Monthly Archives: May 2015

Why I suck as a blogger. And my commitment to you.

Posted in DIY, for writers, Stories
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July 23, 2015 Update: It’s fun going back over this post and reading it. At the time I wrote this post, I had no idea the direction I was going with my blog. I had these strange ambitions of having a DIY/writing/statistics blog. I’m glad I settled into story-telling! It’s very cathartic. But, I couldn’t just take this down. For historical interest, I had to leave this as is. This is where my “blogging revolution” began. Enjoy…

(end update).

You know what? I’m going to skip an introduction. You want to know why? Because that’s where I get stuck. I keep thinking, “hey, dude, you need to blog. Get started!” And then I’m like, “Okay. Yes. Blog. Got it. Ok, I know I want to blog about dungeon-raised pigeon hybrids, but how do I start….hmmmm, let’s see…”

And nothing happens. Read more »

Balancing Luck and Ability–Guest Post

Posted in for writers
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Several moons ago, I was invited by the great Dan Koboldt to post an article on his blog. With his permission, I’ve pasted the contents below. Hope you enjoy!

This article’s going to be a bit different. Most scientists visit Dan’s blog with pet peeves about scientific blunders committed in fiction. The truth is, there’s nothing about statistics that’s interesting enough that folks would want to even attempt to write about it. Alas, statistics myths are confined to the media (where they tend to do the most damage). But, we can use some principals from stats (and a special flavor of statistics called Quantitative Psychology) to shed some light on how best to portray the people that populate our prose.

Read more »

The five minute wood patch

Posted in DIY
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2015-05-01 12.26.12

As I was building my garden bench, I wasn’t thinking. (A common problem when I’m in a rush to build things). To save wood, I bought 2xs (or 8 quarter if you’re a woodworking wonk) instead of 3xs, then glued them together.

Problem is, I didn’t think. And this happened…

Oops. I didn’t notice the knot when I was gluing. And now I have a gaping hole. Read more »

Japanese Garden Bench Completed!

Posted in DIY
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She took longer than I wanted her too. But like a baby in the womb–no matter how much you coax her, plead with her, and beg of her, you can’t rush the moment she’s born (barring pitocin).

And at 8:07 PM on May 2nd, she arrived…

56 pounds, 22 ounces (totally just made that up), 66 inches long (not made up), solid pine with a redwood finish.

Only a month ago, she was nothing more than this… Read more »