Word: Algorithm

 

algorithm

[ al-guh-rith-uhm ]

 

noun

1. Mathematics. a set of rules for solving a problem in a finite number of steps, as the Euclidean algorithm for finding the greatest common divisor.

2. Computers. an ordered set of instructions recursively applied to transform data input into processed data output, as a mathematical solution, descriptive statistics, internet search engine result, or predictive text suggestions.

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               John was so engrossed with his work that he almost did not hear the door knocking. And even when he did, he almost ignored it, or else risk losing his rhythm. But he sighed. It might be someone he actually cared about.

               When he opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of a very pretty young woman in a very distracting outfit. She smiled wide and seemed ready to start jumping around.

               “Hi!” She said with a little too much enthusiasm. “I’m Trisha, your new neighbor!” She pointed at the apartment across the hall.

               John did vaguely remember the sounds of heavy things shifting and thumping over the past few days. He had mainly dismissed the sounds as useless interruptions and had ignored them.

               “Uh, I’m John. Nice to meet you.”

               “Yeah, totally! Oh my gosh, I love that painting!” She pushed passed him and entered his apartment, looking at one of the few pieces of art he owned. “It’s so cool! Is it, like, one of those computer paintings that are all over now?”

               “Uh, no. My sister drew it, and she’d hate that you said that about it.” He made a mental note to tell her though.

               “Aw, I’m sorry. It’s just really cool and weird and stuff, and all the computer pictures are like that, so, you know.”

               “Don’t worry about it.” He knew he should probably ask her to leave. She had entered uninvited after all. But having a pretty girl in his apartment had never happened before, so he figured he might as well enjoy it while it lasted.

               “Oh, hey, neat background!” Trisha said, looking at his computer. “It’s like one of those sci-fi movie things, you know?”

               “Uh, yeah, but this isn’t that. I’m just, you know, programing some stuff.”

               “Ooo, are you like, a hacker or something? I bet you are! That’s super cool. Are you, like, trying to get into one of the big companies and find some super cool secret they’re hiding?” Her eyes opened wide and her smile became almost infectious.

               “I’m not a hacker. Just a normal programmer. This is an algorithm that—”

               “I don’t know what that means, but it sounds super cool. Oh, is it like robot thing?” She recoiled and gasped. “Are you making robots?”

               “I wish. First of all, an algorithm is just a bunch of instructions for a computer to do repeatedly. This one isn’t all that interesting though. It’s pretty much just a search engine for sounds.”

               Her face scrunched up. “So, like Google, but you can search for music?”

               “Yup. You put in a sound clip, and it finds what it’s from. It could be a song, a movie, a show, a recorded speech. Anything as long as it has sound and is online.”

               “Oh my gosh, that is so cool!”

               He was not sure if she was being sincere, or if she was just enthusiastic and liked everything. It was still nice though.

               “Thanks. It’s not nearly done yet though.”

               “Oh man, I bet you’ll get super famous when it is though!”

               “I’m not looking for that. I’m probably going to set up a small company, make a few bucks and wait to get bought out by some tech giant.”

               “That’s still really great! You’ll be, like, a millionaire or something!”

               “That’s the idea.”

               She smiled even wider. “Oh man, now I have someone I can tell people I know before they get famous! I’ve always wanted to do that!”

               John rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure I’ll be famous, but thanks, I guess.”

               “Oh, you definitely will! I bet—” At that moment, the sound of cheery electronic music came from somewhere on her. She clicked her tongue and reached into her shirt, pulling out a phone from one of the many hiding places women seemed to have. She looked at it for a moment and huffed. “Oh man, I gotta go. I’m meeting my mom and dad. Really boring stuff.”

               “Ah, that’s fine. I’ve got a lot to do anyway.”

               Before he knew what was happening, she gave him a quick, friendly hug that left him much happier than he had been.

               “It was super nice meeting you John.” She said.

               “Uh, yeah, you too.”

               “See ya later! You know where to find me!”

               With that, she rushed out the door and down the hall. John sat and collected his thoughts. Trisha’s presence was definitely going to make his life more interesting, that was for sure.

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I'd be very surprised if this kind of program doesn't already exist. There's pretty much a search for everything else, so why not sounds? 

Word: Ganymede

 

Ganymede

[ gan-uh-meed ]

 

noun

1.Also Gan·y·me·des [gan-uh-mee-deez]. Classical Mythology. a Trojan youth who was abducted by Zeus and taken to Olympus, where he was made the cupbearer of the gods and became immortal.

2. Astronomy. the largest moon of the planet Jupiter.

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“And now, my dear colleagues, we look back. Back at the distant past and see what once was.”  Fred said. The rest of the team groaned.

