How’d he find the time to write that?

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On Wednesday, the free paper 20 Minuten carried a story on Stefan Bachmann, a 19-year-old author living in the Canton of Zurich who’d written a steampunk novel that was doing great in the US.  As I read it, the similarities to Christopher Paolini, the young author who wrote Eragon, became too obvious, and I wondered if Bachmann, like Paolini, was homeschooled.

Sure enough, his homepage confirms that, and even the online edition of the 20 Minuten article contains that information (the printed one didn’t).

Sie haben mit 19 Jahren ein erfolgreiches Buch veröffentlicht – sind Sie ein Genie?
Das kann man so nicht sagen. Ich habe einfach hart gearbeitet, im Erfolg stecken etwa 90 Prozent Arbeit und 10 Prozent Talent. Ich wurde ausserdem zu Hause unterrichtet, was mir auch sehr geholfen hat. Man wird einfach ganz anders gefördert, wenn man von den eigenen Eltern unterrichtet wird.

Translation:

You’ve published a successful book at age 19 – are you a genius?
I wouldn’t put it like that.  I simply worked hard; success is about 90 percent work and 10 percent talent.  Besides, I was homeschooled, which also helped a lot.  When your own parents teach you, you get a completely different kind of support and encouragement.

To me, that’s burying the lead.  You’ve got a 19-year-old who’s a successful published author living in Zurich, presumably paying taxes there, looking to study music there – who got there by being educated in a way that would have been de facto outlawed in Zurich.  I wonder if success stories like his – if they were properly reported – would be able to shift public perception of homeschoolers in Switzerland…

And since he’s looking to study music and can use all the help he can get, I’ve put his book on my amazon.com wish list.

Kites, cars, and generators

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Once again, it’s time for a trifecta of trivia.

First, we have the lovely kite flying of Ray Bethell, the kind of kite flying I don’t even deserve to wish I could do, given how little effort I’ve put into flying kites in the course of my lifetime.

Second, an Arizona woman who clearly needs a civics refresher, particularly on how that electoral college works.  In frustration over Romney’s loss, she ran over her husband for not voting – even though Romney carried Arizona.  It’s not known if she drove a Civic in this incident.

Finally, we have four Nigerian teens who have developed a way to convert electricity and urine into hydrogen gas for a generator.  Though that sounds like a silly wannabe perpetuum mobile, its advantage would be to store energy from an unreliable source (wind, sun) in a pressurized container.  (The site is temporarily unavailable as I write, probably because several news platforms have linked to it.)

 

Scanning electron microscopy in color

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In connection with getting an SEM in my lab I’ve been looking at stuff to hang on the walls to make it look nice.  Unfortunately, Micronaut‘s work is mainly biology-themed, so I can’t justify the expense, but I did see he’s published a book on blurb with his lovely colored SEM images.

No, I’m not looking for a coffee table book for Christmas – the kids would destroy it too soon.  But his work is worth sharing.

 

The End Times Made Simple

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I can’t be bothered to scan the cover of The End Times Made Simple, by Samuel E. Waldron, for a brief review of an 80/20 read like this.  I believe the book can be summed up by the following excerpt:

Christians may put aside their assumptions that biblical eschatology is too complex for them.  There are only two ages – one temporal and natural, the other eternal and supernatural, separated by the second coming, and resurrection.  If one grasps this, one knows vastly more than most of the so-called “prophetic teachers” of our day.

Waldron make a good case for Amillenialism, mostly by elimination of the alternatives (particularly dispensationalism), though I wish he’d lay it out graphically somewhere as his position.  There are a few good graphs, but some illustrate what he believes to be incorrect positions, and there’s no quick and easy way to tell.  Also, the omission of an index is a glaring defect of an otherwise readable and well-argued book.  I’m keeping the book, but don’t expect it to see any use anytime soon, unless the topic comes up or someone wants to borrow it.

10 more videos

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And we bring you… Singing Jophé!  He sings the teeth-brushing song, the refrain of “And Can It Be,” and the US States song – all in his underwear.  We’re hoping his choice of stage wear evolves.  But most of today’s videos once again show a counting Jophé: with his number charts (thank you, Grandma), in Russian with Grossvater with the number charts now filed in his discovery binder (thank you, Mommy), in Japanese with his dots book, and just for fun with the height chart.  He continues with the State capitals (which he’s still learning); I suppose it’s only fair to close with a Yay Jophé!

All Vivienne gets to do is cry in the background and wipe her nose on Bappe.

The videos are from September 1 to September 12, 2012.

More videos

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Without further ado, here are the videos.  These date from August 9, 2012, to August 30, 2012.

Vivienne explores in the hallway, while Joseph counts the seconds on the video camera.  Counting remains a hot topic: Joseph counts in Japanese with his dots book.  Vivienne digs that so much she dances to it.  But there’s evidence Joseph doesn’t always count: here the video camera distracts him.  Ok, never mind: here he’s counting again, with the dots book.

I guess Vivienne creeping was remarkable in mid-August, because we taped it.  Here’s another one: it’s very strange to see her flat on her tummy.  The same holds for her eating solid food: remarkable then, standard fare now.

Joseph can do somersaults and count himself to sleep.  Vivienne sits.  Vivienne eats a pea.  Vivienne dances – a recurring theme.

Finally, you get a brief update of the visuals out our kitchen window.  Those haven’t changed much since then – witness the header image of my blog.

A Modern Once-ler

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“You’re Glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed!
No more can they hum, for their gills are all gummed.”

“Oh no!  OMG!  Mr. Lorax, I’m bummed!
I’m glad you have told me, for I do not wish
To cause the demise of these dear Humming-Fish.
So I’ll tweet a tweet from my satellite dish
To make sure my followers all are aware.
For, once they’re aware, I am sure they will care
And caring, aware, as a group we will dare
To start a petition, a fundraiser – sure,
A Kickstarter project, a race for the cure:
These sick fish are more than what I can endure!
And then, with the funding and grassroots support,
We’ll clean up the gills, and if that should fall short,
We’ll hire some experts, the scientist sort,
Who’ll work on a coating that we can apply
To Humming-Fish gills.  I am sure that will fly!
Those gills, they will auto-de-gloppetify!
Our problem is solved.  Boy, you gave me a fright!
I’ll buy an indulgence on eBay tonight,
If offers are there and the prices are right.
On Farmville I’ll plant a few truffula seeds
And tell all my friends they’re what everyone needs.
There.  Now can I get back to knitting my Thneeds?”