What would Facebook look like if it were actually secure, wasn't entrusted to just one company, and couldn't be taken away from us or changed at someone else's whim? We'd all be publishing our own social stream on our own servers, wherever we wanted, including statuses, photos, likes and dislikes. We would be running our own software that downloads and aggregates those streams from our friends, who have chosen to share their publishing details with us and allowed us access. Instead of building up one massive database of valuable personal data for one company, our data would remain our own. We could cut off someone's access and never let them back in.
Security would have to be built into this distributed social network publishing standard, along with strong encryption, because a distributed network like that is vulnerable to hijacking of individual nodes, but that's no different to individual Facebook accounts getting hacked. The only difference is that individuals, or the hosting companies they use, would be responsible for that security, rather than Facebook.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This is like distributed social networking taken to the extreme.
PPS - It's the interaction of individual "social networks" of one person each.
Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Monday, 27 May 2013
What an intranet should be
"Intranet" should just be another word for integrated internal information tools. There are already lots of them in your company. I can pretty much guarantee that. But knowing where to find them, how to use them, and getting them to interact with each other is a big task. That's what I mean. A company intranet should start by bringing together, standardising and advertising all the useful tools your company already uses to run smoothly.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - In my experience, most companies use it for haphazard document control and the occasional internal blog post.
PPS - And sometimes a staff directory if you're really lucky.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - In my experience, most companies use it for haphazard document control and the occasional internal blog post.
PPS - And sometimes a staff directory if you're really lucky.
Friday, 24 May 2013
Friday Writing Update
I don't write every day. I mention that because it's one of the things they tell you to do. There are even motivational tools available to keep you writing every day. I've been feeling a bit funny about it this week, probably because I've only had three days where I did any writing work, and that was all reviewing and critiquing my book rather than writing anything new. I think it's been good so far, though at this rate it might take another six weeks or so to get through the whole thing. I should probably try to write something new along with my editing, and I should find some time to write on my weekends, too.
I've got some practice exercises I'd like to do this week, including one about showing, not telling, which is a problem I have. If I don't concentrate, I veer into exposition rather than action, dialogue or even environmental description. The other thing I'd like to try is to tell a story that's all dialogue, because that's something else I tend not to do. I describe conversations rather than writing them down. I just need to figure out what to write about for that one.
So that's it, really. This week has been all editing, and not enough of that.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Oh, and keeping up with Critters.org, too.
PPS - And counting down the days until my own submission comes up for critique.
I've got some practice exercises I'd like to do this week, including one about showing, not telling, which is a problem I have. If I don't concentrate, I veer into exposition rather than action, dialogue or even environmental description. The other thing I'd like to try is to tell a story that's all dialogue, because that's something else I tend not to do. I describe conversations rather than writing them down. I just need to figure out what to write about for that one.
So that's it, really. This week has been all editing, and not enough of that.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Oh, and keeping up with Critters.org, too.
PPS - And counting down the days until my own submission comes up for critique.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Video games are sort of okay, we guess
Video games have gotten a better rap in recent years, but I don't think all forms are socially acceptable yet. Anyone who gets very serious about video games is going to be treated with pity or scorn, and if you're a man in your 30s who plays games, you're going to be ridiculed. If you play violent games, you will be treated with some measure of fear, and if you have a family and play any form of games, you will probably run into some disgust. This says to me that, although it is not seen as socially unacceptable to play games at all, it is still seen as an anti-social use of your time. It is something you may do, but it is not something that productive members of society do.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It's not at all like watching football, which is totally valuable, because of reasons.
PPS - Maybe in a few decades it will be more acceptable.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It's not at all like watching football, which is totally valuable, because of reasons.
PPS - Maybe in a few decades it will be more acceptable.
Reverse implications of first sale and digital goods
The doctrine of first sale, at least in US law and from my limited not-a-lawyer understanding, says that if you buy something, then you own it, and you may later sell it to a third party without the permission or consent of the copyright owner, the original seller or anyone else. So if I buy a book from a bookshop, then read it, I can later sell that copy at a garage sale at my house, lend it to a friend or give it away to charity, and the bookstore, the publisher and the author don't get any say in the matter, nor any cut of the sale price.
