2013 A to Z Challenge Badge Debut and Upcoming Schedule

Badge debut

        Our A to Z Challenge technical guru and in-house art department, Jeremy Hawkins, is the creator of this years badge.   His array of A to Z badges for last year's challenge proved popular with many participants.  This year we'll keep things more simple with one primary design.  

        This badge in coded form which will direct clicks to the A to Z sign-up page will soon be available on the "Badges and Banners" page than can be accessed in the tabs below this page's header.  When adding the badge to your page, please use either the coded form or be sure to link your badge image to the A to Z Blog.  After all, displaying the badge not only shows that you are a participant in the Challenge, but also should direct others to the place where they too can sign up.

Banners, etc

         A banner similar to what is seen below will also be available on the "Badges and Banners" page.  Jeremy will be doing some adjustments on this soon and will be doing a post about putting the badges and banners on your own sites.    Animated versions of the badges and banners are also in the works for those that like that sort of thing.

Upcoming A to Z News

         Next Monday January 14th the new A to Z Team will be announced.   There will also be a new opportunity for more of you to participate in helping the A to Z Team.   I think some of you will find this to be very intriguing.

         On Wednesday January 30th the A to Z sign-up list will be made available.  Last year we had over 1700 participants on the list and fully expect more this year.   You will want to be sure to sign up right away if you want to be listed toward the top of the list.  But never fear, if you don't make it to the top we still have accommodations to be sure that your blog won't get overlooked even if you are somewhere in the high thousands.

        There will be later posts about sign ups and pre-challenge activities.   Be watching this blog (as we're sure you always do) to catch up on all the latest A to Z news.

Update!

The badge with code is at top of sidebar.  On Blogger Blogs you can copy the code and add it to the HTML gadget on your layout page.

The banner with code can be found at the bottom of the page.  This can be added to your page in the same manner as the badge using the long spaces at the top or bottom of your page.

More detailed instructions will be coming in a future post.

           

           

2012: An Amazing Look Back

Post from Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs

2012 brought us some of the most awesome breakthroughs and discoveries imaginable. Some could help humanity in the most amazing ways, while others are simply awe inspiring. Here are some of the highlights:

The Higgs Boson: a theoretical particle that is key to the scientific understanding of all matter, has been discovered (but still needs to be confirmed). In time, many physicists expect a new era in physics to open up, a gateway or a portal to a new era that could see humanity unlock some of the universe's great mysteries. Medicine and technology could benefit in awesome and amazing ways. It maybe possible to temporarily reduce the mass of an object. Amazing possibilities in space travel could open up. Check out my post from earlier this year: (CLICK HERE)

Junk DNA: Scientists had thought that a substantial portion of human DNA was junk and performs no function. But now they know that at least 80% of this junk has a function. In the next few years, this discovery will let us design new drugs and other ways of treating diseases.

Stay tuned as breakthroughs with DNA and genome sequencing will be coming at us fast and furious, for better or worse.

NASA’s Curiosity Rover: Landed on Mars in August and has a two-year mission (that has been extended) to investigate and asses Martian climate, geology, and past environmental conditions that may have been condusive for life while preparing for future human exploration.

SpaceX: Private firm Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, otherwise known as SpaceX, successfully transferred cargo to the International Space Station, proving that SpaceX was capable of bringing supplies and potentially U.S. astronauts to the ISS.

Hooray for privatizing space exploration! (Reference)

The Largest Black Hole Ever Seen: 250 million light years away in the constellation Perseus is a black hole that tips the scales at the mass equivalent of 17 billion Suns. It lies at the centre of the compact galaxy NGC 1277, whose diameter is only about one-quarter that of the Milky Way. The black hole is about 59% as massive as the galaxy’s central bulge of stars, a much higher percentage than expected. A supermassive black hole typically has about 0.1% the mass of its home galaxy’s stellar bulge. (Reference)

Who We Lost in 2012:

Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) American astronaut and first person to walk on the Moon. Armstrong served as an officer in the U.S. Navy and served in the Korean War. He was also an aerospace engineer, naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor.

Dr. Sally Ride (1951 – 2012) American physicist and the first female astronaut in space. She’s not the first woman in space. She was preceded by two Soviet women, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. Check out this post from last year on Dr. Sally Ride: CLICK HERE

Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012) American writer of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and mystery fiction. His works have been translated into more than 40 languages while many have been adapted into television shows or films.

Stephen Tremp (no, we didn't lose him) is author of Breakthrough and Opening and blogs at Breakthrough Blogs. His third book Escalation is due for release Spring 2013!

Making Improvements for 2013...

So the date thing... is if our other wonderful host and or special guests post something, it will go beneath this post and you all will know "the changes for 2013" are happening. I turned off my dates on my sites and forgot to look here, sorry for the possible confusion. Please feel free to visit my sites... Wink!

