AI -- Making Reading Less Interesting

The more content I read these days, the more of this odd syntax shows up. A word or two, just odd or out of place will tell you that the content was AI generated. I've used Chat GPT for small bits of text that I don't want to write myself. It will churn out bland text that is grammatically correct. Things like book blurbs for 200 words or less. Hand it 500 words, and it cuts 300 out. But it doesn't produce interesting text. Servicable text. Useful text. Yes, but do we haunt the internet for that kind of text? Now, ask ChatGPT to produce text for gaming, and it will turn out a monster stat block with lightening speed. This is a great help, but it isn't fiction. Yet I keep hearing that authors are using AI to write their fiction books. I can't imagine what kind of vague, oatmeal-textured fiction it might be. But I can't imagine it being great, engaging fiction. Oatmeal is great stuff. I eat it for breakfast, when I need fast food and a lot of it. Something that will stick around until lunch on a busy day. Oatmeal flavored fiction might fill an e-book, but it won't engage a reader. This last month, I've clicked away from a number of articles on various websites, because the text was bland and uninteresting. I think it's possible that AI produced text is going to slowly make general internet surfing uninteresting. Which might be a good thing in the long term. The less time I spend online the better.

Senior in the Saddle 2

Goodbye old friends… I’ve had four saddles in my tack room, gathering dust for a decade. Three were good quality leather, two Western saddles from the early 1960’s, the one I’m keeping is a more modern Australian. The last one is an English all purpose saddle that’s synethic with an adjustable tree. I wasn’t able to identify the oldest, until the lady I sold it to called it out as a Bonna Allan. It is an artwork made from leather with desert flowers and leaves carved into it. Just lovely.

It’s a ‘tall man’s saddle’ not a good saddle for a small senior female. The stirrup leathers would have to be cut down a LOT for me to have them the right length. It would be a shame to cut the stirrup leathers to accommodate me.

That is the problem with the old Billy Royal that I used all during the old mare’s training days. I had the stirrups as short as I could get them, and it was just barely enough. She was a spooky horse that needed a secure seat for the rider so she could jump out from under me. An English saddle just wouldn’t have worked out for me. The Billy Royal saddle weighs at least 35 lbs, so at my age tossing it up on a tall horse is a major problem. It wasn’t easy to let these saddles go, but I finally did it. This is the one I kept.

This is another vintage saddle. Made by Sup-Territory this is an Australian Stock Saddle. Another heavy saddle, though a few pounds lighter. The leather is thick and sturdy, a bit stiff from years of disuse, but that will change with time and oil. Since I mostly ride English, this saddle works better for me. Plus it’s much more secure than the English saddles I used to ride, while being lighter than the Western saddles that I can’t lift and don’t fit my short legs.

Senior in the Saddle

Saddles are a major part of horseback riding. The saddle we choose can make or break a riding experience. The photo is an Australian Stock Saddle, made by Sup-Territory in the 1990's. It's extremely comfortable and it is very hard to get me out of that saddle.

I rode bareback as a kid on ponies. The first ride or two was in a saddle, because ponies are opinionated and giving them a break from riding usually means a rodeo for the first couple of rides.

As an adult, I rode English, Hunter under Saddle, and really loved the thrill of low jumps. I had a desk job, and never was fit enough to compete. But I loved the sport, then and now. Fast forward - and life happens - all the things that happen to middle-aged women. I'm over 60, and back in the saddle.

This saddle, in particular, is a big part of my return to riding.

Once the American Quarter Horse Association decided that their horses had to show with their heads dragging on the ground and that odd broken-neck lope. I stopped riding Western. It was an ugly thing to do to a horse then - and it's worse now.

So I ride in this old, heavy Australian Saddle, and let my horses lope with their heads high. It's a good feeling.

Back in the Saddle

Being over 60 years old is one of those wierd things that happens to most of us, if we are lucky.

The trauma of losing my parents, then cleaning up The Hoard, then my horses and finally Covid 19, left me feeling old and very frail.

Frail?

Me?

Yep, and it sucks.

But a few months ago, I came to believe that I could get back in the saddle, if I was very careful how I did it. First I had to find source of horses. There's a lesson barn near us, a huge facility with a herd of horses that numbers somewhere between 50 and 75.

