Some Thoughts On Writing Dialogue

One thing some of my writing friends, and my readers, tell me is that they enjoy my dialogue. That’s nice to hear. I work hard at creating dialogue that reveals my characters and moves the story along. I know I’m not always successful, but I do try.

One of the things I work hard to improve is the use of dialogue tags. Not sure what they are? Tags are things like ‘he said,’ “she inferred,” and so on. The standard rule, when writing dialogue, is to make the tags you use as simple as possible. So it’s frowned on to dip into such tags as, “he mumbled, morosely,” “she snapped,” “Antoine growled fiercely.”

Writers should make the dialogue do the work of the tags. Tags are easy to slap onto a bit of dialogue. Making the dialogue do that hard work is more satisfying - to writer and reader alike. Your characters’ dialogue should be distinctive enough so that the use of tags is minimized. If you think that’s not important, remember how annoying it is to read a piece of dialogue and not quite know which character is speaking. If you need tags to ‘tell’ who is speaking, maybe you need to work on that dialogue a bit more.

Another thing dialogue needs to do is provide insight into your characters. This is where ‘show versus tell’ comes into play in a very interesting way. Rather than use the infamous ‘information dump’, dialogue can provide the reader with a lot of clues to a character’s thoughts and feelings. Also his/her background, education, personality.

Why ‘tell’ the reader that the character is from French Canada when you can add a little dialect to his speech? Tidewater Virginian? Add a taste of the dialect to the dialogue. Yes, you can overdo the dialect and lose your readers. I slip into dialect writing so deeply that my editors will tell me to pull it back! But if you read my novel, “Benning’s War”, you know that I did put a lot of time into the characters’ patterns of speech and how their voices sounded.

I edited as much out as I felt comfortable with, but refused to go beyond a certain point. My characters had to maintain their dialects up to that point. Dialects are fine, but you have to be careful with them. Don’t overwhelm your readers. Use dialect to reveal not hide.

So how do I write that dialogue? I say it. Out loud. If the dialogue I’m speaking - out loud - sounds crude to my ears, or unbelievable, then I change it. It has to be real if the reader is going to follow and believe it. It’s where I nail down where to use contractions and where to use the full words, too.

No, this isn’t the easiest way to write dialogue, I’m sure, but it can be fun. I recited my in-progress dialogue at work, making co-workers and customers nervous, I’m sure. Once they realized what I was doing, and why, they might shake their heads, but they stopped thinking I was demented (little do they know, eh?).

Anyway, for me, dialogue can move a story along quickly, provide information necessary to the plot, and make your characters memorable to your readers. So try working on your story’s dialogue by speaking it, out loud. Listen to how it sounds, pay attention to making it not be an information dump, and let your characters speak through you.

Phishing Bait: Refund Email from the IRS?

Has this, or something like it, popped up in your email inbox?

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that
you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $749.80

Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to
process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here


Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicted.


Regards,
Internal Revenue Service


© Copyright 2009 , Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looks good, doesn't it? Heck, I could use $750 right about now. Being unemployed, that would pay the bills - rent, electricity, etc, for a month! So you can believe me when I say that this email looked very tempting to me.

Very!

But Mom didn't raise many fools. I went right to Snopes and checked this out. I figured somebody - or a lot of somebodys - would have looked into this for legitimacy before me. And guess what? They did!

In part, here's what Snopes says about this lovely email:

Phishing bait:   Notice from the IRS indicating the recipient is eligible for a tax refund or stimulus payment.


[...]

Origins:   Notices purporting to come from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) make good phishing bait for a number of reasons:[...]

The IRSs says about such e-mails that:

The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail. In addition, the IRS does not request detailed personal information through e-mail or ask taxpayers for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts.



Do not open any attachments to questionable e-mails, which may contain malicious code that will infect your computer. Please be advised that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers via e-mails.

Hey, don't listen to me, just head to the Snopes article, read it, then wait for that phishing email to arrive!

After that do what I did. Forward the email to the IRS. What it's about and how to handle it is explained at the IRS page here.

The IRS explains:

How to report phishing, e-mail scams and bogus IRS Web sites
If you receive an e-mail or find a Web site you think is pretending to be the IRS,

• Forward the e-mail or Web site URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.


• You can forward the message as received or provide the Internet header of the e-mail. The Internet header has additional information to help us locate the sender.


• After you forward the e-mail or header information to us, delete the message.

TImes are hard, and this is just another scam that will suck in the gullible or the desperate. Don't fall for it, okay? Check it out at Snopes, then send it on to the IRS.

Phishing is a crime. Let's nail the phishers!

On The High Seas

I get email, Folks! And most of it ain't SPAM but missives of odd things from a co-worker at Wal-Mart. Some of it is just too cute *bleahh!* and some of it is good for a laugh or a chuckle. And now and then she finds or receives something worth a good look. And here is one. This isn't actually new news, but it's a reminder of good things, sad things, and American resolve.

