Runicfire Site Update Announcement

In order to better integrate my personal website with my novel’s website, Rosariabooks.com, I will be transitioning to WordPress over the next seven to fourteen days. While I will be importing all of the content from this website, the new blog will be using a different login system for comments that integrates with the one …

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Monday Links 08/30/15: Adultery By Any Other Name, Less-Than-Stellar Star Wars, and Steamfunk’s Sibling

It’s been a long hiatus, and woefully unplanned, but at last Runicfire returns with a new edition of Monday Links! The notion that humans are obsessed with sex is all but an axiom. Every society on earth possesses its own sets of customs and taboos regarding sexuality, with some cultivating its expression and others suppressing …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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