Letter Play, Literally!

The following tutorial is brought to you by Nicole from The Madlab Post...

It’s time for Letter Play - Where DIY activities, cinema and life offline collide!

Letters come in handy when you don’t have the time, money or interest in shopping for greeting cards for birthdays and other special occasions. For today’s Letter Play tutorial, I set out to create a birthday letter that resembled a colorful ransom note. Time got the best of me, so I put something together that sorta illustrates the idea but didn’t turn out exactly the way I hoped.

I used markers, glue and cardstock to create a colorful birthday letter to a fictitious person whose name starts with the Letter L. So instead of offering a tutorial for one activity, here are three ideas that you can use as alternatives to birthday (or other occasion) greeting cards.

The Birthday Ransom Letter
Cut out letters from newspapers, magazines or your own written alphabet on paper and then assemble them into a funny joke, sentimental message or inspirational quote. Glue the message onto a colorful piece of 8.5x11 inch cardstock paper and fold it into three parts after the glue dries. Sign the bottom of the letter, put it in an envelope and mail away!

The Birthday Postcard Letter
Write a short form letter on a postcard that represents a place where the birthday boy or girl has either been or expressed interest in visiting. This can either incite fond memories of vacations that passed or ignite enthusiasm for future trips to explore. Double the fun by adding some travel vouchers, tickets or gear to this postcard, which will help the birthday recipient get a head start on their route.

The Birthday Photo Story Letter
Photos are some of the easiest items that you can use to send someone warm wishes for his or her birthday, when you don’t have a greeting card. Gather several photos featuring you with the recipient or old images of him/her at different stages in life. Flip the photos over and write a letter to this person, making sure to number the backside if necessary so that he or she will know where to pick-up reading from the previous image.

Until next week...have fun playing with letters!

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NICOLE is @MadlabPost on Twitter

Partcle Accelerators - Just How The Heck do They Work?

Particle Accelerators. They're big. They're sexy. And they may change our view of the universe and our place in it. A particle accelerator is device used to accelerate sub-atomic particles (like a proton) to very high speeds. Particle accelerators have also been known as cyclotrons and atom smashers. Physicists design them in hopes of inquiring into the dynamics and structure of matter, space, and time. There are scores of particle accelerators and accelerator laboratories in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

These awe-inspiring and magnificent machines come in all different shapes and sizes. There are ring and linear accelerators and they perform various functions. Most people are excited about the colliders, like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.

How an accelerator Works

The principle behind the LHC is pretty simple. First, you fire two beams of particles along two pathways, one going clockwise and the other going counterclockwise. You accelerate both beams to near the speed of light. Then, you direct both beams toward each other and watch what happens.

According to Dr. Brian Cox, “In that moment of collision — less than a billionth of a second — you get extreme conditions, like the very early universe. You get a massive amount of energy, and loads of things flying out — like the debris of the collision. It can also form new particles that have never been seen before. And that’s what we’re really after.”

Just What the Heck are They Looking For

Today, physicists are looking for evidence to support their proposed model of the universe such as other dimensions we can't perceive. This could help support theories such as string theory and M-theory which need additional dimensions in order to make sense. Along with the Higgs Boson, they’re also looking for evidence of dark matter, dark energy, anti-matter, and whatever other surprises may appear.



We have to retain our sense of humor!



Scientists from CERN and around the globe will try to compute, analyze, and interpret massive amounts of data that could take many, many months. Will the LHC help us in advance our knowledge about our universe? It is almost certain it will raise more questions than it answers. Yet if past experiments at labs around the world are any indication, we can assume the answer is yes. Of course, there are those who claim these giant academic egghead toys are a complete and total waste of time and resources. Time will tell. Stay tuned!

Check out this computer animated YouTube Video on just how the Large Hadron Collider works!

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Guest Post: Mare Ball: On Following, Awards, Tagging and the Other Mysteries of Blogging

Hello Fellow Alphabet Fans! Today I'm pleased to introduce Mare Ball as our guest poster.

She blogs at Adventures in the Ballpark

Like me, she is a former educator. Unlike me, she can make a killer brownie ;-) An Air Force wife for 20 years, she now blogs about her life, including caring for her aging parents, and is working on a book about a family Christmas project. I found her post asks a lot of the same questions that I've been wondering about. I'm looking forward to a lively discussion! Please welcome her in true A-Z fashion with lost of comments. She certainly has opened the door wide for your opinion, so let it be heard!

I joined the A-Z Challenge for the first time this year. I’ve only been blogging for two years, and I’d not heard of the A-Z until just a week before it started. It was a wild and crazy ride, but I really enjoyed it. I wrote an A-Z reflection post on my blog about my experience, but I want to highlight some points here.

1. I was shocked at the number of bloggers that signed up. It was 1800 at one point. I’ve since learned there are 181 million blogs. Good grief.
2. I really wanted to at least look at every blog listed, but it was impossible. I did check out about half and found 100 that I really enjoyed. I continue to explore the blogosphere, and I’m still discovering blogs I love.
3. Over the month of April, I developed serious eyestrain, wrist soreness and a flat, achy butt from all the sitting and reading. I’m glad the challenge is only once a year.
4. I discovered that reading the “about me” page gave me more insight into a blogger than reading their letter-of-the-day post. The prompts were fun and revealed creativity, but I also wanted to know more about the heart of the writer, and the “about me” page provided that.
5. I discovered that the most visually appealing blogs (and the easiest to read) were ones with light backgrounds, short paragraphs, and not too much clutter on the sides.
6. I was impressed by the fact that there are published/professional writers who take the time to respond to and encourage other writers. I’m grateful for their generosity.
7. The A-Z Challenge confirmed to me that, after being away from writing for five years, I still love to write.  I have to write.  It's weird, and I don't get it, but it completes me (in a non-cheesy, non-Tom Cruise-kind-of-way.)   Thanks to the A-Z Challenge, I fell in love with writing all over again.  

I share these points because it tells you a bit about where I’m coming from as a writer. Since the A-Z Challenge, I’ve discovered some things I’m trying to reconcile, and I’d like input from other writers.

1. The “following” thing. I gained 70 followers over the course of the A-Z, and I followed as many or more. However, I can’t visit every blog I follow daily. I might check in with everyone weekly. It appears, though, that some of my readers comment on every post I write. I’m very touched by that and always respond…but, how do they do that? Does anyone visit every blog they follow daily?

Conversely, I have followers who drop in to follow and never visit again. That’s absolutely fine, but, then, why follow? I’m assuming the number of followers (for everyone) is somewhat deceptive, and I’m trying to discern the value/importance of the following system.

2. The reading list thing. On my blog roll, I have 126 blogs listed. In the Blogger dashboard/reading list, I see the latest posts from blogs I’m following. If number 6 blog doesn’t show up on my reading list, I assume there are no new posts from that blog – am I correct here?

3. The award/tag thing. Since May, I have received seven awards. I understand I’ve become more visible since the A-Z Challenge, and it’s very nice to be recognized. But, as one blogger wrote, awards seem a bit like chain letters. They involve answering questions (about yourself), then passing them on to other bloggers. Who may not want them, because they have to answer questions and pass them on to other bloggers. At some point, bloggers you want to give them to already have them. They whole thing, while kind, seems a bit silly. Am I alone here? I’m not ungrateful, I’m just trying to discern the value/importance of the award/tag system.

Thanks for reading. I’m expecting some great input. I might even give out some awards.

Mare