Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays With Story
Writer’s Mail for July 2, 2010
by Greg Spry

Fifth Tuesday Recap – June 29, 2010

Twenty-nine TWS writers and guests reserved chairs for last night’s Fifth Tuesday event at Terry and Jan Hoffman’s home . . . and most made it!

A discussion, initiated by Brandy Larson Yosephi, took place of commencement address stories – the writing challenge – not written. Said Bill Dries, “I intended to write one for a graduation ceremony for a dog obedience class: ‘Woof woof woof woof woof woof woof.’”

Donna Coughlin suggested Bill insert a few ‘arfs’ for variation.

Mark your calendar for our next Fifth Tuesday . . . August 31. First-and-third group hosts.

Who’s Up Next?
July 6: Greg Spry (novella/part 2, Goodbye, Mars), Pat Edwards (poems), Elijah Meeker (???), Karl Bryan (short story, “Dubai Stopwatch”/part 1), Clayton Gill (chapter 13, Fishing Derby), Cathy Riddle (chapter, Beer Crimes), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 11, For Want of a Hand).

July 13: Holly Bonnicksen-Jones (???), Randy Haselow (chapter, Hona and the Dragon), Ann Potter (chapter), Jack Freiburger (chapter, Return to Bray’s Head), Patrick Tomlinson (???), Andrea Kirchman (???), with Dan Hamre as alternate.

July 20: Randy Haselow (chapter, Hona and the Dragon), Nicole Rosario (???), Jen Wilcher (chapter, Memories Awakened), Judith McNeil (radio play/part 2, “South to Sunday”), Patrick Tomlinson (short story/part 2, “Downloading Death”), and Karl Bryan (short story, “Dubai Stopwatch”/part 2).

August 3: Kim Simmons (chapters 41-42, James Hyde), Greg Spry (novella/part 3, Goodbye, Mars), Randy Haselow (chapter, Hona and the Dragon), Amber Boudreau (chapter 15), Clayton Gill (chapter 15, Fishing Derby), and Jerry Peterson (chapter 12, For Want of a Hand).

Next Special Event
July 8, TWS alumnae Leslie Huber will be here promoting her book, The Journey Takers.

Come join us for dinner with Leslie at 5 p.m. at Cafe Porta Alba. That’s in the Hilldale Mall area. At 7 p.m., she will be at the Sequoyah branch library where she will do an author talk and signing.

Newsletter Duty Roster:
July – Greg
August – Clayton
September – Kim

Great Word
Courtesy of Wordsmith Anu Garg:
bromidic
PRONUNCIATION: (broh-MID-ik)
MEANING: adjective: Commonplace; trite.
ETYMOLOGY: From the former use of bromide compounds as sedatives. Bromine got its name from the Greek bromos (stench) due to its strong smell.USAGE: “Joe Lieberman has the hectoring, bromidic, high-rhetorical style reminiscent of an especially pompous clergyman.”
Michael Kinsley; The Capitol’s Pious Pair; The Washington Post; Jan 24, 2003.

Another Great Word
This one from Word Spy Paul McFedries:
virtopsy
n. A virtual autopsy performed using medical imaging devices that create a detailed, three dimensional image of a body.

Example Citations:
Prof Thali and his team carried out an autopsy on the woman, but not the kind we’re used to seeing in television shows such as CSI and countless police dramas. This was a scalpel-free, virtual autopsy, or “virtopsy” – a radical new approach to forensic investigation, in which Professor Thali is one of the pioneers.
– Laura Spinney, Body of evidence: A radical new approach to forensic pathology, The Independent, May 31, 2010

The researchers are already pioneers of virtual autopsies, or “virtopsies”, which use non-invasive imaging of a body inside and out rather than the radical post-mortem surgery typically used to determine cause of death. … Their virtopsies combine 3D imaging of a body’s surface with a CT scan of its interior anatomy. The result is a faithful, high-resolution virtual double of the corpse.
– Paul Marks, Industrial robot hones virtual autopsies, New Scientist, October 24, 2009

Earliest Citation:
In this project called Virtopsy, we used the newest generation of multidetector row CT (MSCT) and a l.5 Tesla MR scanner.
– Michael J.Thali, M.D., Peter Vock, M.D., and Richard Dirnhofer, M.D., “Virtual Autopsy with Radiological Cross-Sectional Modalities,” in A Radiologic Atlas of Abuse, Torture, Terrorism, and Inflicted Trauma, CRC Press, February 27, 2003

And here I thought the virtual autopsy that has been a staple of CSI: New York since season one was science fiction. – Jerry

Any Last Words?
“Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.” – Thomas Jefferson