tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89980376212312806992024-03-16T08:33:45.202-07:00Dodecahedron BooksDale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.comBlogger595125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-63910670069203414382024-03-13T15:44:00.000-07:002024-03-13T16:07:39.069-07:00Pi Day 2024 –A Really Big PI-related near integer<p>
</p><h3 style="border-color: currentcolor currentcolor rgb(79, 129, 189); border-style: none none solid; border-width: medium medium 1pt; letter-spacing: 0.3pt; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.53cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.14cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #17365d; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif;">Pi
Day 2024 –A Really Big PI-related near integer</span></span></h3>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
There is a really good Youtube channel done by a math prof that I
follow on Youtube, Richard E. Borcherds. I will have a little more to
say about him later, but first I will discuss the Pi-related content
in one of his videos.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9k_QmZbwX8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9k_QmZbwX8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
I won’t attempt to get into any high-level explanation, as that
would involve very advanced abstract algebra, which is far above the
pay grade of a lowly retired statistician. That said, I did take one
university-level abstract algebra course long ago and can confidently
say that this type of math is very abstract indeed. Stats degrees
are usually heavy on calculus, linear algebra and probability, not so
much on abstract algebra. Arguably though, these subjects are all
inter-related, though most of us can only learn so much math in one
lifetime.</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"> </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkovv_cc69uyo7yjf5FuD8S1lLiU_a1I-isfPPO7ssUgNq3Dq-jDcWd5g7JjeG5ztbSjqn7Iiz4RvCmHl9dotn1m4Bg0GUkkxXtJ2b49XAxCIM1e1key8diXIqMMEezXq2Ap3LiziPnYImDplfro5FdgBfy97F0pkce3mu3Ow7qwgJkarZaNB6mY68-XgC/s1059/Borcherds_1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="1059" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkovv_cc69uyo7yjf5FuD8S1lLiU_a1I-isfPPO7ssUgNq3Dq-jDcWd5g7JjeG5ztbSjqn7Iiz4RvCmHl9dotn1m4Bg0GUkkxXtJ2b49XAxCIM1e1key8diXIqMMEezXq2Ap3LiziPnYImDplfro5FdgBfy97F0pkce3mu3Ow7qwgJkarZaNB6mY68-XgC/w640-h358/Borcherds_1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
Anyway, the screenshot above shows a couple of very big numbers:</p>
<ul><li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
the exact integer: 262537412640768000.
</p>
</li><li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
the near integer: 262537412640768143.99999999925...</p>
</li></ul>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
As you can see, the second number is quite close to the first number,
up until the last 3 digits before the decimal point. They differ by
almost 144.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<b>And here is the Pi Day angle: that number is e raised to the
power Pi times the square root of 163, and it nearly comes out to an
integer, with the first 12 places after the decimal point being 9s.
So, that’s a transcendental number taken to the power of another
transcendental number multiplied by an irrational number. Given that
these are numbers that are non-repeating and non-ending, that seems
pretty weird.</b></p>
<p class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
The professor notes that a normal pocket calculator will actually
show an integer after doing the calculation.
</p>
<p class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
Even better, a Windows-based spreadsheet shows the result to 20
places past the decimal, as an integer.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHc2PQsPXBIlzAkRE7jC7bLYufSiP0sJ3jwtBCo_LLpISbhz4KUdFCYjAYVVQv_GVfuredoAUsWzeGEYUxkDT5_ReyDdwpKsnpBpeu0InAJI2USHonE4orFYwILC1DBO4-8pLCPPD2QkOuRErCZjKk1NNlEA8jTyg0f5e6JYuNgfyNh6CFjfoRehtnKReA/s635/LirbreCalc.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="157" data-original-width="635" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHc2PQsPXBIlzAkRE7jC7bLYufSiP0sJ3jwtBCo_LLpISbhz4KUdFCYjAYVVQv_GVfuredoAUsWzeGEYUxkDT5_ReyDdwpKsnpBpeu0InAJI2USHonE4orFYwILC1DBO4-8pLCPPD2QkOuRErCZjKk1NNlEA8jTyg0f5e6JYuNgfyNh6CFjfoRehtnKReA/w640-h158/LirbreCalc.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
And here is what the stats language R does. It just rounds the
number, long before getting to the decimal. There are some R
packages that handle really big numbers, but I couldn’t get any of
them to work, so we will have to leave it at that.</p>
<br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bN62jkxOKtwIJ-CsnHBBGP1lQLiVT7LNmiiOOeb6wv-CICF1R7TEV6Jb2YmalSwslWWEon6z1v4idQCEJ8N7XGCLfkP4YN4guq0XC-dLi-_ZRRcgaTT7y0OfZjo7yVno5SyjYvlCrF9nGuUApXfxt_pKygK4kGL82MrhC9LQRBeEEOPnR0xjOfevm4pn/s355/R_Calc.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="355" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0bN62jkxOKtwIJ-CsnHBBGP1lQLiVT7LNmiiOOeb6wv-CICF1R7TEV6Jb2YmalSwslWWEon6z1v4idQCEJ8N7XGCLfkP4YN4guq0XC-dLi-_ZRRcgaTT7y0OfZjo7yVno5SyjYvlCrF9nGuUApXfxt_pKygK4kGL82MrhC9LQRBeEEOPnR0xjOfevm4pn/w400-h248/R_Calc.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Professor Borcherds recommends a particular online calculator, called
free42, which emulates a particular high-level HP calculator on the
PC. It looks interesting.<p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"><a name="firstHeading"></a>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Apparently Martin Gardner (who
wrote a recreational math column for Scientific American back when it
was good) claimed that this was an integer, though </span>Ramanujan
had an accurate calculation of this number around a century ago,
showing that it was not an integer.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<b> </b></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"><b>The professor goes on to show a few more numbers involving e to
the Pi times the square root of some other numbers, that end in a
remarkable run of 9s, though not so spectacular as the first one. </b>
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKzUtboOYw_7b9LpTrwnA-XQafUd6hd8flj0nVYVRMu1HyaRJ1uBI4jX_sYybNSgjg3S03egLDkAuwMj2hc5veR62GJ8EuvX8koZsen-Wdiwq8yx3MRxNlspwm0vXqvAYje1V0HpHVgJL1_0K26GJM9QZumyE2FCTi2MSCMMSgppgZIialWkMhXmLihMN/s1063/Borcherds_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1063" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKKzUtboOYw_7b9LpTrwnA-XQafUd6hd8flj0nVYVRMu1HyaRJ1uBI4jX_sYybNSgjg3S03egLDkAuwMj2hc5veR62GJ8EuvX8koZsen-Wdiwq8yx3MRxNlspwm0vXqvAYje1V0HpHVgJL1_0K26GJM9QZumyE2FCTi2MSCMMSgppgZIialWkMhXmLihMN/w640-h356/Borcherds_2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
You are probably now getting the feeling that something is going on
here that is much more than a coincidence. And you would be right.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
From this point, the explanation gets into elliptic modular function
theory and other highly complicated areas of math. </p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"> </p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvjCWJzDkL-SZUz6svtM_nEE4IGL8-_FD4bzByjw1G95bozq5fG5XOsZoTo9twIwJL3cAMo0YPvRQsW0UPyoTNxNAdTwaesXlYlCahLQm9QmLC08qnuZD_pNMyIwIOsCbHLZChhHrIDm2INUU5Nd2zKlLL6Oak1st8f3QF-2MOa8A59S5Rp_TBLADTXUL/s1067/Borcherds_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="1067" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhvjCWJzDkL-SZUz6svtM_nEE4IGL8-_FD4bzByjw1G95bozq5fG5XOsZoTo9twIwJL3cAMo0YPvRQsW0UPyoTNxNAdTwaesXlYlCahLQm9QmLC08qnuZD_pNMyIwIOsCbHLZChhHrIDm2INUU5Nd2zKlLL6Oak1st8f3QF-2MOa8A59S5Rp_TBLADTXUL/w640-h358/Borcherds_3.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
You can see that this all involves mathematics with complex numbers,
which is where the factor of Pi sneaks in (note the presence of e to
the 2 Pi in some of those formulas).</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
The video then segues into a number of areas, touching on some more
of Ramanujan’s work, as well as Euler’s. These involves number
theory (primes), as well as group theory. Eventually, the aptly
named “Monster Group” makes an appearance. This object exists in
198663 dimensions, and has order 10 to the 53. Here's a SF comic book that makes use of the concept (though with some slight errors).<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0cYPOegObZiVhX1WfUubOEl5lBFwV0JjoUQLhJWtZa60LmDWd84zvWZ0Mw6zkhnXCCC0Hb5xl6zxl5qQlQOYdMbAwxeHwkWUDj48lP5OrbGVNErNcpuoEPq2_2duAmjJuvXZ9w8EYnl-mizkVfrUl5L5nKPSQ_bF1ZZVIcSzDRWay0vbtwUvWzD42sV1/s1064/Borcherds_5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="1064" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc0cYPOegObZiVhX1WfUubOEl5lBFwV0JjoUQLhJWtZa60LmDWd84zvWZ0Mw6zkhnXCCC0Hb5xl6zxl5qQlQOYdMbAwxeHwkWUDj48lP5OrbGVNErNcpuoEPq2_2duAmjJuvXZ9w8EYnl-mizkVfrUl5L5nKPSQ_bF1ZZVIcSzDRWay0vbtwUvWzD42sV1/w640-h358/Borcherds_5.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
This all seems rather esoteric, but these matters do come up in
“sort-of” practical endeavors such as particular physics (group
theory) and cosmology (string theory in 26 dimensions).</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
It turns out that Richard Borcherds actually was a co-winner of the
Fields Medal, based on work related to the monster group. I didn’t
know that when I stumbled over his Youtube channel and watched a
bunch of videos on complex analysis and group theory. Then I picked
up a book that I have about the Monster (just a recreational math
book) and there he was! For those who don’t know, the Fields Medal
is similar in status to the Nobel prizes, maybe more so, as the
Fields are only handed out once every four years.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
The professor’s videos are quite compelling and often rather oddly
amusing. So, I would definitely recommend his channel if you are
interested in math, even if the videos are probably something of a
stretch for most of us.
</p>
<p class="western" style="break-before: page; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-before: always;">
-----------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
So, now that you have dutifully read some Pi Day math, you should
read a science fiction book, or even better, a whole series. Book 1
of the Witches’ Stones series even includes a reference to pi.:</p>
<h1 class="western">Kati of Terra</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
How about trying Kati of Terra, the 3-novel story of a feisty young
Earth woman, making her way in that big, bad, beautiful universe out
there.
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVacv5Zc9lX0y_n16EfqwuaCdZiq1A9EBS2uRRyQ09V6ZimTiSnwl7-Q_cmilMexZorqBBqlnrhXfYFB9IlvnjmnQMRIweTrHiBfNVHDZQtzkeQytUqpgruy6sfBdwt2foDhBK-ZaU-O85gbFxC2JaIdgO661d2pLWLZPGyjg9hb1MBPJWtw0HY6PPpHtw/s524/ThreeKatis2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="524" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVacv5Zc9lX0y_n16EfqwuaCdZiq1A9EBS2uRRyQ09V6ZimTiSnwl7-Q_cmilMexZorqBBqlnrhXfYFB9IlvnjmnQMRIweTrHiBfNVHDZQtzkeQytUqpgruy6sfBdwt2foDhBK-ZaU-O85gbFxC2JaIdgO661d2pLWLZPGyjg9hb1MBPJWtw0HY6PPpHtw/s320/ThreeKatis2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
So, go on a romantic adventure, a sort of spaceship and planet-side
road trip, while escaping from dangerous slavers, with our gal Kati
of Terra and her companion Mikal (and, of course her ever helpful but
cantankerous Granda node):<p></p><br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u> </u></span></span></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00811WVXO"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00811WVXO</u></span></span></a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00811WVXO"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><u>http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00811WVXO</u></span></span></a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<br />
</p>
<h1 class="western" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;">The Witches’
Stones</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
Or, you might prefer, the trilogy of the Witches’ Stones (they’re
psychic aliens, not actual witches), which follows the interactions
of a future Earth confederation, an opposing galactic power, and the
Witches of Kordea. It features Sarah Mackenzie, another feisty young
Earth woman).</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvbYOlk6MZ4btghpNCWE7OHi5mXBdZT9S8twvEcZTgEvGMEI8dBHr6GRAKDpYujfvPcZEfbLL59gCtfjskTcfTr6ic9if2zu5wZj3u-scnKRQguwQt5WWjDbtvauCnoRU4BaA8vp24Zxappqs6StR1_bMQtLtnZ4lKapmKQkFMhnnSocfu3fML2z0VZA9/s960/Three_Sarahs_Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="960" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzvbYOlk6MZ4btghpNCWE7OHi5mXBdZT9S8twvEcZTgEvGMEI8dBHr6GRAKDpYujfvPcZEfbLL59gCtfjskTcfTr6ic9if2zu5wZj3u-scnKRQguwQt5WWjDbtvauCnoRU4BaA8vp24Zxappqs6StR1_bMQtLtnZ4lKapmKQkFMhnnSocfu3fML2z0VZA9/s320/Three_Sarahs_Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <br /><p></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PNIRP4">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008PNIRP4</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008PNIRP4">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008PNIRP4</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<h1 class="western" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;">The Magnetic
Anomaly: A Science Fiction Story</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCAEScM7M72NbbOhyphenhyphenaWiFepJInGaEEmHeWcEGGc5nwk9YEZi9x7QUwcvip8zMhALG1UtbDqIm4lPM9N1gSBNCDq8j05VFvDUanw1pha5Fw2NMo_IsZd2215G82Gn3Jc-omae-pPwTwZEJW99Khiji27f1f8O2GUVDnZQK-MNlBCif1m5ENnZ3z_zGRVp6/s400/Magnetic_Anomaly_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="251" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUCAEScM7M72NbbOhyphenhyphenaWiFepJInGaEEmHeWcEGGc5nwk9YEZi9x7QUwcvip8zMhALG1UtbDqIm4lPM9N1gSBNCDq8j05VFvDUanw1pha5Fw2NMo_IsZd2215G82Gn3Jc-omae-pPwTwZEJW99Khiji27f1f8O2GUVDnZQK-MNlBCif1m5ENnZ3z_zGRVp6/s320/Magnetic_Anomaly_small.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
“A geophysical crew went into the Canadian north. There were some
regrettable accidents among a few ex-military who had become
geophysical contractors after their service in the forces. A young
man and young woman went temporarily mad from the stress of seeing
that. They imagined things, terrible things. But both are known to
have vivid imaginations; we have childhood records to verify that. It
was all very sad. That’s the official story.”
<p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
A short story of about 6000 works.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176H22B4">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0176H22B4</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0176H22B4">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0176H22B4</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<br /><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;"><br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<h1 class="western" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;">The Zoo
Hypothesis or The News of the World: A Science Fiction Story</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">In the field known as Astrobiology, there is a research program
called SETI, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. At the
heart of SETI, there is a mystery known as The Great Silence, or The
Fermi Paradox, named after the famous physicist Enrico Fermi.
Essentially, he asked “If they exist, where are they?”.<br />
<br />
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8WgMXRcRTA-RCsCsZ_q7g-RGa41ptXe1qzxBDLL78g5KgDk7VQ8ged_8hVh8OOu2TsCtnNLcgzFCI0ikPsZ8dsbGCT06dYvZzphfor0_gNjIYYl_FwR5FoIpmXOx9pEQ9RcX7SrCDq38kDHqL3r4AAkxXwQ3paDRsoqg8pi-TJij5TK9TKC90kb1NrCr/s500/Zoo_Hypothesis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="319" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8WgMXRcRTA-RCsCsZ_q7g-RGa41ptXe1qzxBDLL78g5KgDk7VQ8ged_8hVh8OOu2TsCtnNLcgzFCI0ikPsZ8dsbGCT06dYvZzphfor0_gNjIYYl_FwR5FoIpmXOx9pEQ9RcX7SrCDq38kDHqL3r4AAkxXwQ3paDRsoqg8pi-TJij5TK9TKC90kb1NrCr/s320/Zoo_Hypothesis.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br />Some
quite cogent arguments maintain that if there was extraterrestrial
intelligence, they should have visited the Earth by now. This story,
a bit tongue in cheek, gives a fictional account of one explanation
for The Great Silence, known as The Zoo Hypothesis. Are we a
protected species, in a Cosmic Zoo? If so, how did this come about?
Read on, for one possible solution to The Fermi Paradox.<br />
<br />
The
short story is about 6300 words, or about half an hour at typical
reading speeds.
<p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076RR1PGD">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076RR1PGD</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076RR1PGD">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076RR1PGD</a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 1.27cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm;">
<br />
</p>
<br /><br /><br />Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-47368012523005025792024-02-29T12:46:00.000-08:002024-02-29T12:46:29.109-08:00Calculating Excess Deaths – Problems with the New U.K. Methodology<p>
</p><h3 align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>Calculating
Excess Deaths – Problems with the</b></span></h3><h3 align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b> New U.K. Methodology</b></span></h3>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Below
are some concerns about the latest U.K. modelling of “excess
deaths”. The general point I am making is that the new method
seems to be answering a question (forecasting current year-over-year
changes in unexpected deaths) that is peripheral to the research
question that everyone is asking:</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Why are
excess deaths so high:</span></p>
<ul><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">now</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">in
the post-Covid period </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(much of 2022,
2023, 2024)</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">,</span></span></p>
</li><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">compared
to what they were </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">during
the main Covid (2020,2021, some of 2022) </span></span>
</p>
</li><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">and
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">before
Covid </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">(say
2015-2019)</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">)?</span></span></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">A quick
note about me, the analyst who wrote this critique: I worked for
about 40 years as a statistician/data scientist, splitting my time
between the Ontario provincial government in Canada and a large
western Canadian research university. That time included using and
developing population projection methods, building regression models,
and developing specialized mathematical modelling techniques. Not to
mention, plenty of descriptive reporting.</span></p><p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Naturally, these are my opinions and don't represent the views of past or present employers. In a follow-up blog, I will use the numbers provided by ONS to estimate the changes in death rates during these periods, and compare the latter periods to the former.<br /></span></p>
<h1 class="western">Problems with the new Model</h1>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The bolded comments are from<span style="font-size: small;">
the document </span><span style="font-size: small;"><i><b>Estimating
excess deaths in the UK, methodology changes: February 2024 (Office of National Statistics, United Kingdom). </b></i>In a few places, I have added underscores for emphasis.<i><b> </b></i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">My
comments follow in non-bold type.</span></span></span></span></p>
<ul><li>
<p>“<b>This statistical model provides the expected number
of deaths registered in the current period, </b><u><b>if trends in
mortality rates remained with the same as those from recent periods</b></u><b>
and in the absence of extraordinary events affecting mortality, such
as the peak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.”</b></p>
<ul><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
is not the question in most people’s minds. With this model, a
portion of the rise in deaths due to Covid, Covid lock-downs and
Covid vaccines becomes “baked in the cake” and this are no
longer considered excess deaths. They are the new normal. Thus,
the effects of Covid, Covid lock-downs and Covid vaccines on the
death counts is attenuated by the method and partially obscured.</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li>
<p>“<b>Each model is fitted to five years of data with a lag
of one year from the end of the fitting period to the current
period, so the expected number deaths in each week or month has its
own five-year baseline period. For example, when estimating the
expected number of deaths in January 2024, the model will be fitted
to data spanning February 2018 to January 2023.”</b></p>
<ul><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Problem: With this method,
increased deaths in 2023 (for example) are diminished in
importance. Deaths in the years 2018 to 2023 are now normalized,
so that excess deaths in 2023 are reduced, since the new
calculation “expects” them, based on the deaths in the previous
5 years, which were high by historical standards.</span></p>
</li><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So, this method answers a
research question that is not the research question that interests
most people (i.e. how does the number of deaths in 2023 compare
with the number of deaths during the pre-pandemic period, This
gives an (admittedly rought) indication of the effects of the
pandemic, pandemic lock-downs and pandemic vaccinations. The new
method might be useful for forecasting excess deaths, from one year
to the next, but that’s not the main thing that interests most
people.</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li>
<p>“<b>When using a quasi-Poisson regression model,
modelling the number of deaths as the dependent variable, and
including the natural logarithm of population size as an offset term
is analogous to modelling the mortality rate in each
age-sex-geography stratum.”</b></p>
<ul><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As noted above, this
modelling may be useful for current year planning purposes, but it
doesn’t address the main issue, which is how did the death counts
differ from pre-pandemic years, to pandemic years, to post-pandemic
years. For most people, that is the main concern. The method
tends to reduce the “excess deaths” count, which raises
suspicions. i.e. is that the real intent of the new methodology?</span></p>
</li><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It is akin to a population
projection model, which is a valid tool, but does not lead to
understanding of the dynamics driving the process (in this case,
long-Covid, Covid lock-down side effects and Covid vaccine adverse efficts).</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li>
<p>“<b>In our current approach to estimating excess deaths
in England and Wales, and that of the devolved administrations of
Scotland and Northern Ireland, the expected (baseline) number of
deaths is estimated as the average number of deaths registered in a
recent five-year period. In contrast, our new methodology is based
on age-specific mortality rates rather than death counts, so trends
in population size and age structure are accounted for. <u>Furthermore,
the five-year average mortality rate is adjusted for a trend, so
historical changes in population mortality rates are also accounted
for.</u>”</b></p>
<ul><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
use of a “time-trend” variable such as this one, seems to
‘hand-wave’ away and obscure the point in question, which is
precisely the “historical changes in population mortality rates”.
What are the trends and what is causing them?</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li>
<p>“<b>The new and current methods produce estimates of
excess deaths with similar trends and seasonal patterns over the
nine-year period before the coronavirus pandemic, 2011 to 2019
(Figure 1). From 2011 to 2013, estimates from the new method are
generally higher than those from the current method. However,
estimates from the new method are consistently lower than those from
the current method from 2015 onwards, particularly in 2019.”</b></p>
<ul><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">People
will naturally be suspicious of a new methodology that results in
more unexpected deaths in the pre-pandemic period and fewer
unexpected deaths in the pandemic and post-pandemic periods. This
will lead to speculations that the government is trying to diminish
concerns and therefore partially absolve itself of responsibility
for increased excess deaths in the latter periods (which are the
periods that people actually care about).</span></p>
</li></ul>
</li><li>
<p>“<b>The new and current methods estimate similar numbers
of excess deaths during the pandemic (Figure 2). In particular, the
two approaches produce similar peaks in estimated excess mortality
in the second quarter of 2020 and the winter of 2020 to 2021.
