On Baseball’s Sad Lexicon

Exactly one hundred years ago today — July 12, 1910 — one of the most famous poems about the Chicago Cubs :cubs: was published in the New York Evening Mail — Franklin P. Adams’ “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”: These are the saddest of possible words: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” Trio of bear cubs, and fleeterContinue reading “On Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”

On Writing Fiction at Stupidly-Short Lengths

This morning at Shore Leave I will be on a panel, with Dayton Ward, titled “Writing Fiction at Stupidly Short Lengths.” I described this panel, a few days ago, thusly: Learn about Twitterfics, Drabbles, and Flash Fiction as writers talk about creating stories at super-short lengths that make conventional stories look like War and PeaceContinue reading “On Writing Fiction at Stupidly-Short Lengths”

On My 2010 Shore Leave Schedule (Reprise)

Shore Leave begins today. Shore Leave, the media science-fiction convention held in Hunt Valley, Maryland each and every mid-July. :spock: Last week, I posted my schedule, but for the convenience of my three fans, here’s a reprise. 😉 My schedule for panels looks like: Friday Meet the ProsHunt/Valley Hallway — 10pm-MidnightIt’s the traditional author meet-and-greet;Continue reading “On My 2010 Shore Leave Schedule (Reprise)”

On Early Morning Atheist Philosophy

It’s another scorcher of a day, and I’ve started it out with coffee… And reading about atheism! :spock: Posted just a few days ago, Greta Christina writes about 6 (unlikely) developments that could convince her to abandon her atheism and believe in god. She has a good list, but really only the first — anContinue reading “On Early Morning Atheist Philosophy”

On Light Rail Congestion and Construction

Attention: If you’re attending Shore Leave this weekend and were planning upon using local transit in and around Baltimore, this blog post may be important to you. Baltimore’s Light Rail system is under construction this week. The Howard Street corridor through downtown is having work done — an old switch removed, overhead wiring replaced, aContinue reading “On Light Rail Congestion and Construction”

On a Tale of Two Baseball Teams

As I write this, the Chicago Cubs :cubs: have a record of 35 wins, 46 losses. The Washington Nationals have a similar record — 36 wins, 46 losses. The Nats are 12 1/2 games back in the National League East, the Cubs :cubs: are 10 1/2 back in the National League Central. And yet. AndContinue reading “On a Tale of Two Baseball Teams”

On the State of Blogging

I’ve been thinking recently about blogging. Not my blogging, but blogging in general. I’ve noticed, from completely unscientific personal observations, that blogging is on the decline. Eight years ago, when I started up this website, it seemed like the rage. A journal… online! There was no reason I couldn’t have done that before; software (namelyContinue reading “On the State of Blogging”

On Writing to Soundtracks

To an outside observer, my last.fm profile has gone wonky this week. I’m in soundtrack mode. Specifically, Lord of the Rings soundtrack mode. I discovered a few days ago that the soundtrack to The Hunt for Gollum, a fanfilm that dramatizes Aragorn’s search for Gollum during the early part of The Fellowship of the Ring,Continue reading “On Writing to Soundtracks”