Cloud Wars: Mad Science
Here’s another fun (and somewhat less normal) type of flying machine – the ornithopter. An ornithopter is a machine that flies by flapping its wings. And yes, there is at least one in the world that actually does fly.
Here’s a place offering model workshops:
Cloud Wars: Picture time
Here’s what a cloud seeding plane looks like at work (from http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.china-briefing.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/cloud-seeding.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2008/02/01/37000-reservists-30-aircraft-4000-rocket-launchers-and-7000-anti-aircraft-guns.html&usg=__ix6r6iAnTkztU-pPTjfD00wvZJM=&h=282&w=645&sz=41&hl=en&start=10&itbs=1&tbnid=UzW3bu48t8-8qM:&tbnh=60&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcloud%2Bseeding%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG):
The above websites are a study in contrasts – the first is about China, the second is about how cloud seeding is against God, and the third is about cloud seeding at the Snowy in Australia.
Cloud Wars: What is steampunk?
Steampunk is a storytelling genre that features a mix of craftmanship and technology based on Victorian times – but more fun.
Steampunk Earth Day is on 30 October 2010 – it’s a lot like Earth Hour, but with more options (and better outfits). It’s G-rated, and fully international, since you play along (literally) at home. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150654784970718
It often features technology that doesn’t exist or isn’t used today, especially steam powered tech. That technology is often on a huge scale (eg Philip Reeve’s “Mortal Engines” series – definitely not G or PG rated, fyi). It also often features Victorianesque class structure (Richard Harland’s “Worldshaker” is an excellent – and funny – example) because it’s inspired by the industrialisation era of Britain (though steampunk is, clearly, a lot more fun that its historical equivalent). Oh, and there are lots of Mad Scientists (as in the “Girl Genius” online comic series) and GREAT outfits (as in Philip Reeve’s “Larklight” series, my favourite kids’ series ever). Side note: Philip Reeve and the Foglios (makers of “Girl Genius”) both say they’re not steampunk – they’re “Victorian inspired” or “gaslamp fantasy”.
Steampunk movies use a palette of black, grey and coppery tones (as in “Sherlock Holmes”).
The current twittertale, “Cloud Wars”, is steampunk only in the sense that an old technology (one-person planes) are used, and that the science (cloud seeding) is vital to the plot. I promise to get better at steampunk with time (although twitter doesn’t lend itself to rich world-building).
Here’s some pretty pictures (and their websites, which I haven’t read so are not rated here):
www.wordsoup.com/blog/2007/04/
hydralisk.wordpress.com/…/steampunk/
http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/fantasy/pages/steampunk-landscape.shtml
Cloud Wars: Story so far
I normally do this on Fridays (and at the end of each tale), but here it is anyways:
Wed 10 Feb
“Mum! I gotta go make rain now.”
“Why can’t you get a real job?”
“MUM!” I switched off the comm and shot my payload into a full-looking cloud.
*
Since I’d cunningly forgotten to shut my lid, the rain I made fell right in. When the sparks started I cursed myself and pressed ‘eject’.
*
I floated down as neatly as you please, but the Eastern plane had already landed. They wrapped my own chute around my neck and I was gone.
Th 11 Feb
I woke in an Eastern jail – all concrete chic with a side order of migraine. Eastern cloud seeders made bets on me outside the barred door.
*
The good thing about being a nineteen-year old girl is that people think I’m weak. On their odds, I wouldn’t wake up. So I didn’t move. Yet.
Fri 12 Feb
When a doctor came to take my pulse I grabbed both his arms and twisted. He yelped but he quickly learned not to move – a perfect shield.
*
“We’re BFFs now,” I told him, “because today we live or die together.”
“Do I get to choose?”
“You sure do. . . is that a sandwich?”
*
I escaped into a land as dry as my mouth, and searched the dying fields for water without success. If only I hadn’t done my job so well.
Sat 13 Feb
A woman woke me, and I followed her into her home. She gave me water to drink. Then I saw the picture of her dead son – a cloud seeder.
*
She saw me looking, and nodded. “I helped you for his sake. You’re a seeder too.”
“And possibly his killer. Have you poisoned me?”
*
She laughed sadly. “I no longer care for East or West. Only sons or daughters. When you’ve eaten, take his plane. It’s no use to me.”
Cloud Wars: Twitter controversy # 2
It’s been pointed out to me (usually with sniggering) how unbelievably Freudian my first day of “Cloud Wars” turned out to be. All I can say is. . . I had absolutely no idea.
It’s interesting, though – pirates kill a bunch of people, no problem. A woman starves her husband to death – what a laugh! But mocking emos, or mentioning a “ripe” cloud. . . suddenly I have issues.
One of the most enjoyable parts of writing these twitter stories is having enough of an audience that one or two readers are bound to eventually mention what everyone is thinking.
Tune in next week for the torture of puppies!*
*JOKE, darn it!
