From Charley’s “Courage:”
You Are 56% Cynical

Yes, you are cynical, but more than anything, you’re a realist.You see what’s screwed up in the world,
but you also take time to remember what’s right.
How Cynical Are You?
Yes, I’m a cynic by nature. I’m a little surprised that I only scored as 56%. But there is a nice thing about being cynical: …

I tried to watch an HBO documentary, Baghdad ER, last night. I tried. If you have a weak stomach or have trouble dealing with the sight of blood, you’ll want to skip that program…and the rest of this entry.
The program takes viewers inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital in Iraq, where wounded soldiers are treated. Remember …

“They summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and virtue.”
- General James A. Garfield, at the first national Memorial Day Observance, 1866.

We can’t even agree on Memorial Day.
When the holiday was officially introduced in 1866*, …

This is the memorial erected in memory of Civil War soldiers at Hollywood Cemetary in Richmond. It stands 90 feet high and was build in 1869 to honor more than 18,000 Confederate soldiers who were lost. Union soldiers are also buried here.
Engraved in a stone on the side pictured are the words, “Numini et Patriae Asto,” which, …

Most Sunday newspapers contain a large real estate listing. You might want to have this close by when you tackle this week’s question.
But first, Antonette, of “Jottings From Jersey,” was first to answer last week’s question about blogging pet peeves. Congratulations, Antonette!
On to the newest challenge!
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
Consider your “Dream House.” Now name seven features, either …

I’ve been tagged by Carly of “Ellipsis…Suddenly Carly” to list “Ten Things that Make Me Say, ‘Life is Good.’”
Here goes.
1. Autumn – I love the colors and the mood of fall.
2. Completing a Piece of Writing – But only if I’m happy with the end result. Otherwise, I go back and rewrite until I am.
3. Getting a Compliment on …

According to a post over at the Shocklines forum, Stephen King has named his pick for best outright Horror Novelist: Bentley Little. According to the post, King mentions Little’s The Store and Dispatch as novels not to be missed in a column in the current edition of Entertainment Weekly.
I’ve read The Store and I enjoyed it. Anyone …

Andrea of “Unhinged” wrote a post about the pitfalls waiting for those who complain about their job and co-workers online. We’ve all been tempted to name names as we complain about the place we work at one point. Doing so can land you in a world of trouble, and most of the people who make the biggest point …

Lulu.com, a web-based print-on-demand publisher, has a system designed to determine whether the title of your novel will score with readers.
I’ll give you a moment to let this oddball idea sink in.
The Titlescorer was designed, according to the Lulu site, after the study of more than 700 novels over a 50-year span. It reportedly could predict success of a …

So I had my calendar a bit off last week. Though Sweeps did, in fact, end this past Wednesday, Katie Couric’s departure from “Today” happens this coming Wednesday. Will you be watching? (No, that’s not one of the six questions!)
But before the questions, it’s time to recognize last week’s “first to play,” who turned out to be Cat …

I had lunch with a friend of mine, after which I walked down to a Starbucks for a cup of coffee. If you’ve never been to Starbucks, you might be unaware that printed on the cups is a quotation by someone who may or may not be famous. This feature is called, “The Way I See It.”
On my …

ThrillerFest, a convention created by the International Thriller Writers, Inc., is coming to Phoenix in late June. Click the link for specific details.
Yes, I’d love to attend. No, I can’t make it this year. If it were closer, maybe.
But I definitely like the idea of a convention that focuses specifically on thrillers. One problem with the …

Sad news about the local missing teen I mentioned in Thursday’s post about the discovery of a missing teen’s car. Police have now confirmed that a body found in the car does belong to the missing teen. More details can be found at the Times-Dispatch.

Now that silver-haired Taylor Hicks has won American Idol, I heard a report today that hairstylists are suddenly receiving requests to make their clients’ gray hair stand out even more! And in some cases, people without gray are asking for some to be added.
Who’d have thought?
I guess that for those of us who are beginning to see gray appear …

The “Absolute Write” message board, a forum that I had found to be a great resource for writers, has vanished. At the main Absolute Write webpage, the only mention of the missing message board is a request for patience while the board is moved to its new server.
But unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ve no doubt read …

Today, May 25th, is National Missing Children’s Day. The event is designed to bring awareness to the need to increase protection of children.
This week here in Richmond, an 18-year-old went missing Monday night. Chip Ellis has been described by his friends and family as a caring, dependable young man. A good kid. After returning some DVDs to …

Here’s a comment recently received that’s combination compliment and commercial:
Hey Fellow, you have a great blog here! I have a website & blog about ___________.Yours is top-notch!If you have a moment, please visit my site _______________.
Fellow? Hmm, it’s not like my first name is a secret, given the title of the blog. There’s nothing x-rated or inappropriate about …

On a recent blogjog, someone offered a recent CNN story as one example of proof that television is dying: a survey shows that today’s teens mostly are unable to name the “big four” TV networks. Only about 20% of kids 16-18 can correctly identify ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
This isn’t a death knell for TV by any means. …