Cosmos, Facebook, Ted Talks and YouTube, Transport 32

Don, I enjoyed your title: "The climes they are-a-changin".  I so understand your hesitation about YouTube. It is a bit like Ted Talks – once I get started, I just can't seem to stop! Do I really need to know all this? Or am I just fascinated with moving pictures on my computer instead of my TV? Who knows!

It has been a long week of report writing (that time of the school year), grading and getting the next Transport ready for publication and  the website. I'm also managing the Riddle contest through Facebook and that has in and of itself has turned into one of those YouTube, Ted Talks adventures.

My daughter and daughter-in-law use Face Book as a way of keeping in touch. I'm getting used to it. I'd prefer a "Hey Mom!" email, but at least I know they're alive and well and having a good time. I've given up on Twitter at the moment, don't think I could handle any more "intellectual semi-consciousness" as you call it. The writing group, sowrite.us.com that I participate with on Face Book has just the right amount of incoming information for me to feel like I've reached out and learned a bit more about others.

I've been looking to tone my core a bit so that it is easier for me to power walk. Getting the information turned into an adventure of which app did I use, which app did I want to use to pay someone to collect the information for me , or would I prefer to do the seek and cuss method of uncovering the information myself. I stopped looking. Do I really need to know how a celebrity does weight loss and toning? They have several hours a day to devote to this – I have 15 minutes here and there. Still looking for the right "here and there" method.

As for the "climes a-changin", the news out on carbon dioxide levels, especially in the northern hemisphere, are not good. Apparently we've reached that tipping point of 400 a couple of years early. I ran across several magnificent videos that discuss climate change. I'm surprised at the number of people who still believe that the myth of a warmer earth is a Democratic care tactic. The first video is a section from Cosmos which will air Sunday night; the other is just funny comment on facing thefacts.

Anyway,Transport 32 is now ready

and available through Amazon! I sent it on to the web developers and they'll have samples of it on the Wormhole Electric website by Friday, June 6^th. We're also running a free story this month, Jeph Keir's Bone Mechanic. Jeph is one of those writers who gets better with each story. Bone Mechanic is the first of his Iron Sky stories. I should say, the first Iron Sky story he shared with us. T32 also has the last episode of Ariel's Telepaths' Song. This last chapter in the life of the Edgewalker, Ara, has all the drama of a good soap opera. It has been a pleasure to showcase Ariel's work. Last but definitely not least (more like saving the best for last) is Tammy's President and the Pea. An absolutely mind-bending story about the cover up of the assassination of the President of the United States – or maybe the assassination of the president, but probably  not... Tammy's most excellent "what if..." left me doubting the main character, and yet, maybe there was a possibility that, naw, that couldn't happen, could it?  Give it a read and let me know what you think.

July is the showcasing of some of the books Wormhole authors have written in the last year. The line-up is impressive. I'm looking forward to that event! And just to put a not too fine a point on it, August and September we showcase two new authors! Exciting times here at Wormhole Electric!

Riddles – my guess is Zipper. Am I at least close?

And for you:

Walk inside

Cross hatch and zones

Corners and stops

Always transverse safely

Have a great week everyone!

Carolyn

 All images downloaded from google images

Fig 1 – YourTube retrieved from mashable.com

Fig 2 – Ted Talks Happy 5^th B-Day Ted Talks retrieved from www.brainspickings.org

Fig 3 – Cosmos: Spacetime Odyssey retrieved from blog.justinwoodie.com

Fig 4 – Created and developed by L. Varvel for Wormhole Electric ezine 

The climes they are-a-changin'

 

 

 

 

" The force can have a strong influence on the weak-minded"

 

Obi Wan Kenobi

Hi Carolyn,

First of all I am somewhat incredulous - tornadoes in the mountains??!!


 I do believe you may be right when you say the climate is changing before our eyes.

