Living on Guam is what now "defines" me.  It was such a dramatic difference in my life and outlook on things that there's no way I'd be the same if I had remained in New Mexico or any of the rest of the U.S. Mainland.   One of the classes I took at the University of Guam was "Scientific and Technical Writing and Editing"... I did not realize at the time that this class would be setting the foundation for the rest of my working life. ... http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/EditorDave Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:36:52 -0600 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.squidoo.com/varanus_indicus My experience with the Western Pacific monitor lizard, Varanus indicus--also known as the mangrove monitor--has been over 12 years of living on the Western Pacific island of Guam, with side visits to Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Belau (Palau) (The big lizards have been frequently shown on CBS's "reality show"--"Survivor-Micronesia"), Chuuk (Truk), and Pohnapei. I've seen the 12-inch long juveniles near our home, and have encountered the "big ones" in the mangrove swamps and tropical forests of Guam, Palau, and Saipan.  When you are face to face with a large lizard that doesn't want to back down and go away, it's a whole 'nuther feeling you get in your tummy. Also, after working with these critters for a bunch of years, I went and watched the movie Jurassic Park--it was like watching a "reality show"! Click here to see a close up of this Monitor Lizard! Click here to see a another close up of this Monitor Lizard! animals Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:34:38 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/gecko_lizards Found in warm climates throughout the world (mostly the tropics--but also in desert areas in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), geckos are amazing critters! Belonging to the family Gekkonidae, they have specialized toe pads that enable them to run across walls, across ceilings, and even on glass windows. Madagascar Day Gecko Photographic Print Bacon, Marian Buy at AllPosters.com But that's not all the amazing things that geckos can do...  Unlike most other lizards that can only hiss (monitors and crocodilians can also make a variety of noises), geckos can vocalize--making chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos. Their name is derived from the Malay word, gekoq--which imitates their cry. They can also lick their eyes with their tongue--they have no eyelids--and instead have a transparent membrane that covers their eye, which they lick to clean. If you try to catch one and grab only their tail, the tail pops off and wiggles to distract you with the grossness while the gecko safely takes off and hides. This is one of the ways they keep predators from getting the whole meal--better to lose the tail rather than lose the whole life. Not to worry, however--the tail eventually grows back so it can do this again. Another way some species try to discourage predators is that they discharge a foul-smelling material and feces onto their molestors. Also... some species are parthenogenic--the females can lay fertile eggs even without having to mate with a male. This improves the gecko's ability to spread to the scattered islands of the Pacific and Atlantic and to other isolated geographic areas. (This characteristic is also shared by the monitors.) The family Gekkonidae is divided into five subfamilies, containing numerous genera of gecko species. Many geckos are kept as pets and will eat various kinds of insects and sometimes fruit.   animals Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:41:30 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/Guam_Experience  View of Tumon Bay from the Southwestern end of the beach looking towards Two-Lover's Leap and the Northeastern part of the bay. People in Water at Tumon Beach with Amantes (Two Lovers) Point Behind, Tumon, Guam Photographic Print Elk III, John Buy at AllPosters.com Folks sometimes ask me what it's like to live on Guam... well, it's tough to describe--you really have to experience it yourself to really understand! Once you have lived there, you'll always have a different view of the world! To get some idea of what it's like, check out all of my other Squidoo lenses... because each lens (almost all of them) has some aspect of Guam--or the aspect of having lived there thus resulting in a "different viewpoint"--illustrated on them. Almost all of the photos I have used in my Squidoos have been from my time on Guam. Palms And Sunset at Tumon Bay, Guam Photographic Print Bachmann, Bill Buy at AllPosters.com It was an adventure to take off from the U.S. mainland and fly almost 7,000 miles to the west to the island of Guam. When my family did this (and I was only 13 at the time), we were flying to the "great unknown".  Of course, for my Dad, it was like "retracing his steps"--because he had been here under different circumstances 25 years before.  When my dad had been on Guam the first time, he had come by ship--a ship called an "LST--landing ship transport". The ship was full of sailors and Marines and they were in the process of storming the beaches during World War II.  Dad had travelled all over the Pacific from 1941 through 1945. Names such as Kwajalein, Majuro, Eniwetok, Pohnapei, Truk, Yap, Palau, Guadalcanal, Anguar, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, Iwo JimaChichi Jima, Okinawa, Leyte, Luzon, and of course, Guam, had been hastily mentioned in many of his conversations and stories about his time in the Navy.  Now, our family was taking the plunge and we were all flying there to live. Mom and Dad were public school teachers--English teachers--and they had just signed up with the Government of Guam Department of Education to teach on Guam for a two-year contract.  Beaches and Hotels along Tumon Bay, Guam, USA Photographic Print Bachmann, Bill Buy at AllPosters.com Guam is a U.S. territory... so after you see some of the major differences, you can almost imagine it like what Hawaii was 20 years earlier. When we arrived on the island, there were no hotels (well, maybe two or three, but they weren't what one would expect to be hotels). Beach View, Guam, Pacific Photographic Print Gillham, Ken Buy at AllPosters.com Many of the hotels started popping up on the popular beaches starting in 1969.  The first big one along Tumon Bay was the Fujita--a converted apartment complex. Then came the Guam Hilton. Then trailing closely came the Continental, the Dai-Ichi, the Suehiro, the Tumon Sands Plaza, and the Okura. Overlooking much of the north end of the island was the Cliff Hotel. Guam was becoming more cosmopolitan.  Yet, in the southern mountainous area of the island, the traditional Pacific Islander ways were still respected and followed. The jungles (fondly called "boonies") were so thick that a Japanese Straggler Shoichi Yokoi managed to hide there for 28 years after the war. Click on his name to see his amazing story. My family was on Guam when Yokoi-san came out of the boonies. It was an adventure for us to be living on an island where real-Robinson-Crusoe events were happening. travel Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:02:06 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/submarines My fascination of the underwater world probably started when I read Jules Verne's book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Then, watching the Disney movie of the same name in the theaters probably got my interest going even more. Click Here To See a Cool Website on Disney's Nautilus Photos and Trivia! Or, maybe it was from watching the television shows The Underwater World of Jacques Costeau and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Then, after traveling to the island of Guam and learning how to snorkel on the beautiful coral reefs around the island, I became even more fascinated with the underwater life and what mysteries it might hold. Submarine Surrounded by Fish Framed Giclee Print Graphics, Dynamic Buy at AllPosters.com Having a submarine to be able to leisurely explore the undersea world was one of my fantasies when I was a teenager! Seeing real submarines surfacing at Apra Harbor on the island was a fantastic experience. I knew that someday, I'd get a chance to ride on a submarine--to look through the view ports to see the fishes and other sights in the depths. This Squidoo is an attempt to assemble all my fascinations with these underwater vehicles. Please visit regularly--because I'll be adding goodies to it as I find them! Just got back from some weekend "mini-vacations" to San Francisco--and have added some pictures of the USS Pampanito (A WWII Submarine) from angles normally not seen (some from a Hornblower Yacht cruising by in the bay, and some from a Cessna 172 flying over at 3500 feet). The Maritime Museum is closed for Earthquake Renovation and Retrofitting--but the submarine is still open for viewing! education Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:11:33 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/SeaTurtles_OceanicNomads Okay. The first big question is: What is a Sea Turtle? From a purely biological point of view, there are 3 reptiles that have the thing called a shell, or better term, carapace, which causes folks to lump them under the general term, "TURTLES". However,  TORTOISES --If the animal lives primarily on dry land, has a high-arched carapace, and has almost elephant-like legs and toes, it's really considered and called a TORTOISE. Tortoises are primarily vegetarians--they like to eat green, leafy plants and generally live in desert-like conditions. Tortoises tend to be long-living and slow-moving on either dry land or when they get a rare chance to get in the water. The Galapagos tortoises and the American Southwest tortoises are some of the better-known tortoises of the world. You also have many that live in forested areas, but you won't see them very often. TERRAPINS --If the animal is more streamlined and has a low-arched carapace--but has toes with claws on webbed feet, it's a TERRAPIN. Terrapins live mostly in and around water, mud, and swamps. Terrapins are omnivores--yeah, they'll eat plants, but they also love to go after fish, birds, lizards, and bugs. Terrapins are relatively fast runners on land and fast swimmers. The members of the Terrapins that we may have heard of are the "red-eared sliders", the "snapping turtles", and the "diamond-back turtles" (all of these are *really* terrapins). TURTLES  --and then you have the SEA TURTLES. There are 5 major species--the green turtle, the hawksbill turtle, the Ridley turtle, the loggerhead turtle, and the leatherback turtle. The green turtles have mostly been hunted for food in many of the island cultures. Hawksbill turtles are prized for their beautiful carapace--which is sometimes used by island cultures to make jewelry. The Ridley and loggerhead turtles are also eaten for food in some island/oceanic cultures. The leatherback turtles are the largest of the group--and they are also prized as food by the island/oceanic cultures.  All real TURTLES have FINS. Their front fins have no visible toes (their skeleton has them, though)--although the males do have a longer thumb-claw that extends beyond the fin.  Sea Turtles of the World Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Sea turtles like to eat seagrass, algae, seaweed--but they also like to eat jellyfish, small fish, octopus, and squids. Other than humans, sharks and large fish are their major enemies--especially when they are young. Other hazards for turtles are the garbage humans dump into the ocean (sea turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish--and then choke or fatally block their digestive systems with the garbage)--and fishing nets, in which the turtles get tangled and then subsequently drown because they can't surface for air. Global warming and climate change may also cause some problems for sea turtles, but at the moment it doesn't seem like a rising sea level would cause sea turtles any extra problems. Otherwise, the most vulnerable point in a sea turtle's life (most likely with their cousins the tortoises and terrapins as well), is when they are just hatched and trying to make their way from their nest to the relative safety of their eventual habitat.  With sea turtles, the route from the sandy beach (where their eggs are laid) to the ocean is treacherous--with birds, crabs, cats, dogs, pigs, and other animals snatching them up and eating them en masse. Then, once they get into the shallow waters, barracuda, sharks, sea bass, octopus, squid, and other predators are also waiting for them.  It's only after they find shelter among the floating clumps of kelp or other seaweed that the baby sea turtles gain a small amount of protection. Silhouette of Underwater Sea Turtle from Beneath Photographic Print Stein, Erik Buy at AllPosters.com The sea turtles are amazing animals. Except for when they are nesting, they spend their entire life in the open ocean. They are the most vulnerable when they are on land to nest, when they are still in their eggs, and after they have just hatched. It would take a whole book to describe just the fascinating information on Sea Turtles. But I hope that this brief introduction has helped with understanding a bit more about these gentle and interesting creatures. animals Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:24:03 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/homeschooling_curriculum The cool thing about Homeschooling is that you are not TIED or CHAINED to a curriculum determined by *Ivory-Tower* "Boards of Education" such that your children will become Bored of Education! Sure, you can buy curriculum specifically designed and developed for homeschoolers--the ABeka curriculum, the Bob Jones University Curriculum, and so on.  But since all kids are not all alike, you can mix and match, or choose to go in a different direction altogether as well. Like I said in one of my other Squidoos (lens?), early settlers in America usually had only one book for their journeys and eventually in their homes. And like I said before, you can imagine which book that it was.  From this one book, the children were taught how to read, write, and think. From this book they learned their morals and their view of how to deal with what they'd find in their environment. Of course, now we have a wide variety of media--not only do we have access to almost any book or document that has ever been printed, but we also have newspapers, magazines, journals, audio and video (on tapes, CDs, DVDs, MP3s, and MPEG/WAV) as well as the Internet to access most of these and other information. So... with all this information overload, where do we start sorting out the good stuff from the questionable and *bad* stuff?  