Former Ramblings of an Insane, Lesbian, Book Writing Crip
From CripHumor:
[thanks to Sissy for this one…]
Patients call the pathology group where I am office manager to discuss their medical bills. One irate woman demanded that I describe every laboratory test on her statement.
Of course, I complied. Starting with the first test on her bill, I read, “Number 1, urinalysis…”
She interrupted me at once. “I’m a what?”
From ARRL News:
Emergency Communications Bill Includes Amateur Radio as Interoperability Agent
NEWINGTON, CT, Jul 27, 2006–A bill to enhance emergency communication at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) includes Amateur Radio operators as part of an overall effort to provide interoperability among responders. The 21st Century Emergency Communications Act of 2006 (HR 5852), an amendment to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, passed the US House this week on a 414-2 vote and has gone to the Senate. Its sponsor, Rep David G. Reichert (R-WA) — who chairs the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology — says his legislation is designed “to improve the ability of emergency responders to communicate with each other” — interoperability.
(snipped)
His measure also would require the DHS to strengthen its efforts to improve emergency communications. HR 5852 calls for Amateur Radio operators to be part of a “Regional Emergency Communications Coordination Working Group” (RECC Working Group) that would be attached to each regional Department of Homeland Security office. The RECC Working Groups would advise federal and state homeland security officials.
Membership in the RECC Working Groups would include state and local officials; law enforcement, first responders such as fire departments; 911 centers; hospitals; ambulance services; communications equipment vendors, telephone, wireless satellite, broadband and cable service providers; public utilities; broadcasters; emergency evacuation transit services; state emergency managers, homeland security directors or representatives of state administrative agencies; local emergency managers or homeland security directors, and “other emergency response providers or emergency support providers as deemed appropriate.”
(snipped)
According to the bill, the RECC Working Groups would function to assess the survivability, sustainability, and interoperability of local emergency communications systems to meet the goals of the National Emergency Communications Report. That report would be developed by the Assistant Secretary for Emergency Communications “to provide recommendations regarding how the United States can accelerate the deployment of interoperable emergency communications nationwide.”
So in other words, this will make it so FEMA can’t stop hams from doing what they were trained to do.
I sent the ms back to Jane yesterday. I finally got up to where she had stopped. I sent it to her so she can see how I am doing. I’ve not heard back but I’m assuming it is because of the weekend. How dare she take time off! 😀
I still really love this story. I’ve liked it from the beginning (NaNoWriMo 2004).
I’ve been thinking about why this book is so good from the beginning while the other BG books stink. One thought is that I started with a title and wrote a book around it. These others are writing a book without much thought to a title.
Lorna and I used to do a lot of things on our own. Like fix cars and lawnmowers and move heavy things. When we did something we thought was not possible (as in we couldn’t do it), we would do a little ditty called “Butch Girls Can Do Anything” (aka BG1). That’s all the words, by the way. So, I decided to use FIX instead of DO and wrote a book about a fix-it lady.
In the process of writing that book, I developed some way cool characters and decided to give them their own books. So I have the characters, but not a title. Harri is a mechanic. Butch Girls Can Drive Anything? Blech. BGs Are Classic? Love the Classics? (Harri renovates old vehicles). BGs Like the Fast Lane? Arrrgghh!
Harri is the butchest of them all, in terms of stereotypical. So Classic kinda fits there too which is why I keep leaning toward that. Stereotypical, despite being such a long word, has very few synonyms: stereotype, stereotypic, unimaginative (according to WordWeb). Not much help there.
What about you other writers? Do you start with an idea? A title? A character? What?
From CripHumor:
The famous movie star, Henry Fonda, was making a film in New Orleans years ago and took a liking to the local spirit called absinthe. He drank quite a bit every evening upon completion of the film’s daily shooting. After several weeks of film making [and drinking], Mr. Fonda started having pains in his chest. He was immediately rushed to a local hospital. They took his medical history and gave him a full screening of tests. The diagnosis was that he had an enlarged heart.
