Rick McBee's Writings to Enhance your Life
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Book Review: The Stone Monkey by Jeffery Deaver
The Stone Monkey by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Author Jeffery Deaver is an amazing storyteller. The topic of illegal immigration right on the tip of everyone’s tongue and certainly the smuggling of Chinese to work in our sweatshops has a long history of crime and violence attached to it. The Snakehead of the smuggling operation fits perfectly into the story as the kind of man who would gladly sacrifice an entire shipload of illegal immigrants in a sinking ship rather than face the possibility of capture by the Coast Guard. Quadriplegic Lincoln Rhyme is a great character, but he works in the background of the novel and doesn’t get my full heartfelt attention. Officer Amelia Sachs is my real love in this book. She’s smart, observant, inquisitive and tough no matter whether the situation is taking her onto a lonesome beach to hunt for survivors of a sinking ship, to diving for evidence in the murky waters of the Atlantic. I would love to be able to give this book a “5” star rating, but author Deaver got in over his head when he puts Amelia into scuba gear and dumps her over the side into a wreck full of dead bodies and floating debris to search for that key piece of evidence. This is the one big “Oops!” in the book. Read the scuba diving exploits of our heroine with a few grains of salt. Any PADI diver with only 25 dives under their belt plus not having been down for a couple of years, who eschews the aide of professional Coast Guard search and rescue professionals by going down to 80 ft., entering an unexplored wreck alone and staying beyond their safety limits for time and air has “death wish” written all over them. Fortunately, Amelia, with the author’s divine license, is able to swing the pendulum of death into success and bring up some key evidence. She then goes on to nail one more Snakehead to the wall in the next twelve chapters in a dramatic enough finale so that I can forgive a ten-page blooper. If you like fast moving intricately plotted action novels with enough who-done-it for a good mystery as well, then this is a novel for you. I highly recommend it. The author has done his due diligence on researching Chinese customs, language, and culture to bring realism and sensitivity to the novel in a way that all will appreciate while still bringing us a ripping good tale.
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Spring at Catherine Creek, Washington
I took a great hike across the Columbia River to a wonderful spring flower area just 10 miles east of Hood River and in the state of Washington. Wow! The Bird’s Bills, or Shooting Stars, as some other people call them were just popping out of the ground!
Then on the hillside just beyond them I found the beginnings of a the blooming of a field of edible blue Camas. In another week there will be thousands of these flowers everywhere out here. This was one of the reasons why this area has hundreds of old Teepee ring mounds, because it was a favorite place for the Indians of the Columbia River Basin to meet and trade for smoked fish, obsidian, flint, Camus and Bitterroot tubers and other items. Still a favorite site for lots of people.
This site is a favorite for both Washingtonians and Oregonunions (Pronounced like – “Oregon Onions” is our word to describe ourselves. The missused word, – “Oregonian” rightfully, as my Grandfather Gordon G. Brown used to say, “Refers to a Newspaper”) .
Enjoy your day!>)
Mars Underground – By William K. Hartmann: Book Review
Mars Underground by William K. Hartmann
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The basic underlying story of the old timer explorer of Mars who disappears and the search that follows is very well written and if the author had cut the book back to 225-250 pages, leaving out some of the mind-numbing long descriptions of the inner thoughts of various characters, it would have boosted the book up to a 4 star level in my opinion. The techy search is good and well worth the descriptive paper. The attempts to sabotage the search for various reasons is also well done. So, as a reader of science fiction for over 50 years, I would say, skim through the late night bedroom rendezvous, unless that’s why you read Sci-Fi. Skim over also the mental contortions of the central characters and concentrate on what is the underlying faster moving plot. Eat up the surface walks and the rides in the dune buses across the uncharted dust seas with their cyclonic dust devils. Devour the descriptions of light and the hazards that exist in a world where preparation for the journey is everything because, without sufficient protection, food, water and, oh, yes, oxygen, you aren’t going to come back to spin tales of aliens. In the ending, I could have used a bit more descriptive work by the author on the alien vessel to perhaps bring me back for a sequel. Where did that shining projectile that approached the speed of light as it departed Mars actually go? Was it a messenger? Was anything on the receiving end? A lot of questions remain when we reach the final page.
