In a study published in the current issue of The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that water samples from 33 cities across the United State could be reliably traced back to their origin based on their isotope ratios. And because the human body breaks down water’s constituent atoms of hydrogen and oxygen to construct the proteins that make hair cells, those cells can preserve the record of a person’s travels. Such information could help prosecutors place a suspect at the scene of a crime, or prove the innocence of the accused.

Read the comments from the Slashdot science story.

Read the original ScienceShot article.  It’s slightly different from what I wrote about.  This tracking is through the isotopes in your hair, but the tracking is the same.

I have begun working on another novel while I await word on a possible agent.  You can find out what else I’m writing about by visiting one of the other sites I write for.

There will be more to come, if I can find some more free time.

1. Find any spelling mistakes on my websites and fix them.  I’ve already been working on this, so it should be a short job.
2. Send out more query letters.
3. Gather my hand written pages and type them up.
4. Organize my writing for my next book.  I’m not giving up on writing, but I can’t sit and wait on The Gaven to be published either.  Maybe the next thing will be picked up first.  You never know.
5. Sleep.  A lot.

As I get some more writing finished, I’ll post some of it here for all to see.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season.  Let’s hope there’s more to say in the new year.

Feedback:
The Mayan Long Count Calendar (I assume that’s the calendar you refer to in Chapter 1) ends in December 2012, not in 2015.
Otherwise, I like the book, I’m sure I’ll buy it when it comes out. (when–not if.)
Good luck!

Yeah, I knew it was 2012. I don’t know why I did that, but I’m blaming the keyboard. I use the number pad and the 2 and 5 are close together. So, yeah, it was the keyboard’s fault. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

I’m also glad that someone else likes my book. I just have to convince potential agents of that.

Toyota Motor said Monday it was developing anti-drunk driving equipment that would lock the ignition of a vehicle if high levels of alcohol are detected in the driver.

The system features a hand-held breathalyser, equipped with a digital camera, that detects alcohol consumption and photographs the driver’s face for identification, a company statement said.

If the driver tests positive, the system either warns him or her, or locks the vehicle’s ignition depending on the level of alcohol detected, Toyota said.

Nissan Motor is currently developing similar equipment. In the United States, certain states earlier this year passed legislation requiring drunk driving offenders to install breathalyser ignition locks in their cars.

I find it a little bit funny because, in one of my rejection letters, I was told that such things are not possible and could never happen.

If you notice some strange characters on the site, it has something to do with the WordPress upgrade and I have to go and change it all manually.  I haven’t had a chance to do this yet because I’ve been sick with an upper respiratory infection and have been hanging out on the couch.

On a side note, the torrent is still running and several more people have downloaded The Gaven and read it.  Those that have read it have given great, positive feedback and everyone seems to have enjoyed it.  So, that always puts a smile on my face.

I decided that shredding them wasn’t good enough. They had to be burned so no one would ever be able to put them back together. Yeah, I’m paranoid like that.

This morning, I set them on fire, one at a time, in the kitchen sink. They burned rather easily and the flames were quite high. It was a marvelous site to see and I should have taken pictures, but I was too enthralled with the flames licking the sky.

When I was finished with my pyromaniac episode, I dowsed the ashes with water and tossed everything in the garbage.

The problem with all this is that now my hair and my clothes smell like I’ve been hanging out with arsonists and the townhouse reeks of smoke. We opened every window in the house, turned on every fan, yet, 12 hours later there is still a hint of smoke in the air.

Yes, I’m an idiot. I should have burned the stuff outside. I probably also shouldn’t be so paranoid as to think anyone would want to read anything I’ve shredded. Lesson learned.

I figured that, since I have a bunch of stuff in my head I need to write down, as well as a lot of shorter stories I’d like to tell, I’d use this time to keep up on my writing and get things written that I’ve been putting off.

The only bad part is that I have no computer access at work so, from 650am until 5pm, I am out of touch with just about everything going on in the world.  It also means that I’m tired as hell when I get home and certainly don’t want to do any writing.

If I don’t take advantage of my two times to write per day, I’m afraid it would be Christmas before I got to writing anything.  I think it’s important to keep on writing so that you can stay sharp, but also so that you can get your rough drafts finished and work on polishing them when you have more extended times.

Then, I went back to work and sent out another two queries.  Now, I have to get back to my job that pays me in actual money.  Classes actually start on Friday, so we’ll see what this year’s crop of kids are like on Monday.