Author Archives: Pat Bowne

June is Bustin’ Out

Posted on June 1, 2015 by Pat Bowne

(We sang that song in chorus last year and let me tell you, it’s not as easy as you’d think) June is a big month for me, with three stories coming out! “Lock’s Half” and “Young Varkh” are two folktales … Continue reading →

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A Science Prof’s Take on Trigger Warnings

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Pat Bowne

Brute Reason has an interesting post this morning about how people use trigger warnings. However, it becomes less convincing when it discusses the academic setting. Here’s where I started to shake my head: When people condescendingly claim that college students … Continue reading →

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Use this word: Haze-fire

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Pat Bowne

“haze-fire luminous morning mist through which the dawn sun is shining poetic” from Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane George Orwell wrote some good stuff about the project of controlling what people think by controlling their use of language, what words they’re taught … Continue reading →

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Useful Pets, get ’em now!

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Pat Bowne

A couple of fantastic commercials, featuring multi-purpose Pet Dog and Pet Cat! No home should be without them. http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/pets-are-exciting-multi-use-tools-these-fantastic-infomercials-animal-shelter-163663 TweetFacebookLinkedInTumblrStumbleDiggDelicious

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Moderating my position

Posted on May 9, 2015 by Pat Bowne

It’s official, I’m a lefty! I take these political position quizzes every few years, and my position on the issues has barely changed. Yet every year I find myself more and more disaffected with the progressive side of the nation … Continue reading →

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Thoughts on watching ‘Nashville’

Posted on April 11, 2015 by Pat Bowne

Nashville is my favorite show, but watching it sometimes feels like that old game where you say a word over and over until it stops being anything except a sound. That word is ‘strong.’ In the Nashville universe, everything you … Continue reading →

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‘So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed’ by Jon Ronson

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Pat Bowne

I preordered this book a while ago, and by the time it was delivered I was having second thoughts. I’d seen so many articles about it and excerpts from it that I wondered if there was anything left to be … Continue reading →

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The Martian is just the right mix

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Pat Bowne

I loved The Martian by Andy Weir from the first page to the last. The Martian is Competent Man fiction. This is the good kind of competent man fiction, too; the competent man takes his competence for granted. His moments … Continue reading →

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Mutiny on campus

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Pat Bowne

This weekend my socks are steamed by a bit of gossip I heard at work. It goes like this: There’s one job where I work that most of us hate doing, but that needs to be done. The folks in … Continue reading →

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April Fools’ repost from the Royal Academy – Why your diet didn’t work

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Pat Bowne

I first posted this a few years ago, and despite thousands of scientist-hours nobody has come up with a better explanation for the obesity epidemic. Enjoy! From the Royal Academy Archives Ten years ago it was fashionable in some circles to … Continue reading →