A Quote by Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin once said:  All mankind is divided into three classes: 
Those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.
(1706-1790, American Scientist, Publisher, Diplomat)

Blogging - The Self Editor in All of Us

Of late, I've been struggling to learn how to write effectively the first time through.  I fail miserably, so I need to go through what I've done at least one more time, and methodically not quickly, so I can catch some typo's, grammar-o's and just uh oh's.  Unlike newspaper writers who eliminate themselves from their writing, the rest of us write in a style that is who we are, or elements of style.

I've scoured the web looking for sage advice, and they seem to all pretty much say the same thing, just in different wrappers.  (Much like what I'm doing now.)

Here's what I've come across:

Ideas:  Write about what you care about.  This adds to your natural style and you can be genuine in what you say.

Don't go on and on:  Make your point then move on, keeping it as simple as possible.  It's been said that Shakespeare used childlike sentences for his most profound issues.

Don't be afraid to delete:  If a sentence does not shed more light on an issue, delete it.  Much like this statement about the cloudy weather out.  <- I'd delete this last sentence if I weren't trying to make a point.  I tend to use a lot of commas and have to delete most of them on my reread.

Write like you sound, or like you talk:  It's the most natural way to write, and is the most frustrating because your editor is now changing who you are.  (This is the hardest thing for me to deal with, but I keep in mind how much I learn when someone tells me where I've veered off the beaten path.)

It's one thing to be unique and creative, it's another to say what you mean:  Readers want familiarity.  Then they can scan our work looking for key words in familiar places.  Readers want print to look like pages they have seen before.  This almost sounds like we're capping our creative side, but we have to pity the readers to some extent but remember that the most meaningful aspect of our styles,
which is what we choose to write about, is utterly unlimited.


With that, I must be off to try and create a critical article on an argument some columnists had amongst themselves on a public bulletin board.  No pressure there.

Sniff, Sniff - it smells like Roswell All Over Again

Do ya smell that? The Texas UFO flap has taken on a Roswell-ish atmosphere.

After the giant, silent lights skimmed the sky some weeks back, (My original Post), Air Force Reserve officials in Fort Worth initially said they had no planes in the area Jan. 8.  Now the tale of our government officials say that that they were mistaken and wanted to set the record straight "in the interest of public awareness." the military said 10 F-16 fighter jets were training in the Stephenville area the night dozens of residents reported seeing a UFO.

Here we go again!

My first take is that F-16's are pretty loud when this UFO was silent, but that's just my take.  I could be off the mark there!

Check out the article over at the AP site or this AOL news report if that link is gone.

A great Photography website for Instruction, Insight and Imagery

I same across this site the other day and there was so much for me to look at that I need to go back several times to review it.
It has pointed me to the basics, and beyond basics and not just with the camera, but with using software after the fact, though my focus is getting the pic and accepting it for what it is.

Needless to say, it seems to be a valuable reference for the rest of us.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/

Gallery, architecturally focused:  Gallery
Tutorial on many facets of the art:  Tutorial

Don't Rest on Your Laurels - A Thought

Respect what has happened in the past by taking note and learning from it.
But regardless, don't confuse the past with the present nor seek in it the ideals of the future. 
You're only as good as your last act or deed and the farther in the past your last deed becomes, the less credibility you retain from it.

A Personal Security Measure Thought

Something to ponder:  If you have a key fob for remote keyless entry for your car, put your car keys beside your bed at night. If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get into your house, grab the fob and just press the panic button for your car.

The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies. The button works if you
park in your driveway or garage. If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are that the intruder won't stick around. After a few seconds all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there, and the criminal won't want that.

And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there.

A personal security note from Bruce

Grape Juice - As Good as Wine?

Grape Juice is good for you

This author has surmised for some time now that if wine is good for you, then why not the source of the wine, grapes, be good for you too?  I now guess that my perspective may be vindicated by the attached article.  (Don't get me wrong, I'd rather stay healthy with wine than juice, but heck, prevention is prevention!)

 

Grape juice seems to have the same protective effect against heart disease as red wine, French scientists at the Universite Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg say.

 

Red wine and certain types of grape juice have high levels of polyphenols, which block the production of a protein linked to cardiovascular disease -- the number one killer in many Western countries.

 

The team doing the research found that polyphenols in Concord grape juice activate endothelial cells to produce nitric oxide which helps to protect against cardiovascular disease, but they have not discovered which grapes have the higher concentration of the good stuff.  (I don't mean alcohol!)

 
The Original article / post on Yahoo went away.  I am referencing a support link backing the info here:  Nutra Ingredients

Positive Attitude in the Right Direction

Always remember that even in your darkest moments, every failure, every misstep is a step in the right direction IF you choose to heed the lesson and learn from it rather than blame the moment.


A self improvement, positive attitude moment from Bruce

UFO's in Texas.. (Hope they're not Texas Sized UFO's)

Now we have some excitement going on that isn't Britney Spears..  but maybe it's related.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) -- In this farming community ... residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people -- say they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

"... this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide.  (Ok, large is one thing, but a mile long?  Zoinks!)

