Quick Hitts

Jehovah’s Witnesses are actively discouraged (virtually forbidden) from contributing to relief organizations in response to disasters.  On Friday afternoon someone on the Jehovah’s Witnesses Recovery Forum suggested setting up a site to encourage ex-JWs to donate to Haitian relief funds.  Friday night several of us had a conference call to plan out the details.  Now, [...]

About a year ago I signed up with Mozy, an off-site backup service.  For five bucks a month they back up your files on their servers, so you can restore them if you lose something.
The few times I’ve needed them it’s been a simple process.  I’d click “restore” on their software and it showed me [...]

Just a reminder, in case you haven’t listened to my interview with PodioRacket, you can find it here.
Blood Witness has received a lot of attention and kudos, and this was a fun interview that got into some of the inspiration behind the book.  Check it out.

As an amateur chief I’m always looking for new ingredients to make my meals more interesting.
For instance, one of my favorite ingredients is bulgogi sauce, a meat marinade made with Korean pear. You won’t find it in the supermarket. You’ll have to go to a store that specializes in Asian food. I [...]

I’m about to start a novel that will have some complex characters and an intricate plot. After hearing writers sing the praises of Scrivener, which is a Mac only application, I’ve been looking for something that will do the same thing on a PC.
I’d like to be able to create an outline, [...]

I’ll be doing an interview about Blood Witness on Podioracket this Thursday, June 9, from 9:00 – 10:30 PM (EST). If you’ve got any questions about the novel, Jehovah’s Witnesses, or cults in general, please join us.
Call (347) 996-3319 and join the conversation.  While it’s running you’ll be able to listen to it live on [...]

Once again I’ve been accused of not having an open mind.  Once again it was in a forum where I was pointing out that Alternative Medicine is not only a waste of time and money, but can be deadly.  The response was typical – I know better than you because it worked for me, doctors [...]

Blood Witness is finished! I just released the final episode.
Man, this was an intensive project. Each episode took about five hours of work: An hour to record, 3-4 hours to edit, 15 minutes of post processing, 20-30 minutes of mixing, and another half hour to tag the MP3 files, upload them, update the XML for [...]

I just did an interview about Blood Witness on the Not About Religion blog.  Check it out. 

In 2006 there was only one podcast award.  It allowed anyone to vote on their favorite shows, once a day, for a month.  This guaranteed only the most popular shows with the biggest audiences could win.  I wanted an award with a different model, one that would give excellent but obscure shows a realistic chance [...]

A few days ago I went in for a medical examination, where the doctor boldly goes where no one has gone before.   Prepping consisted of stripping down to nothing but a flimsy hospital gown, lying under a flimsy blanket and getting an IV.
The nurse bringing me from the prep room to the examination room said, [...]

(This post, with just a bit more embellishment, is now available as a podcast.)
Thursday night an ice storm hit the Northeast. Power flicked off and on a bit, but didn’t go off, and we went to bed.
Friday morning, about 5:30, we were awakened by a squeal from the cellar. All the power was [...]