Here SHE is! As you scroll down, notice the two twin towers on top.









Here SHE is, the USS New York, made from the World Trade Center!



USS New York (LPD 21)

She was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center ....

It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,' recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. 'It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.'

Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the 'hair on my neck stood up.' 'It had a big meaning to it for all of us,' he said. 'They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back.'

The ship's motto?
"Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget."

As yet the U.S.S. New York has not been Comissioned. She's been Christened, which means she has her identity: the U.S.S. New York. The commissioning of the USS New York, is planned to take place in the fall of 2009.

The prospective commanding officer is Commander F. Curtis Jones, a native of Binghamton, New York.

Wikipedia explains about Comissioning:

Commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries old naval tradition.

Ship naming and launching endow a ship hull with her identity, but many milestones remain before she is completed and considered ready to be designated a commissioned ship. The engineering plant, weapon and electronic systems, galley, and multitudinous other equipment required to transform the new hull into an operating and habitable warship are installed and tested. The prospective commanding officer, ship's officers, the petty officers, and seamen who will form the crew report for training and intensive familiarization with their new ship.

Prior to commissioning, the new ship undergoes sea trials to identify any deficiencies needing correction. The preparation and readiness time between christening-launching and commissioning may be as much as three years for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to as brief as twenty days for a World War II landing ship. The USS Monitor, of American Civil War fame, was commissioned less than three weeks after launch.

The New York is not a Battleship, a Cruiser, a Destroyer. She's what is called a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock.

Get them in, complete the mission, get them out. I like it! How 'bout you? Think we could use about 50 of these new ships?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Annnnnd ... keeping the thread of the Seas alive, here, does anybody else wonder a) why ships sailing near Somalia, indeed the East African Coast, are not being armed, and b) how long before Barry "O" demands negotiations rather than simply blow the scurvy pirates straight to Hell?

The Maersk Alabama, carrying "emergency food" to Kenya, was boarded by Pirates, as I'm sure you already know. Although the crew of the Alabama retook the ship, the captain was taken hostage by the pirates. You may not realize that this was the first American-flagged vessel to be taken. The Seas are too massive to provide Naval escorts for every ship plying the routes along the coast. Ship Owners take the risk of losing their ships, but the sailors are the ones who risk their very lives. So why aren't these ships armed to the teeth? And if not armed, why aren't the owners required to be aboard during the runs down the East African Coast?

From the NY Daily News:

Retired U.S. Ambassador Robert Oakley, who was special envoy to Somalia in the 1990s, said U.S. special operations forces have drawn up detailed plans to attack piracy groups where they live on land, but are awaiting orders from the Obama national security team.

"Our special operations people have been itching to clean them up. So far, no one has let them," Oakley told the Daily News.

The WSJ reports:

The ship had been bound for Mombasa, Kenya, carrying a cargo of emergency food when it came within 300 miles of Somalia's coastline. It is one of at least 50 ships to have been attacked by Somali-based pirates in the past three months. But it is the first U.S.-flagged vessel to have been hijacked in years, and perhaps decades.

Why has Somalia become the 21st-century version of the 17th-century West Indies? The usual answer is that it's a failed state, unhappily situated near a major shipping lane where all kinds of criminality can thrive.

In fact, piracy is making a comeback because the world has largely allowed it. The owners of captured vessels have been willing to pay multimillion dollar ransoms to recover the ships, 16 of which and 200 crew members are currently in pirate hands. Restrictive or ambiguous rules of engagement -- a bequest of the Law of the Sea Treaty -- create further difficulties for navies trying to prevent piracy. Western states have also been wary of trying captured pirates in their own courts, choosing instead to remand them to Kenya's jurisdiction.

Yeah, that seems to have worked well. And how has the "O" responded? After all he has been asked about this, and there are American lives at stake. Not Community Organizers, mind you, but still. And how does the best danged President in the History of the World respond?

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama declined to answer reporters' questions on Thursday on a hostage crisis off the coast of Somalia, where a U.S. ship captain is being held captive by pirates.

Obama was asked to comment on the situation several times by reporters at a White House event on refinancing for homeowners. Obama, however, stuck closely to the script and replied that he wanted to remain focused on housing.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Editing by Sandra Maler)

Yeah, we don't want to get off-message, do we? After all the "O" is fixing a mess created over thousands of years of Republican mis-rule. (Ever notice how Leftists like the word 'rule' rather than 'lead' or anything else?) And he's doing so well, isn't he, dredging up all the failed policies of past generations, trying to put into place insane acts that will further cripple or destroy the US economy, and just generally so busy fouling things up he can hardly be expected to do two things at once, now can he?

