Patriotism, Personal

Happy 224th Anniversary, United States Coast Guard!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The United States Coast Guard was created as the “Revenue Marine” by an act of Congress on August 4, 1790 at the request of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.  Not only is this branch of the military the oldest seagoing service of the United States, but also the only branch that has a racing stripe.

Yeah, I know the U.S. Navy lists it’s founding as 1775 – when the Continental Navy was formed – but we should all remember that the Continental Navy was disbanded in 1785, and the United States Navy wasn’t founded until 1794.

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News

Happy 125th Birthday, Orange County!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Congratulations on your quasi … quenti … quadralater … err, Happy Quasquicentennial!

Yep, the county I was born in and grew up in is now way old.  Way, way old.  Here’s a bit of a look back at Orange County, California:

On this date back in 1889 Orange County was officially formed

In celebration of this event, the Orange County Board of Supervisors has approved “OC125” – the official name for the observance.

The territory known as the California Republic officially became the State of California, the 31st state in the United States of America, on September 9, 1850.

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General Aviation

Cessna Aircraft introduces a diesel Turbo Skyhawk: the JT-A

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Now Cessna Aircraft has two diesel-engine aircraft in its single-engine line. The company displayed a Cessna 172 Turbo Skyhawk JT-A at EAA AirVenture and said that certification is expected “soon” for the Cessna 182 Turbo Skylane JT-A.

The Skyhawk JT-A is powered by a 155-horsepower Continental CD-155 diesel engine that is claimed to extend the aircraft’s range to 1,012 nautical miles, a 58-percent jump over the standard Skyhawk, and to increase speed to 131 knots true airspeed while burning 25 percent less fuel. It will be offered as an option in 2015.

The engine is already certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency for retrofit to newer Skyhawks under a supplemental type certificate.

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National Parks, Wildlife

Yosemite – El Portal Fire expands to 2,100 acres

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The El Portal fire started on the afternoon of Saturday, July 26th in the Old El Portal area of Yosemite National Park. As of 6:00am on Sunday, July 27th, the fire has grown to an estimated 2,100 acres with 5% containment.

Multiple structures are threatened, one structure is reported as lost.

The Old El Portal and Foresta communities, along with the Crane Flat campground, have been evacuated.

Highway 120 (Big Oak Flat Road) is currently closed from the Highway 140 (El Portal Road) junction to Tioga Road at Crane Flat (Tioga Road is open only from Highway 120 in Groveland and Lee Vining.

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Questions and Answers

Question: Should I submit to a publisher or only publish on Kindle?

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Question: Should I submit to a publisher or only publish on Kindle?

Really crappy answer #1:

If you can get published via publisher, it is always better. The reason is that,
1) you automatically get support for editing your book from publishing house,
2) most importantly you became “validated” author as, most times self-published Kindle authors are not considered professional, because everybody can publish with Kindle even if their work contain plenty of grammar mistakes.

If your book is fictional book, you have less chance to sell your Kindle ebook if readers don’t know you (for example from your blog page, twitter account and etc.) .

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