tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69205874892436497872024-03-19T16:16:06.691-04:00Rick Boling AuthorMusings, Artwork, Photomanipulation, Humor and other oddities from Rick Boling, author of the novel "Then Again - An Adventure in Time Travel."Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-57004332642986442452020-12-04T15:08:00.000-05:002019-07-09T15:16:58.405-04:00Then Again The Novel Video<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://youtu.be/fPlSzM0JGNA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt=" Then Again The Novel Video" border="0" data-original-height="489" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy5ArgtTSv0HdC1sk-y0GjzRFaarE74DWGGyHxjFx21Y4UvyYQXqPZoKD1SlNMNmWLmUdguyKttHLARAcCrTcmf0xhYXQ9T-juulmrtq833mTjqoN7-RAPr8FDnx4y7ERoIqa2ky5DWuQ/s1600/video-promo.jpg" /></a></div>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-61031088855622694522020-12-01T10:23:00.000-05:002019-07-09T15:11:49.992-04:00welcome<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Blog</b> - Short for "web log," a type of online garbage dump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>To Blog</b> - To spew uncontrollably from one’s brain; involuntary and unstoppable release of mental effluvia onto electronic media.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Blogger</b> - A person with enough time and narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Blogging</b> - An activity that usually occurs after a person gains access to a computer but before they learn anything about writing. If minds had anuses, blogging would be what your mind does when it has to take a dump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Blog Post</b> - A short web entry by some nobody who goes on and on about their unimportant, non-eventful lives, reporting trivial crap no one wants to hear.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The above definitions are, of course, satirical. Obviously, there are thousands of blogs that do not deserve such descriptions, and it is my sincere hope that this will be one of them. After resisting the urge for many years, I have not joined the Blogosphere to bore visitors with tedious minutia about my life, nor do I intend to use the format as a mental septic tank. On the contrary, I created this blog for my friends, readers of my novel, and others, who might be looking for a brief respite from the incendiary madness of the daily news cycle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Here you will find a good deal of humor, tips and advice on writing, a smidgen of philosophy, some unique images you may not see anywhere else (unless someone steals them, which is fine with me), a bit of inside information on my novel, and an occasional update on my works-in-progress.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I invite your comments, ideas, and suggestions, so long as they are devoid of profanity and reasonably intelligible (sarcasm is encouraged). It is my intention to make your time spent here, if not enlightening, at least minimally informative and entertaining. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I will try to add at least one or two new posts each week, so check back often. And thanks for spending part of your day with me.</span></div>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-41494169754624240082019-07-08T14:24:00.000-04:002019-07-09T15:15:14.859-04:00Clarabelle's Kitchen - The Truth About Men<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">All babies start out with the same number of raw cells which, over nine months, develop into a complete female baby. The problem occurs when cells are instructed by the little chromosomes to make a male baby instead. Because there are only so many cells to go around, the cells necessary to develop a male's reproductive organs have to come from cells already assigned elsewhere in the female.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Recent tests have shown that these cells are removed from the communications center of the brain, migrate lower in the body and develop into male sexual organs. If you visualize a normal brain to be similar to a full deck of cards, this means that males are born a few cards short, so to speak. And some of their cards are in their shorts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">This difference between the male and female brain manifests itself in various ways. Little girls will tend to care for pets or learn to read. Little boys, however, will tend to do things like placing a bucket over their heads and running into walls. Little girls will think about doing things before taking any action. Little boys will punch or kick something, then look surprised if someone asks why they just punched their little brother who was half asleep and looking the other way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">This basic cognitive difference continues to grow until puberty, when the hormones kick into action and the trouble really begins. After puberty, not only the size of the male and female brains differ, but the center of thought also differs. Women think with their heads. Male thoughts often originate lower in their bodies where their ex-brain cells reside.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Of course, the severity of this problem varies from man to man. In some men only a small number of brain cells migrate and they are left with nearly full mental capacity, but they tend to be rather dull, sexually speaking. Such men are known in medical terms as "Nerds." Other men suffer larger brain cell relocation. These men are medically referred to as "Studs." A small number of men suffer massive brain cell migration to their groins. These men are usually referred to as "Mr. President."</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-44026464859662974822019-07-05T17:51:00.000-04:002019-07-09T15:18:16.770-04:00Clara’s Chronicles - The Truth About College<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWNrb63uGK49JTicpim6qOcgWERclgs2WiVAKbvfnyQ6IZmJSfkCqXAtQ5px3BTUlzm6xEN07PiuIksgLNdK7AZ40nv_PpTIK6shDVFfKEd5R9kc_-OQkTu4SmXXFAJMpN9W7SqBTs4E/s1600/claras-chronicles-about-college.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjWNrb63uGK49JTicpim6qOcgWERclgs2WiVAKbvfnyQ6IZmJSfkCqXAtQ5px3BTUlzm6xEN07PiuIksgLNdK7AZ40nv_PpTIK6shDVFfKEd5R9kc_-OQkTu4SmXXFAJMpN9W7SqBTs4E/s1600/claras-chronicles-about-college.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">College is a bunch of rooms where you sit for two thousand hours or so and try to memorize things. The two thousand hours are spread out over four years. You spend the rest of the time starving, sleeping, drinking, and trying not to get raped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Basically, you learn two kinds of things in college:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">1. Things you will need to know in later life (two hours).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">2. Things you will not need to know in later life (1,998 hours).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The latter are things you learn in classes whose names end in -ology, -osophy, -istry, -ics, and so on. The idea is, you memorize these things, write them down in little exam books, then forget them. If you fail to forget them, you become a professor and have to stay in college for the rest of your life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">After you've been in college for a year or so, you're supposed to choose a major, which is the subject you intend to memorize and forget the most things about. Here is a very important piece of advice: be sure to choose a major that does not involve <i>Known Facts and Right Answers</i>. This means you must not major in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, or geology, because these subjects involve actual facts. If, for example, you major in mathematics, you're going to wander into class one day and the professor will say: "Define the cosine integer of the quadrant of a rhomboid binary axis, and extrapolate your result to five significant vertices." If you don't come up with the exact answer the professor has in mind, you fail.