Again, from the WSJ article:

We don't advocate reverting to Roman methods (e.g., crucifixion) for dealing with pirates, though the Administration could apply the Stephen Decatur standard by bombing the Somali pirate city of Eyl. U.S. law is clear that pirates who attack U.S. flag ships deserve life in prison. But treating captured pirates as enemy combatants unworthy of Geneva Convention protections would help in cases where pirates attack foreign-flagged ships and international law is now more ambiguous.

A similar attitude might guide the Obama Administration in its dealings with other states that have, or seek, to take Americans captives. North Korea seized two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, last month on the Chinese border and says it intends to put them on trial for "espionage." Iran also uses hostage-taking as an instrument of state policy, including the British sailors seized in Iraqi waters in 2007, American academic Haleh Esfandiari the same year and, most recently, American journalist Roxana Saberi, whom the Iranians also accuse of espionage and who is now being held in Tehran's notorious Evin prison.


Then again, why look so far afield? As we wrote yesterday, a Spanish judge may soon order arrest warrants for six Bush Administration officials on dubious charges under the preposterous theory of "universal jurisdiction." So far, however, the Obama Administration hasn't spoken a word in their defense. If the U.S. government won't protect American citizens from the legal anarchy of postmodern Europe, how can we expect it to protect American sailors from the premodern anarchy of Somalia, much less the tyrannies of Tehran and Pyongyang?

Kim Priestap has a word to say on Obama's silence. Please read it. Read all the linked posts and articles. 2010 is close. We may survive until then. There's no time to lose if we don't want to become a Third World Country.

Note: As I mentioned after last Thanksgiving, here,

"Why the heck aren't all ships, plying the seas off Somalia, armed? Why aren't we blowing those murderous Pirates to Kingdom Come? The companies insuring those vessels should demand they be armed and sailors be trained in use of those arms or refuse to insure the vessels. The naval forces 'protecting' that shipping lane, and any others in the world pestered by Pirates, should stop trying to capture them and simply annihilate them. Any pirates captured should be hanged. Immediately. Or keel-hauled. Or simply shot and tossed over-board. It's not a criminal justice issue, folks, it's a war on the High Seas. Time to bring down the hammer."

Nahhh, let's just negotiate with the High Seas Terrorists. Sheesh!

Let There Be Light!

As I work in the local Wal-Mart, sweeping the floors, I scan the shelves. I do this to remind myself where the merchandise is. This is to be useful to our customers when they ask where something is. Besides, it's more interesting than simply staring at white tile for hours at a time. During my meandering, recently, I happened to hit the cereal aisle. And there on the shelf were the latest offerings from Kellogg's. Cereal boxes with ugly, bland panels down the front of the boxes announcing Earth Month.

I got news for Kellogg's: I won't be purchasing any items publicizing yet another Eco-Scam. Maybe this is good PR for your company, but I haven't fallen for the scam. But they did remind me that Earth Hour was here, and the Leftist, Capitalist-hating MSM were once again shilling for their masters. Each time one of these celebrations arises we are inundated with puff-pieces proclaiming the importance of the event, how truly compassionate the organizers are, how saintly all who observe the special moment will be.

Screw them! All of it is based on the same scam - Human-induced Global Warming/Climate Change. All of it is phony, but it sells. And it convinces the poor-thinking that they can help save Mother Earth if they just turn off their lights for an hour! Once a year! Whoo-Boy!

And you know that the elite Leftists who shill for these morons will still have their TVs going, their video-games running, their other appliances humming along. But, by cracky! if the "masses" turn off their lights off an hour, all will be well. Another canapé, my Dear?

Let's take a look at how Earth Hour has worked in the recent past, shall we? It ain't just the Eco-Moonbats in the USA that fall for this garbage. From Sri Lanka comes this Astronomy site of the Sri Lankan Astronomical Association, which reminds us of last year's Earth Hour:

Earth Hour

Millions of people in cities across the U.S. and around the globe turned their lights off for one hour on Saturday, March 29, 2008 to make an unprecedented and highly visible global statement in support for action on climate change, energy conservation and light pollution. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world's largest conservation organization, which organized and coordinated the inaugural global event reports that an estimated 36 million Americans took part in Earth Hour. According to a survey by Zogby International, approximately 16 percent of the U.S. adult population reported taking part in Earth Hour and 78 percent were aware of the event, which took place globally in more than 400 cities in 35 countries across all 7 continents. During the week leading up to the event, there were more than 6.2 million unique visitors to the www.EarthHourUS.org website.


