Scott Bell's Blog, page 6
December 17, 2015
November 23, 2015
May Day – Teaser
Here’s a little teaser from my soon-to-be-released novel “May Day”.
Chapter 1
Tree limbs scraped the top and sides of my Ford Expedition as I navigated a two-rut trail in the dark. The SUV pancaked into an axle-deep rut, then bunny-hopped out; all four wheels churned sand. The seat belt saved me from a concussion by cutting me in half.
“Oof,” Reyes grunted from the passenger seat. “Are we there, yet?”
“Do you see the fossilized remains of an Airstream trailer sunk up to its windows in weeds?”
Ferdinand Reyes, a detective from the Gregg County Sheriff’s Department, peered through the windshield and shrugged. “I saw the Boggy Creek monster a ways back. He was seven feet tall. Taller than you, even.”
“Really?”
“More handsome, too.”
“Now I know you’re lying.”
Reyes tapped out a Marlboro Red and rolled down the window. Muggy night air huffed into the cab. Engine noise and dust came with it, followed by the smell of pine trees and weeds.
My nose twitched, anticipating a sneeze.
High beams white-washed the narrow tunnel of vegetation lining the track. Grasshoppers flickered through the light, buzzing away or ticking against the grill. Other night bugs kamikazied into the windshield; I smeared their greenish remains with the wipers every once in a while.
I caught a whiff of acrid backdraft when Reyes lit his cigarette off a disposable lighter and blew smoke toward the open window. He said, “At least tell me you know where you’re going, Ranger Cable.”
We rocked and swayed through another series of dips before I answered. “Mostly.” It was my turn to shrug. “Beaver said the Thigpen brothers have taken up an old trailer on Ten Mile Creek. The only abandoned trailer I know of is back down here somewhere. I saw it about two years ago, pokin around.”
Reyes’ cigarette flared and he nodded.
I added, “Unless he meant the Ten Mile Creek in Rusk County, in which case that’s a whole different trailer and we’re way ‘n hell gone the wrong direction.”
Smoke snorted from Reyes nose. “Three o’clock on Saturday mornin, I should be in bed with my wife.”
“And ruin her sex life?”
“You know what today is?”
“Laundry day?”
“Friday the 13th, man.”
I grunted a laugh. “You’re not superstitious, are you?”
“No, not me.” Reyes shook his head. “Besides, I got on my lucky socks.”
A low-hanging limb slapped the windshield and squealed across the roof. Beyond it, the headlights picked out a jumble of rotted barb-wire fence posts, part of a gate built before man discovered fire. Arcs of rusted wire twisted around the gap in the trail, just begging to give someone a bad case of tetanus.
“This is as far as we go by car,” I told Reyes. “Any further, they’ll hear us for sure, or see the headlights.”
I shut off the motor and killed the lights.
“Holy shit,” Reyes said, “it got dark out here.”
“Did you bring your blankie?”
Reyes’ teeth gleamed and a metallic sound clattered in the dark. “Yes, I did. Mr. Glock is all the blankie I need.”
“You say that now.” I stepped out of the SUV and settled my Stetson. “Junior and Ray Thigpen are poison mean and lower than armadillo shit. And they enjoy the quaint title of Crazy-Ass Gun Nuts. You may want something heavier than a puny nine-mil if things go to hell.”
Reyes joined me at the tailgate. Built on an R2D2 frame, Reyes’ flattop haircut came to my shoulder.
“Take this.” I handed him a Rock River Arms LAR-8. “Three-oh-eight caliber, two-stage trigger, twenty-round mag, and a red dot sight.”
“Holy mackerel,” Reyes whispered, taking the weight of the rifle.
“Safety is on the left, bolt is here. The mag is full, chamber empty.”
“I’m feeling warmer already.” Reyes used the same voice he would for a full Hail Mary. “What’s that?”
I held up the weapon I’d removed from my gun locker. “My new toy: HK G36C. Seven pounds of space age fire stick.”
“What was that about gun nuts?”
“Hey!” I fitted one of the HK’s translucent magazines in place, seated it with a slap. “I’m an enthusiast. C’mon, Rambo, let’s go find some Thigpens.”
I flashed my Mag-Lite to negotiate the gutted remains of the gate, then switched it off.