How about parental discretion? If you are not a total idiot and you can manage to run a household, keep the checkbook relatively balanced, and rustle up some grub once in a while, you are most likely qualified to teach kids something. Because, let's face it, this may be what most of us need most to do when we get out of school anyway. However, it is helpful if our kids actually learn something. Long before we had kids and even before we got married, my wife and I had been public school teachers in a school district that was severely underfunded. Most of the books we used in our classes were more than a decade old--some were more than 20 years old. Not that there was anything bad about them. In fact, most were quite good.  However, it was an interesting task to explain to the students in 1980 and 1981 that the book saying that someday humans would journey to the moon in a vehicle called a "spaceship" wasn't science fiction--especially with events like the Space Shuttle Enterprise being test-landed at Edwards AFB in California and the Soviet Space Station Solyuz orbiting the planet.  Also, the science equipment was so old it looked like it was recovered from an archeological dig for the dark ages.   But the funky science equipment actually made the science experiments more interesting (at least in my opinion) than if it had been shiney new stuff.  Some of the science experiments my wife and I cooked up for our classes used just ordinary stuff we gathered from trips to the market or stuff we scrounged up from a hardware store.  Not sure if most of you remember your own elementary school science experiments -- you know, the baking soda and vinegar experiment; the thread, salt, and ice experiment; and the soda-straw and apple experiment.  But when doing them the second time for high school students, you can regain the fascination with science all over again (because most folks don't remember the one done in elementary school--but the second time they see it in high school, they are more capable of really learning the principles behind the experiment anyway). And science isn't the only class that can be taught quite effectively with most things found around our home or garage.  We all live within a short distance of something of historical relevancy.  Whether it be on Guam, or in New Mexico, or British Columbia, or New York, or Florida, or Hawaii, or Japan, we can tie the historical monuments and museums and exhibits found near our homes to the world historical events and people.  In New Mexico, you can see living history--Taos Pueblo looks pretty much the same as it did more than 1000 years ago (except maybe for the pickup trucks parked in front of it, or the Casio wristwatches on the wrists of the inhabitants and the MP3 players in the inhabitants' pockets). You can visit the International Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico (also close to White Sands National Monument--a great place for science discussions about environment and geography--and White Sands Missile Range, the site of the Space Shuttle Columbia's landing in 1982). Ferdinand Magellan? Well--he was a Portuguese Captain/Navigator who, under the commission of Queen Isabella of Spain took his ships to circumnavigate the world. He landed on Guam in 1521. He landed in the Philippines also in 1521.  Note that I said his ships circumnavigated the world.  Magellan didn't make it alive. He died in the Philippines. In about the same manner that Captain Cook (who was sailing for the Queen of England) met his fate in Hawaii. The Portuguese Navigator/Captains and their Spanish crews were adept at scooting all over the oceans of the world--as were the Dutch and English.  And they played an interesting role in the Pacific with Hawaii, Tahiti, Japan, Indonesia, India, Australia, and Africa.  So, if you vacation in Hawaii, you can make some of this history come alive by visiting the actual Hawaiian temple sites where some of this happened. If you travel to Japan, you can do likewise. One thing my wife and I discovered was that history is a timeline--with stuff happening in more than one place all the time.  While stuff was happening in Europe, simultaneously things were also happening in China, Russia, Japan, Hawaii, and South America.   Too many books we found were "Western Civilization" oriented. They talked about all the things happening in Western Europe without mentioning all the advances in knowledge and science and technology in Eastern Europe, China, India, Japan, and the Americas. The Mayans had very accurate calendars that tracked solar eclipses, comets, and the years, months, weeks, days, and hours with accuracy greater than any others developed during that time period--in fact, those calendars are still unsurpassed.  The Egyptians had engineering and masonry skills that were unparalleled--for things like the pyramids and their obelisks and temples. The Greeks and Romans developed stonework for their buildings and temples that is still awe-inspiring.  The Japanese developed a skill of building temples and pagodas that were not only assembled without nails, but were also earthquake resistant and also had security features such as "nightingale floors" and battlements. The aborigines of Australia had weapons such as the boomerang that took advantage of aerodynamic properties to effectively target and take down prey and enemies. The Chinese developed printing presses, gunpowder, noodles, and earthquake seismometers.  What our kids can do (and what we did as well) is use a long roll of butcher paper and post simultaneous "timelines" for different areas of the world to see how all these events and people in history interacted and affected each other. education Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:12:22 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/cubicle_makeover If you are going to be stuck in a "cubicle" for 8 hours a day (one third of each day!)--you might as well fix it up a bit and decorate it. Make it a comfortable place to work (of course, there are limits to how far you can go before the boss has a fit and your co-workers revolt--but then again, perhaps they are revolting already ...). Scott Adams, a former High-Tech engineering department employee, has become the philosopher of modern-day worklife with his amazingly accurate Dilbert cartoons and books. He captures the craziness that pervades modern workplaces. I've worked in a bunch of high-tech organizations in and around Silicon Valley--from being a contractor with a government agency or other organization to working as a staff member of a few prominent Silicon Valley high-tech data and telecommunications networking companies. At every place I've worked, my co-workers and I were certain that Scott Adams and his models for his columns and cartoons were working in our building. This Squidoo lens is a tribute to my colleagues and coworkers who put up with the cubicle walls and halls. And... I'm adding some ways to help make the "daily grind" more bearable. Stick around and visit a bit, drop a note, give suggestions for fixing up a cubicle, and perhaps even offer up some links to pictures of your own. diy Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:47:36 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/dangerous_winds Our hearts go out to all the folks who just went through the nasty "Cyclone Nargis" that hit MyanMar (Burma). Some have estimated that more than 150,000 have been killed as a result of this storm. Also, Typhoon Fengshen just slammed into the Central Philippines, sinking a ferry that had 700 people aboard--Philippine officials are still investigating and searching for survivors. The typhoon is now heading toward Taiwan. I've added some video clips of Philippine typhoons (including Fengshen) below (scroll down to view). Our hearts also go out to those in Windsor, Platteville, Johnstown, and Greeley, Colorado who had their homes and families hit by the massive tornados. My folks live near Loveland--and were also hunkering down in their closets, bathrooms, and basements to better protect themselves from the tornados--unlike for approaching hurricanes or typhoons, tornados do not provide much warning. So, tornado season has started in the U.S.--and we've seen a bunch of them in the past few weeks. Hurricane season for the US Atlantic Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Carribean has also started--with the Yucatan Penninsula being hit by Tropical Storm Arthur. The meteorological term for the big, nasty winds that form over the oceans and which cause massive damage whenever they encounter any forms of civilization is "closed cyclonic circulations." Whether or not global warming and the resulting climate change is causing an increase in the storms or their intensity is most likely a moot point. However, no matter the case, you should be prepared to handle these natural occurrences. These storms are more well-known as "hurricanes" or "typhoons"--and they have other names as well--depending on where they occur: Atlantic basin and Eastern Pacific--"hurricanes" Western Pacific--"typhoons" Eastern Pacific (off Central and South America)--"cordonazos" Philippines--"baguios" or "typhoons" Australia--"willy-willy's" Indian Ocean--"cyclones" In the year 1281, records in Japan noted that a typhoon destroyed an attacking Mongol invasion fleet. The storm was called "Kamikaze", which in Japanese means "Divine Wind" or "Wind of the Gods". Similarly, another storm in the early 19th century helped in destroying the Russian fleet as they were preparing to attack Japan. No matter what they may be called, if you have been notified that a tropical depression or tropical storm or worse, a hurricane or typhoon, is lurking nearby and approaching--even if the weatherman says it's a few days away--you should TAKE STEPS TO PREPARE for potential disaster with basic emergency preparedness. Typical Broadcast Typhoon Advisory Shown During Typhoon Yagi and the Nice Surfing Waves Typical Before and After a Storm education Sun, 13 Jul 2008 19:20:35 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/hyperuricemia Wow! Although I'm not the "poster boy" for GQ or even reasonably "fit", I never expected to be hit by an ailment like gout.  hyperuricemia! GOUT!   Note: As a Hyperuricemia (aka "gout") sufferer, I do NOT endorse the products displayed on this site as cures for this ailment! I have a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry, so I understand the basics of this ailment. However, I am not a doctor. After reading this lens, if you'd like more comprehensive information (which you should!), please contact a professional medical practitioner--a doctor--for more assistance! Yeah, I am a tad overweight and could stand to lose 40 pounds...  When I was in college and working at the Marine Laboratory--and even when I was a high school science teacher--I exercised regularly.  I was either scooting about on my 10-speed bike, or swimming and snorkeling on the coral reefs around Guam.  Even when I worked briefly as a daily newspaper staff writer and photographer, I was always out and about... hauling my camera and other gear from shooting site to shooting site.  But when I got a "traditional job"--as a technical editor-writer--the health started to go downhill.  You see, most jobs require you to park your butt in a chair in a cubicle for 8 hours a day. If you commute for an hour in and an hour back home, you add another 2 hours to your sit-down day... for a total of 10 hours parked on your butt.  To make matters worse, when you get home, you are most likely stressed, so you spend another hour or two or three watching the tube to "relax"... before hitting the sack for the night.  All this combined inactivity (from a muscle point of view) leads to serious weight gain and reductions in cardio-vascular health.  So... as my doctor described to me when diagnosing my *second* bout with gout.  The combination of being overweight, plus the severe stress of serious deadlines at work, plus a lack of sleep (probably due to being overweight and staying up watching too much TV)...PLUS a genetically inherited trait that makes one more susceptible to gout --  all combined to create a "critical mass" just waiting to pounce. health Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:48:42 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/Montana_Monster Montana is a large state. So large, in fact, that it's the 4th largest state in the United States. Only Alaska, Texas, and California are larger. The western half of Montana straddles the Continental Divide--the line which separates the direction that water flows to the oceans. Rivers on the west side of the Continental Divide flow into the Pacific Ocean or Baja California, rivers on the East side of the Continental Divide flow into the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean. Montana isn't densly populated--so you can find immense areas of wilderness--and wildlife! Montana is the home of the National Bison Range. Here you can see American Bison and pronghorn antelope and other wildlife running pretty much wild in their natural habitat--not like you'd find in a zoo. Montana's northern border is shared by Canada--and Montana shares Glacier National Park with Canada. To Montana's west is Idaho, to the south is Wyoming (sharing the northern part of Yellowstone Park with Wyoming), and to the east are North and South Dakota. Montana's western side straddles the high and rugged Rocky Mountains and Montana's eastern side is part of the Great Plains and includes some "Badlands".  Montana's Badlands were featured during the movie Jurassic Park where the archeologists were finding dinosaur fossils at the start of the movie. travel Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:46 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/moving_electrons Let's eliminate Oil Dependency! With Oil now Passing $100 a barrel, it's Time to Kick Butts and Find Alternate Ways to Provide for our Energy Needs! Drive across the American Southwest and you'll certainly see the old-style windmills positioned next to water-tanks to keep cattle and other livestock supplied with their pumped water.  