BLOGS

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat… On our freelance writing blog, I start reminding writers about the importance of Christmas sales from July onwards. If you’re a Kindle author, you need to create an ebook publishing strategy for the holidays NOW too.

The holidays are the big spending days of the year

Companies small and large make the bulk of their income over the holiday season, and here’s why — people are spending money. Think of all the new Kindles, iPads, phones and other devices which will be given as gifts over the holiday season. Shouldn’t some of your ebooks grace these electronic toys?

I’ll answer that question for you — YES, they should. So start writing.

Ebook publishing: Christmas can be both fun, and profitable

I reminded a student about Christmas ebooks last week, and he complained that he didn’t have any ideas. No ideas? Of course you have ideas. Writers get ideas more easily than pets get fleas.

Here’s what I suggested to start him thinking:

• Nonfiction: Christmas recipes; how to create hand-made paper for gift wraps and cards; recipes for easy Christmas treats you can cook and bake to give as gifts; how to create gorgeous decorations…
• Fiction: a series of ten short stories with a Christmas theme, in a mix of genres, or in a single genre; a mystery novel with Santa Claus as either the sleuth, or the corpse; a romance novel with a hero and heroine who are both alone during the holidays, and…

I’m sure that you can come up with any number of ideas for Christmas-themed ebooks. Make a list now. Use Trello to collect ideas, or my new fave app, Quip. I use Quip as my ideas notebook, accessible to me anywhere, on any device.

Continued...

My last beta reader has just completed my manuscript. He loved the book, and wrote a long, glowing review. I'm on a roll right now! So far, I've had no bad reviews (fingers crossed). Below is a snippet of the review from my last beta reader, Steven Farmer a comedian, actor and independent film screen writer. The full review is loaded with spoilers--sorry, can't share that. Not unless you're an agent or publisher. : )

“I’ll start by saying I was completely blown away by your book. I’m impressed by how well made this book is. Not just the story, but the formatting. It’s an easy read. That being said, the story is excellent. It transcends so many genres. You have a small scale story of a soldier kidnapping a woman, and turn into a burgeoning romance novel, and it would have been good enough with just that. Then you added the backdrop of a looming war, the political effects of taking a foreign woman with child, and the sci-fi element. Combined them, and then you took the sci-fi to the next level. Never a dull moment. And it all flows together seamlessly.” - Steven F.

Read the first 25 pages of The Warrior from Monde: https://snpetro.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/first-25.pdf

Illustration of the programmable photonic circuit. Photons enter from the left, are processed and exit to the right. The connector at the centre top of the circuit is to the external control system. (Courtesy: Jacques Carolan et al./Science).

Topics: Consumer Electronics, Electrical Engineering, Nanotechnology, Optics, Photonics, Quantum Computer, Semiconductor Technology

Physics World: Physicists build universal optics chip, Edwin Cartlidge

Image Source: da Vinci Robotic Surgery

Topics: Applied Physics, Biology, Computer Science, Medical Physics, Robotics

Physics arXiv:
Adverse Events in Robotic Surgery: A Retrospective Study of 14 Years of FDA Data
Homa Alemzadeh, Ravishankar K. Iyer, Zbigniew Kalbarczyk, Nancy Leveson, Jaishankar Raman

Scientists have created a transistor made up of a single molecule. Surrounded by just 12 atoms, it is likely to be the smallest possible size for a transistor – and the hard limit for Moore’s law.

The transistor is made of a single molecule of phthalocyanine surrounded by ring of 12 positively charged indium atoms placed on an indium arsenide crystal, as revealed in the scientific journal Nature Physics.

Click here for the full story

Image Source: Science Alert

Topics: Boeing, Lasers, Nuclear Fusion, Plasma Physics, Star Trek, Star Wars

Last week, the US Patent and Trademark Office approved an application from Boeing’s Robert Budica, James Herzberg, and Frank Chandler for a laser-and-nuclear driven aeroplane engine.

