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Our Pale Blue Dot

12/23/2012

8 Comments

 
As another year comes to a close during which we have again experienced the joys and the nightmares of who/what we are as a species, it is apt to remember the vision of the Pale Blue Dot.

In 1990 NASA instructed the Voyager 1 space probe, then 3.7 billion miles away from Earth, to take a picture of our world. The picture shows our planet as a minute speck (arrow) in the middle of one of several bands caused by the interaction of sunlight with the camera.


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The late astronomer Carl Sagan used this picture and its title "Pale Blue Dot" to write an eponymous book in which he put forward one of the greatest calls to reason that have ever been written. It takes an astronomer to look at things from the outside, and remind us of how petty and insignificant our quarrels are, and how tenuous our foothold in the universe is.

Below you can see a video and /or read the passage from the book.


"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."

Carl Sagan (1934-1996)


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The Sunshine Blogger Award

12/23/2012

4 Comments

 
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I have received the Sunshine Blogger Award from Jeri Walker-Bickett! This award is passed on by bloggers to fellow bloggers who "positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.” Jeri is one such blogger. You can visit Jeri's blog and read her great author interviews, book reviews, and notes on the writing craft, review etiquette, writing and editing tips, and musings in general.  Jeri is also writing a novel entitled "Lost Girl Road," and she posts regular updates about her progress.

Now as part of the Sunshine Blogger Award I am supposed to answer the following 10 personal questions and pass on the award to other bloggers of my choice.

First the questions:

What is your passion? Coming up with new ideas be it in my day job, writing, or in anything else.

Favorite time of the year? I would have to say Fall. The colors are amazing, but it's a bit sad.

Favorite book? There are so many, but I will go with The Lord of The Rings by Tolkien.

Favorite movie? Again, so many, but I will go with Star Wars.

Favorite animal? A tie between cats and dogs.

Favorite time of the day? Dawns and Sunsets are special for me. They are beautiful and full of metaphors.

Favorite Flower? I like roses and meditating about why they have thorns.

Favorite nonalcoholic beverage? Used to be coffee, but I gave that up for health reasons. Now it's milk.

Favorite physical activity? Walking around a local lake.

Favorite vacation? I went on a trip out West with my family for several weeks. We drove around most of the National Parks, had many great adventures, and took amazing pictures.

Now I bestow the Sunshine Blogger Award upon the following bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere: 

Adrienne Joyce 
Jeff Whelan 
Lia London 
Marilou George 
Mary Yuhas 
Molly Greene

If the above bloggers choose to accept the award, they should publish a post accepting the award and answering the same questions I answered. Additionally they should then pass on the award to other bloggers (maximum of ten) that they deem worthy of this award. Once they have done that, they can proudly display the picture of the Sunshine Blogger Award on their blogs!

Thank you bloggers and congratulations; you bring sunshine to the blogosphere!

Here is a list to copy and paste of the questions you should answer if you accept the award:

1) What is your passion?
2) Favorite time of the year?
3) Favorite book?
4) Favorite movie?
5) Favorite animal?
6) Favorite time of the day?
7) Favorite Flower
8) Favorite nonalcoholic beverage?
9) Favorite physical activity?
10) Favorite vacation?

                                   ***
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4 Comments

Amazon Accepts and Encourages Fake Reviews

12/15/2012

6 Comments

 
On the FAQ to its costumer review guidelines Amazon clarifies what makes for a great costumer review. They claim that among the most loved reviews are those that can be "just plain funny."


If you click under the "funny" link above it will take you to a review of a product that Amazon deems to fall in the "just plain funny" category. It's a review of a shirt sold on Amazon that has an image of 3 wolves and the moon. The review claims that the shirt will allow you to get women and fly, and it has a video to prove it.