A Must Read Book: The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Here is a “Must Read” book if you want more information on understanding how the moderate form of Islam taught the world mathematics, medicine, science, literature, poetry, and a world view of religious thinking over a millennium. Author Joshua Hammer has made his career on reporting worldwide for a plethora of magazines and newspapers. Over a period of ten years, he followed and researched the life and work of Abdel Kader Haidara, a man who has dedicated nearly 50 years to the gathering, preservation, cataloging and saving hundreds of thousands of the world’s most precious books which had been written copied and hidden in and around the Sahara Desert city of Timbuktu, Mali. In the process, Hammer follows the paths that Haidara used as he traveled and traded for books as he worked to build world heritage libraries for UNESCO from the long-hidden in family libraries all over central Mali. Hammer understands the peoples of the area, their customs, histories, and religions. He describes how the moderate Islamic Sufis became the center of human knowledge, discussion, and new ideas over a tumultuous history of a thousand years. In the process, the families guarded their special libraries through a millennium of moderate and tyrannical government in order to preserve some of the oldest books of religious studies and critique as well as scientific learning. Author Hammer does an excellent job of describing the latest threat to world knowledge and learning, the Jihadi movement in Islam with its Saudi Arabian sect ideas of rule by strict Sharia Law. He follows the buildup of the movement in Libya which then spilled over into the central Sahara and entered Mali in the past ten years. He documents the anarchic rule of the foreign Islamic Jihadi warriors who eschewed the moderate Sufi ways and forced the people of Timbuktu and much of Mali to live in daily fear of their lives while capricious gangs of Jihadi enforcers thronged the city and meted out punishment in a medieval manner. As the threats to the populace grew, Haidara and the other librarians realized that the hundreds of thousands of books they had gathered over some fifty years, were in danger of being destroyed by fanatical gangs. At great risk to their own lives, these dedicated persons traveled overland by canoe, back roads and through checkpoints in the middle of a war zone to smuggle all the books in Timbuktu some eight hundred miles across the sub-Sahara to safe houses in Bamako, capital of Mali and far from Jihadi hands. The reader will learn an amazing amount of information about the ongoing work to save our world’s ancient literature as well as have a better understanding of the geopolitical problems facing frontline developing nations who are confronted with Jihadi movements that can take control of entire countries unless the western world and the African Union of States act decisively to stop this regressive movement that is spreading into any vacuum of power. Mr. Abdel Kader Haidara deserves a Nobel Prize. Author Joshua Hammer deserves all the awards and kudos he can get for this well documented and groundbreaking journalistic work.
2018 Tax Forms a Big Paper Waster
Just finished doing myown 2018 taxes. Smaller 1040? Hardley!Printing off on your own computer now find It’s got the designated 1040 looking shorter and smaller, but it still takes up two pages so no paper saved there. Iven though the bottom of Form1040 says: “For Disclosure, Privacy Act, and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see separate instructions. Cat. No. 11320B Form1040 (2018)”
But it’s good for the paper mills!
Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com
Bad for Big Trees! Probably 135,000,000 extra pieces of paper used this year! That’s about 1700 extra trees !
My paper use for my 1040 is Itemized here:
My Page 1 – My basic tax info like all years only the signature is on this page rather than being on the 2nd page. (Only uses 1/2 the page)
My Page 2 – Again only 1/2 a page, but leaving out a whole lot of things that were on the old 1040 so what do I have to do? Print More Pages!
Then come Schedule 1,2,3,4,5,6….all with only about twoinches of printing on them.
Plus you still have to use Schedule A,B,C,D,E,F,…if their original forms.
Is there a CONSPIRACY going on?
