“Hi,” siad the boy. “Want to play?”
    The robot blinked. “Affirmative!”
                                                        from Boy + Bot
                                             written by Amy Dyckman
                                          illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
                                                  Alfred A. Knopf, 2012
                                     (accessed on YouTube 8/27/23)

    Sometimes I lose a word. I sometimes struggle to remember the name of someone when I meet them again. Not very often, I lose my train of thought. But these aren’t the types of language skills I’m thinking about.
    Some people are non-verbal. They don’t have expressive language. Some of my daughter’s special ed students are non-verbal. They use a picture board to point to how they are feeling, what they need, or answer a question she poses.
    People cannot speak for many reasons. But scientists are experimenting with ways to help people who have not lost their language skills, but are hampered physically because of paralysis, loss or weakness of the muscles used to talk, or anomalies in their voice box. 
    We’re familiar with Stephen Hawking’s computer-generated speech. Due to a tracheostomy performed to save his life after contracting pneumonia, Dr. Hawking was provided with a computer linked to a speech devise. It was adapted to allow him to use his thumbs to move a cursor and painstakingly point, letter by letter, to produce words that the computer voice spoke for him at about 15 words per minute. English conversations in the United States average about 150 words per minute. As Dr. Hawking’s ALS progressed, he was unable to use his thumbs. His devise was adapted again to respond to only one cheek muscle.
    Since the 1990s neurologists and computer scientists have been developing ways to use AI to convert a persons’s thoughts into an action. BCIs (Brain-Computer Interfaces) use electrical signals in the brain, generated by a person’s thought waves, to accomplish an action. For example, a person with a prosthetic arm or leg or finger can imagine moving that limb or digit and through the BCI, it will move. 
    Says Seong-Whan Lee, professor of artificial intelligence and brain engineering at Korea University in South Korea, “We are now extremely interested in generating voices…from imagined speech.” Lee continues, “The main aim of our research is using [imagined speech] to analyze what a person is thinking and predict what they want to say…as these can be very direct and intuitive.”
    Think of the message app on your phone filling in words before you finish typing them. Its choices are based on words and patterns you’ve used before and allows you to type a sentence word by word or even phrase by phrase instead of letter by letter. 
    Adding a voice component will enable a person who is unable to speak to become part of a conversation. 
    Applications for the technology are many and far-reaching. New England Journal of Medicine reported recently that a “[m]an who is unable to move or speak can now generate words and sentences on a computer using only his thoughts.” It’s due to an experimental brain implant that decodes signals once sent from his vocal tract, but is now unable to because of his paralysis. Work is also being done at Emory University and Georgia Tech. 
    Called neuroprosthesis, the device could help people who have suffered a stroke, survived a traumatic brain injury, or are living with ALS or other degenerative, paralyzing diseases.
    Science has given us breakthrough after breakthrough regarding our complex brains. The biggest hurdle is not being able to decode brainwaves into words or even generate understandable, natural-sounding language. 
    The biggest challenge will be to provide people who will benefit from this brand-new technology the privacy necessary for them to keep some thoughts to themselves. So far, a neuroprosthesis does not come equipped with a door to close and lock against intruding eavesdroppers.
    AI in all its many, many iterations, from autonomous vehicles to ChatGPT, to severe weather alerts depends on the ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to solve problems by learning from its mistakes. 
    And it’s coming, ready or not. Some of it is scary. It’s (almost?) impossible to tell a fact from a fallacy, an original photograph from one that’s been photo-shopped, or a human from a hologram. 
    And while some of it is practical and useful like weather predictions, and all the “smart” appliances, devices, and cars, some of that is scary, too. 

I’m trying to enjoy The Measure by Nikki Erlick. While I understand the importance celebrating the mundane, trying to transform regrets into positive action, and the threat of how prejudice affects society, I’m distracted by the premise: the strings and boxes themselves. And while I have a sense of my own mortality, I’m not sure I’d be any better (or worse) off knowing when my end will come. Or when anyone else’s will. But I’ll keep reading. 
                     -—be curious! (and forge ahead with caution)

A told B, and B told C
"I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree!”
…
Chicka chicka boom boom!
Will there be enough room?
…
Still more, W, and X, Y, Z!
The whole alphabet up the-
Oh no!
Chicka chicka
Boom! Boom!
from Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom
written by by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
illustrated by Lois Ehlert
Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers, 1989


