NaNoWriMo

Sunday is the 1st of November - and with that, part of the task forecast will be to try to write a novel with in the month under the guided efforts of the National Novel Writing Month.
Being that I haven't done that great a job updating that little to do list daily, this will most likely be an abject failure. But I'm trying non-the-less.
so...50,000 words in 30 days = 1,667 words a day.

Last nights dream

The world had gone Dark.
Something happened - and their was no power anywhere the global grid had crashed.
And in the lack of not just light, but communications, no one knew what was going on.
It was chaos - but the dream started months into this.
People wondered if it was solar flares and electro magnetic storms, or had we been hacked by China in a silent cold war that was over and lost before we knew it had begun?
At the point where the dream started, there was some power running, but it was miniscule.
Townships, municipalities, and Cities could only run the most important services and lamps at night.
The nation was under Martial Law.
TV stations were running again, but only regional stations and broad casts. And what national feeds that worked were from interlinking and relaying from the network of regional stations - no satellites.
This was a problem because Digital signals don't carry as far as Analog.
There were holes - and large information "dark zones".
And in the dream - the prime national story was about a crew of Astronauts that NASA with plenty of private backing had sent up into space to get a birds eye view of the nature of the cluster fuck.
But communication had been lost.
The project was being relayed directly through NORAD as they had independent electrical and radar, and they lost them.
And the paranoia was sinking in deep.
People in town, even the National Guard troops stationed every where were talking.
What was up there in the big old black - what happened to them?
Where they fried by solar radiation, abducted by aliens, shot down by China?
Or even more frightening - had communication simply failed - and they were floating out there, lost and alone, and blind?
In the dream - I knew all of this, it was all common knowledge.
And the only thing i remember happening in real time - was looking at my town from a newly built fire tower, and seeing the few lamps that were lit.
The important cross roads had single street lights.
What ever effected the grid had not been terrestrial in nature, things still worked IF you had juice to power them.
So people still drove at night - you could see the little points of light of the few people who were still willing to come and go at dark.
In the dream, I was not alone in the fire tower, but I don't remember who I was there with. But we were both concerned.
We were worried about the Astronauts and what their fate was - and what that meant for the greater situation of us all.
We were worried about how long order could be maintained - it had barely been kept.
(small details i knew in my head - like that Morse Code had been made an official language again, and was being used again along with telegraphs, and regional light signals, and couriers)
Order could be maintained as long as their was power - and we both knew how strenuous and how delicate that situation was for the area.
I looked at the lamps of town, I could count their number on two hands, and the burden of unknowing was so heavy I wanted to cry.
And then I woke up.

Never Forget?

I may be an insensitive ill politic person to say this.
But I have 9/11 fatigue.
That is the best I can put it.
It happened - it was truly horrific, and I feel for those that lost loved ones.
But do we HAVE to rehash it EVERY FUCKING YEAR???

And "Never Forget"? - What does that even fucking mean???
What lesson am I not to forget?

If you ask me to never forget those that died, I am forced to ask "Why JUST them?".
Why not ALL victims of terrorism EVERYWHERE.
Morn them all.
Give them wreath's and days of remembrance.
But I refuse to discriminate by incident or nationality.

If you ask me to remember that "We were attacked", I'm sorry, I still ask why - and I see why.
Its called "Blow Back".
This wound will never heal (we will never evolve beyond revenge) if we don't come to the understanding that we helped fundamentally create the conditions that lead to this ultimate and terrible situation through our foreign policies.
And I have not forgotten that.

I haven't forgotten 9/11.

But I would like to MOVE PAST IT.

Morn, heal, move on.

When it is slow at work....

I doodle on these little scaps of paper that we have for leaving notes etc.
they are usually about 1/4th the size of a piece of copy paper, and are usually left over stock reports of what books have to be returned to their distributors.
I get some pretty random stuff fluttering through my head.
But I find I really like what I come up with on such a small scale and in such a small time frame.
Enjoy.