Most rural areas in the U.S. have them as well. With concerns about environmental pollution from fossil fuels and the climate change and global warming issue, alternate methods of providing electrical energy are now being explored. Now, in California at least, you can find windmill farms--one near the east side of the Tehachapi Pass in Southern California as you leave Barstow heading for the Central Valley and another on the Altamont Hills next to Interstate 580 between the Central Valley (Sacramento - Modesto Corridor) and Silicon Valley and San Francisco.  These windmills serve a different purpose--instead of pumping water directly, they are "pumping electrons"; turning in a magnetic coil to move electrons to produce electricity for the growing businesses and population of California. The electricity that these windmills produce is routed into the electrical grid for much of the country. You might be looking at the result of one of those moved electrons even now. Energy (and the lack thereof) has always fascinated me.  So, this Squidoo lens is an attempt to help make some sense of the whole deal. I'll be working on the lens to make it a resource for those of you who are interested in not only getting the U.S. weaned off of the non-renewable energy sources such as oil and coal, and getting us more established with more environmentally-friendly sources such as hydropower, wind power, geothermal power, and solar power. education Sun, 06 Jul 2008 23:56:42 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/parts_of_speech This lens is based on lessons I taught when I was an English grammar and composition teacher and when I was teaching grammar and composition to homeschooling students. (And also from experience from my studies of linguistics and foreign languages and 27 years as a published writer/editor) Rudolf Flesch, in his book, "The Art of Readable Writing", stated that most folks learn to write from Aristotle. Huh ??? In the history of English grammar, composition, and rhetoric teaching-centuries ago in England, teaching included not only Greek and Latin (the "classical" languages the aristocracy required for their offspring to be considered "educated"), but also, English. Courses and textbooks were developed--the tutors used Greek and Latin grammar and rhetoric as a model and applied these models to English. Since the origins of Greek (and later as an offshoot, Latin) grammar and rhetoric go back to Aristotle--and since the principles of English teaching are still much the same as they were two to three hundred years ago-what you get in most of today's English classes and textbooks really does come from Aristotle. Flesch provided the following examples: Composition--The "most important rule" is the rule of unity. Pure Aristotle-based on his famous principle that everything must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Grammar--When learning English grammar, the first things you were taught were the parts of speech (noun, verb, article, pronoun, preposition, adjective, conjunction, and so on). Who first thought of the parts of speech? Aristotle. So, whether you like it or not, as Flesch says, "you are an umptienth-generation Aristotelian". Flesch believes that there are several things wrong with using Aristotle as an English teacher today-Aristotle was using ancient Greek. We are using modern English. These two languages may be distant cousins, but they are 2-1/2 thousand years apart when it comes to speaking and writing. Consider: paper (papyrus?) books newspapers magazines telegraph telephone movies radio television computers Internet compulsory education (and homeschooling?) advertising and millions of other advances both tiny and huge have changed the way we speak, read, write, learn, and think compared to the way things were done thousands of years ago. education Mon, 25 Aug 2008 22:57:37 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/jellyfish_sting Relatives of coral and sea anemones (and also of the Portuguese Man-O-War and the Australian Box Jelly), Sea Jellies or "Jellyfish" are marine invertebrates belonging to the class Scyphozoa of the phylum Cnidaria.  These free-swimming creatures live in every ocean in the world and in some fresh waters, such as the stinger-less jellyfish that live in fresh-water lakes in Palau. Although many call these animals "jellyfish", this term is incorrect since the scyphozoans are not vertebrates. Also, sometimes folks group the relatives of true scyphozoans such as the Hydrozoa (Portuguese Man-o-War) and the Cubozoa (Australian Box Jelly) with the term "Jellyfish". A Papuan Jellyfish Swims in the Ocean Photographic Print Curtsinger, Bill Buy at AllPosters.com As a former graduate student at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory (and having lived and played near the ocean for more than 20 years), I've had some personal experiences with these creatures that I'll share with this lens (and those linked to it). animals Mon, 18 Aug 2008 23:27:06 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/coral_reefs Coral reefs are misunderstood by most folks who are unaware of the biology existing there.  Coral reefs are not dead areas of rocks just beneath the surface of the sea, but are complex communities of diverse animal and plant types, which provide for much of the oceanic food chain. Coral reefs are fragile--with global warming and certain human activities can drastically affect and perhaps wipe out many coral reef environments.  And, coral reefs are usually are usually composed of more than one kind of coral. The coral animal (yes, it's an animal!) is related to jellyfish and sea anemones. Although the larvae of coral animals are free-swimming, they quickly settle down and start to form their calcium shell--their "skeleton" that eventually forms part of the "cement" that builds a coral reef. Because coral animals are restricted to staying within their self-imposed "apartment", they feed by filtering plankton that flows through their tentacles.   Sea anemones feed in a similar manner, but the sea anemones are more mobile and can actively sting and grab stunned fish. Jellyfish actively swim and can sting, stun, and grab their prey in that manner. Interesting article about coral reefs here! animals Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:16:37 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/tick_ticks With the warmth of summertime here, folks and their pets will be venturing into the meadows and forests of our parks and open areas for recreation. And they may be returning home with unwanted "guests" -- the Ticks Almost any forested or grassy area in the world will have ticks. Ticks are members of the arachnid family--more related to spiders and scorpions than to insects and bugs. One of the identifying features of an arachnid is the presence of 8 legs.  Ticks have 8 legs. Ticks are opportunistic eaters. They eat blood.  When an animal (human or otherwise) brushes close to where the tick is hiding, the tick can latch on to its new host and start its dinner. animals Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:17:43 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/hawaii_tips ALOHA! The State of Hawaii beckons to most temperate zone folks as a place to vacation, a place to enjoy tropical pleasures (such as warm sun, water, beaches, and scenery!), and a place to refresh from those dull days fighting traffic to get to a dismal office. Maui Morning Art Print Westmoreland,... Buy at AllPosters.com With the recent shutting down and bankruptcy for Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines, getting to Hawaii might be a little more tricky, but it's still worth the trip! Hawaiian Airlines, Northwest, and other carriers still have frequent and regular flights that you can enjoy! Just keep an eye on the travel situation before your trip--to ensure that your vacation is a very pleasant one! I got my first glimpse of Hawaii when I was a kid watching Jack Lord in the television series "Hawaii-50". Later, I again, enjoyed the adventures of Tom Selleck in the television series "Magnum P.I." Both series always weaved a good story around the beautiful scenery and people of Hawaii. So, by the time my family travelled through Hawaii to the island of Guam in the western Pacific, I was ready to really experience seeing Hawaii first-hand. One thing I've learned from traveling to Hawaii and other places overseas--planning can make the trip so much more enjoyable! I created this lens by using some of my own family's experience to illustrate just a bit of what you can enjoy and to help you with planning an eventful and enjoyable vacation to Hawaii.But first--Some Background... As the United States 50th and youngest state, Hawaii still retains much of its cultural heritage of the original inhabitants of the islands--the Polynesian Hawaiians. The cultural heritage of Hawaii is still maintained with the survival of its language and many of the Hawaiian traditional customs--such as the hula, the hukilau, the luau, and the original Hawaiian sport--surfing. Hawaii Calls Art Print Koniakowsky, Wade Buy at AllPosters.com Because Hawaii was stumbled over by European explorers long after other civilizations, through many struggles Hawaiian culture has managed to survive a lot better than in other places. travel Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:41:37 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/quonset-huts A Quonset hut is a particular kind of elongated, prefabricated structure (many times resembling a "building" -- just kidding! --) of corrugated steel with a semicircular/semitubular cross section--if a bunch were side-by-side and painted yellow, they'd look like giant Twinkies. (Hey, I'm hungry when I'm writing this!) The original Quonset hut was made out of corrugated metal and looked like a big metal tube that someone cut in half lengthwise and then laid on the ground. When our family moved from New Mexico to the Western Pacific tropical island of Guam, we may have previously seen a Quonset Hut or two at the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento Peak (Sac Peak Observatory)--which is where our Boy Scout troup and junior high science classes went for a field-trip visit a few times, or elsewhere (but I don't remember any of the others). But when we got to Guam, we saw lots of them. Dad had a lot of fun describing how he remembered them when he was a sailor as World War II wound down and his ship was at Guam and other sites in the Pacific. Although we had one of the island's concrete block/prestressed concrete homes (all the better to withstand the many typhoons that pass over or near the island), we had friends who lived in Quonset huts in various places around the island. These Quonset huts had been "civilianized" by the military after they served their usefulness during World War II. The Government of Guam and private entrepreneurs managed to snap up a bunch of these structures for only $1000 a pop and turned them into offices, teacher housing (like those for our friends), and garages, warehouses, stores, and even banks! One thing cool about the Quonset huts that we saw on Guam was that they seemed more "organic" and "environmentally in-tune"--because their rounded shapes fit in better with the rounded shapes of nature (hey, how many perfectly square or rectangular shapes have you seen in nature, eh?). education Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:52:30 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/New_Mexico No, you do not need a passport (at least not from the United States!) to visit New Mexico!  Yes, you can drink the water!  Yes, they have things like airports, trains, freeways, and cars in New Mexico (most of the stagecoaches are in the museums!).  And yes, you can get by with speaking only English in New Mexico (although if you'd like to learn Spanish, Navajo, Apache, or Hopi, you can learn those here as well)! Maybe the average US citizen might not know much about this state, but many celebrities know about some of the great secluded places in New Mexico. Julia Roberts, Cher, Robert Redford, and Al Unser have been frequently seen in New Mexico. New Mexicans generally tend to leave them alone and let them enjoy the beautiful scenery and solitude.  Greetings from New Mexico Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com As the fifth largest state of the United States (smaller than only Alaska, Texas, California, and Montana), New Mexico still befuddles many of those citizens of the other 49 states--they aren't sure what to make of New Mexico. They aren't sure if it's a state of the United States or a province of Mexico. Not only is New Mexico north of the Rio Grande (which separates much of the United States--Texas, mostly) from Mexico, but the Rio Grande also cuts from the north to the south through the middle of the state. (By the way, you won't say "Rio Grande River"--because "Rio" means "River" in Spanish! -- You don't want to sound like you are from the Department of Redundancy Department!) travel Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:57:07 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/photo_darkroom I learned my photography back in the Dark Ages--namely, when images on film and paper were still developed in dark rooms. The Darkroom.  Although it truly is amazing what one can do with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and other software... the magic of the dark room still beckons for the "purists". Click here to see a video on how one develops Black and White film After you have read this Squidoo lens, and you decide you'd like to build your own darkroom or photolab, check out my Squidoo on Project Planning--where I describe more on how I planned, budgeted, scheduled, and built an institutional Marine Laboratory photolab. diy Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:39:53 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/sea_cucumbers Sea Cucumbers are interesting creatures. Yup, they are animals, and not plants or--as their name might imply--vegetables.  