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The same is true of chemistry: if you write in your exam book that carbon and hydrogen combine to form coffee, your professor will flunk you. He wants you to come up with the same answer he and all the other chemists have agreed on. Scientists are extremely snotty about this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">So you should major in subjects like English, philosophy, psychology, and sociology—subjects in which nobody really understands what anybody else is talking about, and which involve virtually no actual facts. I attended classes in all these subjects, so I'll give you a quick overview of each:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>ENGLISH:</b> This involves writing papers about long books you have read little snippets of just before class. Here is a tip on how to get good grades on your English papers: Never say anything about a book that anybody with any common sense would say. For example, suppose you are studying <b><i>Moby Dick</i></b>. Anybody with any common sense would say that Moby Dick is a big white whale, since the characters in the book refer to it as a big white whale roughly eleven thousand times. So in your paper, you say Moby Dick is actually the Republic of Ireland. Your professor, who is sick to death of reading papers and never liked <b><i>Moby Dick</i></b>, anyway, will think you are enormously creative. If you can regularly come up with lunatic interpretations of simple stories, you should major in English.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>PHILOSOPHY:</b> Basically, this involves sitting in a room and deciding there is no such thing as reality and then going to lunch. You should major in philosophy if you plan to take a lot of drugs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>PSYCHOLOGY:</b> This involves talking about rats and dreams. Psychologists are obsessed with rats and dreams. I once spent an entire semester training a rat to punch little buttons in a certain sequence, then training my roommate to do the same thing. The rat learned much faster. My roommate is now a doctor. If you like rats or dreams, and above all if you dream about rats, you should major in psychology.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>SOCIOLOGY:</b> For sheer lack of intelligibility, sociology is far and away the number one subject. I sat through hundreds of hours of sociology courses, and read gobs of sociology writing, and I never once heard or read a coherent statement. This is because sociologists want to be considered scientists, so they spend most of their time translating simple, obvious observations into scientific-sounding code. If you plan to major in sociology, you'll have to learn to do the same thing. For example, suppose you have observed that children cry when they fall down. You should write: "Methodological observation of the sociometrical behavior tendencies of prematurated isolates indicates that a causal relationship exists between groundward tropism and lachrimatory behavior forms." If you can keep this up for fifty or sixty pages, you will get a large government grant.</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-26773550297174034722019-06-08T13:35:00.000-04:002019-06-08T13:35:00.656-04:00On Writing - Rejection<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Rejection is a part of any writer’s life, but don’t despair, even the best have received their share. Here are a few examples of best-selling books by now famous authors that were rejected numerous times, along with comments made by the rejecting editors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Herman Melville's masterpiece, <b><i>Moby-Dick</i></b>, was rejected by multiple publishers, some of whom had creative suggestions for the author. Among them was this, by Peter J. Bentley of Bentley & Son Publishing House: "First, we must ask, does it have to be a whale? While this is a rather delightful, if somewhat esoteric, plot device, we recommend an antagonist with a more popular visage among the younger readers. For instance, could not the Captain be struggling with a depravity towards young, perhaps voluptuous, maidens?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Kenneth Grahame (author of <b><i>The Wind in the Willows</i></b>) once received a rejection that stated: “This is an irresponsible holiday story that will never sell.” Of course, the adventures of Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger went on to become one of the best-selling children's tales of all time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“An endless nightmare. I think the verdict would be ‘Oh don’t read that horrid book.” This is from a rejection of H. G. Wells’ tale of alien invasion, <b><i>The War of the Worlds</i></b>, which is still in print 121 years later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Many readers of Joseph Heller’s satirical book about World War II, are probably not aware that he named it <b><i>Catch-22</i></b> as a way of memorializing the 22 rejections it had received. In one of those rejections, the editor stated, “I haven’t the foggiest idea about what the man is trying to say. Apparently the author intends it to be funny.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“…overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian … the whole thing is an unsure cross between hideous reality and improbable fantasy. It often becomes a wild neurotic daydream … I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.” Sadly, for this editor, Vladimir Nabokov’s <b><i>Lolita</i></b> became one of the 20th Century’s most revered novels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Finally, here are a couple of my favorites, sent to apparently struggling writers by less-than-sympathetic editors.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">"I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">"Unfortunately, it falls to me to inform you that we will not be publishing your novel. While it is customary to reply with a form letter, in this case I felt I had to say a few words. First, please do not submit any future work to our offices. Second, both myself and my assistant are considering legal action against you for wasting our valuable time with your relentless tripe. Among the areas in need of vast improvement are: descriptions, character development, dialogue, plot, grammar, syntax, analogies, sentence structure, scene transitions, research, and manuscript preparation. Should this novel have been published, it would likely have resulted in the end of modern book sales."</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-75292882535725896812019-06-06T14:04:00.000-04:002019-07-09T15:20:26.567-04:00Clarabelle's Kitchen- Random Thoughts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaptSL7NDrRv48emt1KXqm-xI9YQ3rfVfFnjTKHJnbDJ1RswKEL2QntCGS3pXcuvM9d6oVC2e6dfccDB0f_NS1l9WyyVZBUpJrvrLI3Tx9j1CUm9eLOdy3_2BFuXOcAWkOGLXMvd440XU/s1600/clarabelle-random-thoughts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaptSL7NDrRv48emt1KXqm-xI9YQ3rfVfFnjTKHJnbDJ1RswKEL2QntCGS3pXcuvM9d6oVC2e6dfccDB0f_NS1l9WyyVZBUpJrvrLI3Tx9j1CUm9eLOdy3_2BFuXOcAWkOGLXMvd440XU/s1600/clarabelle-random-thoughts.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Skinny people piss me off! Especially when they say things like, "You know sometimes I forget to eat." Now, I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name, and my keys. But I've never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">They keep telling us to get in touch with our bodies. Mine isn't all that communicative but I heard from it the other day after I said, "Body, how'd you like to go to the six o'clock Zumba dance class?" Clear as a bell my body said, "Do it and you die, bitch!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I had to give up jogging for my health. My thighs kept rubbing together and setting my pantyhose on fire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I know what Victoria's Secret is. The secret is that nobody older than 30 can fit into their stuff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The reason why most women over fifty don't have babies? They would put them down somewhere and forget where they left them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties and brownnosing their bosses? How intelligent is it to tie a noose around your neck so you can go to work and kiss someone else’s butt?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing … and then they marry him.