Archive for April, 2013


Changing Passwords Frequently Is An Opportunity for Positive Thinking

Positive thinking blooms when I use passwords as daily affirmations.

Positive thinking blooms when I use passwords as daily affirmations.

As a Do It Your Self Publisher, I have to log in to about twenty bizillion sites multiple times a day in order to self publish a book – including my own computer, my work computer, my voice mail, my work voice mail, my own phone, my work phone, … etc. The recent increase in internet hacking has led to an increase in password changing in my life – and now multiple logins on sites that used to require only one.

I’m trying not to see it as a pain in the rump, and instead as an opportunity for the practice of positive thinking since I recently changed over to creating passwords as daily affirmations.

And since the new passwords requirements are more stringent – for instance, not allowing me to change my password to something really really similar to my last password…. (schna!) I am scratching for words to express my positivity.

(And yes, I know that lame passwords are the real world equivalent of tying my car key on a really long string to the outside handle of my car door… but jeez. A bizillion random passwords are harder to remember than the location of my one car key!)

So I made a l helpful uber list of positive word synonyms so that I can work them into my new passwords and I decided to share them here on my blog, so that everyone can join me in trying to think up positive mini-mantras that do not contain my dog’s name, the word “password”, or something obscene – which while fun and affirming, was not very positive.

  • Love, adore, ally, amour, appreciate, cherish, delight, devote, enchanted, enjoy, fondly, friend, hanker, idolize, infatuated, like, regard, relish, repsect, worship, yearn, desire, prefer, want, wish, will, do, did, will do,
  • peace, accord, order, pacification, reconiliation, treaty, truce, unanimous, improve, advance, amend, better, boost, cultivate, elevate, mend, fix, elevate, rally, raise, shape up, upgrade, update, rise, revise
  • accomplish, achieve, acquire, attain, carryout, complete, deliver, do, effect, enact, finish, negotiate, perfect, perform, procure, produce…

Now that I think of it, I could also use my daily passwords to:

  • teach myself how to spell words that I always misspell,
  • or capitalizations I always miss,
  • or my new word of the month that I’m trying to learn.

Yet another way to turn a tedious chore into a positive moment!  And also, my second book is almost ready for release. Search Amazon.com for Corinne Tippett or join my book release list to catch the wave.

Colonel C. J. Tippett and his big, though not record-setting, and obviously not catch and release, black marlin rod and reel catch. at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru.

Colonel C. J. Tippett and his big, though not record-setting, and obviously not catch and release, black marlin rod and reel catch, at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru.

Colonel C. J. Tippett had the unique opportunity to participate in some of the best big game fishing in sport fishing history. The world record for black marlin fishing is still held by one of the men that Tip fished alongside, and from the waters where he fished. Alfred C. Glassell, Jr., caught the record 1560 pound black marlin at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1953, and Tip was there.

Tip himself caught black marlin, big-eye tuna, blue-fin tuna, mako shark, swordfish, sailfish, and held the world record for roosterfish until someone else caught a bigger one in the 1990s.

It was an amazing, exciting, glamorous time and when it ended, it wasn’t directly because of the sport fishing activities, but our modern eyes have qualms when we look at the size and species of the trophy pictures taken on the Cabo Blanco docks. Today, we know that those species are now endangered, and some of us wonder….

But rod and reel big game sport fishing was not, and is not now, the reason billfish populations are declining worldwide – it is longlining.

Longline fishing is a commercial fishing practice of setting baited hooks over miles and miles of open ocean. It kills large numbers of many species without regard to fish populations, sex, age, size, or season.

And it was the sport fishing industry who led the most vocal movement for a change in fishing laws – attacking not the commercial fishermen directly, but their marketplace instead. A far more effective method of influencing the fishing industry – which is, after all, a business.

The International Game Fish Association was a major champion of the recently successful Billfish Conservation Act, which prohibits the importation of all billfish (except swordfish) into the United States. Taking marlin off the menu in America.

The legislation was signed in 2012. The United States had been the biggest buyer of billfish catches in the world,
and now – it is not.

Several of the men who fished Cabo Blanco’s abundant waters in the 1950s went on to become highly recognized wildlife conservationists later in their careers. Conservation was not an active conversation point in the 50s;  time that saw the heyday of big game hunting, big game fishing, and record setting adventure.

The 1950s were the height of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club’s fame and fortune, and Tip wrote about his adventures  as club director in the very-soon-to-be-released book, “When No One Else Would Fly“. Check Amazon.com for a copy, or join our b00k release notification list by contacting us.

 

 

Definitions in Self Publishing… like Do It Your Self Publishing

It is Tulip Time here in Portland, and my bulbs of do it your self publishing are getting ready to bloom.

It is Tulip Time here in Portland, and my bulbs of do it your self publishing are getting ready to bloom.

