Author: Moe_Lane

Paging Ken Hite. Paging Ken Hite…

…they’ve recreated the old, thirteen-sign Babylonian astrological system.  If this cannot be turned into fodder for a “secret history” or “modern supernatural esoteric” role-playing game, then nothing can.  Particularly if cross-indexed with the mystical beer subplot from The Drawing of the Dark.

Or something.

(Don’t remember where I saw this first, sorry.)

Moe Lane

PS: No, I don’t believe in astrology.  However, it’s useful stuff in a RPG.

#rsrh A good speech by the President.

Whether or not you think that it cleared the bar raised this morning by former Governor Palin; personally, I suspect that there were additions and revisions based on the first speech.  I certainly do think that the ‘It did not’ add-on was meant as a rebuke to the President’s own party base, far too many of whom have been acting in a manner and using a tone that the President was visibly eager to rise above.

So… I guess we’ll see if that takes.  In the meantime: well done, Mr. President.  And see?  Getting that out of me was easier than pulling teeth.

Moe Lane

Nikki Haley’s Inaugural Speech.

Nikki Haley was sworn in today as South Carolina governor, and of all the annoyances that the Left has been trying to inflict upon us for the last few days over their petulant inability to dictate what can and cannot be said, this one grates most: they made me forget that briefly. We at RedState have been waiting for this moment for quite some time, after all.

Link to video here; text here. Enjoy.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

#rsrh I actually partially agree with Dana Lithwick.

Shocking, I know: but if Jared Loughner is in point of fact a violent paranoid schizophrenic with no control over his actions, then it complicates my desire to see him executed for murdering six people, including a nine-year-old girl.  I suspect that he will be determined to have been aware of the consequences of his actions – and I do not actually subscribe to Lithwick’s either/or of politically-motivated, self-aware shooter/apolitical unaware crazy person; obviously, Loughner could be a apolitical, self-aware shooter who is barely sane enough to stand trial – but if it turns out that the guy was truly incapable of understanding what he was doing then there’s some question as to the point of executing him.

Fortunately, not my call to make.

How to vote for the Hugo.

Ian Tregillis – author of Bitter Seeds, which is eligible for a Hugo this year (more later) – has provided links on where to submit nominations for the 2010 Hugo award (which is, of course, the premiere award for science fiction). I’m half-tempted to shell out the fifty bucks for voting privileges myself; goodness knows that my original career path got short-circuited about ten years ago, but it’d be nice to have have at least some connection to that aspect of my life.

As to Bitter Seeds itself, I quite liked it: it was a good horror/supernatural/sorta-kinda-superhero-not-really alternate-history World War II book that did not hesitate to allow a significant change to history, well, significantly change history.  This is always a bit of a problem with WWII alternates that have supernatural and/or metahuman elements to it: what’s stopping the metahumans from using their powers to end the war?  It can be explained – and explained well – but it’s kind of refreshing to have a book that confronts the problem head-on.  Worth picking up.

Continue reading How to vote for the Hugo.

Sympathy for the Moonbeam.

While the rest of the country is focused on Arizona, California remains in a bit of a fix – and by ‘fix’ I mean ‘rampaging financial crisis.’  The state needs to come up with twenty five billion dollars to handle its budget shortfall, and incoming Governor Brown has decided to split the baby* in the new budget.  He’s proposed 12.5 billion in spending cuts and 12 billion in tax hikes.  Said tax hikes will take the form of extensions on current tax rates (which will need to be ratified by the voters in a June vote; the spending cuts will hit everywhere except K-12 education & prison guards (which are represented by two lobbying groups that were heavy supporters of Brown).  But the controversy over that may pale in comparison to Brown’s proposed elimination of redevelopment agencies, which is currently having the same effect on local governments as a thrown rock does, right after it impacts the hornet’s nest.  No doubt more controversy, objections, push-back, push-push-back, and scenes of torch-bearing mobs are all to follow.

All in all, I’m glad that I’m not Governor of California – and, truthfully, there’s a certain relief in the notion that I’m not obligated to give the Governor of California advice on how to fix his state’s long-time financial woes.  I will, anyway** – I’m that nice a guy – but I don’t have to, and arguably the state of California has already made it clear that fiscal conservatism is not welcome over there.  Which is their privilege: but it means that all I have left to offer is a certain rough sympathy.  Which, for what it’s worth, I extend.

Moe Lane

Continue reading Sympathy for the Moonbeam.