A number of people have asked how to use SDR#'s SpyServer with an RTL-SDR. In this tutorial we will show how to set up SpyServer on both Windows and Linux systems. We try to assume as little knowledge as possible, but we do assume that you have decent experience with computers. Also for the Linux/Raspberry Pi setup we need to assume that you have some basic experience with Linux and setting up Raspberry Pi's.
SpyServer is a free RTL-SDR compatible SDR server that is designed to work with the popular SDR# software. It is actually designed for the Airspy range of products, but the author has also made it compatible with RTL-SDR dongles. Running a SpyServer allows you to connect to and use a remotely positioned RTL-SDR over a network connection (such as a local LAN/WiFi or the Internet). Once connected, using the dongle is the same as if the dongle was directly connected to the users PC.
Remote servers are useful as you may want to set up an antenna in a remote location (such as up on your roof or shack), and don't want to run a long lossy coax cable down to the PC. Instead you could run Ethernet cable, or avoid cables by using WiFi. All you'd need is power for a remote computing device like a Raspberry Pi 3. Perhaps you also have a great antenna location at a friends house, or other property and want to access that antenna remotely. Or maybe you want to use your radio while travelling.
SpyServer is similar to another tool that you may already be familiar with called rtl_tcp. However, SpyServer is regarded as superior because it is signficantly more efficient at network usage. Instead of sending the entire raw data like rtl_tcp does, SpyServer only sends the IQ data of the currently tuned in signal. Waterfall data is processed on the server and sent in compressed form. There is one disadvantage to SpyServer in that it requires slightly more powerful computing hardware like a Pi 2 or Pi 3, whereas rtl_tcp can run on the lowest end hardware.
Network usage when streaming with SpyServer will be about 120 KB/s when listening to WFM and about 38 KB/s when listening to narrow band modes for one client being connected. Multiple clients can connect to the SpyServer and share the same currently tuned bandwidth.
Setting up a SpyServer server on Windows is extremely simple.
Log on to the Windows PC that you want to be the remote server.
Go to www.airspy.com/download and download the latest version zip file of SDR#. Extract all the files onto a folder on your PC.
Run the install-rtlsdr.bat file to download the RTL-SDR drivers.
In the SDR# folder find the file spyserver.config. Right click it and select 'Open With -> Notepad'.
Edit the 'device_type' line to show 'device_type = RTL-SDR'.
Save and close the spyserver.config text file.
Double click on spyserver.exe to start the server.
Open the start menu and type in 'cmd' and then press enter to open a command prompt.
In the new command prompt type in 'ipconfig'. This will display a list of network adapters on your PC, with their current IP addresses. Find the one actively being used (likely Ethernet or Wireless) and note down the IPv4 Address. This is your server PCs IP address.
Log into the Linux device that you are using for the server, and open a terminal window if needed.
First install prerequisites such as the RTL-SDR drivers and librtlsdr.
Create a new folder for the spyserver and navigate into it.
Download the latest SpyServer and extract it using the commands below. NOTE: That you will need to download the correct version for the platform that you are using (e.g. 32 or 64-bit, ARM or x86). Go to airspy.com/download, and find the links for the SpyServer download that matches your platform. Replace the link below with it. The link used in this example is for the 32-bit ARM version which is what Raspberry Pi's and most other single board PCsww like Odroids and Orange Pi's use.
Use a text editor like nano to edit the spyserver.config file. Change the "device_type" to "device_type = RTL-SDR" (without quotes).
If you are unfamiliar with Nano, then note that you cannot use the mouse. You will need to use the arrow keys to move the cursor. Editing is done with the bakspace/del keys and keyboard keys as usual. To save and exit, Press "Ctrl + X", and then the "y" key.
Find your device's IP address using the "ifconfig" command. Note NOT "ipconfig" from windows, notice the "f". Write this IP address down as it is the address you'll use to connect to the SpyServer.
Note that if you get the error './spyserver: /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.21' not found (required by ./spyserver)', then you'll need to install the newer GCC-5 or GCC-6.
You'll be asked a few questions during the install and all the defaults are fine. Installation will take about 20 minutes. Once upgraded you should be able to run ./spyserver.
If you're setting up a Raspberry Pi as a server then you're probably not going to be connecting it to a monitor. This is called a headless setup. You'll also probably be using WiFi. This tip shows you how to enable SSH and enter the WiFi credentials on a Raspberry Pi without any monitor, keyboard or mouse. If you want you still can of course initially connect a monitor keyboard and mouse and set it up via the Raspbian GUI, or connect a network cable.
After writing the Raspbian image to the SD card, put it into a PC and open the boot drive partition in file explorer.
To enable SSH simply create an empty text file with the name 'SSH' in the root of the partition.
Finally you'll need to look in your routers status page to find the IP address of the Raspberry Pi. Usually the routers access page can be accessed at http://192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254, but this address is entirely dependent on your router set up. Consult your router manual or ISP for these details if you do not know them.
Once you've set up the server you can now connect to it from a client PC.
Log on to the Windows PC that you want to browse the radio spectrum with (client PC). This PC should be on the same network as your server PC (or see below about port forwarding to use remotely over the internet).
Download and extract the latest SDR# version on the client PC.
Under Source select 'Spy Server'.
Enter the IP address of the server in the following format: 'sdr://IP_ADDR:5555' (without quotes).
You should now be connected to the remote SpyServer and the spectrum should be active.
There are some additional options that you'll see in the Source box. Apart from the standard gain and bandwidth settings there is an IQ format drop down box and a 'use full IQ' checkbox.
Use Full IQ - This essentially reverts SpyServer back into rtl_tcp, sending the entire IQ data over the network. Note that you'll need to press the stop button first or this option will be greyed out.
IQ Format - This enables/disables IQ compression. With an RTL-SDR in most cases you should use PCM 8bit to keep the network data as low as possible. If you experience problems you can try other options.
The limitation with 8-bit mode is that you might loose dynamic range, but for most signals (and the RTL-SDR which is 8-bits anyway) it will be fine. Higher end SDRs like the HF+ may benefit from PCB 16-bit or higher modes in some cases.
If you're having performance issues on slower hardware or networks like choppy audio then you might want to reduce the frame rate. You can do this in the spyserver.config text file by editing the 'fft_fps' variable. By default it is 15, try lower values to improve performance. Lower the frame rate results in a more pixelated waterfall in SDR#.
You may also want to play with increasing the 'buffer_size_ms' and 'buffer_count' variables if you experience choppiness especially over the internet.
After editing the file restart the server.
This is simple, but you need to know your upconverters offset. For example the ham-it-up upconverter has an offset of 125 MHz (-125,000,000 Hz) and the SpyVerter upconverter has an offset of 120 MHz (-120,000,000 Hz). If you have another upconverter and are unsure of the offset then consult the manufacturer or it's documentation.
To set the offset in SpyServer edit the spyserver.config file with a text editor. Uncomment the 'converter_offset' variable by removing the '#' next to it (do not delete the '#' on the two lines above). You can then set the offset used by your upconverter after the equals sign.
Setting 'converter_offset' to -120,000,000 for a SpyVerter Upconverter. Make sure to uncomment it by deleting the '#' next to it.
You may wish to set up your server so that it automatically starts on boot. Doing so is simple with crontab.
Press Ctrl + X and then 'y' to save and quit.
