I have added a mystery title generator to the online edition of the writer’s toolkit! You can find it right here:

Mystery Title Generator

Like the others, this is a purely web-based generator; there is nothing to download or install.

As an added bonus, I’ve added a menu system to the website, so you can easily navigate from one title generator to the next.

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

This morning I posted two new online generators.

First, there is:

Space Adventure Title Generator

This generates the titles of Space Adventure books! Just click on the link and have fun – there is nothing to download and install. It’s all web-based.

The second one is:

Tom Swift Title Generator

This generates the titles (and chapters!) of Tom Swift books!

I Peter 5:6: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”

The key here is that last phrase – “in due time”. We need to wait on the Lord and be patient. Everything has its time. When Jesus Christ appears, then shall we also appear with Him in glory – but for now we must wait.

Ron Paul Could Still Win Enough Delegates To Deny Mitt Romney The Republican Nomination

This came as quite a surprise to me. It boils down to this: while Romney is winning state after state, Ron Paul has found a way to take the actual delegates. For example, Rick Santorum won Iowa – but Ron Paul managed to get 20 of the 28 delegates there, by making sure his people were around when the delegates were actually selected.

Basically, Ron Paul is exploiting a series of loopholes to wrack up lots of delegates, even though he isn’t actually winning very much. The point of the article is that he may be able to win enough delegates to keep Romney from getting the majority he needs, which would force a brokered convention.

Ultimately I doubt anything will come of this. Ron Paul may be able to force a messy convention, but that’s probably the extent of it. The party leadership is behind Romney; even in a brokered convention they’re not going to go and pick someone else. Ron Paul himself has no chance, and everyone else has already conceded the race. (I consider this to be a good thing; Ron Paul is deeply crazy, especially when it comes to foreign policy. He would be trashed so soundly in the general election that it would not even be funny.)

I do have to say this, though: Ron Paul is playing hardball, and is exploiting every loophole to win. I wish more people on our side showed that same enthusiasm and drive. All too often the Republican Party refuses to put up a fight at all. The Democrats howl and the Republicans quickly cave. We need people who are willing to stand up and fight.

A long time ago, my brother and I wrote an application that can hide messages in images (commonly known as steganography). We got the program to work pretty well but we never actually released the software.

For what it’s worth, you can download our application right here:

Steganography.zip

Included is the executable (which may or may not work on your computer; it’s pretty old), and two sample input files (an image and a message).

For those who are interested, you can download the Visual Basic 6 source code for it right here.

I’ve started the process of converting my Writer’s Toolkit to a web application. So far I’ve been able to convert the part that generates characters (character names, ages, jobs, etc.). You can find it right here:

Name Generator

The program is written entirely in Javascript (with a side of jQuery, for those interested in such things).

As time permits I will try to convert the other pieces of it to online webpages as well.

Thanks!

“One discovery that caught me by surprise was the excavation of an observatory. When the Wall was erected people stopped studying astronomy, since they could no longer see the stars. This observatory is changing all that. What amazes me is that the building we found does not use telescopes and lenses to magnify tiny points of light. Instead it somehow has the ability to reach across space and show you how the galaxy looks from any vantage point. You simply stand in a room and select a destination, and the entire room vanishes. It somehow uses holographic technology to make it look like you are really standing on a remote mountaintop or on some distant planet. I once spent an entire weekend there just flying through the galaxy. It is astonishing. It’s no wonder it has become one of the most popular places in the city.”
–Noel Lawson
June 19, 7243
 

Monroe Araiza was standing in one of the great stone towers of Adrasta. Through the crystal window in front of him he could see the mountains, and beyond them a wide grassy plain. He knew that on the far side of that plain was the spot where Evan Maldonado’s neutron bomb had vaporized a forest – and the tribe that used to dwell in it. The damage was invisible from the tower but he knew that it was there. It haunted him, even though he had worked so hard to stop it.

