C James

I slightly disagree, sort of, though I mainly agree. I think that the "manmade global warming" fears are being exploited by unscrupulous politicians (and oxymoron, I know) in order to saddle us with new taxes. The US Senate rejected Kyoto unanimously for a reason. (they are rarely unanimous about anything at all, but they were on this). The economic costs are staggering, and all for a problem that does not exist. Personally, I feel that the current decrease in global temperatures are more closely related to the current low level of activity on the sun. The start of solar cycle 24 (if it has even started yet) is late, and anemic. The solar heliosphere is shrinking, caused by an overall drop in the pressure of the solar wind. It is entirely possible that we're looking at a new Dalton minimum, or worse yet, a Maunder Minimum (the latter caused the Little Ice Age in the middle ages) As for manmade global warming, the first thing that changed my mind on it was the observation of retreating ice caps.. on mars! Some of the out planet moons exhibited similar signs. That made claims that retreating ice on Earth was caused by pollution rather dubious. The clincher for me was the study of the Vostock Ice Cores: they do show a corolation between atmospheric CO2 and temperature. However, detailed analysis has proven a 600-900 year lag between temperature increase and CO2, so the CO2 is not causal. Lastly, the computer models; even before the current cooling trend, the global warming models did not correctly model past climate, so they were highly dubious even before the current cooling (ongoing, since about 2001) debunked them. I'll also mention that the number of climate scientists who believe in manmade global warming is decreasing rapidly. Now, as for my heartwarming video... I feel that's an accurate description, because if an asteroid that size did hit (from the look of it, it's about the size of Vespa) it would warm everyone's heart, along with the rest of their bodies, by a couple of hundred degrees. CJ

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year, and share . Watch it in full screen. It's worth it, and gives us something to look forward to. BTW, Safe for Work. Happy New Year!!! CJ :hug:

I agree with Wildone; that was indeed an EEeeeeeeevil cliffhanger at the end of chapter 7! Hrmmmm, my hunch is that Rick may indeed, via great effort, succeed in digging himself deeper yet! Perhaps someone should send him a pamphlet containing the first rule of holes: when in a hole, stop digging.

Hrmmm... Well, I'd say that the answer to that is: if it occurs in one of my stories. What did y'all thing of the General's combat tactics? This is a serious question, as this was my first try at writing ground combat. Was it clear what was going on? Did it come across okay? Just a question for everyone to consider... Just how can the General hope, given the meager resources mentioned (50 men, a propellor-driven transport plan or three, and a few other odds and ends) Possibly hope to get to the very secure facility, deep in Iran, considering air defense radars and fighter aircraft, and then get his son out, and then facilitate their escape? He's facing a near-impossible tactical problem, worse in many ways than the US faced when trying to get the hostages out in 1979, and that poorly thought-out plan ended in the debacle at Desert One. They also had vastly more resources to work with. But.. he clearly has a plan. The question is, what is it. I'll give one hint... The clues to it lie within the General's tactical style, and the lessons he's trying to teach Felecia. Speaking of Felecia, she let a huge clue drop in this chapter. And BTW, before anyone asks, yes, this storyline meets Eric's in a few chapters.

Absolutely too much spiked eggnog here! Now.. WHAT onslaught? And why don't I know about it??? Now, when it comes to "ethical Treatment", might I refer you all to the Dreams and Cliffed Wings chapter entitled "Eating Crow"? I think I'm the one who needs defending here!!

LoL... No links were broken due to the site overhaul; I was careful to use meta redirects in place of any moved files.

Now, Now, Your Cliffhangeryness, might I remind the readers of a certain chapter in Dreams and Cliffed Wings called "Eating Crow"? Where we learn that a certain sunglasses-wearing goat is shot in Arizona and becomes a stuffed and mounted wall ornament in a baglery? Besides, I had to send you something for Christmas, right? Merry Christmas!! :nuke:

All we know about the volcano, per the chapter, is that there was a news item about it re-awakening. It might, for all we know, be just a prediction. Hurricanes? Not me! (Ummm, Don't look at my short story, Category 5, same with the tsunami) But, Tornadoes? I can honestly say, I haven't done one of those yet. A few minor perhaps-ever-so-slightly-tense situations? ACK! Benji!!! Now, now, no goat roasting!! Good call on the brothers issue. Though, I can't actually say if it's correct or not... all we know is that Eric said it. He could, after all, be wrong. Thank you Conner!!!! All I can say is, we'll learn a great deal more starting in 20. Jansen mentioned that the poster was in Keith's room. But, but, I had to send you something for Christmas....

