Want to avoid a grizzly end? Then don’t read to the finish!
But first: tired of those boring safety announcements at the start of every flight? Here’s how Air New Zealand put a little fun back into it.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBlRbrB_Gnc&w=560&h=315]
If you want advice about life, authors should not necessarily be your first stop. Here’s Jordan L Hawk’s Five Things I Learned from HP Lovecraft. (HP Lovecraft was the writer who inspired Stephen King.) Funny stuff.
But the world of literature can teach us some things; and here’s Pat O’Dea Rosen asking why men don’t take a lesson from Amazon algorithms. Should Amazon know what a woman likes better than her husband?
And while we’re on the subject of writing advice - if you’re penning the next SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, you should read this: in this post Kassandra Lamb debunks quite a few myths about psychopaths. Chilling reading.
But it’s not only psychopaths that kill. So do some doctors - especially in the eighteenth century. Unusual Historicals describes how George Washington’s doctors basically killed him in 1799 - the poor man had a sore throat but by the time they finished treating him, he had just hours to live.
Science and technology has come a long way since those days. You’re reading this blog right now on a computer. Want to see what the world’s oldest computer looks like? It dates from 1951. See it right here.
And while we’re on the subject of marvels, check out this fella. I know him - he worked with my daughter at the WA Institute for the Blind. Ryan’s just climbed his first mountain - even though he lost his sight when he was 3 years old. The guy’s an absolute inspiration.
Finally, setting free the bears: when three bear cubs in Ruidoso, New Mexico got stuck in a trash bin some locals used their ingenuity to help get them out. They’re black bears - after all this talk about serial killers and people bleeding to death, I didn’t want to finish on anything too grizzly.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckuCxBWlSPk&w=560&h=315]
I’ve just finished a brand new presentation for my book: HAREM. It’s on a new medium called Slideshare.
I had to read the end just to assure myself that you were, indeed, talking about bears.
When I saw the bear video on Facebook, I almost squeed myself to death.
Squeed myself to death. Love it. I don’t know what word that is, Marjorie, but it describers exactly what my niece did when she saw the video on Facebook also!
Wow! A blind person climbing a mountain. How cool is that! Well sort of cool. I don’t like being higher than the second floor…and then only if I’m in an enclosed building.
I’ve seen the video about the cubs before…that just too cute. But the airline video…some people are very creative. That would catch the attention of everyone on board, I’d think. Sure would like to read Kassandra’s post…but just a quick skim…and I can see nightmares being a big issue for me. Yes, I’m a coward.
Ryan’s a pretty remarkable bloke. He does a lot of things you think a blind person might not do, he’s one of those walk to school on your hands kinds of people we talked about last week. And good call skipping Kassandra’s post - it’s very good, but if that stuff gets to you, it’s much better to give it a miss.
Thanks for the post love.
Of course the first thing I clicked over to was the article on psychopaths, because that’s how my brain works. Then I came back to the cute bear video. Definite squee.
The psychopaths article I thought was a must for every crime writer. And I just looked up squee. I finally know what it means!
Hi, Colin! Thanks for the link to my post-and for putting a funnier spin on it than I did. I’m going to take humor lessons from Air New Zealand.
Not at all - yours was a really good post. Not only was it funny but it was a great point. Amazon really shouldn’t know women better than their husbands/boyfriends do!
I sniffed around some of your links and enjoyed your videos while on vacation. How fun were those? My whole family got a kick out of those! Thanks for sharing. Off to read more great links, shared by you.
Thanks Debra. I loved the safety commercial from Air New Zealand too. First time I’ve watched one for years. Why do they show you how to buckle your seat belt when you’re supposed to already be buckled in when the demo starts. What’s that all about? Hope you had a great vacation, Debra.