Challenge Participant Special - Marta Szemik

Today’s special Challenge participant feature is Marta Szemik! She’s the author of several books and just a really cool person. Her theme for the Challenge was “Changes Throughout History.”

A BIG Thank You to the A-Z Team for hosting me:)

What made you select the theme of changes through history?

I'm fascinated by what humans have accomplished in the past century, but honestly, the idea just dawned on me one day. Sort of like when you're writing a story and something clicks. I think I may also have been listening to one of my favorite songs by Ozzy & Kelly Osbourne "Changes".

What topic was the most fun to research?

Have you seen my post on the letter "O" titled: Oooo Yes, the Big O! Yes, I had to do some research for that one. I also liked my post for "C": Cell Phones. I still find the cases people used to carry as phones funny and yes, I do remember the days (as a kid).

What changes surprised you the most?

I don't know if I can pick one, but almost anything to do with advancing technology blows my mind away. I remember rolling my eyes at my dad in the 90's when he told me he didn't know what email was. His response was to wait 20 years and see if I'm up to speed on technology them. Yes, he was right.
I think because of my fear of flying, I would have to also say that airplanes always surprise me. Physics is a wonderful science to allow gazillions of pounds of metal to fly in the air.

You had fun finding all the pictures that accompanied your posts, didn’t you?

Yes, Google images was my friend for over a month. Ahh, the things I've seen! Internet is a scary place to be if you let it lead you to places you shouldn't be at. I know how cautious I will be when my kids turn to teenagers.

Why was J so challenging?

It still is challenging. Really, the only thing that comes into my mind are Jackets. Also, Jelly beans and J-walking, though it would be difficult to talk about the history of those. I guess Jokes would have been a good one, but I tend to not be funny when I try to joke on the spot. Like, right now... What do you call that? Online fright instead of stage fright? (See what I mean?)

For G you selected games – what are some of your favorite?

Non electronic: Any games with a jump rope like Double Dutch.
If we're talking electronics: Tetris and Pac Man. I still play Tetris on Wii. Recently I compete against my kids on Wii Sports (but I do let them win). I love the obstacle course and try to beat my own score which is really hard. I get addicted to beating my own scores.

Can you tell everyone why you think teleportation would be cool?

Ok, disclaimer first: IF teleportation did not disintegrate my body into goo and mush it would be my first choice for travel because I hate flying. I'm one of those people you don't want to sit beside on a plane.
Also, think about the time saved! You could travel across the world in seconds. But, what if there was a computer glitch or someone hacked into the device (like an ex)? Next thing you know, you're on Mars or sleeping with the lions at the Zoo!

If you do the Challenge again next year, what them will you tackle next?

This was my first year doing the challenge and I'm pretty sure I'll do it again next year. Spring time will be around the time I will be preparing to release a mystery series I started two years ago so I may do flash fiction that combines into a short story as a prequel to the series. I've seen other participants do that and it really intrigued me. I've never done anything like that before and I think it would be fun.

Thank you, Marta!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of CassaStar and CassaFire and his blog can be found HERE

To Ebook or Not to Ebook, that is the question...

Last year for the A to Z Challenge, I wrote flash fiction for each of the 26 days, and then edited and compiled them into a book:  A to Z Stories of Life and Death.

Not only have sales continued to trickle in since last year without any marketing on my part, I've found folks reading and reviewing the book in some detail-- like this one, at The Conscientious Reader.

I'm now working on a novel, my first, for the past few months. I have no idea how good or bad it is, since I haven't yet finished the first draft. But prevalent wisdom says it is unlikely to be much good, all first novels are destined to remain in the writer's desk drawer. (Yes, I've had several short stories traditionally published, but a novel is a different beast.)

So, I'm wondering: would it be better to try this novel out as an e-book?

• Conventional wisdom says no. It says I should try finding an agent, who will find me a publisher and so on.  (But printed books are slowly getting wiped out, marketing budgets are shrinking and writers have to do their own marketing, the agency model seems to be floundering a bit, Amazon looks poised to take over a big chunk of the publishing market)
• New e-book wisdom says it may be more profitable and popular to self-publish. (But e-books means doing a lot of publishing and marketing work-- time that I'd rather spend writing. It also means writing a lot of books quickly-- but I'm a slow writer. Genre books tend to do better as e-books, but mine has a literary bent. Besides, I don't mind if the trad-pubbed book doesn't give me much money, I want my book read but don't expect to start rolling in money)

Since at my current stage of the novel I'm more bothered about writing the book well, than deciding on its mode of publication, I have at least an year or more to decide how I want the publishing to happen. In the meanwhile, I'd rather ask for opinions.

