Dating of Old Monuments (by sarah)

I've been working my way through documentaries on various subjects as research for my Punk series and one of the things that keeps coming up is that you can't date monuments. You can date the last organic stuff inside them like food left overs and you can date when the stone was formed but you can't date when it was quarried and used to build the monument.

But I am wondering if this is true. When I was doing my MRes there was a technique that dealt with exposure dates - in this case sand dunes but I know it has been used for other things. If I recall correctly when a cosmic ray hits the surface it can cause little explosions which leave scars called tracts which can be counted. The number off them combined with the rate of cosmic rays hitting the surface gives you how long they have been sitting on the surface.

Now there is a similar thing that happens due to probability and atomic decay within rocks but you can tell the difference.

I can't remember all the specifics but it does seem to me that this could be used.

Obviously there would be issues such as open cast mining or quarrying could leave rocks on the surface for 1000s of years before building occurs but I think most builders would have removed weathered sides of blocks to make them look nice. Then there are issues over rock type - are different types more susceptable to the tracts forming? What if it is a composite material made of fossils and rock fragments?

Some monuments no longer have their outer layers such as the giant pyramid in Egypt so you would get a mixed date of = quarried date - time spent under cladding + time since cladding was nicked or disappeared.

But I can't see these as being worse than the issues surrounding migrating dunes. the dating of these structures would be very important for sorting out our own history and how civilisations have come to be etc...

There maybe more issues with dating like if it can only give dates accurate to 1000s when you need 100s or 10s of years or them only being relative to other techniques but I think it would add an extra layer to what we know.

Now obviously I have been out of the science world for years now and can't even remember what the names for all this sort of stuff is and I am not an archeology expert so maybe these are already being use or rejected or what ever and it just hasn't filtered through to the books and documentaries I am getting my hands on.

However I thought I would share my idea just incase - plus people may suggest other sources of info for me :)

p.s. having a quick little looky at stuff it would appear there are interesting optical dating methods for minerals that have been exposed to sunlight - surely some of that would be interesting to archeologists. Also another problem with the dating would be how long the monument had spent buried in the ground too!

Turning People Off (by sarah)

I take part in lots of online chats and things one of which is LitChat on Twitter. During one of the chats last year I upset soem 'trolls' and ended up with a rain of abuse - my crime?

I was talking to the guest author about his books, these were his Hate Club - he as a person is basically the oposite of my in the political sphere but we were having a good discussion and talking. He writes a column in some big American newspaper of something so is well known over there hence the rain of abuse.

Now the thing is that politically I am more in line with the attackers but their behaviour made me not want to be. They were not contributing to the group, they were gate crashing and being vile. They were not interested in actually talking about things but just ramming their own ideals down peoples throats and were being very personal about how they attacked. On top of that they targeted the people who were talking to the guest author and I can not make this right.

Worst of all is that some of their points were valid but the way they came over put everyones back up so no one is going to listen to them. They hurt their own cause.

From a social dynamics point of view the episode was interesting.

Crowd Sourced Creative Ventures (by sarah)

I love writing challenges and things like #FridayFlash and #StoryStarters on Twitter where there is an open community helping each other and giving writing prompts. So imagine my excitement when Neil Gaiman appeared on Twitter wanting prompts and inspiration for a set of stories!

He tweeted a question for each month with the hash tags #JanTales, FebTales and so on. I tried to stay up (he's in the US so time difference) to get all the months but only made it to July though the next morning I retraced and answered the remaining questions just for my own piece of mind.

I doubt any of my mine will be selected but that doesn't matter because if they are not then I have some prompts for my own writing.

The idea is sponsored by [BlackBerry who have been collecting all the tweets on a hub. And there will be charity calendar produced with crowd sourced art works as well (and yes I am hoping to do some pics for that to enter!).

This is a lovely idea as it draws in people and becomes something more than a story collection - it is in truth already a community - I have picked up one follower who was having issues with his writing prompt generator and I have suggested improvements to it and so on...

Anyway here are the questions and my answers:

Why is January so dangerous?

January is a time of change, the door way between one year and the next, a dangerous edge time #jantales

What is the strangest this to happen to you in February?

The strangest thing that has happened to me in Feb is I passed out in an art gallery & came round staring at a picture #febtale

What historical figure does March remind you of?

Queen Elizabeth the first as it was the first time I heard the legend of the Bisley Boy #Martale

What is your happiest memory of April

my little brother being born after so much waiting - that is the happiest April memory #AprTale

What is the weirdest gift you've ever been given in May?

A shovel over breakfast of a baby stoat in 3 pieces by an eccentric ancient aunt who thought we'd find it interesting. #MayTale

Where would you spend a perfect June?

The perfect June is spent with my family running workshops at festivals #Juntale not very interesting

What is the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July?

segway shopping basket grannies fighting and asking for gin - it was of course the stilt walkers latest get up #JulTale

If August could speak, what would it say?

My gown is covered in berries help me clean them up in time for a new golden gown of leaves #AugTale

Tell me something you lost in September that meant a lot to you.

A friend washed away in a flash flood whilst he was collecting soil samples in a small town near my home #SeptTale

What mythical creature would you like to meet in October? (&why?)

The Bunyip because when I was 4 my Australian aunts told me about it and I've always liked the stories #OctTale

What would you burn in November, if you could?

Hatred #NovTale

Who would you like to see again in December?

Too many people who I can't

Muse Monster Cards (by sarah)

Years ago now I made a little game up to help inspire writers which I would take along to meetings. The first ones were hand made and coloured in, then I cut shapes from cards and glued them together for mark two and then I made a digital version and got a set printed with moo...

Since then I have made a large version which I take to festivals and kid's workshops and so on.

Now as part of World Poetry Writing Month a couple of packs of the cards are being given away. All you need to do is make a comment in on the WoPo site here.

The cards are not yet for sale so this is probably your only chance to get a copy for a while yet and I know some of you have been waiting for them to be launched :)

Ruskin’s Mill Writer’s Retreat (by sarah)

Today I went to my second one day writer's retreat - this time at Ruskin Mill near Nailsworth. It was organised by the same people Writing Space Stroud and was once again lovely.

It was raining and I currently do not have a camera which is why there are not a hundred photos of chickens with feather flares and light sculptures on the water.

This time it was £30 instead of £20 but included a yummy lunch in the cafe.

I met more writers and had great conversations over tea and cake and lunch between mad sprees of writing. I got 9000 words of The Awakening written today which is amazing even if it does mean the novel is going to be much longer than I was expecting :/

I will finish off the last 1000 words before bed to round it up to 10K.

Once home Alaric made a lovely dinner whilst I made some visual poetry booklets out of card, pen, and old writing magazines. This lead to a fun discovery of using someone I know's story title as part of it :)