Miscellaneous

Forbes posted yesterday about “10 brainteasers to test your mental sharpness”. Most of the riddles were the trick/”false premise” type of questions with crucial information that tend to sneak by the testee. Riddles like these focus on ambiguities of language rather than actual problem-solving. When we hear a riddle or problem we tend to pick … You’re Not an Idiot If You Answer Some of These Questions Wrong

In reading my last post I noticed I made a subtle but fatal error. I said that atheists and skeptics have an epistemological apparatus that can apprehend supernatural things. While I think this is true it is only acceptable—according to the state of philosophy as I know it—if the actor is a supernaturalist to begin … Correction: Abraham Vs. Aristotle

I’ve seen this image appear in my facebook feed at least a few times every week. The idea is that it’s best (according to some) to spend our money on local businesses because the business owners will extract more practical or “moral” utility, where the CEO will just squander it. The only problem is that … It Doesn’t Matter What Business You Spend Your Money On

If you’re a great writer, and I know you are, then you should be able to take a personality type that has been known to really boil my goat in the past, and eventually turn me sympathetic toward the character holding that personality. One recent example for me was Dio from Last Exile, which is … I Hate Your Guts, But Give Me a Few More Episodes

I recently replaced my copyright disclaimer on my blog with a Creative Commons license. Coincidentally, my friend Seth, who has been publishing Buzzgrinder for over a decade, ran into a trademark issue with the buzzgrinder brand name and the twitter.com/buzzgrinder account. It turns out someone had secured the buzzgrinder name on twitter before, and Seth … If Your Hands Were on My Trademark I’d Smack Them

After reveling in spirits the night before, come to Discovery in Cranberry Township/Pittsburgh this Sunday. We begin the new series, God the Artist, featuring a story I wrote plus some other fun writey type of things. You’ll be able to buy a book designed by Kevin Rupert and notecards designed by Alanna James. The money … Drag Your Hangover to My Church This Sunday Morning

I saw this video over a month ago via Bill’s site. Movie cliches are more noticeable because of their easy access and immediacy. Literary cliches, not so much, but they definitely exist and they can be just as horrid. Consider the meta-cliche, “It was a dark and stormy night.” A night was dark, you say? … Avoid This Post Like the Plague

Warning: cryptic content below. I’m going to attempt a little real-world experiment with anonymous fiction writing. I’ll explain more in the next post if the experiment ever advances. Please notice the emphasis on “if” in that last sentence. When you’re depending on people that you haven’t met and don’t know that they’re being depended upon … Anonymous Fiction, Part 1

It appears that I’ve decided to release an e-book of all of my mostly really short stories that I’ve written over the years, plus some new ones. The mighty, once-bearded Matt DeBenedictis will be slashing it to ribbons editing it so you know it will be good decent better than it is now. I think … I’m Releasing an E-book and It Will be Acceptable

The “blogosphere” (aka: the blogs in my subscription queue) has been “buzzing” about the state of e-publishing, about self-publishers who have struck it rich with their e-book, and these stories are complementary goods to the insistent posts forewarning everyone that the old guard publishing industry is really, really e-worried about this and should really, really … Dear Children: I’m Dead, Here’s A Bunch of Computer Files

In my current work in progress the protagonist is an early-twenties female, and more than a few times I had to stop myself and ask, “Would someone of her cultural makeup actually do/say that?”, and the fact that it’s in first person makes this issue much more crucial. And it brings up the entire issue … Dude, You Write Like a Girl

If you haven’t been here in a few days, you’ll now notice that jd.com looks different, and a little more significant than the, “Hey, did you get a haircut?” sort of looking different. There are a few reasons for this, the biggest of which was that the other blank theme I used had no ongoing … New Look, Same Mediocre Content

My friend Seth emailed this to me about my last post, about writers not having the outlets for promoting themselves that musicians have: The equivalent for writers playing shows I think is capturing an audience and building a fanbase online even before an author has a book written. That way when you have a book … Music and Writing, Part Two