If you want to connect to your SpyServer over the internet then you may need to activate port forwarding on your router. You need to tell your router what IP address or MAC address to forward data coming in from port 5555 which is the default SpyServer port. The data should be forwarded to the IP address or MAC address of the device running the SpyServer. You'll probably also want to ensure that the device running the SpyServer is set to a static IP from within your router.
Port forwarding is slightly out of the scope of this tutorial as the procedure is different for each network router. There are guides for most routers in the world at portforward.com.
You can find your public IP by browsing to whatismyip.com on a PC on your network, or by running 'curl ifconfig.me' at a Linux terminal.
If you want to try out some publicly available remote SpyServers over the internet then please check out airspy.com/spy-servers. We've found that streaming over the internet even across the world is fairly smooth and problem free.
With a single dongle, the tuning range is limited to 2 MHz when a second user connects and also for the original user who had full range of tuning. When the second user disconnects – the original user regains full range tuning. Any ideas?
Looking up the change log r144 was never released and if it was it would have been back in January 2012 (~1,528 releases since then, it would be the caveman version of SDR#). If I assumed that you made a typo and left out a 4 and actually meant r1444 that is still pretty old April 2016 (there have been 228 releases since than).
Why cling to such a really old version of the software ?
Hi Bert thank you for the reply. Yes typo meant .1444 and the reason is I'm trying to upload my sdr to globaltuners and their plugin only works on that version.
Maybe contact their support (" create a support ticket" at the bottom of this page https://www.globaltuners.com/wiki/receiver_setup ) and ask them to re-build the plugin for the current version (one that is not +2 years old).. Although that page does not explicitly say that the plugin will not work with later versions of SDR#, just that it may not, have you tried.
Yea I've tried with a few different versions although I've managed to connect to pi on sdr# by installing some stuff onto the pi and using RTL-SDR TCP option as receiver.
2 check that all required dependencies are installed "ldd spyserver" if they are not and you are running a 64 bit OS then you will need to install the 32-bit dependencies "armhf".
Whatever dependency is missing use a command like "sudo apt-get install *:armhf" where you replace the * with the missing 32-bit dependency.
I'm trying to set up running two server instances running on Ubuntu Linux 16.04. Have each instance running separately but only works with the "wildcard" value (0 or unspecified) for device_serial. As soon as I change the config to specify the serial number, it fails when I try to connect to the server. I've tried with two dongles, one of which has the factory default serial number of 1, and the other I changed it to 3 using RtlTool.
Device was sleeping. Wake up!
I concluded that the value required for device_serial is specifically a serial number for an AirSpy hardware device. Doesn't look like SpyServer supports multiple generic RTL-SDR devices. Posted a question to the AirSpy support forums but never got a reply.
i had same error. Does anyone fixe completely this error? thank you !
Another value that works ok is 900001.
you must change exactly name of model which you have.
I have SpyHF+, so I change 'device_type = AirspyHF+', and it run very well.
Connecting to airspy.com (airspy.com)|5.135.3.67|:80… connected.
Connecting to airspy.com (airspy.com)|5.135.3.67|:443… connected.
Reusing existing connection to airspy.com:443.
Raspberry Pi Zero failed at "Segmentation fault," identical symptoms to Daniel.
2015 forums note the same issue around rtl_tcp causing segmentation fault with libusb-1 drivers (https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=76355). I'm running linux 9 Raspbian stretch light. Troubleshooting by updating the sources to use main failed, autoremove/install lib-usb-1.0-0 failed. Anyone run into the segmentation fault issue and find a solution?
Got "Segmentation Fault" on Raspberry 2 with 256 Mb RAM, ZeroW with 512 Mb RAM, work perfect on Raspberry 3 Model B with 1 GB RAM! I believe SW tries to write beyond the physical address on RAM.
Work very well, but i can't do start on boot my spyserver. I've made a crontab as writed, but doesn't work.
Is the directory that you installed the spyserver to the same as ours? If not update the path in the crontab.
This was with build 1617 of SDR#. Any thoughts?
I just noticed ".exe" in the file name you are running windows 7/8/8.1/10.
Will SpyServer work with a Raspberry Pi3 and dual RTL-SDRs monitoring a trucked digital network like a local Fire Department?
October 28, 2017 - 12:49 am RPi has great marketing.
RPi is cheap, for a reason, when it comes to shoving large amounts of data around fast, it is at or very near the bottom of all devices I can think of. All RPi devices have one real USB 2.0 High Speed port, the B and 3 have a USB hub hardwired into that which is shared by the NIC and four ports are exposed to the world. So if there is lots of network traffic other USB devices have less available bandwidth. And if there is major USB traffic then the network starts to drop packets. It is a bit like sticking 5 funnels in a funnel, and expecting to be able to fill a bottle up faster.
9.6MB/sec is less than 11.9MB/sec, so it should which is good. The only question now is, are the two FFT displays streaming for each device going to fit into the remaining 2.3MB/sec (or 1.15MB/sec per device) I don't know.
Oh and with 3 devices running at once (RTL+RTL+NIC) sharing a single USB 2.0 HS port you will probably not get the maximum through put you will loose at a guess 10% to 30%, but even then there should still be enough room, unless you have other USB devices connected.
and…what is your choice for a more powerful hardware than raspi 3?
October 28, 2017 - 8:37 pm RPi has great marketing.
For shoving data around (not processing power) the BPI-M1 with an actual SATA-2 interface 300MB/sec (not a sata-2-usb chip 40MB/sec) and gigabit Ethernet is not bad.. But the dual core ARM Cortex-A7 (depending on the governor setting can be clocked anywhere from 30MHz up to 1.49GHz with no stability issues that I've seen) is about the same level of CPU number crunching as a RPI-2B with 4 ARM Cortel-A7 cores running at 700 MHz (if you ignore the GPU's which are not usable for data processing in the BPI-M1) . There are later BPI models but they use crappy sata-2-usb chips and the same internal USB hub junk that the RPI do. So it like the RPi-2B looking at the CPU in isolation has about 50% of the number crunching ability of a RPi-3, but for moving data about it is good.
There is the UP or Tinker board if Intel chips are preferred but they are a bit pricey. If you really do need GPU number crunching there is always the Jetson. I'm just amazed that people think that the whole RPi line is the bees-knees.
October 28, 2017 - 10:05 pm RPi has great marketing.
I should probably add that if you run a XU4 at maximum CPU load, it does get hot, and if the temperature gets too high it throttles down performance. If you plan on using it at the limits of performance, the default cooling system is a bit underwhelming and noisy, or at least it was with my revision of the board which was a while ago, they now have a XU4Q version with passive cooling. I suppose what I am saying is that I love the board, but the cooling system is bit anaemic if you are a performance junky.
I'm really impressed with AirSpy's stuff, but I think it's a little strange that they offer the SpyServer app for linux, but it's nearly impossible to receive (or find documentation on how to receive) the signal with a linux computer.
SDR# only being supported on Windows is a bit of a bummer.
The new SDR# runs in Mono, also, I'd wager there's a way (or may be at some point) to rx the IQ stream in GNURadio -> GQRX.
Ignoring the technical advantages, I imagine the whole point of compiling Spyserver for linux is so we can use our SBC's up the tower or at a satellite dish install instead of using a desktop or rack server, not to mention not having to pay for another windows license.
Sure, I get the having spyserver as a raspi/embedded-system-of-the-week to stream the data, i'm speaking specifically of the receiver of that data stream.
I've been able to run SDR# in linux before with all of those mono dependencies, but it's been years and SDR# has been closed source since then.
GQRX is great, but it doesn't have support for SpyServer just yet.
I don't believe SoapySDR or any of the others have support either.
Man, everyone's just doing their own thing in their own silo. I wish all of these SDR programmers like Prog and Cseste would band together and make a really kickass product.
Yes there is definitely a lack of documentation but there is SoapySDR that has a remote feature to use with any SDR remotely..