However, estimates from the new method are generally lower than
those from the current method throughout the latest year, 2023, by
an increasing amount.”</b></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-left: 1.27cm;">“<b>On an annual basis, the new
method estimates 76,412 excess deaths in the UK in 2020, compared
with 84,064 estimated by the current method (Table 2). For context,
the highest number of excess deaths estimated by the new method over
the nine years before the pandemic is 30,858 in 2015. In the latest
year, 2023, the new method estimates 10,994 excess deaths in the UK,
20,448 fewer than the current method.”</b></p>
<ul><ul><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What
else can one say, other than “this seems rather convenient” (from the government's point of view, anyway).</span></p>
</li></ul><li>
<p>“<b><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">These
increasing trends in population size and ageing, and the generally
decreasing trend in mortality rates, are </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">not
accounted for by the current methodology for estimating excess
deaths. However, they are reflected in the </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">new
methodology.”</span></span></b></p>
<ul><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This issue strikes one as
something of a red herring, in terms of the question of excess
deaths in the 2020 and beyond period compared to the five years
before that. Though population growth and population aging
generally will lead to more deaths, over these time-scales the
effect would not be all that large. Furthermore, the population
growth was almost exclusively due to migration, which is heavily
concentrated in younger age groups, which won’t be expected to
experience many deaths, relatively speaking. </span>
</p>
</li></ul>
</li></ul>
<h1 class="western" style="page-break-before: always;">A Note on the
Graph</h1><p class="western" style="break-before: page; text-align: left;">The graph below is from the Office of National Statistics methodology document. <br /></p><h1 class="western" style="page-break-before: always;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyZjX_ZkvLEnxypbIyFvqU0SRadXJCaKVXHUi8_fC0Kj0rJ23FckKyEvMY6X2DQWUNJ9nJppXToYY0KPD_Sy_Hg_7YsgLfQqsUKEKk8bwAXMxmkA60vzMrUVCQPcEvEdGeIEwNxL_pjdP3Yab3BPFU44xPLZ2udzsGpFyWn6-WHAWfg1eEcwp5K7usBzwS/s960/UK_Excess_Deaths_Graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="960" height="586" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyZjX_ZkvLEnxypbIyFvqU0SRadXJCaKVXHUi8_fC0Kj0rJ23FckKyEvMY6X2DQWUNJ9nJppXToYY0KPD_Sy_Hg_7YsgLfQqsUKEKk8bwAXMxmkA60vzMrUVCQPcEvEdGeIEwNxL_pjdP3Yab3BPFU44xPLZ2udzsGpFyWn6-WHAWfg1eEcwp5K7usBzwS/w640-h586/UK_Excess_Deaths_Graph.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Note that in 2022 and 2023 the
biggest cause of differences between the two models is simply given
as “Other changes”. This is vague – a description like “Other
changes” can hide a lot. After all, the “Other Changes” are precisely
what most people are wondering about.</span></span></h1>
<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What are these "Other changes"? </span>
</p>
<ul><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Long term effects of Covid
itself?</span></p>
</li><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Long term effects of Covid
measures such as lock-downs?</span></p>
</li><li>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Long term effects of Covid
vaccines? </span>
</p>
</li></ul>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The new model seems to be better at
obscuring than revealing. Good sciences should be the other way
around.</span></p>
Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-28749679054530509952024-02-27T18:07:00.000-08:002024-02-27T18:07:07.068-08:00AI Generated Images Lack Historical Accuracy (Battle of Britain example) <h1 class="western">AI Generated Images Lack Historical Accuracy
(Battle of Britain example)
</h1>
<p>Recently, during a Quora discussion of the Battle of Britain (air
war, early 1940s), a AI generated illustration of a scene from that
encounter was used, as shown below (the photo was supposed to show a
squadron of Hurricane fighters climbing to meet the enemy, I believe).
</p>
<p></p>
<p>A Quora user asked the original poster (who used this image for
the post) the question below.</p><p><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><b>Question:</b></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Why
would you use AI to draw something that doesn't even vaguely resemble
a hurricane?</span></span></span> <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje1-OGX99uEsofEiONwq93pMje0sUTJd3J4BeRV3bJJLXvnQk3s5zfshdX-sXNC5_DFkR3gcJwm5i_KhnxCtHM96n7JGM0fitAZBdHwRxEhDHUpLpe1Nfa88vSMLoYGa8XToHnOk1XLuKnudvlaMGBVxzHnjj2NfaQORfgeFbYOhwjpsDtr-bPyvhwCM3y/s829/AI_Battle_of_Britain_Invented_Multiple_FighterPlanes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="829" height="634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje1-OGX99uEsofEiONwq93pMje0sUTJd3J4BeRV3bJJLXvnQk3s5zfshdX-sXNC5_DFkR3gcJwm5i_KhnxCtHM96n7JGM0fitAZBdHwRxEhDHUpLpe1Nfa88vSMLoYGa8XToHnOk1XLuKnudvlaMGBVxzHnjj2NfaQORfgeFbYOhwjpsDtr-bPyvhwCM3y/w640-h634/AI_Battle_of_Britain_Invented_Multiple_FighterPlanes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p></p>
<p><b>A Respondent Agreed:</b> <span style="font-variant: normal;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Yes.
Those images fail to resemble anything that ever flew in WW2.
Irritating.</span></span></span></p>
<h3 class="western" style="text-align: left;">My (hopefully) helpful response to this AI related issue:</h3>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
AI just recognizes words in the prompt (actually, it just operates on
statistical correlations among character strings), then makes up a
picture based on images associated with those words. So, it may have
‘read’ “Battle of Britain”, then composed a picture of a
plane that was associated with that phrase and others. Those images
could have been Spitfires, 109s, Hurricanes, 110s, or almost any WW2
plane, really. Then it creates a sort of collage image, based on that
(i.e. from bits and pieces of those other images).</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
I put together a series of photos, mostly taken from actual pictures
take during the war, to further explain this.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5H88JmtnvdsMDDOCpfZAvdWarY0nMdLaXBjtnJz70CJJ1tMaaw3UVoDN3y7DKibHO4mP1-Hlj189WaPVJYI3YBZb6TXtV3HiRnq855GiNj-PB9K2SON-l3ZU9fKTwSWfyQvBpHZN_U1Vgsxyj-xpb6PwtgoaJesi0T5Umh__gSCj8Th0kPEvH4kf-6Ld/s2400/AI_Battle_of_Britain_FighterPlanes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg5H88JmtnvdsMDDOCpfZAvdWarY0nMdLaXBjtnJz70CJJ1tMaaw3UVoDN3y7DKibHO4mP1-Hlj189WaPVJYI3YBZb6TXtV3HiRnq855GiNj-PB9K2SON-l3ZU9fKTwSWfyQvBpHZN_U1Vgsxyj-xpb6PwtgoaJesi0T5Umh__gSCj8Th0kPEvH4kf-6Ld/w480-h640/AI_Battle_of_Britain_FighterPlanes.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
As you can see, the AI picture looks quite a bit like a WW2 fighter
of the era, but not exactly like any of the aircraft that actually
participated in the battle.
</p>
<ul><li>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
It is somewhat like the German BF 109. but the nose is too fat and
it is lacking a strut connecting the wing at the tail to the
fuselage. Plus, there is a big air scoop on the bottom of the
fuselage, which the actual plane didn’t have, as is clear in the
inset photo of the 109.</p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
Clearly it is not supposed to be a BF 110 (not shown), as that was a twin-engine
plane.</p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
Similar remarks apply to the comparison of the AI plane and the
British Hurricane (which has no weird scoop under the nose, which is also much sleeker than the AI plane.</p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
And the AI planes look nothing like a British Spitfire, for the same
reasons, as well as the different cover over the cockpit. Though
the AI wings is mostly in profile, I think it is clear that these
do not have the classic elliptical wings of the Spitfire.</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
So, it seems that the AI just created a fighter from bits and pieces
of images of other planes. Which might not matter much in this case, but there
are times that you really need accuracy, and you just can’t rely on using an image that an AI concocts, from bits and pieces. It can make you look sloppy (using an inappropriate image to go along with what you write) and might even have legal consequences (copyright, libel, etc.).<br /></p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
The text that the AI produces has a similar problem. It also gets pieces
from here and there in its corpus, based on a statistical “next word” algorithm. But there
is no understanding going on inside the AI, so you simply can’t trust the result. It might say anything, so you have to check it for yourself. In the famous words of Gorbachev,
“trust but verify”. However, if you have to verify everything
that a source tells you, it's not a very useful source.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
On top of that, the algorithms might have peculiar ‘guardrails’ put in by
the programmers, that can have unexpected results. For example, in this case there
could be guardrails programmed into the AI about showing high technology associated with
Hitler’s regime, for fear that people will say “oh cool, Nazi
planes were great, we need a Nazi party too”. So, in order to protect people from this supposed risk, the AI might give you a picture of a
German plane with British or American markings.</p>
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">
I expanded one of the AI generated planes to show this. There are
vague markings on the craft, but it wasn’t clear what nation’s
Air Force they were meant to represent. As you can see, the best
that I could get out f the highly pixelated image, was a sort of “S”
shape. </p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJb6SMThVAI2UndGE5VbxzM5Q9geejb0IyiXodLlwclzIG4QGzKCEfg7ZvrgxwcA8x1-3vhO0jpv_ot_XzyRMJFx4ySvNxjTXHV-3g9x8mlQ0mYNVw2i40jM6y-1egFjM3n8PmtE-0dQ0yrp_P57CBO4wHr2uEHPMtN4B4GpnoVHfZ4EUNXoLHzMiDzQKR/s280/AI_Battle_of_Britain_Invented_FighterPlane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="152" data-original-width="280" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJb6SMThVAI2UndGE5VbxzM5Q9geejb0IyiXodLlwclzIG4QGzKCEfg7ZvrgxwcA8x1-3vhO0jpv_ot_XzyRMJFx4ySvNxjTXHV-3g9x8mlQ0mYNVw2i40jM6y-1egFjM3n8PmtE-0dQ0yrp_P57CBO4wHr2uEHPMtN4B4GpnoVHfZ4EUNXoLHzMiDzQKR/w640-h347/AI_Battle_of_Britain_Invented_FighterPlane.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <p></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">As you can see from the war-time photos of actual plane, the
combatants weren’t shy about marking their aircraft. In fact, the
national symbols (the British roundel and the German cross) were very
evident. That was partly a result of the Geneva Convention, and also to avoid accidentally shooting down your own planes.So, it is interesting that
the AI seemed to avoid using real markings, when the participants were definitely using very large and obvious markings.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;">Needless to say, this example is especially
interesting in light of other recent complaints about the lack of
historical accuracy in AI image generation. It is concerning that, over time, AI could rewrite history, and we might not even be aware of it. This is why we should never take anything written or drawn by AI
seriously. It doesn’t really understand anything and on top of
that, humans have also interjected their cultural preferences (“AI
alignment”), which can have bizarre unintended consequences.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Or
maybe these consequences are intended. Who knows, AI generative models are black boxes, built by corporations that have their own agendas and
interests.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">And, since I have my own interests, I might as well plug a related book. :) <br /></p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p><h1 class="western" lang="en-US">The Sappers' War: 12th Field Company
Royal Canadian Engineers, Oct 1943 to Sept 1945
</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;"><a name="_GoBack4"></a>
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFBRnpbT2cU-41JxgCHb7jlZSi9UWN0e-rIoyLSYGUB9jGdPJSPRGxRgtV-5NzrBzcBoBGSTJ5YdJU4pKNEefskXYH-VJL9KZ7g-OAq0-oLewr8P-8Mi0d-yMaccifBvrWdrFjwe36xHhB2iwLUFiCzV00WaQBR1AlyQodZiFjZMn95cMYt4YmB-Kahbi/s2500/SappersWar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcFBRnpbT2cU-41JxgCHb7jlZSi9UWN0e-rIoyLSYGUB9jGdPJSPRGxRgtV-5NzrBzcBoBGSTJ5YdJU4pKNEefskXYH-VJL9KZ7g-OAq0-oLewr8P-8Mi0d-yMaccifBvrWdrFjwe36xHhB2iwLUFiCzV00WaQBR1AlyQodZiFjZMn95cMYt4YmB-Kahbi/s320/SappersWar.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>What follows is a review of the history of the 12th Field Company,
Royal Canadian Engineers, primarily relating to the time that the
company was in the Italian and Northwestern European theatres during
World War II. Though the book focuses on the experiences of a
particular company of Canadian military engineers, it also discusses
some of the wider issues of the second world war and how it affected
the people who lived through the era, civilian and military. Among
those are my father (a sapper or military engineer) and mother (a war
worker in wartime Britain and ultimately a war bride).<br />
<br />
Thus,
this is meant to be an informal and unofficial history of the
company, written by an interested party in an effort to understand
what these men went through during this period, and how that
experience affected them and other people who lived through the war.
The military aspects of the company's history are there (e.g.
fighting, building bridges, detecting mines, maintaining routes), as
are the cultural factors that influenced them and their times (e.g.
the movies that they watched, the drinking they did, the many
diseases they faced, their interactions with the Italian, British and
other civilians that they lived among, their worries for the future).
Some focus on life on the British home front is also given, via the
experiences of my mother and her family.<br />
<br />
Since many people
had family and relations that lived during this time, it is my hope
that the account will be of general interest to them, and to any that
have a particular interest in this critical interval in history.
Also, though the text relates specifically to Canadian sappers, I
believe that many of the experiences will be common to the soldiers
and loved ones of other nations who lived through the war, especially
Americans and those from Britain and the British Commonwealth.<br />
<br />
The
primary sources of this document are the 12th Field Company War
Diaries and related orders, with some material from <i><b>The History
of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, Volume 2</b></i> as well as
various official histories by the Department of National Defence.
Various other published sources are used as well, especially when
discussing the wider issues of the war or the army experience (e.g.
Churchill’s history of the war) , or conversely when relating very
specific episodes of the war (e.g. Popski’s Private Army in late
1944). Personal accounts of my father’s or mother’s stories also
augment the narrative. I have tried to fit those in during
appropriate time periods, though some stories are more general and
have therefore don’t necessarily relate to the time period being
discussed. Nonetheless, they do help capture the essence of “being
there” during the war years.<br />
<br />
The War Diary is a day by
day account of the primary activities of a given unit, as recorded by
personnel in the headquarters staff of that unit, and signed off by
the commander of the unit. As such, it is an official record, though
the writers often brought a bit of their own character into the
document. Naturally, as a relatively brief document it can’t hope
to capture the complexity of the individual stories of 280 or so men,
so the family lore generally has no corresponding entry in the War
Diary, though there are sometimes tantalizing hints and
near-verifications of these personal accounts.<br />
<br />
There are a
number of other sources for the book, from official histories to
popular history books. I include quotations and references from these
works (an eclectic mix), as I believe that they also shed light on
different aspects of this period of time, and besides that, are just
interesting accounts, in and of themselves.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
France: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Spain: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Italy: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Netherlands: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Brazil: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Canada: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Mexico: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Australia: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-81057029191982579792024-02-10T14:54:00.000-08:002024-02-10T14:55:23.889-08:00Ranking Reader Feedback (1 to 8) or What Makes a Writer Happy?<p>
</p><p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.42cm; page-break-after: avoid;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>What
Makes a Writer Happy?</b></span></span></p>
<p align="center" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; page-break-after: avoid; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>(Ranking
Reader Feedback, 1 to 9)</b></span></span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My Quora posts just
went over 500,000 views recently (Jan 31, 2024). That seems like an
accomplishment of sorts, though writing about it feels a bit
self-centred (i.e. blowing your own horn). But I don't own a cat or
dog, and my son is grown up (waiting on grand-kids, hint, hint,
Scott), so funny pet and cute child content is not currently
possible. Thus I will brag about this instead.</span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOj3PC95ftqxAvxgHZt67_pWP-li4FR0nOTHCZIRs2OrHn4hwqfTKVoVO3TPXd9EHqqrihxphyVHsPqQVTkVWbDfyyZdoVzpXxlJLDNeKL-b4n5Xd1u3bqfTRsz2AOjTshN5sIvfE_R4dk7UbSzmwjRPbcJrViogL7Vp2VEe-5kQtvKOu5LZOyEM6Zidd/s1346/Half_Million_Quora_Views_Jan31_2024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="937" data-original-width="1346" height="446" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOj3PC95ftqxAvxgHZt67_pWP-li4FR0nOTHCZIRs2OrHn4hwqfTKVoVO3TPXd9EHqqrihxphyVHsPqQVTkVWbDfyyZdoVzpXxlJLDNeKL-b4n5Xd1u3bqfTRsz2AOjTshN5sIvfE_R4dk7UbSzmwjRPbcJrViogL7Vp2VEe-5kQtvKOu5LZOyEM6Zidd/w640-h446/Half_Million_Quora_Views_Jan31_2024.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But in order to
make the bragging more palatable, I will write about the various
types of feedback that my writing (and my wife’s) have received and
give some indication of how they differ. I will rank them, because
ranking is fun and people often like that sort of thing. It also
helps to frame matters, which helps to develop the content of the
essay. So here goes.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Note that this all
applies to internet channels for sales and other feedback.</span></p>
<ul><li>
<h1 class="western">1 – Selling Print Book(s)</h1>
</li></ul>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">I know it is a bit old-fashioned, but there is
still something special about selling a print book, via Amazon (or
some other on-line business) that is pretty cool. I think it has to
do with the idea that someone out there will pay a higher price than
you charge for the ebook and that he/she will wait around for your book
to arrive in the mail.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">On a few occasions, I have had readers get in
touch with me, desiring a print copy of an ebook. They might want
that because the book will make a nice gift or they might have a
collection of books on that subject. My book about military
engineers in WW2 fell into that category, as did my book about
working one summer on the railroad. In the case of the WW2 book, it
turned out that the reader’s uncle was in the same unit (Royal
Canadian Engineers, 12 Field Company) as my dad. So, symbolically,
it felt a little bit like getting old comrades together.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">The fact that someone went to some trouble to get
a print copy of your book is flattering and the idea that you are
helping some person out in this way is very rewarding.</span></p>
<ul><li>
<h1 class="western">2 – Selling ebook(s)</h1>
</li></ul>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">This one is great, too. In the Amazon
marketplace, we tend to sell a lot more ebooks than print books
(about 20 to 1 ratio, I would say). Perhaps that makes it seem a
tiny-bit less special than print books, but it still is a great
feeling.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are two possibilities here: the regular
ebook and the Kindle Unlimited (KU) read of an ebook.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">The latter (KU read) actually lets you see how
well your book was received, since you are paid by the page. Most of
our books have good completion rates, which is very nice. In some
cases, non-completions are understandable. In the case of
non-fiction such as a travel book, the reader may have just wanted to
get a general sense of a subject or a potential trip, without
spending a lot of time on details. With fiction, it may be that it
is just not that reader’s thing (i.e. preferred genre or subject
matter). Also, for a long novel, such as some of my wife’s, you
can make more money than on the royalties for the same book.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">In the case of a regular ebook sale, you can be
happy with making some money and supplying a reader with an enjoyable
few hours (you certainly hope so, anyway).</span></p>
<ul><li>
<h1 class="western">3 -Running Successful Promotions</h1>
</li></ul>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Promotions can be giveaways (they can be run for 5
days of every 90 day period) or time-limited price cuts. The former
gives you some new readers, as does the latter, along with some
money.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you are lucky, money is not your main reason
for writing, so you don’t worry too much about the “missing
money”. You are just happy to know someone is (hopefully) enjoying
the fruits of your labor. It could well be that the person is on a
tight budget, so you feel good about helping out such a person, even
in this rather small way. My wife often mentions that.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Every now and
again, one of your promotions will go viral. Suddenly you will
notice a big uptick in downloads. Over the next few days, that can
turn into a flood of downloads, which is rather exciting (e.g. in
the 100s, 1000s or more if you are an exceptionally lucky person). You get
to see your book on the “Top 100” list for free books, at least
in some sub-category. Of course you have to keep your wits about
you, and your ego in check. After all, a free promotion is still a
<i>free</i> promotion. But it is nice.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">There is really no
(obvious) rhyme or reason to viral promotions. We have had books go
viral, long after they were first published, that have languished up
until then. Other times, they have gone viral right away, then
languished. Often it isn’t the book that you consider your best
writing (stylistically) or your best story (fiction or non-fiction).
