Part 1 – What Does Friendship Look Like? Do you have friends you’ve known since you were little? You can’t remember life without them. Friends are there when you need to talk, share a laugh, or have a slumber party. You’re never alone, when you’ve got a friend. One friend or a bunch? At home or in school? It doesn’t matter – life is a whole lot better with friends! This is what friendship used to look like. When I was a kid in the 60’s, we met people first, in person. We talked on a telephone. We sent letters and pictures through the mail. It might take a day, even a week, for it to arrive.. Occasionally we had pen pals, people we only met through a letter, rarely in person. It was usually something a teacher set up, and I did it a couple of times with my 2nd graders. Part 2 – Facebook and a New Kind of Friend Today we have options I never dreamed of. Now we can email or text words, pictures, and videos in seconds. We can see and talk to friends and family in real time, right now. It’s common to have friends we’ve never met in person, all because of the internet. I joined Facebook first. I’m not sure when, but look below. This is the oldest picture I could find. It’s from August 16, 2010. Back then my Facebook friends were people I’d met face-to-face. I started with 1 friend and went up to about 150 when I retired from teaching in 2015. The most unusual thing about Facebook was you could friend or be friended by people you didn’t know. Usually they knew someone you did. Now I have friends in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Maybe someday – I’ll meet someone in Antarctica or South America! If you want to be friends, I’ll check who you know. My rule of thumb – 3 friends in common. If you’re a complete stranger, I usually delete your request. I’ll also go to your page to see if you’re a teacher or a writer. I’ll look at your posts too. Good things mean we’re going to be friends. Bad stuff, we’re not. I usually talk to friends through my Facebook page. I only talk on messenger if I know you personally, or if we’ve already talked on Facebook, and we need to share private information. Over the years I’ve had a couple people who broke the rules. They wanted to chit-chat, and I don’t have time for that. I asked them to stop. They didn’t so I blocked their account. I now have 1300 friends, exactly. I was curious so I went in and counted who I really know. It took a good 5-10 minutes. I recognized 368. I’ve talked to them personally or across Facebook groups. I’ve taken classes with some, or we’ve critiqued each other’s writing. Some are personal friends and relatives. Three have passed, and their accounts were never pulled down. Occasionally their names come up, and I remember them. It’s sad, but sweet. About a half dozen sat in my classroom. I always felt it was more important for me to be their teacher, not their friend. Now that I’m retired, I’m so glad they still remember me. A few were my teachers, but most of those 1300 people asked me to be friends. It’s rare for me to ask. I really have enough friends. This is the header for my business page. Thanks to writing and self-publishing I’m now a business owner, which is something I never expected. The picture above was the first thing I posted on my business page back on March 22, 2019. I was three months away from publishing my first book – NEIL ARMSTRONG’S WIND TUNNEL DREAM. My life and friends have changed tremendously, for the better, because of Facebook. I feel blessed by each one of you. Thanks! Trivia Question – Which came first – Instagram or Twitter? Part 3 – Next Came Twitter I joined Twitter in June, 2018 because I hoped it would help people find my website – http://www.rindabeach.com/ My first tweet, October 14, 2018, was about my cruise to Cuba. The link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/take-a-little-cruise-with-me-part-1-ship-shape My first tweet, October 14, 2018, was about my cruise to Cuba. The link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/take-a-little-cruise-with-me-part-1-ship-shape There are two ways to find followers. Twitter makes suggestions, or people follow me. Either way, I research profiles, and I usually pick teachers and writers. We work well together! I started my Twitter journey on 0 for everything. Now I have 2897 tweets. I follow 2427 people, and I have 1934 followers. That’s a long way from 0! Part 4 – And Instagram Was Last When I joined Twitter, I could have joined Instagram, but I didn’t. I think it’s because more writers were on Twitter. I’m not sure why I finally joined Instagram, but I’m glad I did. This is my first Instagram post from January 17, 2019. It was about a dog named Riley. Would you believe she has her own