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Oddly enough, I just sent away paperwork to combine my IRA accounts. I've also been trying for six months to get the Social Security Administration to stop deducting money from my benefits for Medicare Part B. Only a government bureaucracy could be so inept. Once they get that done (I may just give up), I'm going to have them wire the money into my Canadian bank account, allowing me to close my Chase checking account. Right now, I'm forced to leave $15K in the account to avoid a $25 monthly fee. The wire transfer only costs $15 per month, so a big FU to Chase.

Sorting data. I'd tear my hair out, but as you saw, I don't have any.

This week's episode of Gilligan's Island had everyone sneezing and itching when they came near Gilligan. Pathetically poor fake sneezes by some of the actors. The funny part was the Skipper. His sneezes were so severe he repeatedly blew out candles, blew open the hut's door, and knocked over a palm tree. At one point, he tried to hold it in and his cap went flying straight up from his head. When it seemed like he was about to let loose a titanic sneeze, everyone ran for the jungle, followed by ... nothing.

I'm pretty sure they used up all the matches (for relighting the candle) in one of the first shows, but what the heck. Perhaps the Professor made some. At one point they went through all of the women's makeup and perfume trying to find out what was causing the allergy. I never knew women needed that much perfume for a three hour tour. And let's not forget the Howells. She brought out a large diamond collection to see if it was the cause. She also had four different types of furs (mink, sable, etc.) with her. In Hawaii? In 90 degree heat?

Did you ever notice there was no discussion of building a latrine on that show? They must have been pooping all over the island. At least they had plenty of palm fronds for toilet paper.

In 2007, it's under word options/proofing/auto-correct/replace as you type.

Thanks for responding, everyone. I'm going to try two scenes per chapter (one per story thread), which gives me the flexibility to further split those scenes as the need arises. The planning is just as much work as if they were chapters, but it allows me greater flexibility. It also forces me to make the end of each scene compelling enough to keep the reader going. The only minor nuisance is that I'll have to post each major scene as its own TNBW chapter to keep the length of the posted material short enough for most reviewers. Seabrass did the same thing with his Maiden story.

Thanks
Dirk

Handy info. Thanks.

Just spent the better part of a day researching the Italian police (I need detectives and a CSI team). I spent almost two hours trying to find reliable information about Italy's two national police forces, the state police and the Carabinieri. They have a lot of overlapping duties right down to responding to civil crimes. They are the result of Italy's dysfunctional political system. The best comparison I can make to our police is that the state police are a civil force while the Carabinieri are a military force. The Carabinieri are somewhat like the National Guard. Since they both have command stations in Rome, I needed to know who's in charge when a bishop or cardinal turns up dead. Finally found an article that said the state police are ultimately in charge in large urban centers, but the Carabinieri may be the only police force available in rural areas, so they're in charge in those areas, rather like the RCMP. Both the state police and the Carabinieri are truly national police forces, unlike us where each major city has its own independent police force.

Pretty slim pickings online about Italian law enforcement and even less about their CSI functions. I may have to borrow a few North American concepts. I have yet to figure out how to kill off a large number of clergy in serial killings without making it redundant or overly gruesome. Worse, a serial killer ought to result in a major taskforce, with all kinds of different police functions cooperating.

I also can't figure out what the damn Italian equivalent is of a detective, since they don't seem to use that title. They follow Interpol-like command ranks.

I hope CSI is available on Netflix.

Amy, I have a scene with a boy in an orphanage who is experiencing an epileptic seizure, including convulsions. His form of epilepsy is resistant to medication. Other than hold him down, is there anything else the people around him can do? Also, is there a medication that can be injected into him to reduce the severity of the convulsions (e.g., a tranquilizer)? What would they do for him if he was in a hospital? Once the seizure has passed, is it common to take him to a hospital for further observation?

Thanks
Dirk

My outline for scene 1 of Saving Connor is done. I had originally planned on three scenes in the first chapter, but that makes it too long for reviewers. I'm debating just splitting all scenes into standalone chapters. That'll force me to come up with more chapter hooks, which is probably a good thing. There will be two interwoven threads running through the story, so it'll probably be similar to my Joseph/Apollo chapters, only I hope they'll be shorter.