robert.admin – Page 227 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

March 28, 2012

Opslog – LM&O – 3/18/2012

It’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I’m a curmudgeon – I don’t really like kids.They follow manufactured fads like lemmings. Youth is wasted on them. They had door-stops for heads. We were getting ready for the session tonight – not many of the usuals were there, but in contrast, we had a couple local visitors (guys who know how to run) who we pressed into service. And we also had two kids, JW’s son and another new member named Matthew. Junior JW signed up for the Silver Bullet #1 (his old man said he’d give him the […]

March 28, 2012

Supplies for the book show

So, I’m going to the UCF Book Festival. Got a booth and everything. Chairs are there, table is there, I just need books and a pen, right? My supply list: Cover Art picture (12″x18″) Cover Art easel Sample book Sample book easel Price post sign (for corner of book cover) Scotch tape (to attach price sign to book) Spartan helmet Books (60 of them, in two rolling suitcases) Cash for change ($200 in ones, $300 in fives) Cash box Ipad (borrowed from my brother) Credit card reader Camera (gotta get pictures of this event – needed to charge the battery, […]

March 27, 2012

Running dark

I was coming up 1792 in the pre-dawn gloom, well over to the right on a dark three-lane street with posted 35 mph yet 50 actuals. The road is old, concrete with short spans between the expansion joints, so the ride is hard – both hands on the bar, please! Was nearing my left onto Lake; time for a quick look over my shoulder. Headlights gleaming 200 yards back, plenty of time to cross the three lanes. I’m just across when a car hurtles past in the darkness, a second behind me and out of goddamn nowhere, bombing along at […]

March 25, 2012

Leiningen versus the Ants (Review)

Short story this time – the magnificent tale of a planter who refuses, against man and nature and the very gods, to abandon his scientifically-run plantation to a sweeping wave of ants. Written by Carl Stephenson for Esquire in 1938, it carries all sorts of themes across its short length. We have the white man’s burden (that is, the blunt Leiningen boosting, rallying, even threatening his squealing fearful natives to hold the line against this formicidaen army). We have the application of science to solve all problems, from the initial success of the the orderly, modern plantation to its defense […]

March 22, 2012

Understandable

I don’t know if you caught the original Mike Daisey broadcast on This American Life, where he told about his investigations on Chinese manufacturing jobs and the absolute horrors surrounding them. I remember how riveted I was to it. Then last week there was an ever more striking piece, where TAL interviewed Daisey on allegations that his story was embellished (if not outright fabricated). Just listening to Daisey choke on the followup interview (like the bit in the old Flash Gordon movie where Ming orders a loyal prince to fall on his sword) was gut-clenching. STORY HERE. And now the […]

March 20, 2012

White knucle publishing

While doing Q&A at the SandCastle Read-n-Feed the other week, a nice lady asked me about a snippet of song I used in that cute setup chapter where we learn that this blond-haired guy is not from the past currently described. “Don’t songs have copyrights too?” “That’s a good question,” I answered. “I’ll have to look into that.” And I did when I got home. And the shared writing-forum answer is don’t, don’t, don’t, DON’T!!!! Every blog I read talked about the terrors of being sued, of being raked over the coals for violating copyright. That you should never do […]

March 18, 2012

History of the Persian Empire (Review)

History of the Persian Empire, by A.T. Olsmtead, came out in 1948. It’s quite a monster – 524 pages – and must have been the epic of that time. Anything you wanted to know (at least in 1948) is in this book. My point in picking this up was to reacquaint myself with the Persians before having to speak about them at book functions. After all, its been twelve years since I did my heavy-lifting research for Early ReTyrement and, no, I don’t remember everything I’d read or known or discovered, not that long ago. It’s interesting though – he […]

March 18, 2012

Night attacks

Version 1.5.26 Preview01Logout Site Menus Content Components Extensions Tools Help Preview Save Apply Close Help Article: [ Change ] Title Night attacks Published No Yes Alias night-attacks Front Page No Yes Section Category Source StylesNormalFontSize An additional benefit of self-publishing seems to be the initiation of night attacks. I used to sleep the sleep of innocence, waking up refreshed in the morning, generally right before the wife would come in with OJ and the paper. Six or seven hours and I’d be fully rested and ready for the new day. And then I started this self-publication effort for Early ReTyrement. […]

March 12, 2012

OpsLog – Saluda Grade – 3/12/2012

It’s time to go hot. I’ve got my dispatcher program booted. I’ve got my lineup in front of me. The problem is, I don’t have crews. Maybe it’s because of that motorcycle wreck on the way in. So we wait a little more. Now its really time to start and we’ve only got four guys. We’ll have to run mother-may-I, no dispatcher. Everything about this burns me. It burns me that the economy sucks, meaning people have to work stupid shifts, stupid jobs, or simply don’t have time or money to attend. And it burns me that we’re all getting […]

March 11, 2012

The Helmsman (Review)

Every now and then, while wading through a stiff read (in this case, Olmstead’s 524 page History of the Persian Empire), I have to take a break. In this case, I fell into something I got out of a used bookstore, Bill Baldwn’s The Helmsman from 1985. So the universe apparently is a very class-conscious place, with the nobles on the top, and Carescrian ore-miners (such as our hero, Wilf Brim) on the bottom. Evidently recent legislation has opened up the academy to guttertrash such as Wilf and he’s made it through with a sub-Luitenancy, ready to report to his […]