Monroe was standing in the private chambers of the Order of Scribes. The Founders had started the group long ago, in the earliest days of Adrasta. They realized that when the Empire collapsed much knowledge would be lost, unless a group of people was set aside and trained in the care and preservation of documents. Over the past five thousand years men like Monroe had faithfully executed their duties. In the Order’s archives they had preserved a vast collection of books, covering technology, history, art, and countless other subjects. The Order was the caretaker of that knowledge. If anyone in Adrasta wished to use that knowledge – as Evan did when he wanted to construct his bomb – they had to go through the Order of Scribes to do so.

Originally Monroe had thought that Evan had developed the neutron technology on his own. That was what Evan told the council, and since Monroe had not seen any information requests from him he assumed that was the truth. By pure accident he discovered that the technology had actually been given to him by a scribe in the Order. Monroe was enraged, and confronted the one who had done it.

“But why did you agree to help him?” Monroe demanded.

“Because he made a lawful and legitimate request,” Elwood Ortiz replied. “He asked for information regarding ancient technology and we provided it for him. That is, after all, our sacred purpose.”

“Do not hide behind requests and procedure!” Monroe said angrily. “You knew very well what Evan intended to do with that knowledge. The genocide he is attempting to carry out goes against every one of our founding principles. The whole reason our Order was established was to ensure that dangerous information was guarded and used wisely, in accordance with the Founders’ principles. They would be horrified at what you have done!”

“And what is it that I have done?” Elwood asked. “I merely copied some manuscripts and handed them to a well-dressed gentleman. There was no harm in that.”

“Do you take me for a fool? You were the one who gave Evan the knowledge he needed to wipe out that tribe! Thanks to you he now has the knowledge he needs to wipe out every last tribe on the entire planet. You are not an innocent bystander! Without your help he never could have carried out that bombing. You are every bit as responsible for their murders as he is.”

Elwood shrugged. “I fail to see what would have been gained by denying his request. If I had not make the copies for him he would simply have asked someone else to do it.”

“That’s just brilliant,” Monroe said bitingly. “By that same logic a murderer could say that since the innocent bystander was going to die someday anyway, there was no harm in going ahead and killing him. Have you lost your senses? Why did you not burn that book instead of handing it over? I would rather see our entire library destroyed than have its knowledge used to enable genocide!”

“Which is exactly why you no longer have any power. Oh, true, you may still be the head of our Order. But you can no longer get people to listen to you, can you? Your reverence for the Founders and their principles has blinded you to the realities of our times. Refusing the will of the council is not going to win you any friends, you know.”

“Friends? This isn’t about winning friends! The whole purpose of our Order – and of the city itself, for that matter – is to spread the light of the truth. We are to be witnesses and ambassadors for Jesus Christ. He was quite unpopular in His day, but He never sold out to win the approval of those who were in power. He stood for what was right and refused to yield.”

“And, as I might point out, he was killed for it,” Elwood replied.

“I would rather die than help Evan,” Monroe shouted. “It is far better to die a victim than be a part of the crime – especially when the crime is the wholesale slaughter of millions of human beings! What are you going to do when you stand before God and must give an account for your life? What will you do when He judges you for your role in the murder of ten million human beings?”

“I am not the least bit worried about that,” Elwood replied calmly. “You don’t make a compelling case, you know. It’s no wonder that you lost so badly at the debate hall last night. You are well past your prime. You should consider retiring, before the council forces you out.”

“You had better start worrying about it. Only a fool would laugh at the prospect of facing the full wrath of an angry God.”

“And that is the difference between us. It is why I am successful and why you are a failure. You’re worried about what your imaginary friend in the sky thinks. I’m worried about real things, like the opinion of the council. How you managed to become the head of our Order is something I will never understand.”

“Has it really come to that? Are you now so blind that you only care about winning friends, influencing people, and amassing power? Have you become so hardened that you no longer care that your actions are leading to the deaths of millions of people?” Monroe sighed. “Then perhaps the Rangers are right. Perhaps Adrasta does deserve to die. If that is who we are then perhaps we don’t deserve to be saved. Maybe our genetic problem is simply God’s way of ensuring that Evan’s terrible dream of galactic tyranny is never realized.”

