Quoted for Truth

I'm feeling rather philosophical today.  Here are some thoughts, profound and insightful.  None of them original to me, but I agree with all. 

Prospero's Precepts -- 11 rules for critical thinking from history's great minds (via inlilac)

"1.  All beliefs in whatever realm are theories at some level.  (Stephen Schneider)

2.  Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own.  You may both be wrong.  (Dandemis)

3.  Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider.  (Francis Bacon)

4.  Never fall in love with your hypothesis.  (Peter Medawar)

5.  It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.  Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts.  (Arthur Conan Doyle)

6.  A theory should not attempt to explain all the facts, because some of the facts are wrong.  (Francis Crick)

7.  The thing that doesn't fit is the thing that is most interesting.  (Richard Feynman)

8.  To kill an error is as good a service as, and sometimes even better than, the establishing of a new truth or fact.  (Charles Darwin)

9.  It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble.  It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.  (Mark Twain)

10.  Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.  (Thomas Jefferson)

11.  All truth passes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed, second, it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident.  (Arthur Schopenhauer)"

This strikes me as very sensible advice.  IMO numbers 9 and 11 are especially relevant to many current controversies.

The Business of Writing

Up front let me share I am as yet unpublished, but have spent time learning about the business end of being a writer.  If ever a publisher offers me a contract, I want some idea as to whether what is offered is standard or aberrant.  Having an agent would help with that, but, again, knowing what's standard is necessary to choosing a good agent!

On the off chance you haven't heard about this, there are several divisions of Random House focusing on ebooks - yes, that big name publisher - that have predatory terms in their contracts.  What John Scalzi calls "... A  HORRIBLE AWFUL TERRIBLE APPALLING DISGUSTING CONTRACT WHICH IS BAD AND NO WRITER SHOULD SIGN IT EVER."  (all caps is how he wrote it)  He has done a number of posts about it: Hydra imprint and Alibi imprint and even moar.  These contracts include the writer giving the publisher full world-wide rights to the work for the life of the copyright!

This issue is getting Random House a lot of publicity, but not the good kind.  A sampling includes Book View Cafe (a writers co-op), The Huffington Post, and Forbes.  Some folks have remarked these contracts are similar to what the music industry started offering musicians years ago.  To help prevent the same nastiness happening to writers, we need to spread the word and refuse to sign contracts like that!

Don't be so eager to publish that you give away your rights and future earnings.  You don't pay someone else for the work you did.  They pay you.  Remember money flows TO the writer.

Edit:  The good advice, it keeps coming.  Here's Chuck Wendig's 25 Things to watch out for.  (For those not familiar with Mr. Wendig, he uses "naughty language.") 

Daughter of Edit (3/12/13):  Hey, all the noise had an effect!  Looky here -->  http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2013/03/random-house-announces-new-terms-at.html

Fictional Biology

I am astounded by some people's lack of understanding of basic human biology.  The mens who think wimmens can control fertility and not get pregnant if we don't want to.  And THIS GUY, who thinks wimmens have tiny dead babies in our wombs.  

Ladies, we are carrying the future zombie apocalypse!

One day the signal will pass among the wimmens.  Those dead babies will be born.  Wimmens will use their magic necromancy powers and turn all the little dead babies into Tall Hot Zombies.  (Of course they'll be Hot, we wimmens aren't dumb.)  The Tall Hot Zombies will then eat the brains and junk of those mens who lack an accurate understanding of human reproductive biology.

Now I see why these mens are so afeared of us wimmens.

Marriage - It Should Be For Everyone

Any adult couple who wishes to marry should be allowed to marry.  The government (or any other group) should not determine who adults are allowed to fall in love with.  There shouldn’t be regulations that say in essence:  you can pick anyone on this side of the room, but not from that side of the room.

I was incredibly naive when I headed out into the world, overly protected by my parents.  Not quite to the level of “survival instincts of a lemming” (Terry Pratchett, Night Watch), but damn near close.  At the time I got married there were states in this country where our marriage was illegal.  I will spare you the rant of outrage when I learned that.  (Who the hell were these people to tell me who to love?  I mean, really?  REALLY!?!?!?) 

Had we traveled to those states we would not have been permitted to share a hotel room - illegal.  Anecdotal evidence from friends said in those places we might have been stopped by the police for simply being in the same car. 

We’d picked from the wrong side of the room, you see.  Caucasian - Asian.  And interracial marriage was illegal in some states.  Then. 

Then, but no longer.  Attitudes have changed.  Folks recognized that it was wrong to ban interracial marriage.   

That hypothetical room is no longer sorted by color. 

It shouldn’t be sorted by gender, either. 

It shouldn’t be sorted AT ALL! 

There should be no “wrong side of the room.”  Pick an adult, any adult.  Any color.  Any gender.  Any size.  Any nationality.  Any (fill in the blank).  Go for it.  Love each other the best you can.  If the relationship lasts, great.  If not, there’s divorce.  No one should be denied the right to try.  

Dots - Red and Blue

You’ve probably heard through various news outlets that last month was one of the warmest Aprils on record.  Where it stands in the stats depends on what region you consider:  5th warmest globally, 4th warmest for the US.  Land surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere were 1.7°C (3.1°F) above the 20th century average.

(Click on the map to see an enlarged version.)