So here you have Amazon endorsing a fake review. You may argue that I should lighten up a little because this review is an obvious spoof that doesn't hurt anyone. But consider another product: Wolf Urine. Virtually all the reviews about this product are fake "just plain funny" reviews, except the one I am reproducing here:

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 1.0 out of 5 stars Why are all the reviews jokes?, September 14, 2012 By pumpkin

I have read more than half of the reviews of wolf urine and they're all jokes. I would like to know if anyone has used this product to repel coyotes. A coyote nabbed my neighbor's pet cat from her front yard two weeks ago, and came back for the other cat four days later. Right now all the neighborhood cats have to stay inside, and talk about pissed, they are. Has anyone used wolf urine to repel coyotes? Did it work?


So here you have a case of a potential customer interested in whether the product will work in a certain way and trying to no avail to find the answer among all the spoof reviews; the very same reviews that Amazon condones and encourages.

Still, I do understand the comedic value of the fake reviews. In fact they may actually help some products; but here is my beef. The thriller author Joe Konrath wrote a series of fake reviews in September to make his point that writing fake reviews is not necessarily bad. Among them was a review for a training aid to prevent dogs from eating their own poop.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Works great!, September 24, 2012

By J. A. KONRATH "Thriller Author" (Chicago, IL USA)

This review is from: Solid Gold S.E.P. (Stop Eating Poop) 3.5oz (Misc.)

It helped cure a gross and disgusting habit that almost ended in divorce. But thanks to S.E.P. I'm now able to resist the temptation, and my wife is kissing me again.

In November Amazon decided to enforce their misguided policy of authors not being able to review other authors with whom they have a personal relationship (whatever that means). It was in this way that more than fifty of Joe Konrath's reviews of fellow authors were removed from Amazon.

These were not fake reviews. These were real, honest, and useful reviews of books by authors whose work he likes, and now they are gone forever. But here is the kicker: all of Konrath's fake reviews, including the one about the stop eating poop product, are still up!

So by Amazon standards leaving an honest, useful, review of a book by a fellow author whose work we respect is not acceptable, but leaving a fake review of a training aid to make dogs stop eating poop is.

Still think I need to lighten up a little?

OK, I will lighten up a little. How about this: Amazon Wants Authors to be Celibate and Hates Their Mothers!
                                   ***
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6 Comments

Amazon Wants Authors to Be Celibate and Hates Their Mothers!

12/15/2012

4 Comments

 
Amazon has just unveiled some very bad news for us authors: they clarified their product review policy.

With regards to whether authors can review other authors they have this to say:

Authors and artists can add a unique perspective and we very much welcome their customer reviews. However, we don't allow anyone to write customer reviews as a form of promotion. If you have a direct or indirect financial interest in a product, or [are] perceived to have a close personal relationship with its author or artist, we will likely remove your review.

Can you believe this? No, I don't mean the fact they left out the word "are" from a public document. The above means that I will not be able to keep on running the "sex for reviews" scheme that has worked so well for me. Amazon wants me to be celibate! In fact I may not even be able to use romantic innuendo in order to charm fellow authors into leaving reviews for my book because that may classify as a "personal relationship." What am I going to do now?

And Amazon also gives several specific cases of customer reviews they don't allow. For example:

A customer posts a review in exchange for $5.

How am I going to earn money now? With the 400 reviews I get paid to write per month I am barely breaking even. And this is very hard work even though I barely read the books!

A seller posts negative reviews on his competitor's product.

Well, somebody's got to do it. I mean, all those illiterate readers who don't know better love the son of a bitch's book more than mine!

A product manufacturer posts a review of their own product, posing as an unbiased shopper.

And pray tell how many reviews can I leave on my book's Amazon page using my own name? Well, just one; duh! Of course I need to pose as someone other than me. And I AM unbiased: my books just happen to be great.

An artist posts a positive review on a peer's album in exchange for receiving a positive review from them.

Now I cannot trade reviews with my fellow authors! But maybe there is a silver lining. I can still send them e-mails where I write: GIVE MY BOOK A FIVE STAR REVIEW OR I WILL COME OVER AND KILL YOU! I've done it a couple of times, and it has worked. Maybe I will do this more often.

But the most egregious one of them all is:

A family member of the product creator posts a five-star customer review to help boost sales.

