Shakin' Up Young Readers!

Welcome to Quake. You’re probably wondering where we got the name for this division of Echelon Press LLC. It’s pretty simple, really. Having been a long time advocate for literacy and understanding the need for a stronger presence of books in the lives of the young, I decided I wanted to offer young readers a line of books they would WANT to read. To put it simply, I want to shake up young readers. I thought about it for a while. So what shakes? Earthquakes! Long word. Quake! Shakin’ up young readers! There you go.


There are plenty of books out there that kids HAVE to read, and unfortunaty, when you MAKE kids read, they rarely enjoy those stories. So I went in search of authors who would write books for the sole purpose of pleasure. It’s not just about fun and games. We want to make make kids feel things. We want them to laugh, cry, and maybe even get angry when they’re buried deep in the lives of our characters.

Quake hasn’t been around a long time, but we intend to say for as long as readers continue to embrace our stories.

We hope you’ll visit site often and that you let your kids do the same. It’s not really about you and I, it is about young readers and letting them have a say in what they read.

Happy Reading!
Karen Syed, President
Echelon Press LLC

CNBC and Beavers

I wrote a nice long blog the other day, posted it and it never came up.

That CNBC is disgusting. The other day, all they could talk about was, "How can we make money on this catastrophe." A sad excuse for humans. On CBC this morning, who mouths off, but Kevin O'Leary, "I think this is the best thing that ever happened to Japan." What he thinks, he should keep to himself. That ass should be fired.

You've often heard the whining and crying about not enough doctors in Nova Scotia. Here is how it works. If you are white, male, english speaking, and a family member is not a doctor, you're screwed. That's a given. In Med School in Nova Scotia, there are 73 positions for doctors, every year. The population may increase, but it stays at 73. More doctors, less money for each one. That was last year. This year, there are 63 positions. Why, you ask? Because we sold ten of our positions to Saudi Arabia. I guess the doctors are going to give themselves a raise.

The plumber came yesterday for plugged drain. Not totally plugged, just slow and noisy. My bank account is now $225.00 lighter.

You know we have beavers in Canada. I guess we have too many, at least in Saskatchewan. Trappers don't want beaver anymore. They only get $15.00 a pelt. Out west they have become a real nuisance, building dams that flood farmlands, and coming into your yard and chopping down the trees. Kit Carson, where are you when we need you?

Wings of War and Smoked Fish.

I'm convinced spring is on its way. Yesterday, Home Depot had a full page ad for lawn mowers. That must be a good sign. Todays newspaper had a ton of flyers. I flipped through them and the only one I stopped at was the SuperStore. The front page had a big picture of pork ribs. It reminded me of my trip tp California. My son got us ribs, touted as the best in the U.S.A. On top of that, we ate them in our room on Queen Mary I. Ribs were great. It was a meal for four, but there was only two of us, so we had to make do.

Gadhafi seems to be winning the war. What then? "Oh, we're sorry we picked the wrong side." You know how these guys are always firing their rifles in the air. The other day, I was watching them firing Anti-Aircraft Guns. It was just Boom, Boom, Boom. Then I found out, there was actually no aircraft in the air. Just kids, playing with toys.

On CNN this morning, they were talking about Discovery's last flight. There is a major push of cities trying to get a space shuttle for their museum. If they don't have a museum, they will build one. Discovery is going to the Smithsonian. That must be some big place. The Americans don't throw anything away, they put it in the Smithsonian, which is a good think. When they scrapped the Avro Arrow, we cut it up into little pieces. The Americans made us do that. They didn't want the best plane in the world belonging to another country. It was far ahead of its time. The point is, all the engineers and technology went to build the space shuttle. Now you know. I guess Canadians really don't like the "or else."

So it is official now, the Maple Leaf Tartan is the official tartan of Canada. I don't care if I am part Scotch, I'm not wearing any skirt.

Here's another thing I hate. The opposition party, whoever it may be, saying that when they are in power, they are going to cancel some military contract. This time its for the Stealt Fighter. Military needs are left behind and it takes another ten years to upgrade, as long as the government doesn't change.

