Parallel Worlds and Skew - Free Ebook

Have you been looking around and realizing over 1,000 of this blog's entries have disappeared?  I explained why in Ephemera, but either way almost all of this blog's previous content has been moved to free ebooks:

• "How to Write," an Approach That Worked for Me,
• The volume above,
• 300-Plus Problem Words and Phrases, and
  
• All the short stories are in Ice Cold and Other Stories - Expanded Edition or
• Second-Best with a Sword and Other Stories.

See my entry Ebooks Update for a full list of my works, all free to read, download or share.

Meanwhile, as to what's in this one, it's 150,000 words, including a half dozen articles that have never been posted before—here's the Table of Contents:

Decisions
=======
Hard Choices
Meyer's Law and No Regrets
A Calm, Rational Discussion of Gun Control—Hah!
A Historical Look at Gun Control
Social Controls, Culture, and Gun Violence
When Fear Might Overwhelm
Time's Running Out
Leave It to Kevin
Buy, Baby, Buy Buy
A Darned Good Farmer
Sound Bites and Simple Solutions
The Insidiousness of Depression
The Beatles in Perspective
Nothing to Do/No One to See
Pretty? Not at All
Get a Horse?
Barbarians
Setting a Societal Minimum
Barbarians II
Lawyers and Statesmen
True Believers
Leavings of a Life
A Creation Created
Long Days, Nights
Reading Is Thinking?
Try Not to Look Like a Nail
Under the Knife
Fragile
The Society and Culture Curve
"Progress"
Mind, Emotion, and Making Decisions
Fearful Decisions
Sometimes All We Can Do Is Endure
Women as Role Models for Men
Get the _________ You Deserve
Politics of Entitlement
What Do You "Deserve"?
Acumen or Authority?
Socialism's Fatal Flaw
The End of Capitalism?
How Well, Not How Long
Life-or-Death, Split-Second, Go!
No Smoking
If You'd Been Through What I've Been Through…
We Aren't Scandinavia
Don't Follow Your Dreams (Follow Your Talents)
Politicians and the Perception Game
What Socialism Means to Me
Digital Groceries
Throwing Caution to the Winds
Class and Distinction
Dumbocracy
Who Needs a Rear-View Mirror?
Skin. Deep.
Ration the Passion
It Does Not Loom
"All Lives Matter" Misses the Point
Science!
Constraint
Gentle on Our Times
1, 2, 3, Many
Principle vs. Pragmatism vs. Expediency
Why I Dislike Politicians
Very Important
The Truth Hurts, But Post-Truth Hurts More
Galileo, Darwin, 2020
Environmentalism Is a Matter of Degree
How Green Is My Alley
Representative Democracy
Art/Artist
A Note on Punishment
The Rule of Law
Justice and the Law
A Consideration of Cultural Conservatism
Culture Wars
Cell Phones and Culture Wars
Culture of Deceit
So Get Over It Already
We Are Our Choices
It All Comes Down to Eating
Words of Power
Where Does God Draw the Line?
I Am Nothing
I Am Someone
Meaning in an Uncaring Universe: As Above, So Below
It's All About Potential
Redemption Culture
Democracy and Power
Democracy and Power II
Half My Life
Results > Intent
Unconscious Bias
Enforcement
Presidential Power, and a Cushion
I Wouldn't Call It Privilege
He Stood Tall and Strong
Our Future in the Past
Typhoid Mary(s)
Let Me Help You with the Covid-19 Risk Assessment
 Covid Percentages
 Vaccination Percentages
 Infection by Status
 Conclusion I
 Conclusion II
GMO
All Natural!
Unfaithfulness
Independence Car
Democracy's Weakness
"American"
Disinformation
"Have the Guts to Betray"
Where We Should Spend the Money
Uncharted Territory
The #1 Thing You Can Do for the Environment
What Bites Bureaucracies
Books, Movies, Dune
A Vision of Loveliness
Are You "Cool"?
Summer's End
Wasted Years
Staring
Beauty Is in the Eye
Choose Beauty
Inferior Superior?
A Baker's Dozen Epigrams
It Only Hurts When I Care
The Bureaucratic No
Background Noise
The Logical Endpoint of Voting Restrictions
Time
Raised on Television
Celebrity Culture
Wants < Needs
Invalidating Experiences
Echo Chambers?
Better Death than Dishonor?
A Quarrel with Quibbles
Make Do
Complaining
A Century's Perspective
Life on Fast-Forward
It's All an Adventure Till Someone Gets Hurt
Blame, Guilt, Embarrassment, Shame
 Part 1: Blame
 Part 2: Guilt
 Part 3: Embarrassment
 Part 4: Shame
The Greatest Writer of the English Language
Time to Let Go
What's the Point?
Ephemera