You think about the cover, or about the title, or about the summary
that you wrote for it.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aha
– people like covers that feature water!”</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aha
– people like abstract covers with cool fonts!”</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aha
– people like short, clever titles!”</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aha
– people like long, wordy titles, that telegraph the content of the
book!”</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aha
– people like short, pithy blurbs and summaries!”</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;">“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Aha
– people like long discursive summaries that explain every
chapter!”</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But, in reality,
these things have a logic all of their own. As a famous Hollywood
producer was reported to have said “nobody knows nothing”. </span>
</p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One other thing
about promotions worth mentioning, is that they can lead to later
sales or later concurrent KU reads. I have seen this on many
occasions. I think of it as a little touch of karma – the universe
gives you a small reward for being generous with your books.</span></p>
<ul><li>
<h1 class="western">4 -Getting Reviews or Reader Ratings</h1>
</li></ul>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Naturally, every
writer likes a nice review or a high rating. </span>
</p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Some people think
that most of the reviews are plants or friends, but that isn’t
often the case, at least as far as I know. I mean, honestly, who has
that many friends? Well, maybe big publishers can get up to these
shenanigans, but that’s out-of-scope for most (all?) Indies.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Even a not-so-great
review is valuable if it is sincere, and if it is clear that the
reader has actually read the book (or at least enough of it to render
a valid judgment). For the writer, it can be valuable feedback. For
the potential reader, some less-than-stellar reviews will provide
reassurance that the reviews are organic and not rigged. And some
potential readers may read something like “I don’t like books
that feature paranormal events” and think “actually, I love books
like that”. You just never know.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Here are a few things that I have learned about reviews and reader ratings:</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">-
you can generally expect one review/rating for every 50 to 100 books
sold or downloaded in a promo. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but this one percentish rule seems to be quite consistent.<br /></span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">-
the Goodreads scale and the Amazon scale are a bit different, so bear
that in mind when comparing your reviews from these sources.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">-
writers love to get reviews and reader ratings, so don’t be shy,
even if you can’t give a 5-star review in all sincerity.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 2.5cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">-
a bad review stings for a while, but you get over it.</span></p>
<h1 class="western">Social
Media</h1>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I try to do some
blogging or equivalent social media content (as you must know from
reading this). It provides an outlet to share ideas, exercise one’s
writing muscles and promote one’s “real writing”.</span></p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-left: 1.25cm;">6) Quora</h1>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As the beginning of
this blog indicates, I post fairly regularly on Quora. This is a
social media site run by Google, whereby people ask questions and
others answer them. These often tend to be of a somewhat academic
nature (informally so), where people can share their knowledge and
expertise. Most of my posts are in the area of statistics and data
science, since that is my actual profession, or “day job” as
writers say, perhaps tongue-in-cheek.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Getting views,
comments and upvotes on Quora is a nice lift. It is also nice to
think that you are doing some service in the world, by sharing your
hard-won knowledge with people who are interested in such things.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In principle, you
can make money on Quora, though I doubt that it would amount to much,
even with half-a-million views. I don’t mind sharing my knowledge
for free. I suspect that’s how most people treat Quora. That
said, I might put together some of my best Quora stuff in an ebook at
some future time.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It seems like most
of the Quora numbers are legit (not bots), though I can’t be sure
of that. However, I am suspicious that the big companies (such as
Google) are mining Quora for content to feed their voracious Large
Language Models (AI like ChatGPT).</span></p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-left: 1.25cm;">7) Blogger</h1>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">A blogging site gives one a chance to just ramble
away on any subject (like I am doing now) and to promote books (like
I will do at the end of the blog). Blogger is pretty old now;
Substack is more cutting edge. Maybe some day I will try that. But
I am used to Blogger, so I suppose that I will stick with it, as long
as it’s around.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Like Quora, you can make money posting on Blogger
(in theory, i.e. advertising). I suspect that it would be pennies
per year, so I don’t see any point in doing so (ok, maybe dimes).</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Blogger stats can be rather dubious. I am not
sure about recent years, but in the past bots could be a real
problem. The 1000 readers that you thought you had last week, might
mostly have been the result of an overactive bot or two. Having said
all that, it is still nice to see your Blogger views stats go up.
You just have to take it with a grain of salt.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Does blogging drive book sales? Maybe marginally,
but it is way oversold by social media mavens as a way to sell books
(“you must have a blog with rich content, comrade!”). I have occasionally
had a blog that had a lot of reads that also ticked up sales of a
book that I featured at the end of the blog. But we are talking 1
book for every 1000 blog reads, or ratios like that. So, basically
one just blogs for love of writing.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Also like Quora, I suspect the LLMs (large
language models) scour blogger and the like for content. So, while
you may not be making money for yourself, you might be making money for
Google. Hmmmm.</span></p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-left: 1.25cm;">8) Facebook</h1>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Facebook is mostly good for family stuff, in my
experience. Dogs, cats, children – maybe we should reverse the
order.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">There are Facebook pages for businesses. We have
a Dodecahedron Books Facebook page, but I don’t use it as much as
perhaps I should. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the Facebook
business page user interface has become such a dog’s breakfast that
it is difficult to navigate. Which is too bad, because readers have
sometimes contacted me via that route. So, I do try to keep active,
at least for their sake, but it is hard.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">The regular Facebook user interface is somewhat
better than that of the business pages. But, even they have become
so plugged-up with “sponsored content” and the like, that it is
rather discouraging. But, I check in, when I can, and will try to
keep doing so. The fact that you can keep in touch with family,
friends and ex-workmates from across the country, is rather charming.</span></p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-left: 1.25cm;">X, formerly known as
Twitter</h1>
<p class="western"><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, you can blast Twitter posts advertising your
books. Maybe they do some good – I’m not sure. If so, the
effect is, shall we say, rather limited. But, hope springs eternal.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">But X is still
good for a laugh, as long as you don’t sink too much time into it,
and you don’t take it very seriously.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;"><br />
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; margin-left: 0cm; padding: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">As promised above, here are some book plugs:</span></b></p>
<h1 class="western">Kati of Terra Book 1 – Escape from the Drowned
Planet</h1>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
U.S: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
U.K.: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Canada: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Germany: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Netherlands</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">:</span></span></span></span></u></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00811WVXO">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00811WVXO</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00811WVXO">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00811WVXO</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Australia: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Japan: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
India: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; page-break-before: auto; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Spain: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00811WVXO"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00811WVXO</span></a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon France:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00811WVXO">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00811WVXO</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00811WVXO">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00811WVXO</a></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">Amazon
Brazil</span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00811WVXO">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00811WVXO</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">In
saving her small son from alien abductors, a 24-year-old Earth woman,
Katie, finds herself abducted instead. She awakens from a
drug-induced coma on a spaceship, in a room full of children, both
human and alien, and two other women, younger than she is. The young
women adapt to the situation as best they can, keeping the youngsters
calm and entertained. But, when a drugged alien man wearing a uniform
is added to the captive cargo, it becomes clear that this is an
intergalactic slave operation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVvw4lkxG9hCWlYW1VTELHCE7O2m7p3MRPzzESbLrvg_S_DMQGSgbumamj_Hs4rrso3i-aAZRmOP6wdjXJABL74tnSBDCC76t_3s1OCF9qiOZw53SUXy6-Ln1BZYI2izlteTPCuCJj7sc9xoSE7tFC_Qmtq7fDOPnBQ1ci88ecB8ISUWO9h-ZstlZm5wz/s549/Kati_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVvw4lkxG9hCWlYW1VTELHCE7O2m7p3MRPzzESbLrvg_S_DMQGSgbumamj_Hs4rrso3i-aAZRmOP6wdjXJABL74tnSBDCC76t_3s1OCF9qiOZw53SUXy6-Ln1BZYI2izlteTPCuCJj7sc9xoSE7tFC_Qmtq7fDOPnBQ1ci88ecB8ISUWO9h-ZstlZm5wz/s320/Kati_1.jpg" width="233" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The slave traders implant their
captives with “translation nodes” in order to allow communication
among various groups. These are living entities, normally docile,
merely enhancing certain brain functions, such as language
acquisition. However, Katie discovers that she has accidentally
received a very special “granda node”, a long-lived node with its
own cantankerous personality, including a fondness for criminality
and lethal weaponry. Fortunately for Katie, it also values its
freedom. With its help, she escapes on a fringe planet, dragging the
peace officer along—also at the granda’s suggestion.</span><p></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">She finds herself on a strange world,
with a somewhat deranged personality, quite possibly a killer, in her
head, and partnered with a man from an advanced civilization who
abhors killing. He is a Federation Peace Officer, captured by the
slavers while attempting to bring them to justice. His task is
complicated by the fact that he has sworn to avoid the taking of
sentient life during the performance of his duties. He can and does,
however, make vigorous use of non-lethal weaponry. Since, before
leaving the ship, Katie had promised to help her co-captives gain
their liberty, she and the alien peace officer find that they have a
common cause.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But first they must find their way off
the primitive planet and get to the Federated Civilization, avoiding
the slavers who have been left on the planet to re-capture them.
Their flight is complicated by the fact that the planet has had a
global warming catastrophe some centuries back – the locals refer
to it as the Drowned World. This has forced the inhabitants to revert
to a pre-industrial state of development; however, they are a wily
and resourceful people, mostly helpful, but they can also be
dangerous.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Kati (to mark her escape, she adopts a
slight name change) and Mikal seek a Federation beacon, which had
been hidden on this planet ages ago, to aid in situations such as
this, (in accord with a longstanding Federation policy for fringe
worlds). They must embark on an arduous trek across two continents
and an ocean, seeking the temple that holds the beacon. They travel
on foot, by cart, by riverboat, by tall sailing ship, and on pack
animals, always pursued by the dangerous slavers. </span>
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">They must rely on their wits, guile,
charm and acting abilities to avoid recapture, while their chasers
have advanced technology and ruthlessness on their side. Fortunately,
they are able to make many friends who help them along the way, and
their quest becomes a series of adventures, both frightening and
funny, and involving a cast of engaging characters.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To complicate matters, Kati finds
herself falling in love with Mikal, the strange, handsome and amusing
alien. He seems to be reciprocating, though they both struggle
against an untimely romantic entanglement.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Will Kati and Mikal escape from the
Drowned Planet? Can they ultimately bring the slavers to justice, as
Mikal has sworn to do? Can they free the remaining captives of the
slavers, as Kati has promised to do? Read this book and the rest of
the series to find out all.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; padding: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At about 200,000 words (equivalent to
a paperback of about 400 pages), the book is an excellent value.</span></p><p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.25cm; margin-top: 0.3cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<h1 class="western">The Sappers' War: 12th Field Company Royal
Canadian Engineers, Oct 1943 to Sept 1945
</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;"><a name="_GoBack4"></a>
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_gix8UKqrObXEcz69Yn0qDVdfoK12cxR97jXjji5LBjaxiByXAkSzhIL0gkG9tRf4Mb9f5C_zxCvVrRsdZleYoVVheA9ntP81A4wdOc-vs2ZwqXgwkOw1gU8lLMyX8L1mcU84TFMQVfhKJHIP6HhZ7Fc3BCIglnuB7xAor2Y-NZaWggCemFIEIxwmKf2/s2500/SappersWar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq_gix8UKqrObXEcz69Yn0qDVdfoK12cxR97jXjji5LBjaxiByXAkSzhIL0gkG9tRf4Mb9f5C_zxCvVrRsdZleYoVVheA9ntP81A4wdOc-vs2ZwqXgwkOw1gU8lLMyX8L1mcU84TFMQVfhKJHIP6HhZ7Fc3BCIglnuB7xAor2Y-NZaWggCemFIEIxwmKf2/s320/SappersWar.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><br />What follows is a review of the
history of the 12th Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers,
primarily relating to the time that the company was in the Italian
and Northwestern European theatres during World War II. Though the
book focuses on the experiences of a particular company of Canadian
military engineers, it also discusses some of the wider issues of the
second world war and how it affected the people who lived through the
era, civilian and military. Among those are my father (a sapper or
military engineer) and mother (a war worker in wartime Britain and
ultimately a war bride).<br />
<br />
Thus, this is meant to be an
informal and unofficial history of the company, written by an
interested party in an effort to understand what these men went
through during this period, and how that experience affected them and
other people who lived through the war. The military aspects of the
company's history are there (e.g. fighting, building bridges,
detecting mines, maintaining routes), as are the cultural factors
that influenced them and their times (e.g. the movies that they
watched, the drinking they did, the many diseases they faced, their
interactions with the Italian, British and other civilians that they
lived among, their worries for the future). Some focus on life on the
British home front is also given, via the experiences of my mother
and her family.<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
<br />
Since many people had family and relations
that lived during this time, it is my hope that the account will be
of general interest to them, and to any that have a particular
interest in this critical interval in history. Also, though the text
relates specifically to Canadian sappers, I believe that many of the
experiences will be common to the soldiers and loved ones of other
nations who lived through the war, especially Americans and those
from Britain and the British Commonwealth.<br />
<br />
The primary
sources of this document are the 12th Field Company War Diaries and
related orders, with some material from <i><b>The History of the
Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers, Volume 2</b></i> as well as
various official histories by the Department of National Defence.
Various other published sources are used as well, especially when
discussing the wider issues of the war or the army experience (e.g.
Churchill’s history of the war) , or conversely when relating very
specific episodes of the war (e.g. Popski’s Private Army in late
1944). Personal accounts of my father’s or mother’s stories also
augment the narrative. I have tried to fit those in during
appropriate time periods, though some stories are more general and
have therefore don’t necessarily relate to the time period being
discussed. Nonetheless, they do help capture the essence of “being
there” during the war years.<br />
<br />
The War Diary is a day by
day account of the primary activities of a given unit, as recorded by
personnel in the headquarters staff of that unit, and signed off by
the commander of the unit. As such, it is an official record, though
the writers often brought a bit of their own character into the
document. Naturally, as a relatively brief document it can’t hope
to capture the complexity of the individual stories of 280 or so men,
so the family lore generally has no corresponding entry in the War
Diary, though there are sometimes tantalizing hints and
near-verifications of these personal accounts.<br />
<br />
There are a
number of other sources for the book, from official histories to
popular history books. I include quotations and references from these
works (an eclectic mix), as I believe that they also shed light on
different aspects of this period of time, and besides that, are just
interesting accounts, in and of themselves.</span><p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">U.S.:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">U.K.:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Germany:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">France:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Spain:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Italy:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Netherlands:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Japan:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Brazil:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Canada:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Mexico:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Australia:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.25cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.3cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">India:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09HSXN6Q2">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09HSXN6Q2</a></u></span></span></p>
<h1 class="western">
</h1>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
A Summer Working on the Railroad</h1>
<p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhHj-NQ4t7sDzoE6QSyFwmrsw2QTC-R1Sdy9LiGth1jwUmVOaZRqgm1-wXyJh6dhNWFP5MjIIHkp0MTqJv3lIS4c3SHZePri740uBiW8M12mDb52dDIHXj0sZAcwCOynKL9Qt1MJFoG0SzJRm5flK26Lv_coUHfauxxVRSrVgPUyi93JSmGwumbjcNw6L/s1536/Railroad_Cover_Test_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhHj-NQ4t7sDzoE6QSyFwmrsw2QTC-R1Sdy9LiGth1jwUmVOaZRqgm1-wXyJh6dhNWFP5MjIIHkp0MTqJv3lIS4c3SHZePri740uBiW8M12mDb52dDIHXj0sZAcwCOynKL9Qt1MJFoG0SzJRm5flK26Lv_coUHfauxxVRSrVgPUyi93JSmGwumbjcNw6L/s320/Railroad_Cover_Test_2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />What follows is an account of a few weeks one long-ago summer, when I
was 19 and was working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) on a
railroad construction gang, in the wilds of north-central British
Columbia, Canada.<p></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The journal is in the
form of a letter, that was never sent. Decades later, I think it has
an interesting historical resonance. At times I come off like a
callow youth – I plead guilty as charged. I swore a lot more in
those days than I do now, but in places the writing is surprisingly
good, at least in my humble opinion. And the story has a compelling
narrative arc.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There were a lot of
interesting and dramatic events that occurred – a number of
industrial accidents being the most serious. There were also some
colorful characters on the crew, which resulted in some dramatic and
at times amusing conflicts and altercations. I perhaps flatter myself
by including myself in that number. Or perhaps I condemn myself –
I’m not sure.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, if you want to be
reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind of life-changing,
read on. My story may just kick-start some memories of your own.</span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">The memoir/journal is about 9,000
words, a length that can usually be read in an hour or so. It is
priced at 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and is free
on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it will be offered as a free
promotion.</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">U.S.:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">UK:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Canada:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Australia:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">India:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Germany:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">France:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Spain:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Italy:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Netherlands:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Japan:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Brazil:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.2cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Mexico:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
Three Love Stories</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPEyjdPi-mCwMagrHm_3FyY6MBOOBoRMXyuLH6T0I-zjwLXm-9QkuJJWCCUu80PEq3fHFQvznVz5qpi_gz6nD_uXJgeCi24FjDQYTsjcVYBNX5c43h38w2B5UAt1dDsvwFEFUlPDRsH0rLhLY8XocaHcztcI35nAkxmS2y2ywYwNq5DOaxxnWIIuRKbOZ/s797/Three_Love_Stories_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="797" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggPEyjdPi-mCwMagrHm_3FyY6MBOOBoRMXyuLH6T0I-zjwLXm-9QkuJJWCCUu80PEq3fHFQvznVz5qpi_gz6nD_uXJgeCi24FjDQYTsjcVYBNX5c43h38w2B5UAt1dDsvwFEFUlPDRsH0rLhLY8XocaHcztcI35nAkxmS2y2ywYwNq5DOaxxnWIIuRKbOZ/s320/Three_Love_Stories_2.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><br />Here are three stories, all dealing
with the theme of romantic love. They encompass the feelings we all
recognize from our experiences of love: lust and desire, jealousy and
betrayal, confusion and certainty, forgiveness and reconciliation,
loss and rebirth. They even suggest that love might get a little help
from those mysterious realms beyond our normal, everyday life. Love
is, after all, one of the most magical of all transformations that we
mortals can undergo.<p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Three
Love Stories </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br />
Amazon
U.S.: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Amazon
U.K.: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Amazon Germany:</span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Amazon
France: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Amazon
Canada: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Amazon
Australia: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01BLVSZ2G">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01BLVSZ2G">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01BLVSZ2G">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Japan: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01BLVSZ2G">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01BLVSZ2G">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01BLVSZ2G">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Amazon
India: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01BLVSZ2G"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01BLVSZ2G</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">It should be noted that these three
stories have been previously published, but we wanted to bundle them
together, for a number of reasons.</span></p>
<ul><li>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Firstly, they are thematically
connected - they all concern the joys, pains and triumphs of
romantic love.</span></p>
</li><li>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">Secondly, the first two stories are
connected by plot and character - <b>Love at the Lake: Part 2</b>
(published separately as “A Mid-Summer Morning’s Dream at the
Lake”) tells the story of what happens later to the characters
embroiled in the jealousy and betrayal of <b>Love at the Lake: Part
1</b>. Characters can sometimes take on a life of their own, and
insist that the writer tell their whole story - that’s just what
happened here. <b>Love and Rebirth on the Prairie </b>follows
different characters, but they too are searching for love within the
complexities of family drama with a history of (possible) betrayal.</span></p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; page-break-before: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span>
</p>
</li><li>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm; page-break-before: auto;">
<span style="font-family: arial;">And finally, this bundling gives us a
way to package the stories in a more economical and convenient form
for our valued readers - three stories for one low price. In the
future, we hope to add even more to this collection of love stories!</span></p>
</li></ul>
Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-83509661586313627992024-01-23T07:54:00.000-08:002024-01-23T07:54:21.352-08:00Doggy in the Cold<h1 style="text-align: left;"> Doggy in the Cold</h1>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The part of the continent
that I live in can get pretty cold. During a recent January cold
snap, the temperature hit -40 overnight (Celsius or Fahrenheit, its
all the same at that temperature). </span>
</p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Anyway, I went out for a
walk one brilliantly sunny afternoon, while it was still about -32
Celsius, and was strolling down an alley when I heard the ominous
“grrrr”. I turned to my right to see a fairly small but
truculent white dog (some sort of terrier I think) heading for me,
with great enthusiasm. He had short legs, so as he hit the snow near
the end of his yard, he began to be high-centered.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Then, he slowed down and
gave up. His expression quickly changed from “Stay out, I’m
guarding my territory” to “Ah, this is crazy, the hell with it”.
I think he suddenly realized how cold it was, too. I saluted
him, saying “Nice try, buddy, you did your best.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">I’m pretty sure that his
owner had only let him out of the house for a few moments, for
obvious reasons, as I could hear a door opening and closing a minute
or two later, as I continued my winter walk.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">------------------------------------------------------------------------</span></p><p>
</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">If you like stories that
feature amusing dogs (and who doesn’t) you might try this Science
Fiction short story:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">----------------------------------------------------------------------- <br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>The Zoo Hypothesis
</h2>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
<span class="sd-abs-pos" style="left: 12.68cm; position: absolute; top: 4.38cm; width: 301px;"></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gcUT9_XkF98VcOUUeQBSxknPfAN_9Gu-lsYDfB_lK5Ae5FYkeTbTNaYaOTPsPHs1hvQi3Hk7f3nw-XFr59fLa-zHMxH_3lzV2ZCo3TCc21Mnv3w-I_eHzCuIhkPP-8GiegPIBwsAzn4wGinfNQQio69z5xt4fu1i6ugPqx_1FQXwVmEt7oyZsWgj047R/s500/Zoo_Hypothesis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="319" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gcUT9_XkF98VcOUUeQBSxknPfAN_9Gu-lsYDfB_lK5Ae5FYkeTbTNaYaOTPsPHs1hvQi3Hk7f3nw-XFr59fLa-zHMxH_3lzV2ZCo3TCc21Mnv3w-I_eHzCuIhkPP-8GiegPIBwsAzn4wGinfNQQio69z5xt4fu1i6ugPqx_1FQXwVmEt7oyZsWgj047R/s320/Zoo_Hypothesis.jpg" width="204" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><br />We
present a story giving a possible scenario for the so-called Zoo
Hypothesis, an explanation known in Star Trek lore as the Prime
Directive. It’s an explanation sometimes given to account for a
mystery in the Search for Intelligent Life, known as The Great
Silence, or Fermi’s Paradox.</span></span><p></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Basically,
Enrico Fermi argued (quite convincingly, to many observers), that
there had been ample time for an alien intelligence to colonize the
galaxy since its formation, so where are they? The Zoo Hypotheses
says that they are out there, but have cordoned off the Earth from
contact, until we are sufficiently evolved or culturally advanced to
handle the impact of alien contact.</span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">This
story takes a humorous tongue in cheek approach to that explanation.
It also features dogs and sly references to Star Trek. Talk about
man’s Best Friend.</span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">It is
only 99 cents U.S., equivalent price in other currencies. It is also
available on Kindle Unlimited and is sometimes on a free promotion.</span></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon U.K.:</span>
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Canada:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Australia: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Germany: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
France: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Italy: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Spain: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Netherlands: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Japan: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Mexico: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Brazil: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
India: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B076RR1PGD"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B076RR1PGD</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p>
Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-59830908794016622352023-12-27T07:58:00.000-08:002024-01-22T10:46:45.945-08:00A Neighborhood Cat Christmas Story<h1 style="text-align: left;">A Neighborhood Cat Christmas Story</h1>
<p>Over the years we have had a number of neighborhood cats visit
our house. These mystery creatures seem to belong to someone –
they generally look well-fed (but not too well-fed) and healthy. The
current version of neighborhood cat is your standard sort of
orange-brown tabby cat, not a kitten, but probably not all that old,
either. I don’t know if it is male or female, though I would guess
female.</p>
<p>Anyway, I had just strung some extra Christmas lights around the
back door earlier that day and had invited my wife Helena to have a
look, as a bit of a surprise. We stepped out the door and she was
quite excited about the Christmas lights. It was dark, otherwise,
and her eyesight isn’t that great in the dark, so I helped her to
step down to the deck, which is right beside the back porch, for a
better look,.</p>
<p>Suddenly neighborhood cat shot out from under the table on the
deck. It is usually very skittish and not too keen to be petted,
though it will occasionally permit it. But this time, rather than
bolting, it hung around to watch us, then came back when I called it
and deigned to be petted. It then did several turns around our legs,
rubbing and purring like cats do, and being surprisingly friendly.