Beyond the four official US flagship cities of Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco, WWF estimates that more than 100 cities and towns across the nation took part in the event, including Miami, Denver, Honolulu, Charlotte, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and St. Louis and many others. Iconic landmarks in the US going dark included the Golden Gate Bridge, Sears Tower, Empire State Building, Coca-Cola billboard in Times Square, Bank of America Plaza (Atlanta), US Airways Arena (Phoenix), Alcatraz and others turned off their lights to symbolize the need to take action on climate change.


World Wildlife Fund is already gearing up to bring even more people, cities, and organizations for next year's Earth Hour on March 28, 2009 from 8:30-9:30 pm during IYA. Meg Pearce, director of Earth Hour USA, convinced the worldwide Earth Hour staff that postponing Earth Hour by a half an hour during IYA would include more of the population invested in preserving dark skies. (The skies are still bright at 8pm for the population located on the western edges of timezones.) The collaboration between Earth Hour and the IYA Dark Skies Cornerstone Project is a natural connection and requires no funding. Not only does the Earth Hour program allow the public to see the dark skies from the cities, it also helps conserve energy. It will give families a chance to walk out their door to see the stars, realize how much light pollution there is, find out from the Earth Hour website how much energy and money is wasted and at the same time, spark a child's imagination. [yeah, indoctrinate them when they're still young and impressionable!]

[...]

(emphasis mine)

Ahhh, yet another Eco-scam, and another one that didn't prove effective in anything but brain-washing the usual percentage of mental midgets. From Australia - 2007 - is this simple proof.



As they note:

The above pictured chart demonstrates that during the "Earth Hour" itself, Sydney used around the same amount of electricity as it had the two nights of similar levels of electricity use at the same time.


However, "Earth Hour" spectacularly caused a massive spike in electricity use in the two hours preceding the "Earth Hour" revealing the whole concept to be little more than a public relations scam and a contributor to global warming. Presumably this occurred as people brought forward the electricity using activities they had wanted to avoid during "Earth Hour."

The electric consumption barely changed during Earth Hour last year, while it rose greatly for the two hours preceding Earth Hour. This is similar to a Commie waving an American Flag. Good show for the Leftist Media, and "proof" to the perpetually silly that the Commie is a loyal American and not a bloodthirsty Communist. In reality, it's all for show.

Do we really want our Nation, our world, to be as technologically-challenged, or impoverished as North Korea? In North Korea, that Worker's Paradise, Earth Hour is continual, running for decades. The ruling elite is, certainly, exempted from such mundane things. It's the people of North Korea who shiver in the cold, squint in the darkness, and starve to death under the Tyranny of Communism. The North Korean people have no choice in the matter, indeed, they have no voice.



Which is what the Leftists in power in the USA would love to see happen here. So why not take a small, snarky stand against the bringers of Darkness? Before the Block Snitches report you to the OFA. Take the Red State Pledge and turn on all your lights from 8:30PM to 9:30PM tonight. "Let there be Light!" as Maggie reminds us, at The Climate Scam.

"I do solemnly swear that I will honor Earth Hour by turning on every light in my residence at 8:30 p.m. on March 28, 2009, for one hour. God said, "Let there be light." Who are we to argue?"

Who, indeed? Light up!
Note: Here's an astute quote from windfarms:

"Earth Hour is not about the environment. Global warming is not about the environment. Climate change is not about the environment.

I want each and everyone of you that think global warming is real to go stand in front of a mirror. Now, take a good hard look. When was the last time the person you see in the mirror actually questioned, I mean really questioned what you were told to believe.

Turn off the TV, don't listen to the radio, don't read a newspaper for two weeks. Now, take those two weeks and ask yourself why you haven't asked any hard questions about the people who keep screaming global warming at you.

What do they want from you? Even if the world was in peril, it's not, what could you do?, nothing, that's what. So why do they keep telling you that saving the world is your responsibility. What the hell do they want from you?
.
Your Freedom "

More on the OFA here, here, and here. Imagine the outrage had a Republican President been involved in just such a Fascist/Communist activity? Hmmph! You have a voice! Make sure it is heard!

George Carlin Nails the Enviro-Whackos

From American Thinker, Gregory Young posts, "The Cure for Global Warming Alarmists" with this reminder of how dead-on George Carlin could be. In one of the late Comedian's final appearances, Carlin lampoons the alarmists.



Young also exposes those same alarmists for their bizarre proposals. In his post, "Global Warming Alarmists Propose Limiting Population ... to the Point of Extinction", Young notes, in closing,

"Indeed, the authors purposely fail to mention that their proposal puts humanity on a fast-track extinction curve, as reproduction rates fall below population replacement rates. Surely, as statisticians they know this well. Within a few generations, there wouldn’t be any one around to measure, least wise care, about carbon emissions. We would all be dead.

But golly, we would save the planet! Just goes to show you, Liberals are all about death and destruction. They absolutely live for it!

