Minister Muylle wil tijdelijke werkloosheid verlengen tot 1 ...  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Motorrijder uit Zottegem overleden na zwaar ongeval in Zwalm, bestuurster auto zwaargewond  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Noodnummer 1722 geactiveerd wegens slecht weer op zondag  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Man die fietspad bezaait met prikkeldraad, spijkers en glas praat zichzelf aan de galg tegen visser die stiekem filmt  Het Laatste Nieuws

Experts, economen en politici: iedereen is nu al bezig met een tweede coronagolf. “Zolang er geen vaccin is, zal het nieuwe normaal blijven bestaan”  Het Nieuwsblad

Over on Facebook, Samuel R. Delany, answering a question in a post, offered the best and most succinct writing advice anyone has ever codified. Here, in its entirety, it is:

Writing advice: Read and reread. Think of a story you have never read but wish you had; then write it as carefully as you can. Finish it, and send it around till it's published.

The third sentence, as Chip noted at the time, was a condensation of advice that Robert A. Heinlein offered. So what you have above is the combined wisdom of two of the greatest careers science fiction has ever seen.

I could unpack that brief paragraph at enormous length. But, honestly, there's no need. You read it and you understood it. Now you only have to live it.


Above: The photo by James Hamilton was lifted from The Nation, where it illustrated a typically thoughtful and enlightened interview with Chip. You can find it here.

My Subterranean Press collection, The Postmodern Adventuers of Darger and Surplus,  has received quite a splendid review for Locus by Gary K. Wolfe, which has now been posted on Locus Online. Darger and Surplus are, as you probably know, gentlemen grifters in the future civilization that rises from the ashes of our own, after a failed revolution by the Artificial Intelligences we are currently hard at work creating. Humanity mostly won that war and the demons and mad gods were banished to a subterranean infrastructure too widespread and well-defended to be rooted out. But, as a result, the mechanical sciences have languished while the biological ones thrive.

All this is spelled out in the review more entertainingly than I have put it here. I encourage you to read it.

Meanwhile, here's the pull-quote I'd grab from the review if I were the sort of person who did that sort of thing:

As those Hugo voters apparently recognized nearly 20 years ago, Darger and Surplus not only join the small company of SF’s classic rogues, but the world they occupy is as complex, detailed, and morally chaotic as we’ve come to expect from the best of Swanwick’s fiction.

You can find the review in its glorious entirety here. Or you can just go to locusmag.com and poke around. Bot Locus and Locus Online make for informative, enjoyable reading


And as long as you're there . . .

Like everything else, Locus is feeling the financial stress of the lockdown. If you can afford it, and if you, like me, value the publication, consider contributing a little toward its survival.

Look what came in the mail! My contributor's copies of The Postmodern Adventures of Darger and Surplus. Which I can now honestly tell you are beautiful books. Marianne--owner, reditor, and sole entrepreneur of Dragonstairs Press, remember--especially admired the texture of the endpapers.

This is the first Darger and Surplus collection of short, and it collects everything except the two novels. But I should caution you that it is a slim book--five previously published stories, four related short-shorts, and "There Was an Old Woman..." a story written expressly for this collection.  Bloated this volume is not.

Subterranean Press has created, as I said, one lovely volume. It costs $40, because it's a high-quality collector's item, published in a limited edition of one thousand. But for a high quality collector's item, published in a limited edition of one thousand, that's pretty cheap.

Here's the table of contents:

Introduction:

• Mother Goose’s Errant Sons

Stories:

• The Dog Said Bow-Wow
• The Little Cat Laughed to See Such Sport
• Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play
• Tawny Petticoats
• There Was An Old Woman

• Appendix:

• Introduction to Appendix: A Little Smoke and a Mirror or Three
• Smoke and Mirrors: Four Scenes from the Postutopian Future

If you're interested, you can buy a copy of the book here.

Or you can buy an e-book version for $5 here.

Oe you can simply go the the Subterranean website and poke around here.  Mine isn't the only book there you want. Far from it.

The solution is not to scold drivers but to make structural solutions.

  I must confess: I was tempted to write a column along the lines of “Yes, it’s a war on the car, and it’s a just war!” But we don’t need a war on the car. What we need is an intervention. We need a serious conversation about our collective, structural addiction to this substance, […]

The post Our addiction to driving is costing lives, and more appeared first on Torontoist.

Ewan Spence, "Apple Leak Reveals Radical New MacBook Pro", Forbes 5/4/2020: Apple may finally be getting round to updating the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Intel's tenth generation processors. The good news is that the MacOS powered laptop going to get a bucketload of extra power.[…] This laptop is loaded to bear in terms of memory […]

Guy 1: Cleaning gutters with a leaf blower. Guy 2: Holding him up with JUMPER CABLES.

It must be that time of year again!