Science Alert:
Boeing just patented a jet engine powered by lasers and nuclear explosions
Benjamin Zhang, Business Insider

Why Chase Vapor is important: Chase Vapor is a show anyone can enjoy, but it is a show FOR geeks, most specifically kids who don't know they're geeks yet. Being a geek or nerd or whatever your preferred nomenclature is, can be a hard sad lonely time. The world isn't kind to people who don't fit in, especially when you're young. Weirdness is seldom treated as the commodity that it should be. As a weird young kid whose brain was full of 'What ifs' Star Trek was the perfect show. Every episode a 'What if' with a mystery and a moral conundrum thrown in., and ultimately a franchise about good people struggling to figure out what the right thing to do is. A universe where you could be a large gruff crinkly headed alien, and still have a ship full of friends who respected you, or a morphing glob of goo who solved crimes and was uncomfortable in social situations, but still got invited to them. And like any space faring sci-fi show, it gave you the stars. No matter how bad your day was you just had to wait 'til nightfall and look up. To a geek the night sky is no mere black curtain with holes poked in it, every star becomes an adventure just waiting to be imagined.
The outcast, picked on, left out kids of the world need that. The opportunity to turn a speck of distant light into a spark of magic. That spark can turn you from feeling like a loser, to chasing the dream of becoming an astronomer, or an engineer, or an astronaut, or a doctor, or if you're very unlucky a writer. It is vitally important that the next generation believe that they can save the world just like Chase, because they will very likely need to. Right now there is a child sitting somewhere feeling left out cause she isn't really into the pink princess doll she got for Christmas, or feeling confused because no one the same color as him ever seems to save the day in any of the shows he watches. Give them Chase Vapor, Chase Vapor will give them the stars.

The other day I was listening to the podcast The Auteur Cast. In discussing The Empire strikes back, one of the hosts used the character of Lando Calrissian to question why there are so few black people in science-fiction. It’s not a new question. In 1976, on the album Bicentennial Nigger, Richard Pryor observed:

“I don’t like movies when they don’t have no niggers in ‘em. I went to see, I went to see Logan’s Run, right. They had a movie of the future called Logan’s Run. Ain’t no niggers in it. I said, well white folks ain’t planning for us to be here. That’s why we gotta make movies. Then we be in the pictures.”

It would be nice to say that times sure have changed in the 37 years since. There’ve been nineteen black astronauts in NASA, there’s a black president, a black attorney general and countless other black people have attained positions of power or advanced science (it's even fair to say that Neil deGrasse Tyson is a household name). But that's science-fact and in Hollywood science-fiction the future remains so white you’ve gotta wear shades.

Most space operas depict a universe populated by aliens with prosthetic alterations to their eyes and ears and in all shades of skin tone… almost invariably played by white people. If one tries to think of an alien played by a Latino, I can think of Edward James Olmos (in blue contacts) in Battlestar Galactica as Caprican (of Tauron descent) Commander Bill Adama and that’s it (OK, and Tahnee Welch in the Cocoon movies). Ricardo Montalban as Khan doesn’t count because firstly, Khan Noonien Singh was apparently supposed to be South Asian, given his title “Singh,” and a native of earth -- not an extraterrestrial. Speaking of Asian aliens – are there any besides Flash Gordon’s Ming the Merciless, emperor of the planet Mongo (obviously meant to be the face of yellow peril and who was also always played by white actors)?

Continued...

Was watching morning news show, saw a couple of guys riding elongated skate boards carrying poles for balance and momentum. They looked like gondoliers in Venice..........

A skateboard city? Pedestrian sidewalks for walkers, wide streets and long skateboards with one driver and four passengers. It is a striking sight, how folks get on board, get in sync together and ride with a sort of mindless ease. Carrying stuff, reading their ePads and chattering back and forth with effortlessness. There is an apparent laid back attitude as if this mode of transport is preferred, even for the aged.  Wide skateboards carrying goods, delivering food, the precision of the riders to navigate is uncanny. The poles they carry to balance and propel are mostly plain but some are ornate and some are high-tek concealing lights, weaponry and safety items.

There are solitary blade skaters zooming about who often link shoulder to shoulder resembling a centipede to share power and aerodynamics for long trips in high speed lanes.

There is an ultra speed lane that has a unique feature, a crew of pushers. They patrol the byways looking for a flag signal from linked groups to speed-assist. The pusher has motorized wheels and emergency clearance to break riding rules. Pushers keep things moving, quick to point out or teach "good form" which is the law.

As with any city an element that skirts "good form" exists. They are slightly to overtly out of sync, somewhat arrogant and always dress the part. Shorts and tees and the fake tattoos they change like chameleons to hide and allude. They inhabit the skate parks and are all about extending their "terror-tory". They shout "remember the old school when skating was free and off grid?". They hate that boarding has become normalized, yet they don't prefer to walk.

There is always talk of the gliders of the future, no more wheels. Sure water gliders are as old as boats but land gliders? That is the holy grail of boarding. Come on, you got to believe the Silver Surfer is god. Ok, he's a herald of a galaxy eater. Not to worry, NASA has the TUMS project to protect us. So SS can once again be Harold the skateboard rider.   

