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COVID And The Economy
Read more: COVID And The EconomyIn an earlier post on this blog site I commented on COVID and herd immunity (scroll down to see it). What would happen, I asked, if we just let the pandemic of coronavirus play itself out naturally? Herd immunity would eventually take effect and the pandemic would die down. But many, many more people would…
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After The Coronavirus
Read more: After The CoronavirusThe coronavirus pandemic continues: cases are increasing faster than medical facilities can accommodate them, lines for testing are miles long, deaths are mounting, and the virus has hit almost every country on the globe. We are deep in the second wave, and—at the time I’m writing this (11/15/2020)—it’s obvious the numbers will only increase, at…
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COVID And Herd Immunity
Read more: COVID And Herd ImmunityThere’s been some talk lately of saying to heck with the idea of developing a vaccine for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is currently causing the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, and simply allowing the virus to spread freely among the population, infecting each one who comes in contact with another infected person. This would certainly…
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COVID-19 In The Long Term
Read more: COVID-19 In The Long TermUp to now, I haven’t blogged or commented on the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, largely because anything I had to say would be to simply repeat the already well-known, tried-and-true rules that everyone is familiar with: wear a mask, stay at least six feet apart (nine or ten would be even better), wash your hands, don’t…
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What Writers Can Learn From “Jingle Bells”
Read more: What Writers Can Learn From “Jingle Bells”I suspect most people in the United States are familiar with the Christmas Carol “Jingle Bells.” In fact, it, no doubt, is one of the most familiar carols ever in the US. One particular verse, actually the second, caught my ear many years ago, but just recently I realized how well and how intricately that…
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Has Evolution Shot Itself In The Foot?
Read more: Has Evolution Shot Itself In The Foot?Evolution is a wonderful thing. We humans wouldn’t be here without it. Life on Earth started around two billion years ago and through thick and thin, through disasters that several times almost resulted in total extinction of living beings, life maintained itself and changed and evolved over all those years and resulted in its finest…
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The Metric System
Read more: The Metric SystemWhen is the United States going to move completely to the metric system? You know, meters instead of yards or feet, kilograms instead of pounds, grams instead of ounces, liters instead of quarts or gallons, Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. (I’m used to “centigrade” rather than Celsius, but those two are the same thing.) Ninety-five percent…
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The Novel And Killing Your Darlings
Read more: The Novel And Killing Your DarlingsThose of you who read this blog on any regular basis (both of you) may remember that I’ve written several science fiction novels, and that I’ve been trying for a number of years to find an agent for the first (and ultimately, all three). As an update to that, I’ve almost completely given up finding…
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The Titanic–Update and Commentary
Read more: The Titanic–Update and CommentaryDid you know the Titanic is slowly disappearing? It’s been over a hundred years since the Titanic, steaming at over 20 knots in the dark in fog in a known iceberg area of the North Atlantic Ocean, glanced off the side of one of those bergs, and after staying afloat for about two hours and…
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What Should Science Fiction Do?
Read more: What Should Science Fiction Do?I’m a science fiction writer. While only a very few people have read any of my works, (mainly editors and critique group members), I do have wide-ranging opinions on the subject and have presented them in this forum occasionally over the past several years. Science fiction can be a powerful medium for examining the human…
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All The People
Read more: All The PeopleOne of the most interesting words in the English language is “people.” It can have several meanings. My dictionary (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition) has several definitions, leading with “human beings making up a group or assembly or linked by a common interest.” Fair enough. Basically, it refers to a group of “persons” who have…
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Where Do All The Writers Go?
Read more: Where Do All The Writers Go?I’ve been an aspiring writer of fiction (largely science fiction novels) for over twenty years now, and have yet to publish a book-length work. I have published a few short works, including one poem (free style), but nothing—short or long form—to a paying market. Not a particularly auspicious beginning to a writing career, especially when…