Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Wait, you're still here?

Okay, you should know by now that I'm barely ever posting here, anymore. I mean, it's been nearly two (2) years since I last posted on this page.

I'd recommend you drop by dtneal.com (although I'll be the first to admit that I've been bad about posting there, too, but you'll at least have a somewhat better chance of finding a current post by me there than you would here).

And, failing that, I've got a few more books to add to the roster:

There'll be more to come in 2015, so be prepared!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Well, Hello

So, it's a been a long, long time since I've posted here, eh? I've been busy...


In paperback and in Kindle and Nook formats. Pick them up, give'em a read. And if you find your attention span or busy schedule doesn't allow for much book reading, Relict is a novella -- nice and short.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Lordy

Man, it's been awhile since I've posted! I blame Blogger; they went through a format change for their system, which, in theory, qualifies as an improvement, but in practice makes it a bit more difficult to navigate through their system, at least relative to the older version.

So, I was in the position of either learning to wend my way through a new CMS or just not blogging, and, obviously, made my choice on that. Ha!

It's frickin' cold these days, but am glad that the radiators have been on. Still, it seems like there'll be precious little Fall this year, relative to an onrush of Winter. Since last year's Winter was comparatively mild, I guess we're due, but still, BRRR!

I got a new laptop, which has been nice; I've been sorely in need of one after dropping my last one years ago, and not being able to justify getting a new one for years (at the time, I'd just gotten a new PC in the wake of me getting Exene out of my hair, and couldn't really justify getting a new PC and a replacement laptop in one swoop!)

But I'm really enjoying having a laptop again, since it lets me write wherever I'm at, obviously.

Anyway, onward and upward.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Yawn

I'm finally coming out of my Olympic torpor. *yawn* Back to the real world, or what passes for it in this day and age.

That Paul Ryan graduated from Miami the same year I did. Never saw him, however. He reminds me of "Lloyd Braun" from SEINFELD.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Olympian

I'm transfixed as ever by the Olympics. I love the Olympics. So, I might as well throw productivity out the window for the next 14 days or so, because I'm gonna be all over the Olympics, as I always am. I might comment on things like, I dunno, the Women's Synchro Diving (wtf was with Canada getting the silver? They weren't fully synched! They stole it from Italy! Avenge Tania Cagnotto!)

Avenge! Mmm....





Saturday, July 14, 2012

Wrong Wing

I'm tired of the endless obstructionism and shrill posturing of the Right in this country. It's ridiculous, and has kept the country from moving forward (that is, progressing) on any number of issues. It's why we're lagging on a host of things while our First World cousins in Europe and elsewhere are leaving us behind. Now, I know the exceptionalist propaganda line where we blow smoke up our own asses is well in place, the whole "envy of the world" bullshit (as much bullshit as the idea that this is somehow a classless society that is highly socially mobile), I know that's all going like gangbusters as usual.

But the thing is, when has the Right actually been RIGHT about anything? When have conservatives been on the mark? Their blend of rigid thinking, dogmatism, and closed mindedness has never, ever been a path to progress. Quite the opposite, really. And how far back should we go to demonstrate this?

The trend toward Know-Nothingism is so bad in today's GOP that people who absolutely are/were Republicans 20 years ago are afraid to call themselves Republicans today, because they're embarrassed by this trend. They tend to call themselves "Libertarians" today, which is really just a smokescreen for saying that you're a Republican who realizes that the GOP has gone off the deep end -- it's no accident that the long demise of so-called "moderate Republicans" that began in the 60s paralleled the emergence of so-called "Libertarians" -- it became a shelter for those folks who found themselves exiled from the GOP.

Anyway, the conservatives are nearly always wrong -- and I just threw the "nearly" in there to be nice (a problem we liberals tend to have). The trend toward Know-Nothingism is staggering -- their ideology has ballooned up around them and colors their view to the extent that they're willing to go after science, itself, because it's challenging their political reality? Is that how bad it's gotten? Good fucking lord. It's like having somebody's crazy uncle at the steering wheel, refusing to let anybody else drive.

