Category: Commentary
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Understanding Heart Attack Indicators: Key Warning Signs
Or Blood Pressure is Stupid! I came across an article that insisted that 1 of 4 indicators are present in over 90% of those who will eventually have strokes or heart attacks. Now, as a reformed statistician, the first thing I thought of when I read that headline is how stupid that study must be.…
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New Year Musings in the Year of Our Lord 2026
I seem to have missed the traditional post Christmas/pre New Year’s window for reflecting on a busy 2025. Instead I need a reflection on the not quite two week old 2026. Hence, rather than a well thought out essay, here are a few disjointed musings in response to events that refuse to stop swirling. To…
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A Little Spam for the Soul
Some days just have a way of putting a smile on your face—if you look at them the right way. I got a couple of emails this morning that tickled my very peculiar funny bone. First I received this: Actually I added the last line because that’s what went through my head. BTW the actual…
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What are My Principles?
An excerpt from A Geek’s Progress: When I was 11 years old and getting my hair cut, I had an interesting revelation. The barber shop was set up with large mirrors on opposite sides of the narrow room. Being bored, I noticed a reflection of the mirror behind me in the corner of the mirror…
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Book Selling & Mysterious AI
Although my wife and I have published ebooks before, after going to several SF Conventions the last 3 years, I decided I should also publish my first novel in paperback—maybe even hardback and audio eventually. When I did, mysterious things happened. I published Advance Guards on Amazon, the big boy in indie publishing because, well…
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The Riverside Monster
Image by Jimmy Lai/HIGHLANDER My alma mater, University of California, Riverside (UCR) emailed me yesterday (cuz’ I’m on their email list) with a request to fill out a survey. Despite my misgivings about the likelihood of anything this old geezer says being thought of as relevant, I decided to go ahead, mainly because I want…
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Is It Cheating if We Do It?
The current controversy over Texas’ redistricting of their congressional districts–to increase fairness, or to legislate Democrats out of existence–depending on your partisan political point of view, makes me nostalgic. You see, in the late 80’s I still harbored an ambition to attain a Master’s degree in Geography to go with my Bachelor’s degree in History.…
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Why I Am a Christian
In a few weeks, I will, God willing, be baptized and chrismated into the Eastern Orthodox Church. It seems a good time to share this essay that I wrote years ago. Let me first make clear that my purpose is not to convert anybody, but rather to explain why I believe what I do. For…
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Machine Unlearning
I’m a SF writer and have participated in multiple SF conventions this summer. If you’re not familiar with the world of ‘Cons’, they are a ubiquitous practice where those formerly known as nerds and geeks gather and celebrate the culture of comic books, science fiction, fantasy, science, potential futures, etc., exchanging ideas in the hopes…
Musings of a Restless Mind 