Sea cucumbers are relatives of the starfish and sea urchins, of the phylum Echinodermata--Echinoderms have radiating parts--and are also known as Holothurids of the Class Holothuroidea. And they come in all shapes and sizes (and COLORS)! Although most folks will be familiar with the common black or brown sea cucumber as shown in the picture in this module, you will learn that sea cucumbers can look like decorative pillows such as the candy-striped specimen and the multi-tufted specimen shown elsewhere on this Squidoo lens. Depending on which marine biology expert you talk to, there are about 1300 known species,  and you can find the sea cucumbers living in all of the world's oceans. Sea Cucumbers are bottom dwellers--and eat whatever small things they can filter through their tentacles and mouth in the water and sand near the sea floor. They eat organic material--whether planktonic plant or animal life, bits of broken coral, bits of broken sea weed, fish and marine animal excrement, and so on. They pass this stuff through their bodies and excrete the essentially "turned" sand, acting much in the same way that terrestrial earthworms digest and process the organic materials in the soil. animals Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:42:40 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/san-francisco-minivacation The "City by the Bay" or also known as "Baghdad by the Bay", San Francisco is a wild mix of cultures and customs--an amazing place to visit, an amazing place to live. There are neighborhoods that represent seemingly every culture and custom--Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, English, German, Spanish, Mexican, and other areas of the world. Of course, when folks think about San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge may be the first landmark they think of. They may also think of the TransAmerica Pyramid, or the Coit Tower. They may also envision the Oakland Bay Bridge or Pier 39. The City has not been without its troubles--the Great Earthquake of 1906 destroyed much of the city. But in the original City's place, the current City was reborn and rebuilt. And now, the City boasts earthquake resistant high-rises and other buildings, and bustles with 24-hour activity. travel Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:27:12 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/palau_rock_islands Two seasons of the television reality show "Survivor" have been filmed here in Palau--the Republic of Palau (including the most recent season 16!). Check out the Survivor Micronesia Website -- you can see more sights of the beautiful Rock Islands of Palau as well as you can vote for your favorite "Survivor" and you can participate in a Fan Forum!. Aerial View of Islands in the Republic of Palau Photographic Print Laman, Tim Buy at AllPosters.com On the most recent episode, the two "tribes" merged and had a feast on the beach. One of the delicacies they had a chance to sample was Fruitbat! This delicacy had also been a common fiesta offering on Guam, until it was found out that the bats on Guam eat the fruit of Cycad palms, which renders their flesh such that it was a slow-acting toxin. We'd hope that the bats have way too much good fruits to eat on Palau so that they don't have to eat cycad fruits, right? When I was studying marine biology at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory, the Rock Islands of Palau were considered a "mecca" for scuba divers, snorkelers, and marine biologists. I had heard a lot about the islands in the Palau archipelago from my Dad, who was in the Navy and who landed on the islands (including the southern Palauan island Peleliu) on an LST during World War II. Also, while attending the University of Guam, some of my roommates in the dormitories were from Palau. I learned a lot about Palau from my new friends from there (even learned some of the Palauan language). So... when I got a chance to fly to Palau on a scuba diving trip, a buddy and I decided to go for it and sign up for the flight. This lens will try to show a bit of what you can expect when you visit the Western Pacific Republic of Palau. travel Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:21:46 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/oceans_and_marine_biology Whether you got your first inspiration for becoming interested in Oceanology, Oceanography, and Marine Biology from watching the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau films, or reading about the Nautilus submarine in Jules Verne's book "20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea", or watching the weekly series "Flipper" on Television, you'll find that studying the world under the waves is a fascinating adventure! I've put this lens together as sort of a "curriculum guide" for those wanting to teach or learn more about the environment that comprises three-quarters of the surface of our planet Earth. Homeschoolers in particular may find this Squidoo lens helpful for providing a more interactive site for learning about oceanology, oceanography, and marine biology--topics that are somewhat rare except in coastal areas. Why do I say this? Because my wife and I have homeschooled our two kids for all 12 years of their "school years". My daughter is now an operations manager for a flight training school at a local airport, and my son works with learning-disabled kids for a state-government-funded program run by the public schools. My wife and I know that we were constantly looking for curriculum to supplement the various books and other references we could find. Thus, the production of this Squidoo--please stay a while and enjoy. Visit it regularly--because I'll be making updates as I find new material! New Links Added This Week--February 24, 2008! education Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:38:34 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/carabao The Carabao. The Water Buffalo. Sort of like a four-legged, non-gas-burning tractor. Can help with hauling sugar cane. Can handle the mud while plowing rice paddies. Can swim very well. Can get rid of a water hyacinth problem. Useful for rural tropical transportation. Can haul tropical Santas around in their carts. And good for their milk (I guess--I've heard this, but have never tried it myself!). Water Buffalo in Kaziranga National Park, India Photographic Print Pederson, Dee Ann Buy at AllPosters.com animals Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:51:54 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/niseko The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XI Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1972 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympics to be held outside Western Europe and the USA, and only the 4th Games (summer or winter) held outside of the above mentioned regions, after Melbourne, Tokyo and Mexico City. The city won the rights to those games in 1966. Sapporo is also the site of the Annual Sapporo Snow Festival every February. The upcoming (2009) Festival will be held from February 5th (Thursday) through February 11th (Wednesday)! So, although you missed it this year, you have plenty of time to make plans for seeing it next year! During the 1972 Winter Olympics, I was living on the Western Pacific Island of Guam... and trying to learn the Japanese language in high school. Little did I know that I'd be in Japan a few years later, doing the Banzai Sitzmark in the snows of Hokkaido! travel Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:38:03 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/crocodiles_and_alligators The crocodiles, caimans, gharials, and alligators -- in the crocodilia order of large reptiles of which there are 23 recorded species in three families (Crocodylidae, Alligatoridae, and Gavialidae) -- live in mostly salt or brackish water in the tropical regions of the world.  As representatives of the largest reptiles on earth and in much the same way as the "other" large four-legged reptiles--the monitor lizards--they resemble so much the dinosaurs of old with their huge sizes, their ferocious appetites, and their imposing presence in their natural habitats.  However, they are now also threatened with human interactions (retribution for attacks on livestock and persons and development taking over their habitats) and impending habitat loss due to climate change and global warming. Because they live in salty environments, crocodilians must rid their bodies of excess salt. Crocodiles and gharials have modified salivary glands on their tongue that are used to excrete the excess salt. Although alligators and caimans have the same glands, the glands are non-functional.  All crocodilians, however, also use their tear glands to help rid their bodies of excess salt. This excretion resembles very salty tears--thus, the expression, "Crocodile Tears." The expression tends to mean "crying without much real emotion involved." The American continents are the only places where crocodiles and alligators live in the same habitats. animals Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:35:26 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/Digitized_Color_Slides When I stumbled over a large box full of color transparencies (35mm slides) from my early photography days, I wanted to see them again.  Although I had spent many years of taking pictures using transparency films such as Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Agfa, Sakura-Color, Fujicolor, and 5421film,  I never had a reliable projector (whether a straight-tray or carousel projector, they never used to work well anyway--the ones I tried always wanted to eat the slides)...  I searched through some of the boxes of slides and found a few hundred I thought might be worthwhile seen and shared again--and got them digitized.  Most came out fine.... but some had problems-- This Squidoo is an attempt to help you avoid the problems that I had with some of the digitized images. diy Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:34:02 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/conus Don't let its size or the fact that it resembles a "snail" fool you--a cone shell has the stealth, speed, and deadliness of a stealth fighter!  It's always a thrill to find a beautiful shell when you are walking along the beach or snorkeling or SCUBA diving. Believe me--I've had the experience of finding beautiful shells either on the beach or in the warm waters of a coral reef. Cone Shell, Underwater, Chinas Southern Sea, Pacific Ocean Photographic Print Soury, Gerard Buy at AllPosters.com But how you handle that shell if you decide to pick it up could be the difference between life and death--namely, yours.  Your death, that is. When most folks think about molluscs--snails, if you wish--they think of slow-moving docile critters that may be tasty as the French "escargot" or the tasty abalone.  But one family of shells has the stealth, speed, and deadliness of a stealth fighter--the cone shells.  Not all cone shells are deadly--but they all are capable of zapping with a venom-laden harpoon. Some of the videos included below illustrate the stealth, the speed, and the deadliness of these animals. I remember a story from when I lived on Guam.... where folks found a sailor dead on a Guam beach one morning. At first, foul play was suspected--the sailor had been on shore-leave from a visiting Navy ship. However, after medical examiners started their "Crime Scene Investigation"--and had removed the sailor's clothes to perform an autopsy to figure out the cause of death--they found a surprising twist. A small shell dropped out of the sailor's shirt pocket.  The shell was a dead cone shell.  Evidently, the sailor had been stung by the animal before the animal died. The shell has caused the demise of many amateur collectors--and even expert shell collectors who let their guard down and got careless. Pacific Islanders treat the animals with great respect. They pick up the shells only by the broad end and never carry the live animals in anything less than metal or glass or wood containers. When we lived on Guam, we heard stories of islanders who had been hauling in a fishing net and who got stung by a cone shell that had been on the net. We heard that the islander would immediately pull out a machete and lop off the stung appendage. To the islanders, going without a hand or arm was better than dying of paralysis?     animals Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:33:03 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/kokopeli Kokopeli (known also as "Kokopelli" in American English--for linguistics basis of this, see some of my other lenses)--a hunchbacked little fellow with a few feathers in his cap and playing a flute. Boogying to some ancient tune.  Found mostly in Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico petroglyphs--the ancient art carved onto old sandstone walls or on the volcanic escarpments or painted on kiva walls. There are all sorts of mysterious tales surrounding this fellow. Seems that he was somewhat of a "ladies man"...and now his image represents "fun and romantic" appeal to the gals of the Southwest. Kokopelli Quartet Art Print Polivka Buy at AllPosters.com Books have been written about him. Archeological treatises have been developed on him. And souvenir shops at airports and hotels and other tourist attractions have turned him into a souvenir icon of the Southwest. Tony Hillerman has written many mystery novels set in the Southwest United States--including the "Four Corners" states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. His books deal a lot with southwestern American Indian/Native American culture and anthropology and archeology and sometimes mention the Kokopelli character. Ancient Rock Art Showing Kokopelli, the Flute Player, and a Shield Photographic Print Block, Ira Buy at AllPosters.com diy Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:41:05 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/space_station Observations from space can help us understand our planet's dilemma with climate change, global warming, environmental pollution, and natural disasters. Astronauts orbiting in a space shuttle or on the International Space Station have been able to make valuable recordings of recent events such as the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Africa; Hurricane Katrina and many other hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones; volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes. These events are big enough to be seen and recorded from space. Working at NASA-Ames Research Center as a contract writer-editor for the International Space Station Project Gravitational Biology Facility was the ultimate high for my career as a science major and as a technical writer-editor.  The energy of the place was awesome... and the folks I worked with will forever be in my fond memories (and I still keep in contact with many of them). International Space Station 2 Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Many folks sometimes fuss about the so-called friviolity of NASA and what it does... they think the money could be better spent on what they think is "more important"... but after working with NASA (as well as following NASA through much of its history as a major fan), I now believe even more strongly about the benefit that NASA programs can provide not only the United States, but the world in general.  