I have three general rules that I use when writing fiction, particularly longer form fiction. I mean, there are more than three rules, but I want to talk about these three interrelated rules today. The first is that if it doesn’t meet the needs of the story, it doesn’t belong. I just read about a […]
Politics and Fiction – Oil and Vinegar? — Trent’s World (the Blog)
Book release!
A stench lies on Avebury, New Hampshire. It isn’t something that one can smell, it is more of a psychic soot polluting everybody’s mood. No one recalls when it arrived, but there does seem to be a connection with the Old Mill and its mysterious new owners.
*
Following the trail of the local legend, the ghost of Martha Goode, Gill Baxter is driven to discover the truth behind the events of 1821 and, hopefully, prevent another “time of dying.” That trail, though, leads directly to The Old Mill.
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The Old Mill was released today! You can find it on Amazon with the links below:
Kindle
US
UK
France
Canada
Australia
India
Paperback
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A few months ago, I started to do a series that was a little more political. At the time, I put out a proposed agenda of other topics I would take on. Well, it obviously didn’t happen. My first big topic was supposed to be “media”, ie, “The News”. Wow, the more I dug, the […]
The News… or Not? (Rant 😉 ) — Trent’s World (the Blog)
OK, so you say “This is it”. You have been angry in the past and have voiced strong opinion, but the death of George Floyd just switched something on. You have talked more about racism in America and have written the words “Black Lives Matter” on your blog and Facebook pages. Hell, maybe you even […]
Racism Part 2 -What Are You Willing to Give Up? — Trent’s World (the Blog)
While breezing through Facebook a couple of days ago I saw the meme again. The top picture showed soldier storming Omaha Beach and was labeled “Americans, 1944”. The bottom picture was mask-wearing man, cowering behind a couch. His eyes are round with fright. This one was labeled, “Americans, 2020”. I didn’t spend much time on the comments, but the general idea was how much they hated the “snowflakes” for their fear-mongering over the “Communist Cold” in their transparent hopes to defeat Trump in the presidential election.
via A Pandemic is not Political!
(Quick edit – Most of the Republicans I know wear a mask and most of the Democrats I know wear a mask for the right reason, but there are so many out there…)
A couple of weeks ago I was in a team meeting. My manager was talking about new policy for reopening facilities and ended by saying (paraphrased), “I still want you all to telecommute full time unless there is an emergency that demands your on-site attention. Your health, and your families’ health, are more import than a job. And I don’t care about your personal politics, wear a mask!” It was a very nice statement, but a little strange that he had to say anything about politics.
A couple of days later I had to go into a gas station. Even though I was the only customer in there, I put…
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The Y2K Bug! Not something most people think about today. A lot of you young folk may have no idea what it was about. I bet even some of you older people don’t really know…
Back in the early days of computing, we used two digits for the date. This was at first done because of hardware and software limitations, but later it was just the default. What this meant, is that a computer in 1965 would show the year as 65. That same computer in 1987 would show 87.
In the late ‘80s some people began to ask the world what was going to happen when the computer that controlled the damn or power plant showed 00 for 2000. Most ignored it for a few years, but then around 1997 people suddenly woke up to the fact that they only had three years to fix any problems.
Testing was…
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I’ve been seeing tables showing the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of different types of masks on Facebook lately. Some have been taking it the right way: A mask is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, you need to self-isolate, social distance, wash hands etc., etc even if you were a mask.
But then others ask, “Why bother?”
There are two reasons.
The first is simple: the mask helps to remind you to not touch your face and limits the places that your hand actually touches. Just remember to consider your mask contaminated after you have been in public.
The second is much more complicated.
Every time you breath, you release a lot of water vapor in hundreds or thousands of tiny water droplets. These can hang in the air for hours and will settle on objects. If you have the virus, those water droplets will have the virus. This…
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To solve a problem, you have to admit that a problem exists…
Painting by Norman Rockwell
One of the big problems with racism in America is that a lot of people, white people, only think of it in extremes. They will admit that there are still some racist people around, but not a lot, except, possibly, in places like Mississippi. That is, except for people in Mississippi, who say Mississippi is not racist, maybe it exists elsewhere, not here. Not in America. I mean, sure, there are some Klansmen running around, but everyone hates them, right? I mean, I hate the KKK, so I can’t be racist. That is how people see it – if there are no extremes, there is no racism.
Uhm, no.
It is easy to find many types of racism at many levels.
At work there are those people who think they are well meaning but might say some insensitive things here and there, not realizing that…
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Nice poem – Truth!
It happened again
How can a human do that?
Pain of the centuries
My hand fits nicely in yours
Bound by our humanity
Years ago they told us all is well
Humans judged by their character
Full equality for all
They said the world is fair
The battle was won
One family
United
In peace
Love
But
They lied
Still two worlds
One rule for “them”
Fear of the other
Blind eye turned to the truth
Indifference to suffering
A world of hate and division
They said it was over years ago
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These joined poems were written for Colleen’s Poetry Challenge. This week was poet’s choice. I wrote a double-nonet and a tanka
A Fine Test You've Gotten Us Into! 