Rosepoint Publishing

Royalty Free Images? Beat Getty Images!

Pictures! I’ve touched on the subject before when I posted regarding Flickr and Creative Commons some time ago. The photo on the left above was embedded from Getty Images, and although Creative Commons has a wealth of public domain or free images to tap, Getty Images is getting my attention because of the ease with which their royalty free images can be embedded to your blog. Of course, with any site that offers royalty free images, there are details in the small print, which should not be over-looked for copyright details. Most simply want simple attribution. I chose that doggy picture because it reminded me so much of my own little puppy (now ten years old). In the meantime, I’ve found numerous free image sites. Most want sign-ups or subscriptions at the least.

So whom have I been playing with lately? These are my top six go to sites for Royalty Free pictures: Continue reading “Royalty Free Images? Beat Getty Images!”

The “Artistic Crime of the Century”

America has benefited by some of the most creative and innovative engineers, scientists, and builders on the planet, conceiving modern marvels such as the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Dam, Mt. Rushmore, bridges, tunnels, transcontinental railroads, skyscrapers, and, of course, the World Trade Center. It was in 1974 when 24 year old Frenchman Philippe Petit made it his “le coup” to illegally walk on a high wire across the top of the twin towers a total of eight times, the “artistic crime of the century.”

Then the tallest structures in the world, the twin towers stood at just over 1,360′. According to Wikipedia, it was among a complex of seven buildings. The twin towers opened in 1973 and were known as 1WTC and 2WTC.

Petit walked at the 1,350 ft. level at the 110th storey. There was a 200′ gap between

philippe_petit — Philippe Petit: Credit AP

the buildings. The feat is celebrated in a film released in 2015 called “The Walk,” and there is no way to appreciate just how high that really is until you see the picture of the walk with Lower Manhattan buildings well below. Better known is the terrorist destruction of the twin towers on two-eleven.

So Much For Bugs Bunny!

It would probably come as no surprise to you to learn that studies have shown consumers spend more time with digital media than they do all forms of media–and that would include television viewing. Even back in 2012 studies by Global Web Index found that of approximately 10 hours a day spent in various media, it was digital media that edged out over 50% of attention. TV consumption down to 23%? No more Saturday morning cartoons? No more Bugs Bunny pulling Saturday morning babysitting duty?

As anyone who is more than 55 knows, if you can’t get a cell phone to work, hand it to a 5 year old.

phonefamily Continue reading “So Much For Bugs Bunny!”

Freaky Friday Features

It’s Freaky Friday and granted I have missed a few. We are still in a state of transition and things can get pretty crazy around here. Just to remind myself that there is still a sense of humor in the world out there, I’ll present you with two funny pictures today. Maybe just my sense of humor, but both are pretty funny though I can’t imagine how that horse got himself(?) into that situation. (Trying for the break to freedom no doubt! The pastures are always greener….or there was a really pretty little filly just over yonder hill.) Yes, I’d imagine the cow was photoshopped, but how great is that? It’s Friday–relax and have a chuckle on me. And them. horse

Resource Box

I Love Beta Readers!

This article says it all–and quite succinctly. I’ve greatly enjoyed being a beta reader. And I have no problem volunteering for new authors willing to share their manuscripts. I hope that I’ve contributed to their work, and helped them along to completion and publication. The two-way street here is that it always teaches me something as well. Read on!

Joynell Schultz, Author

I mean it so much, that I’m going to be redundant: I love beta readers!

Wow. My three beta readers have completely IMPRESSED me!

I write so people find enjoyment in what I’ve written. I write to share ideas and thoughts with others. I write because it’s fun. Well, it is fun, until I find myself in an endless sea of a single task. Here is how my novel has gone so far.

I’m so frustrated with my OUTLINE. I wish I could just figure out the climax.
I have so much more to do on my FIRST DRAFT, when will I be finished?
REVISING is so tedious. How did I write this piece of crap anyway?
Who truly knows how to EDIT? Grammar? I must have slept through that class.
But BETA READERS? I LOVE THEM! I LOVE THIS PROCESS!!!! I’M IN NO HURRY TO FINISH THIS STEP (for once). BETA READERS…

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Beans, Beans, the Musical Fruit–St Patrick’s Day Disaster

A St Patrick’s Day Revisited

“I was thinking we could get a corned beef and make a big pot of corned beef and cabbage,” my son enthused. His green eyes sparkled at the thought of it.