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Ask the Authors: Final Answers
Posted: April 23, 2018 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Action/Adventure, Books, Branding, Comic Hero, Contemporary Romance, Cover Art, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Interview, marketing, Middle Grade, Opinion, Paranormal, Promotion, Publishing, romance, Science Fiction, Self-Publishing, Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Super Hero, Thriller, Western, World Building, Writing, Writing Process, Writing Tips, Young Adult | Tags: Action, Art Rosch, Ask the Authors, book marketing, Carol Riggs, Character Development, Chris Barili, Chris Dibella, Cynthia Vespia, DeAnna Knippling, Dialog, Genres, Janet Garber, Jordan Elizabeth, Margareth Stewart, promotion, Reader Platform, Setting, Tim Baker, Writing Process |Leave a comment
We've reached the final segment of Ask the Authors, which will bring our series to a close. This has been a fun series and we've covered a lot in regards to writing. In this segment, our panel members will answer follow-up questions for each segment and wrap things up, so let's get started. We'll skip over the introductory segment, as there are really no follow-up questions as to the panel members identity, but if you missed that one, you really should pop in and check it out. Our panel had a great line up, with DeAnna Knippling, Chris Dibella, Carol Riggs, Cynthia Vespia, Tim Baker, Janet Garber, Art Rosch, Margareth Stewart, Chris Barili and Jordan Elizabeth.
I want to thank each and every one of our panel members for their participation. This blog is a labor of love for me, which means I can't pay for guest posts, etc… The time and energy each author took to respond to all of my, sometimes lengthy and open ended questions is greatly appreciated. When asked if they would be up for another round in the fall, many said yes, so it looks like we have another round of Ask the Authors still to look forward to.
Our first segment takes A Look at the Writing Process, where each of our panel members found different things most challenging, from sharing and allowing yourself to be vulnerable, to self confidence, to marketing and finding readers, to the actual act of writing. The process is never the same for any two authors. Some prefer to write without distractions, while others like to write with music or other things going on in the background. Many authors like to write in public places, such as coffee shops, while others like Tim Baker find this too cliche or just need their privacy for writing, like Carol Riggs. We approach our writing in different ways, as well. While Janet Garber writes in vigenettes, Cynthia Vespia writes her first drafts by hand, and authors like DeAnna Knippling just let the characters go and see what happens, and most of our panel members are morning writers, like Chris Barili. Most of our panel members claim to lean toward character driven stories, but I'm with Cynthia Vespia in thinking that all stories must be a little of both. Most, like Art Rosch and Chris DiBella say the titles of their books just come to them, usually before actual writing begins, while the book is still in the design stage. Be sure to check it out and see what each of our panel members' best pieces of advise for upcoming authors.
The follow up question for this segment is: What are your top five writing rules for success?
Cynthia Vespia:
1. Write what you want, don't follow the trends
2. Characterization is key
3. Have fun with world building
4. Think outside the box
5. And of course show don't tell
Chris Barili
1. Learn your craft. Whether through college studies, mentorship, reading a lot, whatever. Learn what makes good stories.
2. Learn the business of your craft. All the writing in the world does you no good if you don't know how to get it sold.
3. Find your writing tribe. A support crew of fellow writers is crucial for keeping you going.
4. Submit. Everywhere. You don't get published if you're not submitting.
5. Get your ass in the seat and do the work. Don't wait for the stupid inspiration fairy or muse to sit on your shoulder and whisper bullshit in your ears. Write. Then write some more.
Janet Garber:
1. Jot down phrases and ideas when inspiration hits no matter where you are.
2. Work on making the language sing.
3. Submit like crazy
4. Don't take rejections personally. Just move on.
5. Don't ever give up!
Art Rosch:
One, be yourself. Write to please yourself. There is no other way to achieve authenticity other than to make your writing a means of exploring yourself, your humanity and the nature of your life experience.
If you're writing fiction you need a great villain. Nothing propels a story like a character that you hate, someone whom you want to see brought to justice. I pay special attention to writing my villains.
Write with feeling or your readers will not feel anything. Emotion is the fuel of story. Be a storyteller, engage readers with plots that invoke high stakes. The ultimate investment in a story can be the life or death of the characters, or the survival of a society, or the triumph of a civilization. All the elements of story break down into conflicts of virtue versus destruction. What makes a story interesting, however, is when it's difficult to tell who is good and who is evil. Things aren't always simple.
A good book has three attributes. It should be entertaining, informative and inspiring. I can loosely define inspiration as the evocation of insight. Insight feels good and you know when a writer provokes an understanding of the human condition.
That's not exactly five rules, but it's an overview of things I put in my writing.
Tim Baker: I really only have one rule…keep writing. If you want to be succesful as a writer you have to keep writing. Not only is it the best way to hone your skills, but the more you write, the more chance you have of being succesful.
Chris DiBella: I don't have any rules for writing "success" because the term success will vary from person to person. What works for me may not work for other writers, and vice versa. There are a million blogs posting the same 5 to 10 rules for how to be a writer, but none of them seem to be putting out any books themselves, so why take advice from someone who isn't successful doing what they are trying to tell you to do? There's no secret magic formula, but you can't be successful if you don't write…..so just go write.
Carol Riggs:
1. There ARE no rules.
2. Everyone writes lousy first drafts; get the words down on the page and learn to revise.
3. Always have other people check your work for inconsistencies, grammar, punctuation, etc.
4. If you truly love to write, never give up!
5. Not everyone will love your book; it's subjective and there's no way your writing will speak to every single person.
Margareth Stewart:
1. Write. Don´t stop.
2. Don´t copy anyone else. Find your own voice.
3. Craft your stories.
4. Be humble. Be proud.
5. Keep it up.
P.S. Just write if you have something to tell, and then forget about it all. I don´t believe so much that we can predict success though we need to do our best for it. I see authors who might be famous, and they might not be the best ones, or even the most influential ones, or the ones that are still going to be recalled a century from now. I would rather quote Jorge Amado and say that writing is like living:
"The world is like that – incomprehensible and full of surprises." Jorge Amado – Brazilian Author.
Jordan Elizabeth:
Never give up on your dreams.
Write what you know. Write a book that you would want to read.
Don't write a shocking scene just for the shock value.
Don't write in a genre just because its selling; write in that genre because you're passionate about it.
DeAnna Knippling:
1. Read.
2. Study what you read.
3. Practice what you study.
4. Get what you practice published.
5. Honor the people who read what you published.
The second segment was on Character Development. Many of our author panel develop characters from real people and composites of people they know, or at least give them realistic qualities and flaws to make them feel more human, easier to identify with, and most admit to having a little of themselves in their characters. Chris DiBella, Jordan Elizabeth, Janet Garber and Art Rosch even offer up real life examples. None of them openly admited to creating characters from archetypes, but I maintain that all characters fit into archetypes, whether the author does it consciously or not. Chris Barili offers his method of character development using a character triangle to determine what the character's motivation is, what the character's fear or flaw is, and what it is the character truly needs. It is clear that for all of our panel members and myself, our characters often come alive and take over what happens on the page, surprising even their creators at times. While Art Rosch and DeAnna Knippling like to take a more psychological approach to character development, authors like Tim Baker use life observation to 'keep it real'. And I don't think any of the panel members would disagree with Carol Riggs when she stated, "The more rich development you can give to a character, the more the reader can identify with them." After all, that is what we're striving for – characters that readers can relate and identify with.
The follow-up question for this segment: How do you evoke emotion in your readers?
Cynthia Vespia: This is one of the most important parts of storytelling, and one of my favorite parts as well. Developing characters that readers resonate with is what stirs emotion. If they can see part of themselves in the character they will gravitate towards them more and that makes them care what happens to them in the end.
Chris Barili: You do that by creating a character they empathize with, then killing him or her, usually. No, wait. That's the George Martin approach. Seriously–build a character about whom readers care, then put them in situations where they are threatened.
Janet Garber: This is admittedly not always easy. I concentrate on creating relatable and sympathetic characters.