Perhaps the Christmas lights put it into a convivial mood and it
wanted to share its pleasure at the sight – one of those minor
Christmas miracles that people sometimes notice.</p>
<p>I was tempted to invite it into the house. It was a warm night
for December in this neck of the woods, but still wintry. But, I
knew it had a house that it lived in nearby, or rather I surmised
that it must have, as it was surviving and apparently thriving. So,
with some regret, we went back in the house, bidding goodbye to neighborhood cat, until our next unexpected meeting.</p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br /></p><p>The above account was all true, but if you want a nice Christmas story that involves elves and such, you can check out the stories below.<br /></p><p>----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <br /></p><p></p><p>
</p><h1 class="western" lang="en-US" style="break-before: page; page-break-before: always;">Miranda
and the Christmas Elf
</h1>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0.4cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfIxhFs9i44xbcsQry6cgm-UVFh2d5w1BzDOo87zIi2kwzEPs0YhUTAon7KMlNs1p7jRTZwoA_nRhzh0XIKAIIe6TrJJvKuY_bE9KhCwidYn_eMXi3B714ESax358GTmIm4__DhacvwGSFmlUPKu-azE_Sr0XK_DvUkg7ZFsjQfQhi6Z7xrc7nLkoOBKw/s2500/Miranda_Christmas_Elf_Nike_2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1563" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRfIxhFs9i44xbcsQry6cgm-UVFh2d5w1BzDOo87zIi2kwzEPs0YhUTAon7KMlNs1p7jRTZwoA_nRhzh0XIKAIIe6TrJJvKuY_bE9KhCwidYn_eMXi3B714ESax358GTmIm4__DhacvwGSFmlUPKu-azE_Sr0XK_DvUkg7ZFsjQfQhi6Z7xrc7nLkoOBKw/s320/Miranda_Christmas_Elf_Nike_2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />The little pre-school girl, Miranda, is feeling unsafe because of
bullies in the neighborliness and family troubles between her mother
and father. Can her friend, young elementary grade age Nathan, use
his special powers to call on the North Pole for some Christmas Eve
magic, to help her out?<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
The story is a heartwarming Christmas tale, suitable for children and
adults, which will bring a little Christmas magic to us all. It is
about 9000 words, or around 45 minutes or so, at typical reading
speeds.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
It is priced at only 99 cents (U.S. or equivalent in other
currencies) and is sometimes on free promotion as well.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The book is available on Amazon, at the
following links:</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon U.K.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Canada: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Australia:</span></span><span style="text-decoration: none;">
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B019MCY3RM">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B019MCY3RM</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon Germany:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
France: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Spain:</span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B019MCY3RM">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B019MCY3RM</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Netherlands: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B019MCY3RM">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B019MCY3RM</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Japan: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Mexico: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Brazil: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
India: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B019MCY3RM"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B019MCY3RM</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p> </p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</p><h1 class="western" lang="en-US">A Christmas Miracle at the Lake</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdEr-VYKRIfRPlP-HDIr3zrsoxyp717BexnHbP6QdLQxFZIs_Tjjjhk9241W_5XTyf1T8I06iqy0y80eTqVD3S0v3wd1sHwVVNp4N83s_BiPCiIedZR2la7OK9GAhWwjyhvvEAB4vkdILCjALoFmovfPzjb70mM6Mp_HLX17HP_cT3GRilvrRrv3S2tS8-/s570/ChristmasMiracle.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="369" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdEr-VYKRIfRPlP-HDIr3zrsoxyp717BexnHbP6QdLQxFZIs_Tjjjhk9241W_5XTyf1T8I06iqy0y80eTqVD3S0v3wd1sHwVVNp4N83s_BiPCiIedZR2la7OK9GAhWwjyhvvEAB4vkdILCjALoFmovfPzjb70mM6Mp_HLX17HP_cT3GRilvrRrv3S2tS8-/s320/ChristmasMiracle.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />“<span style="font-size: small;">A Christmas Miracle at the
Lake” is a short story of about 10,000 words, concerning a troubled
family and a marvelous Christmas visit, by a modern Christmas ghost,
who has an important (and hard-earned) message about tolerance and
understanding. It is a continuation of Helena’s holiday stories,
which feature continuing characters at a northern Ontario lake.</span><p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It is priced at 99 cents U.S.,
equivalent prices in other currencies. It is also available on
Kindle Unlimited and is periodically offered on a free promotion.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-size: small;">ttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.K.: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon Canada:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Germany: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon Australia:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon France: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span>
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Italy: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Spain: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Brazil: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Netherlands: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Mexico: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<br />
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">And finally, a children's story about a neighborhood cat:</p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
</p><h1 class="western" lang="en-US" style="page-break-before: always;">The
Summer Cottage Mystery</h1>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.4cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3CT7kKBkGiHcfdjRMESq-hvVDYonkUdhiAy8_QgH_IwHXHvcpbLKvlnqgZ5_rHWVJvBUO0jlBmioklm-TEmZdz2TjozBO6EvhyphenhyphensL4SAFQCeJIgAPVafb19tq-rIlPj6nqr2ZyYHMUwRn9AIgeddjW606jUw3HOj82pVvVBrwk8hm5lZonZE4qDEeNXTI/s1650/SummerCamp_Cover1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1650" data-original-width="1154" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3CT7kKBkGiHcfdjRMESq-hvVDYonkUdhiAy8_QgH_IwHXHvcpbLKvlnqgZ5_rHWVJvBUO0jlBmioklm-TEmZdz2TjozBO6EvhyphenhyphensL4SAFQCeJIgAPVafb19tq-rIlPj6nqr2ZyYHMUwRn9AIgeddjW606jUw3HOj82pVvVBrwk8hm5lZonZE4qDEeNXTI/s320/SummerCamp_Cover1.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><br />Here's a nice children's story by Science Fiction and Romance writer
Helena Puumala. Yes, she does kid's stories too. Read it to a younger
child (pre-school, elementary or early junior-high), or read it
yourself to bring back memories of those long, lazy childhood days at
the lake, during summer vacation, when your biggest worry in life was
a lost kitten. Note that this is a short story of about 8500 words.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
It is just 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other currencies) and is
sometimes on free promotion. And, of course, it’s on Kindle
Unlimited.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It is available on Amazon, at the
following:</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon U.K.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon Canada:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon Australia:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon Germany:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
France: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></span></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Spain: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00N0B4TYY">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00N0B4TYY</a>
</span></span></span></u></span>
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Netherlands: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Mexico: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Brazil:</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00N0B4TYY">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00N0B4TYY</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
India: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Japan: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00N0B4TYY"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00N0B4TYY</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
</p>
Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-79921150765114581772023-12-05T13:56:00.000-08:002023-12-05T13:56:40.860-08:00Some Problems with Converting Home Heating from Natural Gas to Heat Pumps, in Cold Climates<h1 class="western">Some Problems with Converting Home Heating from
Natural Gas to Heat Pumps, in Cold Climates</h1>
<h2 class="western">The Principle behind the Heat Pump</h2>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Recently, the case for replacing furnaces powered by fossil fuels
(mostly methane, also known as natural gas) with heat pumps has been
strongly advanced. The idea is that heat pumps are generally powered
by electricity, which can be produced by renewable sources, thus
allowing buildings to be heated without producing any greenhouse
gases. This is to be accomplished via the avoidance of CO2 caused by
combustion, as well as by the elimination of methane leakages in the
natural gas distribution systems.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Heat pumps can be thought of as reverse refrigerator. If you ever
felt around the back of a refrigerator, you would have noticed heat
escaping. That’s the heat from within the refrigerator that is
being moved outside of it, via motors, compressors and the concept of
latent heat of change of state.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Heat pumps work on the same principle of moving heat from one area to
another, though in this case rather than moving heated air from
within a structure to the outside world (as a refrigerator or air
conditioner does), they move heat from the outside world (air or
ground) to the inside of a structure. Because they are moving heat,
rather than creating it from combustion or electrical resistance,
they can heat a building with efficiencies higher than straight
combustion of electrical resistance heating.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Often, efficiencies as high as 4 or 5 are quoted. This means that
for each unit of energy consumed by the heat pump, 4 or 5 units of
energy are moved from the outside world to the inside of a building.
This measure is often referred to as COP (Coefficient of
Performance).</p>
<h2 class="western">
</h2>
<h2 class="western" style="page-break-before: always;">The Effect of
Cold Weather</h2>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
This all sounds wonderful, there is a catch, as there usually is with
wonderful-sounding things. The catch is, that efficiencies of a heat
pump (COP) fall off quickly with outside temperatures. In fact, they
work best when it is not actually very cold at all outside. That is
shown in the accompanying graph adapted from the website
<a href="https://learnmetrics.com/best-heat-pumps-for-cold-climates/">https://learnmetrics.com/best-heat-pumps-for-cold-climates/</a>), for a typical cold-weather heat
pump. You can see that the COP goes from about 4.5 at moderately
warm temperatures (15C or 60F) to about 2 at relatively cold
temperatures (-15C or 5F). </p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwAFeyM2D8YAIjetGJSqntWkIjzqxexYvPtYXwPg1xvhew6N7KC_8BDSE3RDR-PB741VX3EUwiHrR8TmvLnKBbZZctCBpNGHu9f8EjpdnQd_IWfIKq1AuOM8YHAKSNaudeNjbJ_XCiIJIhIrZmcX7yU6acZRAb35myJHaOKnAtryiiTIwKgaa0Rrl84yw/s919/Heatpump_COP_by_Temp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="919" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjwAFeyM2D8YAIjetGJSqntWkIjzqxexYvPtYXwPg1xvhew6N7KC_8BDSE3RDR-PB741VX3EUwiHrR8TmvLnKBbZZctCBpNGHu9f8EjpdnQd_IWfIKq1AuOM8YHAKSNaudeNjbJ_XCiIJIhIrZmcX7yU6acZRAb35myJHaOKnAtryiiTIwKgaa0Rrl84yw/w640-h364/Heatpump_COP_by_Temp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
The graph is for a heat pump designed to work at colder temperatures.
Standard heat pumps, that are not rated for very cold weather, will
just stop working at all, once the temperature falls to about -12 C
(10 F). It is also worth noting that the cold-weather type is more
expensive than the type not rated for very cold weather.
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
These facts mean that in truly cold-weather climates, a backup source
is needed. In other words, you have to keep that natural gas
furnace, That means paying the gas company fixed charges during
months when you don’t actually use any natural gas. Alternatively,
you can switch to backup resistance-based electrical heating (e.g.
baseboard heating elements) during cold weather. Both of these
expedients can add up to a lot of money, on top of the money to
install and operate the heat-pump system.</p>
<h2 class="western">A Real World Cold Climate Simulation of the Costs
of a Heat Pump</h2>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
So, given these factors, I thought it would be interesting to
simulate how well such a heat pump would work in a cold-weather
environment, namely my house in Edmonton Canada. It can get rather
cool here in the winter; for example, temperatures of -30 to -40
Celsius are not unknown in the depths of winter.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
To begin with, I used the 12 month period between Nov 2022 and Oct
2023, but I discovered that this was probably a bad period to use for
comparison, as the Alberta government had some natural gas and
electricity rebate plans going on (an election period), so
comparisons might of prices for different forms of energy might not
generalize well, outside of this election period.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
So, instead I used the period from Nov 2010 to Oct 2011, which seems
to represent market prices better, without these artificial
government manipulations. The cost ratio for Electricity to Natural
Gas, once converted to the same metric was 5.0, which was quite
typical of the 1997-2012 data that I have, which averaged 5.06. The
same figure for 2022-23 was 11.2, which is definitely atypical. </p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnwJ20mpmbQ4Y91MfNt0vNbfZx_lyijsLJZqyi3Boq7cJ8GnJ7Qp-7Rv-Sf8j8nIcULWpC5_0rKX4Rs5LQQeUQ4L5YL2Z4dGqT0lTNseGKPaGaClbO3ROcyHYG0QxByD2_Llk9zxA39klnYOnpG8q1FFeXGga8Nf4d6KiBHtEZ06PEBr4Uqo64S2bSris/s614/HeatPump_CostEst_vs_NatGas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="614" height="534" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDnwJ20mpmbQ4Y91MfNt0vNbfZx_lyijsLJZqyi3Boq7cJ8GnJ7Qp-7Rv-Sf8j8nIcULWpC5_0rKX4Rs5LQQeUQ4L5YL2Z4dGqT0lTNseGKPaGaClbO3ROcyHYG0QxByD2_Llk9zxA39klnYOnpG8q1FFeXGga8Nf4d6KiBHtEZ06PEBr4Uqo64S2bSris/w640-h534/HeatPump_CostEst_vs_NatGas.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
The table above shows natural gas charges (gas only, not including
fixed charges, taxes, etc.) for the 12 month period from Nov 2022 to
Oct 2023, in the first three columns after the month name column.
</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
The next three columns show what that energy use would be, after
converting GigaJoules to Kilowatt-hours (1 GJ=277.8 Kwhr) and the
costs that would be expected, based on electricity prices in the area
during the same period. The final column shows the ratio of the cost
of energy purchased as electricity compared to natural gas.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
The take-away from this is that a straight conversion to electrical
energy from natural gas is considerably more expensive, making the
energy-component costs of heating go from about $550 to about $2750,
an increase by a factor of five.</p>
<h2 class="western">The Heat Pump Efficiency Effect</h2>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
But, what about the heat pump efficiency effect? The table below
shows that this does bring costs down quite substantially, from about
$2750 to about $1100. But remember that the natural gas cost was
only about $550, so costs have still doubled from the conversion.</p><p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0IVk128k5xSHOAj1arfeup79K7e3sirD2gzc5moJfCXZWiLhRC4paeopYUNyx_-i5JXU_CFWDzbvVUNEsMs6QQWlaNx5mz6zrhbR10DZ_F31joe6Zg0hTr9ny440wmHtUF-rHgGZDPEiYssDjhqqfT651aZNFlxo9toOZWYofxFb19TY1OgFMCbwD2gd/s486/HeatPump_Efficiency_vs_ElectricityNatGas_PriceDiff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="486" data-original-width="426" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0IVk128k5xSHOAj1arfeup79K7e3sirD2gzc5moJfCXZWiLhRC4paeopYUNyx_-i5JXU_CFWDzbvVUNEsMs6QQWlaNx5mz6zrhbR10DZ_F31joe6Zg0hTr9ny440wmHtUF-rHgGZDPEiYssDjhqqfT651aZNFlxo9toOZWYofxFb19TY1OgFMCbwD2gd/w560-h640/HeatPump_Efficiency_vs_ElectricityNatGas_PriceDiff.jpg" width="560" /></a></div><br />This doesn’t take into account the fact that some of the lows
experienced during the cold months will be far below the average, in
the range where the heat pumps have a very low COP, approaching 1.0
(assuming that they work at all). So, during those periods, backup
heating is needed, either via electrical elements (which are 5 times
as expensive as natural gas) or via a backup natural gas furnace,
which rather negates the whole point of the conversion. I estimate
that the additional costs during those cold months would be about
$300 if using natural gas, and about probably double that if
electrical resistance heading was used.
<p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Keeping a natural gas furnace in operation as a backup will most
likely include a lot of fixed costs, which the gas company charges
regardless of how much gas a household actually uses. These costs
are quite substantial – during the 2022-23 12 month period, the
fixed costs came to about $900. So, those costs wouldn’t go away,
as long as backup heating was needed.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Then, there is the cost of the heat pump and related installation
costs themselves. The federal government has a heat pump cost
calculator, which gives some idea of what the costs would be. For my
home, the calculator estimates $12,000 to $15,000, though there might
be government support available, if you qualify. That could bring
the costs down to $7000 to $10,000. That’s about 1000 per year,
amortized over 15 years.</p>
<h2 class="western">Summary</h2>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
By these estimates, annual costs for heating a modest-sized house via
a heat pump in Alberta would probably increase by:</p>
<ul><li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
about $500 because electricity is more expensive than natural gas,
joule for joule.</p>
</li><li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
About $1000 for the purchase and installation of the heat pump,
amortizing the costs over 15 years.</p>
</li><li>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
About $500 for backup heating during cold winter temperatures, where
the heat pump would be extremely inefficient, and might not work at
all.</p>
</li></ul>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
So, a minimum estimate of an extra $2000 per year.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
And the final kicker of all this, is that in many areas of the
country the electricity would be generated by natural gas anyway, so
the carbon emission reductions wouldn’t really exist. Certainly,
without ample hydro power, the amount of renewable power required for
this plan would be far more that what could reasonably be expected
for many more years. This may be doable in Quebec, but not in
Alberta.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Solar panels are great (I have 16 of them on my garage) but they just
aren’t yet up to the job. I estimate that I would have to up my
solar panel count by a factor of a least 4, to even theoretically
power the house’s electrical and heating needs, probably much more
in practice. And that assumes that one could store the extra energy
generated in the summer, for those long, cold, dark winter nights.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
This also doesn’t include the costs of building out the additional
electrical infrastructure and decommissioning the natural gas
infrastructure. Not to mention that much of the world is blithely
ignoring the carbon emissions targets anyway (e.g. China is said to
be opening two new coal-fired electrical-generating plants per week).</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; padding: 0cm;">
In summary, the plan seems ill-considered and unrealistic, at least
for much of the country.</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; padding: 0cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; padding: 0cm;">
<b>Here’s an American source that says much the same thing:</b></p>
<h2 class="western" style="border: none; padding: 0cm;">Electricity
Versus Natural Gas</h2>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 1.27cm;">Meanwhile, a recent
report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) found
that the cost of heating a home this coming winter using natural gas
is going to be roughly 40 percent lower than using electricity.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 1.27cm;">Households using
electricity to heat homes are projected to pay $1,063 on average
between November and March, according to a Nov. 7 winter fuels
outlook <a href="https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/perspectives/2023/10-winterfuels/article.php" target="_blank">report</a>
by EIA. By contrast, households using natural gas are only expected
to fork over $601.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 1.27cm;">The stark findings
come as the Biden administration ramps up its war on gas appliances,
including furnaces, while touting electrically-powered alternatives
(such as heat pumps), all in the name of fighting climate change.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 1.27cm;"><strong>Recently, the
Department of Energy (DOE) <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/biden-uses-emergency-wartime-powers-to-boost-electric-heat-pumps-amid-push-to-replace-gas-appliances-5532147" target="_blank">announced
that</a> President Joe Biden will use emergency wartime powers to
boost U.S. production of electric heat pumps</strong> as his
administration continues its push to replace furnaces that run on
fossil fuels.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 1.27cm;">Earlier, the DOE
proposed <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/biden-administration-proposes-energy-efficiency-standards-on-water-heaters-5415928" target="_blank">new
energy efficiency standards</a> for residential water heaters
that would require electric water heaters of the most common size to
use heat pump technology and gas-fired instantaneous water heaters to
use condensing technology to achieve energy efficiency.</p>
<p class="western" style="margin-left: 1.27cm;">At the time,
Republicans on the House Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy
Policy, and Regulatory Affairs argued that the DOE’s proposed
appliance efficiency standards would be burdensome and costly for
Americans, hitting lower-income families the hardest.</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; padding: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/residents-blue-states-pay-much-more-electricity-red-states-study">https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/residents-blue-states-pay-much-more-electricity-red-states-study</a></p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; padding: 0cm;">
Here’s the document that the article above used as source material:</p>
<p class="western" style="border: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; padding: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/perspectives/2023/10-winterfuels/article.php#vinttab1">https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/perspectives/2023/10-winterfuels/article.php#vinttab1</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm; page-break-before: always;">
=====================================================</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
And, here’s a pleasant little travel story about a place where a
solar-heated reading nook could be quite useful. You would
definitely have to be careful about your unit being knocked over by
the wind, though.</p>
<h1 class="western">A Drive Across Newfoundland</h1>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxXyHtVJMtZNwmirwuSj8awSTgoIPVLmXogIdDtbCsW910LAOMmBVtELZfNQqsHAuRGNfDIdheoh3G68LuFhxK34JdDhuoZNQGCtEhotupR3sALFXN7PXNR0v5I93bkqXsdFPpIo3QfeNvAe41tr3fTVX57mzHUXlSjqubmgVBEVChkxSDgupVXCSQ-Z5/s600/Newfoundland_Drive_Cover_1_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXxXyHtVJMtZNwmirwuSj8awSTgoIPVLmXogIdDtbCsW910LAOMmBVtELZfNQqsHAuRGNfDIdheoh3G68LuFhxK34JdDhuoZNQGCtEhotupR3sALFXN7PXNR0v5I93bkqXsdFPpIo3QfeNvAe41tr3fTVX57mzHUXlSjqubmgVBEVChkxSDgupVXCSQ-Z5/s320/Newfoundland_Drive_Cover_1_small.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />U.S.: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a><p></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
U.K.: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Germany: <a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Japan: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Canada: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Australia: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
India: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07NMR9WM8">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07NMR9WM8</a></p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
Newfoundland, Canada’s most easterly province, is a region that is
both fascinating in its unique culture and amazing in its vistas of
stark beauty. The weather is often wild, with coastal regions known
for steep cliffs and crashing waves (though tranquil beaches exist
too). The inland areas are primarily Precambrian shield, dominated by
forests, rivers, rock formations, and abundant wildlife. The province
also features some of the Earth’s most remarkable geology, notably
The Tablelands, where the mantle rocks of the Earth’s interior have
been exposed at the surface, permitting one to explore an almost
alien landscape, an opportunity available on only a few scattered
regions of the planet.</p>
<p class="western" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;">
The city of St. John’s is one of Canada’s most unique urban
areas, with a population that maintains many old traditions and
cultural aspects of the British Isles. That’s true of the rest of
the province, as well, where the people are friendly and inclined to
chat amiably with visitors. Plus, they talk with amusing accents and
party hard, so what’s not to like?<br />
<br />
This account focusses
on a two-week road trip in October 2007, from St. John’s in the
southeast, to L’Anse aux Meadows in the far northwest, the only
known Viking settlement in North America. It also features a day hike
visit to The Tablelands, a remarkable and majestic geological
feature. Even those who don’t normally consider themselves very
interested in geology will find themselves awe-struck by these
other-worldly landscapes.</p>
Dodecahedron Bookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01611037938058719163noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-70373266920533312932023-11-15T17:44:00.000-08:002023-11-15T17:44:37.869-08:00From the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip, Part 3<h1 style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>From
the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip, Part 3</b></span></span></h1>
<h1 class="western">From near Rocky Mountain House to Edmonton</h1>
<p> <b>(Oct 2023)</b></p>
<p><b>This is a 3-part blog about a day-trip from Edmonton Alberta to
the Brazeau Dam site, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It
is a bit long, so I broke it up into 3 parts:</b></p>
<ol><li>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>To
Highway 620, from Edmonton, following the N. Sask River, more or
less.</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><a href="https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/from-prairies-to-foothills-brazeau-dam.html"><b>https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/from-prairies-to-foothills-brazeau-dam.html</b></a></p>
</li><li>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>Highway
620 in the foothills, including a stop at the Brazeau Dam Reservoir.</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><a href="https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2023/11/from-prairies-to-foothills-brazeau-dam.html"><b>https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2023/11/from-prairies-to-foothills-brazeau-dam.html</b></a></p>
</li><li>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>From
Highway 11 back to Edmonton, through the south-central farmlands.</b></p>
</li></ol>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>The numbering
of the route subsections picks up from the first blog, starting at 7. </b></p><p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b> </b>
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizfVi7w4MO9YM5Kx_40HLLGwJOhxK6H-P01zvfLfqc-PrV0AwyPrJVyruCIUlD3ijG0fZOQD6drmLFzatzc5B69Cpz9I86yNE7Yt9k_0InhmE4K6VWK12IyHz7HUH9YTalKFUUAq9fLwtws0SCA_jek3uooiZcINib3HUals6u5uIr8oEWYZym7vUxCuX3/s1474/Map3_Brazeau_Dam_to_Falun_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1474" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizfVi7w4MO9YM5Kx_40HLLGwJOhxK6H-P01zvfLfqc-PrV0AwyPrJVyruCIUlD3ijG0fZOQD6drmLFzatzc5B69Cpz9I86yNE7Yt9k_0InhmE4K6VWK12IyHz7HUH9YTalKFUUAq9fLwtws0SCA_jek3uooiZcINib3HUals6u5uIr8oEWYZym7vUxCuX3/w640-h344/Map3_Brazeau_Dam_to_Falun_2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p style="page-break-before: always;"><b>7</b><b>) </b><b>Highway </b><b>11</b><b>,
</b><b>to </b><b>Highway </b><b>22</b><b> Intersection</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;">At this point, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">H</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">ighway
11 is a nice paved two-lane road with wide shoulders. That isn’t
surprising, as two-digit roads generally have wider shoulders than
three-digit roads. That said, the three-digit gravel roads on the
prairie can be very wide </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">indeed</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: normal;">There seem to be more tankers,
headed west. Perhaps they are picking up oil from producing wells in
the foothills that are too small to rate a pipeline.</span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">As it is was nice sunny mid-teens
Celsius day, we continued seeing more motorcycles. The time when
they can’t be used was fast approaching, so I guess people want to
tour while they can. There were also hawks wheeling in the sky –
probably a nice day to spot prey.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">After a short time, we came to the
intersection with Highway 22 and turned north.</p>
<p> <b>8) Highway 22, to Highway 12 Intersection</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">This is a nice scenic highway, but we
wanted to explore some other routes as well, so we would only be
taking it for a short time. Once again, we were back to seeing a lot
of hay-fields and other agricultural scenes, rather than the forests
within the foothills.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We got stuck behind a truck carrying
large diameter pipe at this point, which would dog us for quite a
while.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">It was a short detour on Hwy 22; we
turned west when the road intersected Highway 12.</p>
<p> <b>9) Highway 12, to Highway 792 Intersection</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Highway 12 is another two-digit road,
so fairly wide and well-paved. It had fairly low traffic levels, for
a two-digit highway. To begin with, the land was very flat, though
there did appear to be hills in the far distance. Most of the
farmland seemed to be devoted to grain or hay. Some of the fields
had oil-field “rocking horses” pumping away.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We continued following the large
diameter pipe truck. I thought Scott was following it a little too
close, so I taught him about the rule for estimating a safe distance
between you and the vehicle ahead – find a landmark, note when the
vehicle passes that, then count until you pass it. At highway speeds
it is recommended that you keep that timing differential to at least
3 seconds, even better is about a second for every 15 kph (about 1
second for every 10 mph). At highway speeds that’s about 5 to 7
seconds. That’s not always possible, though on a relatively
lightly travelled highway like this one, it is quite doable. Scott
couldn’t recall his driver training course teaching that, so it was
helpful. He did not know that!</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">My iPhone battery was getting low,
preventing me from using the camera, so I plugged it into the car’s
USB port. That turned on the sound system and started playing a song
on my iPhone. Scott said that it defaults to doing that. I did not
know that! I turned the sound way down anyway. On a road trip, I
prefer quiet – just road noise and intermittent conversation. From
what I can tell, Scott’s the same.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">An oncoming wide-load truck (hauling
hay) approached, just as we crossed a fairly narrow little bridge.
