kimlajevardi

Welcome to a springy Wednesday! It’s bouncy and alive and carrying equal day and night into our lives. Sunlight, friends, sunlight. No flowers yet, but we’re close. I love spring. Can you tell? 🙂

Time for some news. Can’t have me getting all gushy and sappy now, right?

Up first, a big old facepalm. How drunk did he have to be to think this would work?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-homer-simpson-driver-license_us_5aaceecae4b0c33361b0b256

That one’s mine and that one. Oh, that one too. Mine. They are all mine.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/15/594003407/dozens-of-gold-bars-reportedly-fell-from-an-airplane-in-siberia

Lastly, the coolest science story I’ve read in a while. A black hole chomping on a star. Wow!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180319115845.htm 

That’ll do it for my Tiggery self. Time to boing away from the keyboard. See you in seven, folks. Boooiiinngg! 🙂

Welcome back one and all! This week has ushered in spring in weather and light if not yet calendar. We’re close, so very close, but I’m feeling it now. Time for some news about stuff in no way related to spring, sun, or shorts. You just never know which direction my brain will go. 😉

This first story is the first of two to show that the machines are beginning their rise to take over. Beware of cackly laughter, my friends. The wicked witch is masquerading as a helpful computer.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/08/591831871/alexa-please-stop-laughing-amazon-says-its-fixing-device-s-unprompted-cackles

This next one makes me wonder if our kids are co-conspirators in the rise of the machines.

https://www.npr.org/2018/03/09/592196614/toddler-locks-iphone-for-47-years

In science news this week, progress in understanding autism.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180314144927.htm

That’ll do it for me tonight. See you back here in seven.

Welcome back to the monthly meeting of twitchy writers. Wait! I think the image above may have it right. Welcome to another gathering of insecure writers ;). We are a motley mixture of people reaching through keyboards toward the collective–no, not that collective. There are no Borg representatives in our group. Although  … I haven’t visited every blog. Let me know if you find them.

The fantastic and definitely non-Borg co-hosts for this posting of IWSG are Mary Aalgaard, Bish Denham, Jennifer Hawes, Diane Burton, and Gwen Gardner!

Time for me to stop playing and get serious. There’s a question to answer. *Giggle*

Okay, okay. Here goes. How do you celebrate when you achieve a writing goal/finish a story?

Hmm. Celebrate is a strong word. I write novels. So, finishing means pulling my head out of my editing-induced fog to remember that I’m a member of the human race and that I may need to clean my house, tend to the wobbling stack of to-do tasks, and actually take in sensory data from the world. Does that count as a celebration? I suppose it is if you consider housekeeping a celebration. But, truthfully, it’s what I do. I take a few weeks to actually attend the enormous stack of things that I ignored during final edits and add in a dash of TV binges. Send in the balloons. 😉

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Time for some news.

This first story was handled with good humor and poise by both anchors. I may have been a little more shrill myself. Can you imagine having a bird land on your head during a TV broadcast?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nichelle-medina-pink-bird-on-head_us_5a94513ae4b01f65f599075b

These people take their KFC very seriously. The joking about it was worth a belly laugh. Here’s an LOL for the grocery-store prank. Nice.

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/21/587731907/kfc-store-closures-in-the-u-k-prompt-calls-to-police-with-complaints-of-chicken-

And in science news this week, nerds rule. I want a floating brain. Please. I’ll clean my room and do all the laundry. Please.

https://www.livescience.com/61909-cimon-floating-brain-iss.html

That’s all for me this week. See you back here in seven.

It’s a sneaky Wednesday, one which almost finished before I remembered it was posting day. This is me posting just in the nick of time to avoid another “oops” late post. Some days just escape their specific notice in a blur of the tasks of the day. Today was one of those days. Not so uncommon, truly. Ah well, time for some news.

This first story is a head scratcher. How many people still rock let alone celebrate the mullet? It’s time to let it go, people. Really.

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/16/586315529/a-mullet-festival-because-sure-why-not-have-a-mullet-festival

I do not need to hear a radio host give birth live on air. This stinks of ratings desperation and ….

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/22/587839935/radio-host-gives-birth-on-air

In science news, a giant meteoroid rocks Michigan. I’m extra partial to this story because of my own meteoroid sighting a few months ago. Mine was also unusually large, and I happened to catch it after a chance lift of my head from my screen in the evening. A well-placed window and a stunned couple of blinks later, and I was amazed by the biggest shooting star to rock my own neck of the woods in quite some time. Right there with you, Michigan.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rare-meteor-credited-bright-light-rattling-noise-over-michigan-n838311

That’ll do it for my nick-of-time posting this evening. See you back here in seven.

Welcome back one and all! Wednesday is here to flip the week again; the highest elevation of the weekly hill for so many. Now you can begin your downward slide toward the weekend. 🙂

This first piece I have for you is a reminder that we all have something in us akin to the Olympians wrapping up their runs in South Korea. It’s a matter of passion and training. If they can, so can we. Besides, the music is enough to make you feel like you can climb any mountain.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jaw-dropping-video-mash-up-shows-how-truly-incredible-humans-can-be_us_5a2bfa7de4b073789f6a3666

We need so much more of this in our streets and towns. Beauty and art are the keys to our humanity.

