Well I had to step out and take care of the usual sort of end of month business… pay rent, shop for groceries etc. Oh and pay my cel phone bill… just to make the rest of you jealous I get my service through metroPCS http://www.metropcs.com/ where I pay one flat fee for all the calls I can make.
I didn’t stop at Office Depot http://www.officedepot.com/ today (even though I want a couple of items for my computer setup) because on Saturday I stopped at Lowe’s http://www.lowes.com/ to get some items so that I could set up a container garden as I live in an apartment.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Ads
So I went and did it… What you may ask have I done?
I decided that I would see if google ads could generate any income for me. I will continue to work to make my content interesting of course and do hope that if you see something you like that you will recommend my blog to your friends.
I decided that I would see if google ads could generate any income for me. I will continue to work to make my content interesting of course and do hope that if you see something you like that you will recommend my blog to your friends.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
The End of The World
The End of The World
Some of the radio hosts I listen to are recommending that you buy gold as a hedge against inflation. For them I have a year in history 1933; I don’t recall the exact date but at that time the sitting president of the USA declared it illegal to own gold!
If you think the world is going to end your best bet for survival is to prepare to survive. Stock pile food but expect to have anti-hoarding laws be enacted. Therefore you should grow a garden and get to some place where you can keep a dozen chickens and a rooster. Do your best to live near water that you can drink and in general go back to the basics. Think about self defense and about how to convince your neighbors that you are generous to them. Because your community is always the people who you share with… to be honest you can’t very well share with the rest of the world just those who are nearest to you.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Some of the radio hosts I listen to are recommending that you buy gold as a hedge against inflation. For them I have a year in history 1933; I don’t recall the exact date but at that time the sitting president of the USA declared it illegal to own gold!
If you think the world is going to end your best bet for survival is to prepare to survive. Stock pile food but expect to have anti-hoarding laws be enacted. Therefore you should grow a garden and get to some place where you can keep a dozen chickens and a rooster. Do your best to live near water that you can drink and in general go back to the basics. Think about self defense and about how to convince your neighbors that you are generous to them. Because your community is always the people who you share with… to be honest you can’t very well share with the rest of the world just those who are nearest to you.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Weather
This is a short weather report from Redding Ca. I work indoors and today was the first day I was able to wear shorts to work…. Thus a short weather report!! :D
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Cry freedom
I am strongly against totalitarians no matter what they call themselves. We hear P. Obama say that he is not a socialist. Fine sir, if you are not a socialist what are you? A communist? I refuse to accept the false dichotomy that only another totalitarian can oppose a particular brand of totalitarianism. Thus to oppose a Marxist or communist does not automatically make one a NAZI. Indeed all people who are and wish to remain free oppose NAZI’s, communists and all other totalitarians no matter what brand they wear. Even if it is the oh so good sounding brands of liberal or progressive that are being presented here in the USA. It is unfortunate that a good deal of those who oppose P. Obama would only institute their own vision of a totalitarian regime. This is one reason I say vote out the Republicans as well as the Democrats this year. And in 2012 until we get some people with the spine to say that the American people deserve to be free, and freedom carries only one guarantee: that is that you will have to take a risk to secure your future because no one else will.