Mass Email Repost: Safety tips for the ladies

This is a repost from a mass email my Mom sent me.
And because I get a hold of most of my friends via social networking, and NOT email - I am just posting this here.
I don't think you can ever gather enough data like this.
The only person you can ever really depend on protecting you is YOU.
So read, REPOST, & put in your brain bank.
Get used to the idea of fucking some mutha-fucker up.
I would credit the original author - but you know how it is with these mass emails, who knows who wrote it.
But it is sound advice.
(a lot of this is also in the "Worst Case Scenario" book series)

Enjoy


-----------------------------------------------

Because of recent abductions

In daylight hours, refresh yourself

of these things to do

in an emergency situation...

This is for you,

and for you to share

with your wife,

your children,

everyone you know.

After reading these 10 crucial tips,

forward them to someone you care about.

It never hurts to be careful

in this crazy world we live in.
1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do :

The elbow is the strongest point

on your body.

If you are close enough to use it, do!

2.. Learned this from a tourist guide.

If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse,

DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM.

Toss it away from you....

Chances are that he is more interested

in your wallet and/or purse than you,

and he will go for the wallet/purse.

RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car,

kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole

and start waving like crazy..

The driver won't see you, but everybody else will.

This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars

after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit

(doing their chequebook, or making a list, etc.

DON'T DO THIS!)

The predator will be watching you, and this

is the perfect opportunity for him to get in

on the passenger side, put a gun to your head,

and tell you where to go.

AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR ,

LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE..

If someone

is in the car

with a gun

to your head

DO NOT DRIVE OFF,

Repeat:

DO NOT DRIVE OFF!

Instead gun the engine

and speed into anything, wrecking the car.

Your Air Bag will save you.

If the person is in the back seat

they will get the worst of it .

As soon as the car crashes

bail out and run.

It is better than having them find your body

in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting

into your car in a parking lot,

or parking garage:

A.) Be aware:

look around you,

look into your car,

at the passenger side floor ,

and in the back seat

B.) If you are parked next to a big van,

enter your car from the passenger door.

Most serial killers attack their victims

by pulling them into their vans while the women

are attempting to get into their cars.

C.) Look at the car

parked on the driver's side of your vehicle,

and the passenger side... If a male is sitting alone

in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back

into the mall, or work, and get a

guard/policeman to walk you back out.

IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator

instead of the stairs.

Stairwells are horrible places to be alone

and the perfect crime spot.

This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun

and you are not under his control,

ALWAYS RUN!

The predator will only hit you (a running target)

4 in 100 times; and even then,

it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ.

RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying

to be sympathetic:

STOP

It may get you raped, or killed.

Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking,

well educated man, who ALWAYS played

on the sympathies of unsuspecting women.

He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often

asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle,

which is when he abducted
his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point:

Someone just told me that her friend heard

a crying baby on her porch the night before last,

and she called the police because it was late

and she thought it was weird.. The police told her

'Whatever you do, DO NOT

open the door..'

The lady then said that it sounded like the baby

had crawled near a window, and she was worried

that it would crawl to the street and get run over.

The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way,

whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.'

He told her that they think a serial killer

has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax

women out of their homes thinking that someone

dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it,

but have had several calls by women saying that

they hear baby's cries outside their doors

when they're home alone at night.



10. Water scam!

If you wake up in the middle of the night

to hear all your taps outside running or what

you think is a burst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE!

These people turn on all your outside taps full ball

so that you will go out to investigate and then attack.

Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for your neighbours!

Please pass this on

This e-mail should probably be taken seriously because

the Crying Baby Theory was mentioned on

America 's Most Wanted when they profiled

the serial killer in Louisiana

I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know.

It may save a life. A candle is not dimmed by lighting another candle..

I was going to send this to the ladies only,

but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters,daughters, etc.,

you may want to pass it onto them, as well.


Send this to any woman you know that may need

to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it

and it's better to be safe than sorry..

With Bullets

So many things happening of late.
I have been getting optional paralysis when it comes to what to write about, and thusly have not written anything.
So this will be a tedious "Update" post where I short hand the insanity of summer.

- I am looking into going back to school to pursue a career in criminal justice. It is something that has been in the back of my mind for a long while, and the evolution of things this summer has lead me to think that I really need to just finally fully pursue it. I still will pursue art as well and comic book art in particular, but I am not putting my eggs all in that basket career wise. I don't know where things will lead with this or to what exact field. But I think it uses more of my inner machinery than anything else. They say that if you do something you love, you'll never work a day in your life. But I think that one needs to differentiate between loving something because it is cathartic and loving something because it engages you and makes you feel fully yourself.

