National Forests, National Parks, News, State Parks

Immigration Reform Bill includes new penalties for growing pot on federal land

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

As a big fan of our open spaces including national forest, state parks, and so on I firmly believe that using them to grow marijuana is a bad idea.  It’s not that I’m against the plant in any way – I’m very 420 friendly – I just don’t believe public lands should be used to grow it.  I’m a firm supporter of the Mendocino County, California’s yellow zip-tie program from a couple of years back.  It was a great idea, and it’s a shame the state of California didn’t stand behind it and allowed the federal government to swoop in and wipe out the legal and law-abiding growers crops.

Being a conservationist and being cannabis friendly and living in a state where medical marijuana is legal, I was surprised to see that the unnecessary immigration reform bill includes ANYTHING having to do with pot or federal lands.  It seems to me that a bill about immigration should be about … immigration.

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

The Senate recently approved a measure that would add — on top of the sentence for illegally growing marijuana — up to 10 years in prison for those cultivating the drug on federal land. The measure, a little-noticed addition to the immigration overhaul bill, also calls for new penalties for environmental damage such as that caused by the use of toxic chemicals.

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Day Hikes

Day Hike – Carbon Canyon Regional Park Loop

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Redwood trees in Southern California?  I had heard that there was a grove of Sequoia sempervirens somewhere in Orange County, but had never been able to figure out where.

As it turns out, the trees are located near Brea, California off State Route 142 near Carbon Canyon Dam inside Carbon Canyon Regional Park.  The park itself offers visitors activities including fishing, hiking, volleyball, picnic areas, tennis, ball fields, and playgrounds in a idyllic setting, and virtually every review is positive.  From my hike through the park, to get to the trailhead, I could see it was well-maintained, had plenty of grass areas and shade trees, and is certainly worth a visit.  It’s a very family-friendly park. Parking costs weekdays is $3, and I believe I read that it’s $5 on weekends, or you can save the entry fee and park on residential streets nearby.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook

Online retail book sales growth continues

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

According to Tbe Bookseller website, Bowker is reporting another increase in online retail book sales.  From the article:

Online retailers, including Amazon, accounted for 44% of all book spending in the US in 2012, according to Bowker. The figure is up from 39% in 2011, while bookstore chains now account for less than 20% of book spending.

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eBook

Stephen Curry – Kindle surprise and disappointment

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

In Occam’s Corner, hosted by The Guardian, Stephen Curry discovers that he really likes the Kindle.  From the article:

I thought I loved the physical feel of books too much to become enamoured of ebooks. I loved the heft, the smell, the touch of the paper, the firm but yielding resistance of the spine of a new paperback, the perfect cut of the pages that transforms a gathering of sheets — leaves that flutter easily between the fingers — into a near solid block. Comparisons are hard to find because there is nothing quite like a book. The intimacy of the tactile sensations, along with the joy of ideas and entertainment that are to be found between the covers of those that are well written, have combined to make the book an object not just of veneration — how many are scandalised to find second hand tomes annotated with a reader’s scratchings? — but of love.

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Dead Tree Books, eBook, Success Stories

Wait, WHAT? A self-published author turns down a publisher?

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Author Aubrey Rose recently wrote a blog post explaining why she decided to turn down an offer from Amazon Publishing’s Montlake Romance imprint.

Why would a self-published author turn down an overture from a publisher?  An offer that included royalties, even?

From her post:

“…Naturally, I was thrilled. A real publisher wanted my work! I chatted with her briefly on the phone and asked her a ton of questions: What kind of cover would they create for me? What promotions would they do? What control would I have over everything? Although I was excited to work with Amazon, I wanted to know that they would treat my book right. She told me my novel was a great read and very clean writing, and that she would love to “partner” with me in relaunching my book through Amazon’s imprint.

However, she couldn’t guarantee anything – from cover image to pricing to marketing…”

Ah, ha!  Well, that’s par for the publisher course.  But wait, there’s more:

“…The advance they offered was less than I had made in my first month of sales. As I looked through the Montlake catalogue, I saw a mix of breakout hits and complete flops, with some recent books that just had the worst covers imaginable for romance. And I would have to pull my book from every publisher except Amazon…”

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