Art Rosch: If you write with feeling your audience will respond with feeling. Fiction is mostly about overcoming obstacles. You cause your heroes to act bravely and unselfishly and your villains to act with malice and manipulation. If you create a lovable hero, (that is, someone with flaws who intends to do a positive thing) your readers will respond. I don't know if emotion can be taught. Writing is a very psychological pursuit, and our emotions are unpredictable and all but uncontrollable. So…be a psychologist.
Tim Baker: By giving my characters real emotion and letting the reader see it. Whatever emotion the characters are feeling in a particuklar scene I try to have them think and react the way any of us would (as much as allowable for the story anyway).
Chris DiBella: I just try to make my characters as real as possible and hopefully my readers like them enough to care about what happens to them.
Carol Riggs: I write in first person for (what I think is) the most close, personal experience. I also try to include a lot of sensory images—smell, taste, sounds, and sights to make things more real. With crying and sobbing and sad emotions, often less is more; otherwise it starts feeling melodramatic. And if the character is going through general experiences the reader can relate to (betrayal, loss, anger at a friend or parent) that helps make an emotional connection.
Jordan Elizabeth: I rely on my own experiences when writing. Many of the emotions I write about are ones that I have experienced, so I'm able to write from the heart. If its a funny scene, then I'm laughing out loud. If its a sad scene, I have tears drenching my cheeks.
DeAnna Knippling: One of my pet peeves is when an author is obviously playing for my emotions rather than letting the combination of plot, character, etc., do the work in a more logically consistent fashion. You've seen it every time a beloved character gets wiped out and it really doesn't affect the narrative, other than to "inspire" the rest of the characters to carry on or set the grounds for "anything could happen!!!!!!!"
If I want a reader to cry, I better have already wept bitter tears over the manuscript as I was writing it.
Our third segment was on Action and Dialog. While all authors want dialog that flows smooth and sounds realistic, different authors take different approaches to the task. While most of our panel members agree that listening to people and being able to hear the dialog spoken in your head are great ways to approach this, Carol Riggs offers the really great advice to read your work aloud, and Art Rosch offers the advice that dialog should always serve a purpose, rather than being just a space filler. In true life, we tend to talk just to hear ourselves sometimes. In writing, that sort of thing just takes up space on the page and the only purpose it may serve is to bore the reader, and of course, we don't want that. Achieving a balance between action and dialog seems to come natural for many of our panel members claim the only trick or secret is to keep the story moving and not let it get too bogged down with details. Tell readers what they need to know, but keep things moving. If you missed this segment, be sure to drop in and check it out, because it features excerpts of dialog scenes from authors Chris Barili, Janet Garber, DeAnna Knippling, Cynthia Vespia, Tim Baker, Art Rosch and Margareth Stewart.
The following is a reader comment left regarding Dialog. While a couple of our panel members replied directly in the comments, DeAnna Knippling's reply seemed spot on to me and I wanted to include it here.
Reader Ken Hughs said:
Lots of excellent advice there.
I'm always on the lookout for ways to analyze dialogue a bit deeper than that. For instance:
Who talks more? Does she say a lot on her favorite subject (an expert, or just concerned about it) and less on other things, or is she nervous or social enough to chime in a little after everything– or so full of herself she does both?
How organized are his sentences? A longer sentence can mean he has a more complex complete thought, unless it's a run-on; several short sentences could each mean new thoughts still coming in behind the last ones. Or the most eloquent person might be the one with the simple line that says it all.
Adjectives and adverbs? Someone passionate, or more in tune with their senses, is more likely to pile on the modifiers, while others are plainer-spoken. Similes and metaphors take this even further– if you can keep someone from becoming cliche about using their job or background to compare things too.
DeAnna Knipling: It sounds like the commenter, Ken Hughes, is doing some good things with pacing. Huzzah! Once you get past the point of being able to make dialogue that sounds natural and gets the point across in a scene, the next step is to start working on the pacing of the dialogue–and all the issues Mr. Hughes mentioned are relevant there.
To back up a bit for writers who aren't quite down in the weeds of studying pacing yet:
Pacing is the art of connecting content (what you're writing about) to form (the layout of the little black marks on the page, for writers). When the word lengths and patterns, sentence lengths and patterns, scene lengths and patterns all line up with the meaning of the story somehow, the story is "paced well." Pacing is about building your story like a woodworker, choosing your material and construction techniques to fit the final purpose of the project. Any element of a story can have pacing.
Each character's dialogue will also have its own pacing, just as Mr. Hughes says, and it should depend on the nature of the character.
The examples that Mr. Hughes gives are excellent examples of what to consider with pacing dialogue.
I'd like to add that anything that you add between pieces of dialogue also reflects the pacing of the dialogue, so if you have chunks of description between bits of dialogue, the reader will take them as pauses in the conversation, or as the POV character's mind wandering during the conversation.
If you can handle the things Mr. Hughes brings up, you'll be doing well indeed 🙂
Mr. Hughes and DeAnna bring up another issue here, which we haven't really touched on.
Naturally my follow-up question is:What methods do you find effective in controlling your pacing?
Cynthia Vespia: I don't. I just write what comes to me.
Chris Barili: I don't know. I just go with what the characters are feeling, I guess. Their tension tells me how to pace a scene.
Janet Garber: Ah. You must make every scene count. Have it lead readers somewhere, to the destination you intend.
Art Rosch: I've watched a thousand Samurai movies. They're great for offering templates for action sequences. Samurai didn't waste effort in useless display and they were completely focused on surviving the next duel or battle. Unless you're writing about super-heroes your characters need to operate within reasonable physical parameters. I act out movements and gestures at my chair in front of my computer. Does this look reasonable? Can my characters do this-and-that?
In my novel Confessions Of An Honest Man, I have a 70 page battle sequence that takes place in Afghanistan. It's a much admired passage with editors and readers. It has an arc, or several arcs. There's the build-up to an initial confrontation. A mini-climax occurs early in the scene. But it doesn't end there. A greater threat appears unexpectedly and my hero must cope with expanded dangers. Each time a resolution seems to occur another and greater threat appears. The point of this sequence is that my hero learns things about himself, learns that he has more courage than he thought. There's outer action but there's also my hero's thoughts and emotions as the scene(s) unfold. This pendulum between action and a character's inner dialogue offers a means of pacing.
Tim Baker: When writing action I try to write only the action. By this I mean if I'm writing an action packed scene I don't stray away from the action with anything that will slow the reader down. I want the reader to be able to be in the action.
Chris DiBella: I've never thought about trying to control my pacing. When I get to action scenes, I just try to write them in a way where I'm describing enough that it paints a picture for my readers. I don't have a formula for how many pages an action scene should be. I just write them until I feel it's time to move on with the story.
Carol Riggs: I try to keep some sort of tension, question, or compelling forward movement on every page, whether internal for the characters or external to them. I use cliffhanger-type chapter endings to keep the reader turning pages. It's also important not to rush the "big moments"—sometimes the pace needs to be drawn out on powerful scenes to heighten the impact or emotions. In an action scene, short punchy sentences help move the pacing along.
Margareth Stewart: Word count and daily targets; otherwise, it does not flow. Sometimes, I feel like I am a General to myself: "for instance, no chocolate if I don´t finish 2.500 word count today", and there it goes. Other times, I need to be a little more flexible because things do happen in between word counting, not with the plot or story itself, but in terms of living – ordinary living – bills to pay, a tire to fix, and so on. Another good and productive management is during November Writing. Besides that, I use the same method for editing – this week I have to review 50 pages and by the way I am late, so I will have to do extra work at the weekend. Therefore, I have told my kids, we can only go to the cinema if I can complete the goal before Sunday. By the way, that´s another point about being a writer, we feel quite weird and funny.
Jordan Elizabeth: I tend to just write, write, write. I don't plan my stories ahead; I just go off a basic plot idea in my mind. Pacing falls naturally into place.