Should I stick to traditional publication? (And once I finish and polish the novel, start typing those query letters, and check if I have a shot at getting published.)

Should I e-publish? (And get ready for an exhausting binge of marketing-- hence push my social media presence an extra notch, starting now?)

Will all the advice you give me become invalid an year from now? (given the pace at which the publishing scenario is changing)


(Now that I've sufficiently spent my writing break on mulling over publishing a book that is 1 year or more from the finish line, I'm off to do some #amwriting. )


But I'd still appreciate your opinion: Querying or self-publishing-- what's your advice for me?
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This post is brought to you by Damyanti, from Amlokiblogs.

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!

Do you like group blogging activities? Sign up for the Monday Movie Meme, a weekly blog series that inspires discussion about entertainment, in a whole new light and provides recommendations for your DVD, on-demand or theater fix. 


New topics are posted every Monday at The Madlab Post!
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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!

If you feel this blog is worthy, go ahead and make my day. Retweet it

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

Alphabet Remix - Lamenting Love's Lure

These blogging prompts are brought to you by Nicole at The Madlab Post....

It’s time for The Alphabet Remix - A Writing Prompt Idea Engine Treating A to Z Blogging Avoidance Disorders

Love has been one of the most popular topics for Letter L during the Blogging from A to Z Challenge -- so popular that some bloggers have opted to forgo being yet another one of the bajillion and six people who write about the sentiment in April. I mean, if we read one blog post about love, then we’ve read them all, right? Much like any other topic or letter, the answer to that question all depends on what is written.

You see, I don’t need a reminder of the existence of a possible oversaturation of love, to understand how dull the topic becomes when it’s sung, performed about and blogged into the ground. I’m in a metropolitan area known as “The City of Brotherly Love” and “The City that Loves You Back.” Heck, the sentiment even has its own park, complete with a waterfall and great views of the famous “Rocky” steps, just a few blocks away.

I’m sometimes puzzled when I notice tourists in awe of such landmarks -- probably because locals like myself often take these placed for granted. Yet, I still don’t mind reading about the topic of love because there are so many different ways that A to Z Challenge participants can write about it without looking or sounding like the same ol’ tune that their fellow bloggers are mixing up. Here are a few Love mixes to consider when trying to find topics to write about during the Blogging from A to Z Challenge in April.

Love Letters
Write a love letter to your spouse, parent, friend or a deceased loved one. Better yet, teach your readers how to craft a love letter to an estranged family member if they are seeking a reconnection. If you’re feeling artsy, make a comic showing three different love letters -- one between teenagers, one between newlyweds and one between two elderly people.

Lovers
Write a short story about two lovers who are faced with a problem. The conflict could revolve around an either low (or high. It could go one way or the other) libido, a scandalous trial over their extreme PDA or some weird transformation issue a la Cinderella, Shrek, Snow White, etc. if you like magic or fantasy stories.

You could also try your writing skills at creating some fan fiction starring two loves from your favorite Soap Opera, novel series or television show. An alternate approach to the topic would be to profile your favorite famous love triangle or lovers scandal in (hollywood, music, political, publishing/fictional) history and write about why you favor their story.

Lovely Fairywren
Find some interesting facts about this Australian bird and write about the one that you find most fascinating. Maybe you could explore how the “lovable” bird got its name or teach your readers about any nicknames that this particular species has. It is one of the quickest options for writing a short blog post for Letter L during the A to Z Challenge.

Now, onto other business. The Winner of Last Week’s Alphabet Soup Game is....

Corinne OFlynn at Ode to Blogging

She correctly unscrambled five of the eight movie titles ending with a Letter L word. Her prize packages includes: Title of Alphabet Wizard, The authority to pick the letter for the next Alphabet Soup game and the option to pick the Monday Movie Meme topic for an upcoming day on my blog.

Congratulations to Corinne!

Here are the answers to last week’s Alphabet Soup:

1. LoeaotLhdtsnf - Land of the Lost.
2. etoLosgnothNi - Nothing to Lose.
3. inneLhlTBeiu -Thin Blue Line.
4. hTeaLmaorpustseLferot - Treasure of the Lost Lamp.
5. edoLfsBoyi - Body of Lies.
6. ffmoienaIitLtio - Imitation of Life.
7. izroyaeLutSdCvp - Crazy Stupid Love.
8. e8tya2rsDaL - 28 Days Later.


