin Day festivities early, we decided to have a wander down by Juanita Bay. It wasn’t peeing down rain and we were close by. This summer, I’ll take some comparison …
Feb 16 2011
Shocked! Shocked, I Tell You!
I’ve been struggling with this month’s Accretionary Wedge topic: What geological concept or idea did you hear about that you had no notion of before (and likely surprised you in some way). I mean, there’s a lot. All the hijinks that go on in subduction zones, that constantly astonishes me. The idea that rocks in …
Feb 15 2011
Dana’s Dojo: Getting Emotional
Today in the Dojo: How do you “show” emotion”? An emotion is suggested and demolished in one glance by certain words.-Robert Smithson You would think that something as emotional as… emotion… would be easy to show. And it is, until you actually get down to showing it. Adjectives and nouns parade their wares, promising you …
Feb 14 2011
Darwin Day Shenanigans
I dragged my intrepid companion out to the big Northwest Freethought Coalition’s Darwin Day bash on Sunday. Neither one of us is much for large groups, but I never get to see the Seattle Skeptics – they’re always having meetings when I’m working. Besides, festivities included a birthday cake and Phylum Pheud, so it seemed …
Feb 14 2011
Random Acts of Kindness Week
Apparently, there’s a special week devoted to pouncing on people and doing something nice to them. And since I don’t blog about Valentine’s Day, this seems a suitably sappy substitute. I learned about this happy event from Steve Schimmrich, who thought he might be mugged but was handed a badly-needed dollar instead. And it got …
Feb 13 2011
Dear Mr. Darwin
Let’s pretend, for just a moment, we can send a letter to the past. And yes, I know this is being posted the day after his birthday, but the Seattle Skeptics et al are celebrating it today. Shall have pictures up from that happy event in the not-too-distant future, but what is future or past …
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