Not a character was plotting, not even the crook.
Reading page after page and absorbed with delight,
Every chapter expecting a murderous sight.
There I sat nestled all snug in my chair,
Reading my mystery book without care
My husband lay snoring aloud on the couch,
As I continued to read in a deepening slouch.
“Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.” This proverb is often
attributed to 14th Century England. But I suspect the sentiment is
of a much more ancient origin. And its message to never give up, regardless of
how “small” you are, is universal..jpg)
Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
Perhaps there’s no better example of this than Grace
Hopper. Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 to January 1, 1992)
was a computer pioneer and naval officer. She earned a master’s degree (1930)
and a Ph.D. (1934) in mathematics from Yale. Hopper is best known for her
trailblazing contributions to computer programming, software development, and
the design and implementation of programming languages. A maverick and an
innovator, she enjoyed long and influential careers in the U.S. Navy and the
computer industry.
And she was stubborn as a mule, some might say, and determined
to leave her mark on the United States Navy, whether that often-hidebound
organization cared to acknowledge it or not.
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States’
entry into World War II, Hopper decided to join the war effort. She was
initially rejected because of her age and diminutive size, but she persisted
and eventually received a waiver to join the U.S. Naval Reserve (Women’s
Reserve). In December 1943, she took a leave of absence from Vassar, where she
was an associate professor, and completed sixty days of intensive training at
the Midshipmen’s School for Women at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
After receiving her commission (lieutenant junior grade),
Hopper was assigned to the Bureau of Ships Computation Project at Harvard
University. There, she joined a team working on the IBM Automatic Sequence
Controlled Calculator, better known as the MARK I. Hopper's
work on the Harvard Mark I computer, an early electromechanical computer, led
her to realize the need for a more user-friendly programming language. This
insight drove her to develop the first compiler, known as A-0, which enabled
programmers to write code using more human-readable language instead of machine
code or assembly language.
The origin of the term "debugging" in computer programming is often
attributed to Grace Hopper during her work on the Harvard Mark II computer in
1947. While troubleshooting a malfunction, Hopper and her team discovered a
moth trapped in one of the computer's relays, causing the issue. After removing
the moth, Hopper logged the incident in the computer's logbook, noting that
they had "first actual case of a bug being found" and that they had
"debugged" the computer.
In the late 1950s, Grace Hopper played a key role in the development of COBOL
(Common Business-Oriented Language), one of the first high-level programming
languages designed for business applications. COBOL became widely adopted and
is still in use today. Hopper's work in computer programming and her
contributions to the development of compilers and COBOL have left a lasting
impact on the field, earning her the nicknames "Amazing Grace" and
"Grandma COBOL."
Throughout her career in the computer industry, Hopper
remained a Navy reservist. In 1966, age restrictions forced her to retire from
the Navy as a commander. She later called it “the saddest day of my life.” Just
months later, however, she was recalled to active service to help standardize
the Navy’s multiple computer languages and programs. She retired from UNIVAC, a
division of Sperry Rand, in 1971.
An optimist as well as a visionary, Hopper celebrated the
potential of computers. “I think we consistently…underestimate what we can do
with computers if we really try,” she once said. In a 1983 interview on
“60 Minutes,” host Morely Safer asked if the computer revolution was over.
Hopper replied, “No, we’re only at the beginning…We’ve got the Model-T.” Until
the end of her life, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper looked forward with confidence
to new technologies and their problem-solving capabilities.
Hopper remained on active duty for nineteen years. She
retired from the Navy as a rear admiral at the age of 79—the oldest serving
officer in the U.S. armed forces. That same year she went to work as a senior
consultant in public relations at the Digital Equipment Corporation, where she
worked until her death in 1992. Hopper was buried with full military honors in
Arlington National Cemetery.
So, as writers, just think where we'd be without Amazing Grace's contributions to computer science and, ultimately, the word processing programs we depend on today.
(Sources: Biography
of Grace Murray Hopper | Office of the President (yale.edu) and Grace Hopper (Computer
Scientist and Admiral) - On This Day.)
 |
| Edmond Locard (1877-1966) |
No doubt, you’ve seen or heard the saying, “Take only memories, leave only footprints.” It’s a shorthand way of telling humans to minimize their impact on nature. If you see something, leave it for someone else to see and enjoy. If you eat a Milky Way, don’t throw away the wrapper. Take it with you.
What a wonderful sentiment. What an exceptional goal. But to those of us
who write mysteries, especially those involving crimes, it’s sheer, absolute,
and utter nonsense. Pure baloney. Leave only footprints? Give me a break.
Those of us “in the know,” accept the “Gospel According to Dr. Locard.” Developed
by Dr. Edmond Locard (1877 – 1966), Locard’s
Exchange Principle, which forms the foundation of forensic science, holds that
the perpetrator of a crime will bring something to the crime scene and will
leave with something from it. At its core, the concept is that every contact
leaves a trace and that with contact between two items, there will always be an
exchange. To quote Dr. Locard, “It is impossible for a criminal to act,
especially considering the intensity of a crime without leaving traces of this
presence.”
Think about
it. It makes sense.
