Monthly Archives: December 2004

Ringing the Bell for Christ and the ACLU — Again!

Recall, if you will, my call for lawyers who are Christian and work for the ACLU to come forward to refute the belief a correspondent of mine had, that there were no Christian lawyers at the ACLU. I’ve already rung the bell, but I’m ringing it again, because I’ve hauled in a big one: Will […]

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On Rudeness as a Rhetorical Tool

For those of you who are interested, I put a comment here (it’s the one dated 12/30/04 at 1:35 pm) on how I will occassionally be rude in online discussions as an intentional rhetorical maneuver. A snip: It’s no secret to anyone here that I can at times be rude and confrontational. I think what […]

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Maxims for Believers

Not to distract you all from the spectacle of me and Mr. Duemer frothing at the mouth like angry mad dogs while putatively discussing tolerance, but on his own site Devin Ganger has posted a variation of the Seven Maxims for Non-Believers, modified for use for believers. I think he’s done a fine job, and […]

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Heh heh heh.

Apparently, in the conversation at Chad’s place, someone got his feelings hurt. I particularly like this comment about me: “Obviously Scalzi is a genius in line for a MacArthur grant; obviously he is someone whose very cyber-presence confers beneficence. Though, actually, when you read what he writes he comes off as a sort of self-important […]

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Maxims for Non-Believers

The other day Chad Orzel excerpted my post on teaching Athena about Christmas and did a compare and contrast with a comment about religion from another blogger who is a non-believer. This prompted a comment from a reader (who is, presumably, also a non-believer): “I really can’t approve of John Scalzi’s Laodicean attitude. Believe, if […]

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Get Hammered

Congratulations to Elizabeth Bear, whose first novel Hammered is officially in bookstores today (five days before my own book, officially at least): You can buy it here, or read an excerpt here. Or, read a review here. Don’t have it yet personally, but it’s on order, and I’m looking forward to the read.

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Whatever Best of 2004

The next week I’m likely to be very scarce here, so allow me to compensate for my absence by providing you with this: The Best Whatevers of 2004, in my estimation. These are arranged chronologically. Why I Breed My So-Called Writing Life I Am Married Leviticans Even More Long-Winded (But Practical) Writing Advice Easter The […]

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Athena’s Message.

Athena was happy to see all your birthday greetings, and made her own little holiday card for you fine folks. Here it is. The writing on the side says: “Deep in your heart there is a sunlight so hot that it makes you love people. That’s why you love people.” Well, that works for me. […]

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Novelist Money

Justine Larbalestier, whose perfectly fabulous YA novel is coming out in a few months, asked some author friends of hers what sort of advance they got for their first novels, because she’s curious and because enough people Googled her site to find out that she felt she might as well have the information there. The […]

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Six

Athena’s six today. Here’s what I wrote when she was born. — Christmas Eve, 1998 — Dear Athena: When you were born, God decided that it should snow. Not much, just enough to cover the ground with a powdery white crust that terrified drivers. Snow! They said. I better drive five miles an hour! And […]

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Ringing the Bell for Christ and the ACLU

The other day I asked Christians who were also ACLU lawyers to come forward to disprove a correspondent’s mouth-gaping belief that there were no Christian lawyers at the ACLU. This morning someone came forward who was close enough for my purposes: A law student actively involved with the ACLU in Kentucky, and who (as entirely […]

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Winter Wonderland — The Day After

Another foot of snow overnight, and now my front porch looks like this. Contrast this with the picture from the same place on my porch yesterday, and you realize this whole snow thing has gotten out of hand. In fact, we’re in a Level 3 situation in our county, which means no one is allowed […]

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Winter Wonderland — Or So They Say

It’s been snowing, it is snowing, and from I am informed by others more knowledgeable about such matters than I, it will continue snowing at least through tomorrow. So naturally, some idiot took this opportunity to knock over my mailbox, occasioning me to go out into said snow. As long as I was out there, […]

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Kristine Scalzi’s Kahlua Cake: The Extended Director’s Edition

Behold! Kristine Scalzi’s Rather Tasty Kahlua Cake, none of which I will consume, alas, since she baked it for an office party tomorrow. Her office, not mine. Again, I say: Alas. But wait, there’s more! The creator of this mocha masterpiece has graciously deigned to appear for a motion picture interview, to allow special insight […]

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Why I’m an Independent

The Reason: Because unlike Kos, I don’t have to wait until six weeks after the election to point out the obvious, which is that there was no way John Kerry should have lost to a president as monumentally incompetent (and, as Kos notes, as unpopular) as Dubya. Although I do think my suggestion of beating […]

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The Author’s Heart Thrills And Fears

This person walked uphill in the snow, both ways, to get Old Man’s War. Actually, she didn’t really walk uphill, in the snow, both ways. But there was snow, she had to go to more than one store, and she did parallel park in a parking structure to get the book. Which I figure is […]

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Merry Christmas, You Godless Jerk

I have a difficult time expressing how extraordinarily stupid I think this whole “Happy Holidays”/”Merry Christmas” thing that’s going on this year is, not in the least because, for those of you who slept through remedial etymology, “holiday” means “holy day.” Which is an awfully funny word to have representing secularism, if you ask me. […]

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Yes Virginia, There Are Christian ACLU Lawyers

Someone who is very close to me (who will remain nameless for the moment) just presented the opinion to me that, for various reasons, she strongly suspects there are no lawyers who work for the ACLU who are also Christians, since she was also of the opinion that the ACLU isn’t interested in the constitutional […]

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