Spreading the Horror
I'm pretty sure you know the drill. You pose the scenario and ask the hypothetical questions: There's an asteroid headed for Earth. We know exactly when it will strike, and it will kill all humans. Do you want to know…
Memento Mori
by Brutus, who writes at The Spiral Staircase, where he specializes in reviews, armchair social criticism, diatribes, rants, and jeremiads. This essay is cross-posted here. Prior to the 20th century, the specter of early death was never far from people's…
The Knife and the Nun
I started exchanging physical labor for fiat currency when I was about 12 years old. Nine-month stints spent within indoctrination facilities were interrupted by summers spent clearing fields of woody debris: Small landowners converted forests to fields and other youngsters…
Soft Spot: How to Quickly and Easily Destroy the United States of America
by Dan Allen, a high school Chemistry teacher in New Jersey, as well as a concerned father, organic farmer, and community garden organizer. “The spent fuel stored in pools holds between 5 and 10 times more long-lived radioactivity than the…
Media Update: Audio, Video, Print, and “Print”
Audio I was interviewed for The Refreshment Center's radio show on Friday, 1 February 2013. The interview is embedded here, although most of my interview was lost to a techno-disaster. I'm scheduled for another visit in a few weeks. ______________…
Theater of the absurd
En route to Tucson for a two-day visit last month, I retrieved my mail from the local post office. Included was one of the few Christmas/New Year letters to appear this year. Apparently you have to write them to receive…
Ecosqueak
by Geoffrey Chia, a cardiologist in Brisbane, Australia My favourite author, the much loved and much missed American Humanist, dear old departed Kurt Vonnegut, was a masterful practitioner of the poignant and ironic turn of phrase. His essay "Cold Turkey"…