Lying Is Too Easy These Days

It has always been this way in trials for people on the stand - although many of them (especially those defendants who agree to testify, even though they don't have to) put their hand on the bible and answer the question, "Do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?", it is pretty obvious that responding "yes" is only the first of any number of lies soon to come out of their mouths.
Take for instance the current trial of Jodi Arias vs Arizona. She has been on the stand for weeks testifying to what she knows & doesn't know. She is a proven lier-that's a fact caught on tape by the police. And we're supposed to believe anything she has to say while she's on the stand? It seems very convenient for her that in her testimony 99% of what she says paints Travis Alexander (who she admits killing) as a sex-hungry pedophile who attacked her causing her to kill him in self-defense. And according to her word she should only be given a slap on the wrist for her crimes because none of it was really her fault.
It's a shame that she thinks we're so gullible that we'd fall for this. She must really think that people are either stupid or that her charms can just win over everyone. She's not the first to try this, nor will she be the last.
In the trial of James Holmes vs Colorado the judge has made a ruling that he be given truth serum when interviewed to see if he really is mentally deranged (or just faking it). Many oppose this decision. I personally don't know if it will work. What we really need I feel is something better than this truth serum.
What we need in court cases is some sort of device that can read the person and tell if they are lying & alert us to this fact. Perhaps something we've already been using in other capacities - DOGS!
Yes dogs could be the answer. They are used to detect things we humans cannot see, or hear, or smell already. (like hidden drugs). They also in some cases seem to be able to detect things in us that we cannot see. For instance, they can alert people with medical problems who occasionally have seizures of an upcoming episode, so that they can prepare themselves by lying down or something. I've also heard tell of dogs in hospitals who can detect when someone is going to die soon.
Things like this prove that dogs have sensory abilities that we do not & that might be utilized more extensively - like perhaps to detect lying.
Imagine a courtroom where next to the stand sits Fido, the truth detecting canine, who is given a treat when he senses someone giving false testimony. Oh, what a world that would be.

Bad Plot Idea For The Walking Dead

AMC's The Walking Dead is a popular tv show, maybe because stories about zombies/infected are popular now, and from what I've seen of it it seems fairly well made. I'm not that into this type of story myself, however, which is why I don't regularly watch the show. But, while flipping the dial so to speak I caught a glimpse the other night. And what I saw made me really question the writer(s).
From what I think I understand the show is adapted from a comic book. This is unimportant. I saw a sword-wielding woman walking along chopping the undeads heads/arms/etc. off left & right. I assume that she's supposed to be somehow special-I don't know her comic universe history-and perhaps she is therefore better at this than most people. The problem I have is that I just don't buy it. Sword swinging in my humble opinion can be easily taught to most normal people, just get a sword and swing it for a while. Of course some people will be better at it than others, like anything else, but you don't have to be a samurai to get the job done. Especially considering the zombies/infected move very slowly & are nearly impossible to miss since they don't try to dodge or anything.
When I first saw the show it began with a guy with a gun shooting the zombies in the head. To me this was a scary situation: guns run out of ammo eventually. When they do you either have to run away, club them with the gun butt (very dangerous since they then get real close to you), try to find more ammo & reload so you can shoot again (possibly dangerous if you fail), or fail worst of all & let the zombie get you & kill you. There were no sure-fire easy kill methods to dispatch these monsters-even though you had guns you could miss with your shot/run out of ammo/etc. But now, after the show I saw the other night, that's all gone. All you need is a big sword & the will to swing it & no problemo. Zombies heads will go flyin'. So I say that putting this into the show was a major mistake-they should have never done this-because I feel that any reasonable person would see that all you'd need to do is arm everyone with samurai swords from the local sword emporium or whatever place sells them, learn how to swing em for a bit, and then your zombie problems are no more! Hell, let's go zombie hunting! Turn the tables on them for a change.
So, ultimately, introducing the use of a sword to so easily clip heads off to eliminate the zombies basically kills the show for me & there's no reason to watch it-not saying I did much before anyway. It makes the zombies too weak. Of course, to counter this I guarantee that this stroke of brilliance won't occur to the other characters (IE: they'll not realize that they could just all arm themselves with swords & go head chopping like Michonne (the woman with the sword in the show). Instead they'll let the zombies remain threatening by doing what they've been doing like idiots. The thing about her using the sword is that she's a baddass & it looks cool. Well, why can't everyone be like her-she doesn't have to be unique. Are there for some reason no other swords available?
Too bad The Walking Dead-you've lost me by reason of absurdity.

