As hinted in the previous post, for our universe-building project we’re doing two construction activities related to elementary particles. So, we’ll have two “Lists of Requirements” this time around. The model atoms use marshmallows, miniature candy chips, and gelatin mix. You’ll need just one packet of mixed-flavor candies for even a fairly large group–in advance, you can separate out flavors into the amounts needed. For sub-atomic particles, we’ll use multi-flavor candies, such as “Life-Savers”…we need six flavors, so you get to buy both peppermint and five-flavor mixtures. Depending on your workspace, you may choose to have participants work in table groups of of 3-4 people or to set up supplies assembly-line style in a relatively mess-friendly zone. The assembly-line method reduces the need for extra supplies, though these are quite inexpensive materials. For pre-preparation, it helps to count out supplies for each participant–small paper cups are ideal and stack neatly once your supplies are set up. Another helpful side item is a roll of waxed paper or a stack of paper plates for setting out the end-products while they dry or for taking them home.
One extra item, for your wrap-up, is highly recommended if your budget permits:Â pick up one humongous balloon–the 36-inch diameter size, in any color or design that delights you.
The recommended quantities are generous, to allow for after-project treats. Ice-cream sundaes, anyone?
The Atomic Marshmallow Project
Per person
For a group of 10
For a group of 30
Standard size (not miniature) marshmallows
1
10
30
Miniature candies, dark color*: try candy “decors” or extra-tiny chocolate chip ice-cream topping mixture
2
1 package of mixed candies:Â count out at least 20 dark-colored pieces
1 package of mixed candies:Â count out at least 20 dark-colored pieces
Miniature candies:Â light color*:Â try candy “decors” or extra-tiny white candy chip ice-cream topping mixture
2
From the same packet of mixed-flavor candies:Â count out at least 20 light-colored pieces
From the same packet of mixed-flavor candies: count out at least 60 light-colored pieces.
Gelatin mix
(choose a variety of fun, colorful flavors)
1 packet
(3-ounce size)
3 packets
(one per group of 3-4 people)
For groups:
8 packets
For an assembly line:
3 packets
Water
1 cup
3 cups
(one per group of 3-4 people)
For groups:
8 cups
For each assembly line:
1 cup
Wooden skewers (alternative: toothpicks)
1
 10
 30
10-16 ounce containers
(mugs, plastic cups, reused food containers)
2
6
For groups: 16
For each assembly line: 2
Small cups for sorting supplies
2
20
60
*  IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’re tempted to use peanut-flavor candies, remember to be SURE to check in advance that none of the participants suffers from peanut allergy. In its worst form, this allergy can trigger anaphylaxis merely through physical contact with peanut oils or proteins, but at the very least, peanut-sensitive people should not eat anything tagged “packed in same location as peanut-handling equipment” or “may contain nuts”.   There are lots of different candy chips to choose from; just be sure you end up with two different colors of âchipsâ for the protons and neutrons.
Sufficient Supplies For Construction of Approximately 40 Model Atoms
The second project’s list is even easier, and doesn’t require a “mess zone”:
One Side Makes You Smaller
or
A Top-Down Search for the Strange Charm of Putting Up With Those Quarks at Bottom of the Universe
The counts of candies in a mixed bag of five-flavor candies is a bit random, so if buying for a group you may need to grab an extra bag, just in case you need it. The package of sorting cups you purchased for the Atomic Marshmallow Project will have enough for you to sort supplies for this project as well.
Per person
Per 10 people
For 30-person group
Five-flavor Life-Savers candies
1 of each color,
a total of 5
50:
each gets 5 total, 1 of each color
(2 bags of individually-wrapped Life-Savers)
150:
each gets 5 total, 1 of each color
(6 bags of individually-wrapped Life-Savers)
1 extra piece of one of the five flavors
1
10
(There should be enough left over from the 2 bags you’ve purchased.)
30
(There should enough left over from the 6 bags you’ve purchased.)
Peppermint Life-Savers
2
20: each gets 2
(1 bag of individually-wrapped peppermints
60: each gets 2
(2 bags of individually-wrapped peppermints)
A Pile of Quarks, Ready for Construction of a Small Universe
New Horizons has flown past Pluto successfully, and is now on the way to check out other Kuiper Belt objects. Here’s Corwin Wray’s simulation (made with Pixel Gravity, his software for doing multi-body models on your laptop), which concludes with a wistful look back at our Solar System:
Like New Horizons, you can explore further too.
Itâs worth your while to start by tracking down Guy Ottewell. Yes, heâs on the web, folks, and you can connect with him! Start with his Home Page, which includes all of his books, including the latest version of the book form of his Thousand-Yard Model as well as innovative ideas in several fields, from voting systems to landscape design:   He has a Facebook Page on which heâs been more active as of 2014, sharing art and world news:   And he joined Twitter in 2013 and tweets regularly, especially on human-rights topics, which should interest anyone whoâs become aware of just how small our human community is in this huge universe: find him as simply @GuyOttewell on the tweet machine. A few of his books are available at Amazon, but take careâthe latest updates are best obtained by purchasing directly from the author.
