"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by Doctor Science Continuing from the previous post about the Best Pro Artist nominees, here are the candidates for Best Fan Artist. Four of them are from the Rabid Puppy slate, one is not. “Scars”, by Matthew Callahan. “A reflection of the fatigue and doubt troopers may have when faced with back-to-back deployments to a … Read more
by Doctor Science WHOOPS it’s almost Hugo Awards voting deadline time! I’ve been so caught up in politics (and twitter @doctorscience) I completely lost track – the deadline is Sunday July 31!! I’m going to talk about Best Professional Artist first, Best Fan Artist tomorrow. Each name is linked to their entry on my blog, … Read more
by Ugh Well, now that that's over with let the real campaign begin! Or whatever. Here's a NYTimes article on deference given to police officers when it comes to the use of force, in particular deadly force. ISTM that a standard "was it reasonable to reasonably fear for your safety" is a bit too … Read more
by Doctor Science Since Hillary Clinton announced (via text message!) her choice of Tim Kaine as her running mate, I’ve seen people say that he was chosen for governing experience, not for what he brings to the campaign; or for some sort of general “pivot to the center” policy quality, without the ability to fire … Read more
by wj For those of you who are heartily sick of politics, here’s your chance to change the subject. (But you are going to have to do it yourselves.) We had lots of fun pointing fingers at the things that went wrong (from our point of view, at least) in last week’s convention. But here’s … Read more
by wj The anti-Trump forces have failed in their attempt to force a roll call vote on the convention rules. Featured during the attempt: the person chairing the convention up and walked off the stage for 10 minutes. Didn’t bother to try to gavel things back into order. Just left. Just caught on the radio, … Read more
by Doctor Science Tonight is the start of a new HBO series, Vice Principals. I’m not privy to the screeners given to pro reviewers, but based on their reports it’s the most blatantly racist show that’s been on TV in my adult life (and I was born in the 1950s). It sounds like the fictional … Read more
by Ugh Jesus people. WTF? But against the awful carnage of the past fortnight we have the DJIA hitting an all time high! So, all is well? Also, too, I give you former Mr. Third In Line for the Presidency and, apparently, current runner-up for the GOP Vice Presidential nomination Newt Gingrinch: “Let me … Read more
by Doctor Science Delayed again, this time because the AC needed fixing and my brain melted. Now we’re back in relative cool so I can do my roundup. Non-Hugo reading: Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. One thing I learned: I can no longer read paperbacks, at least ones not by major publishers, because the … Read more
by wj Bobby made a request yesterday that I think deserves a thread all to itself: Please take just one pressing social, political, or cultural issue we debate here all the time and spell out the so-called moderate position. OK, folks. The banner at the top of the page says “This is the Voice of … Read more
by russell A couple of things I stumbled on in my daily random walk through the internet seemed relevant to topics under discussion here. So, for your reading pleasure: Michael Goldfarb tries to unpack the Trump phenomenon to readers of the BBC magazine. Bonus points if you are a Springsteen fan, which I'm not in any … Read more
by wj I read something recently which noted that one of the great (and mostly unanswerable) questions for historians is: “What were they thinking?” We can make a reasonable stab at “What happened?” But “Why?” is harder. There have been a number of exchanges here lately, where one or another of us has suggested (not … Read more