book? That’s because she’s a service dog, and a great listener! This is the link to my post about her: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/riley-the-retriever-is-a-good-dog-a-therapy-dog Instagram has followers, and it works pretty much like Twitter. One click, and you followed someone. You find followers the same way too. Instagram makes suggestions, or people follow you. I still research profiles before I follow anyone. I discovered something new – I’m good for librarians and home-schoolers, and they’re good for me too! When I started posting on Instagram, I was at 0 for everything. Now I have 436 posts. I follow 1057 people, and I have 687 followers. I’ve come a long way in one short year! With followers on either network, I’ve only run into one person I needed to block. They didn’t follow my rules. I only talk in posts, mine or yours. If you message me and want to chat, I’ll message back, but I’ll ask you to stop. If you don’t, I have to block you. It’s been a blessing to meet so many wonderful people on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but you have to be careful. Not everyone is nice – That’s why I’m glad to follow or friend you!
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Lisa is prolific! She’s written for both magazines and newspapers, and she’s published more than 100 children’s books. That’s incredible! Her favorite writing topics are science and agriculture. Lisa’s knowledge and love of science led her into the perfect job, writing. She wrote for adults first and eventually found her way into children’s writing. Today she has her dream job, reading, researching, and writing. She’s also a freelance editor and website creator. That’s how I met Lisa, she built my website back in 2016. When she’s not working, Lisa is hiking, scrapbooking, and reading some more. I told you – she’s prolific. If you’d like to read more about her, go to her website: https://www.lisaamstutz.com Part 2 – Lisa’s Books Don’t worry! I’m not going to write about all 100 of Lisa’s books! Instead I’m featuring her top 11 books on Amazon. Two of them are coming out later this year. If you’d like to look at the other sixteen, here’s the link: https://www.amazon.com/Lisa-J-Amstutz/e/B005YHGWNI/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1 January 2020 – Meet the three major groups of amphibians – frogs, salamanders, and caecilians. Learn about their anatomy, behavior, and environmental needs. Then try out 30 hands-on activities in “Try This,” “Look For,” and “Listen For.” They’ll build your skills in observation and analysis, writing and drawing, math and science, and natural literacy. Lisa’s back matter includes a glossary of scientific terms, a list of amphibian orders, and a teacher’s guide to instruction. Coming in August 2020 – Beginning readers can learn how to protect our planet. They’ll read about the things we’re doing that hurt the Earth, and what they can do to protect it. Coming in October 2020 – This rhyming picture book is also a nonfiction story of plants and how they defend themselves. If the story is half as fun as the cover, we’re in for a treat! PS- did you notice that Lisa has 3 books coming out this year? I told you, prolific! Last year in February 2019 – Kids like to build models, but models are part of the world of work. Read how scientists, architects, engineers, and artists build theirs. Last year in February 2019 – Kids like to build models, but models are part of the world of work. Read how scientists, architects, engineers, and artists build theirs. That same month, August 2019 – Do plants have babies? Yes they do! Young readers can find out all the different ways in this easy-to-read book. A month later, September 2019 – Have you heard about the annual bird count that’s been going on since the year 1900? This story takes a boy and his mom on the hunt. This year Grandpa had to go south for the winter, just like the birds. So if Gramps isn’t there to spot his favorite bird, a dove, his grandson hopes to spot one for him. PS – Were you counting? That was 4 books in 2018! Bow-wow-wow! What a year! From August 2017 – Have you ever wondered why tigers have stripes, or how their claws help them hunt? Read and find the answers to these questions, plus some more fascinating facts about tigers. Explore their habitat, physical characteristics, and their behavior to understand these top predators. From August 2017 – Have you ever wondered why tigers have stripes, or how their claws help them hunt? Read and find the answers to these questions, plus some more fascinating facts about tigers. Explore their habitat, physical characteristics, and their behavior to understand these top predators. From August 