Yearly Archives: 2008

Weekly Links 20081109

Science

Short for Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, VASIMR is a new high-power plasma-based space propulsion technology, initially studied by NASA and now being developed privately by Ad Astra. A VASIMR engine could maneuver payloads in space far more efficiently and with much less propellant than today’s chemical rockets.

Future astronauts could benefit from a magnetic “umbrella” that deflects harmful space radiation around their crew capsule, scientists say.

Writing

A rant on the publishing industry by M.J. Rose.

Our lives are full of ‘thingummys’, ‘thingamajigs’ and ‘whatjermecallits’ – those everyday items we should know the word for, or were once told but have since forgotten. Now, a collection of them has been compiled for a fascinating new book…

Amazing stories need great characters. And when you’re writing a story set in a futuristic or fantastical world, it’s more important than ever for readers to be able to relate to your characters. It’s also harder than ever, because your characters’ lives and experiences will be totally different than your readers’. How do you make people identify with someone who lives in the future, or on another planet? How can your main character stand out, against a bizarre and colorful backdrop? We asked six great science fiction authors for their advice.

Computers

Some of the best things in life are free. When it comes to icons and icon sets, there are many talented designers and artists that choose to provide beautiful and useful icon sets for commercial and/or personal usage.

There are lots of scripting languages for Unix/Linux and Windows, but this one just kinda blew me away, and brought back some memories.

A Historical Day

The United States of America has made me proud to have them as neighbours.  The last few years have been hard for them, a president no one believed in, a war no one wanted to participate in (Canada is in the same boat here, but in Afghanastan), and an economy that is falling apart around them,

Yesterday, the people of America showed that they have guts and intelligence.  They voted for not only the first black president, but also one that, I believe, will do the best he can for their country.

Well done.

(and, as I’ve been told, the date is way off on this system.  This was posted on November 5 at 7:14 AM.  I’ll fix the date)

Weekly Links 20081102

Science

A nearby solar system bears a striking similarity to our own solar system, raising the possibility it could harbor Earth-like planets.  Epsilon Eridani, located about 10.5 light-years from our sun, is surrounded by two asteroid belts that are shaped by planets, astronomers at SETI Institute and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced today.

Here’s another article on it.

During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn’t believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away.

Computers

For better or worse, Linux has always had a reputation as being the geeks’ OS – endlessly flexible if you’re on one side of the divide, endlessly complicated on the other.  With netbooks, this isn’t the case.

Misc

An awesome photo. http://i36.tinypic.com/2ceitr8.jpg

Weekly Links 20081026

Writing

Seriously, I didn’t even know these books were still being written:
“What man, in his deepest heart,” asks John Norman, “does not want to own a female, to have her for his own, utterly, as a devoted, passionate, vulnerable, mastered slave, and what woman, in her deepest heart, does not want to be so intensely desired, so unqualifiedly and fiercely desired, that nothing less than her absolute ownership will satisfy a male, her master?”

Apparently, Science Fiction hates itself.  Here we find out why.

Science

An organism that was discovered in a South African gold mine, nearly 3km beneath the Earth’s surface, has scientists “buzzing with excitement” because it offers fascinating evidence that life could exist on other planets, say reports.

Misc

Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones present a solution to the global economic crisis.

I’m a meat eater.  Being a vegetarian just isn’t something I could do.  When I saw this, I just had to laugh.

The British team that claimed the land speed record in 1997, taking a car through the sound barrier for the first time, is planning to go even faster.  The video is quite well done.

Botanicalls opens a new channel of communication between plants and humans, in an effort to promote successful inter-species understanding.  This product uses an open source hardware design, which is cool.

Computers

The differences between a Mac and a WIndows PC can sometimes be quite striking.  This picture sums up a couple of differences.

Weekly Links 20081019

Miscellaneous

The US National Debt ‘clock’ had to be revamped recently.  The device wasn’t built to handle the numbers it’s currently showing.

