R.M. Fraser's Blog, page 3

Book Review: Milk and Oranges by Charlene Wexler

Hello Everyone,
The Global E-Book Awards are over and the winners announced! I'd like to say congratulations to you all and it was an honor to be a judge for this awards ceremony. Having said that, let the reviews follow.

This week I am reviewing Milk and Oranges by Charlene Wexler. This a collection of short stories. Most, if not all, are from the author's own life. There were two stories that really got me. The fist was called "The Cruel Club". It was an amazing short that made me cry (yes, this guy does that once in a while). It dealt with grief and loss, more specifically mothers who have lost a child. In this case it was related to cancer. I found the emotional part of it gripping, to say the least.

The other story was entitled "Motorcycles are Dangerous". It is somewhat related to "The Cruel Club". It's about her dying son (leukemia), who wants a motorcycle. It's a very short bit, but the emotion is again raw and I found it interesting.

Unfortunately these are the only good stories from this book. For me, the remaining thirty-three stories were not good. I found many of them to be poorly written, and not because of poor editing (editing was good) or poor command of the English language. It was just that the stories were relatively boring. If there was something special about these stories they were lost on me. Maybe "I had to be there", or something like that. I find it somewhat difficult to say that an author should have gotten more in depth when it comes to short stories, but a little more wouldn't have hurt. If Wexler wants to make these more interesting to the reader, they need a little more punch or something. I just wasn't seeing it. There was also a slight hint of "holier than thou" attitude in some of the stories. It wasn't present in all of them, for sure. But it reminded me of one of my aunt-in laws and how she is always keeping up appearances. It's weird, but it didn't sit right with me. It actually made me kind of dislike the author.

I wish I could give this book more than two stars, but I can't. That's where it is. If "The Cruel Club" and "Motorcycles are Dangerous" were their own book apart from the other thirty plus stories, I'd give it four stars. So if you really want to read those two stories, I'd say go get her e-book. I believe it is available at most online e-book retailers. Otherwise, if your reading tastes are anything like mine, good luck.

Until next time,

R. M.

Update and Dragon Naturally Speaking

Hello everyone,
I just wanted to give a short post today to let all of you know that for the first time I am trying Dragon's Naturally Speaking software. This is very new for me and this may be very awkward and take some time to get it together. I'm finding that what I need to do is to retrain my brain to have a complete sentence ahead of time before I speak it, otherwise what comes out on screen is not very good in either spelling or grammar, or word recognition. I just said the word "text is" and what came out was "taxes". I have said plenty of things that are also screwing up as well, but I won't get into those now. Suffice it to say that Dragon's Naturally Speaking software does not recognize CODA speak.
My goal for using the software is to help me write future e-books. Currently I am working on a novel about my life as a CODA. What I found so far in my writing process is that my typing is horrible. I am a very slow at this and my brain processes ideas faster than my fingers can type. The end result is that by the time my typing catches up to where my brain is, I've either lost a good portion of, or the entire idea completely. So hopefully this software will help me to be able to get my ideas on screen quicker, and therefore I can retain most of my ideas before I lose them.
So far this is still going slow, but it still faster than I can type so it's already a plus. I am very confident that as I continue to use the software I will be able to speak more smoothly and quickly, which will leave me with some minor editing to do after I'm done speaking. I am already noticing that the software is picking up my accent a little more clearly the more I speak, so hopefully this will make a big improvement in this process as well.
For those of you who do write and do not have this software, I suggest finding a copy of it and giving it a try. So far I am having fun with this new software and I expect it to be a big help to me in the future. Hopefully this will translate into possibly having more frequent posts on this blog. Even if it doesn't I should still get these things done quicker, and that's a huge plus for me. So here's to hoping that I will be writing more efficiently and more quickly. It's given me my first good feeling in quite some time that the CODA novel will be ready and published much more soon than I have been recently expecting it to be.
More book reviews soon become as tomorrow is the Global E-Books Awards ceremony in Santa Barbara, California. This means that I can post reviews of all the e-books I read and judged for the GEAs. I believe there were eight of them, and I plan is to post one e-book review per week. So that will be a good two-month stretch, if not a little more when you factor in books I'm currently reading. I am looking forward to being much more productive over the next few months. Hopefully you readers will be seeing that as well.
Until next time,
R. M.

