“You shall, I question not, find a way to the top if you diligently seek for it; for nature hath placed nothing so high that it is out of the reach of industry and valor.”
— Alexander the Great
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Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways2025’
Nothing So High
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, art, crafts, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on August 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Magical Things
Posted in Entertainment, Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, cool facts, creativity, Indiana Jones, inspiration, NASA, Thoughts on August 2, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I enjoy the fact that there is always something new to learn. Some things are big, like the latest on asteroid deflection from NASA’s DART program, and some are small, like the fact that Dan Aykroyd had a cameo in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (Did you know that? I didn’t, until last night when I did a double take and said, “Wait, the guy with the mustache and the British accent. Was that Dan Aykroyd?” It was!)
Of global importance or not, these facts are all interesting reminders that there is always something new around the corner, if you keep looking.
And that, I think, is magic.
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To the Stars? To the Stars!
Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, innovation, inspiration, science, science fiction, Thoughts on August 1, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Here’s a fun and productive use of the internet that answers a very important question: How close are we to living in the Star Trek universe?
Check it out and see!
This guide is intended to be a comprehensive look at the tech that Star Trek suggested to drive humanity forward ad astra per aspera. The emphasis is on innovations that don’t violate physics according to present consensus understanding. Go ahead and explore boldly… Just don’t waste too much time on idle speculation: there’s a whole lot to do if we’re going to get to Trek, and it’s going to take all of us.
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That’s a Lot of Books
Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, books, higher education, inspiration, so many books so little time, syllabi, writing on July 31, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Ever wonder what kind of books get assigned in college courses? Wonder no more!
This plot shows the 1,138,841 most frequently assigned texts in the Open Syllabus corpus, a database of 7,292,573 college course syllabi.
The books are grouped by field and sized by the number of syllabi on which they are assigned. Click for details, browse from archaeology to information science to writing and more, and have fun.
You will have to do a lot of zooming, however. There are a lot of books in this graphic!
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Poison Garden
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, Writers, writing, WritingResearch on July 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »
A random guide that may or may not be related to the last scene I wrote: A Naturalist’s Guide to the World’s Most Lethal Plants
Not every threat in nature has fangs. Some sit quietly, rooted in soil, dressed in flowers, laced with poison.
And since we’re on the topic, what about the (mostly but not entirely historical) trend of poison gardens, and how are they related to the history of medicine?
Welcome To The Poison Garden: Medicine’s Medieval Roots
Visitors to the Poison Garden are allowed to look but not touch, says head gardener Trevor Jones. “They’re not allowed to stand too close to the plants. They’re not allowed to smell them or touch them or taste any of them, because they do all have the ability to kill you.”
In this as in so many other cases, knowledge is power!
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Creativity: A Tip
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, creativity, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »
“Instead of looking at things, look between things.”
— John Baldessari
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Don’t Wait
Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, astronomy, meteor shower, summer fun on July 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Perseids meteor shower may be a bust; skywatchers’ best bet is this week – NPR
A ritual of summer is gazing up at the night sky in the hopes of seeing meteors, also known as shooting stars, flash across the night sky. While the annual Perseid meteor shower usually gets the most attention, a better bet might be a couple of less-famous meteor showers that will peak on Tuesday night.
It’s summer and that means it’s shooting star time, but what should we do when the astronomical calendar aligns in ways that make it harder to see what is usually one of the best meteor showers of the year?
Don’t give up. Instead, get outside early. Days early.
Peak Perseid will happen August 12th, right around the full moon. All that light will make it hard to see the meteors.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing else going on overhead, though. If you can, head out tomorrow night and look up.
…the moon will be only about 25% full this week, when two meteor showers known as the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids reach their peak on the night of July 29 going into July 30.
And mark your calendars for next year’s Perseids, which should be excellent.
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At the Top of the List
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, fun, Thoughts, Writers, writing on July 27, 2025| Leave a Comment »
I had the interesting experience of trying to explain my latest writing project to someone at a party last night. In French.
Do I speak French? I do not!
It was a hilarious experience (what exactly is “ethical thief” in French?) and I learned a lot. The best part was just diving in and figuring it out.
Did I get everything right? 100% no.
Did I get enough right to make it work? Yes.
And that’s what mattered. It also helped me think through what was important about the story and what could fall by the wayside.
So if anyone out there is aiming for perfection ? (And I include myself in this.) Maybe just don’t. Instead, focus on the important bits.
And having a good time is right at the top of that list.
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For the Better
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, #notestoself, Motivation, Thoughts on July 26, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Celebrations are fun, and we have another cluster of birthdays around now. That has me thinking about the passage of time, and how change happens even when you don’t notice it. Am I the same person I was twenty years ago? I am not.
Hopefully that’s a good thing!
“Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been.”
— David Bowie
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What to Say?
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2025, authors, quotes, Thoughts on July 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Blessed is the man, who having nothing to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.
— George Eliot
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