The Dreams Of Kings, Chili Slow Cooking, And Blackadder

     When its comes to the internet I feel like Ralph Hinkley from Greatest American Hero. I keep doing the internet wrong. I need a manual but mine must have fallen on the ground somewhere. The experts have this "doing the internet" thing down. I wish I had that skillset but you know day to day, day to day for those of us not gifted with the knowledge of doing the internet the right way.
     But I do want to change up things on how I'm promoting stuff here. It wont be the "right way" of doing things but I'm trying, I'm trying and maybe some day I will get the holy stamp of approval from The Overlords Of The Internet.
     If I'm going to use my blogger daily to promote the upcoming release of my new book- Tin Universe Middle Grade Series #1, I'm going to make these entries more blog entry like and less just pimp daddy like.
     Maybe doing this will get me back into blogging daily.
     It probably wont.
     Also reading my boring rambles might make people request I return to just merch. and book pushing.
     Speaking of my boring meaningless rambles, lets get with it. I started today by getting a chili going in the slow cooker; which should be done by the time Mar gets home from work. We love chili and make it at least once a month. We do the slow cooking so much we have two of them, a large one and a small one. We could probably even use a third because sometimes I like to cook a weeks worth of meals at once but then again we don't really have the room in the kitchen living in a small apartment for much of anything else.
     Though if I could wish for anything in the world right now, at this moment, I would wish for my own washer and dryer. This to me is the dream of kings.
     Watching Blackadder as my background noise as I write today. Every so often I like to rewatch these but I always binge on them when I do it so its a all or nothing thing for me with the adders. I find it works really great for background noise while doing other things. Comedies are good that way. Dramas or anything I haven't seen before are too distracting to use while working on anything.
     Off to stir the chili.
     Every time I open the chili to stir it, it makes me cry.
     Maybe I should blame Obama.
     No, I should blame ObamaCare.
     That's how things work isn't it? You don't discuss specific points you just say OBAMA! or OBAMACARE! or it's illegal or unconstitutional?
     If your answer to everything is OBAMACARE! Yes, you are playing the role of the dumbass. I'm sorry but someone had to tell you and your family and friends like you too much to do it, so I'm here for you :)
     Global Warming "But ObamaCare"
     Gas prices "But ObamaCare"
     Ben Affleck as Batman "But ObamaCare"
     ObamaCare has its good and bad points and as I have said before I think it just a political distraction to keep people from demanding universal healthcare and until we stop being puppeted against each other and go after the puppeteers of power the drug and medical companies who control the politicians we all lose and will continue to lose worse than the Braves during the rotten years.
     Poor Dale Murphy :(
     Now to get off my high horse standing on a soap box and try to end this blog entry. I still have to finish today's writing, clean out the refrigerator, and vacuum. I also date a librarian *finger point, wink* Don't be jealous.
     And before people start sending me hate mail for talking politics,
     "I'M NOT A FAT TURD, I'M A STOCKY TURD." That South Park quote is now my auto response to assholes no matter what they say.

From the Tin Universe Store:

Tin Universe Middle Grade Series #1 ring binder

   
     I want to get one of those ring binders and use it for organizing my notes for future stories in the series. There are also a lot more Tin Universe materials in that store, many featuring the covers to my new book coming out on the 22nd of this month. It will be available for download on my Smashwords store for $1.00 per download. Like I've said before if you buy something from one of my stories I'll email you a PDF of Tin Universe Middle Grade Series #1 for free. All you need to do is put STORE ORDER RECEIPT in the subject box of an email with a copy of your order confirmation attached and send to hangofwednesday@gmail.com

Mildred Betbeze, Tin Universe Middle Grade Series #1

“Zombified people make me itch so I’d rather not touch.”

The Dreams Of Kings, Chili Slow Cooking, And Blackadder

Where I'm From I Hope

     

     I have wanted to write something about where I’m from and the coal industry for a while. So during a break today from finishing up a short story for release I took the time to do so. I'm not attacking any person by writing this but I would really like to hear from people on what they think about this.

    If you don’t know I’m from a small, what was a coal mining town, in Southwest Virginia called Appalachia. I grew up with talk of coal right there next to talk of faith, fishing, and football.

     If a kid said the word scab they might get slapped by their parent because it was one of the worst things you could let slip from your lips and that leads me to one thing I really don’t understand and that this defense of coal that people seem to be riding right now. I respect the coal miners, I respect relatives that died in mines, I respect the work that my own father did in those mines to support his family, and the work so many others did for generations but these defense of coal campaigns… Don’t people understand these are fostered by the very same coal companies who haven’t cared about the safety or well being of generations of workers and their families? These very same companies who find people who need cash and pay them to attend Coal Support rallies in company supplied t-shirts?

     Every job is honorable to a point to support yourself and your family and is full of admiration but even as a kid I could not understand this obsession with coal. Then it struck me once. It’s because of the suffering. The mining companies had so many generations of workers fucking suffering and dying to feed their families. Coal work where I’m from it like war in a way. People look at the sacrifices made in the work with blinders to the point where war is celebrated and not the scarifies made; so now the industry is celebrated as if it is itself the individual worker.

