Free Round of Golf

On the Eastern side of Sandia Mountain is a beautiful golf course: Paako Ridge. It's in a national forrest with breathtaking views of Sandia Mountain and the others around it. Ranked one of the top 25 golf courses in the country open to the public. It is a bit expensive compared to the local Municipals. I got to play there with the Albuquerque Seniors at our set price, even had a nice boxed lunch.

 If you go on their web site and sign in they'll send you a certificate for a free round the month of your birthday. So I got to play for free this month. It's not often I get to play here twice in one summer. It is closed from November to March due to being covered in snow.

 The course is long and rugged not many try to walk it. Even in a cart getting from the path to the greens is quite a hike and climb as most of them are elevated with two or three ridges.
The sky is much bluer than in Albuquerque. It's good to get out of the exhaust fumes.







I've found it best to go early in the morning on a weekday. Prices are better after 2pm, but thunderstorms that build up in the afternoons can ruin your round before you're finished.

Press Conference

Here's the video of Russ Sype's press conference last Saturday. It's well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkvGgX30i18

Olympics, my thoughts

I watched quite a few hours of the Olympics this year. I'm not going to go into a lot of the different events because I never competed in any of them but two.
I ran the mile and three mile. (1500 meters and 3000 meters). Back in my day when I ran against Olympians like Eastern New Mexico's Kenyan Mike Boit (bronze medalist '72 in 800 and 4th in 1500) and Howard Pain's Ghanian Billy Forger (tripped Jim Ryan in '72) in college I naturally dreamed about peaking for the Montreal Olympics. Knee injury shattered the dream, not that it was within my reach. I remember while watching the Olympics in '76 a commentator mentioning that qualifying time for the mile was under 4 minutes and it was less than twenty years since the first sub 4 minute mile was run by Roger Banister. In 1974 Filbert Bayi broke Jim Ryan's world record of 3:51.1 with a time of 3:51.0 and later that year Scott Walker of New Zealand broke that record with a 3:49.08. Walker took gold in the '76 Olympics when Bayi was part of the African boycott.
I mention all this because while watching the 1500 meter race this year a commentator said something very similar to the one at Montreal. He said the average best time of the runners in the final was a 3:49 mile. Much was made of Sebastian Cole who set the world record for the mile three different times and Morroco's Hicham El Guerrouj 3:43.13 that has stood since 1999.
When it became the average for runners to break the 4 minute barrier much of the explaination was better training methods, equipment and running surfaces. Now what were times only one or two runners in the world could achieve is common place and average. I don't think training methods have improved that much. Diet is much better than it was then, but the real difference from the 1980's on is the age of the world record holders. In the '50's and '60's it was  college age runners or just past graduation. Sebastian Coe didn't reach world record times unitl he was 35. I haven't researched the ages of the other record holders, but the fact that top runners can continue to train and make a living till nearly 40 has to be a major contributing factor.

Sype for the General Welfare

The press conference at the Elegante motel was a resounding success. There were around 25 in attendence with a reporter from the Alibi. It was video taped and in a week or two I'll post the U-tube link.
Russell's main point is that government is charged with providing for the general welfare and if a high quality public eduaction isn't covered, What is? If quality health care for all citizens isn't, What is?
More to come.

Sype for President

 

William Russell Sype will announce his candidacy for President of the United States in the year of our Lord 2016 at the Elegante Hotel in Albuquerque, NM tomorrow August 9, 2012 at 10:30am. I've agreed to the honor of serving as his campaign manager. All who are in the neighborhood and wish to attend are more than welcome. We've been informed that the local media will attend.

