Thought Patterns

I ain't done diddlysquat. Not nery a bit. Well, okay, I did get about 600 words the other night.

I do have the excuse that I wasn't feeling well (don't tell Lorna). And I am distracted by the new dog. And, um, well, I am sure there are other reasons.

Procrastination methods:

1. Alpha Centauri
2. Shape Shifter
3. Text Twist
4. Solitaire Vol. 1 (TriPeaks and Yukon)
5. Animal Planet

From CripHumor:

Old Interpreters [for the deaf] never die, they just sign off

—

[thanks to skulkingdawg for this one…]
I came out of a convenience store the other day and some seedy looking guy walks up to me and holds up a little sign: "DEAF & MUTE … Can you spare $10?"

Wow! What happened to a dollar or two? So I reached into my pocket for my wallet, opened it, took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to him.

It said: "I CAN'T READ" and I walked away.

—

Call 1-800-HEARING for free information on deafness.

—

Karaoke is Japanese for "tone deaf drunk with a microphone."

—

The deaf cowboy rode with his dog and herd.

—

>From TV's M.A.S.H., "How can you eat this slop, Radar?" "My mouth is tone-deaf."

—

The dialog from a Frank and Ernest cartoon by Bob Thaves…
The scene is a health club. The sign on the wall says 'Weight Room. Improve Your Muscle Tone.' A muscular guy with a sleeve less shirt that states 'Trainer' says to a shaking and worn out looking Frank [who is struggling to lift weights] 'Apparently your muscle tone is deaf.'

—

A nurse places her stethoscope on an elderly and slightly deaf
female patient's posterior chest wall. "Big breaths," instructed
the nurse. "Yes, they used to be," remorsed the patient.

Okay, not the exact view, but dang close enough. This is the Great Smoky Mountains from Gatlinburg TN.

image from a Wunderground (aka WeatherUnderground) user, HIE1224

Lorna left this morning for another trip up Nawth. Her folks are on the list for a, well, not exactly assisted living. Not sure what to call it, really. Anyway, they are on the list and the place is having an Open House this weekend. Lorna thought it would be nice to see the place. She rented a car, a Honda Civic, because the truck still needs that wheel bearing assembly bought and put on. It was cheaper to rent a car than get the truck fixed. The truck is driveable, just not 1400+ miles highway driving.

So it is just me and the dogs. And cats. We are fostering a cutie-pie 10-mos old puppy. His name is Bodie (odd name, yeah) and he is probably around 80-90 lbs. That's right. Not even a year yet and he is as big as Joella. He is part shepherd, part some sort of hound, part something else because he has blue eyes. Adorable pup. But an 80 pound pup is a little different than the normal pup. He is such a freakin' klutz! He and Joella are in love and play constantly. I timed them yesterday - for an HOUR they were either running in and out the back door, wrestling on the floor, or playing King of the Hill on the bed. So if any one is looking for an adorable, um, puppy, let me know.

I keep the current WIP open all the time and I write a paragraph to a page or two every few hours or so. I hope to get a lot done while Lorna is gone.

Speaking of WIPs, we were in the car rental place and the young thang that waited on us became my mental image of Nikki, the main character in BG2. I watched how she moved, how she looked, and how she acted professional, yet, not so much since our mutual gaydars were in hyperdrive. Nikki is much taller than this thang but in my mind, they match. I needed that, you know?

Reminds me of a t-shirt Vada Foster (Vada is the mean twin, Verda is the nice one. :D) had on at the GCLS Conference in Atlanta: Careful, or You'll End Up in My Novel!

From the American Library Associations website on Banned Books Week:

"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."—Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas," The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2006, marks BBW's 25th anniversary (September 23-30).

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

The top 10 for 2005:

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 405 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.

The "10 Most Challenged Books of 2005" reflect a range of themes. The books are:

* "It's Perfectly Normal" for homosexuality, nudity, sex education, religious viewpoint, abortion and being unsuited to age group;
* "Forever" by Judy Blume for sexual content and offensive language;
* "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger for sexual content, offensive language and being unsuited to age group;
* "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier for sexual content and offensive language;
* "Whale Talk" by Chris Crutcher for racism and offensive language;
* "Detour for Emmy" by Marilyn Reynolds for sexual content;
* "What My Mother Doesn't Know" by Sonya Sones for sexual content and being unsuited to age group;
* Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey for anti-family content, being unsuited to age group and violence;
* "Crazy Lady!" by Jane Leslie Conly for offensive language; and
* "It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families" by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.

Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the Alice series of books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain.

Be sure to also check out their Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Head nod to Georganna over at Writer's Edge. In her post, she quotes someone else and asks if the quote is true: Would you refrain from writing a book becaue you feared censorship? If so, why? Well? Would you?

As a member of National Geographic Society, I get regular emails from them about varous stuff from news to (mostly) stuff on sale. I got one today regarding the Wollemi Pine.

Exclusively from National Geographic, this survivor from the age of the dinosaurs is one of the greatest living fossils discovered in the 20th century. The Wollemi pine is one of the world's oldest and rarest tree species, belonging to a 200-million-year-old plant family thought to have been extinct for more than two million years. Previously known only from fossil records, it was presumed extinct until a single tree was found in the Wollemi National Park, Australia, in 1994. Subsequent research discovered 100 adult trees that have survived in a single canyon in this wild and rugged area.

Listen to more information about the Wollemi Pine

You can assist in the conservation effort and enjoy the unique opportunity to ensure the continued survival of this rare species by giving the tree as a gift or growing your own. Suitable for indoor container gardening or as a landscape tree in certain areas of the U.S. Comes with a care manual with the full story about the discovery and fascinating history of the Wollemi pine. Comes in a copper-colored container and will be approximately 10"H when shipped. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these plants will fund ongoing conservation research.

The "owner's manual" for the tree is available in a .pdf file.

Isn't it cool about this tree? We'll be getting one fer shur.

Linkage:

Wollemi Pine website - Photo Gallery
Wikipedia - Wollemi Pine