Jennifer Bray-Weber's Blog, page 43
March 4, 2016
Friday Fun Facts- Death Penalty and Executions
Not exactly a fun facts, but some are kind of strange. Read on:
The U. S. ranks fifth in the world on number of executions. We are behind China, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
Recently in Papua New Guinea, a woman and her two daughters are on trial for sorcery with a penalty of death. (I thought we left this kind of stuff WAY BEHIND) Apparently, it’s not uncommon in the Pacific islands to have this sort of thing. The deaths are horrific.
There is a downward trend in executions with only 21 countries practicing it in recent years.
Hanging may seem to be simple. It’s not. If the drop is too long, it will end in a grisly decapitation. If not done right, it could result in a very prolonged agonizing death. One guy argued that he was too obese to hang because it would surely go wrong. He won and spent life behind bars dying in 2006.
Think the guillotine ended with the French Revolution? Think again. It was used extensively during the Nazi regime. France used it for almost 200 years after Marie Antoinette was decapitated- used as late as 1977!
China executes more than all the other countries combined. The exact number is unknown because they consider that a state secret. Traditionally, it was done by a firing squad, but now they use lethal injections. (It is thought that it’s because it’s cheaper and they can illegally harvest organs and put them on the black market.) Now, they even have death vans that will travel to rural sections of the country and perform the execution. Until 1977, you could be sentenced to death for killing a panda.
In Uzbekistan, they literally boiled people to death as a means of execution. (That’s in recent times too!)
Death penalty trials are 20 times more expensive than a trial seeking life in prison.
March 2, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Peeping Tom Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
*cue music* I always feel like somebody’s watching me!
Who is today’s prompt, why is he peering through a keyhole, and what does he see? Is he a spy? A stalker? Could he be witnessing a murder or an affair? Is he a guest at a spooky bed and breakfast and heard strange noises coming from the outside? What if the sounds were from paranormal activity? Suppose he’s watching the object of his affection stripping, and she knows it. Maybe he’s hiding from the sexy blonde with the insatiable lusty appetite.
You tell me, you voyeur, you. What’s his story? Or just caption the pic.
March 1, 2016
Link of the Week – BookBub’s 98 Marketing Tactics
Recently email marketer BookBub offered 98 tactics in marketing that could increase your book sales. Many of them, we already know and utilize. See if there is any that you haven’t tried or would like try.
98 Book Marketing Ideas That Can Help Authors Increase Sales
February 26, 2016
Friday Fun Facts-Google!
We use it almost daily. It’s a workhorse for anyone using the internet, but what do you really know about Google? I found some surprising tidbits of information about this giant company.
We’ll start with the basics. It was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were graduate students at Stanford. Because a lot of it was created on campus, Stanford still holds the patents to some of the algorithms!
It was originally called Backrub. Really?
Larry and Sergey weren’t looking to start a business so they tried really hard to sell it. What a colossal mistake that would have been!
Yahoo turned them down. They then tried to buy them in 2002 for $3 billion. Google turned them down and it’s now estimated to be worth $400 billion. Boo hoo Yahoo!
“Google” was originally a misspelling of a mathematical term, but it stuck.
Google added Klingon as an official language to its interface option in 2002.
The company’s first tweet was “I’m feeling lucky” in binary code. Totally for the geeks of the world!
In 2006 Merriam-Webster added google as a verb.
Google Streetview has about 28 million miles of photographed roads.
Dogs with strong bladders and friendly dispositions are welcomed at the office. Cats are discouraged due to the number of dogs.
Google rents about 200 goats to “mow” the grass and brush around headquarters.
Google has averaged a new company buy each week since 2010.
Google bought YouTube while meeting at Denny’s.
February 24, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Pedicure Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
This could easily be a scene from my household.
Tell me about today’s prompt? Who is he? Why is he painting her toenails? Is he a boy toy willing to do anything for his cougar? Did he lose a bet and not only has to paint her toenails but watch a chick-flick marathon? Will she reward him for a job well done? What is the expression on his face? Does he wish he was playing poker with his buds? Calculating how to kill her? Wishing she would leave? Wishing she would stay? Is he lamenting her choice in color?
What’s your take? Tell me a tale or just caption the pic.
