The Wordsmith's Forge

I was intrigued by this "Letter to Conservatives" post. It points out the value of constructive criticism -- of which there is not much, amidst all the idle name-calling and thumb-sitting.

People seemed determined to obliterate awareness that the giant mess we are in now developed during a long Republican reign. Well, it's the mess we have to clean up now. Anyone who doesn't like the President's ideas for fixing it is invited to propose and alternate plan. Preferably I would like to see everybody's plans, including the President's, for fixing problems tested out on a small scale to make sure they actually work. Then they can be implemented on a wider scale. We've seen way too much smoke-and-mirrors act.

Blockading the government is not helping. Griping from the sidelines is not helping. Trying to make someone else fail because you don't like him -- and you're willing to hurt the country and everyone in it, as long as you can drag your hated nemesis through the mud -- is definitely not helping. You want to impress people, try doing something that actually works. It's pretty rare these days; it'll get attention.

Last week I posted the first installment of the science fiction story "Today I Speak" for crowdfunding. I got a couple of nice comments, but not a single donation. So, I have taken down the story, although I've left the description up so that I can see how I set up that project. Since this was a perfect failure, I've decided to try submitting this story on the conventional market instead, and see if I can find an editor to buy it that way.

I may eventually try a different version of cyberfunded fiction, but given the very low response, it will probably not be soon. Feedback as to why this project failed is welcome; it may be useful for future reference.

While browsing tonight, I found eNature, billed as "your guide to America's wildlife online." Cool.

Hey, it's another One-Card Draw! This one is by beetiger and uses the Crowdsource Tarot. It's open from 11 AM to 2 PM (timezone not specified Eastern). Drop by and ask the Universe a question.

Albino bat is almighty cute.

This is for real -- you can team up with NASA to work on information sent back from Mars missions.

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Here is the recipe I devised several years ago for cooking a Thanksgiving turkey. Feel free to link back to this if you know other folks who might enjoy it.

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Today zyngasvryka posted the latest installment of her online novel Eclipse Court, "The Definition of Great." I found this to be an excellent essay on greatness and responsibility, both in its fictional context and as commentary on ethics in general. It stands alone pretty well even if you haven't been following the storyline.

My partner Doug found this amusing video of big cats doing funny things. Think of it as LOLCATS on a giant scale.