I'd also like to send a special shout out to Sheila Siler at Sheila Scribbles, who not only played the Alphabet Soup game, but also correctly unscrambled No. 2 and No. 8 on the list. Kudos to you!

Sign up for the Monday Movie Meme, a weekly group blogging series that inspires discussion about entertainment in a whole new light and provides recommendations for your DVD, on-demand or theater fix. New topics are posted every Monday at The Madlab Post!
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NICOLE
@MadlabPost on Twitter

Is Blogging Obsolete?

In explaining what blogging is all about to a new blogger, I realized more strongly than ever before that we bloggers are a community. We chat, we talk, we listen, we lend each other a hand, we are the performers and the audience rolled into one.

Many of my friends have shut down their blogs, and moved on to twitter-- blogging is dead, they say. Too many talkers, talk for too long-- no one listens.

But I know different. Blogging will survive, in one form or the other, because we as humans have the need to discuss, debate, sympathize, rant, explore and so many other things-- not all of which can be done all the time to our satisfaction in 140 characters.

The A to Z Challenge was proof enough for me that we bloggers as a community love to mingle and hold forth on anything and everything under the sun-- from meatloaves to metaphysics.

Has anyone told you blogging is obsolete? Do you agree?

Special Participant Feature - Andrew Leon

The A to Z Challenge saw some awesome themes. One of the most intriguing was Fiction to Reality by author Andrew Leon at Strange Pegs. Andrew put so much into his posts – the research he conducted was amazing. I asked Andrew to share a little about his theme for the 2012 Challenge:

Your theme was fiction to reality – what made you choose that?

Actually, my wife came up with the theme. I was sort of thinking out loud to her about all of the themes I'd thought of and why I'd rejected them (and having a theme was make it/break it thing for me; I wouldn't have done a to z without one), and she said something like, "Well, why don't you talk about things that started out as science fiction but are now real?" It was a great idea, and I went with it. Of course, not quite everything I chose is science fiction, which is why I did just fiction to reality.

What subject was the most difficult to research?

I didn't really have any topics that were difficult to research in and of themselves, but there were some letters that were difficult to find topics for. Like "J" and "Y." I could find physical -things- that we have that started with those letters, so I had to be a little more creative with those.

Who’s your favorite robot?

Oh, man, that's not even a fair question. Oh, well, wait... do you mean something that's just what we would call a robot, or do you also mean android? I'm gonna go with the 'droid answer, and I would pick R2-D2. I want one. Of course, I also love 3PO. I also love the character of Daneel Olivaw from Asimov.

Who was Tom Swift?

Tom Swift was a character from the, appropriately named, Tom Swift books. He was a boy genius that got himself out of trouble through his inventions. Tom Swift was conceived of by the same guy that thought up The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. There's still a current series of Tom Swift books out there a century after they first started being published.

Any plans to go back to school for a degree in Xenobiology?

You know, I think I'll skip anything that's going back to school. I think of taken a very Ray Bradbury view and decided that free education is the best education. Which is not to say no education, but reading and choosing what to read very deliberately is a much better way to learn than paying an organization a bunch of money to get a piece of paper.

You’re not secretly building a laser or raygun, are you?

Hmm... I can't really tell you that, now, can I? Just, you know, be wary if you wake up one morning to find your living room filled with a giant Jiffy Pop container. I actually do have an old story -somewhere- about a boy that makes the first handheld laser weapon. That was back in college, though, and I'm not sure where that's packed away.

If you do the Challenge next year, what theme would you tackle?

At this point, I have no idea. I haven't had any good ideas, yet, so that question is still just hovering around out there. I won't do it without a theme, though, and it has to be a theme that I'm not gonna find on a dozen other blogs.

Thanks for having me Alex! I really did enjoy all the research and stuff I learned by participating in the challenge.

Andrew, thanks for doing the interview and can’t wait to see what you come up with next year!

Co-host Ninja Captain Alex is the author of CassaStar and CassaFire and his blog can be found HERE

Creating a Blog to Book from A to Z Posts : Guest Post by Pauleen Cass

        Publishing a book does not always mean producing something to sell on Amazon or in the book stores.  There are publish on demand and other publishing services that will print limited quantity or even single editions for family members, friends, or other specific audiences.  Some of you have compiled your blog posts into keepsake editions.