Audism Experiment and Book Review Update: Red Leaves and the Living Token by Benjamin David Burrell

Hello everyone,

I wanted to update all of you in regards to the Audism Experiment posts, which were done to show how Audism is such a deep seeded part of every day life by seeing what happened with content related ads presented by Google AdSense. I have looked into options for blocking those sites that promote Audism and/or that are Audist in nature (my apologies if Audi car ads still show up). What I found is that I can block whole categories of ads.

So what I decided upon for now was to block everything health-related. The medical profession is one of the worst Audism offenders out there, and it seemed that most, if not all, of my Audism related ads were from that group type.

I understand that this will likely be far from a fool-proof plan, and that more Audist ads will leak their way onto the page. I will be regularly checking the site myself for these ads, but more sets of eyes are better than just mine, so I need the help of all of you readers. Anyone who informs me of an Audist ad on my page will be forever memorialized on this blog for all readers to see as an "Audism Fighter". Just imagine, you could kind of be a superhero, with unheard of fame (seriously, there's only 96 followers right now)! Still cool in a nerdy sort of way if you ask me, though, and I'd be proud to put your name up. I should make an Audism Fighter logo to go with it. It could be something like a badge for everyone who makes the page! Cue symmetrical H-As repeating away from my maniacal laughing Joker face! It can be combined with my favorite guilty pleasure, professional wrestling! Instead of TNA or the old WWF, it can be called the AFF - the Audism Fighting Federation! We can all be superstars with great nicknames! Mine can be "R, The Mallet, Fraser", otherwise known as "The Audism Smasher" (kind of like what Gallagher did in his stand up routine). Or how about "The CODA Kidd"? That would be so cool! My finishing move could be boxing someone's ears to make them go Deaf! BWAHAHAHAHA!

I do have one other update. This in regards to Benjamin David Burrell's novel, Red Leaves and the Living Token. After posting my recent review, he contacted me and gave me some new excerpts that is currently being added into the book as a revised newer addition. I had an opportunity to read through them, and they helped to round out the story in certain small areas of the book. I wouldn't consider it enough to change my review of the book, but I am very excited to read book 2 of the series now. previously I had been trying to weigh the book as it was with what I hoped would be a better writing effort shown in the sequel. The fact that Burrell went out of his way to show me these excerpts tells me that he is very serious about his writing, which is all the proof I need to know that he has a good upside in his future writing career. At some point I will be purchasing book 2 of this story, and I have a gut feeling I won't be disappointed.

Please remember to report any Audism related ads that you might come across on my page. The AFF will soon be on the map!

Until next time,

R. M.

Book Review: Red Leaves and the Living Token - Benjamin David Burrell

Hello Everyone,
I had the opportunity to review the story Red Leaves and the Living Token, by Benjamin David Burrell.  It's a good story with a lot of potential. It is the first in what appears to be a series of three.

The story is a about a man named Raj, and his son, Emret, who is in a hospital for a disease that is threatening his life. It's much like you would see with young cancer patients in our world. In this world, there are three main races of people, the Petra, Zo, and the Botan. It seems to be like our modern world in many ways. Then again it seems old fashioned at times as well. Emret is desperate to find a cure, and will do anything to find it. Raj, on the other hand, is a very protective parent in hopes of a medical breakthrough. When Emret disappears from the hospital with his favorite nurse in search of a legendary cure, Raj is out of his mind in order to get his dying son back safely. In the interest of not spoiling the story, I will stop there.

As I said before, this story has a lot of potential. Unfortunately, it didn't quite live up to it. From a fantasy aspect, it's nothing I would call typical, which is a good thing. The bad thing was how underdeveloped the setting was and the background aspect of things. I'm not sure if that is coming across correctly. What I mean is how the three main races were never really described at all, and I felt as if I was imagining the characters incorrectly. Correction, I was. I found myself picturing them as regular humans. A little more background information and/or description of them would have helped considerably.