WELL! Note how many RESERVED BLANK TAX SPACES and on these new forms. Guess how long they will stay blank in coming years? $$$$$$$
WAS THERE A BONUS in all this? YES!! I DID HAVE A LARGER DEDUCTION!!
GIVING THANKS
WHERE IT IS BEST DESERVED, TO OUR CONGRESS FOR THE TAX NEW RULES!
Book Review: Power of the Sword, by Wilbur Smith
Power of the Sword by Wilbur Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I am once again reading Wilbur Smith’s books as inspiration to writing another novel. This amazing work puts it all together in telling the tale of two rival half brothers, Shasa Courtney and Manfred De La Rey as they grow up separately under the influence of their common mother for Shasa and a renegade father in the case of Manfred. During their teens, they meet as unintroduced tomcats who tangle and develop a lifelong hatred which grows as they compete at college, in Hitler’s Olympics and are influenced by respectively great and or diabolical leaders to become rivals for the control of The Republic of South Africa. Both men grow to maturity in the wide open spaces of South Africa during World War Two, during which they support opposing sides. The flaring up of apartheid separates them further as does the rising African quest for liberation from white task-masters. You won’t be disappointed in this specimen of editorial mastery.
Book review: The Purple Plain, by H. E. Bates
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I cruised through author Bates’ book in very short order, captured by the lure of one of the exotic areas of the world, Burma during World War 2 and the descriptive expertise of the writer who builds a plot that draws the reader from chapter to chapter.
The author accurately depicts the down and out mental condition of Forrester, who, after recovering from wounds as a pilot, has been stationed in an isolated corner of Burma. Here, sweltering in the insuperable heat and bugs of the tropical plain, he stagnates while awaiting the arrival of an unknown man, Carrington, who will be his new navigator. He has nothing to go back to in England, his wife having been blow up during the Blitz of London, only a few short days after their wedding. His anger and hatred of life and the world, over which he has almost no control, grows into a hatred that lashes out at his fellow officer, Blore, who is due to be transferred out of the hellhole of Burma and back to India.
At the point where Forrester is about to crack up completely, the unit doctor, Harris, cajoles him into taking a ride out to a local village where he is helping a local missionary pick out hymns for Easter Sunday. In a fit of pique, Forrester decides to go along and meet the missionary and ladies in the village who are living out the war in solitude as most of their men have been conscripted to fight the Japanese who are pressing southward and rolling over the country.
The common things of ordinary village life confront Forrester during that first day out, and he meets two sisters and their mother in the village and begins to make their acquaintance in a rather stilted manner. On subsequent visits, Forrester begins to enjoy the company of Anna, the younger of the two ladies and begins to develop a close relationship. He becomes involved with village life and is present when the Japanese bomb the village, killing and wounding a number of the children who are being taken care of by the women and missionary lady.
At the point that Forrester is becoming enamored with the village and Anna, Carrington arrives and Blore receives his final orders to depart Burma. As Forrester pilots the plane towards Rangoon engine failure causes them to have to crash land in the scrub bush wilderness. Carrington, injured and unable to walk, is carried by Forrester as the three men attempt to reach human habitation and find a source of water for drinking.
The book is a page-turner, not because of any violent action and heroes fighting off attackers, but rather because of the concise description of village life, the countryside, the thoughts of the characters, and the oppressive heat and dryness that prevails throughout the story. Your mind can picture the thatched huts, hear the happy children riding on the back of the jeep through the village, taste the coolness of a lime drink in the sweltering heat, and the screams and cries of the children as the village is bombed. The reader will pick up on the author’s amazing ability to describe the looks, personalities, and foibles of each of the three main characters as they struggle to survive in the face of impossible odds in an implacable unforgiving environment.
For those who have lived on the edge at one time or another in their lives, this book will give you ample opportunity to reflect and think about humanities’ purpose and direction.
Growing Alstroemeria Seeds – Flowers?