    Because letters and words are fun and a good way to learn, I requested a magnetic bulletin board for the new children’s room at the newly refurbished Main Library. One of my favorite displays was a set of large magnetic letters. I stuck them to the board in random order and set out some of my favorite abecedaries (ABC books). I’d watch or help the youngest kids put the letters in order. Sometimes I’d craft a message like “Dance to your own tune” or something equally inspiring and trite. Sometimes, older kids would spell words. Surprisingly, I never had a problem with this!
    Fast forward a decade or so. We have Wordle! My older daughter was the first to introduce me. Soon, both my daughters were sharing their solves. We had a team of three. That was then. Now our team of eight sends each other our solves (there is hardly ever a miss) and by the end of the day, everyone who solves the puzzle in the least number of tries wins a (virtual) crown. I think we’re all having fun with it. 
    And the best part for me: You can only play once.
    I know there are Wordle knock-offs you can play, but none of them is a one-off. Wordle is just enough to get my brain going in the morning. Then I read for a while before I move on to email and the rest of my mundane chores before my day really begins. Right now my laundry is washing itself. I finished my grocery list. I watched an old webinar I’d been putting off.
    But I wondered, where did Wordle come from? According to New York Times, “Wordle Is a Love Story,” (1/3/22). John Wardle created a word game as a gift to his partner. The game caught on fast with his family, friends, and the rest of the world. “On Nov. 1, 2021, ninety people played. On Sunday, just over two months later, more than 300,000 people played. Since Wordle was acquired by the New York Times, participation has declined a little, but seems to have leveled off to about 250,000 games played per day. That seemed like a very low number!
    In trying to verify it, I found a stat from The Conversation.com “Wordle has nearly 3 million players across the world and versions of it are appearing in other languages.” And from The Houston Chronicle “[B]y the end of [January, 2022] there were millions.”
    Wordle’s easy rules and one-and-done format are part of its attraction. Being able to share answers with friends and family sure seems like a plus for us.
    Plenty of people, maybe even most people, spend time playing computer games when their time might be better spent on exercise, learning something new, weeding the garden, conversing face-to-face in real time with friends, family, and acquaintances…
    I know “all work and no play makes Jack and Jill dull children (and adults, for that matter), but video game addiction is a real thing. Also called internet gaming disorder, about 3-4% of people who play video games suffer from video game addiction. (GameQuitters.com) 
    While many researchers consider video game addiction similar to gambling disorder, other equally brilliant scientists claim it is different since gambling is pure chance while gaming requires a skill such as quick fingers or quick thinking. While gambling involves winning money (usually), gaming does not (usually). Both, however deliver that rush of good feeling at a win.
    Regardless, The Cleveland Clinic warns “any activity or habit that becomes all-consuming and negatively impacts daily functioning can cause significant mental, social and physical health issues.” If this is you or someone you love, seek medical help.
    While researchers are still studying the causes of video game addiction, most agree that it is the rush of dopamine that floods our brains when we win that keeps us coming back for more. A person who is overcome by gaming will usually feel sad or anxious. They need to spend more and more time gaming in order to feel the same excitement and sometimes lie about their behavior. Giving up previously enjoyed activities or social relationships in favor of gaming is also something to watch for. Find a list of symptoms here. 
    Talk therapy done with a a trained psychologist or psychiatrist is the usual treatment. While many, maybe even most people play video games, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic caution that “it is important to be aware of the amount of time spent playing them.”
    I’ve been known to play more than one solitaire game in a row. I have a jigsaw puzzle app, and a version of Angry Birds, too, but for me, nothing beats a walk in the park, tending my plants, and curling up with a good book. 


I’m reading Stolen Focus:Why You Can’t Pay Attention and How You Can Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari (Crown, 2022). The author traveled all over the world asking scientists why we are losing our ability to stay “on task” for longer than a few minutes at a time without being distracted. While I’m only at the beginning of his work, he has learned how “we can get our focus back, if we’re willing to fight for it.” Watch him promote his book on YouTube or explain his ideas on depression and addiction in his TED talks. 
  
—Be curious! (and learn a new 5-letter word)


FB: Here’s a sentence with only two five-letter words. The week before the Canfield Fair finds me wishing for one more sunny week before the leaves change. And another one: Enjoy!
    

