Novelist, journalist, @TechCrunch columnist, CTO @HappyFunCorp, etc. Photo credit @suldrew.
Dec 14, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
4 days ago: "Saiss looks to be struggling with his damaged hamstring … visibly limping … is carried off on his shield (well, a stretcher) and that’s surely his tournament over." Today: "Saiss [et al] are all fit to start in defence. Well, they start." 😬theguardian.com/football/live/…
Well that didn't take long. Actually an extremely good finish from a very awkwardly bouncing ball, from Hernandez the left-back.
Dec 13, 2020 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
I've been skimming MAGA forums of late, partly, I admit, from schadenfreude, but also partly out of dark fascination / how-to-write-villains research. I've noticed an interesting thing about their nature of their beliefs, I think.
The ones who aren't completely cuckoo, i.e. the non-QAnon folks, a) are the majority, b) have at best mixed emotions about those who are, a kind of "wellll, those are some ... interesting ideas, but hey, those ... curious people are on our side, for now, I guess."
Dec 11, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Today I discovered it's once again possible to edit one's Amazon author bio page. (OK, so it's probably been possible again for years.) Farewell, lantern-jawed 33-year-old Mongolian-desert me. But hey, at least now you can see my baby blue eyes: amazon.com/~/e/B001IYVJ66
Whoa, they've added all kinds of stuff! Including historical sales charts, from which I've learned, to my semi-amazement, that my novel INVISIBLE ARMIES was once, for one day, a Top 10 "bestseller." I mean, I'm as surprised as you are -- well, maybe a bit less, see below -- but:
Sep 8, 2020 • 17 tweets • 5 min read
I've long been loath to use the word "fascism" casually -- words mean things, and those things matter. My personal rubric is the great Umberto Eco's essay "Ur-Fascism," summarized, with relevant links, below:
1. "The Cult of Tradition" ... when all truth has already been revealed by Tradition, no new learning can occur, only further interpretation and refinement.
A few random thoughts on travel from a grizzled veteran (and sorta-kinda-vaguely travel pro, once, in a weird way) who happens to be in Thailand at the moment:
1. The backpacker scene is all but dead. Here we define "backpacker" very loosely as people, mostly in their 20s and early 30s, who travel for extended periods, on a budget, semi-sequentially, seeking creative discomfort and/or exotic havens.