That required getting quite close to the right-hand guardrail, but
Scott handled it well. We had a laugh about it - “what are the
odds?...every single time.” Though obviously, that was an
exaggeration.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">As we continued, the fields of grain,
hay and oil pumps were now interspersed with cattle. Some of the
cultivated lands were quite pretty now, featuring the pastel greens
mixed with earth tones of newly mown hay fields. It became fairly
hilly, so the undulations of the landscape enhanced the overall
effect. It is unfortunate that my iPhone camera was busy being
charged, so a word picture will have to do.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There was a traffic circle near the
town of Bentley. A truck that was now behind us turned took a
different route at the circle, so we were no longer in danger of
being sandwiched between two trucks, which had been a bit of a
concern for Scott. That can be quite irksome.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There was an interesting effect in the
sky. A shadow could be seen coming off of a cloud, directly opposite
of the sun, which was now to the west. On either side of the shadow,
were two brighter zones. I suppose that if you were well past the
cloud, it would look like the inspirational cloud pictures that you
often see, with rays of light streaming through them.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Not long afterwards, we came to the
intersection with Highway 792 and turned north.</p>
<p> <b>10</b><b>) </b><b>Highway 792</b><b> Intersection, </b><b>to
Intersection with Highway 611</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Being a three-digit highway, Hwy 792
is back to being fairly narrow. For the first while it was composed
of rather old pavement, so the ride wasn’t as smooth as we had
become accustomed to. Traffic was quite light, though we continued
to see motorcyclists and trucks.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">The land is quite flat around here,
though there is knob and kettle topography nearby, created by the
retreating glaciers thousands of years ago. Gull Lake, which is
fairly large by prairie standards, is not far from the highway, to
the west, though it was rarely visible. There is a small “summer
village” there, of a few hundred people. It is, according to its
website, the oldest summer village in Alberta, going back to the turn
of the 20<sup>th</sup> century. A few of the original cottages
remain. The lake has clear water and nice sandy beaches, also not so
common on the prairies, so the area has and does draw many visitors.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There were a few Greenhouse-type farms
around here, some of which I recognized from the farmers’ markets
in Edmonton. There were also some orchards and other vegetable
farms, as well as the usual grain operations. So, it is clearly very
fertile land around here. Basically, it was just a nice scenic
prairie road, under pale blue October skies.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There is a quick jog to the west where
the road meets Highway 53, but that is only for a few hundred meters.
After that quick jog, the road became rather winding. We passed a
small lake (Crestomere Lake) with a lot of ducks and gulls. I
suppose the former were migrating, while the latter are full-time
residents. After all, they do have a lake nearby named in their
honour.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">At about this point, we found
ourselves following a peculiar looking truck that was moving quite
slowly, about 10 to 15 kph below the limit. It reminded one of a
Gypsy Wagon, or like something akin to the rig of the Beverly
Hillbillies. We assumed it must have been some sort of work-related
caravan and yes, indeed, it did turn off to a small oilfield
development in a short while.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">The pavement was nice and smooth
again. The fields were often dominated by cows and horses now, along
with hay. I suppose the land wasn’t quite as fertile as it had
been around Gull Lake. There were also a few gravel pits, testifying
to the effect of the long-ago glaciers, and to the effect of human
beings, who need gravel, for industrial purposes.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We then intersected Highway 611, where
we took a short jog east, in order to pick up Highway 795.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><b>1</b><b>1</b><b>) </b><b>Highway
611, </b><b>to Intersection with Highway </b><b>7</b><b>9</b><b>5</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Highway 611 is another short jog to
the west, about 15 km or so. It is a nice road, rather hilly for
this stretch.
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We passed a fellow on the side of the
road, with a dog, who was waiting patiently to cross the highway. He
waved at me as we passed, very friendly that. His dog was of the
“Lassie” type, which is a type of collie, I believe. Who
wouldn’t like that?</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We noted cattle on the hills, though
not so much on the hillsides themselves. Like golfers, they don’t
seem to like side-hill lies. That was followed by some llamas or
alpacas, with odd colouring. In this case, they were lower-half
brown upper-half white. Apparently this isn’t all that unusual –
they can come in a huge range of colours (22 natural coat colours).
Then came a herd of pure white cattle. There were some nice copses
of trees that had turned an attractive shade of yellow. All in all,
a rather colourful bit of highway.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We then headed back north on Highway
795.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><b>1</b><b>2</b><b>) </b><b>Highway
</b><b>79</b><b>5</b><b>, </b><b>to Intersection with Highway </b><b>39</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">This road was gravel to begin with,
and rather rough and “washboardy”. The ditches were barely below
the road level, so probably not great drainage. As is often the
case, the car “floated” somewhat on the gravel. But it was good
for Scott to get in some gravel road time. It was quite dusty when a
car passed (approaching or overtaking), though there wasn’t much
traffic, so the situation didn’t arise very often.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQTRiqkUAz7I_xy0Z-O9NqpNZQg_ELPY6PwITpsYEgOlMKAsHAXMJPyjW0PeoyhsdsQmG7_7Mlehfzv6b4OKl_tU1D-hwmqUCRjmccVexi4vSgySThp00iSaIwRkXXJ83GIi2TM9yksQcB0yZxywGWsaV4da5vle7EHIsSvdD08ZOxCJq7VVT8eQk9viKR/s965/Map4_Falun_to_Edmonton_b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="965" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQTRiqkUAz7I_xy0Z-O9NqpNZQg_ELPY6PwITpsYEgOlMKAsHAXMJPyjW0PeoyhsdsQmG7_7Mlehfzv6b4OKl_tU1D-hwmqUCRjmccVexi4vSgySThp00iSaIwRkXXJ83GIi2TM9yksQcB0yZxywGWsaV4da5vle7EHIsSvdD08ZOxCJq7VVT8eQk9viKR/w640-h518/Map4_Falun_to_Edmonton_b.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There were some corn fields around
here, which was different. Until recently, you didn’t see much
corn being grown in central Alberta. That had been a deep southern
Alberta specialty - Taber corn was an autumn institution in Alberta.
But with the prevalence of Farmer’s Markets, the market is now much
accessible to local farmers.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There were also “stock crossing”
signs. I have been delayed in the past, as a farmer took his herd
across a road of this nature. You just have to go with the flow,
when it happens.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">As with many other parts of the route,
there were hay bales galore. Some of these were of the cylindrical
variety, while others were rectangular. These rectangular bales were
stacked together, creating one big rectangular structure. I estimate
that each of these were constructed of dozens, if not hundreds, of
bales.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">And, as usual in Alberta, there were
plenty of oil pumpers going in the fields. This isn’t too far from
Leduc, so probably this oil is being pumped from the well-known (ha
ha) Devonian Formation.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We then reached the point where Hwy
795 crosses Hwy 39. When we got to that intersection, there was a
car across the highway that wanted to turn left onto 39, while we
wanted to go straight through on 795. Though we had the
right-of-way, Scott waited for the other driver to go ahead. That’s
a situation with which I am never very comfortable. The rule always
seems counter-intuitive to me. The car that has to cross 2 lanes of
traffic has the right-of-way of the car that only has to cross only
one lane of traffic? That just seems wrong and I tend to be
uncertain about how the other driver sees things, so I tend to let
them go first, if they seem at all inclined to do so. Perhaps that’s
not a good idea. Anyway, in this case, the other driver seemed quite
annoyed with us waving her, judging by her expression. So it goes.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Now that we had crossed 39, the road
became rather winding again. That made it difficult to overtake and
pass cars, though someone behind us did just that. There was a slow
pickup truck ahead of us, which forced the issue somewhat. But Scott
decided not to pass, since we would be turning off to head east again
very soon.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">But before that, we came across a sign
for Calmar Stables and Ranch. I didn’t see any horses, but the
property was obviously set up for training racehorses. I had never
heard of it, but a later internet search showed that it had had a son
of Seattle Slew (triple crown winner) “enter stud” there, so
that’s pretty legit. Plus, they had some winners at Woodbine and a
Canadian Derby winner in Edmonton. The latter has a pretty good
purse, so, yeah, a pretty serious horse-racing operation.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There were also a few dairy farms,
which I suppose tend to be closer to cities. I had a friend in high
school whose uncle ran a mid-sized dairy operation. We visited it
once – it was interesting and almost clinical, with the spotless
milking machines and other sanitation measures. I am a fan of
keeping milk local, even if it costs a bit more.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">We then went by a barn that looked
like it had been hit by a missile, as the roof was half off and ready
to fall down. I imagine it was a bad windstorm and maybe some
lightning, that had clobbered it, though.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Once we got to Calmar, we switched off
driving again and headed east on Highway 39 (it was the second time
we intersected it, as follows a slightly odd route).</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><b>1</b><b>3</b><b>) </b><b>Highway
</b><b>39</b><b>, </b><b>to Intersection with Highway </b><b>2, </b><b>then
to Edmonton</b></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">This is basically the stretch drive,
heading for home. It is a rather busy route that connects with the
main highway in Alberta, Highway 2, in Leduc, which then leads to
Edmonton. That’s why we switched off drivers, as the last bit is
pretty hectic for a driver still learning.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Once we hit the city, we did the now
traditional “Peter’s Drive-in” run and reported back to my wife
and his mother, supplied with burgers and fries.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Overall, it was a good trip and one I
would heartily recommend to anybody who likes a route with relatively
low traffic, good sight-lines and a lot of varied scenery, from
prairies to foothills.</p><p style="font-weight: normal;">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p style="font-weight: normal;"></p>
<h2 class="western" style="page-break-before: always;">Further Reading</h2>
<p>If you like road trips, here are a couple more on Amazon, just
$0.99 (99 cents U.S., equivalent in other currencies). Once every
three months or so, they are free, so keep looking if you want to
save that money for your retirement years. :)</p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm;">On
the Road with Bronco Billy</h1>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="_GoBack2"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGsDUwQ6Q-hTrk9HxXAyCAKSb7Z39WpU9Bs-r8GjUz1D5JtKQeGEZr4dwJcxGzn6SutCDnv6TrwHm1e4kPPi8b0_sRujlVOI36RY-V3jgXxVn-Xf-4L23A6Z9-1c8eOc7oPturH_SWiE-i6ECXFJHgMpV9jstU2egrx6hkI4K9m7U_hn32vDCUTPlErxn/s500/BroncoBilly_TestCover4_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaGsDUwQ6Q-hTrk9HxXAyCAKSb7Z39WpU9Bs-r8GjUz1D5JtKQeGEZr4dwJcxGzn6SutCDnv6TrwHm1e4kPPi8b0_sRujlVOI36RY-V3jgXxVn-Xf-4L23A6Z9-1c8eOc7oPturH_SWiE-i6ECXFJHgMpV9jstU2egrx6hkI4K9m7U_hn32vDCUTPlErxn/s320/BroncoBilly_TestCover4_small.jpg" width="202" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><br />Sit back and go on a ten day
trucking trip in a big rig, through western North America, from
Alberta to Texas, and back again. Explore the countryside, learn
some trucking lingo, and observe the shifting cultural norms across
this great continent. </span>
<p></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.S.: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.K.: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Canada: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Australia: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Germany: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
France: <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Japan: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
India: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">=======================================================</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">What
follows is an account of a ten day journey through western North
America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton
Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The
writer had the opportunity to accompany a friend who is a
professional truck driver, which he eagerly accepted. He works as a
statistician for the University of Alberta, and is therefore is
generally confined to desk, chair, and computer. The chance to see
the world from the cab of a truck, and be immersed in the truck
driving culture was intriguing. In early May 1997 they hit the road.</span></p>
<p style="border-bottom: 1.05pt double #000000; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0.07cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Some time has passed since this
journal was written and many things have changed since the late
1990’s. That renders the journey as not just a geographical one,
but also a historical account, which I think only increases its
interest. <br />
<br />
We were fortunate to have an eventful trip - a
mechanical breakdown, a near miss from a tornado, and a large-scale
flood were among these events. But even without these turns of fate,
the drama of the landscape, the close-up view of the trucking
lifestyle, and the opportunity to observe the cultural habits of a
wide swath of western North America would have been sufficient to
fill up an interesting journal. <br />
<br />
The travelogue is about
20,000 words, about 60 to 90 minutes of reading, at typical reading
speeds.</span></p>
<h2 style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"> </h2><h2 style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">Driving North - On the Road to Northern Alberta
and the Northwest Territories: A Driving Journal</h2>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="_GoBack3"></a>
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBWJnN5n5cFWIG3hxNQQ6Pl6lsXxXy0q0R4P_MxMS63HRLU-b3jBAnIayZPaeI_OTV4cvbOyzhzEnnTGf1PDT7Nbx3NtzEWRqjCz__79nhz6iu5yBOrcIu4l3PnQa1_lyqoRq9yW_s_hjPnbzM0r4ejSDMrWoP5iLHGn3FO4EDJhFeMXVIdDRn9PPYhpK/s2500/Driving_North_2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1671" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBWJnN5n5cFWIG3hxNQQ6Pl6lsXxXy0q0R4P_MxMS63HRLU-b3jBAnIayZPaeI_OTV4cvbOyzhzEnnTGf1PDT7Nbx3NtzEWRqjCz__79nhz6iu5yBOrcIu4l3PnQa1_lyqoRq9yW_s_hjPnbzM0r4ejSDMrWoP5iLHGn3FO4EDJhFeMXVIdDRn9PPYhpK/s320/Driving_North_2b.jpg" width="214" /></a></span></span></span></div><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />Have
you ever wondered about a road trip to the far north, north of the
Sixtieth Parallel? Well, here is your chance to read about three
road trips, through the Peace River country and the northern Rockies,
all the way to the shores of Great Slave Lake, just south of the
Arctic Circle.</span></span></span><p></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just
$1.99 on Amazon, or free if you have Kindle Unlimited.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.S.: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.K: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
CA: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Germany: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
France: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Spain: </span></span></span></span><span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Japan: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
India: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Australia: <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
</p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
</p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
highways in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories give one
the opportunity to drive pretty far north, without a lot of elaborate
preparations and extreme expense. Starting from Edmonton, one can
drive as far north as Yellowknife, NWT, without leaving the hardtop,
so an average vehicle can do the trip. There are a reasonable number
of fair sized towns along the way, so accommodations are not much of
a problem, either. The same goes for food, gasoline and other
essentials.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
One
can also link up with the Alaska Highway, and the Dempster Highway,
and make it all the way to the Arctic Ocean. But that’s another
story.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Trip
number 1 involved driving north through Alberta, visiting several
areas of interest along the way, then into the Northwest Territories,
to Hay River on the southern shore of Great Slave Lake. The return
trip featured a drive through the north-central foothills of the
Rocky Mountains.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Trip
number 2 was a combined air and car trip. We went to Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories by airplane, then rented a car to explore much
of the area of the north shore of Great Slave Lake.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Trip
number 3 was a return to Hay River, with a different travelling
companion. This allowed one to retrace steps, compare and contrast,
and focus on some areas that we had not had time to explore in depth
on trip number 1.</span></span></span></p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-81020869423828296302023-11-13T18:29:00.000-08:002023-11-13T18:29:08.512-08:00A Summer Working on the Railroad - A Memoir<h1 class="western" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
A Summer Working on the Railroad - A Memoir<br /></h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;"><br />What
follows is an account of a few weeks one long-ago summer, when I was
19 and was working for the Canadian National Railway (CNR) on a
railroad construction gang, in the wilds of north-central British
Columbia, Canada.</span></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;">The
journal is in the form of a letter, that was never sent. Decades
later, I think it has an interesting historical resonance. At times I
come off like a callow youth – I plead guilty as charged. I swore a
lot more in those days than I do now, but in places the writing is
surprisingly good, at least in my humble opinion. And the story has a
compelling narrative arc.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;">There
were a lot of interesting and dramatic events that occurred – a
number of industrial accidents being the most serious. There were
also some colorful characters on the crew, which resulted in some
dramatic and at times amusing conflicts and altercations. I perhaps
flatter myself by including myself in that number. Or perhaps I
condemn myself – I’m not sure.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="text-align: left;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; padding: 0cm;">So,
if you want to be reminded of one of those summer jobs that was kind
of life-changing, read on. My story may just kick-start some memories
of your own.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
The memoir/journal is about 9,000 words, a length that can usually be
read in an hour or so. It is priced at 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in
other currencies) and is free on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it
will be offered as a free promotion.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_307PORAiASEiTbxydF73z8wq9Y03gSQ7nLioKM3Akz1eQWjCEW-RLLh1-KutgsdrO3_ZaxZ0xsEnH8EruzUQxxuUHDdTL_QkNVZsyFnnPKA5NOa63BdSeJ01CfZeb1kKZ59VJ5rp4pgvc0Z5sEMa2tGnxzcaxPfgAUTuLzgvSTlk8Y0qGPjzgiBaXiDI/s1536/Railroad_Cover_Test_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_307PORAiASEiTbxydF73z8wq9Y03gSQ7nLioKM3Akz1eQWjCEW-RLLh1-KutgsdrO3_ZaxZ0xsEnH8EruzUQxxuUHDdTL_QkNVZsyFnnPKA5NOa63BdSeJ01CfZeb1kKZ59VJ5rp4pgvc0Z5sEMa2tGnxzcaxPfgAUTuLzgvSTlk8Y0qGPjzgiBaXiDI/w266-h400/Railroad_Cover_Test_2.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
U.S.: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
UK: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Canada: <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Australia: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
India: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Germany: <a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
France: <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Japan: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0CN661P8Z</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-13093572099610956042023-11-05T06:38:00.000-08:002023-11-05T06:38:12.546-08:00From the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip, Part 2<p> <span style="font-family: Liberation Sans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>From
the Prairies to the Foothills: Brazeau Dam Trip, Part 2</b></span></span></p>
<h1 class="western">Highway 620, Foothills and Brazeau Dam Area</h1>
<p><b>(Oct 2023)</b></p>
<p><b>This is a 3-part blog about a day-trip from Edmonton Alberta to
the Brazeau Dam site, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It
is a bit long, so I broke it up into 3 parts. The numbering of the route subsections picks up from the first blog, starting at 5:</b></p>
<ol style="text-align: left;"><li>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>To
Highway 620, from Edmonton, following the N. Sask River, more or
less.</b></p>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><a href="https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/from-prairies-to-foothills-brazeau-dam.html"><b>https://dodecahedronbooks.blogspot.com/2023/10/from-prairies-to-foothills-brazeau-dam.html</b></a></p>
</li><li>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>Highway
620 in the foothills, including a stop at the Brazeau Dam Reservoir.</b></p>
</li><li>
<p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b>From
Highway 11 back to Edmonton, through the south-central farmlands.</b></p><p style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm;"><b> </b></p></li></ol>
<p><b>5) Highway 620 to the Brazeau Dam</b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdns2fNQGUJWtpBYAcaJftT5QN7d84qk4Q7VdByjK70ey4cr8TT9kAUJECCkMFGb-I0Hv3gpiHVG45PqjG6m4YZ9KO5j_gpAy_MzMn4rZ6nJmMTxqK36rdUIzdKohP0pGteGogJ3Uhx4GbyupLTlTTTLVBkjsrN-nBNIK-7R-t6iabGxBOBfq0JkyKXJk/s1350/Map2_Hwy627_to_Brazeau_Dam_b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1350" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRdns2fNQGUJWtpBYAcaJftT5QN7d84qk4Q7VdByjK70ey4cr8TT9kAUJECCkMFGb-I0Hv3gpiHVG45PqjG6m4YZ9KO5j_gpAy_MzMn4rZ6nJmMTxqK36rdUIzdKohP0pGteGogJ3Uhx4GbyupLTlTTTLVBkjsrN-nBNIK-7R-t6iabGxBOBfq0JkyKXJk/w640-h366/Map2_Hwy627_to_Brazeau_Dam_b.JPG" width="640" /></a></b></div><b> </b><p></p><p><b> </b>Highway 620 runs for a bit over 100 km, from Drayton Valley to
the intersection with Highway 11. The Brazeau Dam is about half way,
at 52 km. There is also a large reservoir that was created by the
dam and that now provides the falling water that drives the turbines.
