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It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times…
Jan 5th
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
– A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Decades from now, when we look back at the book business in 2009, it seems likely that we’ll see it as a threshold year, one in which all of the signs were there for what followed. It was a year in which sales held steady (Nielsen Bookscan, which covers 75% of the market, reported that overall unit sales through December 20 were 724 million copies, only a 3% drop from last year—and adult hardcover fiction was up an amazing 3%), and a few authors were so successful (Stephanie Meyer, Jeff Kinney) that the fates of entire publishing houses were altered by them; however, it was also a year that saw publishing’s profit margins squeezed in perplexing new ways. It was a year in which some of the most highly-respected bestsellers (Audrey Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry; Andre Agassi’s Open; Edward M. Kennedy’s True Compass) were also apparently the year’s biggest money-losers for their publishers, due to their multi-million-dollar advances; at the same time, some of the books with the highest rumored advances (Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol; Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue) were likely the most profitable. It was a year in which e-book sales increased exponentially, with the cherry on the sundae being Amazon’s announcement that they had sold more e-books on Christmas Day than p-books (though of course this was helped by all the people who got Kindles as presents and spent the day filling them); but it was also a year in which the prices charged for those e-books made them a threat to the health of the p-book retailers on whom publishers continued to rely, and possibly a future threat to publishers’ ability to make money on the e-book format itself, in spite of that format’s wonderful ability to eliminate the costs of production, distribution, and returns. It was a year in which the largest publishing houses slowed title acquisitions and reduced the number of titles they published, while one company—Author Solutions—increased its annual output to a remarkable 24,000 authors (even more remarkably, these authors were all paying for the privilege). It was a year in which review coverage of new fiction disappeared almost entirely, and yet one first novel (Kathryn Stockett’s The Help) sold more than a million hardcover copies thanks to word of mouth alone. It was a year in which publishers continued to spend exorbitant amounts of money on print advertising, in spite of data showing how ineffective such advertising tends to be, but also a year in which some publishers discovered the power of online media to reach niche markets at significantly lower costs.
What does this mean for the future? That for every trend there will be a counter trend. And since this is the time of year for Top Ten lists, here’s mine:
1. Trend: The large publishing houses will continue to reduce overhead as profits shrink in the years ahead. Counter trend: Publishers will be looking for mergers and acquisitions to compensate for those shrinking profits. The Big Six could be the Big Three within five years.
2. Trend: These companies will continue to focus more resources on fewer titles, using their strengths as large-scale marketers and distributors to publish brand-names. Title count at the largest houses could drop by as much as fifty percent over the next five years. Counter trend: At the same time, self-publishing (including partnerships like the one announced recently between Author Solutions and Harlequin) will grow exponentially.
3. Trend: Title reduction will be most significant for new talent, with the largest houses entrusting support of new authors to a handful of editorial imprints. The editors at those imprints–editors with proven ability to choose new material successfully–will increase in value. Counter trend: Editors whose job is to handle existing talent will find their roles diminished.
4. Trend: In terms of advances, the amounts paid for brand-names will continue to increase, with seven-figure or eight-figure acquisitions commonplace among authors with established track records. Counter trend: There will be an increase in five-figure acquisitions (perhaps with profit-share arrangements) for less predictable material. The six-figure advance—that dangerous neighborhood inhabited by books with lots of potential but few guarantees—will become a rare species within the decade.
5. Trend: E-book sales will grow exponentially, with the proliferation of new devices and applications for reading on smartphones, etc… Within five years, half of all reading will be done electronically. Counter trend: There will be a resurgence of appreciation for well-designed physical books, as keepsakes, gifts, etc… While e-books will create a downward pressure on pricing, there will be notable exceptions (as seen this year with Carl Jung’s The Red Book, in great demand at $195.00, or Thomas Keller’s gorgeous Ad Hoc at Home, a bestseller at $50.00).
