I first came to read Vonnegut as a fan of science fiction. I loved "Piano Player" and various short stories in SF magazines of the era. Therefore, "Slaughterhouse Five" blew me away. It was so unexpected. Or, should I say, I didn't expect its mordant critique of "the Great War"?

I had to keep on reading more of Vonnegut, but I became very disappointed as time went on. I can't remember the title of the last one I read, but it ended with humans having devolved into seal-like creatures living in the Galapagos Islands. In fact, that was its title, "Galapagos."

If you want to be a writer, start writing. You don't have to have an assignment. You can do it on spec, and then submit it. Oh, yeah, you might look in Writers' Guide for potential markets. But you need to read the magazines, so you gain a sense of their style and their interests.

Also, I would recommend a good writers' read-and-critique group. You can get feedback on your own writing, and you can learn a lot from the other writers.

Another thing you might consider is technical writing. For that, you need to produce good expository writing. Even if you have no training or experience technical writing, look into the Society for Technical Communication. It's an excellent resource for information about training and job openings, plus for networking.

Good luck and good writing.

I had already heard about McC's flip flops on abortion, because I subscribe to an email list in support of maintaining abortion rights. And, of course, he's also opposed to funding sex education because he has to "support the president's policy," if he can ever get a staff member to tell him what that is.

In the words of MoveOn:

"10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.

6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year."

This strip reminded me of some notes I made about a potential sci-fi story. Suppose science discovers a way to provide immortality. The only catch is that if you reproduce, you'd lose some years of life, instead of living forever.

I never wrote the story.

As I understand it, this woman had not "joined the military". She was working for a military contractor. And even if she had joined the military, I suspect the possibility/probability of being raped "on the job" did not occur to her.

Upthread, somebody said: "Birth rates are already falling all over the world with no encouragement from governments or any organized bodies, just individuals and couples deciding on their own how many kids they want to have."

And Buckminster Fuller's research showed that having electricity available correlates with lower birth rates. When people have lights and various appliances at night, they don't spend as much time screwing.

I remember flying on Northwest one time. It was the day my children and I were leaving Minnesota, after living there for five and a half years, back to our native California. Our flight was delayed because of a mechanical problem with some other airplane that was supposed to connect with it. As a result, I had to sit there in the old MSP airport, for more than three hours, with three small children.

Although I love Garrison dearly, I'm so glad I got out of that state.