(Courtesy of YOKS)
Goody Goodelle
So Ye Olde Kid Sister (YOKS) calls me up this morning to wish me Happy Birthday and informs me that they renamed the street in front of the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub from Shawmut Street Extension to Cocoanut Grove Lane.
In my mind I thought yeah that’s right, I am going to post a blog entry on … November 28 … oh ‘sh1+’. Well with the Mrs in hospital the week before Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving holiday (where I did all the cooking), I suppose you can forgive me for not getting this out on time.
– – –
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire
The Cocoanut Grove was Boston’s premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 1940s. On November 28, 1942, this club was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in history, killing 492 people (which was 32 more than the building’s authorized capacity) and injuring hundreds more. The enormity of the tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced the events of World War II in newspaper headlines. It led to a reform of safety standards and codes across the country, and major changes in the treatment and rehabilitation of burn victims.
It was the second-deadliest single-building fire in American history; only the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago had a higher death toll, of 602.
Official reports state that the fire started at about 10:15 p.m. in the dark, intimate Melody Lounge downstairs. A young pianist and singer, Goody Goodelle, was performing on a revolving stage, surrounded by artificial palm trees. It was believed that a young man, possibly a soldier, had removed a light bulb in order to give himself privacy while kissing his date. Stanley Tomaszewski—a 16-year-old busboy—was instructed to put the light back on by retightening the bulb. As he attempted to tighten the light bulb in its socket, the bulb fell from his hand. In the dimly-lit lounge, Tomaszewski, unable to see the socket, lit a match to illuminate the area, found the socket, extinguished the match, and replaced the bulb. Almost immediately, patrons saw something ignite in the canopy of artificial palm fronds draped above the tables (although the official report doubts the connection between the match and the subsequent fire).
December 2, 1953
Untitled, Unedited, & Coming Undone
I spent Thanksgiving weekend reading Untitled, Unedited, & Coming Undone available from the Amazon Kindle store.
From an Amazon Review
[5 stars] A Powerful Emotional Self Exploration of Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Abuse
While I do not personally know anyone who has been physically, sexually, or emotionally abused, I can imagine that this would be a good book for both the abused and anyone working through a relationship with someone who was abused. L. T. Is a strong, beautiful woman who is baring her soul about the pain and suffering she has endured at multiple stages in her life. It is a cathartic stream of consciousness interlaced with a well written fictionalized storyline. I found myself living in her world; crying at the sadness, seething with her anger, cheering for her successes. This is not a children’s book. It is filled with adult conflict and the kind of language many of us wish we could rain down on our own critics. Nevertheless the reader is swept into the maelstrom at page one and held in it’s grip until it spits you out at the end.
Like most e-books it’s cheap ($2.99) and the Kindle App is free for all devices and systems.
The style is reminiscent of a movie watched with the director’s commentary turned on. The content is dark, but the writing has humorous moments. At all times the humanity and perseverance of the author shines through.
This is certainly a book for any adult of any gender who wants to understand the psyche of the abused woman. I can also imagine that it would provide a sense of community to other abused women.
To say I enjoyed it may not be the right word considering the content but I was uplifted by the author’s struggle and victories.
If you read it, please leave a review on Amazon and feel free to leave a comment here.
Pizza?
Do I smell pizza?
What Women Want
For Neela …
King Harold and the Witch:
Young King Harold was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom. The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Harold’s youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Harold would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.
The question?….
What do women really want?
Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man, and to young Harold, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch’s proposition to have an answer by year’s end.
He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.
Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer.
But the price would be high; as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.
The last day of the year arrived and Harold had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but he would have to agree to her price first.
The old witch wanted to marry Sir James, the most noble of the Knights of the Kingdom and Harold’s closest friend!
Young Harold was horrified. She was hunchbacked and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc. He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.
He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden; but James, learning of the proposal, spoke with Harold.
He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Harold’s life and the preservation of the Kingdom.
Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered Harold’s question thus:
What a woman really wants, she answered …
Is to be in charge of her own life.
Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth and that Harold’s life would be spared.
And so it was, the neighboring monarch granted Harold his freedom and James and the witch had a wonderful wedding.
The honeymoon hour approached and James, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen lay before him on the bed. The astounded James asked what had happened.