It wasn't easy to go. I cried a lot that first visit. The memories of those first years with my old mare when she was young and difficult...sweet and sour. It was a rollercoaster.

So I signed up, and got a date for my lesson.

I have to admit that, my total lack of physical strength was frightening. I'd suspected that I'd lost all my muscle tone, but the proof was shocking. I could barely lift a light saddle, bridling the horse was a struggle and I needed help to tighten the girth. Getting into the saddle was iffy, I was unbalanced as soon as the horse moved. Two months have passed, and I'm getting back my strength and balance. It's been slow, and I go from being sore and tired to tired and starving.

I have persistened and my balance has returned, with some of my strength.

The best part is the knowledge of how to ride is still there. I can hold a fussing house, ride a canter and direct a horse. I can saddle and bridle and so on. I know what I see and I remember how my horses behaved.

It's pretty neat.

Happy New Year

This blog has languished for many years. All but forgotten for a couple of reasons. Life has happened. Lots and lots of happenings. So let's see if we can take this off the shelf and try again.

Last July, I bought a Dungeons and Dragons module, The Dragon of Icespire Peak. Then I found a few people interested in getting together for a game. It went pretty well. We played the module out, and really enjoyed it. Now I'm working out of a couple different books, to see what people enjoy playing. Of course, Covid isn't cutting us any slack, but we'll see how this goes. The main thing is that I've finally got something worth blogging about again.

A Brief Rant -- America Needs to Vote

This weekend, the Kentucky Governor was hung in effigy, in the front yard of the Governor's Manson, where he and his family are living.

Fortunately, his children weren't home when armed terrorists invaded their private space and stood on the front porch.

Now I'm gonna get on my soapbox, because these terrorists aren't operating in a vacuum. These guys were whipped up a couple weeks ago, by other elected officials. Republican officials, who don't give a damn about saving lives. They are merely more GOP sociopaths drunk on power.

The pattern was set in stone years and years ago, by the likes of Newt Gingrich, and the cancer that has eaten the soul of America has continued unchecked since the creation of Fox News.

Why has this minority, because this emotionally dead contingent IS the minority, been allowed to take power?

Because not enough Americans vote.

Americans, especially those of us in #FlyOverAmerica, need to get off our asses and vote, in every election, every time. We have to take back our cities, towns, hamlets and townships by voting.

If everybody in America voted in every election, we wouldn't have ANY of the problems we have today. Because America isn't a nation of extremists, it's a nation of middle-of-the-road, good people who have forgotten their power is in unity.

OUR power is in the ballot box.

Buttercup War

One of the worst things about country life, farm life and hobby farm life, is how equipment breakdowns bring a homestead chores to a crashing halt.

Two years ago my old tractor broke down, the same time as my lawn mower. The tractor went into the shop, and due to it's age and the expense of replacement parts, we didn't get it back until March of this year. The weeds, particularly creeping buttercups and a couple nameless Roundup resistant weeds, colonized the pasture and choked out the grass.

This made my old horses lose vast amounts of weight because buttercups are toxic. I lost my beloved black hunter to old age and blindness last spring.

I was behind on mowing, seeding, stall cleaning all year, two springs in a row. I got some help, we've got great neighbors, but getting half caught up is not the same as getting it right.

This year, we got the old tractor back, but it wasn't fixed. It shot out oil and oily smoke, which combined with vast quantities of buttercup pollen, aggravated my asthma and gave me migraine headaches. I was in danger of letting these toxic flowers, already covering 75% of the pasture, complete saturation.

But instead of losing the game, we decided to make an investment in equipment. The old tractor was replaced with a new one. The lawn mower will get a new deck, but is currently in use to haul things and run the manure spreader.

The first thing I did was mow down the buttercups, wearing a mask. The tractor, a new 19 Horsepower diesel with a 48" bushhog struggled at a few points, but the buttercups went down. After two days it was more yellow than red, and needed a rinse, but we got the buttercups down to the point where I can work outside without a mask.

It will need a second pass. But at last I have the right equipment for that job. It's a relief to know that I've won the war for the moment.

The old tractor has gone to a new owner. It's one of those things that couldn't be fixed easily, unless one could weld the wrenches oneself. I'm not that kind of woman. I can do a few things, but rebuilding engines isn't one of them.

