Christmas Eels

Back in the day when there were only three networks and subsequently only three channels to watch, I’d get up on a Saturday morning and settle in for a morning of cartoon watching. I have a recollection of a character’s body going rigid and translucent as electric current coursed through his frame when he grabbed hold of an electric eel.

Courtesy Google Images

As funny as this was to a preteen, apparently it’s not so farfetched. According to tvtropes.org  an electric eel (which isn’t really an eel but rather a species of knife fish) is capable of delivering a jolt capable of killing an ungrounded adult. When you consider that less than one tenth (1/10) of one (1) amp can prove fatal if it travels through the heart, you can understand the plausibility of meeting your demise if you were to encounter an electric eel.

However, the current emitted by electric eels is capable of more than incapacitating other life forms. Turns out their power can be harnessed for good. Currently (pun intended), the folks at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, Utah have illuminated Christmas lights that they attached to an eel tank. As the eel swims through the water, it generates a current necessary to power the lights.

How cool is that? It’s not a new idea but that doesn’t diminish its interest factor.

Anyone have any idea how many eels it would take to power a house?

Watch

Good Baby?

Nature versus nurture— it’s an age old argument. Is a person’s personality determined by heredity or is it shaped by the environment? Are babies born good or is behavior learned?

On Sunday, November 18, 2012 CBS’ 60 Minutes aired a segment detailing a study that leads researchers to believe children as young as six months old know the difference between good and bad.

Lead by Paul Bloom and Karen Wynn, husband and wife psychologists at Yale University, the study explores a variety of tests created to determine if children could identify a “good” puppet versus a “bad” puppet. The test subjects were babies, six-months of age, of both sexes and varying races.

Out of the multitude of tests, two piqued my curiosity.

1. A puppet attempted to open the lid of a box. A second puppet (good), offered assistance. A third puppet (bad) prevented the first puppet from opening the box. Next, a different researcher, one who didn’t know which puppets had been presented as good or bad, held the good and bad puppets at arm’s length in front of a baby. A majority of the children reached for the good puppet.

Courtesy CBS 60 Minutes

2. A puppet played with a ball. A second puppet came into play and “stole” the ball away. In most cases, the baby would pick the puppet that didn’t “steal” the ball.

The research results seem to indicate that people are born with an innate sense of what is good behavior and what is bad. As a parent, I find this fascinating because I wonder why some aspects of my kids’ personalities are so varied, yet others are similar. Did we raise them that differently or were they just wired that way from birth?

I suppose there are a number of factors that determine a person’s personality. But, I’d like to think we’re all born with our moral compass intact; that we possess a basic sense of right and wrong.

What do you think has the greatest impact – heredity or environment?

Happy Thanksgiving

Today was a great day!

The whole family made it for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s first time in a few years we’ve been able to gather for the Feast. It was special to have our daughter-in-law, three boys, grandson and my mother in the same place for this day.

And we were able to celebrate Mom’s 94^th birthday.

I’d be interested to hear how you spent the day … I hope it was as spectacular as ours!

There’s not much left of this bird!

The Next Big Thing

Today is the anniversary of my very first blog post. I cannot believe a year has passed. In that time I’ve written about all manner of advanced motorized transportation and we even had a commercial space vehicle dock with the International Space Station – amazing.

To commemorate this event I am participating in The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. The idea is for writers to answer ten questions about a work-in-progress or a newly-published book.

My writing coach, Sera Rivers, tagged me last week. Since it’s my blog’s one-year anniversary, she has decided to let me go first. (As she looks upon this paragraph, she is grumbling about my phrase-choice “she has decided,” but in celebratory honor, she is allowing me to keep said phrase-choice: THIS time…yes, she wrote these parenthetic remarks.)

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:

What is your working title of your book?
Refuge

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I’ve always been a bit fascinated by the myth of Santa Claus. How does this guy get toys into the hands of all good children? My hypothesis is that he’s an alien who utilizes advanced technology to fabricate and deliver the toys in a timely manner. Refuge is his backstory, who he was before Santa Claus.