I’ve got a thought, why not have liberals first show us how it’s done…. Go ahead liberals -- take the lead in this thing. Limit your own population first, and the rest of us might, “maybe,” consider what you have to say."

Yeah, maybe!

Animal Husbandry & Your Elected Officials

It always amazes me to discover just what level of incompetence we Americans manage to reach in our public officials. Perhaps it shouldn't amaze, but it does. As technologically advanced a nation as we are, our electorate can still put into public office people whose mental capacities are on a level with a door knob. And we then expect these same nitwits to make laws regarding matters of scientific importance, not to mention simple matters of social behavior.

From the St. Petersburg Times, comes this gem, reported by Adam C. Smith:

Loser of the week
Larcenia Bullard. The Democratic state senator from Miami has a penchant for eye-rolling statements, but she outdid herself when discussion about the bestiality bill included mention of animal husbandry. "People are taking these animals as their husbands? … So that maybe was the reason the lady was so upset about that monkey?" Bullard asked, referring to a Connecticut woman mauled by a pet chimpanzee. Doh!

Miami has had its share of oddballs elected to office. The knack of Miami politicians, and police, to receive Federal Indictments is sometimes staggering, though it has never reached the stratospheric heights of Chicago. We all remember the murder, and drug charges filed against Miami police, don't we? Still, Miami has never quite managed to pull off the kind of shining moment of idiocy that State Senator Bullard managed.

Fact is, she even found herself on Keith Olbermann's plate for dissection. Just how silly does a Democrat have to be to get pilloried by the High Priest Of Democrat Worship?

In case you think that maybe Ms. Bullard is simply poorly educated, I might add that she is a college graduate. Her Florida Senate Bio includes: Nova University, M.S., 1991, Antioch University, B.A., 1973, not to mention an A.A. at Temple University in '71. That could mean anything, I admit, but then you have to wonder how she could graduate without any inkling of what 'animal husbandry' is. Did I mention that she's been a teacher, too?

Yep, a teacher and a school administrator, not to mention an educational consultant, and a "community activist"! Wow! All that education and she still has no clue what is meant by animal husbandry? That doesn't speak well of our teachers, now does it? And this is a State that is heavily agricultural, and was once one of the largest cattle producers in the nation. Indeed, Bullard is Vice Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Oy!

Now, to give credit, Bullard is not always lost, though she does have an odd idea of just what is important to the electorate in times of economic turmoil - brought to you by her own Democratic Party. From Michael Peltier: And now for the important stuff on March 1st of this year, we discover:

As lawmakers prepare to return for what is expected to be a budget crunching (or is that crushing) session, let's not forget that lawmakers also have other important work to do.
[...]
Why not, for example, spread a little credit where it's due. Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, has offered a pair of resolutions to honor our progenitors. SB 296 and SB 298 call on the Florida Senate to formally honor mothers and fathers around the state.

"The highest ideals and noblest principles of humanity find their most exemplary expression in the sacrifice and devotion of mothers, and no sincere human being can deny the importance of a mother in the life of a child," Bullard says of Florida moms.

Bullard also sends kudos to Florida dads. "American tradition of a productive society and a secure home has depended in great part on the hard work and sacrifice of fathers who tirelessly seek for their children a better life and greater opportunity than they themselves have known." Bullard's bill proclaims.

Wow! Who knew?

And Ms. Bullard gets re-elected, time and again. First the State House, then the State Senate.

By all accounts, Larcenia Bullard is a nice woman, full of pleasant ideas - who else would have pushed so hard to get Key Lime Pie designated Florida's State Pie? - and good intentions. But is that enough for elective office? Aren't we seeing just how dangerous it is for good-intentioned, uninformed or clueless people to be elected to office? And aren't we seeing the very apex of that dangerous action with the elevation of the inexperienced, good-intentioned, Community Activist, Barry "O"?

And just in case you think I'm being rather mean, let's not forget that the Bullard's have made Florida elective office their family business. Senator Bullard's son Dwight M. Bullard was elected to the State House in 2008. Her husband - not to be confused with animal husbandry - Edward B. "Ed" Bullard, served in the State House from 2000 to 2008. Young Dwight has taken the seat his father left due to term limits. Nice, huh?

How much longer can we afford all these terribly nice, utterly incompetent people?

RTN: Digital TV Nostalgia

RTN, the Retro Television Network, is one of the fun things that I discovered once I got my converter box to be able to continue receiving broadcast television. The Wal-Mart store where I work announced to all the Associates that the switch to digital from analog was going to happen, and there would be government-issued coupons to mediate the cost of the boxes.

I don't watch enough television to justify paying for cable - not even for basic cable! - but I do still watch some. So I followed the instructions the Store Manager gave us, went to the government website, and ordered the coupons - two of them, since I have two TVs - and they came in the mail fairly soon. No, I didn't wait until the last minute and whine that there wasn't enough time. Losers!