The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth, be her horrible deformed self only half the time and the beautiful maiden the other half.
Which would he prefer? Beautiful during the day….or night?
James pondered the predicament. During the day, a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch?
Or, would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day, but by night, a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous intimate moments?
What would YOU do?
What James chose is below.
BUT….make YOUR choice before you scroll down below.
OKAY?
Noble James said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.
Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time because he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.
Now….what is the moral to this story?
When I originally received this story in an email it had a kind of snarky, guy-centric moral. In other words … a joke.
But it isn’t a joke. It is a parable of one of the great truths of the human experience. Women want to be in charge of their own lives. They want to be treated as the equals that they rightfully are.
The sooner the other half of us ‘gets’ this, the more beautiful our relationships will be.
Sacked out 4
The cuteness never stops at CatBeard Manor …
Sacked out 3
Pickles at the far end of the sofa, just past Hillary.
Sacked out 2
Sacked out
… Next to cb
Sir Edmund Hillary
Thanksgiving 2013
On this Thanksgiving I want to wish everyone reading this the very best and to let you know how thankful I am to have discovered the WordPress community.
Happy Thanksgiving,
cb, the Mrs, Patches, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Pickles
500,000 iPhone 5s units
… per day!
Source: Boy Genius Report
Daily iPhone 5s production now matches Moto X’s entire Q3 sales
Foxconn has 100 production lines, 600 people per line and a total of more than 300,000 workers dedicated solely to building the iPhone 5s — and that’s just at one factory in Zhengzhou, China. How many iPhone 5s handsets can all those people build? According to the report, they’re pumping out a staggering 500,000 iPhone 5s units each day.
Mars – The New Evidence
…
Curiosity Fails to Find Methane in Martian Atmosphere
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/m/news/?release=2013-285
Phoenix – A Tribute
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phx20100524.html
May 24, 2010
PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has ended operations after repeated attempts to contact the spacecraft were unsuccessful. A new image transmitted by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows signs of severe ice damage to the lander’s solar panels.
“The Phoenix spacecraft succeeded in its investigations and exceeded its planned lifetime,” said Fuk Li, manager of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “Although its work is finished, analysis of information from Phoenix’s science activities will continue for some time to come.”
…
During its mission, Phoenix confirmed and examined patches of the widespread deposits of underground water ice detected by Odyssey and identified a mineral called calcium carbonate that suggested occasional presence of thawed water. The lander also found soil chemistry with significant implications for life and observed falling snow. The mission’s biggest surprise was the discovery of perchlorate, an oxidizing chemical on Earth that is food for some microbes and potentially toxic for others.
Happiness is a warm blankie
Cats
Apologies for those waiting for the next day of the Day 42 series. The Mrs spent another week in the hospital. “Winter” has arrived here, with temperatures in the 40s and rain and gloom. She got out Friday.
I have mostly been reading and spent yesterday (Sunday) sleeping.
I’ll leave you with some recent cat photos. They need no explanation.
Making Life Multi-Planetary
Case for Mars
“Furthermore, the technology available to America a half century ago was vastly inferior to that of today. The men who designed Apollo did their calculations on slide rules capable of performing, at most, one calculation per second, not on computers doing billions. Yet in eight years they solved all the problems necessary to take us from nearly zero human spaceflight capability to landing men on the moon and returning them to Earth.
As this book will show in detail, from a technological point of view, we are much better prepared to send humans to Mars today than they were to get men to the Moon in 1961. Yet they got there in eight years. We’ve gone nowhere in the past three and a half decades.
So, the question is, what did NASA have then that it doesn’t have now?
The answer is Resolution.”
Excerpt From: Zubrin, Robert. “Case for Mars.” Free Press, 2011. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.
Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=448231990
Also available at Amazon
Mars Underground
A very good one hour documentary.
Dana Stabenow
In 1982 I turned 30. Was this what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, work on the Slope and party in Hawaii? Well…but no. I left the Slope for the last time on August 17, 1982 (but who’s counting?) and enrolled in UAA’s MFA program, from which I graduated in 1985. My goal was to sell a book before I went broke and I just barely made it: Second Star was bought by Ace Science Fiction in 1990. It fell with an almighty thud on the marketplace and was never heard from again. Oh dear. – See more at: http://www.stabenow.com/about-dana
The Mrs and I are both reading Dana Stabenow. The Mrs is reading the Kate Shugak series (click image below). She tells me it is excellent.
