Just the thought made my weariness fall away, and my feet move faster of their own accord

January 10, 2009 Progress Notes

Iconoclast

Today's words: 1,099
Total words: 16,375
Reason for stopping: I got a late start, and by the time I hit 1k, it was bed time.
Today's Darling: Back home, dry and above ground, wrapped in a blanket and relating this to Samyazaz, I would probably speak of the sounds of trickling water and the way the wind occasionally swept over the mouth of the well at such an angle that it howled, preternatural and eerie. I would probably mention the way air from the cavern might leech up into any homes built above it and lend the space a chill that seemed to come from nowhere, and I would surely tell Samyazaz about the rumors of hauntings and curses that clung to this place, and laugh at how it was all explained by the unknown presence of the cistern beneath the men's feet.

But in this place, wet and cold and frightened, I was not laughing and I could not help but believe, just a little bit, that at least some of the men's tales might be true.
Books in Progress: All the Windwracked Stars, by Elizabeth Bear

(no subject)

Holy shit, this is some of the worst television I've ever seen.

It's a show about the Bermuda Triangle, and when I decided to record it, I thought that the title -- "Earth's Black Hole" -- was a metaphorical one.

I was so very wrong. 45 minutes in, and it's been nothing but a string of dubious analogies between the phenomena of a black hole and the anomalies in the Bermuda Triangle. They are literally arguing that there might be a black hole on the ocean floor of the Bermuda Triangle, with accompanying quotes from "believers" and "non-believers".

Also: "Perhaps the Bermuda Triangle is connected to the Dragon's Triangle by a simple wormhole."

Gee, I thought I was watching The History Channel, not The Sci Fi Channel. *bangs her head on the desk*

And then, THIS little bit of brilliance: they were talking about "white holes", which are theorized to be the antithesis of black holes -- where black holes consume matter, white holes create matter, and spew it out into the universe.

Then they talk about how the Bermuda Triangle is right over a Large Igneous Province, places where tectonic plates have pulled apart and magma has created new stretches of sea floor in a relatively short amount of time. As the show says: "It is an area with strange and unique white-hole-like properties. An area where matter is actually created beneath its waters."

No. No. UGH! The formation of new areas of sea floor due to the movement of tectonic plates is NOT the same thing as actually creating matter! The matter was there all along! OMG. I think I am losing brain cells just watching this show.