frovolous friday - insults with class

A member of Parliament to Disraeli: "Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease."

"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "on whether I embrace your policies or your mistress."


"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr


"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire."- Winston Churchill


"A modest little person, with much to be modest about." - Winston Churchill


"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow


"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)


"He has never written a phrase that did NOT send a reader to the dictionary''.- (Unknown about Conrad Black).


"He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know." - Abraham Lincoln


"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain


"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar Wilde


"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend .. if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second -- if there is one." - Winston Churchill, in response.


"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." - Stephen Bishop


"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright


"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb"


He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson


"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." – Paul Keatin


"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." – Robert Redford


"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." - Charles, Count Talleyrand


"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." – Forrest Tucker


"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain


"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West


"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde


"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." - Groucho Marx

yes!

I got some happy news today. My friend who attended The Word Guild Awards Gala in Toronto last night phoned this morning and told me I'd won the award in the category Article for Children / Teens category. WOO HOO!!

The list of all winners should be on The Word Guild website shortly - after the weekend and the Write! Canada conference is over.

bright

The brightest thing around this rainy spring

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: PATTERNED (Striped, Checkered, Polka Dotted, Leopard, Waves, Mosaic, Swirls,...)

the end of books?

Do you think we're coming to the end of the book era? Paul Krugman, writing in the NY Times thinks we might be.

...According to a report in The Times, the buzz at this year’s BookExpo America was all about electronic books. Now, e-books have been the coming, but somehow not yet arrived, thing for a very long time.... But we may finally have reached the point at which e-books are about to become a widely used alternative to paper and ink.

That’s certainly my impression after a couple of months’ experience with the device feeding the buzz, the Amazon Kindle. Basically, the Kindle’s lightness and reflective display mean that it offers a reading experience almost comparable to that of reading a traditional book. This leaves the user free to appreciate the convenience factor: the Kindle can store the text of many books, and when you order a new book, it’s literally in your hands within a couple of minutes.

It’s a good enough package that my guess is that digital readers will soon become common, perhaps even the usual way we read books.

Read the rest (you may have to sign up for a free NY Times account to access the article)

And what's this Kindle thing all about? Check it out here.

tenting with Canada's first lady

Julie Smyth of the National Post writes:

Gaining access to the inner sanctum of the Prime Minister's residence takes persistence, impeccable connections, or, in my case, extreme klutziness in the pursuit of a noble goal.

That is how I ended up in the family kitchen of 24 Sussex this week after running into a pole during a training walk for a charitable fundraiser with Laureen Harper, who kindly rushed me inside to tend to my (self-inflicted) wounds.

We hurried past the Prime Minister -- only just back from a state visit to Europe and catching up with daughter Rachel over dinner -- to get ice to apply to the expanding goose egg at the side of my eye.

As Mrs. Harper and I raced back outside to catch the RCMP van that would take us to the rest of our walking team, young Rachel asked her Dad, "How do you run into a pole?"

Read the rest of "Pitching a tent with Mrs. Harper" - an article that shows the endearingly human side of Canada's first lady, Laureen Harper.

Here's another piece on the Alberta farmgirl whose address is 24 Sussex Drive.

hrc free speech sideshow in vancouver

This week Andrew Coyne has been liveblogging the proceedings at the B. C. Human Rights Commission in Vancouver, where his employer, Macleans Magazine, is before the HRC beaucrats to answer Naiyer Habib's complaints about "The Future Belongs to Islam," an article by Mark Steyn published in Macleans, October 20, 2006. Naiyer Habib is the BC board director for the Canadian Islamic Congress, and filed the complaint on behalf of all Muslims in British Columbia.

In an interview with National Review Coyne says:

My hope is that it will go to appeal — in other words, I’m hoping that we lose this at the hearing level and that we appeal it to a proper court of law, as opposed to these quasi-judicial tribunals, and at that proper court of law that we make the constitutional argument that this is an infringement of our charter rights to freedom of the press. I believe that’s what we’ll do if we lose the case.

Other observations by Coyne:

...they have mystifying rules of evidence, if any. They make it up as they go along as to what gets allowed into evidence and what doesn’t. And I’m sure they’re not used to having such scrutiny, with many high-powered lawyers in the room. It’s pretty much a travesty.

For more buzz in blogland about this, see Free Mark Steyn!

After browsing a few links from FMS, my only comment would be that by challenging Canada's tradition of free speech in this HRC way, Muslims have done themselves way more harm in the Canadian public than an article like Steyn's would do in a dozen years.