</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-40798737267984784222019-06-04T18:19:00.000-04:002019-07-09T15:22:15.326-04:00Then Again #4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-54205015337730489592019-06-02T12:59:00.000-04:002019-07-09T15:24:27.851-04:00Today's Word - Administratium<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Investigators at a major US research university recently discovered the heaviest element known to science. The element, tentatively named administratium, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons, which gives it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons. It is also surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Since it has no electrons, administratium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with. According to the researchers, a minute amount of administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally have occurred in less than a second. The reaction can be further delayed by a process called meetingulation, during which an assistant vice neutron gathers together several morons to drink coffee and eat pastries while accomplishing nothing of significance.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years, at which time it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization to allow a number of the assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons to exchange places. In fact, an administratium sample's mass actually <i>increases</i> over time, since with each reorganization, some of the morons inevitably become neutrons, forming new isotopes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to speculate that perhaps administratium is spontaneously formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "critical morass."</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-72724419688746913532019-05-30T17:57:00.000-04:002019-05-30T17:57:07.044-04:00Clara's Chronicles - Dear Dad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-85454213071291224222019-04-23T07:02:00.000-04:002019-05-12T12:05:01.388-04:00Where Pets Came From<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-align: justify;">A newly discovered chapter in the Book of Genesis has
provided the answer to that age-old question: "Where did pets come
from?"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">One day, Adam and Eve said, "Lord, when we were in the
garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are
lonesome here, and it is difficult for us to be happy all by ourselves."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God said, "No problem. I will create a companion
for you that will be with you forever and will be loyal to you no matter how
selfish or childish or unlovable you may be. This new companion will accept you
as you are and will love you, in spite of yourselves."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and
Eve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And it was a good animal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God was pleased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve, and
he wagged his tail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Adam said, "Lord, I have already named all the
animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God said, "No problem. Because I have created this
new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection
of my own name, and you will call him <b><i>Dog</i></b>."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them
and loved them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And they were comforted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God was pleased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Dog was content and wagged his tail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">After a while, it came to pass that an angel approached the
Lord and said, "Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They
strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration.
Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God said, "No problem. I will create for them a
companion who will be with them forever and who will see them as they are. This
companion will remind them of their limitations, so they will know that they
are not always worthy of adoration."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God created <b><i>Cat</i></b> to be a companion to Adam and Eve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed
into Cat's eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Adam and Eve learned humility.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And they were greatly improved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And God was pleased.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Dog was happy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And Cat didn't give a shit one way or the other.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-35992676941310249532019-04-17T12:45:00.000-04:002019-05-09T17:02:50.777-04:00On Writing - Analogies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Analogy \A*nal"o*gy\, n.: a comparison between one thing and another, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Analogies are important tools in the writer's toolbox. They do a lot of work in a few words, provide simple descriptions people can relate to, and help hold a reader's attention when it might be lagging. But some writers go way too far when developing analogies. Here are a few examples:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The hailstones leaped from the pavement like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie he would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-70997848280593869822019-04-15T10:45:00.000-04:002019-05-05T11:09:48.105-04:00Opabin Plateau - Chip Phillips<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-45743916081052527632019-04-12T16:08:00.000-04:002019-05-09T17:02:14.095-04:00Professor Carbuncle - meaningless words<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Being a certified curmudgeon and a professor of pontifical vituperation, I tend to notice things like unnecessary word repetition, and lately I’ve become extraordinarily irritated at the overuse, misuse, and often downright stupid inclusion of unnecessary words and silly phrases on radio, TV and in videos.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">For example, when did it become a rule that every answer and question during an interview had to begin with or include the totally useless word “So?”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“So, when did you become aware of the odd sex life of the male, Ethiopian cockroach?”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“So, I was sitting on a bench in the park one day, when a male, Ethiopian cockroach approached me and demanded sex.” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Really? That’s, odd. So tell me more.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“So, I was minding my own business, when this ugly little bug scurried up my leg, climbed on my shoulder and started whispering sweet nothings in my ear.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Seriously, folks, listen to any interview nowadays, and you’re liable to hear the unnecessary word “so” dozens of times. And if they removed it, not only would that irritating earworm go away, but nothing whatsoever would be lost. Read the above exchange without it and you'll see what I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And whatever happened to “You’re welcome.”? My mother always told me that when somebody thanks you, the polite response was “You’re welcome.” But today, no one being interviewed acknowledges the host’s thanks with this simple, courteous response. Instead, they all say “Thanks for having me,” as if they’d just been had. And in the case of a female, that sounds, you know, a little bit lewd. These guests are supposedly intelligent folks: experts, professors, researchers, politicians, famous authors, and so on. If they decide not to say “You’re welcome,” you’d think at least one of them could come up with something that doesn’t parrot every other interviewee on the planet. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Finally, there’s the oft-repeated and incredibly dumb sounding term “moderate-to-severe.” We constantly hear this silly word grouping in the commercials Big Pharma airs for their latest miracle drugs. Apparently the executives who approve these ads (the guys who are so smart they make a gazillion dollars a week) are unaware that only an illiterate nincompoop would speak that way in real life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“My moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis—irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, depression, overactive bladder—” are words that would never cross the lips of any person with half a brain. Think about it, have you ever said or heard anyone say “moderate-to-severe” when describing a medical condition? For that matter, have you ever heard any sane person speak out loud about these embarrassing maladies?