Meanwhile the local stations have already added some digital stations, so, for example, our PBS station, which is on channel 3, now has four stations: 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4! Some of the programming is interesting, some is a bore - do we really need all day programming of the Florida Legislature?

Anyway, a few weeks back I found one local station was no longer airing yet another digital weather channel - good Lord! How many weather channels do ya need? - but had added the RTN channel. The Retro Television Network! Cool Beans!

Now, the website is one of the crappier efforts I've seen, but the broadcast offerings are nostalgia to the Nth degree!

Among the things I found was Adam-12, Dragnet, Kojak (Who loves ya, Baby?), and a lot more. But two shows brought back some fun memories: The Rockford Files, and Magnum, PI. Those two had recurring guest stars who I fell in love with. Okay, so they're TV crushes, but so what?

The Rockford Files, which starred James Garner, was a funny, action-filled series following the exploits of an ex-con Private Investigator named James Rockford. It turns out that this very successful TV series cheated Garner out of his share of the profits by the use of funny accounting. A shame, and the idiots who played games with the numbers should have been jailed. But I digress, as is my wont.

One of the recurring characters on The Rockford Files was the attorney Beth Davenport, played by the lovely Gretchen Corbett. Corbett appeared in 32 episodes of the Rockford Files, even though some were merely for a scene or two. Corbett was lovely, smart, talented, and I got a crush on her!

As Wiki reports:

"... Corbett joined the series as a recurring regular to portray his beleaguered lawyer and sometime lover. Corbett left the series at the end of the fourth season over a salary dispute, though Corbett herself was not looking for more money: the dispute was between the show's producers and Universal (who owned Corbett's contract as a contract player). Corbett went on to do quite a bit of other television, eventually returning to play Davenport again in the Rockford Files TV movies of the 1990s."

Funny how the money boys at the production company were messing with the books very early on, huh?

Gretchen Corbett has done films, TV, and theater, and this image from around 2007 shows she's still smokin'! Can you blame me for having a crush on her?

Anyway, I watch some Rockford Files, now, and get some nostalgic jollies. It's better fare than a lot of televised programs these days!


Some lawyer Cheesecake!


Along with The Rockford Files there's Magnum, PI, which starred Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, former Naval Intelligence officer turned Private Investigator. Takes place in Hawaii, so there's a lot of pretty scenery, with loads of action, and some very smart, funny dialogue. And there's also the recurring character of Assistant District Attorney Carol Baldwin. Baldwin is played by Kathleen Lloyd (the original Baldwin was played by Maureen McCormick) in 21 episodes. Actually 20, as Lloyd's first appearance on the show was as Bridget Archer. Anyway, Kathleen Lloyd is one of those actresses who remind you of the Girl Next Door one moment, and raise your blood pressure the next.

Both of these shows had something interesting: smart, successful, pretty women as recurring characters. Nothing sleazy about them. And they were possible love interests to the main characters. Lloyd had a recurring role in quite a few shows through the years. But it was on the Magnum, PI show that I fell in love with her. And can you blame me? Look at her! What does that smile say to you?

Oh, my! I always wished she'd been used more often in the show. Her character has this tough lawyer front, but then Lloyd imbues Baldwin with such a sweetness 'out of the office' that you are simply in love with her. Well, I was, anyway!

Both shows - The Rockford Files, and Magnum, PI had a long list of familiar faces appearing in guest roles, and some new faces that went on to some success after the shows. And, of course, many actresses of great beauty adorned these productions week after week.

But for me, these two lovely actresses were my only TV crushes. *sigh*

Ain't they beautiful?

Blue Spring Run

Blue Spring Run is a pretty place. I found it while doing a morning search for "Spring" following a quick search for "Moose". How did I go from one to the other? That, Folks, is where our minds differ! Hah!

Anyway, Blue Spring Run is within the confines of Blue Spring State Park, which is in Volusia County on the east, Atlantic coast of Florida, north of Orlando. It is part of the Florida State Parks department, and one of the decent investments of taxpayer money. Nobody wants to see pavement from horizon to horizon. Not in Florida!

The spring was visited by botanist John Bartram in 1766. Later on, the park was acquired by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (1972) to kick-start its Manatee Protection Program.

Click on the images to embiggen them!

Blue Spring State Park is located in Volusia County, Fla., two miles west of Orange City and adjacent to the St. Johns River. The park encompasses 2,483 acres of land with a variety of ecological habitats, including Blue Spring and Blue Spring Run. The spring and run have an estimated area of four acres and a length of 2,336 feet from the upper edge of the spring boil pool to the point of confluence with the St. Johns River.

