I'm a big proponent of free speech, which I think means you can't start listing qualifiers and limitations to what is or isn't allowed. What I will say is that I need this place to be helpful to my creative process, so while a hearty debate is welcome, persistent antagonism of myself or the rest of the community won't be tolerated indefinitely.
My six-year-old daughter is quite the physical powerhouse, and this isn't mere pride of fatherhood speaking. At the age of five, and without warning or training, she did ten chin-ups on a local playground when I became curious just how strong she really was. She was all smiles as she came off the bar, rubbing her arms and remarking in fascinated bewilderment, 'That HURT!'
A few months later, I showed her the proper techniques for a situp. You know, the kind athletes do for their coaches with hands crossed over the chest or over their ears like earmuffs. My personal best for situps when I was sixteen ended up at 450, and it took me about four years to build up to that.
It took her about a week to do fifty in under two minutes. A year later, her personal best with the earmuffs is 212 (and that's on a 15 degree declined wooden plank, which is even HARDER than on a flat, carpeted floor). She just glares at me in contempt when I tell her to try the hands-over-the-chest technique. 'C'mon, Dad, that's WAY too ...
It's been almost two years since I posted anything on social media, and frankly the absence has been due to the lack of a platform I thought made sense to use. That all changed when Dave Rubin mentioned Locals.com.
This seems like the perfect platform to combine so many different things into one interface, so I intend to make this my new headquarters for all of my online activity. I'm not exactly riding the razor's edge technologically, but neither am I a cave-dweller, so while it might take me awhile to figure out all the bells and whistles available here, I'll get them eventually.
So to anyone interested in connecting with me or participating in my creative process, welcome aboard! I think it's going to be a grand voyage.
Anyone with half a brain on (and even those with the other half already in the frying pan) would believe that the statement declared in this post's headline was true. But now, we don't need to believe anything since we've got evidence to support the thesis.
A recent Axios report confirmed as much, finding that 56% of the people in the USA agree with the statement "Journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations." Just 18% of self-described Republicans and 57% of Democrats trust the media.
Naturally, the media monolith has a plan to correct these figures, and just as naturally that plan has little or nothing to do with presenting the facts in a complete and unbiased fashion. The great John Nolte over at Breitbart did a better job eviscerating the author's ludicrous prescription than I could, so instead I'll focus on a few keywords which each look like the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
First off, the author uses the word 'trust' in ...
As one of my earlier collaborative efforts, I wrote Ure Infectus (Burn the Corrupt) as part of a shared universe started by indie sci-fi star Chris Nuttall. It's one of my earliest works, so my style has gotten tighter and crisper since then, but I stand by this grim ode to liberty as my personal favorite of all the novels I've written.
I've written nine books (published eight...more on that later) in my Spineward Sectors: Middleton's Pride series. It's pretty standard Military Space Opera stuff, with lots of lasers, space marines, loyalty, courage and sacrifice to go around. A few years ago I made Book One, No Middle Ground, 100% free on all the major platforms. Here's a link to that book's Amazon page, so that anyone with Kindle in its myriad forms can sample my work!
