With the serious issues around the shooting on the set of Rust the book reviewed this week seems particularly pertinent. The uncorrected proof of A Doctor For All Seasons was provided to me by NetGalley for review. There will be the equivalent of the author, Dr John Gayner, associated with the insurance agreement for Rust, and for health and safety matters related to cast and crew. This read provides some of the experiences that such a person will have had so far. Dr Gayner could not relate anything as serious as appears to have happened on the set of Rust but the events he describes range over funny, glamourous, and dangerous incidents.
Dr John Gayner A Doctor For All Seasons Silverwood Books, 2021.
Thank you, NetGalley, for this uncorrected proof for review.
I found this rather different from expected, having in mind the possibility that Dr Gayner had been involved with television and film productions by contributing to the veracity of medical events as depicted by scriptwriters and actors. Instead, Dr Gayner has written about his time in his medical capacity assessing actors for insurance coverage; attending to medical incidents on set; advising on the safety properties of costume, cosmetics, and settings; and maintaining various actors’ health while they worked. See Books: Reviews for the complete review.
Covid 19 after lockdown in Canberra
Ten new cases were reported on Thursday 28th, and eight on the 29th. Ten people are in hospital, with seven in intensive care and five requiring ventilation.
Masks no longer need to be worn outside, so this morning’s walk and coffee was particularly pleasant. On the other hand, continuing to wear them inside and on public transport is not particularly onerous.
The new case numbers continue to fall, with nine on the 30th, and seven on the 31st October. Nine people are in hospital, five of whom are in intensive care, with five ventilated. On 1 November five new cases were recorded. Full vaccination for over twelve year olds is now 92.6%. Booster shots are now available for Canberrans over eighteen.
New case numbers for the 2nd and 3rd of November are: eight new cases and fifteen new cases. The vaccination level for Canberrans over twelve is 93.6% two doses. There are now 141 active cases , and there were 1,365 negative tests in the past 24 hours.
Namatjira family strikes ‘stunning and historic’ deal to win back copyrights
By Fran Kelly on RN Breakfast
Download Namatjira family strikes ‘stunning and historic’ deal to win back copyrights (8.59 MB)
The family of the world-famous Aboriginal artist — Albert Namatjira — are celebrating the end of their decades-long battle to win back control of his legacy.
They’ve struck a deal with Legacy Press, who’ve held the rights to Albert Namatjira’s since the 1980s, and bought them back for the nominal sum of one dollar.
The deal was expedited by entrepreneur Dick Smith — who also made a $250,000 donation to the Namatjira trust.
It’s a massive win for the family, many of whom are living in poverty and haven’t gotten a cent from Albert Namatjira’s work in 34 years.
It’s also likely to mean the end of tight restrictions on the circulation and reproduction of his work.
Joanna Penn and writing
Joanna Penn sent the following information in one of her regular emails:
You are a Writer. You Create and License Intellectual Property Rights, Plus How to Write For Markets That Sell, and Writing True Crime Memoir
joanna@thecreativepenn.com
Hello Creatives,
Language is powerful.
We choose words carefully in our written works because we understand their impact. They carry a message from one mind to another. They shape ideas. They can change lives.
But writers often use language carelessly when it comes to the business side of being an author, and it shows that many still don’t understand copyright, and how rights licensing can impact your publishing choices, as well as your financial future.
I’ve run across several examples of this recently in discussion with author friends and also online, so I thought it was time for a refresh on intellectual property (IP).
I’ve run across several examples of this recently in discussion with author friends and also online, so I thought it was time for a refresh on intellectual property (IP).
Who Killed My Mother? Writing and Podcasting True Crime Memoir
On July 4, 2020, Kory Shrum received two phone calls. One from her uncle, saying her mother was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose. A second from a homicide detective saying he believes it was murder—and her uncle is the suspect.
In this interview, Kory talks about how she turned her trauma into a true-crime podcast and memoir and how writing helped her process the experience.
Click here to listen or read the transcript
How to Write for Markets That Sell: Webinar with Alex Newton from K-lytics
You will know by now that I am not a data person!
But I do know the importance of understanding data about Amazon in particular in order to pick the right categories and keywords, understand competition in the niche, and reach more readers.
Luckily, Alex Newton IS a data geek and loves sharing his analysis in his regular K-lytics genre reports. He’s doing a free webinar next week and I know it will be packed full of useful insights.
