Empathy: The Remnant Pieces

They don’t all live in trees, you know — Squirrels are, without question, one of my favorite photo subjects. The advantages are many: Squirrels are extraordinarily common in North America, they are often relatively accustomed to human presence and cuteness potential is very high. Ground squirrels, as it turns out, are a far trickier breed. Let’s start with the…

I was born to write speculative fiction, but spec editors don’t seem to share my readings of fate. After five years of trying to climb SFF mountain — short stories, novels, even nonfiction articles — I accepted my failures and moved on. Where do you go after you’ve spent half…

I once saw a music writer do a ranked list of Linkin Park albums — a typical article, one done many times for many artists. But I don’t know why you’d bother doing so for this particular act when: They only had seven studio albums, and You’re just going to…

Who hasn’t made a custom CD of video game music from time to time? — There was a time in my life when I made custom CDs containing remixed video game music so I could listen to it in my car. That’s not specifically what this piece is about, but it’s a good opener. I’m guessing that most of you are unfamiliar with Overclocked Remix…

As battles over America’s school quietly rage on, perspectives are growing increasingly divided. — Gallup released an interesting poll last week concerning Americans’ confidence in education. It’s a fairly staid topic that tends to not produce really explosive results compared to many others, but the results were a little more fiery this time.

Twenty years of life and technology changing in tandem — 1st It isn’t mine, but my mother’s, though I am allowed to carry it at times. There was some discussion in the house over whether it was worth the cost — this being back before my mother turned into a gadget hound like everyone else. I have this one with me…

And I haven’t figured out how to explain it to my students, either. — The first time I lived in China, I made a willing decision to cut myself off from popular culture. It was a sensible decision. I missed the entire insufferable “There’s an app for that” advertising campaign, and that’s just fine by me. On my most recent trip — which proved…