A Moment in Time
Bubbles in My Backyard

Critical Thinking
============
Facts vs. Judgment
Evolution and Science
Facts, Theories, Judgments, Opinions, and Beliefs
 Part 1: Beliefs
 Part 2: Opinions
 Part 3: Judgments
 Part 4: Theories
 Part 5: Facts I
 Part 6: Facts II
The Big Lie
In the Cross Hairs
Facts vs. Bias
"Not in My Experience"
Not So Fast, Nessie
Just One Blade of Grass
1/6: An Unconventional Angle
 Part 1
 Part 2
 Part 3
George Washington, Edward G. Robinson, and Insurrections
"News"

A Moment in Time
That Years-Ago Grin

History, and Some Beowulf
====================
A Word Shows Historical Change
Luddites
He Never Saw It Coming
Caesar
The Seventies and How They Turned Out That Way
The Struggle for America's Soul, Part V
A Desert Analogy
An Unlettered "Barbarian" in the White House
Statues and Shortsightedness
Have You Heard of Isaac Murphy?
I'm Telling You, Jack, It's Every Tom, Dick, and Harry
Cowboys of Color
Hiroshima
Towering Complacency
Twenty Years and Two Days
Only Somewhat Supreme
A Judge's Misjudgment?
From Republic to Empire
"Black Death"
Halyards and Carburetors
Spoiled vs. Entitled
Hollywood History
Man on Horseback
The Nuclear Lesson
Progress Is a Modern Concept
 Part 1
 Part 2
"Hapax Legomenon"
Lost to Time
A Very Simplified Introduction to Understanding China
The Redcoats Are Coming! Basic Napoleonic Tactics
Two Hundred Years?

A Moment in Time
When I Look into Your Eyes

Rating Presidents
=============
Rating Presidents
Rating Presidents: Washington
Rating Presidents: FDR
Value Judgments
Worst Election Ever?
Rating Presidents: Nixon
Rating Presidents Plus: John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Elitism vs. Common Man Even Today
Rating Presidents: Lincoln
Outsider Presidents
Rating Presidents: Ford, Carter, Obama
Rating Presidents: One Who Wasn't, Colin Powell
Rating Presidents: Not Quite Rating George W. Bush
Rating Presidents: Clinton
Rating Presidents: Reagan
Rating Presidents: LBJ
How Presidents Get Hammered by Historians
Rating Presidents: The Seven Worst?
So What Do We Expect from a President?
A "Better" Country

A Moment in Time
That Little Heart, Beating So Fast

Leadership
========
"Hey [Expletive]!"
Learning the Wrong Lesson
Mama Boss
Breaking Point
Discussion Production: No Deflection or Reflection
Obligation and Duty

A Moment in Time
Water Always Wins

Relationships
==========
The Two Required Words in Relationships
Hearts Like Cement
T-Man: Relationship Power Ratios
Alone
Isolation
Alienated
Friends or Family?
Is It Love?
Is It Love? Us Against the World
Hey Good-Lookin'
Looks
Warmth in the Night
Growing into Ourselves
Forgive? Or Forget?
Liking and Loving Don't Always Go Together
Flirting
Incorruptible Love
Polyamory
May-December
Outta My League
I Made Love to a Dinosaur

A Moment in Time
She Cried

Everyone Is the Hero of Their Own Story
==============================
Relationships
Sexual Harassment
Leadership
Bullying
Narcissism
Dishonor
A Historical Example: "The Slave Power"

A Moment in Time
Lord of the Clouds

Self-Identity
=========
Who Are You?
Memory
Who's in Control?
Blame, Guilt, and Control
Wired for Grief
"How Well You Run!"
Making Widgets?
Wait, I'm the Smart One
Failed Yet?
"Failure Is Not an Option"
Cheating
Those Shining Years of Childhood
Validation?
Real ____________
Who Do You Identify With? Who Do You "Other"?

