Posts filed under ‘WALT’S OBSERVATIONS’
THE LAST MAN: A STUDY OF THE IMAGINATION
THE LAST MAN: A STUDY OF THE IMAGINATION
The less said, the more room for interpretation.
I think this is the benefit of a short piece of fiction. A short piece telling a compelling story allows the reader to fill in the blanks. And depending on the reader’s imagination their could be nothing needed to add, or the opportunity to let the imagination run wild and create a memorable story. In fact, creating a story of greater appreciation which the writer did not consider I feel the following short piece goes a great deal towards serving that purpose.
Here are some details, depending on your imagination, that could provide greater enjoyment of this shorter short story.
What event lead to the circumstances of this story?
What would opening the door reveal?
Who is the man in the story and how did he find himself in this situation?
I hope these thoughts and questions have stimulated your interest in reading this short story.
I heard this story sometime ago and do not know who to credit for its creation.
He was the last man on Earth.
There was a knock at the door.
Note: In this day and age man would be replaced by person.7
ANOTHER RETIREMENT OBSERVATION
ANOTHER RETIREMENT OBSERVATION
I have reported, in the past, that ads saying they can tell you how much money you will need upon retirement to maintain your lifestyle, in my opinion, are scams. I feel the most important question which needs to be answered is how long you will live. The only people unfortunate to be able to answer this question with relative accuracy are those with a terminal illness.
Not long ago I heard statistics which gave me pause. It concerned salaries. I thought salaries are an important consideration needed in planning retirement. How long you will be retired and the changes in salaries and the price of goods are also important in determining how much money you will need, and I don’t see how anyone can accurately make those predictions, of course coupled with lifestyle.
I look at my own experience with starting salaries and length of retirement.
When I graduated from college in 1969 if you could find a job paying $10,000 a year you were lucky.
Not long ago I heard a report on salaries required by 17–28-year-olds seeking employment. One thing I found interesting is that it used to be during an interview salary was never mentioned until maybe the end. Now it appears that one requirement of the job posting is to list the salary along with the job description. Also, consider that the salary wanted by this age group, for many, is probably what they want to be paid for their first job.
Some applicants in this age group required a salary of $50,000-$100,000 to consider applying for the job. Twenty-five percent of this age group required a salary of $100,000-$250,000 to consider applying. Granted the salary considered great at $10,000 was 56 years ago. But some could be retired for 30 years or more. I’ve been retired for 17 years and can’t believe the increase in salaries and consumer prices since I’ve been retired.
Therefore, I think for anyone to advise you, upon retirement, how to have a financially worry-free retirement they would have to be able to predict the impossible.
First, and most important, is to determine how long you are going to live. That goes hand in hand with the salary you were making when you retired and at what rate salaries will increase during the rest of your retirement. And finally, the rate at which the price of goods will increase taking time and inflation into consideration. The answers to all these questions, I feel, would provide you with a worry-free retirement. But who, with any honesty, can provide the answers to all these questions?
THE UNIVERSE IN BALANCE, A REJECTION IN ERROR
THE UNIVERSE IN BALANCE, A REJECTION IN ERROR
You may find this post interesting after reading my previous post a short story, The Universe in Balance. Or perhaps it will spark your interest in reading the story if you haven’t done that yet.
I submitted the short story to a publication where it was rejected. The editor stated that what occurred in the story could not happen. This is because it is now thought that the universe is expanding and will eventually expand so only solitary atoms remain. Don’t worry, this will not happen in our lifetime. But Duh, this is fiction.
By a strange coincidence when I received this rejection I was reading a fantastic book, To Infinity And Beyond, authored by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lindsy NXY Walker. On page 236 they stated that, “In the Buddhist and Jain religions the universe undergoes eternal cycles of creation and destruction.
I did not know about this before or while writing this story.
PREDICTIONS OF THE PAST AND FUTURE
MY PREDICTION OF THE PAST AND FUTURE IN A SHORT STORY
In the past I have referred to a short story published on my blog, The Superior Species, as a story in which I predicted the past. I have recently stumbled upon another example of that prediction.
I had mentioned that the Neanderthals are now known to have made jewelry, buried their dead and may have been able to speak. I recently finished reading a fantastic book, Embers of the Hands by Eleanor Barraclough, discussing the life of the Vikings. In describing different aspects of their life, she delves into the musical instruments they used. One of the instruments she dealt with is the flute. During that discussion she mentioned the oldest flute discovered, made of bone, to be perhaps 50,000 years old. She contributes its manufacture to perhaps the Neanderthals. This would indicate that they had knowledge and appreciation of music. Add more evidence of my predicting the intelligence of the Neanderthals.
It also appears that I may have predicted the future in this story as well. In a recent article in The New Yorker concerning the cloning of the dire-wolf pups it is mentioned that there may be a plan to clone a Neanderthal. Cloning a Neanderthal is the central theme of my short story The Superior Species.
Personally, I hope that is all I have predicted in my stories. To have any of the events in my horror or science fiction stories come to fruition would cause society major problems. Our current society has enough problems without my contributing more.
My next post will discuss my short story, The Universe in Balance. As I said above, if this story contains a prediction, we’re in real trouble
RFK JR. AND VITAMIN A
RFK JR. AND VITAMIN A
We live during a time where you can choose where to obtain your news depending on your viewpoint and what you are willing to accept as the truth. If you don’t like what you hear or read you can claim it to be ‘false news’ without supplying any proof of your claim.