This is unconscionable! What does Amazon have against my mother? She writes the best five star reviews east of the Mississippi. And even though she is 80 and in ill health, she manages to keep track of all her different accounts. My mother is by any measure an admirable woman, and I deeply resent Amazon waging this senseless Jihad against adorable reviewers like her.

I am sure that if you are an author you sympathize with me, as you probably do pretty much what I do to get reviews. But what will we do now? Amazon wants us to be celibate and hates our mothers. How is my next book going to get the 60 reviews I got for my first book The Sun Zebra? Should I just write a book, put it out there, and then wait twiddling my thumbs for the reviews to come? Yeah, right!

Woe is me, despair, despair…what are we going to do?


This post was my attempt to "lighten up a little."
                                   ***
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4 Comments

The End of Men Cheating on Their Wives?

12/7/2012

7 Comments

 
In the movie "My Fair Lady" the late British actor Stanley Holloway sings the song about taking the easy way out, "With a Little Bit of Luck," in his signature Cockney accent.

One of the most memorable lines from the song can be heard in the above video at 4:39 minutes where he sings:

Oh, it's a crime for man to go philandering.
And fill his wife's poor heart with grief and doubt.
Oh, it's a crime for man to go philandering - but
With a little bit of luck, with a little bit of luck,
You can see the bloodhound don't find out!


Throughout the ages many men, to the dismay of their wives, have furtively escaped the domestic realm seeking the thrill of "the other woman" and hoping for that "little bit of luck." Neither the threats of social humiliation, financial ruin, or the fires of hell have prevented the likes of David Petraeus, Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Bill Clinton and countless other less famous characters from heeding the call of testosterone. Exasperated women over the centuries have wondered whether something can actually be done about these Lotharios. Well ladies, your wait may soon be over. Science may have the answer to your quandary!

In recent study published on the Journal of Neuroscience the researchers examined the effect of the hormone oxytocin in modulating social distance between men and women. This hormone along with other related substances has been found to participate in the regulation of the pair bond between males and females in several monogamous species of mammals. In their study the investigators took 2 groups of men, single and married, and tested the effects of an intranasal spray of oxytocin on how close they would stand to an attractive woman. They found that married men when sprayed with the hormone would stand further away from the woman, whereas the hormone had no effect on single men. The researchers also found that married men sprayed with the hormone approached pictures of attractive women more slowly.

Of course this research is in its early stages, but it is possible that in the future several lines of sprays enhanced with the right hormones may be available to wives so they can prevent their would-be Casanova husbands from running away after the nearest skirt. What do you say ladies? If this product existed and your better half displayed a tendency to fancy himself Don Juan, would you spray him? Leave a comment and let us know!
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Will E-Books Replace Print Books?

12/7/2012

6 Comments

 
We hear a lot these days that e-books will replace print books, but the folks at TeachingDegree.org have researched the available data on the subject and put together a graphic that indicates otherwise. They suggest that e-books and print books will co-exist occupying different niches. Take a look at the graphic below and let us know what you think. 

Please Include Attribution to TeachingDegree.org With This Graphic
E-books Infographic
                                    ***
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The Reader, The Writer, and The Bad Book in the Self-Publishing Frontier

12/1/2012

19 Comments

 
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I have heard this argument repeated so many times that I feel I need to say something about it. The argument in question comes from two sides. The reader's version states something like "I have bought a self-published book and it was awful. Self-published books have low quality and are badly written. I will never buy a self-published book again!" The writer's version is something like "We self-published writers need to make our work as good as possible because otherwise readers will end up buying sloppily written or edited books that will give self-published writers a bad name. We owe it to ourselves, and to our readers."

I disagree with both.

Let me deal first with the reader. As far as I am concerned, readers are responsible for their purchases. If you purchase a bad product you have no one to blame but yourself. I often think of the analogy of a supermarket. It has products of high and low quality. You walk around with your cart and make shopping decisions based on the quality of the products and your budget. You pick up the items, read the labels, compare one with the other and then make your decision. Why should book buying be any different? So you bought a book and it was bad. Did you read the sample pages? Did you read the reviews? Did you click on the names of the reviewers and check out their other reviews? Did you visit the author's website and read their blog and some free samples? Or did you buy the book because the cover looked good or because it has a high rating on a handful of reviews? The way I see it, the reader HAS the responsibility to find out about the quality of the book they are considering buying. And if a reader buys a bad book I don't appreciate them not owning up to their mistake and chiding all self-published writers in the process.