Does it take a green thumb to grow Alstoemeria? Not to get the plants – The real question is, when do you get the flowers?
These are great flowers! found all over South America, I took this photo in 1980 in the Chilean Desert North of Santiago, near the town of La Serena. This one grows near sea level and in a climate that is very dry as you can see from the cactus spines it was entwined about. I have found other varieties of Alstromeria at altitudes nearing 10,000 ft. (3,000 meters) in the Chilean Andes, two days ride into the mountains. I have a photo of a specimen from high above the Colorado River in an extremely remote area which has an alpine climate, so these flowers can grow just about anyplace world wide. .
Need Seeds? Try Outside Pride Alstomeria seeds
I have so far had great success with my alstroemeria seeds. I put my first packet of 200 seeds into the lower part of my refrigerator in a plastic bag mixed into damp potting soil. I then left them for actually over three weeks, took them out of the refrig. and put about 1/2 of the soil with seed into a flat and the other half into small pots and kept them inside for a month or two and they sprouted and came up inside. Then when the weather got above 40 – 50 degrees at night I put them out in as many habitats as I could find around our garden, so I have some in fertile soil, some in gravelly soil. some in clay and some in a loam and all except for the couple that I put into a south facing really dry area seem to be doing ok and I have them up about 12 inches now. So that means in the next month or so I will probably get some flowering. So, unless there is a mycorrhiza problem of them needing something found only in S. American soils, I feel I will be successful.
Having lived in Peru, Chile and Ecuador for a number of years, these plants have a wide variety of strains that can be all the way from sea level dry semi-desert to 10,000 ft. in the Chilean Andes where there are snows and extreme cold and heat, so probably the most common problem for a lot of people is that they treat them too softly, and as a consequence get weak stems and plants that died. I have another 200 seeds which I am putting into the soil in the fridge next week and will see if I can germinate them as well and put out in July-August for later season plants. Then I’ll leave all of them in the ground over the winter and see if any make it through the Hood River, OR winter under the snow and come up next year, or produce seed that comes up. It’s a game! Experiment and try different things to see what you get.
Here it is February and I have a bunch of alstomeriainside that grew all last summer, But alas, no flowers. Hoping they bloom this next year. If they grow them in London near Buckingham Palace for decoration, why not Hood River Oregon?
More later as the flowers appear this year!
All the best!
South Africa Book Group on Goodreads
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The Conundrum of Immigration – – Making the Gears Work Smoothly – – No Easy Fix!
Posted on March 6, 2019 by Richard H. McBee Jr.
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Conundrum: A problem admitting to no satisfactory solution (Def. #2, Amer. Heritage Dictionary- 1969).
America —Europe—Africa—Asia—Worldwide:
We’ve all got a big Problem! It’s called IMMIGRATION.
It’s affecting World social systems—- it’s causing BREXIT in Britain and in the USA— It’s exacerbating America’s TRIBALISM
It’s not just Farm Workers, or Students, or Refugees, or Soldiers, or Au Pairs,
or Birthers, or Hotel Employees, or Factory Workers, or Wholesale, or Transportation…
IT’s Kind of Like Trying to Fit all The Pieces of a Watch Together and Then Make it RUN! I personally have failed many times with watches since the age of 10! In like manner, Our Government has failed for 50+ years on a system of Immigration
LET’S LOOK AT THE USA
Over 40% of our entire Labor Force was composed of foreign born labor from 2005 – 2010
LOOK AT THIS PAGE WITH SLIDE SHOW OF THE PROBLEM!
The USA Cannot Function Without Numerous Immigrant Workers —– so —— Shutting Immigrants is Not a Solution!
What Then is the Solution?
It will take Time, Willpower, a Plan, and Money! to do the following:
IT AIN’T CHEAP,
BUT IT’S GOING TO GET US A LOT MORE MILEAGE
THAN
A ONE SHOE FITS ALL – WALL.
amazon.com/author/rickmcbee
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