corra wrote:
You have style, lady. Take care. Vern
901 2016-07-07 02:31:32
Re: Independence Day - the 1852 Address by Frederick Douglass. (20 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
902 2016-07-06 23:30:18
Re: What Happened To Hamler (46 replies, posted in HodgePodge)
I think he's still sulking about the Seahawks losing to the Panthers. Or maybe he's hitchhiking your way to surprise you with a finished copy of Antagony and had to leave his computer home. No telling with John. Good to see you pop in once and a while anyway; hey, maybe that's what he's doing...trying to spur you on with his absence. Take care. Vern
903 2016-07-06 23:17:33
Re: My space shuttle sprung an air leak - What happens? (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Norm d'Plume wrote:
In my story, my characters are flying in a shuttle that's been hit by another ship, causing the leak. They're racing to reach a flagship before their air runs out. I want to knock them out with them realizing they may not be rescued in time and may never wake up. I can't have their blood/tissues boil/explode while they're unconscious.
Charles, thanks for the links. I read through it quickly and it looks useful. I'll read it in detail later today.
It seems to me you're over complicating the situation. They either pass out from lack of oxygen and/or decompression or they don't. You then save them or you don't. They will not know one way or the other unless you indeed do save them. Any added detail is not going to change anything or make it more dramatic unless you want to go into the theatrics of a Total Recall or such other unrealistic depiction. Good luck with whatever you decide. Take care. Vern
904 2016-07-06 12:11:23
Re: My space shuttle sprung an air leak - What happens? (11 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
I would think the loss of pressure would similar to that of SCUBA divers who ascend too rapidly and get the bends due to Nitrogen "boiling" from the blood. In such a case, your early rescue could place the victims in a hyperbaric chamber to slowly equalize the pressure to normal status. You might wish to check out more details on the effect of bends in such a case. Take care. Vern
905 2016-07-05 22:44:07
Re: Independence Day - the 1852 Address by Frederick Douglass. (20 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
SolN wrote:
Test
Of what? Take care. Vern
906 2016-07-05 02:18:45
Re: Independence Day - the 1852 Address by Frederick Douglass. (20 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Charles_F_Bell wrote:
vern wrote:Charles_F_Bell wrote:"Swine" I wouldn't choose for you, but as to the sentiment of the "horrific world" Douglass spoke against is that but a shallow contribution on the 4th I can speak of here against those who despise the U.S.A. not from its human limitations but because of its enormous superiority to anywhere else.
When "anywhere else" leaves a lot to be desired, then "enormous superiority" still has lots of room for improvement. To blindly deny that is to become part of the problem. But I'm sure your highness already knows that, right? Take care. Vern
And certainly, as you see the U.S.A. in 2016, words from a bitter man in the 1850's, probably more appreciated as a young slave in the South than a mature Negro in the "tolerant" North, is the way to put things in perspective.
Alas, the "tolerant" North is/was only a façade. Take care. Vern
907 2016-07-04 23:00:48
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
ambrosia
908 2016-07-04 22:58:40
Re: Independence Day - the 1852 Address by Frederick Douglass. (20 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Charles_F_Bell wrote:
corra wrote:"Swine" then.
Your shallow contribution here throws integrity into relief, serving as a living reminder of the horrific world this man spoke against. Your voice is small, your words hollow, your contribution like the scurrying of a rat too arrogant to realize he is insignificant.
Please, do go on. You serve as illustration.
"Swine" I wouldn't choose for you, but as to the sentiment of the "horrific world" Douglass spoke against is that but a shallow contribution on the 4th I can speak of here against those who despise the U.S.A. not from its human limitations but because of its enormous superiority to anywhere else.
When "anywhere else" leaves a lot to be desired, then "enormous superiority" still has lots of room for improvement. To blindly deny that is to become part of the problem. But I'm sure your highness already knows that, right? Take care. Vern
909 2016-07-04 14:28:04
Re: Independence Day - the 1852 Address by Frederick Douglass. (20 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Traitor or swine, like beauty, is often in the eyes of the beholder (along with the accompanying bias.) According to the relatively recently discovered Gospel of Judas, he was actually the most trusted of the disciples. Judas was given advanced teachings and thus was secretly given the task of helping Jesus fulfill his mission by "betraying" him as planned. Of course this version was not included in the canonized Bible for obvious reasons. Take care. Vern
910 2016-07-03 22:52:20
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
last picture show
911 2016-07-03 22:50:33
Re: Independence Day - the 1852 Address by Frederick Douglass. (20 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
A similar speech might be made today regarding "religious" intolerance and hypocrisy. Take care. Vern
Edited to add omitted word.