Wherever a
criminal (or even a totally innocent, law-abiding citizen) goes, he will leave
something behind. At the same time, he will also take something back with him. Our
criminal (or law-abiding citizen) can leave all sorts of evidence, like
fingerprints, footprints, hair, skin, blood, bodily fluids, pieces of clothing—and
more. By coming into contact with others, or things, at the location in question,
our criminal (or law-abiding citizen) takes part of that location with him when
he leaves, whether it’s dirt, hair, or other types of trace evidence.
During an
investigation in 1912, a Frenchwoman named Marie Latelle was found dead in her
parents’ home. Her boyfriend, Emile Gourbin, claimed he had been playing cards with
friends on the night of the murder. Absent evidence to the contrary, police
concluded Gourbin was telling the truth.
Not
deterred, Dr. Locard looked at Marie’s corpse and questioned Gourbin’s alibi.
Locard found clear evidence that Marie had been strangled. He then scraped
underneath Gourbin’s fingernails and examined the results under a microscope. Locard
noticed a pink dust among the samples, which he calculated must be ladies’
makeup. In that era, makeup was not mass produced. Locard located a chemist who
developed a custom powder for Marie. It matched the fingernail scrapings. Ultimately,
Gourbin confessed to the murder. He had tricked his friends into believing his
alibi by setting the clock in the game room ahead. But he couldn’t trick
Locard. When he strangled his girlfriend, he took some of her—skin cells with
traces of makeup—with him.
Pretty convincing,
right? Most likely, we can all think of “modern day” cases that were solved as
a result of Locard’s Exchange Principle. What’s your favorite example?
So, trust me. No matter how hard you try or how well-intentioned you may be, wherever you go you’ll never just leave footprints and you’ll always take away more than just memories. Mystery writers depend on it.
Delbert R. Gardner.
Photo by Adele Gardner
This series is dedicated to my loving father and mentor, Delbert R. Gardner, a beautifully lyrical and insightful poet and writer, who taught me how to submit my work when I was fourteen and gave me a postage allowance to do so at a time when we could ill afford it.
So far in this series, I’ve focused on using spreadsheets to track submissions as well as accomplishments. But I started using statistics to motivate me long before I switched to the spreadsheet format. If you find that spreadsheets are daunting, too much work, or just a greater level of detail than you need, this installment will share how I tracked my basic statistics in a word processing document.
While previous installments in this series do focus on spreadsheets, I hope that some of the advice about sticking with it and motivating oneself by the number of works sent out, rather than focusing on individual rejections, will still be helpful.
Beginning with the guns
of August in 1914 and finally ending at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day
of the eleventh month in 1918, the First World War—the Great War—exacted a horrific
toll on human life—more than any previous conflict. The carnage was so vast,
involving soldiers and civilians from so many different nations, that historians
cannot agree on exactly how many people lost their lives.
A study conducted on behalf of the Carnegie Endowment
estimated that more than 9.7
million military personnel from more than two dozen nations lost their lives. Adding
to the tragedy, more than 6.8 million civilians died from war-related
maladies such as starvation and disease. In all, about 16.5 million people perished
during the “War to End All Wars.”
Great Britain and
Ireland, with a combined population of 46.1 million, mobilized 6.1 million army
and navy personnel. More than 750,000 military and 600,000 civilians—a total of
1.35 million—died.
After the conflict ended,
the United States designated November 11th, the day hostilities
ceased in World War I, as Armistice Day. Later that special observance morphed
into a more general celebration of those who have served in uniform—Veterans Day.
In Great Britain,
November 11th is referred to as Remembrance Day. And the Sunday
nearest November 11th is referred to as Remembrance Sunday. Originally
a response to World War I, Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday now honor those
who have fallen in battle in the defense of their nation—similar to Memorial
Day in the U.S. Red paper poppies serve as a visual—and visceral—symbol of “remembrance”
to the British.
Along with the cost in
human life, the First World War decimated the landscape of Western Europe,
which had seen bloody back-and-forth offensives and the murderous stalemate of
trench warfare. Yet a singular sight gave one man hope. John McCrae, a military
doctor from Canada, viewed the battlegrounds and penned a poem, In Flanders
Fields:
In
Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between
the crosses, row on row,
That
mark our place; and in the sky
The
larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce
heard amid the guns below.
We are
the Dead. Short days ago
We
lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved
and were loved, and now we lie,
In
Flanders fields.
Take up
our quarrel with the foe:
To you
from failing hands we throw
The
torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye
break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Based largely on the
imagery of McCrae’s poem, efforts by various individuals resulted in the red
poppy becoming an iconic emblem of Remembrance Day.
Remembrance Day and Remembrance Sunday bring with them parades, speeches, and sermons. But what was most remarkable to me were the rows and rows of red poppies attached to crosses, Stars of David, and other artifacts that were then placed in church yards and parks throughout the city. I remember the fields of honor at Westminster Abby the most. Many of the poppy-adorned artifacts contained pictures or other tributes to the fallen and were viewed in thoughtful, silent reverence by thousands.
The photograph above gives a hint of the emotional impact of
visiting this solemn place, where, to paraphrase, the poppies still
blow “. . . Between the crosses, row on row.”
Any kid can tell you where Santa Claus is from—the North Pole. But his historical journey is even longer and more fantastic than his annual,...
