If you don't like what's out there, make something better!

Good afternoon, Don,

I have been following the King Richard the Third saga since they discovered his bones. I was glad to know that the good King Richard finally got his royal burial. The one thing I did not know was that Benedict Cumberach is a distant relative. And the fact that the DNA sample came from a 14^th generation descendent that lived in Canada is just this side of incredible. You are right, this stuff cannot be invented!

You talked about the Star Wars trilogy as being a cinematic cultural touchstone. I like to think that when you say that, you are talking about the first three movies. I would agree that the first three have become part of our popular culture. I have to say that I do not believe that the last three movies are anywhere near as successful.

Don, you proposed that there haven't been any other series of movies that have touched our culture as much as the Star Wars movies. I would like to nominate the Harry Potter series. The books in and of themselves broke records – the movies did almost as well. And then of course, my favorites -  Lord of the Rings. We have just gotten the last of the Hobbit movies, but I'm not sure that it comes close to the staggering epic-ness of the other two trilogies.

I have finally completed the online marketing course that I was taking. I just completed the final for the 12-lesson course. I found it interesting that the questions asked in the final did not relate to the quiz questions that I've been taking with each lesson. There was a sense of disjointedness between the quizzes and the final in that the final was far more picky, in depth than the quizzes and there was nothing in the course material to point out that those specific points were more important than anything else that was covered. In other words, I found the assessment process lacking. Did I pass ? Yes. Did I learn a lot? Yes. But still – tests should reflect importance of material in the lessons.

The last assignment is to create a marketing plan – to answer such questions as an in-depth description of the business - a history including, products and services, market situation, target audience; and to understand the threats and opportunities that are available. The second part is to define goals, strategies and tactics. I will be a while in completing this project but I think it will be worthwhile when I'm done.

I have been applying some of the information I learned to Transport 40 which highlights the work of Tamara Narayan. Tamara is one of our writers who lives on the East Coast and has been writing for Wormhole Digital for about a year now. Tammy is a pure science fiction writer in that she takes science and extrapolates it out into fantasy and fiction. She also wrote an incredible coming of age story, which is included in Transport 40. I think I like her newest story the best, even though she thinks it's a very raw and unfinished story. It is the story of two women, a mother who is dealing with an autistic son, and a wife who is dealing with a husband with Alzheimer's, and how their lives intersect. It is an incredibly heart touching story.

I sent out some interview questions to Tammy and I think the thing that is so amazing is how her back ground or former life has nothing to do with writing! Believe it or not, Tammy is really Dr. Narayan - Dr. of mathematics! She also had a job at a zoo "flinging smelt to a waddle (Yep, that's what they're called) of African Penguins." So it is no wonder that her favorite website is www.zooborns.com.

Now that I'm done with the marketing class, I'm getting ready to participate in Camp Nanowrimo which starts April 1. This is a spinoff from the November write a novel in a month challenge. My goal for the month of April is to write at least 20,000 words for a science fiction fantasy that I was already have several short precursor chapters completed. That means a total of 666 words per day. I will pick in April where the story has left off so far. There's another camp in July, and I am hoping that I will be able to finish the Tracker series by August.

I have printed out the storytelling packet that I give my students when they are writing their short stories for myself. I have 12 character questions, story map charts, character stats that includes those subtle things like quirks, traumas, attitudes weaknesses, dreams/ambitions, guilts... a page for minor characters and who they are and how important they are to the story; a beautiful chart to fill in on conflict. Then we get down to the nitty gritty that happens with a longer story – how does the character change from the beginning of the story to the end, what precipitates and fuels the change, what is the quest are they being asked to take up and what happens if they don't. This story has lived so long in my head, I'm really hoping that I can finally get it out on paper.

I'm on spring break this week so I'm hoping to be able to get the house cleaned up, the laundry done, ready for next week to start teaching again, and all the meetings I need to go to (the school lied when they said it was spring break) and still find time to write. Everyone says I should take it easy, relax! What people don't realize, is this is relaxation for me!

A reporter, Tess Panzer, reported on a man named Alan Adler. (This fits with your Twain-ism about science, Don). I'm sure this is a name that does not strike most of us. However, two of his inventions have become cultural standards – the Aerobie flying disc and the AeroPress coffee maker. What is so impressive about this man, is the fact that he did not attend college. However, he did attend and participate in life – he learned from doing. He is a "Maker". He feels that makers are created as small children – born from other makers. They spend their lives observing other people and learning from them. I think is most important statement was: If you don't like what's out there, make something better.