“Do you really have to make that joke every time we get data?” Sue asked.

Fred looked far too proud of himself. “Yes. Yes I do.”

“It wasn’t funny the first time. Why would the fifth be any different?”

“Oh you guys just don’t understand fine humor.” Several members of the team muttered about the quality of his humor. Fred looked at the lackluster reaction he was getting and his shoulders slumped. “Okay, fine. No more. Let’s just look at what we got.”

Sally rolled her eyes. Everyone there knew he would keep making the same bad joke. He could not help himself. They also said nothing about it. Sally just called up the latest video data from the probe.

“Okay, now that we’re actually doing our job,” She said. “We’ve got the Ganymede feed up now. Let’s see if there’s anything new this time.”

The video started playing. For most of it, it showed the same thing the pervious videos showed. A rocky tundra with patches of ice scattered around. But, the team did their duty and noted any major rock formations. Suddenly, Fred stopped the video.

“What is it?” Sally asked heavily. She was expecting another joke or wisecrack.

“What’s that?” He asked, pointing at a section of the screen. It showed an area that was darker than most. And, although it was hard to see, it was also oddly regular.

“I don’t know.” Sally said. “Focus on that area.”

The now still image rotated and zoomed in on the dark spot. The team mulled over the curiosity.

“I hate not being able to control the probe.” Sally said. “Makes things like this so much harder.”

“It looks like a hole.” Fred said, ignoring Sally’s comment. “It’s hard to tell from this angle, but I swear it looks like a hole. And an artificial one.”

“No way. There’s no way anything could be living on Ganymede.” Sally said.

“I know that. I’m just saying that that’s what it looks like.”

“Well, we’re not going to get anywhere just staring at it. Maybe the probe will give us a better look.”

The video restarted. The probe ignored the dark area, much to the team’s disappointment. It went back to the featureless landscape they were all familiar with. Suddenly, another team member stopped the video. Nobody needed to ask why.

“Was…was that movement?” Sally asked. The other members gave their agreement. The video was rewound and replayed. Sure enough, in the corner of the screen, something moved. It was not a rock tumbling in an unfelt breeze. It was something moving with purpose.

               The team members looked at each other nervously and replayed the video. A few minutes later, and the room descended into shouts and screams. Wild chatter filled the room as they all looked at the video feed. There, as clear as anything ever was, was an alien. It loped along the rocky surface, moving on four long, thin legs. It had an odd gait, as each limb had three joints, and ended with a triple digited “hand.” Its head was long, thin and ovaloid, with two large eyes and a small, vertically aligned mouth. Its body was a thick tube, and its breathing was long and slow, but heavy. Its skin was a similar color to the landscape, giving it natural camouflage.

               The creature moved slowly, its limbs giving it an eerie gait. It looked around with long, sweeping movements until it found the probe. It looked at the machine, tilting its head from side to side before approaching. It poked the camera, causing the feed to jump and wobble. Then it sat and used all four of its limbs to pick up the probe. The feed became wild and erratic as the machine was turned in different ways as the creature examined it. After a few minutes, it seemed to lose interest and put the probe down before loping away.

               When it disappeared, the room slowly settled into silence. The video continued to play for a few minutes before it ended on its own, having hit the data limit. Even when it did, nobody said anything. Sally was the first to find her voice.

               “So…we just discovered alien life.”

               “Yup.” Fred replied.

               “We should probably tell someone, shouldn’t we?”

               “Probably.”

               Nobody made any move to do so. Nobody knew who to call or what to say. None of them were expecting to find life. And not one of them was prepared for what was about to happen because of it.

********************

Welp, looks like a first contact adventure story to the moos of Jupiter! Or not. Depends on whether I decide to continue the story or not. Probably not though. Sorry. 

Word: Cucurbit

 

cucurbit

[ kyoo-kur-bit ]

 

noun

1. a gourd.

2. any plant of the gourd family.

3. Chemistry. the gourd-shaped portion of an alembic, a vessel formerly used in distilling.

***********************

               Jack hefted the knife. The blade did not glisten or reflect at all. In fact, it was rather dull. But it would do for what he needed it for. He sneered and looked at his victim. She was trembling and taking a few halting steps back.

               “Wha-what do you want?” She asked. Her voice was loud and the words were halting. Jack ignored that and simply raised his weapon, poised to deliver a lethal cut.

               He started walking. She screamed and ran. Jack made no move to increase his pace. For this task, there was no need for haste. Suddenly, a new voice made itself known.

               “Hold it right there.” The voice was thick and somehow both high pitched and deep at the same time.

