http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005-2007 by the authors Thu, 12 Jan 2006 21:38:17 EST http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/ Phillip WinnSunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding. Administration0@blogcritics.org Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/01/12/213817.php thecoIn an effort to prove that Duluth isn't home to the smallest minds in the state, Covenant Christian Academy has decided to expel one of its students for kissing another. The kiss happened away from school grounds, and at a private gathering that was not sponsored by the school. The young lady had a grade point average of 3.5 at the time of her expulsion. Despite the fact that the other half of the kiss was also a student at the venerable institution, which is about the same age as the fifteen year old it expelled, only this girl was expelled. She and her parents are not taking it lightly and have sued the school for breach of contract and invasion of privacy citing the vagueness of the school's handbook in regards to 'sexual immorality'.I've never personally understood how kicking someone out of an institution that is bent on 'saving' them helps the institution save the person being expelled. I guess it just comes with the territory of being that religious.Cross posted from iwasthinking.<div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Culture42186@blogcritics.org Thu, 12 Jan 2006 21:38:17 EST http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/10/12/125011.php thecoNo doubt some will see this as simply a continuation of "The Vast Atheist Wing Conspiracy" and lament ad nauseam about the declining state of America thanks to the same such militant atheists. It was however the right call. There was nothing about this decision and the reasons for it that attacked any religions. When the coach is being paid by the school, a government agency, they are a representative of the government, whether they like it or not it is fact. As such a representative, by initiating prayer, especially over the protests of players and parents, they are issuing a governmental order establishing a religion. <div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Sports37823@blogcritics.org Wed, 12 Oct 2005 12:50:11 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/26/090126.php thecoYep, today marks the day when one year ago I began disturbing the web with my blog. We were in the midst of one of the most contentious elections. An election that featured more bad taglines than concrete statements, even relatively speaking than any campaign in at least half a century. I was hardly expecting this post on my one year anniversary to be the three hundred seventy eighth, hell I'm not sure I expected to keep the blog open that long.During the year I've watched carefully as numerous situations unfolded, some humorous, some filled with less light emotions. Terri Shiavo's case is something I remember watching unfold with unmitigated horror, and is something I don't think I'll ever forget. Seeing a different Terry lose the top spot in the Democratic party was a blow I'm not sure the party will recover from anytime soon. The election was of course something that grabbed the worlds attention and refused to let go, as it should be. The 2004 election, like the one before it was another case of America losing. This is not because of who landed in the posh residence at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue, but simply because of how divisive it was to the nation. The Tsunami touched hearts the world around and when the American government was criticized for not giving more, the American people poured out more than anyone could imagine. Through war, Rita, and snow its been an interesting ride.I've had fun, learned all sorts of things I'm mostly not aware of now. I do know that I've learned almost enough html to be dangerous and that I should find someone who can save me from myself. I've picked up some great information sources from around the world. Some of them are government sources, some are press, a few are independent organizations that have great depth. Quite a few of my favorite sources are my fellow bloggers. I don't have time to read all of them anymore, but I do drop by to see what you're saying and learn what I can.Thanks for reading, comments and the odd heads up. Its been a fun year. During the last twelve months and several thousand words I've gotten to do interviews with authors, talk to bloggers across the nation and the world and really gotten a longer, wider look at more people than I'll ever have the chance to meet in the flesh.For the future there will be more of the same, and more different stuff, I think, who knows, The Casual Observer <div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Culture36822@blogcritics.org Mon, 26 Sep 2005 09:01:26 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/23/233631.php thecoYep, today marks the day when one year ago I began disturbing the web with my blog. We were in the midst of one of the most contentious elections. An election that featured more bad taglines than concrete statements, even relatively speaking than any campaign in at least half a century. I was hardly expecting this post on my one year anniversary to be the three hundred seventy eighth, hell I'm not sure I expected to keep the blog open that long.During the year I've watched carefully as numerous situations unfolded, some humorous, some filled with less light emotions. Terri Shiavo's case is