Pilot's Log

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of May 3, 2012

Seventeenth-century physicians sometimes advised their patients to consume tobacco as a way to alleviate a number of different maladies, from toothaches to arthritis. A few doctors continued recommending cigarettes as health aids into the 1950s. This bit of history may be useful to keep in mind, Sagittarius. You're in a phase when you're likely to have success in hunting down remedies for complaints of both a physical and psychological nature. But you should be cautious about relying on conventional wisdom, just in case some of it resembles the idea that cigarettes are good for you. And always double check to make sure that the cures aren't worse than what they are supposed to fix.

Longtime readers here know I hate tobacco. And that I also hate the mass marketing of prescription drugs. I do see modern medicine through at least a little skepticism, if not cynicism.

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of January 13, 2011

I can almost categorically guarantee that in 2011 you will have no encounters with fire demons, wart-ridden vampires, two-headed dogs, moaning ghosts, wayward werewolves, or extraterrestrial robots. Nope. You can pretty much go ahead and make plans based on the assumption that you won't have to account for intrusions like that. But I can also assure you that the lack of crazy encounters with unhinged monsters does not mean your life will suffer from blahs or boredom. On the contrary: I think this could be one of your most interesting years in a decade. To prepare yourself, make sure you don't unconsciously equate adventure with chaos; imagine what it would be like to experience mystery and intrigue that uplift you.

Darn. Some of my best friends are exterrestrial robots.

Ain't nevva gonna happen, dude. She's with Disney for keeps. She's Gen-whutever's Annette Funicello.

Today I got an e-mail solicition from "Davison Design and Development, Inc". Since it was addressed to me personally rather than just my address, it seemed more legit than the come-ons I usually get.

After a little internal wrestling with the prospects, I submitted one idea for an invention and tried to submit another, only to have their submission form go wonky. Perhaps I'll try again later.

Then again, I may not.

If they're going to pirate my idea(s), power to them...the idea(s) won't do me any good otherwise. If they didn't get the second idea that I tried to submit, then they should pay me for it.

FP

I don't know if the word is getting out nationally, but the government for the county surrounding Knoxville has been the focus of a constitutional crisis which is now in court.

The Tennessee state voters put in place limits on how many terms a politician can hold an office. Well, many of the Knox county politicos believed that either 1) that law didn't apply to THEM; 2) if it did, they could have it overturned. So they ran for re-election to their incumbent offices and won them--and soon learned that the law DID apply and because the term limits disqualified them they were forced out of office. This included many county commissioners, the sheriff, and several other key county office positions.

In an attempt to minimize the "damage", they held a quickie session, and appointed their own successors---often relatives, friends, and underlings loyal to them. This alone should have been easily seen as odious. The problem that did them all in was the fact that parts of the process that should have been subject (BY LAW) to public debate were in fact done by out-of-chambers "horse trading"--some of which was caught on video by roving reporters.

The local newspaper and a group of concerned citizens sued the government for breach of what is called the "Sunshine Law", the law I alluded to in the previous paragraph. Public policy must be decided in a public manner. The suit went to jury, and the government LOST. All the appointments were rendered null and void. As of now, the county government there is a "lame duck" government, and there may need to be a special election to re-fill all those county offices. Who knows?--maybe Knoxville metro government will just annex the remainder of the county and abolish the county government!

You say you want a revolution? Well, you know...

FP

What good is Common Sense when what you need is Actionable Intelligence?

FP

The universal advice to budding author wanna-be's. So what DO I know...that's worth writing? That's the problem.

Chillin' Out was based on where I was ten years ago, and for some reason I don't want to resolve it. When I try to move on, though, I find myself approaching much the same general premise. The happenstance of Boy-Meets-Girl is actually a contrivance of Girl, who knows everything about Boy but Boy goes along for the ride because he likes Girl. Add a good dose of Weird for flavor and color, plus measures of sex and rock-n-roll, perhaps a hint of violence or a good chase scene, and you get...nowhere, roughly 400 pages worth.

What's my problem? I can't blame Writer's Block...this is far more fundamental.

FP