Have a great week everyone! Looking forward to reporting how well I've done in Camp Nanowrimo!

Carolyn

All images downloaded from google images

Most images featured in previous blogs.

African Penguins retrieved from www.photovolcanica.com

Pro | AEROBIE® High Performance Sport Toys retrieved from aerobie.com

AeroPress Coffee Maker – Firebox retrieved from www.firebox.com

camp_logo-290f133f1af2562198f3a75b662feb03.jpg retrived from campnanowrimo.org

Ricky Three and the ultimate threesome

Hi Carolyn,


Sounds like you are well on the way to being fully digital soon. Your fat pens treatise was most interesting. There is something more reassuring about a stout and " girthy"  ( love that word, btw ) writing implement.  I still like to use the big red primary pencils for marking stuff when I'm cutting wood and such. A flat-edged carpenters pencil may be more suited to the task, but I just like the feel of these simple scribblers. My dad called them " horse-leg pencils".

 

 What I'm curious about is, in the mile-high city are those chunky pens a teensy bit lighter, or would they perhaps be heavier? I too, am  a mere mental mortal who cannot really get my head around the whole gravity thing.






This week had to be one of the best I can remember for a real-life trumps fiction scenario. The whole story behind the discovery, investigation and final burial of King Richard the Third's remains in England just kinda blows my mind. Finding his bones under a London parking lot, verifying the remains by taking a DNA sample from a 14th generation descendant ( here in Canada, no less! ) and then having a royal burial with full-tilt gold-plated pomp and circumstance ( and Benedict Cumberbatch speaking poetically at the service and being an actual distant relative - this stuff simply cannot be invented! )






 Sometimes, we over here in the colonies  really have to give credit where it is due when it comes to the British - they are simply the uncontested epitome of Anglo-Saxon class and gravitas.  

Plus, they can and do delight regularly in bursting that same balloon.

 Rule Britannia !





I always liked Richard III probably because my image of him came mostly through the Shakespearean drama filter. But c'mon how could Will not have penned a popular play - and let's remember that he, like Dickens later on, were populist writers who wrote to fill the seats or sell the pages above all else - about this royal.? Check out the historical facts and you can see that Ricky Three's  tale was a platinum potboiler fairly begging to be dramatized and staged.




While it didn't generate a whole bunch of quotable quotes, Shakespeare's Richard the Third did give us some goodies including " A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse.!  " and  " Now is the winter of our discontent... " ( especially applicable to this last winter, n'est-ce-pas?  )




While we have this three act play vibe going here I'm reminded of three consecutive evenings in Merida that rang a nice bell this time around. We had a cold spell down there too. It was the very southern extension of the cold snap that hit the better part of the continent in Feb. My lsbh and I found ourselves forced inside and looking for some edification other than reading on a number of consecutive evenings.

 We'd briefly discussed what dvd's we'd bring along for this year's jaunt but other things intervened. I stuck a bunch of Star Trek episodes and a few movies that we always can fall back on in the carry-on. I also stuffed in the original Star Wars trilogy. It's pretty well like " It's a Wonderful Life " and the Alistair Sim version of " A Christmas Carol" for us - a mom and apple pie choice.
 

 

The upshot of this was that we found ourselves with the opportunity to watch the whole trilogy over three consecutive evenings once again, and enjoyed as much as the last time. Even now I still find it drop-dead easy to simply lose myself in the story. I remember reading that Lucas had set out to write a one movie story with Star Wars but that it just blossomed into a play that could not be told in any less than three acts.


As I watched this time I was struck by how even secondary features and aspects of this cinematic tale have become cultural touchstones. It can be a dialogue item or a cinematic one. Ask someone you know to say the first word that they think of after hearing " I, am your father " and chances are pretty good it will be " Luke " or to fill in the blank in " Let the ...... win " and I'd bet " Wookie" will be the answer more often than not.   


I still chuckle my you-know-what off when I see this visual spawned by the storm-trooper road-block. If it came from the mind of a Google underling I hope that he or she was given a corner office over this one!

 

 

 

 

In fact, I am starting to appreciate just how thoroughly the whole storm-trooper shtick has permeated popular culture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you think of a set of movies that have penetrated  international consciousness to any greater extent than this ?   I can't.

 

 

Okay, time to redress an oversight before leaving. I forgot to include the Twain-ism last time so once again here's two. The first has a direct connection to the raison-'etre for Wormhole Digital Publishing while the second has a weather hook.