something I remember watching unfold with unmitigated horror, and is something I don't think I'll ever forget. Seeing a different Terry lose the top spot in the Democratic party was a blow I'm not sure the party will recover from anytime soon. The election was of course something that grabbed the worlds attention and refused to let go, as it should be. The 2004 election, like the one before it was another case of America losing. This is not because of who landed in the posh residence at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania Avenue, but simply because of how divisive it was to the nation. The Tsunami touched hearts the world around and when the American government was criticized for not giving more, the American people poured out more than anyone could imagine. Through war, Rita, and snow its been an interesting ride.I've had fun, learned all sorts of things I'm mostly not aware of now. I do know that I've learned almost enough html to be dangerous and that I should find someone who can save me from myself. I've picked up some great information sources from around the world. Some of them are government sources, some are press, a few are independent organizations that have great depth. Quite a few of my favorite sources are my fellow bloggers. I don't have time to read all of them anymore, but I do drop by to see what you're saying and learn what I can.Thanks for reading, comments and the odd heads up. Its been a fun year. During the last twelve months and several thousand words I've gotten to do interviews with authors, talk to bloggers across the nation and the world and really gotten a longer, wider look at more people than I'll ever have the chance to meet in the flesh.For the future there will be more of the same, and more different stuff, I think, who knows,The Casual Observer The CO residing here at BlogCritics and at home www.iwt.blogspot.com <div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Sci/Tech36722@blogcritics.org Fri, 23 Sep 2005 23:36:31 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/10/183902.php thecoOkay, you heartless jackass. You're letting hundreds of thousands of people suffer in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama because donating would be "hard" or "take to much time". While hundreds of children American children die. While men and women cry themselves to sleep because they have lost everything you sit there at your computer shopping for more gifts for your kids who will forget about them in a week. While grandparents sit in their wheelchairs and go without their medication you instant message your friends and complain about having to be in line for ten whole minutes at the take out place where you dropped fifty dollars on dinner for two when you could have spent fifteen on a less chemically laden meal if you'd bothered to actually cook for yourself in that show place kitchen of yours. You know, the one you bragged to your friends about the mahogany, walnut, or teak inlay and the imported marble, yes that one. So here's a way that's simple to actually do something usefully with yourself for the first time since you decided not to have more kids.Pick up your cell phone.Go into the text message menu.Create/write a new message.Leave it blank, but address it to: 2helpSend it.You'll get a reply. It will ask if your lazy ass really does want to contribute $5 to the Katrina relief fund. Repl/enter: Yes.Send.Repeat until you've given as much as you spend on mocha vente lattes, pedicures, and overpriced sushi.These five dollar donations will appear on your next bill. You can quite possibly claim this on your income taxes.If you can't figure out the instructions above - ask your child, the one you gave the electronic parental security blanket called a cell phone to to do this for you. Do try and remember not to yell at them for running up the bill.Those of you who have already given - thank you. I have family down there. They were far enough inland to survive mostly intact but they did lose some friends.A crosspost from: IWT - come visit. Ed: JH<div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Culture35911@blogcritics.org Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:39:02 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/09/224928.php thecoTheCO: Watch on the Rhine is set in John Ringo's Polseen Universe, when in the series does it fall?TK: It actually extends outside the series. The first action is set in June, 1944 (an historic case, by the way) and the last sometime before Ringo and Williamson's Hero. The bulk of the book takes place between just after Gust Front and just before Hell's Faire. TheCO: Are the cast of characters in this book mostly returning characters readers already love, or are they a new treat?TK: With the possible exception of the Tir, and the brief appearance of a couple of minor characters (German Oberst Kiel, for example, who was mentioned but never seen in the core series) all the other fictional characters are new.TheCO: Of the characters in this book, who would you most like to spend a night drinking and trading tales with? TK: Unquestionably Gudrun...but then I've already done that. ;) Ohhh, you meant trading "tails"...my bad. TK: Tough call. I've spent a few good nights...okay, oKAY, more than a few... drinking and singing with various of the kind of people I wrote about, some of whom are in the book in small ways. Let's see...Hans Brasche's a boy scout. Krueger's just an evil bastard I'd rather shoot than talk to, and then only if there were no rope