“I see nothing particularly terrible about it,” Elwood replied. “After all, it’s only natural for the strong to crush the weak and take their place. That is the way of nature – the fittest survive. I think Adrasta has finally come to its senses. For thousands of years this city spent valuable resources trying to help those idiotic savages. We gave them food and shelter, we tried to treat their diseases, and we offered what protection we could. That was madness! Now, thankfully, wiser heads have prevailed and we have abandoned all that. We will take what is ours and we will ride to triumph and glory! It is time for the weak to give way to the strong.”

“If that is the case then we are doomed,” Monroe replied. “You think that we’re the strongest power in the galaxy, but you’re wrong. Have you no eyes? Do you not see what has been happening in the heavens? Some power far greater than us has put the stars back in the sky and terraformed Mars in a matter of months. What are you going to do when that civilization comes to Adrasta? Do you think that Evan’s neutron weapon can protect us against a race that can imprison entire star systems?”

Elwood laughed. “Peddling conspiracy theories is the last refuge of a moron. The stars reappeared three years ago, and the terraformation of Mars happened three years ago as well. Since that time we haven’t had any interstellar visitors. You are seeing things that are not there.”

“Is that so? Then tell me something. Did you not see the young girl with dark skin who sat in the opposition section last night?”

“Yes, I saw her. I assumed she was one of your lackeys. You have always surrounded yourself with weak minds. What of it?”

Monroe shook his head. “Are you blind? Did you not see her? She’s clearly not from Adrasta. Her skin color – the bones in her face – they prove beyond doubt that she is from an entirely different genetic background. No one else in the city looks anything like her. Didn’t you notice how much she stood out?”

“Come now! You cannot expect me to believe that she is from the stars. Do you seriously think that when the Rangers return they will do so in the form of a helpless little girl? That’s madness! Why would they do such a thing?”

“Perhaps they are testing us. Perhaps they went to Mars first and found it worthy of saving. Now their gaze has fallen upon Earth, and they have sent one of their own to learn about us and see who we are. This may be our time of judgment. If we do not change our ways, she may be the harbinger of our doom.”

“You are out of your mind,” Elwood said. “I have tired of this conversation. Leave me. If you have any more insanity to spout, go spout it somewhere else.”

Monroe shook his head. “I fear for you, my friend. I really do. I fear for us all.”

He sighed, gathered up his books, and left the room.

Craven

This is an excellent and very thoughtful review of the movie Courageous. I highly recommend reading it, whether you’ve seen the film or not. I was hoping that the movie would be better than the appalling film Fireproof, but sadly that is not the case. (By the way, you can find his review of Fireproof here. It’s also worth reading.)

 

The Fastest Growing Religion In America Is Islam

So just how much has Islam grown in America between 2000 and 2010? By 66.7%. What about Mormonism? By 45.5%. Mainline Protestants? They have actually SHRANK by 12.8%.

One of the things I have noticed is that as nations turn themselves over to homosexuality, God turns them over to Islam – which detests homosexuality. The European nations that have done the most to advance “gay rights” also happen to be the same European nations that have the biggest problems with Muslims. As America turns itself over to homosexuality, God is turning the nation over to Islam. Shariah law has made huge inroads in Europe; it is now coming here. It will not be a pretty thing.

Ultimately God will judge Islam. That religion has done a tremendous amount to oppress and murder both Christians and Jews. I suspect that the coming Middle East war that is discussed in Psalm 83 will break the power of Islam; when that war is over Israel is at peace and is never again threatened for religious reasons (in Ezekiel 38 Russia invades because they want Israel’s weath, not because of religious disagreements). However, that war is still some years away. In the meantime Islam will continue to do terrible things.

There is a precedent for this. In Habakkuk the prophet cries out because of all the wickedness that he sees. God responds in Habakkuk 1:6 by saying that He is going to raise up the Chaldeans – a “bitter and hasty nation” that is “terrible and dreadful” to execute God’s judgment. Habakkuk is shocked, because the Chaledans were far worse than Israel. But that was how it was going to go down.

