Harvested the mystery-apple tree over the last three days! About 90 pounds of fruit. I have no idea whether that’s great or mediocre as apple trees go, but it’s fabulous for a tree that produced only one apple in the last two years. I got a fat lip when a rogue apple crashed down on my face. And there are still a few left at the top of the tree or in difficult-to-reach spots. But I’m pretty happy about this. Now what to do with all this bounty? Some I’ll store in boxes in the basement. Some I’ve promised to…
Month: October 2012
Weekend read: “Legitimizing Unrighteous Dominion.” Unrighteous dominion is a Mormon term. The author of the linked essay is LDS and so is the friend who sent it (thanks, JG!). The origins of the phrase are interesting. Having been a victim of mobocracy — state sanctioned crowd violence — Joseph Smith wrote: We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men [italics mine], as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:39). No matter what you think of Smith…
Is your right to sell your very own used stuff in peril? Jennifer Waters’ Consumer Confidential says: Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s busy agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4. The short version: In the U.S. courts have long recognized that once we buy something — whether it’s a Van Gogh painting or a Toyota — it’s ours and we can re-sell it. Not so in some other parts of the world — or at least not without paying obeisance to the…
Another chance to get David Young’s first novel, Shiver on the Sky for free. Although he’s raised the regular price to $3.99 (closer to the usual cost of self-published Amazon ebooks), right now he’s taking advantage the fact that the Amazon program he’s on allows a five-day free-book promotional period. So there you go. You can get Shiver on the Sky in Kindle format for $0.00 and not even have the obligation to write a review. Though I’m sure he’d still like it if you did. Having finished the book, I’m rating it four stars (out of five). It does…
Okay, here’s a little exercise for you. What is the logline of your life? In script writing, the logline is a single sentence that sums up the story or the premise of the story. But it’s not a barebones summary. It’s a sentence that “sells” the whole, that sparks interest, that stands out from the crowd, that encourages people to think your story matters. Here are a couple examples from recent movies. You’ll notice they’re unique enough that nobody needs to explain which movie they refer to: A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love, then…
Those laugh-a-minute folks at Chick-fil-A are at it again. Seriously, I thought they got a raw deal from the media earlier this year. They are, and of course should be, fully entitled to their views. But now their president, Dan Cathy, has announced their support for “Biblical families.” I mean, multiple wives and concubines … fine if all the consenting adults are … consenting. But buying wives, having sex with slaves (or your daughters), threatening to sacrifice kids on an altar, offering to let a mob rape your daughters, and sending your unwanted children out into the desert … this…
Company it’s leased from takes it back claiming project is illegal. Highly bogus claim, I suspect. ATF is probably on the sidelines picking up legalistic how-to-seize tips.
Funny how we’ve been assured for the last century or so that fingerprints are infallible evidence. (Tip o’ hat to Jim Bovard) Do bike helmet laws indirectly do more harm than good? Handy Helpful Hints … on growing cannabis. (Via Brad Spangler’s Twitter feed) Are you doing your bit to be sufficiently “suspicious” to the homeland (achtung!) security state? C’mon, it isn’t that difficult (as John Silveira predicted years ago). (H/T O) Hm. Wonder if this’ll worry that pack of paranoids? Slave ants rebel and destroy the young of their oppressors. (Via the very nice and mild-mannered JG) Hey, at…
The difference between Lee Boyd Malvo and Nate Phelps. Both held under the sway of a powerful villain. One chose to become a monster. One chose to become human.