Leave the Wolves in Peace

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

Sometimes I get emails from environmental groups, asking for petition action. I usually like to add a little something to their boilerplate text, just to personalize it. Here’s one that came through today, with my addition in bold.

As a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife and someone who cares about wildlife, I strongly urge you to practice sensible, science-based management of the wolves in your state.

European settlers and their descendants have been obsessively slaughtering the wildlife on this continent for 400 years. It can’t possibly be that much fun anymore. If those of you in authority can’t support the animals and their environment, at least do something to see that they’re left in peace.

The benefits of wolves are well documented. They bring tourist dollars (millions near Yellowstone) and improve ecosystems by preventing overgrazing by elk, deer and caribou.

I know, right? 🙂

Hunting isn’t a sport, it’s just murder. Just one guy’s humble opinion.

You Tell ‘Em, Ladies

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

I’m glad the government shutdown last night was turned out be no worse than yet still again another government clusterf—k narrowly averted. But we the people should not forget – because we have to vote again – just what the issues boiled down to.

Time in a Blender

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

Remember the Bass-o-Matic, Dan Aykroyd on SSN?

Sometimes it sure seems like the days are being gobbled up, just that way. You drop one in the top about 7:30am, press Medium, and … there’s a horrible noise. Bones and scales. Nobody should have to watch this going on. And the result, when the late shows come on, isn’t nearly as nutritious as we’d like to pretend.

But I’ve over-blended the analogy, as usual.

I’m way behind on my blog reading. I’m behind on my blog writing. But while I’m waiting for consciousness to grind down to a nice, slow stir, here’s a little something to whet your appetite:

Finding your voice in your audience

I listened to an interview recently of the writer Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Pray, Love. She was asked about the genesis of voice and said that it’s important to think about the person you’re writing to – ideally, an individual. She pointed to examples in her own work, and to whom each piece was addressed.

“A consciousness of who you’re speaking to and why is crucial. … Storytelling without an idea of who you’re telling your story to is a voice echoing in an empty room.”

Gilbert explained that this is true because we are different in the way we speak and act, depending on the company we’re in. And I think that’s true. I know it is. I can be very different with different people, if for no other reason than that each relationship imposes a disparate dynamic.

William Stafford said it all best, in his poem A Ritual To Read To Each Other.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider–
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

Yes, yes. But doesn’t this contradict what we’ve so often and emphatically been told by the teachers of creative writing, that we shouldn’t consider the audience at all? Don’t even imagine that there might one day be an audience, they say. Write for yourself. Because worrying about critical reception, misunderstanding, hurt feelings, etc., will kill all hope of creating art.

Well, then, so be it. So it goes. Let it be.
Doo bee doo bee doo.
And in case you’re wondering, it’s true.
I’m writing it all to you.

The Guy Who Got Goosed, and His Goose

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

One of those great strange but true stories about animals. It made me say, awwww.

Another War for Oil

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

A video for you. Food for thought. It’s a different perspective on Obama’s actions in Libya than those who know me might expect me to willingly post. And definitely a different perspective on Bush and Iraq. Still, I think it’s worth pondering.

Spring has Sprung

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

and that quite earnestly. It’s so warm that I started the day by opening all the windows in my place. And it’s spring break for the schools here, so I’m sure the kids are enjoying the beach.

The high for the day is projected at 80.

It’s not my favorite time of year, which is basically Halloween to New Years, but darned if it won’t do.

Now the flowers break
forth riotous!

– Phaedrus

That Which

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

Do you ever get confused about the difference between that and which, and the correct usage of these words? I do. Maybe not so much confused as distracted, forgetful. It’s one of those things we should have had down cold before matriculating to middle school, but which drifts from focus with time. So today, we focus thereupon it. Smile

There are many such things in our language. I hear otherwise articulate people say things like, “Bob and me got up early and went fishing.” English ain’t easy.