6. Trend: As more consumers become e-book readers, demand will increase for the availability of e-books simultaneously with p-books. Counter trend: Publishers will try a variety of strategies to meet this demand while not undercutting their p-book sales, such as offering more expensive “enhanced” e-books at publication and plain vanilla, less expensive e-books several months later (the strategy recently announced by Macmillan) or by offering a variety of “bundled” discounts to purchasers of multiple formats (prediction: within five years, it will be common practice to give every p-book purchaser a “free” e-book version of that book at time of purchase, as is already the case in the music business, in which someone who buys a cd can also listen to that cd on other devices in digital form, without paying a separate fee).
7. Trend: Fewer and fewer books will be sold to publishers at “auction,” and that practice will disappear completely within five years, as more and more publishers realize that the “winner” in such auctions—the publisher willing to pay more to acquire a book than any of their competitors–is often actually the loser in the end. Sales will be made either by brand-name authors to their previous publishing company or by new authors to carefully chosen editors with strong reputations. Counter trend: Instead of auctions for the highest advance, there will be auctions in which a basic advance is established by the agent, with the auction winner being the publisher who bids the most in marketing committed to the book.
8. Trend: As the initial sale becomes less of the focus for authors, the agent of the future will become more of a business manager who handles every aspect of an author’s career, overseeing the author’s online presence, developing sources of revenue outside of book sales such as workshops and lecture tours, and acting as the author’s publicist in between publications. Counter trend: Publishers will create free-standing departments whose services can be purchased a la carte by authors, whether that author is self-published or published by a competitor who doesn’t offer such services.
9. Trend: As the Boomers lose their eyesight and their children become teenagers, demographics will favor books for young adults over books for adults. This is also the generation most likely to embrace a variety of online and offline formats, without feeling the need to choose one over another. Counter trend: While auctions and advances diminish for adult titles, they could heat up for young adult material as publishers bet big in search of the next Stephenie Meyer. (Prediction: publishing houses will soon have entire departments devoted to developing books about the undead.)
10. Trend: Every year for the foreseeable future, books will be purchased between Thanksgiving and Christmas about how to prepare high-calorie foods (a favorite from this year: Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, by Jennifer McLagan). Counter trend: Every January for the foreseeable future, the bestseller lists will be dominated by books about how to lose the weight gained by eating those high-calorie foods. (Not much of a prediction, sorry…but I needed a tenth trend to complete the list!)
Millionaire Who Works at McDonalds
Jan 4th
Personally if I won the lottery the first thing I would do is give up work, or at least pay people to run my businesses for me. One man who won the lottery, however, missed his job at McDonalds’s so much that despite quitting, he asked to go back. Despite the fact that he is £1.3 million richer after his lottery win Luke Pittard still gets up every morning and goes to his £5.85 per hour job where he spends his time flipping burgers. Surprisingly he earns more money in interest on his winnings per week than he does from his job. He must really love his work.
£150,000 Watch That Can’t tell the Time
Jan 4th
A luxury watch with a price tag of £150,000 has sold out within 48 hours of going on sale. That might not seem surprising but the watch is unusual because it doesn’t tell the time. It has a crocodile skin strap and is made from steel salvaged from the wreck of the titanic encrusted with sapphires. The face is divided into two sections which signify day and night. It is described by the manufacturer as “world unique – a watch that does not tell the time” and the chief executive of the company says “Anyone can buy a watch that shows time, but only a discerning customer can buy one that doesn’t.” Call me old fashioned I think I will stick with a cheaper watch that tell the time.
Monopoly®
Jan 4th
Monopoly® is a board game which is produced by Parker Brothers, a game company currently owned by Hasbro. In the game, players use dice to move around a board, landing on property which they have the option to purchase and develop. If land is already owned, players must pay rents to the property’s owner and developer. The game also includes “Chance” and “Community Chest” squares associated with cards which can influence player’s fortunes, forcing them to move to various spaces on the board, requiring them to pay taxes or other fees, or awarding them money.
