I have this idea that if writers actually wrote about some real life events, the results might be so wild that readers could lose their suspension of disbelief. For example, a few years ago a mortuary in the southern U.S. was prosecuted for dumping bodies in the lake out back instead of repairing their cremation furnace. I don't mean a body or two. I mean stacks of bodies like cordwood. I think if Stephen King had that in a story I might say "oh, yeah, right". But reality is sometimes just stranger than fiction. William Gibson totally gets this, which is why his recent "science fiction", which I love, has become all about real life stuff that he observes and thinks "WTF is that all about?" I'm right there with you, Mr. Gibson. If you can't look around you and marvel at what's really going on in the World, you just aren't paying attention.

BTW, did you know we've landed a frikkin' robot the size of a car on Mars? Frikkin' Mars! It's another frikkin' planet! And this robot's got a frikkin' LASER! Geeze. Amazing. Srsly.

Man, I'm totally gonna miss this place when I'm gone.