Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
I enjoy these Charles Wysocki puzzles. This one was comfortably challenging and fun. Working alone in the evenings, I finished it in four days. One thousand pieces, the pieces fit well, and the colors variations enlivened the process. Sorry it’s poor photo. Hope you can still appreciate it. Cheers
Over at Salon, Chauncey DeVega has an excellent piece on the state of Trump. The article is called, “Donald Trump is suffering from a severe case of political whiplash”. Culling information from multiple news sources and events, DeVega brings it together with intelligent analysis.
The gist is that Donald Trump, master of destructive tactics, can’t find a new handle to attack the Harris -Walz campaign. Flailing, his desperation is showing.
First, there’s the fake crowd angle. Trump is accusing the Harris – Walz campaign of using AI to create fae crowds. Brief but sharp, Chauncy DeVega brings in Jonathan Chait commentary from New York Mag. to demonstrate how Trump has fallen into a deep well of demented thinking.
“Trump is literally claiming Harris spoke before an empty room, created a false impression of a large crowd, with the participation of the national media that reported on the event as it occurred. He then bootstraps this ludicrous assertion into the charge that Harris is stealing the election and ‘should be disqualified.’ The most important thing about this Trump claim is that it confirms once again that he is both completely demented — the fake-crowd theory is less plausible than the notion NASA faked the moon landings — and totally unwilling to abide by the democratic rules of the road. It has become tedious to say so, but supporting his candidacy, even if you prefer his policies on taxes or regulation, in any way is deeply irresponsible.”
I have friends who announced that they are voting for Trump to save them from taxes. Deeply in debt, medical professionals, they want to pay less in taxes. We believe a large part of this is that they’re living the live style they think they deserve, even though they lack the means to support it. They despise Trump as a person, they claim, but they want the tax breaks his presidency might bring him. I think it’s sadly shallow and delusional logic to employ when so many other matters of government, freedom, and democracy are also at stake.
In her post, “Finally! A Reason to Smile!”, Jill Dennison shares another thoughtful Dan Rather article about the positive energy that seems to radiate from the Harris – Walz campaign. I’ve observed this several times, and, man, I just love it. I hope it can be sustained. It seems real, natural, authentic, and other words from a thesaurus.
Rather begins, “For the past nine years Americans have been subjected to a political reality suffused with anger and acrimony. Ever since Donald Trump entered the political arena, he has been in fighting mode. His anger is ever present. For many of us, it’s also incredibly tiring. Almost a decade on, the act is getting — like Trump — a little old and a lot stale. And if it was possible, this time around the former president is angrier than before. His temperament has hung over our nation like a persistent dark cloud.“
Yes, that anger, that constant assault on everyone and anything that is not unflinchingly PRO-TRUMP and serving his ego to make him feel better about himself sickens me. I reached a point at least a year ago when I did not want to hear Trump’s voice, see his face, or endure more of his lies and outright bullshit. The Harris – Walz is one hundred eighty degrees from Trump. I sincerely believe their approach is the change the nation desperately needs.
The political situation is shifting, in my opinion. That doesn’t mean that Vice President Kamala Harris will win. It does mean I’m hopeful. As we’ve all witnessed and Charles Sykes is warning, even if Trump loses the election, he will not go with dignity and grace. He’ll go down like a spoiled child screaming about a toy being taken away from him. As he did in 2021, he will try to mobilize his base to overturn the results. He will scream for Republican politicians to challenge the results. He will demand that his right-wing buddies at the Supreme Court intervene and declare him the winner. He will encourage discord and chaos with a bellowing, belligerent voice, lying to make it seem like he speaks the truth.
Because, as it’s been shown over the last eight years, that is the character of Donald J. Trump, former President of the United States, and now a convicted felon.
Vote Blue.
Mood: twistingfresh
Oh, what a beautiful morning. I slept fantastically well last night. Only six windows were partially open. We were able to open them on every side of the house because the wild fire smoke had cleared out. It stayed clear all night. I awoke without gritty eyes, a stopped up nose, or sinus congestion, and did not wake up coughing all night long.
The house’s inside temperature dropped all the way to 70 F as the outside air temp plummeted to 52 F. Now it’s up to 60 F outside and will only roll up to 80 F. Yes! Our air quality is good, at 26. Best, I can look across and see the mountains standing tall under deep blue skies.
Ah, read about Musk ‘interviewing’ Trump. That pressed my snark button. There’s an old expression, “I’ll lie, and you agree.” ‘Bout seems up their interactions.
Trump made that old joke that climate change will mean more ocean front property. Yes, how will that develop, fool? He and his supporters can’t see how bereft they are of critical thinking when they say things like that. Each time he says such things and his supporters cheer, I respect them less.
