Looking for ideas for upcoming challenges, chime in here please... Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi all.          

We want to extend an invitation to put on your creative muse hat and offer ideas for upcoming challenges.

What would you like to see?

Let us know by REPLYING in this tile please...

Thank you for helping us build the Mosaic!
Mosaic Musings Staff              

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi,

Firstly, let me congratulate Cleo on being so inventive - stimulus material of poem and picture, extra tasks incorporated by requiring certain words, etc. It is very hard to keep thinking up ideas for challenges and we ought all to help here.

So, here's my "six-penneth" - hope they are of some use...

Two images (or pieces of writing) with similar theme - write about the contrasts.

Anniversaries - what they mean to you / to society / etc.

My Christmas. (maybe a little later in they year) Remember that Aussies have barbies down the beach on Crimble Day.I don't know about you but I'm down the pub etc.

Newspaper headlines as stimulus.

Someone travelling - experiences, attitudes etc.

My favourite / most disliked relative / friend (no real names please!)

My favourite / most feared animal.

Similar with sports / flowers / anything.

Write about fear / hate/ joy / sadness / etc

"My brown bottle"; "My purple toothbrush"; "My grey van! etc etc

My journey around the inside of a ping-pong ball

How life on this planet differs from life on Earth (when I left it!)

Life on Earth - from the point of view of a Martian / dog / tree

Why white is better than purple. / Why rough is better than smooth etc

It was another ten years after that fateful day that I realised...

Before death I never believed in heaven. How wrong I was!

My fav writer - why I like her/him

My part in the rescue attempt - rescuer and victim

Humans - an owner's Guide - by a dog

The plot to kill the King / The king kills the plot

Meet the smilies - Tommy, Geoff and Amanda

etc etc etc

Hope this helps, Cleo...

If you want any help refining or setting any of the tasks etc I'm happy to oblige. regards, Jox.

[Cleo_Serapis]

WOW Jox!  

These are GREAT!  

Thanks very much for offering such a variety of ideas!

Personally, I like the 'life inside a ping pong ball' AND 'my life on the planet x'...

We will certainly be using some in the future at least!    

Take care for now!
~Mosaic Musings Staff              

[Guest_Don_*]

An exceptional point that Cleo is likely to run thin of motivational material as she is the prime pump.

Jox has a surprisingly long list.  His "My journey around the inside of a ping-pong ball" struck my fancy, although I've not a clue how I'd use it.  Like a new coin, it is certain to find a purchase.

Although a slight modification of one listed by Jox, a mundane, or perhaps obvious, is "My Favorite Christmas Gift"  Since many are not Christian, the theme might be better framed as "My favorite Gift."  To expand this trope, the gift could be received or given. The subject quickly expands beyond material gain, just as the Christian motif is our savior gave us salvation. Since that historic event, that faith is saddled with only being saved in His name.

Considering strings attached to gifts opens up a Pandora's chest of creative possibility.

Was anyone given a traveling ping-pong ball?

Don

[Cleo_Serapis]

Thank you Don and Happy Holidays!      

These are a wonderful spin and something we should use, I agree! Perhaps the first January challenge will be themed around your/James gift idea?

Since many are not Christian, the theme might be better framed as "My favorite Gift."  To expand this trope, the gift could be received or given. The subject quickly expands beyond material gain, just as the Christian motif is our savior gave us salvation. Since that historic event, that faith is saddled with only being saved in His name.

Considering strings attached to gifts opens up a Pandora's chest of creative possibility.

Excellent!        

Stay tuned!
~Cleo  

P.S. My newest favorite gift (from Christmas): A new pewter egyptian chess set this year from Imhotep. AWESOME!

Course, it's really a TIE with the gift of all our member interactions right here on MM as well!        

Hugs and happy holidays Don!
Cleo      

[Guest_Don_*]

Apparently u doo play chess, Cleo.

Before Thanksgiving I stumbled upon a solid glass set with a beveled mirror board.  The dark squares and pieces are etched to look frosty.  Opponents are clear and sparkle in sunlight. I could not refuse the opportunity.

