Long Term Troubles Loom for Kids and Cell Phones

Disconnected: How To Reconnect Our Digitally Distracted Kids by Thomas Kersting
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A short and sweet book, almost a long pamphlet, detailing the dangers kids face from extensive time on the Web. (Adults, too.) And while Nicholas Carr covered this topic a decade ago, there is new research showing a spike in the amount of time youngsters spend interacting online. As Carr pointed out in The Shallows, excessive screen time erodes focus, increases anxiety, and leads to social retardation. Ten years later, the situation is much worse. But there is hope.

Fascinating read, particularly if you have kids.


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Scott Captures Pacific Brutality

Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila by James M. Scott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With its emphasis on atrocities, the book examines the butchery committed by Japanese troops against the Filipino population of Manila during the fighting there in February 1945. Brutal as the SS in Poland, the deliberate murder and rape of civilians is augmented by the haphazard rain of artillery fire employed by the attacking Americans. Survival in certain neighborhoods was problematic and whole families up to several generations were annihilated.

Decisions by commanding generals MacArthur and Yamashita are examined, with the book closing on War Crimes trials held in Manila only months after the war ended, with Japanese mines still being detonated by the unwary.

Well-written and fast-moving, Scott explores a little-known aspect of the fighting in the Pacific; an atrocity worth recalling the next time someone cries, 'Hiroshima.'

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Word Press Website and Elementor

 Part of my big plans from the other day may now be revealed: I'm almost finished building a Word Press website. Since I know nothing about tech beyond point-and-click, this task has been a vexing, interminable ordeal. I've already been hacked and had something unpleasant placed into my code, though this could be two separate intrusions.

(Most of my best bitching is on my Facebook author page. Scroll down past time-wasting videos.) Within a few days, I'll alert you to the launch of my bare bones site, no blog or email honey trap to build a big list, no shiny affiliate links. Just BUY THESE BOOKS!!

Upsell Jungle

That's Word Press "free" software for you. One upsell after the other. Since I have no idea whether I need this or that plugin, I fritter away hours checking everything out. I'll be grateful just to launch the freaking site and be shed of it for a time.

Website Ingredients

Here are the fixings:

Namecheap for my domain name--jpmacauthor.com (I'm still on a proxy site, finishing up the last touches.(

Bluehost for hosting. I tried HostGator and spent over an hour on the phone attempting one hack after another to get the thing installed. Finally, I learned that Safari isn't compatible with HostGator. That might've been helpful to know in advance.

Also, Safari is not 100% compatible with Bluehost. To access my control panel, I have to switch browsers to Firefox. Charming.

Word Press which you can sign-up for from Bluehost.

Elementor, a drag-'n-drop page builder. Upsell masters.

Submitting Short Stories Like It's 2009

If you want a cure for writer's block, build a website. You'll be so grateful to return to a discipline in which you have knowledge and experience and are not perpetually confounded with one step forward, eight steps sideways, and one hop in the air.

I've sent a short story off to Harbinger Press for an upcoming anthology and fired off a second tale today to a new fantasy/speculative fiction site.

Finally, I feel good about something.

More soon on my big running plans.

(Image: Power Addicts)

Top 5 Odd Videos

Something new from Cornerstone Media via Lumen 5 and Pexels.

They aren't full-videos. Simply the titles of videos I believe are odd. Times change quickly, and I could be proved wrong. 

Big Plans, I Tell Ya

Zafar

Coming soon. Big writing plans. Big running plans. Big website plans. Big. Stinking big. 

Big Top Payback

A clown, an affront, a response, all in under 30 seconds. 

Conrad Not Pleased with Nostromo

Nostromo by Joseph Conrad
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Upon completion of Nostromo, Joseph Conrad told a friend, "Personally, I am not satisfied. It is something—but not the thing I tried for."

Conrad's "something"contains numerous characters, great and small, set in a violence-racked, fictitious South American country. As Costaguana's resources are tapped by American and European investors, resentment, greed, and betrayal roil the nation and spawn yet another revolution. Wealth is sought, gained, lost and hidden, always with a price.

Conrad jumps about in the time line, changing points-of-view, foreshadowing, advancing the story, then later filling in details. For substantial periods, I was left guessing as to which details really mattered and which character backstories would pay off. However, the last fifty pages raced along, indicating that, perhaps, other narrative sections might've been equally condensed.

As a note, I would avoid the Brent Hayes Edwards edition, since the introduction seems designed for people returning for their third helping of Nostromo and is a nest of spoilers.

Uneven, but fascinating book.


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Notes on Running Form

This man zips along on an uncrowded  track courtesy of Men's Journal. 

Mild sunny weather as I shambled along for three miles, running the last one. Clearly, my training issues go beyond weight. I need to strengthen my core. This is a running truism, but far more important with Chi Running, where your core strength determines distance and speed.

A Contrast of Running Forms

Note the man in the image above. See how his leg is thrust before him. He will impact ankle-knee-hip each time he lands and toes back for the next step. This is how I ran for many years. This is why I wore a hole in the cartridge of my left knee.

Here is an illustration comparing "normal" running with Chi Running. Because one propels oneself by leaning forward, the body is aligned and the feet land under or behind the runner.

Chi Running diagram from Running Moments. 

For several years, I was so thrilled to run again using Chi techniques, that  I was content with my 3x a week sessions at between 3 and 5 miles. For that, I didn't need a solid core. But if I'd like to tackle distance one more time, I'll need to invest in crunching, planking and others exercises I avoid in general.

Chi Running does not comes naturally to me. It's like trying to breath through your ears. But I'd rather run with difficulty, than not at all. And I've got a built-in warning system. If I slip into running the old way, my knee sends me a pain text.

Returning home today, quiet and serene, I heard a woman on our street erupt into several minutes of coarse profanity, cursing out another driver. I served four years in the Marines and this woman was no newbie. And using two languages, mind you.

Could other issues have been in play? That is a matter for religion or psychology. Were I younger, I would've videoed everything and uploaded it to Instagram. But no. In any case, I remained serene.

Creating the Imperfect Cat Video

Brief and informative video on creating other videos less informative. 

Hallow Mass and Lumen5

Hallow Mass

Whipped together in an hour or so with Lumen5. 

A Most Happy Easter!

Ocean Lakes Campground

Some poor old guy keeled over in Mass this morning. Fortunately, my church is predominately Filipino. Thus, from the congregation, about 35 nurses rushed forward to help. The Fire Department arrived quickly and carted the old guy out. No word on his condition, but my second favorite place to die, other than home in my sleep, would be church.

Met with a host of old Team in Training chums at the Rose Bowl yesterday to celebrate Virginia Garner's 20th anniversary on the drug Gleevac. Facing death from cancer in 1999, she took a chance on an experimental drug. A generation later, Virginia lives to help raise money to fight leukemia, lymphoma, and assorted other Grim Reaper blood cancers. Her amazing story, and that of husband Van, is chronicled in their book: Journey to the Finish Line: Surviving Cancer Together.

I mentioned to the group (SGV marathon team) that I felt one more marathon resting within me. This was because I had a great running book idea that needed the happy ending of a marathon. (Finishing time of no consequence.) Ideas sprang forth including the LA Marathon and one I'd never heard of: the Ventura Marathon, said to be a net downhill and a big Boston Marathon qualifier.

Ventura is in October, but I doubt I'd be ready by then. I'll need to decide soon since marathons tend to fill quickly these days. (Except LA, where they were offering discounts in February.)

Exciting to even contemplate. More soon on this momentous decision.