Why does Cedeno have a pitch limit of 5?
Why does Avilan have a pitch limit of 4?
Why was Minaya with his ERA of 8+ allowed to stay in the game and give up the winning run while far more talented pitchers were taken out of the game extra early?
Why were the team's hottest hitters taken out of the game and replaced with cold stiffs?
Fire Ricky Renteria.* Its the only we can compete this year.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Plotting Essay
The reading and study of classic works
of literature is of key importance to helping writers create their plots.
The best popular
fiction is based on both classic literature and historical events. You
can take the plots of classic works such as The
Odyssey by Homer and turn it into plots for other kinds of work including
science fiction. Or you can make indirect use of historical events by
taking an actual military campaign of days gone by and then using it as a
template for a military novel of any genre that you choose to work in.
You do not need
to limit yourself to the Classical Period for inspiration and source
material.
If you do
choose to focus on the Classical Period, then perhaps the best author
is Ovid, who wrote love poetry. In writing novels, romance is a key
ingredient and studying Ovid should give you ideas on how to best incorporate
romance into your work. The most relevant works of Ovid to use are Amores and
the Metamorphoses.
Ovid's lines are witty. Ovid's poems are not merely
love poems, there are instead poems that are about love. They are
about such things as the courtship of a lady, losing her to another man after
getting drunk, seducing her maid and many similar episodes from the life of a
man who is dedicated to marrying a woman who is wealthier than himself.
This material
should help you with your fiction, and not just fiction that is about ancient
Rome. And yes, that includes action-adventure fiction as
well.
Ovid's narrative poetry easily serves
as the basis for the plots of entire novel, as many writers have demonstrated.
Studying Ovid
greatly helps one's understanding of mythology and its place in the ancient
world.
If you are
well versed in either fantasy or historical literature, you will be able to use
Ovid's works to greatly improve your writing.
Of course,
other classical works can be used for plotting. The various myths and
legends about Hercules, for instance, can be used for plotting everything from
historical fiction to space opera.
Friday, June 1, 2018
Why Romantic Times Went Out of Business
Its been revealed that the reason why the trashy rag Romantic Times went out of business is because its last convention held in May of this year, was a disaster. Hardly anyone showed up and many of those who did were lesbians who hate romance novels.
Hence the decision to shut down the trashy rag.
Hence the decision to shut down the trashy rag.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Book Review: Ballistic Babes
Ballistic Babes by Lawrence Ganem & John Zakour.
New York: DAW Books 2009
Ballistic Babes a pair of novels that were originally published as separate books. The first, The Radioactive Redhead, was co-written by both Lawrence Ganem & John Zakour. The second, The Frost-Haired Vixen, was written by just Zakour. Both novels were about the adventures of Zachary Nixon Johnson, supposedly the last freelance private investigator on Earth. However, there are huge differences between the two novels.
This is a series that revels in its silliness. If you are looking for internal logic, look elsewhere; this is pure nonsense painted with fast quips and faster action.
New York: DAW Books 2009
Ballistic Babes a pair of novels that were originally published as separate books. The first, The Radioactive Redhead, was co-written by both Lawrence Ganem & John Zakour. The second, The Frost-Haired Vixen, was written by just Zakour. Both novels were about the adventures of Zachary Nixon Johnson, supposedly the last freelance private investigator on Earth. However, there are huge differences between the two novels.
This is a series that revels in its silliness. If you are looking for internal logic, look elsewhere; this is pure nonsense painted with fast quips and faster action.
The "WOW!" Signal
If December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001, are dates that will live in infamy, then August 15, 1977, is a date that should live as a more positive time, at least among science fiction fans. This is because that was the day that the Big Ear radio observatory at Ohio State University picked up what has become known as the "WOW!" signal. Of all the signals picked up by radio telescopes, this is the one that was most likely to have been broadcast by extraterrestrial alien intelligence.
The "WOW!" signal derived its name from the notation written by graduate student Jerry Ehman who came across the signal on the computer printouts of the Big Ear's scanning of the heavens on August 15, 1977. The signal lasted 72 seconds which was the maximum amount of time that it could be scanned by the radio telescope. The frequency of this signal almost precisely matched the frequency wavelength given off by hydrogen radiation. Since this radiation is so prevalent in space, the consensus among radio astronomers is that aliens may very well use it for radio transmissions.The printouts showed that the signal in question was 30 times stronger than the background noise and was tightly focused just like commercial broadcasts are. It neatly fit almost every criteria set by radio astronomers for what a broadcast sent by extraterrestrial intelligence aka aliens would be like. That being the case, Ehman was so startled by the printout, he wrote "WOW!" on it. Hence the name of the "WOW!" signal.