available. TK: Muehlenkampf, or his real life self, Wilhelm Moehnke. Sadly, my Quija board is down for maintenance so Moehnke is just right out as he died a couple of years ago.TheCO: What type of story would you term this book as? Coming of age? Something deeply introspective? A cautionary tale? TK: How do you have a coming of age story for men who are pushing 100 years old? TK: What you want, a simple answer, is not that simple. There are a couple of characters for whom the story _is_ about coming of age, but in a hellish time. There's one significant one, a French woman (who is very much real, by the way, very left of center but an impressive woman for all that) for whom the story is not about coming of age so much as it is about finally growing up, being stripped of the usual European illusions and delusions by a harsh new reality that cannot be avoided, ignored or hidden from. For others, exemplified by Hans Brasche, the story is more about redemption. In a way, it's about redemption for Germany and Europe as a whole, not that I think redemption is very likely.TheCO: Can you describe a bit about the 'hows' of your writing? TK: Sadly, I have more ideas that I would like to set down than I am likely to have years in which to write. Are all the ideas good ones? No. But more are good than I will have the ability to do. That's one, and really the major, reason I am pretty free with idea sharing. Mostly, my writing begins with a moral, philosophical or political point or points. The title usual follows without much having to try to come up with one. If the title does not just come, I tend to push the idea aside until it does. From there I go with a very rough outline which generally includes ideas, not all of which are usable, for specific scenes. The outline sets the general order of events. Then I write it up, usual without a lot of the physical and emotional description. Once that is done, I go through it all again, adding in transition sentences and paragraphs, emotional responses, physical descriptions. It is usually then that I chop up my sentences (which can be too intricate...hey, I went to Boston Latin, that's how I was taught) into ones easier to digest. Then I do it all again after which I ship it to Jim Baen, Toni Weisskopf, or John Ringo.TheCO: You've collaborated with John Ringo on this volume, what did you learn in doing so? TK: You realize there is no good answer to this kind of question, right?TheCO: Will you and John Ringo be writing more together? TheCO: Butt loads. At least five more books in the Posleen series. We might do something else at some time but, frankly, both of us have too many of our own ideas to want to do someone else's.TheCO: In reading reviews of your solo novel A State of Disobedience on Amazon i noticed you were rather sharply criticized in a few regards. Namely they called aSoD "reactionary", "over stereotyped", and a few less savory things. What is your response to this criticism? TK: &%^* $@#! TK: Okay, I couldn't resist that. Well..I could have but I didn't want to. TK: Did you notice, CO, that the reviews tend to fall, pretty evenly split, too, into two cataegories: a) this is great and b) this sucks? I'm not going to comment on the half that were positive reviews. But I couldn't help noticing that the negative reviews were...oh...."unsavory". For example, there is one that says you do not have to eat all of an egg to know it is bad. This would be a great criticism...if books were eggs and if you could know how they are without finishing them. Or how about the one that suggested censorship was a right wing phenomenon. How miffed Joe Stalin or Pol Pot would be to be slighted so. I know for a fact that one reviewer on Amazon never read more than the unedited snippets. Then there was one...mmm..."idiot" is too strong a term but not by much...who insisted I was saying "republicans come from heaven and democrats from hell" or some such. Apparently he never noticed that the heroine of the story is...wait for it...a DEMOCRAT. So the short version is that, good or bad, most of those reviews were politically motivated and have very little to do with the merits of the book. As for "stereotyped"...well, the way something becomes a stereotype is because it is stereotypically true. The speech Madam President gives to Congress to which some objected? That is little more than a truncated version of the Democratic Party platform for Election 2000. If you don't believe me look it up and compare. TheCO: Are there any author's you'd like to work with in the future? TK: Yes and no. While there are some I wouldn't mind working with one has to be realistic. I have strong (wow, is THAT an understatement) political and philosophical views (and they are not entirely right wing, either. Mostly? Yes. Entirely? No...long story). But so does virtually every other one of Baen's writers. We'd be at each other's throats unless there was something on which we already agreed. And there would be some serious limits. One example: Eric Flint and I could cooperate on a civil war series, say, because we tend to agree on most of the subject. But that would be true only up to the Great Proletarian Revolution of 1864 or the Scourging of Mississippi in 1863. You see the problem?TheCO: What else is in the works for your fans? TK: Another PosVerse book, Yellow Eyes, is currently in the works and about 2/3ds done. That concerns the defense of the Republic of Panama and the Panama Canal. Thats a Ringo-Kratman work with a Kratman lead. It is _very_ funny and not a little