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">And if that isn’t bad enough to make you cringe, after they show you scenes of tranquil nature hikes or sea-and-surf intimacies, while a sincere-sounding voiceover tells you how wonderful and effective their drug is, they point out that it can cause everything from brain hemorrhages to massive heart attacks, limb detachment, and terminal cancer.</span></div>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-31905166166977004692019-04-07T13:12:00.000-04:002019-05-09T17:01:40.272-04:00Luthier's Corner - Rosette<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">For those not familiar with the term, a rosette (as it applies to an acoustic guitar) is the decorative ring that encircles the sound hole. Depending on the type of guitar, the rosette can be anything from a single band, to the beautiful mosaic designs you see on the finest classical and Flamenco instruments.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Many people mistakenly assume that these rosettes are painted; however, except in the case of some cheap imports, they are actually intricate wood inlays, sometimes consisting of pieces as small as 1/124 of an inch square (a little over twice the width of a human hair). If you find it difficult to believe that a luthier could position and glue together such tiny pieces of wood, you’re not alone—to do so one piece at a time would be extraordinarily difficult. Fortunately, there’s a technique that makes it a little easier, though it remains a very delicate process.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The technique predates the modern classical guitar (first devised by Antonio Torres around 1850) and is reported to have been originally developed on the Iberian Peninsula during the Nasrid dynasty of the 13th and 14th centuries. It involves the creation of mosaic tiles through a unique procedure not unlike making and slicing a log of hard salami.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Instead of using single pieces, the luthier cuts and dyes strips of wood, which are then assembled in a specific order, and glued into a log. The gluing operation is done using a press that forms the correct curves and side angles, so that when the log is sliced into tiles, each tile will fit perfectly with the one beside it to form the circular design. This circle is assembled between rings of wooden herringbone, created ahead of time in a similar way. Finally, the completed rosette is inlayed into the top of the guitar and sanded level with the surface.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">In high-production shops, the entire design is assembled as a log, which can then be sliced into individual rosettes. But many traditional luthiers remain faithful to the old-school methodology of assembling each rosette by hand, which allows them to change the design with each guitar they build.</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-22881781790309667832019-04-04T11:04:00.000-04:002019-05-05T11:10:23.638-04:00Beaver Falls - Jerry Cagle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-9944890456156131842019-04-01T18:35:00.000-04:002019-05-12T12:08:48.296-04:00Then Again Characters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">For readers of my novel <b><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Then-Again-Adventure-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B0151Z4VR6/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8">Then Again</a></i></b> who may have wondered
how the five main characters would appear in real life, I created these photorealistic images. Though based on descriptions in the novel, they were leavened
with a healthy dose of imagination. Below each image are slightly edited excerpts from various </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">descriptive </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">passages in the book.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Aurélie told me her early childhood had been confusing. A precocious child with savant-like intelligence, she was speaking in complete sentences before she was one year old, and had mastered simple mathematics by age two. I asked about her adolescence, but she refused to go into detail, saying only that after a few years of teenage sexual rebellion and a couple of failed love affairs in her early twenties, she’d given up on finding a mate and become absorbed in her work with Heyoka. It was sad to think that such an intelligent and attractive woman was an old maid in the making, trapped in a loveless world of intellectual isolation. I remembered when I first saw her, being struck by her simple, almost peasant-like beauty. She was petite and slender, with auburn hair cropped in a short afro that framed a heart-shaped face. Her azure eyes, shadowed by long lashes, looked down on a delicate nose and a wide, generous mouth. Gone was the velvet beret that had held her hair in check, and the black-and-white waitress uniform she’d worn at the club had been replaced by stone-washed jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt featuring a photograph of Jeff Bridges as ‘The Dude’ Lebowski. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large; text-indent: 0in;">My first
clear view of Heyoka Husereau D'Ailleboust nearly knocked me sober. For one
thing, he was huge, and—probably due to an autonomic fright response—my senses
sharpened and my bleary vision cleared. The smile was still there, but it now protruded
from the lower half of a deeply weathered face the color and texture of ruddy
sandstone carved by centuries of water erosion. His mountainous nose swept out
and down like an undulating inverted ski slope and, in contrast to the smile,
there was a notable downcast to his triangular eyes, the pupils of which
resembled pools of liquid onyx. Taken as a whole, his countenance projected a
combination of intelligence and humor, infused with a touch of melancholy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I stood in front of the full-length door mirror and examined the updated version of my body. The growth spurt I remembered from my first life was nearly complete, and the results of my daily weight-lifting sessions were evident in the hardened muscles of my arms and chest. I hadn’t been paying much attention to these changes, and when I took a good look at my face, I was surprised to see a pretty handsome fellow looking back. That Paul-Newman look was beginning to appear in my slightly dimpled chin and downturned eyes. Though there was still a whisper of adolescence in my youthful posture and smile, all-in-all it wasn’t a bad look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The screen began to show a montage of my solo career, starting in the early days after a couple of my songs had charted, and running through the decades that followed. Seeing the venues change from concert halls to small auditoriums to “intimate” nightclub settings was depressing, but even worse was watching my hair lose its color while my smooth, tanned skin faded to chalky parchment like a decomposing corpse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Doris:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I’d always thought of Doris as a sort of female version of
my dad; an efficient, yet friendly RN whose humorous manner and quick wit kept
my fear of needles and other medical procedures at bay until the last possible
moment. Now, however, I saw a different version, one that was not only sexually
attractive, but whose smile and quirky attitude lent a certain element of
intrigue to my childhood image of her as an untouchable adult. When she walked
out of the cabana in a tight-fitting bathing suit, the dozen or so young
interns tracked her with their eyes until she dived in and disappeared under
the water. It was my first detailed look at her unadorned by her nurse’s
uniform, and it revealed a body unlike those from my era, where six-pack-abs
and lean, athletic figures were considered sexy. No, this was a body from the ‘50s,
hourglass shaped, with a narrow waist and beautifully proportioned hips and
breasts. When she emerged from the water and shook out her short, blond hair, the