 

 

 

 

There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

 

 

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

 

 

 

 



Until next time Carolyn, be careful on those mile high steps. It's a long way down if you trip.

 

Don

 

 

All images sourced from Google Images

 

Fig. 1 - www.supreme-store.basics.com

Fig. 2 - www.newscom.au

Fig. 3 - dclibrary.org

Fig. 4 - www.imaginarycinema.com

Fig. 5 - www.dailymail.co.uk

Fig. 6 - www.backtobionic.com

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Mile High and Fat Pens! What a concept!

Good morning, All!

It has been a very busy week here – we are in the "finals" part of the quarter. Just finished the bulk of the grading which took over 9 hours on Wednesday and Thursday. Being hunched over, even off and on, has strained my neck, my shoulders and my attitude. As this is a regularly occurring event, you'd think I was used to it my now...

Don, I was thrilled to hear that you made it home in good form, that the house was still standing and had not suffered any major problems while you were enjoying the sun.   Sorry to hear that you caught your fingers in the car door – my husband did that and is still in a splint for a broken thumb. Hopefully your injury is less drastic.

A couple of years ago I discovered that people weighted less in the Hudson Bay area than the rest of Canada. (If I go to Hudson Bay, Will I Weigh Less?) So what is the advantage to living in Denver – the Mile Hi City? Will I be taller? Closer to the sun? Is there an advantage to breathing thinner air? Is it more oxygen rich?  Unfortunately, the article I read didn't cover all the advantages, it just gave the facts and theories. And that in and of its self was pretty interesting!

So how did an area that is thousands of square miles get to be 5,280 feet above sea level when 70 million years ago it was a sea? According to two geologists, Craig Jones and Kevin Mahan, "crustal hydration" was the cause.  The Farallon plate was shoved down into the mantle and because the water in the plate was released, it set off a chain reaction that changed dense minerals into mica and other lighter weight minerals. The Great Plains floated on the mantle like an empty cargo ship. Other geologists say this theory is just a plausible as any other theory. As Jones said, it takes away from the embarrassment of not knowing why Denver is a mile high.

One of the problems I've encountered with my "thumb" changes, has been writing implements. The normal sized pens and pencils cause my hands to wear out faster – writing becomes a cramping affair. Prying the pen/pencil out of my fingers has been painful at best. So I became a seeker of "fat pens and pencils."

When I first sought out this more girthy writing tools, I had a lot of trouble finding anything that was big, round and of quality. We always found the really big tourist pens that were 18 inches long, two inches around, or the big pencils with huge erasers on them, but they were impractical to write with. There were expensive pens that cost over $7.00 each that were nice, and I could put silicon tubes on pencils that teachers recommend for primary school kids. Those worked okay. But I have to admit, as a college professor, I felt like I was going backward with the pencils.

In the last 18 months, I've found "fat pens" everywhere! And vendors are giving them away by the handfuls! Bic has put out a mechanical pencil that fits my needs magnificently! A clerk yesterday told me how much more comfortable it was to write with the larger pens than the "itty bitty stick things" as she stuck 3 free  magnificently plumb pens into my bag. I am rich in fat pens and pencils! Like I need to be convinced of their usability!

I loved your thoughts on Mexican Soap Operas! I've watched several on the Spanish channel here and your "hyper-exaggerated facial expressions" leave the viewer with no doubt about what is going on, even if they can't understand the language. Our Spanish teacher requires her students to watch and listen to the soap operas so students can get practice in the language.

My experience with international drivers was with the Bosnian drivers in Sarajevo. I never understood how anyone figured out who was next at the 4-way stop. Walking and crossing the streets was often an adventure in survival. If the drivers weren't trying to weave around you as you walked across the street, they were often trying to park their cars on the very sidewalk you were walking on. My Saudi students often talk about the drivers in their country... no matter how much I might complain, truth be told, maybe North American drivers are more saintly drivers than we claim them to be.  

We are finishing up our month with Ariel on the Website with Dream in White Time. I think the thing that struck me most about her series has been the creation of a language! Admittedly there are times in the books that I wish general everyday English had been used, but the story itself would have suffered if she'd stuck with plain old English. There wouldn't be the richness of a thriving, living, breathing culture – the believability in the story would have been compromised. The language helped with the suspension of disbelief.

We're getting ready to showcase Tammy Narayan, one of our short story writers for April and will return for the last two parts of Ariel's book in May. Tammy has been working with me to create a new Transport cover for her series of stories. I'm looking forward to the interview with her and showcasing her work starting in April. 

Have a great week everyone!