Since the condition was a new one and of concern, he queried the attending physician. The doctor responded his patient shouldn’t be surprised about the situation. “Your condition is obvious,” the physician told him,”because absinthe makes the heart grow, Fonda. ”
[from GROANERS]
I got Lorna an MP3 player. While I was at it, I got me one too. 😀
I originally ordered her one from Amazon but they took two weeks to tell me the shipping date would be Aug. 22nd or so. I cancelled the order and went elsewhere.
I got us the Creative Labs Zen Nano Plus. Hers is blue and mine is red. They hold 1GB of music which, frankly, is probably about the right size for us. Our tastes in music is quite eclectic. I have 8 CDs on mine and still have close to 700MB left. The gadget is also a digital voice recorder and FM radio receiver. Don’t think we’ll use the radio much but I like the voice part.
I did some research and found that the Zen is very user friendly as well as is from a well-established audio company. Since Lorna is in her car a minimum of 4 hrs a day, she wanted a way to listen to the music she wanted, rather than whatever was on the radio. She also wanted to shut out her co-workers while at the post office.
The best thing about this toy is that it is small. The worst thing about this toy is that it is small. And I do mean small. It is about the size of a cigarette lighter which means it weighs next to nothing. It fits in small pockets. Yet the sound is unbelievable! And it is oh so easy to lay it down and not see it.
Got this in an email from my friend Elena.
To all: Since prayer, to whichever Deity you prefer, seems to be the only hope for the nation, I am sending the following to be used in your service of choice.
Bush is my shepherd;
I dwell in want.He maketh logs to be cut down
in national forests.He leadeth trucks
into the still wilderness.He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace
for his ego’s sake.Yea, though I walk through
the valley of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, for thou art in office.Thy tax cuts for the rich
and thy media spinning,
they discomfort me.Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out.
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy
term,And my jobless child shall dwell
in my basement forever.Amen
Yesterday, Lorna told me of a report she heard on All Things Considered. The report was about how humans go from hearing speech to speaking.
Study Illuminates How Babies Learn to Speak
Michelle TrudeauJuly 24, 2006 · A high-tech machine that monitors infants’ brain cells as they listen to speech reveals a key element in how babies go from hearing sounds to speaking them.
From birth, babies’ brains are bathed in the sounds of language. But how do they get from hearing those sounds to speaking them?
That’s what University of Washington neuroscientist Patricia Kuhl is studying: What happens in the brain that prepares a baby to move from speech perception to speech production?
I like this image they used to link to an interactive multimedia presentation titled “What Lies Beneath“.
Alphabet soup….
From the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) newsletter:
Judge’s Refusal to Dismiss EFF’s Spying Case Sets Stage for Congressional Showdown
Ruling Comes as Senators Consider Dramatic Changes to Surveillance Law
San Francisco – A federal judge has refused to dismiss the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) case against AT&T for collaborating with the NSA in illegal spying on millions of ordinary Americans, setting the stage for a congressional showdown over proposed dramatic changes in federal surveillance law.
EFF filed the class-action suit against AT&T in January, alleging that the telecommunications company has given the National Security Agency (NSA) secret, direct access to the phone calls and emails going over its network and has been handing over communications logs detailing the activities of millions of ordinary Americans. The government intervened in the case and asked that it be dismissed because the suit could expose “state secrets.” But last Thursday, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker refused: “The compromise between liberty and security remains a difficult one. But dismissing this case at the outset would sacrifice liberty for no apparent enhancement of security.”
“We are gratified that Judge Walker rejected the government’s overbroad claims of secrecy, and that our case on behalf of AT&T customers can go forward,” said EFF Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. “Judge Walker correctly found that the government, after having already admitted to and extensively commented on the NSA’s spying program, cannot now claim that it is a secret and sweep AT&T’s role under the rug.”
