General Warnings

I curse sometimes. It ebbs and flows. If this bothers you, I apologize. Kind of. Except Not. If it bothers you to the point of distraction, I doubt we’d get along super fabulously in real life anyway (which is totally OK), but that’s why you’ve got both that handy-dandy “x” in your upper-right hand corner and a sense of agency.

I am…shall we say…verbose. I don’t dig in and go deep every day, but when I do, it tends to be long, and it tends to be meaty. I’m the same way in real life.  I’ve given up trying to change it. It’s actually not a matter of having a higher output-to-thought ratio than normal people; if anything, I don’t actually verbalize, audibly or in print, as great a percentage of my thought life as I imagine most folks do. When I say the hamster wheel never stops, I mean it seriously. never. freaking. stops. So take comfort that while you may be reading or listening to lots of words, I’m thinking at least 85% more of them than I’m typing or saying. And like I said, you’ve at least got a choice; you can always “click the ‘x’.” –  I would totally mortgage my soul to be able to “click the ‘x’” on my brain at least 1 day of every 7.

I do a lot of stringing-together-of-words-with-hyphens and other such nonsense, both to make up words without confusing people, and to sort of convey how things sound in my head-reading-voice. Like that.

There are very, very, very few topics I consider off-limits. So few, in fact, I can’t think of any to list off the top of my head. And I take requests. So if you have questions, or want me to write about something (from deep, crazy, philosophical HUH?! stuff, to silly, “what’s your favorite ____?” stuff) ask. I probably will.

Lastly – I’m kind of obsessive about specificity and accuracy, especially when it comes to science and policy. And since bad science and bad policy – or bad explanations of good science and good (or workable) policy – make it even more difficult for me to breathe deeply, I’m very upfront about where my knowledge on an issue starts and stops, and I try to be pretty thorough when I have to explain the medical, science-y side of whatever I’m talking about or the details of a given policy and its implications  I’m getting better about just linking science-y words to an article I find sufficiently accurate and succinct in its explanation (and yes, that sometimes includes wikipedia), and directing folks to simpler, better explanations of the policy-at-hand than I could ever provide, but it’s a work in progress. Relatedly, if I ever get my science or policy wrong here, please please pretty please (respectfully) comment, email, or send smoke signals to let me know.
 

Comment Policy: I do NOT delete comments simply because I disagree with them, or they highlight something that makes me look bad, and bloggers who do really, really piss me off.  I really, really want this to be a place for discussion that’s thoughtful and provacative (as in, provokes reflection and discussion, not the verbal equivlent of a nip-slip). In order for that to happen, we all need to respect each other’s rights and abilities to think things through in a back-and-forth context. I talk about some touchy stuff here, and part of the reason is to get people thinking; if part of that process includes respectfully laying down, point by point, how I’m totally wrong about everything ever, that’s totally kosher.

What’s not? Hate speech (if you have to ask…); namecalling – either me or other commenters; and spamming, either traditionally and obviously, or by just leaving some non-thought with a link to your website. By all means, feel free to leave your site in your comment, or shoot me an email if you just want me to check it out and possibly subscribe. But I don’t do “link exchanges” – I don’t do it to be mean, it’s because I don’t want someone recommending me if they don’t actually think what I have to say is meaningful, funny, intellegent, or otherwise contributory; likewise, if I think you rock, and people need to read what you have to say, I’ll totally, effusively say so; and I want that to actually mean something. It’s an integrity thing.

 
Sponsorships: Want me to check out your restaurant/book/product and tell my readers what I think? Drop me a line! Be forewarned, honesty and integrity are HUGE for me, so if I think your restaurant/book/product sucks, I won’t say otherwise, even for a million-bajillion-quazillion dollars. But I’m not mean, and I’m not in the business of cutting people off at the knees, so if you’ve provided me dinner, a copy of your book, or a demo of your product and I can’t honestly, anything less than positively endorse it, I’ll absolutely let you know and just…not post anything, if you’d prefer. I’ll also be happy to return to you whatever non-consumable portion remains, if you’d like (at your expense). Worst case, you’re out a plating or demo, but the upside of how I work is that my readers – and sponsors - know beyond know that if I say I think whatever you’re selling rocks? I really, totally freaking mean it.

Before long, I’ll also be offering ad space to independently owned and/or local (Charlotte, NC and surrounding) businesses, or other websites/blogs. Same rules – and resulting integrity perks – apply; I can’t and won’t sell even a little square of my site to a company or product I wouldn’t naturally recommend to my friends anyway, which means if I’ve never tried your product, I can’t blindly get behind it; however, I’m happy to reimburse you 50% of your “demo expense” if I am able to offer you advertising space.

Likewise, if you’re not located in Charlotte, but I’ve mentioned I’ll be heading your way, feel free to contact me as well!

For either sponsored post information or to discuss advertising space, email me at chronicuriosity [at] gmail [dot] com. I’d love to work with you!