Still going with the dance theme for the week. My Neurons rolled several dance tunes through the morning mental music stream (Trademark line). Like David Bowie’s “Lets Dance”. Or “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing”. Then I had some coffee and they got more lively. Energized, they dipped into the childhood memory storage facilities (CMSF), and brought up “The Twist” by Chubby Checkers.
Well, that doesn’t technically meet the theme of songs with dance or dancing in the title which I’d passed down to The Neurons. But I make the rules, and “The Twist” is about doing a dance called ‘the twist’. Good enough for me.
The song came out when I was two. Mom introduced me to the Chubby Checkers version and taught us how to twist. What child doesn’t like an energetic dance like the twist? It’s fun. I also liked Chubby Checkers’ voice and his name. Chubby Checkers. I always thought that a cool name. With all that going for it, I had to accept its nomination as Tuesday’s Theme Music.
Stay positive, be strong, lean forward, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has been dancing through my system for a while now. Here’s the music. Come on, baby, let’s do the twist.
Comfloofmise (floofinition) – Yielding or surrendering a point or item to an animal, or letting an animal win. Origins: first known use, 15th century, middle Floofish.
In Use: “Rascal grabbed Sam’s sandwich and trotted away as Sam yelled at the dog to bring it back, and then comfloofmised by making himself a new sandwich.”
In Use: “Khan ruled the house and forced everyone to comfloofmise with him when he wanted something, whether it was food, a lap, a napping location, or a sunlit space.”
Mood: Cleanairhappy
It’s come to this at last: Monday, August 12, 2024.
82 F here. It’s going to be a cool day, with temperatures pegging the mid 80s on their high point. Air quality is good. Lower elevations are in the green, with higher elevations creeping yellow and rising into the sixties. Another air quality warning has been issued but it’s blue skies and sunshine for now.
We were out delivering food this morning through Food & Friends. We then unironically went out for a late breakfast. Hence, the day’s late posting beginnings.
Just finished reading about the huge rally crowds greeting Harris – Walz. With photos and videos, and all manner of real-world evidence. You know how much this hurts Trump’s ego. He actually said, “I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds. Nobody’s spoken to crowds bigger than me.” Trump’s poor ego is stampeding around his skull, shrieking, “I’m the greatest! I’m the greatest! They can’t have bigger crowds. I may have taken deferments to avoid military service, but I took a bullet for America!” Imagine the anger building behind his sullen face as he witnesses how much better attended his opponent’s rallies are. Wouldn’t be surprised if we read later that his head ‘literally’ exploded, given his history of lying about crowd size and the paucity of attendees at his events this season.
We also have Trump — again — he’s not one for new ideas, is he? — trying to portray himself as ‘America’s hero’, returning to X to pull this one off. It’s bizarre what his fever mind conjures. He’s vowing to “obliterate the deep state.” That deep state only exists in his mind, along with his paranoid base. It is not out there.
I feel for them, honestly, because they’ve so deeply detached themselves from reality. The tragicomedy in this, though, is how the GOP sees this as their best option. This 78-year-old white man, the oldest official nominee in the nation’s history, is their idea of a leader. A convicted felon who repeatedly tells well-documented lies and fantasizes about a reality that doesn’t exist.
That is a GOP theme, though: pretend that it isn’t real and all will be good! Just wish away climate change, police murders, mass shootings, and social progress, and all will be well. Thoughts and prayers, that’s the ticket! Just pretend more of the nation isn’t on fire each year; that more frequent and stronger hurricanes and tornadoes aren’t taking place. Just fake it until we’re wiped out. It’ll be good.
Continuing with the dance theme today. Once I sipped coffee and thought, dance songs, The Neurons supplied the morning mental music streamed (Trademark spinning) with Fall Out Boy and “Dance, Dance”. The 2005 pop-punk-rock (popur(?)) song offers their frenetic take on high school dances and ego. It’s a fun, fast, busy song.
Stay positive, remain fresh and energized, and Vote Blue in 2024. Coffee has been guzzled. Time for the music video. Dance, dance! Cheers
It’s a bumpy writing ride right now.
The novel in editing, Memories of Why, fishtailed and went sideways. On page 550 of 580. Realizing that it needed work brought me down. This is the manuscript’s rev 6.
Fact is, it’s sloppy at that section and the thinking behind it needs tightened up. A few inconsistencies are evident. I gloss over them, but I hear my reading side saying, “That’s weak. I don’t buy it.” Grumbling about it to myself, I thought, look, put it off, ignore it, the first five hundred pages are good. But I can’t. I know it needs work. I can’t look away from that. I’ll need to mask up, get up the scalpels, and go in there. It’s for the patient’s own good. Yes, I’m mixing things there, aren’t I? LOL. More coffee, stat.