(Dr. Mohamed Elmasry writes, on the CIC website about "Smart Integration." I've guess they've just given themselves a lesson in how NOT to do it.)

promote your book

Book Launch 2.0



Hat Tip: Carolyn

oops - my roots are showing

(I didn't write this, but got it in an email. It made me chuckle, seeing I grew up Mennonite and all)

Canada and a Mennonite Nation

-- Now that the Quebec nation is recognized within a united Canada, there is growing demand for a Mennonite nation within Canada.

In light of the recent parliamentary motion regarding the nationhood of the Quebecois, many feel that the Mennonites should also be recognized as a distinct nation within Canada. Once recognition from Parliament has been achieved, the Mennonite nation should then proceed to exercise its right to land claims in the Fraser Valley, southern Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, southern Manitoba and select portions of southern Ontario.

A sovereign nation should then be declared, with provincial capitals located in Yarrow, La Glace, Rosthern, Niverville and Waterloo (Abbotsford and Winkler can fight it out for federal capital) and Low German functioning as the second official language. A fully operational social safety net will be set up, including food banks and soup kitchens serving up borscht and pluma moos three times a day for the less fortunate - then put the bums to work picking hops.

It is to be anticipated that a big argument will break out. Already people are asking - who is a Mennonite?

Friesens and Dycks who go to a Mennonite church are in for sure. But what about a Peters who goes to an Alliance church? Will a Johnson who goes to a Mennonite church disguised as a "community church" qualify? Will culinary Mennonites who simply say they enjoy borscht get citizenship? Before you know it everyone buys sausage at Rempels or shops for groceries at Funks will claim they are Mennonites. It is even conceivable that anyone who ever went to an MCC sale might claim they are Mennonites. Then there will be more Mennonites than non-Mennonites and Mennonites could lose minorty status.

You think that the pacifist Mennonites will take all this lying down? The Quebecois question is easy compared to the Mennonite one. No?

Maybe turn it over to a committee of GC's and MB's to write a clarity act? Good luck!

(Thanks Marilyn S.)

fun

Play Quilt - made by Grandma

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: BRIGHT (Lights, Colors, Sun, Windows, Reflections, Happy, Sparkling, Glistening,...)

"the earth is satisfied"

"He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for man to cultivate—

bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.

The trees of the LORD are well watered,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted."

Psalm 104:13-16

Scenes from a Saturday afternoon in West Vancouver - Saturday May 31

annual rite of spring - fritter away some hours watching the eagles

The Hancock Wildlife Foundation (the organization that brought us the Hornby Island eagle cam several years ago) has put up an eagle cam in Delta (BC) this year.

A few days ago the mother eagle brought the eaglets a teddy bear. I just checked the cam, and there is the black bear, right beside the little gray eaglets. This morning they seem more interested in each other than their toy, though.

Log on in non-peak hours for best viewing. Last night traffic on the site was so heavy, the page wouldn't even load.

Delta eagle cam

A variety of cams, from herons to African cats, is available from the wavelit home page. Click on the "Live Feeds" tab.

a $ tip for non-ficton writers

Several months ago I took my courage in hand and joined a web site I've known about for some years. This was a site where you could apparently submit non-fiction articles -- information, how-to, fact pieces, that sort of thing -- and people searching for web content would come along and purchase licenses to use it.

I dilly-dallied about joining. I've been a member of other sites where the carrot is that people will come along, see and buy, but I'd never seen a single sale. This site seemed different though. As I went through the list of authors, I saw hardly a one that hadn't sold at least one license.

I finally joined in early March this year.

is a huge site and it took me some time to get up to speed with the guidelines etc. Here, in simplest terms, is how it works:


1. You submit your writing via a form on the website.

2. It goes to an editor who accepts or rejects it.

3. If it's accepted, it's then online for the world of web content shoppers to see and (hopefully) buy.

You can sell previously published pieces -- articles, blog posts, reviews and tutorials -- as well as brand new ones. Of course you'll be charging more money for never-before-published content. I've submitted a little new content. But because I have many previously published articles in my files, I've been putting more muscle into getting them online and earning me a few shekels instead of laying around doing nothing.

The site does charge a commission. C-C takes 35% of the sale. Thus if you charge $10 for an article, you'll actually only make $6.50.

If you think writing articles on spec is a waste of time, C-C has a public request feature where shoppers can post their content requests. One then writes an article for their request hoping that they'll like yours and buy it, even though others may also be writing for that request.

Long story short, I sold my first Constant Content license at the end of March. One of the first articles I sold through CC is a piece I wrote some years ago but never managed to sell. I was pleased to see it finally find a home here. (Writers have no contact with the people who buy their content, however. You find things you've sold by searching your name or the name of the article after it's been bought.) And I got my first PayPal deposit yesterday (sales must total at least $50 before you get paid)! Thus I can tell you firsthand, it's legit.