http://townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2010/03/11/republican_collectivism
http://townhall.com/columnists/LarryElder/2010/03/11/republican_collectivism
Another word for today
From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
Socialism
Main Entry: so●cial●ism
Pronunciation:*s*-sh*-*li-z*m
Function: noun
Date:1837
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
Socialism
Main Entry: so●cial●ism
Pronunciation:*s*-sh*-*li-z*m
Function: noun
Date:1837
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done
A word for today
From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
Socialist
Main Entry: socialist
Pronunciation:*s*-sh(*-)list
Function: noun
Date:1827
1 : one who advocates or practices socialism
2 capitalized : a member of a party or political group advocating socialism
–socialist adjective , often capitalized
–so£cial£is£tic \*s*-sh*-*lis-tik\ adjective
–so£cial£is£ti£cal£ly \-ti-k(*-)l*\ adverb
Socialist
Main Entry: socialist
Pronunciation:*s*-sh(*-)list
Function: noun
Date:1827
1 : one who advocates or practices socialism
2 capitalized : a member of a party or political group advocating socialism
–socialist adjective , often capitalized
–so£cial£is£tic \*s*-sh*-*lis-tik\ adjective
–so£cial£is£ti£cal£ly \-ti-k(*-)l*\ adverb
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Today's word
From Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
Totalitarian
Main Entry:1to£tal£i£tar£i£an
Pronunciation:(*)t*-*ta-l*-*ter-*-*n
Function:adjective
Etymology:Italian totalitario, from totalit* totality
Date:1926
1 a : of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy : AUTHORITARIAN, DICTATORIAL; especially : DESPOTIC b : of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (as censorship and terrorism)
2 a : advocating or characteristic of totalitarianism b : completely regulated by the state especially as an aid to national mobilization in an emergency c : exercising autocratic powers : tending toward monopoly
Totalitarian
Main Entry:1to£tal£i£tar£i£an
Pronunciation:(*)t*-*ta-l*-*ter-*-*n
Function:adjective
Etymology:Italian totalitario, from totalit* totality
Date:1926
1 a : of or relating to centralized control by an autocratic leader or hierarchy : AUTHORITARIAN, DICTATORIAL; especially : DESPOTIC b : of or relating to a political regime based on subordination of the individual to the state and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation especially by coercive measures (as censorship and terrorism)
2 a : advocating or characteristic of totalitarianism b : completely regulated by the state especially as an aid to national mobilization in an emergency c : exercising autocratic powers : tending toward monopoly
Sunday, February 28, 2010
To my Son
To my son
Sometimes the pain is still new,
Though you’ve been gone so long,
I think of you and the tears flow,
I still wonder; could anything have been changed?
I live but a part of me feels like it is with you,
Cold and lonely in a far away grave,
And with your sib wheree’re they’ve flown,
Yes the world still turns,
And none of us makes much difference,
But we can if we try change for the better,
And live to make life better for those near and dear,
’Cause we never know when they will be gone.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Sometimes the pain is still new,
Though you’ve been gone so long,
I think of you and the tears flow,
I still wonder; could anything have been changed?
I live but a part of me feels like it is with you,
Cold and lonely in a far away grave,
And with your sib wheree’re they’ve flown,
Yes the world still turns,
And none of us makes much difference,
But we can if we try change for the better,
And live to make life better for those near and dear,
’Cause we never know when they will be gone.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Random thoughts
Author nation is down www.authornation.com/ so I'm out and about reading and writing.
One of the most talked about commercials that was aired during the Super Bowl was by the Audi automobile company. They picture the ‘green police’ arresting a man for choosing a plastic bag for his groceries among other horrid infringements (I use the word ironically) of liberties by those who believe that we as people are destroying the planet.
This advertisement is hypocritical in many ways but the first is this: there is no modern automobile that can exist without the extensive use of plastics. Therefore to condemn one use of plastic as environmentally unsound but say theirs is better is at best the pot calling the kettle black.
I don’t know what we will do when we hunt the last ‘whale’ (or oil pool) but so far the anti whale hunting crowd has not come up with any cogent answer except to hunt ‘whales’ (or oil pools) slower. They don’t want to talk about nuclear fission and nuclear fusion for power is still a pipe dream that may never reach reality. Maybe when we run out of oil we will descend into some sort of preindustrial existence? I don’t know the answer to that but one the thing that is certain is that we need answers that are not being explored today. Solar power only works when the sun is out and it is the most inefficient of the sources of power the anti oil people tout. Wind power works when the wind blows and could I suspect be made more efficient but most people would not wish to have a wind farm in their neighborhood. Some power could be harvested from tidal motion along our coast lines but that is limited by the efficiency of the main method of power transmission that is in use today. What shall we do? Burn all the oil and coal we can find until there is no more, then live without? I believe this is shortsighted. I also believe the slow down approach is shortsighted. Most of the answers will not be cheap because we are looking to extract energy from sources that we haven’t had to look to before… in years past we let trees convert sunlight, water and nutrients from the soil into wood and burned it. Or hunted whales and burned the oil that was rendered from them… but there really are only so many whales and there really is only so much oil. We cannot quit cold turkey today but we must not say no to what we know will work in the interim; nuclear fission.
One of the most talked about commercials that was aired during the Super Bowl was by the Audi automobile company. They picture the ‘green police’ arresting a man for choosing a plastic bag for his groceries among other horrid infringements (I use the word ironically) of liberties by those who believe that we as people are destroying the planet.
