smartalix's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=smartalix2020-06-01T07:37:48ZJune 1, 2020 (personal)http://everything2.com/user/smartalix/writeups/June+1%252C+2020smartalixhttp://everything2.com/user/smartalix2020-06-01T07:37:48Z2020-06-01T07:37:48ZHoly crap, my friend. If this was a <a href="/title/plan+9+from+outer+space">screenplay</a>, nobody would buy it because nobody would have thought it was even feasible. <a href="/title/Fukishima">Nuclear disaster</a> in the Pacific? Global Warming? The rebirth of Fascism? The return of <a href="/title/Jim+Crow">Jim Crow</a>? The President is a Russian agent? There's a global pandemic triggering a world depression? The USA is fomenting war with China? Maybe I can open a shoe-shine shop in Switzerland. The rich people hiding from reality probably need some servants in the bunkers.<br>Frankly I'm very glad I live in Germany. Their <a href="/title/anal+retentive">meticulous aspects</a> lend themselves very well to keeping the virus in check, everyone here is following the rules. The only racial tensions here are with the refugees. They still don't like Americans, but in the same old way. There's pity now over Trump, though. The world thinks we're the kid that got picked up by the creepy guy in the white van. They're scared the crazy will spill out.The Sad Spaceman (fiction)http://everything2.com/user/smartalix/writeups/The+Sad+Spacemansmartalixhttp://everything2.com/user/smartalix2017-05-18T07:59:42Z2017-05-18T07:59:42Z<p>What bothered him the most was talking to Evelyn, because he had to keep lying to her so she wouldn't know that Roger died. There were other awkward issues, but talking to Roger's girlfriend was the worst of it because he could see she was so angry and frustrated at him for not letting her speak to Roger, but he would rather see Evelyn scream at him than <a href="/title/I%2527m+angry%252C+and+tired%252C+and+sad%252C+and+I+just+don%2527t+want+to+deal+with+it+right+now%252C+so+fuck+off">cry the way people do</a> when they are hurt emotionally.</p>
<p><a href="/title/tenancy+in+common">Roger was a good partner</a>, and he missed him terribly. Roger always had a kind word for others and never treated him the way some humans did with their workmates. When Roger died he didn't know what to do, usually the accidents that kill an asteroid miner usually take the ship and everyone else in it, but Roger died from a <a href="/title/space+junk">micrometeor puncture</a>, leaving him to fend for himself. He can operate the ship, but without a partner to work with him he wouldn't be able to operate<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Blowing smoke up your ass (thing)http://everything2.com/user/smartalix/writeups/Blowing+smoke+up+your+asssmartalixhttp://everything2.com/user/smartalix2017-05-15T09:46:42Z2017-05-15T09:46:42Z<p>I think it could have all started from misplaced <a href="/title/causality">causality</a>. Once upon a time, someone smoking a big-ass cigar while walking along the beach came upon a group of people around someone who had drowned. Considering that at the time people thought cigar smoke <a href="/title/Smoking+is+good+for+your+health">was actually healthy</a>, it wouldn't be difficult to imagine they blew smoke into everything except the mouth, as water was coming out. When the air pressure was applied to the <a href="/title/The+-Ass+Suffix+and+Beyond">anus</a>, depending upon how lustily the smoke was blown in, could <a href="/title/There%2527s+no+replacement+for+displacement">displace</a> space in the abdomen, pushing water out of the lungs. Then everyone would only need attribute the benefit to the smoke, not the application of internal pressure. (Queue survivor fart jokes.)</p>The strangest bedfellows (fiction)http://everything2.com/user/smartalix/writeups/The+strangest+bedfellowssmartalixhttp://everything2.com/user/smartalix2016-10-02T18:41:44Z2016-10-02T18:41:44Z<p>"This pathetic crap isn't going to do shat!" Mark
moaned like a lost soul as he looked at the makeshift weapon is his hands.
"Do you honestly think this is going to stop it?!?" </p>
<p> Jill looked at him with contempt in her eyes. "Grow a
pair, you sniveling coward!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Mark looked hurt. "Are you kidding me? It'as going to
come through that door and nothing will stop it! Not you, not me, not that
smartass over there who thought this idiocy up, not even the bastard who got us
into this!"</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Jill laughed. "I almost thought I'd toss you one if we
weren't going to make it, but I'm glad I didn't as you are obviously too lame
to get it up under pressure."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> "As the smartass in the room it is my duty to point out
that funny people are amazing in bed. Every watch <a href="/title/Ace+Ventura">Ace Ventura</a>?" Joshua
joked. "Not to mention I am the one with the fitness and human biosciences
degree."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> "I'd almost do it just to piss dickless off" Jill
laughed.</p>
…September 28, 2016 (essay)http://everything2.com/user/smartalix/writeups/September+28%252C+2016smartalixhttp://everything2.com/user/smartalix2016-09-28T09:06:32Z2016-09-28T09:06:32ZThere has bing a big <a href="/title/kerfuffle">kerfuffle</a> about a recent counter-protest to Kaepernick <a href="/title/take+a+knee">taking a knee</a> during America's <a href="/title/national+anthem">national anthem</a>. The <a href="/title/San+Francisco+49ers">San Francisco 49ers</a> quarterback’s jersey was taped to the floor of Krossroads Rock and Country Bar, rendering it as a welcome <a href="/title/door+mat">door mat</a>. There has been a lot of debate about whether or not that was a legitimate protest, and would a <a href="/title/black+people">person of color</a> defend it. So I decided to.
<p>I recognize that the jersey-as-doormat is also a legitimate <a href="/title/political+protest">political protest</a>, and the people doing it are completely free to do so. I was lucky enough to only have to <a href="/title/Cold+War">freeze my ass off on the German border</a> to call myself a <a href="/title/veteran">veteran</a>, many of today's soldiers have to <a href="/title/war">go through hell</a> to gain that right. I support them in their protest and swore I would fight to the death to protect their right to do so.</p>
<p>Having said that, the ability to protest does not remove one from the <a href="/title/feedback">ramifications of society</a>. Just as people wail about the<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Busting trust (essay)http://everything2.com/user/smartalix/writeups/Busting+trustsmartalixhttp://everything2.com/user/smartalix2016-06-07T16:33:59Z2016-06-07T16:33:59Z<p>One of the things to love about publishing is its open access to the industry. In fact, a crank call as a child that went well with <a href="/title/Isaac+Asimov">Isaac Asimov</a> (too long to describe here) is what got me enamored with <a href="/title/journalism">journalism</a> in the first place. I have always felt (and often & loudly stated), that a good journalist is a bee in the field of knowledge, cross-pollinating discoveries and developments in the industry so all could learn and grow, providing new and better solutions for application spaces desperately in need of <a href="/title/invention">a better mousetrap</a>.</p>
<p>Especially as an editor in the engineering space, I pride myself on my <a href="/title/agnostic">agnosticism</a> and professionalism. For example, although I am a strident <a href="/title/social+democrat">progressive liberal</a> living in Europe, I still cover the companies operating in states whose social policies I take exception to. To filter the news is to steal from the audience.</p>
<p>The onslaught against journalism has going on since people started printing their observations for the<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…