In the closing days of 2010 I was slammed by one of the most famous right-wing philosophers in the country, which I consider a good thing; and my book got a rave review on Boing Boing, which I consider a great thing. I’ve decided that both these unexpected but pleasing events are good omens for the year to come.
2010 was weird, people. It was the best year of my life, as my lifelong dream appears to be unexpectedly coming true, and my book has been received with more acclaim than I dared hope for. It was the worst year of my life, because my Dad died. I don’t really understand how these two things can coexist in one year, but they definitely do.
Right now I’m in Florida, visiting my mom (my sister and bro-in-law are here too), and it’s been 2011 for almost an hour. This is my first New Year’s Eve with my family (as opposed to at home, with my other, less biological family) in many, many years. Did they always used to fall asleep this early? Sheesh. At least mom made it to midnight. Allie and Tim, if you’re reading this, I want you to know that you’re wimps. Wimps!
So in the next year, I’m hoping to work incredibly hard and get a lot of good cartooning done and finish Hereville book 2. I’m hoping that the Senate democrats reform the filibuster and rediscover their spines, and a bunch of other political stuff that I’m not going to go in to in this post. I’m hoping for peace on Earth, and so forth and so on. I’m hoping for the best for both my families.
And I hope that you, you person reading this blog entry, have a fabulous year filled with good health and bursting its seams with whatever achievements and love you’re hoping for. Happy 2011, everyone.
And do consider this an open thread.
Wow and wow! I notice there’s still no explanation by George et al as to how me having non-reproductive sex with a man for the sake of mutual pleasure is any different to me having non-reproductive sex with a woman for the sake of mutual pleasure. I guess because because there is no difference, duh.
Here’s my current bugbear about life in the USA; I earn very little, and don’t have health insurance, and my five-yearly contraception (which I had inserted before moving to the USA, for no upfront cost) expires soon. It’s also almost time for tax filing season (you’re all thrilled, I am sure).
I can’t afford the basic costs I’ve seen quoted for replacing my contraception (and that’s without the suspicion that I could be charged through the nose for having my old one removed – almost enough to get a girl reaching for the nearest pair of pliers, no?) However, because I earn so little and my guy earns barely more, if I get pregnant and have a baby (which neither of us remotely want) we’d get given nearly a thousand dollars in EIC next year.
a) Who decided that this was a good idea, and were they any good at math?
b) What’s the difference between EIC (and, indeed, all other refundable tax credits) and welfare? Hint; there isn’t one.
A) Liberals, and no.
B) None.
I’m amused that Hereville is apparently pro-circumcision.
Robert – Nixon started EIC, and Reagan expanded it in 1986. Interesting to learn then that they were liberals.
I’d comment on George’s post directly if it were possible, but where on earth does he get this idea that infertility has never been a basis to dissolve a marriage? It’s patently and demonstrably false.
And I’m fascinated to learn that liberals decided that poor people shouldn’t have access to free or heavily subsidized health care including contraception. I kinda thought it was the other guys who decided that.
So in the next year, I’m hoping to work incredibly hard and get a lot of good cartooning done and finish Hereville book 2.
Yay! Draw faster! Ever since reading Hereville book 1 I’ve wanted to know more about it. Plus I want to see an English professor write an analysis of the significance of the troll in the post-internet world. Especially since Mirka’s defense has a certain “trolling” element to it. (Or does it?)
I can’t say the logic (and I use the term loosely here) of the right wing philosopher who slammed your analysis was very impressive. Any interest in responding to the response? It’s almost too easy to find faults in their reasoning.
Happy 2011 everyone!
Everyone can do math. The question is, which math are they doing?
It would unquestionably be better to provide free or next-to-free birth control to low-income folks who don’t want kids right now. That’s one math.
It would probably not help anyone get a lot of votes and get elected. That’s another math.
The second form of math has a lot more to do with what policy gets made into law than the first.
That said, the earned income tax credit started under Nixon and was signed into law by Ford.
A man and a woman engaged in coitus are just like a portugese man-of-war and therefore no gay marriage.
Got it.
Except for portugese men-of-war, they can do whatever they want. Because, you know, electric stingers.
Happy new year everyone! Looking forward to another great year of intellectual conversation. Congrats Amp on your well-deserved success – may it continue!
2010 was a screwed up year for everyone I know with co-existing incredibly positive and direly negative changes. I am glad to see it go. Happy New Year to you and to all of you readers.
Yeah, Amp, life is like that – good and bad come hand in hand. Happy New Year to you, and to all here for that matter. I look forward to the year to come here, and I’d be very happy to see a new book from you.
Thene – are condoms beyond the reach of your budget? I’m not clear about what your bugbear is. Is it your contention that I should have to pay for your desired method of contraception because you can’t afford it?
Ron, my contention is that you are going to be paying me large sums of money year in year out if I have a baby I don’t want, and therefore lack of contraceptive support is massively inefficient. So if you aren’t either lobbying to end EIC or lobbying to increase contraceptive support to people who want it, but you do think the US’s budget deficit is a problem and that government spending is so high, there is something up with that.
Stingers? THAT’s what those things were. ‘Cuz for Xmas I got one of those Easy Hobbi-Games for Little Engineers, “complete with instructions.” Oh, easy for Leonardo! I would sit among festoons and Chinese lanterns and nibble dates and try to make a model man-o’-war — following the Instructions for Little Engineers — and produce what might be mistaken for a sea-going tramcar.
Congrats and condolences to Amp, and to us all. Here’s hoping we all say more of the former and less of the latter in the New Year.
Happy New Year!
Except for portugese men-of-war, they can do whatever they want. Because, you know, electric stingers.
Dammit. I knew when we had that meeting a few decades back about the Homosexual Agenda, and were debating what superpower all the gays should develop, we should have taken “electric stingers” rather than “terrific fashion sense.” Next time maybe they’ll listen to me.
nobody.really,
I guess Dylan Thomas was wrong. The book didn’t tell him “everything about the wasp, except why.”
It turns out everything we thought we knew about fly and wasp wing color is wrong!
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/12/27/1017393108.full.pdf
The apparent random iridescent patterns on clear insect wings aren’t random iridescence, but are stable, richly detailed patterns that vary by species and sex. The authors of that paper have another in which they identify 3 new species of wasp based on wing color patterns.
I fear that this might reveal a hidden hostility to science lurking down there somewhere in my psyche, but nonetheless it thrills me no end that in 2011, it is still possible for people to discover something new about an aspect of a very common insect that is visible with the naked eye…simply because nobody ever really thought about it much before.
Or maybe it’s just ordinary everyday schadenfreude.
Maybe nobody ever really thought about it much before. Maybe really nobody ever thought much about it before. Maybe nobody ever really thought before much about it. But I wouldn’t say that nobody.really ever thought about it before. Not much, anyway.
Glad to get that cleared up.