The history of the game of Monopoly® is quite fascinating. The earliest version of the game was developed by Elizabeth Magie, and it was intended to be an educational illustration of the ways in which landlords abuse tenants with rents. Her version of the game would be familiar to modern players of Monopoly®, although there are some marked differences, of course. Magie’s game quickly spread, and was picked up by a number of people, spreading slowly through the United States until it landed in the household of a man named Charles Darrow.
Darrow clearly knew a potentially profitable thing when he saw it, and he developed the famous “Atlantic City” version of Monopoly®, with each square being associated with a location in Atlantic City. He patented the game in 1935, and attempted to sell it to Parker Brothers. The company initially rejected Monopoly® as being too hard to play and too long, later changing their minds, which turned out to be a good decision, since an estimated 750 million people played the game between 1935 and 2007.
Charles Darrow is often credited as the inventor of Monopoly®, although this is technically incorrect, and this has been a source of friction and dispute in the past. Some people argue that the game was clearly a folk game before Darrow got his hands on it, arguing that Parker Brothers essentially stole the rights to the game from its earlier developers, profiting immensely as a result. Others believe that Darrow’s refinements and additions to the game were what made it so popular, and that he is entitled to the credit for Monopoly®.
In any case, this two to eight player game has become immensely popular around the world, with numerous regional spinoffs and updated versions designed to reflect changes in the economy. Players struggle for economic supremacy over a Monopoly® board in some region of the world every night, and competition can get fierce. Masters of the game can even play in professional tournaments.
Sudoku
Jan 4th
Sudoku is a number placement puzzle based on logic rather than mathematics. Sudoku gained worldwide popularity in early 2005 and began selling in the form of puzzle books, handheld electronic versions and board games, as well as appearing in thousands of daily newspapers.
The concept of Sudoku is simple. The puzzle consists of a 9×9 square grid that is divided into nine 3×3 squares, resulting in nine rows and nine columns, for a total of 81 small squares. The unsolved Sudoku puzzle supplies only a few numbers in random squares. To solve the puzzle, the remaining squares must be filled in with the numbers 1 through 9, each appearing only once in each row, column and 3×3 square.
Because Sudoku is logic-based, other puzzles could be created that use the same concept and replace the numbers with other objects, such as colors, letters or shapes. However, Sudoku is aptly named, because the word Sudoku is a Japanese abbreviation loosely meaning “single number”.
In its most basic form, Sudoku comes in the traditional 9×9 square grid with various difficulty levels. The difficulty rating for solving the puzzle is not based on the number of squares with numbers supplied, but rather on their placement on the grid. These supplied numbers are called givens. The complexity involved in solving the puzzles ranges so that anyone can enjoy a Sudoku puzzle that parallels their own ability level. Some variations of the puzzle exist in which the grid is changed to contain more squares or further restrictions are put on the placement of the numbers.
Though this puzzle concept has been around for years under many different names, the modern version was popularized in Japan in 1986, when the puzzle publisher Nikoli discovered a puzzle originally published in Dell Magazines as “Number Place”. Nikoli patented the word Sudoku and began publishing the puzzles in varying difficulty levels, and they became wildly popular in Japan. In 2004, Sudoku’s international popularity began when a puzzle was published in a British newspaper as a result of a computer program developed by Wayne Gould that could quickly generate the puzzles. From there, the popularity of the puzzles eventually spread to the United States and elsewhere. The first Sudoku championship was held in March 2006 in Lucca, Italy.
What are the Different Types of Paintball Gear?
Jan 4th
Paintball is an intense sport that can be played as either an individual activity or as a team. However, like most sports, paintball requires special equipment to play. Paintball gear can be divided into three basic categories: offensive equipment, worn equipment, and field equipment. Each of these categories and their contents will be explained in more detail below.
Offensive equipment is the category of paintball gear that players will usually spend the most money on. This category includes paintball guns, paintballs, air tanks, and gun accessories. A few of these in more detail include:
Paintball Gun: The most important piece of offensive equipment. There are many different types of paintball guns to choose from. Some models can be highly modified with accessories, while others can not. Paintball guns can be rented at most paintball facilities and paintball specialty shops.
