The Plato on-line Group at FaceBook

I have just created the Plato on-line Group at FaceBook and I invite everyone who’s interested in social media and writing to join me. I’m sure to give you great tips on the subjects. Thank you.

Physical Anthropology/Human Bones in Forensics

One will notice that in crime fiction, forensics is always about human body parts, textile (including carpet) fibers, and just everything about what the victim or criminal touched. In Aaron Elkins’ “Icy Clutches”, it was specifically about human bones.

In the story, 3 members of a botanical research team from the University of Washington, died in an ice (not snow) avalanche in Alaska. Thirty years later, Professor Tremaine, the leader and survivor of the doomed expedition, was given a contract to write a book about the incident (Tremaine hinted that there were gory secret details of the incident) and the publisher invited relatives of the victims to join Tremaine to visit the site of the accident so the relatives could add intimate details for the book about the dead victims. When the group visited the site, human bones were discovered so authorities were prompted to investigate. The FBI worked with the ‘bone detective’, anthropologist Gideon Oliver.
After Tremaine started sharing some details of his manuscript to the new group, he got murdered.

If you’re interested in criminal forensics involving human bones, this book is worthy of research.
It’s funny that 2 days after I posted this, the ‘historic snowpocalypse’ happened at Washington.

Stories in Movies

Stephen Farber opines that ‘Today’s movies just ain’t what they used to be.’ I tend to believe that. Good movies come from good novels or scripts. As years go by, even bestselling novels are ‘padded’. Meaning: useless words added just to pass the ‘words quota’:

‘Sure, digital wizardry can be breathtaking, but the old-fashioned art of storytelling has waned. Farber compares 10 of this year’s high-profile movies with similar ones from the past. “Even when these new movies are adapted from highbrow literary works, they cry out for better writing,” he complains in the Los Angeles Times. “Perhaps today’s producers need to cast a wider net in luring more gifted writers.”

‘Take this year’s Crazy Heart, staring Jeff Bridges, and 1983’s Tender Mercies, with Robert Duvall. They’ve got similar themes about washed-up country singers and redemption, but the talented Bridges is stuck with a “hackneyed script.” Duvall, on the other hand, had Horton Foote’s “lean, eloquent screenplay,” which was “graced with unpredictable, sharp insights into the fragility of family ties.”

Click here for the rest of the comparisons, including Nine vs. Chicago and It’s Complicated vs. The Philadelphia Story.’ –LA Times

70% for Author Royalty!?

It’s true. Amazon is offering authors and publishers 70% of every sale of a title for the Kindle. The move, which Henry Blodget called brilliant, will use writers to pressure publishers to accept the new format and the lower prices. -Business Insider

Is Blogging Journalism?

What’s the difference between a journalist and a blogger? According to Dana Blankenhorn:

‘Bloggers don’t write stories. We tell stories. There is a difference.
A blogger generally does not get paid by the reader, or the hour, or the story. We get paid based on readership. You click, we profit. A “story” that makes no sound makes no money…
‘…This is the chief danger of blogging as a journalistic medium. Blogging is not a medium “of record.” It’s not about what the sources are saying. It’s about what readers want to know.’

You thought Dana was degrading bloggers? Now enjoy this. Dana suddenly decides to pull no punches and be sarcastic:

‘…But I need something I can sell. I’m a blogger, not a stenographer.’ –SmartPlanet

My post on World Netizen’s Day relates to this.

Centerfield -by Gryphon

Just the philosophical intro of this post poked me into reposting it -Poch:

I’m convinced that there are no such things as “beginnings.”

Everything is just a continuation of the same process.

I am fooled sometimes into thinking that I am starting a new path by peaks and anti-peaks. When one episode reaches either an explosive or a fizzled end, then I believed that a new path began.

Not anymore.

It has been raining for two days.

My personal mountain stream is babbling merrily in the gloom and through my door yard.

I light another cigarette and type my thoughts.

“Jessica” is playing on the iTunes. God bless Greg Allman and Steve Jobs

“Sounds of Silence” preceded. Remember Teen Angst? God bless naivete.

Give me Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, J.S. Bach, Ian Anderson, Ricard Wagner.