Carolyn

Images 1 – 4 downloaded from google images

Fig 1 – Great Plains retrieved from www.slideshare.net
Fig 2 – retrieved from www.arvo.org

Fig 3 – fat pens retrieved from  www.thewritingpenstore.com

Fig 4 – fat pencils retrieved from cheap custom fat pencils Wholesale - pencils
www.treepencils.com
Fig – 5 /6 parking in Sarajevo by Carolyn Varvel 
Fig 7 – White Time by Ariel Cinii
Article: Elliot, D. (2015) At last, a theory about why Denver is a mile above sea level. Retrieved from AP  

After the cold rush

Hi Carolyn,


If my voice sounds a little higher it's because we are 1851 miles further north than the last time I was  here.  We are back at the homestead, albeit a number of days later than expected ( one of those another story for another time things... )  Everything here seems to be shipshape after having endured   " the coldest winter on record " around these parts.  No burst pipes - and boy, did I have all of my crossable appendages crossed about that one as we were making our way home!  , and no ice dams on the roof.  Insert huge sigh of relief here, as well!  

Speaking of surviving and surging forward, your physical digit recuperation adventures, and your press on regardless approach thereto continue to be inspiring. I guess you'll have a renewed sense of appreciation for those ten little fingers once you have gotten  them all back into fully operational mode, eh?  I've had a wee bit of that same experience in the last few days as I managed to smush a couple of fingers in the door at the back of my LSBH's vehicle that we were retrieving from our daughters place on the outskirts of Toronto. There was blood and bandages but no broken bones, thankfully.




It's clearly nothing like your situation but it pointed up to me just how any limits on mobility can be most upsetting ( my polite way of saying a  ....ing pain in the ... )  Suffice to say, though, Carolyn, you, and your situation, are certainly fingering into my thoughts even moreso now - sorry, I'm a total sucker for puns....!







Also, your observations on trying to get the hang of the SEO stuff for your online course on marketing struck a more basic chord with me as a fellow teacher. Taking someone through a difficult concept " patiently" is certainly the essence of the teaching experience. It can't fully be replicated by someone on Skype or on a screen. I was reminded of Asimov's short story, " The Fun They Had "  He wrote this story in 1951. It put us in touch with youngsters whose education was home based and computer generated. Their dismay at learning about how schooling once was a person to person experience is cleverly exhibited in the title. Apparently it was the most anthologized of all of his short stories ( and there were certainly a wackload thereof )


The most amazing aspect of it, for me, was that he could have come up with such a premise and written a dead on prescient  story about it in  the year after I was born!  It was also kinda cool that it was on the junior English curriculum in Ontario, Canada in 1979 when this fellow first stepped out as a teacher in front of a class of grade six students. Totally nifty stuff!



Anyhoo, the 50 plus days spent lollygagging  about in Mexico are now a memory, albeit not a dim one yet. There are lotsa things that stick in my head as memorable for one reason or another. I'll just noodle on about a few here, today, though. It's pretty well a guarantee that in the next while I'll be back to visit other touchstone moments, though.

* Mexican Soap Operas.  We found ourselves in bus stations and in a number of other places where a TV was blinking and blaring away in the background or on the edge of ones peripheral vision. Of course I expected there to be soccer games on, but I didn't realize until this year here that soap operas are out there incessantly as well. My Spanish is still Neolithic, and most of the time the surrounding noise would have made listening impossible anyhow, so the visuals were what carried the impact. The " dramas " I caught snatches of were amazingly cartoonish.  Hyper-exaggerated facial expressions, over the top coiffures, and settings that would make Beverly Hills look like a slum in Mexico City were more than enough to carry the story. Do you suppose that in a few hundred years our ears will become almost prehensile if we are continuously bombarded with this simplistic image heavy stuff ??






** Mexican Drivers/Driving . Yes, it's pretty well cliché for we North American drivers to wax on about how Attila The Hunnish drivers are in this or that country. I've only been to Eastern Europe once, so my world-wide experiences are limited. My frame of reference in Merida was also limited to a few jaunts in a sardine sized rental car and in taxis

 

 

 

 

 My good friend who taught in Saudi Arabia for two years tells me that drivers in the rest of the world are positively saintly  in comparison to that country. The person who gets to the next corner first is the winner, is how he put it. Still, I wonder why, in most cases, they even bother to put lanes lines on the multi-lane roads in Merida. It's amazing how these drivers can make their way through traffic in the city or on the highways without seeming even the slightest bit nervous even though they are usually in cars the size of small  refrigerators and within mere inches of vehicles eight times larger. In fact they are anything but nervous. They're fearless five inch matadors  facing twelve foot bulls. Hot-blooded, indeed.








