"An A-hole who went DEFCON1"

I am not a big fan of his books, life is scary enough thank you, but Stephen King has been writing a regular column for Entertainment Magazine and has recently penned a short editorial on the Virginia Tech shootings. In it, he briefly discusses using the writings of student as an indicator of their likelyhood to commit violence. Frankly, if there is one author who understands the mind of a writer who puts horror on the page, it is King.

According to King, his own college writing would have certainly earned him a tag of "mentally ill." I'm not surprised, what little of him that I have read certainly put that thought in my mind. But trying to diagnosis the demons in the heart of an author through their writings and then holding them accountable to that diagnosis is a failing exersize that would stifle the creative process.

However, as King points out, there is a difference between being a writer and writing. To quote King's editorial:

Cho doesn't strike me as in the least creative, however. Dude was crazy. Dude was, in the memorable phrasing of Nikki Giovanni, ''just mean.'' Essentially there's no story here, except for a paranoid a--hole who went DEFCON-1. He may have been inspired by Columbine, but only because he was too dim to think up such a scenario on his own.

Well said from someone who ought to know.

On Predicting Violence

No shit, aren't they always.

The school shooting in Virginia was an awful thing, a parents nightmare. But when I saw this quote, I just had to do a quick post.

"He was a loner, and we're having difficulty finding information about him," school spokesman Larry Hincker said, a day after the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.

People who aren't loners don't do this sort of thing. If you are attached to people through friendships, family and work, you learn to respect life. Those people who are incapable of those types of connections soon find ways to lash out against those around them, sometimes with devastating consequences.

My condolences to everyone affected by these terrible events.

Yahoo.com

Fun Stuff I've Found.

One of the great things about the Internet and blogging is the interconnectedness of it all. You never know what is going to lead to what. But with the endless number of sites out there, you often find yourself clicking on a lot of crap before you find that diamond. So, as a service to my readers, all six or seven of you, I'm going to periodically share some of the sites I've found that showed some merit. If you come across a site that you want to share with others, just let me know and I'll pass it along...if it doesn't suck.

Happy clicking!

Fark.com

Fark is a list of user submitted news stories with headlines rewritten by the submitters. The content tends to run to the ridiculous or the asinine. Stories about teachers sleeping with students, the woman found dead with 50 cats in the house, famous people being arrested and the like. Each story has a comment section where the community can vent or crack wise. Beware, some of the comments run to the adolescent, particularly those stories that involve sex.

PostSecret.com

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. It is such a simple idea and yet the postcards posted on the site are strangely compelling. I think it goes to all of the secrets and fears that reside in each of us. Reading the cards allows a safe place to feel like you aren't alone, to share the hopes and dreams, fears and regrets of others. They post new secrets every Sunday. Give it a look.

BoingBoing.net

BoingBoing describes itself as a "directory of wonderful things." That might be a bit of an over-statement. However, I do find a lot of neat things posted on BoingBoing, even if they run to the geeky. Personally, I have to feed the inner geek from time to time. Who doesn't think that a link to a history on Coney Island is interesting, or plans on how to build a potato gun, or a link to one of the vintage Alka-Seltzer commercials is cool? Quick, easy to read blurbs make this site a easy gateway to stuff you might never see on your own walks across cyberspace.

Dooce.com

Heather Armstrong got fired a few years ago for blogging about her job. She said she got "dooced". Since that time, she has turned a window into her life as an ex-Mormon, depression battling wife and mother into a full-time gig. She's pretty famous in the blogging world so if you've already heard of her, I'm not surprised.

I love the easy manner with which she writes. It is just irreverent enough to be engaging but genuine enough to keep you coming back. Now, I happen to think the monthly newsletters to her toddler daughter Leta are a bit much, but the rest is well written and quite funny. Give it a read for a week or two and I dare you not to get hooked.

RudePundit

This is not for the faint of heart. For those of us who lean left and get so angry that cussing a blue streak is the only way to truly express how we feel, the Rude Pundit is a good place to stop in for a dose of political commentary.

And I quote:

[Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid] must have special pants made to accommodate his gigantic balls. Really. There's legends around Las Vegas of mob bosses, ready to have Reid whacked back in the day, who were shown pictures of his balls and, in deference to such titanic testicles, called off the hits. It's said that Reid's already had his soccer-sized nuts molded in 24-carat gold and sent to the President with a note that read, "Suck on these." Ken Mehlman, in the Oval Office at the time, passed out.

And that's his way of giving a compliment. Even if you find his politics unappealing, if you like smart blue humor, this site is worth a try.

Youre-boring-me.com

Simply put, this is funny stuff. If you are a Christian or a mother, you can relate. If you are a father or an atheist, you'll love the humor and the insight into a world you'll never know. From the stories about her Bible study group that demands a certain dress code (Funny, how her Reggae Sucks shirt doesn't quite qualify.) to why celebrating grade school graduation is just stupid, Carolyn will have you laughing.

Well, there is the first installment. Leave comments for the sites that you've found so that all might share your discovery...or mock your taste, whichever is most appropriate.