2016 - Some scientists use the smallest building blocks in the the universe – atoms. It’s nanotechnology, and it’s found in places like advanced devices, materials, and computers. Read and discover how scientists are changing our future a few atoms at a time. From August 2016 - Some scientists use the smallest building blocks in the the universe – atoms. It’s nanotechnology, and it’s found in places like advanced devices, materials, and computers. Read and discover how scientists are changing our future a few atoms at a time. Here’s the link to my post about Coke and covid-19. Their plastic preforms are perfect for test kits – http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/coca-cola-and-covid-reall Use the link above with this post, and you can see how I put this post together. I hope it helps you with your next writing project. Part One – Where I Went Wrong I posted this . . . CHARLOTTE, Jun 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. (NASDAQ:COKE) When I went back the next day, I realized what I’d written . . . nonsense, My only excuse – it looked good. It was all in caps – it had to be important! It wasn’t! It didn’t make the new post. That’s when I got the idea to write this post about where I went wrong, how I fixed it, and how I’d do it differently the next time I have a research-based post. Here’s the link for my source: https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/coca-cola-bottlers-dedicate-production-capability-to-support-covid-19-test-kits-2020-06-01-818413 Part 2 – Where I Got it Right I let go of the original format. I used what I know about stories. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end. I copied a paragraph at a time from the original and pasted it where I was ready to write. I underlined the key ideas from that paragraph and put the ideas into my own words, as much as possible. When I finished a section, I turned on narrator for Microsoft Word. Then I listened to what I wrote. That’s where the magic happens – where the words become mine, and now I’m telling you the story. The beginning was not the announcement, that first paragraph. Find #1-2. They describe the problem, the need for preforms that fit covid-19 testing kits. The middle stretches from #3 – 20. I put these ideas into an order that made sense to me. I wrote step by step, a paragraph at a time telling how people and businesses worked the problem and solved it. If there are mistakes, they are mine. The new end is #21-22, but it’s the source’s beginning – the announcement. I added in a number I wanted to know – how many preforms have been produced since the announcement June 1, 2020. (The math – 8 weeks x 7 million = 56 million test kits.) CHARLOTTE, Jun 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 01, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. (NASDAQ:COKE) today announced that 21- Southeastern Container, a PET preform and bottle manufacturing co-operative funded and managed by a group of Coca-Cola bottlers, has begun producing test tubes for use in COVID-19 kits. Utilizing several injection molding preform tools, the manufacturing co-operative has 22- already produced over 7 million tubes for testing kits. 3- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services collaborated with Oak Ridge National Lab to identify manufacturers who could address a supply chain gap of COVID-19 test collection tubes to support the increasing testing needs of States. 4- Lonnie Love, lead scientist for Oak Ridge National Laboratory's COVID-19 advanced manufacturing initiatives said, "When the US Dept. of Health and Human Services reached out to ORNL for assistance in finding a COVID-19 test tube solution, we considered several options to help industry scale up production. 5- Through a personal connection and discussions with Coca-Cola Consolidated, we determined the preform that goes into a blow molding machine to make 6- Coca-Cola bottles looked exactly like the test tube needed for the COVID-19 testing kits. 7- At ORNL's request, Coca-Cola Consolidated provided samples of their preforms and the laboratory worked with COVID-19 testing company 12- Longhorn Vaccine-Diagnostics to confirm that the tubes met test kit criteria. 