And in science news, the news all Star Wars fans have been waiting for: light sabers are coming. Well, not really. The new form of light seems to be more readily made for carrying information, but still … it is possible. Get your cloaks. I heart science!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180215141713.htm

That’s all for me this week. See you back here in seven.

Welcome back for what was supposed to be an upbeat post wishing everyone a Happy Valentine’s Day. But, we’re in the U.S. during one of the most trying eras in our history. I generally purposefully maneuver around more serious news and keep it light. I can’t. Not again.

Seventeen people died today. More kids. Parents who should never have to bury their children are finding out now that they have to plan a funeral. Think about that. Really think about that.

This. Is. Wrong.

I will not debate what has led us to a place where we’ve had eight shootings since the beginning of the year. I just want to say that we have to do better. No matter where it began and what led us to this place, we have to do something differently. We’ve lost more than seventeen lives, we’ve lost what they and all others who passed before them would have added to our world. We have given it away by our inaction.

This has to stop.

It’s once again that time. Another month, another posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group (IWSG). Thank you to our fabulous co-hosts this month: Stephen Tremp, Pat Garcia, Angela Wooldridge, Victoria Marie Lees, and Madeline Mora-Summonte!

Today’s question – What do you love about the genre you write in most often?

My favorite thing about the fantasy genre, the genre of choice for my current WIP, is the possibilities. Fantasy has many tropes that readers expect and many character types who often populate its worlds, and yet, within those areas, there are so many combinations. Fantasy readers also seem more open to the unusual which seems unique within the book world. I love the openness and extent of the creative field open to me.

What about you? What’s your favorite genre to read?

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Time for the news.We are on the cusp of the start of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. Two more days. Two. I wasn’t as excited before now, but looking up the start dates just made it real. February 9th. I’m stoked. Who else is excited?

This first story shows images of the cutest Olympic cheerleaders I’ve seen. I just want to hold them and squish them all.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/squirrels-ready-winter-olympics_us_5a70cf7ae4b0a6aa48741117?section=us_weird-news

This has many interesting applications but seems incredible creepy to me. Twilight Zone began playing in my head as I read it.

https://www.livescience.com/61630-human-uber-teleoperated-stranger.html

And in science news, the asteroid did more than strike the earth to kill the dinosaurs. Scientists long ago added increased volcanism to the mix, but I had no idea that the asteroid strike could trigger the eruptions. Our planet is so interesting!

https://www.usnews.com/news/news/articles/2018-02-07/dinosaur-killing-space-rock-may-have-triggered-sea-volcanoes

That’ll do it for me tonight. See you back here in seven. We’ll be five days into the Olympics by then. 🙂

Welcome to the end of the week. Confused? Wednesday and Saturday are the same this week. Did you not get the memo? Ah … well, I did. 🙂

All right, I guess I’m busted. I was sick all week and kind of being a baby about it. So … Wednesday and Saturday became equivalent. I have some good stories to make it up for it, though.

This first one cracked me up. I love the play-by-play as much as the wobbly, and most definitely, incompetent car thief. Is it possible that the radio station staged it? Yes. Do I care? No. 🙂

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kiro-john-curley-burglary-seattle_us_5a74ad7de4b0905433b3f31b?section=us_weird-news

Yodeling is absolutely a legitimate type of singing, and majoring in specific aspects of singing or music is not weird at all. But … I want to be there to witness all classes on yodeling. As a spectator–with popcorn, please. I just can’t stop giggling at this idea.

https://www.npr.org/2018/01/31/582056623/swiss-university-to-offer-degree-in-yodeling

If this works beyond clinical trials, WOW! The implications for MS are huge, but they go beyond that as well. I love science!

https://blog.cirm.ca.gov/2017/03/06/could-stem-cells-help-beat-multiple-sclerosis/

Have a great weekend! I haven’t told you that before. 🙂 See you in four.

Hi all! Wednesday is back. Again. This whole speeding through days as I age is getting a bit old–not like me. 🙂 Time for some distraction-worthy news.

This first story gets filed under the surprising question: What else you gonna do?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/taco-bell-candlelight-vigil_us_5a6679e1e4b0e5630072d2be?section=us_weird-news

The people in this next story have the best attitude about being turned into Lego people. That photographer is really bad at her job.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/zaring-family-botched-family-photo-shoots_us_5a5d3deee4b0fcbc3a12bc79?section=us_weird-news

Last but not least, science. It turns out that we’re from outer space.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/world/meteorites-organic-matter-life/index.html

That’s it for this old lady tonight. See you back here in seven.

It’s Wednesday once again, but now the weeks are starting their pile up within 2018. Wow! Am I getting old? Wait … don’t answer that. Let’s just slip into the news and not think about age. Agreed?

This first story is just cool. I didn’t know the NASA ET sounds were available on CD, and now they’re on vinyl. I may have to check it out just to hear what sounds they believe represent Earth.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voyager-golden-record-vinyl_us_5a1cc106e4b071403b28902d?section=us_weird-news

I had no idea drunk drone flying was an issue.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/drunk-droning-illegal-new-jersey_us_5a5d3906e4b03c41896844e0?section=us_weird-news

This last story makes me cautiously optimistic about the medical advances of the coming decades. Hopefully, we handle this ethically. The possibilities are tremendous.

https://www.livescience.com/61416-3d-printed-brain.html

That’s all for me, boys and girls. Time to put my aging body to bed. 😉 See you here in seven.