boys gathered around her in an embarrassing attempt to outdo one another with
their antics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Ellie:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Ellie, whose
intelligence and beauty would one day outshine even her mother’s, was referred
to by the gang as “Super Baby,” and no one ever complained about the fact that
she spent almost all her waking hours—first crawling, then toddling—around the
studio. When she wasn’t on the move, she would sit quietly, watching Jimmy and
Sam operate the huge mixdown console, or looking out through the glass
partition at the musicians as they played.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“You need to keep a closer eye on Ellie,” Aurélie said. “She’s
a beautiful girl, Rix, and I don’t think you’ve noticed how fast she’s growing
up. That wouldn’t be so much of a problem were it not for the fact that her
intelligence makes her curious about everything, and it won’t be long before
her curiosity turns to sex. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that an
emotionally immature, sexually ripe virgin rubbing elbows with musicians and
famous rock stars will be particularly vulnerable.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">She was right, I hadn’t even begun to think about such
things, nor had I paid much attention to Ellie’s physical maturation. But now
that I thought about it, there was the growth spurt and the recently appearing
breasts. I hadn’t worried about her safety or wellbeing because of her
intelligence and logical way of thinking. Plus, she had several dedicated
protectors in the studio who’d been looking out for her almost since the day
she was born. However, if she decided on her own to do something clandestine,
she was so clever that no one would even suspect anything was going on.</span></div>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-68954565912362767252019-03-27T19:01:00.000-04:002019-05-09T16:59:46.563-04:00How Cold Is It?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-5349663168986804092019-03-18T18:39:00.000-04:002019-05-06T20:31:37.834-04:00Killing Time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-75466578709729684872019-03-13T17:49:00.000-04:002019-05-09T16:47:55.588-04:00On Writing - Character Mutiny<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Readers have a hard time believing it when a novelist claims her/his characters have hijacked the story and are taking it in a direction they didn’t initially intend. “How,” they say, “can a character <i>you</i> invented do something to <i>your</i> story that <i>you</i> didn’t plan?” The answer is simple: if you create a character, invent a back story, shape their personality, and make her/him believable, it’s only natural for that character to come to life on the page. In which case, you have a person to deal with, not a slave.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">When planning a novel, I create detailed profiles for each of the main characters before I begin the writing process. Though most of the details never see print, these profiles allow me to get to know my characters on a ‘personal’ level: how they look, how their background shapes the way they act, what their opinions might be on any given subject, and so on. I even do this in a less- comprehensive way for characters I assume will play minor roles in the story (doormen, cab drivers, distant relatives, etc.). But occasionally one of these peripheral characters will jump up and say, ‘Wait a minute, you can’t relegate me to a minor role, I’m more important than that!’ I may disagree and try to push ahead with the story as I first envisioned it, but sometimes that character quickly becomes so intriguing, I have no choice but to write him/her into the deeper narrative.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">A good example of this occurred in the first chapter of the novel I am currently writing, when a character named Kate, who was supposed to be a relatively unimportant assistant to the protagonist, suddenly asserted herself without my permission. I almost always base my characters on people I’ve seen or known, and I had based Kate’s profile on a young lady I’d met during my morning walks who had some interesting physical attributes. But rather than explain further, I will quote below some excerpts from that chapter that might help you better understand how her character evolved.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I was scheduled to meet the notorious expatriate’s assistant at the Key West Visitors Center on Big Pine Key, about 35 miles shy of the famous ‘Conch Republic’ itself. During our last phone conversation, Kate Wallinski had assured me that I would have no trouble recognizing her. “Just look for someone who resembles one of those stick figures we used to draw in kindergarten,” she said. And as I pulled into the parking lot, there she was, dressed in loose-fitting, canary yellow shorts and a colorful Jimmy Buffet-style shirt that hung on her toothpick frame like a wilted bandanna on a wire hanger. Anorexic would be a less than adequate way to describe her appearance, which, given my penchant for pithy journalistic commentary, I might have compared to a skeleton dipped in flesh-colored latex.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I parked next to the Mercedes G550 she was leaning on and took a moment to gather my thoughts before stepping out into the sweltering, late-summer heat. Silently admonishing myself not to look shocked, I nonetheless felt my eyes widen and my jaw drop as I approached her and accepted the bony hand she held out to me. A broad smile spread across her face—a quite pretty face, actually—indicating that she was used to such reactions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Hey, don’t worry about it,” she said with a chuckle that betrayed not a hint of embarrassment or rebuke. “Happens all the time. I’m Kate. And you must be Mike, the famous journalist.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“I … uh, don’t know about the famous part,” I stammered. “But yes … yes. Mike Early. Pleased to meet you.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Back on the Overseas Highway, with the air running full blast, Kate glanced over and caught me staring again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“So,” she said, directing her attention back to the road ahead, “you have a bunch of questions you’re too embarrassed to ask, eh? That’s not a problem, but if it’s okay with you, I’m going to go ahead and answer them instead of waiting around for you to work up the nerve.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Sorry,” I said, forcing myself to look away. “I didn’t mean—”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“I told you not to worry. Believe me, I’m used to it. Anyway, I’m gonna have to get a little technical here, but first I should tell you that I’m not anorexic or bulimic. In fact, if I have an eating disorder, its only symptom is that I eat like a starved horse most of the time. Second, I don’t have AIDs, or any other communicable disease. What I do have is a rare gene duplication in a part of chromosome 16 that causes chronic underweight. Half the kids with this genetic curse suffer from what the scientific types call a ‘failure to thrive,’ which means they‘re a lot smaller or shorter than they should be and often don’t go through the usual changes of puberty. In case you’re wondering, I’m a tad different when it comes to this particular genetic quirk. You were wondering, weren’t you?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“I, uh, well, yeah,” I said. “But I didn’t want to pry.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Pry all you want.” She downshifted and swerved to avoid a large gopher tortoise crossing the road. “I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have if it puts an end to your uneasy silence. Anyway, I lucked out, because I grew up to be a pretty healthy five-foot-seven, with an average–sized brain and no physical problems other than looking like a human stick bug. I quit being embarrassed about my body a long time ago, and I’ve learned not to let people’s curiosity bother me. So please just try to relax. Okay?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Fascinating,” I said. Then, feeling somewhat emboldened by her candid explanation, I decided to probe a little further. “So, there aren’t any adverse health effects or serious physical impairments?