    After a minute Dad says, “Do you know what stars are made of?”
    “What?” I say.
    “Energy,” he says. Same as you. Same as the beetles and crows and coyotes…”
                                                 from A Bed of Stars
                              written and illustrated by Jessica Love
                                               Candlewick Press, 2023
                                      (accessed on YouTube, 8/13/23)

    I was eleven years old the year I slept under the stars at Girl Scout camp. After the usual girl-chatter, we arranged ourselves on a soft-enough spot in the grassy area next to a well-worn trail. We pulled our sleeping bags around us and most of the girls fell asleep. But not me. I’m not sure why I felt so wide awake, but I lay on my back watching the stars dot the inky sky. 
    Then the stars started falling. I was not scared stiff. I knew the Perry Como song, “Catch a Falling Star” (and put it in your pocket. Save it for a rainy day) from a 45-single my dad brought home for us to play on the hi-fi. But still. I had never seen a falling star with my own eyes. I watched about 347 of them before I decided Earth would survive until morning and I fell asleep.
    At breakfast, my counselor told me shooting stars are not that uncommon. That’s it. No excitement. No comment. Not even a teaching moment. None of the other girls were able to corroborate the sighting. They had all slept through it. 
    The Perseid Meteor Shower is an annual event. It peaks around mid August as Earth passes through a cloud of dust particles and debris from a comet known as 109P/Swift-Tuttle. 
    Some comets travel a predictable path. Comets with solar orbits of less than 200 years are called short-period comets. Halley’s Comet, probably the best known, is visible from Earth every 75-79 years.
    Like other comets, the center of 109P/Swift-Tuttle is a combination of icy chunks, frozen gasses, and bits of dust. 109P/Swift-Tuttle’s nucleus is over 16 miles in diameter, about twice the size of the object that some say brought about the demise of the dinosaurs.
    As comets travel closer to the sun in their own orbits, some of their gas melts and creates a trail of dust, its visible tail. 
    As we pass through this space-dust on our own Earthly orbit, the dusty bits collide with our atmosphere. We’re watching their natural disintegration into fiery, colorful streaks as we star-gaze.
    Comets are named for the people who discover them. As luck (or science) would have it, both Lewis Swift and Horace Tuttle discovered the comet independently in 1862. Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle (The P stands for short -period) orbits the sun about every 133 years. Since its solar orbit is less than 200 years like Halley’s Comet, Swift-Tuttle is also a short-period comet. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, provides photographs of short-period comets here. 
    The next time Swift-Tuttle, itself, will be visible from Earth is 2125. 
    Short-period comets live beyond Neptune in an icy swath called the Kuiper Belt which includes the dwarf planet Pluto.
    A meteor is a chunk of space ice and can be an asteroid or a comet. It depends on where it originates.     
    Meteors are often called falling stars. They generally burn up or disintegrate before they reach Earth. If remnants or particles do enter the atmosphere and land on Earth, the resulting rock is called a meteorite. 
    Comets are icy space-balls that originate beyond Neptune and orbit the sun. Sometimes their frozen gasses, as they warm up in their orbit, form a tail. The gassy tail is what we can see as a comet travels through space.
    An asteroid is a chunk of rock that orbits around the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Occasionally one of these chunks is thrown out of its orbit and heads toward Earth. Most of these burn up as they reach Earth’s atmosphere, too.
    If you’re lucky enough to live in an area without a lot of light pollution, you know that meteors or shooting stars, are really not that uncommon. 
    I was grown up before I knew the meteor shower I witnessed at Girl Scout camp that summer of long ago was probably the annual skyshow, The Perseid Meteor Shower. 
    Like comets, recurring meteor showers are also named. Perseus, a hero of Greek mythology, was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. Perseus succeeded in an impossible task. He defeated the dangerous Gorgon, Medussa, and brought back her head. Perseus was rewarded with a constellation named for him. It is from this constellation that the Perseid meteors originate.
    One August several years ago, my daughter and I woke ourselves up around 2 a.m. and went out to the backyard to watch the meteor show. We couldn’t see a thing. I suspect light pollution, but it might have been impatience. 
    Although its peak occurred about midnight couple of days ago, you can see the show until August 24, 2023, if you’re lucky, patient, and don’t mind losing a little sleep to quench your curiosity. 
    City lights and cloudy skies encourage me to wait till next year. 