I am reading the Star Svensdotter series beginning with Second Star (see above), a MUCH better book than the quote above might lend you to believe. (click image below)
For the full list of e-books see http://www.stabenow.com/e-books
If you are looking for something new to read, try Dana Stabenow. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Be seeing you … cb
Apple, The Hyperion Ion Cannon And Why Future iPhones Could Have A Sapphire Screen
Follow up to ‘Transparent Aluminum’ …
Fast Forward >> more on the Ion Cannon
Transparent Aluminum
1986
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transparent_aluminum#Transparent_aluminum
[Transparent Aluminum] was notably mentioned in the 1986 film Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Panels of ultra-thick acrylic glass were needed to construct water tanks within their ship’s cargo bay for containing two humpback whales and tons of water. However, the Enterprise crew, without money appropriate to the period, found it necessary to barter for the required materials. Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott exchanges the chemical formula for transparent aluminum for several sheets of the material from a manufacturer called Plexicorp. When Dr. Leonard McCoy informs Scott that giving Dr. Nichols the formula is altering the future, the engineer responds, “Why? How do we know he didn’t invent the thing?”
From MOVIECLIPS.com:
2013
MERRIMACK, N.H., Nov. 4, 2013 — GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:GTAT) announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire material. GT will own and operate ASF® furnaces and related equipment to produce the material at an Apple facility in Arizona where GT expects to employ over 700 people. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of approximately $578 million. GT will reimburse Apple for the prepayment over five years, starting in 2015.
http://allthingsd.com/20131104/apple-inks-major-sapphire-supply-deal-with-gt-advanced-technologies/
Sapphire is currently used as the substrate for LED manufacture and is used by Apple in the lense covers of various ‘iDevice’ cameras as well as the fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5s. The Apple – GT Advanced Technologies deal suggests that Apple needs an assured supply of Sapphire for current and future devices. Such future applications could include Sapphire screens and/or wearable products. (http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2013/09/apple-invents-a-fusion-process-that-will-add-a-sapphire-laminate-layer-to-iphone-ipad-future-iwatch-cover-glass.html)
From Pocketnow.com:
From GT Advanced Technologies:
Sapphire is second only to diamond in hardness (that is, scratch resistance). The formula for Sapphire is Al2O3.
Sapphire = Transparent Aluminum
See also (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapphire)
Day 50
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the ninth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
– Day 50 –
Jess opened the stairwell door to the roof and let the dogs out. Maggie and Wolf scurried out, running and sniffing and peeing and sniffing and running and peeing and running some more. She climbed up to the helipad and walked over to one of the two spotters stationed there. “Hi, Jim how are you doing this morning?”
Galveston Causeway
From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galveston_Causeway
The Galveston Causeway is a set of causeways in Galveston, Texas, United States. Two of the routes carry the southbound and northbound traffic of Interstate 45, while the original causeway is restricted to rail traffic. It is the only free roadway access point to Galveston Island. The causeway carries traffic over Galveston Bay and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The original causeway was built in 1912 and carried both rail and auto traffic. The auto traffic was transferred to new causeways built to the west in 1939, leaving the original bridge for rail traffic. The original route was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Click too enlarge
Click too enlarge
Pickles gets luvins
What else could be said?
Cat Tales – Pickles and Hillary
Today’s Cat Tale is about how Pickles and Hillary came to live with us.
In the 70s we had a cat named Everest but this story isn’t about her. She will have her own story.
In the 90s and the 00s we had a cat named Kitaska. She was an extremely sweet cat who chose me. But again this story is not about her except to say that she died several years ago at the age of 17.
Kitashka
About a year after the death of Kitashka the Mrs and I began thinking we wanted another cat. After weeks of deliberating I learned from a coworker that there was a cat in need of a home because it’s owner was going to be leaving the country. I never got that cat. While backing out of the driveway to go look at that cat, my neighbor waved, I rolled down the window, and he asked “are you still looking for a cat”. He was temporarily watching a cat that belonged to his wife’s daughter, but they did not want it anymore. I walked into their house, walked back to the guest bedroom and saw Patches lying there on the bed. She was very gentle and very friendly and came to see me immediately. I took her home to see if the Mrs wanted to keep her and she never left. Patches is a sweet old girl. She’s either cross-eyed or blind in one eye and when she goes from the carpet to a hard surface she feels around with her right front paw as if she’s walking out onto glass.
