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Writings by CJ
A government with an inflated sense of entitlement does what it has easily done before: target the dominant industry of another planet for acquisition. They leave the population of Serees few options: submit or be subjugated.
A government negotiator, Verina, chooses a third option: fight.
Check out my sf novel, Que Será Serees on sale now:
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Journal
The Shadow of Jury DutyThis week starts another chunk of my life that must be tithed to jury duty. Ugh. I loathe serving jury duty. Having served on juries in the past, this isn’t just theoretical for me. I know I loathe serving jury duty.
Journal
Pondering Amber Benson’s Relationship Question
On her blog, Amber Benson asks, Why Are Relationships So Hard? Scrolling down to the post’s comment section, you see that simple question generated a flood of comments in a very short amount of time. Apparently, this is a subject very much on people’s minds. And yes—mine, too.
2011 In the Rearview Mirror
In conclusion, 2011 wasn’t my favorite year. OK, now that that’s out of the way, I can pause and take a brief look back on the year that was…not because it’s necessarily a good idea, but because it’s the last day of the year and I’ve got some time to kill.
NerdTests Proves It: I’m Very Much a Nerd
![a3f1e7f164ded05c[1]](http://tib.cjcs.com/files/2011/12/a3f1e7f164ded05c1.png "a3f1e7f164ded05c[1]")
A few years ago, I took one of those silly (but amazingly accurate) online tests to evaluate my nerdiness. It told me I was a “Slightly Dorky Nerd God”. You can well imagine that I beamed with pride. I stumbled upon the site again and wondered what a few more years had wrought.
The Quiet Spell
Not long after I started my InArCreMo project of trying to get 50 art pieces done in 30 days, I sort of disappeared from my sites and severely decreased my social networking in general. This post is about the why of it.
Not a Fashion Plate
For much of my life, it seems, many people have had an opinion on my personal style (or lack thereof). One of the perks of getting older is that as each decade goes by, the comments have grown fewer. I don’t think it’s because people’s opinions have weakened, I think they either have given up hope or have reluctantly accepted my little eccentricities.
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From Around the Web
Hollywood wants to take the law into their own hands — they had our representatives add a vigilante clause, for God’s sake, to protect overzealous censors from legal challenge by users — and like a Scooby Doo™ episode, they would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn’t been for us meddlesome kids.
via Pick up the pitchforks: David Pogue underestimates Hollywood « Clay Shirky.
On of my loudest and most obnoxious klaxon wails is about the fragility of digital media…not just movies, but text, photos, research, etc. If we don’t fix it onto some tangible, archival medium, much of the history of our civilization will be lost to the ages.
Actually, we are those things. Let’s be honest. Even so, it’s a better state than many, IMO.
Study: NM is ‘dull,’ ‘barren’ and ‘close to Arizona’ | KOB.com.
It’s not like I haven’t tried to help turn the tide over the years. Let’s Rename “New Mexico” and Updating New Mexico’s State Motto. I mean, I can’t do it all myself.
As I post this, the series Switched at Birth is about to return from hiatus to complete its first season run (starting January 3, 2012 8ET on ABC Family). The initial episodes were praise-worthy, and there’s no reason to expect the quality to drop any time soon.
To whet your appetite, here are ten questions for stars Katie Leclerc and Vanessa Marano who give full answers.
Switched at Birth Q&A: Katie Leclerc and Vanessa Marano | ABC Family – Switched at Birth.
“Our space program is one of the things that makes us great, that sets us far apart from other productive countries, that makes us respectable, that makes our advice worth listening to.”
I was going to write a blog entry about this very thing, but Emily did such a bang-up job with taking the words out of my mouth, I don’t have to, now.
via What is space exploration worth? – The Planetary Society Blog | The Planetary Society.
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Diversions
Holiday Watch: Christmas Magic
There are times when you don’t want to have to work to watch a movie…especially during the holidays. Christmas Magic is an easily digested break from the hectic season. The story isn’t complicated or ironic, just quietly entertaining.
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Gripes
It’s Been an Interesting Day For Freedom of Speech
The United States government has a long history of considering, if not passing and creatively interpreting, some really poopy-headed laws. From the Alien and Sedition Acts, to the Dred Scott Decision, to SOPA and PIPA; the Congress and Supreme Court of the United States are sometimes the most dangerous groups of people in the country when it comes to how we communicate ideas.
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Musings
Those Sexy Rockets![428px-Delta-4H_DSP-23_2[1]](http://tib.cjcs.com/files/2012/01/428px-Delta-4H_DSP-23_21.jpg "428px-Delta-4H_DSP-23_2[1]")
I’m a bit of a life-long space nerd. (I know!) Obviously, over the years, different launch vehicles have caught my eye. Much like worthy media celebrities, these rocket stars are more than just a pretty face…but the pretty face helps.
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Snippets
Getting WordPress Excerpt Text to Post in Google+I was getting very annoyed with Google+ whenever I’d link to an article on my blog. Instead of showing either the excerpt or the first “x” words of the article text, I’d see instead other administrative text from the source code. A little bit of coding fixed that up quickly and nicely.
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Picks
I Like Ubuntu
I’ve gotten to use a lot of operating systems over the past few decades. Some I like, some…well, not so much. In recent years I’ve come to like Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular. Maybe you should give it a try, too.
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Announcements
Page Not Found GoofFor a few hours only the home page could be reached. All other posts got a “Page Not Found” error. This was due to me trying to tweak the site and making a typo in a critical file. I corrected the error and hopefully things are now running normally. Sorry for any inconvenience.
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@terpcj Twitter Feed
- With enough time and money I can do great things. Great. (I'm guessing) W/o enough time and money, I'm able to do adequate things. Adequate. 2 hours ago
- As Jury Duty again looms Monday morning, I can't help wondering if there's been a study on how accurate juries actually are. #mustresearch 2 hours ago
- I have to say, I don't know anyone harder working, more consistently positive, and genuinely a pleasure to know than @ColleenPatrick #FF 3 hours ago
- That's just crazy talk. RT @RachelleGardner: I'm trying this new thing for a Friday night called "Closing my laptop and walking away." 3 hours ago
- The way #chuck concluded made me sad. I wanted happier. *sigh* At least it didn't suck, so yay for that. 5 hours ago
- RT @BadAstronomer: I've written for the WSJ in the past. Never again; no amount of $ would get my words in that birdcage liner. http://t ... 13 hours ago