Who Bugged Out?

Not long ago, there was an out-cry from resort towns, the wealthy 'summer people' were coming to their towns in droves, bringing their germs with them. There's nothing like importing your germs to a place with little access to healthcare to make you welcome in a small town.

Robert DeNiro was on Colbert's A Late Show -- from a quaint log cabin -- somewhere.

A Tennessee GOP Senator was also online from a quaint log cabin -- somewhere. He was bragging how the GOP was having the ACA gutted to uselessness.

I'm watching Meet The Press right now, with a rich black philanthropist who is obviously bugged-out in a quaint cabin -- somewhere. He even has his windows tightly shuttered so there's no telling where he really is, but the decor gives it away.

You know damn well the Tech Giants are ALL bugged-out of their city homes to somewhere.

Trust me, a Wal-Mart employee pays a higher percentage of their income in State and Federal Taxes (25% is average for us) than these Tax-Free parasites pay. Most of them paid nothing and got back BILLIONS of dollars of OUR tax dollars.

A few thousand people in a handful of states, people who don't think about the Common Good, don't care about real Americans who need things like jobs, roads, bridges, hospitals and schools have put into power a greedy, ruthless minority who are sucking the life out of OUR country.

Folks, this shit needs to change.

The only way it's gonna change is if everybody in America Votes in EVERY election. Right now, since so few people vote, the American Extremists have taken over State and Local Governments.

Vote in your local election.

Jump the hoops, sign the stupid documents. Get the ID and do it NOW.

November is coming, the virus will still be here, write your GOVERNOR, of your STATE and tell them you want to vote by MAIL.

At this time, more 80k Americans have died. Let their lives mean something.

Do what you have to do to Vote.
Every Election.
Every Time.

College Sports - Creepy and Expensive

I'm no doubt the only one, but I find the fanatical worship of college sports creepy, and I think colleges spend WAY too much money on them.

How about we separate "Church and State" by separating Colleges into Academic and Athletic schools? Maybe not all sports, but certainly Football and Basketball are institutions that don't require academic affiliations.

Why would I see the American Athletic Apple-cart upset?

Well, I'd like to see America offer free college and technical college to all. That means minorities wouldn't HAVE sacrifice their children in the name of COLLEGE SPORTS. The economy would win, minorities would win, there would be a middle class again.

SPORTS FANS would have their own TEAM COLLEGE that could spend all the money it wanted on stadiums, endorsements, (don't forget drugs and hookers). There are only a few jobs in professional sports, a handful of young men get drafted to basketball and football teams every year. Let those who want that life go for it, just not in a college setting.

These Junior League sports teams can call themselves college teams, if they want. Whatever floats the boats of the sweaty old men who leer at young (mostly minority) men, calling them racial slurs and pretending it's about Higher Education, not betting, endorsements, drugs and hookers.

This would allow colleges to concentrate on Academics!

Imagine that! The price of college tuition would drop until it was free, or close to free.

Because, let's face it, a College Education is expensive MAINLY because the Sports Programs get all the money. Why should Jill Average pay for something she'll never do, (Football or Basketball) for the next 20 years of her life, so some handsome, athletic minority boys can be exploited by a bunch of old, sweaty, leering rich white men?

Jill wants a degree, AND a house for herself and her husband and children. Not a 20 year mortgage for a substandard education because SPORTS TEAM needed cars, stadiums, drugs and hookers.

It's silly for hundreds of students like our Jill to pay the inflated salary of a Rick Pitino or Jerry Sandusky - and their legal bills when the abuses come to light. Cut the Football and Basketball teams free, they earn plenty of money on their own and let Academics go their own way.

What To Do, Just In Case

How to be more Prepared, without becoming a right-wing nutcase?

Everyone has been affected by The Shutdown. Some of us have been knocked flat on our butts by it, scarcely able to understand what happened. Others are reeling, some drunkenly, just barely keeping their sanity as the world turns upside-down around them.

For some of us, this is another kick in the teeth, another devastating kidney punch that has kicked us off the ladder of 'Success' just as we were getting back on it. No one wants to get caught flat-footed again, but not many people want to become Survival Extremists, either.

What is a rational person gonna do, in case this horrendous virus comes back in the fall? Well, assuming that one is just looking ahead for a return of this pandemic in the fall, let's see what one could do - without going full Doomsday Prepper.

