Posted in Holidays, tagged America, Erma Bombeck, Fourth of July, Harry Emerson Fosdick, home, independence day, quotes, Thoughts, USA, yay on July 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have.
— Harry Emerson Fosdick
And also:
You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.
— Erma Bombeck
Posted in Food and..., Science!, tagged bees, chemicals, colony collapse disorder, Einstein, environmental sustainability, food, neonics, pesticides, pollinator health, pollinators, pollution, precautionary principle, science, Thoughts, WIAlaunch on June 25, 2014| Leave a Comment »
A new report is calling for the global banning of two common pesticides, neonicotinoids and fipronil. Why? Bees. Also birds, earthworms, other pollinators and aquatic invertebrates, but let’s focus on bees for a minute.
If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.
― Albert Einstein
Maybe you’re sick of hearing that chemicals are implicated in colony collapse disorder and bee deaths? Maybe your eyes glaze over when someone mentions the importance of bees to the ecosystem? Well, are you sick of eating? Because that’s what this discussion is really about.
One of every three bites of food comes from plants pollinated by honeybees and other pollinators.
The Task Force on Systemic Pesticides is putting out the Worldwide Integrated Assessment of the Impact of Systemic Pesticides on Biodiversity and Ecosystems (yeah, it’s a mouthful, just call it WIA, or on Twitter: #WIAlaunch). It’s the most comprehensive study of neonics ever done, it’s peer reviewed, and it includes industry-sponsored research as well as other source material. The picture it paints is not pretty. From a Treehugger article on the report:
Many of the findings are shocking. The concentrations of chemicals building up in waters exceeds levels approved as safe by pesticide regulations. Many of the species occupying critical links low in our food chains are being exposed via multiple pathways and by cocktails of chemicals acting together.
…
Scientists note that the prophylactic use of pesticides rivals CAFO antibiotic abuse; in both practices, chemicals are dosed into our environment causing real problems in a quest to avoid potential problems.
This Is What Our Grocery Shelves Would Look Like Without Bees
We’d be eating porridge, rice, bread — not much else. Life would be awful.
We’re lucky enough to have a food factory where the most important workers do the job for free, and we’re dousing them with poison. Where’s the sense in that? Humanity is often smart and frequently innovative, particularly when something we care about is threatened. We got over our devil-may-care love affair with DDT when it was shown to have persistent toxicological effects on the environment and, you know, life. We can do this too.
Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing, tagged arts, characters, creativity, entertainment, feminism, Fiction, genre fiction, How to Train Your Dragon 2, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Strong Female Character, Tasha Robinson, The Matrix, Thoughts, Trinity Syndrome, Writers, writing, yay on June 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
We’re losing all our Strong Female Characters to Trinity Syndrome
This excellent piece by Tasha Robinson sums up a lot of the problems mainstream storytelling has with “Strong Female Characters.”
For the ordinary dude to be triumphant, the Strong Female Character has to entirely disappear into Subservient Trophy Character mode. This is Trinity Syndrome à la The Matrix: the hugely capable woman who never once becomes as independent, significant, and exciting as she is in her introductory scene.
If you are interested in learning how not to bury your SFC’s light under a bushel, I recommend this article. It highlights on-point questions creatives should ask themselves, like:
03. Could your Strong Female Character be seamlessly replaced with a floor lamp with some useful information written on it to help a male hero?
:p
In many instances, what starts out as an interesting character is hobbled in order to provide the male hero with whatever thing he needs (knowledge, motivation, etc.) to make it to the finish line. There are exceptions, of course, and I’m pleased to say that Emily Blunt’s character in Edge of Tomorrow was one such.
So maybe all the questions can boil down to this: Looking at a so-called Strong Female Character, would you—the writer, the director, the actor, the viewer—want to be her?
Like Tasha Robinson, I loved Cate Blanchett’s character in How to Train Your Dragon 2 and was as disappointed when the role for this supremely kick-ass woman who was willing to live in exile for twenty years to uphold her principles just sort of… fizzled out. I hope to see more from her in a third installment. In fact, I hope to see more Strong Female Characters across the board.