The reactionary response is this: if reality doesn't fit the theory, change reality. THAT is their approach, in a nutshell. And that's how an entire ideological industry has sprung up to ensure that Right-thinking people don't go "wrong" -- which is to say, that they are protected from their lying eyes by ideological bullshit.

Pick an issue, and lay out the reactionary position on it, versus the liberal, and you'll see what I mean.

Evolution: The Right doesn't believe in it, supports creationism/intelligent design. The scientific community has found the evidence for evolution increasingly persuasive going back to the 19th Century!!

Global Warming: The Right doesn't believe in it. The scientific community overwhelmingly finds evidence supporting it.

Gays: The Right thinks it's a choice, born out of temptation by Satan, no doubt. Again, the science is increasingly showing that homosexuality is genetically derived. (Posting that one because they're afraid to do this kind of research in the US, given that Gay is to the American Reactionary what Jew is to Nazi.

Taxes: The Right still peddles supply side theory and accompanying snake oil, even though the economic evidence overwhelmingly points to the utter failure of this as an engine of robust, meaningful, long-term growth.

Vaccination: The Right increasingly fears and resents public health programs that have been demonstrated to work. Because of the nonsense about vaccination, we're seeing resurgences of whooping cough and measles. Cause and effect, you fucktards.

Universal Suffrage: Reactionaries are uncomfortable with democracy, especially when it leads to outcomes that stand in their way, so they throw in for voter suppression as a way of countering it, because they don't want everybody to get a vote, whether it's minorities or women. The Right's view on this is very clear -- whether it's voter ID laws, poll taxes, fire hoses, or throwing elections -- they are hostile to democracy. And they're wrong to be that way (and that fear goes back to the pre-Enlightenment era).

Slavery: The reactionary view of slavery was that is was a-okay, ordained by the Bible. The progressive/liberal view was that all people were created equal, and that slavery was an unconscionable evil. The Right was a-okay with slavery.

I could go on and on and on. The conservative view was that Earth was the center of the universe. THAT was the conservative view, until Copernicus and Galileo were like "Uh, wait, dudes, you know what..?" On and on. An unobstructed path of wrongness.

This is why the GOP is going after science, itself. There is, in the back of their dogmatic brains, this fear that they're wrong, and the only way they can combat this is to attack science, itself. With what, exactly? Oh, that's right: ideology, rhetoric, and religion. Those are their weapons, delivered with characteristic zeal and anger. Again, the Crazy Uncle hypothesis, drowning out everybody else in the room with his braying.

Enough is enough. Liberals screw themselves over by trying to be ecumenical, trying to be tolerant, and being uncomfortable with, well, dogmatism. But they need to be willing to call bullshit on the bullshit when they see it, and to act on it. If nothing else, to leave the Know-Nothings behind in their ideological hog wallow, and move forward (again, the p-word, progress, comes into play, here).

Countries that don't have their heads up their asses are progressing; our country is being held captive by the least-rational, least-tolerant, least-informed, least-reasonable reactionaries who pander to the very worst impulses in people for the sake of momentary political gain. Enough, already. Americans are becoming a laughingstock as we stagger down this ideological dead-end, captive to a policy elite who actually have no good answers for ANYTHING, because they're simply dead wrong -- they are informed not by evidence or science, but by ideology, which is the bathtub gin of philosophy.

Enough, already. Let's move forward, America, and stop walking backwards with our eyes closed, going "la la la la I can't hear you" with reality. Keep doing that and we're going to go right off a cliff.








Sunday, July 8, 2012

Trippin'

The boys still talk about the trip we took the other week -- B1 talks about different things he saw, B2 talks about the hotels we visited and the animals we saw, and they both tell me how they "miss the trip." It's cute. I was pleased how smoothly it went, without any hitches along the way. It was a resounding success; everybody had a blast, and the boys didn't once mention Exene -- not the entire time. I would periodically call her so she could talk to the boys, and they could tell her what they'd been up to, but they were content to be on the trip with me, even going solo. And the weird thing for me is that, since Exene never drove on any of our trips (she refuses to drive), there was no qualitative difference between this trip for me and any other, in terms of driving, since, had she been there, I'd STILL be the one driving over 3700 miles by myself! Baha!