Patches
This story isn’t about her either, except to say that Patches has always been my cat and the Mrs wanted a cat of her own. You see, Kitashka, even though she chose me, was always a lap cat for the Mrs when I wasn’t home. The Mrs is a shut in and having a lap cat was very important to her.
Then I learned about four orphaned kittens who were living in the backyard of a coworker of a coworker of a coworker.
I showed the above picture to the Mrs and she decided that she wanted the one who is now called Pickles (far left) and any other one. (We already had Patches and #2 son had a cat named Luna. I did not think we could handle six cats.)
So we went to the house of the person with the kittens in the backyard. The kittens were living under the patio deck and were so hungry that they would come out and eat food scraps but would not let you touch them. They could barely squeeze through the crack between the concrete and the wooden deck. The fellow had a couple of raccoon traps which we put some food in and we managed to capture Pickles and capture the kitten that we would soon name Hillary. We then transferred them each to a cat carrier and brought them home.
Once home I put the cat carrier in the bathroom by the laundry room to allow them to acclimate to the colder house temperature. When I brought them kitten food and water they hissed and backed as far to the back of the cat carrier as they could. When they realized it was food though they came forward and ate like they hadn’t eaten in days. The next day we bought a playpen and kitten toys and put them in the playpen with a sheet over the top.
In the playpen
If you listen to the audio you’ll hear a reference to a name of Freckles. This was to be Pickles original name but for some reason we forgot it and we kept calling him Pickles. The name stuck. You may also notice we called them she. This was before we took them to the vet and found out they were both boys. Notice the pyramid-shaped cat tent. Sir Edmund Hillary got his name by being the first to climb to the top of it.
We worked hard to socialize the kittens immediately. Everyone in the family took turns holding them and loving them on a continuous basis. Yet somehow I continue to be the cat whisperer. As with Patches and Kitashka before her, both Pickles and Hillary love to be with me. Both he and Patches follow me around the house like puppy dogs always wanted to be with me. But Hillary is my boy.
A comment on the snowflake blanket in the picture above: Hillary still likes to nurse on that blanket. It must remind him him of his mommy. Even tonight as I was dictating this, Hillary was lying on my chest and nursing feverishly on that blanket.
Sir Edmund Hillary
Pickles and Hillary
Pickles is on top.
Sir Edmund Hillary is on the bottom.
One Year Ago
No one wants to get inside the boxes on the cat condo these days.
You can see the whole clan as the are now @ https://contrafactual.com/2013/11/03/food/
Footnote: The person that I got the kittens from wanted the black one and the other one that we did not take. But we learned later that he did not want them as pets. He wanted them as outdoor cats to keep the rodent population outside down. They disappeared. 😦
Re: Your Brains
Jonathan Coulton is a genius. Who else could give us office politics disguised as a zombie anthem.
If you are a fan of Day 42, Ranger Martin, World War Z, Shaun of the Dead, or any of the other zombie apocalyptic classics … and you haven’t heard Re: Your Brains, then this is for you.
(just one of many YouTube videos based on the song)
[I watched this several times before it finally clicked. Can anyone tell me what city is in the backdrop of the video?]
http://www.jonathancoulton.com
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jonathan-coulton/id5044488
…
Be seeing you …
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/wiki/Re:_Your_Brains/Lyrics
Heya Tom, it’s Bob from the office down the hall
It’s good to see you buddy, how’ve you been?
Things have been OK for me except that I’m a zombie now
I really wish you’d let us in
I think I speak for all of us when I say I understand
Why you folks might hesitate to submit to our demand
But here’s an FYI: you’re all gonna die screaming
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We’ll all come inside and eat your brains
I don’t want to nitpick, Tom, but is this really your plan?
Spend your whole life locked inside a mall?
