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Sunday, July 28, 2013

LGBT rights in Russia vs Snowden

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Russia just passed a law making "gay propaganda" illegal, esp propaganda that might reach minors. Four Dutch filmmakers have recently been charged under this new law because they interviewed a 17-year-old gay man, a minor under Russian law.

Then there's Edward Snowden, accused of leaking US secrets, and seeking asylum in Russia because he may face torture and the death penalty in the USA.

Articles surmise that Obama may be silent on human rights issues in Russia because Snowden is presently in Russia, seeking asylum, and since this is a sensitive area, Obama doesn't want to further inflame Russian sentiments.

What do you think, readers?

Would US reaction to an anti-LFBT law signed by Russian leader Putin be influenced by an equally sensitive situation in the US?

What do you think of Big Brother in 2013?





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Saturday, July 27, 2013

10 reasons I love my family

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This is a photo of a waterfall down a logging road near Prince George, BC. My brother B sent it to me just now. He and his handsome son went on a quadding trip along the sandy road. British Columbia is a beautiful province.

Truck on sandy quad trip in NE British Columbia



Waterfall near McGregor Mountain, ne B.C.



This is my most favorite truck in the world, in a lovely setting I will visit some day. My trip to Michigan left me with a yearn to see more of the world, natural and otherwise (unnatural, hahaha).

Now for the 10 reasons I love my family.

My family consists of three wonderful children (my middle son now in the light of the Lord), three grandsons whom I seldom see (two I have never met), a beautiful and caring sister, and two handsome and interesting brothers.

I'm so lucky.

My extended family consists of many more, of course, nieces and nephews, an aunt in Revelstoke, great cousins, and great nieces and nephews. Also I count good friends as part of my extended family. Hello, E and J especially.

Hugs to everyone.

Now, the 10 reasons, and there are many more:

  1. They live interesting lives;
  2. They are independent and upbeat individuals;
  3. They are supportive and loving;
  4. They understand me;
  5. They are young at heart;
  6. They are great role models for their families;
  7. They are physically and mentally active;
  8. I think they are very attractive men and women;
  9. They make my heart sing;
  10. I can be in touch any time and it's like we never parted. 
Now a video for my family. I love you all, and we are not a perfect family. We are a bunch of b*st***s as a matter of true fact...somehow our parents did a good job and we did the best we could. We were thrown out early to sink or swim and by gum, we learned to swim!!!

 
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Thursday, July 25, 2013

MY 7 (LUCKY NUMBER) FAVORITE BLOGS

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I've researched 7 blogs you may find helpful or interesting:

  1. Brent Riggs' "Linky Blog" Brent wrote an EPIC eBook which is more than 400 pages long and is packed with advice about blogging, photography, and all sorts of wisdom he has accumulated in 15 years of social media experience. You can sign up for his newsletter and get the eBook for $9.99. His newsletter arrives in my mailbox regularly and is a fountain of helpful information for growing my blog. I recommend the "Linky Blog."
  2. Mail Chimp - sign up free.  They'll help you set up newsletters and campaigns, have oodles of cool templates for your newsletters, will set up a button on your blog for new subscribers and much more. Also many apps for mobile phones.
  3. Absolute Write Water Cooler  This is a site which has an international forum, a place for promotion and ideas for book promotion, many great forums, events, announcements, and free to sign up. You can research a site from here and get the group's opinion. I don't use it as often as I should.
  4. Inspired Gift Giving (IGG) with Marty Herald. Great resources to live life the best you can and be the very best you can be. I also subscribe to Marty's newsletter, which is chockful of helpful resources and suggestions.
  5. Live Write Thrive by C.S. Lakin, Author. A truly excellent newsletter and blog full of great ideas for writers and authors. I read Ms. Lakin's newsletter regularly and never fail to come away with great insights about writing. I don't know how she does it, but she is definitely brilliant at her craft of writing.
  6. Meredith Bell's uplifting eZine "Golden Eggs" with inspirational articles much like Chicken Soup for the Soul haha, get it here
  7. Shari Schindel's Notes from the Couch is amazing good news and support for those suffering from chronic illness. Check it out, this woman is a clinical psychologist who dispenses her unique brand of cheery support and advice on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog. Follow her and tell her Kenna sent you!
There you have it, peeps, my 7 favorite blogs. I have others, but will leave them for another time.