Another detriment to the book was the obvious lack of editing. I often found spelling and grammar mistakes. Some were so obvious that I wasn't sure if it was edited at all. I find this to be a common theme among indie authors, and I assume it's mostly caused by financial restraint or just knowing someone who is qualified to lend a hand in proofreading. However, there is no need for it to be as bad as it was in this story. I can understand some things being overlooked, but contend that standards still need to be met by indie authors.

What the author did do very well was getting into the emotions of the main characters, especially Raj, Emret, and Rinacht. There were some points in the story where I expected him to delve a little deeper and he didn't, yet then he would go further in unexpected spots which rounded it out nicely. To me this is one of the author's stronger aspects in his writing, and that kept me going through the book.

Overall, I am giving Red Leaves and the Living Token 3 stars. I found the story to be 'ok', everything considered. I am still undecided on whether or not to continue reading this series. However, if I do, it will be because of my curiosity about the fantasy aspect of the story, and whether or not the author improves on it. 
For those of you who wish to take a look at this book for yourselves, it can be found on several ebook websites, including Smashwords.com, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. There is also his website www.benburrell.com if you would like to learn more about the author himself.
Until next time,
R. M.

Guest Post: Sadie Forsythe

Hello everyone,

Please welcome guest poster for today, author Sadie Forsythe. Sadie has written The Weeping Empress, which is her only work thus far. I asked her if she would do a post here, and I now know what this post will be about. I'll let her say the rest.


I don't have a lot of time recently. Who does, right? But one of the things I do in my scarce free time is read a ridiculous amount of manga (and the occasional manwha). I'm especially drawn to those dark, twisted tales that make me shutter to think what might actually go bump in the night. While I've never been the type to easily real off titles and mangakas, after a little thought and a quick glance at the electronic shelves to remind myself who drew what, I've come up with a list of my twenty favouSo there they are, my top twenty. The list probably tells you more about me than an afternoon full of conversation. While the stories cross the genres, each is dark in its own way, the art is relatively similar - there are no wide-eyed Shougo heroines here. On that front I suppose I could easily have simply said "anything by Mihara Mitukazu, Ktobuki Tarako, or Mizushiro Setona," and have had just as honest a list. But if, like me, you find the darker side of man appealing check these out first.What do you think - disagree, something not quite dark enough for you, have something to add? I'd love to hear about it. I'm always on the lookout for the next best read.*I'm linking to Baka-Updates simply for the ease and convenience of having all of the synopses in one place. If you like what you see there (and are able) you should of course buy the book and support the artist.
Thank you, Sadie for your post! I hope there are other anime lovers out there reading this besides myself. You've expanded my knowledge of this subject a great deal. For those of you who feel the same, please leave comments here for Sadie. If you would like to see more guest posts from other interviewed/reviewed authors on this blog, please let me know in the comment section. I'd be more than happy to accommodate.

