I feel very useful this morning. Someone has to finish dead last in every race and I've fulfilled that role in this case. What an honor. So, what did I do wrong? As we used to say around the chess board, "Study long study wrong." I over worked it, there was no real conflict, I had a female MC (not my long suit)... anyway, suckage abounded. No argument. I should stop calling the readers fools. "But they are fools!" Retorts my semi-objective ego. "Yes, but that's not going to change so why tell them about it?" insists my reasoning mind. "Reason: You are a pain in the ass but I'm going to have to give you that one." End of anti- political correctness phase, in creative writing at least. Try, try again.
"Show Don't Tell," what he hell does that mean? IMHO, it means: Don't say that your character was scared. Say rather, your character lost temporary bowel control. Don't express the emotional state. Describe the physical reaction to the emotional state. Let the reader experience the emotion for themselves, thus getting them involved. In the matter of punctuation. a "comma split," is used to separate two ideas expressed in a single sentence. For reasons of literary device the author has chosen not to use two different sentences. In this case academia has decreed that the two ideas are properly separated by a semi colon rather than a comma. Readers on the other hand, don't know what the F*** to do with a semi colon. Therefore, unless you want your sentence interrupted by the reader asking him/her/itself. "What exactly do I do with that?" You're better off using a comma. Piss on academia. There is more than one right way to patch drywall. Because I wasn't clear apparently; an edit. Right! In translation then... "Show don't tell." It's probably better to say. "Lina felt a little perspiration form on her upper lip as she anticipated his coming." Than: "Lina dreaded his arrival." Sweating from the upper lip was the reaction to the dread she felt rather than stating that she dreaded something. The reader is more likely to empathies with the character, in theory. The comma split.... no one cares.
I have all the emotions of a grapefruit. I'm getting my donkey kicked again this month in the short story contest. I think these two are related. I wrote a story for this month's prompt about buildings in a fog. Actually, I wrote three stories or pieces of them. One, I'm going to submit, one trash and one to the workshop to see if anyone can read it. I don't mind losing (that's a crock) but even I didn't like my story from last month. I'm going back to "cute" stories because that's my strength. Cute does not require emotional involvement, just a little imagination.
It has been pointed out to me that my punctuation and other mechanical skills could use some work. After I got over the original "UP YOURS" reaction, I got to thinking "Well, what if they're right?" Thus, I invite you to post some correction and descriptions of the dreaded, "comma split" and other intolerable and ultimately fatal errors that you see in general. There just aren't that many punctuation marks so it shouldn't be all that much effort. If you would like to be helpful, here's your chance. While I'm on the subject, Jargon, Esoterica, Argots, such as "Show don't tell" and ''Story Arc," an explanation and an example wouldn't hurt. Not all of us spent our lives in a formal English class. Example: while(1) One in ten of you are going to know what that means, so it does me no good to use it in communication. What does it mean? In effect, that your computer is frozen. That's not the error message, that's what caused the problem.
What to do with the semi-colon? The symbol has become arcane; people don't know what to do with it. For example: Would the previous sentence read any differently if I had used a comma instead of a semicolon? Not to the average reader I think. So, why not admit that language changes and evolves like every other aspect of human life? When was the last time anyone said that something was "Swell" or "Keen" or "Nifty?" Let it go; fade into the night, relegated to ending statements in C. Farewell Mr. semi-colon. Thank you for your service but... kindly bugger off.
There is a lot if Einstein bashing going on these days. Apparently, some folks with nothing better to do have gotten neutrinos to move faster than light, through eight thousand feet of dirt no less. That means (in the opinion of some) that the whole E=MC^2 thing just doesn't work. I knew old Al couldn't possibly know the speed of light (Although many did argue) and he never really invented anything, and... he published the answer to life, the Universe and everything in 1925. Not only was the number 42 no where to be seen, but he withdrew the paper in '27 because it was Gobblty-Gook. None the less, he got us thinking. The god of physics defrocked, but he tried. That's really all a scientist can do. Two steps forward and one step back. Al died in 1957, the year before I was born (I think he was ducking me) but his legacy has lasted up to this point. That's a really good run for a scientific idea. I think we should cut him some slack.
