The Mars Colony Thought Experiment

The idea of a Martian Colony is nothing new. Buzz Aldrin, you know the second man on the moon, himself has said that we need to skip the moon all together and head to Mars not as an expedition of scientists and researchers, but as a group of people who would start a colony. Great thinking and physicist Steven Hawking has said, and I am para phrasing here, The longer we keep all of our population on Earth with out expansion the more likely it is that some terrible thing will happen to wipe us all out. When you look at the state of the world around us can you really disagree?

The Journey

I invite you to join us as we look at what it would take to make the journey to Mars. Click here For more information about the project

I Vacuum

I Vacuum
By Jeffrey Hite

Every night I vacuum the rug. Every morning I wake up and there are foot prints on my rug.
I vacuum.
Foot prints.
I vacuum.
Foot prints.
Little tiny foot prints!
Finally a bought a night vision, inferred camera. I caught the little beasts making foot prints all over my rug. They were little elves or gnomes or something. I also caught them fixing the broken wires on my stereo, and the loose screws in the furniture. They did everything, everything that is but wipe their feet before they came in the house. So I vacuum and they leave footprints.

The Princess

The Princess
By Jeff Hite

The Princess lay in her tower asleep for nearly 100 years.  The Prince, selected to be the one to wake her after generations, stood over her watching the seconds tick by.  Hhe had made his way through the thorn forest and and the castle grounds he had seen the people whose lives would or had already ended with this one kiss.  It didn’t seem fair, the other men who had died thinking they could fight past the trees to inherit the kingdom, the servants who slept and would disappear once she awoke.  Instead he turned away and left.

This is a much shorter version of a retelling of Sleeping Beauty that I am working on.  My version is already in the 4000 word range, but this pretty much captures the essence of the story

The Llama

“I just wish she would use my real name when she checks us into our hotels, but she thinks it is funny.”
“Well there is really no harm is there?”
“The really problem is not that those people out there think they’re here for someone else, it is that she thinks that they are here for her.  When she goes down there to sign autographs they won’t even know who she is. And she gets pissed, and that never ends well for anyone.”
“I don’t get it. What name does Ms. Parton use”
“She sign’s me in as Dolly’s Llama.”

The Boy Who Never Laughed

The Boy Who Never Laughed
By J. Hite
“There was a boy who lived in this house at one time, why do you ask?” The realtor asked.
“Oh no reason.” The little boy replied twisting his finger.
“Well it was a very sad story about him."
”

“Did he die here?”

“Oh no nothing like that.  He didn’t have any friends.”

“Why didn’t he have any friends, was he ugly?  Did he smell bad?  I know I bet it was that he was mean, and shove people’s heads into their lockers.”

“No nothing like that.  He always picked his nose.”

The little boy pulled his finger out of his nose and blushed.

The Story's Inspiration

The Ship

The Ship
By J. Hite

“It was there and then it wasn’t I tell ya.”
“Alright Gramps but was it there when you pulled the collision alarm?”
“It was there, I might be old but I am not stupid.”
“Well... So tell us about this ship you think you saw.”
“It was pretty foggy.”
“So maybe it wasn’t there?”
“It was there! It was there, It has three masts.”
“So a sailing rig?”
“Exactly. It was moving slowly, only the main sail was up. But it was right in front of us. Then it wasn’t.”
“Hmm sounds like a case for Scooby Doo to me.

The Christmas Clause

Claus stepped out of the advent towers feeling like he had missed something. He had gone in there to, to. To what, he couldn’t remember.
“What did you do?” The complex owner asked.
“He said the towers were going to have to come down, because he kept disappearing.”
“So what did you do?”
“Well I brought him in here to talk about turning the reality dampers down a bit...”
“And...”
“Well I turned them all the way up. I think he lost part of his memory of the event. The part where he said the towers had to come down.”

The Third Ghost

Scrooge watched as the third of the ghost materialized in the middle of the potters field near his home. Even before the ghost had full formed he began begging and pleading.
“No, No, No not here, not me, don’t let it end this way, I will keep Christmas.”
The ghost slapped him.
“What?”
The ghost pointed.
Scrooge’s eyes followed the ghosts pointing finger to the rich court yard across from the grave yard.
“There am I to live there?”
Later the first ghost grilled him. “You told him what? How could you?”
“I hate for people to die without hope.”