I’ve blogged about this issue of definitions within the term “self publishing” before, but I am doing it again because I think it is so important…

This new publishing landscape is driving the need for new publishing terminology,

Self publishing versus Do It Your Self Publishing

Self publishing generally refers to hiring a company – or a series of professionals, to turn your manuscript or project into a book . You pay for it your self, and that makes it self publishing. I don’t think it is a misnomer for self publishing, because you are hiring services same as you would if you were the CEO of a traditional publishing company.

Do It Your Self Publishing is doing all of the work yourself – hiring pieces out if you can afford it, or taking on the whole process personally. Sometimes including the cover production.

This is important (at least to me) because I am focused on Do It Your Self Publishing… intending to pursue it to get my books out until I can lure a traditional publisher to get them out with me.

The fundamental issues are quality and cost. Do It Your Self Publishing is definitely lower cost than Self Publishing, but the challenge is to match the quality. By doing everything myself, I am more likely to make back my costs through book sales (at all, or quickly)… but not if I do a bad job of the editing, layout, ebook programming, cover, and promotion.

Another reason I’m re-blogging about definitions is because I’m SO CLOSE to releasing my second book, “When No On Else Would Fly” the biography and memoir of my grandfather, Colonel C. J. Tippett, aviation pioneer, and handsome glamorous guy. But instead of announcing the release, I’m waiting for my copyproofer to finish proofing the copy.

My copyproofer is a teenager and although she can finish a twilight novel – or anything related to dragons or vampires – in about 15 minutes, it seems to be taking her longer to read MY book.

Which does NOT mean it is boring or flawed. It means that it has no vampires in it. None at all. And maybe also has something to do with the fact that I’m paying her …. not much. I offered to tell her her birth story again.

We use what resources we have, here in DIY Self Publishing – but our products are excellent. Our books are compelling.  And ALMOST ready for release!

 

Flying to Rio in 1943 in a Cessna T-50

The Cessna T-50 was a twin-engine trainer and Tip flew it from Washington D.C. to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1943. Thank you wikipedia for the public domain photo!

The Cessna T-50 was a twin-engine trainer and Tip flew it from Washington D.C. to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1943. Thank you wikipedia for the public domain photo!

The Cessna T-50 is not a very big plane, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is a very long way from Washington D.C.

The flight would be a challenge in today’s modern times, with all of the GPS navigation equipment now available – but back in 1943, it was beyond challenging, it was a record!

Colonel C. J. Tippett made that flight in October, 1943 to bring a Cessna T-50 twin engine plane to Rio as a gift from the US Government to the civil aviation program of Brazil. Tip was in charge of the pilot training program, and his students needed access to a twin engine trainer. The US Government wanted to keep Brazil’s good will during wartime, and due to enemy submarine attacks in the Atlantic, the only way to get the plane to the students was to have Tip fly it down.

Additionally, Tip wanted to bring his wife and young son to Brazil. The Cessna could seat up to five, so off they went – with a State Department diplomat named Tony Satterthwaite.

Tip wrote:  “The newest twin-engine trainer at that time was the Cessna T-50; a five passenger wood and fabric aircraft powered with two 245-hp. engines. I was very familiar with the aircraft, as we had used the first ones at the Houston Standardization Center for the training of our inspectors.”

Louise, Tip’s wife, wrote:  “My husband, Cloyce Tippett, a special representative of the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Brazil, met his son, Mike, and me in Washington on his return from his foreign assignment. One day he came in from the CAA office bursting with news and asked me if I’d like to go with him to Brazil. I said sure I would. But Tip had been sent the year before to Argentina for “six weeks” and he had stayed more than a year. All that time, I had one bag packed while I perched precariously on the assurance I was to join him, but I never did. So now I put a strong dash of salt on the Brazil talk.

He assured me patiently that this time it was different and did I, or did I not, want to go to Brazil? I played another card. He had flown down there in a two-seat Fairchild single-engine plane and I wanted very little of that. Tip was a patient guy; tall, good-looking, with smile wrinkles mixed in with the lines that usually frame a pilot’s eyes. He described the Cessna that the CAA was turning over to him. Cozy, he said, as a small apartment. Long back seat where you and Mike could curl up and sleep. Now being converted from its military purposes at the factory. Make the trip in ten days. Magnificent scenery. New places. Rio’s wonderful.

It took more than ten days, but they did it – and their account of the flight is one of the best chapters of Tip’s aviation pioneering story “When No One Else Would Fly”, which is VERY close to being released on Amazon.com. Contact Us to be added to the book release list, or search the title on Amazon.com in the next month. The book is part memoir, part background story, and totally riveting.

 

Aviation History is Art…. from Tom Berto’s view

Tom Berto creates aviation paintings, both beautiful and accurate.

Tom Berto creates aviation paintings, both beautiful and accurate.

There is an added dimension to the history of aviation, a thread that runs throughout stories of aviation pioneering. It is passion.

Colonel C. J. Tippett’s passion was for flight, and for aviation safety. While he admired the planes, he was enraptured by the process of flying. I can’t tell which aircraft as his favorite, although I’d guess it was the Beechcraft C-45.

And that admiration was not left behind as time, and technology, moved forward. Restoration, study, photography, modeling… and artwork, all keep the aircraft flying in our present day imaginations. Often, tangibly.