     I know a lot of people are scared. Hell I’m freaking out daily because I can’t find work, because I can’t get health issues straightened out. I understand. It’s really frightening to not have a job or fear losing one, to be able to take care of your family, but why has this country gone from supporting unions to now supporting companies? Are we so scared that we are blind to what mountain topping and fracking is doing to our lands? Are we so scared that we will embrace the comfortable arms of someone owning our lives?

     People are against Obama for trying to stop some aspects of the coal industry and I see the miner pissing on Obama images all over the place but I ask you instead- Do you want in the opposite support people who want to get rid of a lot of the government regulations and agencies that have keep mining companies from taking advantage of and in fact killing miners as they did in the past with glee?

     But I’m not here to talk about Obama or Romney or who I think is best. I’ve just had this boiling in me for a long time to ask people where I’m from and all over for that matter- Why have we abandoned the individual worker, the united worker, for the company master?

     And all of that leads me to something that people need to embrace or the lands where I’m from will slowly degrade after false hope after false hope, compromise after compromise, to dust that blows away. Places like where I’m from need to move on from coal. Need to move on from the past and reach out to other industries, invest in other industries, embrace the modern world in every way they can, and bring in work and jobs by making it a place of hard working intelligent excepting people. A place that has always been a beacon of the dirt on your hands worker fighting for the day to day lives of their families needs to now become a beacon in other ways.

     

Or just embrace fear because it’s more comfortable.

Give in to the fright of change.

    

Hold onto old delusions, philosophies, and prejudices.

Follow like sheep.

     

But I believe I came from stronger stock than that.

Where I'm From I Hope

Where I talk about the Bulldawgs, Orson Scott Card, and stuff "We got stuff"

Madden 11, Franchise Season 1
Pre-Season
Game 3: Bulldawgs Vs. Jets
   The Jets were leading 24 to 14 going into the 4th Quarter yesterday when we lost power at the apartment. A big storm was rolling in quick and I couldn't finish my game in time so I'll have to replay it this weekend if I find time.
   This was my first game of the pre-season on All-Madden level. If I learned one thing from this power failure canceled game it's that by the end of the pre-season I better get my quarterback situation straight. Tebow will play but maybe just only ten or so snaps a game in wildcat type plays. On All-Madden level he isn't very accurate throwing the ball.


   And from fantasy football to fantasy asshole speak.


   I was asked last night by several people what I thought about Orson Scott Card's latest homophobic comments but I think his uninformed, idiotic, dickweed statements speak for themselves for the most part.
   Though off from this subject I will say something about the topic of authors personal lives/views and their work, and how it effects readers.
   On a personal note I don't have to like a artist to enjoy their work. Examples I'll give you off the top of my head are John Byrne, Robert Kirkman, Alan Moore, and H.P. Lovecraft. There are many more I could recite and many of them I wouldn't even want to talk to or shake their hand but I love the stories they've told.
   I really think one of the things that hits home sometimes and this applies to Orson Scott Card is the fact that he's a contemporary, alive and kicking, during the same time as his readers. Looking at someone like Lovecraft I think to many readers now its almost as if he himself is a fictional character or a product of his times.
   
   If that makes any sense.


   Probably not.


   Moving on.


Things You Should Check Out:


How long before this story is a Bones episode? I guess me including this in THINGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT shows that I'm a little off the mark.


Ok, you probably want something more "nice" to read after that link. Try this link on cool book storage ideas. The only reason I've ever wanted a big house was to make it into one big library. 


I find a lot of cool stuff online by following others on Facebook and Twitter and their projects. It's one of the main reasons I use stuff like Twitter and Facebook is how it can lead me to cool things. I like the shiny. One such person for finding cool things through is Felicia Day and I found out about Bad Astronomy on her YouTube series The Flog


Another cool thing I found out about while watching The Flog is Fallen London. If you like small old school games you might want to give this a try.


And for the last thing to check out. A friend pointed me towards Twenty Feet. I don't know if I will use it but found it interesting.


Loved this and I love the original song too. Double loads of fun.


Wait, I guess that was the last thing to check out.


Rants and rambles:


Read this by Peter David. I agree with every word. See piracy is stealing. Now you not agreeing that it is stealing or that it hurts people shows one- that you maybe Nuts and two- that you maybe a bucket full of Stupid.


This is a good idea but I have to be honest I still don't fully understand all about Creative Commons stuff. It's something as a digital content person I really need to get a better grasp on.
Privacy Icons Similar To Creative Commons


If President Obama wants to make his legacy he needs to to make it about taking a stand within a sea of mad stupidpity and lies. He needs to come out and stand up for the rights of every American to marry, love, and live a life to prosper and find joy. He needs to make it perfectly clear that homophobia isn't a issue of give and take. It's human rights plain and simple. It's a issue of life and death. I respect the man for having to try and do his job in a time when the people on the other side of the political spectrum will vote against things they created if only to go against him when he supports those very same things. His job isn't easy but its not suppose to be either.


A quote I heard as a child still stuck in my brain from long ago, "The most dangerous thing is a good man who does nothing."


As I go off to write stories of my own I leave you with this from someone who gave inspiration to the stories and dreams of so many. 

Where I talk about the Bulldawgs, Orson Scott Card, and stuff "We got stuff"