The New Worlds Continue to be Strange… and Genre-Hopping
Just dropped earlier today. I have a mixture of emotions that is most un-Vulcan-like.
Various and Sundry
Various and Sundry
The Logic of Putting a Little ZIP in Mailing Addresses
So, in case you hadn’t heard, the United States Postal Service has decided to glow up Mr. ZIP for a new generation (see image above). And in case you forgot, “ZIP” stands for Zone Improvement Plan, but perhaps you’re wondering how ZIP codes really work. Enter the inimitable CGP Grey: Mind you, there are funnel people who will happily expound on some of the nuances the video above doesn’t get precise, but it’s still wonkily…
Various and Sundry
Just Loose Your Arrows & Dig Another Ditch: A Guide to Ancient Warfare
One of the last times I talked about pirates, I referenced a couple videos with pirate experts. Truth be told, I love these sorts of videos where historians review films and explain how accurate or, frequently, how wildly inaccurate the films are. It’s especially fun when the historians are clearly having fun with it. Historian Roel Konijnendijk clearly has fun talking about ancient and medieval warfare, even though he’s clearly pained by certain cinematic tropes.…
Various and Sundry
Satirical Space Opera… from the 2nd Century?!?
I’m always up for looking for interesting public domain works we might adapt for Jabberwocky Audio Theater, and as you may imagine, that’s meant various science fiction, fantasy, and horror works from the 1920s. But apparently, I haven’t been looking back far enough because there’s a space opera from [checks notes] Ancient Greece?!? I’ll let Austin McConnell take it from here: Now, I will disagree with the title of the video because I absolutely will…
Various and Sundry
Wondering if you can learn more about the Mongol Empire? Yes you khan!
I know how it is. We live in excessively ‘interesting times.’ Many organizations are asking people to do “more with less.” Most importantly, despite you, like my family, being very interested in Mongolian history especially the Mongol Empire, you simply haven’t had time to brush up on the main points of this consequential, multicultural empire whose echoes have been felt ever since in world history. Well, luckily, the internet abounds in concise, informative, and entertaining…
Various and Sundry
Why are Incompetent Leaders Celebrated?
I’ve been thinking about leadership over the past couple weeks in terms of how one may rise to the challenge of inspiring and motivating their teams… as well as how to avoid the Peter Principle of being promoted to a level of, well, incompetence. And when you read about leaders who were so very incompetent, you wonder why they’re often more studied than leaders who succeed… because not all of these studies come from the…
Various and Sundry
Do You Have a Flag? Minnesota Edition
Continuing on the trend of looking back to some of the posts I referenced for my blogiversary last week, CGP Grey’s video ranking different state flags is still a great watch, but there’s Minnesota has a new flag! Alas, his videos about the initial finalists and the final design are for backers only, but you get quality critique for the final three: I long for more of the boring-blue-background-with-seals flags to be supplanted, but I…
Various and Sundry
The Changing Landscape of Northern Virginia
What a difference 60-odd years makes! Well, okay, I would wonder how things wouldn’t change in 60-odd years in a particular area, but Jill Devine did an article this past December for Northern Virginia magazine that’s chock full of photographs and various milestones of how the region has changed… in many ways quite dramatically. For locals and naturalized locals, it’s sure to trigger some memories.
Writing
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Reality, and You
Coming off my blogiversary post on Saturday, I was catching up on some TED/TEDx videos and one of them made me think of the originality post I talked about re-visiting within the next year. The speaker not only touches on fantasy tropes being tropes and therefore not original, but also about the not unheard of concept that fantasy helps understand reality. In fact, it’s not just fantasy, there’s science fiction as well. And I see…
Site Update
So, how about that decade? (It’s the site’s 10th Blogiversary)
It’s been 10 years since I relaunched this website. On the one hand, I find it hard to believe. Perhaps not as hard as some of you find it hard to believe. Or perhaps you’re stuck on the fact that I use the term “blogiversary,” but if you’re one of my seven or nine usual readers, you’ve come to expect that kind of thing. Anyway, the 10th anniversary is traditionally the “Tin” anniversary, which really…