J.D. Moyer is a science fiction author and electronic music producer from Oakland, California.
Over the last few years I’ve been compiling notes on good writing technique. My favorite authors have been generous with their advice, and I’ve been collecting it, analyzing it, and trying to apply it to my own work. How to build suspense, how to create relatable characters, how to construct a good sentence, a good scene, a good story.
Two problems …
Burning money — not always a waste?
Recently something clicked for me, a reconciliation of the personal finance philosophies of Mr. Money Mustache and Ramit Sethi, two “rich life” bloggers I follow. The former retired in his thirties via ultra-aggressive savings and a serious no-frills lifestyle (drying clothes on the line, buying cheap staple foods in bulk, bicycle as main mode of transportation, etc.). Ramit, on the other hand, loves to ridicule budgeting (few really do it) and advises his readers that they are better off putting their attention and energy into earning more money (via starting online businesses, freelance work, side jobs, and/or negotiating higher salaries). Superficially it would seem that these two approaches are diametrically opposed, but a unifying principle revealed itself to me after a recent transportation experience. Don’t waste money. I’ll get into what that means (at least what it means to me) a little later.
Basic income, or a citizen stipend, or a technology dividend, or whatever you want to call it, makes sense. Here’s why:
In the wake of the recent killings of black U.S. citizens Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by their own police (and the dozens of other similar cases we’ve seen in recent years), I’ve been struggling with what to say in this space. Saying nothing isn’t an option — the injustice is too great.
I’m going to keep it simple and endorse Campaign Zero, a systematic approach to improving policing. The platform doesn’t make villains out of the men and women who risk their lives to protect us (most of them good people, with the public interest at heart), but it does make concrete recommendations that can save lives (of all races, both civilians and public servants), reduce strife, and reduce civil injustice.
A minor thunderstorm in Rome to break the heat.
I recently returned from a European jaunt with my family. It was an exciting time to be in Europe with both the Brexit vote and the Euro Cup. The football tournament took center stage — we happened to be in downtown Reykjavik for Iceland’s first goal (the loudest cheer I’d ever heard), and endured a cancelled train due to hooliganism in Marseille. A few stories from our trip …
Let’s Go Swimming!
Good times at Laugardalslaug.
We flew in and out of Reykjavik primarily because we were seduced by the ultra-low fares of WOW Airlines. By the time you pay for your hotel in Iceland, you don’t actually save any money, but we enjoyed our short stay. There was a Viking longhouse museum directly underneath our hotel, an early settlement discovered during construction. Among the many fascinating things I learned at the museum is the fact that about 80% of Icelandic men have Nordic paternal ancestry, while about 60% of Icelandic women have Celtic maternal ancestry (Norse Vikings taking wives from the British Isles and settling on the western isle, apparently). The early Icelanders didn’t stop their western explorations there; Greenlandic Icelanders briefly settled in Newfoundland around 1000AD.
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