Today I have to call the furnace man and the plumber. The furnace goes boom before it comes on. I would take a furnace if I wasn't so busy. Just cleaning it once a year would make it pay for itself. My theory is, if a man built it, I can fix it. That is if you want to and have the right equipment. Take the plumbing problem. The pipe from the washing is plugged up. The snake I have is not long enough or big enough to solve the problem. No need to buy a new one that I may not need again for ten years, and I don't know anyone with a larger one.

So much for today's problems and I'm having smoked fish for lunch. I'm doing research about being on a Pirate ship, so I am having smoked fish and rum. I don't have a sword to wave around, so I'll use a butcher knife.

Food Prices and Bonuses

Temp -3C/27F  Windchill -9C/16F  and it is nice and sunn otside.

So now they are warning us food prices are going up. They talk like prices haven't gone up all along. Of course they have gone up all year. So I will explain to you what they really mean. What they are telling you is that profits did not reach the projected earnings for the last three months.They made a profit, but not what they wanted. The prices didn't put the profit up to where they think they should be.

Now they don't want this to happen for the next quarter,so the next increase is to make up the shortfall from last quarter and the projected profit for next time. Why, you ask? Because if they don't make projected earnings, stock price will not increase and management gets a smaller bonus. I bet you feel sorry for them now. "Nobody is going to raise their prices a nickel unless they absolutely have to," says John Scott, the president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers.

That makes me feel so warm and fuzzy.

What's on the front page again? Garbage collection. And they have decided to leave things as they are, because everyone is getting upset and don't want to hear about it any more. What they mean is that they want a longer time to convince us how good it is for us. I think it has the makings of a career ender.

What about immigrants? It appears Nova Scotia is only allowed to bring in 500 a year, but in Manitoba they get 5000. The reason is because we forgot to ask the Federal Government to raise our limit. People are upset about this. I say, "Thank God." That's what we need, more educated people on the welfare line. Nova Scotia don't have work for the educated people they have.

If you have a resume, telling how well educated you are, you're toast. You would be better off to tell them you like hockey and drinking beer. That will get you a job. The one doing the hiring likes hockey and beer. Saw this letter in the paper this morning.
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Always so funny when I hear another problem solver tell me that our problem here in NS is that we don't bring in more immigrants.My one son,with 4 university degrees,can't find employment in NS so he's left.My other son and daughter,both with 2 university degrees,also can't find employment in NS and they're both gone elsewhere.Yes, they did what all the "EXPERTS" and "PROFESSIONALS" told them to do....get a university education....and a hefty debt to start life with....and with this education you'll have the world knocking at your door.They weren't aware that the world didn't include NS.

The only immigrants we need here are pizza delivery professionals and burger flipping PHDs.
NS...get your damn house in order...cut civil service by 50%,get rid of 90$ of your consultants and administrators and stop dreaming of convention centres and 30,000 seat stadiums.
Cut the # of MLAs......why do we need an MLA for Kings north and another one for Kings south....there just isn't that much going on here.In HRM you have an MLA for every other street corner.And cut the ridiculous wages,benefits and pensions for all these bureaucrats........the people who love to make reports and have meetings with one another and accomplish absolutely nothing.
But first we'll have to hire some consultants to look into this.

Which brings me to Sidney Crosby. A perfect example of success without an education. Hockey school, give me a break.

I just found out he has a 14 yr. old sister. And where is his sister? In hockey school, of course. We know what family priorities are there. Yesterday, she got a concussion. Her brother so far, has had three concussions. I don't think it looks too good for them.

Women's Day. What's For Lunch?

Temp. is 0C/32F. That one is easy. Most of the snow is gone, thanks to the rain. I'm glad I'm not living in northern New Brinswick. They got two feet of snow testerday. The snow just missed us again.

Today is International Women's Day. I can't say too much about that. After all, I am married to one. I did mention it on Facebook, which could be enough to get me in trouble. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/delta61

My wife and a friend are going to a funeral today. It seems at my age there is at least a funeral a month if not every week.