Cloud Wars: Mad Science
To celebrate scifi, I’ll be posting a bunch of mad science moments here at twittertales.
Today’s is a special favourite. It’s a whole bunch of upside down houses.
This one is (or rather was) a genuine house. You can see the video through the website, http://weburbanist.com/2010/02/07/flip-this-home-10-unbelievable-upside-down-houses/
Cloud Wars: Scifi that isn’t fi
Cloud seeding (ie making clouds suddenly drop rain or snow) is real. I’ve seen the results (this year, in Beijing – the heaviest snowfall in sixty years). Clouds can be seeded by cannons (which can be loaded on the back of trucks, or shot from the ground – and yes, people living nearby hear them – and immediately rush inside) or small planes.
No, there aren’t dogfights and abductions between sparring plane companies – not yet.
Cloud seeding is used in Australia, America, and China, but has been most wholeheartedly embraced in China – where it causes friction between provinces (“You stole my rain!” “You stole MINE!” etc)
It is very efficient (mindbogglingly so), but like all godlike powers, it has a down side. We don’t yet know the long-term effects of messing with the natural patterns of rain.
It’s also obvious (already) that rain generally comes from one direction. If people close to the source of the rain are using up every cloud that passes, what happens to everyone else?
Day 6: Happy Birthday Me
Really couldn’t think of anything to blog today, so made lemonade out of lemons (literally, a few hours ago).
PG – violence
Time for. . . The Party Story. Each person writes a bit, then scrolls down so just a word or two (mid-sentence) leads on for the next person (who doesn’t read the story in advance). The onyl shared information was that the hero was a female crocodile named Bob.
I’ll start, and (it’s my birthday today), some of my friends will carry on.
Once upon a time, there was a mighty crocodile by the name of Bob. She was beautiful, with leathery skin and a razor-sharp smile. She liked to eat passionfruit and drink mineral water. All in all, her life was peaceful – until one fateful day when Bob went for a walk. She came upon a silver turtle buried in the mud. Picking it up and weighing it in her clawed hand, she noticed a pale glow spreading from its centre. The turtle blinked and, opening its mouth, latched on to Bob’s ear. With a hideous ripping sound the ear came off and was swallowed by a passing pelican, who had previousely been the subject of governemnt genetic testing. Bob, enranged by this act of bodily desecration, opened her mouth as wide as it could go and swallowed the vandal. This act of rage and rash action sent Bob into a melancholy contemplative mood for the rest of the day. While lying on the bank of a river, Bob was unaware of her suroundings. The pelican, who had swallowed her ear and now succumbed to blood lust, dived at her.
Gnawing and gnashing , fighting and biting, they fought. Over, under, round and round. Suddenly there was calm all around.
The battle was over, and the outcome, as expected, was not pretty.
But who had really won? As Bob watched the day’s dying rays glittering on the red slick dissipating through the water, she couldn’t help but shudder as if feeling the chill from some distant plane blowing through her very soul, taking all that she was, all that she could ever have been, and revealing the ultimate truth that lay behind them.
She felt the reflected red of the intermingled gore and blood shining across her once-innocent face. An innocence which had now passed forever.
Vaguely, unaware even of the movement, she began to rub at the stains across her hands. If she had been aware of her action, she would have easily known its futility. The remnants of her actions had seeped as deep into her flesh as they had into her soul. She would never know which she had lost again.
Who had truly won?
As she felt the first whisper of the night-winds cooly caressing her cheek, her eyes remained blind to the world, lost in that play of dwindling day upon the red in the water.
Such a pure red.
At the end of it all, when the day is finally lost and we see we are all becoming one with the ash, as we feel that final coolness invading our bones, is that not – in some way – our final redemption; that purity. That purity of the blood.
The last and first pure thing that our lives can ever claim as their own.
And then, finally, as the bloody disc of the sun sank below the blackness of the horizon, she turned.
What could be left for her now?
For a long time she didn’t move, then her lip lifted slightly in the smallest of smiles, showing only three teeth and a sliver of gum. Muffins. There would always be muffins.
She decided to make a career change so she packed up everything she owned and left for the nearest port to make her life long dream of becoming a pirate a reality.
THE END
Many thanks to my hapless volunteers – Chris M, Black Bob, Jason, Ally, Mel, and Ben. And possibly Jane (I wasn’t paying attention).
PS I did make muffins for a birthday cake thingy, and was given a giant and highly-detailed pirate ship. No crocodiles or philosophers were harmed in the making of this story.
Day 5: Fun Facts
Time for some crocodile facts.
1. Crocodiles can outrun you – even on land.
2. Crocodiles grow up to twenty feet long.
3. Crocodiles are surprisingly stealthy – most people who are attacked never see it coming.
4. The motors of some small boats make a noise that crocodiles find incredibly interesting.
5. Crocodiles don’t chew. They just rip bits off with their teeth. (On the up side, they drown you first.)
Sweet dreams, everyone!
Felicity Banks 