Our local head librarian is a chess fanatic and invented an official opening. A challenge for your spare time...

MERRY SEASON  TO ALL

Don

[Guest_Jox_*]

Don, I've submitted a poem about the inside of a golf ball (similar idea). It's in the tough crit forum now if you are interested in my take on that subject.

Many non-Christians exchange Christmas presents too - especially many agnostics and atheists. Other religions are often more reserved.

I didn't understand your comment about being saddled with JC as saviour? Surely Christianity is but one branch of mono-deity religions, all of whom worship the same God - Islamic, Jewish and Christian faiths have that same God don't they? Muslims regard Jesus as a prophet (like Mohamed) I believe. I appreciate that Christ is absolutly central to Christianity (axiomatic) but does that really detract from The One God and His purpose? Just a thought.

Good to see your suggestions, Don.

Cheers, James.

PS: Opening move... King's Knight to King's Bishop Three...

(I don't have a chess set in front of me - so I hope that is correct!)

(I'm a very poor player and only get a game about every five years - so be gentle with me, s'il vous plait!)

[Guest_Don_*]

Good Day Jox,

I certainly will look at your poem about the inside of a golf ball. Sounds like a long, gummy string story.

In early sixties I read a modest mathematical essay on trajectory control of dimples on golf ball surface.  I kept biting my tongue, "Yeah, like someone knew enough to apply them before you analysed them, after the fact."

Gifts are a hallmark of civilization and excess resources.  One may conjecture that initial gifts were sacrifices to propituate ancient concepts of dieties.  In this sense they weren't our modern idea of gift. It was say a necessity in hope that Possidon wouldn't flood your coastal port.  Americans are said to traditionally expect next gift to be grander...where does it stop? With inflation why should it?

We are prone to think recipients appreciate gift more than giver. I began with Christmas gifts because it is recent reference.  It is assumed everyone has recieved and given gifts sometime for whatever.  Divorce religions from gifts.

Let us go with a gift makes a person happier, which they multiply with smiles and good mood.

I assume comment that you claim failure to understand is, Just as the Christian motif is [that] our savior gave us salvation [through grace].  Since that historic event, that faith is saddled [loaded word] with only [cocking the gun] being saved in [actually through] His name.

Is it more reasonable if I had written that, "Personal salvation is only granted to individuals dedicated to living morally according to a set of rules?"  It is doubtful we will encounter a benefit without a price.   At least that is the way we are indoctrinated to believe.   The price may easily be translated into a sacrifce or attached string.  My honest assumption is you were polite in saying you did not understand because my phrases were harsher than conventional conversation.

I really did not intend a connection to monotheism.

Reading Dante's Divine Comedy, the first level of Hell contains individual that lead a good moral life, but before BC and ignorant of JC.  Their only suffering is knowledge of the kingdom of Heaven and knowing they cannot enter.  Well...I must say this judgement seems more cosmic than heavenly and similar to a retroactive tax.  In closing, we will never trump faith with logic.

Your chess move (King's Knight to King's Bishop Three) is valid and verified by upacking a set. I am also a poor player and reply with Kp to K4 and resign in confidence you will win.

Don

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Don,

I have a feeling that this is another thread I have subverted. Nevertheless...

I didn’t know that was what the inside of golf ball contained! My whole poem assumes them to be hollow. As you can tell, golf is something I know nothing about!

Things have moved on since the 1960s Don. Not...

This Christmas we have had the Mathematical theory of how to perfectly cook a turkey and, earlier in the year how to toss a pancake. All tosh, of course, I don’t need some academic to tell me how to be a tosser.

Gifts do indeed, pre-date Christianity I assume and, yes, sacrifices are gifts.

You are correct... I completely misunderstood what you were saying - thanks for the explanation. I was not being polite, I regret to say!

Is it more reasonable if I had written that, "Personal salvation is only granted to individuals dedicated to living morally according to a set of rules?" It is doubtful we will encounter a benefit without a price. At least that is the way we are indoctrinated to believe. The price may easily be translated into a sacrifice or attached string. My honest assumption is you were polite in saying you did not understand because my phrases were harsher than conventional conversation.