From the submitter:

So I get up today and the kids are up before me watching TV. That's fine, it Sunday, got to sleep in, figured I go check my email and puts around online for a few. Later I go into the living room, to turn the TV so I can start watching Game highlights before the Super Bowl, but can not find the remote. I mean I searched everywhere. The usual places... In the couch cushions, under the couch, behind the couch and behind the TV.... nowhere to be found.

Power outage? Grab a length of steel automotive brakeline tubing, the straw from a box of Yoo-Hoo, D-cell batteries to make a 6V. Also may require generous amounts of duct tape, electrical tape, bell wire, and boredom.

Note: Written and illustrated months before, well, everything happened.

With this video I wanted to get outside of my comfort level in terms of the music that I normally listen to or use in my videos

One of the people that I'm subscribed to on YouTube a while back did a tribute video to this song by My Darkest Days to the new Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe. I thought this song would be a perfect match to the Mad Max trilogy

When I made this Mad Max tribute video I made it to only 1 and 2. I've always thought of Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome as a seperate movie all unto itself, I like the third movie, but it lacks the same feel as the first two

I've seen a few tribute videos to this classic western (One of the best as far as I'm concerned) done to Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive. For this one I did a twist

First off what is a favicon? If you look at the browser bar on this webpage just before the sites URL address is a small picture. When it comes to helping make your website or blog stand out there a huge benefit. They allow your readers to find your web pages easily if they have many browser windows and tabs open at once. If a visitor bookmarks your site in their favourites list the standard “e” icon is replaced by your picture helping your link stand out from the rest so they can return to visit. And they can also be used to help brand your site. Who would have thought a tiny 16x16 picture could help that much.

One of the corner stones of SEO is to get back links from other related sites, talk to anyone who knows even a hint of what search engine optimization is about and they’ll all tell you this. It’s what makes the internet….well the internet. But when it comes to linking to sites one you have to be especially careful of are sites that are considered “bad neighbourhood sites”

If you’ve had a website or blog for some time you know that in order to rank well in search engines your site needs quality one way back links pointing to it. Most of us know about link exchanges, link farms, reciprocal links and so on. While some of these are good and others you should avoid (link farms for example) one you might not have heard of is 3 way linking.

If you have an Adsense account you’ve probably heard some of the horror stories about people having their Adsense account banned, their earnings held by Google, and being basically left out in the cold with no revenue coming into their site. And while it can happen without warning (Google is notorious for making policy changes and not notifying anyone or always offering a clear explanation) most of the time it’s the fault of the owner of the site. This is either because they didn’t take the time to terms of service and had their Adsense account banned. Or they got caught trying to cheat the system and as a result have a banned Adsense account.

It seems like every other day there’s some natural disaster being broadcast on the news. From tornados, to floods, and the recent earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan. These are constant reminders that even though humanity can achieve a lot Mother Nature is still the boss. This also means that everyone should have a good grasp of disaster survival tips to prepare for when the SHTF. For most disaster preparedness means making a bug out bag and having some plan on how to prepare their home for a disasteror emergency.

Leaving comments on blogs and websites. It doesn’t matter if the site is a “do follow” or not, building links through comments can help get the word out about your site. Comments are also a good indicator if you’re doing something right and can give you great feedback. Of course in a perfect world every comment would be a good one, the reality is that at some point your going to get bad comments or comment vomit if you will. Self centered crap that’s there to only advertise their site, bash yours, and all other types of garbage that adds nothing of value.

Perhaps you didn’t read Google’s terms of service, or you tried to get others to click on your ads. Either way your Google Adsense account has been disabled and you either got a nice little email telling you this or you can’t log onto Adsense at all. You’ve probably heard of many horror stories on blogs, forums, or on YouTube telling about how they were banned by Adsense, their earnings now held by Google, and their stuck with no income from their site. If this has happened to you there are some things you can do to try and reinstate your banned Adsense account. I can’t make any promises that you’ll get your account back, but these are some things you can try.

How many times has this happened to you when searching online? You find several links to sites that look like they have the information you’re looking for. However when you go to those sites you find only a few ads and nothing but a couple lines of useless text. (If you’re lucky to even find that) So you go back and look around some more and find another link that takes you to another site like exactly like the first one,..............well maybe the color is different. After a bit more searching and running across several more websites like this, you either luck out or find the information you’re looking for, or get pissed off and give up. If this happened to you I don’t need to tell you how frustrating MFA websites are.

Recently the powers that be at Google launched Google Advisor essentially rolling all of it’s financial tools (this includes their mortgage, credit card, and bank comparison tools) into one product. The goal according to Google’s official blog is to have a site designed to help you quickly find relevant financial products from many providers and compare them side by side.

I was recently looking around online looking for a new site to transfer an old blog of mine when I came across a site called Circlepad. Circlepad if you never heard of this site is a website builder that lets you easily and quickly create a website in minutes. What I like about this particular site is that you don’t need any programming experience, everything is click and drag.

