Sorry I've been Gone

Sorry for the lack of updates.  I have been trying to get Fiona's Gone ready to send to Sundance in hopes of the screenwriters lab.  So, now that it is ready to send, here is half of the package.  Fiona's Gone in a one page.  Part two will be the first five pages of the script which will be up in a few days here as well.  In the meanwhile...

Two young teenagers, Andy and Fiona, sit in a little café just this side of Mexico discussing their future.  Andy vows to always be the one Fiona can turn to.  Decades later, Fiona lies on Andy’s living room floor dying.  Andy stands over her with a gun in his hand.

As a man in his twenties, Andy is bailed out of jail by an old acquaintance and local politician named Chuck.  Andy is unappreciative.   Andy spends the next few months falling apart as Fiona continues to keep him from seeing their son.

Fiona is harassed by a drunk or horny guy at every table she waits on.  At home, Fiona’s mom complains about raising Fiona’s son without the help of either of his parents.  As their son closes in on his second birthday, Fiona decides to stop avoiding Andy.  She visits Andy to talk about their arrangement but ends up dead on his living room floor.

Chuck’s police captain asks him to use his personal relationship with a teenage Andy to get him to roll over on his next in line and in return, will receive a major step up the political ladder.  Now thirty, Andy stands naked in an oil drum as Chuck tortures him shaking a manila envelope and asking questions. 

Andy walks out of an argument with his wife to visit Fiona.  Fiona tells Andy she is pregnant but is not a fan of the father.  Andy volunteers to be a stand in dad.  Fiona accepts his offer for the paperwork but tells Andy that she will be raising the child alone.  Andy tries to explain all this to his wife but she leaves him.

Jimmy scoops Fiona off the living room floor and sticks her in a car.  Andy jumps in the driver’s side but instead of going to the hospital to try to save Fiona, Andy takes a detour to a friend’s house.  At gunpoint, Andy forces Jimmy to bury Fiona in the woods.  Andy keeps Jimmy hostage as he goes on the run.

Chuck begs his step-daughter, Fiona, for forgiveness.  Fiona says she will but reminds Chuck that she can take down his political career with the truth she keeps in a manila envelope.  Chuck comes home late one evening to his wife panicked that Fiona has not come home for days.  Chuck goes to Andy’s house, Fiona’s last known location, but only finds blood in his living room floor.  Chuck calls in a favor to an old friend near the border as he sets out to track down Andy.   

Jimmy and Andy have been pulled over.  Chuck arrives to take possession of the two and drives everyone to an abandoned mobile home.  Jimmy is shot upon arrival.  Inside, Chuck tortures Andy for Fiona’s location and to sign over the life insurance policy.  A pair of men sent from the local sheriff office stand guard outside but when Chuck electrocutes Andy, they step in.  During the distraction, Andy is able to slip away.  He begins the drive the last few miles to the border but stops short in order to turn around and save Jimmy.  At the hospital, Andy turns himself in for the murder of Fiona.

Chuck comes home completely loaded and has sex with Fiona.  A doctor informs Fiona that she is pregnant and that she has cancer.  Fiona walks into Andy’s living room, hands him a manila envelope with the identity of her baby’s father and a life insurance policy for her son, and shoots herself.   Andy stands stunned for a moment before picking up the gun off the floor as Jimmy runs into the room.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Fake Chamber Scandal

Only days after being sentenced to a year’s jail sentence, former Egyptian Minister of Antiquities “Zahi Hawass” could be in trouble yet again, evidence has emerged that he may have staged a false project, live on T.V. to fool the people of Egypt, and the world!

In 2002 a robot was sent to explore a shaft within the Great Pyramid, it was aired on the National Geographic Channel on September the 17th. Millions of viewers watched as the robot entered the shaft, at the end of which was a mysterious door, with two protruding copper handles (pictures below).

Oh Hawass, what a wonderful example of me being right you have become (Touch Me)

Scientists Teleport Light

Researchers from Australia and Japan have successfully teleported wave packets of light, potentially revolutionizing quantum communications and computing.  The team, led by researchers at the University of Tokyo, say this is the first-ever teleportation, or transfer, of a particular complex set of quantum information from one point to another.

