The purpose of life: a quote
Unless you’re a robot, in which case it is to destroy all humans. Alltop is the kind of robot that wants to entertain all humans. Original photo by Joe Parks…
writing
The Weird World of Plotto
I came across Plotto a few years back – references to it in other works, rather than the actual book. it sounded strange, complex and wildly over-reaching. I couldn’t find…
Writers’ stimulants
I still think most of these would be whiskey, not coffee. (h/t to Mark Victor Young.) Alltop is a stiff drink of humor.
I’m struggling with this…
My recent passion for bread and baking has caused a bit of an internal upset. Not the baking thereof, but rather the writing about it. I’m doing a lot of…
What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to…
What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to…
What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to…
What is Anarchism: An Introduction
WHAT IS ANARCHISM: AN INTRODUCTION By Donald Rooum, Freedom Press, London 1993 ISBN 0 900384 66 2 It has been many years since I have read a non-historical introduction to…
The Fretful Porpentine
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. That phrase just makes the modern reader stop and wonder. What, you ask yourself, is a porpentine? And why is it fretful? We never…
Writing is fun!
Stabbing them in the neck with a fountain pen works too … Alltop is writing up the funny!
The Circuitous Path from Bulge to Budget
If tinkers may have leave to live, And bear the sow-skin budget, Then my account I well may, give, And in the stocks avouch it. Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale,…
Words, words, words
Writing before the arrival of the internet*, Bob Blackburn commented on the nature of exchange on then-prevalent BBS (Bulletin Board Systems), words that could as easily be written today about…
Kurt Vonnegut’s one rule
Love this quote. (via MonkeyJoys) Alltop is a humor baby.
Digital Attachments
It’s tough to lose a solider. Especially one like Dimitri. A fine sniper, with a good kill record. I had trained him for so long, raised him from a lowly…
I Didn’t Know That…
One of the great delights of learning is to be able to read or hear something new, something unknown, something that challenges the mind or your previously formed ideas and…
The (sometimes violent) urge to write
As of this writing, I will have published 253 posts since I began this blog at the ending week of December, 2011. Two hundred and fifty three posts in 21…
Why Spelling Matters
Sometimes I despair when I surf through the social media. Technology has empowered everyone to be able to comment, to post their stories, to share their opinion. Yet it has…
Three kick-ass e-reader uses: a writer’s list
There’s tons of advice out for how to use your e-reader more effectively, but I thought I’d throw out this short list because these things have changed my life. They’ve…
Of Type and Typography
Humans have remarkable ability that is shared by – as far as we know – no other animal. We can turn abstract images and symbols into meaning. Words are, of…
The nit-pickers always can find something
In high school we parodied For Whom the Bell Tolls relentlessly: “Que va, what a cafeteria lunch that is.” “Truly, it is a cafeteria lunch.” “That is a cafeteria lunch…