         Today we hear from Australian family history blogger Pauleen Cass who can be found at Family History Across the Seas.   When Pauleen told me that she was going to publish a blog-to-book based on her A to Z Challenge entries, I invited her to share her story with us.   In this post she tells about the process that she used to publish her keepsake editions for her family members.

A to Z Becomes Family Treasure

        My passion, and the focus of my main blog, is family history so it was inevitable that this would carry through to the A to Z challenge 2012. Family history usually discusses the people and their lives, this challenge would focus on place as a character in its own right.

        The theme I decided on was a dollop of travelogue combined with what I called a genealogue: a travel tale of the places important to the stories of our families (past and present). 

               

        My goal was to write something interesting for my fellow bloggers (the geographical/travel underpinning) but mainly to preserve the stories behind the places which might otherwise be lost from our family history.

         My plan was to publish the posts in a blog-to-book thereby preserving the stories for my children and grandchildren.

         Throughout April the blog toured many places in Papua New Guinea, Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany. My fellow tourists included some of my regular readers and some newbies. Their comments encouraged me to reach the finish line.

        In terms of my planned book, I decided that I would combine the A to Z posts with another series, 52 weeks of personal genealogy and history from 2011, as this also contained memories I wanted preserved beyond the digital world.

       I’d used Blurb previously and been very happy with the standard of the publication I received. The benefits of using Blurb are:

1.       It’s possible to bring in footnotes as well as the web links from the posts. This is important in family history where citing sources is critical.

2.       The file is auto-saved as you work, so you can work at it progressively.

3.       It provides different photo/text layouts per page so you can choose what suits that particular story.

4.       The photos you’ve used in your posts are imported and placed into the photo boxes of the layout you choose per page.

5.       You can select which posts you want from your blog.

6.       It also imports comments if you want them included.

      Because I’d decided to combine two hefty series, the initial book length was quite long. I think this affected some of the issues I had in preparing the book. So what do I see as the downsides of the Blurb blog-to-book process and what would I do differently?

1.       In retrospect I would ensure my book size was smaller as I think some of the problems I had with this book arose from its length.

2.       While the importation of footnotes and citations is automatic, it doubles up the citations, cross-referring to your own post, so some editing is required.

3.       Some of the comments flowed over many pages, with blank spaces, again requiring editing.

4.       The photos come in at what seem much lower resolution than that of the original photos, presumably they’ve been reduced to web-standard, and some have to be reduced further –a helpful exclamation mark tells you when it’s not up to print quality.

5.       To ensue you have good quality photos throughout you may wish to re-import the photos you used in the blog post. This certainly gives a better quality final product, but is surely tedious.  If you get stuck and can’t find the image you used on your computer, check its title on the blog and do a search.

6.       If I was doing another long series I wanted to publish in print, I would copy all the photos from my post at the time, and put them in one folder. With the A to Z, I used photos from different file directories so it’s another challenge to go back and re-import them all.

7.       Blurb didn’t cope with the fancy google maps I’d used or the slideshows. Again, more importing.

        Based on my previous Blurb book I expect that I will be very happy with it once it’s completed. Only the individual writer can decide whether its worth the preparation and editing process of getting it print-ready. Because recording these stories is important to me, I’ve deemed it worthwhile, though I’ve had to take a break before finishing upgrading all the photos.

          Have you had any experiences with limited run book services such as this?    Have you ever published your blog posts in book form?    Let us know your thoughts or experiences. 

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• Are You a Storyteller or an Archivist?

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Downhill Slide Begins

Steel Force and Thunderhawk roller coasters at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

         Has this year seemed to be going extraordinarily fast for anyone else besides me?

          We've hit July and that means we're at the top of the roller coaster and on the downhill side.  Yikes!  There's a wild ride ahead with summer (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) wrapping up and a parade of holiday seasons to follow.   Many schools start back in August now.  So much for those long drawn out summers like I used to have when I was a kid.

          Before we know it Halloween will be history and cooler weather will be gusting in--a welcome respite for many who have been experiencing record high temperatures this year.  I'd say more than a few are looking forward to snow and colder weather.

          Of course that colder weather brings NaNo November for the writers, Thanksgiving for those who love to eat, and all of the December holidays for all of the rest of us.   And then it's another year--2013!   The next A to Z is just around the corner it seems.

