If you can park your body in a chair and write, you can finish a novel. Word wars are par for the course. One person in the rooms sets a timer and fellow wrimos type until the bell goes off. Word counts are compared and everyone gets a little further along, just a bit faster.

It’s good to have a supply of caffeine and snacks around, but power sources are an essential. Low noise levels and dim lighting are also a must. Veteran wrimos say they get more if they frequent write-ins. The NaNoWriMo regional forums have plenty of locations to check out for those who want company.

If you haven’t opted in yet, check out the site and consider beginning your magnum opus now. Write on!

Many Literacy Programs give away free children’s books. It’s a great way to start a home library for a young reader.

Source:    http://www.famlit.org/

So What does this new law mean?

copyright law exemptions

Now you can legally buy a CD, upload it to your iTunes file and keep the original near a DVD player. You are still not allowed to sell or distribute it.

More importantly, if you buy a digital book for a media-reader, you can also legally read it to a blind audience.

You may also copy DVDs you own and use portions of them in short, educational, documentary, or non-commercial videos.

And that phone that only allows certain apps? This is a get-out-of-jail-free card for your phone. You can unlock your phone and use it on a different network, or add apps of your choosing.

You are now exempt from infringement of copyright law if you do any of the following:

1 Defeating a lawfully obtained DVD’s encryption for the sole purpose of short, fair use in an educational setting or for criticism

2 Computer programs that allow you to run lawfully obtained software on your phone that you otherwise would not be able to run aka Jailbreaking to use Google Voice on your iPhone

3 Computer programs that allow you to use your phone on a different network aka Jailbreaking to use your iPhone on T-Mobile

4 Circumventing video game encryption (DRM) for the purposes of legitimate security testing or investigation

5 Cracking computer programs protected by dongles when the dongles become obsolete or are no longer being manufactured

6 Having an ebook be read aloud (ie for the blind) even if that book has controls built into it to prevent that sort of thing.

Bitstrips is simple to navigate. Children can become familiar with the click-tools in 10 minutes or less. Adults can let kids use the site on their own, and ask the youngsters for a tutorial later.

Whether you’re a teacher, a home schooling parent, a tutor, or even a babysitter, you can integrate bitstrips into a literacy lesson that lets everyone publish a final result.

Laura Ann Petitto, a Professor in the Department of Education and the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College did research in 2001 on children of deaf parents.

According to Petitto, The results of the study, titled “Language Rhythms in Babies’ Hand Movements,” support the idea that babies are born with sensitivity to highly specific rhythmic patterns found in natural language–a sensitivity that is so powerful that a baby can find and produce the rhythms of language on the hand as equally as is possible on the tongue.”

“The sing-song way in which delighted parents speak to their baby, and the playful rhyming games common to nursery rhymes at home and in school, are clearly more important for a child’s developing brain than we ever imagined, and they provide an important tool for the young child to discover the grammar and structure of her native language.”

Many cases of autism aren’t recognized until a child is in preschool or beyond.

Computers diagnose autism in infants

Geraldine Dawson, an autism expert at Autism Speaks said “It would be very helpful to have an automated way to screen for autism.”

Autism experts know that autistic children’s speech patterns are different, but babbling babies are hard to categorize. The computer can pick up differences that human ears can’t.

According to AOL news, “The computer program “is the first kind of system that’s totally objective,” Oller said. “I don’t know of any other system that doesn’t involve judgments being made by people. He doesn’t think his program alone, even when perfected, should be used to declare that a child is autistic. But audio analysis “could be used very effectively” as a tool for screening children whose parents are worried about their development, he said.”

The University of Memphis conducted the study on individual children by recording them for 6 to 8 days. The study is being published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

2. There is a link between music and spatial intelligence (ability to perceive the world accurately to form mental pictures of things). This kind of intelligence is necessary for solving math problems to being able to pack a backpack with everything that will be needed for the day.

3. Studies show that students who study arts are more successful on standardized tests.

4. Study of the arts provides children with an internal glimpse of other cultures.

5. Students of music learn what constitutes good, as opposed to mediocre work. These standards demand a new level of excellence and require students to stretch their inner resources.

6. Students learn the value of sustained effort to achieve, and the concrete rewards of hard work.

7. Music study enhances teamwork and discipline to achieve a single goal, the performance, and must commit to learning, attend rehearsals, and practice.

8. Music provides children with a means of self-expression. Self-esteem is a by-product of this self-expression.

9. Music study focuses on “doing,” as opposed to observing, and teaches students how to perform.

10. Arts education exposes children to the incomparable.

Her newest book, The Home for the Friendless, Finding hope, Love, and Family, is due out this fall.

