And now for something outside my usual range… As I talk to more and more single people who are roughly my age, it becomes apparent to me that the Internet dating scene has become both gigantic and socially acceptable in the time I’ve been off the market–whatever stigma there once was to dating services has apparently completely vanished in the… Read more →
Tag: cultural norms
No Fear Of The Dreaded Two-Day-er
It’s weird–or maybe not so weird, really–but reading certain news items my reactions are almost entirely filtered through my years of training as a science fiction reader. Sometimes I read the story and suddenly see all kinds of comparisons between some real world event and things I’ve read–either direct connections, or analogies. Sometimes I read something and can’t help but… Read more →
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done”
I was pretty pleased last week to see the British PM get around to issuing an apology for their government’s treatment of Alan Turing. Being a computer geek, and a bit of a crypto amateur, the things done at Bletchley Park generally, and by Turing specifically (and not just during the war), are things of interest to me. Being a,… Read more →
I would not have believed it.
If I were playing Balderdash, or something similarI have this very vague memory of an old game show called Liar’s Club–I must have seen repeats of it or something, since it only ran until I was 5 or 6 years old. The premise of the show was that people would make up a set of incredibly unlikely explanations for something,… Read more →
There is no more speaking to the nation
I recommend that if you haven’t already you head over to this month’s issue of the Internet Review Of Science Fiction and read Kristine Kathryn Rusch‘s essay “What’s Louder Than Noise“, in which she puts forth her argument for why the Great American Novel is no longer something that it’s possible to write. The essay isn’t terribly long, but it… Read more →
Canadian Cultural Heritage
You know, between the Heritage Minutes, Hinterland Who’s Who, and now the National Film Board’s online archives, it’s possible to have a really weird Canadian culture flashback online–at least for people my age. I don’t expect the Yanks to understand this post. Read more →
Darwinist Dating
Manipulation and self-interest suffused relations between the sexes even when gentlemen strode the earth; a few pages of Edith Wharton should disabuse any doubters on that score. The lengthy article on modern dating, Love in the Time of Darwinism, at City Journal raised several reaction in me while I was reading it. The only thing I reacted positively to was… Read more →
Completely Unrelated Items
Continuing on the theme of my being impressed by the kind of madness that is constructive (this dates back to at least the first time I found out about Korczak Ziolkowski), let us take a moment to reflect upon the kind of person who could build the Underground Fortress. I am weirdly attracted to the idea. It panders to both… Read more →
A short break from politics
And now, a few observations about things completely unrelated to either North American election: That Wisdom book showed up today. Totally worth the money. It’s been a long time since I bought a “coffee table book”, but if I had a coffee table I’d be proud to leave this out on it. You know where I’m find more interesting reading… Read more →
Little Brother On YouTube
When I was playing with YouTube last night, in order to pull out the music for that wildly dissimilar mix, it occurred to me that essentially everything is on YouTube–a revelation that’s been brewing at least since I found Closet Land on there. So I decided to see if there was anything there featuring my brother. (See my retrospective post… Read more →
A Sunday Miscellany
Well, I’ve had a very busy weekend here in Melbourne–which I may get around to writing up at some point later tonight–and now I’ve made it back to my hotel/apartment, and it seems like a good time for me to do a little bit of value-added linkblogging. So, no theme, just lots of things that I found interesting: First up,… Read more →