A Moment in Time
Rain

Life Events
========
The Pond Next Door
The Ragged Edges of Death
Almost Fatherhood
It's Not What You've Got (Farewell)
Our Song
Bonus Time
Outliving Your Loved Ones
One Way Forward
A Word on Weddings
Just Believe?
Pretty Death
Still I'm Sad
Slipping Through My Fingers
Is It Worth Dying For?
Magical Thinking
Frightening
Shock to the System
I Am a Rock God
Broth

A Moment in Time
220 Volts, Right Through the Heart

Memorial
=======
Bring Out Your Dead
Cousins
Life and Love are Warmth—Farewell, Dearest Friend
Crisis in Heaven
Plastic Animals
Not Much of a Life
Living with Sadness
Death? Unacceptable

A Moment in Time
Broken Handle

Pets and Fostering
=============
Daddy's Best Boy
A Skittish Cat
Surf Dog
Child's Best Friend
To Our Current Foster Dogs
Such an Aggravating Dog
That Cat Taught Me a Lesson
Destination: Oblivion
Emotional Relativity
They Don't Understand
I Wish I Could Promise Him Safety
Walking the Gravel
Don't Give a Pet for Christmas
Saved!
Girl Power?
Goodbye, Baby
Lose Again
Nobody's Girl

A Moment in Time
Miles and Miles

Holiday
======
Martin Luther King Day
 "I Have a Dream," He Said
Valentine's Day
 A Loyal Heart
Spring Equinox
 A Fine, Exquisite Equinox
Memorial Day
 Memorial
 Flowers and Graves
 Memories, After
 They Died to Keep Us Free
Juneteenth
 My Freedom, and Ours
 Why Juneteenth?
Summer Solstice
 So Long, Solstice
July 4th
 No Taxation without Representation
 The Nobility of Freedom
 Why Freedom Matters
Labor Day
 Labor
Autumnal Equinox
 An Equinox in the Balance
Veterans Day
 In Flanders Fields
 Veterans Day
 November Rain and Chill
 Courage
Winter Solstice
 The True Meaning of Solstice
Christmas
 The Most Loneliest Time of the Year

A Moment in Time
Snowflakes

LGBTQ
======
Transympathy
Gender Identity

A Moment in Time
Magic Is All Around

Words
=====
High Summer, High Noon
We Were Meant to Be Together
"Culling the Herd"
Honey Sugar Sweetheart
Objective/Subjective
"Ecstatic"

A Moment in Time
Fire Flies

Netiquette
=======
Define "Great"
Taste vs. Quality
Taste vs. Quality and Reviews
Taste vs. Quality and Authors (Like Me)

A Moment in Time
Mystic Highway

KWJ's Laws
=========
KWJ's First Law
KWJ's Second Law
What Doesn't Kill You…KWJ's Third Law
You—Today! And KWJ's Third Law
Sitcom Advice, and KWJ's Fourth Law
KWJ's Fifth Law: If You Have to Ask the Question…
KWJ's Sixth Law: You'll Never Get Better…
KWJ's Seventh Law

A Moment in Time
Soaring

Humor
=====
Fifty Shades of Old Bay
This Internet (of) Thing(s)
The Singing Sword…
Efficient English!
Two Dozen Non-Epigrams
All Light Nong
Unintelligent Design

A Moment in Time
Warm

Me
==
A Curious Feeling
An Unexpected Visit
I Survived
Forgotten
How Would I Like to Be Remembered

A Moment in Time
A Flight I Never Imagined

Poetry
=====
Shadowed
Train Song
Have a Heart
But She Never Believes
A Seussian Valentine's Poem?!
Lay Me Down in Winter

A Moment in Time
"So What's This?"

About the Author
 "Legend"