Maybe that’s OK for now but someday you’ll be out of food and guns
And you’ll have to make the call
I’m not surprised to see you haven’t thought it through enough
You never had the head for all that bigger picture stuff
But Tom, that’s what I do, and I plan on eating you slowly
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We’ll all come inside and eat your brains
I’d like to help you Tom, in any way I can
I sure appreciate the way you’re working with me
I’m not a monster Tom, well, technically I am
I guess I am
I’ve got another meeting Tom, maybe we could wrap it up
I know we’ll get to common ground somehow
Meanwhile I’ll report back to my colleagues who were chewing on the doors
I guess we’ll table this for now
I’m glad to see you take constructive criticism well
Thank you for your time I know we’re all busy as hell
And we’ll put this thing to bed
When I bash your head open
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re not unreasonable, I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes
All we want to do is eat your brains
We’re at an impasse here, maybe we should compromise:
If you open up the doors
We’ll all come inside and eat your brains
Family Portrait
5/20/2012 a day (or two?) before we caught them
While I continue to read and write, I will leave you with a family portrait of Pickles, Hillary, and their other two siblings before I rescued them. Sadly I only caught Mr. P and Sir Edmund. The other two eventually disappeared.
Pickles is one the left, Hillary is second from the right.
Pickles and Hillary
Let me reintroduce Pickles and Sir Edmund Hillary (taken over a year ago)
Food
Food? Did someone say food?
Four cats
Patches and Hillary
Luna
Patches
Day 49
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the eighth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
– Day 49 –
… She connected with him, wrapped the blanket around his arms, and held him tight so that he could not move as her momentum pushed them both over the railing. As they fell she stared into his eyes and studied his face. Her lips met his.
Eddy woke up. He turned over and looked at the time. "1:30 AM. Hmm, that's strange," he thought. "Usually it's closer to 5:00 AM when the dreams begin." He lay there a while deep in thought. "Guess I should call Heinrich this morning and give him an update on the fuel situation." He set the alarm for 5:00 AM and then rolled over and went back to sleep.
Number One Son
Ye Olde Kid Sister wrote this song thirty years ago when #1 son was born. Last week she put this video together.
Leaving for the wedding in a few hours.
– – –
I wrote this song in October of 1983, just before I met my nephew, Tom, for the first time. And I thought that now was the perfect occasion to get out my old cassette player, make a digital copy of the song and add a few pictures. Congratulations, Tom and Jane! I love you, Nora
Day 48
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the seventh chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
– Day 48 –
Eddy lay in bed shivering, the events of the previous day running through his mind. He tried to imagine the horror and the fear that went through the minds of the airport patrol as they met their death at the hands and teeth of the hoard of voracious nudists. He mused on how the official term 'diseased' had morphed into 'the Zs', and now as MAN's people referred to them, 'nudists'.
"So cold," he thought lying there in the dark. "Heater must be off. Brrr, that 'blue norther' really dropped the temperature. Things have gotten so weird in the last few days. That girl. What did Maxine call her? Medium Girl? And my grandmother's blanket … I know it was there, but then it wasn't. Am I losing my mind?" he wondered.
"Brrr," he muttered, his teeth chattering. Lying there in the dark he heard footsteps coming down the hall. Soft footsteps, perhaps Jess, or Cindy, or even Maxine. He heard his door open. Someone placed another blanket on him and softly tiptoed out of his room, quietly closing his door.
The extra blanket should have warmed him, but he only seemed to be getting colder. "Why so cold he thought?" He decided to get up and check the thermostat. Eddy reached over and turned on the light. He sat up and swung his feet around and put them on the floor. As he stood up, he looked down at the cot and at the blanket on top. It was his grandmother's blanket.
Be seeing you
As promised in my previous post: today’s video of Hillary and Pickles
As #6 in The Prisoner used to say…
Be seeing you …
A conversation with CB
This Friday I’m taking today off from work and were going on a road trip to Austin Texas. And by this Friday I mean today is Friday.
As you recall I got one of the brand-new iPhone 5s models.(See bragging rights)
This post is an experiment in technology. And by this post I mean today’s post. For some reason dictation wants to use the work this when I say today.
This entire post is being dictated on my iPhone 5s. With the occasional delete for extra spaces or perhaps a type for punctuation it’s 100% dictated. You’re even getting the mistakes I’m just going back and clarifying them when I see something.
