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Good news???

There will be a Calexit Anthology!!!

The bad is that we’ll be indie publishing it… And probably not until October at the earliest…  Sigh…

As of today, I’ve got 19 folks that have expressed interest, and already have one complete story submitted, two chapters of another, and five other ‘plots’ that people are working on.

This could be FUN! And three female authors are contributing, which makes it even better, as I’m sure they will give us a different ‘look’ at the impact of Calexit.

Already looking at cover art, and it ‘may’ be similar to The Morning the Earth Shook.

If you’re bored…

And live in the North Texas area…

Come visit myself, Peter and Dorothy Grant, Alma TC Boykin and Lawdog at AMA-Con 5-6 August at the Amarillo Convention Center.

We’ll have books to sell, or will be happy to sign books if you already have copies. We’ll be there 11-7 on Saturday and 12-6 on Sunday.

Tickets will be $5 for one day, $8 for both days.

Or if nothing else, come by and say hello! We’re trying something a little different with this con, since it’s not primarily book related.

One other thing I’d like to do is thank those who have been good enough to put up reviews for my books and stories. I could use a few more on Rimworld- Into the Green to get over the 50 reviews hump, and the reviews are starting to build for The Morning the Earth Shook. So far the reviews are pretty positive, but also honest, which I appreciate!

People I talked to at LibertyCon said that reviews are one of the biggest helps to an author, especially an Indie author without a big advertising budget. The other two things are cover art and blurbs. At least those two I have LOTS of help on!!! 🙂

And from the numbers I was told, e.g. <3% of readers do reviews, I consider myself pretty lucky, as I’m up around 5%. So thank you again!

Random thoughts…

The Grey Haired Brigade

They like to refer to us as Senior Citizens, old fogies, geezers, and in some cases dinosaurs. Some of us are “Baby Boomers” getting ready to retire. Others have been retired for some time. We walk a little slower these days and our eyes and hearing are not what they once were. We have worked hard, raised our children, worshiped our God and grown old together. Yes, we are the ones some refer to as being ‘over the hill’, and that is probably true. But before writing us off completely, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration.

In school we studied English, history, math, and science which enabled us to lead America into the technological age. Most of us remember what outhouses were, many of us with firsthand experience. We remember the days of telephone party-lines, 25 cent gasoline, and milk and ice being delivered to our homes. For those of you who don’t know what an icebox is, today they are electric powered and referred to as refrigerators. A few even remember when cars were started with a crank or a button on the floor. Yes, we lived in those days.

We are probably considered old fashioned and out-dated by many. But there are a few things you need to remember before completely writing us off. We won World War II, fought in Korea and Viet Nam . We can quote The Pledge of Allegiance, and know where to place our hand while doing so.

We wore the uniform of our country with pride and lost many friends on the battlefield. We didn’t fight for the Socialist States of America, we fought for the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.”

We wore different uniforms but carried the same flag. We know the words to the Star Spangled Banner, America ,and America the Beautiful by heart, and you may even see some tears running down our cheeks as we sing. We have lived what many of you have only read about in history books and we feel no obligation to apologize to anyone for America.

Yes, we are old and slow these days but rest assured, we have at least one good fight left in us. We have loved this country, fought for it, and died for it, and now we are going to save it. It is our country and nobody is going to take it away from us.

We took oaths to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and that is an oath we plan to keep. There are those who want to destroy this land we love but, like our founders, there is no way we are going to remain silent.

It was mostly the young people of this nation who elected Obama and the Democratic Congress. You fell for the “Hope and Change” BS which in reality was nothing but “Hype and Lies.” You have tasted socialism and seen evil face to face, and have found you don’t like it after all. You make a lot of noise, but most are all too interested in their careers or “Climbing the Social Ladder” to be involved in such mundane things as patriotism and voting. Many of those who fell for the “Great Lie” in 2008 are now having buyer’s remorse. With all the education we gave you, you didn’t have sense enough to see through the lies and instead drank the ‘Cool-Aid.’ Now you’re paying the price and complaining about it. No jobs, lost mortgages, higher taxes, and less freedom. This is what you voted for then and that is what you got. We entrusted you with the Torch of Liberty and you traded it for a paycheck and a fancy house.

