Sunsets, Stars, West, Wind
Regional Bias and How NPR Covers America
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2013/04/11/176923885/regional-bias-and-how-npr-covers-america
I quit listening to NPR because of this a long time ago. I still have one of my radio’s memory slots tuned to my local NPR station, but I rarely turn on the radio these days.
The Master of White Storm by Janny Wurts
Read from January 30 to February 03, 2010
I am at a loss for words still this morning. I finished The Master of White Storm last night but my mind is still reeling. Somewhere along the way, amongst Korendir’s numerous impossible feats and adventures, I despaired of his receiving relief. The death and danger, most often voluntarily pursued, seemed designed to harry Korendir to the brink and beyond of sanity and hope. What few pockets of peace and love dotted his bleak life’s landscape hardly seemed enough to fuel his reserves or resolve.
I did struggle to connect with Korendir throughout the story, but his predicaments spurred me on. The characters that touched me most profoundly included Haldeth, a taciturn smith, steadfast friend of Korendir, his touchstone and conscience and Vwern, a brave villager who brought tears to Korendir’s eyes and mine as well.
With such a relentless pace, you won’t be disappointed reading The Master of White Storm. One of the best standalone fantasy novels I’ve read recently, the only one better which comes to mind is another Janny Wurts’s novel called To Ride Hell’s Chasm.
For A Long And Healthy Life, It Matters Where You Live
Maybe Texas isn’t the best place to retire.
Keep pets safe in the dog days of summer
http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2013/07/keep-pets-safe-in-the-dog-days-of-summer.html
Apollo and Lexy are so spoiled. AC all day and sunset walks.
Yesterday, Terry and I celebrated the first anniversary of our adoption of Lexy. She got a special dinner and an ice cream treat.
I also took her on a short walk down Fawn Valley just as the sun was setting. She did very well and has improved immensely over the last twelve months in her obedience training and leash etiquette.
Lexy is calmer, more playful and very loving towards Terry and I. Apollo tolerates her and attempts to play tug-of-war with her occasionally, but she’d rather snag a toy and whip it around like a rag doll by herself while running full tilt around the great room.
While Terry was in the hospital last week, I had a Dickens of a time getting Lexy to go outside. I resorted to a dirty trick, knowing that you can get a Rottweiler to do just about anything if you cater to their stomach. I started feeding her and Apollo outside. That way, I lured her out there with her food dish and could leave both of them outside for thirty minutes while I got myself ready for work in the morning or to transition to the hospital in the evenings. I’d always find her standing impatiently at the back patio door, waiting for me to let her back inside.
Here’s to another great year with Lexy!
McDonalds’ suggested budget for employees shows just how impossible it is to get by on minimum wage | Death and Taxes
No heat line item. Nor one for food or gasoline. So you would be cold starving and stranded while working two part-time minimum wage jobs. What dark dystopian world did that budget come from?
Community Supported Agriculture: How Big Is Too Big?
My first exposure to a CSA came through my daughter.
One Corpse Too Many by Ellis Peters
Read in February 2009
Brother Cadfael is thrust into the heart of political intrigue via his herb garden. Or rather, an unlikely new addition to the herb garden – a lay servant of youthful boyish appearance. Cadfael soon realizes his new assistant’s secret, and agrees to lend aid as he is able.
It is the time of King Stephen’s war upon the Empress Maude, granddaughter of William the Conqueror. Lines are drawn and England is divided. Stephen, also a grandson of William, has laid siege to Shrewsbury, on his way to fight Robert of Gloucester.
Stephen takes Shrewsbury but fails to acquire the prize personages who had been within it’s walls – FitzAlan and Adeney. After a thorough search of the town, these two are missing and the remaining garrison leader, Hesdin, does not reveal their whereabouts, even under torture. Adam Courcelle, one of Stephen’s captains, suggests that mercy to the garrison would be seen as a sign of weakness, so Stephen orders the entire garrison, and Hesdin, hanged immediately. Stephen’s Flemish mercenaries carry out this grim duty.
Brother Cadfael beseeches the Abbott and the king to allow the monks of the abbey to retrieve the bodies, prepare them for burial and allow the townsfolk to claim the bodies of their kin. While laying out the bodies, Cadfael discovers there are ninety-five, instead of ninety-four, bodies. And the extra corpse is a young squire, not a seasoned soldier. He reports this discrepancy to King Stephen, who agrees to allow Brother Cadfael to investigate and bring about justice.
The rest of the tale involves Cadfael’s continuing investigation, discoveries and battle of wits with various players in and around Shrewsbury. A medieval murder mystery well worth the reading.
Blaggard’s Moon by George Bryan Polivka
Read in April, 2009
Warning: Spoilers
We return to the world of Nearing Vast and Smith Delaney, squatting on his last leg, or rather his last post. Instead of his life flashing quickly before his eyes, it’s a slow, pondering trek down memory lane, from beginning to end to beginning, all the dark, days in between as a pirate.
It was a strange way to tell a tale, but not overly confusing to the reader. Delaney recalls a story told to him by Ham Drumbone, a storyteller pirate, about Damrick Fellows, the founder of the Hell’s Gatemen, and Jenta (who has several last names which I won’t get into here).
Delaney is hanging over his doom, a pond full of piranhas and mermonkeys, remember this tale told by Ham. Most of the book is the tale of Damrick, Jenta and Conch Imbry, a notorious, successful, ruthless pirate. This tale, a strange love triangle (or quadrangle) is the meat of the story. The other two time-lines, Ham’s time telling the tale and Delaney’s doom, pop up appropriately, and converge satisfactorily towards the end.
I enjoyed reading it, but I’m not sure it’s as interesting as the Trophy Chase trilogy it prequels. Delaney was a supporting actor in the trilogy, but always seems to kill the wrong person for the wrong reasons. At least he struggles with his conscious, an unusual problem for a pirate.
Pushing Boundaries
http://www.lemodesittjr.com/2013/07/12/pushing-boundaries/
GIGO . . . Garbage ln, Garbage Out.