Parting Shot Copyright

 I just reread my last blog. (Wow! 8 months ago! Sorry about that.) Some of my questions have been answered and some have not. It's hard to believe we're descending into a similar situation as the delta variant spreads. (No matter what I said in December, I'm tired of wearing a mask.)

I still want to stay out of the political arena, but it boggles my mind that some people think they can tell health departments, school districts and government entities that they can't create rules to keep everyone safe. Banning mask mandates seems like the height of arrogance to me; it's more important to show you're right (or more stubborn) than to protect other people?? I don't get that at all.

One of the results of the pandemic is that a lot of offices in Washington, D.C., closed. That includes the Copyright Office. Oops. And guess who filed for copyright protection last August? Yep, that would be me. (So THAT's why you shouldn't publish during a pandemic!) I've learned my lesson a little late, it seems.

The big problem is that they closed the warehouse where they keep the physical copies of submitted works. They sort of filed everything in that warehouse in order received, but no one could touch it until recently. If you remember the gigantic warehouse at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," that's probably what it looked like while all those works piled up. (I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't realize what a problem it would be.)

I knew there would be a delay, but here we are, a year later, and my case is still open. I even submitted the file electronically last month in the hopes that it would help my case. The Copyright Office acknowledged that they received it ... and then nothing.

They do say on their site that they're processing claims from October 2020, which is after my submission date of August 2020, so I'm hopeful that I'll hear something soon. There's no precedent for this, though, so I have no idea.

I guess one of these days I'll get a nice little surprise when my copyright registration appears in the mail without warning! That will be nice.

Meanwhile, I hope we can all get a handle on the delta variant and once again start to feel safe again. We're all in it together, so we all have to do what we can to keep each other safe.

P.S. If you expect me to comment on the Cubs' fire sale, it's still too soon and I just can't. Sorry.

March in April

It was chilly, in the low 40s, and there was drizzle in the air ... so why was there a group of people, myself included, standing in the middle of the street this morning in Joplin, Missouri?

We were there for the March for Science. You might have heard of it, because there were marches held all over the world today in hundreds of cities. Thousands of people took part. Joplin didn't have thousands of people, but there was a respectable turnout. There were men, women and children. Most of us didn't know each other, but we smiled and chatted. We waved signs at passing traffic and cheered when the cars honked. After a while, we walked four blocks, carrying our signs and chanting in unison. Then we turned around and did it again.

So why do this? Why brave the unfriendly weather and wave a sign that now sits unused in our kitchen? Why chant slogans such as "One Earth, No Time" and "Stand Up, Fight Back" if not many people other than the marchers were there to hear?

I can't speak for the others, but I was there simply to show my support for science. Scientific findings and funding have come under fire lately, and I think that leads this country, and all countries, in the wrong direction. I greatly value scientists, engineers, researchers and educators ... and I think everyone else should, too. These people are making a big difference in our lives and should be encouraged to continue. They should also be allowed to travel in order to take part in research and education. They will bring us the next big technology, discovery and/or cure.

I know I didn't make a direct difference. It was purely symbolic on my part. (Just for the record, I would do the same thing in support of the humanities, too.) But if some influential people took notice of this movement, and if any of those people reconsider their stance or their beliefs or their actions, then I will have been a part of that. And that's a good feeling.

Diane after the March for Science April 2017

By the way, I didn't do this because I'm a member of one political party or the other. To me, this had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the whole world. Politics plays its part, but it's only a part. Everyone, not just politicians, needs to pay attention.

Besides, if you take "Defiance for Science" and remove efc, you have "Diane for Science." How could I argue with that?

Happy Earth Day.

Advancing

Will someone please tell me how it got to be October? It's been almost a month since my last post! It certainly doesn't seem that long and I apologize for it.

September was quite a challenging month at work, both in workload and issues that arose for me and my co-workers. Things are working out, for the most part, but it kept me busy and I was often so tired when I got home that I plopped in front of the TV and didn't do anything, including thinking about my blog.

Just in case work wasn't overwhelming enough, Elon Musk and another co-worker decided to jump into the mix (although not with the purpose of overwhelming me). You might have heard about Elon Musk and SpaceX's plan for Mars exploration and colonization. He's looking at the 2020s to start, which is amazingly soon if you think about it, and his plans are detailed. If you'd like to see the video (which is long and rather technical in places, but also fascinating), try this: Elon Musk Mars Plan Or here's a shorter, more visual look: SpaceX Interplanetary Travel

A co-worker had mentioned the longer video to me so I watched most it. At first I was right there with the plan, but it wasn't long before he got into the technical aspects of the propellant and engines, leaving me behind. I'm certainly not an engineer.