Well, don’t worry youngsters, the Grey-Haired Brigade is here, and in 2016 we took back our nation. We may drive a little slower than you would like but we get where we’re going, and in 2016 we went to the polls by the millions. This land does not belong to the man that was in the White House nor to the likes of Nancy Pelosi, John McCain or Harry Reid. It belongs to “We the People” and “We the People” plan to reclaim our land and our freedom. We hope this time you will do a better job of preserving it and passing it along to our grandchildren.

So the next time you have the chance to say the Pledge of Allegiance, Stand up, put your hand over your heart, honor our country, and thank God for the old geezers of “The Grey-Haired Brigade.”

And a little humor…

How long does it take…

To burn the house down?

Not long at all, when it’s 97 years old… And all seasoned (read dried) wood.

The local VFD did a training burn yesterday, along with three other local departments. Then, with all three sets of units manned, they lit the house off…

This is about 1 1/2 minutes in. Second floor is already fully involved.

This is a 30 second video about the two minute mark. It was really starting to ‘cook’ at this point, setting the grass on fire, and pushing the heat up. Probably 1500-2000 degrees in the fire itself.

This is about the four minute mark, note the height of the flames, and this was when it started ‘throwing’ burning ash downwind…

This is at the five minute mark… HOT! And starting to generate it’s own wind. Grass is now on fire 50+ feet from the house due to the heat, Firemen are working downwind with water cans, putting out fires started by burning debris.

This was probably 50 yards downwind from the house. Debris was hot enough to start a fire in GREEN grass!

I live a half a block away, and this was in my back yard, probably 200 yards from the fire itself. It’s a piece of wooden shingle…

Thirty minutes later… Nothing left of the main structure other than what appeared to be 12 x 12 supports for the second floor porch.

And this is an oak stump, probably 25 yards from the house, that was set on fire (in red circle), by the radiant heat coming off the structure.

So… The local fire departments got a workout, we got rid of a fire hazard/blight on the neighborhood, and nobody got hurt!

That’s a winner all the way around! But the real reason I put this up is a reminder…

It doesn’t take long for a fire to get out of control, and this is why if, BIG IF, you are ever in a situation where fire is involved, get out, and NEVER go back in. The odds are, if you do, you will become a crispy critter, and give the firemen that find your burned body nightmares for years…

Have an escape plan, and train to it. If you have kids, make it a game for them, so that the sound of a smoke alarm generates an automatic response. Have a place to go to (the head of the driveway, the neighbor’s house). Make sure everybody is out. If not, notify 911 and give them your best estimate of their possible location in the house.  HERE’s a Wiki link that has other details, you might want to keep in mind.

Sigh…

A nice little video of AMRG, better known as the ‘Boneyard’…

Sadly, there are WAY too many P-3s in there now… I saw a couple of familiar tails among the birds.

I figure this is a better post than yet another bitching session about the crap going on, so I’m going to stop and send you over to Lawdog, for an announcement… HERE. 🙂

And so it begins…

The jackboots are getting polished up…

They are STILL trying to prosecute former Nazis, article HERE, and are known to crack down heavily on the Neonazis that pop up in Germany occasionally…

Now they are going after social media.

Social media companies face fines of up to €50m (£43m) if they persistently fail to remove illegal content from their sites under a new law passed in Germany

The German parliament on Friday approved the bill aimed at cracking down on hate speech, criminal material and fake news on social networks – but critics warn it could have drastic consequences for free speech online.

Full article, HERE.

In the mean time, CNN has reeled it out and stomped all over it, when they went after the Reddit user that put the CNN wrestling video together…

They ‘threatened’ to doxx him unless he took the posts down and never did it again…

However…

CNN faced widespread backlash Wednesday for seeming to imply the network would reveal the identity of the Reddit user who made an anti-CNN, Trump-themed GIF if he reneged on an apology – but some critics suggested the network also could have a legal problem on its hands.

