Published in Invisible Illness·PinnedMember-onlySpoon Theory and PracticeSimple tasks for mental health in stressful times — Hobbies are Important My friend Andrew Dacey and I tend to have weirdly overlapping hobbies. I mean, that was part of why we became friends in the first place, but then it built weirdly from there. We both worked IT, we both liked role-playing games, he was a talented photographer and I wanted…Mental Health4 min read
Published in The Writing Cooperative·PinnedMember-onlyStrong Female Characters vs. Strong Characters that are FemaleThe phrase Strong Female Character has become a term of derision… and probably rightly. For the most part, writers who are creating Strong Female Characters are doing so with the intention of creating Strong Female Characters, which usually leads to creating underdeveloped characters. So, what makes a character a Strong…Feminism4 min read
Jun 17Member-onlyMoving Email List to MediumAn experiment — I’m moving my email list from Mailchimp to Medium. Maybe this is a bad idea, after all, I’m putting all of my eggs in one basket. On the other hand, I don’t do this for a living (I believe I made just over two dollars last month) and if it…Writing2 min read
Published in The Partnered Pen·Apr 13, 2021Member-onlyThe Pressure to WriteHow one event stalled my writing for a year — He said it was okay, he could go now — the things I was writing were saying what he wanted to say to the world. A little over a month later he was dead. My father called me for Christmas 2019. He lived half a world away and we didn’t…Mental Health3 min read
Published in Writers’ Blokke·Mar 26, 2021Member-onlyDependence is Learned BehaviourStop yourself from disabling your loved ones — Driving Forces I like driving stick. Manual transmission, it’s a thing — it feels more connected, like you have more control over the car. Many years ago my then-partner and I decided to buy a car together. She had never driven a vehicle with a manual transmission, so we talked about whether…Mental Health5 min read
Published in Writers’ Blokke·Mar 24, 2021Member-onlyADHD Meds are the Starting Point, Not the CureLearning life skills you missed is a crucial step — Late Diagnosis I was diagnosed with ADHD in my forties. I don’t think it was much of a shock to anyone who knew me, but it was still a long time coming. After 4 decades of struggle, of failing to quite fit, of not being able to do the sort of thing…Adhd6 min read
Published in The Partnered Pen·Oct 5, 2020Member-onlyI Watched (Most of) CUTIESIt’s not even close to what it’s being made out to be — Hot take here: CUTIES is pretty good. Not amazing, but quite good. The objections to CUTIES seem to take two forms. First: by showing the clearly sexual dance routines the movie is catering to pedophiles and second the actresses were too young for the material. I’m going to tackle the…Cuties Movie5 min read
Published in Revamping Economics·Aug 14, 2020Member-onlyThe Robots are Coming — Automation Might Just Save the PlanetWhy we shouldn’t fear the coming wave of automation even if it does replace all the jobs — Digital Manufacturing 3d printing isn’t what most people think it is… it’s slow, it’s hard, and most of the time you need to baby your printer, maintain it far, far more than you think you will have to. It only produces plastic things, and often they aren’t all that good. Certainly, they…Economics8 min read
Published in The Dream Verse·Aug 10, 2020Member-onlyRunning and Mental HealthHow running keeps me sane — Run for your life I lift my foot, again, forcing it to come off the ground, just one more time. As my toes drop I do the same with the other one, just one more time. The sun beats down on me, I gasp for air. “Come on, just one more minute. I can…Mental Health4 min read
Published in atheism101·Jul 28, 2020Member-onlyWhy Appeal to Authority is the Favourite Tactic of ReligionLord Kelvin’s Belief in God is Irrelevant to God’s Existence — “If you study science deep enough and long enough it will force you to believe in God” Lord William Kelvin So, Lord Kelvin, clearly a great scientist, believed in God and thought that science confirmed his belief. That’s something that gets trotted out from time to time. It’s one of many arguments that are often used by creationists to promote the idea that science and god are compatible.Atheism5 min read
