Marlene Dotterer's Blog, page 36

Welcome to the Land of the Rich and Famous

This morning, Google Alerts graciously let me know that someone has decided to priate e-copies ofShipbuilder.I did a little sleuthing to discover who owns the site and how to file a DMCA notice. Turns out the domain is owned by an Asian company (fairly obvious from the poor English used to describe the book on their site). These folks aren’t bound by US copyright law, so they probably don’t give a damn about DMCA notices. Which is moot anyway, since I can’t find an email address.

What a lot of...

Italy: Summary 3

I just finished a bookkeeping marathon. Is it just me, or does Amazon try really hard to make their reports obtuse?

But enough about that – I’ve got to finish summarizing Italy! Let’s go to Pompeii:

Of all that we saw, I guess Pompeii left me feeling the most disappointed. I was really looking forward to seeing it, from a geological perspective as well as human tragedy. And really, it’s a very impressive site. It’s just so… touristy. It was so crowded, there were places we had to shuffle elbow-...

Italy: Summary 2

Now, where were we? Oh yeah, in Florence. You need more pictures:

View of the river in Florence
Typical street in tourist section

Copy of “David”

From Florence, we drove to Siena, where the medieval horse race, Palio, is held twice a year in this plaza:

There’s also a large remnant of the original city walls and castle. Rick and I took a short walk there during a break after we first arrived. They still use it, too. There’s a restaurant/nightclub there, and they also have concerts in the amphithea...

Italy: Summary 1

Whew. Life has sure been hectic. It’s not slowing down yet either, but I must not allow myself any excuses to not post. Must. Write. Post.

So here goes. The big trip summary. I could write pages and pages, but I’ll be merciful. You get just a summary. In a way, this also a recap for me, since I ran out of time and energy to keep a daily journal. Looking back on previous posts, I see I finished off Ireland but gave you pretty much nothing on Italy. So here goes.

We booked a tour for this trip. I...

New Quantum Theory Could Explain the Flow of Time | Science | WIRED

New Quantum Theory Could Explain the Flow of Time | Science | WIRED.

No time, no time, but I have just a couple of words.Veni...

No time, no time, but I have just a couple of words.

Venice… wow.

Ending and Beginning

In Shipbuilder, a scene in chapter 9 starts like this:

Sam had warned her the shipyard was a dangerous place, but the danger did not always come from lax employment laws. Sometimes it came from nature, like when the fetch out on the Irish Sea was strong and fast, and Belfast would experience nearly gale force winds blasting through the channel and city toward the hills. The only thing to do during these days was to wrap up and hold onto your hat.Moving from one place to another took a lot of d...

A Few TMC Pictures

I’ve been too impatient to deal with slow internet, but here at last, are a few photos to prove I’ve been busy.

Here’s the whole gang on the grand staircase at Titanic Belfast:

Here, I’m in Thomas Andrews’ office at Harland & Wolff:

Okay, I wanted to show you more, but it’s just too slow loading. Trust me, we’re having a blast! The reunion is officially over now, and most people are beginning trips home. Rick and I have a couple more days in Belfast, then we’re off to Italy. Another great advent...

Snippets on the TMC Reunion

I wrote this entry last night, but didn’t get a chance to post it until now. Have lots more to tell you, but I need to rest a bit!

Two days into our TMC reunion, we are having the best time! It’s been so much fun to see everybody. There were 1300 people on the TMC in 2012, and we only met a small fraction of them. There are 55 of us in Belfast now, and I’m looking forward to catching up with those I already know and getting to know the rest. Fifty-five is a manageable number. I have a goal to...

New Study: Autism and Pregnancy

Autism begins in pregnancy, according to study: Cortical layers disrupted during brain development in autism

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140326181909.htm

There’s nothing yet on what might cause this disrupted development during pregnancy. Environmental pollutants? Insufficient protein?

I dunno. But we do seem to have an increase in children with autism that’s not just related to increased diagnoses. We should insist on further studies that attempt to discover causation.