February 23, 2016
Link Of The Week-A Place For Writing News
This site provides you with resources for writers, writing tips, contests, and places to earn money with writing. Enjoy!
“Aerogramme Writers’ Studio publishes news and resources for emerging and established writers.”
http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/
February 19, 2016
Friday fun Facts- The Lonesome Tumbleweed
So what is a tumbleweed exactly?
It is a type of plant that grows from a seed, matures, dries, and breaks away from its roots.
It is driven around by the wind- sometimes years before it disintegrates leaving seeds in its final resting place.
They can be as small as a soccer ball or as big as a car!
Hot, flat desert terrain is ideal for them. Wide expanses of relatively flat land to roll across until they can’t roll any more.
The seeds are unusual because they have no protective coating.
Most species are a thorny, flowering plant before they start traveling.
One of these plants can produce over 100,000 seeds.
Their thorns are sharp enough to pop bike tires or pierce an unsuspecting flip flop!
If you think a tumbleweed is no big deal, read this first hand account:
“In another week some of the plants had grown as big as bowling balls. Knowing they would soon double and triple in size, we hacked them with hoes, loaded them into the back of my Jeep, and hauled them to the dump. Two weeks later they were back again.
Throughout the summer we would spend most Saturdays stuffing 40-pound trash bags with the latest crop, trying to interrupt the ancient cycle by preventing the young plants from setting seed. I’d canvass every square foot of the property, and one week later I’d have to do it all over again. Salsola was everywhere.”
It was October 1880 when the Department of Agriculture first got word of a strange plant growing in South Dakota.Unfortunately, it was filed away and forgotten. Within 10 years it was found almost 200 miles away and was extremely prolific. In fact, they proposed building a fence around the state to keep it in, but it was too late. Specimens were found as far away as Canada.
Watch this. It’s all because one farmer didn’t take care of the problem…this happened!
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-35600546
February 17, 2016
Hump Day Kick Start – Threshold Edition
Hump Day Kick Start – for your muse, a writing picture prompt, or ju st a visual treat.
In honor of the return of one of my favorite shows, Vikings, I give you today’s prompt. *sigh* Travis…
Tell me about him. Why is he lying in the middle of the threshold? Did he just wake up, vaguely wondering why he’s in the doorway, reminiscing about his wild night with the sexy, blonde author, fan, woman he just met? Has he camped out to keep someone in or out? Who and why?Perhaps he did something so terrible, his girlfriend smacked him hard enough he fell unconscious and feeling bad about it—but with him being so heavy she couldn’t move him—she tucked a pillow under his head. Maybe he’s trying to decide if he needs to replace the weatherstripping.
You tell me. What’s his story? Caption the photo. I’d love to hear from you.
February 16, 2016
Link Of The Week- Amazon Algorithm
http://www.a9.com/
February 12, 2016
Friday Fun Facts- Amazon!
If you are a writer, then you absolutely know about Amazon. If you are not, chances are you’ve heard of Amazon too….has anybody NOT heard of Amazon? I think not. So you’ve heard of the mammoth retailer, but I bet I know some things about it you don’t. Care to find out?
Amazon’s warehouses are larger than 700 Madison Square Gardens!
It started in Jeff Bezo’s garage.
The original name was to be “Cadabra” as in Abracadabra, but the lawyer decided it sounded too much like cadaver!
The first book sold on Amazon was out of the garage in 1995. It was Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought……whoa, not so exciting.
The current logo was created to represent a smile from A to Z and everything in between!
Employees have to spend 2 days working customer service every 2 years, including the CEO!
Some years ago, the site went down for 49 minutes- it lost $5.7 million in sales.
It is 20 years old.
It takes care of 137 million customers/week!
Amazon customers are better than e-bay customers. Amazon’s spend an average of $189 while e-bay’s spend around $39.
Their cloud storage can hold 82,000 books per person for every human on earth!!!!
They got in trouble for selling dolphin and whale meat.
They once cleaned out Toys-R-Us to have enough Christmas inventory of toys- specifically the Pikachu!
Their fastest delivery was 23 minutes- it was an Easy Bake oven.
To reduce the numbers of employees, they will occasionally run a program “Pay To Quit”. They will pay around $3-5000 for folks to hand in their resignation.
