Well, I finally got another short story written.  around 3,800 words and a rough draft.  The finished product will be different, and hopefully, better.

     Waiting expectantly for any response to a few stories sent away earlier.  Have to remember not only the myriad ways to craft a good story, but also to keep submission records, to remember to try and build relationships with Editors  (who are human beings too, not robots), to critique and get critiqued, and on and on...
Then ther is this thing called The Rest of My life - my day job, my house, car, cat, relationships, even politics  (this is a presidential election year).   Trying to hold onto my sanity and keep this writing thing going.  But it gets pretty wobbly at times. 

Thanks for reading the literary rant for today.  Hope it is better for some other writers than for moi. 
Happy Fat Tuesday.

Where we've been and where we are going.

     Way back in the 1920’s, in Germany, Russia and even in the U.S. there were various groups of regular civilians who gathered for the purpose of building rockets.  They would share stories and news of each others exploits, build small, experimental rockets, and even publish scientific papers.   They ended up advancing the capability of rockets quite a bit.  They designed, built and tested liquid-fueled rockets of increasing thrust, that reached higher and higher altitudes.   These were students and amateurs, mostly.  In Germany and Russia, they eventually gained small amounts of funding from their respective governments. 

 (see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verein_f%C3%BCr_Raumschiffahrt)

      They advanced the state of the art.  And some of them went on to head up government labs and efforts both during and after WWII.   These individuals ultimately helped us escape the bonds of Earth and make it to the Moon and beyond  (with accomplishments like the V-2 liquid-fueled rocket, the precursor to our expendable rockets like Redstone,  Atlas and Titan). 

 (see:  http://www.army.mil/article/46989/German_Rocket_Site_Unearths_Memories/ )

      Now here we are in 2012.  Our Space Shuttle program is done, and we are hoping and waiting for some corporate, for profit efforts to become available.  In other countries, especially China, governments are heavily funding national programs.   In the US, we have placed our hopes on that elusive thing called ‘private enterprise’ .     There are lots of beautiful photos and mockups and such.  But whether anything actually gets flown is another matter.

 (see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_spaceflight)

       Might there not be a way to join a loose confederation of individuals, to plan, fund and build small-scale efforts, to probe other ways to escape Earth’s gravity and so forth?   It seems important, after a century of hard-won gains in the field of rocketry design and practice, to keep up our momentum.   The U.S. has had to play catch-up more than once, as other countries showed foresight and persistence.   We are a large and relatively prosperous country.  We should be able to do better.   

     Some college-level rocketry organizations, modeled after some of the early German orgs, might stimulate interest on the part of students to not only learn about rocketry in general, but also to perhaps build and test some of their own models.    This could help us advance the state of the art here in the US, and keep up with the rest of the world when it comes to getting objects and people sent into space.     One example is here:  http://aero.cpss.calpoly.edu/

      We have accomplished much in the last 100 years, going from the fantastical stories of Hugo Gernsback to the reality of rovers snapping pictures of Martian rocks.   We can justly be proud.  But we should not stop here.   No, we are just on the cusp of a breakout.  A breakout into livable habitations on the Moon, on Mars and the Asteroids and even in orbital facilities cycling between Mars, the Moon, and Earth Orbit.  We should not stop now.  A pause, perhaps, to regroup and re-focus some efforts.  And then the next leap forward.   Our youth can lead the way for us.   Thanks for reading.

Another 25-word hint fic-let:

The external drive seemed dead.  Jason tried unplugging and re-connecting it;   loud screeches ensued.  Then he tried a different system, and it worked. Darn viruses.

-end

my entry into the 25-word hint fiction category...

Roger tried a laser pointer on the crows that roosted in trees near his job.  He came to later, heavily bandaged.  The warning went out.

-end 

Have a good Monday.

Raucous Caucus 2012

The noisy seven smothered our fair state,

Ingratiating themselves into coffeehouse

society - shotguns and words fired straight;

Exciting results reported from the statehouse.

Fortunes raised and fell more than the Dow,

Values questioned and half-truths belied;

Debates started civilly, became a genteel row,

Accused each other of being special interests allies.

