http://www.rustedbicycle.com Personally public thoughts of Matthew Dennis Mon, 12 May 2008 03:32:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Sword and Laser was having a contest for who could make up the best first line for a science fiction or fantasy story. I'm not much of a contest guy, but was inspired to make up a few on my own. The sky, in fact, was the limit. It was a good ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/05/11/first-lines/ We had an earthquake the other morning. That's not quite right. "We had an earthquake" sounds like "We rented 13 Going on 30". Rather, the crust of the planet itself trembled several hundred miles away and we had very little to do with it at all. So, we had an earthquake ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/04/29/stirred-not-shaken/ Daily and recurring preoccupation: The all around book I've slipped back into keeping a journal. I had a lot of arguments for quitting with the journal business. I was very convincing. But I was really just talking myself into something. My biggest gripe had been that the journal business was preventing ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/04/27/the-daily-notebook/ An observation: perspective changes everything. I was up north packing up the old house last week. Around noon, the potential buyer was coming over to review some things with the home inspector, so I thought it prudent to remove our nutty dogs from the premises for awhile. Also, it was time ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/30/how-i-became-that-guy/ This post is based on a prompt from the Oblique Strategies (1st Edition) developed by Brain Eno and Peter Schmidt. Discard an axiom: Action almost always trumps inaction. The rule itself comes from 43Folders, but I feel it was one of those things that was always floating around in my head ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/29/discard-an-axiom/ This post is based on a prompt from the Oblique Strategies (1st Edition) developed by Brain Eno and Peter Schmidt. Courage! Courage? Really? How many chances does the average guy have to demonstrate courage? I'm not talking about soldiers on the battlefront. Or Tibetan monks facing Chinese soldiers. Just normal American ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/19/courage/ This post is based on a prompt from the Oblique Strategies (1st Edition) developed by Brain Eno and Peter Schmidt. Listen in total darkness, or in a very large room, very quietly. This is a hard thing to do any more. It's 2008 and our pocket of the universe is enmeshed in ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/14/listen-in-darkness/ This post is based on a prompt from the Oblique Strategies (1st Edition) developed by Brain Eno and Peter Schmidt. Ask my body? My body tells me I have a cold. One of the the little surprises about being a parent is the dramatic increase in communicable diseases. This is one of ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/13/ask-your-body/ I love me some nutty weather. Often the cost is tragic, but bad weather reminds us that we are an arrogant civilization. I think we all need a slap in the face every once in awhile to keep us in our place. A slap from the cold hand of ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/11/bring-it-on-weatherman/ Just a few days following my anxious post pondering the futility and utility of keeping a journal, I started catching up on some Tivo'd episodes of Torchwood (warning: gratuitous flash). Lo and behold, the first episode I watch is one where the agency is infiltrated by an Alien who can ... http://www.rustedbicycle.com/2008/03/07/journals-a-future/