The Cyclical Earth in 2010.

  Erosion: caused by weather and water, and the consequences of  tectonic plate movements, are the two primary  forces that have built the landscapes we enjoy everyday.
  My wife and I flew over the Grand Canyon during our honeymoon. To me, it looked like a mammoth gravel pit with a stream running through it. Actually, its just that.
  The great Rocky mountains were made after two tectonic plates collided.
  Our planet is geologically active. The surface or Crust is always changing. Think of the Earth's surface as the film that builds on a cooling pot of freshly cooked pudding, (I like butterscotch). Volcanoes are the warm gooey pudding oozing out a weak spot in the film. Kinda like that.
  This post was inspired by the story on the link to the right. The top ten disasters of 2010.
  Is a natural shifting of the planet, or a phenomena caused by it's atmosphere considered a disaster if no human life or property is involved? Disasters always rise up where people live.
  Headline: "...the disaster happened in an area hundreds of miles away from any witnesses. Nobody was killed or injured. The officials estimated the damage to be near nothing." Have you ever heard this on your morning news?
  Yes, disasters happen every year and people do die. Aren't scientist doing their best to understand, predict and warn the public about these natural events? But doesn't civilization congregate in some of the most dangerous areas on the planet?
  The next trip my wife and I are planning is to Yellowstone National Park. Its a Super Volcano.
  I hope it doesn't blow while we're there; that would be a disaster. What are the odds?

Controversy! You want controversy?

  OK here it is.
  I told you I talk to the guys at work. Last night shift, the conversation turned philosophical, as it usually does when I and my toughest critic Paul are in the same room. Some of the guys are Men of faith; Paul and I are Men of science. With the holiday season at our doorstep, naturally the true meaning of Christmas came up. After that, the existence of God, and then the evolution of Man were discussed. As you can imagine, there were conflicting opinions.
  Because there is a great deal of respect among us for each other, the discussion remained civil. We agreed to disagree.
  I would never try to change one's faith, so when we came to impasse, the conversation gradually changed to another subject.
  With this post, I have an audience who may share more of my ideas, because they choose to be here looking at my ramblings, I suspect they need to know the facts of proof just as I do.
  I cannot say I am not a man of faith, because I have faith in the scientist who pick apart the data. Don't I have faith in the results being delivered by the super computers in which most theorems are based?
  In a sense we are all people of faith in one way or another.
  My Christmas wish: (or Holiday wish, or whatever you believe or don't believe. Does it really matter?) is we practice being more tolerant, wear the other guys shoes for a minute. Understanding only takes a few minutes of listening.
  My advice for the new year: Give your children chores and discipline. Then give them a pat on the back, acknowledge they're there. And last: Contribute to society, don't sponge off it; pull your own weight.
  The world can change, it has in the past, it will again: as can our appreciation for it.
  Check out the link to the right, "DNA says new human relatives..." These studies are where my beliefs come from.
  Have Happy Holidays. Peace to all Mankind.

Twas four nights before Christmas...

  December 21st. There are plenty of things about Dec. 21st worthy of a spot on my calender.
  The most important, and I don't need a reminder for this one. My sister will turn one year older on that day. Please, if you get her a birthday gift; do not wrap it in Christmas paper.
  Another thing about Dec. 21st: it is the shortest day of the year. The winter solstice signals winter's beginning in the northern hemisphere.
  Second most important on the list will be the total eclipse of the Moon. (Check out the link on the right to learn how to watch.) Earth will completely block any direct sunlight from reflecting off our only natural satellite. The light making the surface visible, will be strained through Earth's atmosphere, giving not only unpredictable colors, but casting our planet's shadow on a place it seldom falls. Contrary to popular belief, the phases of our Moon are not caused by the shadow of our planet, but by the angle it receives the Sun's light.
  The Mayan's calender ends two years from this date, and some believe the world will come to an end, (if you choose to follow the hype). I still have a shelter to build, but my wife has such a long to-do list, I don't know when I'll get to it.
  Oh yes, one more thing, you'll only have three more shopping days till Christmas, because you stayed out to watch the moon disappear, while you could have been shopping. I'll see you at Walmart.
  Happy and safe holidays to everyone. Peace to all Mankind.