Well, there is both a religious and a practical argument there! As regards the latter, I think that (in general and aggregate) a society does tend to reap rewards for its efforts. Of course, there are numerous examples which undermine this but if we take the extreme and imagine that no one did anything then we would have no food, no shelter and no society.  Many people do very nicely for little effort and very many make a huge effort and have a rotten life - but the aggregate - society - does gain from the effort.

In terms of the religious message - I am not religious, therefore do not believe in personal salvation, so the message was neither harsh nor lenient for me.

I think that logic always wins over faith. Logic has, when allowed, dismissed religion from being the controlling power of societies. Nevertheless, personal solid faith cannot be shaken by logic because those with that faith will not allow logic (no matter how compelling) in. However, who cares? People who are religious should be free to practice, providing that it does not dominate the lives of others.

Over the centuries logic has eaten away at magic, superstition and religion very convincingly. Indeed, that is partly because those aspects of humanity employed logic themselves to explain matters (they still do). So they have been “hoisted by their own petard”. Science has embraced logic - and logic science. Today we frequently see scientific theories also being undermined by logic.

Chess - thank you for looking it up! I’m delighted that you resigned so early - saves me the humiliation of being beaten quickly!

Cheers, James.

[Charon]

What a delightful dialogue.

I don't necessarily agree, but delightful and insightful.

With regards to logic versus faith, my reply would be that I don't have to see electricity to know that it will kill me.  Nor do I need to stick my hands in a fire to understand it will burn.  

The first thing I learned in physics was don't believe in logic or it will kill you.  I also learned as a flight instructor don't believe what your eyes and brain tell you or you will die.

As one who has survived many, many near brushes with death (air plane crash, shootings, huricanes, tornadoes, stabbings, I have seen the miracle of birth and lost a wife to that same miracle), and the results afterwards.  I have come to believe there has to be a reason.  What or why, I don't know, but there has to be a reason.

Call it faith, sounds good to me.  I do find comfort there and to me that is what is important.

I agree with your statement Jox, that religion should not dictate to society, but the opposite is true as well.  Society should not dictate to religion.  How do you find a happy medium, don't know.  The "civilized" world has been at war for what, about 6000 years now, trying to figure out how to do exactly that.

Silly world, but you gotta love it, for where else are you going to go?

By the way, I have a chess set, actually two.  One I made myself, the other is famous baseball players from the past.  The two kings - Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner.

da Hun

[Cleo_Serapis]

I've been enjoying this tile! Thanks guys!
BTW - Cleo - 1 Imhotep - 0 on our new Egyptian chess set, - I finished him off with only an obelisk (rook), Nefertiti (queen) and of course, Akh (king)........ Sillies! :p

[Guest_Jox_*]

Hi Butch - great to see you joing in this thread I seem to have subverted. (Sorry, Lori!)

I am sad to hear of your life's woes. I mean that; we live in the commercial/tv age of big white smiles and happy ever after. Too often we ignore the pain. I was reminded of this, this Christmas when a relative died and an on-line friend of mine lost her husband.

In frequent postings on MM I speak out against Christianity. However, this is only because I meet so much Christian writing or comment. In actual fact, I see Christianity as just one opporssor of society. I won't run through my individualistic theory in depth nor try to justify it here and now but (briefly) it runs something like this...

1. Societies need leaders. (Anarchy is useless).
2. Leaders emerge.
3. If >1 leader emerges, conflict ensues.
4. Top leaders emerges.

Now, throughout history different groups around leaders have built power-bases.

1. Magicians / Shamens / Witch Doctors. (all forms)
They were de-bunked by...
2. Priests. (all religions)
They were debunked by...
3. Scientists. (all sciences)

All have a tendancy toward white robes (at least in the West) and all understand the Universe and have (or are reaching) the ultimate answers.

Frankly, I believe none of them. Each may have some grains of truth for those who believe in such things - but, actually, I have no belief in ultmate truths either. (Think how many "truths" have been debunked).