So if your file cabinet or blog is full of good content, consider joining Constant Content. Submit your writing. Then sit back and watch it earn you a little cash.

(Note - I write at CC under a pseudonym.)

book review: The Venus Approach to Real-Estate Investing by Philipp & Sonneck

Title: The Venus Approach to Real-Estate Investing – America’s Most Successful Women Real-Estate Investors reveal it all: Trade Secrets, Stiletto Methods and Motherly Love
Author: S. A. Philipp & Barbara Heil Sonneck
Publisher: The Sternthaler Group (February 22, 2008), Paperback, 220 pages
Genre: Business, Real estate, Self-help/How-to
ISBN-10: 0981482503
ISBN-13: 978-0981482507

“I know a lot of people are unable to realize their true potential because they are simply afraid to step outside the box. If I did, you can too!” - Kathy Kennebrook, Marketing Magic Lady.

“It takes determination to succeed at any endeavor that is worth your time and effort.” - Joanne Musa, tax lien investing consultant.

“Knowing one’s strengths is the key. Know what skills you’re lacking, go out and find someone who has that skill set and add him or her to your team.” - Wendy Patton, licensed real estate broker and builder.

This is only a sample of the inspiration and advice found in The Venus Approach to Real Estate Investing – America’s Most Successful Women Real-Estate Investors reveal it all: Trade Secrets, Stiletto Methods and Motherly Love by S. A. Philipp and Barbara Heil-Sonneck.

Written to encourage and empower women to use the strengths and wiles of their femininity to become successful real estate investors, this 220-page paperback sandwiches the first-person stories of nine such successful female investors between introductory chapters with provocative titles like “Where Low Testosterone Equals a Vastly Different Investment Approach” and concluding chapters that discuss what it takes to be successful in the field.

The book is a combination of inspiration, motivation, persuasion, advice and how-to. In lively and always-understandable prose the authors present real estate investing as a viable and rewarding option for which women are ideally suited. The chapter "Do You Have What It Takes to be a Successful Real Estate Investor" takes a realistic look at the demands of the career. Challenges of the currently troubled real estate market are addressed in "Tap Into the Special Female Touch to Conquer Even a Down Market." The authors also provide realistic and cautionary advice in “The Million Dollar ‘Not To Do List,’” which contains practical pointers like, “Do not invest without a plan,” and “Do not underestimate renovating costs.”

The first-person stories illustrate the variety in the real estate investment business. But these women have much in common too. All show themselves to be dedicated, hardworking and in love with what they do. Also, the main reasons they give for going into the business (to provide for their families, to gain financial independence, to experience the fulfillment of helping others, and to maintain flexibility of work hours and place) are repeated in story after story.

The book is laid out clearly with headings in capitals and lots of white space separating blocks of text. An index at the end references mostly people, websites and organization names (although in the copy reviewed, the page numbers were a little off with the need to subtract 3 or 4 pages from the number in the index).

This book would make an excellent resource for any woman, old or young, with an interest in real estate investing. It contains enough information about the business and the qualities needed to be successful to tell the reader whether or not this career is for her. Additionally, the book has a wealth of web site information for those wanting to find out more about the book’s contributors and their specialties, and begin educating themselves.

The Foreword is written by Linda C. Fuller who, with her husband, founded Habitat for Humanity. In 2005 the Fullers launched The Fuller Center for Housing which focuses on providing houses for the poorest of the poor. Ten percent of the sales of The Venus Approach to Real-Estate Investing will be donated to The Fuller Center for Housing.

more great listening

We attended an evening with Charles Price event last night -- a dinner/celebration banquet at the Ramada Place Hotel in Abbotsford.

We sat with a couple we'd never met before and in the course of getting acquainted, found the gentleman was a roofer (our son is a roofer, so some instant common ground) whose avocation is acting. We were sitting with Andrew Abrahams, an actor who has played parts like C. S. Lewis in "The Shadowlands," Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" and others. He has acted with Abbotsford's faith-based Gallery 7 Theatre Company as well as the drama department in his church, Northview Community.

We had an interesting discussion about drama and its place in church culture. His convictions about how a Christian participates in this art were -- well, refreshing. Not every Christian actor feels as strongly as he does about not compromising his principles. We were formerly subscribers to Pacific Theatre in Vancouver (another faith-based company), but didn't renew our subscription this year -- even though the acting was superb -- because so many of their plays were laced with nasty language, often, it seemed to us, gratuitous.

Andrew has noticed something interesting. When he asks a non-Christian director if he can skip the swearing bits in a script, no problem. But when he puts the same request to a Christian director, there's a lot more resistance. I wonder why. We agreed that in all our time of attending theatre, we'd never heard the complaint that a play would have been so much better with more swearing.