Of course, you might want to follow some of informational links given in the workbook pdfâs for this project:
And of course we have an active mission beyond Pluto right now. It’s an APL project, so they have a great page on the program: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/
The National Optical Astronomy Observatory presents Guy Ottewellâs original project description from 1989 online:
A wonderful collection of poems and quotes related to astronomy, gathered by Michele Stark, an astronomer with a wonderful page she created while lecturing in physics at the University of Michigan, Flint. l  Youâll also find astronomy labs sheâs created for non-majors interested in the field, under âOutreach and Educationâ
A relatively exhaustive listing of scale models in place around the worldâmost are designed for point-to-point driving or cycling tours, so scroll to the bottom portion of the list for walkable models, several of which are roughly on the same scale as that presented here. Check before you set outâsome of these installations were only temporary, as part of larger events and some are virtual (i.e., online). I would like to imagine astronomy fans travelling to all of them, as baseball fans travel to all the major-league parks.
The National Center for Earth and Space Scienceâs âVoyageâ program has a âsomewhatâ pricier scale model in Washington D.C. but also offers up lots of useful curriculum materials:Â Â http://voyagesolarsystem.org/Â Â Their program is fee-based, not by any means free, but it is very comprehensive and aims to involve parents, teachers, students, and their communities: http://journeythroughtheuniverse.org/home/home_default.html
You can keep track of the Voyager spacecraft in real time at http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/index.html  Theyâre in rapid motionâVoyager 1 is travelling at over 38 thousand miles per hour (over 17 km per second).
The Project Astro Notebook used to be sold as a huge expensive bulky (and still wonderful) binder. Soon, youâll be able download at least some portions in pdf format from the free government-sponsored education resources site eric.gov. However, for now your best bet is to buy the DVDâs at http://astrosociety.org/astroshop/index.php?p=product&id=577&parent=1
Why use a FIFA 4 or 5 ball? Well, the dimensions are good for it. But any similar-sized ball will do for this project…like the tennis-ball-patterned playground ball I have. Guy Ottewell likes to use a bowling ballâbut notes that itâs kind of heavy to lug around. http://www.achallenge.com/t-faq.aspx
If you need more reassurance that science and math are not only fun but also funny, visit http://www.xkcd.com (but do prescreen before sharing with studentsâthis webcomic does sometimes use âPG-13â language.
For the jacks ball, you can pick up a jacks set anywhere. Online (e.g., www.orientaltrading.com , theyâre often sold in party packs of a dozen sets. But any bouncy ball bigger than žâ and no bigger than 1â in diameter will do the trick.
If you decide to buy a playground ball or soccer ball online, locate an air pump before your shipment arrivesâtheyâre often shipped uninflated.
And if you buy on Amazon, be sure to sign up for smile.amazon.com first, so your purchases can support your favorite charity.
For my New Year’s Day new learning, I worked out how to create a thread (properly) in Twitter, in order to post my very first awards eligibility thread.
I know, I know, none of these are going to win any awards, though one has already been nominated (by the editor of the anthology) for a majorly major award. Nominations count; just being nominated is a huge, huge thrill.
But not everyone likes to hang out on social media. Facebook is broken. Twitter has deep wells of toxicity, Instagram is all about being pretty (and owned by Facebook), and Tik-Tok is … out of my league.
So in this blog post, I’ll try to recreate the Twitter post. I have two 2021 stories that are Hugos-eligible (the science-fiction ones). What awards do you know about that you’re eligible to nominate for? You might be surprised!
Let’s jump ahead now, and make this Not About Me. It’s readers who nominate for Hugos, and readers don’t care if the author is famous, made a bucket of money, or only managed to sell one story. Sure, the list of finalists is short, but consider–what did you read last year? What moved you? If you’re a 2021 or 2022 WorldCon member, you can nominate the things you liked. You can nominate up to five things in EVERY category. They don’t have to be the movies, stories, novels, or magazines that your friends liked, that your social-media leaders went on and on about. You can voice your own preferences.
So, pitch made. GO forth, write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, nominate all your favorites for awards, and then enjoy all the new (and not-so-new) stories out there in 2022.
Here, then, is my Twitter thread. Do ya love or hate my cartoony profile pic? I’ll only put it in for the opening tweet; otherwise, it gets annoying in blog format.
The official awards-eligibility thread. In 2021, I had three short stories published:
1. a #scifi story about stolen land
2. a light #scifi #romance featuring a favorite 20th-century artist
3. an upbeat piece of literary fiction grown from #autism, #depression, and #optimism.