I'm gonna make a few assumptions: this virus will come back in October, my readers have a little bit of money and some room for storage, and are willing to learn to cook.

There's a lot of math involved with this, because everyone's situation is gonna be different. First thing is to read up on portion sizes, and figure out what's gonna work for your situation. Then get a few good recipes for soup, because that's the easiest way to cook several meals using dried foods. Get a crock pot, or some kind of slow cooker and learn to use it.

The easiest foods to put away for 'What If?' are dried foods. Since we are talking about food to buy over the summer, for use this fall and winter, shelf-life shouldn't be an issue. All this stuff will last a year as long as mice and bugs don't get in it. It's all something one could eat over the course of a winter, even if things don't go badly, this food doesn't have to go to waste.

Quick rolled oatmeal for breakfast, two big cans of it, raisins to flavor it, or packets of instant flavored oatmeal. More on that in a minute.

Dried peas, beans, barley, rice, soup starter/mixes, powdered beef and chicken broth, ramen, dried egg noodles, dried milk, dried herbs like bay leaf, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, vanilla, and chili powder for dinners. All these need to be in mouse-proof containers, but can be stashed in a tub until needed. I use recycled ice cream containers, and anything else I can get my hands on for this. It doesn't matter what it looks like, slap a label and a date on it, then tuck it into the tub for safekeeping.

Oatmeal in bulk containers needs flavoring. I've found that one packet of cheap instant oatmeal can flavor two cups of plain oatmeal. Just mix it together with water and nuke it according to directions for the bulk oatmeal. The fiber in the oatmeal is good for the digestion, cholesterol, and the carbs are good for energy.

Tissue paper, toilet tissue, laundry detergent, won't fit in a single tub, but pain/fever relieving medication, ant-acids, cold and allergy medicines, whatever your family uses over the course of the winter, will. Just buy an extra generic one, tuck the smaller boxes into the tub with the dried food.

One doesn't have to spend a fortune, just think about it and tuck away an extra bit here and there. I'm assuming money is gonna be tight all summer, so any "prepping" is gonna small scale.

We all know what is in short supply. So this summer pick up an extra one and stash it. Toilet paper, toothpaste, no need to buy a case, just pick up one or two small packages.

I was surprised at the absence of rice in general and brown rice in particular.

We eat a good bit of rice, I keep three or four different rice mixes, so I never thought to stock up on the plain brown rice, because I've got other types in storage. I'm gonna buy a two extra bags for the fall and winter. Just two extra bags, putting it in glass jars and stashing it away. I'm gonna get 5 lbs of white rice, 10 lbs of flour (I bake bread) and 10 lbs of sugar. I will need two large containers, which I don't have at the moment.

The point is to have a extra on hand. However, there's no point in buying things one or one's family won't eat. This is where the extra thought comes in, what and how to cook stuff that the family will eat?

Practice. It's the only way to learn.

Here at Jordan's Croft, I have a pantry. It was the first part of my kitchen that I fell in love with. I keep extras in the pantry. So I have two jars of peanut butter, two jars of jam, four kinds of rice mix, six types of noodles, a case of ramen noodles, an extra bottle of cooking oil, three types of flour, raisins and nuts as well as potatoes, white and sweet, garlic and onions.

We eat a lot of stir-fried foods with either rice or noodles. Years ago I decided that I liked to eat different vegetables stir-fried together instead of just carrots or peas or cabbage. So I just cut up whatever we've got on hand, stir-fry it, put it over either rice or noodles and enjoy.

We really like eating this way. A few staples in the fridge, a bit of rice, some flavorings and dinner!

Anyone can do this. One just needs to find out what works for you and your situation.

How does this work out?

When the store shelves were empty, we still had toilet paper, because there was an extra pack in the guest bathroom. We had everything we needed to make a big pot of beef soup and chicken soup three days later because we had powdered broth, noodles, dried vegetables and herbs, a little bit of beef and a couple chicken thighs stashed in the freezer.

By the the time we were running short, most of the things we really needed were back on the shelves. I needed fresh foods the most, carrots, celery, potatoes, and milk. Frozen vegetables and chicken thighs were enough to keep us eating. We're almost out of oatmeal, but it's back on the shelves, so we are fine. We picked up a small pack of toilet paper one week, and a larger one a week later, never opening the extra pack in the guest bath.

