Goalz: I Haz Dem

I can always rely on Nicole to ask the hard questions!

How about your long-term goals as a writer? 

Ye gods.

I've got plenty.  Enough work planned to keep me busy for the rest of my life, in fact.  Let me break them down a bit:

In fiction, I have a six-book series planned.  I've written considerable chunks here and there, but it's huge and complex and requires a lot more worldbuilding and hard thinking before anything comes to fruition.  I'm hoping to have the first book completed within the next two or three years, but I'm not going to sacrifice quality for expediency.  The next couple of winter writing seasons are being dedicated to improving my fiction writing chops and fleshing out the universe I write in.  And then, write furiously until done.

After the series is done.... I have no idea if there will ever be more novels.  Possibly.  Maybe even probably.  I know there will be a few short story collections.

I just announced the geology ebook I'm planning to write over the next summer or two, which will be the first of at least two.  Wise Readers already know all about that book, so I'll skip over it.  The second book shall be one of those lavishly-illustrated books along the lines of In Search of Ancient Oregon, visually.  In content, I'm planning to intersperse personal explorations of some of my favorite bits of Arizona and Pacific Northwest geology with sections on my favorite geobloggers and writers.  I haven't got a timeline for that one yet - when it's time, it will be written.  It'll need a track record before it's possible to publish.  Either that, or better ebook readers.

As far as the blog goes, I'm always hoping to improve as a blogger, build the readership, and keep the focus on science and writing with the occasional political rant thrown in.  It is what it is, and I shall leave it room to grow into whatever it needs to be.  It's a community thing, this blog.  It's what connects me with all of you, and even if I fail on every other front despite valiant effort, this blog will continue on.

Getting down into the weeds of the bidness: I used to believe I'd go the time-tested route.  Y'know, write the damned book to the best of my ability, find an agent, spend ages finding a publisher (if I could even get one to take me on).  Self-publishing was right out.  But times have changed.  Ebooks have taken off.  People are making it on their own.  The true measure of a book isn't whether a publisher wants to publish it, but whether readers want to read it.  With the ebook revolution, it's now possible to contemplate doing this all on my own and let the readers decide whether my books stand or fall.  They, in the end, are all that matters.

That's part of the reason for writing the geology ebook: get me feet wet, learn the business and make my mistakes before I even dream of trying the same route with my novels.  I know fiction and non-fiction are different animals, but they're both books.  The formatting, the marketing and so forth won't be all that dissimilar.  The other thing about it is that I want to do it, and I want people to know I'm not just a one-trick pony.  This is a good way of doing that.

Someday, though, I will want to hold a physical copy of each and every book in my hands.  There's print-on-demand for that, thankfully, and the potential of doing well enough as an indie that one of the publishing houses will make me an offer.  I'm not saying that will or won't happen.  It all depends on how well I write and, after the writing is done, how well I do getting those books into hands that will read them.  But others have blazed that trail, so it's not an impossible dream.  I can make it happen.

At the end of the day, I want to be a full-time, professional writer.  That's the goal.  I want a series of books out there, both fiction and non, that change lives and inspire people.  That's all I've ever wanted or needed.  I want to leave behind words that matter, that will resonate with people long after I'm gone.  I want to be one of the names that comes up when aspiring authors are asked who their inspirations were.  I want to do my wonderful, extraordinary characters justice.  And, if at all possible, I want to someday meet Neil Gaiman on somewhat equal footing.

It's going to take a hell of a lot of effort and self-sacrifice.  It already has.  But it's worth it.  There's nothing in all the world I'd rather be than an author.  There's no better thing I can do in this world than give people a sense of wonder and new eyes to see the world through.

But if you really want to know why I do this, I'll just have to quote you Neil Gaiman:

We owe it to each other to tell stories....


Again.


Again.


Again.

Accretionary Wedge #33: Call for Posts!

You've got until the 17th, people.  Get your geologic feng shui on!  And if you haven't got any, host John van Hoesen has kindly agreed you can daydream away.  So build yourself that geologic dream house.

How much fun is that, am I right?

Living With Geology

John Van Hoesen of Geologic Musings in the Taconic Mountains asks a good question for this month's Accretionary Wedge: “How much or what kind of ‘geology, have you incorporated into you home / living space?”

If I had my druthers, this house o' mine would be slathered in stone.  Floors, counters, patio, all stone, of all sorts of varieties.  Sometimes, I stand in the aisles of Home Depot and just dream.  Travertine?  Slate?  Granite?  Gabbro?  Something more exotic?  I love it all.