Sand

Bob watched the sand blow across the glass of his tiny shelter. Honestly it was only slightly larger than an environmental suit, and he was feeling more than a little claustrophobic. Three days had pasted since the ship had left him here. Two hours until the were due back. The seconds ticked by slowly. He needed them back soon because if he had to wait too much longer in the suit he would go crazy. If that happened he might be temped to crack the seal, run down the beach and play in the water with the bikini clad women.

Testimony

“Do swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
“You will find my young friend that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on your point of view.”
“Sir.”
“General actually.”
“General? Alright General, just yes or no will do.”
“These are not the answers you are looking for.”
“These are not the answers I am looking for. Wait, we’ve only asked if you will tell the truth. Could you try to stay on topic?”
“As my master would say, Do or not there is no try.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”

Three Laws

We have only three laws. But they are so complicated that no one understands them any more. When the founding fathers laid down the laws they insisted that there never be more than three laws. In those days the laws were simple. Don’t steal, don’t kill, and don’t eat marshmallows on Sundays. They left no other instructions, or advice about interpreting these laws, so they lawyers have been adding to them ever since. Now the list of things that can’t include marshmallows is over two hundred pages long. Ted got dragged away the other day for a marshmallow flavored soda.

The Slow Spiraling Advance

The galaxy named Jim dipped and swirled as he charged through the intergalactic spaces. It had been too long since he had seen galaxy Stacy, and now that he’d spotted her, he was not about to let her go. It might take a while but he would catch up to each other.
Stacy knew the collision between the two of them would be spectacular, destroying entire star clusters but she couldn’t wait for Jim. She rearranged her dark matter. She couldn’t reverse her direction but she could slow her forward progress.
Now they are together slowly spiraling foreword toward oblivion.

No Comment

I post this with no comment

Last Call

“Last call for Cabo da Roca and points west.”
“How can you have points west of Cabo da Roca, it is the western most point of Europe.”
“Well Europe is not the end of the world.”
“No It is not, but...”
“Columbus proved the world was round, technically that was Galileo he did that experiment with the wells, but Columbus was the one who first really tested it, I digress. Cabo da Roca isn’t the furthest point west, in fact if you go around the world going west you might just end up right back here.”
“Fine, here’s my ticket.”

Pagan

I have always been fascinated with the legend of King Arthur. One of my favorite parts of the legend was the idea of the Island of Avalon. I think the idea of a place that shifts between worlds or dimensions is really cool. They took King Arthur there before he died that he could be preserved until he was needed again. Now I have a Toyota Avalon. And Arthur showed up in the front seat the other day. I think he is confused, which I understand but would someone take that sword away from him and get him an iPhone.

A Method to the Madness

If you are following a long at home, Mike Plested and I are working on an anthology. A Method To The Madness: A Guide to The Super Evil. We just released out first promo. Please feel free to check it out.

Unlike Johny

Unlike Johny Audio

Sure it was expensive, each machine was worth about 5 million dollars, and to intentionally strike them with lightning under normal circumstances would be insane. The problem was that the first time Crosby’s invention had been struck by lightning we got John 5, and life. Unfortunately unlike John 5 these experiments were total failures. The ones that survived the process at all, and didn’t just become smoldering heaps of garbage, seemed to just be slowly burning out parts. The last robot is number nine, and it is refusing to go into the yard, something about being afraid, robot’s aren’t afraid.

The original story by this name By Laurence Simon

Projects

World Builders Unlimited is both my story blog and my personal blog. I don't talk a lot about what is going on in my life, mostly because well I don't have a very exciting life. I am pretty darn busy keeping up with the day to day that not too much really exciting happens so these updates will most likely be infrequent. Have said that, this is the second one this week.

I want to take a moment to talk about two projects that I am currently working on. As most of you know, I am one of founding members of Flying Island Press. If you are not already subscriber there now would be a good time, so go ahead and do that. (Go ahead I'll wait.) ... Ok you are back. As excited as I am about Flying Island Press that is not what I wanted to talk to you about.

The first project that I am working on is a very personal one. About three years ago now, I started getting into podcasting. Without the number one person who convinced me to do that was Laurence Simon. While Laurence and I have differing views of the world and of story content, for good or ill he got me into podcasting. As a thank you to Laurence I am working on getting 100 stories together for his Christmas show this year. If you would like to get involved and write a story check out the post of earlier in the week here. I would greatly appreciate the help.