Of all the signals picked up by radio astronomers, the "WOW!" signal is the only one that has withstood all challenges. You would think that the astronomers at Ohio State University would have held a press conference to announce their discovery. Instead, they opted to publish their findings in 1979 in Cosmic Search, a magazine with such a low circulation, that today there are very few complete sets in existence. Very little has been written about the "WOW!" signal so much so that this writer first learned about it from the March 2015 issue of Astronomy where it ranked 361st out of the 500 Coolest Things About Space.
One might wonder why so little has been made about this discovery. For one thing, the only criteria for determining a signal is from cosmic intelligence that the "WOW!" signal does not meet is that it has never been observed again. This is interesting given how that when we humans on rare occasions deliberately send signals to outer space, we ourselves rarely send the same signal on multiple times to the same area of space. If beings of alien intelligence were to use the same criteria that we humans do, then they would have no reason to believe that there is any intelligent life on Earth.
Another reason why the lack of coverage of the "WOW!" signal in scientific publications is the fact that when you trace out the "WOW!" signal , there are no known stars or planets in the vicinity, This is interesting because science fiction writers as well as leading scientists have long proposed that mankind construct space stations and perhaps space cities. These stations/cities could be placed in interstellar space far away from any planet or even any solar system. If we humans can talk about such ideas, then why could an alien intelligence not have the same ideas? Surely, aliens with technology far more advanced than our own could take a staple of today's science fiction and trun it into reality. Additionally, just because a radio telescope here on Earth picked up a signal does not necessarily mean that signal was deliberately sent to Earth in the first place. The "WOW!" signal could have been a SOS signal from and alien ship or it could have been originally sent by one alien ship to another and reached planet Earth long after the original broadcast was sent.
There are about 80 radio telescopes surveying the heavens located throughout the world. While there are other uses for radio telescopes, their primary mission is to search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Of necessity, their searches are limited to certain frequencies that are protected by international agreements. These are frequencies that are reserved for astronomers.
The fact that only certain frequencies are available to radio astronomers is a hindrance to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. If an alien civilization attempted to contact us via AM or FM radio, the end result would simply be an increase in static. There would be no way to determine that the static originated in outer space and that's assuming that there would even be an attempt to discover where that static came from in the first place. Apparently, nobody in official positions have realized that if we humans find certain frequencies such as AM/FM to be conducive to communication, then surely other sentient life forms wold find them useful as well. What is needed is to have satellites in orbit that would pick up transmissions from outer space of frequencies that are in commercial use here on Earth.
The "WOW!" signal derived its name from the notation written by graduate student Jerry Ehman who came across the signal on the computer printouts of the Big Ear's scanning of the heavens on August 15, 1977. The signal lasted 72 seconds which was the maximum amount of time that it could be scanned by the radio telescope. The frequency of this signal almost precisely matched the frequency wavelength given off by hydrogen radiation. Since this radiation is so prevalent in space, the consensus among radio astronomers is that aliens may very well use it for radio transmissions.The printouts showed that the signal in question was 30 times stronger than the background noise and was tightly focused just like commercial broadcasts are. It neatly fit almost every criteria set by radio astronomers for what a broadcast sent by extraterrestrial intelligence aka aliens would be like. That being the case, Ehman was so startled by the printout, he wrote "WOW!" on it. Hence the name of the "WOW!" signal.
Of all the signals picked up by radio astronomers, the "WOW!" signal is the only one that has withstood all challenges. You would think that the astronomers at Ohio State University would have held a press conference to announce their discovery. Instead, they opted to publish their findings in 1979 in Cosmic Search, a magazine with such a low circulation, that today there are very few complete sets in existence. Very little has been written about the "WOW!" signal so much so that this writer first learned about it from the March 2015 issue of Astronomy where it ranked 361st out of the 500 Coolest Things About Space.
One might wonder why so little has been made about this discovery. For one thing, the only criteria for determining a signal is from cosmic intelligence that the "WOW!" signal does not meet is that it has never been observed again. This is interesting given how that when we humans on rare occasions deliberately send signals to outer space, we ourselves rarely send the same signal on multiple times to the same area of space. If beings of alien intelligence were to use the same criteria that we humans do, then they would have no reason to believe that there is any intelligent life on Earth.
Another reason why the lack of coverage of the "WOW!" signal in scientific publications is the fact that when you trace out the "WOW!" signal , there are no known stars or planets in the vicinity, This is interesting because science fiction writers as well as leading scientists have long proposed that mankind construct space stations and perhaps space cities. These stations/cities could be placed in interstellar space far away from any planet or even any solar system. If we humans can talk about such ideas, then why could an alien intelligence not have the same ideas? Surely, aliens with technology far more advanced than our own could take a staple of today's science fiction and trun it into reality. Additionally, just because a radio telescope here on Earth picked up a signal does not necessarily mean that signal was deliberately sent to Earth in the first place. The "WOW!" signal could have been a SOS signal from and alien ship or it could have been originally sent by one alien ship to another and reached planet Earth long after the original broadcast was sent.