ROFL!! Well, yes, Eric has revealed to Jansen (after making him squirm a little) that he thinks that they are brothers. But that's not a cliffhanger. We don't know that Cumbre Vieja is doing more than a little rumbling. The General and his son... Well, there are a few risks there, I admit, but what is life without a few little risks? So, no cliffhanger there. The "Big One" in LA... That's not a cliffhanger, because we don't know for sure when or if it will occur. As for the area east of Riverside along the San Jacinto fault; no problem, it's over. They've already had their night of hell incarnate, it's over, so no cliffhanger. Well, now we know that The Scar is up to something, and after something. The question is, what? Well, I'll admit to an ending that could be described as perhaps ever-so-slightly... tense. I found the graphic (along with the reindeer) online, and just liked it. I wanted to make the chapter announcement (in the announcements forum) very christmassy. I always stay away from cliffs. Don't worry so much about the volcano. Just think of it as an extra secondary character, one with a slightly hot temper. I am, however, shocked.. shocked I say, that you won't amphibiously certify the chapter as cliffhanger-free.

The first thing that caught my eye was the mention of the temperature.. to the hundredth of a degree! That was a very clever way to gradually introduce the reader to the implants. I loved it. Thanks, Altimexis, for a very unique and enjoyable glimpse at a possible future. It certainly raises many issues.

Recognizing the "code words".. That was very poignant to me. Kids do indeed often undertand far more than adults assume, and that's surely one of the times. Thanks, Carl, for a great story.

That was what caught my eye, too. I think the "being one's own worst enemy" theme was very well done too, and oh, how true that can be. Thanks Comsie!

A job well done! I liked the mystery aspect, and also, especially, the multiple cases of "guilt". Artfully done.

Just a quick note here (Sorry, I've got to run) The introduction of Jansen and Keith was as a couple, but it was entirely in the dialog and in George Tankardsly's impression. Sorry for the confusion, but it's a literary trick that I use: The narrator can't lie, but he can omit, which can be quite misleading when combined with dialog (and characters, unlike the narrator, can indeed lie. ) (this is similar to how I masked The Scar's identity for over 20 chapters in LTMP.) Chapter 20 is called "explanations", and we learn a great deal more about them... and much else.

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas Eve I hope the chapter isn't too nicey-nicey, but it's Christmas and I'm soft-hearted, what can I say.

OOps, I forgot to thank Uenigma for mentioning that the RSS feed was broken. Thanks, Eric!

Thanks! Thanks, and LoL! Except for the RSS feed (the list of recent forum topics on the main page, which Joe created for me, and fixed when I broke it; thanks Joe!) It's all my own work, including the graphics (most of which are based on my own photography). I have to admit, I'm very pleased with the way it came out, especially due to the fact that I am sorely lacking in tech skills. Originally I was just going to ad the menus, but I decided to bite the bullet and overhaul the whole site. There were quite a few structural goofs that I made when I first created it that needed fixing, coding glitches in the chapter pages, etc, so it needed doing. I've been neglecting my writing while working on this, so now it's done, no excuses, back to my keyboard. I did have plenty of advice during the layout process though, so I owe a big "thank you" to Myr, Steph, Shadowgod and Wildone for that.

Sorry to those of you who have been inconvenienced by the problems on my site; I was doing a total site overhaul. I'm now pleased to report that it's done! (Took me a month, ugh!) The layout for every page has changed. All pages, except the short stories, now have a sidebar nav menu. I also made a lot of behind-the-scenes changes. The "for the Love" chapter filenames changed to .php (so i had to use meta-redirects to keep old external links to them working) I also changed the layouts, graphics, etc. I also made some changes so that the pages load faster, and display correctly during as well as after the load. Another change was the nav buttons on each chapter; the next or previous chapter buttons, formerly on the bottom of each page, now appear on the top as well. My website has hundreds of pages, and I've ended up making changes to ever single one, lol. Anyway, it's done at last! If anyone notices any errors or problems, PLEASE let me know. CJ

I very much enjoyed what, for me, was a look into another culture. The necklace... It's too bad he didn't get it back, but it definitely worked well in the end.

I agree, a fun story! I liked the way the teammates dealt with the "gay issue"; if only that was more the norm. Theresa sounds like a great friend to have.

I loved the use of the stain to add a layer of tension; I kept expecting all manner of evil happenings. Loved the story! I also especially loved the characterization of writer's block: Intellectual impotence. Brilliant!

Very interesting! I too loved the imagery. My take is that the narrator is bitter, and the poker is the metaphor for his hiding it, as evidenced by the remark concerning not playing poker like he used to: he;s becoming less and less inclined to hid his opinions.

A very unusual style (to me anyway) and it works for this, I think. The protagonist is someone the reader can love.... to hate.

Not true!! I said, later in that very post, that I never use cliffhangers!

The ending is particularly well done; we don't know if Christian is on the level, or still playing the game. I suspect the latter; his initial approach, just like Isabell's, seemed very, very suspicious. Thanks York!! CJ