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took to Twitter to cite Georgia state law’s prohibition against “theft by extortion.”

Full article, HERE.

There is also a Title 18 issue, at the federal level that is coming into play, for blackmail. CNN isn’t, IMHO, innocent in this case. When there is a statement about CNN’s ‘policy’ in some of the back and forth, that means the whole thing had to be approved at a pretty high level.

And there is THIS article from Glenn Greenwald at the Intercept… Note the update at the end of the article…

TBT…

Pictures… 🙂

Everybody was a daredevil on the swings when we were kids… And we survived…

We ate the cake batter right off the beaters, raw eggs and all… And we survived…

And there weren’t malls’ per se… Grocery stores were pretty much stand alone, and A&P was the ‘upscale’ grocery store… The parent company was the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company.

And then they came up with strip malls… And Ben Franklin five and dime stores were the Dollar Stores of the day. They were like a low end Woolworth’s department store, with a lot more ‘stuff’ for hobbies… And we built stuff out of the things we got there… And we survived…

I can’t help but wonder what some of the nanny staters would be like if they were taken back to those days. Any bets on how long it would take for their heads to explode, or them have a catatonic meltdown at what parents allowed their kids to do?

Like own and shoot real guns at age 8-10, WITHOUT ADULTS THERE??? 🙂

Bonus points if you actually know what this one is…

OR, you’re a really old fart like me…

Posted in TBT

Boosting the signal!!!

Marty has a new book out!!!

Click the cover to go to the Amazon link!

The blurb-

Elizabeth Cruze came to Earth for one reason: to buy weapons. She never counted on ending up in prison. Never fear, though, she’s not planning on staying there long.

Special Investigator Neal Locke has made a career out of catching the most elusive and dangerous criminals. He’s never failed to “get his man.”

When Cruze escapes from prison, Locke is tasked to track her down. She should be easy to find…all he’s got to do is follow the trail of bodies.

But Locke has been an investigator for a long time. It doesn’t take him long to figure out that there’s more going on than what he’s been told…

A departure from his earlier series, it’s a great read! It’s summer, time to get something to sit in the AC and enjoy!

 

Independence Day #241…

We’ve done this a time or two…

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD , INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

 And this is a rather interesting picture, taken in 1918 at Camp Dodge in Iowa.
 FACTS:Base to Shoulder: 150 feet
Right Arm: 340 feet
Widest part of arm holding torch: 12 1/2 feet
Right thumb: 35 feet
Thickest part of body: 29 feet
Left hand length: 30 feet
Face: 60 feet
Nose: 21 feet
Longest spike of head piece: 70 feet
Torch and flame combined: 980 feet
Number of men in flame of torch: 12,000Number of men in torch: 2,800
Number of men in right arm: 1,200
Number of men in body, head and balance of figure only: 2,000Total men: 18,000

I wish each of you a Happy Fourth of July, where ever you may be! Enjoy the time with friends and family, and please remember our Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Soldiers spread across the globe defending our freedoms, as they have been for 241 years (well, except for the Air Force).
And there is something interesting if you’re in the Squaw Valley or Mammoth Mountain, California, area…. Due to the large snowfall, you can go SNOW skiing, on the 4th!!! Link, HERE.
“Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don’t have that problem.” ….. Ronald Reagan

Anthology Rulz…

Everybody is wanting to know what the ‘rules’ are for the anthology..

Takes place in 2022, would ‘like’ to keep the stories around that time frame, unless you need to ‘develop’ a scenario that make take longer to develop. Consider the max to be 2032, if you want…

Money is Callors, $0.75/Callor.

Cali is considered “unfriendly” to USA, CBP patrolling border and checkpoints on all major cross border roads. Recognize all US passports, which Cali administration is trying to confiscate/stop use of by their ‘citizens’.  Mandatory ‘chipping’ of all Cali residents starts in 2024, at mandatory physicals.

Other than that, have fun…