This advertisement is hypocritical in many ways but the first is this: there is no modern automobile that can exist without the extensive use of plastics. Therefore to condemn one use of plastic as environmentally unsound but say theirs is better is at best the pot calling the kettle black.
I don’t know what we will do when we hunt the last ‘whale’ (or oil pool) but so far the anti whale hunting crowd has not come up with any cogent answer except to hunt ‘whales’ (or oil pools) slower. They don’t want to talk about nuclear fission and nuclear fusion for power is still a pipe dream that may never reach reality. Maybe when we run out of oil we will descend into some sort of preindustrial existence? I don’t know the answer to that but one the thing that is certain is that we need answers that are not being explored today. Solar power only works when the sun is out and it is the most inefficient of the sources of power the anti oil people tout. Wind power works when the wind blows and could I suspect be made more efficient but most people would not wish to have a wind farm in their neighborhood. Some power could be harvested from tidal motion along our coast lines but that is limited by the efficiency of the main method of power transmission that is in use today. What shall we do? Burn all the oil and coal we can find until there is no more, then live without? I believe this is shortsighted. I also believe the slow down approach is shortsighted. Most of the answers will not be cheap because we are looking to extract energy from sources that we haven’t had to look to before… in years past we let trees convert sunlight, water and nutrients from the soil into wood and burned it. Or hunted whales and burned the oil that was rendered from them… but there really are only so many whales and there really is only so much oil. We cannot quit cold turkey today but we must not say no to what we know will work in the interim; nuclear fission.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Beware!
To Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, et al, Republican talkers; tell me this: Where is the American Whig party?
I posit this; the handwriting is on the wall, if the Republican party doesn’t step up to the plate with some better and newer people they will be where the American Whig party is; a foot note in history books.
© 2010 Vic Jones
I posit this; the handwriting is on the wall, if the Republican party doesn’t step up to the plate with some better and newer people they will be where the American Whig party is; a foot note in history books.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Monday, February 15, 2010
Get Busy
Get busy writing. That is always the advice I get when I visit with other authors. Don’t depend on one story or one novel or one poem to get you to success. Sure it is true that some few authors will be one hit wonders with a book like To Kill a Mockingbird, but most successful authors have enough rejection slips to hold their own private Chinese new year’s party with, because in the business of writing you have to put out a lot of work to get noticed.
Sure we can all have our own free blog and even have Google ads on it and say we are authors (and maybe make enough money to buy an ice-cream cone once a year) but the successful author is more than published, he has a following of readers.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Sure we can all have our own free blog and even have Google ads on it and say we are authors (and maybe make enough money to buy an ice-cream cone once a year) but the successful author is more than published, he has a following of readers.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Love
This is another poem about love and lust...
Love
Or lust,
Eros is a meddler,
Convincing us that desire is love,
It is exciting when you look up,
And see that other person,
Who you desire,
Looking at you with desire,
Still lust is easy,
It happens all the time,
But love?
That takes time,
And work,
And well it really isn’t exciting,
It doesn’t stir the blood,
The way a fresh bout of lust does.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Love
Or lust,
Eros is a meddler,
Convincing us that desire is love,
It is exciting when you look up,
And see that other person,
Who you desire,
Looking at you with desire,
Still lust is easy,
It happens all the time,
But love?
That takes time,
And work,
And well it really isn’t exciting,
It doesn’t stir the blood,
The way a fresh bout of lust does.
© 2010 Vic Jones
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Adult content notice
Adult content notice
Some of the people who visit here (though I don’t expect many do) may wonder why I’ve put up an adult content notice. I may never put up erotica or discussions of human sexuality but if I do I would not want someone to come here and not be warned.
Yes I know this limits my readership but I would rather forewarn people that it may happen than to surprise them.
WW
Some of the people who visit here (though I don’t expect many do) may wonder why I’ve put up an adult content notice. I may never put up erotica or discussions of human sexuality but if I do I would not want someone to come here and not be warned.
Yes I know this limits my readership but I would rather forewarn people that it may happen than to surprise them.
WW
Friday, January 22, 2010
Writing is a Serious Business
Writing is a Serious Business
One of the issues of writing well is being able to communicate; after all that is what writing was invented to achieve. Therefore it behooves anyone who intends to communicate his ideas to observe most, if not all of the current conventions of writing for his language.