Love Quotes

Movie 1776

In November of 1971 Mom and Dad had season tickets to what was then the Civic Light Opera and they couldn't attend one of the preformances and gave the tickets to me and my girlfriend at the time. It was 1776. I was blown away at the performance and could remember so many witty lines. When I was in college during out nations bi-centennial the play was performed, but I couldn't attend as I was married, didn't have the money and needed to work that night.
The movie came out in 1972, but it didn't come to Plainview so I never saw it on the big screen. One of the first items I bought with my first Summer school money was a VCR and on the 4th of July 1983 the movie was aired and it was the very first movie I taped. The following summer I taught American History in Summer school in a portable. On the other side of the partition was a math class. I showed the movie and the teacher came over after class:
Math teacher: I thought you're teaching America History.
Me: I am.
Math teacher: What did you show?
Me: The movie 1776.
Math teacher: It had singing and dancing.
Me: Yes, it's a broadway musical turned into movie.
Math teacher: How is that history?
Me: It lets the students know the positions of all the colonies prior to the vote on independence and what it took to get a unanimous vote. It's also pretty good at giving them an idea of how parliamentary proceedure works.
He wasn't convenced and didn't have much of an artistic understanding.
All the years I taught U.S. or American history I showed this movie buying a copy as soon as it was on sale at Blockbuster.
After Grinnygranny and I were married it was performed at Popejoy Hall. Mom and Dad got tickets and we went with them. So I've seen it twice performed on stage and a million times on video. Try watching it six times a day over numerous years.
It was with weeping and gnashing of teeth that I took all my video players to Goodwill and converted to Blue Ray. I bought the Restored Director's cut. There are a number of lines left out in the theatrical version and one song. In this version you get a better sense of Judge Wilson and why he made the decision for independence. I knew from seeing the play they cut out Cool Cool Considerate Men  and learned that it was at the request of Richard Nixon because he thought it put conservatives ie Republicans in a negatative light. It's actually John Dickenson's and the others who opposed independence victory song thinking they've won. A shame it was cut because in the middle of the song a dispatch from Gen. Washington comes in describing the British navy's surrounding of New York and using it as a staging area for moving on Philidelphia. In the rest of the movie they talk about the Redcoats being at their door without a decent explaination. But the real crime of the cut was omitting these crucial lines:
Dickenson asks John Hancock why he isn't on their side since he hates John Adams and is a man of property. Hancock replies, "Fortunately there are not enough men of property in America to dictate polity."
Dickenson then says, "Perhaps not, but most men with nothing would rather defend the possibility of being rich than face the reality of being poor."
This in a nutshell explains why so many hundreds of thousands of Confederate soldiers died defending slavery when they didn't own slaves and why today so many with so little still vote for the party that consistently raises their taxes while cutting them for the rich and gives corporations subsidies for outsourcing their jobs. After all they may hit the lottery and be rich someday even if they are living under a bridge or in their car after having their homes forclosed and can't find a job.
I could have used that line all those years I showed this movie, but Tricky Dick didn't like it.

I looked up most of the actors in the movie, hard to imagine it's been out 40 years now. William Daniels (John Adams) Ken Howard (Thomas Jefferson) Blythe Danner (Martha Jefferson) and John Cullum (Edmund Rutlidge) are still working. Howard Da Silva (Benjamin Franklin) was a black listed actor during the McCarthy era and many of his credits are in the 1930's, 40's and 50's. The role of Franklin on Broadway and the movie restarted his career. He died in 1986. Virginia Vestoff (Abigail Adams) died of cancer at age 42 in 1982. Donald Madden (John Dickenson) died in the 80's. Quite a few of the actors were soap stars with most of them coming from Dark Shadows.
Some of my favorite lines:
John Adams:
 I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, two become a law firm and three or more become a congress.
This is a revolution dammit we're going to have to offend somebody.

Benjamin Franklin:
Treason is the reason given by the winners in order to hang the losers.
Careful Mr. Dickenson those who give up their freedom for temporarty safety deserve neither freedom nor safety.
Revolutions come into the world like Bastard Children, half improvise and half compromise.
If we don't hang together we will most assuredly hang separately.

Stephen Hopkins (Old Grape and Guts from Rhode Island):
Well I tell you what, in all my born days I ain't ever seen, heard or smelled an issue that couldn't be talked about. Hell yes, I'm for debating anything.

Political Haiku

Fellow Blogger Ruined Chappel My Moonlight has some interesting poems concerning all political extremes. Worth a look and a laugh.

