I’m a fan of Mars rovers and some family members just built me one from Legos:

This is a model of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER), two of which are trundling around up on Mars. (Well actually one is done rolling but the other, named Opportunity, is still exploring.)

And here are life size models of all three rovers, Pathfinder, MER and MSL (on its way to Mars now), as seen at the Jet Propulsion Lab:

How’s your cursive? 3000 years from now, will archaeologists of the future know your works by your handwriting? At least one man from ancient Egyptian history has that honor, although he wasn’t a pharaoh.

Known as “Scribe of the Tomb,” his name was Amennakhte, Son of Ipuy, and 30 centuries after he lived in Ancient Egypt, archaeologists recognize his handwriting with enough certainty to declare him the creator of various documents and maps. Apparently his hieroglyphic cursive style is so distinctive there’s no doubt when an archaeologist sees it.

Working for Ramses IV, this Scribe created one of the earliest maps that showed the topography of the land as well as the geological content of the rocks. Somewhere around 1150BC, Pharaoh sent more than 8000 men to a certain area to dig the gray-green bekhen stone needed for statues and temple walls.  The expedition is well documented on this map, known as the Turin Papyrus, drawn up by Amennakhte. He depicts the quarry and its vicinity, right down to the groves of tamarisk trees and the water well, with its shadow.  A thorough man!

A  highly placed administrative official in the Theban region, Amennakhte has many other  surviving works besides the amazing map. He had the skills required of a scribe, as well as the ability to draw and chart, and enough interest in detail to pay attention to the geology of a region. His mastery of these elements is displayed on another  papyri – an architectural plan of Ramses IV’s tomb in the Valley of Kings, which is said to be the most elaborate and sophisticated tomb plan to survive from ancient Egypt. Amennakhte’s distinctive handwriting labels the parts of the tomb, giving the dimensions, and on the back he put his own last will and testament.

The Turin Papyrus was found in his family’s tomb. Even the ruins of his house  still survive.

The village where Amennakhte’s house and tomb were found is Deir el-Medina, home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings during the 18th to 20th dynasties of the  New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1080 BC). The settlement’s ancient name was “Set Maat” (translated as “The Place of Truth“). Tomb builders, artists, craftsmen and their families lived there during a period of about 400 years, leaving a rich record of daily life in that era  (much of it unearthed from the garbage dumps but still…). Archaeological digs have been going on there since the early 1800’s and a great deal is known about the inhabitants. Maybe someday I’ll have to write a blog on that.

Amennakhte also recorded the first labor strike known in history, when tomb workers under Rameses III went on strike, claiming they weren’t receiving the agreed upon food and other wages. In his various reports, the Scribe named names, quoted the claims of the various workers, and described his own attempts to remedy the situation and get everyone back to work. Pharaoh was off fighting a war at the time, not paying attention to these administrative details.

As a writer who creates paranormal tales set in this general time frame of ancient Egypt, I find the idea irresistible that after all these centuries, we can know so much about one person. (Well, and his dad, Ipuy, although I have no idea what Amennakhte’s father did, the name has passed down through history to us as well. Happy Father’s Day, Ipuy!)

Really sorry to know that official Six Sentence Sunday is ending in on January 27, 2013 but until then we can keep having FUN!

Going back to my SFR , STILL out on submission now, set in the same universe as my recently published WRECK of the NEBULA DREAM. Andrianda (Andi) Markriss, a planetary representative for Loxton Galactic Trading, has been spending a lazy summer with her best friend in the highly exclusive summer compound of the planet Zulaire’s ruling nobility, networking. On a day when a number of strange  and disturbing things have already happened, Captain Tom Deverane, Sectors Special Forces, unexpectedly shows up with a troop of soldiers and demands she leave with him. Immediately.

Andi doesn’t take this very well….in fact, she refuses to go. Later in the evening, all hell has broken loose, as the captain predicted.
Trying to avoid spoilers here, after certain “events”, she and the soldiers are on the run. Here’s a snippet from after they either rescued someone at Andi’s insistence…or didn’t LOL and have moved on, still trying to escape pursuers.

In last week’s excerpt Tom was taken suddenly ill. There’s a LOT of plot between that moment and this excerpt:

“How long?” He frowned, apparently trying to remember the onset of the attack.

“Four days,” Andi said. “Sgt. Wilson told me you’ve had this for years, taking some black market medicine to keep it in check – how can you still be on active duty with a chronic condition like this?”

He took another swig of the juice, tipped the last drops onto his tongue then handed her the mug. “Com­mand didn’t have to know since it never affected my ability to do the job before now.”

“That’s hard to believe, Tom, how could it not?”

I LOVE and appreciate your comments….and hopefully my spam filter will behave this week!

Go to http://sixsunday.com/ to find all the other great excerpts!

27 Things About My Dad (in no certain order):

Gloried in being of Irish descent

Sang the part of Sheikh Ali Ben Ali in “Desert Song” in high school

Was in the Army in WWII

Graduated from Rutgers on the GI Bill (Go Scarlet Knights!)

Met my mother as an archery instructor at a summer camp where she was working, romance ensued, followed by marriage and baby carriage (oh, that would be ME! And my brother 8 years later)

Started at Easy Washer designing washing machines, then tanks at GE, then….

Worked on the Saturn 1B and the Saturn 5 for GE

Gave me my first typewriter so I could tell my stories

Taught me to fish (and clean fish)

Taught me to ride a bicycle

Taught me to shoot archery

Taught me to drive a car (the parallel parking thing didn’t stick with me – sorry, Dad!)

Gave me a love for science fiction

Bought me all the books and comic books I could read

Sang the part of Papageno in “The Magic Flute” in a civic production

Loved to golf and bowl (although it was my Mother who once bowled a perfect game!)

Flew radio controlled model airplanes

Could not be spoken too in the morning prior to having his coffee

Told great stories and jokes

Was your basic steak and potatoes man

Sang Barbershop Quartet (SPEBSQSA anyone?)

Never met my daughters

Was stubborn as a mule

Loved Louis L’amour Westerns

Loved thunderstorms and big, scary weather…

Was a great guy and I’ll always miss him! Best wishes to all Fathers everywhere – Happy Father’s Day!

Health is on my mind of late – wishing everyone who reads this post nothing but the very best health!

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. Mark Twain

(VS sez: He probably would have been equally wary of too much internet searching on your health issues too!)

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. Gandhi

Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning. Thomas Jefferson

(VS: I do like his emphasis on reading too!)

Attention to health is life’s greatest hindrance. Plato

Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself. George Bernard Shaw