Then Charles Price spoke. He is the pastor of People's Church in Toronto and speaker on the popular weekly TV program Living Truth. What a great communicator! Not only is he a fabulous story teller with a dry sense of humor but also a meaty, interesting, and inspiring Bible teacher.

Living Truth is now being broadcast in all kinds of places. It can be seen in the U.S., Australia, across India, UK and Europe as well as South Korea.

The Living Truth website has also been updated. Visitors can now get Price's weekly 45-minute message as an MP3 download for the week after it is broadcast. They can also listen to other messages (Resample versions - not quite the entire message it seems). Right now a series on the life of Abraham is running.

common

Pens

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Thursday Challenge

Next Week: FUN (Games, Sports, Hobbies, Friends, Family,...)

alley oops!

Seen on our walk down Douglas Street (Langley) yesterday.

fat river

The Fraser River is high with the spring melt. We walked through the Derby Reach campsite yesterday. Many campsites are occupied - not by campers but water.





The campers who were there didn't seem the least bit concerned, though. I suppose the rise in the river is altogether predictable so if there were danger of even higher water, there would be lots of time to get away.


We walked the Edgewater Bar Trail to Derby, the first Fort Langley. In one place the water was about to nibble at our toes.


For comparison of how much the river has risen, this photo of the cutaway bank near the Derby heritage cairn was taken in January this year...


and this is what it looked like yesterday.

good listening

Our pastor (Brent Cantelon) began a series on the Holy Spirit last Sunday morning (May 18th). First message: "Something New in the Holy Spirit."

Also last Sunday night Mike Pilavachi from England -- former pastor to Matt Redman and Tim Hughes, now working with Soul Survivor -- spoke on "The Gift of Prophecy - Hearing God Speak."

book review: Vengeance by Donna Dawson

Title: Vengeance
Author: Donna Dawson
Publisher: Word Alive Press, Paperback, 248 pages, March 2008
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
ISBN-10: 1897373244
ISBN-13: 978-1897373248

When FBI agent James Benedict books a two-week holiday on a cruise ship to Hawaii, he doesn't expect to be working through much of it. But one after another, passengers who are perfectly healthy die painful and grotesque deaths, and he quickly finds himself in the thick of a mystery. Are these deaths caused by a virus that will inevitably infect the whole ship, or a poison targeting a select few? If the latter, is a passenger or crew member the murderer? In Vengeance Donna Dawson weaves a cat-and-mouse tale of death and investigation on the high seas.

Back in San Diego, Benedict's girlfriend, Dr. Julie Holding, fellow member of the FBI and a psychologist, has her own challenges. How will she get traumatized abuse victim, six-year-old Cassandra, to talk again, let alone trust a man? Her nightly conversations with James are sweet therapy for both of them, until the deadly plot begins to engulf him too. Will she be next?

The plot smells sinister right from its chilling Nunavut "Prelude." The cruise ship setting of most of the story, with its atmosphere of vacationing passengers immersed in relaxation and amenities, is a perfect foil for the gruesome death that stalks the ship. The plot plays out like a movie as we segue from one action scene to another, following James, then the killer, looking in on James's boss Steve in San Diego's FBI headquarters, even flashing occasionally to the dark mastermind in his bunker on shore.

Though the sleuthing makes steady progress, it continues to lag one step behind the criminals till the end, when even our seasoned investigator is shocked by who the perpetrator turns out to be. The romantic sub-plot adds a human touch and gives us a break from the tense on-board scenes.

Main character James Benedict is drawn realistically, though to be honest I was far more involved in following the plot than getting to know him - competent investigator and lovelorn swain that he is. Ditto for his sweety, Julie Holding. The most interesting of the characters was Nam, the shadowy figure who haunts the tale from its beginning and who shows himself to be a genius in loyalty, obsession and evil.

Dawson's crisp writing style and cryptic dialogue fit this action-packed tale. Her story-telling instincts are evident throughout as we get just the right amount of information and at the right time to keep the story a tantalizing bob and weave till the end.

The desire for vengeance is an idea that not only generates the plot, but is the theme that flows through plot and subplot too. Nam answers his need for revenge one way. Little Cassandra, with Julie's guidance, arrives at an entirely different answer on how to handle hideous evil, fleshing out the Bible saying, "A little child shall lead them."

Vengeance is a suspense thriller that will put you in an oblivious-to-time space. Just block off an afternoon to read the whole thing - because you won't be able to put it down anyway.

Donna Dawson 's web site

frivolous friday - Grandma goes to court

Lawyers should never ask a Mississippi grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer.

In a trial, a Southern small-town attorney called his first witness, a grandmotherly, elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"

She responded, "Why yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you'll never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."

The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"

She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone, and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."

The defense attorney nearly died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice said, "If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you both to the electric chair."