Actually it was your mention of twisters 'tween the peaks that precipitated the direction of  this blog.  I managed, not surprisingly, to spiral off course when I started. I thought I'd troll Google  about tornadoes in the mountains.  Of course that meant I'd be sent to YouTube. I think I had the same kind of can't stand still spring fever that you talked about recently. When I got to my first destination online I could not keep on my initial course to save my meagre soul. 


There were some tidbits there about twisters but I'm afraid I didn't get to them because I got sidetracked - as I frequently do, when I go anywhere near the video end of the web. It's like going out to get a single loaf of bread at the biggest, brightest and most most glittery mall in the world -the Emerald City of malls, if you will. I knew, as soon as I was clicking on the YouTube link,  that this would not be accomplished in a few minutes .

Don't  ask me how it happened but there I was, within mere minutes, watching a cat playing " 96 Tears " on the organ, just as close to a million and a half other weak-minded surfers have in the last few days.


I watched it twice !


 Yes, it's puerile, and yes it's no-brainer stuff.  But, first of all,  I'm a sucker for that bare-bones elemental  1966 rock  song that is  a cornerstone in the pantheon of  garage band rock. I even played it ad nauseum on my trombone in the down-time between pieces at band practise in high school.


Floating along in that YouTube stream of intellectual semi-consciousness also leads me to another tornado item. It concerns a recent experience in Portugal with a phenomenon that looks like an approaching tornado but is, in fact, a vortex of mosquitos. I think I ran into one of those earlier this week at the end of the yard, except it was full of  black flies. I hope you don't encounter anything similar.


If it seems unbelievable you could check it out on YouTube.

 On second thought, stay away from YouTube unless you have a  strong sense of focus at the time. Otherwise you will be inviting damaging intellectual climate change of the most common-denominator variety. If your defenses are down you too will find yourself watching house pets trussed up in calico shirts and being made to do things they would not ordinarily do. Fortunately, cats are incapable of being embarrassed. 


They may even be laughing at us.


Also, I do, quite happily,  own up to being a gearhead and I am surprised that you are surprised, Carolyn. A number of my blogs, like the Red Barchetta item about Rush must have tipped my hand. Even while I was being mesmerised by the Beatles I was also all wide-eyed about the Beach Boys " Little Deuce Coupe"

Okay Don. Snap out of it!  

To the riddles.


Believe it or not, my last riddle was paper. It does have a habit of piling up in mountains and the digital age hasn't banished it yet. Your visit to the bookshop certainly attests to the fact that the sheer tactile experience of reading a book and physically turning each page isn't lost yet by a longshot. 



  here's another riddle to kick about:

Won't always pull together when needed

Better than pushing and pressing buttons

Teeth, sometimes in the hundreds

TTFN


Don



All images sourced from Goggle Images

Fig. 1 - Disney.wikia.com
Fig. 2 - web2.airmail.net
Fig. 3 - blog.browardpalmbeach.com
Fig. 4 - managerstrips.com
Fig. 5 - en.wikipedia.org

Tornado, Castle and Fan Fiction

 Good morning, Don.

We are in the middle of Memorial Day weekend and we are currently experiencing weather. We spent about 30 minutes last night sitting in the hallway as a tornado bounced over us. While we were sitting there in the dark, we started remembering other similar experiences but not in Colorado. 

We spent seven years in the Ohio Valley, and our first spring there was an introduction to floods, torrential rain, and 45 days without the sun. It was the 45 days without the sun that really got to us. That was back before physicians decided that most of North America was vitamin D deficient. Truth be known, we moved back to Colorado for the good weather. We've had five days now torrential rain and tornado warnings. I think we are watching the weather climate change right before our eyes.

Don, I never thought of you as a gearhead. I do remember watching the Indianapolis 500 race several times on TV and one of my favorite ministers actually got her wish to go see the 500 race a couple years ago. Her comment was that it was fast and loud. I was tickled to hear that you are able to get out on your motorcycle. Was your son able to join you?

I love what Ontario has done to the election process! To not be able to advertise until the last three weeks of the election is a stroke of genius. I get so tired of the months on end of political slandering that goes on before an election. If I only had to put up with it for three weeks, I think my attitude would be a lot better. By the time we get around to the election here, I really don't care about any of the candidates or what they stand for; I just want to go away.