A. Small dogs, which often bark, should get extra treats.

B. Small dogs that often bark should get extra treats.

C. Meetings, which occur on Wednesday, are held in Room #6.

D. Meetings that occur on Wednesday are held in Room #6.

See the difference? All four of these sentences are grammatically correct. But their meanings are different.

I guess reasonable people could arm wrestle over the comma usage, but not today.

A & C add information about their subjects, small dogs and meetings. (You might not otherwise know that small dogs often bark or that meetings are on Wednesday, but you need to.) B & D limit the information.

In A, all small dogs often bark and should get extra treats. In B, only small dogs that often bark get extra treats; others don’t, and don’t get extras.

In C, all meetings are on Wednesday and always in Room #6. In D, Wednesday meetings are in Room #6; meetings on other days might be someplace else.

So the trick is to make note of sentences which add information, as opposed to those that don’t.

And who knew that Windows Live Writer had graphical smiley faces? Cool.

Best Friends

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

This video is just to help you smile.

Something Cool

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

happened on the Internet today. A formerly suicidal (literally) writer named Kiana wrote to a writer named Joe, about the impossibility of getting published in the traditional marketplace. She had taken his advice, she said, went digital, and turned everything around. Her book has been selling on Amazon.

Today she got an extra gift: When Joe shared (with permission) her message of appreciation and hope, her latest’s ebook’s rank on amazon.com shot up around 45,000%. Yeah, 45 thousand percent.

Way to go, guys.

Here’s the whole story.

And here’s a brief quote that stood out as useful for me:

“For the first time ever, writers have a choice.

Choices are empowering. Having the ability to control our futures, even with something as simple as self-publishing an ebook, means we aren’t helpless anymore.

That’s a very good thing.”

The upshot is that we are no longer dependent on a corporate publisher to get our work out there and get money for it. In fact, we can’t rely on that paradigm because it’s different. Some say dying, I say morphing.

Gone are the days when a name publishing house will take a change on a no-name writer. They won’t bring you into the business. With very rare exceptions, you have to do that for yourself. You have to build a platform, as they say. And once you’re established and successful, then maybe they’ll come courting.

When that happens, here’s what you need to remember.

Bloody Vikings

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

I usually use MS Livewriter to write blog posts. Today I decided to use Blogger because I might want to switch PCs in the midst of drafts. So I saw Blogger’s claim that they’ve got automatic spam filtering now.

I turned off the Capcha word thing for comments on this blog. They say that the proof is in the piddling, so we’ll see if any piddle gets posted, is my point.

In Which I Save Money on the Phone Bill

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

I think it’s ridiculous that we’re still paying what I presume many of us are paying to have a telephone in our home. You’d think after 100 years, the price would come down, as it does with much of technology. Seems like the phone company is betting that we’re just used to paying what we pay, and they’re probably right.

Do we really even need a phone in the house, now that we have cell phones with unlimited long distance? Well, I think it’s a good idea. If you call 911 on your cell, you have to be feeling well enough to enunciate your exact location. If you’ve got The World’s Largest Gummy Bear lodged in your trachea, I guess we’ll see you on the other side. With a landline, they know where you are instantly. And here in California, 911 cell calls go to the CHP, not your local emergency dispatcher.

Yes, I know, there’s GPS. But that takes time. And it only gives them a general idea of where you are. They won’t find you in a condo complex; at least, not in time. And by then, their method will be more olfactory than electronic.

I’ll admit a sentimental attachment to my landline too. My Mom & Dad gave me a phone and my own line on my 17th birthday in 1978. I still have the phone and the same number, though the phone doesn’t work very well anymore. I enjoy keeping things for a lot longer than most people do, when it makes sense. Obviously, I’m not using my college typewriter to post these thoughts to Metaphor.

I looked at my home phone bill the other day. $50 a month. Wooly crap. I was paying for unlimited local calling, long distance, call forwarding, caller ID, and wiring maintenance. That’s just too much.

