Tuesday – Anything Possible – Finger Point Prompt – Offense

August 26, 2025August 26, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 62 Comments

Today I randomly opened Circumstances of Childhood to page 141 and with my eyes closed, pointed at the page. The word closest to my finger is offense. That is our prompt today.

“No offense but do you know what you’re doing?”

“No offense?”

“Well, I’m just wondering. That looks complicated.”

“I’ve been doing this for years. So, to answer your so called ‘no offense’ question. Yes, I know what I’m doing.”

“Okay. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I’m not offended but it seems that youngsters ought to think a little more before talking.”

“You have to admit that from where I’m sitting your actions look a little strange.”

“Strange? How so?”

“For one we are way too high for my comfort.”

“Well you didn’t have to come along.”

“I can say if I knew were were going to end up on the top of the world I would have stayed home.”

“It is a little late for that now.”

“I know and that is what worries me. How are we going to get down to the valley?”

“You’re kidding right?”

“No.”

“We are going to glide down.”

“Glide down?”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Look at you. You are scared aren’t you?”

“I’ve never been this high before.”

“You are a condor. What do you mean you have never been this high before? These mountains are your home.”

“My mom never let me .”

“That explains it all. Today you are going to become an adult.”

“By sailing down to the valley.”

“By catching the wind currents and soaring above the mountains and then down to the valley.”

“Does sound fun.”

“Yeah. Just don’t look down. Spread your wings like this and step off. Go ahead. I’m right behind you.”

Top Ten Things Not To Do When Attending a Parent-teacher Conference

August 25, 2025August 24, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 74 Comments

Image from Pixabay

This post was published on April 29, 2014, by Marie Bailey and me. Since school has begun, it is time to prepare for the dreaded parent-teacher conference. Hopefully, this advice will help.

Top Ten Things Not To Do When Attending a Parent-Teacher Conference

10 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not assume your child is never at fault. If you do, at best, you might be disappointed. At worst, you may find yourself explaining certain behaviors that could only be learned at home.

9 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not try to explain away your child’s behavior with some made-up medical excuse. If you do, at best, you might be questioned about your own veracity. At worst, you might have to explain to child welfare that a medical exam found no medical reason for the behaviors.

8 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not try to deny providing unusual help on the term project. If you do, at best, you will appear to be someone who has issues with the truth. At worst, you could be accused of being a severely overprotective parent with recommendations for counseling.

7 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not try to ingratiate the teacher with abnormal compliments. If you do, at best, you will look like you have something to hide. At worst, the teacher will think you are shallow and assign the same trait to your child.

6 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not assume the teacher will be impressed with your professional or work title and your forceful personality. If you do, at best, you may be in for a rude awakening. At worst, the teacher will think you are a bully and report you to the principal.

5 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not do all the talking. If you do, at best, you may miss some important information. At worst, the teacher will think you care more about yourself than your child and end the conference early with none of the issues resolved.

4 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not bring along friends or relatives as support. If you do, at best, the teacher will feel outnumbered and end the conference early. At worst, the teacher will bring in several witnesses, and pretty soon, the conference will take on the appearance of a trial with you as the defendant.

3 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not bring gifts. If you do, at best, the teacher will feel uncomfortable in giving you an honest evaluation of your child’s performance. At worst, the teacher will need to call the principal to witness turning down what they consider to be a bribe.

2 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not call the teacher by their first name. If you do, at best, the teacher will believe you are rude. At worst, the teacher may get the impression that you are unnecessarily challenging the professional relationship, which will not bode well for the rest of the semester for your child.

1 When attending a parent-teacher conference, do not wear your most casual clothes. If you do, at best, the teacher will believe you are not serious about the conference. At worst, you may be unknowingly violating the school dress code and be asked to leave the building.

Views of the Neighborhood – Lakeway City Hall Art Exhibit by Larry Bishop

August 24, 2025August 23, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 68 Comments

Let’s get rolling

Here’s a shot of the gallery. Notice the works are framed. My cloe-ups have excluded the frames since there is a significant glare problem with them.

About the artist.

Norway Rapids

Yaupon Creek

Serene Storm

Jackson

St. Croix Driveway

Hamilton Greenbelt.

South Garden.

620 @ Dawn

Morning Green Light.

Tantallon.

