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July 13, 2005

Volume 3, Issue 13

The Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch today.

The theme for the day is the word: discovery.

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We had been working for months in the hot, cramped lab, trying formula after formula, looking for a fast-acting deodorant. My lab partner, an Italian exchange student, won the coin toss, and filled the atomizer with our latest effort, taking care not to spill any. He handed me the atomizer, and stripped off his shirt. As he lifted his arms, I spritzed him several times under each arm. Five minutes later, still grumbling about losing the coin toss, I gave him the sniff test.

"Eureka!" I cried in triumph.

"Hmph!" Benito grunted in reply. "You don't-a smell-a so good-a youself-a."

Posted by: hnumpah at July 13, 2005 7:13 AM · Permalink

Soft and brown. That’s all I can remember of the pelt we found hidden under a large stone set into the hearth. I brushed my sooty hands off and spent a few minutes just petting the velvet fur. Mother heard our whispering and snatched away our discovery.

That was the last day we saw our mother. The villagers say Father’s temper finally got the best of him, but we know differently. She simply went home.

I still see the seal now and then. I want nothing more than to pet that pelt again.

Soft and brown.

Just like Mother’s hair.

Posted by: TheMightyEmu at July 13, 2005 7:49 AM · Permalink

“At last, Igor, I have made the discovery of the century! They said to try, and try again, and after only eight attempts I have achieved success! The world is at our feet! I have no doubt that I shall be invited to Stockholm. Don’t worry, my faithful assistant, you shall go along too. I’m sure that we will be able to find a tuxedo to accommodate your, er, physique.”

I poured a drink and let the professor continue with his rant, and gazed at the shelf with the ruins of our failed experiments: Preparation G, Preparation F, Preparation E…

Posted by: ErnieG at July 13, 2005 7:53 AM · Permalink

The moon hung in it’s spot in the sky, ever turning but never moving, the sun making it’s lazy transit. Dan fumbled with the straps on his pack as he waited for Sue to finish dressing.

Sue came out, adjusting her own backpack, and doublechecking the zipper on her shorts. “How much further, you think?”
“it’s supposed to be over the hill, almost directly under the moon.” Said Dan as he stood to follow her.

Less than half an hour later, they were looking up at the beautiful, perfect ship. ”Why” said Sue, ‘do you suppose they called it Discovery?”

Posted by: og at July 13, 2005 8:30 AM · Permalink

He set his lunchbox down with an exhausted sigh and went to the bedroom to finish changing out of his work uniform.

His wife stopped him on the way. “Come here,” she said, transfixed by the television. “This just came on the news.”

“What happened, dear?”

“You know those SETI guys? They say they detected a radio signal from another star. The reporter called it the discovery of the century.”

He looked for a moment into her radiant compound eyes and finished peeling off his man costume. With all nine tentacles free, he joined her in a good, long laugh.

Posted by: Jim Parkinson at July 13, 2005 9:59 AM · Permalink

Like all of his people, Urg had wanderlust; he could not stay in one place for very long. And as he traveled from place to place, he began to notice things.

Some clans had discovered how to harness the power of fire.

Other groups knew the skills needed to sharpen flint to make cutting tools and spear points.

A couple of tribes worked on fermentation. One guy even used wheels to move heavy objects.

But Urg was too busy roaming around. He never took the time to think very deeply.

And eventually ‘Meanderthal Man’ simply wandered off the evolutionary ladder.

Posted by: Jim Parkinson at July 13, 2005 10:57 AM · Permalink

Typical marriage, typical life, he thought as the five year itch scraped at the back of his mind on the drive home. Two kids, career, house in suburbs, he mulled. Life might as well have been over-- until last night, he grinned as he thought about his rediscovery of romance.
This morning, deal closed and deed done, he caught an early flight back, but played hooky from the office this afternoon, to get home early.
What he saw on the stairs made his heart sink. Their clothes were stewn along the steps. He wasn’t the only one discovering new romance.

Posted by: Tanker J.D. at July 13, 2005 11:20 AM · Permalink

“Captain!” the navigator called out. “Contact on long range sensors!”

The captain of the Deep Space Explorer looked up from the viewscreen on his chair’s armrest. “Identify. Is it a ship or another rock?”

The navigator twiddled with the controls. “Definitely a ship, sir. It’s changed course, to intercept us. Energy signature and silhouette match nothing in our database.”

“Aliens!” the helmsman squealed.

“Stow it,” the captain ordered.