Until next time,

R. M.

Book Review/Interview: The Weeping Empress by Sadie Forsythe

 I was given an opportunity to read and review The Weeping Empress by Sadie Forsythe. What an amazing unique story. I will tell you all that i fell in love with this book by the end of it, but let me give you an idea of what the story is about.
The story is of a woman named Chiyo. At the very beginning of the story she is thrown into battle with two samurai against the emporer's goons. It is not her time or place. She went to bed a modern day Japanese woman, married with a daughter, only to wake up in what appears to be feudal Japan centuries ago.
The two samurai are Muhjah and Senka, highly trained samurai who live to disrupt the emperor and all the nyims who follow him. Chiyo joins them and is trained by them. As they create problems for the emperor in the name of bloodlust and rebellion, Chiyo is rumored to be sent by the Goddess Kali herself to save them and lead them into the future. Will she accept this new life and prophecy?
For me this book read just like an anime cartoon, and more specifically, a Manga from the 1990s. The way Forsythe describes battle scenes and how the plot unfolds is dead on for that kind of genre. I admit to having a great love for dark anime, especially Manga. Even better than that though, was the fact that the dialogue is in the authors own words. I don't know the japanese language at all, but i do know that most dialogues in anime cartoons are awful because of dubbing into an English translation. There is nothing cheesy about Forsythe's dialogue in this book and it makes it even better.
Although there are no crazy super-like powers that the characters in the story possess (at least not as exaggerated as one would find in an actual anime), there are some things that go beyond the sense of reality. In my opinion its good to have this aspect muted somewhat in a novel. But just like many animes do, Forsythe really takes a look at the nature of humans in general as a society. One chapter in particular dwells on this and it is done beautifully. Most action movies never get too focused on such things and its a shame. However, many animes do, and this book falls right in line with it. Its great to see because it makes the story multi-dimensoional. For all the action and mayhem there are still things to get philosophical on.
There were some minor editing/grammar issues along the way in the story. They were minimal though, and i attribute a lot of such mistakes to a lack of good editing. Its tough when you're an indie publisher, so seeing this occur as far and few between as it was isn't bad, and didn't really distract me from my enjoyment of this story. 

Finally, the Alfred Hitchcock style ending was the perfect finishing touch to the story. It  took me to a place I did nit expect to go, but once I was there it fit as though anything different would have been a disappointment.
All in all, I feel it is my duty to give this book a high rating. I am absolutely head over heels for this, knowing I will reread this at least a few more times in the future. If not for the minor editing mistakes, this book would be 5 full stars. Since lack of editing was present, I have to give The Weeping Empress by Sadie Forsythe 4.5 stars. Thank you for an incredible read!
Sadie has also agreed to guest post on The Fraser File, and I gave her an open format. I have no idea what she will have to say, but I'm sure it will be good. In the meantime, she allowed me to ask her some questions. Here's that interview now;    RM: First off, tell the readers a little about yourself.Forsythe: I was born in rural Tennessee, but was lucky enough to move throughout the U.S. while growing up. I learned early that just because you come from the same place doesn’t mean you’ll be the same kind of person, a lesson that sparked my life-long love of human cultures. Seeing the ways of different peoples is a personal passion that led me to study Anthropology at university and to eventually cross the Atlantic. I currently live just North of Manchester, England and am loving some of the interesting British quirks. I never tire of seeing a burley man ask for a choci bici (chocolate biscuit/cookie) with his tea, for example.I’ve always been a voracious reader. When you’re constantly the new kid at school it’s imperative you’re able to amuse yourself between friends. I, honestly, think this is why I write now. All my time in school taught me the nuts and bolts of putting nouns, verbs and adverbs together in the proper order, but the thousands of books I’ve read (good, bad and otherwise) taught me how to instinctively feel when something is right or not. The Weeping Empress is my first contribution to the literary world and while it's been nerve wracking, it's also been a lot of fun.