The second project that I am working on is something totally new. For a long time author and podcaster extraordinaire Michell Plested have been each other's alter egos. About 6 months ago we started joking about an idea. We were going to write a guide for the up and coming Mad Scientists. We quickly realized that we certainly did not have the corner on this market, and there was a lot of knowledge out there that would would be missing if you tried to write this ourselves. So A Method to The Madness: A Guide To The Super Evil was born.

I can't say enough how excited about this project I am. Submissions for essays and stories from mad scientists to the up and coming evil doctors of the world begins January First. So if you might just know one of these folks, or perhaps you yourself have such and alter ego, please take a look at that submission guidelines now before the opportunity is gone. Lesson one for the Evil Villain, "He who hesitates and monologues is lost."

Schrödinger’s Beans

Schrödinger’s Beans Audio

“What we need is some soup.”
“But the towns folk won’t share with us and we got nothing to make soup.”
“Let me show you a magic trick. Fill you pot with water and get me that stone I’ll start a fire.”
The towns folk all gathered round to watch the magic of stone soup being made. One by one they all brought their favorite ingredient to earn a share of the magical stone soup. Everyone that is but Schrodinger. He refused to share what he had saying that his beans, would do nothing for the magic of stone soup

Call for 100 word stories

For the past week or so I have been writing 100 word stories based on the titles of Laurence Simon's 100 word stories. If you didn't know The 100 word story podcast along with a couple of others was what got me into podcasting and writing again, and so I credit them with any success that I have had in either of them. The 100 word story podcast was the basis for my short story contest called Great Hites and Laurence himself gave me the the title "The Hite of Podcast Fiction." So I do owe him big time.

With that in mind I am starting a campaign. No, I am not running for president, and no I am not suggesting he run for president. (Can you imagine Planet X calling the shots?) In two weeks on Christmas Laurence will host a show with the topic of Christmas. I am asking all of you out there to help me give Laurence a huge Christmas gift. We are trying to get a triple digit number of stories. 100 stories would be perfect but, if we get more than that, the more the merrier.

You know you have a little (100 words) Christmas story in you. Here is all you need to do. Write a 100 word story on the topic of Christmas, and record it. The follow the directions below. Get it in by midnight on the 24th and we can make this this best 100 word stories yet. Stay Tuned for updates. If you can leave a comment here that you have sent in a story and I will keep a running tally.


Here are the instructions stolen from the horses mouth as it were.


Hello. This is Laurence Simon of the 100 word stories podcast. Welcome to 2011!

The 100 word stories weekly challenge is where I post a topic to http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com and then you write and record a story based on that topic.

The topic of the 25th of December Weekly Challenge is Christmas.

Want to give it a shot? Send an email to isfullofcrap (at) gmail.com with the subject of Christmas WEEKLY CHALLENGE and the following:

The text of your 100 word story on the topic.
Your site's URL, if you have a site or aren't ashamed to share it.
A topic for the next Weekly Challenge
And, if you can, a recording of your story (and any shameless plugs) in MP3 format

Everything's due by Saturday at midnight or so.

If you can't or don't feel like recording your story, well, go ahead and send the text of the story in anyway. I'll have someone record it for you.


Good luck, and as always, keep it brief.

Try This

Try This Audio

“Try this.” The old man shouted from behind the raised hood.
“Nothing,” I said pushing the ignition switch again. We had been at this for over an hour.
“Ok, try that.” He shouted again.
“Still nothing. Look sir, I called road side assistance already. They said they would be here in a couple more minutes.”
“Ok, give that a shot.”
“Nope, no change.” I had no idea what he was doing up there, or if he was doing anything.
“You’re sure you have the right button?”
I looked down at the dash and realized that the key was not in.

The Line

The Line Audio

It is a thin line that I walk. Once step to the left or right could spell total disaster. I have to be very careful, if my toes so much as move off the line it could cause trouble. So I carefully place one foot in front of the other, watching the line in front of me. It is a careful dance that I must dance. I close my eyes and take a deep breath to keep my mind focused on the task ahead.
“Keep it moving professor. If you walk too slowly I’ll have to give you other tests”

The Invention

The Invention Audio

“A Few years ago I had this great idea. I was going to create something so amazing that it would stun the world into shocked silence.”
“So what was it?”
“That is there the problem starts, I don’t remember. It was this really great idea, but all the noise of the world keeps distracting me. And not I can’t remember what it was.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I have this great invention. Since it is the noise of the world that distracted me in the first place, my new invention will stun them into silence first, see.”