The Brazeau site is part of a connected series of water management
processes, for flood control, irrigation and power in southern
Alberta.</p>
<p>Traffic on this route was quite light, though there were a number
of logging trucks, as this is forestry country. Similarly for
oilfield trucking. You see quite a few turnoffs along the highway,
sometimes to habitations, but often roads that are used to access
logging or oil exploration sites.
</p>
<p>There are a couple of small hamlets or towns along the way to the
Brazeau Dam, such as Violet Grove and Lodgepole. Lodgepole is
notable for being the site of a sour gas well blowout, which wasn’t
controlled for over two months, back in 1982. The rotten egg sour
gas smell was noticeable throughout much of the province, even being
detectable as far away as Winnipeg at times. This occurred during
the dead of winter, which certainly didn’t help matters, as the air
can be quite still during cold snaps, so the small could linger for a
long time. A blowout preventer was brought in, that finally capped
the well. However, before that success, tragedy struck, killing two
and injuring 16, in some failed attempts to cap it. It was a tricky
operation and some of the most experienced Texans in the profession
finally had to be called in, to shut it down.</p>
<p>It seemed as if we came on the Brazeau Dam rather suddenly, had a
quick look, and it was gone. The best I can do, is a photo from the
internet (Global News).</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWkc9j9j11CIjzgEofCMpI4p21-xOiNx8_ZFiCsPcnryRUc-WhcGz7yfRhinBFewHUt_WjJ2xg-jb0djDt3Tii8aeo-_YCjIH89XS_Cv6pivYMmi8sx0D0Nz8qYWnr1E2dWVlvYFuVdjW5vsPsHqs4HJiHTr0HstuZflFMe6NiR8CyJdUSyzkAjKTiOjg/s650/BrazeauDam_photo_Global_News.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="650" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWkc9j9j11CIjzgEofCMpI4p21-xOiNx8_ZFiCsPcnryRUc-WhcGz7yfRhinBFewHUt_WjJ2xg-jb0djDt3Tii8aeo-_YCjIH89XS_Cv6pivYMmi8sx0D0Nz8qYWnr1E2dWVlvYFuVdjW5vsPsHqs4HJiHTr0HstuZflFMe6NiR8CyJdUSyzkAjKTiOjg/w640-h360/BrazeauDam_photo_Global_News.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br />
<br />
</p>
<p>Alberta doesn’t have very many hydro-power sites, but this is
one of the larger of those few. The Brazeau Dam power-station can
produce about 400,000 Megawatt-Hours (400 Gigawatt-Hours) of
electricity per year . The 16 solar panels at my house produce about
4,500 Kilowatt-Hours (4.5 Megawatt-Hours) per year (4.5
Megawatt-Hours), so this dam produces about as much electricity as
88,000 or so residential solar panel installations, assuming my house
is fairly typical. One of the bigger hydro-station generators in
Quebec’s James Bay project (LG-4) produces about 12,300
Gigawatt-Hours per year, so about 31 times as much power as the
Brazeau Dam (and that’s just one station among many in Quebec).
These figures explain why oil-rich Alberta is not as keen on
decarbonizing the economy as hydro-rich Quebec is.</p>
<p>Shortly thereafter was the turnoff to the Brazeau Reservoir
Recreation Area. It was about lunchtime, so we turned in there to
explore a bit and find a place to eat our picnic meal.</p>
<p>We headed for the area intended for day visitors, which was right
next to the boat launch site. There was a fair bit of parking and
some benches near the reservoir, on which one could relax by the
water. However, there didn’t seem to be any picnic tables, so we
wandered a bit further and came across a group camping site.
Technically, it was off limits to day visitors and closed for the
season anyway. But there was nobody around, so we ducked under the
gate that blocked the vehicle entrance to this area and located a
picnic table, from whence we proceeded to consume our repast of
cheese and sausage sandwiches followed by apple pie. Plus, of course
coffee. Neither of us had bothered with much of a breakfast, so this
simple meal seemed to be quite delicious. It generally helps any
dish to be eaten outside on a picnic table.</p>
<p>Before continuing our journey we did a very brief reconnoitre of
the area. Scott noticed that some poles beside a copse of trees had
wires going to them. Further investigation revealed an electrical
transformer and a panel box, nestled within this area, which also
sported a fire-pit. There were electrical outlets of various
voltages, so obviously this was meant to supply power to RVs and
such. By now I imagine that the power was shut off, though we didn’t
test anything, merely made visual observations of the site. There
were also pipes encased in concrete footings, coming out of the
ground here and there, near where RVs might be parked. I presumed
that this was also something to do with camping (i.e. a utility
hookup for RVs). I suppose you could say this was a bit of a
glamping site, to use a current phrase (i.e. not exactly roughing
it).
</p>
<p>Leaving aside the mysteries of RV camping, it was time to leave,
if we were to make this a daylight day-trip. The October sun sets
pretty early in Alberta. We switched driving duties, since part of
the reason for the trip was my continuing project to get my son Scott
some more wheel-time, and thus get his full driver’s licence. He
hadn’t driven since July, when we went on a long day-trip to
southeastern Alberta, so he was feeling a bit rusty.
</p>
<p>But before that we were delayed by a couple of motorcyclists who
visited the day area where we were parked. But they were harmless,
just visiting the area for a quick pit-stop. Once they were on their
way, Scott took a few quick turns in the boat-launch area, to get a
feel for the car again, and we were off, heading south on Highway 620
again.</p>
<p><b>6</b><b>) </b><b>Highway 620, Brazeau Dam to Highway 11
Intersection</b></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXVwcaoFQpoD8_-0ir2sKWSiFRx6ZrlBVzlcrxPA3w2t1fUOeBKEoc3FjJapVR_Hhb6IsovQ6TDi-NnW7CFpr_FosILy8pSS2n9DPwXeOzltqMwJtQbq3tOYAdq8Z6biI2gKtXVTU_0LCVz39HkFlYsk46rUxDsEC0rW9yZ_xOV30IplLLT7bftuk18VK/s1474/Map3_Brazeau_Dam_to_Falun_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="792" data-original-width="1474" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRXVwcaoFQpoD8_-0ir2sKWSiFRx6ZrlBVzlcrxPA3w2t1fUOeBKEoc3FjJapVR_Hhb6IsovQ6TDi-NnW7CFpr_FosILy8pSS2n9DPwXeOzltqMwJtQbq3tOYAdq8Z6biI2gKtXVTU_0LCVz39HkFlYsk46rUxDsEC0rW9yZ_xOV30IplLLT7bftuk18VK/w640-h344/Map3_Brazeau_Dam_to_Falun_2.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Shortly after leaving the Reservoir
area, we came upon the Brazeau Dam spillway. Our motorcycle friends
had stopped there for a better look. I would have liked to do so as
well, but we had a schedule to keep, so we just had a fleeting look
at it. Another time, I guess. But here is a picture, from the
internet (Google Images). The left hand frame shows the dam spillway
during normal operations, the right hand frame shows the dam during
the 2012 flood year.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JakcJohY21yjGY_Dsp4i277-aYVhiGCECUKN_bF9QNdz-3H4cJJaF0XLRBAcce2n4hR4LZr-vbjMMD_FrzB2ryrpCprH-62o2WEyPAUvyV9WFWxYxCL7Hlv31NARKFyEeg3jO-OHIzubruNLsYYPQ4D7k78G-fNL6S9RM-RoQ1f7i3_mMv1so7dpvkB5/s937/BrazeauDam_photo_Spillway_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="937" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7JakcJohY21yjGY_Dsp4i277-aYVhiGCECUKN_bF9QNdz-3H4cJJaF0XLRBAcce2n4hR4LZr-vbjMMD_FrzB2ryrpCprH-62o2WEyPAUvyV9WFWxYxCL7Hlv31NARKFyEeg3jO-OHIzubruNLsYYPQ4D7k78G-fNL6S9RM-RoQ1f7i3_mMv1so7dpvkB5/w640-h216/BrazeauDam_photo_Spillway_4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Highway 620 from that point on was not
too busy. It was well paved, with some winding sections and some
long straightaways. However, there continued to be quite a few
logging trucks that we met up with, going the other way. There were
also quite a few large trucks that seemed to be hauling gravel or
sand, judging by the tarping of the loads. Trucks hauling oil were
also evident. In fact, there seemed to be more trucks than cars.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">At this time of year, there were many
tamarack trees, with their needles now changed to a sort of
brown-orange colour. This is one of the few “evergreen” trees
that actually is not ever green. Like deciduous trees, they change
colour in the fall. There were also stretch of grasses along the
roadside that had changed colour to a yellowy-red shade. Quite
pretty – reminded me of the lilies-of-the-valley, in our back-yard.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">At some locations, there were some
very long hills to climb. Cycling this route would be quite the
challenge.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74ayqAJbtgq1tQ0yBiHkptxfO2iGGwBKZcQVT8ye3buFKOW5lYweEDsl-O651LMJrvCg-bftojd7sorwVxpBErLrjo8jp4DTHZRP2vTMg_Fv1YurF28dZ-8Rie3_bpuuZ8QS_JW3ripQ7lK0SCNukcc8egMvmiGKlNaIe64jo3lQWo6cxXXoJ6rlO1Tji/s1433/Highway620_Hill.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1433" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74ayqAJbtgq1tQ0yBiHkptxfO2iGGwBKZcQVT8ye3buFKOW5lYweEDsl-O651LMJrvCg-bftojd7sorwVxpBErLrjo8jp4DTHZRP2vTMg_Fv1YurF28dZ-8Rie3_bpuuZ8QS_JW3ripQ7lK0SCNukcc8egMvmiGKlNaIe64jo3lQWo6cxXXoJ6rlO1Tji/w640-h376/Highway620_Hill.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-weight: normal;">
</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There weren’t a lot of landmarks in
this section of the highway, but following are a few that we saw:</p>
<ul><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">The bridge over the Nordegg
River was quite scenic (Google Maps photo)</p><p style="font-weight: normal;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLQLHf4rDaz6i30CAYnStsG3k2bLg1n6yTwF0uzw6g2UrcWQItjwoWQKJk9wPm1lA9vyB_mT5NeFXtm__DTT3c1oc4ZSH_AQg8YGsoe0i4Emp4t26c5w_Fw9Yhq2RGSiVBFtgS68a3oz4buBPyiWW_MjOAgjjYLmSZxdTyezBrHAqikPtVcTnp6WVDGln/s1377/NordeggRiver_Google.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="1377" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLQLHf4rDaz6i30CAYnStsG3k2bLg1n6yTwF0uzw6g2UrcWQItjwoWQKJk9wPm1lA9vyB_mT5NeFXtm__DTT3c1oc4ZSH_AQg8YGsoe0i4Emp4t26c5w_Fw9Yhq2RGSiVBFtgS68a3oz4buBPyiWW_MjOAgjjYLmSZxdTyezBrHAqikPtVcTnp6WVDGln/w640-h342/NordeggRiver_Google.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"></p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There was a gas plant near the
Nordegg River. Generally, the idea is to strip out the sour gas
(hydrogen sulphide) from the methane, as it is very toxic. That
also produces a lot of elemental sulphur, which can be sold and used
for various industrial purposes. You might see huge stacks of
sulphur blocks near one of these plants.</p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">The was a turnoff for the
Sunchild First Nations settlement.
</p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Another crossing was at the
Brewster Creek Bridge. Photo from Google Maps.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ4_sxof6apnFSIdb2lJCQlt4P1YLIn1Uj3qrZ43vHRFvudQSJeWIN9vynl_o6g2vCcCbw4T4OW2zlEHwoYaQk8U3LEfrrpZBP-LzH5a40M_RyiJQmxO7HLzJtZM81zfHhhC__Bo4PImywD6bcNphBJJfI-Jx8AK2B30K91s3LvbyKxLvDxLJD6vi2S-an/s1833/BrewsterCreek_Google.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="1833" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ4_sxof6apnFSIdb2lJCQlt4P1YLIn1Uj3qrZ43vHRFvudQSJeWIN9vynl_o6g2vCcCbw4T4OW2zlEHwoYaQk8U3LEfrrpZBP-LzH5a40M_RyiJQmxO7HLzJtZM81zfHhhC__Bo4PImywD6bcNphBJJfI-Jx8AK2B30K91s3LvbyKxLvDxLJD6vi2S-an/w640-h306/BrewsterCreek_Google.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
</li><li>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">There was also a water crossing
at the Baptiste River Bridge.</p>
</li></ul>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">Since landmarks were rather sparse,
mileage signs were sometimes visible on the side of the road.
Presumably, those would be helpful for drivers of logging trucks and
other vehicles to get their bearings, find the proper road into the
bush and that sort of thing.</p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;">At the intersection of Highway 620 and
Highway 11 we turned east onto 11.</p><p>In Part 3, we finish the trip. <br /></p><p> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><h2 class="western" style="page-break-before: always;">Further Reading</h2>
<p>If you like road trips, here are a couple more on Amazon, just
$0.99 (99 cents U.S., equivalent in other currencies). Once every
three months or so, they are free, so keep looking if you want to
save that money for your retirement years. :)</p>
<h1 class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm;">On
the Road with Bronco Billy</h1><h1 class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9p91GEs843asXHCt2ok6s5mizExAP0AXT9gRx19KJOTAZKDR5EGiuN9WpFdrT9MkqaBYQVc6Ihn0CRheUYsdTdP9ob2ex6P6Kv3cJLVkIgBZwSGtM7OqXnCl05x4LuNUgBHyraJV5PtKk5xFMOAmw4EjqQmOb4vzg4UUg4GOHIeVGiYdwBo7h0ODoj72/s2500/BroncoBilly_TestCover2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1555" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9p91GEs843asXHCt2ok6s5mizExAP0AXT9gRx19KJOTAZKDR5EGiuN9WpFdrT9MkqaBYQVc6Ihn0CRheUYsdTdP9ob2ex6P6Kv3cJLVkIgBZwSGtM7OqXnCl05x4LuNUgBHyraJV5PtKk5xFMOAmw4EjqQmOb4vzg4UUg4GOHIeVGiYdwBo7h0ODoj72/s320/BroncoBilly_TestCover2.jpg" width="199" /></a></div></h1>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="_GoBack2"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Sit back and go on a ten day
trucking trip in a big rig, through western North America, from
Alberta to Texas, and back again. Explore the countryside, learn
some trucking lingo, and observe the shifting cultural norms across
this great continent. </span>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Canada: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Australia: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
France: <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Japan: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
India: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">=======================================================</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">What
follows is an account of a ten day journey through western North
America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton
Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The
writer had the opportunity to accompany a friend who is a
professional truck driver, which he eagerly accepted. He works as a
statistician for the University of Alberta, and is therefore is
generally confined to desk, chair, and computer. The chance to see
the world from the cab of a truck, and be immersed in the truck
driving culture was intriguing. In early May 1997 they hit the road.</span></p>
<p style="border-bottom: 1.05pt double #000000; border-left: none; border-right: none; border-top: none; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; padding-bottom: 0.07cm; padding-left: 0cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Some time has passed since this
journal was written and many things have changed since the late
1990’s. That renders the journey as not just a geographical one,
but also a historical account, which I think only increases its
interest. <br />
<br />
We were fortunate to have an eventful trip - a
mechanical breakdown, a near miss from a tornado, and a large-scale
flood were among these events. But even without these turns of fate,
the drama of the landscape, the close-up view of the trucking
lifestyle, and the opportunity to observe the cultural habits of a
wide swath of western North America would have been sufficient to
fill up an interesting journal. <br />
<br />
The travelogue is about
20,000 words, about 60 to 90 minutes of reading, at typical reading
speeds.</span></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</p>
<h1 class="western">Driving North - On the Road to Northern Alberta
and the Northwest Territories: A Driving Journal</h1>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="_GoBack3"></a>
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Have
you ever wondered about a road trip to the far north, north of the
Sixtieth Parallel? Well, here is your chance to read about three
road trips, through the Peace River country and the northern Rockies,
all the way to the shores of Great Slave Lake, just south of the
Arctic Circle.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Just
$1.99 on Amazon, or free if you have Kindle Unlimited.</span></span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqYIxixf9qZS-z7MdANMaP2-yOtaafm_jnB57lYWE9tXVr5uMXcjAo2tQVHOvR3nS9fZ3qFirrqSiZYVa2HSttsl2g29h_fu_ubQdCXNdykvI4FLl-Q55WCVkTWzIKxg2_oMqv-BIjosmuqA5muWppkZHsiTMEgKwxnZ8GEJM27VkxdJxSAccWev1_J-oU/s2500/Driving_North_2b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1671" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqYIxixf9qZS-z7MdANMaP2-yOtaafm_jnB57lYWE9tXVr5uMXcjAo2tQVHOvR3nS9fZ3qFirrqSiZYVa2HSttsl2g29h_fu_ubQdCXNdykvI4FLl-Q55WCVkTWzIKxg2_oMqv-BIjosmuqA5muWppkZHsiTMEgKwxnZ8GEJM27VkxdJxSAccWev1_J-oU/s320/Driving_North_2b.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.K: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
CA: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
France: </span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Spain: </span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Australia: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></u></span></span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
</p><p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
</p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The
highways in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories give one
the opportunity to drive pretty far north, without a lot of elaborate
preparations and extreme expense. Starting from Edmonton, one can
drive as far north as Yellowknife, NWT, without leaving the hardtop,
so an average vehicle can do the trip. There are a reasonable number
of fair sized towns along the way, so accommodations are not much of
a problem, either. The same goes for food, gasoline and other
essentials.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
One
can also link up with the Alaska Highway, and the Dempster Highway,
and make it all the way to the Arctic Ocean. But that’s another
story.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Trip
number 1 involved driving north through Alberta, visiting several
areas of interest along the way, then into the Northwest Territories,
to Hay River on the southern shore of Great Slave Lake. The return
trip featured a drive through the north-central foothills of the
Rocky Mountains.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Trip
number 2 was a combined air and car trip. We went to Yellowknife,
Northwest Territories by airplane, then rented a car to explore much
of the area of the north shore of Great Slave Lake.</span></span></span></p>
<p align="left" lang="en-US" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">
Trip
number 3 was a return to Hay River, with a different travelling
companion. This allowed one to retrace steps, compare and contrast,
and focus on some areas that we had not had time to explore in depth
on trip number 1.</span></span></span></p>
<p><br />
<br />
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-86873860379192007992023-11-04T17:07:00.000-07:002023-11-04T17:07:48.897-07:00The Stalkers or Who Stalks the Stalker<h1 class="western" lang="en-US">The Stalker: A Gothic Crime Story </h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<i><b>A sexual predator stalks the city. He has chosen his unwary
victim - he waits, he watches, he stalks. But, who stalks the
stalker?</b></i><br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftcZkjVPO3OEJ-H9zxia1i4u1CHceP8b4N5LVVnwA6UAYwwh6wH9kVRtyHqhhM9VQcRN_-6UCdy1qOjXGvqRMRyhVG51PxH3rEwVNTsa8n4t_yO2m5Ecio9em7ftRzdrBfT6eQTj_X1l4aT5FsiQCiDSELZYEN7KUvc1yakAYYwBtY73apmEL9ne75pts/s2500/Stalkers_Highrise_and_Man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1710" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiftcZkjVPO3OEJ-H9zxia1i4u1CHceP8b4N5LVVnwA6UAYwwh6wH9kVRtyHqhhM9VQcRN_-6UCdy1qOjXGvqRMRyhVG51PxH3rEwVNTsa8n4t_yO2m5Ecio9em7ftRzdrBfT6eQTj_X1l4aT5FsiQCiDSELZYEN7KUvc1yakAYYwBtY73apmEL9ne75pts/s320/Stalkers_Highrise_and_Man.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
I wrote this some time back, when there were a number of rapes in the
Toronto Scarborough area by someone who became known as “the
balcony rapist”. At the time, he hadn’t been caught yet, though
he was arrested later, for these and other horrible crimes.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
So, the story is fictional, but loosely based on that era’s events,
though with purely imagined plot twists. I suppose this was a sort
of fictional rumination <br />on evil, attempting to get into the mind of
such a person. But, even with a million words, I doubt that it is
possible to get into a mind like that.</p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;"> But justice does prevail in the end. <br /></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
This is a short story of about 7500 somewhat disturbing words. It is priced at a very just 99 cents U.S. (equivalent prices in other currencies). It is also on Kindle Unlimited and is periodically offered free on an Amazon promotion period.<br /></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BJJM9W53">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BJJM9W53</a></u></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-13748429750230307662023-11-04T16:51:00.000-07:002023-11-04T16:51:18.187-07:00A Christmas Miracle at the Lake<h1 style="text-align: left;">A Christmas Miracle at the Lake</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi924raQ0UcOyEYxqCYFHG4RMgnwA_fAr8eaik1bIIzNIcyVqhy5gWMSnHqayCDy8zM2sHjeMSs-RYXjUwUrRR6sUFt38iRiCrQcBuZmM1JDB0ZoMZTqJ-KdCLy-Hi0NugdOMN0iafpIkA35L0RxNvlFCRbTSyzY6WyUzSd4NDZl_4ni7-IDgJWPfw_0O5/s570/ChristmasMiracle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="369" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi924raQ0UcOyEYxqCYFHG4RMgnwA_fAr8eaik1bIIzNIcyVqhy5gWMSnHqayCDy8zM2sHjeMSs-RYXjUwUrRR6sUFt38iRiCrQcBuZmM1JDB0ZoMZTqJ-KdCLy-Hi0NugdOMN0iafpIkA35L0RxNvlFCRbTSyzY6WyUzSd4NDZl_4ni7-IDgJWPfw_0O5/s320/ChristmasMiracle.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>“<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A
Christmas Miracle at the Lake” is a short story of about 10,000
words, concerning a troubled family and a marvelous Christmas visit,
by a modern Christmas ghost, who has an important (and hard-earned)
message about tolerance and understanding. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
is a continuation of Helena’s holiday stories, which feature
continuing characters at a northern Ontario lake.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It
is priced at 99 cents U.S., equivalent prices in other currencies.