But that is silly I want to be original… I’ve heard some people say. Excuse me but are you sure you don’t intend to lie? Because if you use words but mean the opposite that is what you are doing. And if you refuse to use punctuation as required well that can change the meaning of what you write as well.
Sure I know that conventions change but imagine that you are trying to write to people of every level of ability. From the newest reader who has barely begun to decode written language to the dyslectic who struggles every day to keep straight the things which he reads.
One of the issues of writing well is being able to communicate; after all that is what writing was invented to achieve. Therefore it behooves anyone who intends to communicate his ideas to observe most, if not all of the current conventions of writing for his language.
But that is silly I want to be original… I’ve heard some people say. Excuse me but are you sure you don’t intend to lie? Because if you use words but mean the opposite that is what you are doing. And if you refuse to use punctuation as required well that can change the meaning of what you write as well.
Sure I know that conventions change but imagine that you are trying to write to people of every level of ability. From the newest reader who has barely begun to decode written language to the dyslectic who struggles every day to keep straight the things which he reads.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Focus?
Focus?
I’m trying to decide what to focus this blog on… Local hot spots? Redding is a fairly small city and so there really aren’t very many wifi hotspots available… still there is the library (which I used for more than a year…) the connection at the library is clear and fast, there are plenty of plug ins so you aren’t limited to the life of your battery… there are comfortable chairs and lots of tables so most of the time you can choose where to sit and of course there are books! I being a bibliophile like the idea that I can go and sit among books that I can take home if only for a while…
The one thing I had hoped was to find a local critique group to help me develop my writing and while I enjoy the meetings of The Writer’s Forum at the library I found them to be less than helpful in some ways.
I do not think that I will focus on wifi hotspots but from time to time I may report on one that I have visited. Nor will I focus on writing or what I’m reading or politics… I may just continue my rambles here…
Current events cause me to recommend a donation to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ in order to help the people of Haiti. If you have an organization that you prefer give (though I recommend against any government agency) as generously as you are able.
I’m trying to decide what to focus this blog on… Local hot spots? Redding is a fairly small city and so there really aren’t very many wifi hotspots available… still there is the library (which I used for more than a year…) the connection at the library is clear and fast, there are plenty of plug ins so you aren’t limited to the life of your battery… there are comfortable chairs and lots of tables so most of the time you can choose where to sit and of course there are books! I being a bibliophile like the idea that I can go and sit among books that I can take home if only for a while…
The one thing I had hoped was to find a local critique group to help me develop my writing and while I enjoy the meetings of The Writer’s Forum at the library I found them to be less than helpful in some ways.
I do not think that I will focus on wifi hotspots but from time to time I may report on one that I have visited. Nor will I focus on writing or what I’m reading or politics… I may just continue my rambles here…
Current events cause me to recommend a donation to http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ in order to help the people of Haiti. If you have an organization that you prefer give (though I recommend against any government agency) as generously as you are able.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Update
What caused me to abandon this blog?
Several things, at the time I started it I was as close as I ever want to be to living on the street. During that period of time I was forced to make some choices, I made them and changed my life.
So now I’m back on the web (actually I never left entirely but was forced to choose carefully where I spent my effort) and want to revive this blog.
I’m thinking about what I want to put here; some of my poetry I’m sure and some of my commentary on life. But for the most part now I blog here, www.authornation.com/Thewordwright/ with that said you who come here may ask why another blog?
Several reasons, I am nearly ready to start the edit of a novel, and I would like a place beyond AN to showcase it. Also AN has been experiencing technical difficulties and I would like a stable platform from which to write to the world.
Therefore the question becomes here as anywhere else, how do I bring readers to my work?
Several things, at the time I started it I was as close as I ever want to be to living on the street. During that period of time I was forced to make some choices, I made them and changed my life.
So now I’m back on the web (actually I never left entirely but was forced to choose carefully where I spent my effort) and want to revive this blog.
I’m thinking about what I want to put here; some of my poetry I’m sure and some of my commentary on life. But for the most part now I blog here, www.authornation.com/Thewordwright/ with that said you who come here may ask why another blog?
Several reasons, I am nearly ready to start the edit of a novel, and I would like a place beyond AN to showcase it. Also AN has been experiencing technical difficulties and I would like a stable platform from which to write to the world.
