I am in love, DA! I have recently stumbled upon the wonder that is Write or Die! It's a marvelously evil little program that forces you to write when you really don't want to by supplying tangible consequences for stopping. There are several modes: Gentle, Normal, and Kamekaze.
On gentle mode, whenever you stop writing a polite little reminder pops up, instructing you to continue. In Normal mode, whenever you stop writing for a while a very unpleasant noise will begin to play, and the only way to make it stop is to continue writing. In Kamekaze mode, you better keep writing, 'cause the second you try to take a break, it'll unwrite your work! This is my favorite of all the modes because it really keeps you going. Gentle mode bores me, and Normal, while very useful, is easy to get around, as you could quite easily turn down the volume on your computer. :/
In any case it's a lot of fun and VERY helpful. I wrote a 718 word essay-type thing in 21 minutes when I didn't even know what I wanted to write about when I started! That's what I call a great program!
So, yeah, go ahead and try it ----->
[link]And, just in case you're wondering, here's what I rambled on about for 22 minutes. It's about Tony Accardo, my favorite mobster. XD Enjoy, and remember that I was just messing around, so it's not that great:
In my opinion, Tony Accardo was one of the greatest minds of his time. He is my hero. He is so, for a number of reasons, some of which being his considerable strength and cunning in all its forms in a world where if your weren't smart, you were dead. He was true to his word, and a was a powerhouse of the Chicago Outfit. He boldly moved the Outfit into new operations and new territories, and increased their wealth and power during his reign das ay-to-day boss.
Accardo proved to have a lot of skill and a sharp mind, even as a young boy. At the age of 14, Accardo was kicked out of school, so he began loitering around pool halls, and was soon recruited by the Circus Cafe Gang, one of many small-time gangs in Chicago that served as talent pools for adult organizations.
Years later, Jack "Machine Gun" McGurn, one of the toughest hitmen alive, recruited Accardo to the Chicago Outfit headed by the very Alphonse Capone himself.
And it was Capone who gave Accardo the nickname "Joe Batters," as a matter of fact. He got the name at a dinner party that Capone had held for the sole purpose of killing two Outfit traitors. Accardo displayed a highly skillful hit, using a baseball bat to take out both of the men. It was quoted by Al Capone saying, "This kid is a real Joe Batters."
Of course, the media had another nickname in mind. "The Big Tuna" is what they began calling Accardo, after he managed to wrestle a swine of tuna into his boat on a fishing exposition. No offense to the media, but if I were Accardo, I'd have taken more pride in a nickname given to me by the very Al Capone himself, than a nickname given to me by a bunch of reporters who heard I'd caught a, well, a dinosaur of a fish.
My favorite Accardo story is one that really shows just how amazing this guy was. It revolves around a small gang of thieves who stole some jewels from a store owned by a friend of Accardo's. He had them tracked down and had them give up the jewels in exchange for their well-being. Later, though, as Accardo had to travel for business, and gang, convinced that they'd been wronged, broke into Accardo's house and stole the jewels back from him. Upon return, Accardo had their faces burned off with torches, their throats slit, and, eventually, he killed them.
Only a fool messed with Tony Accardo.
Another thing I liked about Accardo is that he was one of few of his peers who was known to have had a strong marriage. In his line of work, family values are important, sure, but temptation came easy, and a lot of men in his position were unfaithful to their spouses. But Accardo was never known to have ever been unfaithful to his wife, Clarice Pordzany. He had deep-seeded family ties and a good relationship with his wife. He had four children in his time, and two grandchildren. To me, this shows great strength in the face of temptation. And believe you me, in his life, there was a lot of it.
Another great thing about Accardo is that he wasn't a snake. He upheld his end of deals and bargains on seemingly every occasion. One such occasion being an agreement with FBI Agent William Roemer in the late 1950's. The agent and his family had been receiving ominous and threatening phone calls from the Outfit as a result of surveillance against mobsters. In a clandestine meeting with the Outfit, Roemer initiated a gentleman's truce with Accardo, which entailed that each party would not touch the other man's family or loved ones. Accardo kept his word for as long as he was in power of the Outfit. So did the FBI unit.
Grant it these facts are just drops in the bucket compared to the countless other hits, missions, stories, and sucsesses to which made up Accardo's life, but all the same, Tony Accardo has proven himself, at the very least in my young eyes, to have been one of the greatest, sharpest, and all-around most badass mobsters to have ever lived, and I shall always admire his talent in a line of work that is quite misunderstood.
Clubs~
And so it begins
Hysterical
Speechless
Jolly
