Just in case anyone is swayed by anything RFK or Trumplestilskin have to say, I've consistently made money over the last decade betting against the latter--just saying.

100% of autistics were exposed to dihydrogen monoxide as babies. WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

No matter what your building says, the data says most fire fatalities occur because of delay, not evacuation route. Those who move early, by whatever path is still working, survive.

In 1988, 165 of 226 men aboard the Piper Alpha platform died waiting in quarters or at muster stations for help or orders that never came since communications were down. All survivors ignored procedure and escaped however they could. Be a survivor.

Hurricane Rita's botched evacuation turned freeways into parking lots, resulting in over 100 deaths. A week earlier, a NOAA spokesman giving a post-Katrina briefing on the regional evac plan condescendingly dismissed my question about contraflow, saying "this isn't New Orleans."

Illustrating just how BRIGHT our sun is, this is the sun (through a dark filter) casting the shadow of a Falcon 9 rocket's incandescent exhaust plume.

Grady has a new video out explaining why the "100-year flood map" isn't what builder's and regulators think, and how was really lack the data to make the decisions we are making with people's lives: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FfM...

On my commute in Houston today, my 2023 Kia got 45.3 mpg even though I left late and got stuck in construction and then a holdup around cars waiting to get into a school. I lost 0.3 mpg getting the camera app to open in the garage.

No one will ever call you with a fair offer to buy your home. It's an investment firm hoping to bypass the market, buy cheap, then rent your home out forever to help create more poor people.

Modern atomic clocks are accurate to less than a second over the entire age of the universe. Carry on.

E. Moon: "Backstory is like the river bottom shaping the surface that you see."

Elizabeth Moon: "I see character development as vector calculus, because what a person does in a given moment is the vector sum of all the things pulling on them."

@williamledbetter.bsky.social @ @armadillocon.bsky.social: "Use dead time: dog walking, waiting for doctor, etc., to work through writing blocks and obstacles."

"Park things downhill," meaning, when writing and you know what comes next--stop and start on it later. That way, you can coast into the next hard passage instead of staring at the blank page.

P. Djèlí Clark @armadillocon.bsky.social: "Sometimes my brain is like 'I'm just singing Dr. Who songs right now', but organization is how you get the work done."

The Jim Baen Memorial Award contest opens for entries October 1st. www.baen.com/contest-jbmssa

During the 20 years following WWII, the worst epidemic year for polio in the US was 1951. There were 58.000 cases and 3100 deaths. In 2024, there were over 50,000 recorded deaths from acute COVID-19 and an estimated 75,000 premature deaths from long term or permanent effects of COVID-19.

I'll be at ArmadilloCon in Austin Sept 12-14, teaching in the writers workshop and appearing on a few panels. Awesome event for folks who love SF&F and Horror. Hope to see you there!

I have no reason to contest this.

Yeah, that was the dog who found the water sensor behind the frig and licked it.

Looking forward to teaching in the @armadillocon.bsky.social writer workshop in a couple of weeks. Alwasy refreshing.

Because someone brought it up, be aware that there is a vaccine against various strains of S. pneumoniae, a common cause of viral pneumonia, but flu, covid, RSV, various other viruses, bacteria, and fungi can still cause it.

I had my flu shot yesterday, and it was so terrible---I got up and biked 10 miles and went on with my life, secure in the knowledge i'm largely safe from pneumonia this holiday season.

Over-processed, over-consumption optimized foods are a real concern. But on the other hand, I can affordably get more, healthier home cooking options--year round--than ever before in history. So...shop wisely, and make food science work for you.

This is accurate, so please don't fall for it.

Just curious. I have a pretty good group of followers here. How many of you would financially support a "Sci-fi for Christmas" anthology with some big name marquee authors if it came to that?

Thanks to CenterPoint crews, BTW, for getting us back on mains in only 2 hours. Has we not had the generator, we wouldn't have lost any food. But we'd not have have cold drinks while playing dominoes. ;-)

My DIY backup generator can run a portable AC, fan, light, TV, internet, and assorted gadgets for 56 hours on the 17.5 gallons of stabilized gas I keep on hand, 88 hours if I stock up before a hurricane.

Storm knocked the power out, but my little 3,500 watt generator can keep the essentials running all night if need be. How're ya'll?

Science is slow, flawed, and full of dead ends—but it’s also the best hope we’ve ever had. It turns questions into answers, superstition into understanding, wonder into solutions.

This is pretty close. Folks, your enemies are not the neighbors with differing ideas about how to be happy, but the oligarchs manipulating to hate your neighbors.

The old man, fed up with the whipper snapper, seeking refuge in the toy basket.

Sci-fi reminds us that tomorrow can be better, even when today sucks. We imagine alien worlds and impossible futures not to escape—but to build, one idea at a time.

Last night, en route to an event downtown, a dude on a bicycle did a somersault-face plant right in front of me--and a commuter train. Fun in the city.

This morning, I hit 70 mph on the stretch of I-10 above downtown where I normally divert to avoid traffic. Then had to stop for a jam a huge hunk of debris on road. Houston traffic is bizzarro.

‪Now hear this: Watch "The Penguin Lessons." That is all.

Today I was talking to a (young) coworker who completely forgot that clicking "share" in teams does not share with someone you have called on the phone.

This is so freaking adorable…. 🫠 Snuggles… 🥰 🐯 🐯

Good food, fellowship, and pool time made today enjoyable in spite of all. Remember, the enemy isn't the neighbor who's a little different from you, but the ones trying to get you to hate your neighbors. Cheers.

Former Honda CR-V owners, did you keep the card table when you sold the car?

alien graffiti can be pretty hurtful 😔

i think they’re being overly optimistic regarding the canine literacy rate

It annoys me that a while back, a prominent dictionary decided "Internet" no longer needs capitalization. This is wrong. an internet is a network of networks. The Internet is the global internet most of use use for things like this. It's a proper noun, a name.

Some genius is arguing with me about the validity of the Space Force, saying "Are there things happening in space I don't know about?" Yes. Yes, there definitely are. Be happy others are more aware than you.