Who knows, one day we might even just call them, oh, I don’t know, “Female Characters.”
Posted in Funny, Writing, tagged finishing, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, inspiration, Michael Palin, middle of the week, national parks, persistence, planning, quotes, Thoughts, work on June 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »
It’s the middle of the week and I don’t know about you but Friday, and finishing everything on my list, feels pretty far away. Must be time for an inspirational quote and fabulous photo. Like… so!
You can’t get a suit of armour and a rubber chicken just like that. You have to plan ahead.
— Michael Palin
Posted in Entertainment, tagged 3D movies, annoyances, Edge of Tomorrow, entertainment, less than awesome, Ottawa movie theaters, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, Thoughts on June 6, 2014| 1 Comment »
Srsly, Ottawa movie theaters, why can’t I see Edge of Tomorrow in anything other than 3-frickin-D this weekend? Oh look, here’s an article about how the gross for this movie might be underwhelming. Could it have anything to do with the fact that some of us can’t see it without wearing glasses that make us want to lose our lunch?
Hang on a sec, after much searching I have found one theatre (hey there little guy!) that is showing this movie in 2D. One. Guess which theatre is getting my money? Because hey, I want to see Edge of Tomorrow. 🙂
Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged creativity, double rainbow, Fiction, finishing, genre fiction, goals, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Motivation, persistence, Thoughts, work, writing, yay on May 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »
This may be the best advice I’ve given myself all week:
Don’t worry about being good – worry about getting better.
P.S. More good advice – don’t run barefoot over these sand dunes in the middle of summer. Ask me how I know!
Posted in Writing, tagged artists, arts, creativity, death, inspiration, Maya Angelou, poetry, quotes, storytellers, Thoughts, Writers on May 28, 2014| 2 Comments »
Maya Angelou, Poet, Activist And Singular Storyteller, Dies At 86
This is such a loss. And yet…
I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
― Maya Angelou
I still remember finding a battered, much-read copy of Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on my parents’ bookshelf, and meeting her singular voice. That woman knew how to live.
Posted in Other, tagged aliens, awesome, funny, good to know, Pope Francis, space, Thoughts on May 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Pope Francis Says He Would Definitely Baptize Aliens If They Asked Him To
If – for example – tomorrow an expedition of Martians came, and some of them came to us, here… Martians, right? Green, with that long nose and big ears, just like children paint them… And one says, ‘But I want to be baptized!’ … Who are we to close doors?
So in addition to focusing on the issues of poverty, inequality and other related topics, the Pope is open-minded enough to include aliens in his view of the future. Nice.
Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged abstractitis, creativity, deliberative practice, Fiction, John Maguire, teaching, Thoughts, work, Writers, writing on May 2, 2014| 1 Comment »
Best writing advice I’ve read all week:
How to avoid abstractitis: “Write physically. Write with physical objects… No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.”
“What is a concrete noun?” a student might ask.
“It’s something you can drop on your foot,” I always answer. “It’s that simple.”
“So if I am writing about markets, productivity and wealth, I am going to….”
“Yes indeed — you are going to write about things you can drop on your foot, and people, too. Green peppers, ears of corn, windshield wipers, or a grimy mechanic changing your car’s oil. No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.”
From John Maguire’s 2012 essay in The Atlantic, “The Secret to Good Writing: It’s About Objects, Not Ideas.”
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged creativity, facepalm, Motivation, persistence, Thoughts, work, writing on April 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Some days are just off, for whatever reason. Days when you hit all the wrong buttons on your computer, make foolish mistakes because your brain isn’t firing on all cylinders, fumble everything you touch and your nose won’t stop bleeding. Yeah, it’s that kind of day for me.
What to do in the face of such pitfalls?
Keep going.
Apologize to self and others for calls not made, for eating too much cake (or not enough), for not finishing the to-do list or not writing the perfect story. Do better next time.
Even if it happens to be April Fool’s Day.
You must be logged in to post a comment.