Corundum vs. Conundrum vs. Carborundum

These three words look similar at first glance, but each has its own meaning. Let's take a look . . .

Corundum: A very hard, rock-forming mineral in the hexagonal crystal family whose two primary varieties are ruby (red) and sapphire (any color but red)

After drilling and taking a core sample, Randall, the team's field geologist, determined that the pegmatite in question contained a decent amount of corundum that could be worth mining. 

Conundrum: A difficult and confusing problem or situation 

After dropping out of culinary school, Elias was faced with a conundrum: Should he continue working as a chef, or should he pursue his other passion—photography—as a food stylist and culinary photographer?

Carborundum: A synthetic or natural mineral whose hardness makes it valuable in grinding processes

Terressa told the property-management team that she couldn't sandblast the graffiti that had popped up on the building's north side because they were out of the carborundum media the machine used, and while this was technically true, she also had an ulterior motive—she thought the graffiti was really neat, and she hoped it could remain on the building.

Fun Fact: The pseudo-Latin phrase, "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum," was a joke among the students in Margaret Atwood's Latin class, and she later included it in her acclaimed dystopian-fiction novel, The Handmaid's Tale. It roughly translates to "Don't let the bastards grind you down" and has become a popular tattoo. While "carborundorum" is not a real Latin word, its presumed meaning is tied to the use of carborundum as a grinding agent. 

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Image Attribution: Robert Matthew Lavinsky, CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

How to Choose an Article Topic Strategically

The best way to choose an article topic that is likely to get traffic is to answer a question you have (or you think other people have) that isn't already easy to find an answer to online. This is difficult to do, as the internet is already full of super useful articles on almost every topic imaginable. Luckily, knowledge is limitless, so the internet will never have all of the answers! 

3 Ways to Find an Interesting Topic That Might Be Successful

1. Any time you have a question or problem, and you can't readily and easily find a succinct and clear answer or solution online, that's an opportunity! Solve your problem or find your answer using other means, and then write a clear, succinct, and readable article that answers the question or solves the problem for anyone else who might be wondering about it. 
2. Write about an article about a very specific topic instead of a general topic that is already covered thoroughly elsewhere. For instance, instead of writing the article, "Okra Recipe," write the article "20-Min Air-Frier Okra Recipe for the Keto Diet." This will differentiate your okra recipe from the 23,700,000 other okra recipes online (this is the actual number of results for the Google search, "okra recipe," at the time of this writing). 
3. If the top results on Google for a topic are unclear, poorly written, difficult to follow, or otherwise low quality, create a better version! If your article is well-written, well-formatted, easy to follow, and full of helpful graphics, photos, statistics, and sources, your article may eventually be ranked higher than its lower-quality competitors. 

Koriander Bullard, From Michigan City, 5 Fans, 21 Hubs, Joined 8 weeks ago

Cartoon Controversy: Digging Into the Animated World

Koriander, an author, cartoonist, publisher, and wrestling fan from Michigan City, writes thought-provoking articles about well-known cartoon characters like Pepé le Pew and classic animated programs like Looney Tunes. Check out their work! 

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