After a long hiatus, Monday’s links return! While a daily dose of death is hardly something most of us would consider pleasant, Diana Athill, in her article on the RadioTimes, opens with the thought that thinking about death a little bit each day is a good way to come to terms with its inevitability. Her …
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Status Update and Announcements
It has been a while since I have posted, and I would like to apologize for my absence. The Kickstarter campaign and its aftermath took a lot out of me; however, I still feel that my hiatus should have had more planning involved. Fortunately, not only was the Kickstarter campaign successful, but I have learned …
Monday Links: Patrick Stewart, How to Use a Semicolon, and Being Wrong in Science
Anyone alive who needs convincing that Patrick Stewart is an amazing man is beyond hope. Anyone who doesn’t understand that men also have an obligation to stand up for the safety of women after watching Patrick Stewart say as much needs to watch more Star Trek: The Next Generation and make it so. It’s not …
The Eastern Roots of Western Democracy
A few weeks ago, I briefly looked into 16thCentury Chinese history for a future project. I quickly learned that in order to understand Chinese society of that era, I had to understand the government bureaucracy that appears to have been a mainstay of that civilization since time immemorial. Though China, as a whole and as …
Abrams’ Trek Into Darkness: The End of the Star Trek Philosphy
When I accompanied my friends to see Star Trek Into Darkness last Friday, I knew it was against my better judgment. I grew up watching the 1979 motion picture, The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, and the later films as they reached theatres. Part of my family’s Sunday ritual was to sit down and …
Monday Links: Xbox One, Propaganda at the British Library, and Racism at Harvard
I have found two articles of note from The Economist this week, one of which is sure to be close to gamers’ hearts. Or perhaps not: the article notes that Microsoft’s Xbox One announcement heavily de-emphasizes games, ostensibly due to falling console sales. Time will tell whether the device will garner any appeal for its …
This Week on Runicfire: May 27th – June 2nd
Monday‘s links include the announcement of the Xbox One (and Microsoft’s de-emphasis on games), an exhibit about propaganda at the British Library in London, and the disturbing case of how a racist paper of poor scholarship earned one man a Harvard doctorate. Wednesday shall feature a review of Star Trek Into Darkness—as well as the case …
Monday Links: The Health Industry’s Big Lie, Atmospheric CO2 Thickens, and the DSM’s Dangers
I recently discovered Patrick Mustain through a guest pieceon Scientific American. He’s also written a more in-depth piece on how the consumer fitness industry disguises the actual causes of America’s problems with obesity. I recommend giving it a read. On Scienceblogs, alarm over our contribution to global warming increases. Earlier this month, the amount of …
Schedule Mishaps, and Kickstarter Things
As I have been busy getting the Rosaria of Venice Kickstarter campaign ready to go, I did not manage to get yesterday’s post up. I do apologize. In order to keep this from happening (as there are no signs of me getting less busy in the coming weeks), I will be scaling down my posts for …
Steampunk: A Modern Throwback to Classic Science Fiction
As I again delve into the various genres of fiction with which my current writing intersects, I discover surprising gaps in my knowledge—and more books for my reading list. This is hardly a bad thing. Writers are fed by writing, and not always their own. Indeed, one would hope that much of it is not …