I wish I could say that I was really as active as you think I am. I'm not getting anywhere near as much exercise as I think I should. I'm not walking as much and I'm definitely not running; I am trying to at least clock some time on the stationary bike. I think that as the weather settles down, I'll be able to get out more. I envy you being able to swim in a saltwater pool. It seems to me that would make the swimming experience so much better than being overwhelmed by all of the chlorine that is in the water in our pools. I also have to admit that I don't like swimming in the summer. I know, that's when it's hot, swimming would be refreshing, …  I love swimming in the wintertime. I think I've described it before; being able to swim, have the steam come off the water, and watch it snow. There's nothing quite as relaxing as that experience.

We took time out yesterday to go to a real bookstore. And it was a grand adventure. My husband got a book on the history of cars – so you're talking about cars Don, was really interesting. Larry talked about some of the models that only had 700 cars made. Now we understand why we didn't see some of those models. 

I got a book called the Uncommon History of Common Things by National Geographic. 

Fantastic! It gives the history of things like the zipper, buttons, tents and where treehouses come from; how we got swimming pools; that the attic is really from the 17^th century. It covers symbols like birthday cakes and toasting, how did we got the diploma; superstitions like black cats and four leaf clovers. 

I think I'm going to use a lot of the topics in this book for the research project for my Composition One classes. A student draws a topic out of an envelope and then they have to write a 1 to 2 page research on that topic. It is not a topic of their choice – I explain the boss and the client want the information whether the student is interested in the topic or not. As they only have a week to do the research and the writing, it gives them a taste of writing on the job. It also gives them a good taste of documentation.

Over the last couple of months, we have become avid watchers of a program called Castle. While we were at the bookstore, we discovered that there are fan books that are written by the main character of the program who happens to be an action mystery writer. The premise of the program is that a writer hooks up

with the New York Police Department and uses one of the detectives as his latest inspiration. The fan books are the books that the writer wrote using the detective as his main character. The books are a lot of fun. We discovered that there is also a Manga book out based on a character the writer killed off before he started working with the Police Department. Fanfiction is amazing! I did not realize that fanfiction was such a big genre.

Riddle cave! Okay, I'll give you the magnetism riddle – and I'm well aware of your pun. The sports one, however, I don't think so. Thank you for saying that it was not one of your best. And you are correct, sunflowers are the answer to my last riddle.

My guess for your riddle this week is libraries.

I don't have a riddle this week – I've been so busy grading and working on the HLC report that I haven't taken the time to work on my words. I'm also starting the process to get Transport 32 ready which will be out in a couple of weeks. So I think I'm going to pass this week.

Have a great week everyone!

Carolyn

All images downloaded from Google Images

Fig 1 – Lightning and Tornado retrieved from tornado-facts.com

Fig 2 – Gearhead stories photo 4 retrieved from www.carcraft.com

Fig 3 – Man passes sign in bookstore window retrieved from www.condenaststore.com

Fig 4— Truth about Hammock camping retrieved from theultimatehang.com

Fig 5 – Treehouses – downloaded from Google Images

Fig 6 – Castle retrieved from Fond d'cran-wallpapers retrieved from www.fond-gratuit.com

The need for speed and the quest for democracy.

Hi Carolyn,



Well, first of all, happy Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully yours goes as well as our just finished Victoria Day weekend.  "Old  Sol " came through even after the wet blanket weather prognosticators had been pitching gloom and greyness. The last part of the weekend was especially warm and inviting. I managed to clock a fair number of klms on the  motorcycle to boot. Most gratifying!

Speaking of things moving and mechanical, Memorial Day also means The Indianapolis 500 race. Even now I can remember  those cheeky, fey Brits turning the Indy 500 and the North-American auto racing establishment on its collective ear in the mid sixties when they came over with their spidery, spindly little rear engined







Formula One-derived cars and simply ran away from the great Yankee born front engined, pre-WW2 engineered behemoths that had dominated  " The Brickyard "  for half of forever.  For the pimply-faced, greaseball gearhead that was me in my teens, this was drama of the highest order. The only thing that would come along to supplant it would be girls.










