Old Dog learning New Tricks

I may be an old dog, but I'm still learning new tricks.

Some miscellaneous things I learned during NaNo 20111:

There truly is an enzyme that scientists are working on, to convert Type A blood and Type B blood into Type O blood.
Proper pacing can make a huge difference. In life. In writing a story.
A punctured cat's eye is common, not a big deal, heals easily, but makes for a large vet bill.
When lightning strikes sandy soil, it creates fulgurites.
It is possible to de-magnetize a magnet.


so -- fellow 'old dogs'.... anyone else care to share?

GB topped the medals list in 1908 olympics (I'd better check that - i can't believe it)
The Americans refused to dip their flag to King George (still had the ex-colony chip on their shoulders i guess)
We all live in a virtual reality - oh - no, i just made that up in my book - or did I?
Kaiser Wilhem ii was only a schattenkaiser (nothing to do with cats)

Hang on - I'm not an old dog!

Crude oils vary in color from clear to tar-black, and in viscosity from water to almost solid. Whole oil fingerprinting is done by capillary gas chromatography. About half of the oil entering the marine environment is from natural seeps.

Purple is said to be refreshing and calming, may symbolize psychic ability, wisdom and independence and enhances artistic talents.

On the day I looked, there were few apartments available for rent in Springfield, Virginia. :-) So my two characters ended up in the same complex!

I'm not an old dog either. I'm an old Kat.

hmmm... I'd rather be an old dog, than a geezer.

I can't be an old Kat, because - I'm not Kat. Old Fool sounds silly. old cat would be ok... except that I don't think you can teach cats -- old or young -- any tricks at all.

and .. Tim... rumor has it that Mrs. Ford has been heard to say something or other about that 'old dog' of hers!!!

There is a new material, called ultralite metallic microlattice. A chip of it placed on top of a seeding dandelion fluff will not bend the fluff. The developers used nickel, but project that any metal could be used similarly. For right now, it's the lightest substance on earth.

Scientists (through NASA) discovered what is called a "significant" supply of water on the moon. This is revolutionizing what were previously abandoned thoughts of colonizing the moon. Not something that will happen any day soon, but the possibility is increased.

Moon rock is mostly silicon with aluminum and other metals.

(Yes, my story takes place on the moon. How did you guess?)

There are no cities in the US named "Home." If you put "Home" in mapquest, it will tell you "Mapquest could not find Home."

Mapquest is, aparently either lost or homeless.

Also, copralite is fossilized animal dung and also sometimes jewelry. eww.

Also, just today, in looking for the FB group, I learned there is actually a pen that looks like a cigarette and is apparently a product to help people stop smoking.

Smoking Pen. heh.

A personality disorder is simply a long-lasting pattern of relating to the world that doesn't work very well.

Most people with Multiple Personality Disorder had some kind of sever trauma in their childhood.

Most people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are unable to empathize with others.

In past wars soldiers would be given "breaks" away from war zones to recover mentally and emotionally. Current practice is to give soldiers antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications and sleep aids, and send them back to battle.

Autistics, manic-depressives and schizophrenics can think musically.

Gee... I feel stupid. I didn't do any research... I made it all up.

To use Twitter in a story for publication you must always capitalize it, and use Tweets (also capitalized) for their messages. If you create a fictional Twitter account, you must first register it yourself to make sure you're not using a name already in use. My book started out with twelve fictional Twitter accounts. I'm now down to three.

Cyber bullying can range from saying mean things on personal walls and pages to stealing identifying information and deliberately feeding it to predators. Some of the things I found out about ways kids (and some adults) are deliberately tormenting, threatening, and destroying each other were horrific.

Male teens commit suicide at a rate five times higher than females. Females, however, attempt suicide at an astounding three times more often than males. Why are the boys more successful? Because they mostly use guns, which are 89-100% effective, immediately. Girls tend to choose sleeping pills, or poison which not only gives them time to change their minds or be found, are far less effective than lead projectiles.

There are eleven times more attempted suicides than successful ones.

LGBT youth commit suicide at more than twice the rate of straight youth.

Suicide rates skyrocket in males of 85 years of age, or older.

Overall, very depressing stats.

Thanks, Dancingfool!

If you ever perform a Tollen's test, dispose of the reagent immediately after use (wash it out with acid and get rid of it) because it might explode later. The test is for determining if something is an aldehyde (a silver mirror forms in your test tube if it is), and if you don't dispose of it properly, it can form silver nitride, which is highly explosive, and can detonate from the slightest contact.

I never expect to use this in real life.

As for being an old dog, I'm always up for learning new tricks but I don't know if I count as old. Most dogs acknowledge me as the alpha dog. I have no idea why. I'm really not a canine.

Doing some research for my current short story, I learned that asbestos can be spun and woven into a fine cloth. In ancient Greece and later Rome, napkins and other household items were woven from it. Soiled napkins were thrown into the fire; food residues burned away and the cloth often came out whiter than it went in! As cool as that would be (imagine host(ess) accuses guest of being such a slob, grabs napkin and tosses it into the fire), I don't like to think about the health consequences for the spinners and weavers.

Most of these are not tricks, just facts. Anyone for actual tricks or skills?

My father is learning Kendo (Japanese sword). He's going to be 80 in a month.

I just started learning European fencing (foil so far). I'm also working on contact juggling.

What is contact juggling?

Learning new tricks is something that tends to drop out of our lives at some point. When I took up Taekwondo at 41, I realized it had been years since I'd done anything which didn't draw upon something I already knew.

After getting laid off last summer, I went back to my previous career as a professional craftsperson. I was an enamelist in the pre-internet era. This time, I'm only online. So while it's not nearly as exciting as fencing and juggling, learning about Search Engine Optimization is my new experience.