The argument from the writer's side, although it is a well-meaning call to excellence, falls short of understanding the reality of self-publishing. In self-publishing we are our own boss. We call the shots. The whole point of self-publishing is freedom: freedom from gatekeepers, and freedom to take our work directly to the reader. When you declare that there is freedom, there is someone out there who will use that freedom in ways you won't like. There are authors who put out sloppy books. In fact some do so as a formal strategy where they concentrate on quantity over quality. My approach is to make my book as good as possible within the confines of my personal situation. However, I don't feel I need to embrace a crusading banner and go around trying to encourage others to improve their books for the greater good for the simple reason that I am not a gatekeeper. It is my opinion that any pressure to try to make self-published authors conform to a mold sets a bar, and bars are the warp and woof of gatekeeping. The reason we are self-publishing is to avoid this. Of course there are some commonsense guidelines, and writers ignore them at their own risk. But what you do with your book is your own business. You don't HAVE to do anything and much less OWN IT to anyone. This is the way of the self-publishing frontier.

What do you think?
(Photo credit: Vectorportal /CC BY-NC-ND)
                                   ***
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19 Comments

The Funny in Your Mind

12/1/2012

4 Comments

 
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Have you ever asked yourselves what makes something funny? Why do we laugh when something is funny? What goes on in our brain when we hear something funny? Why do we seek the funny? Well, as it turns out neuroscientists have been hard at work in this area for a while using the most up to date technologies to answer these questions. One way to study these questions is to look at the areas of the brain that increase in activity while subjects listen to jokes. For this, scientists have used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that can identify those regions of the brain that become more active in response to a stimulus.

In a recent study, scientists imaged the brain of volunteers who listened to jokes or non-jokes. The scientists also asked the subjects to complete a questionnaire to rate the level of "funniness" of what they heard. The results indicate that funny is not something that is localized to one structure in the brain. When what the subjects heard was funny, several dispersed structures in the brain were activated. Some of the structures like the amygdala, ventral striatum, and midbrain, are associated with the experience of positive reward. This means that "getting a joke" produces pleasure. The extent to which these areas were activated correlated with the subjective ratings of funniness that the participants ascribed to the jokes. The researchers could tell whether a person thought something was funny just by evaluating the increases in activity in these brain areas.

One interesting aspect of this study was the evaluation of jokes with semantic ambiguity. There is an area of the brain called the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) that increases in activity when subjects are exposed to funny things. The IFG also becomes active when a person encounters semantic ambiguity. For example:

"What was the problem with the other coat? It was difficult to put on with the paint roller."

This sentence activates your IFG briefly because of the ambiguity associated with the word "coat" (a garment vs. a layer of paint). The IFG is a brain structure involved in resolving ambiguities. Now consider the following joke:

"Why don't cannibals eat clowns? Because they taste funny!"

When you listen to this joke, your IFG also becomes active in response to the ambiguity regarding the meaning of the word "funny" (odd or bad vs. amusing), but in this case the resolution of the ambiguity is more difficult than with the example about the coat. As a result of this your IFG remains active for a longer time. The authors of the study found that this increased activity of the IFG was an important component associated with the funniness of jokes with semantic ambiguity.

This study evaluated the neurological complexity behind something as seemingly mundane as finding a joke funny. Of course, when scientists study these processes they try to simplify things as much as possible to make them amenable to research. One aspect that was not evaluated is whether we find a joke funny when we are the object of the joke. For example if an author received a review of their book that stated:

"Your book was both good and original. Unfortunately the part that was good was not original and the part that was original was not good."

Would the author find that funny? I can't even begin to imagine how the brain scan would look!

What do you think? (Image courtesy of smokedsalmon)

                                    ***
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    I am a tinker, tailor,
    soldier, sailor,
    rich man, poor man,
    beggar-man, thief!

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