While federal officials say there's a logical explanation, (Of course they do) locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.

For more details, see CNN

How does it go?  They're here!

Personal Security - Preventing Auto Burglary

Preventative Security Measures by Bruce E. Simmons

OK, you can't prevent automotive burglary, but you sure can dissuade it.

Locally, we've had a rash of smash and grabs where a disreputable sort smashes a window, and takes what they can see in plain sight.  In a lot of these cases, it's GPS units sitting on dashboards, or Satellite radios, or iPods, or even laptops.  I've had a friend have to replace a car window because someone smashed it to take a bag of baby clothes.  Then there's the loose change laying around.

Yep, the convenience of it all.  Being able to reach over for your change, your iPod or whatever else you've got sitting in the seat next to you. 

When I lived in the Avalon Silicon Valley apartments, car break-ins and thefts occurred all too often for my taste in the garage.  Every day when I got home, I pulled in my satellite antenna, (I don't have it permanently mounted), removed the the satellite radio from the dash, and piled everything that was loose into my back pack and took that upstairs.

The simplest form of prevention is not leaving things in plain site.  It's as simple as that.  Keep a nice, clean and barren interior and there will be nothing to tempt the desperate folks.  Cover things up with a dark towel or clothing item or stash it in the trunk.  More often than not, they won't take the risk to break in to investigate under things, unless you've used a real expensive coat to cover things with.. think that one through folks.

A Thought for Thursday, the 10th

You only lose energy when life becomes dull in your mind.  Your mind gets bored and therefore tired of doing nothing. Get interested in something! Get absolutely enthralled in something! Get out of yourself! Be somebody! Do something. The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.

Norman Vincent Peale

SF Tiger Attack Victims made Pact of Silence

Soon after their 17-year-old friend was mauled to death by a tiger at the San Francisco Zoo, the two brothers who survived the attack made a quick pact not to cooperate with the police as they rode in an ambulance to the hospital, sources told The Chronicle.

Sources also say that the younger brother was intoxicated at the time of the incident, having used marijuana and consumed enough liquor to have a blood-alcohol level above the .08 limit for adult drivers. The older brother also had been drinking and using marijuana.

Although the police still possess their cell phones and the brothers' car, the police cannot legally search the items as potential evidence. Among the items police say they have spotted in the car is an empty vodka bottle.

The entire article is over at SFGATE.com

Bruce's take: I'm so very disappointed in this whole process. Yes, the tiger enclosure turns out to be have walls that were too low, but for some kids to torment an animal (per reports and conjecture) to the point of driving it into an angry rage and then being able to possibly sue for the altercation, and then collaborating to refrain from telling authorities what happened is pretty frustrating to me.

What's our system coming to when people can cause a problem, and possibly be able to sue for the ensuing damages that arise from that scenario.

Ann Landers Once Said - A Quote

Class is an aura of confidence that is being sure without being cocky.
It has nothing to do with money and it never runs scared.
It is self-discipline and self-knowledge.
It's the sure-footedness that comes with having proved to yourself you can meet life.

Menlo Park Starbucks and the Internet

It's coming down in sheets out there and there is no power at my place, so I went to the downtown Menlo Park Starbucks to hook up.

I should have asked first.

I snaked a seat, set up my laptop, got my drink, settled in for the show and some internet connectivity and come to find out internet access is not free here.

It's free next door at Unamas, the Mexican food place, but not here.

A Quote for January 2nd.

Change is an easy panacea. It takes character to stay in one place and be happy there.

Elizabeth Clarke Dunn

Hello to 2008

Another calendar year has come and gone. 
We now have only 359 shopping days until Christmas.
I want to say thank you to my 40,000+ visitors for coming by and checking out my work and efforts.
Now, let's look to 2008 and see what that has in store for us, for humanity.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes to Everyone
Bruce E. Simmons

Observations: Publishers Clearing House and Their Emails

I've previously written about Publishers Clearing House and the Used Car Salesman pitches one receives in their contest emails. I'd like to point out another marketing trick, emotion grabbing process they run by you when they send you the emails.

Don't get me wrong, of nearly 50% of their company profits benefit charitable causes. That's actually the good, confusing part... but can't you find better ways to wrangle that change PCH? (Per Wikipedia)

When you click on a link in their contest emails, it takes you to a processing page that ticks down while it "processes" your information:


Don't get too carried away by this simple 3 second dramatic pause trick. The moment you hit a webpage, your info is already there. When you come across cool slider status bars and blinking processing lights, it's just a hoax to build your apprehension and excitement. And for what? To click on more things?

They want your emotion ramped up so when you get to sites like this, .. Well helloooo!! Oh, sorry... it almost got me! Back on track:

When you hit sites like this, you'll be more prone to check into it. It's when you are emotionally charged that people make more purchases. That's why advertising and all the psychology behind advertising works. Emotional associations.


So be smart and detach yourself from the blinkies. You'll spend less money in the long run.