As I contemplated that, my co-worker mentioned the D-Wave computer, which I'd never heard of (that was embarrassing). I Googled it today and it only took a very short time before I found myself floundering. The big problem is that it's based on quantum physics, which is a subject I must admit my brain can't wrap itself around. I've tried, but the concepts are so fantastic that I'm not able to envision or make sense of them. This made the D-Wave computer almost opaque to me. I can sort of understand cooling atoms down until they're almost motionless, and I can almost envision them merging in waves, but then I get lost trying to understand how that would lead to computing anything, especially when it's not clear whether the results would be statistically reliable or whether alternate universes are possible or not.

Whew! I'm not giving up on either of these things, the Mars plan or the D-Wave computer, but I might have to let myself marvel at them without completely comprehending them. I drive a car without knowing the intricacies of its computer, so I guess this is the same thing.

The only thing that gives me pause about this is that I write science fiction. Shouldn't I understand the science? Well, I can try, but I'm not always going to succeed. What I must remember is that I can't pretend to understand something I don't. Believe it or not, there are things in my novels that I couldn't fully explain (besides what's going on in Nick's head, I mean), but I do my best not to make it look like I understand them. Does that make sense? I know nothing about machinery but one of my main characters is a mechanic. I try to say what he's working on without making it obvious I don't know how to do that. I don't make up some kind of tool or piece of equipment so mechanics everywhere can exclaim, "What?! She doesn't know what she's talking about!"

I'm also not going to throw a D-Wave computer into my next novel just because it's the latest thing. I'll leave that to writers who understand it. As for the colonization of Mars, that wasn't even a possibility when I started writing my novels, so I'll just have to live with it if I didn't foresee it. That's the risk a science fiction writer takes. (I feel like I got a few things right, though. Autoguide, anyone?)

I guess I'm trying not to get too overwhelmed. If I think I have to understand everything related to space exploration or include all of the latest technology in my novels, I'm going to write mush. I might do that anyway, but I'm trying to avoid it!

Meanwhile, I can marvel at the latest advances. I hope you will, too.

End of an Era

I can hardly believe it, but I watched the final episode of "Mythbusters" last night. How is it possible that we won't be able to turn to Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman to learn if that Internet video is real or fake, or if that story we heard is plausible or not?

Let's face it, Adam and Jamie made science cool. They showed how important it is to test everything, even those things you think are outrageous or definitely true. Who thought elephants would actually shy away from mice? Who thought you could get a lead balloon off the ground? Who knew you could make a boat out of duct tape? The Mythbusters were always there to get it right and show us what is possible ... or not.

And they did it with such joy! Watching Adam jump up and down in excitement or catching the sound of an elusive Jamie chuckle was always enough to make my day. They were always curious and they wanted to know the answers as much as their viewers did.

I'll remember the great quotations, too: "I reject your reality and substitute my own." "When in doubt ... C4!" "Quack, damn you." "Am I missing an eyebrow?" The list goes on.

From 2003 to 2016, I watched what Adam and Jamie (and Kari, Tory and Grant) would come up with. I was one of those lucky few to see the very first episode, which they re-aired last night, and I was immediately hooked. The concept never grew stale, the show never lost its charm and the Mythbusters never lost their enthusiasm, which is what made it such a great show.

I tip my cap to Adam and Jamie, wishing them all the best in their next endeavors. Thanks for the laughs, the gasps and the new knowledge gained!

Hidden Layers

Not long ago, I watched an episode of “Nature” on PBS about the discovery of a partial skeleton of what might be the largest dinosaur species to ever have walked the Earth. It was found in Argentina and is thought to have lived about 100 million years ago. I started watching the show because it was hosted by Sir David Attenborough, who never fails to get me just as interested in a topic as he is.

This was no exception. For one thing, when they first showed the thigh bone (femur), I couldn’t help noticing that its length seemed greater than the height of Attenborough himself. Sure enough, they revealed that it was almost 8 feet long! Try to imagine the size of this animal: half of its leg was taller than a person! It was around 120 feet long: that’s twenty of me lying head to foot! That’s BIG. It’s also a little hard to envision.

Scientists had casts made of the bones and assembled them in a warehouse so they could see what the complete skeleton looked like. I was fascinated with the result. Although a skeleton is certainly not the whole dinosaur, it gave me a better idea of the basic structure of the animal.

I thought about that today when I went for a walk, a rare thing for me in the winter. We’ve been blessed with unseasonably warm temperatures lately and I decided it was time to take advantage of that, so I headed to a tree-filled park north of town … in a T-shirt! How strange is that for February? It felt good to walk without immediately wanting to retreat inside.

As I walked, however, I noticed something strange. The park looked different. Other than the fact that the trees had no leaves and there were no blooming plants, something else was off. I peered around me, trying to discern what it was … and then it hit me: I could see! Without the curtain of leaves and lush vegetation, I could see parts of the park that had always been hidden to me during the spring, summer and fall.

It was kind of fun to realize there was a stream I’d never noticed, to recognize another path that was closer than I thought, to spot other people through the trees. I saw hills and boulders that had never been visible before.

