Talk About Burying the Lead

From Kristen Nelson’s blog:

 

Today HarperCollins announced their latest digital-only mystery imprint Witness. But buried in the third paragraph was the most interesting tidbit in the story! The real news item!

Harpercollins is changing their royalty period so as to pay digital-only authors on a monthly basis. Once again Amazon took the lead (asthey announced this on March 18) and the Big 6 had to follow. What I wouldn’t give for Random House or S&S to lead the way rather than do things after the fact but that might be wishful thinking.

But here’s my question to publishers and I hope they are paying attention. You are now starting to reward authors who are doing digital-only. Great. But what about your stalwart current authors who have stood by you and continued publishing with you as the industry revolutionized around them?

Why should they get shafted just because they are doing both print and digital?

I get why print payments need to be on the slow-as-molasses-every-6-months payment schedule because publishers have to factor in returns from physical bookstores. But why should those authors have to wait for their digital royalties? Why can’t this be separate? Of if that can’t be fathomed, why can’t digital royalties be paid immediately after earn out?

There is no longer any reason for the 6-month cycle.  How about payment parity for those authors?

US set to launch satellite to observe the sun

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US poised to launch satellite to observe little-understood region of the sun

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, California (AP) — The U.S. space agency is preparing to launch a satellite to observe a little-studied region of the sun between its surface and atmosphere.

The Iris satellite is set to ride into Earth orbit on a rocket that will be dropped from an airplane over the Pacific on Thursday evening.

Iris will spend two years staring at a region of the sun that lies between its surface and the corona, the glowing white ring visible during eclipses. The goal is to learn more about how the region drives solar wind and to better predict space weather.

The mission costs $182 million.

Copyright (2013) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 This article was distributed through the NewsCred Smartwire. Original article © The Associated Press 2013

Pelosi Says To Celebrate Obamacare on July 4th??

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What the hell? I thought it was to celebrate our independence as a country. When did it become a celebration about something the majority of the country doesn’t want? I just don’t get it.

According to Nancy Pelosi, Democrats won’t only celebrate American independence on July 4, but will also be celebrating “health independence” thanks to Obamacare. The House minority leader tied the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling upholding the healthcare law to the July 4 holiday.

“It captures the spirit of our Founders, the spirit they wrote in the Declaration of Independence: life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness,” Pelosi said at a weekly press conference this morning, explaining the law allows Americans to have “a healthier life, and the liberty to pursue a person’s happiness.”

Is War In Space Overdone?

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Sometimes I think folks like to beat a dead horse. That question was asked by someone at the end of March and someone answers today? Like I said earlier, I think some people aren’t happy unless they’re arguing about something.

Now, is war in space overdone? Not in the least! If we can’t stop fighting ourselves here on Earth, then why would we stop in space? It stands to reason that we’ll continue, for several centuries as least, to have our barbaric nature . While I do believe that space is the place of our future as a species, I’m not so idealistic as to think that we’ll be utterly peaceful either. So, I think we’re stuck with it whether we like it or now.

So, the answer to the question is: NO.

George Zimmerman trial: Neighbor testifies Trayvon Martin was straddling Zimmerman moments before fatal gunshot

I’ll be so glad when this is over. It’s more driven by politics and race than whether or not a crime occured. Deep down, below it all, is the attempt to make anyone who owns a firearm from defending themselves, which is what DC wants. While my politics are conservative, my social stances are fairly left wing and I find the desire from DC to scrutinize certain groups more than others, to spy on everything we say, and to try to disarm the citizenship to be very frightening. Once your population is disarmed, then it’s very easy to turn into a dictatorship because no one can stop it. 

CBS) A former neighbor of George Zimmerman testified he saw two men in a “tussle” outside his home the night of Feb. 26, 2012, and said he now believes the person on top in the altercation – which would moments later turn fatal – was Trayvon Martin.

In key testimony, he also said he believes George Zimmerman was the person yelling for help.

 

 

 

PICTURES: George Zimmerman on trial in death of Fla. teen

 

 

 

 

VIDEO: Zimmerman trial: Prosecutor opens with profanity

John Good took the stand Friday in the fifth day of testimony in the Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial. The former neighborhood watch captain is charged with shooting the unarmed teen as he was walking back to his father’s fiancee’s home through a Sanford, Fla. gated community.

John Good testified he saw a man in dark clothing on top of a man who was wearing red or light-colored clothing with lighter skin. Zimmerman, 29, was wearing a red jacket the night of the altercation, and Martin was wearing a dark hoodie. However, Good testified that he didn’t see the person on top smashing the other person’s head into the sidewalk, as Zimmerman claims Martin did before he fatally shot the teen.

READ: Trayvon Martin Shooting: A timeline of events

Taking the stand Friday, John Good said he was at home watching television with his wife when he heard a “faint noise” that seemed to be getting closer. Outside, he said he saw the person on top of another man.

The man on the bottom, who he said he now believes is George Zimmerman, yelled for help.

“At first it was “What’s going on,” and no one answered,’ ” Good said, describing calling out to the men. “And then at that point the person on the bottom, I could finally see, I heard a ‘help.’ Then at some point I said ‘Cut it out.’ And then, ‘I’m calling 911.’ That’s when I thought it was getting really serious.”

The altercation seemed to escalate, according to Good. The struggle moved to the cement pathway, and he said the person in dark clothing straddled the other man in “mixed martial arts position” he later described to police as a “ground and pound.” He said he saw “arm movements going downward,” though he couldn’t be certain the person on top was striking the person on the bottom.

“The person you now know to be Trayvon Martin was on top, correct?” asked defense attorney Mark O’Mara. “He was the one raining blows down on George Zimmerman, correct?”

“That’s what it looked like,” Good answered.

Good said he then went back inside to call 911. As he was dialing the phone, he heard a gunshot. His 911 call was played in court as the jury listened.

“I just heard a shot right behind my house. They’re wrestling right in back of my porch,” Good said on the recording. “…I’m pretty sure the guy’s dead out here. Holy sh–.”

Later, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda asked whether it was possible a police officer could have used the term “ground and pound” before he did.

“It’s possible,” Good said.

De la Rionda honed in on Good’s earlier statement that he couldn’t confirm the person on top was hitting the other person.

“Correct,” Good said.