- I can't quite decide if all the nerdy stuff I love collectively is like a cult, or like an addiction. I have not been as active in my nerd affairs this summer as I have been in the past. For various reasons. But then HBO sent a bottle of their new Tru Blood soda to me on the house, and it just perked me back up - and drug me back into the nerd-a-sphere. Free merch has a way of doing that. The problem is that I can all too easily kill WAY too much time online, on posting boards, social networking sites, Alternate Reality Games for various viral marketing campaigns. There is so much fun to be had, and for free no less, how can one resist? And there is such a support network of other nerd junkies out there, welcoming you back, pushing you further, I am just thankful I am snobby enough in my discriminating tastes as to not get involved with an MMO. As much as I love it, the whole thing makes me very nervous.

- This years summer is unseasonably cold, and leaves me extremely concerned that it means that this winter will be even colder and dryer than last years. That would be disastrous for the environments and economy of Wisconsin. Water levels are already down WAY too low - and intense and prolonged sub zero temperatures could freeze low level seepage fed lakes SOLID - killing off all fish and other aquatic life. And a dry winter with little snow would kill off the winter based tourism, which primarily is supported by winter sports and out door activities. It would be like the dust bowl for us.

- The National health care debate is bordering a level of idiocy that reminds me of Bill Clintons first term, when then First lady Hillary Clinton was spear heading a campaign for a national single payer system - and the right started handing out "Impeach Hillary" stickers. Once more the tactics are the tiresome "Distract, Allude, & Misinform". Although the right wing has gotten a lot of practice at dirty tricks and smoke and mirror style theatrics over the past 15 years, I just can't believe that people still fall for this shit. It seems the baby boomer have learned NOTHING.
From the idiots following the emailed scripts and shouting the talking points at town hall meetings, to the morons that believe the tripe about "death panels". I can see all this crashing and burning again, and the same idiots that were manipulated by fear and misinformation will be the ones that will be left out in the cold. And yet in some way - I have to say "fuck' em".
I Don't see ANY ONE my age fighting for shit to stay the same. Just the opposite. SO - if the geriatrics and retirees want this - if they WANT to shoot them selves in the foot at the point when they are entering the time of their lives they will need medicine and health care MOST - LET THEM HAVE IT. If they WANT to pay health insurers (who run on casino math ) ridiculous amounts of money for the illusion of coverage and health care, instead of just making health care accessible and affordable to all - LET THEM. They are in action - their own death panel. And maybe that is just natural selection at work.

- Gun sales are Up. WAY UP. There is a national shortage on bullets ( For serious).
There was an interesting story last March or April on 60 minutes on this, also relating to the number of mass shootings there have been in the past 6 months. I have a very close friend who's fiance has jumped on the band wagon of gun nuttery of late as well, so the general topic has been in my mind, and something of regular discussion. With that said there are some things I need to get off my chest - and to air publicly here on the internet.
Your first weapons in life are your body and your mind. So If you really support the 2nd amendment , worry about those things first. I challenge you to get your ass in a gym. I challenge you to be active in the cause to end the obesity and diabetes epidemics especially amongst children, to get the Soda machines out of our nations schools, and to get Gym class back to being mandatory. I challenge you to make out nations schools better. I challenge you to see that affordable and easily available health care is paramount to the future safety of this country. Lobby for THAT, fight for THAT, Organize for THAT. A good offense is a good defense, and it doesn't matter how many guns you own if you are a fat ass because dying due to illness related to your negligent life style is far more likely than a home invasion, mugging, or an apocalyptic fall of government. But the reality is - gun activists don't really give a shit, or understand the 2nd amendment. All they understand is what they want - even if they don't understand why they want it, or who profits from it.

So - yeah, this is more or less what has been on my mind this summer.

Cheers.

Detective Comics #854 (OR - Why art matters so damn much)

Just buy it.
I'm not even gonna get into it, its just so damn good.
This is what the comic book experience should be, this quality.
I have no idea what the hell is happening or who the characters are, but damn if I can't wait for the next issue to figure it out better.