We see the same thing going on today. God is using “terrible and dreadful” Islam to destroy the corrupt Western nations. In the end God will deal with Islam as well. That day is coming, and it may well happen in our lifetime. When it happens, God will make it clear that He was the one who did it – and people will marvel at the power of the
God of Israel.

 

Buying Happiness

The key quote is this:

Once you have “enough” money to satisfy the basic items at the foot of the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid – that is, you no longer have to worry about food, shelter, security, and perhaps having a bit of extra discretionary money for the unknown – stacking even more money up doesn’t do much, if anything, to help you scale the top of the pyramid.

I suppose that is true, to some extent. If you are poor and have a lot of money-related problems that are causing stress (can’t pay bills, etc.) then having more money would certainly relieve that stress. There is something to be said for being able to afford things. Once you get to the point where you can pay your bills and buy whatever you want, though, making more money doesn’t really do very much for you. (The article suggests that this magical point is around $75k for our culture; the amount probably varies based on family size, area of the country, and so forth.)

But it seems to me that there’s a larger issue. Very simply, people who look to circumstances and material goods to make themselves happy seem to be unhappy almost all the time. If something else has to happen in order to make you happy, then you’re not going to be happy for very long – if you’re ever happy at all. These people tend to spend their entire lives griping about how Things Are Not Exactly The Way They Want Them, and it is All Other People’s Fault.

I know there are all kinds of tragic things that can happen that are devastating; I’d like to set those aside from now. The people I am talking about are people whose lives are pretty good: no big tragedies, no big problems, no major health issues, etc. But they are deeply unhappy. Why? Because they want more. In fact, they always want more. It doesn’t matter how much they have; they won’t be happy until they have even more. They are unhappy people, and they are convinced that if they just have a little more they will finally be happy.

Only happiness doesn’t work that way. If you cannot be content with little, then you won’t
be content with much.

If you are empty and lonely and depressed, filling your life with stuff won’t make you any less empty or lonely or depressed. The problem is that we have a God-shaped void in our life, and we’re desperately trying to fill it with stuff. That will never work. God is the only one who can fill us, and satisfy us, and take away that emptiness. When our passions and drives and energies are focused on God, instead of on whatever things TV commercials are selling these days, life changes. If you want to drive out the darkness then you need to bring in the light. Bringing in a new toaster oven isn’t going to help.

 

Windows 8 will not play DVD discs anymore, unless you pay for the Media Center pack

Yet another reason not to buy Windows 8!

Quick question: can Linux play DVDs right out of the box, without paying for anything? Why yes, yes it can. And how much does Linux cost? Absolutely nothing. So the free operating system supports this, but the paid operating system makes you pay even more to get this feature! How can anyone pass up a deal like that?

I Peter 5:5: “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

This is a hard one for me. I have noticed that older people tend to be crabby, self-centered, rude, irritable, and just plain mean. They tend to set a very poor example and act like spoiled children. It is very difficult to respect them when they act in ways that would not be tolerated if they were five years old, much less eighty-five. The biggest troublemakers I have known in church have been old people. The young may have a bad reputation, but they do not seem to cause nearly as much lasting harm as an older person who has been going to the same church for 70 years. (I will not say that all of them are like this, for there are very dear and loving exceptions, but this is something I have seen again and again. It is astonishing how many times trouble in the church can be traced back to a bitter old person.)

Yet we are to respect them, and yield to them, and do what we can to honor them. There is no room for pride in the presence of God. We may not like it and we may not think it is “fair”, but it must be done. After all, when Jesus was on earth He took on Himself the form of a servant. Should not we do the same?

A Ned Steele Space Explorer adventure!

I’ve taken some time to edit the manuscript of my latest Tom Swift book, and added some much-needed polishing. The revised version can be found here:

#37a, Tom Swift and the Sunless Ocean

The story went from 9,800 words to 13,000 words, so I added a fair amount of content. I think the edited version is quite a bit better.