Betty shares her insights on widowhood in this interview.

LitCraft: Why did you start writing?

“I have no idea. I had to figure it out. And I was obsessed with writing. I wrote on junk. It would be an envelope. I felt like I was talking to paper. Grievers have to talk, because it’s the only way you can wrap yourself around what has happened. Writing was very personal. It was just for me. It validated that I was here.”

Every little thing, nothing seemed the same – even loading the dishwasher. Sometimes my street looked different. Only someone who has lost a life partner would know. I felt like an alien.

LitCraft: When did your writing become public?

“August 30, 1998, about seven and a half weeks after Denny died. The night I made apple butter.”

Apple Butter for Denny is one of the short stories in Dancing in my Nightgown.

“ The next morning, I started editing it. I had to get notebook paper. That was the beginning. Three months later I wrote, “Never Stop Moving.” I learned to use the computer and get email. Then I learned how to send attachments. And I sent the stories to people, and eventually to publications. When the first one was published, I was beside myself. It was mid 1999 when the publishing bug bit me.”

“A year and a half after Denny died, Betty says she began to feel like a new person. She developed a greater sense of autonomy. She says, “ I realized I was moving on.” She laughs, “I started wearing makeup again. That was when I met the carpet man. “

The Carpet Man is one of the stories in Dancing in my Nightgown.

LitCraft: How has your life changed since the book came out?

“I went on to discover what I could do on my own. It became really important to me.”

“My path was crossing with women who read the book and were grateful for it. What we all have in common is that we’re responsible – our social lives are up to us. People don’t know what to say to you when you’re a widow, for a lot of reasons. I think I’ve only been invited twice to socialize with couples. No fault of friends; we’re in an odd category.

LitCraft: What would you say to new widows?

It’s hard work. You have to embrace the pain. It hurts. If it’s too painful, get out of the house. Re-invest your emotional energy. You should stay put for at least a year; don’t run away.  Get involved in something new or something you love. I cried when I felt like it. Joining a health club helped me enormously.

LitCraft: How would you describe the following from your new perspective?

Cooking? Betty giggles. “I didn’t. I ate cookies and milk.”

Travel? “I did, with family. It was hard, but I did it anyway. At night I’d cry in my room.”

Technology? “I learned to put gas in my car.”

Sex?  ”Sex? Sex? You mean s-e-x? I bought a vibrator. I wasn’t ready to give up orgasms. If you don’t use it  you lose it. This thing about sex is way bigger. No one thins that older people desire sex. This is changing. People are more aware. It’s like a renaissance with older people coming out of the woodwork.”

Household maintenance?  “It just went. All that mattered was writing. It was the most rewarding thing I’d ever done.”

Betty’s books are available at BettyAuchard.com. The Home for the Friendless is due out this fall. She is available for speaking engagements. Contact her at btauchard@aol.com.

Betty will attend California Writers Club’s fall retreat at Pema Osel Ling in the Santa Cruz mountains in California this fall. Openings are still available for writers. For information about the 2-day retreat, contact deking8@msn.com.

The movie/music/NBA bling-man Diddy made waves this week by giving his 16-year-old son a $360,000 birthday gift on wheels. The diddling daddy has 6 children whom he admits that he doesn’t spend enough time with.

Apparently the lavish gift is supposed to make up for a lack of fatherhood. Unfortunately, a quality dime doesn’t replace quality time.

Your kids remember the time you spend with them, not the expensive crap that you leave them with. And no, it doesn’t matter how expensive. Nothing says “I care,” like being there.

Abby’s ship, Wild Eyes, lost its mast and rigging, and Abby activated an emergency location beacon. She was found by a French ship Saturday morning. This has raised numerous questions about the safety of teen adventurers scaling Everest, sailing solo, flying planes, and taking on other challenges that are considered adult pursuits.

It is arguable that teens are more likely to make gut-level decisions due to less developed frontal lobes. However, extensive practice and knowledge in a subject provides a skill set for younger minds to rely on in challenging situations.

America was colonized by pioneers who left their home-lands with worse equipment, less sailing experience, and no communication equipment. Many of these pioneers were viewed as young adults, although they weren’t much older than Abby. Some never expected to see their relatives again; all knew they might not survive.

The entrepreneurial spirit is what made this nation great. It is the duty of all parents to raise children who are competent in challenging situations. It is no challenge at all to raise 30-year-old teenagers who watch TV all day.