Paintballs: The heart of the game. Paintballs come in different sizes and colors, and may have different shell thicknesses depending on the style and manufacturer. Veteran paintball players usually match the size their paintballs with the diameter of their barrel. Most general paintballs, however, can be used in standard guns.
Barrel Blocking Device (BBD): Safety is extremely important when playing paintball. When a paintball gun is not actively being used in a game, a BBD should be placed on it. BBDs prevent paintballs from accidentally being shot and injuring an unprotected person. They include barrel covers, barrel plugs, and barrel socks.
Barrel: Barrels of different lengths and diameters can be affixed to some paintball guns in order to improve accuracy.
Hopper: Paintballs that are fired from a paintball gun are usually stored in a curved container attached to the gun. This container is called the hopper. Hoppers come in different sizes and can accept accessories.
Loader: Loaders are hoppers that have been modified to more efficiently feed paintballs into the firing chamber of the gun. Most loaders use batteries. Loaders are often necessary to take advantage of improved triggers.
Trigger: Paintball guns can have improved triggers put on them in order to increase performance. Trigger types include automatic triggers, cranks, double triggers, electronic triggers, and rocking triggers.
Scope or Sight: Scopes and sights can be added to paintball guns in order to improve accuracy. Scopes magnify a specific area while sights attempt to pinpoint where the paintball will go.
Air Tank: Most paintballs are fired using air to propel them. The air is usually stored in tanks either fastened directly to the gun or worn on a player and connected to the gun by a hose. Guns must be set up to take either compressed air or carbon dioxide (CO2). Not all guns can take either gas.
Grenade: Paint grenades expose a large radius to paint shortly after the pin is pulled and the grenade is (hopefully) thrown. Paint grenades are expensive, and may be illegal on some paintball courses.
Worn equipment is paintball gear that the player wears. For almost everyone, this will include the protective face mask; veteran players, however, often wear additional items to improve their chances of winning. Worn equipment includes:
Full Mask: A full mask refers to three pieces of equipment worn as one: the hard mask that protects the face, mouth, and cheeks; the goggles that protect the eyes; and the visor that both protects and keeps glare from the eyes. Full masks are required at almost every paintball facility when playing.
Chest Protector: Paintballs can hurt when they hit. A chest protector provides either plates or padding that cushions and distributes the force of a paintball impact. Chest protectors are not required, but are recommended for players that get close to their opponents.
Neck Protector: A paintball to the throat is extremely rare, but can cause serious injury. Neck protectors can be worn to decrease the danger.
Pads: Elbow, groin (cup), and knee pads can be worn to protect joints and sensitive areas from damage.
Gloves: Fingers can be rubbed raw from pulling a trigger; paintballs can get under fingernails and cause a lot of discomfort. Gloves are highly recommended.
Tubes: Tubes are simple containers that hold extra paintballs. They are designed to easily fill paintball hoppers in the field. Most veteran paintball players carry tubes on them.
Harness: Harnesses strap on to players and hold extra tubes.
Tactical Vest: Contains pockets and tube holders.
Field equipment is paintball gear that can be used by anyone playing. It is usually provided by the paintball facility, and can include the following:
Flag: A colored piece of cloth that can be attached to a pole. Flags are often used for games such as capture the flag, base commander, and kill the runner.
Inflatables: These include inflatable boxes, bunkers, and cannons. They are usually found on indoor paintball fields, and are sometimes generically called bunkers.
Why Does Alaska Have Really Long Days During Some Times of the Year and Really Short Days During Other Times?
Jan 4th
While seasonal changes in daylight hours are experienced throughout most of the earth, the Polar Regions experience more extreme changes because of their locations in relation to the sun during winter and summer. The axis or tilt of the earth account for Alaska and Antarctica’s extraordinary periods of extended hours of daylight and darkness.