Therefore the question becomes here as anywhere else, how do I bring readers to my work?
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Weekly column
Well once more it is a Saturday and I'm here writing on this column. So some might ask what has been happening in my life? I'm working now, hard labor but still work which is satisfying in itself... Beyond that I've been able to hold to my goal of at least a hundred words morning and evening on my novel in progress... I actually wrote the whole thing once before (all long hand on legal paper) but right now its in storage at someone else's house and I can't get to it so I'm working from memory to rewrite it. I knew that it would need to be rewritten at least once so this is not as much a disappointment as it might otherwise be...
Other discussions...
One of the areas of my life I've been discussing is the fact of my addiction and the way in which something as stupid or simple as the solitaire game on the computer can hold my attention for several hours which I could otherwise use productively. I know this is an issue of selfdisciplin but that as any addict will tell you is an area that they are weak in.
A short poem
Once upon a time,
People told Grimm stories,
At bed time,
To their children,
Today the news is so grim,
As to make the brothers Grimm,
Seem to be less than a fable,
And all together cozy.
In the news
In the news there is a hubbub over the alleged rape of a black stripper by white students at a school in North Carolina... I shan't mention the name but they are well known... What we don't here is that there has been a rape of a white girl by black students at another school. Nor do we recall with these young men the brew-haw-haw that ensued when a certain basket ball player was similarly accused by a woman of questionable integrity...
Enough!
My opinion? We have taken the reality out of a great many words like rape by allowing them to become rubber band words used to describe anything up to sex the woman regrets the day after it happened...
Why not men? A man who said he regretted having sex would be laughed out of the court room. But everyone knows women never willingly have sex...
Other discussions...
One of the areas of my life I've been discussing is the fact of my addiction and the way in which something as stupid or simple as the solitaire game on the computer can hold my attention for several hours which I could otherwise use productively. I know this is an issue of selfdisciplin but that as any addict will tell you is an area that they are weak in.
A short poem
Once upon a time,
People told Grimm stories,
At bed time,
To their children,
Today the news is so grim,
As to make the brothers Grimm,
Seem to be less than a fable,
And all together cozy.
In the news
In the news there is a hubbub over the alleged rape of a black stripper by white students at a school in North Carolina... I shan't mention the name but they are well known... What we don't here is that there has been a rape of a white girl by black students at another school. Nor do we recall with these young men the brew-haw-haw that ensued when a certain basket ball player was similarly accused by a woman of questionable integrity...
Enough!
My opinion? We have taken the reality out of a great many words like rape by allowing them to become rubber band words used to describe anything up to sex the woman regrets the day after it happened...
Why not men? A man who said he regretted having sex would be laughed out of the court room. But everyone knows women never willingly have sex...
***
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Bad habits
I spoke (wrote [is there a difference when you do this?]) before about being addicted and that is true... But the bad habit I'm thinking of now is the way in which I put off writing, that is some times when I sit down at the computer and have nothing on my mind to write I end up bringing up the games and once I start on one even as simple as solitary I am basically captivated by it and will spend several hours playing if I am not interrupted. Of course part of that sort of getting lost in an activity is what makes it possible to be addicted...
Well that is enough on that subject. I must say that even with getting so badly side tracked and in spite of now actually having a job (hard labor[no prison jokes!]) I am getting about 500 words or more added to my novel I wrote it a while back but this is the rewrite partly from memory as right now the manuscript (and I do mean hand written manuscript) is in storage and I can't get to it.
I don't have a poem or any other interesting writing to add today and I want to get to some other things since I'm still using the computer at the public library as my main internet access point. Hopefully in a couple of months I will be able to get a used lap top so that I can surf at the local coffee shop...
but for now this is all for this week!
Well that is enough on that subject. I must say that even with getting so badly side tracked and in spite of now actually having a job (hard labor[no prison jokes!]) I am getting about 500 words or more added to my novel I wrote it a while back but this is the rewrite partly from memory as right now the manuscript (and I do mean hand written manuscript) is in storage and I can't get to it.
I don't have a poem or any other interesting writing to add today and I want to get to some other things since I'm still using the computer at the public library as my main internet access point. Hopefully in a couple of months I will be able to get a used lap top so that I can surf at the local coffee shop...
but for now this is all for this week!
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