Going to see Les Miserables

Tonight I'm taking my wife, son and his wife to see Les Miserables at Popejoy Hall. I have had a fascination with the musical since I watched the 10th anniversary concert on PBS. The 25th Concert was even better and when I found out it was going to be performed here I vowed I'd see it come hell or highwater. The rest of the family run fleeing every time I watch the concerts so I didn't think they'd be all that interested, but given a chance to dress up and have a nice night out they decided to come along.
I'm looking forward to seeing the whole thing instead of just the concert.

Eight Weeks and counting

I've been on this diet now for eight weeks. I've lost twenty pounds and dropped suit coat size by four inches. I checked yesterday at the mall. I haven't been able to button a 48 regular in years. The last week I haven't lost a pound even though I played golf twice with the wife (9 holes) and walked a full 18 with the gaggle and trudged on a treadmill three times for an hour. It was good dropping the pounds quickly, but I guess that's over and the hard part of dropping them slowly has set in. I gave up on doing without prilosec. I had heartburn with every meal. It settled down so I could sleep through the night, but going two weeks with an acid attack with every bite sucked.
Wife started a mini-vacation this week which is why we've been out on the links. It's been two years since she's hit a ball. Last year she had surgery and it's taken a while for her to feel like it again.
Have tickets to see Les Miserables in two weeks. Wife wasn't too happy about me buying the tickets as they were rather pricey. I bought four thinking I'd treat my client and his wife to the performance, but they can't attend, taking son and his girlfriend which was a surprise since they all fuss at me when I listen to the 10th anniversary concert or play the cd in the car. I'm looking forward to seeing the whole performance.

Kung Fu Monkey

This quote makes a lot of sense in today's economic world:
-- There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Krugman used it today in his column,

Detox and life without Prilosec

Wife and I started a six week detox program using the Blood Sugar Solution book and website. We joined a gym and started working out on treamill and stationary bike three times a week. Worked my way up to 3 miles in an hour yesterday. Wife is putting in an hour too. That with golfing one day a week and I'm losing weight, so is she just not as much but then she doesn't need to lose as much as I do.
The diet is to get completely off white starch (potatos, rice, bread, pasta) and dairy for six weeks, then add things back. If what you eat makes you feel worse don't take it, if it doesn't bother you it's okay. Regardless no sugar, HFCS or corn sugar and artifical sweeteners. That means no sodas of any kind. No kool-aide, crystal light etc. A diet of green tea and filtered water, salads with oil and vinegar, small portions of meat with no sauces other than mustard, and cooked vegetables and fresh fruit is filling, but gets rather old. You can have olives, avacados, pinto beans and other types of beans. Cracker Barrel has a good low carb menu, but most other places to eat don't. Shopping at Whole Foods and Sunflower is a lot more expensive, but since we're not eating out as much it's actually saving us a little. There are also gobs of supplements to take and they are expensive. If I bought them from Dr. Hyman it would run 800+ a month. Even at Whole foods they're not cheap. COQ10 is outrageous and so is PGX if you can find it. GNC didn't have it. Still if it gets me off the statins and my cholesteral, glucose and triglicerides come down I'll be much healthier.


Last week I stopped taking Prilosec. I've been using it for ten years and it has kept the acid reflux in check. I've always suffered from it, even when I weighed less that a 120lbs. I remember when I was in college and told Mom I was having trouble. She sent me a box full of gelusel packets. When the box arrived about six guys hovered around me at the front desk hoping for home made cookies. The looks on their faces when I opened the box was priceless. I grew up in an age where everytime you got a sniffle they gave you a shot of penicillin. Acid reflux is the byproduct.
For most of my life I lived on Tums or Rolaids and then it was pepsid when Prilosec came along I was in heaven and I've known a life without acid reflux for over ten years. Still the bad part of no acid is starting to outweigh the good part. I knew once the Prilosec wore off the flood gates would open and I'd have trouble. The Acid Refllux Solution had some nifty tricks to control the reflux. They include: Acidopholus pills of at least 2 billion -- these good bacteria feed on the acid and most people get reflux after they're all killed off with antibiotics. Dr. Hyman recommends 10 to 20 billion, but that gets expensive. Eat an apple-- works for about thirty minutes. Baking soda and water -- Regular doctor doesn't like the sodium content, but it works for about an hour. Apple Cider vinegar and honey -- hard to gag down at first, but it works best of all. Honey by itself -- not as affective without the vinegar, but it does sooth the esophagus. With this I am fudging a bit on the other diet. I've been able to sleep through the night without reflux as long as I don't try to go to sleep before three hours since eating. An empty stomach is also much better for your sleep anyway.