912 2016-07-03 15:20:39
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
paint job
913 2016-06-30 01:58:57
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
stool pigeons
914 2016-06-29 22:44:18
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Roy Rogers
915 2016-06-28 22:54:05
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
obi wan kanobi (oops, one too many k's corrected)
916 2016-06-28 22:52:14
Re: Welcome (264 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Welcome, John, never been to WritersCafe, but you should enjoy the vittles here just as well. Take care. Vern
917 2016-06-26 13:15:38
Re: Don't try this at home... (8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Simon Morris wrote:
Why go to all that trouble. There will be too much DNA evidence in the "fall off." With Snoqualmie Pass in the winter, the body can be disposed of without all the gore. Or, Lake Washington serves as a lovely resting place. A paint bucket filled with cement, a length of chain and the body will remain beneath the 55 degree waters for longer than the murderer will live. I was going to suggest trying the lumber splitter on a spare wife to test it, but that would be the Alfred Hitchcock in me speaking.
I don't know, sounds like a lot of work getting to those places and carrying all that cement and all. And if somebody is going to leisurely sift through all that "stuff" for DNA, they've probably already sniffed out more than enough evidence to convict. BTW, Lake Washington and probably most any other is at times chock full of scuba divers looking for treasures or artifacts, prone to find that body sticking up like a Lady in the Lake (think movie with Robert Montgomery)before the murderer's demise. Take care. Vern
Edited to add R. Montgomery info)
918 2016-06-26 03:06:36
Re: Don't try this at home... (8 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
max keanu wrote:
njc wrote:Some Golden-age writer, perhaps Futrelle, gave us a murder in which the corpse was deep-frozen in liquid CO2 and pulverized in that state. What was left could easily be washed down the sewers, and with no DNA testing available, there was no proof he'd ever been there.
I'm discovering that vermin, birds, squirrels, coyotes etc., in my stretch of forest will consume everything if it is their specific bite-sized morsel.
Save yourself the trouble of all that butchering and just keep a well stocked pig pen; pigs will eat the body, bones and all -- perhaps a new slant on going to the pigs. Take care. Vern
919 2016-06-25 22:56:08
Re: A great loss (172 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
corra wrote:
I found this really interesting discussion against the novel online (contains spoilers immediately upon clicking). I think the speaker of the video makes a lot of really interesting points. I really like the way he compares America's reception of To Kill a Mockingbird versus Go Set a Watchman. Really solid remarks, I think. (From what I watched. I skimmed a bit.) He seems to echo some of what Dill said above. He mentions the way Lee emphasizes Boo's whiteness at the end of the novel: I'd missed that. (SPOILER FOLLOWS) Robinson is black and he dies; Boo is white and he is spared. I think the speaker fails, though, to consider Lee may have done this on purpose, not to condone it, but to bring it to light. He (may) also fail to consider that Lee wrote for a middlebrow audience, not to romanticize the issue, but to attempt to reach the middling sorts. :-)
"Boo had drifted to a corner of the room, where he stood with his chin up, peering from a distance at Jem. I took him by the hand, a hand surprisingly warm for its whiteness. I tugged him a little, and he allowed me to lead him to Jem’s bed."
I still love the book. I love it because I love it. I still haven't bothered to reread it and have anything intelligent to say in this thread -- evidence perhaps that I don't quite love it enough.
I like to see it challenged and beaten about. I'm not sure I'll ever consider it beneath the effort.
I don't see the reference to "whiteness" in this instance as addressing "race" at all, rather the cold whiteness of someone scared (as in turning pale with fright) which in this instance was surprising because of his warmth which in turn might lead one to think he wasn't scared at all, merely shy. At any rate, I refuse to adjust my initial fondness for TKAM because of the change in character presented by Go Set a Watchman. To me, the two books are dealing with different characters with the same name from different viewpoints. Take care. Vern
920 2016-06-23 23:18:50
Re: PLAGIARISM - LIMITS (18 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Ideas can't be copyrighted. There are only seven basic plots (plus or minus depending on who does the categorizing) and they have all been done thousands of times, so there is no copyright on a plot, else every author in the world would be sued every time they published a book. You can't copy characters and you can't take large excerpts or strings of original wording verbatim from other works, but you can certainly rearrange them to your own version of an old story.