Hope this helps.

Food As Art? What?

Any one of this young woman's videos are enough to make one believe that food can be more than Drudgery. Watch several, and become convinced that American's are doing food all wrong.

I had given up gardening when my parents passed, because of The Hoard. It was so overwhelming that I couldn't function. But The Hoard has been gone for two years.

I started watching Liziqi about a year ago. I know nothing beyond what I've seen, but that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that only a few videos have English sub-titles either. The important part is the inspiration.

Her garden is her back yard, or all her yard is a garden, I'm not sure which. But there are trellises of good things to eat right outside her door. Squashes, tomatoes, roses (she eats roses!), chickens and ducks, pigs and a cow are all right there, within reach. Noodle beans hang down, just begging to be eaten, or fermented, or dried, or a bit of both. I've watched her grind corn and soy beans into pulp and steamed into cakes filled with rose petals.

Most videos show simple food - the meat is chopped right in front of the camera, vegetables are diced or sliced and it all goes into a big Wok. But some dishes are elaborate. Grinding pulp looks like backbreaking work. Still there's something about this process that makes sense.

This food looks -- accessible? Is that a good word? That's what I find inspiring. Walking out of the house into a garden where one can pick dinner off the vine.

The point is this: I can grow the same vegetables that I like best in stir-fry and rice noodle dishes. This year the garden wasn't much. The carrots were tiny, the beets likewise, the Bok Choy was tough as nails. But the yellow and purple beans were great, cantaloupe grew up the trellis, as did the tomatoes.

It was so satisfying to pick it and cook it up, just like girl in the video. I can make my garden an interesting place and enjoy eating food that's a little tiny bit pretty.

This is about progress, not perfection.

So I'm very pleased with going from nasty, over-salted, soggy and disgusting pizza to home-grown and home-cooked food.

The funny thing was the grass that grew up in the garden space was greener than the rest. Even more interesting was the horses and alpacas came in to graze that grass down until it looked liked I'd mowed it. They ate the garlic (what?) and the carrots (I get that), but didn't touch anything else. So I guess that next year I'll put netting over the garlic and carrots and let the grazers enjoy the grass.

Profiling Courage

The Freshmen Class of Democrats, who brought new blood to a stale party, have some real firecrackers in their midst. As refreshing as it is to see them and hear how they’ve scared the Old Guard silly, there’s more at stake here than the present day. These freshmen are looking at decades in Congress (just like the current Speaker of the House).

Let me savor that for a moment. (Ahh!) All those clear young minds pitted against two senile old men. There IS hope for America if we can #HoldTheLine.

I’m big fan of The Squad: Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). Though I’m much older than they are, I find their energy, drive, and media savvy (plus that dash of blood-lust) utterly refreshing.

I also have respect for Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, as well as the rest of embattled Democrats in Congress and the Senate.

We live in perilous times, there’s a raging Bull in the White House and an Evil Turtle running the Senate. The bright spot is the gavel of the House of Representatives sitting in Democratic hands.

And, of course, The Old Bull has made the four young women known as The Squad his target. After all, what better, more fitting, target than young women and dead men?

Oh, oh, I know, single out the naturalized immigrant!

A true test of wit and courage, that choice of target, for a senile old man; I hope his epitaph will read: “He beat up small women and dead heroes.”

It’s not like The Old Bull can actually DO anything constructive. He’s failed at everything he’s put a hoof to: replacing health care with some ‘great’ program that everyone loves, getting ‘manufacturing jobs back’ to the Rust Belt, balancing the Deficit, infrastructure, including the vanity wall that Mexico was supposed to pay for. He’s great at playing patsy with Communists and other dictators, I’ll give him that.

So he thrashes around the White House, spewing B.S. from both ends, attacking young women, locking the poor and their children in cages to impress – whomever it is that holds the ring in his nose.

Such courage!

Speaking of courage, please note the vast outrage expressed by the GOP, the Party of Morality and Fiscal Responsibility…er…not peep out of them.

The Evil Turtle stuttered his condemnation of – wait for it – Democrats – a feeble attempt to appear less senile than he is. He didn’t even know who the racist was.