Not sure

Went to the doctor yesterday. After the usual review of my bloodwork I mentioned I wasn't hearing much out of my hearing aide and if he would  take a look. Right ear was completely clogged up. He got most of the stuff out, not all and I do hear better. Was my problem wax build-up and I don't need the hearing aide, or did the hearing aide cause the wax build up?

Milestone

Went over 10,000 visits to this blog. I know for some people they get that many in a day or week, but an accomplishment to me. Thanks Michael Manning as many of those hits came from you.

Doing my first post from my I-phone. It did lousy at the gym today as a music source will use my mp3 player from now on

Pay Pal Backs Down

Smashwords sent out an e-mail that Pay Pal has backed down and all is back to normal.

Hunger Games review

I saw one movie ad on TV and knew that there was a movie coming out, but it didn't tell me much. I signed on for Amazon's Prime where you can borrow books for your Kindle for free, so the first books I chose for free were The Hunger Games and Circle of Fire, only to pay for them since I ordered them on my Computer's ap. If you want to borrow for free you have to order on the Kindle and it shows up only on the Kindle not the computer or Iphone. I did it the right way for Mockingjay.
I figured it to be some kind of post apocalypse world on the vein of Rollerball, and it has elements of 1984 and Animal Farm in it as well. The two Rollerball films glorify the violence. This book lets the reader know that children dying for the entertainment of the populace is the ultimate horror. Since these books were written for Young Adults most of the deaths are out of sight and revealed more as box scores at the end of the day.
I don't want to get into the plot because just about everyone out there is telling it. I'm going to give my take on what it was like to read all three of the books.
Premise and violence: In the first fifty pages it was hard to read through the tears. I don't recall ever reading someone who could tug at your heart strings so quickly and hold you for so long without wanting to close the book and walk away. I was drawn into the world, the characters and their plight.
In the games there is a character named Rue that captures your heart completely and as a reader you knew she had to die for Katniss to win and go on to the second and third books, but her death is devastating.
This reminded me of something Harlan Ellison wrote in either his book The Glass Teat or The Other Glass Teat (not sure which and too lazy to find out). He was castigating Movies, Television and viewers on the mindless, numbing violence offered and viewed. He wrote the articles in The Rolling Stone later compiled into the books in the late 60's. Very tame by today's Friday the 13th, Saw type of movies or even the CSI's, Closer type of TV shows. (the escalation in violence to satisfy viewers and readers appetites proves his point ie. Spartacus on Showtime and many video games that glorify carnage) He said for violence to have effect it had to follow certain parameters. 1 for a protaganist to resort to violence it has to be the last resort. Think Quaker woman Eliza Birdwell picking up a broom and clobbring a rebel raider about to kill her pet goose Samantha in Friendly Persuasion. 2. A death has to happen to a character the audience identifies with. When a person dies on screen or in a book you want it to have an impact. You want the reader to scream "No" while it's happening and weep at the loss. Think the death of Mariko in Shogun by James Clavell. When it's done right it's unforgettable and Suzanne Collins hit a bullseye with Rue.
Theme: I've read many books describing the horrors of totalitarian rule. It's part and parcel with Science Fiction/Fantasy. Take the power mad Valdemorte out of Harry Potter and there's no conflict hence no story. Most of these books and movies deal either with filling the reader with dread the oppression or have a hero become superhero conquering the evil Ming or Captain Nemo saving humanity. In these books Katniss is the spark for revolution by subtle defiance and The Capital's over reaction causes the revolution. She's a teenage Rosa Parks thrown off the bus or Ghandi kicked off the train and the whole world says they've had enough of the bully. Ms Collins said the books follow a simple arc: book 1 defiance, book 2 revolt, book 3 war.
Timing: While reading the HG it made me think of the way Arab Spring started. The book was published in 2008 meaning Ms Collins was very precient and with the movie hitting movie screens Friday there couldn't be better timing for the message she wishes to convey to her audience.
Fast Read: All the books are told in first person and because you're not stumbling over needless description and backstory for every character it doesn't take long to polish off  300+ pages. With three books to get through this is a real positive.