Thurs 4 Nov at 4 pm US Eastern / 8 pm UK
The webinar will cover:
- What drives genre trends and how to spot them
- Genre winners and losers in the current environment
- The fundamentals and pitfalls of Amazon sales ranks, categories, and writing-to-market
- How the right Amazon data can help you save time, money, creative resources – AND sell more books
- The simple steps that let you find and utilize the best categories and trends that are right for YOU
- Live Q&A with Alex
[Note: I am an affiliate of K-lytics. The webinar is free but if you go on to purchase anything from Alex, I will receive a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.]
Cindy Lou Reviews The Italian Place and PJs in the City
The Italian Place
Eating out has resumed at a fast pace, with restaurants filling their allocated numbers of patrons well before the date of the booking. The Italian Place was offering only outside seating when I booked – and I was happy to take the opportunity. The outside section is extremely pleasant, under a cover (cleverly open in one section to allow a tree to grow through it), and with protective walls. There are heaters for each table. Masks were worn by staff, and patrons when we arrived and departed. The tables are attractively set, with bread and oil in place. Menus arrived promptly, and the water with them.
The menu is clear and comprehensive, with a select range of entrees, including the ever popular antipasti; main courses, including several pastas; and desserts, including a $6 scoop of gelati. For entrees, we thoroughly enjoyed the eggplant parmigiana and gamberoni. The latter were on the shell, but very easy to extract. The salsa served with them was delicious – a real success. Our main courses (fish of the day and a pork and fennel pasta dish) were pleasant, and generous. Despite the generosity of the previous courses the tiramisu could not be resisted. However, we had to share. It certainly deserves the two photos.
This was a very pleasant night out, enhanced by the care that The Italian Place is making to ensure the safety of its patrons as lockdown finishes.
I was really pleased to receive an email for The Italian Place asking for comments on the restaurant. What an excellent innovation!
PJs in the City
I had to collect a parcel from the GPO in Alinga Street and immediately thought of making this a pleasant occasion with a meal at PJs. There was parking nearby, I collected the parcel (my first time using the locker service – very efficient), and went over the road to choose a meal. There is inside and outside seating, and we chose the latter. The seats are bench style for large numbers, and there are also cosier tables for two available. The outdoor seating is pleasantly protected from the traffic, with abundant creepers.
The menu is a great mix of favourites, such as fish and chips, hamburgers and pizzas, with three attractive salads, pepper and salt calamari, and more, expanding the choices. Service was friendly and efficient, the drinks prompt, and the meals generous. The hamburger with mustard, bacon, a succulent meat patty and salad looked marvelous. My grilled chicken with coleslaw was equally attractive. This is one of the few places that offers a freshly grilled chicken breast in a hamburger – I was thrilled. However, do not despair if you want crumbed chicken – that is also available. The chip servings were huge. Sauce and mayonnaise were brought to the table when we accepted the offer – again, generous serves (and no extra cost). My lime and soda was served with fresh lime and very refreshing. I don’t know that anything much can be said about my friend’s Diet Coke!
Build Back Better and Infrastructure Bill
31st October – CNN and Jason Eastley, I Watch Rachel Maddow, quoting POLITICSUSA.COM, are reporting that the vote on both pieces of legislation will take place on Tuesday.
2 November – the vote did not take place on Tuesday, and it is not clear when it will occur.
Heather Cox Richardson – Democracy under threat, and the implications for the American economy
Heather Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to put the news in context.
heather.richardson@bc.edu
November 1, 2021 (Monday)
Americans appear to be waking up to the reality that our democracy is on the ropes. Emerging details about how hard Trump lawyer John Eastman pushed his memo with the plan of how Trump could steal the 2020 election, along with the chronology of the events surrounding the January 6 insurrection compiled by reporters for the Washington Post, show that we came perilously close to a successful coup d’état.
New polls show that 82% of people who watch the Fox News Channel believe the Big Lie that President Joe Biden did not win the 2020 election; 30% of Republicans think violence might be warranted to reclaim America. And tonight, Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson claimed that he had heard a tape of a phone conversation between far right activist Ali Alexander and members of Congress, as well as state legislators, about descending on Washington, D.C., for the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. This information appeared to be an attempt to get ahead of the story. Carlson said that there was “no talk of insurrection.” (But why were lawmakers on any such call in the first place?)Still, while there is increasing focus on the attempt to overturn the 2020 election and keep former president Trump in power, there has been little discussion of what the destabilization of our democracy means for the economy. This is no small thing, because since the late nineteenth century, it has been the stability of our nation that has attracted investment. That investment, in turn, has built our economy.