  Thought for the New Year: What if we ended every letter and document with the phrase, "Peace to all Mankind." Would that be enough to change attitudes?

I'm a nature writer, damn it!

  A good friend of mine said, "You look at the strangest things." When I tell people that my genre is speculative sci-fi they immediately inquire what the aliens look like, or say something like 'Oh, that space stuff with monsters or robots" Some day in a future work, I may use robots, but any aliens will be of the type that could evolve in the conditions provided by it's own planet. Chances are it will not resemble humans in any way. Writers must think outside the box. My box is limited due to pressures I put on myself. Although some might think the subject matter here may be strange, I assure you it is real. Science not only studies the farthest reaches of outer space, but also the realm of the infinitely small.
  This is all nature. To tell a story about how Mankind is effected by nature, I need to get as many facts right as possible. Even though I write fiction, the amount of research time needed far outweighs the actual time spent writing. I find it interesting, and have since I was seven years old. Now if you want to talk about how much time it takes to get published, that's a whole other thing.
 Answer this question: Don't you find yourself watching the "Discovery Channel" or the "History Channel" more now than you did when you were ten years younger? Now answer this one: What will those shows be about in one hundred years...two hundred?
That is exactly the question I am trying to answer.
Thanks.

What intrigues you?

  OK, now you know what floats my boat.
  I need to know what kind of science or what type of science fiction you would like to read about. Just to warn you, I won't write about anything that isn't scientifically possible, I'll research as much as I can to make the story believable. Realize, when I start dealing with parallel universes, almost anything is possible.
  My subtitle is "Sci-fi for the Working Guy". The people I bounce my ideas off, are the guys I work with. It has nothing to do with your employment or lack there of. The people I work with seldom follow science news. (I'm the geek of D-crew). I see them reading during breaks, or lunch. They know my interest, and hobbies. We talk.
  I know how they think, now I want to know how other readers think. What would you like to see, ask or postulate. Constructive criticisms are welcome too, I have thick skin. How will I learn if I don't listen?
  The most difficult hurtle for me to clear was defining my genre. I write about the human species' reaction to situations that occur in other universes, but I insist; I am a nature writer. We are just learning what the possible definition of nature could be. When I say "We", I mean the human species.
  What kind of a mess would you put us through in the future?
  Original is a nearly impossible concept, but achievable.
  I thank all of you for looking in. 1000 hits today. I'm having fun, are you? Don't be afraid to comment, especially you Paul, (a Working Guy). Don't be afraid of being a follower, you'll still be cool.

We're not all that special.

  So, we've discovered a new life form. Not alien life from another planet, not intelligent life, but life different than anything we've ever known before. Some say "What's the big deal? It's just bacteria, more money wasted studying pond scum".
  "Life as we know it." I've heard it a million times. Now I wonder what we'll say when we speculate about life on other planets.
  Extreamophiles are proving life can spring up using elements toxic to "Life as we knew it". Where we, and every other living thing on the planet, (up until this discovery was made) use phosphorus as part of our building blocks, this new bacterium uses arsenic instead of phosphorus.
  I can imagine some Sci-fi writer is at his computer right now developing a story about an intergalactic war between the Phosphorites and the Arsenicians. Gee, I hope the Phosphorites win.
  I can bet once we learn about the waste gases of this new life form, we will search for an abundance of this element on other planets and moons. I also bet this isn't the last unique form of life we find living on our own planet; we've just begun to learn where to look.
  I say it's money well spent.
  Check out the link and read the story that inspired this post. Thanks.

 


 

Evolution is not a four letter word.

