. . . or not.
Imagine an (OVERLY ornately decorated store front catering to chocoholics: Rococo Cocoa.
Your fortune is in your hands. . .
Grandmaster Level Bullshit
A whole lotta nuthin’ goin’ on. . . and coming out of Kamawa (FWEEDOM!) Hawwis’s mouth.
Another Politician? *flush*
My view of politicians in general is that modern plumping is a Really Good Thing, because when one is regular and daily gives birth to a politician, one can always just reach for the flush lever. . .
Lies, Damned Lies, and “News”
NEVER (as in DO NOT EVER) take “reporting” on ANYTHING about ANY scientific research as anywhere near what the actual research may (or may not) have shown. EVERY Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind “report” on science in the last couple of decades, at least, that I have read has either been grossly inaccurate (because of stupidity–willful or otherwise–in the reporting and editorial staff? Quite often) or a deliberate attempt to deceive for scaremongering purposes. If the topic is at al interesting to you, LOOK UP THE ACTUAL RESEARCH and read the actual paper cited, if available. It is the only way to discover whether the Hivemind “report” is lying to you or not. Well, you could ask your friendly neighborhood scientist to review it for you, I suppose. ? If you know one who is honest and can actually do decent research.
Gather up all your hens’ teeth to pay for the consultation, though.
People Just Gonna “Peep”
Yeh, it’s a bit small-minded of me, but what can I say? Those folks who assert that music in a Xian church can ONLY be a cappella–no instruments–like to say that musical instruments featured in worship in the Book of Revelation don’t count because references to musical instruments in Revelation don’t mean what they say. Like, for example, the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven” apparently do not mean what they say, either. *shrugs* Their self-deception is no greater than those who assert that ONLY Psalm-singing is allowed, for some obscure, unscriptural reasons they rationalize with eisegesis and hand-waving.
It’s just the way of folks to lie to themselves to justify their own biases, ya know?
No, It Is Not a “Curse Word.”
“Dunning-Krugerand”* Writers FTL**
All kinds of little “gotchas” are traps for Dunning-Krugerand writers. One of my fav gripes is the inability of some to distinguish between uses of “have got” and “have gotten.” If nothing else has emerged in text before “have got,” its typical misuse by Dunning-Krugerand writers in cases where “must” cannot be substituted, for example, is a sure tell.
*Dunning-Krugerand is a term Larry Correia coined to refer to those incompetents who have a massive, undue respect for their own non-existent competence.
**FTL here denotes “For the Loss.”
*shrugs* I think These Things So You Don’t Have To
I kinda snicker a little bit when someone starts talking/writing about “sniper rifles.” My two word internal response is always “Simo Häyhä.” Yes, there are specialty firearms designed for extreme long-range accuracy that are frequently used primarily by snipers, but ANY rifle is a “sniper rifle” when it is in the hands of a sniper. Just say, “rifle.”
Ah! From the File, “Book Blurbs That Make You Say ‘NO!'”
“If you like Hitchhikers guide [sic] to the Galaxy and the Starship Troopers movie, you’ll love this book!”
Firstly, the movie adaptation of Starship Troopers sucked swamp gas. Secondly, The two VERY different stories had almost nothing in common whatsoever, apart from the fact that the books they were based on were a couple of the best works of two very different masters of the science fiction field.
If the execrably written and edited excerpt from a book blurb that went downhill from there is at all representative of the book, then the best thing to do is flip on by with a curt, “No.”
Aside–and having nothing to do with the comment above–I dislike “dramatis personae” lists in the front of a book. Sure, I imagine it might help folks keep characters straight, but I think a writer is better served (and better serves his readers) by organically introducing his characters within the narrative, as different characters meet, and, although if a book is in a series and I have read 1,000-1,100 books–not all fiction, of course–in the six months between episodes (and that’s roughly a six month reading list for me), I still prefer to exercise my lil grey cells and recall the characters that were introduced previously w/o reading down a list of ’em.
Book Hoarder
So, yeh, I hardly ever let go of a book I own. Have more hardcopy books now than I have shelving for. It’s a problem. Ebooks to the rescue? Well, sorta. First, not long after it was up and running, I requested a CD of all the books Gutenberg-dot-org had at the time. Offloaded those text files to other storage, stored the CD and had LOTS of reading to do.
Not enough, though.
When downloads from Gutenberg became available, I began regular searches for ebook duplicates of my most significant hardcopy books, other books I wanted to read but had not yet obtained, etc. About that time, Baen-dot-com lsted its free library of sci-fi books. I’ve been a sci-fi reader since third grade, so. . . Got ’em all (and read ’em, and updated as new freebies became available). Then I started also buying eARCs from Baen in their bundles of six or more eARCs for $18. Then buying others at list prices. (Crafty, crafty Baen: sucked me in all right!). Then I just started looking for freebie ebooks in general. Found military manuals, preparedness books, all kinds of how-to and craft books, history, theology, math, science, etc., all over the web, oh, and and free books from Amazon, as well.
I am now behind on my reading quite a bit. I have also been storing all ebooks in multiple formats (when available or convertible) on different media on different storage devices, some of which are ALWAYS offline and relatively safe from loss by various means. Different formats, in part, because I enjoyed correcting the text of the eARCs from Baen. . . in the html formats (mobi format is a PITA to edit–for me at least).
So, now my thousands of hardcopy books have much, much more than been surpassed by double in my ebook collection, and I NEED to read faster. . . The more I learn, the more I discover I don’t know. Of course.