Torn MacAlester's Blog, page 5
February 18, 2024
From Torn’s Timeline of Events: Y+1
Y+1by Torn MacAlester This morning on the Night Watch Live AM, we are speaking with Nick in Montana, who’s been living inside of the blast zone of Yellowstone since the explosion last year. Nick, we have a caller on line two, are you ready for questions from the audience? “Go ahead Sam,” I said, pouring myself another cup of coffee. “I’m ready.” I’ve got Cooter from Texas on the line. Cooter, you’re live with Sam Dean on Night Watch AM and Nick from Montana. “Hey yeah Nick, this is Cooter. Ya doin’ all right?” “I can’t complain Cooter, what is […]
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image">
[image error] [image error]
[image error]
[image error]
window.addEventListener("sfsi_functions_loaded", function() { if (typeof sfsi_widget_set == "function") { sfsi_widget_set(); } }); Available Now Fabulae Lunae 1Thunder Moon Tussle [image error]
The post From Torn’s Timeline of Events: Y+1 appeared first on Torn Macalester.
February 16, 2024
From Torn’s Timeline of Events: The Soldier
The SoldierBy Torn MacAlester Image generated by Torn MacAlester using GIMP 2.10.2 with Stable Diffusion AI add on. The Soldier Y+0 Granger realized that the whirlwind month had ended as he headed to the Greyhound bus, hoping to see if he could get a trip. According to the sergeant in the discharge barracks, his chances of getting a home trip to Wyoming were next to nothing. He had the Army travel voucher and four hundred bucks in cash–enough to last maybe two weeks, if his luck held. In the hazy twilight, he made note of the limousine pulled up along […]
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image">
[image error] [image error] window.addEventListener("sfsi_functions_loaded", function() { if (typeof sfsi_widget_set == "function") { sfsi_widget_set(); } }); Available Now Fabulae Lunae 1Thunder Moon Tussle [image error]
The post From Torn’s Timeline of Events: The Soldier appeared first on Torn Macalester.
February 14, 2024
Budding Author Podcast
Thank you Simon Ward for the wonderful discussion on the Budding Author Podcast. I look forward to talking again.
The post Budding Author Podcast appeared first on Torn Macalester.
December 17, 2023
From Torn’s Timeline of Events: The Mountain
The MountainBy Torn MacAlester Original Photo by Jose Vega from Pexels. Modified to grayscale and blurred using GIMP. I sighed, looking at the grey landscape, trying to estimate the direction to the cabin. I abandoned the mountain, like everyone else, when the ash fell. They didn’t expect us to get a lot, but they encouraged everyone to move south if they could, and I could. I loaded the jeep and headed down the mountain and headed south to New Mexico with a relative. After about six weeks, I’d worn out my welcome, and I returned home. Now I […]
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> Coming Soon Fabulae Lunae 2Mask of the Joyful MoonBy Torn MacAlester [image error] Available Now Fabulae Lunae 1Thunder Moon Tussle [image error]
The post From Torn’s Timeline of Events: The Mountain appeared first on Torn Macalester.
December 16, 2023
From Torn’s Timeline of Events: Drive to Houston
Drive to Houston by Torn MacAlesterTime to go, the alarm indicated. Jacob Conner dreaded the announcement, regarding it as a horrible turn of events. It meant he needed to get to Houston to support the space station for NASA. As a lead Astronaut, it was his job, forcing him to make the commutes from his home in Dallas. I hate this drive to Houston, thought Jacob. The trip from Dallas to Houston had always been difficult, but now, in the falling ash of Yellowstone, it neared impossible. The ash was everywhere since the explosion. Nothing escaped it. Ash wreaked havoc on cars, clogging up windshields, […]
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> Coming Soon Fabulae Lunae 2Mask of the Joyful MoonBy Torn MacAlester [image error] Available Now Fabulae Lunae 1Thunder Moon Tussle [image error]
The post From Torn’s Timeline of Events: Drive to Houston appeared first on Torn Macalester.