I like these pictures NOAA does because they give a visual of what goes into creating a statistic like a global average.  What’s happening at “your house” might be near that global average, or wildly divergent from it. 

Some people who work hard at denying the earth is warming will point out that glaciers in the Himalayas and some parts of Antarctica are growing.  Look at the map above and you’ll see blue dots in those areas.  Eastern Greenland even has a blue dot.  Yes, there are areas that are cooler than average, but talking only about them is cherry-picking data. 

There are very few blue dots on the land.  Very few.  And the land is where we live.

Where has respect gone?

I'm feeling too angry and discouraged to be articulate, so I'll let Cat Valente say it for me: 

Gonna Go Back in Time: Wisconsin's legalized sexism

The 50s are So Last Century

Sometimes I am so astounded by things that happen in this country that I become inarticulate.  Sputter.  Just can’t get the indignation, disbelief, utter HOW CAN ANYONE BE THAT STUPID into words.


The 1950’s were Last Century and don’t belong in this one.  Women are a vital, intelligent, important part of the business and research being done in this country, are EQUAL to men, and deserve respect.

There’s an assault on women’s rights ongoing in this country.  There are men who think we shouldn’t have control of our own bodies, be permitted to make decisions that concern our personal health, and in general consider us no better than animals. 

There’s a bill pending in Arizona that would give employers the right to not cover contraception for women in the health plans they offer.  It doesn’t mention Viagra - bet they keep THAT coverage!  And what about vasectomies?  Not mentioned.  Only WOMEN are denied coverage.

In Virginia, David Albo supported a bill that would require women to have an invasive ultrasound (vaginal probe with a penis-shaped wand) prior to having an abortion.  His wife declined to have sex with him as a result.  (Kudo's to her!)

Over in Georgia they want to criminalize miscarriage, even of a dead fetus!

“’Prenatal murder' means the intentional removal of a fetus from a woman with an intention other than to produce a live birth or to remove a dead fetus...”

They want to make it illegal to remove an already dead fetus from a woman’s body.  She should let nature take its course, because “that’s what cows and pigs do.”   

REALLY???  Women are to be treated like CATTLE????

So not only does a live fetus outrank an adult woman, now even DEAD ones are more important?? And if she has the medical procedure done, under this potential law she could be sentenced to death by the state!  Her “choice” would be to die from infection caused by a decomposing body in her uterus or be killed by the state for getting a life-saving medical procedure.  Hell of a choice.

These are ugly, sexist, chauvinistic attitudes, which come down to:  All Hail the Mighty Sperm, which as we all know are in short supply.  If a SPERM is involved then it must be preserved at any cost.  ANY COST, even if it means an adult woman dies. 

How can these men face their wives, mothers, daughters, when at work today they put them in harms way?

Here, have a Trio of Tiger Cubs!

Four-month-old Sumatran tiger cubs at Syndey's Taronga Zoo:

There are very few Sumatran tigers in the wild, so the addition of these three healthy youngsters to the world's total is very welcome.

Climate change is looming large for me at the moment.  I live in the US Midwest.  It's January and the grass still has a greenish tinge.  We've only had a dusting of snow so far.  Several days ago I heard thunder during a rainstorm.  It's January!!!  Year-end summaries are popping up detailing the extreme weather events of 2011.  I look at them, with my hand figuratively covering my eyes and peeking through spread fingers.  If you want the details, check out Jeff Masters' recent blogs - there's a link to the right. 

{Insert rant here about protecting the environment because this Earth is the only home we have.  I don't need to really say all that, do I?  Everyone's familiar with the drill.  Consider it, with the backdrop of cavorting tiger cubs.}

eBooks?

Digital books are all the rage.  Cries of paper books are dead are heard across the land.  I don’t have an eReader and don’t have plans to buy one any time soon.  I like paper books.  I spend much of my work day on a computer and don’t want to spend even more time in front of a lighted screen when I get home.  I spend some, of course, catching up on the news and blogs, but I certainly don’t want all my reading to be on a light box.  I understand eBooks are marvelous and are especially helpful for people who don't have the strength or endurance to hold a paper book.  Useful they are, but not the solution for everyone.

Please read this marvelous essay by Seanan McGuire (who writes urban fantasy, horror, and is also a professional musician), where she very articulately explains why paper books and libraries and bookstores you can walk into are so important. 

seanan-mcguire on why paper books are important

A quote from her essay:  "...every time a discussion of ebooks turns, seemingly inevitably, to "Print is dead, traditional publishing is dead, all smart authors should be bailing to the brave new electronic frontier," what I hear, however unintentionally, is "Poor people don't deserve to read.""

A summary of what she says so marvelously is that there is already a digital divide.  Many people are poor and can not afford computers and internet.  Libraries and used book stores are essential for poor kids to have access to books.  Many poor kids live in areas where if they had an eReader (say, a donated one) it would be stolen.  Now, if your paper book gets stolen, well, it’s one book.  Your eReader?  That could be your entire collection! 

All you need to read a paper book is the ability to read and enough light to see the page.  No electricity need be involved, because sunlight is free.

Please keep this in mind if there’s talk in your community of reducing library services.  Please donate books whenever you can - Toys for Tots, for example. 

Help keep the world of books available for everybody.

Thanks for reading; comments are welcome.