As a research scientist, she inspired a generation, especially young women, to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

This weekend was one of great excitement for the planetary science community as the New Horizons spacecraft moved in on Pluto following decades of hard work. But that optimism took on a somber tone Saturday as news quickly traveled that pioneering scientist Claudia Alexander had died at age 56. Friends and family writing online tributes reported she suffered from breast cancer, but no official cause of death was given.

Alexander was an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the final project manager for NASA’s Galileo mission. But her public profile rose dramatically last fall due to her duties asproject scientist for NASA’s role in the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

"The passing of Claudia Alexander reminds us of how fragile we are as humans but also as scientists how lucky we are to be part of planetary science,” James Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said in a statement. “She and I constantly talked about comets. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in particular. She was an absolute delight to be with and always had a huge engaging smile when I saw her. It was easy to see that she loved what she was doing. We lost a fantastic colleague and great friend. I will miss her."

I still can't believe it...

Astronomy: Pioneering Rosetta mission scientist Claudia Alexander dead at 56, Eric Betz

Image Source: Amazon.com, 1990 edition

Topics: Calculus, Cosmos, History, Humor, Research, Science, Scientific Method

Amazon.com: The Art of Tracking - The Origin of Science
Cyber Tracker: The Origin of Science
Skeptic Magazine:
Tracking Science: The Origin of Scientific Thinking in Our Paleolithic Ancestors

Mark G. Raizen, Professor of Physics

Topics: Atomic Physics, Optical Physics, Laser Cooling, Nanotechnology, Nobel Prize, Research

UT News:
Keck Foundation Awards $1.5 Million for New Method to Cool Atoms and Student Research

CERN: An illustration of the possible layout of quarks in a pentaquark (Time)

Topics: Large Hadron Collider, LHC, Particle Physics, Quarks, Quantum Mechanics, Theoretical Physics

Physics arXiv:
Observation of J/ψp resonances consistent with pentaquark states in Λ0b→J/ψK−p decays
LHCb collaboration

Latest photos of Pluto's puzzling spots. Source: John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Planetary Science, Space Exploration

NASA: Pluto and Charon: New Horizons' Dynamic Duo
New Horizons: NASA's Mission to Pluto
* USA Today:
Astronomer's ashes nearing icy world he discovered: Pluto, Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

Source: Technology Review

Topics: Acoustics, Humor, Materials Science, Radio Frequency Microelectronics, Sonar

Physics arXiv: Demonstration of novel high-power acoustic through-the-wall sensor,
Franklin Felber

I am still just reeling from this book. I was a skeptic when this became the Blerd Book Club read, but I have to say the club got it right. A nine year old quick thinking girl, Letitia, goes to a her sister’s kindergarten class to save her and ends up saving about a dozen of her classmates as well from certain death during the zombie apocalypse.

MORE...

“No matter how successful I am, and no matter how many things I have under my belt, it just feels like nothing is enough” – those are the words of the writer and performer Dylan Marron, talking about his own difficulty in finding work and being cast in Hollywood.

We know that Marron isn’t alone. There’s a dearth of non-white actors getting roles in Hollywood. We know because of the statistics, the lack of award nominations and the steps that have been taken to counteract it.

Click here for the full story

Credit: Thomas Fuchs

Topics: History, Humor, Kinetic Theory of Gases, Mathematical Models, Stochastic Modeling

Okay, this was a bit of a stretch but it APPEARS in Scientific American. I mean a stretch applying theory meant for essentially micro environments to macro environments. They apply the fact that armies and gases have densities and a little imagination. There have been other models of war using either known mathematics or natural phenomena. I was also mildly entertained by the credits for the author of the article and the photo credit. I'll let you discover without mention. I hope I'm not in trouble with too many high school physics teachers, and it makes your Friday.

Scientific American:
The Kinetic Theory of Gases Accurately Predicts Nazi Blitzkrieg Attacks, Tim Palucka

Figure 1. (a) A sketched diagram of 193i exposure head. Water fills the gap between the final lens and the wafer. The water injection and confinement system is not included in the diagram. (b) Optical paths of two-beam interference for both "dry" and 193i exposures.

Topics: Economy, Education, Photolithography, Nanotechnology, Semiconductor Technology, STEM

Solid State Electronics:
Immersion lithography remains the industry’s workhorse technology, Jeff Dorsch
SPIE: 193nm immersion lithography: Status and challenges, Yayi Wei and David Back