Consistently hit-or-miss James Altucher‘s new book, upon first release, will only be bought with Bitcoins, the currency of choice of libertarian doofs everywhere. It’s supposedly the first of its kind to do that. Many people who self-publish right now are simply uploading their files and hoping for the best. I am self-publishing as if I … James Altucher Wants Your Bits
I’m posting a Twitter-sized summaries of each book of the Bible on my Twitter (and Facebook, too), one a day, in order. Right now I’m on Deuteronomy, but eventually all 66 books will be drained of meaning summarized. When I’m done I’ll post all the Tweets for any one-stop Bible study pleasures that need to … I’m Hacking Away at the Bible to Meet All Your Short Attention Span Needs
I started reading the series in the late eighties, right in the midst of that pre-pubescent sweet spot where one instantly relates to fictional character one’s own age. Garion, the main protagonist of both of Eddings’ series, was about my age around when I was reading the first few books, so my identification with his … Book Series Review: The Belgariad and The Malloreon
Came across this one-two gem between Lewis and Tolkein, on Christianity Today: “Why C.S. Lewis Was Wrong on Marriage (and J.R.R. Tolkien Was Right).” And while it’s technically about divorce (their generation’s “gay marriage,” if you will), it still has similar applications. That CT sided with Tolkein is no shocker—just look at the post title. … C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkienn on Gay Marriage
I wanted to try one of these because I’m usually not super hungry in the morning and it was more convenient than making something the night before (or the morning of). AMRAP bars are fairly new to the market and the ingredient list was attractive. It’s very dense but chewy, not crumbly or crunchy. At … I’m Not a Foodie Food Review: AMRAP Bar
Via mine own two eye-orbs and then Tobias Buckell here, Amazon hopes to make all those unedited conspiracy theory e-books look a little more credible. More info here, but here’s a screenshot from that post: Eh. It’s a step forward from what amateur writer-cum-designer people can come up with, but nothing beats what professional designers … Amazon’s New Book Cover Maker Might Invoke My Gag Reflex
If you consume anything fictional—movie, TV show, book, video game—you’ll know that if you come across any situation in the story that’s too good to be true for the protagonists, the situation is probably based on a lie from the pit of one of the lower circles of hell. After a few episodes of The … Surprise! That Utopia Was Actually A Festering Hellhole
Below is something I wrote in an email to a friend, and I guess it’s something that I think the world at large needs to read. I apologize for the crassness. About the piss: I was typing my response e-mail and stood up to do something mundane, then I had an additional thought and found … A Post About Urinating
Wintery Knight has a good summary-type of post on the view of early church on Jesus’ divine nature, using the 1 Corinthians and Phillipians letters, Mark’s gospel, and then hitting the Q document. One of the strongest historo-logical (?) arguments, I think, against the Jesus’ divinity is that if you put crucial passages in chronological … Jesus’ Divinity as Embellishment or Doctrine
From a correspondence with Matt, who runs Safety Third Enterprises: The other day a friend of mine let me see the “chapbooks” his students made. He teaches English lit at a prison. The rules were books could only be put together through found items at the jail. What was done and written in the books … E-Chapbooks and Prison
The official answer, as in Catholic church code “official” answer, is as unsalacious as it comes: 47 years of some sort of church officialdom needs to be in the can before the smoke de blanco can rise for thee (source, sort of). Jose Canseco, the final word on all things church leadership, sagely offered on … Why Are All The Popes So Frigging Old?
It’s excerpts like this that made me a Bradbury fan: The lights came on. I blinked. For I saw the entire unholy thing. There it was, laid out for me under the drizzling rain. The lights came on. The men quickened, turned, gathered, and we with them. A mechanical rabbit popped out of a little … Electric Rabbit Chasing
I can enjoy books like The Lotus and the Cross or the Coffee with Jesus comics from Radio Free Babylon, but presuming to speak for Son of the Big Guy (SotBG) seems to be an awfully heavy load to carry. Even if we disclaim it as paraphrasing or going with the flow of the “spirit” … What Would Jesus Dribble Into His Beard?
Why are protagonists the serious ones in the fight? The partial explanation, of course, is that the villain sees a minor breach of scruples, like kidnapping or murder, as a means to a grander end. The protagonist’s outrage is a source of the villain’s distracted amusement. The hero’s end, the intrinsic value of a human … Why Are Heroes Always Serious?
Hot on the heels* of my last update about the design tomfoolery on this blog, I’ve made some further mods. The jQuery scroll to top/bottom animation was ditched. I couldn’t make it work on mobile the way it does on normal OS browsers. I’d rather have a consistent experience, cross-device, than a fancy-pants experience on … Another Blog Design Update, Maybe a Little More Interesting
I had a dream that involved a news anchor, and not the fun, drunkish, Ron Burgundy kind. He was a boring weatherman and he said the temperature for the next day was going down to “-20-plus” degrees. It was a dream, but the nightmare started when I woke up and thought all day if “-20-plus” … Linguistic Nitpicking: The “Number-Plus” Dilemma
Ever since entering the smartphone world recently I’ve been more aware of how this site looks on mobile viewports. On the whole it transfers well; I use my own child theme, based on WordPress’ Twenty Eleven theme with only a few CSS adjustments and stuff like custom PHP functions for the ads. The thing that … An Uninteresting Update About This Blog’s Design
I posted a few weeks ago about my workout schedule, and there was mention of a 100-rep pullup burpee workout. It’s actually pretty varied so I thought I would post it here with some explanation, since burpees are wonderful conditioning exercises that get a lot done in such a short time. There’s a lot of … My Burpee Workout
There’s a Facebook group called “I fucking love science“, which basically posts science-lite factoids, mostly by way of photos of astronomy- and zoology-oriented things, and quotes from scientists. But why love science? It’s a method and process of uncovering facts and collecting data about material, observable phenomena. I’ve said it before on here, but science … I F*cking Love the Universe!
I came across Russell’s teapot the other day, and I thought I had unearthed the source of the “evidence or GTFO” argumentation. But it seems that Russell only throw his skeptic torch on a strawman: If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun … Hmm: Russell’s Teapot