No, not that Amazon — the one that sells everything.Yeah, that one.So a couple years ago, my book After was published. Fast forward to now and the publishing agreement is done, which means I was set free to publish it as I saw fit. However, since I have advertisements out there (shelf cards and all), I didn\’t want to wait. So I put it back out there myself. Take a visit to my \’The Quill Has Landed\’ page and click on the cover.Then I remembered: yeah, the shelf cards … that had a QR code and link.That needed to be…
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The one and only Charlene Perry!What did she win? Her very own copy of Life in the Floating City!Why? For this: She awoke to find herself perched in a precarious position near the top of a tree. She steadied herself and had a look around at her surroundings. It looked like she ended up in a jungle this time. It was an improvement over the frigid cold snow covered planet she’d found herself in last time. The polar bear that she’d seen there had been fascinating though she was still puzzled over why someone would have built an igloo on…
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In my opinion, I happen to attend a pretty fantastic church. It was founded on the premise that the purpose of Christendom is to love one another and help one another; the mission of the organization is to bring Christ\’s love to the inner cities of the world. There are two locations now — the original location is called the Mission and there is a feeding program for the community, a men\’s and women\’s home (with plans for a family home) to shelter those who need it and who need to get back on their feet, and a strong prison…
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I got up this morning with the expectation of having an 8am video conference call, but after checking my email at 5:30, I discovered that my student needed to reschedule. It was chilly and raining outside so I threw on this giant blue robe and wandered out to my workspace. I\’ll just check my other tasks and a coupla emails, I thought.Soon enough it was after 8. The monsters needed feeding and I\’d dug into some actual work. Just after the feeding frenzy, the phone rang. I was on nearly an hour call.There are various pros and cons to being a…
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Barbara snuggled beneath the bearskin blanket as snow fell in giant flakes outside the picture window. She breathed on the glass, drew a doodle in the mist, and watched it disappear. The evening grew darker and the flakes came with a fury she had not seen in many years. She glanced at the calendar: if her calculations were correct, a new year was dawning on Earth. She touched a spot on the window and a screen appeared. When the red light stopped blinking, she began:It\’s been 450 years there. Hard to believe that in space-time, I\’ve only been gone 16…
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No one went out into the fogginess because it was not possible to know what it contained. It was a consistent fug, seemingly airless but smoky, stale and foul-smelling. The thickness of the murk made it unpleasant when going out was necessary: all precautions were taken through the use of safety suits, oxygen tanks, lights.She closed the internal airlock and stood in silence as the clock counted down to zero. She jumped when it buzzed and the outer door latch opened. It never changed, no matter how much she attempted to steel herself for the noise, for the sights that awaited…
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I love the current TV commercial below, not for it but for the hippo song.https://youtu.be/RAETKGleaPEThe singer is Gayla Peevey and this animated video was made by a 13-year-old named Chad Hylton — it\’s the whole song!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k69yBIWjLIsAnd in case you wanted to know, here are the lyrics … priceless! Thank you and Merry Christmas, Gayla! I want a hippopotamus for christmasOnly a hippopotamus will doDon\’t want a doll, no dinky tinkertoyI want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy I want a hippopotamus for ChristmasI don\’t think santa claus will mind, do you?He won\’t have to use our dirty chimney flueJust…
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For three days, the wind howled in the canyons, disturbing wildlife and people alike. It skittered like skeletal fingers across the rooftops, causing couples to huddle a bit closer in the darkness of night.Yet, the wind was simply a cover. The dust that preceded each gust was subterfuge — blinding the victims subdued them.It came in the wind.Like a poltergeist, it tipped over full garbage cans, knocked down fences and freed frenzied dogs, sent cats skittering under brush, and kept all winged creatures grounded as it searched. It pulled roof tiles, flowers, and homework pages. It stole bits and pieces…
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This was a wonderful documentary. While the story behind Mr. Spock is what I was expecting, Adam Nimoy did so much more. He told the story of his dad. The man. It gave a glimpse into the personage of Leonard Nimoy.One thing that jumped out was Adam\’s discussion about how proud his dad was of his deciding to go to law school. More importantly was his dad\’s pride when Adam decided that he didn\’t want to be an attorney for the rest of his life. What was great about that moment was that Leonard Nimoy indicated that a person should…
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There are many different theories and ideas about learning styles.I hear you — What in the world do learning style theories have to do with love, woman?Just gimme a minute.So this site gives a great overview of seven different, yet interconnected learning styles. Yeah, it\’s not visually (or even grammatically) appealing, so I\’ll give you the highlights. But I encourage you to check out the link to read about each style in more depth. What\’s here is revised from the Overview page itself:The seven learning styles and associated parts of the brain: Visual (spatial): prefer pictures, images, and spatial understanding; occipital lobes at…