It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is periodically offered
on a free promotion.</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.S.: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">ttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
U.K.: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Canada: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Germany: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon
Australia: </span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00RAWMO32"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00RAWMO32</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon India: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon France: <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00RAWMO32</a>
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Japan: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Amazon Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00RAWMO32">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00RAWMO32</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-17605411487349017842023-11-04T16:04:00.000-07:002023-11-04T16:04:16.528-07:00The Age of Miracles -A Father’s or Grandfather’s Day Story <h2 class="western" lang="en-US" style="page-break-before: always;">The
Age of Miracles -A Father’s or Grandfather’s Day Story
</h2>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
<i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsz_zfBCBDPcsb-_8ZjUvR-BgcXn3tNcd1FEXNEKWOJzytPvIHi2ikYlBjWet3OdmkL4IClp9Txa_jFXbKGiqAoqiQ6Hzg5YccKSBQVtMIvbOFCgYvxP763IafJN-ciNrPOgSm3bYeaLyAdoR_QwUSIbQ2NXstZyuBLL3H-JkOAC0IeavcQBIXZKUqUIA/s2500/Age_of_Miracles.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1602" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrsz_zfBCBDPcsb-_8ZjUvR-BgcXn3tNcd1FEXNEKWOJzytPvIHi2ikYlBjWet3OdmkL4IClp9Txa_jFXbKGiqAoqiQ6Hzg5YccKSBQVtMIvbOFCgYvxP763IafJN-ciNrPOgSm3bYeaLyAdoR_QwUSIbQ2NXstZyuBLL3H-JkOAC0IeavcQBIXZKUqUIA/s320/Age_of_Miracles.jpeg" width="205" /></a></i></div><i>It was my wife’s Father’s Day gift to me, so it seems only
appropriate to share. </i><i>Though it could just as easily be seen
as a grandfather’s day story.</i><p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-size: small;">This
short story (approx. 6000 words) relates a trek along a lakefront
path by a grandfather and his grandson. The simple lakeside walk
becomes a journey of discovery, whereby they each learn much about
the other, strengthening the bond between themselves</span> <span style="font-size: small;">in
the process. When a </span><span style="font-size: small;">medical
</span><span style="font-size: small;">crisis occurs, they,
along with the boy’s father and the rest of the family and friends,
learn something about the mysterious forces of the universe, about
life and death, and about hope for the future.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
story is set in a Northern Ontario lake community, and continues to
explore the setting and characters introduced in “The Boathouse
Christ”, “Where the Apple Falls” and “A Christmas Miracle at
the Lake”, also by Helena Puumala.</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 108%; margin-bottom: 0.28cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It
is priced at a very reasonable 99 cents U.S., with equivalent pricing
in other currencies. It is also available on Amazon Unlimited and is
periodically offered on a free promotion.</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SCV6284"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SCV6284</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon U.K.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09SCV6284">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/</a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SCV6284">B09SCV6284</a></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon Germany:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B09SCV6284">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/</a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SCV6284">B09SCV6284</a></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon Canada:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09SCV6284"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/</span></a></u></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SCV6284"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">B09SCV6284</span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Australia:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon France:
<a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Italy:
<a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Netherlands:
<a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Spain:
<a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon India:
<a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Mexico:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Brazil:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; orphans: 2; widows: 2;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon Japan:
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0B3WR2QPQ</a></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-47447123085443163042023-11-04T15:38:00.000-07:002023-11-04T15:38:07.171-07:00On the Road with Bronco Billy - A Trucking Journal<h1 style="text-align: left;"> On the Road with Bronco Billy</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a name="_GoBack2"></a>
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCWNw0FgZYxf5TuUf_nyFauov7R97ZPKpdFxrgXJ7lRiP2R7sM-uY3Joe3nEVjrcClhMRsuT83Ht4ujW9RJil5MsRWKMo2vw-W4AWB3tSKX3_CZyoBLBuHTox8I7x2LiSu07O4e8BcYjxkGo5rJgXC_yCQW44ldKalne2IpjTkmkAGMfhuwsfRNsO0_uN/s2500/BroncoBilly_TestCover2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2500" data-original-width="1555" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCWNw0FgZYxf5TuUf_nyFauov7R97ZPKpdFxrgXJ7lRiP2R7sM-uY3Joe3nEVjrcClhMRsuT83Ht4ujW9RJil5MsRWKMo2vw-W4AWB3tSKX3_CZyoBLBuHTox8I7x2LiSu07O4e8BcYjxkGo5rJgXC_yCQW44ldKalne2IpjTkmkAGMfhuwsfRNsO0_uN/s320/BroncoBilly_TestCover2.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>Sit back and go on a ten day trucking trip in a big rig, through
western North America, from Alberta to Texas, and back again.
Explore the countryside, learn some trucking lingo, and observe the
shifting cultural norms across this great continent.
<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
The
travelogue is about 20,000 words, about an hour or two of reading,
at typical reading speeds. It is priced at a trifling 99 cents U.S.,
and is also available on Kindle Unlimited. Periodically, it is offered
as a free promotion.
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon U.S.:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon U.K.:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Canada:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Australia:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Germany:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon France:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Spain:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Italy:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Netherlands:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Japan:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Brazil:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon Mexico:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">Amazon India:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00X2IRHSK</a></u></span></span></p><p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;">=======================================================</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
What follows is an account of a ten day journey through western North
America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton
Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The
writer had the opportunity to accompany a friend who is a
professional truck driver, which he eagerly accepted. He works as a
statistician for the University of Alberta, and is therefore is
generally confined to desk, chair, and computer. The chance to see
the world from the cab of a truck, and be immersed in the truck
driving culture was intriguing. In early May 1997 they hit the road.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Some time has passed since this journal was written and many things
have changed since the late 1990’s. That renders the journey as not
just a geographical one, but also a historical account, which I think
only increases its interest. <br />
<br />
We were fortunate to have an
eventful trip - a mechanical breakdown, a near miss from a tornado,
and a large-scale flood were among these events. But even without
these turns of fate, the drama of the landscape, the close-up view of
the trucking lifestyle, and the opportunity to observe the cultural
habits of a wide swath of western North America would have been
sufficient to fill up an interesting journal. <br />
<br /><br /></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-44351466945044730322023-11-04T15:23:00.002-07:002023-11-04T15:23:40.026-07:00Up There Came A Flower <h1 class="western" lang="en-US">Up There Came A Flower
</h1>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.49cm;"><a name="_GoBack9"></a>
<span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDWpDOT8BmE1JFETa2J2KNuYDEp1zDq6nTjIcqHGSHpRtBjoRMm7ySe4tiGCBmChKFsjZ_uBhon3wT3tDflylrwCW5xY9YheRexRUAl0O-QIw4LXNcdoOOJmn3oWTmb0jbJYp9IRgpPkptMgNJiLT5NK1w_pEiz-rwnQ_lJALK7ZeksvwYOADqIqstix7/s2496/UpThereCameAFlower_Cover2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2496" data-original-width="1671" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDWpDOT8BmE1JFETa2J2KNuYDEp1zDq6nTjIcqHGSHpRtBjoRMm7ySe4tiGCBmChKFsjZ_uBhon3wT3tDflylrwCW5xY9YheRexRUAl0O-QIw4LXNcdoOOJmn3oWTmb0jbJYp9IRgpPkptMgNJiLT5NK1w_pEiz-rwnQ_lJALK7ZeksvwYOADqIqstix7/s320/UpThereCameAFlower_Cover2.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />This is
a family story, about the difficult challenges that young women can
face, choosing between career aspirations and children and family.
It’s by Science Fiction and Romance writer Helena Puumala, so it
has that blend of realism and warm emotion that is one of her
specialties. Sometimes, advice on the matter can come from
unexpected sources, as in this story.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The story is about 6000 words
(about an 45 minutes to an hour reading time at typical reading
speeds). It is a companion piece to the story “Love and Rebirth on
the Prairie”, though you don’t have to read one to enjoy the
other (though it never hurts :)).</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">It is also on Kindle
Unlimited, and after the free promotion week will cost $0.99 on
Amazon.</span></p>
<p align="center" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Amazon U.K</span><span style="font-size: small;">:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Canada</span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Australia: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Germany: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">
</span></span>
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
Japan: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">
</span></span>
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
France: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">
</span></span>
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">Amazon
India: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07BD3BK37"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07BD3BK37</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07BD3BK37">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07BD3BK37</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B07BD3BK37">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B07BD3BK37</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07BD3BK37">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07BD3BK37</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B07BD3BK37">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B07BD3BK37</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B07BD3BK37">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B07BD3BK37</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-30720346377189281402023-11-04T15:06:00.002-07:002023-11-04T15:06:47.042-07:00Love at the Lake Part 2 - A Mid-Summer Morning's Dream at the Lake<h1 class="western" lang="en-US" style="page-break-before: always;">Love
at the Lake Part 2 - A Mid-Summer Morning's Dream at the Lake</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNRTzOXo3myF3oHhjZyow3vxU-0DDlAXjpNzr6pzs2x4Y_-cG_SFdja2RAmoX8SAF8vGEUXExz9JQD3dQQLpzpc7LtHQ0b71M5Vocuhy0gf_TqwfgxZwWbP50oBhOIwJMT8PF65am7nuRNUZRPuqrZ4tzncQY4YjkMDQu24OmIG6VW7slLWJZxgdBchYL/s1040/MidSummerMorningDream5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1040" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNNRTzOXo3myF3oHhjZyow3vxU-0DDlAXjpNzr6pzs2x4Y_-cG_SFdja2RAmoX8SAF8vGEUXExz9JQD3dQQLpzpc7LtHQ0b71M5Vocuhy0gf_TqwfgxZwWbP50oBhOIwJMT8PF65am7nuRNUZRPuqrZ4tzncQY4YjkMDQu24OmIG6VW7slLWJZxgdBchYL/s320/MidSummerMorningDream5.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Here is another wonderful story by writer Helena Puumala, one of her
warm, emotional “at the Lake” stories. It is a sequel to “Love
at the Lake”, which involved the consequences of marital
infidelity, real and imagined, within the relationships of two young
couples. <br />
<br />
What happens next? Can love be recovered after
thoughtless betrayal? Perhaps, but only with a little help from a
mysterious dark haired woman, in this modern-day spin of a fairy tale
for adults. <br />
<br />
This is a short story, of about 9000 words,
suitable to be read in about 45 minutes to an hour, by a typical
reader. It is priced at 99 cents U.S., equivalent price in other
currencies. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited and is
periodically offered as a free promotion.<br />
<br />
Amazon U.S.
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span><br />
Amazon
U.K. <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span><br />
Amazon
Canada <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span><br />
Amazon
Australia <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span>
<br />
Amazon
Germany <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span><br />
Amazon
France <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span><br />
Amazon
Japan <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q">http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B0125Y7O1Q</a></u></span> <p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Amazon Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0125Y7O1Q">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0125Y7O1Q</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Amazon Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0125Y7O1Q">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0125Y7O1Q</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Amazon Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0125Y7O1Q">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0125Y7O1Q</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Amazon India: <a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0125Y7O1Q">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0125Y7O1Q</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Amazon Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0125Y7O1Q">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0125Y7O1Q</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Amazon Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0125Y7O1Q">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0125Y7O1Q</a><br />
<br />
<br />
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-84814037410898652682023-11-04T14:53:00.001-07:002023-11-04T14:53:28.143-07:00Love at the Lake<h1 style="text-align: left;"> Love at the Lake</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDCTkDcTkCrSgcZ_i_iAWU-68Y_0OP5JQJN25rB5y066QENVi3eGlH3pmMs2REyu0pHpsuUE6rPJTZRShKN-QqfuoteMEgszCfXzyLscisHJCdNBgCcxoG8L0j2lqcg0EWkGWCCBUME-wcThyphenhyphenBUvv5T1r0zPCUKIG1mgz75aO3XXkUOvO4gTeu7DyNAM7n/s2499/Love-at-the-lake_Cover2_JPG_UseThisBigLucida.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2499" data-original-width="1568" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDCTkDcTkCrSgcZ_i_iAWU-68Y_0OP5JQJN25rB5y066QENVi3eGlH3pmMs2REyu0pHpsuUE6rPJTZRShKN-QqfuoteMEgszCfXzyLscisHJCdNBgCcxoG8L0j2lqcg0EWkGWCCBUME-wcThyphenhyphenBUvv5T1r0zPCUKIG1mgz75aO3XXkUOvO4gTeu7DyNAM7n/s320/Love-at-the-lake_Cover2_JPG_UseThisBigLucida.jpg" width="201" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: small;">This romantic short story
(approx. 6000 words) tells about the first days of a summer vacation
of two couples with young children, who have cottages on a Northern
Ontario lake. Both of their marriages are affected, in different
ways, by the arrival of a luscious, blonde eighteen-year-old, at a
neighbouring cottage. Janice is a flirt, at the least, and Mary Anne
and Doris have to decide how they will deal with the attention that
she is showering upon their not unattractive spouses. And their
husbands, Tim and Ross have to figure out what is the most important
to each of them. Is the opportunity to bed a beautiful young woman
more important than an established family of wife and children?</span><p></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The book is priced at only 99
cents U.S. or equivalent in other currencies. It is also available
on Kindle Unlimited and is periodically offered on free promotion. It is a short, but satisfying read.<br />
</span><br />
<br />
</p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 0.2cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">On </span><span style="font-size: small;">Amazon:</span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;">U.S.:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IPSZKLS"><span style="font-size: small;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IPSZKLS</span></a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
CAN: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
AUSTRALIA: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
GERMANY: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
FRANCE: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
SPAIN: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
ITALY: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
NETHERLANDS: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
JAPAN: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
BRAZIL: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
MEXICO: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
INDIA: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00IPSZKLS">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00IPSZKLS</a></u></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-21513017658650632642023-11-04T14:42:00.000-07:002023-11-04T14:42:08.275-07:00A Week in San Francisco - Wine, Walk, Water<p> <span style="font-family: Calibri Light, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">A
Week in San Francisco </span></span>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoYBsxk0MH5U3Bh9D19a83CBTc9Dei0odmZy8-jQaVrvtHw-d_WF74z8sRK_UggaNl8VP3Q3tnL-pLuWnc0sJzaHcBEGnanfMQ-ol7c1QJPJum7MDC5VToRA1Jcxa_Nr0Ge75DNRAH-gPo6-OLkvSXUWSl_A-6vz0pAHHOcOhe_q4kG4XdAUvSiiuQMWw/s2736/SanFransico_Harbor&GoldenGate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="1820" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwoYBsxk0MH5U3Bh9D19a83CBTc9Dei0odmZy8-jQaVrvtHw-d_WF74z8sRK_UggaNl8VP3Q3tnL-pLuWnc0sJzaHcBEGnanfMQ-ol7c1QJPJum7MDC5VToRA1Jcxa_Nr0Ge75DNRAH-gPo6-OLkvSXUWSl_A-6vz0pAHHOcOhe_q4kG4XdAUvSiiuQMWw/s320/SanFransico_Harbor&GoldenGate.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />As the Covid-19 lockdown is eased, it is natural to want to travel
and explore. San Francisco is a world-famous city, one that everyone
should try to see at least once in their lifetime.
<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
San Francisco, in central California, is one of the top tourist
destinations in the United States. In addition, it generally rates
very highly on lists of top “world-class” cities.<br />
<br />
What
makes San Francisco so compelling? I would say that it is a
combination of a beautiful natural setting, a fascinating history and
a remarkable blend of cultures, along with a tolerant and welcoming
attitude towards newcomers and new things. Plus, there are a great
many sights to see, combining a touristy nature and a local “we
live here” authenticity.<br />
<br />
The book describes a trip of to
the city of about a week, which is time enough to see a lot, but not
enough time to see even a small fraction of what the city and
environs has to explore. In our case, we did a lot of foot-based
sightseeing and bus touring in the city and around the bay, as well
as taking a nice bus-based wine tour of some of the Sonoma/Napa
valley wineries. It was definitely a week well spent.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
The book is about 20,000 words, about two or three hours at typical
reading speeds. The price is a mere $1.99 U.S. (equivalent in
other currencies). It is also on Kindle Unlimited and is
periodically featured on a free promotion.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Canada: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Australia: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></u></span>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
France: <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B09675F6MJ</a>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09675F6MJ">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B09675F6MJ</a></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-6000084222102903042023-11-04T14:15:00.002-07:002023-11-04T14:21:39.523-07:00Bad Lands and Giant Heads - A Trip Through the Dakotas<h1 class="western" lang="en-US">Bad Lands and Giant Heads - A Trip
Through the Dakotas</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm; margin-top: 0.2cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lOOwcaJrrsg-uRpAYhY3Mfq1ZqlyxDBq3GqO6LreQ0neD1aEa_51YyfQa81xDPMBPKGb9e_gw4wnsuXRgbmLNPcSc9Bcp2jhSU6W_dZWeM6qrrE0lpjv-CXii1p0wMrVfT3zTrvoDLhku3KWZO1l_SRJEroJLjutcaOHjtLygKgStafqfVF_Je2ZC9AU/s600/Bad_Lands_Giant_Heads_2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="385" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lOOwcaJrrsg-uRpAYhY3Mfq1ZqlyxDBq3GqO6LreQ0neD1aEa_51YyfQa81xDPMBPKGb9e_gw4wnsuXRgbmLNPcSc9Bcp2jhSU6W_dZWeM6qrrE0lpjv-CXii1p0wMrVfT3zTrvoDLhku3KWZO1l_SRJEroJLjutcaOHjtLygKgStafqfVF_Je2ZC9AU/s320/Bad_Lands_Giant_Heads_2.jpg" width="205" /></a></div> The heartland of America is vast and sparsely
populated, perhaps a good place to visit in these days.
