Life on Welfare

Eat or Heat 

It doesn't matter whether the Conservatives, or Labour are in government; people living on pensions, and welfare benefits know we'll be the first to take a hit when spending cuts are needed.

Many families have to make the choice of having a meal, or putting the heating on. 

Global Warming is a joke; it is almost May, and to keep warm I have to put a sweater on. I have to laugh when the weather forecast says we're having a heatwave. I recall summers so hot it melted the bitumen on roads, and they talk of a heatwave if the UK goes a few days without rain.

Twitter before Elon

 Twitter is bot heaven

I agree with the trend on Twitter saying it was far superior before Elon Musk bought it.

The site has now turned into  bot heaven, as I know from my recent experiences.

Again proving the proverb, "If something is working don't try to improve it."  Mark Zuckerberg screwed up Facebook.

The Draft2Digital scam

 A big difference

For a long time, I tried to convince my friend, and editor in Seattle theat I was not a bestseller, why?

If you viewed my sales (?), on the front of my account, it says I have sold over 2,5000 eBooks over 14 years, which sounds a lot. Hence the reason my friend considered me a bestselling Indie writer.

I said considered, as she now knows the reality of the lie.

That total works out at around 170 items sold per month, which would mean I should have been paid royalties for my sales, at least once in three months. 

The reality is if I got paid once in two years that was amazing. I only got paid last September as there was a ruch of sales on Apple the month before; if that hadn't happened, I would be waiting until Christmans next year, for payments from 2021, if I got them at all.

Armed Forces

 Nursing staff

Labour will cause an uproar about cuts made against the disabled and elderly, but they are as bad if they are in power. The next to be hit will be the Armed Forces, and the Nurses as these people are loyal to their services, and will not stop working no matter how bad they are treated.

Elderly and Disabled in the UK

 No change

The head of the DWP department that deals with Disabled people has stood down, he doesn't approve of RIshi Sunkak's new policy which will hit thise who are old or disabled.

I have some news for the young man, this is NOT new, and despite what Labour may say about the policy it has nothing to do with the Conservatives as we are always the first to be hit when money neeeds to be saved, no matter who is in power.

The riddle of the shooting

 Alan Place - The Puzzle solver

For the last month, I had been trying to find out some information on a murder in the USA. 

At the time, the murder was headline news in the papers; I could recall a man walking to a table, and shooting another man three times in front of about 100 people, but other than that I was shooting in the dark.

The information, as I recalled was flawed; I thought the killing was in the 1920's - it was in 1908 - I thought it was at a rooftop party, it was at a revue for a show.

The killer was Harry Kendall Thaw, the person he shot was Stanford White - I can't say White was a victim - with Shaw's reputation for raping young ladies the incident was "on the cards." The victim in this story is actress Evelyn Nesbit, who became Mrs. Thaw.

White took her to a secret room, plied her with alcohol which was doped, and when she fell asleep, he raped her. 

Thaw got off the murder charge, partially because his family had influence, but also he had a rep for violence going back to his youth; in this case, he thought White was barring his way into high society.

I solved another puzzle too, for days I was looking for a pair of my spectacles, I turned my room upside down but to no luck; then, when I stopped looking for them, I found them in a pile of clothes I was going to wash.

The third puzzle is one I created with no solution.

I had been searching for some DVDs of shows on Netflix I thought I had copied. I am now convinced I put the files on a USB external drive, not DVDs.

Links without Draft2Digital

 An experiment in Writing

I found using Draft2Digital is waste of time, and energy when trying to sell an eBook, so I am going back to the old ways' I am going to add some of my eBook stock to some sites without using their site. Hopefully this may gain some sales, I have nothing to lose, and possibly something to gain. Among the stories will be some previously unseen fantasy, horror, and romance 

Natural History on Twitter

 Non-related posts

Should you view my Twitter pages, you will find many posts not related to this blog, and wonder what is their point?

Their point is nothing suspicious, I like to post nice posts about nature if I can; I have been a nature lover for as long as I can recall, some of my best times are watching the waves crashing and the boats entering the harbour with the catch.

Was I naive or crazy?

 A writing community?

When I began writing, I knew it would be hard, and I would have more chance to fail than succeed, but I considered as an Indie Writer among other Indies if one did well the glory showed us all in a good light. 

What a jerk I was!

In only a few months, I learned, the hard way, there is NO writing community, it is dog eat dog for any scrap - and putting it politely, as Walter Winchell would say; "Be sure to step on as many fingers going up, because they'll be sure to kick your butt if you fall!"

That is the polite version, to transfer to common terminology, "Anybody will shit on you, if they feel they can gain by putting you down."

By the end of my tird year as a writer, promoter, I cut promoting other writers as nobody did me a favour. Several writers who gained from my help, didn't have the decency to even send a thank you note, or email.

One got a book contract for a series, another got a magazine contract from me writing good blurbs, and the man in Australia had his sales go from 20 a month to voer 200, what did I get? A feeling of ash in my mouth.

A comparison in size

The growth of my Jewish readers 

The thing to realise in this comparative study is not the number of readers for my blog, but the sizes of the countries involved.

Yesterday, Israel had 50% more readers for my blog, than China, 100% more than Canada, and over 200% more than the USA.

The fall in my US popularity could be down to two things, not writing much about the USA, or my support for Israel; my support for Israel will not change.

I didn't include the UK because my blog has never had many readers here; half of the few readers I get is me checking to see how things are going.