Timing Error

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY: BRUTE FORCE AND IGNORANCE

(A bit late to the game. I had my doctor's appointment today: good news is that all my labs are normal. I test well.)

Todays flash fiction story: Brute Force and Ignorance.

Space Captain Rey Donald, of the Outer Guard,  brought his ship, "Brute Force and Ignorance",  to a halt, just 100 km from Salvation Station. 

"All right, Rusty. That's close enough. Set up a channel with them and let's get down to business," he said.

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," his First Mate Rusty responded cheerfully.

Captain Donald looked at Salvation Station: a non rotating black cylinder over five hundred meters in length, Salvation Station was a recent addition to the moons of Saturn. Captain Donald had orders from Mars: 

A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT...

...A Throne in every living room.

I was digging around the intertubes looking for spare change when I came across, perhaps, the oddest tribute a deceased author on wikipedia. Asimov enshrined:

NEVER GIVE UP; NEVER SURRENDER

I think I heard that in Galaxy Quest, or something.

Congrats to Scott Adams getting published in the New Yorker, sort of...

Reminds me of a conversation I had with my dad, a couple of days ago: instant success usually takes a decade or two of work.

GOOGLE EARTH FOR IPHONE

I downloaded it and installed on my phone. Yes, it is all that. 

Pretty sweet.

WORSE THAN THE DENTIST: A VISIT TO THE ENT

I've had a mass on my neck for the better part of a year. It never got bigger or smaller and it never hurt. I went to see the doctor in Iraq and she said it was an inclusion cyst. Fair enough. 

I figured I'd get it cut out when I got home.

About two weeks ago, that sucker ballooned. I started referring to it as "my neck cancer" or "my twin brother". So I went back to the doctors, who sent me to the dermatologists who finally referred me to Ear Nose and Throat.  

Ouch.

Seeing the ENT is far from pleasant. The doctors were great; don't get me wrong. But between being opened up with a scalpel, having a needle stuck in to draw out the pus, the pressure as the doctor squeezed my largish pimple and having something 'packed' into the wound, I damn near passed out.

I have an MRI next week and they have enough of my pus to run tests, so it is a step forward. They are still doing differential diagnosis, but frankly I prefer a branchial anomaly to any type of lymphoma, if I can take my diseases a la carte.

And good lord, I am dreading the followup.

Pictures below the fold. (UPDATE: I stuck them below the fold to protect the semi squeamish. And of course, they show up in that preview thing up on the right. Dooh)

PHLEGMATIC

Despite the amusing, and petty, cutluralism, of our political class: I shall go on. My sovereign will be my sovereign.

And, with less than a week to go, the U.S. election will remain a fascinating example of the human dynamic.

Because, you know, we've got it like that.

USS THUNDER CHILD AND OTHER ORION BATTLESHIPS

Great site visualizing Orion Battleships. I'm a fan of Orions; they are something we could do, if not now, well, then soon (and essential ingredients for near future sci-fi).

Enjoy.

If the brute force and ignorance approach to space is not your cup of tea, there's always BamBam131's most excellent vision of the future.

EXCEPT FOR THAT WHOLE POTENTIAL TO KILL YOU THING...

...Apple has some pretty good products.

But damn, tighten up your shot group, guys and girls. Thanks to Gizmodo, I discover my 3G iPhone has the potential to:

A. Warp the space/time continuum.

B. Burn our house down.

After the iBook plug that went went poof and damned near burned a hole in our table; the MacBook plug that melted and is likely responsible for the burned out motherboard (ok, maybe the Iraqi 220 had something to do with that.); and now a deficient power supply for my iPhone.

Note to Apple: you have me heart and soul. Please stop trying to kill me. 

RANDOM SKETCH 1

RANDOM SKETCH 2

 

LILITH IN SPACE

Cribbed this awesome picture from DRB. 

I love long hair on women. My wife and I gently go back and forth on the length of her hair; I would like it long and she wants it functional. That's where I get ideas like this sketch I did for the Melpomene. Hair in space ought to be functional, right?

Enter Lilith:

Mephistopheles:
Adam's wife, his first. Beware of her.
Her beauty's one boast is her dangerous hair.
When Lilith winds it tight around young men
She doesn't soon let go of them again.

Man, you can do something bad as* with that. I need to noodle that thought a bit further.

One other note: from my homebrewed, rickety soap box, I often criticize NASA. I want them to go faster and bolder. Kickstart an actual Project Orion while the brain boys are figuring out the whole carbon nanotube thing.