However.  This is an apartment, and the complex might not take too kindly to me ripping various and sundry bits up and replacing them with a riot of rock.  So I've had to make do with hand samples.  They're everywhere!

Mah not-so-grand entrance

If it's flat, it'll fit a rock.  That's my philosophy.

Dana's Dojo: Native Speakers

Today in the Dojo:  How to get across the flavor of an accent without letting it overwhelm the story.


”The best dialect writers, by and large, are economical of their talents: They use the minimum, not the maximum, of deviation from the norm, thus sparing the reader as well as convincing him.”
      -E.B. White


Variety is the spice of life, and it's rarely more spicy than when we're talking.  The United States alone has hundreds of regional accents, not to mention the plethora of foreign accents, affected accents, group accents, fake accents, and accents for the sake of accents.  We writers have to take that into account when scribbling our immortal dialogue. The conundrum becomes, how does the author spice up the prose with accents without rendering it inedible?

I'm sure we've all had the experience of reading a book that has a brand-new arrival from overseas who miraculously speaks perfect American English, and gotten thoroughly annoyed by it.  Granted, a book isn't like a movie, where Central Casting can choose a person able to ape the right accent (or, even better, find someone of the right origin who also happens to be a nifty actor) and then letting Nature take its course.  But still, you don't like seeing Hajij, who has been portrayed as fresh from Pakistan, chatting with the main character like a California native.  And for that matter, California Natives probably shouldn't talk like Native New Yorkers, either. 

We're not going to address the political correctness aspect here.  It's hard enough to faithfully render an accent without having to confront angry mobs of sensitive people as well.  I'm going to invoke the First Amendment and say that you're free to render speech however you like.  Just have a bat near the door in case someone large and unpleasant with a heavy accent comes to discuss your choices with you.

You may be thinking, if I'm placing my prose and personal safety at risk, why even bother with accents?  Why not just render dialogue on good, plain English and let the reader fill in the blanks?

Flavor, that's why.  If you want good, bland dialogue to keep the reader from getting distracted from the other textures and subtle seasonings in your story, fine.  But a well-rendered accent (or few dozen) is like a good condiment: it takes a tasty dish and makes it pop. 

So, let's have a wander down the spice aisle and see what's in stock.

Local Geology Kicks Project's Arse

Confession: this post is mostly an excuse to post my super-awesome front loader and dump truck photo:

Check out the dirt-dumping action!

How awesome is that?  I've never had so much fun photographing a dump truck before.  Comes to that, I don't think I've ever photographed a dump truck before.  But when Cujo and I were out walkies, looking for nice cherry blossoms, we passed by the site of this mysterious building project that's been going on for half of forever.  Usually, it's hidden behind walls, but the wall has come down, and the whole thing is revealed!  Also, there's a sign we never noticed before:

Sooper-seekrit projeckt revealed!  Image credit Cujo.

Ah-ha!  'Tis a wastewater treatment facility.  And if you'll direct your attention to the lower left of the photo, you'll see there's this tunnel they're excavating that goes out to the Sound.  This tunnel is where the problems begin.

Cujo sent me this article in the Seattle Times that shows what happens when you drive a tunnel through gobs and oodles of glacial sediments: sinkholes.  And how.  Check this out:

Kenmore Sinkhole, image credit and copyright TunnelTalk

Allow me to direct your attention to a paragraph in the article describing that incident, from which the above photo was filched:

Neither the owner nor the contractor would discuss the focus of their investigations, but these will likely look at several possible causes, including the experience of the slurry machine operator with the closed slurry system making it difficult to judge the amount of material being excavated during a shove. Another possible cause might be the presence of a large boulder in the face that stalled penetration without slowing extraction of material and caused over-excavation. A third possibility is the meeting of high artesian water pressure and its influence on the excavation cycle. [emphasis added]

All of you geotypes are probably shouting, "Glacial erratic!" about now.  Seattle's got lots, random boulders dropped by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during its stay.  According to the articles I found, the tunnel-boring machine's been encountering quite a bit of sandy soil, which it sometimes proceeds to remove too much of.  Not to mention running in to boulders.  Tunneling through all of that glacial outwash, till, and random erractics has got to be an absolute nightmare, and goes a long way toward explaining why the project's run over on both time and money. 

