Today’s question from Joselyn is :
What is something surprising you’ve learned while researching a book?
I’ll start us off by giving my own reply. When I wrote Stuck I did quite a bit of internet based research into the effects mobile phones have on our brains. My hero Brad was involved in a community based protest against a mobile phone relay tower being erected in his small country town close to a school and a nursing home.
If only half of what I discovered is true the effects of those waves is horrendous. They are literally microwaving people’s heads. The longterm effects are unknown of course because they haven’t been around long enough. Apart from that aspect, radio wave pollution is staggering. Literally nowhere on earth is free of sound waves but because they’re invisible no-one is aware, or cares.
And the telecommunications companies can erect their towers and poles pretty much anywhere ( at least in Australia) because it’s a government sanctioned community service. City high rise roof space is at a premium and one older Sydney building has so much antenna weight the roof is unsafe for the occupants below.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
First Friday Question
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5 comments:
That really is a frightening thing and, unfortunately, we probably won't really understand the consequences until much later.
As for me, I don't usually do a lot of research, but for BY WHOSE HAND, I needed to know something about graphology. It was fun and eye-opening to analyze my own handwriting. I didn't always agree with the findings, but my husband assures me they were dead on.
My background as an accountant did not give me the experience I needed to write about dead bodies (I write mysteries) so I had to research Rigor Mortis so that my amateur sleuths could guesstimate how long a person had been dead. I was surprised to find out that the stiffness sets in after about 3 hours, and then disappears after 36 hours (I hope no one is eating breakfast this morning.)
CORRECTION! I hope EVERYONE is eating breakfast this morning, just not while they are reading this comment about rigor mortis.
Wow. That is scary. I researched poison ivy and if you are really susceptible to it, you can get if from the roots and dried vines. You can even breath it in and get it on your throat and lungs. Saw some pretty scary pictures too.
For Sweet Tilly, I had to research making moonshine. Knew a little since my step dad (who was much older than my mom) did a year in Leavenworth for bootlegging in prohibition days. Then had to find out if fly swats were available for Evening Star since hero wanted to scratch under a cast with one. And then in Velvet, I made lye soap. Now that was some fun! Loved it all!
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