Category Archive for: ‘Writing’

• Root Canal Pity Party Chocolate Pudding

  Broke a tooth last week, had a root canal on Friday. Later that day, I made my favorite chocolate pudding. I’ve modified the recipe so it’s super dark, so here goes. 2 tbsp (slightly rounded) cornstarch 1/3 cup sugar pinch teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups (slightly …

  Read More

• Read So Hard, Got Paper Cuts

  It’s possible you haven’t seen this fine bit of rap from Annabelle Quezada, La Shea Delaney and company. Lyrics are here and a note about author choice is here.

  Read More

• On the Funding of Television

  Context: a local Comcast rep came to talk to us as we’re one of the “switchers.” Dear M, Thanks for stopping by our house to talk to us about Comcast. As you know, we did have some rather legendary service issues, but that’s not ultimately …

  Read More

• When Coerced Abortion Is a Sacrament

  I keep hearing about people who want to have religious exemptions for contraception in medical policies. Few people realize there’s another side to that coin: a religious exemption for coerced abortions. Well, right, but who would do such a thing you ask? The Church of …

  Read More

• Brinker’s First Class Flights

  A lot of people have focused on senior Komen execs’ compensation. I’m not sure if $400,000 is out of line for similar non-profit execs or not, but my first thought was: it’s probably not. However, there is the issue of Brinker’s expense report. At the …

  Read More

• On the Alleged Separateness of Writers of the Future and Scientology

  I have been following the contest (and some of the people involved in its administration) since 1984 when I first worked the combined Battlefield Earth / Writers of the Future booth at the World Science Fiction convention in Anaheim. All Scientology organizations are legally separate …

  Read More

• Why I No Longer Support the Writers of the Future Contest

  Trigger warning for those of you who need such, especially about bullying. For a long time, I supported Scientology’s “Writers of the Future” contest. A couple of years ago, I quietly dropped my support for it as my views on the current state of the …

  Read More
• 

  

  Blowing Out the Airline Miles

  I cleared the pipes on my airline miles accounts Thursday and Friday, booking an around-the-world ticket mostly in business class. Except, you know, the single longest flight, which happens to be fourteen hours. Ugh. Normal coach airfares for round-the-world trips are pretty hideous, far more …

  Read More

• One. Billion. Dollars.

  Just as the year changed, Debbie Cook sent an email to 12,000 people that rocked their world. It was a letter to active Scientologists. Debbie was the head of the largest public-facing Scientology church in the world (in Clearwater Florida) for 17 years. In the …

  Read More

• 12/25 Quiet Christmas, With Bells

  Bridges crossed: 0. Maybe because I heard it a lot in Liverpool, I can only think of the John Lennon song: “So this is Christmas.” (I also heard more than one’s fair share of “Wonderful Christmastime,” but as Scalzi points out, at least it doesn’t …

  Read More