The Wing-Friends and Other Books

In Blogger's slideshows images are greatly reduced, so lose much of their impact. And captions added to them in Picasa Albums vanish, so the images shown above are: the Milky Way, the Orion Nebula, Earth, Earth with New Zealand circled, New Zealand, Auckland & the Hauraki Gulf, Waiheke Island, some native NZ forest, a Fantail and chicks, various doves, etc.

(If you want to see the first ten images in their original size, they are in a posting made on the 24th of November 2011.)

My book The Wing-Friends is an imaginative tale of a small brave boy, a magical adventure, a magnificent Pegasus and the wonderful Kingdom of the Pegasi. It has been given very good reviews, and virtually every reader on Goodreads has so far awarded it five stars. It is available here. Some of my other writings are available as e-books, such as The Lower Deck, which is an over-the-top take on Waiheke happenings--sort of.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

NET GLEANINGS 005

Formula for turning cement into 'metal':
'In a move that would make the alchemists of King Arthur's time green with envy, scientists have unravelled the formula for turning liquid cement into liquid metal. That makes cement a semiconductor and opens up its use in the profitable consumer electronics marketplace for thin films, protective coatings and computer chips.'

Soda and illegal drugs cause similar damage to teeth:
'Addicted to soda? You may be shocked to learn that drinking large quantities of your favourite carbonated soda could be as damaging to your teeth as methamphetamine and crack cocaine use. The consumption of illegal drugs and abusive intake of soda can cause similar damage to your mouth through the process of tooth erosion, according to a case-study published in the March/April 2013 issue of General Dentistry'

Scientists develop CO2-sequestration technique:
Lawrence Livermore scientists have discovered and demonstrated in the laboratory a new technique to remove and store atmospheric carbon-dioxide while generating carbon-negative hydrogen and producing alkalinity that can be used to offset ocean acidification.

Data from the nineteenth century provides more confirmation of global warming:
A new analysis by NASA and a group of universities of ocean data collected more than 135 years ago by the HMS Challenger's oceanographic expedition provides further confirmation that human activities have warmed our planet over the past century.

In Malawi, evangelicals don't doubt climate-change.
So why is it taking their blinkered American counterparts so long???
'When I asked Grace Kasowa, a devout Presbyterian farmer in Chagunda village, what message she would have for American evangelicals who deny climate-change, she replied emphatically: "You tell those Doubting Thomases that climate-change is real and has a negative impact on people. Less rain means I can't grow vegetables any more. Hungry elephants and other wild animals are coming into our village to rummage for our food and water." '

Autistic teenager tipped for Nobel Prize
A teenager who was diagnosed with autism and told he would never be able to read has been tipped as a future winner of a Nobel Prize. Jacob Barnett, fourteen, who was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism at two, is now studying for a Master's degree in quantum physics. His mother Kristine Barnett, author of The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius, told BBC Breakfast she initially found it hard to get Jacob the right education.