In 2014, phalanxes  of technicians, engineers and laptop toting support crews will descend upon the track. They will be armed with vehicles whose fundamental design parameters, by necessity, include bodywork that must manage airflow so as to keep them from becoming airborne as they hurtle around at speeds inconceivably beyond those of the old beasts seen above.

 

 

 

Okay, I believe I've had my dose of mechanical methadone for now. Back to more here and now in my world issues.

 

 

 

We are in the final throes of a provincial election here in Ontario. This one has been pretty pedestrian in most respects. In one way, however, its been quite refreshing. Recent legislation has mandated that the first half of the campaign period be essentially free of advertising in print, online or in electronic media. That has made a palpable difference, for me at least. Only now, in the final 3 weeks, will the electioneering onslaught begin.  The rationale is that all parties will essentially be on a level playing field if they are limited to a short time period during which to make their cases to the voting public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In previous elections my appetite for  platform details would have been satiated by now after weeks enduring the cacophony of promises, recriminations and just plain hyperbole. Instead, I have found myself actively seeking out the positions of the parties on key issues. It's delightfully pro-active I'd say.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My appetite for pro-activity now includes my physical well-being. My LSBH and I have joined a fitness facility that includes a large salt-water pool.  This declaration may seem rhetorical to you, Carolyn,  since I get the feeling that you are almost  as physically active as one can feasibly be. For me, however, this is well into the realm of the unprecedented. My first half hour fling at swimming lengths has certainly opened my eyes as to how unfit I am. Here's hoping I stick to it.



Okay, once more to the riddle cave. Before getting to the current stuff lemme rewind. I have both a defense and an apology to make here about the last couple of riddles I put up. My magnetism riddle, I feel, wasn't tenuous or a stretch in the least, Carolyn. I went back and looked at it after seeing that you felt it was a bit thin. After careful reconsideration, I  find myself quite attracted to the magnetism item - pun thoroughly intended.






I do want to apologize, however, for last weeks riddle.  It was sports. Throwing in "atavism" and using such an artsy-fartsy pseudo-esoteric tone was bad form.  That one was a stretch, I will say. I hereby declare that it was far from being one of my best. I will gladly absorb my lexicological lashes in this case.

Your last riddle, even though the middle line gave me some perplexity, is, I believe, sunflowers.



And here's a newbie.

With your accomplices, pen and ink

You  hoard information and turn it into mountains

Digital media has not banished you

Just yet.

 

 

 

 TTFN,




Don





All images sourced from Google Images.

Fig. 1 - www.speedygreasemonkey.com
Fig. 2 - Wikipedia.com
Fig. 3 - www.legendsofnascar.com
Fig. 4 - www. bleacherreport.com
Fig. 5 - www.npr.org
Fig. 6 - www.virginactive.co.uk
Fig. 7 - www.heritage.nf.ca
Fig. 8 - www.hdwallpapers.in


 

 

Riddle me a Free Story!

Another Riddle! and a free story from Wormhole for the right answer!
Post your answer to the comments box and and I'll get back to ya!

Not quite a lie

Not quite the truth

Subtle or simple

Refined or uncouth

Asking for money

Playing on fears

Promising happiness

Coaxing out tears

Where there is nothing

Creating a need

Nurturing jealousy

Fostering greed.  

Our story this week is WYF by SMBaughns. 

It is a wonderful Dragnet type of story - not for the weak of stomach. 

Remember! Put your answer in the comment box to win this great well written story!

Have a great week!

Carolyn  

Gardening and 100 million strong

Good morning everyone. I seem to be distracted, I'm having trouble sitting here getting this done today. I have Spring Fever. As to my yogurt making and container gardening, I'm not expecting any Armageddon, Don, I think I just reached that stage in my life where I need something to do besides grade papers, worry about students, and go to the grocery store. I'm not sure that my efforts at nutrition are worth the time and effort I'm putting into it, but it is a nice distraction.

