Travel is fun!

I am in Germany! But first, I need to tell you about the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. We went to Oak Ridge and Chattanooga last weekend for what was basically the last hurrah, and our first stop was the Oak Ridge National Lab in…Oak Ridge, Tennessee! I had a ton of fun there. It was a combination of engineering and science in the tour we took, and we got to take home our guest badges. The first thing we got to see was a room full of super computers. Obviously, we couldn’t go inside, but it was still exciting to see Titan, Gaia, and Eos, and just the sheer number of racks for data storage.  Then we headed above the super computer lab to see a demonstration of an analysis that took six months to compute on Titan. Six months. Can you imagine waiting that long for your computer to do anything? This just astounds me.

The presentation was that of a supernova explosions, and a simulation of one that was, believe it or not, accidental and didn’t follow the theory at all. A while later they found an image using Hubble, I believe, of the exact scenario playing out in space, and it fit the model perfectly.  It was pretty exciting stuff.

After that we had lunch, a presentation on ‘look climate change is real,’ and then a tour of a huge facility in which they smash super small particles in order to see what results, in essence, among quite a few other things. Unfortunately, it was super noisy and our tour guide was on the quiet side, so it was difficult to really get into all the hardware that was being shown to us.

The next day, we went to the Aquarium in Chattanooga, of which I can’t recall the name of in any way shape or form, but I did enjoy greatly. There were so many fish and they were all so beautiful, and they had several turtles and sharks, and a whole room full of sea horses and another full of jellyfish! It was a lot of fun, and I took way too many pictures. I even got to pet a shark. I mean, seriously, have you ever pet a shark? It’s so weird, but so fun.

Of course, you guys aren’t too interested in Chattanooga or an Aquarium. You want to know about Germany. Well, to be frank, there’s not a lot to say, as I only just got here Wednesday night!

I will tell you that flying above the clouds remains for me that best boost for any sort of creativity at all. And I really just feel refreshed to be in the air and traveling again! I think I must have just been homesick for travel lately! Well, I always have had wandering feet, it seems.

The flight was excellent and one hundred percent eventful. I do wish that was a typo, but it isn’t. While the flight from my home airport to Atlanta was as smooth as could be when you’re in a group of 23 people, our next flight, a hop across the Atlantic over to Amsterdam, was one very special moment after another.

To begin, our flight was delayed four hours. This, as you imagine, effected our flight down to Berlin from Amsterdam to the point that was split into two groups of people simply because fitting 23 people on a single flight is near impossible. We did get upgraded to business class though, at least in my group, so no real hard feelings there.  However, once everyone was aboard the plane, the discovery was made that the door did not close.  That is right, the plane door would not close.

No biggie, a flight attendant found the missing pin (so said the Captain) and the door was fixed. The engines revved, we rolled our eyes in exasperation and thanked God we were on our way, when suddenly, all is turned off again once more! An announcement comes over the intercom. “We are going to have to wait at the gate awhile longer everyone.” And then, we get told why.  I couldn’t tell whether the number was 17 or 70 but either way a number of guests canceled when they found out how long the flight was going to be delayed, and we found ourselves with their luggage still in the hold as everyone’s luggage made it to the plane right on time!

Oh my Goodness. Oh. My. Goodness.  The frustration was palpable in the air. Forty-five minutes after our already delayed time, we finally began to taxi away from the gate. I think up until the wheels were in the air and folded up, everyone was still expecting yet another delay.

So we all made to Amsterdam…and not we got to split into two parties. Two. This was a bit of chaos figuring out who the airline had assigned to which party as one of two people seemed to be a bit arbitrary choice wise, but we did that and things ran pretty smooth after that point. The first party just waited for the second at the airport in Berlin, and once everyone was together we traveled onwards to our final destination here, the DLR Summer Camp, as all our paperwork seems to say so far.