1- "There is a global shortage of cryotubes available to meet the need for our PrimeStore Molecular Transport Medium, said Dr. Luke T. Daum, Chief Scientific Officer at Longhorn Vaccines. "Coke bottlers have done what no other vialing company could do--In a few short days, they have fabricated a small, ruggedized vial from a plastic preform 2- that does not leak, is large enough to hold any swab type, and importantly, they can make millions of tubes per week," said Daum. 13-"Within 24 hours Longhorn called us and said, "Coke is it!'" Love said. "It's this type of collaboration that shows the true impact of industry and national laboratories working together. ORNL and Coca-Cola bottlers solved a huge problem. Coca-Cola bottlers had an answer to a problem they did not know existed, and by connection with ORNL, they will now be supplying millions of preforms for COVID-19 testing kits throughout the US." "In every community across our country, the local Coca-Cola bottler has always been active in serving its community - and this crisis is no different," said Dave Katz, President & COO of Coca-Cola Consolidated, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the U.S. "Through a series of personal connections, we discovered the opportunity to contribute to the effort to increase COVID-19 testing capacity quickly. For over a hundred years, our family of Coca-Cola bottlers has been honing the production process to serve consumers, and we are honored and excited to pivot that expertise to helping keep Americans safe and healthy." Researchers at the Department of Energy's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory worked with Coca-Cola Consolidated 8- to determine whether soda bottle preforms, which are small plastic tubes heated and blown into a bottle shape to hold carbonated beverages, can be used as test tubes in COVID-19 kits. These kits 9- include a swab, saline solution and a plastic tube to enclose the swab during transport. Soda bottle preforms are the perfect size to hold the long COVID-19 swab. The soda bottle preforms also contain 10- a screw-top cap that is tamper-proof and safely seals the tube, preventing leakage and exposure during transport. Once the test tubes are produced, 14- sterilization is usually required before they can be used in test kits. Sandia National Laboratories, a Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration lab with headquarters in 15- Albuquerque, N.M., is using its Gamma Irradiation Facility and a team of radiation science experts to 16- develop protocols for sterilizing the preforms without damaging the materials. "This collaboration is going to be key for plugging gaps in the supply chain for COVID-19 tests," said 17- Randy Schunk, lead engineer for Sandia's COVID-19 advanced manufacturing projects. 19- "Gamma irradiation is an efficient and common way to sterilize medical supplies in bulk. Sandia is 18- doing the research and development to find the right level of gamma radiation to sterilize the tubes without damaging the components, plastic or the tubes' seals. 20- Sandia's protocols will be shared with medical sterilization facilities around the country that receive tubes from Southeastern Container to sterilize. 11- ORNL engaged a diagnostic company, Longhorn Vaccines-Diagnostics in San Antonio, Texas to confirm that the soda bottle preforms are compatible with their COVID-19 testing systems. Five testing companies that conduct COVID-19 tests within the US are currently in line to begin using the preforms. ORNL conducted 14- additional testing on the tubes confirming that the preforms were leak proof and that bacteria growth could be prevented by heating to a high temperature or cleaning with an ethanol solution. The preforms will be manufactured by Southeastern Container (SEC), based in North Carolina, which is a co-operative funded and managed by a group of Coca-Cola bottlers. SEC can produce over 7 million test tubes per week, helping to reach US testing goals.
ORNL's collection tube manufacturing research efforts are conducted in coordination with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and funded in part by the DOE Office of Science through the National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory, a consortium of DOE national laboratories focused on response to COVID-19, with funding provided by the Coronavirus CARES Act. Part I – The Beginning of a Story - The Problem I found this story when I was watching local news, channel 6 WAITE in Knoxville. The story – how Coca-Cola is fighting Covid-19. Coke! I was hooked! All stories start with a problem, and this one was global – a shortage of test tubes for Covid-19 testing. How could test tubes ever be a world-wide problem? These tubes are special. They start life as plastic preforms, small plastic tubes that are heated and blown into shape. But there’s more . . . They can’t leak. They have to be large enough to hold any size swab, and millions must be made every week. It’s a BIG problem! Part 2 – The Middle – Step 1 This could be a set of Covid-19 tests. Do you see the swab and the vial? Back in May there were not enough test kits around, and something had to be done. The US Department of Health and