Blue Spring is a first magnitude spring, meaning that it has a long-term average flow of at least 100 cubic feet per second (cfs) or 65 million gallons per day (mgd). Blue Spring and Blue Spring Run are classified as Class III waters by the state of Florida, meaning their designated use is for public recreation and the propagation and maintenance of healthy populations of fish and wildlife. The spring and run are also designated as “Outstanding Florida Waters” because they are located within a state park.

Water quality in the spring and run is characteristic of its source, the Floridan aquifer, exhibiting high water clarity, high dissolved solids, little or no oxygen, and stable temperature. The spring water remains at a nearly constant temperature of 73° Fahrenheit (°F) or 23° Celsius (°C).

Blue Spring is internationally famous as a winter, warmwater refuge for the endangered West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris). The manatee is a tropical to subtropical species adapted to warm water that, in Florida, is at the northern edge of its geographical range. Due to their low metabolism, manatees have difficulty withstanding cold conditions and, therefore, they need to find a warmwater refuge during cold weather. Blue Spring is the only large naturally occurring manatee warmwater refuge on Florida’s east coast for the St. Johns River manatee population. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has designated the spring and run as critical manatee habitat.

Manatees seek refuge in the warmer waters of Blue Spring Run when the temperature of the river drops below 68°F (20°C). Manatees typically begin congregating in the spring run in November and leave in March. The period between November 1 and March 31 is referred to as the “manatee season.” Manatee use of Blue Spring Run as a winter, warmwater refuge has increased dramatically since 1978, when routine manatee counts began. Based on counts performed for daily surveys, the maximum number of manatees observed on a single day has increased nearly seven-fold, from 28 in 1978 to 182 during the 2005 manatee season.

During the manatee season, manatees congregate in the spring run immediately upstream of the point where the cold, dark St. Johns River water meets the warmer, clear spring water. Where the spring water mixes with the St. Johns River, water clarity drops due to the relatively high dissolved color (tannic acid) in the river. This interface is referred to as the dark water intrusion, and is easily seen by the casual observer.

It's kind of funny, if you think about it. Manatees are doing fairly well in Florida. Partly because of official protection, but also because of places like power plants. The cleaned outflow of waste water from the plants is warm. And it attracts the manatees when the weather gets cold. They will travel quite a distance to find the power plant outflow so they can enjoy the warmth of the waters.


Eventually the Blue Spring Run empties into the St. John's River. So it goes from crystal clear to the brown of the river. The St, John's has a high content of tannic acid - natural, by the way! - which makes everything that sets in the water for any length of time start to turn brown.

In fact fossils discovered in the river bed tend to be a golden brown color, rather than white or gray. Yes, there is a lot of fossil digging going on in the state of Florida. Archaeology is alive and well in Florida.

I thought you might like to see some of the pretty areas of Florida. And this is certainly one of them! Have a great day!

The Spring Approacheth!

Yeah, it's been awhile since I last posted here. I have been quite the busy feller. With two writing courses I am Mentoring it takes an act of will to pull back from reading the writing assignments of my fellow writers and go off on my own tangent.

What's to write about? After all, my blogging friends have been covering the destruction of the American economic system in great detail, tracking the humorlessness of Barry "O", watching Michael Steele reveal his lack of understanding of the Leftist MSM, and so on. I could add to the thunder, but I just don't have it in me.

Not yet!

Anyway, what sparked me this morning, aside from the bright sky, cool breezes, and whispering fragrances of the morning, was what a friend emailed to me. This is a reminder of many things, Folks. But most of all it's to let you all know that Spring is approaching. And with it warmer temperatures - happens every year, even though it surprises James Hansen and Al Gore each time - green growth, and animals on the move.

Kissed by a Wild Moose

Bill is standing on his back deck which is about two feet off of the ground. Bill is about six-foot one, and 250 lbs, so this Miss Moose is a fair sized critter.

Click on the image to get a better view!




Are you ready for the snow to melt and wash away? Ready to put away the Parkas and mukluks? It's coming! And the sky won't fall, the Polar Bears won't pass into extinction, and we won't see New York City flooded to the tenth-story of every building by the rise of the Oceans. It will simply get warmer as it's done for millennia past.

The Spring Approacheth!

What Stupid Looks Like

Islam In Action had this adorable American Peacenik, from Cleveland, babbling about the Gaza situation. He is speaking for something called the Middle East Peace Forum of Cleveland, which seems to stand for over-running Israel with the barbarous Pseudostinians (The Right To Return! The Right To Return!), but not for Jewish "ethnic cleansing" of Pseudostine. You have to watch the whole thing. It will make you cringe, but at the end you have to wonder ... How does an American adult get to be quite that stupid?

I suppose it's a matter of being over-educated in the Liberal morass of brain-washing that is happening in the Universities, and has been for decades. It's the attitude of Don't try to confuse me with facts! Everybody knows what's the real truth!

