The Self-Made Myth
It’s always baffled me how so many successful, usually white, usually male, individuals claim that they alone were close to solely responsible for their success, discounting or ignoring so many factors...
View ArticleWriters’ Shift
Over the past few years I’ve been asked how the field of writing has changed since I was first published, a question I suspect comes up because I’ve managed to stay published for a long enough time...
View ArticleThis Electronic World
Yesterday, my wife the professor set out for work… and was back in less than half an hour. Why? Because the power was out at the university, and the reason was that a student who was texting while...
View ArticleGlory and Gruntwork
One of my guilty pleasures is watching certain sports in the Olympics, especially swimming, but also at least a little bit of volleyball, either indoor or beach. What struck me after watching parts of...
View ArticleCaught in the Middle
You might say that I’m an idealistic romantic, tempered by time and experience into a somewhat cynical pragmatist, who’s been caught more times than I can count between extremists on both sides who...
View ArticleAnalyzing to the Death
I’ve always wanted to understand, and worked at developing my own abilities to do that whether the subject happened to be technological, historical, political, or otherwise in nature. One of the many...
View ArticleRetention
This year, the buzzword at the local university is “retention.” What it amounts to for faculty and staff is, essentially, to do anything possible to keep students in school. Act as their friend or...
View ArticleAnother Take on Income Inequality
Sometime around 7500 B.C., people began building clustered mud-brick houses at Catalhoyuk, Turkey. According to detailed archeological studies, for roughly the next thousand years, the same patterns of...
View ArticleAlternate Views?
One author’s viewpoint of the future, of society, of technology, of anything, in fact, should not preclude another’s view, or the views of a number of other authors. Nor should authors be condemned for...
View ArticleThe Even Darker Side
Recently, I’ve seen a number of public service spots pointing out how texting or cell phone use while driving is twice as deadly as driving drunk. Not only do I believe it; I’ve seen it, up close and...
View ArticleDogs and Cats?
If dogs like you, they wag their tail and trot up and say hello. Shy dogs may only wag their tails. If dogs don’t like you, or your dog, or believe you are threatening them or those they protect, they...
View ArticleThis Electronic World
I’ve just had a taste of what happens when the faults of our wired/beamed world collide with [I suspect] with modern “cost-effective” [mis]management. After four days without internet service, I was...
View ArticleThe Misogyny Card
As I noted a good year ago, Donald Trump has made a blatant and multifaceted appeal to the less than college educated white males who feel disenfranchised by industrial automation and by the offshoring...
View ArticleThe Problem of “Perspective”
I’ve noticed a growing trend in public and private discourse over the past several decades, where people at all levels, but especially at the higher levels of politics, business, and, for lack of a...
View ArticleArticle 1
One of the most intriguing books I’ve read recently is Alexander Hamilton, the Ron Chernow biography on which the musical Hamilton is reputedly based. Combined with David McCullough’s John Adams, and...
View ArticleSeptember Question
Will you continue to write Recluce novels and fill in the gaps in “history”? The forthcoming Recluce Tales will fill in some gaps in the history of the world of Recluce, as will The Mongrel Mage,...
View Article“Toughing It Out”
Over the weekend one political correspondent suggested that Hillary Clinton’s tendency to “tough things out” might cost her the election. I think it’s fair to say, as others have, that Clinton is not a...
View ArticleA Few “Obvious” Basics
I was recently reminded that sometimes I state the obvious, and that’s true. But there’s a reason why I do, and that’s because even intelligent people who are wrapped up in busy lives often tend to...
View ArticleThe Media Supplied the Kindling
…and most of the fuel for the political phenomenon and conflagration that is Donald Trump. And it all goes back to ratings. Let me explain. Quite a number of books and articles by reputed scholars and...
View ArticleThe Problem with Extremism
A number of times in past blogs, I’ve often pointed out that one of the problems with politics in the United States today is political polarization and either the unwillingness or the inability of the...
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