Iceland Harbor.

Brnggs Canel

Rainy Parking Lot.

Yupon Creek.

Rock[port Palm.

Hawbill Turtle.

Mahogany Road.

Bayside Getaway.

Coldwater Creek.

South Garden Skyline.

Manager’s Quarters St. Croix

Well, there you have it. Time now for food and entertainment. I hope you have a beautiful week.

/div>

Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt – Pad

August 23, 2025August 23, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 73 Comments

The machine waits patiently for me to pad over and touch the screen with my choice. Today feels like a Latte Macchiato. A touch of the button and here it comes. One sip and my caffeine-deprived brain reaches out to grab and chug the rest. Before that could happen, the doorbell expresses its familiar Westminster chime. The baying hounds are pacified with a knucklebone thrown into the soundproof room. The slammed door brings back the former peace of the morning. Checking the security feed, there is no one in sight. “Who’s there?” is the demand through the speaker. “Delivery for Howell,” the reply. “Just leave it.” Seconds pass. “Need signature.” More seconds pass. “Show yourself.”

The figure steps into camera range, and although fuzzy, the image is remarkably similar to Wile E. Coyote. With a sigh, the security shut down begins., The SWAT team needs to be put on standby. A quick text to the leader confirms that status. Also, the flight of A-10 Warthogs must be diverted. Another call to the commander puts that worry to rest. The SEAL team needs to be called off, and a call to the leader makes that possible. A call to the tow truck driver stops the deployment of an M1A1 Abrams Tank. The control panel simplifies the shutdown process of the security system. The boiling oil vats are put on standby, the turret mortars disengaged, the Trebuchet on safety, the concertina wire rolled, the Claymore mines reset, the tower Gatling guns on safety, the moat net dropped, the alligators fed, and the IEDs and shoulder-held rockets put away. The Proton torpedoes switched off. The gamma ray beams covered. The high powered maser guns switched to stand by and the nanorobots chained in the basement. The locks on the door are thrown. And the door opened.

No words are spoken, and the Coyote hands me a clipboard. I sign, and he gives me an envelope. His paw is outstretched in the classic tip request fashion. “Fall seven times. Stand up eight” is my tip of the day. The coyote seems displeased as I shut the door. My thought, given his challenges, the tip is a good one. The envelope has one note. It reads: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “pad.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

If you would like to see what others have done with the prompt, visit Linda’s post. Here is the link: https://lindaghill.com/2025/08/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-23-2025/

“So, no clock, huh?”

“Nope, not much going on on the dates in question.”

“So we have the security cartoon backup.”

“You trying to tell me something?”

“Was hoping for a historical jaunt.”

“Maybe next week.”

“Fair enough.”

“I thought you would be dropping VooDoo Ranger hints.”

“No need.”

“Why?”

“You just did.”

“Uber?”

“Right over there.”

“Now we are talking.”

“Yup. Nice seat in the back of the coupe for the older folks.”

“Older folks?”

“I’m just sayin'”

“I suppose we’d better get going.”

“Just one thing.”

“Yes, of course.”

“We have to stop at the drag strip on the way.”

“To race?”

“No. Just to deliver some packages. The guy is a DoorDash driver.”

“Just the drag strip, right?”

“Maybe one or two others.”

“Sure. What is that smell?”

“One of the deliveries is corned beef.”

“Good grief.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

“Or have an olfactory meltdown.”

“Yeah, that too. Let’s go.”

Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

August 22, 2025August 20, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 56 Comments

Today’s Good News story comes from Yahoo News. Thanks to Noelle Granger for sending it to me.

Companies announce game-changing plan to harvest drinking water from the ocean floor — here’s how it works

by Yei Ling Ma

Three companies are leveraging modern technology to reshape the future of commercial desalination, making the process cleaner, smarter, and more cost-effective, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Safe drinking water helps prevent the transmission of preventable diseases like “cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio,” per the World Health Organization. Yet, more than four billion people in 135 low- and middle-income countries worldwide lack that, according to a 2024 study published in the journal Science.

Access to fresh drinking water is shrinking as global water usage increases, driven by industries like agriculture and new technology like artificial intelligence.

Desalination appears to be the most logical solution since 97% of the Earth’s water is found in the ocean.

