Marlene Dotterer's Blog, page 16
September 7, 2015
The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, Chapter 34
Chapter 34
January-February 1911
That evening, they gathered with the servants in quiet contemplation before the fire in the parlor, trying to understand what had happened. The doctor had just left, after examining everyone and sewing Casey’s cut. His final words left more chill: “Watch the baby for internal bleeding.” Her mouth had been open in screams while the glass was falling and the doctor was concerned that she might have swallowed some slivers. They could only wait and see.
Casey sat...
September 6, 2015
Solving homelessness is easy. So why don’t we just do it?
Effective policies are out there. But the politics are hell.
Source: Solving homelessness is easy. So why don’t we just do it?
September 5, 2015
September 4, 2015
The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, Chapter 33
Chapter 33
January 1911
When Terry was about two months old, Casey began to chafe against her isolation. With the greenhouse, she always had plenty to do at Dunallon, and she had no intention of trying to get back into the Horticultural Society. But she and Penny had been used to frequent outings around Belfast, to the markets for window shopping, or over to Susan Cummings’ house to let the children play together. Susan still welcomed her, but now William had to drive them over and pick them...
September 3, 2015
Take a Deep Breath…
Go on, take a breath. A deep, satisfying, relaxing breath. Fill your lungs, let your diaphragm expand with the air. Let it out when you’re ready.
Do you ever think about breathing? Specifically, about the air you’re taking into your body?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I’ve been working on a novel where a group of miners escape from their exploding space station and have to take refuge on an unexplored planet. Science fiction is full of people coming or going to other plan...
September 2, 2015
The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, Chapter 32
A display in Harland & Wolff Administrative Offices, Belfast. Thomas Andrews was well-liked by all the shipyard workers. Chapter 32
June–November 1910
The workforce had more than doubled at the shipyard. Tom found it increasingly difficult to be as personally involved with them. He liked the men who built his ships, but he missed the easy camaraderie they used to have. Now there were thousands of workers he didn’t even know.
Still, he had friends, and after lunch with George Cummings,...
August 31, 2015
The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, Chapter 31
Chapter 31
March–November 1909
As she packed up her map of Belfast, with its gardens running all over town, Casey hoped that Mike Sloan would be too busy with work at the shipyard to attend the Society meeting. She’d been working on the plans for a year and she knew they were good. There was room for the other members to debate about specifics, but she wanted the locations to stay constant. The locations were the point.
Sam offered to go with her. “You realize it could get nasty. You could us...
August 28, 2015
The More I Learn About Breast Milk, the More Amazed I Am – Features – The Stranger
Wow, lots of great information in this article. But I have to address one little bit:
“During the 20th century in America, feminism, aided in part by the convenience of formula, helped bring more women into the workforce. While this was a great thing for gender equality, it shifted focus away from breast milk, which meant that medical and governmental institutions turned away from it too.”
No. Women had been forced away from breast feeding at least two generations before this. It happened wh...
Fear of Asymmetry – The New York Times
This is something I struggle with all the time. I want my opinions to be based on, and open to, supportable facts. Is it bias that to me, more of the supportable data trends left?
Paul Krugman:
Why nerds don’t want to understand politics.
Source: Fear of Asymmetry – The New York Times
The Time Travel Journals: Shipbuilder, Chapter 30
Queen’s University would be a good source for Sam to find students. Chapter 30
December 1908
Sam had his team working on technologies he secretly intended for the shipyard: higher capacity batteries, more efficient pumps, and stronger rivets, among them. That these technologies would have applications beyond shipbuilding was obvious. Now he was ready to get them started on another huge endeavor.
“Let’s assume something.” He glanced up at the group of scientists and research assistants reposed...
