ratiocinations out of thin air/a blog about this that and the other thing
THIS SITE could have a better name than mine with “dot com” tacked on to it. I had considered Ratiocinations Out of Thin Air as a title—and that would have been a great title, if a confusing title. Too many people wouldn’t have taken the time to ratiocinate over the meaning of the word … CONTINUE READING
I SPEND SO MUCH TIME researching the various topics that I write about, I really don’t have much time left to read others’ blogs—which is a shame, because we are living through some kind of golden age of freedom of expression of whatever the hell you wanna say and have the actual possibility of having … CONTINUE READING
I START THE DAY with my usual mug of coffee and while there’s usually too much on my mind, today it’s simple: I can’t get the song “Australia” from the Kinks’ album ARTHUR out of my mind. My head bobs up and down and my body sways to the rhythm and melody and the delightful … CONTINUE READING
BLOODY HELL, but I am fed up with the racism and the homophobia and the misogyny and all the other hate-based ‘isms’ behind an endless stream of comments posted by rightwingnuts on Facebook and in the Comments sections of otherwise decent websites. Now we have to wade through their foul comments fueled by their latest … CONTINUE READING
THE HEADLINE caught my attention, as it was supposed to: “Advanced OOP For WordPress.” As should be obvious to most people familiar with newspaper, magazines, and now online articles, the headline is usually the first thing that most readers see in any article. Consequently, it is usually the first thing they read. … CONTINUE READING
ON QUORA, a young man asked me to answer the burning question, “What do heavy metal music fans think about modern pop music?” my first thought was, “Wow! Did you come to the wrong person!” Then i though, “I can do this and have some fun along the way.
I’m posting my response here on … CONTINUE READING
AFTER TWO WHOLE YEARS of lollygagging, dillydallying, pussyfooting, and plain old farting around, I finally (FINALLY!) got my new blog off the ground: The Endless Sixties is up and running and waiting for readers. There are half a dozen articles already posted plus the homepage, and everyone should read the introductory homepage first, of … CONTINUE READING
BACK UP AN ARGUMENT by quoting something found on a website and, regardless of your intelligence or your research skills, you’ll likely be told, “You can’t believe anything you read on the internet.” My normal rejoinder is to point out that’s akin to saying that you can’t believe anything you read in … CONTINUE READING
I SKIPPED “MONSTER TALK” with Blake Smith as he prepared for CryptidCon in the latest Skeptic newsletter. The question “What does science have to tell us about monsters” didn’t attract my interest. Nor did common misconceptions about the origins and development of identical and fraternal twins. But I did eye the key article by … CONTINUE READING
BLMF LITERARY SALOON
1501 Pike Place
Suite 324
Seattle WA 98101
PHONE
206-621-7894
HOURS
Monday-Sunday 10:00 AM – 9:00 PM
“Looking for poems written by cats? A Star Wars travel guide? Maybe a book on how to survive a sharknado? You can find those and more at BLMF Literary … CONTINUE READING
BERNI CAME HOME LAST NIGHT and immediately asked me to look up a video on the internet that had everyone’s attention—at least where she worked. It was a local story that had something to do with a fox and an eagle. I went to my trusty browser and typed in “eagle fox” and there were … CONTINUE READING
I RARELY PAY ATTENTION to the letters written in to the local newspaper. Too many letters are from misinformed individuals who almost always vote Rep*blican and actually believe that Limbaugh and Beck and O’Reilly are sources for actual “news.”
I am astounded by the people willing to put their name in print and claim credit … CONTINUE READING
I HATE BULLIES and internet trolls are bullies, ergo, I hate trolls. But aside from Facebook—where I can keep them curbed by excluding them from my comment thread—I have little interaction on social media platforms on the internet. Hence, I have little interaction with bullies and trolls on the internet—although there sure are a … CONTINUE READING
“SO YOU THINK YOU’RE RIGHT and everybody else is wrong?” I heard those words from my father many times while growing up. Of course, the rationale behind those words is sound: most of the times we hold an opinion that differs with that of 99% of everybody else, then 99% of the time we … CONTINUE READING
FAKE NEWS AIN’T NEW NEWS. The term has been in fairly regular if not quite common use for years: it initially referred to the mis/disinformation and propaganda circulated by the thousands of well-connected, rightwing radio talk shows for propaganda. It grew to even vaster proportions with the emergence of the millions of ‘conservative’ websites and … CONTINUE READING
IN RECENT CONVERSATIONS and in reading articles, blogs, and comments on the internet, I hear the word ‘sarcasm’ used interchangeably with ‘irony.’ I point out that irony ain’t the same as sarcasm, which requires a caustic intent. Since we are now at a time when everyone thinks themselves as right as the next guy and … CONTINUE READING
A WHILE AGO, I responded to a post on my Facebook thread about going the movies these days, including the price of tickets and concessions, excessive sound systems, rude viewers, etc. I am now a senior, so the price of tickets seem too high, and I haven’t shelled out a cent for obscenely overpriced candy, … CONTINUE READING