Weather satellites come to mind. Surveillance satellites as well. Surveillance satellites can track weather patterns, track plant diseases, and things like tsunami formations to help us learn how to avoid being harmed by these natural events.  Advances in vacuum technology, materials processing, health and fitness studies, and engineering have also come about through much of the work taking place with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. education Sun, 24 Aug 2008 01:18:27 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/treehouse-heaven Who has watched one of the movies or read the book about "Swiss Family Robinson" and hasn't imagined what life would be like living in a treehouse? Especially a fancy treehouse like the one portrayed on the first Disney movie from the 1960s (or even the more recent one from the 1980s). If thinking about that treehouse wasn't enough to get you interested, perhaps it might be the treehouse featured in the "Tarzan" movies staring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, or the later Disney animated movie. Or maybe, it was the "George of the Jungle" cartoons or the more recent movie of the same name starring Brandon Frasier in the title role. A treehouse was also featured in the movie "Bridge to Terabithia". In the last "Star Wars" (VI) movie, the treehomes of the Ewoks were fantastic! High in the trees, with wrap-around retractible staircases and ladders and with the decks and bridges stretching from tree to tree--definitely a cool place to "hang out"! Here's a site that has been set up to "Save a Treehouse" --it seems that overzealous "zoners" want this thing torn down (just because it doesn't fit their idea of a "proper house" or some other dumb idea. Anyway... drop on by and visit--and sign the petition. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SavetheTreehouse/ education Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:29:37 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/trains_for_the_environment With the price of fuel going through the roof and with more and more concern about the environment--as well as the traffic congestion with all of the world's city streets and highways, trains are becoming a viable and attractive alternative to cars and trucks. Shinkansen or Bullet Train, Osaka, Japan Photographic Print Ross, Nancy &... Buy at AllPosters.com Some of my first memories of train rides were the express trains, commuter trains, and bullet trains (aka "Shinkansen") of Japan. Also, when my grandparents came out from Pennsylvania to visit our family in New Mexico, they came by train (at the time, the nearest decent airport was in El Paso, Texas). Canadian Pacific Train Art Print Couillard, Roger Buy at AllPosters.com When I returned to the U.S. after 12 years overseas, I found a job where I could use a train to commute to work--this was the ACE Train. I eventually also rode the CalTrain, Amtrak, and the Valley Transit Authority's Light Rail. When my daughter returned from a trip to France, she mentioned that she had seen the TGV high-speed trains at the station in Paris. Those trains are HOT, fast, and sleek! And then, my wife and I just rented the movie "Mr. Bean's Holiday"--sort of a corny movie, but fun, anyway. In this movie, the French TGV train and the Paris station and the Cannes Film Festival are all featured nicely. (There are some videos below that also show these trains!) Commuting by train is convenient in that you don't have to worry about traffic jams--and you can use your "road-time" for things other than driving: reading, visiting, sleeping, and even work. If you want to spend more time playing with trains rather than riding them, scroll on down through this lens to find the model trains and other goodies for train lovers! travel Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:47:57 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/crotalus Growing up in Montana and New Mexico, I had plenty of chances for learning about some of the most dangerous aspects of hiking, camping, and otherwise enjoying the great outdoors in those areas. Most of the time (except when they are molting), the rattlesnakes will be "kind enough" to "warn us" when we get too close to them--they rattle to warn off creatures bigger than they are (obviously, they don't want to get stepped on). However, when they are sneaking up on prey, they don't rattle--they just coil and attack. So, the only ones that need to worry about this might be the kangaroo rats, mice, rats, rabbits, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, road runners, grouse, and other small creatures in their habitats. animals Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:55:47 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/sharks_appeal Fascinating critters, the sharks.  From the little ones that are only 4 inches long as adults to the huge ones that reach almost 70 feet long as adults. From the docile bottom-dwelling crustacean eaters or open-ocean krill eaters to the ones with rows of huge teeth that are willing to eat everything--including whole tuna, seals, penguins, sea turtles, surfers, surf boards, boats, and even an occasional pier--the variety of sharks in our oceans is amazing.  Although sharks don't have many predators (their main predator is us humans!--the young are eaten by other larger fish), it's sometimes amazing that other creatures as bizarre as the Octopus and the giant squid can manage to attack and kill a shark. I've enjoyed learning about sharks ever since being a biology major at the University of Guam and then later as a research aide and graduate student at the University of Guam Marine Laboratory. At the Marine Lab, I had a chance to work close-hand with sharks--with maintaining large aquarium systems that held smaller sharks for our research projects.  On the rare occasions that I encountered a shark while swimming or snorkeling on the reef, it was always an awe-inspiring experience. Folks say that sharks don't like the way people taste so you don't have to worry about them eating you.  Okay, that's fine and good.  But I'd think that even if a shark decides not to eat you after TASTING YOU, it wouldn't be a good thing for you anyway.  The shark might leave with a bad taste in its mouth.. but in the meantime, the tasting session has the extremely high probability of being somewhat fatal for you.  How to avoid shark attack?  Uh... live in Phoenix or Albuquerque.  And don't go in the water.  You know what we at the marine lab called bright-orange or yellow bouyancy compensators (life-vests) that many SCUBA divers and snorkelers wear?   "Yum-Yum Yellow"  Yup. I'm FINished now. Oh... one more thing: You want a boat to see these critters yourself? Click Here! animals Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:28:18 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/map_reading Do you know why some compasses have mirrors on them? I've always wondered about that.... But I'll get to that later. I had an exposure to NAVIGATION very early in my life. Even before I figured out how to use a compass. You see, my Mom and Dad were teachers... and every summer that I can remember, as soon as that last school bell rang before the longest vacation of the year, our Ford Country Squire station wagon was loaded up and ready to hit the road. My Sis and I learned map reading and navigation as soon as we could read. (It was almost as if we were being homeschooled and map reading was our combination geography-reading-math-social studies assignment.) Even before I was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout, I could figure out which direction we were heading--North, South, East, and West. My Sis and I knew that the sun rose in the East and it set in the West. We knew that if the East was to your right and the West was to your left, then North would be in front of you and South would be behind you. The above paragraph represents a basic bit of map/navigation information. It's good stuff to know. When we were traveling, Dad and Mom would explain things like... --A map should ALWAYS be held with NORTH positioned at the TOP of the map. (You'd be surprised how many folks draw maps with North positioned in a different direction/orientation. This can make following the map ridiculously confusing!) --Maps have legends. The legends explain the markings on the map. The markings represent things like roads, trails, rivers, creeks, airports, bridges, mountains, lakes, intersections, campgrounds, railroad tracks, and cities, towns, villages, and other landmarks. (So, it's helpful for you to learn how to read and understand the legend!) --Maps are drawn in different scales. Sometimes an inch/centimeter represents a half-mile/kilometer (such as in a city map), sometimes an inch represents 25 miles (as it might in a state map), sometimes an inch represents 250 miles (as in a country map). Know your scales--and have a general idea of what a mile is. A way to get a feeling for the relationship of miles/kilometers to the map scale is to watch the trip odometer on your car (not too closely--keep your eye on the road!) as you drive a "sample mile" and a "sample five miles". Then, compare the drive you took with a city map to see how the relationship works. Do this occasionally until you are comfortable with relating actual distances to representations on a map. --Some maps show landmark features through continuous or dashed light-tan lines that represent a single elevation. These maps are called "topographic maps". When the tan lines are close together, it means that the rise/fall is changing quickly --in other words, the elevation indicates a hill or even a cliff. If the tan lines are far apart, you have a gentle rise in elevation, thus a plain. If you see a blue line or blue shape beteween the elevation lines, you are seeing a river or creek or pond or lake in a depression or valley. Again, to learn how to learn to recognize the representations on a map quickly, carry a map with you whenever you are out and about... and when you see rivers, streams, lakes, ponds and other landmarks next to recognizable roads and intersections, look at the map and see where you might be on the map. Soon, you will be able to look at any map and visualize how the landscape appears in reality. travel Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:07:33 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/earthquake_preparation The Los Angeles area of California experienced an Earthquake of 5.4 magnitude this week (Tuesday, July 29) that was considered a "moderate" quake by seismologists. Reports from this quake are still coming in (as you can see in the USGS newsfeed further down in this site). In May, China suffered a very large earthquake--about 800 miles southwest of Beijing--authorities now estimate that more than 50,000 people may have lost their lives in this quake--and multitudes more are homeless. Find more information about the quakes in the RSS feed below. The 102nd anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 was on April 18th. --And, seemingly in commemoration of this event, the Midwest of the U.S.--namely, Illinois--had a rare 5.2 earthquake on that day this year! And then, a few weeks later, Reno, Nevada has experienced a series of quakes that led up to a real rattler! It was just reported on the news that there has been more than 1000 earthquakes recorded in the past two months in the California-Nevada area. Check the RSS news-feed below to see all the quakes happening by the minute! This may be a good time to learn a bit about the power and devastation of these natural occurrences--and to prepare for that next "big one". There's more about earthquakes below. The tips and survival gear presented here can also be helpful for preparing for typhoons, hurricanes, blizzards, and other types of disasters. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California, we recently experienced a 5.6 earthquake (felt as far away as the Central Valley)--a somewhat minor one, but one that still shook stuff off bookcases, created messes in grocery stores (with broken bottles of pickles, olives, jam, syrup, wine, and other fluids on the floors), and put our nerves on edge.  While I sat in my living room--watching the ceiling fan swaying and feeling the floor rocking like a boat in choppy water--I re-affirmed that I must go out and check our "Earthquake Supplies" to make sure they are fresh and ready to go. Disaster preparedness is something that all of us should be aware of, but sometimes we procrastinate and never get around to thinking about it--let alone doing something about it--until the disaster hits close to home. By then, however, it's most likely a tad too late and we're in for some hard times, if we survive at all. My family and I have experienced major disasters (either during or after) such as typhoons, tornados, blizzards, floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes. Some of the earthquake disaster preparedness ideas and concepts I'm presenting here could be useful for preparing for other types of disasters as well. One thing to remember--natural occurrences such as earthquakes (and the resulting tsunami) and volcanic eruptions are NOT the result of global warming. In fact, volcanic eruptions can cause massive shifts in the Earth's climate--as evidenced by the uncharacteristically cold years and droughts (and other weird weather patterns) following the eruptions of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines and Mt. St Helens in Washington in the US. These lessons (of disaster preparation) have been learned over a long period of time and while living in a wide variety of locations:  While living in Montana, I went through some white-out blizzards during which the snow-drifts almost covered the house, the wind was exceeding 70 mph, and the wind-chill factor was colder than -50 degrees F. It took nearly a week to dig out of the snow and to get power and telephone communications restored. Return to "normal life" took even longer than that. We also saw massive forest fires and the resulting destruction from those. While living on Guam, I experienced numerous typhoons, some of which exceeded 150mph, and saw the massive accompanying flooding destruction of storm surge and heavy torrential downpours in addition to the wind damage. I also experienced some major earthquakes while on Guam. Again, after these types of disasters, sometimes it would take many weeks and sometimes many months before life returned to somewhat normal with power, water, and telephone connections working again. While living in New Mexico, I experienced numerous sandstorms (that would blot out the sky and eliminate visibility and also cause severe wind damage) and a tornado (that caused severe wind damage). Forest fires were particularly nasty here--because of the extreme dryness of New Mexico's ecology. In the Bay Area of California, I experienced and saw the results of major earthquakes, mudslides, and floods. I saw first-hand the collapsed freeways, the ruptured gas-lines, the destroyed buildings, and the damaged economy from the Loma Prieta Quake of October 1989 and the Northridge Quake of 1994. Forest fires in the Lake Tahoe and Yosemite area as well as the wildfires that occur almost annually in Southern California are also a concern for folks living in that area.  