Home
A book by it's cover
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 284
So for a laugh I tried to read the last book I posted ... I couldn't make it past 50 pages. I mean, this guy, he could give out his own "Bulwer-Lytton" prize. And I don't know what this prestigious literary award is about, presumably everyone who can write a book receives at least 3...
Anyhow, here's a fair sampling of his prose:
"A west bound train approaching the bridge on the other side began howling like a wolf looking for a bitch in heat. Its black metal sides had just been washed by hostlers in the C.P.R. Roundhouse at Nelson and it had a sleek, sweaty shimmer as it led a small following of faithful cars. Large drive rods jerked swiftly up, down and around, masturbating clouds of steam and white smoke to seed the sky. As it came onto the bridge the noise was deafening and the belching smoke tangled in steel bridge girders. The engine drove swiftly past, vibrating the earth's foundation and rumbling the span violently. High above them the engineer waved and blew the whistle shrilly, orgiastically."
I want you to know I embellished nothing.
Or this, when he's mudding out his mine:
"The muddy mixture went clattering down the slope and lay on the white surface like excrement from a dinosaur with diarrhea"
From here we get to the love scenes...and I won't do that you. I couldn't do it to myself.
Anyways, a fair sample, I scanned ahead in it, my god what drivel!! I can't finish it.
Trading Cards
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 175
Not my thing, but a couple of diverging articles on the net the past week have somewhat amused me.
The first, a small town in Japan has made trading cards out of the middle aged men that live there, highlighting their roles in the community and volunteer efforts. This, in an effort to connect the generations, apparently it's proven highly successful and made celebrities of the men profiled.
Link: https://www.tokyoweekender.com/entertainment/middle-aged-man-trading-cards-go-viral-in-japan/
The second, I'm presuming, is an American who's created a 54 card deck entitled "Enemies of Democracy", by Todd Alcott, a sanguine look at American Politics...
Link: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHy-T35ySq4/?img_index=2
Different nations, different cultural values and priorities...
The Glory Hole - Wallace Pond
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Books
- Hits: 255
Found this in the thrift shop the other day and had to share:
They say "don't judge a book by it's cover" but in this instance the title was enough. Imagine how pleased I was to flip it and find out it was a local historical novel?!
It's actually signed inside by the author, whom Google could tell me nothing about (a search found a similar book by a different author, found the same book but ascribed a different author to it, so...?? How does this even happen nowadays?)
Anyways, if the title and blurb on the back didn't tell me all I need to know, to go farther down this road would be cruel.
Fun, but cruel. I might give it a read but I doubt I'll be reviewing it anytime soon...
3 Arrowheads, Tools, and a bunch of rocks
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Found
- Hits: 153
Actually 5 arrowheads, counting the 2 that Christopher found.
Monday, cool and rainy, trip out past Balfour with Christopher, do some prospecting up Cedar creek road. Some interesting rocks, promising conditions, but no great finds.
Then back to Balfour where we comb the washout from the ferry landing run off, Chris a few feet ahead of me finds 2 arrowheads, both in relatively great condition:
I'm annoyed beyond measure, but we keep hunting, going down the beach past the restaurant, the bad neighbor to where the new trailer park will be. And heads-down comb the beach for about 3 hours in the drizzle and rain.
In the end I find a total of 3 arrowheads and a couple of scrapers, tools, and a pile of rocks. Just rocks, interesting to me.
Below:
bottom left, a scraper, green chert, you can see the knapping on the edge. Next to it a yellow-ish spear head, the yellow is a patina that forms on the chert over thousands of years, making it tough to spot (vs the fresher flakes), but to handle it you can feel every divot and knapped edge. No coin for scale but it's about an inch and a half long. I say spear vs arrowhead as it's a little think in the center, not well enough balanced to be fired off from a bow. To the right on the bottom, a fresher point, beside that, a grey arrowhead, again covered in patina, next to that a needle or aul, otherwise, a few other tools, scrapers, flakes, and the assorted rocks that I find interesting and invariably stuff my pockets full of. The pink quartzite "scraper" is a paleo-maybe, no obvious signs of work but I found it a little too conveniently shaped to leave behind.
Now, getting a taste for the season...
Page 28 of 875