Human Services reached out to the Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL), which is near Knoxville, Tennessee. They talked to Lonnie Love, the lead coronavirus scientist, about options. Step 2 Lonnie knew the people at Coke, and talked to them about what they needed. They decided the preform from Coke looked like a perfect match for the testing kit. Step 3 Lonnie and ORNL asked Coke for preform samples, like that first tube. They worked together to decide if the preform test tubes could be used in the kits. Look above at the kits again. Those packages include the swab, saline solution, and the test tube. The tubes have to be big enough for the swabs to fit inside, and the cap has to seal on top. Coke’s do! Coke preforms have a screw-top lid that’s tamper-proof, and it seals so there won’t be any leaks. Step 4 Lonnie’s team checked out the preforms first. Then they picked Longhorn Vaccines-Diagnostics in San Antonio, Texas to do more testing. Lonnie wanted Longhorn to double check to make sure the preform met all their requirements. They’re one of the five companies that make covid-19 tests. Step 5 Within 24 hours, Lonnie got a call from Longhorn. They said, “Coke is it!” Step 6 Lonnie’s team did another set of tests to make sure the preforms were leak proof. They also made sure bacteria couldn’t grow inside. How? They either heated them to a high temperature, or cleaned them in an ethanol solution. Ethanol is a grain alcohol. Step 7 Lonnie also reached out to Sandia National Laboratories to work on sterilizing the preforms. It has to be done before they can be used in testing kits. Sandia uses Gamma Irradiation for sterilization. It’s the best way to safely and economically sterilize huge amounts of medical equipment. Randy Schunk led the Sandia engineering team. Their job – to figure out the right amount of gamma rays. Enough to sterilize the tubes, but not so much that it damaged the preforms, their caps, and their contents. Then they’d be useless. Look at the Y line. It shows how gamma radiation works. The waves can travel through paper and aluminum, but only a third of them can make it through lead or concrete. STEP 8 Sandia’s job is to figure out the right amount of gamma radiation to clean the preforms but not damage them. They’ll share their results with the other companies around the country who sterilize the coke preforms. Part 3 – The End – Step 9 On June 1, Coca-Cola announced this incredible story. Their Southeastern Container Company (SEC) from North Carolina had already produced 7 million tubes, in one week, for 7 million covid-19 kits. Step 10 That was 8 weeks ago. Since then they have produced 56 million tubes for covid-19 kits. Thanks to Coke, the US Department of Health and Human Services, Oak Ridge, Longhorn, and Sandia working together, 56 million people have been able to find out whether they’re positive or negative for covid-19. Each of these companies must feel proud of what they’ve done for their family, friends, communities, and country, and I’m proud of them. I hope you are too! My Main Source for this Post https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/coca-cola-bottlers-dedicate-production-capability-to-support-covid-19-test-kits-2020-06-01-818413 Other sources 1. https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/covid-19-test-tubes-shortage-coca-cola-bottlers-offer-a-solution 2. https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2020/06/02/Coca-Cola-starts-producing-test-tubes-for-coronavirus-testing-kits 3. https://www.vendingtimes.com/news/coke-bottlers-produce-test-materials-for-covid-19-kits/ 4. https://www.fb101.com/2020/06/coca-cola-bottlers-dedicate-production-capability-to-support-covid-19-test-kits/ I wonder if that’s why someone invented the TILE. They needed it, and so did I. I wrote about it back on July 22, 2018. I titled the post Lost . . . and Found. Here’s the link: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/lostand-found Part 1 – What Worked! Back then I kept losing things, like my keys or my purse. Do you see the tile on my key ring? I haven’t lost them since. If they’re not where I think they are, I pull out my phone, click on the link for my keys, and wait for them to sing. The song usually comes from the depths of my purse. Do you see it in the cosmetics bag? I always keep it in my purse. I haven’t lost it since, thanks to my tile. Part 2 – What Didn’t! Look below. I used all three of these things back in 2018. The Tiles workd, but not perfectly. When I’m not satisfied, I edit till I am . . . or till I think of something better. I glued my first tile onto my Kindle. It worked . . . till the battery died. I ripped it off, and it left a hole in Van Gogh’s