Oh to fly once more! I got a window seat in business class for the very last leg of the journey and let me tell you, it was fantastic. The flight was smooth, the clouds were beautiful, and my mind soared as high as the plane as least with ideas for writing, for paintings, for drawing! I do love to travel, especially to fly.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of it. I’m bunking with a total stranger at basically a town house/guest house in Germany right now, and she’s pretty awesome. We had two more added to our camp here, from South Africa and they are super awesome. I’m excited to be here.

I can’t wait to tell you all more. I think the most exciting sight on the trip from Berlin to where we’re staying was the solar farm that must have been at least one football field wide, and five football fields long, if not six. I’ve never seen one so big! The most disappointing was the graffiti. Berlin, I expected better of you than a few measly signatures!

One Final Byte: I am on the road again in air!

A full week of Nerd Camp

Ah, that familiar hotel smell. It smells the same in basically every hotel in the US. I’m not so sure internationally, but it is the smell of travel to me here. I’m on the road again!

Again? Really? Yes. Really. But only for the weekend.  The Joint Space Weather Summer Camp, of which I am an attendee, has a weekend trip to a Lab and an aquarium. Three cities, three days and tons of fun.  The third city, by the way, is a ‘choose your own adventure’ sort of city, by the looks of the group schedule.

So, I promised more about the camp las time, and, having received the appropriate permissions, I shall cheerfully chatter away.

I am a part of the Joint Space Weather Summer Camp, a combined educational camp hosted by CSPAR, DLR, and UAH for undergraduate and graduate science and engineering majors interested in studying the very super interesting phenomena of Space Weather. And yes, there is weather in space, and for our local weather you can blame the sun. I should note, that’s both on and off the earth! On the Earth, of course, the sun drives the wind, which drives all sorts of other weather. In space, the sun drives a solar wind, which is produced thanks to magnetic fields on the sun, and how they move through space. It’s not just our sun doing it, but every star, and there’s even an intergalactic medium which is not produced by any one star, so far as I can tell, and which our solar winds might not pierce.  As a student of all this, I don’t really know the answers!

But I am having a lot of fun learning.

The speakers so far have been great. The majority of the lectures are aimed to an audience between a third year physics major and a lower graduate level. You definitely need to have, at a minimum, made it through the Electricity and Magnetism level of your 100 level physics course to have a good understand. From the sounds of the lectures so far, that magnetic field is perhaps the most important thing.  A basic understand of quantum, usually a third semester of physics course, is advised I think, though some of what you need to know, you likely already do from chemistry courses and the like.

If you are past a beginning or early graduate student though, you may be too advanced for the lectures, especially if your focus is Space Weather! Of course, there’s more than just wind, out there among the stars, and some of that more can affect people on Earth. Take the Carrington Event of 1859. I know what you’re thinking. What in space could affect Earth in 1859? We hadn’t even been there yet! But we did have electricity, and telegraphs. The Carrington Event was a huge coronal mass ejection that stuck the earth. It cause telegraph systems all over Europe and North America to fail, and sometimes shock the operators! Telegraph machines not connected to a power supply could, in places, still send and receive messages. All because of a coronal mass ejection.  One thought to be just as big missed the Earth in 2012. I don’t want to know about the margin it missed us by.

Given our reliance on electricity today, if it had hit us, we’d be upset. There goes the TV, computer, cell phone, fridge, microwave, and a host of other electronics. Research into space weather helps predict space weather, so we know if we have to turn every thing off in preparation for the next Carrington class Solar Superstorm.

This isn’t even the scariest thing in space weather. More powerful by far is a gamma ray burst.  If one hit the earth, well, my money is on the gamma ray burst, not the human race or any other life on this planet. Luckily, because of how Gamma Ray Bursts move through space, a direct hit fairly ‘close’ in astronomical terms’ would be super dangerous, but also so minimal it’s not really worth a panic.  Some concern is prudent, yeah, just like concern is prudent on a trip to the beach.  It’s probably not likely your car battery will die while you’re there, and a gamma ray burst hitting will happen even less than that ever will for you, but you should probably have cables with you, just in case. We should probably understand gamma ray bursts, just in case.