Tom Berto’s passion is for the aircraft themselves. The individual ships, or the models and types, and he expresses it through his art. His aviation paintings bring the aircraft back to life with exquisitely accurately detail.

Tom writes:

“I started painting in the late 70’s.  It was a natural offshoot of modeling – I already had the paints, thinner, X-acto knives, brushes, airbrush, and compressor.   In addition, I had developed airbrush and masking skills that are fundamental to making paintings.   Paintings are obviously different from plastic models, but they have some technical processes in common.  With “Mustang”, which I finished this year, the subjects matched, too.   Here’s the what, why, and how of “Mustang”.

The performance, looks, and positive historic roles of the Mustang and Spitfire have made them my favorite airplanes for as long as I can remember.   The range and performance of the P-51 gave the pilots of the 8th Air Force the bomber escort they needed to break the back of the Luftwaffe in early 1944.  This hastened the end of the most horrible war in human history.  My painting is based very closely on a WWII USAF black & white photograph of a P-51. The subject is “Tika IV”, flown by Vernon R Richards, an ace pilot of the 374th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, 8th Air Force.  The photo shows off the wing planform and radiator scoop of the P-51, as well as the elegant drop tanks and four-blade propeller churning out power. The black/white invasion stripes have historic and moral significance as a symbol of the liberation of Europe from Hitler and his Nazis – as well as being a striking graphic element.  The clouds and receding fields of the background help convey the height and space of the scene.  There is also some “abstraction” to the image, in that the canopy is not visible – very unusual for aircraft photos!   It’s a unique, spectacular, and beautiful photo – a great starting point for a painting…… read more about Tom’s process…”

Tom’s articles, on www.modelingmadness.com, step through the process of creating two of his paintings.   They are symphonies of specialized knowledge, vision, historical perspective, and then there’s the paintings themselves: “Hurry Home Honey” and “Mustang”

I was already fascinated by Tom’s landscapes and flowers, and now I am an even bigger fan of his aviation paintings. Visit Tom’s site to see all of his paintings, including the B-17G, “Floogie Boo and Little Friends”.

 

Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett… Bob Hope

Colonel C. J. Tippett and Bob Hope in the early 1980s.

Colonel C. J. Tippett and Bob Hope in the early 1980s.

It’s true; Bob Hope met my grandfather, Colonel Cloyce Joseph Tippett.

My grandfather, Tip, was the Civil Aeronautics Authority’s pilot of the only government owned DC-3 in the country and Bob Hope needed a ride. For his whole band.

The story, which took place on May 15th, 1942, is delightfully told in Tip’s memoir, When No One Else Would Fly,  soon to be available on Amazon.com.

Bob Hope was touring to entertain the troops, and the DC-3 was the only available aircraft big enough to take them all to their next stop. Tip and Bob stayed in touch and became good friends. By the 1980s, Tip was hosting aviation related diplomatic functions, and Bob Hope would attend whenever possible.

At the time of their first flight together, each man was actively pursuing the activity that would define their lives.

Bob Hope was famous not only for his performances in movies, radio, television, and on the stage, but also for his dedication to the United Serivce Organizations (USO).

Colonel Tippett was famous for his civil aviation accomplishments and directorship in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Contact us to be notified when the book is made available or check back soon. It is in final draft and the Bob Hope story is one of the best in the entire book… it was a good thing that Bob had a good sense of humor!

 

Once Upon A Flock by Lauren Scheuer… more than just a great read

by Lauren Scheuer and Available Now on Amazon.com!

by Lauren Scheuer and Available Now on Amazon.com!

Lauren Scheuer has written a book called “Once Upon A Flock” about her journey and discoveries in backyard chicken raising, and it is the book I wish I’d had when I was raising chickens.

Lauren is an illustrator, and it is her photographs and whimsical illustrations that gives a third dimension to the book, taking it beyond the world of story telling and information sharing. This is the kind of book that parents and children can enjoy hand in hand as we enter the chicken world.

Lauren and her family went through a chick hatching experience, nursed a sick chicken back to health, and successfully managed adding a new hen to her small flock. We get to go along on all of these important chicken journeys as if we were there, by her side, because of the window she creates with her pictures. Full color, beautifully illustrated pictures.

There were times when I was raising my poultry, before Lauren wrote her book, and usually in the middle of the my coop, in the middle of the night, when all of my pamphlets, and university extension office resources left me feeling very alone.  This was the old way of learning by doing. Lauren’s book is an example of a new age. Books that entertain and warm while they teach and show. Books that show and tell and show some more.

Once Upon A Flock is not only the perfect book to have in hand while starting up a chicken project, it is also a great bedtime story for my daughter… the kind we read while snuggled together, side by side, so that we can see the beautiful pictures! (plus, there’s more to see once we’ve finished the book because Lauren has an excellent blog)

Available on Amazon.com, and in Kindle format, by Atria Books, of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Copyright 2012 Corinne Tippett & The Westchester Press
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