STARRY Night. I fixed it by taping on the next tile. That worked until the mailing tape got gross. I think I changed it two or three times . . . till I thought of something better. Tomorrow I’ll tell you my invention. The bag in the middle was my subbing survival kit. I kept kleenexes and mints inside for when my allergies flared up. It helped at the lake with pollen too, and that’s where I lost it! I looked everywhere but my tile refused to sing. Maybe my signal couldn’t reach it, or maybe someone threw it away. Either way, it’s time to try something new! Last year another problem cropped up. I needed my phone to track steps, but I couldn’t remember to carry it with me. Time for a new idea. Tomorrow – I’ll share my three new solutions. Necessity might be the mother of invention, but I think it’s related to creativity too! New Idea #1 – Try a Ribbon Around It! I got a new cover, but I came up with an idea that didn’t leave a hole. Can you tell how? new tiles have replaceable batteries. I’ll never need to cut the ribbon - unless I change the cover and need a matching ribbon. New Idea #2 – Wear it Around Your Neck I have a new phone and a new way to keep track of it. Can you guess what it is? I found my bag online. Soon I’ll have it in three more colors. I can’t wait! I love when my accessories and clothes match. New Idea #3 – Attach it to Your Lapboard This is my laptop. I work on a lapboard so I can take my computer where ever I want. It’s lovely! I can work in a car, or on my couch in Ohio, or Tennessee. Anywhere, even outside! But, when my work started moving around with me, that’s when a problem popped up. My mouse, the computer kind, would slide off my board and hit the floor. Then the back would pop open, and the batteries would roll every which way. I’d search, but they always found the most difficult place to hide. I bet if you look carefully you’ll see my solution. Did you guess those three things at the edge of the lapboard? They’re actually pencil holders, and they work! I found the idea at CVS when I had to sign my receipt. They had a pen in a holder to keep it in place. I thought about it. Then I wondered, could it work on my lapboard? It has! For 3 or 4 years! But then I found a problem – isn’t there always a problem? Can you guess what it is? It’s the top! Occasionally the mouse slides off, but not often. If I redid my board, I’d add another holder at the top. But then I’d have to move the bottom red one down, probably an inch or two. Before pasting, I’d play with my mouse to make sure I allowed plenty of room. Sometimes, the way it is, I don’t have enough room. I have to pick up the mouse. Then I can move the arrow to the right spot. That’s why editing is a GREAT THING! Take your time! Editing pays you BIG dividends!! How can you learn to listen to mother and her necessities? You need to look at problems as opportunities. I pulled up this photo so you can look at the necklace. Do you see the octopus? That’s easy! But look closer . . . closer . . . can you see what the octopus once was? If you guessed a fork, you have problem-solving eyes. So does Karen from Yellow Cat Spoon Jewelry. She turns old silverware into amazing things. If you start looking around and thinking about what something could be, you’ll learn to think like Karen. If you’d like to check out her jewelry, head into Riverside Art Center in Wapakoneta, OH. You can also find her at this link: https://www.facebook.com/Yellow-Cat-spoon-jewelry-205504649471296/ Meet the designer of NEIL’s book trailer, Anthony Jones. He just finished his junior year at Shawnee High School in Lima, Ohio. I think he did an incredible job on my trailer, and I believe great things are ahead for him. I’m hoping I can schedule him to do the trailer for LAKE FUN. I wanted to feature Anthony in an interview, so here are my questions, and his answers! 1. Here’s a toughie to start you off! Describe your style in ten words or less! Anything that makes me happy and feel like a kid. (I try to stay attached to my childhood) 2. Can you tell us about your creative work space with us and talk us through what your typical day at work there consists of? This also relates to the idea in the first question about me being inspired by the things that make me happy and feel like a kid. I surround myself with items that I feel nostalgic for. I’ve been collecting retro electronics for a long while now, it’s just something that I really enjoy doing. Learning about the history of a certain video game or a piece of audio equipment is just something that peaks my interests. This is also because of the media I grew up on. I had my Dad’s old game consoles to play and the cartoons I watched would reference a lot of the