Poor old man, someone find him a nurse, he didn’t get his green Jello at lunch and he’s cranky.

Hasn’t Kentucky had enough of this wizen creature? Can’t we move on, perhaps to someone who has proven their courage?

How about a Marine Corp fighter pilot? https://amymcgrath.com/

She could win on just her tag-lines:

ANTI-CORRUPTION.
ANTI-OBSTRUCTION.
ANTI-B.S.

Come on, Kentucky, it’s time to #DitchMitch and make America sane again.

Jordan's Croft Is Back

Yes, I'm back with more commentary from my tiny farm in Kentucky.

After a couple of years of radio silence, I've revived this blog, even without my URL, because there are somethings I can't stay silent about, and Twitter just doesn't cut it for me.

I'm watching The Old Bull and his Evil Turtle, now that we are on the cusp of the 2020 election, I'm digging in my heels. This might cost me readers on my favorite international writer's platform. I certainly hope not, because they've been good to me. I'll apologize to them in advance.

This also means I'm going to need to deal with the Trolls who hit this blog on a regular basis and stole clips of my work to post on Facebook.

Regardless, I'm not going to allow the Old Bull spread his manure unchallenged from #FlyOverAmerica. It's time to get out the pen and use it like a sword.

Two Tracks? A Railway to Hell!

I wasn't going to write another political piece. I swore I was done with them.

But the fact that somebody in that Big White House felt this was the time to blow the lid off our "Two Track" Presidency was the last thing I wanted to know.

Out here in #FlyOverAmerica we've been busy, working our $7 hour jobs, cussing the way the GOP has screwed up our Healthcare - even WORSE, and trying to living our lives but secretly afraid that the world's gone crazy.

Many of my friends fall into categories when it comes to politics. They are either: a) glued to MSNBC news, b) hiding from the news, c) watching Fox and sneering at the liberal News, d) trying to carry on when terrified that the USA will become a dictatorship tomorrow, e) praying to any God that will listen for deliverance from all those crazy bastards in DC, f) drinking, popping pills or shooting dope because they can't take the News anymore.

I went from B to E when I heard about the New York Times piece about The Resistance in the White House. I'm not 'reassured' - I'm not surprised, either. The Insane Clown Car pulled up to the White House and discharged the whole freaking circus two years ago, after all.

I've got some big fat doubts about that person's motives. In fact, if I was going to put a bet on who wrote it - I'd say it was a Big Fat Pinko Troll.

That OpEd had Friends of Vlad the Impaler written all over it.

Some has to say it, so it's gonna be me: The Russians Won the 2016 Election. They used the GOP/NRA/KGB gerrymandered election system against them to install the Manchurian Candidate, only this time they used a senile, greedy, despotic excuse of a con man.

And November isn't going to make it any better.

I can see the footprints of the Russian Trolls all over Facebook. I see people that I care about falling for the propaganda being pumped out by Fox News, or paralyzed by the hysteria of MSNBC. I see the Memes against kneeling for Social Justice. I see the Memes targeting our soldiers, trying to rile them up against the 'liberal snowflakes.' I see the "love our AR-15 machine guns or get out of 'Merika" propaganda. (The damn things are for sale at the freaking FEED STORES for the love of God.)

And I see the footprints of Pinko Trolls all over my blog.

I've logged out of my Twitter account. I logged out of Facebook. I cancelled Direct TV. And I still love my friends and family members who have bought all the bullshit and drank the Orange koolade. Most of all - I still have my friends who were born in other countries, or who were born of other ethnic groups, no matter what their skin color might be.

But - and this is the big one - the last thing I want to see is some mealy-mouthed toady bragging to the world that S/HE is a hero because they stole a sheet of paper of the desk of a madman. That this anonymous ring-kisser is 'the adult in the room' and that America should sleep better knowing The Resistance is in the White House.

REALLY? where the fuck are you Mitch McConnell? Paul Ryan?

You were the first ones in line to crucify THE THREAT TO THE FREE WORLD when it was a WOMAN and just a bunch of E-MAIL. You called her a TRAITOR and never so much as blushed.

You brow beat us all with eight damned YEARS of posturing and chest-beating when it was a BLACK MAN sitting at that desk in the Oval Office.

