Category Archives: Flash Fiction

Telling stories in a few words

The only constant is change

Human beings have unbelievable capacity for change. Every day is an opportunity to upgrade ourselves to  newer and better versions, much like software, but different.

The first law of thermodynamics states that the total energy of a closed system is constant. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed – it can only be transformed from one state to another. In this way energy is being conserved.

So invoking the first law of thermodynamics  might be a good explanation for sitting on the couch watching TV instead of going to the gym. However, the human being is not a closed system – there are inputs (e.g. food, external influences, experiences), there is processing (e.g. digestion, interpretation, thoughts) and outputs (e.g. actions, behaviour and <fill in other output here>). How we make meaning of our experiences influences our actions.

Back to my first paragraph – human beings have an unbelievable capacity for change, improvement and becoming better versions of ourselves each day. If something is not or does not feel right, it’s an opportunity for improvement. And this capability is fully within our control.

The first space walk

Today marks the 49th anniversary of the first space walk! Russian cosmonaut Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov spent 12 minutes and 9 seconds outside the space capsule. The date was 18th March 1965.

He almost didn’t make it back inside the capsule. Due to the lack of atmospheric pressure his space suit had bloated so much that he wasn’t able to fit in through the air lock. He opened a valve to release some of the pressure and slowly made his way back into the capsule.

Even though his space walk was seen by many people back on earth, this heart-stopping moment was thankfully not shown. He later said that he was glad of this because his family was watching.