Monthly Archives: October 2020

Saved(?) By the Bell

Posted on October 8, 2020 56 Comments

Yesterday, I was driving past a local elementary school and I saw on their electronic sign out front the words, “Doors Open 8:25, Tardy Bell 8:35”. Ten minutes. They’re giving kids a ten-minute window to get into the school? I know what you’re thinking, you could just drop your kid off before 8:25 and they […]

Let’s Get Cooking

Posted on October 7, 2020 74 Comments

As many of you probably already know, I love cooking. I especially love baking, but both are great activities that I enjoy very much and have considered making a career out of. One of the things I’ve considered doing is food blogging, or cooking videos on YouTube or something of the sort! Or even just […]

Quick Krissy Surgery Update

Posted on October 7, 2020 32 Comments

I noted yesterday that Krissy was going in for a minor surgery today, which I know prompted some curiosity and concern. Here’s the scoop: She had a bunion that needed attending to, and this morning she went in and they did whatever they needed to do to fix it. It was done in a couple […]

The Big Idea: Sean Patrick Hazlett

Posted on October 7, 2020 12 Comments

It might not surprise you that the stories in the fantasy collection Weird World War III have at least some basis in reality — the Cold War actually was thing, after all. But what might surprise you is which things were based in reality. Editor Sean Patrick Hazlett is here to lay all the weirdness […]

RIP, Eddie Van Halen

Posted on October 6, 2020 22 Comments

The news, from the Los Angeles Times. He could do things with a guitar that literally nobody else could do, and possibly no one else will do again. As they say, there goes part of my youth. May he rest in peace. — JS

The Scalzi Endorsement: Joe Biden

Posted on October 6, 2020 116 Comments

Inasmuch as I have, in fact, already voted for Joe Biden, I think it’s both safe and reasonable to come out and endorse the man to be President of the United States. I also think it’s reasonable to point out that this endorsement will not precisely be the most fulsome and ringing endorsement that I […]

Family Early Voting Time!

Posted on October 6, 2020 63 Comments

This year there are many good reasons to vote early, but for the Scalzi family, two stood out, one practical and one existential. The existential reason is that this year out of all other election years voting is under attack, specifically by the party in the White House and by the president, who has already […]

Nostalgia is a Luxury

Posted on October 5, 2020 103 Comments

The image above was posted on Facebook today, and I had an immediate reaction to it, which I posted on Twitter: “The problem with this picture is, having grown up in the 80s, I assumed they are looking at the end result of a US-Soviet nuclear exchange, and this is the very instant before their […]

A Reminder to Ohioans: Last Day to Register to Vote

Posted on October 5, 2020 15 Comments

I’ll repost my tweet about it here: ATTENTION OHIOANS: Today is the last day to register for the 2020 presidential election. It is easy to do and you can do it online here:https://t.co/nKNyFGEFsq AND, you can vote starting tomorrow in early voting! Register! Vote! Here's a picture of Smudge to inspire you. pic.twitter.com/jsqmLKU5Md — John […]

The Fitbit Sense: A Review

Posted on October 4, 2020 29 Comments

I’ve been using Fitbits for a couple of years, first to help with my weight loss and exercise regimen, and these days to help maintain my current weight and otherwise keep on top of my health (in a very general, this-is-not-an-actual-medical-device way). Fitbit recently announced a new top of the line model, the Fitbit Sense, […]

Six Views of Scalzi, 10/3/20

Posted on October 3, 2020 13 Comments

Yup, I’m playing with lenses and photo editing software again! Because it’s fun, that’s why. Also portraiture is inherently interesting for itself, and I’m usually willing to pose for myself whenever I want, unlike the cats and some humans in the house. Hope you’re enjoying your first Saturday of October 2020. If you can, it’s […]

New Books and ARCs, 10/2/20

Posted on October 2, 2020 12 Comments

Let’s start off the first weekend of October with this very fine collection of new books and ARCs! What here would you like to read over a crisp autumn weekend? Tell us all in the comments!

The Big Idea: Jane Yolen

Posted on October 2, 2020 7 Comments

Come one, come all, down to Nebula award-winning author Jane Yolen’s Big Idea, where she will be the ringmaster and show you her dark carnival of short stories that is Midnight Circus. JANE YOLEN: I admit it. I like small pieces of writing. I was a poet first, even as a child. I sold poems […]

The Plague and the President

Posted on October 2, 2020 157 Comments

There is of course irony, of the cheap, Alanis Morissette sort, of a man so heavily invested in denying the reality and severity of the COVID-19 virus contracting the thing and joining the millions of his fellow Americans who have suffered from it, and risking becoming one of the more than 200,000 who have died […]

A (Possibly Relevant) Blast From the Past

Posted on October 1, 2020 3 Comments

When I was younger, like fourteen or fifteen, I started listening to some pretty odd music, and watching the even odder video accompaniments. I would spend, like, a decent chunk of my free time watching these things, and then one day I stopped like completely. But I rediscovered them recently and have been really enjoying […]

The Big Idea: Tom Doyle

Posted on October 1, 2020 5 Comments

The human brain comes in almost infinite varieties, but for the future that Tom Doyle imagines in his novel Border Crosser, his question is: Will all of those brains, and the humans who possess them, be welcome? TOM DOYLE: Does the far future have a place for mental illness? This is a question at the […]

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