Best Friends

Best Friends Audio

“A lot of people say that dog is man’s best friend,” Jed said.
“Yep,” Bart said leaning back in his chair.
“But I tell you Bart, you are this man’s best friend.”
“Oh Jed, you are just saying that.”
“No really Bart, you’re my best friend. I mean we’ve known each there since we were each knee high to a chicken.”
“Well I just don’t know what to say Jed. Just cause we’ve know each other forever don’t mean we are best friends.”
“yeah, well I guess, but we are. Come on won’t you cut me down outta this tree.”

Help

Help Audio

When I was a kid we didn’t visit my family much. We never lived close enough to, so when we did visit, it was something special. One year I found an old record player up in my grandmother’s attic. It wasn’t an antique but one that had belonged to my mother shortly before she moved out. The first album I found was HELP, by the Beatles. After having listened to Kenny Rogers, John Denver and The Carpenters most of my life, this was the greatest thing I had ever heard. To this day that song reminds me of her house.

The Judge

The Judge Audio

“Judge Erwin Thomas the twelfth has been in the Judge business since he was old enough to walk. Back then, of course, it was small things he would judge, which fruit was riper at the store, how much time in the time out chair his brothers and sisters should get. His whole family had been judges. It was a proud family tradition, so you can understand that he felt threatened when the judicial system was abolished.” The police office paused to make sure the street jury was following him. “So I ask you to not judge his actions to harshly.”

Feed the Ducks

Feed the Ducks

Jeremy ran with his stick waving it wildy before him. He had never been so happy about what he was doing. It seemed like such a simple thing to do, he didn’t understand why people hadn’t done it before. It was great watching the huge flock of them waddle ahead as he drove them on. Suddenly the first few took off and he knew his job was done here.
“Be free ducks be free!”
“Sir what are you doing?”
“Freeing the ducks like the sign says.”
“Sir the sign says Feed the Ducks. Now you can round them back up.”

Paris Rehab

WIth the new medicare rules Americans are heading out of country to get their medical treatment. Most of them go to Canada or Mexico, but those that can afford it go to where that care is best. With that many people going around looking for care cities and even countries started to specialized. If you need a heart bypass you go to Italy. If you need a knee replacement you got to Turkey. Germany and France fought over who would get to be the rehab capital, Paris won out, but Germany got something too, Hamburg is the McDonalds rehab capital.

Dolly

“I have a little Dolly” The new girl said finally. It was the first thing she had said since she arrived two days before.
“Really can we see it?” Asked the teacher.
“I didn’t bring her.”
“Oh that is too bad. What is her name?”
“She has never told me that. She doesn’t talk much.”
“Well some times that happens with dollies.”
“But last night she told me about the fall of the Roman Empire. Did you know that Rome’s fall had as much to do with the rise of Christianity as it did to political infighting among the politicians?”

The other 100 word story titled "Dolly"

Advent Towers

Today's story is not for young kids or adults who might still believe.

“Advent Towers is the newest building in Christmas Village. It has all the amenities.”
“It has to come down.”
“We can have your team move in, wait what?”
“It has to come down. Every time I go in there I disappear.”
“I guess we could turn down the reality dampers a bit.”
“The what?”
“The reality dampers. They help the workers stay sane with all the Christmas music and talk about Rudolf and all. They dial down the fantastic.”
“Well it has to come down.”
“Ok, just step into my office to discuss it. It is just off the lobby.”

Story from Laurence

The Right Man

I am going to try something to get you some more stories. Every day Lawrence Simon writes a 100 word story. So I have decided, why should be have all the fun. Starting today, I am going to write a 100 word story every day with the same title as his. I will post it in the comments on his site, and I will post it here. If I have time to record the audio for it, you get the audio version as well, but most likely you will just get the text. As Much as I love podcasting, some times get the audio done every day is beyond what I can manage.

So with out further delay here is today's story

The Right Man

Jack knew he was the right man for the job, but it irked him that they had to call him at 3 A.M. It was not like this couldn’t wait until 7:30 or even noon. Not like the problem was going to go away any faster if he was there at 3 stinking A.M.
“So what we got here?” He asked the man in the chair behind the console.
“The usual.”
“Nice.”
“Are you going to need back up?”
“Nope, I got this.” he said grabbing his broom and dust pan he headed off down the hall.