Many times the fires get to the point that evacuations are required--some folks return to find their home and belongings destroyed. Additionally, as part of a village-rebuilding relief-team, my daughter saw first-hand the destruction of December 2004's series of earthquakes and tsunami in Thailand. She was in Thailand during one of the 7-point-plus aftershocks of the initial massive quake.   education Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:34:36 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/Demystifying_Homeschooling I've always enjoyed learning things--maybe because my Mom and Dad were both teachers and librarians had something to do with it, eh?  Nevertheless, I started as an English grammar and composition teacher at a parochial school on Guam (Bishop Baumgartner Junior High School in Sinajana, if you really must know)... and the following year, became a basic science and biology teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Tumon. Like I said, I loved teaching. Because I loved learning (still do!).  But the way teachers are paid nowadays and the way that teaching and education in general has become a political football and the way that parents expect the public school teachers (and the parochial school instructors as well) to be nothing but glorified babysitters  have made it such that teaching has lost a lot of its aura.  Also... because of that, the quality of education has gotten so bad that, many of us as parents, have chosen to say "heck with it" and have resorted to teaching our kids ourselves.  My wife and I have been blessed in that my sole income from my jobs allowed us to have her stay home for the 13 years it took to get both of my kids through all 12 years of school requirements. My wife and I had both been public school teachers--so the *process* wasn't too daunting--however, it was tough for us to get rid of the schoolmarmish ways and some of the more rigid thinking that had been indoctrinated into us as teachers and as students ourselves. We both participated with teaching our two--and also shared with teaching a support and co-op group of other homeschooling families.  So... the questions are: How does one make the leap? What resources are out there?  How on earth can you manage this?  Is it "legal". (Hey, at least in the U.S., we're still somewhat of a *free* country--but it *is* good to have a little backup from the HSLDA--Home School Legal Defense Association.)  For textbooks?  Hmmmm.  Well--in early America--some homes had only one book present. (You can probably guess which book that was, eh?). That book served as a reader and as a way for children to develop morals as well as their thinking processes while also learning how to read.  Nowadays, we have all sorts of references easily available. As soon as a kid shows interest in anything written, it's a good time to sit on the couch with them and start reading to them--and pointing to the words and sounding them out.  Soon, the kid will have that portion of the book memorized and will want more reading.  By reading to the kid early in life, you are instilling a love and thirst for knowledge that will forever help that kid in anything else the kid decides to do in life. When my wife and I were public school teachers, we were required one summer to take a "workshop" called "Reading in the Content Area"--basically it was teaching us how to use our biology textbooks, or math textbooks, or history textbooks, or home economics textbooks or social studies textbooks to train the kids how to "read".  Well.. although for a public school, that idea is a tad warped... for homeschooling or "unschooling", the idea is great.  You can use ANY PRINTED MEDIA (and the Internet, for that matter) as a tool to teach reading. And writing. And critical thinking.  So... if your young-un is interested in fishes--let's say the kid took a family vacation (aka "fieldtrip") to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and took a liking to Sharks... you can stock up on some Shark books and magazine and newspaper articles and turn the kid's interest in sharks into a project.  By measuring shark dimensions, you're teaching math. By learning about the inner workings of the critter and the critter's environment, you are teaching biology. By drawing pictures or taking pictures of the sharks, you are teaching art.  Throughout all of this project work, the learning of reading, writing, and critical thinking comes into play.  (And if you happen to have some shark steaks from the local supermarket, you can even teach "home economics"/"cooking"--and even write down the recipe and cooking instructions!)  This is the gist of homeschooling/unschooling.  By letting the kid work on his interests (but also bringing in all the other parts of learning into the whole process), the kid learns that LIFE is not a separate bunch of topics that are dictated by bells ringing every 50 minutes or so and running down the hall to beat the next bell. I'll bring some more ideas to this Squidoo Lens as I think of more goodies for you.  My wife and I are now watching our two adult children make it in the world.  My daughter is an Operations Manager at a Flight Training School at a local airport (she doesn't live with us any more)... and now she's learning how to fly planes while also attending college. My son is now tutoring and mentoring troubled youth as well as learning how to be a dad to his new baby daughter and a husband to his new wife. Because we were really close to our two kids through our homeschooling--our kids are still close to us--and talk to us frequently--and also enjoy being with us.  And the best part? We enjoy being around them as well. I hope this has encouraged some of you to give homeschooling/unschooling a try.  I'll put some links to resources for you below this tome. In the meantime, for more ideas on homeschooling "curriculum" and topics that might interest your kids --and maybe even you--check out My Other Squidoos! Leave a comment or suggestion of other topics you'd like to see, or give the Squidoo lens a rating! Thanks for reading this... and I hope it has helped! education Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:26:54 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/pineapples_botany Pineapples. Members of the Bromeliad family. Pineapples are from Hawaii, right?  Pineapple Field, Hawaii Art Print Buy at AllPosters.com Well, now you can get them there--but they are originally from south Brazil and Paraguay--where they were native before the local tribes and exploring Europeans started moving them around. The local natives found them useful for trade with other tribes, so pineapples spread as a fruit source through South and Central America to the West Indies before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. Columbus brought the fruit back to Spain in 1493 after finding the plant on the Carribean island of Guadalupe. Pineapple Cut Open with Ships Art Print Volckamer, Johann... Buy at AllPosters.com From then on, the pineapple spread around the world on Spanish and Portuguese sailing ships as a scurvy preventative.  The Spanish fleet eventually introduced the plant to the Philippines and Guam (when Magellan's fleet circumnavigated the world in 1521). Although some historians think that pineapples could have arrived on the Hawaiian islands as early as 1527 on Spanish sailing ships from the New World--other historians theorize that pineapples arrived on the Hawaiian islands, when Francisco de Paula Marin, a Spanish horticultural experimenter arrived in Hawaii in 1794, after being forced onto a sailing ship from the Spanish port of San Francisco, California province, in the New World. Marin became a friend and advisor to King Kamehameha I and is recorded to have experimented with growing pineapples on the islands in the early 1800s. Fields of Pineapples Owned by Delmonte, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands, USA Photographic Print Webster, D H Buy at AllPosters.com During this time, the Europeans also worked on cultivating fruits with more desirable characteristics and introduced the pineapples to Australia and other parts of the world. Pineapples had reached England in 1660 and because they didn't grow well in the colder European climates, they were eventually grown in greenhouses by 1720. After Captain James Cook's fleet stumbled over the Hawaiian islands in 1778 and the islands became a regular stopping point for whaling ships--which would frequently carry pineapples as a scurvy preventative--some of the pineapples may have also made their way ashore to become a popular fruit on the Hawaiian islands. They were first recorded by Andre Thevenet in 1555 to be called "nana" (from which their Genus name, "Ananas", is derived), which means "excellent fruit" in the Tupi language (tribe which lived around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil).  European explorers thought the fruit looked a lot like pinecones and its flesh resembled that of an apple... thus the name, "pineapple". By the 1950s, Hawaii was the top producer of pineapples in the world--growing more than 80% of the world's supply. This crop was second only to Hawaii's production of sugar cane at that time. Pineapple on Beach Photographic Print Bielmann, Brian Buy at AllPosters.com However, rising costs of labor have reduced both crops since that peak in the 1950s, when the Dole plantation alone had more than 20,000 pineapple-producing acres and more than 1000 workers--there had been eight pineapple growing companies on the islands--the production of pineapples has been steadily falling. Hawaii has lost its standing in pineapple production to China, Thailand, the Philippines, and Brazil, the combination of which produce about 50% of the world's pineapple crop today.  Hawaii's production now barely reaches about 2% of the world's crop, although Hawaii is still the largest producer of U.S.--consumed pineapples. The only other state that grows pineapples is Florida, but their gross production is negligible. food Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:07:25 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/turkeyfish Beautiful but dangerously venomous--the "Turkey Fish" or "Lion Fish" or "Feather Fish" (it's known by many names--depending on where you see one!)... also known to "Bond, James Bond" as "Pterois volitans" (He recognized it in a bad guy's submarine aquarium in the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me")... I had never seen one of these fish until we moved from New Mexico to the Western Pacific Island of Guam. Once my family discovered the fun of snorkeling on the beautiful coral reefs of the island, we soon had plenty of encounters with these fish. The ones on Guam (at least the smaller ones) are relatively shy and will try to swim away from you if you approach them. However, I was surprised when I tried snorkeling among the Rock Islands of Palau--the Turkey Fish we encountered there were larger than those I had seen before (perhaps a different variety of the same species) and they were aggressive--they'd actually lean forward and aim their dorsal spines at snorkelers and rush them, acting like they had the intent of impailing the curious onlooker. That experience really creeped me out, and I made a point of being more observant and vigilant about my surroundings when snorkeling there. animals Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:49:56 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/Capture_the_Memories To write about your life. Where to start? Instead of trying to "start from the beginning"--where you write, "I was born in such-and-such-a-year, and then, and then, and then .... and here I am."  It's better to catch small glimpses of various times of your life--those moments that stand out in your memories that you can easily put down on paper.  Sometimes you may have old photo albums or old magazines that you will find useful to bring out those old memories.  Sometimes you'll have items and knick-knacks around the house that will also stimulate those memories.  Whatever causes that spark, stick with it and get those memories on paper. Don't worry about the grammar, the spelling, or sentence structure. That stuff can come later, if you really think you need it.  Just write what comes to your mind. If you have sentence fragments, fine. If you don't remember how things were spelled, don't worry--take a guess and write it down.   When you get these ideas, put them on loose-leaf paper and stick them in a loose-leaf binder.  If you wish, you can put identifying tabs in the binder for certain periods of your life to help you organize the information.  