RM: How did you come up with this story?Forsythe: Don’t laugh, after a night of watching Inuyasha I sarcastically asked, “Why don’t any of these girls who get swept off to save the universe ever mind?” As I went about my business over the next few days I expanded on the questions. “What if she had something she didn’t want to loose, a family maybe?” Then I started imagining how she might react, who she might meet, etc. It was just a laugh, a dark parody of the common Shougo plotline. Eventually, however, it developed a life of its own and I started jotting scenes down. RM: I thoroughly enjoyed The Weeping Empress. I felt as though I was watching a Japanese Anime without the need for the English dubbing, which usually cheeses the dialogue significantly. Are you and anime fan, and was this something you were going for?Forsythe: I am definitely an anime fan. I discovered it late, however. I didn’t start watching it until I was in my late 20s. At the time I was working a high stress and decidedly depressing job. Coming home and watching some ridiculous comedy anime was my way of relaxing. My life has lightened up and I don’t need the comedy anymore. Which is good because what I really love are the ones exploring the darker side of man. Recently I’ve moved from anime to manga. I find I can read a series a lot faster than watching it.I definitely had the manga/anime fan in mind as a potential reader when I wrote The Weeping Empress. Authors are always told to write what they know and that’s what I did. I wrote a book with a similar feel to the stories I like the most, for readers I thought would like the same things as me. It’s really just that simple.  RM: In one of the chapters there is a focus on the human condition. It says that societies do not think about the future. That we are very short-sighted to just what is in front of us. I feel it's safe to say we can see signs of that everywhere in our current world. What brought that philosophical notion into the story, and do you yourself believe that we are doomed to repeat this indefinitely as a society?Forsythe: Though it isn’t extensively expounded on in the book, that concept is implicitly important to the story. If people weren’t the way they are Kali wouldn’t need to take the corrective action she does. I don’t think we’re doomed to make the same mistakes forever though. Unfortunately, I do think that things will get a lot worse before they get better. It will take a shock to the social system to force people to recognize the errors of their ways. In the mean time I, as a member of society and therefore part of the whole, keep trying to do my part to think long-term and consider the ripple effect of my own actions.   RM: I love how dark this story was, especially the Alfred Hitchcock style ending that you wrote in. We never did learn much about Chiyo's original life besides some basics, but you did an exquisite job in emphasizing its importance to Chiyo's character. Was there ever a plan to get more in depth about this particular aspect?Forsythe: I purposely didn’t expand on Chiyo’s previous life so that it would feel cut off and lost to the reader, just like Chiyo. But the sequel (which I really need to name) will be largely from Michael’s point of view and will give a lot more insight into their life together. It will also address how the events of The Weeping Empress happened.  RM: What other books have you written or are in the works right now?Forsythe: The Weeping Empress is my first novel and its birth was quite organic. I didn’t even plan to write a book initially. So there aren’t any previous books, but I’m working on the sequel to it. I’m also kicking an old school (not sparkly) vampire story around that I might develop at some point.
RM: Where can people purchase a copy of The Weeping Empress?Forsythe: All the normal places, Amazon and Barnes & Nobles carry it of course. But if you were interested in supporting a small local business you might consider buying from John at Back to the Books (see, small ripple effects). Forsythe: Before I sign off I want to take a moment to say thank you for having me. I've enjoyed the questions and even learned a thing or two about a new (to me) culture. Few things make me happier.
I really want to thank Sadie Forsythe for this interview and for the pleasure of reading The Weeping Empress. It can also be found for purchase at Smashwords.com for $1.50. That's a great deal! Here is the link;
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/156219  Sadie can also be found at the following links for Facebook and Twitter;https://www.facebook.com/SadieForsythehttps://twitter.com/SadieSForsythe
I also want to say thank you to Sadie for her comment about learning something of Deaf Culture on this blog. Often times I wonder who is really reading my posts and I was touched to find that not only did she read it, it also had some meaning for her as well.The next post on The Fraser File will be my first ever guest blogger, Sadie Forsythe herself. I'm pretty excited for it. I gave her an open format, so you'll have to see what she has to say. Her blog will be posted this Thursday, August 2nd. Look for it in the late evening hours of the Eastern Time Zone. Until next time, R. M.
 

