The Hope Diamond

Have you ever seen the Hope Diamond? It's one of the featured displays at the Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C. Just hearing about it one might think that it looks far more impressive than your average "large" diamond. I was excited to see this very valuable diamond for myself when I found myself on a trip to Washington last month.

It just so happens that it's actually more "hope" than "diamond". Walking into the room where it is held at the museum (yes, it has its very own room, so that we can all stand around it and gaze in awe), I was expecting something about the size of a small potato. Maybe bigger. It took me a minute to find the diamond. The huge bulletproof glass case helped a bit. And there it sat, on a periodically rotating platform, in all its glory: The Glorified Rock.

It was quite beautiful, but really, why not put it in the other gem exhibits with the other pretty rocks? Probably because it would be harder to find. I had a feeling that the main reason for the big glass case was so that it wouldn't get misplaced.

As if to add insult to injury (well, no I wasn't that injured, but I have to use the cliché anyway), the security guard followed me around the room as I walked. "Yes, sir, of course I'm planning to steal the world's most valuable carbon crystal right in front of all these people." Well, if there hadn't been an inch of glass between us and it, they probably wouldn't have noticed.

It was a very pretty blue rock. But I'm glad I didn't base my trip around the hope of seeing the Hope Diamond.

Washington Trip

I took a trip to Washington, D.C. at the end of December, but hadn't gotten around to blogging about it yet... so I shall be beginning that shortly.

If I forget, please email me nasty messages about my pies not browning evenly (or something equally atrocious).

Help give food and water by educating yourself!

Like, seriously.

Most people by now have probably at least heard of Freerice, which is a vocabulary game in which each correct definition you give donates rice to people around the world. You can find it at freerice.com. There are also now different subjects, such as chemistry, foreign languages, math, and art, so it's not just vocabulary skills that are growing now.

Some similar sites I just found, which as far as I can tell are legitimate, are helpthirst.com and freeflour.com.

Helpthirst is a game where a number flashes on the screen (for example, the population of Zimbabwe) for a few seconds, and then when it is gone you must type in the number. The numbers start at a few digits and get more difficult. I managed to get to level 48 without missing one. Each correct answer, according to the website, donates 1 cup of water to World Vision (I assume this means that the ad revenue goes to well-digging and similar projects).

Freeflour is nearly identical to Freerice, but the only subject is geography, and each correct answer donates a spoonful of flour (according to the website, the money goes to "multiple charities" for various food-related projects).

Another website I just found is at Freepoverty.com. This also asks geography questions, but the object of this game is to click the appropriate place on the map. For example, the website displays "Rome, Italy" and you must click where you think Rome is on a map of the world. Each correct answer is supposed to donate up to 10 cups of water depending on how close you are to the correct answer, but I found a place on the site where they were asking for someone to donate to, so I'm not sure if the virtual water is actually going anywhere at the moment.

Freerice has definitely established its reputation, but the three websites I just found haven't, probably because they don't provide clear information about where the money is going and how it has helped already. If anyone has any information about these websites, that would be great. However, I'd definitely recommend at least playing Helpthirst.com, since it's the only one of the three more questionable websites that provides the name of the charity to which the money is donated. The other two games are still fun, though, even if you aren't really helping anything but your geography skills.

http://www.freerice.com
http://www.helpthirst.com
http://www.freeflour.com
http://www.freepoverty.com

NaNoWriMo - Day 2

Please, don't look for the strangely absent "Day 1" post. It does not exist. :)

So, National Novel Writing month has begun, and I'm about 2,600 words into my magnum opus. And hopefully I will have a good plot idea tomorrow, because I've written myself into a mind-numbingly dull corner.

Since I'll be spending one or two hours a day this month writing, that means that hopefully after NaNoWriMo ends, I'll be in the habit of writing a lot, and with no novel writing to restrain me, I'll have plenty of time to blog! :D

Watch for Falling Cats

Last night, I got a surprise crawling into bed to find that an anonymous cat had mistaken my bed for a litter box.

An hour later, I finally got into the spare bed I have in my office. I am so glad I have that bed. The mattress still isn’t clean. My room still stinks. This turn of events does not make me happy. :(

BUT

I woke up at 5 this morning to watch the meteor shower. I am so glad! I saw approximately 20 meteors and stayed outside in the 45-degree world for an hour and fifteen minutes. It was very groovy. \:D/