Even if you never get around to publishing the material you have collected, the captured memories will someday provide an interesting insight to the times that you lived through. It will provide a glimpse into how and why you lived the way you did. Your family, your descendants will value this captured history of their family history. education Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:22:32 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/chambered-nautilus Cousin to the Octopus, Squid, and Cuttlefish, the Chambered Nautilus is the only cephalopod that has a shell that resembles their other mollusk cousins--the "sea shells". These shy creatures usually live in very deep water in the Indo-Pacific area and occasionally their shells float to the top and wind up on the beaches or fishermen bring them up in traps or nets. Sometimes, scuba divers in places such as the Rock Islands of Palau where there exists sharp drop-offs to deeper water (Ngemelis Cliff, for instance), can see chambered nautilus swimming closer to the surface such that they can swim up to them and get pictures of them swimming in the open. The nautilus propel themselves in much the same manner as their cousins--by squirting jets of water through an opening among their tentacles. animals Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:24:57 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/pens_pencils If you are a teacher, a homeschooler, a writer, or an artist (or someone who just wants to make a MARK on the world), this lens is dedicated to you and should give you many moments of browsing for that perfect marking tool. Be sure to visit regularly--because the selection of pens, pencils, and markers is set to change weekly! From the first time a caveman used a piece of charcoal to make pictures and paintings and other marks on the wall of his cave... then the Babylonians making their marks on wet clay tablets with their stylus... the Mayans and Aztecs carving their calendars ... then the Egyptians covering the walls of their temples and buildings with heiroglyphics... and the American Indians carving their petroglyphs--including Kokopelli on their cave-dwellings and rocks around their encampments... to the Chinese calligraphy... these marks on a "medium" were the precursors to printing presses, moveable type, and the early books that were mass produced. Which, after a while provided such that everyone could learn verbatum what was in the author's mind. (This, of course, is assuming that the person seeing the marks could READ the marks, right?) In any case, even though we now have computers and word processing applications (software) (or, for those in the "dark ages", typewriters), we still must sometimes resort to using a pencil, a pen, a marker, or even a piece of chalk or charcoal to capture some thoughts. We keep a pad of paper or a journal in our car or in our backpack or in our purse--for those off-moments when we need to jot a note or sketch an image or make a rough plan. education Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:00:52 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/camping_in_style Whether you are camping along the shore of Flathead Lake, Montana, or along the beach on the Western Pacific Island of Guam, the way you set up your camp and what you do while "camping" must be different. Obviously, when camping in places such as Montana, Alaska, Canada, many of the other Northern areas, and far Southern Lattitudes, you may need to bring plenty of cold-weather gear--parkas, extra-warm sleeping bags, gloves, mittens, ski-masks, tent-heaters, and so on (with the gear depending on whether you are doing the camping during the summer or during snow season--note that in mountain country in temperate lattitudes, it can get very cold even in the summer--I've seen it snow in New Mexico in July!). And don't forget the mosquito repellant...  the stories of summertime mosquitos in Alaska and Montana (and Idaho and Minnesota for that matter) are legendary! Camping in the tropics can also be a different experience. Depending on whether you are on a beach with a strong offshore wind or deep in a protected jungle, you may need to bring ample supplies of mosquito repellant.  And... instead of parkas and cold-weather gear, you would need rain gear, and spare T-shirts and shorts (aka swimsuit) that can be easily dried off when they get wet. More tips are below... You can see some "rustic" tropical "camping" in the tropics during this season 16 of the television reality series "Survivor", which was filmed in the Rock Islands of Palau!   sports Fri, 11 Jul 2008 00:13:41 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/squid_cousin_octopus The Octopus--this alien-like, multi-tentacled creature caught my attention when I was a kid watching Jacques Cousteu's presentation on it many years ago. The animal--a cousin of the shell-fish phylum, Mollusca--is closely related to squids, cuttlefish, and the chambered nautilus. As such, it's one of the rare members of the Mollusca phylum that can swim--with jet-like speed to boot! There are more than 300 species of octopus--which makes up more than a third of all of the Cephalopod class. Except for a few species in the suborder, Cirrina--which has two fins and an internal shell--octopus of the order Octopoda have no hard parts in their bodies other than their parrot-like beak. animals Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:32:45 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/PHD_photography Here are some tips that may help you with your photography: Even disposable cameras can produce good photos if certain aspects can be controlled. Here are some common causes of ruined pictures: Blurred--camera movement. Need something to steady the shot. Try leaning against a wall or on a table to steady the shot. Also, press the trigger as a gentle squeeze rather than as if it weighs a ton. Picture too dark--flash or some other lighting should be used. Also, your finger, camera strap, or hand may be blocking the flash. Picture blocked--perhaps your finger or the camera strap is in front of the lens. Be sure to hold the camera properly and keep the lens strap behind the camera. Sunny day, but faces are dark and can't be seen. Use flash on sunny days. This is called "fill-flash" and it compensates for the shadows on people's faces and can also compensate for "back-lighting" when the light source is behind your subject. Everyone in the photo is squinting. Don't have them looking directly into the light source. Have your subjects look at an angle from the light source. Also, use fill flash. According to a recent news article, 10 mistakes cause U.S. photographers to waste all or part of an estimated 108 million rolls of film annually. That's 15% of the 700 million rolls of film processed each year in the U.S.   The top ten mistakes: --Underexposure -- maybe higher ISO/ASA Rating could be used. Flash might also be an option. Better lighting also would help. --Improper storage -- leaving a film camera in the car during the summer cooks the film and affects the chemicals in the film emulsion. Keep the film/camera in a cool, dry place.  If you must leave the film/camera in the car, keep it in an insulated lunch-box style container. --Fluorescent lighting -- produces a weird green effect and other strange colors on the final images. --Blank rolls -- sometimes the auto-rewind is triggered accidentally, resulting in what looks like an "exposed" roll, which is then taken to be developed.  --Overexposure -- wrong type of film. Too high of an ISO/ASA. Using indoor rated film in the outdoors. --Film advance -- sometimes either a mechanical problem causes the advance to jam, or strips the gear-socket holes in the film. Then the film doesn't advance properly.  Also, if the film wasn't loaded properly, it won't advance through the camera. You may be taking pictures, but not on the film. This results in the "blank roll" syndrome as well. --Flash synchronization -- if your flash isn't "synched up" with what you want to get a picture of, you'll miss your shot. Not so much with the old film cameras (although if you chose the wrong camera shutter speed, you'd miss your shot). With some of the digital cameras, there's a delay between when you press the "shutter release" and when the flash eventually fires. You again might miss precisely what you wanted to get a picture of.  --Tungsten lighting -- the wrong film or camera setting results in bizarre colors on the resulting images. --Object on lens -- whether it's dust, stray leaf, dog hair, mud splatter, or fingerprint, it will affect your resulting image by either blurring it, or totally obstructing it. So make sure your lens is clean (even if you are using a disposable camera --they get dirty, too, you know!). --Out of focus -- with disposable/fixed-aperture cameras, if you are too close to your subject, you are out of the "focal range" and your image won't be in focus. If you have an autofocus camera, and if you are shooting through a window, the "autofocus" might be focusing on the window rather than on the scene you want to capture. Here are some additional reasons why film gets wasted or photos are not quite as good as they could be: -- Not holding camera steady -- Flash directly into a mirror/window (the flash reflects directly back into the camera--obliterating the photo) -- Accidently firing shutter/camera because shutter is cocked/wound up -- Lens cap on -- Flash not ready to fire/not turned on -- Stuff cluttering background -- Too far from intended subject education Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:09:14 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/turkeys The most famous bird in North America?--Nope, not Big Bird. Nope, not the Eagle (well, maybe).  The Turkey! There are two species of that big bird we know as a turkey (the wild kind, that is): the North American wild turkey, Meleagridinae gallopavo, and the Central American Ocellated Turkey, Meleagridinae ocellata. Turkeys are native to North America--and are in the genus Meleagris in the order Galliformes.  They are a subfamily of pheasants. They are big birds and can have wingspans that exceed 6 feet. animals Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:14:50 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/narita Many folks flying between the nations bordering the Pacific Ocean will find themselves having a plane/airline-change layover at the New Tokyo Narita International Airport in Japan. If your layover is only 4 to 5 hours, you don't have much time to do any exploration outside the airport grounds--you'ld be better off enjoying the interesting shops and sights within the huge airport area. However, if your layover is more like about 8 to 14 hours (which some layovers can be) and especially if you have been transported to an airline hotel just outside the airport grounds, you might find that some sightseeing could alleviate the boredom of a long wait. This Squidoo lens is an attempt to help you find an alternate way to enjoy your lengthy travel time by describing how a travel buddy and I occupied ourselves during a 12-hour layover at Narita, Japan. The beautiful house shown here was next to the road from our airline hotel to Narita. travel Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:31:32 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/Jurassic_Park As a former marine biologist as well as someone who studied tropical reptiles in graduate school--crocodiles, sea turtles, and monitor lizards--reading Michael Crichton's book Jurassic Park was vivid enough to scare the mess out of me (in a good way!). Watching the movie, however, was a whole 'nuther dimension--even more scary. In addition to beautiful cinematography--the settings, the scenery, the angles, and the good choice of actors--the story was well represented as a PG (Parental Guidance) version of the tad more graphic novel.  The movie is good for kids (I took my 7-year-old boy to it--it did scare the mess out of him--but he liked enough to go to watch it again two or three more times). The movie is done well enough (as the book is) such that "suspended disbelief" is possible and it's easy to imagine romping around in the wilds along with the actors being chased by huge reptiles. If it weren't for "global cooling", we'd probably still be fighting the big reptiles!  But now with climate change (which our planet does frequently on a galactic/universal scale anyway) and "global warming" and with the new advances in biotechnology, maybe there is a way to have bigger lizards marching around in the boonies. moviesandtv Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:33:31 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/flying-tour Especially from the window-side, front-seat view of a Cessna 172! National Aviation Day in the United States was established on August 19th in 1939 by a Franklin Delano Roosevelt presidential proclamation to designate the anniversary of Orville Wright's birthday and to commemorate the development of human flight. After riding in the back of my parents' station wagon all over the country (from New Mexico to Pennsylvania and the East Coast, then back to Montana before heading back down to New Mexico) every summer.... then flying overseas to Guam, from which we traveled to Japan, Palau, and other places in Asia and the Pacific. I thought we had figured out every way to see things. But when my daughter treated us to a flying tour over San Francisco in a small plane (a Cessna 172), my wife and I discovered a whole 'nuther way of seeing the area in which we live. travel Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:40:00 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/James_Rollins James Rollins is a prolific science fiction writer who lives in Sacramento, California and is a practicing veterinarian. His books keep folks on the edge of their seats with adventures in mysterious and far-out places. The plots and the characters keep the books moving along, and the premises put together also keep the interest going for the reader. If you want a good thriller science fiction book to read while on a vacation or for that long weekend, James Rollins books can keep the excitement going for the duration. I just discovered that James Rollins has now written a novel featuring Indiana Jones: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. You can check out this new entry and his other books from the Amazon link below!   