In our third segment, our author panel members discussed Setting, where author Carol Riggs suggests basing fictional worlds on real life places as a good method of world building, and travel for authors is recommended in order to expand on their true life experiences that shine through in their writing, although most of our panel members have written about places they have never been or don't really exist, like Jordan Elizabeth, who writes YA fantasy. DeAnna Knippling loves to write about Victorian England, and all agree that sensory details should be added to make the setting feel more real. This segment also features setting excerpts from Cynthia Vespia, Art Rosch, Chris Barili, DeAnna Knippling and Janet Garber. (Strangely enough, I just realized I gave no follow-up question for this segment, although we could do a whole series on world building and setting. Wow!)
Our fourth segment covered the topic of Publishing, which many authors opt to do themselves these days. Our panel members were a nice blend of traditional, small press and self-published authors, with three strictly self-published authors: Art Rosch, Chris DiBella, and DeAnna Knippling; one author who is strictly small press: Jordan Elizabeth; and five who have done a hybrid combination of small press and self-publishing in one form or another: Cynthia Vespia, Margareth Stewart, Tim Baker, and three authors who have done a combination of traditional and self-publishing: Janet Garber, Chris Barili, and Carol Riggs. Together, they bring their own experiences to the table to talk about the pros and cons of each publishing venue.
I have two follow-up questions for this segment:
Are your books available in print or digital format, or both? Why?
Cynthia Vespia: Both. Because I like to have my work available in as many formats as possible to appeal to different readers. Next I'll do audio books.
Chris Barili: Both. And why wouldn't you do it that way? You're robbing yourself of readers if you ignore one medium.
Janet Garber: My books are in print and in digital form and the first traditionally purchased book is on audiotape as well.
Art Rosch: I need to emphasize a huge fact with regard to the whole publishing venture. It takes money to market books. I don't have money, I'm living on a fixed income. I started my enterprise by going to Smashwords.com and e-publishing three of my books. I did the same at Amazon. An author can publish digitally for free. I designed my own book covers, using my stock of personal photography and my skills in Photoshop. Such as they are.
I am now about to turn my novel, Confessions Of An Honest Man into a paperback on Amazon. I have no illusions about getting sales. I just want to have a physical object, MY BOOK, in my hands and have it be available to people in my environment.
Tim Baker: My books are available in print, digital and audio (not all of them are currently available in audio, but the ones that aren't are in production.) The reason why is simple…give more options to people and increase your chances of being read.
Chris DiBella: Both. There are still people out there (somewhere) who like to read physical copies of books.
Carol Riggs: All my books are available in both print and digital formats. This is important, because some readers prefer print and some prefer digital.
Jordan Elizabeth: Both (except for Kistishi Island. I have to sell 500 ebooks before it will be in print). I like having a combination of formats. Some people prefer print and some prefer ebook. I've heard from a lot of readers that they have to use ebooks because of eyesight problems. Print books are great for book signings.
DeAnna Knippling: Yes and yes. See writing rule #5. I really ought to be working on audio as well. Readers should be able to read conveniently.
Which publishing platforms do you use? Which do you recommend? Why?
Cynthia Vespia: I'm focused on Amazon at the moment because that's where the majority of buyers/readers go. I've also used Smashwords and Barnes and Noble for digital.
Chris Barili: Amazon and Smashwords for my self-published stuff. I prefer Smashwords because they distribute to a bunch of other retailers, saving me time.
Janet Garber: I used Lulu.com and was satisfied with their speed and the look of the final product.
Art Rosch: I think Smashwords is great. There's all the support and information you need. Amazon is, of course, the giant, but as with everything in digital publishing, it's all automated.
Tim Baker: I use CreateSpace, Kindle Direct Publishing and ACX (for audio). Since those are the ones I use – those would be the ones I recommend.
Chris DiBella: I use Amazon and CreateSpace. It's easy to set up and get my books out to potential readers from those sites.
Carol Riggs: Three of my books are traditionally published, and the publishers distribute in various ways (Entangled Teen uses Macmillan, for instance). For self-publishing, I use CreateSpace and Amazon KDP; it's relatively easy to release a book on these platforms.
Jordan Eizabeth: My publishers use Ingram and CreateSpace. I can't speak to the ease of use.
DeAnna Knippling: It's not so much which ones, as how you decide which ones to use. I'm starting to look at these things as, "How does this company treat its readers? Are the readers happy with the experience?" Another good set of questions is, "How does this company treat its writers? Does it pay them promptly? Does it have good reporting? Do they have good avenues for books that aren't bestsellers to reach readers? Is the damn site hard to use?"
I've dropped a number of publishing platforms that don't adhere to these things, or at least stopped using them directly, but approach them through other distributors. [Cough] Barnes & Noble [Cough]
Our fifth segment of Ask the Authors covered the topic of Genre Differences. Again, we had a nice mix for this topic. Among our author panel members we had: Jordan Elizabeth, who writes YA Fantasy and Steampunk; Carol Riggs, who writes both Fantasy and Science Fiction; Tim Baker, who writes crime action adventure novels; Cynthia Vespia, who writes speculative fiction for adults and teens; and those who dabble a little in all of them: Janet Garber, Chris Barili and DeAnna Knippling. They discuss the use of tropes when writing in the different genres, and also the differences in the creative process, the different types of research required, and the differences in audience and marketing. No follow-up questinos for this segment.
In the sixth segment, our author panel discusses The Business of Writing. According to Jordan Elizabeth and Carol Riggs, marketing can make or break you in the world of writing, and in today's digital world, much or all of those duties fall upon the author, requiring us to treat writing not only as a job or a passion, but as a business. Today's author may be responsible for everything about their book, from writing the book, to editing and cover art, to publishing, to marketing and promotion, and everything in between. While many of these tasks can be hired out, not all authors can afford to do so. I didn't have any follow-up for this segment, mainly because the next two segments were follow-up to this.
For the seventh segment of Ask the Authors, our author panel discusses the many ways there are to Building an Reader Platform. Most of our panel members prefer face-to-face events, over online activities, but it seems they continue to use the Internet and social media to promote their books, feeling that both are needed. Some panel members come up with some very creative ideas, like Tim Baker, who had a tire cover made for the spare on his Jeep with his logo on it, or Chris DiBella, who had customized tee-shirts made telling the world that he is their next favorite author. Who knows? It might work.
The follow-up question for this segment is: What methods have you found successful for obtaining reviews?
Cynthia Vespia: Asking. I ask other writers, or I seek out bloggers who do reviews.
Janet Garber: Approaching authors who write in a similar humorous fashion; writing reviews myself as a pay-it-forward tactic; bugging people who enjoyed the book.
Art Rosch: I completely suck at this and it's my own fault. I must have social media halitosis. There are billions of people who don't know about me. I've been hammering at this for many years and haven't cracked the code yet. I do recommend one author-marketing guru (among the many who haunt my email inbox). That's Mark Dawson. He refunded my money long after the expiration date for one of his courses and he didn't have to. He teaches at a good pace and he has much to offer to authors who want to market independently.
Tim Baker: I haven't found a successful way to get reviews. People generally don't like to write them. I've done everything from blog posts, social media requests and even offered to include people in a book if they wrote enough reviews. It's the thing I find most discouraging about writing.
Chris DiBella: I don't like to hound people for reviews. There are some authors who post constantly about it, and I find it annoying. We all want reviews, but it seems some authors will only ask for reviews from people they know will give them a favorable review. I simply do not like that approach. The way I look at it is the reviews will come in time – or maybe not. They're nice to get, but I don't stress about it. I also have my own little rule of thumb of not to trust any book with less than 15 reviews of all 5-stars (unless there's some bad reviews in there too). Anyone can get 15 friends or family members to write a good review. It's that first bad review I usually trust the most. Same goes for my books. My first bad review was actually pretty spot-on with the critique. She liked the story, but drilled me on editing. No friends or family members would have left a review like that. I pulled the book and re-edited it. Of course it sucks to get bad reviews, but they can be turned into a positive. And for the love of everything you consider holy, please stop arguing with readers who give you a bad review. Let your fans battle it out for you.
Carol Riggs: My publishers used NetGalley for obtaining reviewers from bloggers. A newsletter also works decently for requesting reviews. I try not to ask for reviews too much, however, because it's off-putting. Either a reader will leave you a review or he/she won't. No one should be obligated; an author doesn't get honest reviews that way anyway.
