No, this is neither a joke nor a trick.
Vampire bats are actually quite agile and amazingly fleet of foot. You wouldn't think it to look at them, especially considering the fact that they're bats, for pity's sake! Everyone knows that bats <em>fly</em>, not run! WRONG!
Thanks to <a target="_blank" href="http://boingboing.net/">boinGboinG</a&gt;, I present you with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/03/24/running_vampire_bat.html">Running Vampire Bats.</a>

Enjoy the Freaky Friday Fun Link!

I have a lot I could write about.
If only I felt comfortable writing about it. Too much drama in my personal life and too many scary situations in my business life to really feel comfortable talking about here. (You can read more about that at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/netgeek/">The Diary of a Network Geek</a>, if not now, soon.) So, why am I posting? I just can't help myself.

I got an e-mail from <a target="_blank" href="http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/">The Writer's Almanac</a> this morning, as I do every morning, and it had two interesting birthdays in it. First, there was this about Hans Christian Anderson:
<blockquote>It's the birthday of Hans Christian Anderson, (books by this author) born in Odense, Denmark (1805). Although he was most famous for his fairy tales, he never thought of himself as a children's writer. He wrote novels, plays, poetry, and travel essays, many of which were at least as successful as the fairy tales. Although Europeans and Americans loved his work, he was scorned in his own country during his lifetime; Søren Kierkegaard once published a scathing essay about him. He never married, and when he became ill late in life, he went to live with a family on the coast near Copenhagen. He had breakfast in his room one morning, and was found in bed a little while later, dead, holding a love letter someone had written to him 45 years earlier.</blockquote>

That was interesting in and of itself, to me, because I never think of the writers of fairy tales as being "normal" people who might have had lives that included pain. In particular, when I think of Hans Christian Anderson, I think of the movie that starred Danny Kaye. How could you associate that with unrequited love?
But, what was really interesting was the birthday note that follow later in the e-mail:
<blockquote>It's the birthday of the Italian writer Giacomo Girolamo Casanova, born in Venice (1725). He spent the final years of his life as a librarian in a cold and drafty castle in Bohemia, and he set out to write his memoirs because, he said, it was "the sole remedy I believed I possessed to avoid going mad or dying of sorrow." He left 4,000 pages of manuscript behind, some of which was later published under the title The Story of My Life.</blockquote>

What an interesting contrast. Two lovers. Two very different lives. Two very different kinds of love. I never would have thought of these two very different men ending up the way they did. Perhaps it is my own life that makes these stories resonate so with my own life right now. I do not know.
To be honest, I feel lonely. I'm thankful that I have my dog back, because she eases some of that pain. But, it's different. So different. Am I lonely enough to write 4,000 pages about unrequited love and loneliness? No, probably not. But, it is a feeling I understand these days.

(Yeah, okay, so I'm being a little lazy and I put this on my other blog, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/netgeek/">The Diary of a Network Geek</a>, first. So sue me!)

Mythbusters tried this.
But, these guys did it! I'm late for work, so I'll keep it short, but there are some folks that have created a primative solar death ray. Even better, they published information about it on the web! Right there at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.solardeathray.com/index.html">Home of the Solar Death Ray</a>.
Another cool link brought to you by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/weapons/solar-death-ray-036753.p…;.

Hey, I'm in a hurry and it's Friday, so if you have more time than I do, click the link!

My darling Hilda has returned to me.
It's a long, complicated story, but I got my dog from the airport this evening. She was a little dehydrated and scared, but otherwise okay. I could barely restrain her from jumping out of the crate long enough to get a leash on her, but I did. She sat in the passenger's seat and panted the whole way home, even though I had cool air blowing on her. As soon as we got home, I changed and got her bathed, because the trip had taken its toll on her. By the time I was drying her off, though, she was already getting back to being her playful self. As I type this, she's laying at my feet, the absolute picture of a faithful companion.
As you might have guessed, I love my dog very much and I've missed her beyond belief these past several months. I'm beside myself with relief and joy to have her again.
Many thanks to everyone who was there encouraging me, placating me, and praying for me.
Now, you'll have to excuse me while I go pet my dog.

Oh, yeah!
After a few bumps and bruises, we've upgraded to WordPress 1.5. It was a little touch and go for a bit there, but the upgrade is well worth it. You readers won't see any difference, but all the backend stuff has changed. It's very, very nice. And, it's still free.

A favorite topic of mine.
Of course, you poor people who are regular readers here, besides being often frustrated at my lack of content, know that I love invented worlds. In fact, I've been playing a game in one called<a target="_blank" href="http://gamegrene.com/wiki/Main_Page"&gt; Ghyll</a>. The game, as you might be aware, involves creating a fictitious world by way of writing a fictitious encyclopedia. It's been loads of fun. But, we're not the first folks to do it. I know of at least one other invented encyclopedia that describes a world other than our own: <a target="_blank" href="http://faculty.msvu.ca/pschwenger/codex.htm">the Codex Seraphinianus</a>.
Not only did the somewhat mysterious author invent a world as vast as his imagination, but he also invented a language and script to go with it. So, this entire book, which is now quite rare, is in an unknown language. A dead language of dreams. The entire book is like an artefact from aother world. And it's quite beautiful.

