June Question
Are you a Mormon? No. I’ve actually mentioned my semi-religious affiliation in several past blog posts, but I’ll give a more complete explanation. I grew up in a household that was nominally Methodist,...
View ArticleThe Politics of Avarice and Belief
There are many ways to define or categorize politics, whether by tactics, structure, customary practices, or other means. One of those other means is categorizing the politics of a system by the basic...
View ArticleUnderstanding and Perspective
Every so often I run across a commentary or published letter to the editor that both infuriates and saddens me. The great majority of them are along the lines of the most recent one I saw, which is why...
View ArticleNot So Epic Fantasy
My fantasy books are often labeled as “epic fantasy,” but over the years, more than a few readers have complained that I don’t write epic fantasy. One even noted that the only thing epic about the...
View Article“Useful” Scientific Research
Once again, members of the U.S. Congress are pounding on the National Science Foundation, demanding that the agency focus on “useful” research. While there is a rather large difference of opinion about...
View ArticleInterpreting Health Statistics
The other day I came across a summary compilation of health care data put out by Optum, which is said to track over a hundred different health metrics across the United States and which shows various...
View ArticleThe Fears Behind…
Last week I watched a gun advocate claim that household guns deter crime. Like most political claims, there is a small grain of truth behind this enormously misleading assertion, but in only one area....
View ArticleFear and Hatred
I’d be the first to admit that there are people I do not like; faiths which I feel are destructive, prejudicial, and antithetical to human rights; and politicians who I believe pursue unproductive and...
View ArticleNot Getting It
In the musical Hamilton, there’s a song, although it pains me to call it that, entitled “The Room Where It Happens,” which deals with the whole idea of compromises and deals made behind closed doors,...
View ArticleFinancial Transaction Tax
Earlier this year, all of the Democratic candidates for the presidency proposed a new tax, one targeted almost exclusively at the wealthiest Americans. Such a financial transaction tax (FTT) would...
View ArticleJuly Question
Am I correct in assuming that you are as dissatisfied as I am that the editing and proofing process failed to change “effect” to “affect” on page 27, line 35 of Madness in Solidar? While I would prefer...
View ArticleColor Perception
The other day I ran across an interesting statement from a scientist (which I’d attribute if I could recall where I read it) to the effect that the “universe has no colors.” He went on to explain that...
View ArticleThe “Belief” Deception
Most of us, as human beings, tend to feel very strongly about those beliefs that we hold dear. In most places, those strong feelings center on religious faith, sometimes on the family, sometimes on...
View ArticleDivo/Diva?
Theoretically, the words “diva” or “divo” are Italian for the most prominent singers, either female or male. Among professional classical singers, usually when those terms are applied to a singer,...
View ArticleEveryone’s Shouting
Last week a shooter killed five Dallas policemen and wounded nine others at a protest held in Dallas to protest the killings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. This is the largest single killing...
View ArticleThe Slam-Bang Opening
Recently, a reader who is also a writer trying to get published wrote me lamenting the fact that her writing is similar to much of mine, in that it doesn’t begin with an immediate crisis, killing, or...
View ArticleArticle 0
I just recently turned in the final manuscript/electronic file for another Recluce Saga book, this one entitled, The Mongrel Mage, and Tor was kind enough to schedule it for November of 2017, although...
View ArticleStress and Risk
In terms of fatal risks, the most dangerous occupations in the United States are those of loggers, fishers, pilots, roofers, garbage collectors, and ranchers. Police rank fifteenth on the list, a fact...
View ArticlePolitical Neverland
Like millions of Americans last Thursday night, I watched and listened to Donald Trump’s acceptance speech. The speech was about what I expected, but the reaction of the crowd was frightening, for more...
View ArticlePolice and the “Black Lives Matter” Movement
A recent edition of The Economist featured an article on a series of studies conducted by Roland Fryer, a tenured African American economics professor at Harvard. Fryer was concerned that his own...
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