Friday, January 31, 2014

The Speed of Light and the Law of the Fourth Child

I've been researching for a sci-novel  which has opened my eyes to some science-y stuff that I was never aware of. I blame this on my love of sci-fi, where the rules are often challenged.

To the point: I've learned that nothing can move faster than light. Mother nature sets a speed limit. If an object were to travel faster than light, time would slow it down.

Of course, I must relate this to parenting. I call it, "The Law of the Fourth Child"

My theory is thus:

After the third child, the chaos levels reach a maximum. Once a fourth child is added, the chaos levels cannot increase, for they are already as high as they can possibly go.

This has merely been my own experience, although I have heard from several other parents that this seems to be true.

Am I right? Or is this science fiction? For my wonderful parent readers who are blessed to have chaos levels similar to my own, and also have three or more kiddos, do you agree?

Drop me a line and let me know!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Europa Report

Last night I watched a movie on Netflix called Europa Report. As my husband can attest, I've been picky about movies since I started writing. I see flaws that I never saw before. I pick apart the character motivations and plot flaws.

I thought Europa Report would be another cheesy sci-fi. It screamed low budget sci-fi on the cover. No name actors, unheard of director. I was in for a gimmicky monster movie where the plot was thin. Maybe the special effects would be decent. It's what I hoped for.

Europa Report shocked me.The plot was well researched. If the acting was bad I couldn't tell because the story was so engaging. I've been researching for a sci-fi novel and learned that Europa is an ice-covered moon of Jupiter. It's thought to have liquid water beneath the surface. It's also bombarded by radiation from Jupiter. It seemed like a good place for a movie, and I was right. The writers of the film did an excellent job. It wasn't what I expected.

I recommend Europa Report. Five stars.