I'll volunteer for teleportation if the money is right (Touch Me)

Ireland Rejects Modified Crops

Prince Charles has called it the "biggest environmental disaster of all time," while Monsanto and others maintain it's safe for humans and the environment. Genetically modified foods are a contentious issue, but Ireland is erring on the side of caution, placing a ban on growing any genetically modified crops.

Ireland will ban growing of GM crops, and a voluntary GM-free label can be placed on all animal products--such as meat, poultry, eggs, fish, crustaceans, and dairy--that are raised with GM-free feed, according to a GM-Free Ireland press release. Ireland joins Japan and Egypt as one of the few but growing number of countries that have banned the cultivation of GM crops.

 Oh to be in a land where we could even just talk about not eating Monsantos bounty (Touch Me)

Where have you gone Wayne Madsen

Where have you gone Wayne Madsen?  I miss you so much.  I used to rely on you for all your facts and data.  Now you are just about the preening for the camera.  It’s so hard to trust a man that interjects fanciful quips IN his stories like David Foster Wallace.  We already have Jon Stewart for that.  No, I remember Wayne from his day’s so long ago.  All factual details and intel he collected from his many sources on Capitol Hill.  You’ve got a skype phone now to talk to the likes of Alex Jones.  I miss your old photo that use to adorn the youtube video when you would call in.  It seemed appropriate to give full attention to the info you were giving.  Don’t need to watch you bob around on that crappy webcam of yours.  At least your audio is still ham radio quality at best.  Probably should just go with the tin can method.  Would work just as well.  You are off to the wild beyond to go track down the history of our president, the one Barry Soetoro.  Find out if CIA is pulling the strings.  Remember why you began to tell people the truth about things and less about how much invasion into the society you can do (we’ve got gloom and doom Michael Ruppert for that).  Just the facts Wayne.  And don’t get killed out there.  I really only question the ones I love. 

How the Ancient Romans created good ole MSG

Monosodium glutamate is a food additive that enhances flavor. Although it's frowned upon today, the ancient Romans loved it and ate it with almost every meal.

There's been some debate over what exactly monosodium glutamate does to people. Some people say it gives them severe headaches, numbness, weakness, and even heart palpitations. Scientists could confirm that it does give some people short-lived reactions, but no tests showed that it had long-term health effects. Some say that it's an addictive substance which causes people to crave it repeatedly if they try it too often. Others say it's just a flavor enhancer, and people crave it because it makes things taste better.

Food additives are great for everyone (Touch Me)

The future: 3D Printing

The process of “3D printing” only loosely corresponds to our common image of printing. It may, however, revolutionize the way we define and interact with manufacturing.

Chief among the proponents of this view is The Economist, speculating in a February cover story that the technology “has the potential to transform manufacturing because it lowers the costs and risks,” thus opening it to smaller players. 

 3D printing means for example printing a new phone (if you want) (Touch Me)

Driving Into Japanese Radiation Zone

Fukushima, Japan - The Japanese government has issued the evacuation order on March 12 for the residents living within the 20 kilometer radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.  Since then, residents have left their homes, and the "no man land" has been out of touch with the rest of the world.  A Japanese journalist, Tetsuo Jimbo, ventured through the evacuation zone last Sunday, and filed the following video report.

Driving into Fukushima and the Power Plant (Touch Me)

Birth Control for Men Found in Indonesian Plant

BANGKOK, Thailand: On the remote Indonesian island of Papua, tribesmen have long noticed the curious effect of a shrub called “gandarusa.”  If you chew its leaves often enough, men say, your wife won’t get pregnant.  Indonesian scientists, who have transferred this folk method from the jungle to the lab, claim they can extract the shrub’s active ingredient and mass produce it as an over-the-counter pill.

Seems like a better plan than snipping your testicles to avoid a child.  Plants are the best. (Touch Me)

Cave of the Giant Crystals in Mexico

Mexico: The Naica Mine of Chihuahua, Mexico, is a working mine that is known for its extraordinary crystals. Naica is a lead, zinc and silver mine in which large voids have been found, containing crystals of selenite (gypsum) as large as 4 feet in diameter and 50 feet long. The chamber holding these crystals is known as the Crystal Cave of Giants, and is approximately 1000 feet down in the limestone host rock of the mine. 