TunnelTalk has a nice, simplified geologic cross-section showing what the excavators are dealing with here:

Image courtesy and copyright TunnelTalk

You'll notice there's not much clay it gets a chance to run through.  That means it's grinding itself up against sand and gravel.  According to TunnelTalk, this means more frequent cutter replacements - only trying to get down there to replace a cutter when you're not in a nice, stable bit of clay is difficult.  And then there's the propensity for sinkholes.

This is something ordinary folk don't usually think about when contemplating infrastructure, when they contemplate it at all.  But geology's critical when it comes to deciding where and how you're going to dig your tunnels things like wastewater lines.  We don't have a lot of good choices here.  The bedrock's down too deep in most places, the water table's high, and glacial deposits are difficult to deal with.  Planners need to understand and deal with those issues so that the needs of the metropolis can be served.  And this is a good dry run for the gargantuan tunnel they want to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with: without this, they may not have been alerted to the true scope of the problems they're going to face in sending a highway underground.

Oh, Seattle!  You are beautiful, but when it comes to infrastructure, you're a right pain in the arse.

For Wise Readers Only (With a Little Something for the Rest)

Today is the day that I make an announcement: I'm writing a non-fiction book.

Still writing fiction, too, mind, but I've got this idea for a little geology book rattling around inside my skull, and the only way to extract it so I can have some peace and quiet round here is to actually write the damned thing.  I'll be working on it through the summer, probably, and here and there as the mood takes me.  And you, my darlings, my joys, my beloved Wise Readers, get exclusive access.  The first bit of the introduction's up at A Slight Risk of Insanity.  Go on over, kick the tires, examine the interior, make all those critical remarks you make when the used car salesman's trying to tell you this is the bestest car in the entire universe.

Not a Wise Reader yet?  Not a problem!  Email me at dhunterauthor at yahoo dot com requesting to become one, and become one you shall.

For those who are just passing by, or have other reasons for not wanting to become Wise Readers (if it's because you think you are Not Wise, I shall give you such a smack before I make you get your arse on the list), here's a little something to take your breath away.


The Aurora from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Los Links 4/8

Okay, yes, I'm late.  Sorry and all that.  Look, if you'd met my Muse, you'd understand.

She's waving the whip in a rather menacing manner, so I'd best get straight to it.  Big hoo-haw o' the week: a podunk pastor in Florida burns a Koran, a bunch of fanatical morons in the Middle East decide it's death to the infidel time, and some lackwits think the actual murderers aren't to blame.  Well, quite a lot of people with their moral compass pointing actual north had something to say about that.

Pharyngula: Shades of Gray.  If you read no other link this week, read this one.  And think.

Why Evolution is True: Hoffmann coddles Islam, calls for Pastor Jones’s arrest.

Choice in Dying: How did Joe Hoffmann lose the Plot? Also, The Twilight Zone.  Few people can weigh in on moral issues like Eric MacDonald.

Christopher Hitchens: Cynicism by the Book.

Outside the Interzone: Absolutely.  Tack this one to your wall, and ponder it when you're tempted to think in absolutes.

Lauryn Oates: Opinion: Blood of murdered UN staff on the hands of Afghan zealots, not American bigots.

And we should never forget that.

Didn't read much on Japan this week, but this was haunting: Tsunami-hit towns forgot warnings from ancestors.  Let's try not to forget that if folks went through all the effort to chisel tsunami warnings on stone posts, we should probably pay attention.  That wisdom was dearly won, and in one instance, saved a lot of lives.

Evelyn's continued her interviews with her dad.  The most recent one's here.  The two of them have done an outstanding job, and my shot glass is heartily tipped to them both.

Time for Science! 

Mountain Beltway: Tillite in outwash.  In which I learn Callan Bentley is an evil barstard, waving that gorgeous, odd rock around in front of people who'll never get to hold it...

Jake Archibald: Homeopathy vs Science - a Metaphor.  Cracked me up, but it's so damned true... and a brilliant demonstration of principle.

Neurotic Physiology: Friday Weird Science GUEST POST: Extra nipples – They’re just a matter of timing.  In which you will learn why, when I meet Brian Switek in real life, I'm demanding he take his shirt off - and there's nothing kinky about it.

The Loom: The Human Lake.  Brilliant and beautiful!

Denisonian.com: Geosciences professor 'erupts' in blogosphere, calling out media hype, rallying volcano fans.  In which Erik Klemetti gets some well-deserved recognition.

Glacial Till: Thoughts on the Intel NW Science Fair, and Meteorite Monday: Ordinary Chondrites.  Not that there's anything ordinary about them!  It's so good to see Glacial Till blogging again, have I told you?

