In defense of Norman Rockwell

From a discussion of the American War! on! Christmas!:

But what she was really doing in the first instance, though, was standing up for America's aggrieved white Christians, a cohort that's watched in frustration as ethnic populations have grown in size and political power, causing Norman Rockwell's America to fade before their eyes.

Now it is true Rockwell's American includes scenes like this:




But not only is that a reference to FDR's Four Freedom's speech, Rockwell's America also included scenes like this:

A lot of people would talk about the rats and the existential horror of prevailing

A different interpretation of what happened on Easter Island, one that includes this interesting bit:

One niggling question: If everybody was eating enough, why did the population decline? Probably, the professors say, from sexually transmitted diseases after Europeans came visiting.

You know what I think? I think the slave raids of the 1860s, in which half the population of the island was carried off, didn't help. Also, and I am just spit-balling here, neither did the introduction of TB and smallpox. But STDs plays into the whole sexy sexy promiscuous islanders trope.

Also a bit puzzled by this:

When Captain James Cook visited there in 1774, his crew counted roughly 700 islanders

The population was about 3000 in the 1860s, which either means the place managed to sustain a 2% population growth for 90 years, Cook missed counting some islanders or some third option.

This I believe

If your manuscript is in excess of 1000 pages, seriously, seriously consider printing on both sides of the page.

This could inspire any number of SF novels (but it probably won't)

Terraforming Mars; not necessarily straight forward and without do-overs.

Not from the Onion

The head of Canada Post says seniors have told the corporation they want more exercise and fresh air in answer to an MP's question about how the elderly will be especially hard hit by the cancellation of home mail delivery.