by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 11, 2014 | Blog
Andrew Sullivan is pretty okay. I took real offense over his stance in a CNN interview about this pregnant woman who is brain dead in Texas, but being forced to remain on a ventilator as a human incubator over the objections of her husband her, her father and her own DNR. The fetus was not viable when she suffered brain death, and the fetus was probably denied oxygen for such a length of time that the damage will be severe, but Texas has intervened. Sullivan was saying the child should have a...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 7, 2014 | Blog
While I was sweating on the rowing machine yesterday the TV right above me was tuned to CNN’s new reboot of Crossfire. They were having a global warming debate with Newt Gingrich and some other Republican neither of whom were scientists on one side, and one actual scientist on the other side, and some guy who worked on climate change issues for the White House. The Newtster and the other guy admitted that temperatures were rising, but it wasn’t going to be a big deal, and we were...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 6, 2014 | Blog
I’ve been on a non-fiction kick for the past month. Maybe because I’m having to wait for new novels from my friends and talented authors — James S.A. Corey, Daniel Abraham, Drew Karpyshyn, Emma Newman, — hurry up, guys. Anyway, I started this non-fiction kick with Rachel Madow’s terrific book DRIFT. It outlines the subtle steps that have occurred since the 1950’s that have undermined the Constitution and it’s ability to keep us from entering wars on...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Jan 6, 2014 | TV & Movies
I’ve been reflecting for several days as to why I found HER so singularly unsatisfying, and frankly dull, and I think I’ve pinpointed the issues. The first and obvious one is that this felt like an interesting question that had been asked and answered years ago by the science fiction community and for readers and writers in the field this really was old hat. When I attended the AI conference a number of years ago the issues of user bonding with their AI helpers was already under...
by Melinda Snodgrass | Dec 29, 2013 | TV & Movies
I saw The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug last Saturday, but I’ve been really busy with company and cooking Christmas dinner and in general having fun so I’m just getting around to writing up my thoughts. Also, I just didn’t care that much. The movie neither pleased me or pissed me off so I didn’t feel compelled to say something. And that’s the problem — it just left me feeling… well, meh. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t good. It just...