Not Exactly Rocket Science: Disordered environments promote stereotypes and discrimination.  Comes to that, I should probably clean my house soon...

Quest: Geological Outings Around the Bay: Alum Rock Park.  In which we learn it's not alum, but that's okay, because it's brilliant geology anyway!

Highly Allochthonous: Why does the Red River of the North have so many floods?  Anne explains it all.  Sandbags are key, people.

And on to Politics.  Bleh.

Politicususa: Running From the Law: Trouble in Wisconsin for Republicans.  The only happy thought is that some day, the piper shall demand payment.  Make it so, my friends, make it so.

Paul Krugman: Ludicrous and Cruel.  I love the fact that Paul Krugman tells the brutal truth with brutal honesty.

A couple of Writing links this week.

A Brain Scientist's Take on Writing: An Experimental Psychologist's Take on Beta Reading Part I: Subject Pools.  This is going to be fascinating.

Io9: 10 of the most embarrassing racial and ethnic stereotypes in science fiction.  Hi-larious.  And rather sad.  But still, hilarious.

And, finally, stuff that ended up in the miscellany, but still deserves a good read.

Haddayr: On the dangers of the charity/pity model of illness and disability.  You will never look at a charity event the same way ever again.

WWdN: In Exile: I don't feel safe. I feel violated, humiliated, and angry.  Wil Wheaton on the TSA, being groped, and what's wrong with giving up bodily integrity for security theatre.

Right, then.  There's the lot.  I'm off to slave away now before I end up severely injured by a construct of my imagination.  Coming, mistress!

Because I'm Busy, That's Why

So you may have noticed the glaring absence of Los Links and the confusing appearance of our Cantina Quote o' the Week a day early.  This is because I've been too busy at home to compile said links, and work had the indecency to be too busy for me to compile them there, and, well, busy is what it comes down to.

So I'll attempt to have Los Links up tomorrow night.  I said attempt.

Cantina Quote o' The Week: Berl Katznelson

You see this strong wall?  Although it understands nothing, it too will disintegrate, it too will split.  Disintegration has a logic of its own.

-Berl Katznelson

I can imagine putting Berl in a room with Confucius, Lao Tzu and some Zen masters of old, and getting some amazing philosophy out of the process.

Berl was instrumental in founding Israel.  It's too bad he's not still alive - I think he'd have a thing or two to say to its modern leaders that they desperately need to hear.  I will just snatch this quote whole from Wikipedia, and you will see why I admire the man:

I do not wish to see the realization of Zionism in the form of the new Polish state with Arabs in the position of the Jews and the Jews in the position of the Poles, the ruling people. For me this would be the complete perversion of the Zionist ideal... Our generation has been witness to the fact that nations aspiring to freedom who threw off the yoke of subjugation rushed to place this yoke on the shoulders of others. Over the generations in which we were persecuted and exiled and slaughtered, we learned not only the pain of exile and subjugation, but also contempt for tyranny. Was that only a case of sour grapes? Are we now nurturing the dream of slaves who wish to reign?

No more need be said.

Punctuation is Key, People

[Ed.: I wasn't aware when I wrote this, but this cover's actually photoshopped.  Doesn't change the basic message, which is that a bit o' punctuation in wrong place can completely change the meaning of a sentence.  Due credit to the mag editors who got the right comma in the right place at the right time.  Thank you, Lockwood, for reminding me of the importance of skepticism!]

Andrew Sullivan found this gem of unfortunate punctuation on a magazine cover (h/t):

I hope this does not explain her popularity.

Unless America changed while I was sleeping, I believe it's still in poor taste to serve cannibal-and-canine feasts in this country.

This is a shining example demonstrating why punctuation is important, and why this anecdote about Oscar Wilde rings true:

Oscar Wilde came down to lunch,. His guests wanted to know how he had spent his morning. "I was hard at work," he said.

"Oh?" someone asked. "Did you accomplish much?"

"Yes, indeed," said Wilde. "I inserted a comma."

He vanished after lunch and didn't return until dinner. They asked how he'd spent his afternoon. "More work," he said.

"Inserted another comma?" someone asked sarcastically.

"No," said Wilde, unfazed. "I removed the one I inserted this morning."

Filched that from Isaac Asimov, I did.  Can't remember which book on writing it's from, but it's stayed with me for years.  Commas matter.