When people think of advertising on their website their minds usually thinks of Google Adsense. It’s the biggest and best known after all and extremely easy to put into your site. In my personnel experience Google Adsense has worked well, however they have an extremely strict set of rules. These rules mean that a lot of sites can’t use Adsense on their site by default. Google is also notorious for banning accounts with no warning. Just look online and you easily find story after story about people losing their Adsense accounts for no apparent reason. Like I said I use Adsene and haven’t had any problems or have any complaints about them…….so far................... But just because Google is the biggest player doesn’t mean their the only one. So if your account with Adsense was banned and you’re looking for a new source of online revenue. Or you can’t stand Google and don’t want to deal with them, here is a list of some alternatives to Google Adsense worth checking out.

If your currently running or thinking of running ads on Facebook, don’t advertise your Google plus account. It looks like Facebook has a hate on for Google plus, I can’t really blame them considering it’s their biggest competition and I think Facebook is getting more then a little worried about losing their number 1 spot in the social network scene.......

The recent Google Panda update was like a slap in the face for many website owners. Many became complacent thanks in part to link farms, article spinning or other forms of mass publishing a truck load of content at once. Because the Panda update recognized a lot of these as spam or lower quality content many sites were hit hard. Some losing more then 50% of their traffic overnight regardless if the site was legit or not..................

Google Adsense it’s usually the first place people go who want to monetize their websites and blogs with the hope those Adsense earnings will net them some big cash. Normally these ads will be matched to your site based on the content and browsing history of the people visiting your site. The goal is to tailor make ads that will hopefully be appealing for people to click on......................

Craigslist it’s not just a site to sell crappy used furniture, look for work, and view personals, it can also be a good place to advertise your website or promote your blog. Even though Craigslist has a lot of spam blockers and restrictions, a well written optimized ad can help give your site a boost of traffic. This is especially important for business sites looking to expand on generating local traffic.............

The game Dead Island, a game set on a fictional tropical island where you get to kill zombies hasn’t had very much luck with its recent release. Those who’ve purchased the game on Steam downloaded an incorrect build of the game full of bugs and glitches. On top of that most couldn’t connect online to play multiplayer.............

Say what you want about Fallout New Vegas with its glitch problems it’s a hard game to not get addicted to. When it comes to post apocalyptic RPG/ shooter games, Fallout is the best out there. Like its predecessor Fallout 3, New Vegas has additional downloadable content to enhance the overall story and make the game more enjoyable…..well I can’t say that Honest Hearts made the game more enjoyable with its thick religious overtones that felt more preachy then back story..................

Like Minecraft but looking for something a little different? Recently PC Gamer briefly reviewed a new game called Blockade Runner (Click here to see the PC Gamer review) essentially bringing something like Minecraft into space. Players currently are able to build their own spaceships, or space stations from scratch in much the same way Minecraft’s creative mode works, but in zero g. Unlike Minecraft however (unless your using a mod) you can attach different weapons to your creations and fly them around, blasting other ships and asteroids to pieces........................

Gosh, this page took a little while to get done

An extra-big one today!

Oh, man, I’m sorry this is a couple days late. I’ve been having a devil of a time getting any work done during this whole pandemic thing. Hope you’re all staying safe and well! edit 4/29/2020: I realized I drew[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry...

Yow! How’re they gonna get out of this one? Also I was only one day late this week. I’m improving! I also updated last week’s strip a little since I realized I drew the railings wrong.

Done on time this week! I’ve been working at my dining room table instead of at my spot at Helioscope for the last month and a half and it’s taken me this long to get on a regular work schedule[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry...

Living Room Lifesavers brings lifesaving skills to the home during social isolation  Great Lakes Advocate

Playing to 130,000 online, with a virtual tip jar: Performers adapt to life under coronavirus  ABC News

1. Readers respond to the COVIDSafe app's launch  Sydney Morning Herald
2. Australian Gov releases source code for CovidSafe app as promised  techAU
3. Government's lack of honesty on virus app is a problem  The New Daily
4. What You Should Know About COVIDSafe's Issues And Bluetooth-Related Risks  Gizmodo Australia
5. Covidsafe app: how to download Australia’s coronavirus contact tracing app, how it works, what it does and problems  The Guardian
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Jackie Trad to stand aside from ministerial duties  Courier Mail
2. Queensland Deputy Premier to stand aside from ministerial duties over corruption probe | ABC News  ABC News (Australia)
3. Queensland Treasurer Jackie Trad stands aside as CCC investigates  NEWS.com.au
4. Editorial: Premier, Queensland needs a new treasurer now  Courier Mail
5. Analysis: Latest investigation not a good look for Jackie Trad  Courier Mail
6. View Full coverage on Google News