I’m having a lot of fun here. I think one of the best parts isn’t the lessons themselves, those they rock my socks. It’s getting to meet people who have never been to the US before. We went to Walmart to get groceries and a few things accidentally left behind, and wow. The reaction to ‘an American Supermarket’ was pretty cool. We went through the bakery, and one of our German students stopped, to admire the cakes, and how one had a camo pattern, and another was made of cupcakes. Our bread was examined and determined to be deficient in comparison, and the sight of the snack aisle, the candy aisle, and the soda aisle caused such wide eyes it was exciting to watch.

Last weekend, we visited Cathedral Caverns in Grant, AL. That was super exciting, and absolutely worth the trip. Our tour guide was super duper awesome. He was an older guy, a newer tour guide, and so enthusiastic about the caverns that you couldn’t help, but be happy to be there. Apparently, it holds a lot of world records, including biggest cave entrance.  Everyone enjoyed the ‘spelunking’ that was more guided tour on a concrete path that spelunking at all. It was a gorgeous place, and some of the formations there were mind blowingly beautiful, especially the cathedral cavern the cave system is named after.  Everyone was really impressed, and apparently caves like that just aren’t found in Germany. Or if they are, our Germans hadn’t been there!

We had a small pool party the next day too, and having a game of keep away in a pool with water over your head is fun and challenging, especially when you have about fifteen people there all playing. We varied from one in the middle to five at one point, and knowing who was in the middle was half the challenge. 

We’re on the next adventurous part on the American side of things now, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! The research I got to participate in as part of the camp was super fun. I think the main complaints from the ‘campers’ were how little time we got to do the experiments and then having to actually present at the end. That was a challenge of a different sort, but still not that bad. Nothing like nineteen college students all working until pretty late on a Summer Camp project though! Dedication, thy name is Scientist.

I’m getting a bit long now, so I’ll hush now, but next week I’ll have another, no doubt, super long post for you. After all, next week is another fun trip, and I have to tell you about this weekend!

One Final Byte: Other’s joy for things you like is infectious.

Unexpected Adventures on the way to Adventure

Well. When I told my family that I missed adventures, I did not mean that I wanted one of the sort I have had. Nevertheless, I have had it! And to think, all I wanted to do was to go to my nerd camp. By the way, Nerd Camp: College Edition is a lot different than Nerd Camp: Middle School Edition. You’ll hear a lot about that. For now, I just have to say, that unexpected adventures are definitely not my favorite.

I was on my way to Nerd Camp, cheerfully driving, having just pulled off to have a short break, as I was tired.  It wasn’t a long drive, but poor sleep the night before meant that focus was not my buddy. As I gained entry to the interstate from my exit, I felt the oddest sensation…deceleration.  I pressed harder on the gas, as, well, there was a hill and my car and hills don’t always get along. This did nothing.  Worried, and with a block of cars gaining on me, I pulled over to the side and hit my emergency lights at the same time, just making it off before cars going 80 passed me at my very measly 35 and slowing. I proceeded to shake in place and panic quietly to myself for a few minutes before I began to attempt phone calls, first trying to call people I knew lived within an hour’s drive. It was no good. No one picked up.

Uncertain, scared, and not really knowing where I was to find a tow truck to call, I turned to every girl’s most trusted fixer of disasters. Daddy. After giving his thoughts, and telling me a few tests to try to see what was up, he bade me ‘Call the state police.’ And gave me their number. The state police dispatcher was a very wonderful woman. ‘I can’t locate you like that. Call 911.’  ‘Are you sure? Am I allowed?’ I asked very uncertain, because my car breaking down in an unknown location in who knows where Tennessee is clearly not an emergency in my mind.  ‘Yes. They’ll send help.’

I called 911. It was my first 911 call ever. I liked the dispatcher immediately.  She took what I knew of my location down, found out exactly where I was (middle of nowhere, Tennessee, just past an exit I knew the number of), and sent aid.