Also, I’ve decided to make this the first part in a three-part book. You can think of “Sunless Ocean” as Act I. For now I’m releasing the books as separate PDFs, but when I’m done I’ll combine them all into one normal-sized book and release it that way. Together, all three parts will tell a single tale.

So, enjoy!

I Peter 5:4: “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

The crown of glory is a special Heavenly crown that is only given to faithful ministers. Those who fed the flock of God faithfully will receive it; those who did not will miss out. There is a great truth here. If you seek to use your pulpit to grow wealthy (as many televangelists do) then you may gain earthly wealth, but you will lose all of it when you die, and when you stand before God you will not get this Heavenly crown. In order to gain Heavenly wealth you must be faithful and not seek “filthy lucre.” That is the only way to amass wealth that actually matters.

Sadly, many people sacrifice eternal wealth that they cannot lose in order to gain worldly wealth that they cannot keep. That is a very poor decision – one that will cost them for all the rest of time. You only have one life in which you can earn this crown. If you fail then it will be lost forever.

Securely encrypting sensitive information is a difficult problem in this age of computers that can perform billions of calculations per second. The way all good encryptions work these days is by finding that fine line between a mathematical formula that is complex enough to not be solved without the encryption key, or cracked, by a computer’s raw processing power but still simple enough that it can still be used by those who have the key.

RSA encryption, one of the most common in use today, relies on the fact that factoring large numbers is a difficult task. I have always thought of numbers in the millions or billions as “large numbers,” and assumed that these were the types of numbers used in RSA encryption. Anything larger than a million isn’t a number we can really wrap our minds around.

About a year ago I wrote a crude program that could factor numbers in the simplest way I could devise and was surprised to note that it could factor numbers in the millions in less than a second. Since then I have written a better program that can factor far larger numbers. Here are some tests of some of the largest numbers it can handle:

3,290,349,129,589,134,157 = 1,600,856,429 × 2,055,368,033
4,611,686,039,902,224,373 = 2,147,483,647 × 2,147,483,659

It found the factors of the first number in about 3 minutes, or 5 seconds if a pre-calculated list of the first 100 million primes is used, and the second number was factored in about 3 1/2 minutes, or 7 seconds with the primes list.

These numbers are 63 bit coprimes, composed of two 31 bit prime numbers. It seems that RSA encryption normally uses 1024 bit numbers or larger, which would have about 300 digits. When encryption specialists talk about “large numbers,” they mean numbers longer than this paragraph when written out.

This afternoon I didn’t have much to do, and I had a crazy idea: why not write a Tom Swift story? That is, why not write a complete Tom Swift story in one afternoon?

So I did, as a challenge, just to see what would happen. The result is here:

Tom Swift Jr #37, Tom Swift and the Sunless Ocean

For the record, every bit of the story was conceived today, after lunch. The book title and chapter titles came from my book title generator; I just tried to craft the story to include whatever the chapter title happened to say. I did absolutely no thinking about it earlier; writing the book didn’t even cross my mind until I was eating lunch today.

I did not start out with a plot, or even knowing what was going on. I just sat down and started writing, and wrote until I ran out of time. The end result is what I uploaded.

It needs editing – badly. But editing it will take days, and I wanted to see what could be done in a single afternoon. The result is at least coherent, and comes in at just under 10k words – about 1/3rd the length of a normal TS story. Chronologically, it takes place after Claytronic Stones.

I literally did not know what was going to happen until I wrote it; I had no idea what would happen in the next chapter. I have not gone back and tweaked it. I will, later, but I wanted to share this with the group.

It was a fun challenge. Writing a mini-book in one afternoon is completely different from writing one over six months. You don’t have time; you just have to sit down, go with it, and hope for the best.

Anyway, since it was a Tom Swift story I thought I’d pass it along. Enjoy!

(And please, don’t be too hard with it. I will eventually edit it and turn it into a polished story.)