The Green party is going on the attack — against attack ads. It seems most people don't like attack ads. It's an American thing. We now have them because Karl Rove is managimg the campaign. Harper is doing a good job, unfortunately he is in the back pockets of the bankers. Can't vote for him, Liberal Party leader too dumb, can't vote for him.

Did you notice how the NDP Party always got 25% of the vote. They are the people who seem to live in a dream world. Now, they only get 15%, because the Green Party gets 10%. They really live in the dream world. May, the leader of the Green Party is always changing the place to run, hoping she will hit a spot where most of the people are crazy. http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1231976.html

Don't kill seals. I wonder if the people who say that eat hamburgers. They don't mind killing cows. Reminds me when I was stationed in Germany. One of the neighbors had a pig. So sometimes I would bring my buddy the pig, a snack. One day, they told me to come over, they were going to kill the pig. I went over, they put the thing to his forehead and Bonk, dead pig. Poor pig. One minute I felt sorry for the pig and a few minutes later it was, "Ah, pork chops."

Gadhafi Duck

Temp is 7C/45F and windchill feels the same. It appears they only put the windchill in if it's below 0C.

In the newspaper, it must be Gadhafi Day. I have never seen a man's name spelt so many ways. On CNN yesterday, it started with a H. The whole thing is starting to look like Daffy Duck.

Here's something that really riles me. They know Gadhafi is responsible for the Pam Am bombing, still they suck up to him for years. Now they are all over Prince Andrew. Lets chastize him, he's friends with Gadhafi's son. What a bunch of crap. The British Government says, "Hey, we have to suck up to Gadhafi. Better pull out the big guns. Andrew, you get the short straw. Buddy, buddy up with them."

The Americans are just as bad. Now its, "Oh, we are going to start an investigation into Gadhafi's involvement in the Pan Am bombing." What a bunch. Well, that's enough of Gadhafi Duck. Where is Lawrence of Arabia when you need him?

Starting to protest in Cairo again. I knew that was coming. This is far from over. I'm waiting for Saudi Arabia to start. Then watch oil prices, then everything else. When the Arabs find out all this protesting doesn't bring them the "pie in the sky", you know what will happen. It will be our fault and they start on us. http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE72509F20110306?sp=true

Read this headline. "UK to send team of spies to help oust Gadhafi." Wow!. So much for secrecy.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1363187/Libya-unrest-UK-spies-SAS-troops-poised-help-Libyan-rebels.html

Motorists illegally detained at Florida tolls - for using large bills! How about that? Guy tried to pay with a $100. bill. Someone doesn't know, they don't give out small bills from the bank machines. Here, they jumped it up to giving fifties. http://www.wtsp.com/news/mostpop/story.aspx?storyid=178322&provider=top

Your Old School Bus

Today it's 3C/37F and feels like  -2C/28F. It was supposed tp rain, but now it's changed to tomorrow.

Ever wonder what happens to old school buses? At least some of them? Two decommissioned Annapolis Valley regional school board buses have found a new home in Cameroon, Africa.The buses were requested by Rotary International to be used for government and private schools there. The buses will join two other former Valley board buses that were sent to Cameroon last year.  http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1231584.html

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff were attending an event Friday evening hosted by the Indian high commission to launch The Year of India in Canada. What the heck! A year. Even Black Culture only gets a month. How about a year of white culture? The people who actually built the country. Except for the Chinese, who built the railroad.

You expect a weather forcast and you expect it to be wrong. And we all laugh about it. But why should it be wrong? We spend a lot of money on people and equipment, and there should be some return. When I went to bed last night, it was supposed to rain today. Now, it's going to rain tomorrow. Maybe. It's not just us. Sweden’s environment minister has had enough of unreliable weather forecasts, blaming the country’s meteorology service for too many misses and demanding a shape-up in predictions. http://thechronicleherald.ca/World/1231637.html

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore is urging Wisconsin residents to fight Republican-backed efforts to strip most public workers of their union. I wonder if they are getting anywhere.

How did the company Sharp get its name? It got its name from inventing the mechanical pencil in 1915.