“I read the manuscript…”
“And?”
“I was impressed… you managed to kill almost all major characters…”
“Yeah! I pray at the altar of the great Martin.”
“I bet… You even killed the dog…”
“Sure! I mean who cares about the mutt, am I right or am I?”
“You do realize this is supposed to be the first episode of the reboot of Lassie, right?”
It may not have happened for real
It may not have happened for real, but it has happened and that’s bad enough.
”The Planet Construction Kit” by Mark Rosenfelder
If you are writing a story that requires its own world—maybe a science fiction world in a strange galaxy far, far away or a fantasy world from another era—this is the book for you!
The Planet Construction Kit may sound like it’s all about astronomy and planets and moons, but although the book also addresses these aspects of worldbuilding, it takes up so much more. Continue reading ”The Planet Construction Kit” by Mark Rosenfelder
Lessons Learned from Snowden
Lessons Learned from Snowden:
Of course, the government will use existing technologies as far as possible — within, or outside of the law.
We would never have…
Perhaps you’ve seen a discussion about how justice was performed in the old days, where someone says “we would never have done it like that” or “if it had been today, that case wouldn’t even have gone to court.”
The latest such discussion I came across was on the execution of Joe Hill :
Like many historians, Gibbs M. Smith, author of a Hill biography, said the trial was unfair. “Under today’s laws of evidence, he never would have been convicted and executed,” Mr. Smith said.
Then it hit me. If we say these things today about things that happened a century ago. People a century from now will most definitely say the same about things we’re doing today.
And that’s why I will never ever under any circumstance believe in the death penalty.
The Rise of Special AI Chips
General purpose CPUs have been complemented with special purpose hardware accelerators since soon after they made an entrance on the consumer market.
The first PC in my childhood home had a math co-processor, and no gamer today would run a system without a dedicated graphics card with a GPU.
With the emergence of AI, the need for a new type of special purpose hardware accelerator is rising; an AI-chip specially designed to run deep neural nets.
It’s a Terrorist!
It’s a terrorist! Throw it into the pond! If it floats burn it on the stake! No, wait… Am I getting the methods mixed up now? Ummm…
Valuing Feelings over Facts
At the same time, in the home of a politician that values feelings over facts:
– Dad, I think there’s a monster under my bed!
– Yes, son. You must always ask daddy for help checking under the bed and in the closet before you go to sleep because there can really be monsters there!
Autism and “getting better”
I was watching Netflix’s “Atypical” when I came across the following exchange in a scene where the parents of the main character Sam were at a group for parents with children with autism:
Doug: The whole thing really threw me off because we’ve been getting along well, and he’s been seeing a therapist lately, and I felt like he was getting better…
Shelby: Oh! So sorry to interrupt you again, but um, there is no (making air quotes) getting better in autism. It’s a neurological condition, not a curable disease…
It’s obvious Shelby has a stick up her arse when you see the character in action, and I really feel sorry for her kid: No, John, you can’t go out and play with the other kids because there’s no getting better in autism and the last time you made poor Amy cry… Continue reading Autism and “getting better”
Game of Musical Chairs
Game of Thrones: like musical chairs, but with thrones… and much more blood!
Talkwards 