It was, no doubt, appropriately prioritized, because let’s face it, a stranded college student is a full grown adult who can safely wait in a car for an hour.  It was a scary hour. Also, that sensation you get when a police officer pulls up behind you is the same even if they are there to help. The ‘Am I in trouble, what do I do, oh wait he’s here to help.’ Except that last part. That’s not what happens when you get a ticket, I assume. I’m not sure. Someone describe the feelings when a police officer pulls you over for me.

Officer Hill, I’m about 80% sure, had picture perfect handwriting. I would not mind transcribing his work to a database. It would be lovely, in its clarity.  This is, naturally, what I focused on.  We spoke. He explained the options. I could have a local tow truck, or one from Huntsville. They could tow me home, or to a mechanic. I chose a local, because I trusted to state trooper to choose a reputable person. Or at least his dispatcher. And let’s face it, I don’t know who to call for a tow in Huntsville.

The officer then remained with me until the tow driver arrived. The tow driver was nice and helpful. The officer was nice and helpful.  The fish panicked as he was hauled at an angle onto the truck bed, and managed to tear his fin in his panic. Everyone else was okay, and at this point, calls among my family were occurring determining what went where and when. Also, was I safe, where was I, and what was happening. I was 47 miles from the college. That was all I knew, but I was pretty sure I was safe, because the tow driver from Libby’s was a nice man who told me about his family. I mention their name, because should you get stranded in Tennessee, there’s a very nice tow driver whose wife is retired army. He’s good folk, and you should pass on info about good folk, especially when someone else may end up stranded in lower Tennessee 22 miles from the border and very frightened.

Not that I remained scared for long. I spent about thirty minutes shaking in a car that cheerfully shook with every passing semi-truck, then fifteen minutes assuring my fish he would be okay. After this, I was fine. This was just another Kelly Adventure. I am very good at adventures, especially scary ones.

Either way, the tow driver dropped me, my car, and Ivar the Boneless (Betta Fish Extraordinaire) off at the school, where my dad promptly reminded me that no, I could not leave the fish in the very hot car.  This, once the tow man took himself away, was a tricky proposition. And so, I went forth, to the halls of learning….a flower vase/emergency fish bowl in hand, his heater in my pocket.

Ivar currently holds a place of honor in the Physics Success Center. I have received permission to leave him there overnight.  He shall be taken into the dorm tomorrow, or else go to the fish sitter I was unable to get him too. Probably the dorm, until the Nerd Camp goes to our next destination!

Oh, did I forget?  Nerd Camp: College Edition comes with this great expansion pack called ‘Trip Overseas.’ It’s not including in every Nerd Camp, but it is in the one I’m at. As for more information on my lovely Nerd Camp, I think I should probably check with someone to see if I’m allowed to mention anything.  I doubt they’ll say no, but they may decide that the level of awesome is just not for the entire Internet to see.

One Final Byte: Never miss your Adventures. They will find you.

A Return to Adventure

Today, I helped to tame a forest. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration.  But it felt like I was taming a forest. Instead it was ten years of growth for a dogwood shrub.  As a note, a dogwood shrub does not look much like a shrub after ten years. It looks like a series of very young trees.  The fact that they look like very young trees and not trees that are at least ten is likely why it is a type of shrub.

To give you an idea of the difference, well. The internet tells me that this is what a dogwood bush is supposed to look like.  It looks like the right variety at least, so I’ll go with that.

Alas.  This is halfway through hacking my way to the wall of the house.  If you will note, there is a large difference, and not just in the fact that the dogwood shrubs here are not yet flowering.  They do have buds though.  Also, if you look very closely, you may or may not see the bush that had been planted there before the dogwoods attacked.  It’s just right of the middle.

As for an update for what I’ve been doing since I last updated, well…first let me see when I last updated! I’m sure I have loads of stories.  I apologize for not updating of course, but it turns out college is a lot of work.  It’s at last one and a half jobs worth of work and a good three jobs worth of stress.

I appear, it seems, to have accidentally gone nearly a year without a post. If I am ever short of stories, I shall attempt to recall some adventure that happened this past year to tell you! I can tell you that I have had some adventures, though the past year has not led itself to the near constant adventure that was, in fact, living in Germany!