A freakin cave of crystals. My brain took a while to visually understand (Touch me)

What Happened to B.I.G.? FBI Releases Documents

Los Angeles: It’s been 14 years since The Notorious B.I.G. (real name: Christopher Wallace) was killed in Los Angeles in a drive-by shooting.  Now, finally, the FBI has released its (heavily redacted) documents on the murder, and several facts were revealed—one being that the bullets that killed him were rare Gecko 9mm ammunition, made only in Germany and sold Stateside only in California and New Jersey.

FBI releases Notorious BIG files (Touch Me)

Protected in a Metal Room

     If I told him that, why would he still be asking me as his brain leaked out of his ear?” Seemed a reasonable question to me though recently, no question was unreasonable.  We have been freezing, scared stiff wondering when the next man was going to come for us.  Wondering when the next time we would have to take another man’s life. 

                “Then they are beginning to know more.  Their learning curve is shrinking.”

                “I know that. I am aware.”

      These bots, mutated forms of humans in an aluminum can, were evolving rapidly.  When Teddy and I were at the main station it was asking to push near threshold to have a bot get you cup of coffee and your messages.  There was always some kind of interference with each different machine.  Now, surrounded by walls of old alarm clocks, coffee makers, macintosh computers but still vulenerable to a section 2 bot inserting himself inside our fortress via a relocation beam, the time was forging forward.  Teetering ever close to panic time. 

                “If they can beam themselves inside here, what chance do we have?”  Teddy’s enthusiasm for a world of glass half empty will always give me pause.  In a job like this, where the living are the excpetion to the lineage of men that have come through the Arries program rather than standard practice, seems a guy would at least need some kind of hopeful outlook just to have any reason to make it through.

                “Buck it up, we stopped the last one.”

                “Only cause he beamed right into your line of sight.”

                “Luck’s just as good as skill sometimes.”  Teddy did not believe my sentiment and I don’t say I have much belief either.  That bot could have beamed in any other location in the room.  Blended in and wait for a vulenerable moment.  That would have been that.

                “We should move.”  Teddy is nearly finished packing and is ready to disappear.

                “Not yet.”  I stand from my chair.  Replace Teddy in his own.  “That was a level two.  They do not have those just lined up at the ready for ragtags like you and me.   We are just minor spots on a giantanicly mad planet.”

                “Speak for yourself.   Why, I flew twenty-three missions in and around some of the most dangerous lands fighting people that had no religion.”

                “Do you think that bot was given that intel when he beamed in?” I throw my arms about the room.  “You and are I good as dead now.  That’s a fact.  In the meanwhile though, why should we just sit in this room and wait for the end to come?”

                “They will be looking for us.”

                “Not for a while again.  Level two bot.  That’s nearly a perfect war machine.  No way you and me could do anything but surrender easily.  They’ll think he went to one of those five and dime houses.  Find him some companionship while he is out in the vortex.”  Teddy drops his head into his hands.  “We should go over to the Gold Club.”

                Teddy pops to his feet.  “Don’t be screwing with me.”

                “I want to enjoy my last few ticks usefully.  No different than you.”

                One last glance at this metal capsule Teddy and I have been sharing for the last four weeks.  Hiding out.  Waiting to see if anyone would care to look for two mid-level fuck ups who happened to take a few hundred thousand of valuable commodities from the storage room at PFA.  Guess someone does.  Care.    

For One Tiny Instant, Physicists May Have Broken a Law of Nature

New Haven, Conn. — For a brief instant, it appears, scientists at Brook­haven National Laboratory on Long Island recently discovered a law of nature had been broken.
Action still resulted in an equal and opposite reaction, gravity kept the Earth circling the Sun, and conservation of energy remained intact. But for the tiniest fraction of a second at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), physicists created a symmetry-breaking bubble of space where parity no longer existed....

If the laws of nature can be shown to be false....(Touch Me)

Using the Power of Train Wind

When you think of wind power, you think of giant turbines harnessing big breezes. But industrial designers in China have developed a device that can capture the wind created by trains as they whoosh down the track. The "T-Box" device is installed between railroad ties and buried half-underground so as to not interfere with normal train operation. As the train passes overhead, the whooshing wind spins a turbine inside the T-Box to generate electricity.

The T-Box Not just for fun anymore