An October 27 article by Courtney Fingar, Ben van der Merwe, and Sebastian Shehadi in Investment Monitor warns that “efforts to undermine the integrity of US elections carry a heavy cost for businesses and could weaken investment in the country.” The authors put a price tag on U.S. political strife. Drawing on a study by Texas-based economic analysts The Perryman Group, they estimate that Texas’s voter suppression measures will cost the state $14.7 billion in annual gross product by 2025 and $1.5 trillion over the next 25 years. The Perryman Group’s study itself warned that Texas would lose 73,249 jobs by 2025 as businesses and investment flee the state and as voter suppression is correlated to declining wages. “For the first time since the Cold War, there is now concern about medium and long-term political stability of the US business environment,” Jonathan Wood, lead analyst for North America at global political risk consultancy Control Risks, told the reporters. “And what we are seeing in voter suppression acts and political gerrymandering, etc, is undermining that perception of the US as a very predictable and stable environment.”
Dr Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarianism, explains that when the rule of law, which treats every business equally, has been replaced by the whims of a dictator, success depends on closeness to the leader rather than on quality. “One of the biggest myths of authoritarianism is that it is ‘good for business,’” she said. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has jailed over 100,000 business people on trumped-up charges of tax evasion, financial irregularities, etc. Anyone with a profitable enterprise becomes a target, regardless of their political sentiments. This practice goes on in Hungary and Turkey too. Business people should know that this can happen anywhere, to anyone, if autocrats take power.” The Perryman Group concluded: “While there are many other important advantages to, and compelling reasons for, encouraging political participation by all eligible citizens, the economic ramifications are substantial and worthy of significant attention as restrictions on voter access are considered.”
An example of what it looks like economically when we lose the rule of law came last week in a story about Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and his brother-in-law Gerald Fauth. Both men apparently dumped stock after Burr was part of a private official briefing in February 2020 about the looming coronavirus pandemic. After Burr sold more than $1.6 million in stocks, he called Fauth and talked for 50 seconds. A minute later, Fauth called his broker and sold between $97,000 and $280,000 in stocks. The next week, the market began a drop of what would eventually be more than 30%. Burr claims he relied on public information when he decided to sell and that he did not coordinate with Fauth.
Meanwhile, the culture wars in which the Republicans are engaged at home keep focus off the damage the debt ceiling fight is doing to us in the world. In October, Republican senators allowed the Democrats to pass a measure to raise the debt ceiling to pay for measures Congress already enacted, but the Treasury will hit that new ceiling no later than mid-December. Republicans have vowed they will not vote to raise the debt ceiling despite the fact that a default would send shockwaves around the world and would likely remove the U.S. permanently from its powerful position among other nations. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged Democrats to raise the debt ceiling by themselves if necessary. “If Democrats have to do it by themselves, that’s better than defaulting on the debt to teach the Republicans a lesson,” she told the Washington Post. Today, Time magazine ran a story by Molly Ball about business leaders who are starting to stand up for democracy. The lower taxes and less regulation Republicans promise aren’t much good without a stable democracy, some business leaders told Ball. “The market economy works because of the bedrock foundation of the rule of law, the peaceful succession of power and the reserve currency of the U.S. dollar, and all of these things were potentially at risk,” former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer said. “CEOs are normally hesitant to get involved in political issues, but I would argue that this was a fundamental business issue.”
Republicans disagree. Today, in a remarkable op-ed in The American Conservative, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) called “corporate America… the instrument of anti-American ideologies.” He accused Wall Street of “devoting hundreds of billions of dollars to advance corporate propaganda” that promotes Marxist tactics. Rubio wants to “require that the leadership of large companies be subject to strict scrutiny and legal liability when they abuse their corporate privilege by pushing wasteful, anti-American nonsense.”In a passage that sounds much like that of a political purge, he warned readers of “the current Marxist cultural revolution among our corporate elite,” and said that “the ultimate way” to stop them “is to replace them with a new generation of business leaders who consider themselves Americans, not citizens of the world…. That is how we defeat this toxic cultural Marxism and rebuild an economy where America’s largest companies were accountable for what matters to America: new factories built in America, good jobs for American families, and investments in American neighborhoods and communities.”
In the op-ed, Rubio played to the Republican base by bashing China, but he could not outdo his colleague Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who said yesterday at a political rally that the U.S. should demand $5 trillion in reparations from the Chinese for “unleashing” the novel coronavirus and if they would not pay up, we should simply seize their assets in the U.S.
It is long past time we stop permitting these people to call themselves “conservatives.”
Robin's Room 