WATWB – Your Monthly Shot of News That Doesn’t Suck

Contrary to what most people think, the American system of incarceration – and possibly the world’s – isn’t predicated on the notion that jail is revenge. It’s supposed to punishment, sure, but in addition to safely stowing away people who could cause harm to society, incarceration is supposed to be about paying for a crime. One would think after a jail sentence, the crime might still be there, but it has been paid for. Done. And, arguably, the person who was in jail should no longer be considered a criminal.

Unfortunately, that’s not the way it works and we see lots of people shrieking “I hope you get raped in prison” at everyone who gets tossed in the can. As if gang rape was part and parcel of the criminal justice system. To make matters worse, once an inmate is released, it’s difficult to get a job and go straight because even though the crime has been technically paid for, former inmates are still considered criminals in the eyes of society. This leads to high recidivism rates because, hey, if you can’t get a job it’s damned hard to get luxuries like food and a place to live.

Now, it’s likely the criminal justice system will continue to spiral down into anarchy, at least until a lot of things change. And part of that change has to be in the way we view former inmates. Rather than mindless brutes, there are some clever folks in prison. Take, for instance, the prison debate team at Eastern New York Correctional Facility who recently not only beat Harvard’s debate team, but they beat the Cambridge debate team. Not bad for a bunch of guys who don’t even have Internet access.

Additionally, the ENYCF debate team, rather than having to dodge jocks in the hallways, has the support of a large portion of the prison population. They are, in their own way, celebrities.

We could argue whether or not being on a prison debate team is helpful in reforming prisoners, but you have to admit that it’s better than getting out of prison with B.S. in Violent Crime, and M.S. in Bodybuilding, and a PhD in Going Right Back To Prison. At the very least, debate encourages critical thinking, argumentation without resorting to childish nicknames, research skills, and presentation skills, all things which will be more useful than killer biceps.

Read the whole story here.

If you’d like to connect your blog and help spread a little joy (or snark, like I do), it’s easy to sign up. Just ask and ye shall receive. Or go check it out here: here.

Our lovely and talented co-hosts this month are
Lizbeth Hartz,
Peter Nena,
Shilpa Garg,
Me,
and <https://inderpreetuppal.com//”>Inderpreet Kaur Uppal

~~~GUIDELINES~~~

1. Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible. (Wow, I totally missed that mark this time around).

2. All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity and brotherhood.

3. Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.

5. We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

6. To sign up, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List below.

This is a Blog Hop!

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

And now, your moment of Zen.

Book Review – Echoes of Olympus Mons by Eric Malikyte

There aren’t that many sci-fi horror stories that I’m aware of. Someone please correct me one what I’m missing because I really enjoy the genre. On the movie end, I can think of Event Horizon, the original Alien (Aliens, great as it was, was more action than horror) and, uh, Predator, I guess. And, let’s face it, Predator was just a badass retelling of Beowulf with an alien and guns, which is why it won the Academy Award for Best Movie Ever Made.

I’m sure there are more out there, but those are the only ones that come to mind.

Anyway, like I said, the sci-fi genre is rife with possibilities for some good horror stories, especially ones that introduce a brand new kind of bad guy. That’s why Eric Malikyte’s Echoes of Olympus Mons was such a treat. It wasn’t just that it was well-written with some suberb character development and a hefty dose of science, it was the fact that he came up with a monster that hasn’t been done before. I won’t spoil it by telling you, but it’s a genuinely unique take on sci-fi horror.

Malikyte keeps you guessing throughout the book. Even though the action is spelled out, he leaves enough wiggle room to make you wonder if what’s happening is really happening or not. He paints us solid, real characters who are far from perfect charicatures, and gives us a vision of Mars that shows a red planet that frankly doesn’t give a rat’s ass about us.

If you enjoy well-written horror that doesn’t go over the top and descend into straight gore – although there is plenty of that – pick up Echoes of Olympus Mons and get ready to spend a few nights with a book you can’t put down.

Once they see you nowhere is safe.

Olympus One colony students Hal Leon and Akio Sato have made history. Their invention, a camera that images dark matter, has had its first successful test; but what it reveals may put human life on Mars in jeopardy. 

Hal believes that the strange animalistic silhouettes hidden in the dark matter web prove his theories. The wiry, inhuman forms appear to look to the sky at some invisible threat before they’re wiped away by a wave of nothingness that resets the dark matter web to normal, until it all repeats again—a never-ending cycle. 

That is, until something else appears in the dark matter web, and students and colonists alike start dying under mysterious circumstances. Can Hal and Akio figure out what’s causing these grisly murders, and does the dark matter camera somehow hold the key to the mystery?

Get your copy on Amazon

Check out Eric on Twitter

Check out his website