Jordan Elizabeth: Author friends have told me they have good luck when posting free books on Facebook in exchange for reviews. I haven't had luck that way. I usually reach out to bloggers. Most of the time, they are willing to review.
Just a note: I also see the other side of this issue, as I do honest reviews in exchange for ARCs right here on Writing to be Read. The problem I've run into is that since I'm supplied with a free copy, at times Amazon will not aknowledge my reviews because they can't verify the sale. I imagine those exchanging reviews on Facebook might run into the same type of issues. So, even if you can give away some e-copies in exchange for a review, there is no gaurantee that Amazon will acknowledge it.
DeAnna Knippling: Asking nicely. I was using Instafreebie for a while, but I think that exhausted its readers fairly quickly, because it was mostly a platform for trading newsletter subscribers, not a sustainable model. What new readers was Instafreebie bringing to the table? Not as many as the authors themselves had brought. I did well by it, but I think that was a matter of getting in at the right moment and not "what a great site for reviews!"
I think your best bet is to treat reviews like a pyramid. At the base, write good books and make it easy for readers to read more. Next level, make it easy for your newsletter subscribers to get review copies. I have an ARC list. Up from that, whatever social media sites you're on, keep an eye out for ways to attract reviews OR newsletter subscribers. At the top of the pile is a review that will be seen widely, a review on a radio show or in a newspaper, things like that. Go for it when you see it. But be more loyal to your base of writing good books and making them easy for readers to read them.
Don't put all your eggs in a basket that's essentially just moving piles of email addresses around, or reviews that you have to pay for (and that Amazon will delete as soon as they get a chance), begging for reviews from your writer-friends (which screws up your also boughts something fierce), or whatever short-term solution everyone is chasing at the moment. Play the long game, take advantage of what you can when you can, then drop back into your long game.
Believe me, I know how freaking slow this all goes.
In the last segment, our author panel members discussed many of the issues involved in Book Marketing and Promotion. This is a big topic for many authors, including me, because unlike writing, it does not come natural to us. It is such a big issue that a couple of our panel members, DeAnna Knippling and Janet Garber, bowed out of this segment, rather than express the frustration of not having the answers. But those panel members who did participate had some insightful things to share. They talk about their favorite social media sites for promotion, marketing and giveaway sites, marketing platforms, the effectiveness of author websites and blogs, newletters, press releases and interviews. Be sure and catch this segment, or you'll never know why Chris DiBella's mother is his greatest marketing tool.
The follow-up question for this segment is: Many of you said in last week's segment that you preferred face to face events over Internet and social media marketing and that you found face to face marketing to be more effective. What type of face to face events have you found to be effective?
Cynthia Vespia: The reason conferences don't work is because there are waaaayyyy too many writers all vying for attention at these things. Also, the majority of the writer conferences only alot 1-2 days for signings and sales that are usually only a few hours long. That is not enough time to make a dent in sales or really do any type of networking with your readers, especially when there are so many other authors there doing the same thing. Some of the more popular ones get all the attention. So imagine you're a little fish in a sea of whales…how do you get noticed? I've run into some very bad etiquette at some of these things before, as well. The guy next to me would skate every sale I tried to make by talking over me and offering a free book. How do you compete with free? You don't.
So the face-to-face events I prefer are my own individual signings, smaller book fairs, or (and I hate to mention this because it was a well guarded secret before) but I do the comic conventions and they work the best. Plus, they're alot more fun.
Chris Barili: I've found genre cons to be MUCH more effective at selling books and gaining followers than writing conferences, and if you think about it, it makes sense. A genre con is full of fans of whatever genre you like. They're LOOKING for genre stories. At a writers conference, writers are there looking to SELL stories.
Janet Garber: I find book fairs and readings most enjoyable as I get a chance to speak with the potential readers. Being a guest at a book club meeting is great too because you hear your characters discussed as if they were real people and you learn what readers liked and didn't like.
Carol Riggs: I personally like/prefer book fairs or festivals over bookstore signings, because they're more informal. I feel less "on the spot," and I don't have to make a microphone presentation. Instead, I can conversationally chat with people who come up to my book table. It feels more like a relationship that way, instead of a "buy my book" spiel. For instance, last summer (as well as this coming summer) I will be participating in the Lane County Fair in Eugene, Oregon, with a book table. Last fall I was also part of the Literacy for Libraries author event in Eugene, and I enjoyed schmoozing with fellow authors and with the crowd who wandered through the building. Sometimes authors can band together and create their own events at libraries and bookstores; it's less intimidating than going it solo. The purpose of these events aren't to sell as many books as you can, but rather get to know your readers and get your name out there—that's an important marketing tip that a seasoned author shared with me.
Jordan Elizabeth: I prefer craft shows and library events. The crowds are manageable, and as I write young adult, many teenagers and children come with their parents. Parents and grandparents are also eager to buy gifts. Because these events are smaller than most conferences, you're able to have a one-on-one conversation. You get to really understand what types of books these people read and you can gear them toward the book like might like the best.
DeAnna Knippling: Some people are great salespeople. I am not. That's not some kind of subtle insult or anything. I'm learning. But I've always found networking more valuable to me than selling per se. If a sale comes out of it, great. And I'm not like, "Here's my business card, call me!" To me, a face to face event means that people are far more likely to put their hair down and tell me things. Interesting things. Gossip. Rumors. Scandalous lies! And I love connecting other people and providing a safe place to talk. I have a SF/F/H writer group, the Colorado Tesla Writers, that is basically just a Facebook page and a monthly meal for people to hang out and feel like Real Writers(tm) and let our hair down. That's it. I'm not sure what it's effective at, but people tell me that it is, so I keep doing it.
To wrap up this last segment, I want to thank our panel members for the great writing rules. If you create characters who are not only realistic, but who the readers can identify and empathize with, and if you write with emotion which comes from your soul, you can evoke in your readers and make them care about your characters and your story. And while pacing is important and can be controlled with tension, conflict, action and dialog, most of our author panel don't consciously write with pacing in mind, but rather it seems to come naturally. Also, we may need to pace ourselves to get the story out, as well as controlling the pacing of the story itself.
It does make sense to offer your books in as many formats as possible, because readers aren't all the same. Amazon and Smashwords appear to be the favorite for digital publishing and CreateSpace was preferred for print publishing, although I believe they have made some changes and now Amazon is also providing print books as an option, so that may change.
Reviews are an author's calling card these days, and it seems the best way to get them is to ask, whether in a newsletter, in person, or in the book itself, but it's best not to be pushy. Genre conventions, book fairs and festivals, book signings, and library events are the preferred face to face events to make connections with readers.
Well, it's time to bring our time with our Ask the Authors panel members to a close. I do hope we've provided some helpful information and advice for all you authors out there, and maybe even made you smile once or twice. Thank you all for joining us. Be sure to watch for round two, this fall, where we will have several of these panel members back, as well as inviting other authors to join our panel. The best way to be sure not to miss out on this and all the other great content here on Writing to be Read is to sign up for email notification of follow me on WordPress. I hope you all will drop in frequently.
Next Monday, on Writing to be Read, I'll be interviewing author Mark Shaw, who has optioned his book, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much, for film. Something all authors dream of and some actually get the opportunity to do. How exciting. We'll also be talking about his new book, Courage in the Face of Evil, which is to be release in June. Don't miss it!
I want to extend a big thank you to our panel members, Carol Riggs, Tim Baker, Jordan Elizabeth, DeAnna Knippling, Chris DiBella, Art Rosch, Janet Garber, Margareth Stewart, Chris Barili, and Cynthia Vespia. You guys and gals were a great panel and together we created a great Ask the Authors series. I feel it was very successful and I had a lot of fun with it. I hope all of you did, too. Until next time.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
package io.fabric8.servicecatalog.test.crud;