Censorship Fight Back

E-mail received today from Smashwords.

THE PROBLEM:

PayPal is asking us to censor legal fiction. Regardless of how one views topics of rape, bestiality and incest, these topics are pervasive in mainstream fiction. We believe this crackdown is really targeting erotica writers. This is unfair, and it marks a slippery slope. We don't want credit card companies or financial institutions telling our authors what they can write and what readers can read.
Fiction is fantasy. It's not real. It's legal.
THE SOLUTION:
There's no easy solution. Legally, PayPal and the credit card companies probably have the right to decide how their services are used. Unfortunately, since they're the moneyrunners, they control the oxygen that feeds digital commerce. Many Smashwords authors have suggested we find a different payment processor. That's not a good long term solution, because if credit card companies are behind
this, they'll eventually force crackdowns elsewhere. PayPal works well for us. In addition to running all credit card processing at the Smashwords.com store, PayPal is how we pay all our authors outside the U.S. My conversations with PayPal are ongoing and have been productive, yet I have no illusion that the road ahead will be simple, or that the outcome will be favorable.
BUILDING A COALITION OF SUPPORT:
Independent advocacy groups are considering taking on the PayPal censorship case. I'm supporting the development of this loose-knit coalition of like-minded groups who believe that censorship of legal fiction should not be allowed. We will grow the coalition. Each group will have its own voice and tactics I'm working with them because we share a common cause to protect books from censorship. Earlier today I had conversations with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). I briefed them on the Smashwords/PayPal situation, explained the adverse affect this crackdown will have on some of our authors and customers, and shared my intention to continue working with PayPal in a positive manner to move the discussion forward.
The EFF blogged about the issue a few days ago: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/02/legal-censorship-paypal-makes-habit-deciding-what-users-can-read Today, ABFFE and NCAC issued a press release: http://www.scribd.com/doc/83549049/NCAC-ABFFE-Letter-To-PayPal-eBay-re-Ebook-Refusal-2012
I will not be on the streets with torch in hand calling for PayPal's head, but I will encourage interested parties to get involved and speak their piece. This is where you come in...
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Although erotica authors are being targeted, this is an issue that should concern all indie authors. It affects indies disproportionately because indies are the ones pushing the boundaries of fiction. Indies are the ones out there publishing without the (fading) protective patina of a "traditional publisher" to lend them legitimacy. We indies only have each other.
everal Smashwords authors have contacted me to stress that this censorship affects women disproportionately. Women write a lot of the erotica, and they're also the primary consumers of erotica. They're also the primary consumers of mainstream romance, which could also come under threat if PayPal and the credit card companies were to overly enforce their too-broad and too-nebulous obsenity clauses (I think this is unlikely, but at the same time, why would dubious consent be okay in mainstream romance but not okay in erotica? If you write paranormal, can your were-creatures not get it on with one another, or is that bestiality? The insanity needs to stop here. These are not questions an author, publisher or distributor of legal fiction should have to answer.).
All writers and their readers should stand up and voice their opposition to financial services companies censoring books. Authors should have the freedom to publish legal fiction, and readers should have the freedom to read what they want. These corporations need to hear from you. Pick up the phone and call them. Email them. Start petitions. Sign petitions. Blog your opposition to censorship.
Encourage your readers to do the same. Pass the word among your social networks. Contact your favorite bloggers and encourage them to follow this story. Contact your local newspaper and offer to let them interview you so they can hear a local author's perspective on this story of international significance. If you have connections to mainstream media, encourage them to pick up on the story. Encourage them to call the credit card companies and pose this simple question, "PayPal says they're trying to enforce the policies of credit card companies. Why are you censoring legal fiction?"
Tell the credit card companies you want them to give PayPal permission to sell your ebooks without censorship or discrimination. Let them know that PayPal's policies are out of step with the major online ebook retailers who already accept your books as they are. Address your calls, emails (if you can find the email) and paper letters (yes paper!) to the executives. Post open letters to them on your blog, then tweet and Facebook hyperlinks to your letters. Force the credit card companies to join the discussion about censorship. And yes, express your feelings and opinions to PayPal as well. Don't scream at them. Ask them to work on your behalf to protect you and your readers from censorship. Tell them how their proposed censorship will harm you and your fellow writers.