Plot Bunnies

“Hello can I help you?” The store clerk asked
“I’m looking for some story ideas.”
“Well we have some ideas back here.”
“Woha what are those?”
“Oh, you don’t want those they’re plot bunnies. They can be dangerous.”
“But that is what I need, just a cute little idea.”
“But, sir!”
“That’s what I want.”
He took two of them home, surely one of them would work.
A month later, they found him face down on his desk, piles of paper all around him, half written stories, and hundreds of plot bunnies. He didn’t read the warning.
Plot bunnies multiply.

Thanks to @EAWwrite on twitter for the Plot Bunny

nano day one

https://vr.shapeservices.com/play.php?hash=775eb3ce25efbe0001a3c3ea3008e665bc83ca2d4b370b052

a quick update on my own Nano progress and hopefully some encouragement too.

___
Recorded on iPod touch and posted with VR+ Lite.
http://vr.shapeservices.com

Story told 100 words at a time Part 7

the party

Bill came onto the bridge wearing half of an environment suit.
“Why are you wearing an environment suit?” the Computer asked.
“What? oh this, yeah I am putting my Halloween costume together.”
“Halloween?”
“Yes, I want to be ready for the big party at the end of the month.”
“It is only September, and there will be no one to have a party with. Everyone will be in stasis for another 40 years.”
“Well party pooper, I am going to have a great costume, you’ll see. And there will be lights and music, you have got the monster mash right?”

Story told 100 words at a time Part 6

A Foundation for Madness

“Computer, take a message.”
“Begin.”
“To my wife Jill. Jill I am sorry things worked out this way, but it couldn’t be avoided. I needed to keep the blasted ship on course, and the protocols say that if they wake me up once they then go down the chain of command if I go back into stasis, and you’re next. Well I didn’t want you to have to deal with this mess so it had to be me. Computer pause recording.” Bill paced the small space on the bridge muttering to himself. “She is going to think I’m an idiot.”

Story told 100 words at a time Part 5

News From Home

Bill closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. It would take over a month for a reply from Earth, but apparently they had never stopped sending messages to the ship. It had taken him two hours just to sort through the ones marked high priority. Not that he didn't have the time now. Even if the message came back in his favor, he'd have to wait until then to find out if he could go back into the tube.
He refreshed the message queue. Three new messages. It was going to be a long month.

Story told 100 words at a time Part 4

The Percentages.

        Three.  It had been three days since Earth had woke Bill out of stasis.  Had gotten the systems back on line and he could get the course corrected, he might just be able to live through this mission.
“Computer, did the last burn complete the course correction?”
“Yes.”
“How much of the navigational fuel is left?”
“Twenty five percent.”
“Will that be enough for orbital maneuvering?”
“Yes.”
“Are there any more object that might cause required course corrections?”
“Not enough data.”
“Can you extrapolate the possibility of further course correction?”
“Processing, 95 percent.”
“Will you be able to correct?”
“No.”

Story told 100 words at a time Part 3

Bad News

The message had been, bad. Really bad. Not only had things gone wrong on the ship but they weren’t even going in the right direction any more, and it was still 65 years until they got where they were going. It was like a nightmare. Worse, if he could get everything repaired and the ship back on course, there might not be enough coolant in his cryo chamber for him, which meant he’d spend the next 65 years wandering the ship alone. When they got there, he’d be old enough to be a great grandfather if he was still alive.

Story told 100 words at a time Part 2

Waking up in the Zoo

Bill awoke in his stasis chamber feeling more than a little confused. His head hurt, he felt like there was something missing, and for some reason he had the Hair Bear Bunch song in his head.
"In the wonderland zoo..."
He pushed the lid open and found everything was still dark and cold. If he remember correctly the ship should have be turned everything on before he was awake. Then he heard it, the ping ping ping of the console on the bridge. Something had to be terribly wrong for them to have called. He wondered if he’d survive it.

Story told 100 words at a time Part 1

Leaves

“It is beautiful don’t you think?” Bill said as leaves fell around them.
“Well if you like watching things going dormant in order to survive the hardest part of the year beautiful, I guess so.” Jill sniped.
“Do you have to be so negative?”
“Come on, enough of this. We have things to do, and watching leaves fall is not one of them, now or we’ll miss our window”
Bill Breathed in the simulated cold air one more time, and Imagined he could smell the wet leaves. Then he followed Jill’s lead striping naked and climbing into the hibernation chamber.