However, traditional commercial desalination methods like thermal desalination and reverse osmosis are highly energy-intensive and expensive.

Seawater reverse osmosis requires significant energy to pressurize water that passes through a semi-permeable membrane. This membrane filters out salt and impurities, allowing only water molecules to pass through. This process creates a concentrated brine byproduct that can harm aquatic life when deposited back into the ocean.

Thermal desalination leverages heat energy to remove salt from the water. The process involves heating the water to produce steam, which naturally separates from the salt and minerals, and turns back into fresh water when the steam has cooled. Thermal desalination also requires a lot of energy to heat water at scale.

Dirty fossil fuels power these methods, and they remain expensive compared to alternative methods of harvesting freshwater.

Flocean, Waterise, and OceanWell are three water desalination companies that are thinking outside the box.

Instead of wasting energy to pressurize the water to pass through filter membranes, could the desalination process harness the ocean’s natural water pressure to do the same thing?

By using deep-sea technology, including deep-sea robots and undersea power cables, and submerging the filter membrane to a depth of at least 400 meters, or 1312 feet, the water pressure at that depth will naturally flow through the desalination membrane. According to The Wall Street Journal, this deep-water desalination process can save up to 40% on energy usage.

In addition to the benefits of working at that depth, the harmful brine byproduct the process creates can be dispersed quickly back into the ocean, minimizing harm to aquatic life.

Flocean and Waterise have established their pilot desalination plants off the coast of Norway, and OceanWell has built its plant at a reservoir in California’s Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, per the Wall Street Journal.

These companies are seeking government contracts that will help further develop and make more accessible this cleaner, desalination process.

Currently, Flocean is supplying ultra-pure water to a local Norwegian company to make premium-craft cocktail ice. The company also has a contract with Mongstad, an oil refinery facility, to produce approximately 264,000 gallons of desalinated water per day, expected to be launched by the second half of 2026.

Waterise has entered a contract with Jordan Phosphates Mines, a mining company based in Jordan, agreeing to supply 6.6 million gallons of desalinated water per day from the Gulf of Aqaba, south of Jordan.

Most commenters seemed intrigued and hopeful about this new desalination process. However, others questioned the logistics behind the process.

“But they still need to pump that fresh water from the depths to wherever it’s going on land so it’s hard to see where significant energy savings comes from,” one commenter pointed out.

The good news in this story is that companies are exploring various alternatives to traditional desalination techniques. Today’s JohnKu discusses various approaches to problem-solving. I hope you have a peaceful weekend.

Conformity can,

Hamper the quest for knowledge. . .

Knowledge solves problems.

Thursday – A little Personal – Twiggy and Tempeste on Watch

August 21, 2025August 19, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 96 Comments

“So why the long face, Twiggy?”

“Brother. You know I have a droop.”

“Well, yeah, but I thought you looked worried.”

“No. Everything is fine. Thought I would gaze out for a while.”

“What’s out there?”

“A couple of deer mooching carrots off Mom.”

“I like the term mooching. You know I would be upset with them if I liked carrots.”

“I know what you mean. I hope they never develop a taste for kibble.”

” Looks like they have had enough and are exiting to the right.”

“You are very observant today. You even got the direction right.”

Seems a little lonely when they go.”

“I agree. I know I called them moochers, but it is nice to see them in the morning.

“Hey, look at that. Some wise guy is driving down the street.”

“Yeah. He’s not allowed to do that without a bark.”

“How do we get down from here?”

“Just follow my lead. Don’t get ahead of me.”

“Okay, I’m right behind you.”

“Just point your nose down the stairs and let it rip.”

“Wow. That wasn’t as hard as I thought.”

“The rule is nose before butt.”

“I got it. By the way. Did Mom paint this room? It looks yellow.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Nope, it’s just the lamp reflection off the white walls. There is probably a filter for that, but you know Dad.

An Invitation to a Creative Call

August 20, 2025August 20, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 22 Comments

Author and blogger Michele Lee has been hosting a monthly Zoom meeting that has been unofficially called Creative Call. The time spent is unscripted and not bound by an agenda. It is simply a gathering of creative individuals discussing processes, challenges, and sometimes silly topics. In short, each person can talk about whatever they want. The goal is to nurture and inspire the creative spirit of the participants.