Some people just have way too much time on their hands.  This guy modified his computer case to make it look like Battlestar Galactica

And what can I say about this one.  It’s a comic, and it just tickled me the right way… I laughed.

Software

OpenOffice released version 3.0 of their free Office suite.  It’s looking pretty good.

Writing

Paul Citlik has 8 things you need to remember when writing science fiction.

Fox 2000 has acquired rights to Joe Haldeman’s 1974 novel “The Forever War,” and Ridley Scott is planning to make it into his first science fiction film since he delivered back-to-back classics with “Blade Runner” and “Alien.”

John Joseph Adams lists 21 blogs writers should be reading.

Weekly Links 20081012

I follow a lot of links in a week.  Some of the links are just too good to not pass along because they are interesting, unique, or solve a problem I’ve recently had.  This is this weeks set of links that rose to the top.

Writing

Most people can’t get their minds around just how big the universe is. So it should come as no surprise that most Speculative Fiction writers can’t either.

Canadian Science Fiction writers are amongst the best in the world. Teacher-librarians can bring a rich selection of exciting, interesting, and challenging Science Fiction material to their students and staff through the excellent works of a number of authors. Homegrown talent, through the genre of Science Fiction, using Canadian settings and cultural perspectives, can help us to learn things about ourselves and our country.

When author Terry Pratchett was diagnosed with dementia, he was shocked to discover doctors could do little to help. For despite the fact that the condition affects more than 700,000 Britons (a million by 2025), research into its causes and treatment has been chronically under-funded.

What does it take to get out of the slush pile and into the table of contents? To find out, I interviewed the editors of three of the top markets in short science fiction–Gordon Van Gelder, editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction, and Susan Marie Groppi, editor of Strange Horizons.

Alien zoo sex, vulgar language, and the horrors of war have earned this novel (which shall remain nameless) a place on many a banned books list. And it’s hardly alone. Even in just the last decade, parents have tried to remove their least favorite titles from school libraries, and works of science fiction have been among the casualties. So, grab a flashlight, hide under a sheet, and read (or re-read) science fiction’s most suppressed books of the 21st century.

Computers

Hibernating a Linux laptop has always been a problem for me, except for my Acer Aspire One.  This article talks about how to hibernate cleanly.

Misc

Call it part of my sick sense of humor, but when I saw this image, I laughed out loud.

Almost gone

Well, I’m off to Africa in a couple of days.  I’m spending 2 weeks in Cape Coast, Ghana.  I’m trying desperately to get my edits for The Courier off of the paper I did them on and into the computer.  So far, it looks like I’ll make it, but I’m cutting it pretty darn close.

I’m about 50% done, which means I have 130 pages to enter before Friday evening.  Here’s to hoping.  The worst case scenario is that I have to bring along the last few pages, and do them on the plane or when I get there.

At any rate, Cape Coast has an Internet Cafe, but from what I hear, it’s closed allmost of the time.  So this may be my last entry for the next few weeks.  I know my loyal reader (yes, singular) is used to my long absences, and will deal with it well.

More Camping and Updates

I thought I’d post a brief update on where things are at:

I’m camping with the boys again, trying to squeeze in an extra week before school starts.  I’m hoping to get a couple of weekends in as well, but we’ll see.

I’m continueing to revise ‘The Courier’, which may go through a title change soon.  I haven’t updated the revision page counter here yet, since the revisions are on paper and not in the computer yet.  I’m heading to Ghana in a couple of weeks, and I really want the thing revised and in the computer, so I can do more work while I’m there.

It looks like my status as a stay-at-home dad may change.  I haven’t got a formal offer yet, but it sounds close.  The job will completely work around the schedule of my boys, which means they’ll never notice I’m working.  I’ll still drop them off to school, pick them up, be home during school holidays, etc.  The potential work schedule is entirely based on the school year, which is great.  Personally, I’d rather stay at home than go and work, but the offer is almost like candy… tough to say no to.