import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.server.mock.EnableKubernetesMockClient;
import io.fabric8.servicecatalog.api.model.ClusterServiceBroker;
import io.fabric8.servicecatalog.api.model.ClusterServiceBrokerBuilder;
import io.fabric8.servicecatalog.api.model.ClusterServiceBrokerList;
import io.fabric8.servicecatalog.client.ServiceCatalogClient;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNotNull;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;

@EnableKubernetesMockClient(crud = true)
class ClusterServiceBrokerTest {

  ServiceCatalogClient client;

  @Test
  void testCrud() {

    ClusterServiceBroker broker1 = new ClusterServiceBrokerBuilder()
        .withNewMetadata()
        .withName("broker1")
        .addToLabels("key1", "value1")
        .endMetadata()
        .withNewSpec()
        .withUrl("https://broker1.somewhere.com")
        .endSpec()
        .build();

    ClusterServiceBroker broker2 = new ClusterServiceBrokerBuilder()
        .withNewMetadata()
        .withName("broker2")
        .addToLabels("key2", "value2")
        .endMetadata()
        .withNewSpec()
        .withUrl("https://broker2.somewhere.com")
        .endSpec()
        .build();

    ClusterServiceBroker broker3 = new ClusterServiceBrokerBuilder()
        .withNewMetadata()
        .withName("broker3")
        .addToLabels("key3", "value3")
        .endMetadata()
        .withNewSpec()
        .withUrl("https://broker3.somewhere.com")
        .endSpec()
        .build();

    //Create
    client.clusterServiceBrokers().create(broker1);
    client.clusterServiceBrokers().create(broker2);
    client.clusterServiceBrokers().create(broker3);

    //Read
    ClusterServiceBrokerList brokers = client.clusterServiceBrokers().list();
    assertNotNull(brokers);
    assertEquals(3, brokers.getItems().size());

    ClusterServiceBroker r1 = client.clusterServiceBrokers().withName("broker1").get();
    assertNotNull(r1);

    //Update
    ClusterServiceBroker u1 = client.clusterServiceBrokers().withName("broker1").edit(c -> new ClusterServiceBrokerBuilder(c)
        .editMetadata()
        .addToLabels("updated", "true")
        .endMetadata()
        .build());

    assertNotNull(u1);
    assertEquals("true", u1.getMetadata().getLabels().get("updated"));