I am dictating it a sentence at a time. Because it needs to go up to the web to analyze what I’ve just said. And I don’t want to be too long string of words per dictation.
I’m learning about dictation it excepts the phrase single quote
Single quote for a carriage return. Okay that did not work let’s try something else it accepts “new – line “as a carriage return. That’s better.
Pretty slick, Anna.? Are you A a a RRR GGG HHH ask Glenn nation point!
A a a RRR GGG HHH! Did not understand our, Rather yar, But it didn’t understand “exclamation – point”! And by didn’t I meant did.
It is not perfect, but it’s pretty darn good. Backspace delete okay this commands don’t work okay those commands did not work. Return return sorry
One (space
One) I have been writing Contra factual using the iPhone almost exclusively since I got the iPhone
Two) I have been making a lot of progress on the day 42 series. There will be no date 48 teasers I hope to have it out complete in a day or two. Day 48 T-shirts. To sit up ha ha Ha. Ha ha ha day 48 teaser.
Three) I am simultaneously working on the ending of the series. But I don’t know how far to go before I start going into ending mode. As they say all good things must come to an end. They also say “this too shall pass”. Although in truth once I switched to ending mode the ending could go on quite a long time. I’m excited to get to the ending, but then endings are always sad.
Four)
Four)
Four)(Finally!) again completely dictated no corrections mean made– ––– – now I have completely forgotten but .4 was supposed to be. And by .4 I mean line for by line for I mean four)
Pi equals 3.141?
Five (
Five) to WH EW. When last I looked I had over 80 people following this blog. But I think I really only have a quarter of perhaps I half-dozen loyal readers. And by quarter I mean core. You know who you are.
Six) ignoring this particular post., Do you think my writing is good enough to publish? Specifically would you pay real money for something I wrote? More specifically would you pay real money for a digital copy of day 42 in its entirety? And finally would you recommend day 42 to others? Use the reply option to answer.
Seven) this is what I am thinking; and by “; “I meant quote: “, And by quote: “I meant quote:”. It is curious to me why sometimes it decides to print quotequotequote and it other times just a single quote.”Eddie likes cheese”. That was interesting. The logic of this thing is “inscrutable”.
Eight”) okay so this is what I am thinking. I will continue to serialize a 42 on my blog. But once I get to the point where I think it’s finished or close to finished, I will work toward assembling it into a single e-book. At which point I will go back and embellish each of the days as I see appropriate, Such that the e-book will be a more complex version of the serialize story. So my question then to my readers is: what do you buy it or recommend that someone else by it assuming is at a reasonable price for e-book like a couple of bucks bastion Mark. Ha ha Ha. And by bastion Mark, I mean “?”.
Nine) why am I going to Austin today? Number one son is getting married on Sunday. I will be enjoying a long weekend. I will be reconnecting with white okay ES. And by white okay S I mean yolks open paren E old kid sister). Sorry.. Sorry.– – S I GH– – letter Y oh Kay S. Period. Period…. Wedding of number one son. I will also the room that reuniting with my wife’s sister. Period. I will also be we uniting with my wife’s sister. And her husband. Who I knew in college.
11) need more coffee! Standby…
12 open paren
12) just shot a video of Hillary and pickles. I’ll look for it shortly after this post
As number six would say “BCNU”. LOL
As number six would say “be seeking you”
As number six would say “be C C C in I give up
That thing that number six in the show the prisoner used to say
Consistency
With the re-blog of Day 42, I decided to go back and start rereading to refresh my memory. I realized that the lab was on different floors of the CDC Special Circumstances building on different days. Quite a feat I’d say, wouldn’t you?
I wonder what other glaring inconsistencies I will find?
Arrrgggggg!!!!!!
Who me?
Yes you
Ranger Martin
It’s not every day I can say tomorrow I have a book releasing. It’s not as if I write a book every day. That’d make me one fast writer, for sure. It would also make me an incredible genius. Believe me, as much as I’d like to punch myself in the arm, no way would I consider myself an incredible genius. Not by a long shot.