2/7 âHeartâs Delight,â anthologized in Fault Zone: Reverse, edited by @LaurelAnneHill and published by Sand Hill Review Press. An intelligent ecosystem repels those whose ancestors took the land unjustly, returning custody to its true caretakers. #SFF
3/7 For the record, I live on Tamien Nation Territory, bordering Popeloutchum (Amah Mutsun) land, connected to the territory of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. These people are all, right now, working to protect this land, e.g.: http://amahmutsun.org/history
4/7 âParrish Blue,â published by Water Dragon Publishing (Dragon Gems short fiction). In an elite restaurant on a climate-ravaged Earth, under the glow of a recreated artwork, a young woman rediscovers a dream of life immersed in wonderâand finds one who shares that dream. #SFF
5/7 Iâm dropping in an image of the piece of art these two fall in love under (Romance, by Maxfield Parrish). Just because.
(Note: on Twitter, alt-text includes artist attribution: this is a photograph of a public-domain artwork. The photograph came from Plum Leaves at Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eoskins/5841870848).
6/7 âReunion,â anthologized in Fault Zone: Reverse, edited by @LaurelAnneHill and published by Sand Hill Review Press. Two young people, separated in childhood by separate traumatic events, renew a friendship forged through shared suffering.
7/7 If this story resonates for you, consider further research at https://autisticadvocacy.orgor connect with mental-health resources in your community. Also, remember to reconnect with friends in 2022.
It’s surprising hard to recreate a Twitter posting in a blog! Go follow me on Twitter, OK?
I love a good crossover novel . . . or in this case, series of novels. An author who can successfully blend the tropes and themes of two kinds of worlds can perform that magical feat of pulling you outside your own world and showing you the things that bind people together, no matter what world they’re inhabiting.
The Glass Bottles series by J. Dark will give you that. Here, J Dark blends the noir detective story with urban fantasy. What makes it work is that the features of both worlds are both given their full due. Don’t think of this as a mashup–it’s more than that, it’s an overlay that draws on compelling elements of each type of story to bring fans of either just what they need. I’ve just finished the first one, Best Intentions, and I think you’ll agree that this is a dark, engaging tale that draws you in … and maybe kicks you a few times in the gut before it lets you go.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’ll get yours, you demanding film noir fan: the grim, gritty streets of The City, the denizens of the underworld–some better than they seem, some worse, the wiseacre Private Eye with the dingy little office, the mysterious crime that the police can’t handle, the stranger at the doorâŚa stranger who may need her helpâŚor may be about to kill her. Yeah, the PI is a dame, OK, a hot dame, no less, you got a problem with that?
Oh, and you, you urban fantasy addict, you get: a fully-worked out magic system that’s unique in its own way, but that you can pick up on as the story progresses, demons, pentagrams, spells, and rituals. These are all set against a backdrop of a seemingly ordinary city that’s fallen on tough times and normal complications of families, friends, and law versus order. All of these are contained within an ordered universe with an explanation for why-things-are-this-wayâŚan explanation that ties directly to the deepest peril that the hero of the story must face.
While I don’t do spoilers, I will share a tiny content warning–this is not a story for children–got that?–not any more than the Maltese Falcon is a lighthearted romp for the kiddies. And while there are interesting magical–make that magickal–animals that play important roles, this is nothing like a Harry Potter story.
Here’s your setup. No Spoilers.
Fern Fatelli and her sister Fawn work on either side of the private-public law-enforcement line, in the city of Dayning (a fictionalized urban enclave of Halifax, Nova Scotia). Fern’s got her PI business to tend to, with equal parts moxie, magick, and good old-fashioned gumshoe footwork. When she needs a bodyguard, her old buddy–who also happens to be a troll–stands by her. There’s some baaaad stuff going down in the cityâŚthere are these strange little bottles that seem to suck something essential right out of a person, but no one knows what they are, where they came from, who is using them ⌠let alone, why.
Our Fern is comfortable in the lower echelons of her city, using her limited magick on the old PI standards–scrounging up evidence on adultery for a disgruntled spouse. But this time, a seemingly typical case lands her in the role of hero, the one who has to solve an enormous puzzle to save her friends, her family, and her worldâŚto save them all from an ancient evil that was set loose long ago, with the very best of intentions.
J Dark has a way with creating twists that will catch you off balance. Just when you think you sort of know what the solution to the mystery is going to be, something comes in out of left field–something that was there, all along, that you weren’t paying attention to–and everything changes again. You’ll enjoy the ride, but it’s like a roller coaster in the dark, so hang on tight.
At this point, there are three Glass Bottles books released, plus a short story, a prequel actually, A Last Good Day, that’s available for a free download at the publisher’s website. The books are on Barnes & Noble,Amazon, and several digital-books sites. J Dark has a blog, too, where you can read about writing or try to catch up with a serialized sci-fi work-in-progress.
If, like me, you’re kind of curious about this re-imagining of life in Nova Scotia–or, as it’s been renamed in these books, New Scotland–there’s a trove of imagery on Google’s map images–check out this awesome shot by Mark Lamontagne that captures the blend of old and new echoed in J Dark’s vision.