 

Audism Experiment Wrap-Up

Hello everyone,

It's been a couple of weeks, and I received a few responses from you out there to help me with Audism Experiment #4. So let's get these results out of the way. The labels attached to this group were;

- American Sign Language
- CODA
- Culturally Deaf
- Deaf
- Deaf Clubs
- Deaf Community
- Deaf Culture

Here are the screen shots of what I just viewed on this particular post;


So from my end, I did not get a single ad related to anything Deaf, deaf, or to Audism. Huhhhhh? I don't know either. It kind of feels like a fluke or something. Now here are the results from you all;

- Audi A6 limousine lease
- Concept map software
- Audi rss A5 and SS Felgen
- Auto online
- Audi A3
- Car insurance
- 2012 Hearing Aid Guide
- Med El Cochlear Implants
- Middle ear implant
- Sign Language Games
- 5 signs of depression
- Songbird Hearing Aids
- Free disability screening
- Disability
- Hearing Aid Deals

Now this is more to what I expected based on what I had seen in the previous three experiments. Because of this, I am going to call my screen shots for this experiment a fluke.

On the overall, I'd have to say that I could see the pattern of Audism in Google AdSense advertising quite clearly. Certainly not every ad was audist, but there were more ads promoting Audism than there were showing Deaf Culture in a positive and/or neutral light. Lets get some numbers here to back this finding up.

54 of 130 ads were directly related to hearing aids, cochlear implants, hearing loss, and disabilities.That's 42% of the advertising.

11 of 130 ads were for something either positive or neutrally related to the Deaf Community and culture. That's just a mere 8% of the advertising.

The rest of the ads were not related to either Audism or Deaf. We could say that all the Audi ads were related by their spelling and AdSense's auto-pairing/matching things up by label (even if it's only the fist 4 letters that match up in the word 'Audism'). There were 8 ads of the 130, for a 6% share. I find that sad that there were almost as many ads for Audi as there were for Deaf Culture. But at least that's not a sign of Audism.

I think the findings speak for themselves, and has led me to the conclusion that AdSense is promoting Audism on my blog! This is not something that sits well with me. It was very tough to see these ads on the blog over the last month, so this is what I will do;

I plan to go into my AdSense settings and begin to block all of these ads. I have a feeling that this will be a long, drawn out, and perhaps even slightly continuous process because I have to block them by web address. It's inevitable that new sites will pop up, etc, etc. This will take some time. I have however, earned about enough money to buy myself a lunch at a sub-shop. It's not a lot, but it's enough for me to say I want to keep AdSense. Any amount of financial support I can get from the time I put into the blog is nice, but I do not wish to earn anything off of Audism related advertising, and that's the key for me. If I can get these audist ads off of the page, or even at a bare minimum, then I think this is how I plan to proceed.

Agree with me, or don't agree with me. Either way, I would love to know what all of you think of this plan. Is this a good or bad idea in your eyes?

Until next time,

R. M.

Response to the TSA

Hello everyone,

First, I would like to update you all. There were 2 comments on my blog post "Audism Experiment #4", which had told me I have been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award, and the Leibster Blog Award. Awards? Hey, that's fantastic, until I go to check them out, that is......

Turns out both awards also require me to answer some "get to know you" questions, and then ask some of others. Both awards ask me to nominate another 11 blogs. Now, to me, this is starting to seem like it's along the lines of those old 'chain emails' or something else so silly.

Please do not get me wrong, I had to be nominated by other bloggers just like me, which means I must have done something to their liking in order to be nominated by them. Let's hope so, at least. If that is really the case, then I would like to thank Divya Bisht and Erleen Alvarez for their nominating me. On the overall, though, it kind of feels like empty, like anyone could have gotten this, and it makes me feel as though placing a lot of emphasis on this feels lackluster. Again, Erleen and Divya, thank you, but I'd rather not participate.

With that out of the way, what i want to talk about today is the TSA, or the Transportation Security Administration. Recently in Kentucky there was a National Association of the Deaf (NAD) convention held. One of the Deaf people in attendance decided to blog about how poorly he was treated by the TSA at the SDF airport in Louisville. Apparently TSA officers teased and mocked him for being Deaf, and confiscated his candy, then ate it in front of him. There were some other things that allegedly happened as well.

As you an imagine, many Deaf people are upset about this. Deaf people are very sensitive to Audism because they experience it all the time, and to them this incident is just another example of how cruel hearing people can be towards them. Well, the TSA responded with their own blog. Here's the link to see for yourself;

http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/07/alleged-mistreatment-of-passenger-who.html

Given the circumstances of what both sides are saying, I have no idea if one side or the other is being completely honest about this incident, and will not comment on that matter. What I'd like to point out is something I can actually see has happened, and that is something the TSA said in their blog response.

"When TSA found out the NAD conference was coming to Louisville, TSA reached out to NAD and other members of its disability coalition while Transportation Security Officers at SDF received additional training on screening deaf passengers from local experts in the field."