EFF’s victory against government secrecy, however, comes in the shadow of a legislative proposal that could spell trouble for court challenges against the NSA program. Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter and the White House recently announced a deal on legislation that could lead the government to attempt to shuffle EFF’s lawsuit and other challenges out of the traditional court system and into a secret court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Until now, the FISA court’s only job has been to approve secret surveillance requests by the government, in proceedings where only government lawyers get to argue.
“A decision to bury these cases in the shadowy FISA court would not only violate our nation’s tradition of open judicial proceedings, it’s also unnecessary,” said EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. “As Judge Walker demonstrated today, the conventional court system is perfectly capable of handling these cases and can do so by balancing the public’s need for transparency with proper protections for security. Any bill that would attempt to sweep these cases into the
secret court should be rejected.”Judge Walker has requested that the parties submit briefs by July 31 on how the case should proceed if the government and AT&T appeal his decision as expected, and a hearing will take place August 8. Also, on July 27, a panel of judges will consider whether to consolidate this case with others challenging the illegal spying program.
For a recording of EFF’s teleconference after the ruling:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/07202006_press_conference.mp3For the judge’s full decision:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/308_order_on_mtns_to_dismiss.pdfFor key quotes from the decision:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004833.phpFor more on the draft surveillance bill:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/NSA/fisabills/For more on the AT&T lawsuit:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/For this release:
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_07.php#004843***
Spread the Word: Stop the Surveillance Bills!
EFF needs your help to stop Specter’s surveillance bill and others like it. Specter’s sham compromise” will help the government continue to break the law, vastly expanding the president’s power to spy on you without any meaningful oversight from Congress or the courts.
Tell your representatives to reject these bills now:
http://action.eff.org/fisaForward that link around to friends and family, and post
about this issue on your blog. You can get more information
and a blog button by visiting:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/NSA/fisabills/spreadtheword/
Once again Sophia gave me fodder for bloggage. She points her readers to an article by Elizabeth Moon about writers’ block: Help! I can’t write! or How to Identify the Dread Writer’s Block and Its Relatives
My aging eyes found it hard to read though. It is blue print on a white screen. I don’t do bright very well. Anyway, what I did read seemed to be written well enough to follow along. Writers can never receive nor give too much advice.
I was catching up on my friends’ sites/blogs today and of course went to Sophia’s LiveJournal blog. She had a post about the Bulwer-Lytton contest. The winner this year did great!
I’m still skimming down through the winners of the various sections (dishonorable mentions). I about wet my pants over this one:
Winner: Children’s Literature
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe who had so much equity (because our story, dear children, is set in Miami’s hot real estate market) that she upgraded the exterior to blue suede siding as a tribute to her idol, Elvis, moved her kids to a bootee out back, and then reopened the place as the “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” motel (but you’ll have to wait until you’re 18 to read any further).
Barbara Bridges
Sierra Madre, CA
Then I came across these:
Special Salute to Breasts Category
As she sashayed out of the police station, her high heels clicking a staccato rhythm on the hard tile floor, like a one-armed castanet player in a very bad mariachi band, her ample bosom held in check only by a diaphanous blouse, and bouncing at each step like a 1959 tricked out Low-rider Chevy with very good hydraulics—she smiled to herself as she thought of the titillating interrogation from Detective Tipple about the Twin Peaks Melon Heist.
Wayne Spivey, Major, USAF Retired
Huntsville, TexasWhen she sashayed across the room, her breasts swayed like two house trailers passing on a windy bridge.
Stan Higley
Fairport, NYAlthough Brandi had been named Valedictorian and the outfit for her speech carefully chosen to prove that beauty and brains could indeed mix, she suddenly regretted her choice of attire, her rain-soaked T-shirt now valiantly engaging in the titanic struggle between the tensile strength of cotton and Newton’s first law of motion.
Mark Schweizer
Hopkinsville, KY