Now, y'all are showing your yella backs like the stink-bait you are.

If there really is Karma - y'all will be born as sewer rats for the next thousand years.

Goals - Publishing

I just finished a blog on Icy Road, it's an announcement of taking K. A. Jordan e-books 'wide' to as many outlets and vendors as I can.

In addition, I've taken steps to publish as many of my mother's short stories as I can in the next two years. I've enlisted some people to help me. I've pulled out the fourth volume and started reading. I've sent packets of short stories to a Beta Reader for evaluation.

Because, it will be 10 years since I started publishing e-books in 2020. And in ten years, I should know if this hobby of mine will ever become a business, or if it will continue to be a drop in the bucket. The best way for me to figure it out is to make a big push to see what happens.

After all, the Hoard is gone, my parent's farm is gone, the estate is settled and I have my life back. Two of my horses are over 30 years old, I'm looking to re-home the young mare so I don't have to put her down when the other two cross the bridge. The alpacas are slated for a new home this fall. We can sell the geese and the ducks without any problem. I can bring my chickens with me, just not the roosters.

Honestly, by the time 2020 rolls around, I'll have a better idea of the political climate. Right now, the news concerns me greatly. As does the report I get from Google on my blog readership.

In 2020 I'll reach a personal milestone - and I've been asking myself if I want to spend the rest of my life working on this farm, or do I want to retire to the City? There are a lot of nice cities out there. And I want what the millennial generation wants, a place with public transportation. I'd like to be part of an artists colony, but those are very hard to find.

The long list includes: Cleveland (it has RTA and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), Erie PA, Buffalo NY, Panesville OH, Fairport Harbor, Madison on the Lake and Ashtabula Harbor.

So I'm going to work it out in the next two years.

Back Yet Again - Bug Off Trolls!

I closed this blog down because the majority of hits I got were from Russia and China.

Well, I'm back.

I don't know what I'll post here, but I'm not going lose years of content because of them.

So how do I know that the majority of traffic to this page was from Trolls? Operating systems. Lenix is the #1 operating system used by people who came to this page.

#

Karma Is A Bitch - Mitch

 Karma really is a bitch,

Congress had this coming for the last 20 years. They whined and wailed about Hilary this and Obama that, every time a Democrat farted they shrieked like they were about to be donkey-raped.

Now the old bull has Congress by the short hairs and is crawling up their backs and breathing snot down the back of their necks. Even the FBI has been taken down a peg.

And we all know that the old bull is gonna get re-elected. Vlad the Impaler will see to it. We've got 7 more years of this crazy old SOB to go.

I predict that unless somebody slips the old bull a Russian mickey, there won't be a whole lot of the East or West coast left by the time he's gone.

Meanwhile, #flyoverAmerica will have a front row seat to the carnage.

Let's see how those smug, supercilious SOBs Mitch and Paul like being treated like so much garbage to be chewed up and spit out.

Fraking Facebook - Log Out Now

I'm sick of Facebook Trolls.

They claim to be Americans, but I'm not so sure. I think the fraking Communists have taken over Facebook.

There's only one thing to do in a case like this -- Log Out.

Here's why I'm so fraking pissed off:

We live in a country where damn near every politician has signed the Grover Norquist pledge for No New Taxes. Making ANY changes to security in our schools is going to cost money. But there isn't any money -- there won't be any money because we just had the biggest tax cut in history.

So there will be no help from the Federal OR State government for the schools. NONE -- ZERO -- ZIP DOLLARS.

So let's get real. No new taxes, no money for the public schools. The 1% already has their offspring in private schools, they aren't going to pay for school security for the 99%. (See The Grover Norquist Pledge.)

I got pissed off because the Trolls and the Idiots on Facebook are pushing to arm teachers and they are jumping anyone who says it's the job of the police to protect taxpayers and future taxpayers from armed gunmen.

No - these Trolls are pushing us to reinvent the wheel. They want the Teachers(!) armed with guns like some kind of private security firm to patrol the halls of our schools. (So who's teaching the kids while the teachers are on patrol?)

They don't want to PAY for these guns, or this training. Just like they don't want to pay for school lunches and school supplies. Wouldn't school life be better for everyone if PUBLIC schools had the money to provide lunches and supplies for ALL students?