Taking A Little Break From the Trilogy

Over the last month or so, after publishing book two of the Andy Brighton and the Dragons of Wyrme trilogy (The Magic of Dragons), I've been busy coming up with ideas for book three-the final installment in which we'll see who wins the battle of the Light vs. the Dark/Danival & the Techanis vs. Andy Brighton, the Rysouri & the Dragons of Wyrme. The time has given me a lot of resources to work with, so to say, and I have a pretty good idea how book three will go. But I got an urge in the last few days to work on something other than the trilogy & it is too strong to ignore.
I think that I want to write a children's book-like of nursery rhymes. It is a project I had thought of earlier while writing book two. In writing my second book I came up with a few poems I call the Legends of Nyx. These are short poetic tales of a legendary dragon once told to the dragon younglings of the Golden Scales (Grandites). They are very old, as Nyx was a dragon from long ago when the world of Wyrme was still young, and they have been told many times over the eons and passed down through the generations as a sort of fabled folklore, but also as morality stories. The youngling dragons always found them enjoyable to listen to as well & so were likely requested whenever a mentor dragon would speak to them during weekly discussions.
I have three already, but for a whole book I imagine I will need 10 or more. So for the next few weeks I'll be working on them & also some illustrations to go along with the poems-it will be a children's book & needless to say it will need to be full of artwork.
Taking a little break to work on something different is not that unusual for me after finishing a long book. I did it after finishing my original book one (that I later reedited/retitled). I then spent about a month or so creating a novella called Tymespell. It detailed how & why the haunted forest of Wyrmewood was created & gave information on the magical people of Tyme who went into hiding because of it. I go into greater detail on these people (the Rysouri) in book two & Andy Brighton ends up meeting them & actually becoming one of them. This turn of events is pivotal to the story and has a lot to do with what happens ultimately.

Yesterday I attended my first author expo at the public library in Birmingham, AL. (where I live). It was a 5 hour event and 100 local authors signed up to display their works and mingle with fellow authors. My neice Beth Shelnutt was there with her books of poetry and my father-in-law J.D. Weeks was there as well with about 5 of his many books on geneology and postcards. You can find their books on Amazon and also here: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/jdweeks?searchTerms=&pageOffset=2
I brought along my two paperback books that are available on Amazon-the first two books of the Andy Brighton and the Dragons of Wyrme trilogy. The collection of works available on Amazon (both paperbacks and Kindles) can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=james+shelnutt
I spoke with a good number of people at the event, about my books & other books and it was an entertaining opportunity to participate with other authors and book readers.

 

 

Additional information about the expo held at the Birmingham Public Library can be found here: http://www.bplonline.org/programs/LocalAuthors/

 

Occupy Conan An Interesting Experiment

Last night the Conan show (the late-night comedy talk show starring Conan O'Brien and Andy Richter) was just a bit different as it was the Occupy Conan Episode, where viewers sent in their own clips of a previous episode in hopes that these would be chosen & aired in the show. There were ~ 60 total clips (or segments) of air-time available and hundreds of clips were submitted by the viewers. I have to say that watching the show was quite an experience & something unlike what most other shows would dare to do. Conan is I think brave to try something like this & I applaud him for it. As usual I enjoyed watching the show & some of the clips were very well done. I personally submitted a clip of my own in hopes that it would be aired & was eagerly anticipating seeing it as the time came. Unfortunately, they chose to show a couple clips from other viewers, ones involving live actors, and that's okay. I did see, however, at least one image from my clip. It was the opening image of Conan sitting at his desk. You can see it pictured below. (At the end of the show many clips were rerun as well as clips and images from clips such as mine that they'd not used in the first viewing). Also, at the end of the show a list of credits was displayed-affectionally named Conan's Occupiers-that told who created the clips. I saw my name listed amongst them, so that gave me some measure of happiness. Here are both the image shown from the Conan show and the full-length video I created and submitted for your enjoyment:

        
 

You Can Find These Books On Amazon

Using a Carosel Widget:

Catfish Tales

    What it is about relationships these days? Somehow people are finding one another online, texting, emailing, sending photos, etc., but not actually talking or ever meeting in person. There's even an MTV reality show about it (appropriately called Catfish). Manti Te'o, linebacker at Notre Dame from 2009-2012, is the latest and probably most well-known personality to have been pulled into this type of phenomenon, and it has blown up into quite the scandal for him.
    Either done as a joke, or to lure someone through social media by pretending to be someone else, it has become prevelent in this day and age where it is so easy to connect with others far away who you might never actually meet.
    If I had to categorize who is doing this I would say that they might be lumped into the hacker community. There are a variety of hacker classifications--or specializations if you will--of hackers. The hacking done in this case being that of deception where the target of the catfish scam is deceived by the other/originator. The reasons for doing this again can be many; as a prank, to elicit information, to con money from the victim, etc. In some cases maybe the instigator wishes they were someone else and through social media can live vicariously through their fantasy persona.
    I myself enjoy playing games (such as World of Warcraft) where I get to create characters and take them into an alternate world and in a way live another life through them. I know that it is a virtual existence, just a game and just fantasy, however, and when I turn off the computer they cease to exist. Playing the game for me is an enjoyable pasttime, a way for me to relieve stress and explore the worlds that game programmers have created.
    A lot of people enjoy losing themselves in activities outside their real lives, be it in books, movies, games, what have you. Perhaps catfishing is just one of the latest forms of such expression, and as more and more people find out about it its prevalence has also grown.