    //Delete
    assertEquals(1, client.clusterServiceBrokers().withName("broker1").delete().size());
    assertNull(client.clusterServiceBrokers().withName("broker1").get());
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Health and Wellness | Health Issues News
As Congress Ponders Reform, Health Centers Address Root Causes of Illness
Iowa Lawmakers Push for Drivers' Hands-Free Cellphone Use
The "Farmacy" at Petaluma Health Center is a very low cost farmer's market designed to give patients access to healthy food. (Petaluma Health Center)
According to research from the American Federation of Teachers, there were 55,000 fewer registered nurses employed in the U.S. in 2021 than in 2020. This was the first decrease in five years. (Adobe Stock)
About 400 fatal crashes happen each year as a direct result of texting and driving nationally, according to Sensiblemotive. (Adobe Stock)
Suzanne Potter, Producer
Mark Moran, Producer-Editor
PETALUMA, Calif. — As Congress struggles to make the health care system more cost-effective, local Community Health Centers are already doing their part, with a focus on prevention instead of treatment of illness.
Studies show that close to half of people's health status is directly related to behavior - diet, exercise, smoking and stress management - and only ten percent is tied to health care. Yet, according to Dr. Fasih Hameed with the Petaluma Health Center, 90 percent of health-care money is spent on treating people's symptoms rather than trying to address the causes and prevent them.
"You could never address it just through traditional healthcare, so we had to expand our ability to do so by innovating all these programs," Hameed said.
The Petaluma Health Center handles about 150,000 medical visits a year, but it also refers patients to programs like "Petaluma Loves Active Youth," which offers medical advice, exercise classes and healthy cooking demonstrations. The health center runs a large community garden, where anyone can pick the produce, and hosts a weekly organic farmer's market that accepts food stamps and charges on a sliding scale.
An estimated 14 percent of Americans, or 48 million, are food insecure - meaning they lack access to nutritious, affordable food. In California, Hameed notes, many low-income families are squeezed by rising rents, leaving little money for groceries. And often, the least expensive, most convenient food options are the least healthy.
"Fattening foods and sugary foods and unhealthy foods are cheap and so, kids are actually malnourished but obese," he said. "It's the paradox of the food insecure."
A study in Petaluma a few years ago of a program that distributed free bags of produce showed that families who got them ate better and reduced their body mass index after just 12 weeks.
The National Association of Community Health Centers has launched a project with the Medtronic Foundation to document progress on this issue. That report will be released later this year.
Health-care professionals say low pay and a worker shortage have led a dramatic number of nursing homes in rural Iowa to close their doors. They hope increased government funding and more focus on rural health care this year will help.
Looking at a graph that shows the number of nursing-home employees between January 2019 and January 2020, the bright red line goes almost straight down. The pandemic was a big reason for that, but Iowa Health Care Association President and CEO Brent Willet said there are other economic factors at work, and the staffing shortages have already resulted in double-digit closures.
"It is alarming," he said. "The latest figures are, we've had 17 nursing homes in Iowa close in the last 12 months. Fifteen of those 17 have been in rural parts of the state."
Willet said nursing homes can't offer competitive wages to people who are willing to take these demanding jobs, especially in rural areas where the population is declining. He said he remains optimistic, though, adding that the Iowa Legislature will reconsider those wages this year, since more than half of nursing-home funding comes from state and federal governments.
Willet said it's also becoming harder for people in rural nursing homes to get the support they need from other medical-service providers in town. He said this adds to the problems already caused by staffing shortages, simply because those services dwindle along with the population.
"Like dialysis, like their primary-care doctor," he said. "As those services become harder and harder to come by, it creates additional challenges pertaining to costs and logistics to care for people in their home community."
The national long-term care facility numbers are also alarming. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported recently that 129 nursing homes closed in 2022 - although this year, the numbers are starting to improve.
Statistics in photo caption Bureau of Labor Statistics 1/26/2023
Health-care professionals and advocates in Connecticut have said it will take sweeping reforms to bolster the state's flailing public health system.
At the labor union 1199 SEIU's Health-Care Policy Symposium, experts spoke of the system's long-time underfunding and staffing shortages. A union-related group, called Expand Services to Save Lives, wants to see part of the state's multi-billion-dollar surplus used to address the issues - including $30 million to recruit and retain public-health workers.
Rebecca Simonsen, vice president and director of the public division at 1199 SEIU, said the state needs to revitalize this system of critical services.
"State health-care services generally serve the most at-risk, highest need, complex residents," she said. "Often folks without insurance, often folks that have been turned away from the private sector. And we created these services because, as a state, we believe that every resident's life should be valued."
In 2022, the state received a $32 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for public-health workforce development. She added that even if the group gets everything it's seeking from this legislative agenda, it wouldn't be the entire solution.
One area of the staffing crisis to be addressed is retention of nurses, more of whom are leaving the field due to burnout and higher patient limits. The union wants to see a pipeline created for nursing students to prepare them for public-sector jobs.
Brian Williams, an organizer for 1199 SEIU and a certified addiction counselor with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, said it's time to commit to action instead of acknowledging the problem.
"We cannot continue to say, 'Hey, you know, we have a nursing crisis, we have a nursing crisis.' We have to create incentives to actually expand the pool of nurses," he said. "And this is one of the proposals that we have that we believe will have an impact."
The group also proposed a $12 million investment to add workers to the department to address what was described at the conference as an ongoing mental-health crisis.
Iowa lawmakers are considering a bill which would dramatically reduce the use of cellphones in vehicles.
Right now, it is illegal in Iowa to send or read text messages while driving, but drivers can use a cellphone for navigation, which often takes more attention than texting. Senate Bill 60 would tighten the rules further, prohibiting drivers from operating a phone if it takes more than a single touch to activate or deactivate it.
Sen. Claire Celsi, D-West Des Moines, said she is personally motivated by the measure after attending the wake of a constituent's 12-year-old child who was killed by a distracted driver.
"It really affected me," Celsi recounted. "The dad just said, 'Please, please, please make this illegal. Please help people like us never to have to go through a loss like this.' So, that's what really spurred me to join onto the bill this year. It's a Republican bill, but I completely support it."
The Iowa Department of Public Safety said drivers who use handheld devices are four times more likely to be in a collision causing injuries than those who are not using their phones. The bill is headed to a Senate committee.
Celsi acknowledged she used to oppose hands-free cell phone measures, because she felt the costs were prohibitive, but she said technology has caught up, and prices have come down.
"You can buy something at Walmart for $20 that can help you go hands free in your car," Celsi pointed out. "I think it really demands now that we reexamine the issue and do something about distracted driving in our state."
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said about half of states prohibit the handheld use of cellphones when driving, and all but Montana prohibit text-messaging while driving.
Senate File 60 2023
Cellphone laws Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Jan. 2023
Accident data SensibleMotive 01/05/2023
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What is there not to love about this resort? Located at Lake Sebu in South Cotabato, this resort has literally seen the development of the lake from being a secluded getaway to its prominence as a top tourist destination nowadays. Read this: the resort has been in business since 1992.
But of course, it has already seen a whole lot of improvement to cater to the ever changing needs and growing demands of tourists over the years.
Now, aside from the getting a unique Lake Sebu experience, the resort will also treat you to affordable but very comfortable and clean rooms. It is also very accessible as it is just a trike-ride or a hike away from the center of the city.
Since it is situated right at the shoreline of Lake Sebu, the place is just great and offers an uninterrupted view of the lake. Thus, for those who wish to get a direct and up-close-and-personal feel of Lake Sebu, this resort is definitely for you.
And if all of these are not enough, you must try their food. One of the reasons why Estares Lake Resort is frequented by tourists is because of the tilapia delicacies that they offer. Mostly recommended are their crispy tilapia served with shrimp cracker, the pinalipad na tilapia or the more exotic tilapia kinilaw.
may i have your contact number?
Is this resort Still open? I cannot contact them thru Facebook, neither with their Phone nbr.


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