Archive for 2013

No E-Cigs For You! »

More and more smokers are switching from tobacco cigarettes to e-cigarettes. Instead of smoke from burning tobacco and paper, E-cigs provide water vapor infused with a bit of nicotine and flavoring, (Using an e-cig is referred to as “vaping” instead of smoking, and users are referred to as “vapers.”) There is no tar, carbon monoxide, […]

Update for World of Tanks: The Missing Manual »

Version 1.5 of World of Tanks, The Missing Manual is now available. It contains about 20% more content than the first version, and has also been updated to reflect changes in the game. The version number is now noted on the Intro page. If there’s no version number on your Intro page, you’ve got the […]

Work For Me, Or Else! »

Loving liberty means standing up for the rights of people you disagree with; people who are doing wrong things for wrong reasons. Photographer Elaine Huguenin was approached by a lesbian couple who asked her to photograph their wedding. Elaine turned them down. Taking the job, she says, would have been an endorsement of gay marriage, […]

Statheists »

Many atheists, myself included, once passionately believed in our religion. We would fiercely defend it against all critics, usually with canned talking points we knew by heart. When doubts started creeping in, we went on serious searches for answers, and were dismayed by what we found. At first we rejected anything that contradicted our beliefs, […]

I Have Seen The Light »

I just read an article that is so profound, so full of wisdom, so insightful, that it changed the way I look at the world. I’m going to have to alter my entire belief system and way of life, but I’m looking forward to that. Before continuing, please read this remarkable article: Nobel Prize to […]

7 Reasons I Hate List Articles »

It seems that half the stories and blog posts on the ‘net are now list articles. Here are seven reasons I hate them. 1) Its Lazy Writing – Good articles make a point or three, backing up opinions and ideas with compelling writing. This requires time and craft. List articles, by contrast, are stupidly simple […]

Using Scrivener to Write “World Of Tanks: The Missing Manual” »

Note: This is not a beginner’s tutorial; it assumes you already know how to use Scrivner. I got the idea for Blood Witness in the early eighties. I poked at it for a couple of years before I finally sat down and finished it. Then I spent another year on revisions and edits. I made […]