To see why: imagine a tennis ball with a long needle passing through its center from top to bottom. The needle extends out both “poles” creating an axis. A black line that runs the circumference of the ball indicates the ball’s “equator.” Now imagine a roughly circular track for the ball to follow, and incline the axis 23.5 degrees towards the outgoing track, so that the ball is slightly inclined. Finally, place a light source in the center of this imaginary track.
As the ball moves around the track, its axis remains fixed, though by virtue of it moving around the track, its inclination, relative to the center light (the sun) changes. At one point along the track, the northern pole gets greater exposure to the light, being inclined inward, towards the light. At the opposite end of the orbital track, the same northern region is pointed away from the light source with the southern pole exposed “inward.”
This inclination of the earth is what creates our seasons, and is also responsible for Alaska’s long summer days. When the North Pole is inclined inward towards the sun, the region receives extended exposure to the sun. From the viewpoint of someone standing at true north on the summer solstice, the sun raises high into the sky, and then circles the horizon without ever setting. Elongated exposure to sunlight during the summer season allows the region to retain more heat. Shadows are shorter because the sun is higher overhead.
At the South Pole in Antarctica, the opposite is occurring. Here, the region is inclined away from the sun, so that on the winter solstice, the sun skirts the horizons never quite rising. In outlying regions further from “true south” where the sun does raise low in the sky for short periods of time, the sun’s angle is very oblique. This creates longer shadows, additional atmospheric filtering, and weaker radiation or warmth. Thus, when Alaska is experiencing endless summer days filled with direct light, heat and warmth, desolate Antarctica is steeped in days of near total darkness and weak sunlight. Conversely, when Antarctica sees summer, Alaska is having winter. Because of its unique location, both winter and summer seasons are fascinating to experience in Alaska.
In spring and autumn seasons the earth’s axis is aligned along its orbital path, rather than towards or away from the sun. Hence, the sun shines most directly on the equatorial regions, or center of the earth. On the solstices that mark these seasons, March 21st and September 21st, we have 12-hour days and 12-hour nights. For each day that passes after a spring or fall equinox, the days begin lengthening in one hemisphere and shortening in the other.
Some people mistakenly attribute seasons to the slightly elliptical orbit of the earth, believing the closer the earth is to the sun, the warmer the season. In reality, earth’s orbit is nearly circular, and the small deviation in distance is not enough to cause seasons.
What is Turquoise?
Jan 4th
Turquoise is a blue-green mineral valued for its rarity and unique hue, and widely used as an ornamental stone. Popular in the 16th century to adorn places of worship in Turkey, turquoise was eventually traded in Turkish bazaars and brought to Europe by merchants and travelers. Because turquoise is fragile, just slightly stronger than window glass, special care must be taken during extraction and transport.
The bluer the stone is, the more expensive. Variations in color are due to the presence of metals, such as iron impurities in the case of green turquoise. Most original mines of turquoise were depleted a long time ago, and the current supply comes mostly as a byproduct of copper mining. Iran is the world’s largest producer of turquoise, where the stone Southwest, primarily New Mexico and California. This has made the stone a popular choice to create Native American jewelry and religious tiling and decoration.
In the past, turquoise was worn only by rulers, especially by Ancient Egyptian pharaohs, Aztecs kings, and Chinese emperors. Often set in gold and combined with other stones such as jade, quartz, and malachite, turquoise was thought to be a magical stone, which could protect the wearer from malignant forces. Apache and Navajo tribes also considered the stone a powerful amulet, although everybody was allowed to wear it. Turquoise can now be bought and used by anybody, provided they can afford it. If price is a consideration, artificial turquoise can be bought. While early imitation turquoise was made of glass and enamel and easily identifiable, new versions are not distinguishable to the untrained naked eye.