  65 million years ago, a mass extinction event ended the reign of the dinosaurs. A little less than 65 million years ago, mammals could stay out in the sun and gorge themselves with less fear of predators. I guess you would stick around and eat a little more knowing this meal won't be your last.
  Evolution is easier to fathom when we think of anything other than man, so we won't go there...yet. When you think in the terms of millions of years, it is easy to imagine why a herbivore would develop a long neck. Everyone knows giraffes' necks are long so they can reach the leaves far from the reach of their competition. How about an aardvark, his snout grew to accommodate his diet. Marine mammals are one of the most amazing examples of evolution around.
  The hardest thing to grasp is the length of time needed for a species to evolve. I've been around forty nine years. How much of a slice is that out of a 65 million year old pie? My preferred slice of pie is about 15 million years big, unless its pumpkin with whipped cream on top, then only a 25 million year sized piece will do.
  There was another extinction event that some people might not know about. When was the last time you saw a giant sloth, woolly mammoth or a woolly rhino? Those animals no longer walk the earth, and they weren't dinosaurs. Fact is, some were around when we lived in caves, the drawings are on the wall.
  Take a look at the link 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20101125/sc_livescience/dinodemiseledtoevolutionaryexplosionofhugemammals
  Follow my blog. Thanks.

  

Does size matter, or does it antimatter?

  Before you read this post, look at the link at the bottom of the page. The scale of the universe will open your mind to what you take for granted, or what you've never thought of before.
  Now remember that both ends of the scale are from theory. Physicist can predict these things with mathematics. Their work is precise, and scrutinized by their colleagues.
  In between both ends are facts proven by the Hubble telescope and other land and space based observatories, as well as the CERN supercollider and other smaller colliders, (the later deals with sub-atomic particles).
  Science has discovered so much since I was in high school. Back then there were nine planets in our solar system, now there are eight. Planets orbiting other stars number 500 and climbing. Black holes are a fact and not just theory. The atom is more than just a proton, neutron and electrons. Electrons don't orbit the nucleus anymore, they flit in and out of existence giving the parallel universes theory its backbone.
  This is all nature. How can an observer not wonder about what we still haven't discovered? I want them to keep looking. Don't you? I'll try to keep you updated. Thanks for reading.

Blogging is a lot more exposier than a recluse wants.

  As a writer, naturally I would rather be alone than in the spotlight; but I guess that goes along with the job. My first realization as an aggressive blogger, was that I needed to draw as many friends, relatives and strangers to my site as I could; to prove to a literary agent or publisher that I could draw a following. In doing so, I have put my passion on the line for all to see. As a writer, I open my thoughts to the public. Think about that. When was the last time you have stood in front of a crowd, and spewed your guts out?
  What is written, is set in stone, No Takebacks!
  I like to tell stories, and I use science in most of them. Future post will involve something more interesting than me campaigning for your following. Hope you enjoy. Thank you.

  PS  Follow both my blogs... PLEASE, TELL YOUR FRIENDS. does this sound like begging? Am I permitted to beg?...WELL,... I'M BEGGING ...I'M NEW!

Disclaimer: "I'm not an expert, I just like science."

My new Foundations

  This weekend I helped my carpenter lay the concrete pad for the garage floor at my camp,(new home). Two small blemishes can be seen. One was caused by me, when the bull-float broke. (Not my fault, I swear.) The second was caused by the neighbor's cat. Its prints could be traced from one end to the other. I felt like a paleontologist looking at dinosaur footprints, trying to figure out if the cat ran or walked; and from where it came. My friend Chuck said I should tell everyone they were bobcat tracks. I determined the prints came from the black and white kitty that lived next door. It was the smaller of the neighbor's two pets. The other one was a calico cat twice the size of the kitten who made the pussy tracks in my garage floor.
  Funny story about the calico: one of the guys working at the camp left his driver's side window down. The cat climbed in to enjoy the warmth of the Sun. The van made it a mile down the road when both the cat and the driver discovered each other. He brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop, opened the door to throw the cat out, but the cat was three steps ahead of him. The look on his face as he described the incident can not yet be described by my ever developing writing skills, but trust me, I believed his story, even though I refused to see the scars on his inner thighs.
  "Oh that cat hates vehicles, she freaks out," my neighbor claimed, when I asked him if he had seen the calico cat recently.
  The cat came back, but now my carpenter's helper rolls up his windows no matter how hot it is.
  The moral of the story which has very little to do with cats is: Just because the top of the foundation may look a little skeptical, as long as you know the base is strong, those little imperfections can be worked out.
  Please follow my blog, I have some cool ideas, and if you'll let me, I'd love to entertain you. Thanks.

