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Smarter or Dumber?

9/29/2017

 
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​Today, let’s ponder an interesting question: Is technology making people smarter, or dumber?
 
It’s an interesting question that mommy’s heard, especially in writing circles. There are some who think instant access to information has made people too lazy to think. Why use your brain when you can Google it, and have an instant answer? And the brain is a muscle which, like every other muscle, will atrophy if you don’t use it.
 
People don’t fear showing ignorance like they used to. The “there’s no such thing as a dumb question” movement has given rise to people asking things that they would have been ashamed to say ten years ago. Just yesterday, mommy said that a writer friend asked what was the dumbest question you’ve ever been asked, and she couldn’t respond without putting her job in jeopardy or offending people she personally knew. Plus, picking one would be hard. Mommy said the answer would have gone back to 2000 until the beginning of this year, and since then it’s been beat 7 times. Picking the worst was impossible. I heard them, and every one of them made me wonder if average IQ is slipping. I’d be interested to see some pre and post Internet statistics. That might make for a good doctoral thesis!
 
Or would it? Another thing mommy read recently is that the Sunday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person would have been exposed to during an entire lifetime in the 17th – 18th centuries. That’s shocking even when you factor in decreased life expectancies! This theory held that our problem is the opposite: we’re more intelligent, but suffering from information overload to process it all. Hense, stupid questions.
 
But then again, if you look at our modern entertainment in books, TV, and movies, the plots are more complex now than they were 20 years ago. The 1980’s ruruns are about the kerfluffal when the bell tower at the church broke, or when the check got lost in the mail and the ditsy roommate went to a loan shark to borrow $75 at 35% interest. Now, you have to go to Netflix to watch from Season 1, Episode 1 to understand tonight’s episode in Season 7, episode 2. Mommy marvels at how people squawked when Star Trek: Deep Space Nine decided to do a 6 episode continuous story arc back in the 90’s because “it’s not fair to new viewers.” Now, long story arcs are the norm, and expected! In fact, when she ventured into science fiction, she was advised to create a world she would be comfortable writing all of her scifi books in, because scifi and fantasy readers expect each writer to “brand” themselves in a particular world.
 
Then there’s theory 3: we’ve gone from the Baby Boomer “we don’t talk about that” generation to the millennial “we talk about EVERYTHING” generation. Case in point: the elderly person whose family goes to great lengths to cover up mental illness, while their granddaughter runs an open blog about her struggles with bi-polar disorder. The world certainly has changed, and the proliferation of information through the Internet and other sources no doubt has contributed to this “opening up” of society.
 
So which is it? Has technology made people dumber with information at a click (or tap)? Has it made people smarter, but too overloaded to retain what they know? Or are people the same as they’ve always been, but more vocal about what they do and don’t know? They’re interesting question to ponder.
 
That’s all today. Take care. Have a Happy Friday and a wonderful weekend.
 
Luv,
 
Zack

Modeling

9/21/2017

 
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​I’m happy to report that things are going better for the flock this week. Daddy’s foot has healed up quickly, and he’s feeling much better. Mommy’s sinus infection is gone too, and she’s regaining her strength and has returned to her workout routine. She’s a little grumpy because it cuts into her writing time, but she’ll be alright. You know she'll get her writing and reading done!
 
We three are doing well, too. In fact, I owe my sister (Chloe) a debt of gratitude. BombiTiel’s mommy is working on a Birds of Twitter calendar, and Chloe entered our pictures. We both got picked! Wow, my first modeling gig. I never dreamed it was possible. Flying a spaceship, yes (and wow, that was a lot of fun – mommy still calls me Captain Bubbles). But modeling? Wow. I’m really building my resume! Chloe’s our classy beauty queen, so she’ll have to teach me about posing and beauty tips. If I’m not busy working on my spaceship out in daddy’s shop, that is! Can you see it now?
 
Me: Hand me that wrench, Chloe.
 
Chloe: I’ll pretty you up! (As she hands me a powder puff to cover up the grease streaks on my feathers.)
 
So that’s the news in our corner of the world. We’re just glad that things have settled back into our happy routine, and that fall is upon us. What a beautiful season, and it’s nice to have the heat of summer passing. Well, maybe. It’s still in the high 80’s here. Takes a bit longer for the memo to get around in the southeast.
 
That’s all today. Have a happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.
 
Luv,
 
Bubbles
 


What A Week!

9/14/2017

 
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What a week it’s been! Irma blew through on Monday, bringing a day of wind and rain to our area in central South Carolina. We were lucky: no flooding in our area, and we only lost power for about an hour. Other places weren’t so fortunate, especially in the Lowcountry, Georgia, and Florida. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they recover from this beast of a story. Good riddance, Irma!
 
Then it was back to work for the parronts on Tuesday, but poor daddy dropped a heavy battery on his foot. The good news is that it’s only bruised; no break or sprain. That’s a relief, but it still hurts and will take time to heal. So as mommy gets over her sinus infection and regains her strength, daddy starts his own healing process from his injury. Thankfully, the house was pretty well cleaned, organized, and stocked for Irma, so it hasn’t been too hard to keep things moving at the slower pace.
 
There was some good news this week. Mommy got a great review for Progenitor, Book One of The Earthside Trilogy from BookViral. Actually, it’s the best book review she’s ever received, and she’s flattered that they liked it and will be actively promoting it for the next six months. BookViral is picky about what they’ll review. They only accept about 30% of submittals, so just getting a review is an accomplishment. But a great review like this is, quite frankly, a miracle. At least mommy thinks it is.
 
Mommy’s also an editor at a new blog called BirbObserver. This is a new Twitter effort that she and many of our pals are involved in and excited about. Go check out their blog, and share your stories, videos, and pictures. You might wind out in a weekly roundup! It’s growing and you know how it is: it’s best to get in these new things early and often!
 
So that’s our week. Busy, but we’re good. Take care, everybody. We hope you have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.
 
Luv,

​Zack

Go Home, Irma! You're Drunk!

9/7/2017

 
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​People usually ignore mommy’s Facebook posts, but what she said last night certainly got results. She said that Hurricane Irma is staggering around the Atlantic like a drunk, and like a drunk, there’s no telling where it will crash. Isn’t that the truth? That storm track has changed drastically over the past couple of days, and it keeps shifting. I’ll be honest: they say prepare and now is certainly the time for inspired action, but I fear the wrong people are doing it. I have a feeling this thing is going someplace that says “oh hell, that wasn’t on the spaghetti models!”
 
I hope I’m wrong and it just turns back to sea to stagger around until it drowns itself!  Go home, Irma! You’re drunk! But how often does that happen? As they keep saying, hope for the best; prepare for the worst. And reality will land somewhere in the middle.
 
And we are. We’re stocked and ready, and hope our friends in affected areas are too. There are only two things we can do at this point, and I encourage everybody to do both: pray and prepare. We need to pray for those in and near the projected path, and we need to keep an eye on that drunken hooligan of nature and make sure we have ourselves, our homes, and our families are protected.
 
So pray and take care folks, and keep in touch. We’ll keep tweeting to make sure you’re ok, and to let you know we are too.
 
That’s all today. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.
 
Luv,
 
Chloe

    Niblets

    These are the adventures of Zack and Bubbles, where we share niblets from our lives with humans and our online friends. Life is fun!

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