Reflecting on it and my writing process, I realized that this section was written late. I’m a writer who likes writing and editing a great deal. I overwrite, then retreat and revise, smoothing and polishing. As this was written in the late stages, it’s not been subjected to as much revising, smoothing, and polishing. I also suspect that the rest of the ms reads and feels better because of the process, so this section comes off as shabby.
The new novel, Gravity’s Emotions, is going fast. Or so I thought. Started on July 19, I’m on page 120. I thought, that’s pretty fast progress for me. But when I actually crunched the numbers, it’s average.
Thinking about why it seems or feels like it’s going faster, I realize that I’m thinking about it less. Attempting to write in a different manner than usual and utilize a different approach, I told myself to get out of the way, don’t overthink it, and just let the words go. It often feels edgy and terrifying. But I’m pleased with how it’s going, knock on wood.
Writing yesterday, I was so caught up that I realized that I’d gone into overtime. See, we had this thing planned and I was to be home at a certain time, which means, naturally, leaving the coffee shop by a certain time, and there I was, still hammering away when I was supposed to have been gone ten minutes before. But the scene, the scene, I had to finish it. Type faster, I mentally exhorted my fingers. Be more nimble.
It all worked out. The scene was finished and I made it home with time to spare. I’d already begun writing the next scene in my head before finishing that scene, so I now have a firm jumping off point for this morning.
More coffee! Here we go. Rock and write. Cheers
We went to Lake of the Woods Resort last night. The agenda was to dance, socialize, have fun, and unwind.
It worked as intended. Twenty-seven miles away up in the nearby mountains, we arrived in forty-five minutes. The smoke had retreated. Surrounded by tall trees, on the edge of blue water, the picturesque scene was fresh and sigh-inducing. Saucy was the band. They played pop, rock, and disco, like “Lady Marmalade”, “Rebel Yell”, “Life in the Fast Lane”, “Shut up and Dance”, “Bring Me to Life”, and “Honky Tonk Woman”. We ate barbecue meats with potato salad, cole slaw, and mac & cheese.
But the star was this little five-year-old in a red shirt. Up there on the steps to the stage, they entertained with Freddie Mercury and Elton John moves interspersed with inspiring air-guitar solos. Yet, the old man in me couldn’t help but think about the damage they were doing to their young ears, standing in front of a rock band’s amplifiers.
Mood: Sundated
We’ve crashed into another Sunday. It’s August 11, 2024. Jays are busy arguing outside. A whipperwill keeps some background song going. Distant car travel are reminders that others are out there and on the move.
60 F now, 92 F will be the high. It’s a comfy 74 in the house. Meanwhile, the air quality is in the moderate stage again, 82, but smoke discolors the blue sky mountain tableau. Thin smoky tendrils are slithering into the windows so I’ve shut ’em.
Not sure where our fire is from. Haven’t seen any recent models for wind and smoke. The Park fire still blazes away down in California, less than a hundred miles away. Started by a man rolling a car down a ravine, it’s closing on 400K acres of burned land.
Dozens of fires are burning in my state, Oregon. None are too close at this point. Fingers crossed and knock wood that that won’t change. Burning more than 459 square miles, the Durkee fire on the state’s eastern side along the Idaho border, is Oregon’s largest. Started by lightning, it ate through the hot, dry vegetation, killing cattle and wildlife and forcing evacuations. It’s 95 percent contained.
Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah) and Papi have entered a new state of floofproachment. First, Tucker was giving chase after Papi a few times. Then, as Tucker sailed past Papi, Papi sniffed Tucker’s nethers and tapped his tail. Next, Papi was sitting at the open door. Tucker, walking by to leave, paused and leaned his had Papi’s way. Papi politely tapped Papi on the head, signalling, move on, buddy. Then the two were seen touching noses in a classic flooformational exchange. This is only what we’ve witnessed but we’ve not found any signs of more intense encounters, so we’re assuming they’re moving closer to trusting one another and maybe getting along. It’s only been almost a decade. Time is sometimes needed for these things.
The dancing theme continues for the time being. Pausing to think of songs with dance in the title and songs about dancing, a scroll of titles are unrolled. The one The Neurons seized and plugged into the morning mental music stream (Trademark tapped), “And We Danced”, a 1985 song by The Hooters. Why that dance song, oh Neurons of Mine, I politely inquired. Have some coffee and think about it, they replied. I’m still sipping the coffee and thinking. I got nothing.
Stay positive, be strong, and lean forward. Vote Blue in 2024. Here’s the music. Cheers
Michael Seidel, writer 