It was however, college for a year. For the most part, it has been tame, though not without its troubles. My mother’s mom, my grandmother, passed this year after a fight with cancer. Unfortunately, she lost, but given her age, it was almost to be expected.

There had been high points as well, including the gain of a pet! He’s terribly sickly though, so it’s been a small adventure to nurse him to health.  You see, I can’t just give Ivar the Boneless a pill.  He happens to be a fish you see, one who has had fin rot since I bought him. Fin rot, it turns out, is tricky to treat entirely because it may not be fin rot, but something else, so you basically try a series of medicine and see what works best.  Or at least, that’s how I ended up doing it.

It could just be that I really should have asked a more experience owner because my diagnostic methods sound like something from an episode of House.  As I am ridiculously proud of my very playful and friendly fish, you may all now gaze upon his wonder.  Seriously, this fish plays with lasers. You get to see him in an older picture before the fin rot was too bad, because I won’t be embarrassing my fish that way.  He is very sensitive and it’s a little disturbing.

If you look closely you can see that he has the beginning stages off in rot in this picture. That clearish bit on his tail is fin rot.  This is a fact I did not know at the time, but I do now.

However, I can sense you are very curious now as to why I was trimming bushes in a house when I am a college student thus do not, in fact, have a house. This is because I am spending the first half of my summer helping out my Dear settle into a house on his grandparents property that has not been occupied in around ten years.  Ten years is a very long time for a house to not be occupied, you see, and it results in things like, say, dogwood bushes attempting to create their own forest.  If you are wondering who my Dear is, well, I mentioned him in an earlier blog…and I can tell you the rest later.

Half a summer is, perhaps, a bit too long to get this place up to snuff, given the sheer amount of work put into it before I came, but it means I’ll also have time to relax and unwind some from my college courses. This is just what the doctor didn’t order, but strongly recommended because ‘I can’t make you do anything.’ Or rather, she insisted I take a vacation sometime soon, but this is practically a vacation given that I am not currently studying.  I’m giving myself a good two weeks off of studying.

As for the second half of my summer, well, I never could resist a good adventure, and an adventure in the form of a scholarship opened itself up very widely for me, so I took the leap! The second half of summer, I will be a part of the Joint Space Weather Summer Camp. Being as how you don’t know what that is, unless you do of course, I shall endeavor to explain! Or rather, I shall copy-paste their description because that’s plenty good enough, don’t you think?

 The Joint Space Weather Summer Camp (JSWSC) is an opportunity to learn about space physics in the context of meeting a very practical need -- to understand the influence of the Sun on the space and upper atmosphere of the Earth and its related impact on the technological systems and needs of modern society. This is a new, exciting, and emerging discipline called Space Weather, that has attracted the attention of the White House and senior leaders in government because of the importance of ensuring that our technological investments are properly protected against severe Space Weather.

About twenty students from UAH and from a variety of universities and research centers across Germany participate in a multiple week series of lectures, hands-on projects and experiments and excursions as they learn both the theoretical underpinnings and practical applications of Space Weather and solar and space physics.

It boils down to a scholarship for a single, specific, course and a trip to Germany for two weeks!  Hurrah! I will return to Germany! But only for two weeks, and much of the day I will be in class, as far as my understanding goes.  That doesn’t mean adventures will not occur.  I am one with adventure. Adventures are one with me!  Besides, if you look at it just so, anything is an adventure.

You all get told more next week!

One Final Byte: Adventures are more viewpoint than series of events.

An Unexpected (Rather Tame) Adventure

On Friday, I discovered that I was going on an adventure.  It was not meant to be an adventure, but halfway through it turned into one.  It was just supposed to be a visit to see my maternal Grandma, an extended family in Texas. Alas, this was not to be.  My quest was cut very short by a force we have yet to be able to do diddly squat about.