Please let me know how you like these resources and whether you've clicked on any of the links.

What would you like to see in future?

Have fun, peeps.




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Monday, July 15, 2013

Guest Post: Sandra Miller, Writer from New York

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Sandra Miller

 
Sandra Miller is a writer and lives in New York. Two times a year she watches Friends sitcom. She loves salsa. Uses professional editing services help to write great material. Her passion is Latin American Culture.
 

Edit Your Own Writing Material with 8 Easy Techniques

            It is a fact that pretty much anybody can become a writer, with our without proper training. But the main question is do they have the potential to write something with quality content that people would be interested in reading? A crucial component that distinguishes an “okay” writer to a great one is how they edit their writing material.
            Not everyone has the convenience to hire their own personal editor to go through their work, unless you work in a big magazine or newspaper company at least. But if you only have yourself to go through your work, then it is best to find out the tips of the trade to edit your work with high quality. Make sure that you do a job well done to add more quality to your written material.
            Here are 8 simple yet very efficient techniques in editing your writing material:

    1.     Edit after you write
      This is an important step because editing while writing could still leave you with mistakes all throughout your paper. Finish your writing before actually editing. Stopping to fix a typo or to fix the sentence you are working on is fine, but going through the whole paragraph might be time consuming and you might still miss a few errors. So remember, write first and then edit.

    2.     Give a few days for your writing
         Don’t try to cram your writing all in one day. It is wise to give it a couple days for writing and editing so that your brain is fresh to work. During the day, you can write for one to two hours, after give yourself a break for around 30 minutes or so, you may then continue writing again. By doing this, you’ll come up with new thoughts to put in your writing work.

    3.     Try reading through an entirely different format
           By reading through your work in a different format, you can identify mistakes easily. What made sense in another format may sound unusual in another.

           Here’s a trick to try out, try emailing or printing out your writing content and you may spot the words and thoughts that may not fit in.

    4.    Proofread content and structure
          Before you start editing sentence by sentence, take a look at your structure and content first. Look in a broad aspect first before you go specific. The major errors should be worked on first before you start on individual words and sentences.

    5.    Cut out unnecessary words
        The rule is, cut out at least 10% of your words. When you’re finished revising the flow of your piece you can start working on cutting out words. A common mistake in writing is over-writing. Instead of getting straight to the point, some writers include words that are irrelevant which can weaken your writing material. Try doing a word count and cut out 10% of the words. Look out for the following:

·  Repetition of the same thought over and over. Trust that the reader will understand it the first time. Make all your sentences strong enough for them to actually comprehend it.

·  Remove unnecessary phrases and get straight to the point

    6.     Be alert and use Spell Check
            Remember that the spell checker is your new best friend. When using your Word program, run it a few times while writing when you see the red wiggly line underneath a word.
         Even though this is a reliable tool on Word, don’t just rely on it 100%. Use your eyes too and reread whenever you feel like you need to. Spell check might not detect all errors.

    7.    Read your writing material slowly
           Reading your writing material slowly will allow you to catch the words, phrases and sentences that just don’t make sense.

    8.     No one is perfect
           With this in mind, remember that once you feel like you’ve done everything you can to edit your piece that it is alright to pass it in. No one writing material can be perfect. Readers will still be appreciative of the work you have done even if it isn’t written to pure perfection.


 



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Friday, July 12, 2013

THE BEST FLASH FICTION READER IN THE UK

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Morgen Bailey from England reads my flash fiction on her podcast here. It's #27 on Youtube, the 3rd story in the set.

She reads it with the correct emphasis and pronunciation of Kijiji, a difficult word which I struggled with when I first heard it.

I'm impressed with Morgen's efficiency and good humor, and with her Jack Russell's forebearance, heh heh, Morgen must spend a great deal of time working.

A toast from Morgen's Jack Russell terrier


If you'd like to read rather than listen to the short story, it's here, on Morgen's blog.


What would you, kind reader, like to see in a newsletter that's not covered in my blog?

And sign up for my newsletter, please, top left - SUBSCRIBE. You may be surprised at how seldom I post. That could change, with your help.