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Not that the docs have been able to find. There‘s some minor physical stuff, like not being very muscular, so I could never be any good at weight lifting or other sports that take a lot of strength. I’m pretty agile, though, and I have good hand-eye coordination. I actually play a fair game of tennis and I’m not a bad swimmer.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> “You don’t sound like a Floridian,” I said, noting her Midwestern accent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Folks were from upstate Minnesota. Little town called Thief River Falls. Dad moved the family down back in the nineties to take a job at the Louisville Slugger factory. He’s a lathe operator. My brothers got into horse breeding and talked Dad into buying a small farm out east of the city. That’s where I spent most of my childhood.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“How many brothers?” I asked.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Gettin’ kinda nosey, aren’t we?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Curiosity is an important attribute in my profession. But if it’s too personal …”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Nah. I was just pullin’ your chain. Two brothers, both older. And, no, they don’t have what I have. It’s genetic, but it skipped a generation, and it only shows up in the females of the family. Grandma had it, but not my mom, and I don’t have any sisters. In case you’re interested, Grandma lived into her nineties and had eight kids.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“And you?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">“Ah, now we’re getting down to it, eh?” she said, turning to look at me. In the soft glow of fading sunlight, I once again noticed the subtle beauty of her face. It was a beauty that should have seemed totally out of place atop such a bizarre, almost clownishly skeletal body, and it surprised me to find this was not the case at all. In fact, that face, with its radiant smile and Goldie-Hawn-like sparkle, cast an aura that seemed to blot out everything else about her.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">By then, I had pretty much fallen in love with Kate Wallinski, and she went on to become one of the novel’s three main characters. Again, this was not planned; I actually had to go back and flesh out her character profile, which was originally quite thin (no pun intended).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">My point here is that if you choose your characters carefully, base them at least partially on real people, then get to know them, they may, at some point, try to wrestle control of the story from you. Not only that but, as happened in this particular case, they can sometimes change the entire direction of the narrative for the better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">By the way, the novel will be called FAKER, and I’m aiming for a publication date near the end of spring, 2020.</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-7935474355677925402019-03-13T16:09:00.000-04:002019-05-12T12:10:58.411-04:00Major Technological Breakthrough<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHIsEIJbu5Bs_yZXH2PGDAnQryG5fUSPdWHxZKmKEg3dKfrZkB7HRo4MXOo5TSRhBPMT-lB42OJWLVt2UVrQCMrAFsBoMAyCVEprrLA97S16beRDZymSLGv6Wwte7M7l7TbJ4TO6l_q1M/s1600/book-new-invention.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHIsEIJbu5Bs_yZXH2PGDAnQryG5fUSPdWHxZKmKEg3dKfrZkB7HRo4MXOo5TSRhBPMT-lB42OJWLVt2UVrQCMrAFsBoMAyCVEprrLA97S16beRDZymSLGv6Wwte7M7l7TbJ4TO6l_q1M/s1600/book-new-invention.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">We are proud to introduce the new <i><b>B</b>io-<b>O</b>ptic <b>O</b>rganized <b>K</b>nowledge</i> device, trade-named <b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no headphones, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use, even a child can operate it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Compact and portable, </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> can be used anywhere—even sitting in an armchair by the fire—yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a Kindle file or a flash drive.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Here’s how it works:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of (recyclable) paper called <i>Pages</i>, each capable of holding thousands of bits of information.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The <i>Pages</i> are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Opaque Paper Technology (OPT)</i> allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now, </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><i>s</i></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> with more information simply use more <i>Pages</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Each <i>Page</i> is scanned optically, injecting the information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next <i>Page</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> may be taken up at any time and used merely by opening it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> never crashes or requires buffering, nor can it be infected with viruses, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped overboard. The “browse” feature allows you to move instantly to any <i>Page</i> and move forward or backward as you wish.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Many </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>s</i> come with an “index” feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">An optional “</span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>mark</i>” accessory allows you to open </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> to the exact place you left it in a previous session—even if it has been closed. </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>marks</i> fit universal design standards; thus, a single </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>mark</i> can be used in </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>s</i> by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>marks</i> can be used in a single </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">, if the user wants to store numerous views at once.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">You can also make personal notes next to </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> text entries with an optional programming tool, the </span><i style="font-size: xx-large;"><b>P</b>ortable <b>E</b>rasable <b>N</b>ib <b>C</b>ryptic <b>I</b>ntercommunication <b>L</b>anguage <b>S</b>tylus (</i></span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>PENCILS)</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Portable, durable, and affordable, </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> is being hailed as a precursor of a new entertainment wave.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-large;"><i>BOOK</i></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>’s</i> appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform and investors are reportedly flocking to invest. Look for a flood of new titles soon.</span><br />
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-11999765129696533792019-03-09T11:07:00.000-05:002019-05-05T11:10:39.275-04:00Seagulls At Sunset - Sarasota, Florida<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-86337818663521465562019-03-08T14:07:00.000-05:002019-05-12T12:11:29.197-04:00History Of The World<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49IQXic-ml7KiQ5U14zsGUAwLU4xx5vcbXs9L0iLAreJgGShh0ZBx0FBrvxmStN-Sdvm7lrKATBeiXfjTYvkyHZSXrZ6M5PPjiOWZZElwhgdpKMOvSdFqBQ8gjrqlN0iAi4smKG-jRsk/s1600/history-of-the-world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh49IQXic-ml7KiQ5U14zsGUAwLU4xx5vcbXs9L0iLAreJgGShh0ZBx0FBrvxmStN-Sdvm7lrKATBeiXfjTYvkyHZSXrZ6M5PPjiOWZZElwhgdpKMOvSdFqBQ8gjrqlN0iAi4smKG-jRsk/s1600/history-of-the-world.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The following are direct quotes from K-12 student’s essays, submitted
by teachers throughout the U.S.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Bible is full of interesting caricatures. In the first
book of the Bible, Guinessis, Adam and Eve were created from an apple. A snake
was present at the time. God got tired of creating the world, so He took the
Sabbath off.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Noah built an ark, which the animals came on to in pears.
Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but
a ball of fire by night. <o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies, and they all wrote
in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of the Sarah is
such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had
trouble with the Genitals. Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they
made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards,
Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Amendments. Moses died before he
ever reached Canada. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He
fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in Bibical times. Solomon,
one of David's sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them
we wouldn't have history. They invented three kinds of columns: Corinthian,
ironic, and dorc. Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving
people advice, so they killed him with an overdose of wedlock. After his death,
his career suffered a dramatic decline.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.
When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.
When the three wise guys from the east side arrived, they found Jesus in the
manager. Later, St. John, the Blacksmith, capsized him.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The people who followed the Lord were called the 12
decibels.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>One of the opossums was St. Matthew who was by profession a
taximan. The epistles were the wives of the apostles. A Christian should have
only one spouse. This is called monotony.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Then came the Middle Ages when King Alfred conquered the
Dames. He had many brave knights who road on prancing horses and beautiful
women. Joan of Arc was canonized by Bernard Shaw, and victims of the
blue-bonnet plaque grew boobs on their necks. Finally, Magna Carta provided
that no man should be hanged twice for the same offense.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>In medieval times people were alliterate. During this time,
people put on morality plays about ghosts, goblins, virgins, and other mythical
creatures.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The Renaissance was an age in which Martin Luther was nailed
to the church door for selling papal indulgences. He died a horrible death,
being excommunicated by a bull.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>It was painter Donatello's interest in the female nude that
made him the father of the Renaissance, which was an age of great inventions
and discoveries. Gutenberg invented the Bible, and another important invention
was the circulation of the blood. Later, Sir Francis Drake circumcised the
world with a 100-foot clipper.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Then came the enlightenment. Voltaire invented electricity
and also wrote a book called Candy. Gravity was invented by Isaac Walton. It is
chiefly noticeable in autumn, when the apples are falling off trees.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>John Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a
large number of children. In between, he practiced on an old spinster. Bach
died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world,
and so was Handle. Handle was half German, half Italian, and half English.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so
deaf he wrote loud music. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts
and Inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and began reproducing by
machine.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><i>The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers.
Then came the First World War, which ushered in a new error in the anals of
human history.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-2259992988296368082019-03-06T15:08:00.000-05:002019-05-09T17:07:39.596-04:00Then Again #9<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Then-Again-Adventure-Time-Travel-ebook/dp/B0151Z4VR6/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Then+Again+by+Rick+Boling&amp;qid=1551043300&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-1-spell&_encoding=UTF8&tag=thewritershome&linkCode=ur2&linkId=2b5ae090286182b11df9e1254042e50a&camp=1789&creative=9325" target="_blank"><img alt=" Then Again The Novel" border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIdl12XBv17_W9chYqEPJU8pCUiJ6-WJAZJsFcJc9CpZkCeKqL_1AC_1-bFufpHPpJrXU-pytDUvcvKQ5JcDwi-cBjdylHy77gAdreUE5c0WxAJNFAfOZE5CqEusLBVb7M8k6drUx0T_M/s1600/promo-9.jpg" /></a></div>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-33320182667663438492019-03-01T20:16:00.000-05:002019-05-09T17:07:10.957-04:00The Brits Love Their Pets<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL2ECiVDrziNApiebIMqmeRcvdhyphenhyphenLoWJckNbRgQdI5LtrTaqFcvUL5clJx_-YHD9Lc2Yo0EHk-h62zqOhHDpdnngum3-b_hu778SEPCbrgyGMdHhheYC1XejiUvSTf20qFMSEi_KIoaQ/s1600/lady-w-gator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAL2ECiVDrziNApiebIMqmeRcvdhyphenhyphenLoWJckNbRgQdI5LtrTaqFcvUL5clJx_-YHD9Lc2Yo0EHk-h62zqOhHDpdnngum3-b_hu778SEPCbrgyGMdHhheYC1XejiUvSTf20qFMSEi_KIoaQ/s1600/lady-w-gator.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">According to a recent study of 2,000 British cat and dog
owners, more than half prefer spending time with their pets over spending time
with other humans. Why? Because they don’t nag, never talk back and are always
in a good mood. Not only that, but more than a third prefer their pets to their
partners, saying their pet is a better listener, while 45-percent like the fact
they are never judged or questioned by their cat or dog. In addition, a surprising
29-percent say their four-legged friend is better at snuggling, and 44-percent
would rather cuddle up with them than they would with their better
half. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">“Whilst some of the findings of this research are on the
surface rather surprising, what they actually demonstrate is just how much we
Brits love our pets and why they’re such an important part of our families,”
said Hannah Edwards, Senior Marketing Manager for Freshpet, which carried out
the research using OnePoll.com. “Whether that means using our four-legged friends
as a sounding board for our problems, cuddling up with them on the sofa in a
quiet moment, or simply spending quality time with them and enjoying their
unconditional love, it’s clear that our beloved pets mean the world to us ... even
more at times than our life partners. Shockingly, when faced with the decision