Finally those incessant ads will soon cease,

The votes will be tallied and the field winnowed;

Weary Iowans eyes and ears will get peace,

Leaders will declare success with eyes narrowed.

Another Iowa Caucus draws nigh to an end,

We go back to normal, no more rhetoric to defend.

- Whew.

Republican Candidates spewing more garbage.

      Did these people sleep through middle school civics classes?  Or maybe they never had a civics class.  You know, the part of the lesson on our American form of government, where we have checks and balances put in place to prevent abuses of power?  So we have a legislature, an executive branch headed by the President - and a Judiciary.  The judiciary has powers vested in it to block or stay rulings that it sees as improper, after sober, careful  deliberation.   This is for the protection of all the people, to prevent discrimination and oppression of the majority by some fanatical minority. 

     The ranting of these Republican candidates are downright frightening when one sees them applied to our laws in the future.   Women will have no say in what happens to their bodies.    Females will revert to what they were looked upon in the 1800’s, mere chattel, cattle for men’s whims.     Gay marriage?  Heck no.  They will be chased back into the closet with handguns and tasers.   Other civil rights?  good luck there.

     These forces have already overturned the Miranda ruling, which stated that police have to read a suspect their rights, and make sure they are understood.   They have made it possible for a corporation to donate unlimited funds to a political campaign, thereby corrupting the process.    More people are going to prison than ever, for minor offenses.     Teenagers are finding themselves arrested for infractions that used to be dealt with by families or school officials.  There is less community mental health being offered, and more incarceration.  We are becoming more and more like a repressive communist society - a true police state!

     The Tea Party Nazis won’t be satisfied until everyone is either imprisoned or is wearing 24-hour electronic surveillance  (except them and their families).    Our entire democracy is being destroyed by a few fanatics bent on imposing their own twisted will on everyone.    Today the judges and women’s rights - tomorrow - who knows? 

      And we are telling countries like Iran and North Korea to get their act together?  We need to deal with the fanatic lunatic tea partiers and other conservatives on our own shores first.      Thanks for reading.

Wanna bet?

The debate was lively, even vicious.

Labels flung back and forth like firebrands,
Accusations and ripostes, ducks and jabs.
The truth hid in a corner and listened...

 to six elite political professionals debate,

abase themselves for purported higher purposes...
Results filled the newspapers and airwaves,
different columnists tallied different outcomes.

 New polls will be taken and confidence shaken

as their positions raise and lower, over and over.
The one lagging the pack is doggedly traveling up
and down the highways, appearing anywhere he can.

 If Carter did it, so can he, he reasons, no matter if Carter

was a Democrat running in 1975.  Hope just keeps going.
One thing is for sure - they are stimulating the economy,
with all this traveling and spending, and heating winter air
with never-ending rhetoric and bombast.   A silver lining at last!

- my 0.02 today.

Drop the rhetoric and do something already.

Here in Iowa, there are more cutbacks, increased taxes, and public money bribes to companies to build things like hotels off the beaten path.  Nationally, large companies keep announcing layoffs.  The US Post Office announces huge cutbacks, in order to try and balance it's budget.   Candidates are going around promising to cut more and more services and agencies.  This is the most ominous, depressing TV season I have seen since 2008, perhaps worse. 

     I just wish that the powers-that-be could drop any ideological linkage to party platform, and do what our parents had to do in the aftermath of the great depression.  Even if it may involve public funding of our Post Office  (something George Washington founded to help tie the country together - remember?).  Even if it involves keeping these goverment agencies afloat that do pesky things like research energy alternatives, and keep our seniors healthy.  Instead of cut, cut, cut - America should Reach, Build, Employ.   

     Thats right - just like in the progressive days of the late 1930s and 1940s, we should reach for higher achievements, build up our infrastructure, and Employ every able-bodied American to do it.  Cross party lines, cross ideologies, cross stubborn intransigence, and do something, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, for the common good of all of us.  That is what made us great to begin with.

Nowadays everyone seems to want to cut, close her down, let the Chinese or the Mexicans worry about it, and go to  bed.  We can't do this.   We should take a page from the 1930's, dare to dream again, drop the ideological garbage, and get to work.    Something to think about.  Thanks for reading.