Now I’m paying $20 + tax per month for the home phone. Soon, it will go down to down to $12 + tax. … From $50 to $12, just by getting rid of stuff I don’t need. I’ll tell you how I did it.

I called Verizon today and cut my local plan back to measured instead of unlimited. So my local connection will be a lot cheaper. Outgoing local calls will be 3 cents a minute for the first minute, 1 cent for each additional minute, but with a $3/month credit. I doubt I’ll ever spend anything for local calls.

People who call me, take note: Incoming calls are still unlimited, free gratis.

I canceled all long distance on my home phone. And all the calling features except caller ID, which I’ll keep another week or two, while I transition to using Google Voice. That will make it drop from $20 to $12 + tax.

What’s Google Voice? It’s pretty cool, that’s what. It’s a free service from Google, which provides a phone number you can give to people. When they call it, all of your phones – home, office, cell – ring at once. You decide which phone to take the call on. So you can use the Caller ID on your cell phone to see who’s calling, but pick up the home phone to answer. That’s why I won’t need Caller ID on the home phone anymore.

Google Voice also provides an Internet-based voicemail, which you can listen to on your PC or by phone, or read the voicemail as text in your email. Plus, free nationwide long distance over the Internet, using your PC. That’s why, along with my cell phone, I really don’t need long distance on the landline anymore.

I hope this gives you some ideas for cutting back on the old school tech in your house.

My next step is to decide whether I should add more minutes to my cell phone. If I do, I give back part of the savings. But I’ll get Friends & Family, which makes all calls with my family members unlimited without using cell minutes. So that’s something to ponder.

Before you go, you did click the link above and check out The World’s Largest Gummy Bear, right? I’m not making that up. And I’m pretty sure, one way or another, it could kill you.

Nothing That Grieves Us

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Kyle Kimberlin

There was a bad accident on the freeway near my condo tonight. I heard it happen, not long after 8:30pm. Strangely, there was no stereotypical squeal of brakes, just an intense kind of whoosh, then Bang. I grabbed my jacket, cell phone, keys and hurried out and across the road, where others were already peering through the fence. Many people were coming out of their homes to see.

There wasn’t much visible. The accident scene was a couple hundred yards west, where the freeway is 20 feet below the level of our homes, and there’s a hedge of thick bushes. So I didn’t go down that far. I came back inside but after a while the continuous arrival of so many vehicles with sirens drew me back out. I’ve rarely heard that many emergency vehicles in one place.

It was impossible to see anything. I walked some, got some night air, and thought about it. I knew from the CHP website that there were 4 cars involved, one overturned, the road was blocked, people were going to the hospital, and crews were coming to clean up the mess.

The CHP information is raw, a transcript of the actual radio or car computer traffic. It’s hard to understand. But I think it says something about witnesses claiming that someone did something stupid …

No. Wait. Holy crap. While I’ve been writing this post, I think I figured it out. WW, it says. SV going WW. Somebody was going the wrong way on the freeway? It says SV (southbound vehicle?) going WW appeared intentional.

OMG

You know it’s been hard not to be distracted by the escalating, multiplying disasters in Japan this week. It is heart-rending, so massive that it’s hard to get the mind to seize and grip it. Maybe that’s because there’s so much video, far more coverage than with the Indonesian tsunami. Plus, there’s the multiple nuclear meltdown to ponder. In any case, it’s distracting. I’ve been using reading and writing time to watch Anderson Cooper.

As I was walking home, bearing witness to the fact that people were dragging small children with them to peer down from the roadside, and all the lights and still more sirens coming after half an hour, I thought this:

For the people in those 4 cars down there, this is just as sure a disaster than any that gets covered for days on end on CNN. Lives are being changed tonight, possibly ended. Here on the US 101, downhill from a flower field and uphill from a beach where baby seals sleep with their mothers, there’s calamity that has hit the top of the Richter Scale for those involved. And I remembered this quote from Mark Twain:

“Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of a crown are events of the same size.”