Everybody Eats Everybody on Sunday's Planet, by Jeff Swycaffer

I was remembering this story, which I'd enjoyed in Dragon Magazine years ago, so I did a search, and the whole issue is archived as a PDF here:

http://www.annarchive.com/files/Drmg069.pdf

The story involves an ousted dictator who flees assassination to land his damaged starship on an apparently deserted planet, where his attempts to repeat his dominion are met with an unusual rebuff.

Also, aliens try to eat him. Repeatedly. Enjoy!

Kommissar, the boardgame of hilariously misunderstanding the Soviet Union

This game sounds hilarious for what it reveals about America, basically. Also, kind of sounds fun.

http://boingboing.net/2014/09/19/review-kommissar-the-board-g.html

Text mechanic: online tools to manipulate text

For people who [can't be bothered to learn EMACS/have never heard of EMACS/are sick of hearing about EMACS], this must be really, really sweet.

I bet I'll find uses for it too.

http://textmechanic.com/

"What the Elfmaid Brought" by Stephen Reid Case

I was particularly impressed with the story "What the Elfmaid Brought" which was the feature story last Friday on Daily Science Fiction.

I liked the hints of a world with modern sensibilities mixed with fairly Tolkienesque elves and powerful magic. I loved the image of a wizard perplexed by the protagonist's mysterious library, when the wizard himself manifests only as a ball of light.

Most of all I liked the deeply romantic -- in both senses -- ending.

Daily Science Fiction features slightly longer stories on Fridays, and I often find I enjoy them more. I like to read and write supershort flash fiction, but also feel that it is more hit or miss: it's that much harder to please a wide audience with a very short piece.

Or maybe that's an exccuse. Nevermind. Go read this one and enjoy!

Transitioning to renewable energy; Boulder's success

Very interesting video about Boulder, CO taking its energy policy into its own hands, with big companies fighting hard against it:  https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/campaign-for-local-power

...and a detailed article about the same: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/18299-dirty-energys-dirty-tactics-boulder-on-the-front-lines-of-the-renewable-energy-future

There is no skills gap with American workers

Here's an interesting New York Times article that says the idea that American workers have a skills gap is nonsense:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/krugman-jobs-and-skills-and-zombies.html?_r=0

This is interesting because it calls the concern about a skills gap a 'zombie idea', one that isn't true but that nonetheless refuses to die. I'm interested in that sort of thing, that "how we know what isn't so" thing.  Also, it mentions how the idea benefits corporations and their executives.

In fact, this is a good time to mention the book How We Know What Isn't So by Thomas Gilovich, which I very much enjoyed. It explains misinformation and wrong beliefs by examining biases and heuristics in our psychology. I read it in 2009, and I recommend it.

_The Massive_ by Brian Wood

Just a short note to express my pleasure at being able to read volume 3 of Brian Wood's sci fi story _The Massive_.

This series is set in a near future where the ice caps have melted, leading to a worldwide crisis called The Crash. It focuses on a group of Greenpeace-like protestors led by Callum Israel, a former mercenary, who live on their anti-whaling ship _Kapital_ and try to survive in the changed world.

The stories start with a bang, putting characters under stress. And each volume offers tantalizing hints of the past.

The title refers to a sister ship that was lost mysteriously, and which the crew of the Kapital hunts for, sometimes catching her on radar.

That and other surreal elements, the certainly-not-natural character Mary, hint that there is more than just science in the story.

I started reading this series just about a year ago. I eagerly await the next volume.

Learn something about HTML5 via the simplest game

I was thinking, I should learn about HTML5.

I thought, maybe I should look at making a simple game in HTML5 

What's the simplest game? Pong.

So I googled 'pong in html5' and got this:

http://cssdeck.com/labs/ping-pong-game-tutorial-with-html5-canvas-and-sounds

It has a multi-pane window approach and you can see the code results on the right, instantly.

The Fletcher Formula

This fellow seems to have cracked the secret formula to Murder, She Wrote:

http://www.pentadact.com/2014-08-08-the-formula-for-an-episode-of-murder-she-wrote/

Here's a snippet:

POLICE IDIOT stands over DESPERATE BUSINESSMAN’S BODY. JESSICA arrives immediately somehow.

POLICE IDIOT:
Looks like an open-and-shut case, Mrs F. Witnesses heard Shady Contact threatening to kill him, and as a police officer I don’t like to look for further evidence or consider any other possibilities.

JESSICA:
I’m not so sure, Idiot! Can you get me his phone records?

POLICE IDIOT:
OK, for some reason it’s fine for me to share that private data. But I’m telling you Mrs F, this time you’re wrong. I know I have a 0% success rate and you solve all of the 22 murders that happen near you every year, but

ADDENDUM:  This page caused me to skim the Wikipedia page about the show, and there I learned that none other than Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski was a writer for the show in its later years.