Weird Things You Look Up When You’re A Writer
A friend of mine reassured me once that the cops would not think if weird if the coroner found animal hair in my underwear because the cops would note that I have cats. Before you think I’m weird, let me point out the cats sleep in the laundry.
I’m hoping the same holds true for the security types surfing the internet for national threats. Because when you’re a writer, you look up some weird things. Over the holidays, I made a concentrated effort to make progress on Book 3 and ended up researching:
- How to construct pallets and what they call the cross beams that support the flat top – stringers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallet)
- The dates the Midwest is most likely to get ice storms – anytime between November and April with most freezing rain during December and January (http://mrcc.isws.illinois.edu/living_wx/icestorms/)
- Dates the Midwest is most likely to get tornadoes – can happen anytime, but tend to move northward from late winter to mid-summer (http://www.livescience.com/28668-tornado-season-facts.html)
- Types of Irish Dance – céilí, set, and sean-nós (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_dance)
But as any teacher or librarian will tell you, Wikipedia is only where you start your research. To really understand dance, you have to see it and that means YouTube.
I also found out about sean-nós singing. And it’s really weird. You’d think the two would go together, but no, the dance has the almost opposite feel to the song, happy and upbeat versus a sad and wailing pathos.
So is there a kind of song that does with specifically with Irish jigs? Uh, huh! It’s called lilting. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilting)
The NSA doesn’t have to worry about me attacking the Midwest by pallet in a tornado with a song in my heart. But, I am still going to uncover the leprechaun conspiracy and expose the truth about the fairy threat facing us today!
One last question – the Irish don’t say ‘wee.’ Turns out it’s a Scots thing. My advice for anyone writing about a particular ethnicity or culture other than his or her own, go sparingly. Just a touch will do!
kathybryson 
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Interesting. I know his was intended to be light-hearted but I personally know of a family that IS on a watch list – and banned from certain high security jobs. Their only “crime” was searching the internet on topics such as Monsanto, organic farming, health risks of pesticides, etc. One of them was banned from a job installing windows for a security company, solely because he was on that list. I have never checked, as i don’t really care, but I suspect I may also be on that list – even though I am no threat at all. The sites you read do indeed affect your ‘reputation’.
You’re right Yvonne. The net can be a good law enforcement tool, but it is not a perfect one! Good luck to your friends!