Sunday, September 22, 2013

One Story, One Day: Earth is Dead

I had a story to write about today, but it seems that it has flown before I had the chance to tag it. I'm hoping that in writing this I'll figure it out. It either had to do with regret, or loss, and was possibly a science fiction story. It may have been about twins as well, or one guy with a split personality that gives him the appearance of having a twin. That would be interesting, but I'm not sure how it would play out. More in a minute, after I put the kid to bed and try out some of these new chips! I'm a fucking pig, I know.

So I just found out that possibly the greatest learning program for kids is coming back! To be honest, I hadn't actually seen the program since elementary school, but at that age it was one of the coolest shows in town. Of course I'm talking about Reading Rainbow, hosted by that lovable visor wearing host from Star Trek: TNG. My two favorite things in elementary school were reading and Star Trek, so I made sure to watch it every chance that I could get.

It turns out that the program was canceled in 2009 but since it's cancellation the host has been working his butt off trying to find a way to get it back into the hands of kids. His answer: make it mobile. Listen, kids are just as addicted to technology as their tablet gobbling parents. The problem is that, while "some" parents are actually using them for "smart" things, kids are more interested in watching YouTube and playing inane match three games than doing anything educational. It seems that the Reading Rainbow crew has realized this and created a program that provides all the same information that was available through the television program but have added a touch of interactivity to keeps the kids interested. The result is something that I cant wait to find a way to kids into the hands of my own kids when it is "hopefully" released for Android in the future. At the moment, it's an IOS only release.

Okay, story idea for the day. A colony consisting of engineers, scientists, psychologists, a handful of average people, and their families, wake up on the moon on Christmas morning. Artificial snow is pumped into their individual home bubbles in order to simulate the experience of being back home.  A mother has woken up at around 5 in the morning, lunar standard, to put the finishing touches on Christmas Morning. She steps outside and takes a look at the other bubbles in her block, taking in the ambiance, the lights that are being projected onto the surface of each bubble.

She looks up as earth, massive and majestic, quietly passes by. She thinks about the last time she woke up and felt real snow between her freezing toes. She was about 15 when her parents were assigned to be part of the first "family" to live on other world. Tears were shed over losing friends yada yada yada, her kids have never heard the familiar crunch of real snow. All they have is fluff. She thinks about the idea that they'll be able to return next year when she notices something off about Earth. All the lights are off, and then the entire planet seems to catch fire.

Earth is Dead.

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