I'm hoping that we are beyond frost warnings because I'm planning on plantings seeds today. I think the weather will support the growth of seeds. I went to the greenhouse and bought early flowers and some tomato plants. I think we have enough old plastic plants if it gets too cold. Today is supposed to be a balmy 80°, but tomorrow we will struggle to get into the 70s.

 

It was interesting to note the number of people that are coming into your neighborhood to open their summer cabins. Hopefully most of the cabins will be okay. I think a large number of the mountain in Colorado will be opened on Memorial Day.

Congratulations to the Montréal Canadiens! Hockey is one of my favorite games. I don't particularly like watching it on TV, but I do love going to watch it in an arena. Unfortunately, the tickets for the Avalanche Team have become so expensive that even the nosebleed section is outrageous. We have several college teams in the area which are really good – DU Pioneers are one.

I actually got time yesterday to work on my research for the Wired Generation. I am working my way through Howe and Strauss's book called Millennials Go To College. It is a great book that has given me a

good timeline as to when things shifted culturally. Howe and Strauss were able to delineate various actions by society that led to what they call  eras: the protected child era, the era of the worthy child, the era of the perfect child.

They also increased the size of this particular generation to 100 million. That includes the 80 million kids that are born in the US, and the 20 million immigrants that will be absorbed into our society. Some of the things that are most noteworthy are that this generation is the most racially diverse generation and has the least number of Caucasians in the under 20-year-old group. They consider themselves global, and are rocking the ratings for academic standards, have the highest decline in child poverty, teen pregnancy, and, believe it or not, school violence. One of the interesting things was the idea that child poverty rates for every ethnic and racial group in the United States is at a record low.

The book covers what they feel are the seven core traits of this generation: special, sheltered, confident, team oriented, conventional, pressured, and achieving. I have not finished all of the core traits yet but one of the really great points in the book are the discussions on "implications for campus life" which are at the end of each section. They also include at the very end of each section a discussion on "implications for the classroom." This will be my afternoon reading after I get the containers planted.

 

Riddle cave! Magnetism? Really? That was stretching it a bit, Don. And yes, you are correct, mine is a portable digital music player, also known as an iPod or an MP3 player.

I have absolutely no idea but yours is this week, Don. I even looked up atavism – a characteristic found in a remote ancestor but not in more recent ancestors. I have the feeling that once tell me what the answer is you might just be able to hear a grown all the way from Colorado.

So mine to you today is:

Sunny happy heads of seeds

comptroller stakes for legumes

delight of squirrels and people alike

Have a great week everyone! And congratulations to Raymond, Jeroen and Kathryn for winning this week's riddle contest. I'll have another contest up and going on Wednesday.

Carolyn

 All images downloaded from Google Images

Fig 1 – Flowers retrieved from www.lucygardens.com

Fig2 – Tomatoes retrieved from garden plants clipart

Fig 3 – Summer homes – Cabin Rentals N.C. retrieved from www.rockcreekcabins.com

Fig 4 – What is Magnetism and How does it work retrieved from someinterestingfacts.net 

Monsters, Queens and The Montreal Canadiens

Hi Carolyn,


So, I can't help but notice that you seem to be on a wee bit of a self-sufficiency streak in the last little bit. Homemade yogurt, ( or is it yoghurt ? )  growing your own " shrooms" and getting into container gardening. Do you have some insider info on the apocalypse or a rogue Armageddon that the rest of us are not privy to ?  Is this to ensure your survival ensconced up there in the unbreakable  Rockies while we vulnerable folk down on the tablelands are vaporized by some cataclysmic event or another?



I will certainly acknowledge that your nutritional efforts in the DIY vein are more noble than mine. Pickled sausages, beef jerky, hard apple cider and some hemp related container gardening efforts back in the mid 70's are more the lines I've tended to follow.