So does the rest of the punctuation pantheon.  Put a period in the wrong place, and you completely screw up a sentence.  Bung quotation marks around the wrong words, and you've just put words in someone's mouth that don't belong there.  I could go on and on, but what I'll do instead is direct you to one of the most delightful reads on punctuation ever written: Lynn Truss's Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation.  Read it.  Learn it.  Live it.

Or else the dog and the family are what's for dinner.

Oregon Geology Bonus Features: Geologic Core

There's a little something wonderful buried deep under the ground at Portland's Washington Park.  If you go to the MAX light rail station:

MAX Light Rail Station

And step into the elevator:

Not the TARDIS, but it'll do as a time machine

You'll notice that you're traveling into the past.  Deep into the past.  Millions and millions of years, in fact.

We don't often think about that, when we're going underground.  But dig down below the soil, into the rock, and you're on your way to another age.  Here, two hundred and seventy feet of vertical travel takes you sixteen million years into the past, back to the time when the Columbia River basalts were busy paving vast portions of Washington and Oregon.  Its a world that bears little resemblance to our own.  And it's all laid out for you to see.

Dana's Dojo: Conversations With Non-Writers About Writing

Today in the Dojo: Wherein I ask a bunch of writerly friends about answering thorny questions raised by non-writerly folk.

Either a writer doesn't want to talk about his work, or he talks about it more than you want.

- Anatole Broyard

People who find out I'm writing a novel tend to ask, either immediately or at inconvenient moments a long time later, "What's your book about?"  I choke, stammer, and look desperately for a distraction, like "ZOMG look it's a UFO!!!"  I hate that question.  There's no simple answer to it that doesn't sound bloody stupid.

That's not the only question that throws me.  But it's among the hardest to deal with.

Once, after hearing that Dreaded Inquiry for the billionth time, I began thinking: How do we answer such questions?  So I sent out a list to my compatriots from the sadly deceased Death thread, and got fascinating results, including a few snappy comebacks I intend to usurp one of these days.

And so, I give you Conversations With Non-Writers About Writing:

Where to Go Before You Go Woo

I'm constantly amazed by the crazy shit people will believe.  Comes to that, I'm constantly amazed by the crazy shit I used to believe.  There was a time, for instance, where I believed that there might be something to Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).  That, of course, was before I began reading about it.

Really, people?  Really?  You really believe water without a single bloody molecule of active remedy in it can cure you?  Or that ear candling works?  Or that shooting coffee up your butt's a cure rather than a fetish?

Some of the people I know IRL, otherwise sane and sober people, fall prey to this crazy crap.  They drop way too much money on woo.  And they believe in all sorts of nonsense, like vaccines causing autism (they don't).

They're not stupid.  It's just that there's so damned much misinformation out there, and the snake-oil salespeople have silver tongues.  So I think it's time to put up, in one post which I can then point them to, a nice set of resources that might keep them from falling prey.  Especially now that homeopathic "remedies" are finding their way onto supermarket shelves, right alongside legitimate medicines, as if they belong there (they don't).

Those of us who already like our medicine science-based could still use these sites.  They're always good for a belly-laugh.  Sometimes for a primal scream.

Respectful Insolence: Orac's delicious blog, in which all manner of cranks, woo-meisters, and ridiculous nonsense gets smacked down at length and without mercy.  His main focus is anti-vaccine nonsense, but he'll battle any woo that strikes his fancy, and he's especially useful for combating cancer woo, seeing as how he's a surgeon and breast cancer researcher.

Science-Based Medicine: A blog on a wide range of woo-tastic topics by a stellar stable of medical bloggers.  It's not as insolent as Respectful Insolence, but it's solid stuff and sometimes hysterically funny.  There's nothing quite like a science-based physician expressing their frustration at the more obstinate sorts of woo.  It's also a good place to learn how science-based medicine works, how it could be improved, and why it's different from evidence-based medicine.

Quackwatch: This should be your first stop in your quest to avoid all things quack.  It's a tremendous resource.  No false balance, just facts.  Relentless, uncompromising facts.  Woo does not stand a chance here.

What's the Harm?  The definitive answer to that question is contained in these pages.  Woo's last defense is claiming that, even if it can't cure absolutely everything just like it claims, it at least does no harm.  Wrongo.  You'd be amazed at the harm even the most harmless-seeming woo can do.

How It All Began

Here we are, then: the first in the series of user-generated topics.  Glacial Till writes:

I think a post on your blogging history would be cool. What led you to blogging? Who are your inspirations and such. 

Oh, my.  Let's see if I can remember back that far...