It is most rewarding when the participants can take away one useful idea, tip, or feeling from the session, but that is not a requirement.

The mood is mellow, and the hour is viewed as a safe place for any kind of discussion.

The purpose of this post is to invite anyone interested in joining the next session, scheduled for August 27 at 11:00 Central Time. If you would like to join, please send me an e-mail at johnhowell (dot)wave(at)gmail(dot)com. There is only room for four additional members, so if you decide you want to attend, I would act fast.

Thanks, and I’ll be back full-time with Twiggy and Tempeste tomorrow.

Thursday – A Little Personal – Twiggy and Tempeste Have a Discussion

August 14, 2025August 12, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 74 Comments

“Hey, Tempest. What are you doing?”

“You know I was just getting ready to attack cheeseburger.”

“You seem to have a pretty good grasp on the concept of attack.”

“It’s the only way to handle cheeseburger.”

“So what do you intend to do with cheeseburger?”

“I thought maybe we could play tuggy with it.”

“Tuggy is real hard with cheeseburger. Cowie might be better sinceit is bigger.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask how are you feeling today?”

“Well I have been better but all in all I feel pretty good.”

“You went to the Neurologist. What did he say?”

“Well he agrees with my regular doctor that I have bacterial meningitis. He also concurs that I have fluid in my ear canal which will require an operation to fix.

“Oh dear. That doesn’t sound good.”

“No it’s okay. Once done the threat of reinfection will be gone. Also my head tilt should go away.

“Are you scared?”

“No, I have had a surgery on my leg before. and it was fine.”

“That’s good. You know I liked your idea of the cow.”

“Get it and we can play.”

“When does the surgery happen?”

“The doctors all have to get together and agree on the course of treatment. Then we will consult with a surgeon and set a day.”

“A lot of waiting.”

“I will be continuing my antibiotic and prednisone in the meantime so nothing gets worse.”

“You seem calm about this.”

“Yeah, I don’t have a choice.”

“Maybe I’ll worry a little for you.”

A reminder that I will be on a blog break from tomorrow until next Thursday. Totally off the grid

Guest Post – Andrew Joyce and His New Book – Wicked – The men of Wicked Tuna.

August 13, 2025August 10, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 69 Comments

I am very pleased to welcome Andrew Joyce to Fiction Favorites. He has a new book and it look like it is going to be a good one.

Here’s the blurb.

The town of Gloucester—America’s first fishing village—has a rich history of “men who go down to the sea in ships.” From that tradition, from that fearless and audacious heritage, came forth a breed of men who are the embodiment of the Gloucester fishermen.

The highly rated television show, Wicked Tuna, captivated the world with the exploits of the men who spend their lives hunting the giant bluefin tuna. In Wicked: The Men of Wicked Tuna, author Andrew Joyce delves into their lives—before, during, and after the show’s end.

For those who were thrilled by the never-ending excitement of Wicked Tuna, this book is for you.

Purchase link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLQN9CNL

A little about Andrew

Andrew Joyce left home at seventeen to hitchhike throughout the US, Canada, and Mexico. He wouldn’t return from his journey until years later when he decided to become a writer. Joyce has written seven books and 143 short stories. One of which won the Writing Spirit Award for best short story of 2011. His first novel, “Redemption: The Further Adventures of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer,” was awarded the Editors’ Choice Award for Best Western of 2013. A subsequent novel, “Yellow Hair,” received the Book of the Year award from Just Reviews and Best Historical Fiction of 2016 from Colleen’s Book Reviews.

Joyce now lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Tuesday – Anything Possible – Finger Point Prompt – Language

August 12, 2025August 11, 2025 ~ John W. Howell ~ 65 Comments

Today, I randomly opened Eternal Road – The last stop to page 233. With eyes closed, I pointed to the page. The word closest to my finger is “language.” That is our prompt

“That is not the kind of language we use, young man.”

“Sorry, Mum, but I’m very frustrated.”

“Over what?”

“Well, you know how Pa sent me out to hunt for dinner.”

“He said it was about time you learned to contribute to the family.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“So, what is so frustrating?”

“Pa makes everything look so easy.”

“And?”

“I found out that hunting is more complex than it looks.”

“I think anyone could have told you that.”

“Well, long story short, I didn’t get any dinner.”