Two days ago, Ray and Junior Thigpen held up a convenience store-and-bait shop near Cherokee Lake, on the border of Gregg County, Texas. They shot and killed the owner, a Pakistani immigrant named Tarik Bhatti, for reasons unknown (the silent security video footage showed a lot of shouting and gesturing by Bhatti and the Thigpen brothers), then crashed their way out—two bowling balls in a china factory—with seventy-eight dollars and a case of Michelob Ultra.
A snitch—Mason “Beaver” Cleaver—gave up a potential nesting ground: a rusty trailer on a mosquito-ridden bank of God’s sewer line, a trickle of snake-infested muddy water known as Ten Mile Creek.
Now, guided more by feel than sight, I led the way down the pitch-black tunnel of pine trees, squelching through the occasional mud puddle and stumbling into wheel ruts. Behind me, Reyes slapped at vampire mosquitos and griped under his breath.
Thirty sweaty minutes later, a patch of lesser gloom ahead indicated a change in the trail. I slowed from a stumble to a creep, then hissed at Reyes to stop.
“What is it?” he whispered. He sounded a little hoarse and out of breath.
I snuck back to where he was, nearly running into the deputy before I saw him. I put my head down next to his and murmured, “I think we’re close. Looks like a clearing up ahead. Fan out to my right and watch where you put your feet.”
“Booby traps?”
“Snakes.”
October 9, 2015
The Big Lie
Updated to add the findings of Dr. David Evans. When, oh when, will people start seeing the truth of this tremendous fraud called Climate Change?
http://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2015/10/05/perth-engineer-claims-huge-climate-change-discovery/
Originally posted on Texanation:
Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:
“…that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” – Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chap X
This quote has been whittled down to the spin doctor’s maxim:
Tell a lie big enough, long enough, and people will believe it, despite facts to the…
View original 193 more words
One Half of America
Update #2: People thought I was being too harsh in my disdain for the character of our nation as exemplified by voting for the Mr. Obama. Looking back, was I wrong?
Let’s see…
Taxes higher– Check
Deficit larger– Check
Foreign policy a disaster– Check
Health care more expensive– Check
More people on welfare than ever– Check
More ILLEGAL immigrants pouring over our border than ever before– Check
No, I think I was right.
Originally posted on Texanation:
Has decided that personal responsibility, hard work and independence no longer matter. The America of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and many other iconic thought-leaders is, quite simply, dead. That ship has sailed. The final nail in the coffin was driven home last night, Tuesday, November 6th, 2012.
Good bye United States of America.
Hello United States of Dependence.
One half of America decided to ignore Barrack Hussein Obama’s longtime friendship with Bill Ayers, the terrorist who bombed a police station. They decided to ignore his longtime affiliation with the racist, America-hating Reverend Wright. They decided to ignore the lessons of history which have clearly demonstrated that government redistribution of wealth is an unsustainable model.
One half of America has chosen the dubious leadership qualities of a man with no history of success in any endeavor; a…
View original 362 more words
What Happened to Columbus?
Update: Another year has rolled by and nobody has taken me up on my suggestions for renaming Columbus Day. I’m thinking maybe I made the choices too long to roll off the tongue, so here are some modifications:
We’re Not French Day
Lost Italian Day
I Love Being American Day
Who’s with me?
Originally posted on Texanation:
It turns out the history I learned in second grade was wrong.
Those of us born in the barbaric age of black & white TV learned Columbus discovered America, which allowed the migration of freedom-loving, intrepid people of all races the opportunity to establish the greatest nation on Earth, a nation that has provided the greatest economic bounty and personal freedom to people from every social class. Later, these hard-working and diligent people created the game of baseball from the insanity that was cricket, thus bringing peace and tranquility to many afternoons.
According to those folks 35 and younger, who learned history in the more enlightened times—post 1990, that is—Christopher Columbus discovered America, handed the indigenous people smallpox-laden blankets, stole their land, raped their women, and allowed white Europeans the opportunity to destroy the noble, animistic, peace-loving culture of the quote-unquote Native Americans. Later, these same greedy white men invented…
View original 620 more words
September 28, 2015
Mary Jane, Inc.
As legally grown and consumed marijuana becomes more mainstream, I’m picturing a company that will one day join the ranks of the Fortune 500. What would it be like working for a big company whose product is the growth, harvesting, packaging, distribution, and sale of marijuana? Can you picture it?
Board Meetings
CEO: Dude…
CFO: What…?
CEO: Dude…
Chairman: (snorts) Wow.
Logistics
“Hey, Larry, we gotta problem.”
“S’up?”