Got me start on LiveJournal, actually, many years ago, babbling about writing with and for some excellent writerly friends.  Started me own (now-defunct) website after a bit, still writing on writing, but this was the height of the Bush regime and so some political rants crept in as my liberal tendencies were unleashed.  Because friends had forced me to sign up for a MySpace account and because it was easier to blog there, I migrated for a bit - you can still see it here, if you're that bored.

And those, you might say, are the prequels to ETEV.  So why did this blog start?

Because I couldn't take it any more.

The rampant political stupidity that made me want to howl from the rooftops.  The rampant IDiots, running about mucking up biology education and making hideous movies like Expelled.  Not to mention all of the other rank stupidity stampeding through the world.  MySpace wasn't a good platform for the full-throated rants necessary to counter it.

PZ's the one who inspired me to start this blog, and to celebrate science upon it despite the fact I'm no more than an interested layperson.  This post, right here, is one you should go read right now, because it explains everything this blog became.

Well, nearly.  Getting adopted by the rock stars of geology set ETEV on a whole new course.  Somehow, it had evolved from a foul-mouthed baby blog focused on political stupidity with a smattering of science into something that geobloggers recognized as one of their own, even if I couldn't see that.  But they inspired me to work me arse off delivering the goods.  And that's fostered my interest in science, which feeds back into my writing, and ever onward in an endless circle.

This is still very much an amateur effort.  Someday, maybe even sooner than I expect, I'll make the leap into full-time professional writing.  And I'll get there because of the bloggers like PZ and Bora who showed me the importance of this medium, and the geobloggers and other science bloggers who showed me that all it takes is hard work and passion to write something worthy of reading.  But they're only part of the equation.  I'll get there because of the inspiration provided by my favorite authors and fellow fiction writers/bloggers like Nicole.

I'll get there because of my readers.  Yes, you - the one sitting there reading this post right now.  Without you, do you think any of this would be possible?  Do you think I'd still be dedicating so much time and effort to these pages, if it wasn't for you?  Without you, I'd spend that time in front of the teevee, or tucked in bed with an improving book, or practicing karate with the cat, when I wasn't struggling on alone with a very difficult fiction novel.  And I'd be less of a writer because of it.  Not to mention, I wouldn't have half the motivation to go out and have adventures and take the very best pictures I can.

So, dear reader, when you ask where my inspiration comes from, the very first thing you should do is go find a mirror.

And now I shall take the opportunity to give a special shout-out to my geoblogging inspirations.  I read more geoblogs than I list here, but these are the folks who, combined, form the star I revolve around.  In no particular order, then:

Silver Fox at Looking for Detachment
Lockwood DeWitt at Outside the Interzone
Glacial Till at Glacial Till
Ron Schott at Geology Home Companion
Brian Romans at Clastic Detritus
Ann Jefferson and Chris Rowan at Highly Allochthonous
Dan McShane at Reading the Washington Landscape
Wayne Ranney at Earthly Musings
Elli Goeke at Life in Plane Light

I want to mention four bloggers in particular who have provided more support, encouragement, and food for thought over the years than I ever expected.  They're fantastic bloggers and even more fantastic friends:

Cujo at Slobber and Spittle
George at Decrepit Old Fool
Suzanne at Two Ton Green Blog
Woozle at The Hypertwins Memorial High-Energy Children Supercollider Laboratory and Research Center for the Inhumanities.  Okay, so it's not technically a blog, but who cares?  Especially with a name like that!

A special shout-out to the man who made me believe in bloggers, and who got me thinking and writing about politics so many years ago: Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly.  Before him, I didn't really take blogs seriously.  He's an incredible talent, a wonderful human being, and still the one political blog I turn to when I haven't got time for more.


And, finally, a very special shout-out to Karen, whose comments have so often given me that much needed prod in the arse necessary to keep me going.  How I wish you'd start a blog!

Cantina Quote o' The Week: Rig Veda

The heavens above do not equal one half of me.... In my glory, I have passed beyond the sky and the great earth... I will pick up the earth, and put it here or put it there....  Have I been drinking soma?

-the Rig Veda

Being an atheist and a science buff doesn't mean you have to give up mythology, and the Vedas are some of the best myths going.  There's more than a trace of the whimsical in many of them.  And here we have one of the greatest explorations of intoxication ever.  Soma must've been some pretty powerful shit.  Considering it was the drink of the gods and all.

We've all had experiences something like this in our wild and crazy youths - if we were lucky.