Expanding my Platform

  Speculating what the future might be like or could be like due to certain possible events, is basically what I did with my first two novels. You can read about my first novel "The Second Intelligent Species" by clicking the link.
  My second novel deals with a possible food source needed to feed an overpopulated planet in the next couple of hundred years. "Frozen Harvest" has been in the works since October 09. An example of how committed I am to the story, is the fact that on 12/5/09 I accidentally lost all 7000 words. I started from scratch and am now past where I was; the story seems better.
  Another project is a non fiction about the success of my son Christopher. "Call me Chris" is a true story about the life of a young man with Downs Syndrome. With the help of everyone who knows him, I will try to take the reader from his birth to present day where he lives independently with his sidekick Carlos, (a Mexican Chihuahua). This spring Chris played Amazing Grace on the piano at his grandfather's final services; his performance was flawless.
  Some say writers shouldn't jump genres, but this is a story that needs to be told. I want to answer some of those questions I had when Chris was born, for new parents who are asking the same questions themselves with the birth of their own new special needs child. I know I was looking for answers, and I bet they are too.
  I may set up a separate blog for each project in the future, for now my goal is to pick up followers on these two. Pass the word. Thanks.

 

Timeing is Everything!

           "Soon technology will prevent this from occurring, until then don't think it couldn't."
  Please answer a question before you check out the link that inspired this post.
  If a "Mass Extinction" sized comet or asteroid were discovered tomorrow, and we had a week to prepare for the inevitable impact, could we stop it? How about if we had a six month notice?
  There are several ideas on how to divert a threatening space rock. Let me rephrase that. Threatening space MOUNTAIN. Rocks just make pretty streaks of light in the night sky and are not threats. The comet or meteoroid that air-burst over Tunguska in 1908, leveling  2150 square kilometers of forest, now THAT was a rock.
  I'm talking about something about six to ten miles across. "Surely we know about everything that big floating around out there," you might say.
  Everything is such a big number. There are observatories (both Earth based and in orbit) detecting asteroids, finding new ones every day. There's a very large area to look at, and it will take a long time to find them all.
  I will step out on a limb to predict an object will be found within the next five years, which will impact the Earth in the future, and plans to deal with the threat will make headlines. I'm sure it will be a small one and not difficult to deal with. May be it will land in the ocean and won't cause any damage, but we'll have a ringside seat.
  I think small impacts happen more often than most people believe. If a small impact occurred twenty years ago in some remote area, it would not have been noticed. Now with the new technology, small threats will be forecast and observed.
  The odds we have missed an asteroid the size of the one that helped wipe out the dinosaurs are extremely high. The majority of those have been found and are being tracked.
  Now comets are another thing all together. Some of them orbit the Sun every few thousand years or longer. We might not have time to divert something we notice a year before it's due to hit. I wonder, if it was deemed to be something we couldn't avoid, would the authorities even notify us.
  Now check out the links below and see if we're as prepared as you thought we were.
  Don't forget to check out my other blog too, this is what my book is about.
  Also I am doing this to build my Platform, I need lots of followers. Thanks.


 



   
  

Lets all have a Star Party

When was the last time you went outside in the dark and looked up? If you follow this blog, one thing I insist on, is that you look up more than you did before you started to follow my work. It's not a high price to pay. Now if you live in an area flooded with artificial lights, your going to need to get out to the country a few times to get a good view of what nature has to offer.
Dig your binoculars out and look at the moon, see if you can find Jupiter or watch a meteor shower. Learn a constellation or two. I know several people who have telescopes to look at mountains, or binoculars to observe the occasional wild animal that ventures out of cover, but how many of them have pointed their optics up to the heavens? Those of us who love nature shouldn't limit our experiences to those below the upper atmosphere.
It's amazing to see the look on the face of somebody who's never seen the moon through a pair of binoculars. Its always been there, so why haven't they looked before?
What I'm trying to do is plant the seeds of science, tap into your natural curiosities.
November is when the Leonids make their annual appearance. Your best chance to see a falling star (meteors) can be at this short time. From what I can find, around November 17th is the night to be looking up. Although the best time is early in the morning on the 18th, I'm sure some will be observable the night of the 17th. Many will be faint, but at least you can say you participated and were successful.
One of my favorite memories of my youth is of a night when my whole family slept out in the front lawn without a tent. We lived in the country and the view was spectacular. It was one of those evenings that are rare in the summer: clear and warm. Other than the view, the two things I remember the most are: the conversations we had before we went to sleep, and the awe that swept over me as I remained awake while my family slept.
Teach your kids to look up.
To find out more about the Leonids, check out the link below.

