Archives for March 2017

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The original purpose for building this website was to create an internet platform to advertise the fact I'd become an author, and to promote my books. The idea was that my writing would eventually provide me some level of income, but there's only one small problem -- I haven't written enough material in any particular genre to draw and sustain a large audience, and there's a lot of competition in this new age of digital publishing. Long ago the decision was made to sacrifice quantity for quality, so I haven't tried to produce a steady stream of content on one particular subject. I have tried to focus on writing well, rather than publishing more frequently. Naturally, it was a very rewarding feeling in 2013 when not one or two, but three of my books won awards, but the problem is that awards don't automatically produce income. The market has been flooded with competition, and not enough people know who I am. I'm no genius when it comes to marketing myself as a writer, but I know that I don't have enough readers, book reviews, and my work hasn't gotten much publicity. This is somewhat difficult to write without sounding like I'm pleading for money, but in order for my work to earn income, I need to sell books and short stories. I have resisted the idea of buttons soliciting donations to support the website, and Patreon accounts. But on the other hand, I don't have an agent, or a book deal. I don't get paid six or seven-figure advances on work that hasn't even been written yet. The two small, independent publishers who have published my work paid fair royalties, but … [Read more...]

The polymath Emanuel Swedenborg

Emanuel Swedenborg didn’t simply use microscopes and telescopes in his pursuit of scientific knowledge; he made his own. He even ground his own lens. A true polymath comparable to Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton, Swedenborg devoured virtually every resource about the known sciences he could find. He created new fields of study as he compiled, organized and then documented and published the information he gleaned from the books he read. Not content to be a jack of all trades, Swedenborg became expert in practically any skill, craft or scientific endeavor he undertook. Astronomer, inventor, scientist, philosopher and mystic, Swedenborg spoke nine languages fluently.  He even learned Hebrew in order to personally translate the ancient texts of the Bible. By his early fifties, Swedenborg had mastered every known branch of science and invented or designed a number of innovative devices well ahead of his time, including the first fire extinguisher, submarine, airplane, air gun, home heater, and a music machine.  He designed what was at the time the world’s largest dry dock, then supervised the movement of a fleet of warships over a mountain range that resulted in a huge naval victory for Sweden. He bound books, made watches, cabinets, and as previously mentioned, even built his own scientific instruments. No published reports have been discovered suggesting that he was able to leap small buildings with a single bound, however. Swedenborg studied geology, anatomy, mechanics, physiology.  He was one of the first people to study and began to understand the nervous … [Read more...]