I just picked up a new book from the library. Stolen Focus by Johann Hari (Crown Publishing, 2021) discusses “why our ability to pay attention is collapsing” (from the blurb) and suggests ways to fight back against the external causes. Should be interesting. I’ll let you know.
                                           -—Be curious! (and patient)    

So if you ever take a swim
And dare stick your head way in
You just might hear a distant song,
A whale who hopes you’ll sing along.
MORAL: If you listen carefully to nature, you’ll hear conversations all around you.
                                                 from Wild Symphony
                                               written by Dan Brown
                                          illustrated by Susan Batori
                                                     Rodale Kids, 2020 
                                       accessed on YouTube 8/7/23
                                      Wild Symphony link to YouTube

    When I was six and said I wanted to learn to play the piano, it only took a nano-second for Grandma and Grandpa to have a new spinet set up in our living room. And I found out that Grandma could play, really well. She could sing, too. 
    Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called music the universal language of mankind. A recent study at Harvard supports that. The authors wondered if music is common to every culture and which musical qualities overlap. Their project grew to include data scientists, psychologists, linguists, and political scientists. According to The Harvard Gazette, the researchers “looked at every society for which there was ethnographic information in a large online database, 315 in all, and found mention of music in all of them.” 
    They found that by examining the qualities a song, regardless of its cultural origins, people all over the world understand its meaning. Generally, a love song “sounds” different from a lullaby or a dance tune.
    The authors conclude that “[music] exists in every society…varies more within than between societies, regularly supports certain types of behavior, and has acoustic features that are systematically related to the goals and responses of singers and listeners.”
    But music is not the only universal language.
    Dance is communication through physical movement. A basic class in Art Appreciation brought “marble statues” to life as I watched dancers use their bodies to evoke joy. Dance usually incorporates music and facial expressions to help performers tell a story with their bodies. Hula dancing kept Hawaiian culture alive especially before their written language was developed in the early 19th century. 
    Humans have other ways to communicate, too. Painting, sculpting, weaving, and architecture, communicate the emotions, ideals, and aspirations of the artists. They visually express their cultures’ norms, maybe through satiric cartoons or buildings that reach to the heavens. A culture’s goals may be expressed with a graceful bridge or sculpted bronze. 
    The Expressionist artists, whose movement spanned the very early 20th century, wanted to re-create how the world felt more than how it looked. Splashes of paint mimicked trees and boats and people. Bright shapes crash into each other in sharp angles or gentle overlaps. Colors clash in anger or swirled peacefully around their canvas.
    But what is the purpose of communication? Britannica Kids lists five major reasons to communicate:

• to inform 
• to express feelings 
• to imagine
• to influence
• to meet social expectations

    This list is pretty self-explanatory. We combine elements to create literature or make our communication more effective and memorable. Mom nuanced the first purpose. Among her other duties, she managed the “front desk” at the music school where my brother, sister, and I took our weekly lessons. She made sure we all got where we were supposed to go on time. She let students know if a teacher was running late. And she answered questions. “Can I borrow a pencil?” was answered with “Probably” or “I’m sure you can.” But the required pencil didn’t appear until the student replaced can with may. Mom was a stickler for using language correctly. 
    But, if the main purpose of language is to communicate, “correctness” must take second fiddle. If the main purpose of communication is to connect us with each other, the difference between can and may doesn’t matter very much. Mona Lisa continues to evoke our emotions when we see her. So does Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is memorable, but so are “Rhapsody in Blue” and “The Bohemian Rhapsody.” 
    It’s when words, images, melodies speak to our emotions, that magic happens. We understand each other. And when we understand each other on an emotional level, we can begin to feel empathy. 
    More than written and spoken language, communication needs transmitters and receivers. When we acknowledge our understanding with frowns, grins, and tears or a beautiful vase or scary movie or evocative dance, we connect with each other.   
    My piano sat in my parents’ living room waiting for me. When I moved out, my piano came with me from house to house to house. It’s tuned now, and I occasionally pull out my old practice books and plunk around a bit. 
    Part of growing up for me was learning that I would always be a better listener than player. I put my playing aside to make room for different creative endeavors. 

To balance the rest of my reading, I picked up The $64 Tomato by William Alexander (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006). His memoir describes finding the perfect house, making the perfect repairs, preparing his perfect garden, and fighting perfectly confounding critters, all with tongue-in-cheek humor. I alternate between nodding in sympathy and laughing out loud. Recommended. (As it was recommended to me. Thanks, Samie!) 
                       —-Be curious! (And keep a song in your heart)