For instance, I mess up directions whenever I go anywhere with my GPS. Somehow, the voice-assist stating, “800 meters, turn right” sets off a chain reaction in my brain that propels me to want to take the next right turn instead. Even if there’s 400 meters remaining for the turn. Also, I sometimes put on two different socks. But maybe you can forgive me in that respect since I do wake up at 5:00 A.M., and different shades of blue all look the same…
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Pickles
Heavy duty purring by the big bruiser …
(I’m not a big bruiser, Daddy, I’m just a big boy)
Vimeo
I now have a Vimeo account.
Now the cat(beard) is really out of the bag 😉
Life …
The thing that occurs in between bouts of blogging.
“This week I’ve been suffering a serious bout of ‘life’. Without a doubt it has interfered with my ability to blog.
Without boring you with details it involved family members, hospitals, and lack of sleep. Rest assured everything has resolved satisfactorily and we are all happily getting back to another week of normality.
Good news, I did get three days of Day 42 written.
Bad news, they’re way in the future I can’t show them to you yet.
Day 47
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
This was the original sixth chapter of the Nudist War. I am leaving it here for historical reference. The current version may be found at:
[Author’s note: This is the sixth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
– Day 47 –
Jess awoke to the sound of someone screaming. “Not again,” she thought as she threw on a robe and ran down the hall toward Eddy’s room.
Русский той
Русский той / Russkiy Toy / Russian Toy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russkiy_Toy
The Russian Toy is a very small breed of dog originally bred in isolation in Russia from the English Toy Terrier which is known today as the Manchester Terrier. There are two types, smooth haired/coated and long haired, which were known by a variety of different names until brought together under the same standard as the Russkiy Toy in 2000.
The Russkiy Toy is one of the smallest breeds in the world, measuring between 8 inches (20 cm) to 10 inches (25 cm) and weighing anywhere between 3 pounds (1.4 kg) and 6 pounds (2.7 kg). It has a small distinctive head with large eyes and triangular ears.
Active and cheerful, the Russkiy Toy was originally bred both as an anti-rat dog and a watch dog. The second quality is still active in the breed, and they can be very vocal. They can become quite attached to their family, regardless of the ages of the family members. Russian Toy usually is very reserved with strangers, but very loyal to his owner, that he chooses once and for all and is ready to protect him from any perceived danger.
744
Meters, that is. (2,500 ft.)
This is the highest to date.
Day 47 Teaser # 4
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the sixth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
The patrol was now due east of the main airport terminal on 83rd Street, where it intersects Terminal Drive in a wide triangular section of pavement. “Patrol One, this is Patrol Two, does anyone know where these fuel tanks are supposed to be? Over.”
“Patrol Two, I think I see them off to my left just north of the main terminal building. Can you see the two big above-ground tanks? Now the question is how to get to them.”
“Patrol One, Patrol Two, this is Base. You need to hang a hard left and turn south onto Terminal Drive, Then proceed south until you reach the terminal entrance, maybe a hundred feet or so from your current position. Turn right and continue to bear right heading west until you reach the gate. You will be immediately north of the terminal building facing west. What is your current threat assessment? Over.”
“This is Patrol One, we see no indication of hostiles. Proceeding with caution. Over.”
“Roger that, Patrol One.” Dave replied.
The two pickups headed south on Terminal Drive and almost immediately turned right into the terminal complex.
“This is Patrol One we have pulled into the terminal complex and are heading west toward the runway. Over.”
“Roger that, Patrol One.”
“Base, the gate appears to be closed. We are now pulling up alongside of the terminal building. No sign of hostiles. We will stop at the gate.”
“Roger that.”
“Zs on the left! Zs on the left!” someone screamed.
Fiction / Reality
Here’s a thought …
When writing a fictional piece in a real location, how much of it should be fiction how much it should be real. Up to now I’ve tried to keep everything pretty much frictional. Yet Galveston is a real place and now I am faced with dealing with the reality of it.
Thanks to my stupid valued technical advisor I’m having to put in more reality than I had originally considered. As such it is taking me longer to research and longer to work on the plot devices. So please bear with me.
Technical Advisors
Stupid Technical Advisors
So instead of getting the completed Day 47 today, you are instead getting this incoherent rant about technical advisors.