And, yes, I do need to see electricity at work to know it works. All this talk about molcules and atoms - quarks, charms, ups and downs.. I suspect is as much bunkham as The Virgin Birth. I have no faith in either. Actually, in some ways, The Virgin Birth seems more plausable. (I am more suspicious of, and  dislike science more, than religion because it affects me more).

As regards believing my eyes - yes they can deceive. I am willing not to believe my eyes but I am not willing to believe anyone elses's unless I believe them and have some insight myself. I tell you, if man's progress in knowledge had been left to me, we would still be considering what fire was.

I simply have no faith in anything whatsoever - except a few friends and my faith is not really faith at all - it is experience. For example, I never worried about my partner walking in the woods with our two previous dogs. They would leave other humans totally alone - unless anyone attacked her, in which case they would try to kill them (and probably suceed). That is based upon watching them never bothing with people unless they did anything to us.

Oscar Wilde - The cynic is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Makes sense - I am an economist.

Sorry, I know nothing about baseball (except the football (soccer in America) ground in my home city of derby was called "The Baseball Ground" because it was erected for baseball in the late 1800s but it never became popular so it was bought by Derby County Football Club instead. It is just being demolished as they have a new ground. (I also know virtually nothing about football (soccer), by the way). However! I am most impressed that you made a chess set yourself... is it a Staunton style or what else?

[Guest_Jox_*]

Lori,

I finished him off with only an obelisk

Ouch! Painful. Is that what they call The Cleopatra's Needle Finish?

James.

[Charon]

I've been enjoying this tile! Thanks guys!
BTW - Cleo - 1 Imhotep - 0 on our new Egyptian chess set, - I finished him off with only an obelisk (rook), Nefertiti (queen) and of course, Akh (king)........ Sillies! :p

Way to go, put those men in their place.  Ooops, hey wait a minute I'm a man.  Come on Ihop, work on those moves, dude!  Try the knights gambit.  Course I have no idea what I am talking about, read it in a book once.

da Hun

[Charon]

James,

I especially liked your comment:

As regards believing my eyes - yes they can deceive. I am willing not to believe my eyes but I am not willing to believe anyone else’s unless I believe them and have some insight myself. I tell you, if man's progress in knowledge had been left to me, we would still be considering what fire was.

I myself, had I been in charge, would have named fire – chocolate.  Then whenever someone yelled chocolate everyone would come running, to get a bite.

With regards to faith and logic, I have my own tales that help me understand faith, whereas the logic makes no sense.  Pardon my intrusion as I share with you the following:

As I mentioned I survived a plane crash in western Nebraska.  As one of the five survivors (two died), you wonder why you survived.  Why did you sit in that particular seat and not one of the others?  What if, what if?

Two years after surviving the plane crash, my wife and I moved to a new home.  This home was located in a small town, out in the country, over a hundred miles away from our former home.  We moved to eastern Nebraska.  

Upon settling in the small town, my wife took our youngest daughter to the local dentist.  He informed us our young child should see an orthodontist and provided a long list of names of ortho-specialists in the nearby very large city (over 500,000 people).  My wife randomly selected one and appointments were made.

During their second visit to the ortho-specialist, the doctor asked my wife if she would remain in his office as he had someone who wanted to visit with her.  After a brief delay, in walked a young nurse, who introduced herself to my wife.  She was the wife of the pilot who died in our plane crash.  

Now here is where the story really gets interesting.  After hugging and crying the two started to talk.  The flight we were on was a chartered aircraft.  Of the seven people, six of us worked for the same company.  During research into the cause and celebration of surviving the crash, the one family that was never a part was the pilot’s, for after all we had no idea who he was, having only met him on the flight out and back.

Well it seemed the wife and her young daughters, 14 and 16, had not been provided details of the crash.  They were not privy to the information we were.  The wife of the pilot had read in the newspapers that I had stayed awake throughout the ordeal and wondered if she and her daughters could meet with me.  It seems the two daughters were suffering, so much so, that they were becoming rebellious and their grades were suffering.  My wife readily made the appointment and arrangements were made.

