EXERCISE: Multiple Personas

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 11 Feb 2011

Aha! There's a thought...

Your assignment: write a story whose focal character has multiple cyber-personalities -- so many that he (or she) is having some difficulty telling whether that person "over there" is really someone else or just a pale reflection of themselves? I.e., who is that person behind the avatar?

Go ahead. You could even make it a cyber-murder mystery, if you like? Who killed the avatar in the Facebook parlor? Was it Colonel Mustard with a candlestick?

Have fun!

FILL: Is That a Sticky Wicket?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting 14 Feb 2011

[apropos of nothing... but funny!]

One of the Sunday evening TV shows included what I guess would be called a Mythbuster's type bit. Apparently somewhere -- manga or anime? -- there's this notion that someone can paint some kind of glue on a baseball bat, so that when the batter goes to hit the ball... it sticks. So the batter swings, and then has a ball stuck on his bat. In this little bit, they had someone try to find out whether this was possible.

The investigator went to 3Bond, apparently a leading glue manufacturer, and posed the question to their research lab. They hemmed and hawed, showing off various kinds of glue that they produce, and finallly decided that the best candidate was a pressure-sensitive glue. This is what is used in roach-traps, flypaper, and similar applications.

As a lead-up to the baseball bat and ball, they painted a soccer ball with this glue, and let the investigator try to kick a goal with it. He took two steps, kicked... and nearly fell down, as the ball stuck to his foot. So far, so good.

Next, they got a professional baseball player, and let the 3Bond folks prepare the bat. It had a fairly thick layer of glue on it, like a layer of plastic wrapped around the head of the bat, but the player grinned and took a swing. And the ball flew across the park. They checked, and there was a clear impact mark in the middle of the glue, but it hadn't caught the ball.

The 3Bond man asked the ball player to try again, with a second bat. This one had an even thicker layer of glue. The player swung it a couple of times, and then took a pitch. And whacked the ball across the field again.

Finally, they handed the ball player a bat with glue... well, it was probably an inch thick all over the end of the bat. The player tried swinging it, and shook his head at the weight, but tried. And while he didn't manage to whack the ball as far -- it was more like an in-field pop fly -- the ball didn't end up stuck to the bat.

So, the conclusion. No. As far as they could tell, putting glue on the bat is not going to result in a stuck ball. Even if the glue is so thick that any batter would immediately notice it.

Although I suppose you could get the batter's hands glued to the bat?