That is to say: My flight got canceled due to a thunderstorm. It was not a small flight either, being six seats across and completely full.  By the time I got to customer service, I had been in line waiting an hour.  It took a further hour and a half to get the ticket back to my home place, having discovered the next flight available…was still in danger of thunderstorms, and completely full besides.  That is to say, according to Mr. Meterologist, my one true chance was not this weekend at all, thank you very much, as thunderstorms and lightening were predicted for Dallas the entire time. Ergo, to preserve my sanity…I came back home.

You see, I didn’t have a direct flight. I had one of the lovely flights were you go in the complete opposite direction before you head the right way.  This, being a rule of travel, is not so surprising.  What was surprising was suddenly finding myself in Charlotte, North Carolina unable to contact my family to let them know, not sure what the right choice was, and with, get this, an ankle that is most certainly still sprained and it most certainly did not like going through the airport twice, thank you very much.

By the time I got to the gate my flight back home would go through, my ankle was roughly the size of a particularly fluffy cat’s head. Also, it hurt.  I was about 50 % sure I undid all the healing I had done, but only 50%.  Being as this is now Saturday, I can assure you that my ankle was just being a bit of a whiner, and it’s back to its mildly swollen, healing state.

I do not advise my form of health care, by the by. It leads to a startling number of adventures and an awful lot of sighing from your friends.

To give you all a run-down of the excitement, I must tell you I arrived at my local airport at rather very early, also known as 8:06. Armed with my firefly shirt (for the purpose of finding fellow nerds along the route), a backpack for the weekend, and my purse, I felt well prepared for travel.  Given I was two hours early, I was, in fact, a bit too early for an airport the size of my home airport. From there, everything went smoothly.  We took off a little late, but apparently were waiting for a member of the crew, and we more than made up the time in the air, arriving twenty minutes early.  Given that I had to go from terminal E to B, I didn’t look at the departures board, and instead rushed.

Clocking easily three times my usual speed, I near jogged to the other side of the airport, as They Have No Tram.  Really, Charlotte.  You are much too big to not have a tram from A to E, at the least.

This, I should note, was my first mistake, if you don’t count booking when there’s bad weather. Had I seen that, I would have seen my flight was mysteriously delayed by thirty minutes.  Hmm…

Seeing this, I despaired half a moment before trying to call my Grandma.  Given I don’t have a cell number for her (and suspect she has none) I tried her house phone.  This did not work. Well, maybe she was on the way. It would only be a little late, and easily make up thirty minutes in the air. Everything would be fine.  It was bothersome, but that’s all.

Right as the flight should have left, we received the announcement. The flight would be canceled due to lightening. The TSA could not approve it under the conditions.  One of the other passengers confided she was from a nine am flight that had suffered the same.  I checked the weather and said a foul word.  It was necessary.

And then began the mad chase. We went to customer service. This was not correct. We went to the East Check In desk, booking it as fast as I could limp. My ankle was mad, but I, while complaining to myself in the manner of writers everywhere (out loud, and to myself) was mostly calm.  And then I checked Dallas’s weather again.  The long wait for service and the weather reports I had at hand made up my mind.  I could not go, not this weekend.

Given how rarely I see her, this is the disappointment of the year, thus far, that I care to remember. Were their greater, I do not recognize them.  Still, all would be well, I decided as I waited about an hour after getting to the desk for the ticket back to my home airport.

After all, I am good at adventuring. It’s become nearly a specialty.

On the way to the opposite side of the airport once more, and really, wondering if I should flag a look you’re disabled cart down, I met a lovely New Yorker as my stomach growled, demanding sustenance.  I have adventures. Sustenance is needed for adventures. And so, I had a cheeseburger, and we talked and walked to her gate, as mine, of course, is the very last possible gate.

Arriving, I sat down to chronicle my adventure and right as I expected to begin boarding and had begun to put my things up, I receive, the news.  That is to say there was an announcement of a twenty minute delay due to something that I do not even know but sounded like Lal.  What Data’s daughter is doing delaying flights in the 21^st century, I do not know.