A case in point which I thought would surely go to the plaintiff, but didn't, was when the authors of Holy Blood Holy Grail (non-fiction) sued Dan Brown over The Da Vinci Code (fiction). Having read Holy Blood Holy Grail first, I thought that Brown had taken quite liberally from the text of that book. Large areas of quoted research were very similar as well as the basic premise of Jesus' blood line continuing after having a child with Mary Magdalene. The courts ruled in Brown's favor. Of course someone could probably point out a different outcome for other suits, but if you use your own words to recast a story, you should be on fairly safe ground. That is not to say that someone couldn't bring a nuisance suit to try to deter you. Take care. Vern
Edited for PS: As stated in the Copyright Act: In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.
921 2016-06-22 23:07:29
Re: I DID IT! (4 replies, posted in HodgePodge)
A brief description of what the book is about might be helpful; otherwise any suggestion would probably be a bit unkosher so to speak. But just going by the title presented, I might offer "Half a Pickle" or "Not Enough Brine" -- hey, I like pickles. Take care. Vern
922 2016-06-22 12:15:09
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Entwined
923 2016-06-19 22:22:07
Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri (76 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Charles_F_Bell wrote:
vern wrote:Charles F Bell wrote:But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
So, you do agree with me that organized religion is the problem.
Actually, I think you said white heterosexual male Protestant Americans is the problem, or was that someone to whose mind you have melded?
vern wrote:Unfortunately, none of the major religions adhere to the philosophy set forth in the quote. You need only go to any denominational gathering or tune into any televangelist or any event where they offer up a prayer to confirm it. No, I don't really expect you to say so -- on the contrary, you'll most likely twist it around to say something else -- but you might try it in the hopes of giving me a heart attack. Take care. Vern
Matthew 6:6 within the first level of understanding means that followers of a minority faith should lie low and even be secretive, and if the God of that faith has any power to hear prayer, he will do so. At a broader, second level understanding it means that faith does not require ostentation, and contrariwise puritans were sometimes rather showy about their lack of ostentation, so good at demonstrating their goodness, and the modern liberal, the social-justice warrior, has that annoying puritan inheritance. Evangelism is different because of the proselytizing nature. Islam, requiring everyone in the world to be muslim, or die, or submit to lower status, is not evangelism but imperialism.
Just as I surmised, you like to try to twist things to your own interpretation, including the Bible and the Quran. The Bible and the Quran both can be used to call for war, or genocide if you will, for those who don't accept their view or what they construe to be their God's will. You can find most any position you wish if you look for it in and take things out of context in both the Bible and the Quran. You seem to be adamant that the Quran teaches nothing but hatred and killing of Christians and others. And you can probably find verses to suggest that just as you can in the Bible. In contradiction to your intolerant beliefs, here are a few verses regarding peace to go along with the fact that Islam itself is a word derived from peace:
“O You who believe! Enter absolutely into peace (Islam). Do not follow in the footsteps of satan. He is an outright enemy to you.” (Holy Quran: 2, 208)
“There is no compulsion where the religion is concerned.” (Holy Quran: 2/ 256)
“You cannot guide those you would like to but God guides those He wills. He has best knowledge of the guided.” (Holy Quran/28: 56)
“God does not forbid you from being good to those who have not fought you in the religion or driven you from your homes, or from being just towards them. God loves those who are just.” (Surat al-Mumtahana, 8)
“We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had God willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. So compete with each other in doing good. Every one of you will return to God and He will inform you regarding the things about which you differed.” (Surat al-Ma’ida, 48)
“God does not love corruption”. (Surat al-Baqara, 205)
There are so many errors and contradictions in the Bible, it is hard to believe anyone could actually follow it literally as the word of God regardless of what text is taken as gospel. Having not looked at the Quran as a whole I can only speculate that it would also have numerous errors, but regardless, any work which can be touted to kill Christians or others by taking words out of context is not something to be admired. -- PS: I suppose I should clarify that it is religious leaders and followers who use both the Bible and Quran to support evil causes that is the problem and not the books per se. -- Take care. Vern
PS: Edited to add missing words.
924 2016-06-19 17:58:56
Re: Say the first word that comes to mind... (1,634 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
palm oil
925 2016-06-17 12:28:36
Re: Orlando:Nous avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d’autri (76 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)
Charles F Bell wrote:
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
So, you do agree with me that organized religion is the problem. Unfortunately, none of the major religions adhere to the philosophy set forth in the quote. You need only go to any denominational gathering or tune into any televangelist or any event where they offer up a prayer to confirm it. No, I don't really expect you to say so -- on the contrary, you'll most likely twist it around to say something else -- but you might try it in the hopes of giving me a heart attack. Take care. Vern