“We sent a metric ton of Sensamilla to Little Rock, and they ordered Tijuana Gold.”
“Send ‘em an RMA number. They can return it.”
“Can’t. Their warehouse burned down and the whole town’s stoned.”
Sales
“Fourth quarter’s looking kinda bleak, what with Weed-B-Good slashing prices on their premium buds. We’ll need to get out there and aggressively encourage our dealers to hit the streets—“
“Bad word choice, boss.”
“Right, sorry. Dan, how’s the grocery channel looking?”
“Well, Safeway remains steady, but Sprouts and Natural Grocers are moving all their purchases to non-GMO weed.”
“Marketing?”
“We have a C-store special in April. Buy our Potent Power Packed Pot and get an extra-large Doritos for free.”
“Munchie marketing. I love it.”
Legal
“Today a class-action suit was filed against us for not printing a warning on our packages that consumption of this product might lead to watching six hours of Cartoon Network and forgetting where you left your house…”
The future, my friends, looks very strange.
September 24, 2015
The Big Lie
Adolf Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf:
“…that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” – Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. 1, chap X
This quote has been whittled down to the spin doctor’s maxim:
Tell a lie big enough, long enough, and people will believe it, despite facts to the contrary.
FACT: The Antarctic Ice Shelf is growing, not receding.
FACT: Temperature has risen ~ .01-degree C in sixteen years.
FACT: Carbon emissions from 1920 – 1960 correlated to exactly zero change in temperature.
FACT: The earth has experienced climate change with and without human activity throughout the geological ages.
FACT: Funding flows to crises.
FACT: The IPCC ignores data it finds inconvenient
FACT: The “hockey stick” model is false
And yet people still believe the Big Lie of Climate Change, and follow the dogma that somehow humans are responsible. Hydrocarbon emissions are bad for a number of reasons, air quality being foremost among them. Let’s figure out how to reduce hydrocarbon emissions, but stop believing the BIG LIE because you believe no one would have the gall to “fabricate colossal untruths.”
Sources:
Judith Curry’s Blog: Climate, Etc. (Judith Curry is Professor and former Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology and President (co-owner) of Climate Forecast Applications Network (CFAN).
William Briggs, Statistician, Cornell
Forbes: Dark Money Funds to Promote Global Warming Alarmism Dwarf Warming Denier Research
September 3, 2015
UT or A&M
With offspring attending both the University of Texas in Austin and Texas A&M in College Station, I have been granted unique insight into the differences between these two great institutions.
While separated by only one hundred miles of cow pastures, the two universities are as different as seaweed and sassafras. Lettuce and tomatoes. The first three Star Wars and those that came later.
I have no insight into which is better than the other; I can’t even find the measuring stick to compare the two. All I’m going to say is…they’re different.
The Approach
UT: Stop and go traffic followed by a trip through the barrio. Scenic graffiti.
A&M: Trip through the country and a stop at Buc-Eees, scenic cows.
The Surroundings
UT: Hip eateries, the State Capital, slums, grunge-chic stores, and Whole Foods.
A&M: Suburban America. Best Buy. Target. Walmart.
Dining Out – The Waiter
UT: Dreadlocks and a spray of piercings.
A&M: Crew cut and a remarkable absence of tattoos.
Dining Out – The Choices
UT: Cool beatnik places with low ceilings and funky, uneven floors.
A&M: Chili’s. PeiWei.
Student Body
UT: Diversity exploded. In fact, the Big Bang of Diversity.
A&M: Closely resembles the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The Parental Tour
UT: Parking Nazis monitor your every move. The students ignore you, as they’re engrossed in their phones.
A&M: Students stop you and say, “Howdy, are you lost?”
Culture
UT: Music, art, museums, historic landmarks, libraries, the Capitol.
A&M: …
School Spirit
UT: A&M who?
A&M: We’re gonna whip those tea-sipping Commies from Austin or die trying.
The Parents
UT: “Woo-hoo” my son/daughter go to Austin.
A&M: They paint their babies maroon and sing the Aggie Fight Song to them in the crib.
Ordering a Drink
UT: The waiter offers you one of 18,000 craft beers made locally.
A&M: “Here, drink this purple Kool-Aid.”
This is by no means a comprehensive list of the differences. Time will tell which school I wind up preferring to visit, as they’re equally hard to reach from Dallas. I can only hope I don’t accidentally wear burnt orange to College Station and walk down any dark alleys—say behind the maroon-striped Whataburger.