Like the dinosaur, I wasn’t seeing the whole park, but winter has revealed a layer that usually goes unseen: the basic structure. Just as the dinosaur’s skeleton would have been covered with muscles, organs and skin, what I saw of the park will soon be covered with leaves, grass and various plants. It will be inhabited by squirrels, rabbits, deer, turtles and birds of all types.

It all begins with the foundation.

If you want to watch the “Nature” episode, here’s a link: Nature Episode

Citizen Science

Whether you consider yourself a scientist or not, you have a chance to make a contribution to science this weekend. It's called the Great Backyard Bird Count. It's easy, it's fun and it's free!

Here are the only items you'll need: a piece of paper, a writing utensil, your eyes and a patch of ground. That's it! If you want to use binoculars, that will help, but they aren't necessary.

Find a place where you want to count. It can be your own back yard (a birdfeeder really helps) or it can be a park, a forest, a lake, anywhere you might find birds.

If you don't think you can identify the birds you see, there are ways to resolve that. You can enlist someone who knows birds to help you. You can go online to any good birding site for help. There are even apps that can help you, such as this one: Merlin

Now take fifteen minutes to count the birds you see. As a rule, you should count groups of birds as you see them, and then take the highest number of the same species that you saw all at once. That will reduce the possibility of counting the same bird twice. For example, if you see four goldfinches, and then ten goldfinches, and then three goldfinches, your recorded total would be ten. Write down a total for every bird you saw that you could identify. You can do this as many times as you want this weekend and Monday.

Once you've got your totals, you can go to this site to report them: Great Backyard Bird Count  It's easy to sign in and make your report(s). Once you've done that, you can see statistics of where people are counting and what they've counted so far. They will even email you a copy of your report if you request it.

I've been doing this for several years and it's always fascinating to see what species of birds are in my back yard. This morning I counted eight different species in the same fifteen-minute span.

All of this information will help scientists determine where birds are and how their numbers are doing. It's important for them to have a snapshot from around the world ... and that's where we come in. They couldn't do it without us.

So get out and count! You'll be helping the scientists and the birds.

New Horizons

This is the week that New Horizons will fly by Pluto and we'll have the first close look at it in history. I think that's pretty exciting!

There have been images released already, but this week's images should be better and give scientists much more information about the dwarf planet. Who knows what they will learn?

Here's a site by the Planetary Society that gives more information about what will be happening this week, as well as links to other sites that will have news about the flyby: New Horizons Info

So what will it mean to us? For me, it's the equivalent of when you're taking a hike in the mountains and you see that the trail curves ahead of you. You might have been hiking for a while, you might have a vague idea of what's around that curve ... but you can't know for sure. How many of you would turn back with a shrug and say, "Oh, it can't be anything that new or exciting"? And how many of you would realize you can't lose: no matter what you see, even if it's not new, it should be worth a look?

I'm definitely in the latter camp. Maybe Pluto is a chunk of rock. Maybe there won't be any amazing features (like the so-called "face" on Mars). But it's still something we've never seen before! It's like when you visit an art gallery for the first time: some art you'll like, some you won't, but you'll enjoy exploring it because it's new. Maybe Pluto isn't a work of art, but I'm willing to take a look.

Speaking of new, I've added a new page to my blog. I am certainly not an authority on writing or publishing, but I've learned a few things along the way. Every once in a while, I try to share what I've learned, because other writers have done the same and helped me. So if you look to the right under Pages, you'll see the new one: Advice for Writers. If it helps only one writer, I'll be happy with that.

Thanks again for reading.

Magical

I sat by our back window last evening, gazing at nothing in particular, admiring the green spaces of our back yard and letting the stress of the workday fade. Then I saw it: a yellow-green blink of light. Seconds later, I saw it again, and I smiled. It's June and the fireflies have returned.

At first it was obvious there was only one of them out there, shining his little light alone, here and there. It was only when the sun got a little farther below the horizon that others blinked around him. Before long, they were all over the yard, small beacons of light and life.

It doesn't matter to me that I know these are little bugs and it's a chemical reaction that causes the flash. Knowing and understanding something doesn't make it any less magical. Sometimes the opposite is true.

When I say "magic," I don't mean flying dragons and unicorns, I mean that wonderful, amazing thing that makes you stop and gasp with joy. It can be something as common as a dandelion or a cardinal ... or a firefly. The magic comes when you feel it in your heart and it makes you smile.

Science and magic aren't exclusive. Scientists often reveal the magic to us, when they discover new lifeforms, show us how to understand what we see, find new explanations that change how we see it. And scientists know as well as anyone the feeling of magic. If you want proof, look at the video below. These are scientists and engineers who spent years working with numbers and facts, building a craft and calculating how to get it to another planet, speculating on what environment it would find there and how it could react to that environment. Yet, after all that figuring and postulating, they weren't 100% sure they would succeed. So when the word came in, their reaction was ... well, magical.

Don't ever ignore the magic in your life. Look for it and embrace it.