December 9, 2023
From Torn’s Timeline of Events: Sins of the Sun
Sins of the SonPhoto by Brett Sayles from Pexels Sins of the Son By Torn Macalester
“Did you hear it?” The patient asked over the cacophony of emergency equipment as the doctor worked on him and six other patients that were nearly as bad. “Hear what?” The doctor asked, placing the gauze pads over the burns. “Make sure we clear his lungs. We need a scope in him as soon as possible.” “She’s singing to us.” “What is she singing?” Doctor answered, looking at his eyes. One seemed burned, but the other remained clear. Triage put him in the urgent category, but the billionaire made everything […]
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> Coming Soon Fabulae Lunae 2Mask of the Joyful MoonBy Torn MacAlester [image error] Available Now Fabulae Lunae 1Thunder Moon Tussle [image error]
The post From Torn’s Timeline of Events: Sins of the Sun appeared first on Torn Macalester.
November 17, 2023
Coming Soon
The sequel of
Fabulae Lunae 1Thunder Moon Tussle [image error]The post Coming Soon appeared first on Torn Macalester.
November 15, 2023
Coming Soon…Fabulae Lunae 2Mask of the Joyful MoonBy Torn...
The sequel to Thunder Moon Tussle
The post appeared first on Torn Macalester.
November 12, 2023
The Well: A New Vignette by Torn MacAlester
“This man claims to have built a wormhole,” said Mark Mason, pointing to the paper, then glancing back at the video camera.
“I seriously doubt he has,” said Doctor Vogelmann. “Such a thing would be highly unstable and require massive amounts of energy to produce. One does not produce such a thing in one of the biggest laboratories on Earth, let alone in the basement.”
“He claims to have one and is willing to have me look at it.”
“Then, sir. I recommend you bring me along to evaluate it.”
“That’s what I prefer,” said Mark, leaning closer to the camera.
“There is a however coming. I sense it.”
“Very perceptive, Doctor. There is a however.”
“I knew it,” she said.
“It’s a matter of financial security, Doctor.”
“I get it. You won’t want investors or competitors to be aware of your activities yet. You’re afraid that they’ll pull the rug out from under you if they get a hint of what you are doing.”
“That’s the gist of it,” said Mark.
“You really need to give me an explanation someday. With your money, I suspect success is enough to keep the money flowing.”
“Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Success means that the investors become risk adverse.”
“True,” the Doctor said. “Your investment with me will raise some eyebrows regarding risk. Few believe that FTL is possible.”
“You’ve already said that you know it is.”
“I do. In fact, it is a well-grounded the theory.”
“A fact you always bring to my attention,” said Mark, feeling the irritation cross his nerves. “Though you’ve yet to prove any of it.”
“You know, I’ve explained why that will take some time. You are persistent and I now have some tools we need to prove it available now. It is only a matter of time.”
“That’s good.”
“Yes, it is,” she agreed.
“In the meantime. I need to know what to look for to evaluate this man’s supposed wormhole.”
“Well, I expect to see a face staring back from the bottom of a well.”
“You’re joking,” exclaimed Mark.
“Yes. If there is a face staring at you, I’m certain it is a scam.”
“Why in the world would he do that?”
“He heard the rumor,” she said.
“What rumor?”
“The one about you seeing a face in the mine when Yellowstone blew.”
“Doctor,” said Mark, suppressing the urge to get angry. “I appreciate the attempt at humor, but you don’t know what you are talking about.”
Gerd Altmann from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> The post The Well: A New Vignette by Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
November 8, 2023
First Contact: An Article By Torn MacAlester
First contact is one of the mainstay themes of science fiction. In fact, it would not surprise me if it was the most common theme in all science fiction. To the scientist in me, I’d like to understand many of the aspects of first contact and figure out what the most likely case of contact would be. Thus, I undertook this analysis to estimate what I might do for my world building for my stories. First off, in science fiction, we have cases where there are both slower than light travel and faster than light (FTL) travel. So, I will need to make assumptions about FTL that are not supported under our current understandings that would allow us to build one. The Alcubierre warp drive is a captivating theory rooted in Einstein’s general relativity equations. However, whether this is possible has yet to be determined. Another solution that is rooted in general relativity is the so-called wormhole, or Einstein/Rosen Bridge. This is literally a portal to another point in spacetime that remains theoretical. So, for the FTL cases, I will assume either warp drives or wormholes exist.