The Price of Exploration

Imagine you have been selected as a candidate for a one way trip to Mars. Your name will be forever immortalized in the history books of both planets. Because of your selfless sacrifice, the human species will continue to exist and evolve should a catastrophic event make one planet inhospitable for life. Its always a good idea to have a Plan B.
Makes sense; but now how do you feel? Do you have enough hope and faith in the human species to give your life? Is it worth it? Setting the foundations for the next home of mankind will be your job until the day you die. Yes, it will take three or four generations, but it is necessary. The Earth will not be here forever, nor will our Sun. As a species, we must either spread out to other stars, or face extinction. Sooner or later it will happen, if we continue to be a one planet species.
You've studied your whole life. This mission is what you were born for, a chance to go to a new world. Giving up everything. Total sacrifice. Total bliss. An adrenaline high for the rest of your life.
What would you ask for in compensation for your sacrifice? Assure family, friends and charitable organizations are taken care of, of course. Its a given that schools and streets are going to be named after you. The first born child (boy or girl) for twenty years will bear your name.
Wouldn't it be nice to know that you will die on another planet far away from your loved ones, because your faith in the human species, was as strong as the faith it had in itself.
See the link below.

500th new planet.

Can you believe it? I remember when there were only Nine of them. At least there was when I was in high school. Yes now there are eight with the reclassification of Pluto; eight that orbit around our star we call the Sun. Now remember the moons that orbit those planets. There are over one hundred and fifty, with Jujpiter and Saturn owning over a hundred by themselves. Some of these contain oceans of liquid water covered by miles of ice. Water has been found on our Moon as well, in the form of ice. In fact its been found to be extremely common everywhere, even in asteroids, and especially in comets.
Now look what we're finding. 500 more? Most of those planets are super gas giants, some much bigger than Jupiter. Some orbit their star every few days making them unable to support any chance of life due to the extreme temperatures. So far the one most similar to our planet is still about three times the mass of Earth. Multiply your weight by three and see how long you walk around.
If our eight planets have over one hundred and fifty moons, how many would five hundred planets have?
Beave's Math class
Most stars have planets+ most planets have moons+ water seems to be everywhere+ life as we know it needs water to exist= the universe is flourishing with life.
I hope I live long enough for it to be proven.
Check out the link below.

No longer alone.

Since first setting up this site, a lot of things have happened. The group at the college turned out to be The Adirondack center for writing. Over the last year, I have attended several workshops in the Adirondacks; you couldn't ask for more beautiful venues. I've been to conferences where literary agents and authors teach how to improve the art of writing and also explain how the industry works.
I met Russ Galen (a literary agent Giant) at one conference. One thing he said we all needed, was a platform... well here goes nothing.
I would be happy to give my story about what I've learned about writing. Before I became a member of the center, I knew nothing about literature, writing, or getting something published once it was completed.
At the time of this posting I have three chapters, a one page synopsis and a bio to one agent in the northeast U.S. And Mr Galen... is looking at the whole manuscript. Even if he isn't interested, at least I feel my query letter caught his attention. And that's nothing to sneeze at.
Another subject will be here from time to time. Since my main genre is speculative science fiction, your going to see things about certain fields of science. No vampires, no elves. You won't see anything about zombies, dragons or trolls; just science news and maybe my take on it.
I hope my writing is always as close to scientific reality as possible.
The difference between science fiction writers and legendary sci-fi writers is: the latter was right about his foresight, in one parallel universe or another.