***  Merida's Bus System . Being right in the heart of old Merida we got to walk streets that were constantly bus-ridden. The bus system in Merida is quite different than we would expect in a city of just under a million. There is not one overall bus authority. There are, instead, seven or eight different private bus companies who share the task of moving folks around this medium sized metropolis. Some of them are systems that take people into and out of the big city to the surrounding villages. Others are those who ferry folks about within this city and maybe to some points just outside the city limits.

 

 

 

  It's a most incongruous setup and there isn't a definitive schedule you can obtain in printed form. All of the buses have their main stops posted on the front window. This seems pretty straightforward except that the buses whip past so quickly that you can't read beyond the first two or tree of what are often ten or eleven different places. The folks who travel these routes daily know the bus they want but the rest of us just have to toss the dice a lot of the time. It's cool and frenetic at the same time.  The plus, from an economic standpoint, is that it cost about 60 cents to get on a bus and ride just about anywhere within Merida and its immediate environs. 


 And the " Adventure " element has to be just about priceless.!



There are lots of other observations I wanna share but not tonight. I'm back to putting on socks and shoes and long pants and coats and boots, so I feel I've re-acclimatised myself reasonably.


Back soon with more....

Don

Day Light Saving, SEO, Second Best Marigold Hotel and Filk

We have survived a week on Day Light Saving Time. I'm now fixing dinner by the light of the sun, instead of by the light of electricity. Every day, the sun is up longer in the evenings – but I'm still driving to work in the dark. I read a fast little article that I clicked out of before I got the documentation information that said that in January, as the days lengthen, it is actually the afternoons that have more light.  We do not experience more light in the mornings until mid-January. If this is the case, why do we need Day Light Savings Time? Just a thought.

So I've been learning about online marketing. I'm taking a great little course through Ed2Go. And I was doing great up until we did SEO. Search Engine Optimization. Now, I "understand" the concept and how it works... I even got 100% on the quiz. But I have to say, I still am having a bit of a problem wrapping my head around it. Not sure why.

I remain befuddled! I think I need someone to gently take me by the hand and show me, patiently please, how to connect our blog to other blogs or other interesting articles that I'd like to share. Patiently, please. And how to put the little codes (how to find them first) on the website so I can track all the information that is apparently out there for me to track! I've got the theory! It's the "how-to" that is missing from my skill set!

This week I'm looking into online advertising in the form of clicks for pay and banners. As I always avoid that type of advertising, I'm not sure how applicable it is to our site and our readers. I also think of it as clutter! Why clutter up the screen with distractions! Do we really need that many more distractions? Is this resistance? Or is this the reason that smaller screens have become so popular? You can scrunch out the stuff that isn't important...

My SBH and I went to see The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel last week. Yes, it was as "wrinkles convention",  but age did not diminish talent. It was a masterfully done plot line that held up through-out the movie; the acting was, at the very least, magnificent; the cinematography was also well done. The sights and sounds of India were present throughout the movie as background that never interfered with the story or the characters but instead, enhanced the plot and characterizations. It was, for me, one of the better movies I've seen lately.

I also had the opportunity to talk to Ariel Cinii about her latest book, A Dance in White Time, which was really her first book of the Airland Series. She mentioned that she'd love to hear from readers! Or follow her on Twitter. Started as a way to keep awake at work, this world and its occupants have grown into four books and performances at the conventions she attends throughout the year.

Ariel describes the conventions as "a small nomadic town that only meets a few times a year..." Reminds me of Brigadoon. Last year she performed at Contata 7 in Morristown, NJ. She also attends Lunacon, Baltican Philcon, and the Floating Northeast Filk Convention.

Three more weeks of physical therapy! I think physical therapists are angels in disguise. They want you to get better, but they have to put you through pain to get there. I thought that this left thumb would follow along the same healing path of the right thumb (which was done in June). Wrong! The left hand/thumb has set its own standard and path. The only thing common between the two surgeries has been that the thumbs were involved and both were in a cast for 6 weeks.  I'm glad I only have two thumbs.

Have a great week!

Carolyn

Don, hope your travels home were safe!

I couldn't quite come up with a limerick so I thought a poem would due: 

I can not yet drum

My thumbs

But pinching up crumbs

Will soon become awesome!

