Michael Z. Williamson's Blog, page 22

Stonepunk!

I describe Contact with Chaos as stonepunk, hence that title. I'm claiming credit for the word even though I wasn't the first with the idea.

John Scalzi just posted a promo of it on his "Whatever" Blog at http://whatever.scalzi.com/2009/04/21/the-big-idea-michael-z-williamson/#comment-142060 so I'm commenting here for anyone coming over, and vice versa. Scalzi's very astute and clever, a good writer, and a good guy to have as friend, ally or moral support.

For those dropping by for the first tim

0bama is 1 for 11 in transparency.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/04/obama-breaking.html

I'm pretty disappointed about his breaking that promise. It wouldn't take that much to fulfill it, I wouldn't imagine.
I'm also disappointed about his administration's defense of Bush's warrantless wiretapping and other civil liberties problems, and appointment of RIAA alumni to the Justice Department.
Yep, overall, I guess for me he's only rating about a 90%, which is only an A rather than an A+. Which is an awful lot better than the pre

If I Were A Somali Pirate

These idiots quite literally break down into crew (Fishermen), muscle (thugs who know which way to point an RPG, most of the time), and "technical specialists" (someone who can actually operate a GPS).

Literally.

What they need is a LAWYER.

If I were a pirate, I'd simply voice support for the others, and wait until they had 2-3 ships seized.

I'd then infiltrate my Loyal Henchmen with orders but little background, to show up, be enthusiastic, offer beer, then shoot every single one of the other pirat

A Moral Quandary

Someone just argued that even if climate change is natural (nice of them to concede the possibility), such changes have, in the past (oh, dear, I guess that's an admission of sorts), caused upheavals to societies.

So, if it turns out to be entirely natural, and the result is to be the flooding of environmental strongholds like NYC and LA (sorry, I'll try to restrain the sarcasm), will they allow it to continue unfettered?

The commenter said we should "still be worried."

Which implies he would not.

A

Kids and Guns and Writing and Stuff.

This weekend, held a Shoot. Gail got some practice in before she qualifies in two weeks. She did decently on a 200m target at 100m, which is the best we could manage at the Atterbury range. A little more practice would be good. The last chance she had was qual last year. I have the time to shoot at least monthly, and the ammo budget to do so. (I started cleaning 5.56 cases to reload a couple of days ago. I'll be done tumbling them in about a week. I have at least 3500 cases, plus a thousan

Another Global Warming Debate

I politely mixed it up on Facebook with a gentleman on my list. He was more polite than I was (he REALLY was. I have to work at it. He didn't).

So, what I want to discuss here is the accuracy of the data. After that we'll look at other issues.

http://www.surfacestations.org/

Is an interesting look.

I've had a grad student in some meteorological field, studying AGW, tell me that no data prior to 2002 is valid--it was "politically driven." I'll offer the benefit of the doubt that older data may b

How'd That Happen?

Oh, Gee, I have too many copies of my books--including hardcovers of everything except BtBF, and I have a few copies of Contact with Chaos left after promotions, and it's still two weeks to store release.

Not to mention some leftover signed sheets for the leatherbound edition, and a few galleys from various stories.

A Theory About 6.8mm Remington SPC

Also posted in Baen's Bar

Okay, basics:

6.8mm is more effective at killing than 5.56mm.

6.8mm is not enough more effective to reduce the combat load carried, given its greater weight and production cost.

Therefore, 6.8mm CANNOT, WILL NOT and was NEVER INTENDED to replace 5.56mm. Logistics Has Spoken.

While the .30 cal lovers snicker about the "pending demise" of 5.56, which they've been doing for 44 years now (47 if we count the first USAF adoption of the AR15), it's not happening. Certainly, some

The Hippies Are Pissing Me Off

Right now, I'm burning every light in the house, the garage, outside, running both vehicles at idle, have the computers, TVs and all stereos on, charcoal in the grill outside, wood in the fireplace, windows open to run the heat at full blast and have a tire burning in the culvert.

If you care about the environment, you will do the same.

Bunnyfucker BS aside, geologists have a billion year climate estimate, and right now it's 7-10C below average. It's 1C below what it was during the Viking Era, wh

Got Books!

I have paperbacks of BtBF and hardcovers of Contact with Chaos.

Glee!

I've been sending additional promotional copies out.

In other news, gun show this weekend, bought five pages of stuff, sold so much I still came home with enough money to pay the mortgage. Thanks, Zero, you otherwise worthless fuckstick. You're keeping ME out of the recession.