<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
North and South Dakota are nearly dead center in the middle of North
America and might well be considered the heart of The Heartland, at
least geographically and perhaps culturally and politically. Though
they are not as popular as the tourist destinations of the coasts or
the mountain regions, they have their own stark beauty and western
frontier attraction. Indeed, anyone who wants to truly understand
America should put these two states on their list of places to visit.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Both states are rather sparsely populated yet still possess many
fascinating historical, geological and cultural features. Key among
these are the Badlands of North and South Dakota, The Black Hills of
South Dakota, including the famous historical western settlement of
Deadwood, Mount Rushmore National Monument, and Theodore Roosevelt
National Park. There are also many thriving smaller cities such as
Fargo, Sioux Falls and Grand Forks, which have benefitted from the
oil boom of the recent past, yet maintain the tradition of rural and
small city friendliness.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
This account focusses on a ten-day road trip in June 2010, beginning
in Winnipeg Manitoba (just north of the Dakotas), travelling through
the western part of North Dakota, then through South Dakota and back
up to Canada via the eastern side of North Dakota. The dramatic
natural beauty of the Badlands of North and South Dakota are
contrasted with the man-made wonder of Mount Rushmore and the
historical landmarks of the Black Hills and the Lake Sacagawea
region.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
The book is about 10,000 words, about an hour at typical reading
speeds. The price is a mere 99 cents U.S. (equivalent in other
currencies). It is also on Kindle Unlimited and is periodically
featured on a free promotion.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Canada: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Australia: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></u></span>
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
France: <a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Spain: <a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0868CK2XQ">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0868CK2XQ</a></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-34841933949856634302023-11-04T14:00:00.000-07:002023-11-04T14:00:09.399-07:00A Trip to Vancouver and Vancouver Island<h1 style="text-align: left;"> A Trip to Vancouver and Vancouver
Island</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhraJNnSBflEpivjMAhRnftuAyQVWi7PHca7Rr8fBtqwClaGcAPjJrL4UAue5-t2dFRGmYknbnuE2b-vy-7yyiydOvft13eEnZd__qCiNr0a42U91SEayun2fHqONaoNDiVkQi8hvtvm9UjKo8aQi51QC6zI6wuv6TKURURjwQuWpo9FSs5xe41I1Wcpgoh/s2504/Vancouver_VancouverIsland_Trip.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2504" data-original-width="1604" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhraJNnSBflEpivjMAhRnftuAyQVWi7PHca7Rr8fBtqwClaGcAPjJrL4UAue5-t2dFRGmYknbnuE2b-vy-7yyiydOvft13eEnZd__qCiNr0a42U91SEayun2fHqONaoNDiVkQi8hvtvm9UjKo8aQi51QC6zI6wuv6TKURURjwQuWpo9FSs5xe41I1Wcpgoh/s320/Vancouver_VancouverIsland_Trip.JPG" width="205" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Vancouver, British Columbia, on the
west coast of Canada, is one of the top tourist destinations in the
country. In addition, it generally rates highly on lists of top
tourist destinations in North America. It has both beautiful scenery
and an energetic urban vibe, as well as being a major international
seaport. It is the headquarters of several significant international
corporations and has a world-class research university.</span><p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">Vancouver Island is also a major
tourist draw. It has an incredible diversity of amazing scenery,
among which are as several world-famous hiking trails and spectacular
beaches. Victoria is a thriving city, but it still has a quaint feel
to it. The smaller communities are also very scenic, with an
interesting mix of environmentalists and people who work in natural
resources.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is an account of a roughly
two-week visit to the area. It includes time spent in Vancouver,
Victoria, Tofino, Port Alberni and Port Renfrew. Some of the major
hiking trails are sampled (via day-hikes), including the West Coast
Trail, the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail and trails on Grouse Mountain.
Also included are accounts of the amazing salmon migration in
Goldstream Park, a long walk along the Vancouver seawall, visits to
the giant old-growth forests of Vancouver Island, Long Beach near
Tofino and the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. There’s more, but read
on to discover that.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;">The
story is about 20000 words (about two or three hours reading time at
typical reading speeds) and features many photographs. It is only
$1.99 on Amazon (U.S. or equivalent in other currencies) and is
also on Kindle Unlimited. You can also watch for it on free
promotions, every 3 months or so.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">On
Amazon:</span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Canada: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Australia: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Brazil: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
France: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Spain: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Italy: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Netherlands: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Mexico: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0BG9SQBVR">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0BG9SQBVR</a></u></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-8989332332161140652023-11-04T12:50:00.000-07:002023-11-04T12:50:12.549-07:00A Drive Around the Coast of Nova Scotia<h1 class="western" lang="en-US">A Drive Around the Coast of Nova
Scotia</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZ-oWeHJL8m5eiIUBuDyeruXAXge5k4Cim5k2WiTt4NvrK-z-NykGcyo9Kok3UKPsJ0caAupwBXi0xPfkw78xFq-NkEJVENlc47Uxvbt29uoE_N823npCp5MDCWzp91y62T6oTBju2z5wPJgf2Sid9urzKSdtMK2zJ5EYfvE32mtTh9JMD6GsExTBU52_/s700/NovaScotia_Cover_Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="447" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPZ-oWeHJL8m5eiIUBuDyeruXAXge5k4Cim5k2WiTt4NvrK-z-NykGcyo9Kok3UKPsJ0caAupwBXi0xPfkw78xFq-NkEJVENlc47Uxvbt29uoE_N823npCp5MDCWzp91y62T6oTBju2z5wPJgf2Sid9urzKSdtMK2zJ5EYfvE32mtTh9JMD6GsExTBU52_/s320/NovaScotia_Cover_Small.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br />Nova Scotia is one of Canada’s smaller provinces, but it is
extremely varied and interesting, nonetheless. It features highlands
and mountains reminiscent of Scotland in the north, vast tidal flats
in the west, and pleasant uplands on the eastern and southern shores.
Most of the coastal areas are connected by roads of varying sizes
that never wander far from the shore, so a circumnavigation of the
province by automobile offers constantly changing (and spectacular)
vistas of land and sea. The Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island is
widely recognized as one of the most scenic drives in Canada and in
North America in general.<br />
<br />
The city of Halifax is a modern
cosmopolitan region, but maintains its heritage as one of the most
historically important areas on the Eastern seaboard of North
America. It is the largest city in Atlantic Canada, but still has a
laid-back feel to it and a pace that makes it an interesting, yet
un-stressful place to visit.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.42cm;"><a name="_GoBack7"></a>
This account focuses on a two-week road trip which circumnavigated
the province, beginning in Halifax, going through to Cape Breton via
Canso, on to the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, then back via the Bay of
Fundy, the South Shore and on to Halifax.<br />
<br />
The book is
about 10,000 words, about an hour at typical reading speeds and sells
for the awesome price of just 99 cents.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.K.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Germany: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Japan: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Canada: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
Australia: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
India: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">France:
</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07TN9GHHX"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07TN9GHHX</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Italy:</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Netherlands:</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Spain:</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Mexico:</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Brazil:</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B07TN9GHHX">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B07TN9GHHX</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-74504285452134503762023-11-04T12:17:00.001-07:002023-11-04T12:18:00.895-07:00Hiking the Wild North Shore of Lake Superior<p>
</p><h1 class="western" lang="en-US" style="margin-bottom: 0.42cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
Hiking the Wild North Shore of Lake Superior</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDYmBkd1uKflUoCEwNqCO21AONT5q_SCpInFVuM8GfrIejTslGfO90fiItpBrn1TRVQTHyE_4jMihQp2h0sqVC4Ythinzr-OISFXozFZamb820qLdZMS7QN_yEfQ5m_zbQab7H0cs0oFa1j5o5qZatGGeit9IoIg9E7_6RQUCxksltEFChpXhSaOJ6ORr/s500/LakeSuperiorHiking_Cover_Small2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="336" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbDYmBkd1uKflUoCEwNqCO21AONT5q_SCpInFVuM8GfrIejTslGfO90fiItpBrn1TRVQTHyE_4jMihQp2h0sqVC4Ythinzr-OISFXozFZamb820qLdZMS7QN_yEfQ5m_zbQab7H0cs0oFa1j5o5qZatGGeit9IoIg9E7_6RQUCxksltEFChpXhSaOJ6ORr/s320/LakeSuperiorHiking_Cover_Small2.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br />The north shore of Lake Superior is wild and beautiful. It is also
quite sparsely populated, so a hiking trip (or other adventure) will
truly give you chance to get away from it all, and back to nature in
its full glory.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
Lake Superior is big – it is the largest of the North American
Great Lakes, and one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world.
One could spend years exploring the area, and still have barely
touched the possibilities.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
This account focuses on a multi-day backpacking trip in Pukaskwa
National Park, some light canoeing in White Lake Provincial Park, and
some day-hiking in the Thunder Bay area.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
What follows is a journal of some of the highlights of a trip to
Northern Ontario in the summer of 1998. That gives the trip a bit of
a historical flavor, but things don’t change very quickly in the
wild country of the true north, so it will also give the reader a
good idea of what to expect during their own exploration of the north
shore.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.35cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="font-family: arial, serif;">Y</span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">ou can
purchase it for 99 cents </span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">U.S.,
equivalent price in other currencies.</span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">
Alternatively, keep your eyes open for a free promotions, which occur
periodically. Or, get it with Kindle Unlimited.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
U.S.: <span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F9TV4C8">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F9TV4C8</a></u></span><br />
U.K.:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F9TV4C8">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07F9TV4C8</a></u></span> <br />
Germany:
<span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07F9TV4C8">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07F9TV4C8</a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">France:
</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F9TV4C8"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07F9TV4C8</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Italy:
</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B074LZDQ9F</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Spain:
</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B074LZDQ9F</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Netherlands:
</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B074LZDQ9F</span></span></span></a></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Mexico:</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B074LZDQ9F</a></span></span></span></u></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Brazil:
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B074LZDQ9F</span></span></span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;"><br />
Japan:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07F9TV4C8"><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07F9TV4C8</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;"> <br />
Canada:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F9TV4C8"><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07F9TV4C8</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;"><br />
Australia:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F9TV4C8"><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07F9TV4C8</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;"><br />
India:
</span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07F9TV4C8"><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07F9TV4C8</span></a></u></span><span style="font-family: arial, serif;">
</span>
</p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-54201109482894261432023-11-04T10:49:00.002-07:002023-11-04T10:49:40.636-07:00On Grey Owl’s Trail – A Hiking Journal<h1 style="text-align: left;"> On
Grey Owl’s Trail – A Hiking Journal</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXX9mcOXwbhiyZFKYsdEz7WdC1iSgXO9T0C-9_EUpfVh-6xygbpIgUQ903JWGjYwdlG-2MVVn_mqFQJvqMX_6P151Oq8XGCMwhyphenhyphenE0x-R7dod4zR6brIG4pQe84jggeS5Hu22fb9nTDTqP3m2fq3OjoJE9v5XScPLNmIcT6a5QYs_d3NZb-bqrGbmf8__X/s880/GreyOwl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="558" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihXX9mcOXwbhiyZFKYsdEz7WdC1iSgXO9T0C-9_EUpfVh-6xygbpIgUQ903JWGjYwdlG-2MVVn_mqFQJvqMX_6P151Oq8XGCMwhyphenhyphenE0x-R7dod4zR6brIG4pQe84jggeS5Hu22fb9nTDTqP3m2fq3OjoJE9v5XScPLNmIcT6a5QYs_d3NZb-bqrGbmf8__X/s320/GreyOwl.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br />The travel book "On Grey Owl’s Trail – A Hiking Journal"
is a detailed journal of a back-country hiking trip, along with
historical notes on the controversial mid-20th century
conservationist Grey Owl and his wife. It is available on Amazon,
for 99 cents U.S. (equivalent price in other currencies).
Periodically, it will be on a free promotion on Amazon. It is also
available on Kindle Unlimited.<p></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
While not as spectacular as some of the more well-known Canadian
coastal trails (e.g. The Juan de Fuca Trail) or mountain trails (e.g.
The Kettle Valley Trail), the Grey Owl Trail, in north-central
Saskatchewan, has a charm all of its own. It is a very fine hiking or
canoeing route, that can be done in a leisurely three days, or
faster, if one prefers. It is also part of a much larger national
park, Prince Albert National Park, which includes a variety of other
trails and canoe routes, as well as a pleasant small town-site
(Waskesiu), which includes many “civilized” amenities, such as
restaurants, hotels, cabins, stores, and pubs.<br />
<br />
Those
qualities also make it a good site tor a family hike, as it is only
moderately physically challenging, and therefore a nice introduction
to the activity of multi-day hiking. At any rate, that was my
family’s experience.<br />
<br />
The journal is about 20,000 words,
a length that can usually be read in an hour or two. It includes
notes from the trip, some history of Grey Owl and the trail, as well
as selected quotations from the writings of Grey Owl and his wife
Anahareo (who were both excellent, humorous and engaging writers).</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc651_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>U.S.:
</b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc653_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>U.K.:
</b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc655_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Canada:
</b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc657_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Australia:
</b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc659_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Germany:
</b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.de/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>France:</b></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>
<a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B071K5D79L">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B071K5D79L</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Italy:
<a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B071K5D79L">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B071K5D79L</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Spain:
<a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B071K5D79L">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B071K5D79L</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Netherlands:
<a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B071K5D79L">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B071K5D79L</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Mexico:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B071K5D79L">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B071K5D79L</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Brazil:
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B071K5D79L">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B071K5D79L</a></b></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc661_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>India
- Amazon.in: </b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.in/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;"><a name="__RefHeading___Toc663_1480193497"></a>
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Japan
- Amazon.jp: </b></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B071K5D79L"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B071K5D79L</b></span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-49585465219253334902023-11-04T09:37:00.000-07:002023-11-04T09:37:04.307-07:00The Witches’ Stones Book 3: Revenge of the Catspaw<h1 style="text-align: left;">The Witches’ Stones Book 3: Revenge of the Catspaw</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ziZTuQdOBhcTFQnLScgx5wJaaJQ5AxEV5BM9lPQrljIkp5KgwA3HZzhioyU5wMuC1G5KhvjghEDgjbQjKRs8Ecm24FnvolRIp9Xvx7kk4uasPs5qEw-H3ZytEAp6X2vJWPXwVnG8z_XSA60wPr67qpmVd8dPliQW_YPj8j5BMez3bbzDEWZ0e6wMixfq/s500/WitchesStones3_Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="335" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ziZTuQdOBhcTFQnLScgx5wJaaJQ5AxEV5BM9lPQrljIkp5KgwA3HZzhioyU5wMuC1G5KhvjghEDgjbQjKRs8Ecm24FnvolRIp9Xvx7kk4uasPs5qEw-H3ZytEAp6X2vJWPXwVnG8z_XSA60wPr67qpmVd8dPliQW_YPj8j5BMez3bbzDEWZ0e6wMixfq/s320/WitchesStones3_Small.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>Go on a romantic science fiction adventure with Terran Confederation
agents Sarah Mackenzie and Coryn Leigh as they attack their enemy
head-on, on its home planet, in order to preserve the peace of the
galaxy and their own romantic relationship.<p></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
The novel is about 115,000 words and is priced at $3.99 U.S. (or
equivalent in other currencies). <span lang="en-US">It is also
available on Kindle Unlimited and is periodically offered as free
promotion.</span> <span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">It
is also available in paperback </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">at
Amazon</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">,
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">currently
priced at $9.99.</span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;">
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">It
is the final book of the trilogy, at least for now, although writer
Helena Puumala has “kept the door open” to perhaps pursue new
adventures in Sarah and Coryn's universe at a later date.</span></span></span></p><p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
U.S: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G2I37G2">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G2I37G2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
U.K.: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01G2I37G2">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01G2I37G2</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Canada: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Germany: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy:</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
</span></span></span></u></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Netherlands:</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01G2I37G2">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B01G2I37G2</a>
</span></span></span></u></span></span>
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Mexico: </span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">https</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></span></span></u></span></a></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Brazil:</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01G2I37G2">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B01G2I37G2</a></span></span></span></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Australia: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Japan: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
India: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Spain: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
France: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01G2I37G2"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01G2I37G2</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Here’s
a more detailed summary of the novel:</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
In this, the third and final book of The Witches' Stones saga, the
attractive part human-part Kordean Witch psychic Sarah Mackenzie and
the handsome Terran Confederation agent Coryn Leigh face some
profound dangers and challenges, some personal and some that span the
galaxy.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
As the book opens, Sarah and Coryn pledge their love in a Kordean
marriage ceremony. That ceremony contains both a blessing and a
curse, and the ultimate working out of that blessing and curse will
prove instrumental in resolving both of their fates.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Coryn finds himself a prisoner of the corrupt Elites of The
Organization, the people who call themselves the Neotsarians, an
authoritarian empire whose rulers consider themselves the natural
overlords of the Milky Way galaxy. He becomes a “catspaw”, bait
to lure Sarah into their hands, in their continuing quest to use her
psychic powers to augment a deadly super-weapon, one that is capable
of ensuring that they can rule the galaxy. Against his will, he also
becomes the plaything of “Evil Evilla Copoz”, perhaps the most
unsavoury of the Neotsarian elites.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
In the first book of the trilogy, Coryn has to rescue Sarah from a
terrible fate. This time, it is Sarah who must try to save him from
Evil Evilla, while avoiding falling into the trap that the
Neotsarians have set for her. She, along with a group of willing,
adventurous associates, must infiltrate Neotsarian space in order to
attempt a spectacular rescue, not just of Coryn, but of others who
have been enslaved even as he has been. The Blessing and Curse hang
over all of the characters in the story, with a twist that truly
reflects the “revenge of the Catspaw”, in all of its multiple
meanings.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
Beyond the pure adventure story, is a deeply emotional story of love
and recovery. Coryn and Sarah must undergo trials both physical and
psychological, in order to keep their love alive through the most
appalling of circumstances and the most harrowing of memories.
Fortunately, they have the power of the Blessing and the Curse to
help them through the ordeal, as well as their own very considerable
inner strengths.</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.49cm;">
<br />
<br />
</p>
<p></p>Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8998037621231280699.post-11525127118642373542023-11-04T08:45:00.004-07:002023-11-04T08:45:52.468-07:00The Witches’ Stones Book 2: Love and Intrigue Under the Seven Moons of Kordea<h1 class="western" lang="en-US" style="page-break-before: always;">The
Witches’ Stones Book 2: Love and Intrigue Under the Seven Moons of
Kordea</h1>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrzb2sO0szAt-FXCrNUAiHdBdnNwrY1aNiQIFcXJtGLJLUaPg7KuKfNOnTKOpvc00fkSipe_-blz92wl5r381bRzHZs_ve-mETMfKg3KHwiSNYvx_V8hvpk3bbFtlyKE1aes-90RPnka7fJ14BJGP8Wrtq_JquoSnk0zYwdQ8l4LU4epo1zWteHzv_kuMK/s500/WitchesStones2_Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrzb2sO0szAt-FXCrNUAiHdBdnNwrY1aNiQIFcXJtGLJLUaPg7KuKfNOnTKOpvc00fkSipe_-blz92wl5r381bRzHZs_ve-mETMfKg3KHwiSNYvx_V8hvpk3bbFtlyKE1aes-90RPnka7fJ14BJGP8Wrtq_JquoSnk0zYwdQ8l4LU4epo1zWteHzv_kuMK/s320/WitchesStones2_Small.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">G</span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">o
on a romantic science fiction adventure with Terran Confederation
agents Sarah Mackenzie and Coryn Leigh as they grapple with the
forces of Earth’s galactic rival, The Organization, as well as
their own growing attraction for each other. </span></span></span>
<p></p>
<p align="left" class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
The novel is about 100,000 words and is priced at $3.99 U.S. (or
equivalent in other currencies). <span lang="en-US">It is also
available on Kindle Unlimited and is periodically offered as free
promotion.</span></p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm;">
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.1cm; margin-top: 0.1cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">It
is also available in paperback </span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">at
Amazon</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">,
</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;">currently
priced at $9.99</span></span></span></span></span><br />
</p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
U.S: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YGB2KC0">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YGB2KC0</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
U.K.: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00YGB2KC0">http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00YGB2KC0</a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Canada: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00YGB2KC0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00YGB2KC0</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Germany: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00YGB2KC0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00YGB2KC0</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Australia: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00YGB2KC0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00YGB2KC0</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Japan: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00YGB2KC0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00YGB2KC0</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
India: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00YGB2KC0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00YGB2KC0</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Amazon
Spain: </span><span style="color: blue;"><u><a href="https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00YGB2KC0"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00YGB2KC0</span></a></u></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; text-decoration: none; widows: 0;"><a name="_GoBack1"></a>
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
France:</span></span></span></span><span style="color: blue;"><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00YGB2KC0">https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00YGB2KC0</a></span></u></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;">Amazon
Italy: <a href="https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00YGB2KC0">https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00YGB2KC0</a></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon
Netherlands: <a href="https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00YGB2KC0">https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00YGB2KC0</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon
Mexico: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00YGB2KC0">https://www.amazon.com.mx/dp/B00YGB2KC0</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; widows: 0;">
<span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Amazon
Brazil: <a href="https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00YGB2KC0">https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00YGB2KC0</a></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; text-decoration: none; widows: 0;">
<br />
</p>
<p class="western" lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; text-decoration: none;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><b>Here’s
a more detailed summary of the novel:</b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; text-decoration: none; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
feisty, ESP-talented Earth woman Sara Mackenzie has arrived on the
anomalous planet Kordea to take up studies in Witch-lore, among the
race of wise women on that planet, known as the Circle Witches of
Kordea. The Terra Confederation Agent, Coryn Leigh, who helped her to
escape the clutches of the authoritarian enemies of the democratic
Terra Confederation, has also arrived on Kordea, taking on the
diplomatic posting of the Kordean-Terran Liaison Officer. His duties
include helping the Witches to keep Sarah and the cache of
ESP-enhancing gems known as amartos, or Witches' Stones, safe from
their enemy’s hands. That adversary, known sometimes as The
Organization, will stop at nothing in their attempts to grab the
Stones and an ESP-capable human, in order to gain the ultimate power
with which to take over the inhabited galaxy. <br />
<br />
It is not
long before the planet Kordea comes under attack. The Organization
turns their latest weapon upon the planet and its unusual moon, Lina.
That moon is nearly wrested out of its orbit - only the emergency
interventions of Sarah and her colleagues can prevent planet-wide
catastrophe.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p lang="en-US" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0.21cm; margin-top: 0.21cm; orphans: 0; text-decoration: none; widows: 0;">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: #00000a;"><span style="font-family: Arial, serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span lang="en-US"><span style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
It
becomes clear that Sarah, Coryn, and others, including the Witches of
Kordea, must undertake a risky project involving an undercover
mission to destroy this threatening super-weapon, in order to
safeguard Kordea and the peace of the galaxy.<br />
<br />
At the same
time Sarah and Coryn have to deal with their growing attraction to
one another. Coryn is in a conflict-of-interest position, since he
has taken on a guardianship role toward Sarah, necessitated by his
new, diplomatic position. Sarah, on her part, must struggle with
self-doubts: about her looks, her worth, even her identity—although
not about her ESP abilities, which are considerable. They must
struggle with their personal dilemmas, even while trying to counter
the enormous threat to the democratic way of life of the humanity of
the galaxy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Dale Olausenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06242290670377183067noreply@blogger.com0