Not gonna happen because rich people are sucking all the resources out of the economy and not paying their fair share of taxes. But you can't tell anyone that, they're all stirred up by Trolls.

It's a Troll's Dreamland on Facebook.

I logged out the first time the day of the shooting and I've logged out for most of the day since. I can't quit cold turkey, but I'm gonna see if I can get off Facebook and stay off Facebook for good.

What Makes America Great?

It's that time of year again.

Nostalgia for the 'good old days' and so I'm going to look back and point out some things that I recall from 'good old days'.

• America is great when we invest in the education of our citizens, so our high schools and colleges are the envy of the world. 
• America is great when college is affordable with Pell Grants funding the education of low-income families.
• America is great when 'free speech' is words, not money.
• America is great when living people have more rights than non-living corporations.
• America is great when it is safe to drink the water and breath the air.
• America is great when there are millions of family farms.
• America is great when we build housing that is affordable to all income levels.
• America is great when labor unions can battle corporations and win.
• America is great when the infrastructure is a top priority.
• America is great when it has a thriving middle class.
• America is great when it puts the welfare of the middle class ahead of the tax cuts for the rich and corporations.
• America is great when all people have equal rights and equal pay.
• America is great when law-enforcement doesn't kill tax-payers.
• America is great when it has a strong GI Bill and support for Veterans.

These are just off the top of my head. I'm sure that some people can think of more. 

DIY Publishing 2017, Part 2

Mechanics Rule

Final Cover

If you're a writer, you've seen the writer's getaway cabin in the woods, tucked in the most romantic isolation. Or you've heard the story of J. K. Rowling writing Harry Potter in the coffee shop down the street. But the nuts and bolts of writing are FAR less romantic.

Most of us have a less than romantic space to write, maybe in bed with our laptop, at the kitchen table or on Notepad at work. We might spend years working on a manuscript, and in the end what counts the most isn't our lovely scenes, exciting characters or lofty plots.

Here's the dirty little secret few professional writers want to talk about: the most important thing a writer needs is a superior grasp of grammar and sentence structure.

Now, a whole lot of new writers are going to roll their eyes and spout a cliche right now: "That's what editors are for."

But can you afford to pay that editor?

That level of editing is very time consuming and expensive. Editing at that level can cost upwards of $5 per page (500 words). Even if you find an independent editor who will edit your grammar for $1 per page, it will take 2 or 3 passes to get all the corrections done.

Some editors charge $1 per error found.

At a certain skill level that's a bargain. Until then it's a nightmare.

A traditional publisher, or (perish the thought) an agent, will read your manuscript up to the first grammatical error and stop. If that's in the first sentence, all your work after that is for nothing. If your lucky, they won't tweet your name and some disparaging remark to their colleagues. (Yes, this has happened.)

"Well, I'll self-publish my book," a budding author might reply.

Most readers (I'm one) will sample an e-book and not buy it if there are grammatical errors in the sample. Readers with a trollish bent will leave you a nasty 1 star "OMG, this writer sucks!" review. (I know, I've got some.) Many a writer has been shocked to get so many 1 star reviews on sites like Amazon or Goodreads by reader-trolls that they've snapped and lashed out at their tormentors. Flame wars have resulted, people get their feelings deeply hurt, and sometimes things spill over into the real world. (This is a subject for another post.)

So it's in every writer's best interest to work on this skill set, until they have it honed as sharp as a razor. Until then, use your grammar checker until it becomes your best friend. It won't find all the errors in a manuscript, but I learned a heck of a lot from mine.

If nothing else it will keep you from getting remarks like I got from Amazon Vine Reviewers: "Unfortunately, there are several spelling errors and grammatical mistakes that detract from my enjoyment. It's just easier to read an error-free story - you don't get pulled out of the plot and back to reality if the writing is pristine." 

Ouch!

No one is ever perfect, and as many times as I've revised this short post, I know there are still errors in it.

Warning: This blog (but not, I hope, this series of posts) contains subject matter that other's might find offensive as well as blog posts that have snarky language. Feel free to roll your eyes and click away from posts that offend you. The opinions expressed here were only valid on the day of posting, after that I've probably forgotten what I posted. I think the eye-roll emoji is either ::-( or 88-(, I no doubt deserve it if you leave one in the comments.