Kurt Vonnegut - Some Writing Advice

Submitted by cvining on

Kurt Vonnegut

original posting was on this site

Eight rules for writing fiction:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.

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Fundamental Forces

Submitted by cvining on

 

Fundamental Forces

From This Guy, who says it's OK if I post his comics here, which sounds maybe more special than it really is since he says anyone can do it, but still I like to think he knows who I am and said to himself "sure, this cvining.com guy is cool and I'm pleased as punch he posts my comics on his website."

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A bowling ball and a feather walk into a vacuum chamber...

Submitted by cvining on

"Physicist Brian Cox of the BBC Two program Human Universe recently visited the world’s largest vacuum chamber at NASA’s Space Power Facility outside of Sandusky, Ohio, to demonstrate the effects of air on falling objects. In the video, a feather and bowling ball are dropped at the same time in normal Earth conditions and after the air has been removed from the room.

"Source: http://laughingsquid.com/a-feather-and-a-bowling-ball-dropped-together-i...

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Asteroid's hit earth regularly

Submitted by cvining on

From the B612 Foundation:

Between 2000 and 2013, a network of sensors that monitors Earth around the clock listening for the infrasound signature of nuclear detonations detected 26 explosions on Earth ranging in energy from 1 to 600 kilotons – all caused not by nuclear explosions, but rather by asteroid impacts. These findings were recently released from the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which operates the network.

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Hank's Way

Submitted by cvining on

This morning there came a knock at my door.  Upon answering, I found a well-groomed, nicely dressed couple.  The man spoke first:

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I think I can, I think I can

Submitted by cvining on

Here's an idea. Use electric trains to pull very heavy loads uphill during periods of low electricity use. Then, when you need it, let gravity pull the mass back downhill generating electricity. Will it scale to the power levels actually needed? I dunno, but it's an interesting (and apparently old) idea.

Read about it in the March 25, 2014 issue of Scientific American.

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