Similar openings on the sea floor were first spotted 18 years ago along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Their origins remain unknown. Scientists are asking the public for their thoughts.
While researchers explored the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on July 23, they noticed sets of holes in the sediment that they couldn’t explain. The laser points in the image are 10 centimeters. or about 4 inches, apart. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
As a member of the public, my thoughts are: scientists are really at it this week. Scientists should chill for just like one second.
But this story reminded me of a newsletter I wrote between about October 2013 and February 2014, with a couple brief revivals after that. It was called Story Idea, and Jess Zimmerman described it as “..like being on Kilgore Trout's mailing list." Every day I sent a very brief snippet in the form of a creative writing prompt, although I wouldn’t call them useful writing prompts.
What I learned from this project, which overlapped with the first few months of Tabs, was that two daily newsletters is too much, even if one is just a sentence or two. And also that my subconscious is obsessed with hands, the deep ocean, and the insides of things not being what you’d expect.
Story Idea never had more than about 200 subscribers, but I bet every one of them is reading this, so I hope for you folks it’s a charming throwback to a simpler time. And for everyone else, this is part of my personal Lore, so here are some of my favorite Story Ideas.
An old skin-bag full of bees.
Story Idea:
The stars are amazing tonight, look at them all. Wait, those aren't stars. Those are starfish! Millions of them, and they're all... glowing? And we're not looking up into space but down at the ocean. Wow, I really got all turned around on this whole situation. Those starfish sure are moving fast.
Story Idea:
Aliens arrive on earth, ignore humanity, and go to war against the sharks. The aliens win and take up residence in the oceans. No one knows what they're doing down there, but we never knew what the sharks were doing either.
Story Idea:
Your work-cycle tasks finished, you gaze down at the roiling cloud concealing the continents and oceans and wonder how long you can continue believing that mission control's silence is just another of their pranks.