Images downloaded from Google Images

Fig 1 – retrieved from K City, a comic strip: daylight saving time www.welcometokcity.com

Fig 2 – SEO retrieved from www.oriorsolutions.com

Fig 3 --  Widget retrieved from Widget - YUI Libraryyuilibrary.com

Fig 4 --  Clicks for pay retrieved from www.bodiesbudapest.hu

Fig 5 – Banner Advertising retrieved from theweblender.us

Fig 6 --  The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel retrieved from  www.foxsearchlight.com 

Fig 7 – A Dance in White Time by Ariel Cinii

Fig 8 – NE Filk retrieved from nefilk.jpg  boskoneblog.com

 

Vibrating by Association

Good Morning, Don.

I am so remiss at not participating in the other side of the "editors' conversation" . We changed our chatting schedule; I also changed my schedule at work and I'm still having problems figuring out the when and where of things. At least you have a good excuse – you are on vacation!  And you are having lots of micro-adventures!  I have been keeping up with your blogging and your jogging through out the Peninsula.

I think I'm rather jealous! You actually have time to read! What's up with that?  The only reading I've been doing lately has been student papers and the stories for Wormhole. Received Tammy's latest – it is a heart puller! And Jeph's latest is one of those "think on your feet" action adventures. (The links are to Tammy and Jeph's last stories for Wormhole.)
But what has my attention right now is Ariel's Dance with White Time. I did an email interview with her last week. Amazing! Did you know that her whole Airlands Series was influenced by Rocky and Bullwinkle? We have parts 2 and 3 on the website, with part one for free on the Books for sale page. She said that her favorite character in this was Archanuiss. He has a lot of potential as a character, but a a reader, I think the Heron God Beast, Feather, is more interesting. 

I have to admit that I was never very smitten with The Stainless Steel Rat chronology. Harrison is not one of my return-to authors. I have enjoyed some of his work, but not a lot of it. From what you shared, maybe I'll try again.

I have always enjoyed Cleese's slapstick humor – but only in short bursts. He must, however, be incredibly bright to make the connections and word plays that he is well known for. I loved what you inserted about "Jack". And I could actually see "Jack" tearing up the Dear Jack letter and moving on! Cleese's comments and thoughts about editing are right on!  I've translated it to: Put the key action at the end of the chapter! That way readers will read on!

His comments about teaching boys were also right on!  My male students are a bit older than 10 or 11 by almost 10 to 15 years. Believe it or not, the same tactics apply. Males are really into fairness and usually, by the time they get to me, they really do want to learn. They've overcome the jock nonchalance of high school and realized that the world really doesn't care about whether or not they played spots in high school.  

Here in finally sunny Colorado (we went through a couple of weeks of ice showers then snow), I am learning about Internet Marketing. It is a six week course with 12 modules.  I'm in the process of designing a marketing plan for Wormhole's Transport 40 which will showcase the work of Tammy Narayan, one of our writers. I have so many choices! And knowing which ones will work and what will work better is not on my magic 8 ball.

I've been teaching Press Releases to my Comp I class as part of their research process. And I'm excited about using the technique myself! But who do I send it too? Or do I just give it a shot, see if it helps and work from there? I think the banners and click for view things that can be done are bit beyond my budget right now – probably because I don't know if they really work. I'm not the kind of person to click on an advertisement. Should I base the rest of the population on my actions? I hope not! There is so much that could be done! What is the right path?

I read an article on "Dreaming of Wormholes: Four ways to break the universe's speed limit" by Jessica Orwig.   She talks about how subatomic particles communicate with each other by vibrating, and that when they are close together, they vibrate in unison. Then, no matter where they are in the universe, they will continue to vibrate in unison. What she doesn't answer is, what happens when another particle comes along? Does it start vibrating with the other two? If this is true, then by association, isn't the universe already vibrating in unison? 

So does this also explain why some groups of people think certain things are funny and other groups don't? Who you vibrate/associate with determines your humor factor?

Twain got "fiction" right: it does have to makes sense. It is reality that gets a bit strange.

Travel safe! and I hope that the weather clears long enough for you to get home safely. And that this year, your pipes are not frozen. 

Carolyn 

All images downloaded from Googe Images

Fig 1 – vacation retrieved from blog.goodbyecrutches.com/GoodbyeCrutches-blog/bid/...

blog.goodbyecrutches.com

Fig 4 – subatomic particles retrieved from  ILC NewsLine - 8 October 2009 - Feature 1

newsline.linearcollider.org  

Fig 5 – Wormhole retrieved from travelmeintime.blogspot.com