The role of the technical advisor is to assure that the plot of a story, TV show, or movie stays believable within the level of “suspension of disbelief” required by the storyline. Apparently my “technical advisor” (a close friend of mine) thinks that one of my plot devices, key to Day 47, is unlikely and/or unrealistic and/or impossible within the current norms of personal behavior and/or the Laws of Physics.
Now I have to completely re-write that section, leaving you, my poor, desperate readers waiting yet another day to find out what Eddy saw.
Oh well, as long as these fixes keep you from going “Well that’s just stupid” and stop following this story altogether, the corrections are worthwhile.
Be patient.
Day 47 Teaser # 3
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the sixth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
Jess returned to the break room at the appointed time. “Ready to go she asked?”
“Yep. Check the security cams. I’ll get the weapons.” Eddy returned in a few minutes and handed Jess a shotgun and a sidearm.
“Why the pistol?” Jess asked.
“Just in case.”
As they stood up and headed for the stairwell, Maxine ran up. “Can I come?”
“It’s not safe for you out there.”
“Why not? I’m as old as Medium Girl.”
“Can you handle a weapon?”
“Yes … well … no … but I can learn.”
“I’m sure you can, but not now. We’ll begin lessons when we get back ”
“Awwwww”
Eddy and Jess descended the stairwell. At the bottom Jess contacted Tom and Cindy to have them double check the security cams. Eddy looked out the small door window to confirm that the coast was truly clear, then opened the stairwell door and they entered the garage.
He opened the passenger door for Jess and went forward to unplug the car. As he got to the front of the car he froze in terror. “Back to the stairwell now, GO!” He said in a quiet, yet extremely urgent voice. As Jess ran quietly back to the stairwell, Eddy backed slowly way from the car, shotgun at the ready. Only when they were both safely in the stairwell with the door shut and locked did Eddy exhale and start breathing again.
“What was it?”Jess asked.
Day 47 Teaser #2
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the sixth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
Jess awoke to the sound of a scream. “Not again,” she thought. She threw on a robe and ran down the hall toward Eddy’s room.
Tom and Cindy met her in the hallway. “Eddy again?”
They got to Eddy’s door just as he walked out. “Sorry,” he apologized. “4:55, right on time. At least this time she didn’t bite off my nose.”
“What did she …? Oh, never mind,” Jess replied.
“Now that we’re all up, why don’t I make some breakfast?” Tom offered.
“Maxine and I will help,” Cindy chimed in.
“What about Wolf?” Maxine interrupted. “He needs to go out first.”
“I’ll take him out,” Eddy replied. “I woke you all up.”
“Agreed.” They responded in unison.
Eddy grabbed a shotgun and went through the ritual of checking the security cameras before heading up the stairs to the roof. The rest converged on the kitchen and began making hot coffee, scrambled eggs, bacon, English muffins, and juice. By the time Eddy and Wolf got back down breakfast was ready.
“It’s a gorgeous day outside. A little colder than it was yesterday. The wind has swung around and is coming in from the north.”
“A perfect day for going to the mall,” Jess replied.
“If you say so,” Eddy answered. “Still keen to get the camera gear?”
“Yes, but we should makeup a shopping list first.”
“I thought we were going to finish watching yesterday’s videos?”
“Okay, okay, everyone meet back here in five minutes,” Jess replied. “Videos first, then the mall.”
Day 47 Teaser 1
This is an archival version. Please visit The Nudist War for the current version.
https://contrafactual.com/the-nudist-war/
[Author’s note: This is the sixth chapter. To start at the beginning go >> HERE <<]
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
– Day 47 –
MAN felt something wet slurping across his face. “Good morning Maggie is it time to get up? Do you need to go out?” Maggie licked his face even more aggressively and barked.
“Okay, okay.” MAN sighed.
MAN got dressed and headed off toward the stairs as Maggie bounded past him. She was already at the bottom of the stairwell by the time he got there. He opened the door and walked out into a grassy, fully enclosed courtyard. Maggie took off like a ‘hairy bullet’, running round and round and round and round the perimeter of the courtyard until she finally collapsed exhausted on the ground. Only then did she attend to her morning duties.
MAN looked up to one of the spotters on the roof and asked, “Any activity today?”
“Been quiet both yesterday and today.”
“Good let’s hope it stays that way.”
Contrafactual 