The brothers George; Harrison, Jones and Gershwin. Antonio and Charlie–Vivaldi and Parker.

Them too. And a bunch of others. Don’t forget Leon Redbone please.

Sing my life to me, and I will sing along. By myself.

Solo A Capella.

Put Simon and Garfunkel on the bottom shelf along with a seriously misguided second decade.

Five is too many and not nearly enough.

Start packing. Turn the page. It is not the end of the story yet. I can tell because the sentence does not end at the bottom of the page, but I am only given one page at a time.

Put me in coach. I’m ready to play. Today.

Look at me, I can be

Centerfield.

I’ll be back.

Hopefully.

gryphon

Intuition: How Encompassing is it?

There are linguistic and philosophical definitions of the word ‘intuition’ but I prefer to simply define it as ‘Perceiving without Reasoning’. I have seen documents claiming that law enforcement agencies use psychics to help in their investigations. So I wasn’t surprised when I read this article claiming that the government tried to use intuition as a ‘paranormal’ weapon:

‘In 1995, A Government Funded Intuition Project Was Shut Down By Congress For Fear That It Would Be Used Against Them…

‘In the 70s, two great scientists, Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, had finally found a way to link spirituality and science together and they called it Remote Viewing. And after years of strict scientific testing, they held in their hands the most powerful mental tool. For decades this information was only accessible to the elite and the invited.

‘Until the entire Remote Viewing project was shut down in 1995…

‘Congress feared that this skill would be used against them. But lucky for us, the Freedom of Information Act revealed the results of the Remote Viewing research.

‘Finally, the details of the highly scientific experiments were released and exposed the world to Remote Viewing.’ –MindPowerNews

Warning: Do not tinker with psychic abilities if you don’t have it.

What’s the difference Between Fact and Truth?

Truth or Fact. Which do you think is the purer concept?
When I first meditated on the question, ‘What’s the difference between fact and truth?’, I was glad that it’s a scientific item which I declared Fact –and only one so far.
Why? Because scientific facts changes from time to time and yet be acceptable. ‘A heavy smoker and drinker will die of cancer.’ (not the one I declared). That is considered a fact because it possesses objective reality. But is it truth? There are so many instances of heavy drinkers and smokers who outlive those who are not.

Ever wonder why fiction seems more ‘truth’ than ‘fiction’? Possibly because all fiction is probably based on facts. Or truth. Truth doesn’t change. The sun and the moon are two different objects. That is truth.

Religious and political extremists are brazen in proclaiming Truth which might only be facts. Truth might be the only sublime concept so let’s not toy with it.

Garry Kasparov on ‘Chess Metaphors’: The Chess Master And The Computer

This is an essay about the impact and effects of computers on Chess and society in general.
In 1985, Kasparov played a simultaneous exhibition against thirty-two computers and won all games. Eleven years later in 1996, he was victorious again versus the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. IBM made Deep Blue stronger and in 1997, the chess machine finally defeated the human champion which didn’t really surprise me. How can man defeat machines that do not tire or lose energy?

‘Garry Kasparov is the chairman of the United Civil Front and a cofounder of The Other Russia, a pro-democracy coalition opposing the administration of Vladimir Putin. He became the youngest-ever World Chess Champion at the age of twenty-two in 1985 and remained the top-ranked chess player in the world for twenty years until retiring from professional chess in 2005.’
Read full article at The New York Review of Books and Huffington Post

The Curse of Sherlock Holmes

Tip: This article is a ready idea for a great novel. It exposes how the copyright ownership of ‘Sherlock Holmes’ is still being fought for until now so much so that even Jean Conan Doyle, a daughter of the creator, said that Sherlock Holmes was the Conan Doyle family curse.

A C Doyle

“It is,” said Jon Lellenberg, the American literary agent for the Arthur Conan Doyle estate, “enough to make lawyers’ eyes roll up in their heads. Even British lawyers…”

She (Jean) had been old enough to know him well,” Mr. Lellenberg said, “and remembered him writing the last set of stories and reading them to her and her brothers and mother. She also knew the problems of managing an extremely popular literary character. She said that Sherlock Holmes was the Conan Doyle family curse.” –full article at NY Times