They arrived at our house, twenty miles away from theirs and we talked for over three hours.  They listened, asked questions, then we hugged and cried, and they left.  

A couple of years later my wife saw the pilot's wife again.  They hugged and shared pleasantries; then the pilot’s wife told my wife what had happened in the past few years.  It seems that after our meeting, the two girls turned their lives around, they became honor students, involved heavily with school.  One was preparing for college and the other had made the varsity softball team.

Why did I survive?  I don’t know.  Of all the people aboard that plane, I was the only former pilot.  I could tell everyone exactly what happened and how.  I was the only one not to suffer a serious head injury and the only one to stay awake through the whole thing.  Oh I was injured, very badly, but I survived to tell the story and am the only one who loves to talk and write stories.

Faith?  I’m not sure, but what made us move to that small town, see that doctor, select that orthodontist, who had that nurse working for him?  Logic?  I think even Mr. Spock would have a problem with this scenario.

I could go into other stories as well: Why did my company transfer my small department to a new location 10 miles away?  Why on only my second week driving to my job, did I take a different route?  Why did I decide that morning to buy a cup of coffee, when I don’t even drink coffee?  And why was I there, when a scared young girl jumped out of her car, ran up to me, and asked me to help her for she had just been shot?  Why was I there to take her into safety and treat her wounds until the EMT's arrived?  Why would I remember a certain car that had passed me earlier, that permitted me to identify the young man that had shot her?

Sorry to take up so much space, but as you can see – it’s a wacky world.  Faith – logic, you try to explain.  Luck?  

You for sure don’t want to know why I believe in ghosts, as that story will make you have goose bumps and make you stay awake at night.

da Hun (the adventurer)

[Cleo_Serapis]

Way to go, put those men in their place.  Ooops, hey wait a minute I'm a man.  Come on Ihop, work on those moves, dude!  Try the knights gambit.  Course I have no idea what I am talking about, read it in a book once.

da Hun

       

Tee hee! It's sooooo confusing - the knight is the falcon Horus.....

Quite fun!

[Guest_Jox_*]

Butch,

Hi again Butch,

Just one thing you forgot - that chess set you made??

Your story is fascinating, tragic and rewarding all at once. Have you ever written a book about your experience? Would you wish to?

I could just leave matters there but I think your answer deserves a response.

What you say does, indeed, seem an implausible chain of coincidences. Nevertheless, from the information which you gave I cannot see it as anything other than that. What we tend to forget when focussing upon these strange happenings / chains is all the other seconds, days, years in which we live but don't experience such strong coincidences... nor all the other people who don't. We, understandably, focus heavily on the event(s) in our own lives (or those that we have found out about) without once saying "Amazing; I've had no life-affecting coincidences this month". I hope you see my argument... chance alone makes some coincidences highly likely - and when they do occur we seize upon them and analyse them and remember them. The rest of our non-coincidence lives we don't consider in a similar way to balance these.

For you these happenings reinforce your faith. For me (an outsider) they merely (in this respect) serve to illustrate co-incidences. However, in the sense of being a fascinating story I would be most interested to read more. Needless to say, I do hope that you are over the physical and psychological pains to the best degree you can be.

Now, ghosts. I don't believe in them so please fire-away... I'd be very interested but unlikely to be frightened. Heck, what was that noise...

thank you for the posting, Butch. Cheers, James.

[Guest_Dove_*]

what about a duet challenge? you would get more voters and interaction with the new people on the board hopefully.

[Cleo_Serapis]

what about a duet challenge? you would get more voters and interaction with the new people on the board hopefully.

Hi Jessica!  :dance:

We're always open to new ideas!  :cheer:

Can you explain in more detail what a 'duet' challenge is please?

I have not heard of that before and I'd like to hear more....

Thanks!
~Cleo

[Guest_Dove_*]

it can be any kind of criteria...but ones of the rules needs to be that you pair up with someone else on the board to create your piece...be it a story or a poem.

you get more votes (hopefully) because double the people vote.

you get more interaction (hopefully) if a couple of the older writers pair up with a couple of the newer writers.