What bothers me is what I've highlighted in red. The term "disability coalition". Here's is just another example of Audism at its most ignorant. A government agency referring to Deaf people as 'disabled' is a huge error in characterization. Who knows what really happened to this Deaf passenger, but I can tell you I find it very difficult to fully believe someone or some group who claims to be fair and just when they can't even give culturally deaf people the respect they deserve by referring to them as 'disabled'. I find this incredibly reprehensible and ignorant.

Not only that, but the TSA, who stated that "officers at SDF received additional training on screening deaf passengers from local experts in the field", couldn't even come away from such additional training without the knowledge that Deaf people do not consider themselves to be 'disabled'? At the very least, it appears that the TSA is not being very honest. I'm pretty sure that any local expert on culturally deaf people would have stressed this point in their training sessions. If they can't even show respect in their response, then how am I or anyone else to believe what they are saying is true? They've already done something oppressive by leading everyone to believe that Deaf people are 'disabled'. What I cannot determine is that whether this is an act of Audism in the name of ignorance or apathy. Neither one sits well for me, especially from an agency that should be showing 100 percent professionalism at all times. It's a government agency, representative of our appointed leaders and also of ourselves. My tax money just went to that? Unbelievable.

Don't get me wrong. I want extra security at airports for I never want to bear witness to another version of 9/11 again, but it can be done with more respect and professionalism than this. To me this is just another example of how deep and pervasive Audism is in this country. It is so low on TSA's radar that they couldn't even make an appropriate reference to the Deaf community. It looks bad on them and makes me wonder what it is truly like for the average Deaf person who attempts to pass security points at airports all over this country. The TSA hasn't convinced me of their ability to do so with respect and professionalism. Perhaps they need some agency-wide trainings from the top levels down to their lowest ranking employees on Deaf culture and respect. If they truly conducted themselves they way they claimed to have at SDF concerning the incident in question, then the least they could do is hire someone who would respect the Deaf community enough to learn a little bit about them before making such a reference. Instead, they allow Bob Burns of the TSA Blog Team to represent them.

Soon to come will be the final results in the "Audism Experiment" series.

Until next time,

R. M.

Audism Experiment #4

Hello everyone,

The response I got from all of you for Audism Experiment #3 was better than any so far. Granted, I may have given it a few more days in between, but you all did this. Many thanks. Experiment #3 had no labels attached to it, so what I expected was nothing related to Deaf, deafness, Audism, etc etc. Here's the breakdown of what you all reported to me;

- 10 Car Sales Ads, 3 of them from Audi
-   2 Interpreter Positions
-   6 For Post Secondary Education
- 12 For Hearing Aids and/or Batteries
-   2 For Law Firms
-   1 Deaf Personals
-   2 Sensorineural Hearing Loss
-   2 Cochlear Implants
-   1 AARP ????? (Seniors and hearing loss? It's a stretch, at best...)
-   1 Psychology Experiment
-   1 Self Selection Research
-   1 For Stahlflex (That's a German company, btw. How much does that rock?)
-   1 Brain Training Games
-   1 Google Chrome
-   1 Concept Map Software (I don't believe that's related to CI mapping)
-   1 Disabled help with Scooters
-   1 New Google + Events
-   1 Mobile Web
-   1 Mobile Phone
-   1 For Cisco

Wow! What data! So what is Audism related here? 16 of 49 ads were. That's more than coincidence for me. But it shows that Adsense is doing more than just relating content to labels. Basing this on past posts, perhaps? That would be my guess. Here's some snapshots of what I saw when I viewed the page;


 Doesn't look too bad, eh? Nothing related, except for that Audi ad, hehe. I went back on a second time just because, and this is what I got;



What what what? This throws everything off! Every single ad is related to Deaf, and 9 of can be considered Audistic! Man, just my luck to look a second time. Way to go, Google...

Now for the final test of Adsense, Experiment #4. This will have labels related only to the Deaf community in a positive way. Here's what I will go with;

- Deaf
- Deaf Culture
- Deaf Community
- Deaf Clubs
- CODA
- Culturally Deaf
- American Sign Language

So let's give this a week or so and we will then be able to compare everything. I think that those of us who have experience with Deaf people know how this last experiment will turn out, too. This experiment had such a great response from you all, and I hope you continue on this one, so tell me every ad you see - PLEASE! :)

Until next time,

R. M.

Book Review - The Grimoire: Lichgates by S. M. Boyce

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12900806-the-grimoireHello Everyone,

Another book read, and time for another review. The book is The Grimoire: Lichgates, by author S. M. Boyce. Here's a description from the book's page on goodreads.com.