I have decided I don’t want to know. At this point, I sighed, and decided such was fate, then promptly wondered if I’d make it home today at all, or if I should find a particularly cushy spot of airport floor to sleep on.

However! The good news is that I have successfully made it back, thus ending my adventure.  It was quite the excitement.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, even if it did sadly cut short a trip I had been looking forward to happening.

One Final Byte: Adventures have their place, but not at airports.

Justice Corrections Corporation

The lights that hung two stories above did little to light the grey concrete hallway as a man in a suit led a group of five other men all in grey suits as he was, down the hallway, gesturing occasionally to one of the pods on either side, each filled with a single body, a screen on the door of the pod reading the vitals of the person held in stasis inside.

“I assure you all, despite the protesters this remains the most humane way of dealing with violent criminals on the planet.”  His voice was smooth as warm chocolate, his eyes lit from behind with greed.  A security guard passed by on the walkway that served as the floor above.  Up there, the pods were a part of the wall itself, each one sunk partially into the concrete the building was made of.

“I’m certain, but I also noticed they seem to be released earlier than their sentences would suggest.  That isn’t comforting to the voting public, Mr. Reynolds.”  One of the group spoke, and the other murmured agreement.  The views of the voting public were especially important around election time, and there was one around the corner.

“Oh, don’t worry Senator.  These men and women serve their sentences like all others, just in a different manner, a more humane one.”  Mr. Reynolds assured the politicians.  “We believe that our facilities offer a better chance at rehabilitation.  Our rate of return is significantly lower than that of other prison systems after all.”

Of course, they often returned to the world with a complete lack of knowledge of what had happened while they were serving their sentences, and the culture shock made finding jobs, among other things, even more difficult, but they never were returned for violent crimes. So long as that was true, who cared about the fate of a criminal?

“I will give you that Mr. Reynolds.  Your former prisoners are not eager to return.”  The Senator paused by one of the pods and peered inside.  Behind the lightly fogged glass lay a woman, looking for the entire world like she merely slept, at peace.  “Who is this one?”

“Ah, this is our most infamous tenant, serving four life sentences.  No need to worry however.  The intravenous drip that our prisoners receive their nutrients from keeps them in the cryogenic state, so long as their body temperatures remain below a certain level.”  He assured the politicians. “It even slows their aging so that they don’t lose out on too much of their life while serving their sentences.” 

Mr. Reynolds opened the door without fear, and leaned the dark haired woman inside forward.  Her short cropped hair did nothing to hide the diodes that ran down her dark skin along her spine.  “It’s easy enough to move the prisoners and keep them in shape enough that they are able to walk and move after their internment, though even with her age slowing, Ms. Adams will be not have too much time let by the time she has finished her sentence.”

He laid her back, hiding the diodes once more and closing the door.  “I’m sure you noticed the drip going into her wrist.  Ms. Adams is well and truly held here.”  He said.  “And will serve four lifetimes, as she was sentenced, all in the computer generated world where all of our inmates serve their times.  As you men know, they begin life again from birth.  We at Justice Corrections Corp believe that this allows them better to rehabilitate themselves, by truly giving them a second chance.”

The Senator nodded at that.  “Then is seems all is in order.  I believe it won’t be hard to convince the others to award the contract to JCC.  After all, this is a rather human facility.” He said and walked on.

In the pod, Ms. Adams eyes fluttered briefly before closing once more.

“Excellent.  Given the boom in populations, prison facilities like this are truly the best choice.  We can fit more prisoners per square foot, with less resources, than any other.”  The man boasted, pleased.  “Across the 12 worlds, Justice Corrections houses almost 7.2 billion criminals.  An extra facility is sure to help, given how quickly the population grows.”

“Of course.  Isn’t the program becoming rather crowded?”  The Senator asked, and Mr. Reynolds smiled.

“Oh yes, but no worries.  We’ll be branching out. In the computer world, the prisoners will have a breakthrough in space travel.  Though it will be just enough for them to colonize a second planet, and a second prison.  It will be called Mars.”  They had already named it, some of the prisoners from many decades ago, after all.  The planets and stars had only been designed so the prisoners would not panic over it.  Anything too unrealistic and they may break free somehow.

