Just saw an interesting insight on another forum, and I'd like to record it here.

The "American Dream" isn't about the unlimited accumulation of wealth as such. It's about being able to participate in a healthy middle class that can function as the foundation for a healthy democracy. If there are extremely wealthy individuals around, that may or may not be a good thing - they may be an exceptional result of the operation of a free and open society, but they're not its goal.

Corollary: while it might be valuable to allow for people to accumulate wealth in an unlimited manner, that isn't the foremost social good we ought to consider. If the accumulation of wealth is happening in ways that actively undermine the middle class and democracy, we should probably consider whether something is amiss.

Tags: politics, social commentary
Current Mood: thoughtful

I must admit, it feels strange to be celebrating Labor Day in a country that increasingly holds the working class in contempt.

Tags: social commentary
Current Mood: melancholy

The sun just came out for the first time in a couple of days. Still some breeze, and there are a ton of leaves and twigs in the yard and on the deck. Power flickered a few times through the night and this morning, never went off entirely. Had difficulty grocery shopping today - the power over there was out - but that's about it.

Compared to many, it looks as if we were quite fortunate. Helps that we're well back from the ocean.

Tags: home and family
Current Mood: cheerful

A lot of rain. A lot of rain. Not much wind yet, and the power is still on.

I'll have to venture out to close up the lodge this evening - we're renting it out for a reception for a soldier who's just coming back from Afghanistan, and they should be done about 9 PM. Then we're just going to batten down the hatches and hang on until morning.

So far, so good.

Tags: freemasonry, home and family
Current Mood: wet

. . . well, that was mildly exciting.

Maryland is not exactly an earthquake zone, although we do get the occasional tremor. That was probably the most noticeable earthquake we've had in decades. Two fairly distinct shocks, just enough to jostle people around and knock small objects off shelves, in the middle of the day when everyone was awake to notice. We noticed a couple of cracked walls in my office building, I checked out the lodge building on the way home and saw no damage to speak of, no damage here at home. Worst annoyance was the congested roads resulting from everyone being sent home at the same time.

We'll probably suffer worse from Hurricane Irene when it comes rumbling through this weekend.

Tags: freemasonry, home and family, work
Current Mood: tired

The current-and-hopefully-final major draft for The Master's Oath is proceeding apace. I've finished through Chapter 18 (out of 50) and have just reached the point where whole chapters will start dropping into the plot from the previous draft with minimal revision. I have high hopes that this draft will be finished by early fall, after which I'll apply one polishing pass and then start the process of self-publishing.

Yes, self-publishing. Look, I'm pushing fifty and it's important to me that I get in front of an audience as soon as possible, even if that audience is smaller than it would be after years spent on a successful attack run through the traditional publishing system. I don't have the lifespan to waste, and there are too many burned-out wrecks lining that trench. I'm not afraid to do a lot of the work myself, and I can afford to treat the endeavor as an investment that may take time to pay off.

I'll admit to being very happy with the way this draft is turning out. I like my protagonist better, and a lot of the things that I worried didn't make sense in the last draft are hanging together now. A little more attention and I may have a novel even I think will be marketable.

Tags: writing
Current Mood: busy

We'll start with my own stupidity, I think, because it's appropriate.

Folks, if you've been getting spam emails from my aol.com account, yes, it was apparently hacked. Best guess is that someone sniffed my credentials while I was attending Black Hat last week. I understand the dangers and thought I was being careful, but I must have exposed my password at some point, probably when a session cookie didn't get properly cleared. I detected the problem almost immediately when the first burst of emails was sent from my account on Friday, and changed my password. That seems to have stopped the immediate problem, although the hackers will still have my contacts list and my address to spoof on the From line of the emails, so you may see some more mail until they wander off to annoy someone else.

No sign that they've broken any of my other credentials, but I'm changing all my other passwords in advance of the usual schedule just in case, and I'll be watching for other signs of trouble.

Now for the other stupidity that's more amusing.

I don't usually respond to the Writer's Block items, but on an impulse I did yesterday (the posting is here if you're curious).

Afterward I got a private message from someone who said that they had "read my profile" and "become interested," and invited me to open private communications. Lots of hints at a romantic outcome. Clearly just bait for some kind of scam, although it seems like an overly elaborate method for just harvesting email addresses.

The stupidity, of course, comes from the claim to have "read my profile." Right. Had you done so, the first words that would have jumped out at you were "husband" and "father." Either the context checker wasn't very good, or the scammer wasn't even bothering . . .

Recently I read Charles Stross' Rule 34, which is in large part about spam as a tool for organized crime. One element of the plot is the revelation that emergent AI has appeared on the net, as a result of an arms race between systems designed to generate plausible spam, and systems designed to distinguish between spam and legitimate traffic. I found that a very depressing idea . . . not least because it's remarkably plausible.

Tags: internet, social commentary
Current Mood: annoyed

I dated someone for five years before I ended up marrying her.

Admittedly this was when I was in my twenties, and we both had reasons to wait other than "not ready for emotional commitment." Now that I'm pushing fifty I don't think I would be quite so patient if I were in that situation again.

Tags: writer's block
Current Mood: lethargic

Normally I don't do these, but since I'm currently working on a novel with a lot of Tarot imagery . . .

You are The Hierophant

Divine Wisdom. Manifestation. Explanation. Teaching.

All things relating to education, patience, help from superiors.The Hierophant is often considered to be a Guardian Angel.

The Hierophant's purpose is to bring the spiritual down to Earth. Where the High Priestess between her two pillars deals with realms beyond this Earth, the Hierophant (or High Priest) deals with worldly problems. He is well suited to do this because he strives to create harmony and peace in the midst of a crisis. The Hierophant's only problem is that he can be stubborn and hidebound. At his best, he is wise and soothing, at his worst, he is an unbending traditionalist.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Not the Major Arcanum I would have picked left to my own devices, but I suppose it fits.

Finally back from Vegas, by the way. Good conference. Learned a lot of things. One of which was that I really need to get back in practice on my poker game - I was on tilt for the last half of the week.

Tags: memes
Current Mood: sleepy

It occurred to me this evening, in the middle of a push lasting several hands that almost put me in the lead, that a careful attention to the precepts of Buddhism might be useful at the poker table.

Suffering exists. It arises from an attachment to your pile of chips, or the pile of chips in front of the other player, or the image of the perfect hand that is always just one deal of the cards away . . .

Tags: games, religion
Current Mood: amused