Friday, July 6, 2012

Higgs

I'm amused by this clip of Brooklynites (some hipsters, some just New Yorkers) trying to guess what the Higgs Boson is. I think only one of them actually knows. My 10-year-old knows more about it, thanks to me talking to him about it a few years ago, when it came up!

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Stormy

Man, we had some trippy weather today -- this fierce storm blasted through Chicago literally out of the blue today, around midday. Fiercest storm I've seen in the city in years. The wind picked up and it blasted through. It didn't last long, but it came on really quickly, and the wind was amazingly strong, felt like it was nearing microburst levels. Nothing like what creamed the Mid-Atlantic states, for sure, but still, pretty impressive. It's almost like this wild weather, supercharged by rampant, I dunno, elevated heat levels by a, hmm, changing climate, is becoming the "new normal" for the world these days. I wonder how many wildfires, derechos, droughts and what-not will have to be endured before American politicians embrace the scientific community's evidence-based findings about climate change. Clearly we're not there, yet. Maybe if the South and Southwest all burn down and their coasts flood (as their inland areas dry up), maybe then they'll stop chugging the Kool-Aid pimped out by the oil industry about global warming. Or maybe they'll just think it's End Times(tm) and will get even more loopy.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Yellowstoned


I'm still recuperating from a week in Yellowstone; I road-tripped with the boys there. They had a blast, although it was a helluva drive (all told, I drove >3700 miles, round trip!) But I thought it was worth it for the boys to get a sense of just how big this country is. I've been out west before, but have never driven the distance. Anyway, they loved it, had a lot of fun. We saw bison, elk, ospreys, coyotes, ravens, grebes, etc. I heard a pack of wolves one morning, too. Good times! B1 really loved the geysers and hot springs, was fascinated by them. I took over 1000 pix with my Nikon, while B1 took lots of shots with his own camera. Yellowstone was beautiful, although the ghostly remains of trees from the '88 wildfire were all over the place. That must have been one serious conflagration, because you could see those dead trees amid the sea of green, and some hillsides and mountain faces were still on that long, slow road to recovery.


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Butterflying

Had a butterfly land on me yesterday. Butterflies love landing on me. B1 pointed it out, said "Daddy, there's a butterfly on you!" It hung out on my jacket for a bit, before flying off and then briefly landing on my back, and then flitting away. Go figure.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Avenge Me!

I took the boys to see "The Avengers" over last weekend -- so, that makes it the first time since the original "Star Wars" movies that I've seen a movie three times on the big screen. I just wanted them to be able to see it on the big screen, with the great sound. They enjoyed it, although they still relate more to the animated version I've showed them on DVD.

Speaking of the movie, I saw the drugstore clerk again, and mentioned having seen the movie. He waxed lyrical about it, particularly about the Hulk, breathlessly speculated that the sequel would feature more Hulk. He knew his Marvel, though, since we were talking about the Thanos cameo at the end, and what that would mean for the sequel (in a word, trouble -- watch out, Avengers! Thanos will fuck you UP!) I'm kinda hoping Kang appears at some point -- Kang is one of my favorite villains, and was always getting after the Avengers. Ultron could be a good one, too, if they did it right. Or Graviton. Anyway, we'll see. I just hope the makers of the movie are able to mine what made the first one great and run with that in the sequel.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Eclipsed

B1 was really stoked about the partial eclipse last night, and more so that I was able to snap a few pictures of it (below). He was thrilled by that, and I was happy that I was actually able to see it, given how low in the sky it was. One of the advantages of living in a high-rise! The ghost image was from my double-paned windows, alas. But the image of the eclipse came through very nicely.