My First Published Short Story Is Now Live

Posted on Monday, February 4, 2013 by

I’m happy to announce that the fourth issue of Plasma Frequency Magazine is now live with my first published story, “Movement to First Contact”.

You can check it out here.

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Posted in Blogging, Science Fiction | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Bush vs. Obama: Unemployment (January 2013 Jobs Data)

Posted on Sunday, February 3, 2013 by
Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

After the first Friday of every month, I update the unemployment numbers so that I can compare the unemployment rate under President George W. Bush with the unemployment rate under President Obama at that time. The genesis of this ritual began when I felt compelled to respond to some left-leaning sites that were comparing Obama’s first two years and four months in office with Bush’s last and worst economic year (the above chart shows the most recent incarnation of this narrative).

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments

Bush vs. Obama: Unemployment (December 2012 Jobs Data)

Posted on Saturday, January 5, 2013 by
Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Update: Click here for the most recent jobs statistics.

After the first Friday of every month, I update the unemployment numbers so that I can compare the unemployment rate under President George W. Bush with the unemployment rate under President Obama at that time. The genesis of this ritual began when I felt compelled to respond to some left-leaning sites that were comparing Obama’s first two years and four months in office with Bush’s last and worst economic year (the above chart shows the most recent incarnation of this narrative).

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , | 24 Comments

Are Liberals More Educated Than Conservatives? (2012 Election Update)

Posted on Saturday, January 5, 2013 by

A year ago, I analyzed the education levels of Democratic and Republican voters for a total of five Presidential and Midterm elections. In that analysis, I had concluded that  people at both the high and low ends of the educational spectrum had tended to favor Democratic candidates, and therefore, that the assertion that liberals were smarter than conservatives was an overly simplistic notion with little basis in the actual data. Below, I have republished the original article in its entirety, and have also included new data from the 2012 Presidential elections. Not surprisingly, last year’s conclusion still holds. Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Education, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 30 Comments

Top 10 Predictions for 2013

Posted on Tuesday, January 1, 2013 by

Two years ago, I started this blog with my top 10 predictions for 2011. I also polled readers on these same predictions. At the end of the year, my accuracy rate was 40%, while my readers were right 50% of the time. I continued the tradition with my top 10 predictions for 2012. At year end, both my and my readers accuracy rate was 40%.

Without further ado, my predictions for 2013 are listed below: Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Central Asia, China, Defense, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, International Security, Investing, Leadership, Media, Middle East, Nuclear Power, Nuclear proliferation, Peak Oil, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Taxes, War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

First Short Fiction Sale to Plasma Frequency Magazine and Writers of the Future Contest 4Q29 Update

Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 by

I have some great news to report. Late last week, Richard Flores, the editor-in-chief of Plasma Frequency Magazine, notified me that he wanted to buy my short story, “Movement to First Contact.” The story is scheduled to appear in Issue 4, which will be released on February 5, 2013.

“Movement to First Contact” was the first story I wrote after I decided to start writing and submitting stories to science fiction magazines. It is only fitting that it should be my first sale. That said, it was the last of the eight stories I have submitted over the last year, because I wrote several revisions before I felt comfortable sending the story out into the world.

Once Issue 4 is up, I will send an update. I encourage you all to purchase a copy of the magazine once it is posted on the site, especially since Plasma Frequency is the first magazine to take a risk on a new fiction author like me.

Back in August, I posted an update on the 1Q29 and 2Q29 quarters of the Writers of the Future Contest. In November, I reported the results for my 3Q29 submission. A few weeks ago, results came in for 4Q29.

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Science Fiction, Technology, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

2012 in Review

Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 by

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. The numbers differ a bit from the data that WordPress reports in its normal statistics package (e.g., the report below claims the site had ~270,000 page views, but the WordPress.com statistics package reported something over 272,000). Either way, the numbers seem to be in the ballpark.

It also reports who comments the most on this site. You know who you are, but if you’re curious how you ranked, feel free to click the link below to find out. Again, Happy New Year!

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 270,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 5 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

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Top 10 Predictions for 2012: Results

Posted on Monday, December 31, 2012 by

In 2011, I started this blog with my top 10 predictions for 2011. I also polled readers on these same predictions. At the end of that year, my accuracy rate was 40%, while my readers were right 50% of the time.

I continued the tradition in 2012 with my top 10 predictions for 2012. This year, my predictions were just as accurate as those of my readers with an accuracy rate of 40%.

Since I like to hold myself accountable for things I wrote in the past, now is the time I assess how I (and my readers) did.

To make things easier, I have included my original post in its entirety, but have included the results below each prediction in blue (if I was correct) and red (if I was wrong). I will also use the same coding methodology for my readers, who, it turns out, were right as often as I was.

Without further ado, here are my predictions with the subsequent results:

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Central Asia, China, Defense, Energy Security, Finance and Economics, International Security, Investing, Leadership, Media, Middle East, Nuclear Power, Nuclear proliferation, Peak Oil, Policy, Politics, Predictions, Taxes, War | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Bush vs. Obama: Unemployment (November 2012 Jobs Data)

Posted on Sunday, December 9, 2012 by
Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Change in Total Private Employment (in thousands), Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Update: Click here for the most recent jobs statistics.

On the first Friday of every month, I update the unemployment numbers so that I can compare the unemployment rate under President George W. Bush with the unemployment rate under President Obama at that time. The genesis of this ritual began when I felt compelled to respond to some left-leaning sites that were comparing Obama’s first two years and four months in office with Bush’s last and worst economic year (the above chart shows the most recent incarnation of this narrative).

Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Finance and Economics, Media, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

The Joke Continues

Posted on Sunday, November 4, 2012 by

I’ve been meaning to send an update on the contest for the 4th Congressional District of Massachusetts, where my good friend, Sean Bielat, is running against an empty suit representing the Kennedy clan. Below, I’ve posted two segments of a video that the Kennedy nepotists don’t want anyone to see.

I just hope the good citizens of the 4th Congressional District realize that a vote against Joseph P. Kennedy III is a vote against nepotism, because Kennedy’s performance in these segments makes it fairly obvious that nepotism is the only reason he’s in this race.

Posted in Leadership, Policy, Politics | Tagged , , | 6 Comments