Sherrie R. Cronin's Blog, page 32
June 19, 2016
It’s a VUCA world out there, people ….
The supercomputer has a point. When does what you are fighting for become irrelevant due to the amount of carnage and pain you have inflicted? Is the answer really “never”?
… You don’t think you agree? If your life, or your freedom, required you to push a button and wipe out every living creature in Australia, would you do it? Would you let someone else do it for you? How about just half of Australia? Just a quarter of it? Okay, exactly how much of Australia are you willing to destroy?
Read the entire post on my xo blog at It’s a VUCA world out there, people …
Filed under: reviews, x0: favorite posts, x0: peace Tagged: artificial intelligence, bombed buildings, compassion, military intervention, pacifism, peace, science fiction, show reviews, technology, violence, war, world, world peace
June 15, 2016
“The Big Short”: a review and a look at modern investing
In 2007 I took over managing all the money my husband and I had saved over our lifetime, even though I knew nothing about investing. Most of the money was in a 401K plan with my employer. I got laid off, was damned sure I didn’t want to keep that company’s stock, and so I had to do something else with it. We’d already had bad experiences with professionals too busy to answer the questions of folks with our meager level of savings, and twice we’d been directed into investments clearly not in our own best interest. There wasn’t going to be a third time. Not when everything we had was on the table.
So I spent the rest of 2007 figuring out how to buy stocks myself and, hopefully, how do it well. The jargon was overwhelming and the websites intimidating and the calls from other people who wanted to handle my money for me were relentless. I think it was the tenacity of those who wanted to get their hands on my savings that pushed me to persevere. I mean, if they were all that eager to do this, it couldn’t be that good for me, right? Then, well…..
I guess you all heard about what happened to the economy in 2008, didn’t you?
Read the rest of the story on my d4 blog at “The Big Short”: a review and a look at modern investing.
Filed under: d4: favorite posts Tagged: economic policy, learning, money, movie reviews, reform, satire, stock market, wealth, wealth distribution
June 12, 2016
Happiness fascinates me
My dad used to say “Work fascinates me. I can sit and watch someone do it all day.” Sometimes I think I have the same relationship with happiness.
Read the entire post on my y1 blog at Happiness fascinates me.
Filed under: y1: favorite posts, y1: joy Tagged: attractiveness, beauty, busy, economic policy, frittering, gratitude, happiest places, happiness, health, joy, marketing, money, obsessed, perfection, perspective, poverty, wealth, wealth distribution, wisdom, wise, worrying
June 8, 2016
Because she could ….
A couple of months ago I wrote about March as Women’s History month, and the corresponding wealth of sites celebrating songs that empower women. Buzz Feed, The BoomBox, and vh1 all had their lists complete with best lines from the song, the reason the song is great, and a video to enjoy. I concatenated the lists together to create my own mega celebration of female power.
However, I felt like the songs were mostly recent and in certain popular genres. The only one that could be considered an oldie was the all time classic “Respect” by Aretha Franklin.
Read the rest of this post at Because she could …. on my c3 blog.
Filed under: c3: favorite posts, music Tagged: equality, how far we have come, memories, music, music videos, overcoming, personal freedom, sexism, women, women's rights
June 5, 2016
Too much!
I drew this up this in my head the other night when I couldn’t fall asleep. This is my brain on overload.
So you can see that I had this post in mind before I read Danae Wulfe’s brilliant post Too Many Books but she gets full credit for getting me to sit down today and write this. I am bursting out like the weeds on my front lawn. I am filled with ideas to write about. Blogs, short stories, and wonderful new twists for the book I am working on now all pop in and out of my head. Are they all that great? I’m sure they are not, but I wouldn’t know because I haven’t found the time to write down half of them. The point is that I have SO MUCH to say I can’t contain myself. It must be the spring air.
Read the whole post at Too much! on my x0 blog.
Filed under: writing, x0: favorite posts Tagged: #amwriting, books, brains, busy, creativity, do something, finishing a novel, free time, frittering, learning, meditation, Qigong, quiet, reading, spring, writing, yoga
June 2, 2016
The time machines all around you
The world, our world, is filled with magic when we are willing to use a broad brush to define enchantment. And why not? We touch upon telepathy and magic charms, natural shape shifters and mysterious potions, if you open your eyes wide enough in the aquarium or the pharmacy to see the correlations.
Read the entire post on my z2 blog at The time machines all around you.
Filed under: z2: favorite posts, z2: time Tagged: #TimeTravel, appearance, change, climbing, imagination, magic, mind tricks, perspective, reality, relativity, spring, time altering, time travel
May 28, 2016
The future is coming?
You find the future in the oddest places. I mean if you are like me and have been reading science fiction for decades, you probably go along feeling like nothing has really changed all that much compared to the future you read about. Yes, yes, our cell phones can do all kinds of cool things but where are the Jetson cars and colonies on the moon and cute talking robots and all those other things that the future was supposed to bring?
And then, blat, along comes a piece of that science fiction that has turned real, and you find out about it in a place you least expected it.
Read the entire post on by blog about the future at Kill free meat: the future is coming?
Filed under: d4: favorite posts Tagged: creepy, future, hunger, improvement, precognition, predictions, science fiction, seeing the future, technology, time passing, tomorrow
May 27, 2016
If you want to be happy move to a cold country?
It is hard to believe. Whatever happened to the idea that the ultimate in happiness was lounging on a tropical beach, umbrella drink in hand, while island music wafted by on a soft ocean breeze? Wait, that was the ideal vacation. What about the ideal life?
Read the entire post at on my y1 blog at If you want to be happy move to a cold country?
Filed under: y1: favorite posts, y1: joy Tagged: brains, fairness, freedom, happiest places, happiness, health, kindness, love, money, personal freedom, wealth, world
May 18, 2016
“Everest” and “Into Thin Air” and armchair mountaineering
I am fascinated by mountain climbing, even though I have never done more than hike to the top of a mountain with a good trail. You can’t pack everything that intrigues you into one life, and this is something that didn’t make it into mine. So when I had the chance to climb a major peak in the Himalayas, in my imagination, along side my character Haley, I welcomed it and relished the research that went with it.
Read the entire post on my c3 blog at “Everest” and “Into Thin Air” and armchair mountaineering
Filed under: c3: courage, c3: favorite posts, reviews Tagged: adventure, book reviews, cliffs, climbing, courage, creating, creating characters, do what you love, fiction, imagination, inspiration, show reviews
May 14, 2016
Back to Building a World of Telepaths
I am learning more about the concept of privilege — white, male, western, hetero, cis, wealthy, healthy, pretty, young — there are a lot of variations here — but the concept that I am ordained by God or nature to be better than you seems to hold the key to failing to care about you at all. Why wouldn’t a human who is certain of his (or her) greater importance be deaf to the pain of those lesser? Might they just find it annoying? I think it depends on exactly how superior these people think they are. Maybe if they had a superpower, like telepathy …..
Read the entire post on my x0 blog at Back to Building a World of Telepaths
Filed under: writing, x0: favorite posts, x0: telepathy Tagged: #amwriting, #amwritingfantasy, compassion, creating characters, economic policy, empathy, kindness, mind reading, psychic powers, superpowers, telepaths, telepathy, writing science fiction