tragic, too. Then there's going to be Mother's Milk, set in the Balkans during the Posleen invasion. That's another Ringo-Kratman with a Ringo lead. We'll do three or four more of those, if they continue to sell well. And we might each do a novella for inclusion in a PosVerse anthology. John had collected a number of submissions for such a book. Right after I finish Yellow Eyes and do my part of Mother's Milk, I intend to get to work on A Desert Called Peace. That is actually mostly written, but not as science fiction. Anyone who wants to read the first 6-7 chapters on the non sci-fi version can read it on my web site ( www.tomkratman.com ). Then another Posverse Book, most likely, maybe the Vietnam story. Then I'll probably do the first volume of the Caliphate trilogy. Beyond that is too far to plan. ************ Well Ladies, Gentlemen, and Usenet trolls, that is Tom Kratman, an American original. One of the few men with the courage to take a very touchy subject and make a serious novel about it. Oh yeah, and he has a hot wife. Watch on the Rhine is on shelves now. <div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Books33929@blogcritics.org Tue, 9 Aug 2005 22:49:28 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/05/003530.php thecoDespite his own admittance that the federal government has no real place in educational decisions, Bush stated that he believes that 'intelligent design' should be taught in schools. He believes this is needed to "understand what the debate is about". Why there is debate is beyond me. Evolution, is a scientific theory backed by research and observable, repeatable, verifiable experiment. "intelligent Design" is nothing more than creationism tarted up like a cheap whore and given what appears to be a politically correct name, hence, it is not science. If a school is offering a course on religion "intelligent Design" can be taught there, along side African Animist beliefs, Wiccan beliefs, and Zoroastrianism. cross posted to www.iwt.blogspot.com<div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Politics33683@blogcritics.org Fri, 5 Aug 2005 00:35:30 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/08/02/020329.php thecoJohn Garang who went from his quiet home in southern Sudan, to quelling a rebellion, earned a doctorate, became a rebel, and eventually gained the second most powerful position in his nation has died. This brings ups several very interesting points if you assume this was not an accident (I'm undecided). How did his flight crash? I can think of a half dozen rather plausible ways to make it look like an accident. The list of people that could benefit from Garangs departure is probably longer than my arms. Will this restart the civil war? There has already been rioting in which dozens were killed and injured. Who will succeed Garang? And is this the start of the central governments attempts to purge the former rebels, or simply an attempt to rob them of leadership so that the southern region doesn't rally around Garang and go independent in a few years? Hopefully all these questions and more will be answered soon. Crossposted to I Was Thinking<div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Politics33511@blogcritics.org Tue, 2 Aug 2005 02:03:29 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/24/122817.php thecoChinese Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has blasted a recent Pentagon report on how the Chinese military build up is changing the balance of power in the East. Apparently, by stating this obvious fact, the Pentagon (and Americans in general) have somehow given offense. The Minister had this, among other pearls of wisdom to impart: What authority does the United States have to gesticulate and make improper comments about China's defensive national defense policy and measures? It's quite simple Mr. Minister. Your country does have the right to build up its defense, just as you assert--you are a sovereign nation, as are we. If you can explain in what way that your building your military at what is for your nation almost certainly an unprecedented peace time rate, is not reshaping the balance of power, I'm sure the nice men and women in the Pentagon will take note and apologize if called for. We are also a sovereign nation, and we have every right to write whatever reports please us, and they are not subject to your censorship. REF: CMP,Aaman <div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Politics33042@blogcritics.org Sun, 24 Jul 2005 12:28:17 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/07/23/235515.php thecoI knew that you could! (Small spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) Because that is about the only way to describe the nice boys and girls who put this gem. Specifically, its put together by a bunch of whiners who can't get over having grossly misread the hints and intentions laced in the first five Harry Potter books about which of the trio would end up with whom, and who didn't like having the author tell them this. How sad can you get? The hints have been there since book one pretty much from when they meet. And the fourth book just about screamed for the two to get a room. In book six, Hermione and Ron finally do end up as a couple. And yet, as of the time I write this 419 people where whining about misunderstanding it and not liking being told they were. Crybabies.crossposted to www.iwt.blogspot.com<div id="authorbio">An immoderate moderate black blogger from Ma.</div> Books33027@blogcritics.org Sat, 23 Jul 2005 23:55:15 EDT