culture from the late 70’s to the early 90’s. So oddly enough, I’m nostalgic for these items that were before my time because I still grew up with them or would learn about them. It would probably be best to start with my game room, which also serves as my main editing room. I took over this room in my house in 2013 and wanted to make it into a place where I could store all of my video games, in a way that when I had people over it would be impressive and cool. When I started to get into video creation with my dad, we decided to put the computer upstairs and it has always been the same since. I’m definitely starting to outgrow the space, especially with its height, though I definitely can look back on many great memories over the 7 years. My second place of work would be my bedroom, where I have an old computer setup that I started to learn music making on. I would like to combine these two setups into an all in one soon, that way it raises my productivity in both areas giving me a faster computer for making music and a better sound system to help with editing audio for my videos. 3. I know doing the trailer was pretty great, but what would be your ultimate dream project? I don’t know if I have one ultimate dream project, but I have more of a bucket list. My goal is to go into video and audio editing, and to respect all of my childhood dreams I would like to do this job in various media, such as Cartoons, Movies, and Video Games. I remember when I was around 6 years old and I wanted to make video games, and I remember when I was 10 and I wanted to make cartoons. Most recently with getting into video editing and the idea of making movies, I realized that this role can fit into all of those categories, which seems really neat. 4. Where do you want to be in a year? In 5 years? In a year, and it’s hard to wish this because of the amount of variables that this year has created, I hope to be living in California. I hope that I either find a good school or just make due with home schooling and use the extra time to make videos. I hope that my dream college/university accepts me. In 5 years I hope to then graduate from that same college, and either find a great job in the industry working for a company or freelance and try to make a name for myself to work for many different places. 5. Tell me 3 fun facts about yourself! I’m surprisingly (surprising to myself) good at the puzzle video game Tetris. I’m trying to self-teach piano, a little bit more of the harder stuff now that I’ve got some of the basics. One thing that I have not collected yet is vintage computers, and I would love to own an old IBM computer. Here’s the link to Anthony’s trailer for NEIL ARMSTRONG’S WIND TUNNEL DREAM. It’s on my book link. Enjoy! Link: http://www.rindabeach.com/books-775072.html Part 1 – The Wrong Way to Find Them The images I use on my posts are half the story. Tonight I’m taking you behind the scenes. I didn’t know back when I wrote my first blog in November of 2016 that you have to be careful where you get your images. Do you remember the Great American Eclipse? It happened on August 21, 2017. I wrote a post about it. Back then I used Bing to find images. That’s where I looked as a teacher, then as a new writer. I loved my images . . . until I got caught. It seems like sometime in March of 2018 I got a letter from a group of lawyers.YIKES! I opened it up and saw . . . one of the images from my eclipse post. DOUBLE YIKES!! This isn’t that image. The original was way better! It featured the Trump family – Donald, Melania, and Barron. They were standing on a White House balcony, wearing the special eclipse glasses to see the event safely. The photo was copyrighted to a French source. I live in Wapakoneta, Ohio. I couldn’t believe someone in France could find me! It was actually a legal team with a great search engine. They stated in simple legal terms what I needed to do to clean this up. I’m a retired teacher, and I don’t make money on my blog. I thought I was immune, but I’d been warned about this by writing friends. I looked at the letter again. I knew I’d done something wrong, and this time I couldn’t ignore it. So I called the number, confessed, and asked for mercy. The legal team asked for two things. 