A to Z Co-Host

Jeremy [Retro]

Oh No, Let's Go... Crazy!

Check out the latest reviews, music and scores/soundtracks at Howlin' Wolf Records: On-Line Magazine or find the latest horror sites over at Horror Blogger Alliance. Or last but not least visit My NEATORAMA Store at [Retro-Zombie] there is always something going on and it is one click away!

Coming Soon!!! Blogging from A to Z April Challenge 2013

Be sure to be here next Monday
      January 7, 2013
for exciting 
A to Z Challenge news for 2013!

Have a Happy New Year!

Answers to the Alphabet

These Blogging from A to Z subjects are brought to you by Nicole at The Madlab Post...

Today marks the day that the Alphabet Soup series is going on a hiatus, so I am offering up the following prompts that can be used as themes or topics during the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. It is my hope that these blog post subject ideas will help get those of you experiencing some writer’s block through the entire alphabet with little to no fuss.

Adolescent Art - Scan or photograph one of your favorite (or least favorite) pieces of artwork that you made during your childhood years. This can be a sculpture, collage, painting, drawing, sketch or some other type of art that you made in school, church, at summer camp, etc. you get the picture.

Bake or Broil - Compare different foods that you think are better when prepared one way compared to the other. Does fish come out better when broiled? Is chicken more moist when baked? Do an experiment or share with readers a point of view based on your previous cooking and/or tasting experiences.

Censorship Commentary - Answer the question: Does censorship make you feel like you’re being shortchanged in the context of your ability to enjoy and/or absorb a television show, movie or song that you know has been edited for broadcast purposes?

Doomsday -  If the world was ending at the end of April 2013, how would you spend your time between now and then?

Embarrassment - Describe an embarrassing experience that you once had that would not embarrass you if it occurred today.

Fortune vs. Forbes - Read the current issues of both magazines and write a review on them, focusing on which one you would be more likely to want to read again and why.

Goodwill - Mention an act of goodwill that you received from another person within the last year; Or, mention an act of goodwill that you provided to someone else within the last year.

Hugh Hefner - Identify some things that one group of people (bloggers, parents, business owners, celebrities, seniors, etc.) can learn from the Playboy tycoon. Your post can be comical or serious or inspirational or whatever.

Illuminati - Describe the most absurd “discovery” that you read or hear from someone regarding the activities of this secret group.

Jumping Jacks - Conduct an exercise experiment by timing yourself doing 100 jumping jacks every day for one week and blog about your findings including how long it took you to do them, if you had to stop to take a break and how you felt before and after doing them. Did the exercise make you tired or did it boost your energy?

Killing with Kindness - Share your experiences with the “Kill them with Kindness” saying, focusing on whether or not you think it works in all circumstances; sharing tips, if any, that you may have for others who find it difficult to practice this in their lives.

Lapsed Laws - Blog about a particular law that you think is too old to be still on the books.

Muses - Do you have a muse? If so, what is it? If not, do you think there are benefits to having one or does it really matter?

Neverland - If you could build your own version of Neverland Ranch, what would it contain?

Offensive Oppositions - Blog about a gesture or behavior, etc. that usually offends most people, except you.

Prince and Princesses - Highlight a real-life prince or princess that is little known among the masses.

Qdoba - Compare the quality of two different restaurant locations that you visited, paying attention to customer service, state of the food (did it seem stale, was it hot, etc.) and atmosphere.

Rich Reflections - Define what makes your life rich.

Satirical Secrets to (Fill in the Blank) - List humorous “secrets” to parenting, completing the A to Z Challenge, finding the best parking spot, preventing wrinkles in clothes, aging well or whatever topic you are interested in poking fun at.

Timeless Toys - Highlight a few toys that you believe will never go out of style.

Utterly Unattractive - List some unattractive traits that you find in the opposite sex or in the general population.

Victory - Blog about a time in your life when you felt most accomplished and what it took for you to get there.

Mr. Winkle - Do you think this is a real dog or a marketing ploy? If the former applies, what do you think Mr. Winkle is mixed with? Do you think mixed breeds are a blessing or a curse? Does the Mr. Winkle phenomenon beneficial to the importance of bringing more awareness to animal welfare and animal shelters or does it exploit our western culture’s obsession with stardom, fandom and materialism?

X Games - Blog about a high profile X Games participant or some X Games controversy that might be of interest to sports fanatics.

Yokozuna - Offer some background information on the significance of this particular wrestling rank; Or, just highlight the name of the WWF guy who had this name. Your choice.

Zipcar - If you’ve used this car sharing service, blog about your experiences; If this does not apply, then compare the service to car pooling, focusing on which one you think would be more useful.

Have a Good Friday, Everybody!

Nicole
Also @MadlabPost on Twitter