What genre does your book fall under?
I would call it a cross-genre of science fiction and historical fiction; I’ve got aliens, Vikings, Scots, spaceships, advanced weaponry and a cloaked island on Earth.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Dwayne“The Rock” Johnson as the protagonist, SubCaptain KrisIngles. Bruce Willis as Lieutenant GuarDell, an old school Sanklausian Marine. Dye her hair red and Piper Perabo, star of USA’s Covert Affairs, would make a kick-ass Gitta, the potential love interest of KrisIngles.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
The first in a trilogy, Refuge is a redefinition of Santa Claus’ origin.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I will be seeking representation.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
It seemed like it took forever to write the first draft, when in actuality, it took about a year and a half.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I’m not certain. I think I would liken it to, “First Contact,” Season Four, episode 15 of Star Trek The Next Generation (airdate: 2/18/1991). During a mission to determine if the Malcorians are Federation worthy, Will Riker, disguised as a Malcorian, is injured and stranded in a one of their hospitals.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I have always felt like there was a story inside me waiting to be written. On numerous occasions, I started a tale but never got past the first page. I had all sorts of excuses – family, work, night school (I was working toward a BS in Computer Science). Finally, in the beginning of 2005, I vowed that I’d start working on a book when I attained my degree. While I wrote and wrote and wrote, it didn’t really come together until I hired a writing coach to help keep me on task.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Refuge grew from what I had originally planned as a prologue/introduction to an entirely different story. But it took a life of its own and has turned into the first novel of a trilogy. As I wrote, I realized there was much more of KrisIngles’ story to tell.


Leave questions, similar book titles, and general comments below. I’d love to hear from you.

Look for next week’s NEXT BIG THING post by Sera Rivers.

Home Repairs Made Easy?

Home ownership is tiring. You have to mow the lawn, trim the shrubs, rake the leaves, clean the gutters, shovel the walk, sand and salt the driveway, repaint, wallpaper. Aaaarrrggghhh, it’s never ending. And sometimes … it seems like the most benign task becomes a major project; I lose count of my trips to the hardware store.

Courtesy Google Images

Want to get rid of those cracks in your home’s foundation? There’s hope. Researchers at Delft Technical University in the Netherlands are developing self-repairing concrete. FutureTimeline.net reports that microbiologist Henk Jonkers and concrete specialist Erik Schlangen have created a self-healing concrete by adding inactive bacteria to the concrete mixture.

The theory? When a small crack forms in concrete it becomes exposed to the elements. Water seeps into the crack, activates the bacteria, and helps turn calcium in the nutrients into limestone which fills the cracks. How cool is it that scientists are figuring out how to grow concrete?

What I wouldn’t give for a lawn that mowed itself or a room where the paint never faded, dulled or chipped. Wouldn’t it be great if scientists could, somehow, transfer this type of technology to other aspects of home care?

Billion Dollar Baby

A dollar bill is 6.14 inches long and .0043 inches thick. If you were to lay four billion of them end-to-end they’d stretch around the earth nine and one half times. A stack of four billion ones would be over 271 miles high.

Courtesy Google Images

$4.05 billion; that’s the amount, in cash and stocks, that The Walt Disney Company paid George Lucas for Lucasfilm. When I sat in a theater in 1977 and watched Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope I never dreamed the franchise would be worth such a vast sum; heck, I never dreamed there’d be a franchise.

Back then, people compared Star Wars to the, then, defunct Star Trek franchise. They said the special effects in Star Wars far outshined those from the 1960s series.

Seriously? Being a fan of Captain Kirk, et al, I was offended. Movie and television technology had dramatically advanced in the decade after Star Trek ended. What did people expect? of course the special effects were going to be more … special.

According to ABCnews.com, Disney also announced that in 2015 they will release Episode VII. That is awesome! Lucas had decided that he was done with Star Wars movies after Episode III so I think that with the backing of Disney Studios there’s a chance we may see Episodes VII through IX.

Does anyone else share my rejuvenated Star Wars excitement?

Not Captain Kangaroo’s Green Jeans

Courtesy Google Images

I am old enough to remember the Captain Kangaroo morning show with Bob Keeshan portraying the Captain. I remember the magic drawing board, Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, Dancing Bear and Mr. Greenjeans.

Captain Kangaroo and his cast of characters have been … retired for some time, but that doesn’t mean an end to green jeans. According to the British Council, Professor Tony Ryan of the University of Sheffield and Professor Helen Storey of the London College of Fashion are collaborating on the development of clothing that will purify the air.

The Independent reports that Ryan and Storey discovered microscopic particles of titanium oxide worked as a pollution buster when sprayed on clothes. Professor Storey said, “It seemed to be particularly effective on denim jeans and then we realised there were more denim jeans on the planet than people.” The toxins trapped in the coating will be neutralized and washed away when the jeans are laundered. Tests are being performed to determine if the jeans are safe to wear.

Regardless the outcome of the testing, I’d be hard pressed to don any clothing that is designed to absorb toxins.

Does anyone want to wear a catalytic converter in the guise of Levis?