BTW , I was recently going through the latest catalogue from my most favorite store in the known universe - Lee Valley -  and see that they have some very well designed and thought out container garden setups. You may want to give them a quick boo. At the risk of sounding like I am shilling for said company, I have yet to purchase something from Lee Valley that I have found suspect in terms of quality or performance. I have been dealing with them a decade and a half.  They are my go to place for woodworking, garden or cabinetry and kitchen stuff.

 Okay, end of shameless huckstering part of this entry.




Speaking of gardening and things outdoorsy, we are working on our second frost warning night in a row. Conventional wisdom in these here parts is to only put in the heartiest of annuals before the May 24 holiday weekend that is almost upon us. 



Right now, there are are lotsa folks about on the thoroughfares in and around Owen Sound who have piloted their SUV's up from the urban reaches of Toronto looking to open their cottages, camp out and such. Their mettle - and their insulation, will be tested this year, to be sure.








 I believe you folks celebrate it as  Memorial Day holiday weekend. Up here its colloquially known as the " May 24 " weekend. Technically its Victoria Day commemorating that long-lived  Anglo-Saxon Queen. C'mon, who are we kidding, on both sides of the border its simply the opening of the summer season, and the official shake off the wretched refuse of winter holiday.  












  Well  raise my rent ! I see that  Godzilla (ゴジラ, Gojira?)  is being trundled out for another go round in blockbustermovieland. What is it about that ill-tempered, over-achieving  Japanese Gila monster that keeps him/her/it  out there? On quick reconsideration I do believe it is a she.Deadbeat Hubby Godzilla is probably at home decked out in his team  undershirt and firmly planted in his mountainous Barca-Lounger, Bud-Light in claw,  his huge beady lizard eyes darting back and forth as he follows the  NBA playoffs  on a big screen TV of unfathomable dimensions. 





Funny thing I should mention monstrous upsetting activities since there was one in my particular world very recently. My beloved Montreal Canadiens ousted the loutish Boston Bruins in NHL playoffs. I had to quickly jump back on the bandwagon as I had fundamentally written them off. Biggest mea culpa I've had to come up with in quite a while.







As for my own sporting activities right now - the pic says it all about how this years 8-ball playoffs went for me and the team I am on.




Okay, how bout some less than monstrous but fair to middlin'  riddlin' .  My " ferrous" item from last time was magnetism, a most attractive quality in animal or metallic mineral form. I am guessing that yours is a portable digital music player . 



 Here is my item for this time around, and I apologize in advance for its prolixity:

I'm an innocuous stand-in for war

a redirecting conduit for that atavism

our prehistoric forbears bequeathed

to us

 



 

Okay, that's all for now.

 

 

 

Don

 

 

 

All images sourced from Google images.

 

Fig. 1 - www.fernbyfilms.com

Fig. 2 - fadedgenes.blogspot.com

Fig. 3 - artickingdom.com

Fig. 4 - www.theschoolrun.com

Fig. 5 - www.geekedoutnation.com

Fig. 6 - www.prolog.org

Fig. 7 - www.marineinsight.com

 



 

 

 

Riddle Me for a Free Story

We had four winners for last week's riddle! Well done!The answer was "paper clip" 
Here is this week's challenge: 

I need two or more pairs of eyes to do my job

Keep me tightly constrained or I will trip you up

The story this week is called: A Glimpse of Heaven by Tamara Narayan

What would you do if you woke after 20 years of sleeping, what would the world look like? Where would the people you love so dearly be? Would you have the heart to continue on? 

Just post your answer in the comments and I'll get back to you! 

Remember, we don't use your email address for anything other than delivering your free story from Wormhole Electric!

Have a great week, everyone!

Carolyn 

Wild and Wooly Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day from wild and woolly Colorado.  Yesterday it was 70° - today it is snowing.  We got a lot of rain last night which will help with the drought situation .

I did a bit of research and discovered that, according to Brian Handwerk, Mother's Day was actually started as a pacifist movement to help families heal from the devastation of the Civil War. President Roosevelt declared it a holiday in 1914, and Hallmark Cards sold the first Mother's Day cards in 1920. Ann Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, so hated the idea that this special day had become so commercial that she did everything in her power to destroy the commercialism that accompanied the day. Obviously she didn't succeed – Mother's Day is the second most popular gift giving holiday next to Christmas.