           Maybe we need to slow down and get back to July.  Oh, sure, we can keep stimulating the A to Z brain for ideas for next year.  Perhaps a few of you will even start writing a few posts as flashes of inspiration hit you.  That's fine, but that flying time has got to be grounded.

           How about a walk on a mountain trail?   Head for a glacier I'd say.  Or bask at the beach if the sun and salt spray is your thing.   Drift on a lake or down a river in a canoe or kayak.  Visit the zoo or an air conditioned museum.   And speaking of AC, there's always the mall.  So much to do and a lot of it can be found right close to home.

         Of course, you could do like I'll be doing for the next few weeks.  My wife and I will be driving cross-country to spend a few days with a daughter in Houston, Texas and then heading on for a few days with relatives in Orlando, Florida.   With about eight 12-15 hour driving days and other days filled with family activities, I have a feeling that I won't be doing too much on the computer during that time.

          And here I thought I was going to be doing some serious writing this month of July.   Well, there is August.  I hope I can manage to keep that month under more control.

          Hope you're having a great summer--or winter if that's what it's like where you are.

           What are your summer plans?   Anybody just staying around the house and doing things there?   Are you going anyplace unusual?    Are you ready to do an A to Z Blog guest post?   Let us know if you are.  We've got some open dates to fill.

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Alphabet Soup - Looney Last Names

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

It’s time for Alphabet Soup - The Word Scramble Puzzle of A to Z Champions!

For every person who has a funny, strange or embarrassing first name, there are probably just as many with unordinary last names. If one strange name isn’t awkward enough, just think of how hesitant some people are to answer to roll calls or fill out a form when their full name causes other people to snicker. It reminds me of the male nurse named Gaylor Focker in “Meet the Parents” and who could forget the female banker named Marcy D’Arcy on “Married with Children?!” So today, L is for Last Names, particularly where movie titles are concerned.

Unscramble the following movie titles that end with a Letter L word. The first commenter who is able to correctly unscramble all or most of these movie titles at best wins this weeks’ Alphabet Soup game. Answers and the name of the winner will be posted here at the A to Z blog during next week’s “Friday Fun Time.”

1. LoeaotLhdtsnf________________


2. etoLosgnothNi________________


3. inneLhlTBeiu________________


4. hTeaLmaorpustseLferot________________


5. edoLfsBoyi________________


6. ffmoienaIitLtio________________


7. izroyaeLutSdCvp________________


8. e8tya2rsDaL________________

EXTRA CREDIT: What are some of the strangest names of people you’ve met in the workplace, school, casual outings, meetings or on vacation?

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NICOLE
Blog: The Madlab Post
Also @MadlabPost on Twitter

The Higgs Boson

The Higgs Boson In light of the exciting and amazing and awesome news coming out of CERN, I thought I’d post some highlights from an article from Reuters concerning confirmation of the long sought after Higgs Boson. And it only cost about $10 billion dollars!

(Reuters) - Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have found a new subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the boson imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs.

The discovery of the particle is likely to shed light on other mysteries of our universe. Scientists see confirmation of this theory as accelerating investigations into the still unexplained "dark matter" they believe pervades the universe and into the possibility of a fourth or more dimensions, or of parallel universes (now we're talking my language!). It may help in resolving contradictions between their model of how the world works at the subatomic level and Einstein's theory of gravity.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider is the world's biggest and most powerful particle accelerator. Two beams of protons are fired in opposite directions around the 27-km (17-mile) looped pipe built under the Swiss-French border before smashing into each other. The collisions, which mimic the moments just after the Big Bang, throw off debris signals picked up by a vast complex of detectors and the data is examined by banks of computers.

Large Hadron Collider (see the man standing in the center?)

The Higgs theory explains how particles clumped together to form stars, planets and life itself. Without the Higgs boson, the universe would have remained a formless soup of particles shooting around at the speed of light, the theory goes.

We will certainly get into the conversation of God and science in future posts!

It is the last undiscovered piece of the Standard Model that describes the fundamental make-up of the universe. The model is for physicists what the theory of evolution is for biologists.

What scientists do not yet know from the latest findings is whether the particle they have discovered is the Higgs boson as exactly described by the Standard Model. It could be a variant of the Higgs idea or an entirely new subatomic particle that could force a rethink on the fundamental structure of matter. The last two possibilities are, in scientific terms, even more exciting.

We do live in exciting times and I’ll have more to post on this matter in the days and weeks to come. Stephen Tremp is author of the Breakthrough trilogy. You can visit him at Breakthrough Blogs.