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Cole Parker

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Posts posted by Cole Parker

  1. Canadian Teen Bullied to death

    in News & Views

    Posted

    Kids are just so at risk. They feel things so desperately, and this kid didn't know where to get help. His whole world seemed ready to bite him, and he couldn't see any good ending. What a tragedy.

    It seems to be the sensitive kids, the good kids, the imaginative kids who suffer the most and are most susceptible.

    C

  2. Australian Federal Election

    in News & Views

    Posted

    You guys seem to be walking directly down the middle on this. Okay, I'll take a stand. A definitive stand.

    I think there's something to worry about with Global Warming. (There. I capitalized it. It therefore MUST be a problem.<g>)

    I think it's real. From what I've read, there are certainly arguments on both sides of the issue, with eminent scientists weighing in for and against. But the proponderance of opinion seems to fall on the side of the issue claiming it's real. Both sides have managed to politicize the issue, which of course obfuscates it. It would be easier to get at facts without that, but it's what we have.

    I attended a conference at Cal Tech recently where the matter was discussed. The people who work and teach there are far smarter and better informed on this than I am. They discussed the arguments on both sids of the issue, and it was debated by panelists in front of the audience and they took comments from the audience and discussed them as well.

    I left the conference with the feeling that there are a lot of questions still to be answered, but that a lot of very smart people are very concerned that this is a very real phenomenon. I went into the session feeling it was a lot of poppycock. I left thinking I should change my opinion.

    One thing that was suggested is that all nations should stop burning so much oil. If this would done, it would certainly hurt developing and developed nations disproportionately. But I think it's an obvious direction to be walking in.

    I don't think the world is ready for us to run that way. Not quite yet.

    Cole

  3. Days of Silence

    in Readers Rule!

    Posted

    I agree with you, Steven. A lot of us are just beginning this journey into authordom, and are a little uncertain of our writing. It takes courage to present things for public inspection, especially writing, because so much of that comes from deep within ourselves, comes from our heart and intellect, and to have that unfavorably criticized can really and truly hurt.

    Criticism is required if we're going to improve, so I think we all realize there is a place for it. But I wholly concur with you. If someone has some truly negative things to say, I feel the best place to say them is in private. I think we all have private email addresses that can be used. The stories also have feedback forms that are private.

    If there are general statements that concern not only the immediate story but all writring, then it may be appropriate to disseminate them. But it's so easy to hurt, to undermine, to even stop someone from trying. I think we all need to be aware of that when we offer criticism.

    I've been very lucky. I have generally received only favorable comments. If, when I first began, I had received the other kind, I'm pretty sure I'd simply have quit at that point. That I didn't is because fellow authors, and readers, were very kind.

    C

  7. Word usage

    in Writers' Workshop

    Posted

    take as an aggressive unconditional command to deprive rather than supply, without permission or even, against someone's will.

    I just love your wit, Des.

    However, you're limiting yourself severely with the above example. Yes, you can say that of "take," but it doesn't have to be that way. You can take the candy to the child and be entirely unaggressive in doing so, and it can be permitted or not permitted, and the child can very much will you do to so. " Take" works however you want it to.

    The definitions of "bring" include you yourself being in the equation. They seem to define the word as 'taking something somewhere and going with it yourself.' Yet there seems to be a question of redundancy implied there, as it is difficult for me to imagine taking anything anwhere if you don't go along with it. You can throw something and not accompany it on the journey, but how can you take it and not be there when it arrives?

    Anyway, bringing Bobby home just simply sounds wrong to me. Even though people do use the word that way. It sounds colloquial and even a bit coarse and uneducated. Yet it isn't, from the definitions I've seen. So I have to admit to being wrong about it. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

    C [/color]

  9. Word usage

    in Writers' Workshop

    Posted

    Does anyone else have a problem with this, or is it just me? It frequently is just me, so I was wondering.

    I keep seeing, and hearing, the usage where the word "bring" is used so as to be synonomous with "take." An example would be: "Sam, your mother called. She wants you to bring Bobby to his house before coming home."

    In my way of thinking, this should be "take," not "bring." Yet I see in the other way all the time.

    Anyone else have any feel for this, one way or the other?

    C

  11. Days of Silence

    in Readers Rule!

    Posted

    It seems more likely to me that Lucas would have been angry enough at Justin that, when asked as school why they werern't together any longer, Lucas would have outed him. Kids that age are usely vengeful when they're angry, and he certainly would have been angry.

    But it's a very interesting and thought-provoking story. Ones like this make you think. Ones like this make you come up with alternatives you like better. Well done. Well written.

    C

  15. Mechanics 101

    in Readers Rule!

    Posted

    Nick is right, of course. We're always encouraged to write about what we know, and most anything at all can be made interesting, especially if we feel any passion for it. Many, many books have details about some specific area of enterprise. It's simply the writer's job to make what he says about a subject fascinating to the layman.

    And if you're really good, you make whatever you're saying about that subject integral to the story you're telling.

    Cole

  17. Chat Room?

    in The Raccoon's Den

    Posted

    As usual, Des has some very pithy comments that should be given some serious consideration.

    These forum pages draw me to them daily. The commets tend to be intelligent, well thought out, thought provoking and entertaining. They contain humor and insight and depth and I wouldn't want anything to disrupt that. If a chatroom would do that, then we'd all lose because of it.

    When we write posts to this board, we have to stop and organize our thoughts. Well, everyone other than Wibby, of course. But that's a separate issue entirely<g>. I would think the chatroom, by it's very nature, would have much more shallow substance and topics would only be played with instead of intellectually or thoroughly discussed.

    I for one write much better than I do chat. It's possible other of us do the same. I'd sure not want to see the currently written comments lost to the allure of the witty riposte.

    C

  18. Grampa and Amos

    in Readers Rule!

    Posted

    I just read this outstanding story. I think I've read it before, at a location no longer remembered. This is simply a superbly written story, and example of craftsmanship I can only envy.

    Of cousre, as AJ was an English major, he has an unfair advantage over the rest of us.<g>

    Great writing. Great job.

    Thanks.

    C

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