http://valingstoneways.com/blog Ramblings about Politics, Economics, and Writing Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:13:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en No, No, Really; That's TMI Friday 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM How much is too much when it comes to a story? Some authors have tens or even hundreds of pages of notes, but is that all really necessary? What do authors need to know that their readers don't? How much do they actually need ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/18/my-lunacon-schedule/ Krugman gets it right. Money quote: "It’s true that if China dumped its U.S. assets the value of the dollar would fall against other major currencies, such as the euro. But that would be a good thing for the United States, since it would make our goods more competitive and ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/15/currency-war-with-china/ Latest post is up at SFNovelists. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/15/write-what-you-dont-know/ Check it out. http://superversive.livejournal.com/85354.html. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/13/fascinating-post-about-gondor-and-byzantium/ I've been thinking this for a while. Freddy deBoer says it very well: Whatever its valuable insights, Marxism has this elementary failing; it is a corrosion of human life to relegate all behavior to the battle for resources and the wages of political war. Yet this is a seduction ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/12/movement-conservatives-are-classic-marxists/ ...are going to end up in Republican Hell when they die, because that's what they're vote will effectively be. Let them play with the 2000 Naderites. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/04/any-progressives-in-congress-who-dont-vote-for-the-health-care-bill/ An ecologically sound version of the helicopter toilet. A great idea. http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/02/introducing-the-peepoo/ Woke to lights fizzing in the house at 5:30 this morning, even though they were off. Outside the neighbors' outside lights were flickering, and the streetlights too. (This is a brownstone Brooklyn neighborhood.) I'm going through the fuse box trying to figure out what's going on (and ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/03/01/blackout-on-sackett-street/ I loved this movie. A wonderful story, beautifully told. The writer in me was happy, the story lover in me was happy, even the movie lover in me was happy. I don't know why it is, but the occasional Pixar movie these days seems to do a ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/02/27/sam-who-likes-some-things-up/ First she took my shoe downstairs, and then she took another shoe. Normally this is a sign of great excitement, though I did have my suspicions. It was only when she stood up on her hind legs to grab her coat out of my hands and take it ... http://valingstoneways.com/blog/2010/02/26/how-i-knew-nellie-the-wonder-dog-didnt-want-to-go-for-a-walk-today-in-15-inches-of-snow/