to choose a pet or a partner, 14-percent would rather spend the rest of their
life with their pet.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">And if you think my photo-composited image above is a joke,
you should know that once, on a visit to The Gambia in West Africa, the Queen
was actually given a crocodile as a pet for Prince Andrew.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
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Rick Bolinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10551002516817563746noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6920587489243649787.post-46319500155918283452019-02-28T18:18:00.000-05:002019-05-09T17:06:43.056-04:00On Writing - Creative Loafing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdIofaO41QfLhzm1C3e2wv0G071xCpN2CGrjNcPEklph-3U6gaiNBgUrfx8iTqv4p1ouzyvTCs-2zvwuLYxho6wPmk4rdcncuoArY5E-Esqp7LbNkyya4Kgsy4gtIRkOPAhiHwnJTzoM/s1600/on-writing-creative-loafing.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="870" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkdIofaO41QfLhzm1C3e2wv0G071xCpN2CGrjNcPEklph-3U6gaiNBgUrfx8iTqv4p1ouzyvTCs-2zvwuLYxho6wPmk4rdcncuoArY5E-Esqp7LbNkyya4Kgsy4gtIRkOPAhiHwnJTzoM/s1600/on-writing-creative-loafing.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Writers—especially fiction writers—are constantly alert to story possibilities and character ideas, whether at a baseball game, a restaurant, or riding on a rollercoaster. Often, we find ourselves contemplating stories at seemingly inappropriate times, such as when we’re entertaining guests, or watching a school play. A wandering mind is one of the hazards of creative thinking, and even though it is a common trait among serious writers, we sometimes have to suffer through the misconceptions of those around us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">When your spouse or significant other sees you sitting on the front steps, staring into space, it’s only natural for them to assume you are loafing. Most non-writers don’t understand that much of the writing process goes on silently, inside the mind, before your fingers ever touch a pen or a keyboard. It’s a good idea to explain this to those you live with, so you don’t end up feeling guilty every time your brain takes a time out from the world around you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Though I don’t subscribe to the old adage that says you must set aside a certain time each day to do nothing but write, I do believe that writing something every day is healthy for a writer. This could be an entry in your journal or diary, some personal correspondence, or maybe a poem. After not writing for more than a couple of days, it’s hard to get the literary engine warmed up again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Vacations are a good example. This is supposed to be a time when you leave your work behind and relax. That works fine if you are leaving behind a regular job, but writing puts you in the category of "artist," and most artists cannot actually leave their art behind when they go on a vacation, especially when the surroundings are creatively stimulating, as are most vacation spots.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">A guitarist for example, would probably not leave his or her instrument behind when going to the mountains, and a painter would most likely take a sketchpad along when vacationing at the coast. Writers are no different. That’s why you should always carry a note pad, or some kind of recording device (your smart phone probably has a recording feature) in order to write down or record ideas, scenes, descriptions of characters you meet, and interesting snippets of conversation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">In many cases these random scribblings or recordings are never used. However, they act to keep the juices flowing at a low ebb, and make it easier to begin writing again once the vacation is over. This is not to say that you should never attempt to clear your mind of all things related to your writing career, but leisure, quiet, and soft ocean breezes are simply not conducive to doing this. Deliberate loafing invariably turns into "creative loafing," simply because it leaves the mind free to explore.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">I’ve found that the best way to relax without thinking about writing is to involve yourself in activities that demand so much thought and/or physical exertion you have no choice but to give them your full attention. Such activities differ for each person, but might include things like hobbies that require concentration, good films, or competitive sports (except, perhaps, golf). Basically, anything that does not take on a monotonous flavor, like riding a bicycle, walking through the woods, swimming, or listening to familiar music.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Poetry and personal correspondence are also things that can take your mind off work. Though they are forms of writing, I think of them as the dessert portions of my career. Though I’ve written hundreds of poems, I’ve never tried to sell one, nor do I plan to try (I once entered a poetry contest, and the result convinced me that I wasn’t a poet). But writing poetry does allow me a freedom of style and content I do not normally have. The same freedom applies to personal correspondence. Not having to adhere to anyone’s rules provides a welcome relief from my normal routine. It is somewhat like the classical guitarist playing a little folk music at a campfire sing-along—not as taxing as a regular performance, but creatively stimulating and pleasant.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">It is important to draw a balance between family, social life, and career. There are dozens of stories about writers whose obsession with work destroyed their most intimate relationships. Because a writer is free to work anytime, many are driven to work all the time, and this is no healthier than incessant loafing. The "workaholic" syndrome is not exclusive to corporate executives; writers, are just as susceptible to the pitfalls of overwork.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">However you choose to relax, make sure you find some time every day to do so. Not only will it help clear the cobwebs from your mind, it will help keep you healthy. Too much work, as we all now know, can lead to several forms of stress-related illness and, though it used to be fashionable for writers to die young, early death (at least for me) has gone out of style.</span><br />
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