Gordon Johnson from Pixabay" alt loading="lazy" class="so-widget-image"> In some respects, this is a direct consequence of the articles I’ve written about the Fermi Paradox, the Kardashev Scale, and the Drake Equation. The Fermi Paradox is the question about the lack of evidence for alien life as proposed by the physicist Enrico Fermi in the 1940’s. The Kardashev Scale measures the technology level of alien civilizations based on their available power. And the Drake Equation is an estimator for the number of alien civilizations present in the galaxy. These three articles help establish a starting point for a discussion about first contact. The Fermi Paradox could mean that alien civilizations are scarce, or humanity is among the earliest to communicate in the galaxy. The Kardashev scale will help establish detection limits in first contact situations. And the Drake Equation will help answer how many civilizations might be out there! For me, wearing my scientist hat, understanding these numbers was as important as putting an alien in a story.
Whether FTL is possible or not, the advantage goes to the civilization that hears the other civilization first. The key thing to remember is that radio signals from any civilization always move away from that civilization at the speed of light. The initial radio broadcasts indicate the advancement of a civilization’s technology. Early radio experiments may not have a strong enough signal to be detected over the universe’s background noise. The ionosphere of the Earth reflects signals back of certain frequencies. To make an announcement, we need a powerful signal that can penetrate a planet’s ionosphere and be detected above the background noise of the universe.
In the book and movie Contact by Carl Sagan, the first powerful signal detected by aliens is the 1936 Olympic games TV broadcast from Germany. The 1936 Olympic games broadcast has traveled through space for (current year minus 1936) years. Prior to the development of FTL capability, the furthest reach of humanity will always be behind this announcement. To generalize the above to an alien race, we replace 1936 by y0, where y0 is the year of the significant broadcast.
There are five different cases in which first contact can occur. The first three assume that there is no FTL type of travel. The next two occur because of the implications of FTL. In all cases, humanity always assumes that they have yet to be contacted and we place them in the situation outlined by the case. Any case can apply to the alien race X by replacing humanity with X. Here are the five cases:
I. Humanity detects alien transmissions or alien artifacts:
Contact by Carl Sagan starts as a typical first contact story of case I, but it soon turns into a case II contact. Arthur Clarke’s books Rendezvous with Rama and 2001: A Space Odyssey include stories about alien artifacts. Perhaps the discovery of the protomolecule in S. A. Corey’s Leviathan Wakes is a case I contact.II. Aliens detect humanity and respond to their transmissions:
The story Contact is an excellent example of aliens detecting the transmissions of humanity. Their solution for the response is to send humanity’s signal back to us heavily amplified and an additional message encoded.III. Aliens detect humanity and visits:
This one will go back to some of the earliest science fiction. War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, is a violent example of a case III first contact. Arthur Clarke’s Childhoods End has provided another example of a case III first contact that is more peaceful.IV. Humanity detects aliens, then visits them:
Case IV contact is well represented in the Niven’s and Pournelle’s Mote in God’s Eye.V. Humanity or aliens are not aware of each other’s existence, and they meet in deep space or on a neutral planet:
Murry Leinster beautifully described the case V contact in his story First Contact that first appeared in Astounding Stories in 1945.My next articles will explore the five cases in science fiction and their scientific aspects, including how they relate to Fermi Paradox, Kardashev Scale, and Drake Equation. Ultimately, after this exploration, I’ll undertake a challenge to write a first contact story for each of the five cases.
The post First Contact: An Article By Torn MacAlester appeared first on Torn Macalester.
