Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, evolution, genre fiction, inspiration, science, Thoughts on January 30, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I have not read Brian Klaas’s Fluke, the book on which the article below is based, but this line made an impression in my busy day.
The big idea: what if every little thing you do changes history?
One hundred million years ago, a shrew-like creature got infected with a retrovirus, eventually leading to the placenta and, by extension, the reason why we don’t lay eggs.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, Motivation, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Note to self:
“A year from now you will wish you had started today.”
— Karen Lamb, author
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Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #ThanksIngenuity, inspiration, invention, Mars, NASA, science, space on January 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
If you’ve seen any space news this past week, you may already know that Ingenuity, the adorable little helicopter that has exceeded all expectations in its exploration of Mars, has ended its mission.
After Three Years on Mars, NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Mission Ends – NASA
Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time.
Ingenuity arrived on Mars with the Perseverance rover almost two years ago. It began as a limited technology demonstration but quickly became a scout for the rover’s mission and a fan favorite. Now, after 72 flights, a difficult landing has caused irreparable damage to its rotor blades.
Here’s what NASA Administrator Bill Nelson had to say about the end, and what the plucky little project managed to accomplish.
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Ingenuity, and its swatch from the original Wright flyer, will remain on the Martian surface as a testament to how far we’ve come.
“That remarkable helicopter flew higher and farther than we ever imagined and helped NASA do what we do best – make the impossible, possible.”
— Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator
This weekend join me in raising a glass to the first powered, controlled flight on another world, and to the little ‘copter that could.
Thanks, Ingenuity.
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, interviews, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My interview with the lovely Kim Lengling of the Let Fear Bounce podcast is live today!
We had a great time discussing writing, creativity, my experience with Writers of the Future and many other topics, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Check out the interview on YouTube or Spotify, and enjoy!
Pen to Paper: Navigating a Writer’s Reality – Author J.R. Johnson
Let Fear Bounce – Tossing out nuggets of hope | Podcast on Spotify
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, free fiction, future, genre fiction, hope, inspiration, short stories, Writers on January 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Released today, Grist’s Imagine 2200 contest brings new, more hopeful, visions of the future.
Imagine 2200: The 2024 climate fiction contest collection | Grist
Grist’s Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest celebrates stories that offer vivid, hope-filled, diverse visions of climate progress. From 1,000 submissions, our reviewers and judges selected the three winners and nine finalists you will discover in this collection. These stories are not afraid to explore the challenges ahead, but offer hope that we can work together to build a more sustainable and just world. Through rich characters, lovingly sketched settings, and gripping plots, they welcome you into futures that celebrate who we are and what we can become — and, we hope, inspire you to work toward them.
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Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf34, AI, genre fiction, inspiration, research, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Fellow Writers of the Future winner (2018) N.R.M. Roshak has started an excellent weekly newsletter on AI. Check it out if you’re interested in what’s happening in the field, how this tech is influencing social, business, and other arenas, or why I post results like this: Bright Colors, Happy Tone.
View back issues and subscribe here: Newsletter: AI Week.
It’s not for experts and it’s extremely readable. It’s really aimed at science fiction writers and readers: non-experts (like me) who are interested in the impact of this tech on society.
Enjoy!
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Anne Lamott, creativity, genre fiction, hope, inspiration, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don‘t give up.”
— Anne Lamott
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Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, creativity, inspiration, photography, video on January 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I tried to skip past this link and couldn’t.
An augmented-reality filter reveals the hidden movements all around us
This simple technique produces dazzling results, causing tree branches to shimmer as they sway in the wind, dust particles to become bold beams of light, and camouflaged insects and animals to be instantly unveiled. De Boer’s montage serves not only as a free and easy tutorial on the possibilities of this creative tool, but also as eye candy for anyone keen to witness the hidden patterns of movement that surround us.
The effect is fascinating. In some ways it’s the opposite of a time-lapse, which captures what remains still and merges motion. Here, movements that typically remain hidden are visible. Like a camouflaged deer, or blowing leaves, or even footprints.
While some examples are just pretty, it’s hard not to jump to the scientific and creative possibilities of this technique. I haven’t explored video effects, but this makes me want to start.
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Posted in Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, activism, centenarians know better, inspiration, politics, quilting, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
How much do I love this?
101-Year-Old Grace Linn: ‘Banning Books and Burning Books Are the Same’
“Banning books and burning books are the same. Both are done for the same reason: fear of knowledge,” Linn said. “They’re afraid that people will know better than they did.”
But each generation should know better, do better, and be better, Linn said. Society can’t grow and evolve without the education and empathy-building that come from the free exchange of thoughts shared through books.
All the hearts, forever.
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Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf39, free fiction, genre fiction, inspiration, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Good news, fellow seekers of good fiction, my fellow Writer of the Future David Hankins has made his award-winning story “Death and the Taxman” available free for this week only! If you haven’t already read it in Writers of the Future Volume 39, I highly recommend it.
The story is funny, well-written, and the springboard for his upcoming novel (I supported the highly-successful Kickstarter; the book will be widely released on Tax Day because David’s sense of timing is as on point as his humor!).
Enjoy!
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