The programmers were already designing the new prison system, and the details that would be found there.  The contract of course, was Justice Corrections. It just took enough donations to enough senators, after all.

In Case Of Cell Phone, Break Glass:

Okay folks, I’m tired.  I am sick and tired.  I am so sick and tired, I am going to blog about it.  Also known as let’s have a talk, about your cell phone and you.

Allow me to demonstrate.  This is a typical, I repeat, typical, complaint between several a different friends of mine and me.  On average, I hear this complaint at least once week.

Friend: My boyfriend/girlfriend/fiancé/husband/wife is always on the phone. I can’t believe it.  Worse, s/he is too busy on the phone to talk/flirt/mate like a wild animal with me!

This is very much what I hear, all the time.  Allow me to tell you a series of solutions:

1. Make a Rule about cell phone use when together.

Healthy relationships have rules, spoken and unspoken.  We have unspoken ones like ‘do not say I look like an elephant, even if I do.’  Then we have spoken ones like ‘no you may not poke my friend’s with a stick when they bother you.’  And yes, that is a spoken rule in my relationship. Apparently, poking people is not encouraged.

Either way, rules make people happy, and will make your relationship happier.  If the cell phone use is bothering you so much, then it’s time to discuss rules with your special somebody. Just be aware. Everyone gets on everyone else’s nerves in some way especially with prolonged contact.  They will have rules for you too.

2. When on a date, don’t take your phone with you.

Oh no! The reader gasps in horror at the very idea of not having their cell phone with them.  What about in case of emergency!

Allow me to now stare at you in sheer horror. Unless you have dates that occur deep in the woods, or the desert, or the jungle, or the middle of the ocean, or some other suitably remote place, then you should probably be in public, and let me tell you about public. There are phones in every single business out there. 

They are call landlines, and operate via wires.  I know this comes as a shocker, but they exist.  And if you can’t find a semi-mythical landline, then just find the nearest teenager or other adult.  You really should have certain numbers memorized, like your parents, your significant others, your own, 911. Please tell me you have the last memorized.  That one’s the important one. 

Ah, but I see you aren’t so convinced.  Still need your phone on you? Face down in the table, all stacked on top, everybody’s. Then you don’t have it half so easy to fiddle with do you?  Everyone will be watching you in disappointment if you give in to the urge.  And if that doesn’t work, leave the gorram phone in the gorram glove compartment. Or, if you must…

3. Only take a single phone out.

This works on the guilt principle.  As in, ‘they don’t have one, so I shouldn’t use mine.’  Just make certain the one the feels guilty easier has the cell phone.

4. But what is someone needs to get a hold of me.

Allow me to tell you something super awesome amazing. It. Can. Wait.  When out on a date with the significant other, it can wait. When out with friends, it can wait. When out with family, it can wait.  In other words, when out in any capacity that renders you in a busy status:  It. Can. Wait. Even bad news waits, dudes.  Even horrible news can wait.  It isn’t good for you to be in always constant contact anyway.  It can wait.  They can wait until you are available.  If all else fails, you get a rousing game of phone tag out of it.

5. But what if plans change, or someone is late, or something happens that I need to know about right now!

Eh. You can’t handle a change of plans, or someone arriving late, or something happening?  Dudes, if it’s serious, someone will find you.  If not, just chill, relax, and have fun in the meantime.  I promise, except in extenuating circumstances, which you would hear about from those around you in public, you can have fun on your own for all of the fifteen minutes that you should have to wait before you can say adios to them and have fun on your own.  If you are very patient, you can make it all the way to thirty.  If there is a traffic jam, and they are stuck, then find out how back the traffic jam is, then find a good book store.  In other words: Just chill.  They’ll come find you to let you know, or just be running late. It’s not that big of a deal.  Very rarely, do you absolutely have to know right that very second.

One Final Byte: Dude, it’s just a phone. So Chill out.