I hope that makes up for last week's less than spectacular Friday Fun Link!

Yep, we've got one.
Considering the funding cutbacks at NASA, this seems like a really "forward thinking" document to me, but the United States Government has a non-armmament space treaty. Or, more specifically, "<a target="_blank" href="http://www.state.gov/www/global/arms/treaties/space1.html">TREATY ON PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE ACTIVITIES OF STATES IN THE EXPLORATION AND USE OF OUTER SPACE, INCLUDING THE MOON AND OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES</a>". Basically, it says that we'll all play nice up there. It's not clear who actually signed this treaty, but it does mention that there are copies in the following languages: English, Russian, French, Spanish and Chinese. I find that all interesting in light of the so-called "Star Wars" program and all the research the Russians did into space-based weapons platforms.
Anyway, it's the most fun link I could find this Friday. So, go have fun reading the boring government document!

Does your writing have a sound track?
When you write, can you hear music in your head that matches the scene you're writing? Frankly, I'd be suprised if you don't. Maybe when you hit a stumbling block or a "tough scene", the music fades away, but when things are rolling along, if you pay attention, I'll bet there's music up there. In a way, it's almost inevitable, given how pervasive movies are in our culture. I know, for me, when I'm writing an action scene, I always hear music that matches the scene. And, what's more, that musical score is influenced by movies that I've seen recently. For the longest time after seeing the Professional for the first time, every fight scene I saw in my mind's eye was set to ethereal opera. And, then, after seeing some other movie, it was smooth jazz that provided the counter-point for all the action.
And, sometimes, when I need to capture a certain feel in my writing, I'll put on a particular kind of music. Sometimes it's quick, sometimes slow, but almost always it's different from how I'm feeling when I try to write and can't quite get it. In my case, I know that music really effects my work because of my love for movies. Often, I'm trying to capture something with words that I can see in my head as clearly as if I'd seen it on a movie screen. One of the highest compliments I ever recieved was in writing class when the teacher told me that I had a very cinematic style of writing. (Though, in retrospect, I'm not sure he meant it as a compliment.)

So, here are three creativity exercises to try:
First, randomly pick a piece of music, play it and try to write what you feel when you listen to the music.
Second, pull out a story or scene that has given you trouble in the past. Now, put on some music, or different music than what you normally play while writing, and try to rework the piece with the different music setting the tone.
Third, as you write, or plan, your story, plan what music should be playing if someone were to make the story into a movie. Write, or rewrite, with that in mind.

But, most of all, keep writing!

Remember this game?
I've talked about it here before. I am the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/target=display_nation/nat… Empire of Megaria</a> in the NationStates game. I saw this months ago, played for a bit, and then quit. Well, I went back recently and tried to sign into my country's account, but was told that it was deleted. So, naturally, I tried to revive Megaria, but, alas, I could not. But, then, I saw that I could have the old gal brought back from the dead! And, so I have.
In any case, if you haven't played with this, go check it out. It's really sort of fun, in a geeky way. And, if you come, look for the "Ghyll" region. I thought I'd go ahead and create that space for all my fellow Ghyll scholars to join, should they start to play.
Enjoy!

I know a few things about human nature.
It may only be a few things, but they can be important, especially in fiction writing. When I was in high school an English teacher told me that the most dangerous people are those who feel they have nothing to lose. Think about that for a minute. It really makes sense. If a person feels like they have nothing left to lose by taking an extreme measure, of whatever kind, then what would stop them from doing it? What's left to lose? Nothing, so there's everything to gain.
And, anyone backed into a corner is libel to fight. That's a two edged sword, though. First of all, it seems obvious that a person will fight if they're forced into it. Nothing all that remarkable there, right? Well, take that with the other statement and you'll see that a combination of these two things can make for a deadly opponent. Secondly, can you imagine a person who would NOT fight when backed into a corner? Why would they not fight? What could make them so deviate from the "normal" response?

In both cases, you have potential for great characters. Imagine a tragic hero who loses everything and feels that they must strike back. Surely they will make a formidable foe who will not rest until justice is served. Or, suppose that it's a villain. Truly, an understandable, possibly likeable, antagonist who will devil the hero endlessly. Great plots there.
But, the more interesting is the "hero" with a learned helplessness syndrome. How can they win with so much going against them? What makes them panic and how do they go about avoiding it or dealing with it? Lots of room for character development there.

So, enough about human nature, go forth and write!