arts Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:47:15 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/amazing-maze The first time I got lost in a cornfield, it was terrifying. The corn was way over my head and the rows were not well defined because of the underbrush. (This was more than quite a few years ago, before more advanced farming methods provided open rows between the cornstalks.) But that experience has made a lasting impression on me. Sunlight on the Tops of Corn Plants in a Field Near Bennet Photographic Print Sartore, Joel Buy at AllPosters.com I'm not particularly fond of labyrinth-like forests, fields, or buildings--but they are interesting from a different view. entertainment Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:55:14 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/aguafresco Because environmental consciousness is something that is growing around the world and because pollution has a possible affect on climate change and global warming, I'd like to share some of my insights and concerns about dihydrogen monoxide through this educational Squidoo lens. If you are going to learn to respect and preserve our fragile environment, you must learn the terminology and properties that it entails. I've been fascinated with this dihydrogen monoxide for as long as I can remember. Over the years I've learned to respect some of this substance's nasty properties as well. Overview Dihydrogen monoxide is a substance that is not well-understood by the average person, even though they are exposed to many aspects of it every day. Dihydrogen monoxide is commonly found in the world's oceans, rivers, and streams. It has also been found in the world's ice caps and glaciers and is a prevalent component of acid rain. In fact, dihydrogen monoxide is found in the human body and in other organisms. Although it is required for health and fitness, much in the same way as other chemicals such as zinc, chromium, phytonutrients, niacin, and so on, in excess amounts, it can be deadly. States and Characteristics In its gaseous state, it is invisible. In its room temperature liquid state, it is transparent. In its pure and crystalline solid state, it is also transparent. It generally has no odor and thus is sometimes difficult to detect (unless you have a whole lot of it). Depending on what other chemical substances are co-existing with it, dihydrogen monoxide can take on various colorations, transparencies, odors, and other characteristics. Hazards, Threats, and Dangerous Aspects Each dihydrogen monoxide state presents a different hazard. The heated gaseous state can be deadly if inhaled or if too much skin is exposed to it. The liquid state at whatever temperature can cause asphyxiation and death with as little as a few cubic centimeters or milliliters if inhaled. The liquid state can also become toxic if an ingestion limit is exceeded (it has different toxicities for different body sizes and metabolisms).  The solid state can disrupt human and other organisms' motion to the point of freezing all movement.  Conversely, large flat areas of solid dihydrogen monoxide can reduce friction such that any kind of traction with normal means on these areas is difficult if not impossible.  And, large enough masses of dihydrogen monoxide in the solid state have been recorded to totally immobilize and destroy the largest of vehicles of even Titanic proportions. Dihydrogen monoxide is a solvent that can be used in disassociating other ionic compounds such as sodium and potassium chloride salts, hydrogen chloride, sodium hydroxide, and other substances. As An Acceptable Alternate Energy Source Dihydrogen monoxide is a highly valuable energy source that can provide an alternate to fossil fuels (oil, coal). Composed of two highly reactive elements--hydrogen and oxygen; the combination of which can produce explosive force. This explosive force is so powerful that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has used these two elements to propel the most massive vehicles into space--those ranging from the Mercury space capsules through the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle programs. Dihydrogen monoxide can be used for energy transfer and provision mostly with its gaseous and liquid states.  The gaseous state can provide necessary pressures from the expanding gas to power turbines or generators.  Likewise, the hydraulic pressure and force of the liquid state is also useful in powering differently designed turbines, electric generators, and other mechanical devices that can harness the hydraulic power. Safety Precautions Although some organisms can live totally immersed in dihydrogen monoxide, many other organisms (humans included) cannot tolerate total immersion for extended periods of time (more than 1 to 3 minutes normally) without access to proper atmospheric and environmental considerations. As with standard practices for any hazardous material, entry into areas filled with dihydrogen monoxide must observe proper safety precautions. Breathing apparatus may be required--either a self-contained breathing apparatus (similar to what fire-fighters or hazmat workers use) or a tethered pumped-air-supply hose or air-supply access tube. Not only must one wear protective gear and equipment, but one must also be aware of the various organisms that might be living in or near large areas of dihydrogen monoxide--some of which are extremely dangerous to human and other organisms. Prolonged exposure of the skin to dihydrogen monoxide may cause hydration and wrinkling. Yet, an absence of dihydrogen monoxide can eventually lead to dehydration. education Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:08:17 -0600 http://www.squidoo.com/QuickBusinessConcepts Business and Financial Literacy This is a country built on free enterprise and capitalism. So why don't our schools and other institutions give fair time (or any time at all) to these topics? Why do most academicians show a disdain for free enterprise and capitalism (and seem to favor socialism and communism at the collegial level in particular)?  Don't the academicians realize that without the industries and businesses out there taking the risks of being in business and paying taxes and employing many workers who also pay taxes and spend in our economy, they wouldn't have their jobs or an economy that they'd be able to live in? Why do people nowadays think that it's the government's job to provide us with jobs? And to take care of us in our retirement (yeah, right. Social inSecurity?). Makework jobs and Social inSecurity come from somewhere--it's called more taxes. On the other hand, the views in the book, Earning Money Without A Job by Jay Conrad Levinson are a refreshing testimony to free-enterprise and personal capitalism. (You can tell that I get a kick out of his writing!)  (All the books and references mentioned in this area of ranting and raving can be found through the Amazon.com link at the bottom of this page. Financial Paradigm Changes My folks were elementary school and high school English teachers. My sister and I were raised with their view of how the economy works. I eventually got a degree in biology with a minor in chemistry--after a short stint of teaching English grammar and composition at a parochial junior high school, I taught biology and basic science at a public senior high school. I hadn't learned much about business and the financial world because I didn't know anyone willing to share their different views and these topics weren't presented as requirements of the science program at the university. However, during some traumatic experiences such as moving 8000 miles overseas away from my mom and dad right after high school, losing my job as a teacher during a union strike and subsequent work stoppage, my dad's heart attack, getting married, and then working in the automotive, insurance, and contract auditing industry for a while, I ran across some paradigms that sort of shook what I had been led to believe about how the economy works. My mentors in the automotive and insurance industries recommended that I read books such as those in the Money Dynamics series by Venita van Caspel (her Chapter 13 on Insurance is an eye-opener!) and Wealth Without Risk and Financial Self-Defense by Charles Givens. These books are real eye-openers. They are well-written, have information that I can verify from my experience in the automotive and insurance industries (therefore, I can extrapolate that they are most likely accurate for the areas I don't have much experience in). Reading these books got me interested in others about the economy, insurance, real estate, labor, taxes, finance, investments, and alternate economies (in addition to my usual reading in science fiction, high-tech thrillers, and mysteries). Books such as The Motley Fools' Investment Guide and You Have More Than You Think by Tom and David Gardner (no relation), Nothing Down and Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen, and the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series by Robert Kiyosaki (recommended to me by a high-school and college classmate from Guam--Thanks Vangie and Tony!) gave me even more insights--and more paradigm changes! The simple difference between so-called whole-life insurance (and likewise, "universal life") and term insurance. What compound interest can do, and the difference between tax-deferred and tax-free accounts. The principle of financial leverage. The principle of time leverage. I'm always willing and interested in holding a conversation and discussion of these topics--because I find these concepts so fascinating and because it's so amazing that so few Americans are aware of them, let alone understand them (I don't yet understand them fully myself--that's another reason why I like to discuss them with others--so I can learn more about them).   Time for a Paradigm Change Sometimes we require a "paradigm" change. Sometimes it takes a major shock to our system, such as a natural disaster, war, involuntary unemployment, divorce, death of a loved one, or some other traumatic experience to force us to *see* other realities. What's a paradigm change? It's when some strong belief you firmly subscribe to is shaken and irreversably changed. For example, if you BURN a parafin candle, you get the following chemical reaction:   H H H H H H H H H   | | | | | | | | | H-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-H 02 ---> C(Carbon) C0(Carbon Monoxide) C02(Carbon Dioxide)   | | | | | | | | |   H H H H H H H H H                    *AND* H20 (Dihydrogen oxide, aka WATER)       (Parafin) One of the by-products of burning a hydrocarbon (parafin) is WATER. This is a tough concept for many folks to grasp. It makes a fun chemistry lab project, however--holding a test tube over a burning candle to see the black carbon building up on the lip of the test tube and seeing the water droplets condensing at the inside tip of the test tube. Other Paradigm Changes Other paradigm changes include: The first use and control of fire. The first heavier-than-air, fixed-wing aircraft flight. Vaccines as a method of providing immunity from various diseases. Realization that Planet Earth is *not* flat and that it orbits the Sun. Spaceflight and multiple trips to the moon and back. Discovery that you could ride a bicycle without falling over. Learning that heavy metal boats can float (the buoyancy concept). Many things we now take for granted were paradigm shifts when they were first pondered or discovered and later proven. Current Paradigms for Many Americans There are many old-wives'-tales and myths out there that are sometimes considered the wisdom of the day by most Americans. Here are some: The lottery--A scheme devised by our government to tax folks who aren't good at math. You have more chance of being hit by lightning walking across the street to buy the ticket at your local mom-and-pop store than you have of winning the lottery. Comparatively (and statistically) speaking, you'd have a hugely better chance at making it big with owning your own business. Sure, the statistics say that only one in ten businesses survive, let alone make it big. But compare that with the one-in-80-million chance you have of winning the lottery, and the incentive to start a business of some kind gets more real. Gambling--This is another scheme to zap folks who aren't good at math. Do folks think that the casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, and Tahoe manage to stay so glitzy by letting all their patrons win?  The only way to really "clean up" is to start your own casino, I guess. Buy land--Yup. (Raw Land, that is) This is a popular one among those who don't subscribe to the previous two deals. My mom and dad--humble teachers that they were--bought some raw land in New Mexico and in Montana. As dad said, they're not making more--and people will eventually need the land, so the value will have to go up and we'll have it as our "nest-egg" when we retire. Except that the land was out in the sticks with the nearest civilization almost 100 miles away. With no access roads other than logging roads or desert trails. Not only did the land *not* go up much in value over the past 30 years, but mom and dad got stuck with the taxes on it every year. And the taxes *did* go up every year. Raw land does *not* appreciate much, it's tough to create an income with it <unless you are renting it to folks to store their RVs or perhaps leasing it to cattle owners for grazing land>, and you can't "depreciate" it on your tax forms. Whole Life Insurance "Savings" Feature--This one is a doozy. There are insurance accountant types (called "actuaries") out there who calculate the odds of you dying. Hey--statistics. There are also insurance lawyers out there who write insurance policies out there that would require a Boston lawyer to figure out what the heck they really mean. Then there are marketing types who have no clue about what they are writing about, but who, on the word of the lawyers and the actuaries, will cook up advertising to pull on the heart-strings of every red-blooded American out there so they will buy tons of this stuff from sales people who also haven't researched what they are selling but who get awesome commissions for tugging even harder at your heart-strings and your emotions to get you to buy tons of insurance on your little Johnny and your little Janey. (This isn't something you should do--more here.) Tough Questions So... seeing what folks will do to *win* in life-- here are some questions for you. What would you do if you had no money worries (in other words, a few million dollars or so available at any time)? Would you still go to work?  Where would you live? What would you do? If you were told you only had six months to live, what would you do? Would you still go to work? Would you spend more time with your family? Would you go places and do things that now you find you have no time to do? Seeing how you answered the previous two items, why do you do what you now do? Rants and Raves and the New Paradigms On this Squidoo, I've assembled some essays and ideas based on my experiences in the industries of insurance, automotive, software development, computer networking, network marketing, public/parochial/private school teaching, and general experiences as a customer of other industries. These are only my rants and should be taken with a grain of salt. You are welcome to agree or disagree to these rants. If you don't like 'em, ya don't have to read 'em. <GRIN>. Capitalism is fascina