Turquoise needs to be cared for to stay in top condition. Because the stone is sensitive to chemicals and naturally fragile, it should not come in contact with strong perfumes or chemicals, should be kept away from direct sunlight, and should not be hit or knocked against hard surfaces. Turquoise is easily scratched, so it is important to care for it during storage as well. Finally, turquoise needs to “breathe” to conserve its deep natural color. Lack of air will eventually turn the stone greenish, contributing to it losing its value.
What is a Yo-Yo?
Jan 4th
A yo-yo is a toy which is composed of two identical discs connected with an axle, around which a string is wound. The basic design of the yo-yo has been used to make toys for many centuries, and on several continents, as paintings and drawings from China, Europe, and Africa suggest. The modern design of the yo-yo is somewhat more streamlined, and some specially designed yo-yos have unique features, but is essentially a toy which could be made at home, with some effort. People of all ages use yo-yos around the world, although most players start when they are young.
The core of a yo-yo is the axle, which is attached to two discs, made from metal, wood, plastic, glass, or ceramic materials. The discs are equally weighted so that they will balance, and they are frequently decorated with painting or carving. Many modern yo-yos light up during use with the addition of small LEDs inside the yo-yo. A length of string is attached to the yo-yo with a slip knot on one end for the player to grasp, and a loop to go around the axle.
The loop of string around the axle contributes to the flexibility of the yo-yo as a toy. The use of a loop, rather than a knotted tie, was pioneered in the Philippines, and is known as a looped slip string. Because the string is looped, the axle of the yo-yo can rotate freely inside of it, allowing the yo-yo to spin when it reaches the end of the string, rather than just stopping. This is known as sleeping, and is the foundation of many yo-yo tricks, including the most basic trick, in which the yo-yo is brought back up the rope and into the player’s hand.
To use a yo-yo, the string is wound around the axle and the loop on the free end is placed over the finger of the player. The hand is held palm down, with the yo-yo lightly grasped, and then the yo-yo is gently tossed towards the ground. The string unwinds as the yo-yo travels, until all the string has been played out and the yo-yo stops. Many players learn to do fancy yo-yo tricks, some of which are quite complicated, and strut their stuff at competitions around the world.
What Is a Taboo?
Jan 4th
A taboo is a prohibition against a particular activity, usually rooted in cultural or moral beliefs. Objects, people, and places may also be described as taboo, meaning that they are forbidden or that specific rules surround them. The term “taboo” comes from the Tongan word tabu, and it was introduced to English by Captain Cook, who took note of Polynesian traditions surrounding taboos, along with the word, during his expeditions in the area. Many cultures have a history of some form of taboo, even if this word was not specifically used.
In some cases, a taboo applies to something which is considered so sacred that special rules surround the way in which people may interact with it. For example, Catholics and other Christians who take communion believe that dropping the Host on the ground is taboo, because the Host is sacred and it must be treated with special care and respect. Other taboos are related to things which are viewed as profane, as seen in the menstrual taboos common to many cultures, in which women were kept confined during their menstruation because they were believed to be unclean.
Some taboos appear to have a root in logical behavior. Many cultures have taboos surrounding the handling of the dead, spoiled food, and other activities which could be dangerous, and it is possible that what started out as practical advice turned into a taboo as a society evolved. Likewise, many cultures have complex rules about how to behave around royalty which undoubtedly stemmed from concerned rulers who wanted to consolidate and strengthen their power. Other taboos do not appear to have a rational basis on the surface, but they are still rigidly observed.
People may also jokingly reference a “taboo subject,” referring to something which is not considered polite or appropriate conversation. In a group of people of mixed political beliefs, politics may be a forbidden subject, and subjects like bodily functions are considered inappropriate at the dinner table in many societies.
Individuals who fail to observe taboos are usually considered to be rude, and in some cases, their offenses may be considered punishable by law. People who plan to interact with individuals from a different cultural background are often advised to study up on social rules and forbidden activities so that they do not inadvertently cause offense by violating a taboo. Numerous texts deal with specific social norms in cultures around the world so that people can prepare for trips, business negotiations, and other types of interactions in which taboos may become an issue.