Economics The economy is quite simple and has never really changed except for the government, which is more or less evil, but no one will admit that in any real sense. The economy is about trade. I trade the goods I make for the goods that you make and we both profit from the exchange. That's all. Introduce now the concept of money. Money is a representation of the goods we make but you can fold it up and put it in your pocket so it's easier to carry around. Here comes the tricky part. The government has been printings these representations much faster than we've been making stuff. That is the national debt, the difference between the amount of stuff we actually have vs the value of money they've printed. How do we cure the national debt? We make more stuff and trade it for the paper our government has been printing. Is there any other way? Eh, no. So, what is the danger of the national debt? Someone (I think very soon) is going to figure out that all of that paper is just paper because we don't have the goods that it's supposed to represent. And, who wants paper that's just paper? It might as well be Confederate dollars. Therefore, I see a shit-storm on the horizon. How about you?
REASON: The first step in reasoning is to remove all self-interest from the question. Disregard what is good for you. Remove your prejudice. Ignore what anyone else has old you. Assume that your parents, teachers and every written word you ever read was bullshit. Then and only then, gather what appear to be the facts in whatever you are considering. Recognize that your perception of them may be wrong, and then solve the puzzle. As I used to say to my children (and they hated it) everything you think, everything you know, and everything that you think you know, is probably wrong. They made Socrates drink hemlock for having this opinion....
America's Obamacare, I harp on that a bit much I know but, it's so stupid on the face of it. It's supposed to make health care more affordable by making everybody buy health insurance. But, insurance companies have to take in more in premiums than they pay out in benefits or they would go out of business. So, a person will pay more for healthcare in the long run because they are not only paying for the health service but for the insurance company too. Stupid! Did no one think of this at the beginning? Another example: The cost of refrigeration tripled in the US with the introduction of THE CLEAN AIR ACT section 608 and the Montreal Protocol which is a law intended to protect the Ozone layer from destruction by CFC refrigerant gasses such as R-11 and R-12. But, did anyone think to ask . "What Ozone layer?" .3-.4 parts per million of Ozone is a layer? What the heck is ozone anyway? It's kind of a perverted oxygen molecule. Instead of having two atoms of oxygen in the molecule it has three. It is supposed to protect the earth from the sun's ultraviolet radiation. How does it do that? I'm so glad that you asked. When the UV light hits it, the ozone breaks apart thus removing some of the energy. How did we get ozone in the first place? The same thing (or just about) happens when you subject plain old oxygen to UV. It breaks apart and sometimes forms ozone. DAHHHH..... END of morning's rant.
I'm a tradesman when I must be and I object to being cornered into one specialty trade by useless regulation and legal foolishness. If a person hires a tradesman who is not licensed, bonded and insured vs one who is, what do they gain or lose? A guarantee. The opportunity to litigate if the job is not done to their satisfaction. Is that worth the extra up-front money? Just because someone has all the correct paperwork doesn't mean they're not an idiot. I've never blogged before and I'll probably get tired of it shortly but for right now it's a good way to let off steam.
What should the government do about poverty in America? Nothing. Just get out of the way. It is almost impossible to understand poverty without having experienced it. Poverty is not a pleasant state in its natural form, and the idea is to get out of it. Our illustrious government has made it tolerable and for some it's a way of life, and it shouldn't be. There should be a job of last resort. something unpleasant that pays ((NOT A LIVING WAGE) just for a buck or two, to buy some food or pay the rent, or heat and lights, that isn't taxed or regulated. Something that no one would do if they weren't truly screwed. BUT, that won't happen because no person in the government has ever been in the position of needing such a job. And that is my wild rambling for this morning.
I doesn't work, it never has, why are we still supporting it? When I was six years old I peed my pants right out there on the playground. I was sent home to change and that was the end of it so far as it went. But, I never told anyone that I did it intentionally because, I thought I could get away with it. I didn't fully understand the consequences and I applied no forethought and I didn't think anyone would notice. That is the outlook of a criminal before the crime. Police and courts are not going to be able to stop that, so why are we paying them? That's what is on my warped little mind this morning... and I think my hard drive is dying. That's what I get for using twenty year old computers.
BEER. It is theme, ambition, and solace. Imaginary numbers are...huh? The square root of a negative number, and that is possible how? These most questionable numbers are used in electrical engineering, I guess. For what purpose I don't know. One thing that I do know about math is that it all has to relate to measurement or it's useless. I am, for the moment, confounded and I chalk it up to ignorance, either mine or theirs. I do know that the equations that I have seen seem to assume that electricity is somehow sinusoidal.... noooooo. God, I hate being old. It limits the amount of beer that I can drink, poverty too. Well, that's what is on my mind this morning. That, and that I just wrote the intro to a short story that's 1000 words long. That's not going to work.