Ice, the Final Frontier...

The science of our exomoon and its race's launching in to space aside for the moment, let's delve into some of the dialog of the Garums and start to flesh them out a bit. The following, of course, is just a rough translation. We obviously cannot translate all the nuances of their skin color changes and the scents that are wafting through the waters. This is just the dialog--we'll create/name/describe the characters to have the dialog some other time.

"We need to get up there somehow and explore! Our [Not totally translatable -- roughly, it is "Tribal Exploration of Things Above the Surface Agency"] needs to get us out there and find out what those lights are! It has been too long since we last broke the Surface."

"Have you not noticed? The Tribes no longer care about the Surface. We have other problems. There are too many mouths to feed, and not enough food. Homelessness is rising."

"That is my point! Perhaps there is food in those lights. But we'll never find out if we do not explore. Plus working for the [Rough translation -- "Agency"] will give resources to the homeless to be able to afford a home. "

"But the [Rough translation -- "Money"] to do this would be better utilized feeding the masses--and creating homes for the homeless, now, not later. The [literal translation is "Fry" -- most likely means children/young] need energy to grow."

"There is energy out there--those pinpoints of light. Light is an energy. When we first broke the surface, the whole Tribe stood holding its [Not totally translatable -- roughly it means, "Breath" but not quite breath since their gills gather oxygen from the water]. It was a triumph for the Tribe! What can we not continue that feeling?"

"The Tribe has lost interest. No one wants to spill resources into boredom."

"But success beyond the surface would generate interest and cancel boredom."

"Doubtful. No one cares about beyond the surface. They care about energy for the Fry."

"We can discover new energy sources through our experiments beyond the surface."

"That's just it -- it's all 'experiments.' We don't need or want any more experiments. We want solutions. No one cares about experiments."

"But the experiments provide results. We need to use our resources to gain more resources. Those resources are beyond the surface!"

"The answer is no. Tribal opinion is negative towards your goals."

Somewhere in here the "Lights Are A Myth" Garum would start trouble for further exploration, too.

Imagine someone who truly wants to go into space (Beyond the Surface) and gets slammed into the wall of public apathy--contempt for anyone who even thinks that the resources are worth spending on exploration. Perhaps even disgust. The resources are being wasted on those experiments and exploration.

So our Garums space explorers find that public (or Tribal) opinion is against them. Would they then turn to private enterprise? Using entrepreneurs to gain the "Surface" and beyond? Would the lure of resources for private ownership drag them up out of the seas and beyond to the stars?

Back to the science of discovering the stars . . . a friend of mine (who we shall refer to as "Thanatos" for reason obvious only to Lairites) made a comment on Facebook (after this inane blog reposted the previous entry there as a note) that as the ice expanded it might lift off the surface of the water. Thanatos conjectured that brave explorers might have then broken the surface tension and travelled on top of the water, discovering that the ice barrier extends both above and below the water's surface, yet having different properties on either side. He continued that the ice is most readily broken where the ice itself is brightest beneath. Thanatos also pointed out that breaking the ice barrier for the first time would have been equivalent to us finally breaking the speed of sound with the Bell X-1.

He also suggested that as a twist, the atmosphere might become lost or tainted when the ice was broken.

At that point I wrote asking what ramifications such a loss might be--and would it bother this aquatic race at all? They breath water through their gills, after all. And as for a loss of atmosphere, would it bring the surface down to near vacuum, thus rendering the surface unfit for exploration?

On that point, since they would be going into what to them would be vacuum anyway once they left the water, wouldn't they have some sort of suit and breathing apparatus to leave the water? Therefore, a lack of atmosphere at this point would have no real ramifications to them other than actually assisting in their exploration in a lack of the horrific winds that normally are found on the surface.

On It Being 2010...

I completely blew off 2009, blogging-wise. Nu.

I still haven't gotten in to the whole blogging thing (as you can plainly see). I haven't the foggiest why I brought it up now anyway. I didn't even have a bookmark for it in my Firefox--I had to search for it.

Well, here I am. On my third straight day of not being at work due to low temperatures. Thanks, Mr. "Internet-Creating," "Global Warming, Fear Mongering," Roboto (also known as Al Gore. No really, watch him move. He is a robot in disguise!). The sub-freezing temperatures that are drastically digging in to my paycheck this week have to be your fault. I don't have any scientific data to back this up. But then, you didn't have any real data to back up your global warming nonsense, either.

So it's 2010. The local economy is slowly climbing up out of the hole that it fell in to when Hope & Change got sworn in. The rest of the country may have been in a tail spin prior to that, but our local oil-driven economy had been doing fine until that event.

I have zero faith in the US Bashing politico currently in the White House, or the wicked witch that heads up the House of Representatives (does that make him one of her flying monkeys? No, no--no need to lambaste me for being a racist. It's not a racist remark. It's a movie reference. Not everything has to be about the color of his skin. Get over yourself). He needs to spend more time fixing (or at lest trying to fix) our country, and less time showboating around the world, bowing to foreign leaders and telling them how sorry he is for what a rotten nation we've been. But this is just my opinion . . . .

Hey, Hope & Change: if you don't like it here, leave. I won't miss you in the least. I promise. As for She-Who-Pulls-Your-Leash . . . that woman is delusional. I mean, c'mon--health-care reform as her Christmas present to the country? (Would someone please point me to the returns department for that gift?)

No, I'm not going to go off on a rant about the whole state of our current government with footnotes and charts, and videos about what a group of incompetents they are. Suffice it to say they are over paid and out of touch with the nation. Let's lump those four sycophant news networks in with them, too. (NBC, ABC, CBS, & CNN in case you're out of touch with reality.) We'll close out this thought with the hope promised by the date January 20, 2012!

Now, about 2009 . . . the economy tanked. So what did I do? Started my own business. Tada! Been There Photography is born! Support the arts. By my stuff. It'll look good on your wall. Might even cover up the hole you punched when you figured out you were bamboozled in the last presidential election.

My boy finished his tour in Baghdad safely. Thank you, Father! I'm believing that will be his last deployment. Hmm, that brings us back to Hope & Change and broken promises. I hope he'll change this.

My daughter returned from L.A. to help me run what is now a family business. (Did I mention that I want you to buy my stuff?) The bad part about this is that I now have to remember to put on a robe when I get up in the middle of the night.

So what is ahead for 2010? Hopefully the temperatures will rise enough that I can actually go to work this coming Monday. Hopefully my own business will take off. (PLUG: Buy my stuff!) Hopefully the government will get their act together and do something that actually helps the nation, and not just themselves. (Hey, I do write Science Fiction, after all!)

On the subject of science fiction--has anyone told the SyFy channel that they created a name that sounds like a social disease? And while I'm at it, your made-for-TV movies r teh phail. I mean, Megafault? C'mon! That was a Megafail. And wrestling does NOT belong on the siffy channel--no matter how you spell it.

Do go see movie Avatar in 3d. Awesome movie if you treat it as a really cool story with spectacular CG effects, and not the latest in a series of Hollywood endeavors to promote the new Liberal Progressive's villain: the Capitalist.

Speaking of Capitalists, did I mention that I have my own business selling my fine art photography?

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