Echoes of the Little Ice Age

While reading a story at physorg about dating the Little Ice Age and determining what caused it, my mind strayed.

The article mentioned:

" . . . famous paintings from the period depict people ice skating on the Thames River in London and canals in the Netherlands, waterways that were ice-free in winter before and after the Little Ice Age."

This made me wonder. Was the children's book "Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates" an echo of that frozen era? I haven't read the book since I was a boy but my impression is that it presented a world of solidly frozen canals.

The article says the beginning of the Little Ice Age was 1275 A.D. and it lasted through the late 19th century. I'll bet Mary Mapes Dodge, the American who wrote the book in 1865, turned her memories (or her father's or grandfather's memories) of those frozen days into the story of Hans Brinker, a boy who speed-skated over frozen canals in (then) Holland.

Heck, maybe the Little Ice Age had nothing to do with it. I see no mention of it in the Wikipedia article about the book. But I think it played a role. It just makes sense.

Someone noticed

For a year, here on the blog and in my books, I've been pounding on the idea that genius is a thing of the past. There is little or no creativity in American life these days. There are no great artists, song writers, movie makers, authors, etc. Creativity is dead.

Today on Hullabaloo, David Atkins/There Is No Spoon pointed to an article about this very thing. Well, hallelujah. Now that someone's finally written about it (other than me), it's official: creativity is dead. Go read the article. It's three pages; you can do it!

He misses the main thing, though. Genius is gone. You can't blame the world and business for the lack of personal innovation. That's disappeared. We used to have people popping up all over the place, like a burst of fresh air, bringing exciting new ideas and sounds and looks and world-changing projects. Now all we have is people hanging saffron fabric over parks. Genius is dead.

Day games of the semi-literati

I took the day off and played Wordsmith all day. I played against myself in The Grand Champeenship -- and I'm pleased to report that I am beating myself by over 100,000 points!!!! (Cheers and roars.) This is unprecedented! I am a god.

Seriously, I have fallen into the hole that is this game and I can't climb out -- not that I want to. It's fun. Mind you, I'm not thrilled with the way the game was assembled. They accept any old word -- no matter if it's a, you know, word.

Any ditzy word that people use today in conversation, no matter how slang, is in there. It's accepted and so are curse words. And there are inconsistencies, like Jew is accepted while Zion is not. (You don't think this could be a statement, do you?) And it doesn't know some real words. That really irks me. There should be an override button for literate players. "Accept this player's words unconditionally." And we'll play on scout's honor. We promise! Scout's honor!

I could limit myself to real words, and I might somewhere down the road. But the thing spits out letters at you in a mindless fashion and sometimes for two whole turns, there isn't one damn word you can make -- except a fake word. So you put it in. Okay, so I put it in. Plus it's fun to put in stupid words just to see if it accepts them. It usually does. This sometimes sidelines my game because I can't resist pumping them in.

Anyway, that's what I did with my day. And what's wrong with this picture? I'll tell you what's wrong with this picture: there was no football game! I mean, are these people unfamiliar with my schedule? I could have used a superbowl today. But no-o. They have to hold it next week. And the Giants are my home-town team! You'd think they'd contact me first, to work things out. It's insufferably rude.

So, what did you do with your Sunday?

The TV repercussions of relationships

My advice to couples is this: don't move in together! Keep your own place, your safe nook. Relationships come and go and if you're living with a person as the two of you are breaking up, you're living in hell. Always maintain your own residence. And for dog's sake, don't get married!

But will you listen to me? Of course not. You'll rush into it, throwing caution to the wind. You'll see. And in the meantime you'll discover something almost too horrible to imagine: the TV viewing habits of your partner. Shudder.

I've had several long-term relationships of varying length. And in each, I couldn't believe what my lovers watched on TV. Let's see. One thought Laverne and Shirley was the funniest show ever. He watched reruns every night, hooting at every line.

Another insisted on watching not I Love Lucy, which would have been fine, but The Lucy Show. Oy. There wasn't one funny moment on that show. Ever.
Yet another had a favorite show that was on in the afternoon. Luckily, I was usually at work so I didn't have to watch him watching it. He actually thought The Price is Right was a fabulous show. Fabulous! On the rare occasions when I stayed home from work (I worked days, he worked nights) I could not believe how excited he was when it came on. I mean, he'd be screaming, "Come on down!!!!" like he was one of the maniacs in the audience.

Never ever move in with someone. But if you do, and you find out the person watches stuff like this, cancel the cable (if not the boyfriend). My advice.

Anyone else horrified by their partner's TV habits? Do tell. And don't worry about your partner seeing your comment. This is the internet. And what happens on the internet stays on the internet. It's totally private.

Doh! I coulda hadda V-8!

One of the most exciting things about writing fiction is when you come up with a dazzling idea for a scene. And if this happens late in the game, when the novel is pretty much finished, you may also find yourself saying, "Thank goodness I thought of this before I published the book!" What would it be like to have a great idea for your novel after you've published it? Talk about an "I coulda hadda V-8!" moment. That would be awful.

So I was very happy when, last night, I came up with a terrific idea for one of the scenes in Xmas Carol. The book would be a lesser thing without this notion. And lo and behold, since I haven't published the book yet I can write it into the manuscript today. Xmas Carol is saved! Praise jeebus!

Sometimes waiting is a profitable idea. I do not want to have a V-8 moment after publishing the book. That would be the ultimate nightmare. (Okay, maybe not the ultimate but it would definitely be unpleasant.)

PS for wordophiles. This is a literary version of l'esprit d'escalier (the "spirit of the staircase"). The French phrase refers to all the great things you think of as you're leaving (i.e., going down a flight of stairs) after a verbal encounter. Alas, we only think of the great riposte when it's too late. I hope to avoid this with Xmas Carol.

And what of Xmas Carol?

Today I read the "troubled" scenes in my horror novel. I'm happy to report that they are no longer troubled. They were smooth and sweet and clean. Woot! I may actually be there.

Spent some time coming up with the blurb. I need to keep whittling at it. Xmas Carol is approaching. Hang on.

Late Winter confusing the geese

It's still Spring in New York state. The problem with this is that it's January 26th. This shouldn't be, and it's confusing the geese.

The poor guys are waiting for their cue to migrate but it never comes. I've noticed over the years that the first snowfall doesn't drive them away. They needs lots of convincing. But this year they're not getting it.

We had one weird, early snow in October and one light snow recently. Mind you, it got very cold with the second snowfall. The whole pond froze -- and there were children ice-skating on the surface, much to my horror. It had just been 45 degrees the day before. You do not go ice skating unless the temperature has been below freezing for three or more days. Then it's solid. Luckily, they were light, skinny kids so none of them went under.

Anyway, back to the geese. They're acting oddly. Lots of fights within the flock and between flocks (there are two here at the moment). Milo's doing his best to keep order but I think he's feeling stress over the climate situation. It's just not normal. And when he finally takes the flock south (if and when Winter arrives), the season that greets him there will be a bit off too, because of the odd timing.

Climate change is going to affect all of us in the end. This is just a precursor event, rippling through the geese world.