               Both Jack and the girl, Cindy, looked at the newcomer. He was a large man, in several ways, and sported badly maintained facial hair. His clothes were not fitted for a man of his size, and looked like they had not seen a washing machine in weeks. The shirt sported the image of some anime character on it, but Jack did not know which one. But the weirdest thing of all was that the man had a katana on one hip and a large, ornamental Japanese gourd on the other. To Jack, the only thing he was missing was a fedora and he would fit so many stereotypes.

               “Uh, can I—“Jack started.

               “Silence villain!” The intruder shouted. It looked like that had taken a dangerous amount of breath to do. “I am here to carry out justice and will not listen to evil!”

               Jack glanced from Cindy, who shrugged, to the three-person camera crew. Todd looked unsure of whether to keep recording. Jaimie’s arms looked ready to fall off from holding the boom mic for so long. Dave looked just as confused as any of them.

               “Uh, dude, can you leave, we’re—”

               “No excuses!” The intruder said, holding up an arm. He turned to Cindy and gave a smile that Jack thought was trying to be charming. Cindy hugged her arms close to her chest and took several steps back. “Don’t worry, mi’lady, I shall protect you from this maniac.”

               Cindy spoke, a bit nervously. “What’re you talking about? This is—”

               “No need to be afraid. I am well prepared.” He shot Jack a look that was probably supposed to be intimidating. “I came well armed to deal with the likes of you. Take this! Thousand seal gourd!”

               He clumsily pulled the gourd off his belt, pulled the cork, and held it out. The man looked surprised when nothing happened. Everyone else present just looked confused.

               “Is this a joke?” Jack asked. “Because if you want in, then—”

               “Damn!” The man cried. He threw the gourd to the ground. It hit the pavement with the sound of cheap plastic. “I can see your powers are too strong for this. Very well, I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me no choice.”

               He unsheathed his sword in a way that Jack assumed was supposed to be menacing. When it was exposed, Jack could easily see several things. Even though he was not an expert on any kind of weapon, he could tell this was a cheap mall sword that would break before it did anything else. He wondered if it would bruise a toddler. The second was that the man had as much idea on how to weild it as Jack did his knife. That is, none at all.

               “That’s right, tremble in fear evil doer. This is real Japanese steel, held in the hands of someone who has been studying its use for years.”

               Dave snorted. “Did he really just give a ‘I’ve been studying the blade’ line? Who does that it real life?”

               Jack shook his head. “Look, man, if you want in, then—”

               The man shouted something like a battle cry, held his sword over his head and started running. He ran with all the grace of a drunken toddler and the speed of a lazy turtle. Jack almost felt sorry for getting out of the way, but the guy had a lot of bulk. Getting hit by that much weight would not be fun. The man stumbled as he brought his sword down, missing by a wide margin.

               “Dear lord, you’re bad at this.” Jack said. The man recovered after a few seconds and tried again. “Look, if you really want in the movie, just tell Dave. He’s the director.”

               “Oh hell no. Don’t bring me into this.” Dave said, shaking his head. The man finally stopped swinging.

               “Movie?” He asked, apparently genuinely confused. “This is a movie?”

               “Yeah? You…you didn’t actually think I was going to murder someone in broad daylight did you? Plus, the very obvious camera crew and the fact that I’m holding a prop knife.” Jack bent the tip of his knife back and forth. “Wait, were you serious about all this? Did…did you think this was real?”

               The man did not answer.

               “I think he did.” Cindy said. “I bet he also thought that jar thing was going to do something.”

               “The…the salesman said it was legit.”

               She went and picked up the discarded toy and rapped her knuckled against it. “It’s plastic. And you really trusted someone who said magic is real? You got ripped off. I don’t care how much you paid, it was a rip off.”

               The man hung his head. “I…I just…I wanted to be cool is all.”

               “And you thought going after people with a toy jar and a mall ninja sword was going to do that?”

               Jack actually felt a little sorry for the guy. He looked like he wanted nothing more than to disappear. Jack sighed.

               “Look, what’s your name?” He asked.

               “Steve.”

               “Okay, Steve, well, we’ve got a movie to film, but you can stick around and, uh…” He thought as fast as he could. “Make sure there’s no more confusion. You know, make sure nobody else makes the same mistake you did. After we’re done, we’ll see what happens, okay?”

               “Really?” The man’s hefty face lit up. Of course, that could have been the sunlight reflecting on the pizza grease, but still. “I can do that, sure!”

               “Great.”

               Steve loped off, not even bothering to get his toy from Cindy, who just tossed it aside. Dave looked like he would need some headache pills soon, but everyone got into position quickly enough. Although Jack could tell there would be a lot of things to talk about after shooting was done.

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Yeah, I know I should've done something Thanksgiving related, but whatever. I'm not exactly operating at 100%, and this is what I came up with.