"The Grimoire turns its own pages and can answer any question asked of it, and Kara Magari is its next target. She has no idea what she's getting herself into when she stumbles across the old book while hiking a hidden trail. Once she opens it, she's thrown into Ourea: a beautiful world full of terrifying things that all want the Grimoire's secrets. Everyone in this new world is trying to find her, and most want to control her.

Braeden Drakonin grew up in Ourea, and all he’s ever known of life is lying. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. He has one question to ask the book – one question that can fix everything in his broken life – and he’s not letting Kara out of his sight until he gets an answer.

There’s no escaping Ourea. There’s no going back now."

Ok. So here's what I think of the book. It left me feeling a bit bipolar, so bear with me cause it will get better. 

The title and genre got me excited. I love fantasy books about magic and medieval stuff, different worlds, all of that is great. I was incredibly let down by the beginning of the book. To be completely honest, if I was not reading this book to give the author a review, I don't believe I would have gotten through the beginning. For me, it was that bad. It took no time whatsoever for Kara to find herself in the midst of all the action. I'll admit that sometimes action happening right away in a story is good, and that could have happened here, too, if the author had expanded on Kara's background more. Here was someone who was obviously the main character of the story, and before I could create any bond with her, she fell through the lichgate and into the new world of Ourea, and became the Vagabond. On top of that the author's descriptives in the story were just kind of 'blah' and not really polished. What I really wanted was to know more about her troubled past and how it affected her. I never got a real sense of that in the beginning of the book, and it left me not wanting to root for her right away. Another way I can describe it is by the movie Labyrinth, starring Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie. I love Jim Henson stuff and I expect it to not get too crazy into a plot line. Connelly is thrown into the mix right away as a result, which works for the movie, but not in a book. At least not for me, anyway.


So leave that aside, because I did continue on. As the book went forward the world of Ourea opened up to me. I liked a lot of it, and it was enough that I was able to ignore the author's use of descriptives and sometimes cheesy dialogue (kind of like what you would hear on Hercules or Xena). The blood loyalty within the races of Yakona was something I found fascinating. A lot can be done with that, and my mind wandered as I explored all the possibilities. Along the way the author finally expanded on Kara's background and how the loss of her mother affected her. If more had been done on that at the beginning of the book, I would have liked it. So now I get to know her more, and now i want to root for her. 

The Drenowith, or Muses, were a fairly cool addition to the world as well, and their importance in the story is evident from the moment they were introduced. That being said, I felt there were some other areas that could have been stronger. The story lacked some minor details in the lands where Kara visited. All of them had a decent start to help my imagination out, but a little more time on it could have made it a lot better. Her storyline of the impending war was great for me, and I have to admit the book began to grow on me without me realizing it. I even noticed as I was reading towards the end of the book that the writing style I did not like in the beginning had changed into something stronger. It was slight, but it was there, and I can say now that I will read the next book in the series. It's almost as if I was witnessing the author mature as a writer with each chapter. I am glad I stuck it out to the end.

Despite the book's four star ending, the beginning nearly ruined the whole thing for me. I cannot in good conscience give this book even three and a half stars. It has to be three stars, which is 'ok' in my book. I do want to give it a little plus beyond the three - a kind of footnote that reads, "I believe this series is going to be way better than my rating of this first book would indicate." 

So there you have it, 3+ (the plus is not a half a star) stars for The Grimoire: Lichgates. S. M. Boyce, towards the end of the book you showed a lot more focus and it pulled me in. I have a positive feeling in my gut that you will not disappoint in the upcoming sequel. I will be waiting.

Click the captioned link under the picture above to find the book's page on Goodreads.com. From there you should be able to find out how to obtain your own copy. Happy reading everyone!

Until next time, 

R. M.