There are about 80 radio telescopes surveying the heavens located throughout the world. While there are other uses for radio telescopes, their primary mission is to search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Of necessity, their searches are limited to certain frequencies that are protected by international agreements. These are frequencies that are reserved for astronomers.
The fact that only certain frequencies are available to radio astronomers is a hindrance to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. If an alien civilization attempted to contact us via AM or FM radio, the end result would simply be an increase in static. There would be no way to determine that the static originated in outer space and that's assuming that there would even be an attempt to discover where that static came from in the first place. Apparently, nobody in official positions have realized that if we humans find certain frequencies such as AM/FM to be conducive to communication, then surely other sentient life forms wold find them useful as well. What is needed is to have satellites in orbit that would pick up transmissions from outer space of frequencies that are in commercial use here on Earth.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Gary Gygax’s Post-TSR Career
Mr. Gygax and TSR parted ways in the mid-eighties due to the poor and
erratic way that he was running the company.
After leaving TSR, Gygax immediately created the gaming company New Infinities Productions with the idea of gaining revenge against TSR. Gygax wrote the outline for what became the game Cyborg Commando. Published in 1987, the game garnered poor reviews and sold poorly. New Infinities was poorly run and it went out of business in 1989.
Following this setback, Gygax next tried to get revenge on TSR by partnering with Games Designer Workshop to create a game to compete with Dungeons & Dragons D&D). At first, this project was known as Dangerous Dimensions, however TSR threatened to sue over the initials being DD, almost the same as that for Dungeons & Dragons. The new role-playing game was now renamed Dangerous Journeys, but TSR sued anyways. Eventually, TSR gained ownership of the new game and Gygax was out in the cold yet again.
In 1999, Gygax took another stab at creating a game to gain revenge upon TSR with. This was Lejendary Adventure (LA) that was published by two companies thaat were run by friends of Gygax, Hekaforge Productions and Troll Lord Games. LA has fared better than Gygax's previous non-TSR games, but it still has not been much of a rival to D&D.
In 2004, Gygax had a hand in the creation of the RPG Castles & Crusades. Its not known how important this role was, but his name was used in promoting the game. This game has only been a limited success.
Additionally, after leaving TSR, Gygax wrote two books, "Master of the Game" and "Role-Playing Mastery." He also wrote some fictional works as well. None of these books sold well. Gygax's books were of generally poor quality. They were derided by the hard core gamer members of the Little Rock Science Fiction Society of which I was a member during the years 1997-2000.
Gygax spent the last three decades of his life in Lake Geneva, WI, where he led a quiet life marked by being a frequent guest at gaming conventions. He passed away in 2008.
After leaving TSR, Gygax immediately created the gaming company New Infinities Productions with the idea of gaining revenge against TSR. Gygax wrote the outline for what became the game Cyborg Commando. Published in 1987, the game garnered poor reviews and sold poorly. New Infinities was poorly run and it went out of business in 1989.
Following this setback, Gygax next tried to get revenge on TSR by partnering with Games Designer Workshop to create a game to compete with Dungeons & Dragons D&D). At first, this project was known as Dangerous Dimensions, however TSR threatened to sue over the initials being DD, almost the same as that for Dungeons & Dragons. The new role-playing game was now renamed Dangerous Journeys, but TSR sued anyways. Eventually, TSR gained ownership of the new game and Gygax was out in the cold yet again.
In 1999, Gygax took another stab at creating a game to gain revenge upon TSR with. This was Lejendary Adventure (LA) that was published by two companies thaat were run by friends of Gygax, Hekaforge Productions and Troll Lord Games. LA has fared better than Gygax's previous non-TSR games, but it still has not been much of a rival to D&D.
In 2004, Gygax had a hand in the creation of the RPG Castles & Crusades. Its not known how important this role was, but his name was used in promoting the game. This game has only been a limited success.
Additionally, after leaving TSR, Gygax wrote two books, "Master of the Game" and "Role-Playing Mastery." He also wrote some fictional works as well. None of these books sold well. Gygax's books were of generally poor quality. They were derided by the hard core gamer members of the Little Rock Science Fiction Society of which I was a member during the years 1997-2000.
Gygax spent the last three decades of his life in Lake Geneva, WI, where he led a quiet life marked by being a frequent guest at gaming conventions. He passed away in 2008.
The "Roseanne" Cancellation Outrage
Can you think of any good reason for "Roseanne" being cancelled other than the purely political? It had been reported before this that ABC wanted her to drop the political stuff from the show because ABC is so very anti-Trump.
As for Roseanne Barr's tweets being "repugnant" well she had a reputation for tweets and other public statements and actions that were considered tasteless long before ABC brought the show back, so that explanation does not hold up.
The Daily Caller on the "Roseanne" cancellation.
As for Roseanne Barr's tweets being "repugnant" well she had a reputation for tweets and other public statements and actions that were considered tasteless long before ABC brought the show back, so that explanation does not hold up.
The Daily Caller on the "Roseanne" cancellation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)