Friday, March 8, 2013

Chemistry, Black Holes, and Taxes for Writers


At least once a week, I wish that I wrote scifi or thrillers. Those are the days when my son comes home from lab with a story to tell. Yesterday, it was “Hey, in lab I separated mirror molecules and used them to bend light.” Or, “Did you know that all you have to do is mix X with Y and you’ll get the most amazing explosion?”

It seems to me that there ought to be websites that authors can peruse like Explosive Chemistry for Writers wherein a chemist lists all the household chemicals that can be mixed together to provide explosions—a la MacGyver or Burn Notice (though I’m told that those writers could use such a website too). Or what about Theoretical Physics for SciFi Writers. And there could be discussions of black hole firewalls (yes, this is a real thing), event horizons, and paradoxes. Of course, I think theoretical physics is mostly math and I can’t think of many writers who’d want Math for Writers. Unless it’s Tax Math for Writers. Doesn’t that sound great? All you have to do is plug in expenses and remittance information and voila Tax Math for Writers would print out proper tax paperwork.

Speaking of Tax Math, April is coming. Eleven months out of the year, I hope and pray for great sales. And then there’s one month where I hope my sales aren’t amazing. Tax time. I guess there is a time and season for everything.

File:750px Blackhole.jpg
Illustration by 420Ainsley, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

6 comments:

  1. Theoretical Physics (Without Math) for Writers sounds like the most awesome class imaginable. Sign me up for that one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm...now I wish I wrote scifi and thrillers. LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. If there isn't a good chemistry for writers resource out there, maybe you and your son should write one. I'm serious. It would be a great tool for those who DO write sci-fi and techno-thrillers.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Who knows? Some of that info may actually be out there; you just have to know where to find it. I have a couple of interesting (military-issue) books about explosives and other cool stuff. Not quite what you're talking about, but it is definitely cool.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Event Horizons aren't that complicated. At least, the basics aren't. Of course, Physicists are required by law to have psychotic levels of math in anything they do.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When I was in high school, a lab assistant simply read the chemical safety manual. It said never mix these chemicals together, or never expose this to water. He did. I heard he blew up an aquarium in the lab when he threw a pack of chemicals into it.

    ReplyDelete