This brings me to the purpose of this post. And that is information supplied by RFK Jr.
No, this isn’t about vaccines. There you can believe what you want to believe as true. Time will tell if your choice was right. This post concerns damage which is occurring now and is not subject to opinion.
Involving measles, RFK Jr. suggests antibiotics for treatment and vitamin A for prevention and treatment.
First, antibiotics do not do anything against viruses. If you want to waste your money be my guest. However, there is potential harm in using antibiotics when it is not necessary and that is development of resistant bacteria when the antibiotic is necessary and will not have an effect.
But the danger in something RFK Jr. is suggesting being used in conjunction with measles which is resulting in harm no matter what your opinion is and cannot be denied.
I do not know if RFK Jr. is aware of the fact that there are two classes of vitamins, water soluble and fat soluble. With water soluble vitamins if you take more than your body needs you pee out the excess. With fat soluble vitamins whatever your body can’t use is stored. RFK Jr.is advocating the use of vitamins A, a fat-soluble vitamin for use in conjunction with measles. As a result, some parents are overdosing their children with vitamin A and causing liver damage in their children. This is not false news. It is reality.
What I find disturbing is that RFK Jr. is not aware of the danger associated with his suggestion. What I find greatly disturbing is that no one corrected him before he began voicing his opinion about vitamin A. Now it could be that RFK Jr. did not seek any scientific counsel before making his announcement. But no matter what happened parents are overdosing their children, and in some cases, causing them liver damage.
WRITER’S FORUM PRINT RUN PODCAST
We’re going back, for a few days, to websites beneficial to writers. Then a bit of personal history.
WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS
This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers.
But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites.
Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have never heard of and have no interest in.
By the same token, I feel that once you call a business for information you are also put on a list, for sale, of similar companies to the one you have called.
That’s just how it is in today’s society.
I hope you find the information offered in these posts helpful.
Print Run Podcast
PrintRunPodcast.com
This podcast covers current publishing details writers need to know.
Details include strikes and trends to subjectivity in literary awards.
Episodes are available at a nominal price.
THE WIZARD OF OZ
THE WIZARD OF OZ
The Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum and published in 1900, is one of the most popular children’s books of all time.
The story, made into the famous 1939 movie, with the same name, is still watched with enjoyment. The story has also appeared in plays. The most recent example of a movie being Wicked. However, there is another interpretation of this story which is far from a childish theme.
In Fareed Zakaria’s book, Age of Revolutions he discusses the viewpoint of Henery Littlefield made in 1964 at the meaning of the story in relation to the conditions existing in the country at the time Baum wrote the story and the purpose of the work. The existence of the monetary gold standard in this country Littlefield suggests is the purpose behind the story. What follows is what Littlefield thought the story represented and I was astonished when reading it the connection between The Wizard of Oz and the gold standard. I think you will be too.
WRITER’S FORUM BLACK ROMANCE
WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS
This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers.
But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites.
Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have never heard of and have no interest in.
By the same token, I feel that once you call a business for information you are also put on a list, for sale, of similar companies to the one you have called.
That’s just how it is in today’s society.
I hope you find the information offered in these posts helpful.
Girl Have You Heard
GirlHaveYouHeard.com
Brings attention to #BlackLoveCenterStage.
The podcast incorporates a directory of black romance authors discussing new books through cover reveals and reviews.
It also offers a place for readers to research by category.
The goal is not to exclude anyone but about intentionally offer a deep love and appreciation for an underrepresented category of literature and authors.
WRITER’S FORUM ROMANCE WRITERS
WEBSITES HELPFUL TO WRITERS
This is a series of posts which, I think, will be beneficial to writers.
But first, I would like to include my usual warning about using websites.
Whenever you check a website you are, in my opinion and I talk from experience, being put on a list for sale. So, expect the possibility of being bombarded by ads from companies you, perhaps, have never heard of and have no interest in.
By the same token, I feel that once you call a business for information you are also put on a list, for sale, of similar companies to the one you have called.
That’s just how it is in today’s society.
I hope you find the information offered in these posts helpful.
Fated Mates Podcast
FatedMates.net
This romance podcast covers published works and conversations with romance authors.
Discussed are topics from tropes to trends and many others.
Core focus is romance.
CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER, A BOOK REVIEW
CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER, A BOOK REVIEW
BY
JANE DRAYCOTT
The name Cleopatra is well known, but not the name of her daughter, Cleopatra Selene.
This extensively researched memoir of Cleopatra Seline covers the period in the BCEs of the early 30s to the early CEs and follows the life of Cleopatra Selene in Egypt from birth until the suicide of her mother. The young girl was then taken to Rome at around the age of ten where she was a virtual prisoner. Upon entering womanhood, she married Juba and became queen of Mauretania.
What I found remarkable about this book was the amount of detailed history which is known about the era of Cleopatra Selene’s life and the important individuals impacting the time before, during and after. The amount of information available regarding individuals who had a significant role in her life and lineage is, to me, surprising.
Other interesting details covered in this book were that during this period in history incest and murder within royal families were not unusual. To have married brother and sister couples as rulers was often the case. Neither uncommon was the fact that members of families murdered or arranged the murders of other family members.
The book also points out that a great deal of historic detail is gleaned from coins printed during that time of antiquity. Portraits on the coins give some clue to the appearance of significant players during this time.
This book provides a remarkable and thorough review of ancient history rarely explored during the life and era of Cleopatra Selene.
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