Head Full of Doubt

"Knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light" ~ Christopher Hitchens

Post with the Most - WINNER!!!

Tom Paine's Ghost is excited to announce this year's Post with the Most Winner!!!

Exactly one month late, we are excited to announce the winner of the first annual POST with the MOST on Tom Paine's GHOST blog post composition contest. The decision was close but - as was set out in the initial guidelines -  there can only be ONE winner.

The final results-

After all votes came in here is how it worked out. Less points are good, more bad.

A Natural History of my instrument: by Alicia Jo Rabins received 7 points coming in 3rd

Four Green Technologies That Could Change The World by Beth Buczynski received 6 points coming in 2nd.

Reflections on the Gulf Oil Spill - Conversations With My Grandpa: by Christie Wilcox  received 5 points coming in 1st!

Congratulations to Christie Wilcox - author of the blog Observations of a Nerd - for winning the first ever, first annual Post with the Most composition competition! Prize includes $100 cash and a copy of the latest issue of the Matter Journal a $17 value with  photos, art, interviews, poems and prose all dedicated to the giant of Western American environmentalism - Edward "Cactus Ed" Abbey. 

A big thank you to the judges, who shall remain anonymous, and all who participated. by submitting themselves or commenting on submission throughout the year.  On behalf of myself ,the process was enlightening and inspiring.  I look forward to next year's competition and all new ways of viewing this blue sphere we call home. 

Please submit your own entry for the 2011 contest by posting a link in the comments below or by sending me an e-mail. There are no date, length or content restrictions posts can only be entered once. if you entered a post last year you can not submit the same post this year.  For more details on the criteria for posts visit the original competition announcement here. In a nutshell, we are looking for entries using different forms of media. These forms include, but are not limited to - text, static images, audio, video, and any other medium, even those not yet known to the world.

Thank you for visiting,
may your day be filled with free thought.

Competition brought to you by - Chico bags - reusable compact shopping bags via Aidel's Vice.

The raw data in the Afghan war

Dear President Obama,
Using your power as Commander in Chief could you please remove all US troops from all countries we were not invited to occupy?
Sincerely,
Angry citizen of the United States of America

Green circles represent improvised explosive device (IED) incidents with no casualties, yellow - injuries only, red - death.  Note the complete lack of suppression in violence after Obama took office in January 2009 and the marked uptick since.

ARRRRRRRG!!!!

Aesthetics according to Dr. Bloom

Analyze your writing...

What do you think of my result?

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Try it yourself by pasting in your writing sample here.

What is WikiLeaks? - Julian Assange explains

The news today of over 90,000 US military records regarding the war in Afghanistan being declassified, gives us all a moment to comprehend the power of transparency. When jingo politicians put on plastic smiles and nod while saying "don't worry adoring public, these wars are moving along swimmingly" the wheels of the military industrial complex just keep on turning, churning, and burning up our troops. Sending our cash straight to the KBRs, Halliburtons, Raytheons, Lockheed Martins, and Northrop Grummans of the world. When the people glimpse reality, the cogs of the war machine don't seem so shiny to a public with a thirty second attention span. After the dust settles and the white house gets over its initial "hurt feelings" maybe we can thank Julian Assange and company for slapping us all across the face and saying "wake up! This is how the "good" war is actually going." Maybe it will be an alarm sounding our final withdrawal from the "graveyard of empires."

Sagan Speaks Softly on Homo Sapiens' Silliness

The Blame Game

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All Creatures Great and Smart