We should, perhaps, be working to end the immigration of all Muslims into our nation before we lose every shred of Freedom we possess, and begin to look upon the Death Cult of Islam as we do on the Ku Klux Klan: a Hate group with Terrorist tendencies.

If we fail to meet the menace posed by this Death Cult we will surely begin to slide into that swamp of violence that is surging across oh-so-superior Europe. Israel will fight for the lives of the Jews there. But how soon will we Americans have to fight for the lives and safety of Jews right here? Once they have their way the Muslims will go for the Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and so on. They will not stop until they cleanse the world of all belief systems other than Islam. That is Truth and Fact.

Very soon, indeed, if ninnies like Don Bryan have their way. The Stupid leading the Moronic. Time to Cowboy up, Folks!

Watch:



Hat tip to Always On Watch!

Good News & Bad News to Start Your 2009

Here's the good news to start the New Year: "Jobless claims drop by much more than expected." The bad news? The MSM doesn't understand what it means and so implies it must be due solely to seasonal reasons. Can't be true good news if Bush is still the President.

As Randall Hoven writes:

"The "recession" we are currently in (which started last December, according to the NBER) was based largely on employment figures, not GDP. The number of people employed peaked last December 2007 and decreased every month since. The cumulative loss so far? There were 1.38% fewer jobs in November 2008 than in December 2007.

Hoven, again, on December 3rd: (The National Bureau of Economic Research, the official caller of recessions, recently said we are now in a recession that started one year ago, in December 2007.
[...]
This struck me as odd. Not that I don't believe we are in a recession now, but the starting date of December 2007 just seemed too early to me. To see if this made sense, I looked at some underlying economic data and the NBER's explanation, such as it is. Why this might be important, I'll explain later.
The rule of thumb for defining a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative real growth in GDP. This is now the second recession called by the NBER in the two terms of President George W. Bush, yet in neither case were there two such consecutive quarters. In fact, at no time in Bush's Presidency were there two such quarters.)

Real GDP growth in the US actually went up the first two quarters of the year, despite going down in Europe at that same time. US GDP finally relented in the third quarter, shrinking at an annual rate of 0.5%.
So that is what we know about our "recession" to date: real GDP growth of positive 0.8% for the first 9 months of 2008, and a decline of employment by 1.38% in the first 11 months. Those are not "Depression" numbers by a long shot. They are not even normal recession numbers: the employment decline was more than 1.38% in 9 of the 10 previous recessions since World War II. (Yes, I know, we're not out of this yet. But the current numbers are not alarming in any historical sense.)
And now we are hearing good news on jobless claims."

Well, we're not really hearing the good news, just yet. That won't begin until The One is crowned on January 20th. Until then the MSM-driven theme of approaching Depression will continue. That means the Feds will continue to pretend they can fix what they broke. And they will take your money, flush it down the government toilet, and demand you give more. That's how it works in a Socialist economy. And that's what the MSM, the Democratic Party, and the Left want: a Socialist economy in which they are the Commissars, and you, you ignorant hicks, are their Serfs.

Those multi-Trillion dollar Federal bailouts won't fix anything, but they will prop up moribund companies past their proper shelf-date, lend legitimacy to Organized Labor's 'theft of services' modus operandi, and give the government drones much more power over you and your everyday lives. The very idiots whose lack of knowledge regarding economies, and how they work, have hamstrung American industries, destroyed banks and lending companies, will remain in place. They will continue to accept the bribes that come with oversight of their own financial supporters in business and Labor. They will continue to amass fortunes stolen from hard-working Americans and given to non-working Americans in hopes of securing their votes. It does seem to work for them, doesn't it?

So, you know the good news, which is that the economy and the unemployment rates are doing fairly well. And you know that the usual suspects will say to you, "Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin' eyes?" Who do you believe, eh?

Happy New Year!

Somewhat related: 50 years later Fidel Castro remains a lying, murderous bastard and the MSM still loves him.

Anthropogenic Global Warming still ain't happenin'! But the Left still pushes the fairy tale. Seems volcanoes are warming the Arctic. Have you been told this?

Pseudostinian Terrorists remain cowardly weenies; Israel shows it still has a pair.

Al Franken, nitwit, continues to try to steal the Minnesota election.

And to all the Pacifists out there who decry all Violence as useless, I leave you with this quote from the late, great Robert A. Heinlein:

"Anyone who clings to the historically untrue -- and -- thoroughly immoral doctrine that violence never solves anything I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler would referee. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor; and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms."

Happy 2009!

Be safe. Be smart. Remember: there is no such thing as "tipsy" driving! So drink responsibly and stick around for another year, all right?

Have a Happy New Year! May success, happiness, and good health be yours in 2009!

Whoo-Hoo!