Any suggestions?

Come on now, be wild like Flash Gordon. Help me out. I just sent out an informative newsletter and I need some feedback. Please.


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Monday, July 8, 2013

FREE Images and Reasonably Priced Stock Royalty Free Photos

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Do you download copyright images?


  • Do you think it's okay to download images from Google or Youtube without permission? 
  • Do you realize most of those images are copyright? 
  • Do you think they're royalty free?
WRONG

You could be in big trouble

  • You could be sued for using someone else's images or videos
    Sheriff with big gun and badge on his portly chest

    I pay for Fotolia credits, quality royalty free stock photos

    Also iStock Photos, best quality royalty free photos

    FREE IMAGES? Try FreeDigitalPhotos.net You have to give an attribution to these photos, acknowledge the creator as well as the site.

    Or Morgue File, which will take you to a paid site if you're not careful. But no attribution required.

    • You can search on all these sites for the exact photo you want. Often you can find them on the FREE sites. 
    • If you want better quality or can't find what you want, then Fotolia or iStock is your best bet. 
    • Fotolia credits are relatively inexpensive but you get what you pay for, and iStock is excellent though more expensive, and they have vector images and videos.

    You can rest in the knowledge that you're an ethical and social minded person who does not rip off his/her associates or acquaintances on-line.

    • I like to download my digital images to Dropbox. Fast and easy, and Dropbox is free to set up with a maximum storage capacity, or starts at about $9.99 per month for the professional version. Which I have, because I use it to back up all my computer, audio, video, and Word files.
    •  Dropbox files can also be shared. It's a valuable resource.

    Here's a cute photo from Fotolia, 1 credit (about $1) and I can use it indefinitely with almost no restrictions. It's ethical and royalty free, and I don't fret about being sued.

    Baby in buttercups, yellow and green


    What do you do when you need a neat photo or a graphic or image, or want to download a video?

     

    Do you find this information helpful?

     

    Do you ever worry about copyright and being sued?

     

    All comments will be answered.




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Monday, July 1, 2013

5 MYTHS ABOUT CANADA EXPOSED

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HAPPY CANADA DAY, FELLOW CANUCKS!!!

Myths about Canada:

  1. Hockey is our national sport. WRONG. LACROSSE is our national sport. Nobody I know plays lacrosse or watches it, but that's the truth, eh?
  2. Saskatchewan is the capital of Canada. WRONG. Saskatchewan is a prairie province located between Alberta and Manitoba. The city of OTTAWA, in the province of ONTARIO, is the capital of Canada. Stephen Harper lives there.
  3. There are no trees or cities in Canada. WRONG. These are seriously questions I was asked on my recent holiday to Michigan by otherwise quite bright people. Softwood lumber is one of our major exports to the USA. I myself live in a city of approximately half a million people (EDMONTON, Alberta), which is the capital of the province of Alberta. I live in a highrise apartment and have never seen a polar bear.
  4. Our money looks funny. WRONG. Our bills are different colors to make it easy to differentiate them. I heard a story from a woman in the USA recently that she had mistakenly left a waitress an American $100 bill as a tip. They all look the same. The fives are a slightly different shade of blue-green in the USA. Big deal. Our money has neat pictures on it and it doesn't have the all-seeing eye...
  5. Canadians are called non-resident aliens by the American government and some Americans. I seriously read this on a US government form. I was called an alien on numerous occasions while visiting the USA with a valid and quite recent Canadian passport. I am not an alien. ET is an alien. ALIEN is an alien. I am a Canadian and proud of it and happy to be a Canadian. In my country Americans are not called aliens. Please respect that.
  • These are all myths about Canada.I'm just sorry I live in a country that is being rapidly eroded by American values and American debts.

Let's watch the fireworks on July 1 (Canada Day) and join in the celebrations. I always walk down to the Promenade a block away and watch the fireworks at eleven p.m.



CANADIAN, eh? 

  • GOOGLE has our Parliament Buildings featured. Check it out; my 5 myths are really only a fraction of the myths about Canada, but perhaps Google will straighten you out and inform the uninformed, eh? Or maybe not.
This is me at a baseball game in July 2011
 

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