Don't Read Much

Successful publisher talks about what a bad idea DRM is.

Thanx to Tor.com.

Man up

The concluding volume of the Heinlein bio is coming out, and I'm going to review it, so I'm thinking even more about Stranger in a Strange Land than usual. Here's another one.

Valentine Michael Smith understands humanity after he sees a monkey beat up a smaller monkey, whereupon the little guy finds a yet smaller one to hit. That dynamic appears over and over again, and one current symbolic example is John Kerry, after years of being called insufficiently butch, telling Edward Snowden to "man up."

We are supposed to believe that this display of testicularity, besides being good in itself as all such things are, will force America to consider the problems he is trying to bring to our attention.

Charles Pierce knows better. While Snowden is in Russia, the establishment ignores him. The best bet is that if he came home, the establishment would lock him up indefinitely and continue to ignore him.

Not even the chair

Lingua Franca points out that The Washington Post erroneously referred to the “chairman of the department of exercise science” when the correct title is “chair of the department of exercise science.” I erroneously guessed that the department of exercise science is something a university makes up so that its jocks can claim to major in something.

Drugs

A pictorial guide to substance abuse

Thanx to andrewducker

Shoulder filth

Utah high school yearbook Photoshops out bare skin most of us would not find offensive or exciting.