That said, even I have to admit there is something achingly beautiful about what they do. Full range of Shuttle Pictures here.

I WANT

Pretty badas*.

WAY AHEAD OF YOU, DANISH DUDES

girl and ship
Originally uploaded by s.phred

From Futurismic:

We are currently developing a series of suborbital space vehicles - designed to pave the way for manned space flight on a micro size spacecraft.

Basically, "oneships".

I love it, even if it's at the half baked theory point right now. From my weak understanding of orbital mechanics, ninety percent of getting anywhere in this Solar System is just getting up into orbit.

I love the idea of slipping on a spaceship like an old shoe.

I hereby volunteer to be spam in a can (if anyone is, like, asking).

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY: THE SURGERY

(UPDATE: I spent of most of Thursday thinking today was Friday. Still on Iraq time, I guess.)

As always, more flash fiction here. Enjoy.

The Surgery

The trip to the doctor's office is long. 

It takes the patient almost an hour from her cube in north Puget City to her provider's office in the center; she is alone on the tube. Most folks think traveling an hour for anything is outrageous.

The patient is okay with that; she takes the tube all the way down and spends most of the time on her phone. She talks to her friends about her surgery: most are supportive; most have had it done; and most don't understand why she hasn't done it already.

AWAITING TRANSPORTATION

Awaiting transportation
Originally uploaded by s.phred

Last of my "Iraq Period". More to follow, once I get behind the mouse again.

FOR THE BUDDING NEAR AND FUTURE HISTORIAN IN YOU

Good hippocket stuff: The Alternate History Discussion Board.

DARK ROASTED BANG!!

Dark Roasted Blend has a great pictorial runddown of the Orion Nuclear Rocket.  The DRB team is also introducing a Scifi dedicated minisite. Lovely.

RING OF FIRE

Had some friends come over for my party: we all piled into some cars an went up to Mount Rainier. Rainier is what geoglogists describe as a "Big Fuc@#$% Mountain.

One of our friends is a semi local and knows more than a little about the ground exploding and the earth shaking (he's an Alaska native). We got a good education about lava and lahars. Worth remembering.

Ironically, Instapundit links to a wired mag look at a California quake; click over here for Wired's runddown of five potential hotspots. 

When the ring of fire blows, watch out; we have a hard enough time dealing with manufactured structural crisises. How we react when something real happens makes for a good thought piece.

(Sorry about the pic; Rainier was covered in fog the day we went. Still, interesting.)

THEY SAY ONCE YOU GO MAC...

...you never go back. In the caser of my wife and I, that's not a true statement. We went ahead and bought an HP Touch Smart for the house.

My redeployment treat.

Let's her run the games she likes and let's me continue to do my powerpoint drawings.

Resilience is good.

WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION

(Wherein the curtain is pulled back a bit)

 

Hey, all. By way of introduction, my name is Fred (same as the phonetic Phred) J. By the time you read this, I should be somewhere over the Atlantic heading home.

 My fifteen months in Iraq is up, and I am going home to take a knee.

TEMPUS RIDE-IT

tempus ride-it
Originally uploaded by s.phred

If I could make time go faster, I would. Bored.

See you soon, baby.

Book Proposal

Book Proposal
Originally uploaded by s.phred

Random, latest, from my flickr stream.

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY: A COLLECTION

A little something different. I've collected and ordered my flash fiction stories, bound them in the finest corinthian leather .pdf* and posted them here for your pleasure. 

The goal of my writing has been to flesh out a world I've had in my head. Each story represents some fragment of a consistent whole and I think by ordering them, that becomes more apparent. This world has a beginning and an end...as do all worlds.

I've uploaded my collection, Consent to Be Monitored, to scribd. For those that download and read, thanks in advance for your time. Please feel free to drop criticisms or comments down below or by email.

*To all the editors, typesetters and book binders out there: my hat is off to you.

MI AMORE

Mywife
Originally uploaded by s.phred

My wife went to a bike show and sent me some pictures. I liked this one so much, I did it up in toons: actually pretty close, if I may say so myself.

LOOKS ALOT LIKE MY CARTOONS

World's smallest man and world's leggiest woman:

flickr here

WAR BY PROXY

Or at least, by narrative:

Publicity, and significant input on the script. On Eagle Eye, that meant adding a character who "allowed us to depict the Air Force as being on the front lines of the war on terrorism," according to Colonel Francisco Hamm, who heads the air service's Hollywood efforts.

Geez.