The helmsman whispered to the navigator, “It’s aliens! We’re the first people ever to discover aliens! We’ll be famous.”

“Famous?” replied the navigator. “We’ll be historical. They’ll name elementary schools after us.”

Posted by: Formerly David at July 13, 2005 12:12 PM · Permalink

It gets lonely in a Pioneer-class scoutship. Of course, most of the time between stops is spent in cryofreeze, and time dilation makes the thousand-year tour seem like just a decade.

I named the first habitable planet I discovered after mom. The second was borderline, destined to be a dry, barren place no matter how much terraforming was done, so I named it after my ex-wife. Towards the end, I was naming 'em after schoolteachers I had a crush on and former pets. Through the tedium and the loneliness, I kept going by remembering those two magic words.

"Compound Interest"

Posted by: Jeff R. at July 13, 2005 1:01 PM · Permalink

"The search is more fun that the finding," is something he had heard many times before. He wanted to find out for himself.

The object of his desire was elusive. Diligence was required. He systematically examined the various places where he thought his desire could be met. Time and time again, disappointment was his only reward. It became difficult to continue. His soul felt ground down to rubble.

One evening, exhausted from yet another day's futile search, he sat on the couch. He put his hand under the cushion and found it. Finally, one last small bag of gummi bears.

Posted by: david at July 13, 2005 3:11 PM · Permalink

She said I'd probably want to leave early; some relatives were coming to visit. She'd never met them before, and didn't know if I'd enjoy the whole 'family tales' thing.

I loved her for that. I knew she wanted me to stay, but didn't want to pressure me.

I told her I'd love to stay.

So I showered, shaved, put on my best non-dress clothes and waited for her family to show up.

They finally did, around two. I was in the other room, and thought the voices sounded familiar.

We had more in common than I'd thought:

Our relatives.

Posted by: JamesF at July 13, 2005 5:07 PM · Permalink

"Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true."

Well, of course it was true. We've known since the fifties that it was true.

Rock and roll was gonna change the world, and it did.

Rock and roll partied in the 50's, protested in the 60's, got lost in the 70's, danced in the 80's, roared to its new heyday in the 90's, and is still going strong in the new millennium as it continues to embrace ever more genres. It made English the lingua franca. Heck, it brought down the Berlin Wall.

It's a discovery we all make eventually.

Posted by: JH at July 13, 2005 6:27 PM · Permalink

It is a question I hear far too often. In fact it was brought up on a television show just yesterday. I find the fact that the question is being asked at all disheartening. It unfortunately says alot about the current state of our civilization. Hopefully this is just a passing phase, and the vigor of our civilization will return one day.

The question is: "why do we spend billions of dollars on NASA and space exploration?" Quite often the question is accompanied by a recitation of other ways we could spend the money.

The answer is one word: Discovery.

Posted by: Gahrie at July 13, 2005 9:25 PM · Permalink

In the end, I knew. It wasn't the decisions she made. It wasn't the choices she pretended not to make. It wasn't her walking out the door. I knew because I searched, looking into the mirror as I wandered the past.

Looked at how we forgot how to be a couple. Looked at how "the kids come first" isn't really the best thing for them. Looked at how I contributed by stuffing my hurt instead of taking it out, examining it, understanding it, dissecting it, and setting it back on the shelf to learn from.

In the end, I knew.

Posted by: JAB at July 13, 2005 10:06 PM · Permalink

Jamie is beautiful. She always has been.

The way she moves.

The way she smiles.

Her laugh.

But we work together and, besides, she's just way too far out of my league. The risk of pain and suffering at work if we failed far outweighed the possibility of us actually making it as a couple.

So, I put her out of my mind. I hid my feelings and, in time, they more or less went away.

Until November.

That's when Jamie caught me point blank with the sexiest, most beautiful smile I've ever seen.

God help us.

I love her.

Posted by: JamesF at July 13, 2005 11:12 PM · Permalink

“Five years, it’s been five years already,” she thought as she hummed a little tune and cleaned up the bedroom. She smiled to herself, remembering last night, how they made love.

She straightened the sheets and fluffed the pillows then pulled the down comforter over the top of the bed. His pants from yesterday were laid across the top of the damask chair, she picked them up and decided it was time to wash them. She pulled out the extra change, a toothpick, and one of his cards. She glanced at the back,

“Happy 1sst anniversary, baby, Love, Your Pussycat.”

Posted by: Amalie at July 13, 2005 11:25 PM · Permalink