What I found fascinating was that Mother's Day is celebrated by most countries: Arabs celebrate on March 21; Panama celebrates on Dec. 8 as part of the Catholic Church celebration of the Virgin Mary; Thailand celebrates on Aug 12, in recognition of the Queen's birthday.

The Riddle contest has been very successful this week! We've had 4 winners so far and a close "maybe I can accept that" as an answer. Thanks everyone!

I remember when I was finally allowed to buy a Mad Magazine. It felt like my friends had been reading it for years before my mother okayed it. I savored it! And you're right - it probably did impact a generation with skepticism. And it did make us politically savey that I'm sure dismayed our parents and the political structure of the country. Isn't freedom of speech wonderful!

We finally have new neighbors to the north of us. They've been remodeling and refinishing the house before they move in – a great idea especially since they sanded their hardwood floors. I saw the finished product a couple of days ago and it reminded me of you, Don, and your floors. Oak is beautiful!

They have dogs; one who announces her presence to the squirrels every morning in a beautiful alto voice. They also have nieces and nephews and grandchildren – so nice to hear young voices coming from beyond the fence. It is that sense of renewal. And when children laugh, you know all is right with the world.

So I bought a yogurt maker last week and finally tried it out yesterday. I'll try again. The instructions are a bit nebulous as to how much time you cook the milk for, so this first batch came out runny. The only thing I can think of is that I need to cook it for 10 hours instead of 8 – depends on which page of the instructions I'm reading. Not sure why corporations let faulty instructions go out when they've taken so much time to create and produce a product. Maybe I should offer my services as an instruction writer.

I've been reading about Millennials in the workplace – there seems to be a gap between what the employer needs and wants and what the Millennials think they are really providing. One survey stated that 35% of businesses say that Millennials are not prepared to work each day; ask the Millennial and he'll tell you he is 100% ready to work. There seems to be a real disconnect between what is needed, what is perceived and what is really happening.

Because of the instant access to media, bosses are hesitant to ask Millennials to work at the same standards other employees have to meet because their company might end up on the youtube rant that garners 200,000  hits by the end of the day. Many of the Wired Generation have no idea what work ethics are, or appear unwilling to practice them, but they are quick to point out when the boss "does it to them." The Millennials' expectation on the job is also interesting; jobs are supposed to engage, involve and inspire them – sounds a bit like Sesame Street. The downside is bosses aren't hiring Millennials – technology skills may be great, but they are only part of the job.

I finally got one of your riddles right! Yes! But it isn't going to happen again this week. I have no idea what could be an animal and a mineral. "Ferrous" has totally derailed me. Uncle.

And yes, your answer – compact disc – is correct.

So here is mine for the week:

Little boxes thin and long

Short and Squat

Wired into listening

Ears plugged

Dancing feet

 Have a great week everyone! And remember, Riddles unclog the mind! Join in on the fun and get a free story!

Carolyn

 Mother's Day retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140508-mothers-day-nation-gifts-facts-culture-moms/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_n1p_us_se_c1#

All images downloaded from Google Images

Fig 1 – sun to snow

Fig 2 – Mother's Day Weekend at Nieuport 17 Retrieved from mieuport17.com

Fig 3 – Oak Floor Retrieved from Google Images

Fig 4 – Yogurt Maker with 7 Glass Jars Retrieved from slaestores.com476

Fig 5 – Smiles Retrieved from Google Images 

Mark Twain and " Mad "ness.

hi Carolyn,






  Well....  Just sat down a short time ago this morning to do the blogfather thing when I was treated to a short but quite energetic  spring storm. It was one of those kind that sweep through with torrents of rain and rifle cracks of thunder for a half hour or so and then steal away just as quickly. Very nice to watch it start to wash away all the crusty crap that has accumulated after this particularly character building winter, though.


