Linkblogging...

So...just to kill some time between accounting madness, here are some links.

I just finished Orson Scott Card's book Empire. After some of the reviews, I expected it to be terrible, but it was a fun little military sci/fi novel. I thought that the characters on both the left and the right were a bit exaggerated, but the book kept my interest long enough for me to finish it. It heavy on the political ideology, but there are conservative bad guys and liberal bad guys throughout the novel...so Card at least attempts to be even handed in acknowledging that either side of the political spectrum can help lead our country into the abyss of civil war. What I liked most was Card's afterword to the book. While I disagree with a lot of his political views, he's spot on about our the complete lack of civility among those who disagree. I wrote an op-ed back in 2004 about the same subject (the only time a zombie apocalypse has been mentioned in the Commentary pages of the St. Louis Post Dispatch, I imagine). You can read Card's essay here.

Horror Novelist Brian Keene says it best about Heath Ledger's death. It sucks that the guy died...but perspective is needed. With all of the media coverage, you'd think there wasn't a war going on.

Of course...I'll be a bit hypocritical about the aforementioned desire to not see any publicity about Ledger's death. St. Louis' champion of the Libertarian party, Rick Davis, points out that the schmucks at the Westboro Baptist Church have their own take on celebrity death.

Wil Wheaton's review of Cloverfield (plenty of spoilers there) sums up my own opinions pretty nicely. I enjoyed the movie a lot. However, I'm hoping there are no sequels. From any other vantage point, this is just a monster movie.

I admit to occasionally being too harsh on the faithful. I like to think that I limit my rants against extremists though. I try to read as much by people I'd disagree with on important issues as I read by those with whom I do agree. George Shadroui points out his problems with "The Apostles of Atheism."

That being said..xkcd would like to remind us of something.

The CDC is not trying to kill us. I promise. Get your vaccines.

In case you haven't seen the Zombie Squad video The Bug Out Bag and You. So...are you Red Cross Ready?