Visa:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=V+Profile
American Express:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=AXP+Profile
MasterCard:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=MA+Profile
Discover:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=DFS+Profile
Ebay (owns PayPal):
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=ebay+Profile

Repression Started

Received an e-mail from Smashwords today. Pen Pal has given them a week to delete all stories in the erotica genre that have elements of children in sexual situations, bestiality, rape and incest.
Smashwords has no choice but to comply since Pay Pal handles all their payments even processing credit cards. Smashwords alread has a prohibition on minors involved in or being present in sexual situations. I removed one of my flash stories upon publication dealing with a 16 year old boy and an older woman. Can't write The Summer of 42 anymore.
Did anyone vote for Pay Pal to be the arbiter of public morals?
I know some of you are saying what's wrong with censoring these abominable items. And they are, but what's to now stop them from censoring political comments they don't like, anti-war stories, or a children's book that puts a bad light on lumberjacks (The Lorax- now a movie).
They've qualified the ban on rape as that which is tittilating, whatever the hell that means. This is the one item that affects me.
In my novel Human Sacrifices my heroine is raped by her husband the first time she says no to sex after they're married. Her husband quotes scripture saying that the woman's body belongs to her husband and she doesn't have the right to deny him. It is essential to my story to show the fundamentalist belief in women being subject to their husbands as explicitly stated in the Southern Baptist Conventions revision of the Faith and Message Statement in 2000. I don't believe the way I wrote the scene it would be of purient interest to most readers, but I can't vouch for every reader particularly one looking to be offended.
For my snarky take on this I'll post on my Captain's Log further steam.

Goodbye Old Friend

When I was 14 a friend started to lead me astray. Mike was a year behind me, but lived down the street. We became friends because all his life he had the ability to make good friends instantly. He got me smoking cigarettes which led to jumping a wall at the school into the backyard of an empty house and smoking during lunch. We were caught and suspended for three days. My parents went ballistic, but I was struggling with smoking before this. My brother the year before set the school record in the 600 yard dash and received a trophy at the awards ceremony. I vowed I'd break his record and I knew that there was no way I could do that if I smoked. Being suspended gave me the excuse to stop smoking. Mike and I hung around for a few weeks after that, but I refused to light up with him. When basketball season started I had practice after school and that was when we stopped hanging out together. I set the school record in the 660 yard dash winning the city championship the next year.
Two years ago we started attending a home church. At her work my wife made a friend whose husband pastors the church. Steve and I became friends and when I retired he asked if I would help in his law firm. It came as a surprise when Mike and his wife showed up to church. We hadn't seen each other in forty years. He spent time in the military, found the Lord, was baptised and ordained as a minister. Everyone who knew him before and after conversion witnessed first hand the transformation in his life. The one thing he couldn't shake from his old life was smoking and it killed him. Yesterday was his memorial service. It was the first time in over 40 years I said hello to his older brother and younger sister.
I've searched my heart for the past two years knowing how his health was failing what I could have done for more of a difference when we were younger, if my stopping smoking and moving away provided influence that later led to his conversion? On only one occasion we talked about God because he knew I went to church with my family every Sunday morning and night as well as Wednesdays. I'm afraid I wasn't very articulate in answering his questions.  I do know his conversion made a huge impact to those around him and many now know Jesus as their savior because of him.