Anyhow, on to some of the stuff that landed in the Inbox on my mental desktop in the last few days.



First item concerns the passing on of a gentleman who, as Matt Schudel noted in an article on May 2nd in The Washington Post  " warped the sensibilities of Americas youth for more than two decades "  The man in question was Al Feldstein who died on April 29th of this year and who was the editor of Mad Magazine for a number of decades, beginning in 1956. I totally agree with Mr. Schudels observation that  Feldman, in that capacity, " had a defining influence on modern humour. "





 
 


Mad Magazine can be considered a major cataylist for the highly developed sense of skepticism and political self-awareness that first characterized the sixties generation and still flourishes in electronic media and in print.  The magazine still marches on but commands a circulation about one tenth the size of that of its halcyon days.  



I still feel  the unspeakable anguish I endured for months as the hapless boy in Saint Patrick's  Grade School who took his paperback copy of  " The Ides of Mad " to class and lost it until the end of the year.  I was so entranced with its  countercultural delights that I  failed to notice  Sister Mary Surveillance as she silently swished up behind me. I was simply too busy stealing furtive glances at it in my desk while I was supposed to be doing something much more stultifying and mundane.


To this day I can still visualize that ominous nun hand appearing, palm up, in my peripheral vision and a spine-chillingly stern voice intoning,  " I will take that, Donald! "


  Of course, I had no choice but to surrender the delicious contraband that my paper route money had purchased just a day before.  


I didn't see it  again until the last day of school as I fled out the door along with the other liberated captives.

 

 

 

Healthy skepticism seems to be a touchstone for this entry. A very good friend of mine is returning to the international teaching world this coming school year. While he will be a school director ( or as we call it up here - a Principal ) of a school in Hungary he also finds himself having to teach a Literature class for junior high school students. He is by no means a slouch academically but leans more towards the sciences than the arts.

 

 

 

 I offered to help him with this and found that there  is a healthy dose of Mr. Twain's works on the  curricular plate. To that end, I've been doing some reacquainting of myself with both Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and some background refreshing on Twain as well. It reminds me of just how much I do enjoy his works and his own brand of , shall we say,  " irreligiousness " 

 

 

 Hard for the likes of me not to be drawn to someone whose quotable quotes include the one on the right   and " I don't care a damn about a man who can only spell a word one way."  Maybe I should pass these along to our daughter in light of her recent close encounters of the incongruous kind as an educator.


 BTW, she is far from discouraged about it and takes it in stride as we all do who toil to keep the lamp of learning lit.





Hopefully, with boats to be launched, bikes to be ridden,  8-ball playoffs to be played, renos to be completed, spring and summer to be welcomed, etc., I will be able to get back to more of his works sooner than later.

 

 

 

Speaking of works or at least, offerings, I did see the riddles collection on the website, Carolyn, and it does look kinda cool. I'm not surprised to be published for riddles though. They are short, sweet and fun to create. I've maintained more than once that I'm more in the vein of a one-liner writer than a full blown novelist type. Sometimes I think I should have gone into advertising and tried my hand.

 

 

So now that the door has been opened lets saunter in and take care of the riddle business for this time, shall we? Coffee was the last one I sent along. I guess I was thinking springlike thoughts as I composed it and that would explain the green bean part. I just went back and checked your last one again and am still semi-stumped. I want to say compact discs as they are round and carry information, but the "large or small" thing throws me a bit. Anyhow, that will be my guess.

 

 

 

Here's mine:

 

 

In my animal form

I'm highly attractive

In my mineral form

I'm very selective

Only ferrous will do

 

 

 

 

Okay, now to get outside and see how much mother nature has left for me to clean up or mop up.

 

 

 

Don

 

 

 

All images sourced from Google images.

 

Fig. 1 - www.wibwnewsnow.com

Fig. 2 - mentalfloss.com

Fig. 3 - www.madmagizine.com

Fig. 4 - www.etsy.com

Fig. 5 - www. yeahmag.com

Fig. 6 - www.inspiritoo.com