He waxed poetic about the ole days when we would celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and cabbage. A toast to my grandfather, the author of those manuscripts I’d struggled with a number of years, and to our alleged Irish ancestors–but then everyone claims to be Irish for that one day–an entirely excused and actually obligatory Guinness celebration.

So it was that my hubby and he went to the local grocery and proudly came home with the largest corned beef the store was selling this time of year. He produced the red potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions, and cabbage he’d remembered with the shared help of dear hubby (DH–remember?). But soon as he opened the package, I wondered if something wasn’t majorly wrong. It smelled bad. Not. Just. Bad.

Terrible!

When I questioned the date on the package, he pointed out that it wasn’t due to expire until the end of July and doggedly proceeded with preparation in the crock pot.

“What stinks?” queried DH.

“I wonder if we shouldn’t just be taking it back right now,” I pondered out loud.

“Nah,” answered Mark, “I don’t want to take it back. It’ll be okay.”

But it wasn’t. And as I prepped vegetables and shared the juice with another crock pot (the first was too small to hold everything), the liquid didn’t look all that healthy either and continued to create a very odiferous house.

Well, rats, they had forgotten the horse radish! Everyone knows you can’t have corned beef without horse radish. Back to the store and home with horse radish that they now determined had, by several months, an expired date.

Then my daughter-in-law got home from work.

“Holy cow! What is that smell?!!” she cried. “And who is living here now? Did we exchange family members?” Declaring she wouldn’t touch that stuff, we wondered again, “Did we get used to the smell? Is it that bad? Maybe we should have a taste of it.” Three of us did–it tasted okay–but then why that smell?

Discussing it further, DH made the executive decision: it was going back along with the horse radish. “I’m afraid of it!” he declared. The lady at the customer service counter pleaded, “Take it off the counter–you’re making me gag!” No problem getting a refund.

Okay, what to do for dinner then–it was getting late. Producing a gift card from our 50th wedding anniversary years ago, the boys went to Outback and came back with quesadillas and dinner for four; dry, tasteless, so bad three of us gave up on it half-way through.

Looking at the awful food the restaurant had prepared, we couldn’t help but compare it to the corned beef. Still, the corned beef won out for most obnoxious. Discussing it further, DH nodded and ventured, “The corned beef was worst than an old cat box. Okay, who is ready for ice cream?” My son burst out laughing. So did I. beans

Next morning, venturing into the kitchen, my son grinned at me and waved a big frozen ham bone in the air. “Look what I found in the freezer! I thought we could use this and make a big pot of beans today.”

Getting Old Ain’t For Sissies

You’ve heard that old saying, “Getting Old Ain’t For Sissies.” I’m learning it’s true.

I wrote recently about our impending move from Goodyear, Arizona to Indiana to stay temporarily with our son until we could find a home and my husband employment. The move itself went very smoothly; two guys to help efficiently load, cooperative weather gods, and quick exit walk-through of the apartment. The adventure began quietly enough with my driving our little car following DH (in RV vernacular–“dear husband”) in the Budget truck. Then we reached Kansas. budget-truck

Continue reading “Getting Old Ain’t For Sissies”

Freaky Friday Features

He Guest Hosted (Just) Once on SNL!

Known to millions of early television viewers as “Uncle Miltie,” Milton Berle was among the American TV pioneer stars during “the Golden Age” of TV. Born in 1908, he was credited with a number of witty quotes, several (including the one above) were the most popular: “Laughter is an instant vacation,” “If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands.” But I think my favorite is also a poem:

“I’d rather be a ‘could-be’ if I cannot be an ‘are’ because a ‘could-be’ is a ‘maybe’ who is reaching for a star. I’d rather be a ‘has-been’ than a ‘might-have-been’ by far; for a ‘might-have-been’ has never been, but a ‘has’ was once an ‘are.”
― Milton Berle