1 – I had to pull down the image from my blog. That was easy. 2 – I had to pay a fine. That was harder. BUT, I confessed my error, and my fine was cut in half. Thank goodness! I spent part of a year dreading the mailbox because I could have had more fines. I took a chance – I didn’t change the other images on my blog, but I would have if I’d gotten another legal letter, or two. But, I did learn from my mistake. I only use public domain pictures or my own now. I advise you to do the same, but it’s your choice. You’re allowed to learn from your mistakes, but it’s not fun. Not at all! Part 2- My Biggest Source of Pictures – Look What I Found, With a Little Searching Have you heard of Pixabay? If you haven’t, you need to check it out! Every picture is public domain, and that means they’re all FREE! I gave myself a research project for this section. I did a post about my mother, the bird lover. She named a few of the birds she’d seen. But about a week later, she wrote out a full list of her winter birds, with a brief description. I found all of their pictures on Pixabay, except one. You can google Pixabay, or use this link: https://pixabay.com/ Here’s my link for my mother’s post if you’d like to read it: http://www.rindabeach.com/blog/my-mother-the-bird-lover I couldn’t remember when I wrote it so I checked my Pinterest Boards. If you have research to do, you can check it too. Here’s the link: https://www.pinterest.com/rindabeach/boards/ Part 3 – Where do You Look When Your Image isn’t on Pixabay When I couldn’t find the Red Ruby Hummingbird, I googled it. Then I went down the list until I found the Wikipedia link. My first problem, the bird doesn’t exist, but, there is a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. I clicked the link and found this image on Wikipedia. It’s Public Domain and FREE! Sometimes Wikipedia asks you to attribute the source, and sometimes they don’t. This one did: By Steve Maslowski - Cropped from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Digital Library System, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48297 Article Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby-throated_hummingbird#:~:text=The%20ruby-throated%20hummingbird%20is%20migratory%2C%20spending%20most%20of,Panama%20or%20Mexico%20to%20the%20eastern%20United%20States. Remember those first 4 birds from Pixabay? One is in that first picture. It looks ruby red to me so I wondered if it could be my mother’s bird. Part 4 – Where I Get Pictures of Me, or My Lake? These pictures were taken by my sister-in-law two years ago when she came to the lake. The first one is the view from our dock. I know! Gorgeous!It became the background for many of the illustrations in LAKE FUN FOR YOU AND ME. The second one’s our house and dock. I love to stay here. It’s gorgeous, and so peaceful! It’s my favorite place to write. I bet you could too! It’s easy to be inspired with this kind of view. Both photos were digitally manipulated to look like illustrations. That’s what makes LAKE FUN so special! Some pictures I take myself. They’re of the things happening around me that I want to share with you. These two found their way into my first book, NEIL ARMSTRONG’S WIND TUNNEL DREAM. I needed them for the back matter. Their job is to help you build your own wind tunnel. BTW – if you know someone who has to do a science fair project, this is a great one. I googled and found this wind tunnel on Instructables.com. Goalie Guy made the original one for his 7th grade science project. I asked to use his photos, but I didn’t need them. I’m a writer so I wound up editing his project to make it simpler. To say thank you for his help, I sent him a copy of NEIL as a gift. I discovered that Goalie Guy graduated from college last year. This year he was busy on the job designing and building robots. WOW! Part 5 – OOPS! I Forgot a Source I write a book review for every post you see. I try to pick a book that matches the post. Where do I find the covers? Amazon! I haven’t had to worry about copyright. Tomorrow I’ll write and post my review for BORN TO FLY on My Reads. I’ll also copy and paste it onto Amazon. Then I submit it for acceptance. I’ve never had one rejected, but maybe they accept them all. I usually get an email the next morning telling me that my review was accepted and posted. PS- If I can’t give a book 4 or 5 stars on Amazon, I won’t review it. I can only think of one book from My Reads that had a 4. I only picked it because it fit the post. Every other book has gotten a 5. That’s because I keep a reading journal. It has 295 picture books and 110 chapter books, for now. PPS- I started the journal in 2011 because of something I heard from a panel of agents. They said if they’re interested in you, they’ll ask what you’re reading. I knew I’d never remember titles or authors so I started the journal. It’s helped me with My Reads. Maybe someday it’ll help me find an agent for my writing. |
AuthorWhen I write, I can only have one voice in my head, mine. A little noise is fine. But too much, or worse yet, WORDS, and I must change rooms or pull out headphones. Then I can write on! Categories
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