People argue for this right to apply to digital goods as well, such as music purchased from iTunes. A recent court decision, however, says that first sale does not apply to digital goods, only physical ones. There are two possible responses to that decision. One is to cry foul against the court, asserting that digital first sale is a right that should exist, since we are told that we have bought this music (or book or movie) and therefore we have the right to sell it to a third party, provided we do not retain a copy ourselves. The other option, and one that I find quite plausible, is to say that the "sale" of a digital good, if it cannot be resold at all by design or by nature, is nonsense. If I am not "buying" music from iTunes in the sense that I may resell it, then I shouldn't be charged that way for it, and iTunes needs to change to a different fee model. They need either to charge for music "rental", for limited-term access to music that goes away after a while, or for flat-fee unlimited access to the whole library (or by parts, such as decades or genres).
Mokalus of Borg
PS - If you can't resell it, you haven't bought it.
PPS - And if you haven't bought it, you shouldn't be charged as if you have.
People argue for this right to apply to digital goods as well, such as music purchased from iTunes. A recent court decision, however, says that first sale does not apply to digital goods, only physical ones. There are two possible responses to that decision. One is to cry foul against the court, asserting that digital first sale is a right that should exist, since we are told that we have bought this music (or book or movie) and therefore we have the right to sell it to a third party, provided we do not retain a copy ourselves. The other option, and one that I find quite plausible, is to say that the "sale" of a digital good, if it cannot be resold at all by design or by nature, is nonsense. If I am not "buying" music from iTunes in the sense that I may resell it, then I shouldn't be charged that way for it, and iTunes needs to change to a different fee model. They need either to charge for music "rental", for limited-term access to music that goes away after a while, or for flat-fee unlimited access to the whole library (or by parts, such as decades or genres).
Mokalus of Borg
PS - If you can't resell it, you haven't bought it.
PPS - And if you haven't bought it, you shouldn't be charged as if you have.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
That will take too long
"That takes too long" is a poor excuse. As Mur Lafferty said in one of her "I Should Be Writing" podcasts, that time is going to pass anyway, and what would you rather have at the end? You will either have accomplished something or you will have a lot of video game skills. Get started. Learn difficult things, make big things. Do something.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Very few things are actually too big to do.
PPS - Some are too big to do on your own, though.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Very few things are actually too big to do.
PPS - Some are too big to do on your own, though.
Monday, 20 May 2013
Handling stress
I don't do well under pressure. Time constraints, budget constraints, difficult people and uncooperative technology all push my stress levels through the roof, and when those things are present, someone - a manager, in most cases - is there hovering over my shoulder making suggestions on how things could be done faster or better.
My main problem is that I am in an industry where these circumstances are run of the mill. High pressure, tight deadlines, no budget, screaming customers and exploding computers are considered normal job aspects. If you don't do well under pressure, software is not the industry for you. Worse, I think the entire world is becoming like this now. Even if I decide I've had enough of the software industry, there's no other profession that offers a low stress work environment. It's a standard job interview question: "how do you handle stress?", not because you will have some stressful days, but because handling stress is your job now. Keeping a fingernail grip on the edge of sanity is your only employable skill, and that's only because we already got rid of the guys who needed a whole fingertip grip.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - In some cases, the actual job could be taught to anyone.
PPS - And I need to learn to handle stress better.
My main problem is that I am in an industry where these circumstances are run of the mill. High pressure, tight deadlines, no budget, screaming customers and exploding computers are considered normal job aspects. If you don't do well under pressure, software is not the industry for you. Worse, I think the entire world is becoming like this now. Even if I decide I've had enough of the software industry, there's no other profession that offers a low stress work environment. It's a standard job interview question: "how do you handle stress?", not because you will have some stressful days, but because handling stress is your job now. Keeping a fingernail grip on the edge of sanity is your only employable skill, and that's only because we already got rid of the guys who needed a whole fingertip grip.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - In some cases, the actual job could be taught to anyone.
PPS - And I need to learn to handle stress better.
Friday, 17 May 2013
Friday writing update
I've been a bit slack this week. Normally, my morning commute is devoted to writing, and the only thing I've done is write a half-hearted flash fiction piece about a world of killer fungus spores and finish off my second novel in outline. I really lost energy for that one after November. The story stopped being about the things I thought it would be, and I wasn't that happy with the way it went. It took me 30 days to get 50,000 words, then the next five months to write the final 4000. The truth is, I've been much more interested in going back to my first novel, breaking it all down, figuring out what viewpoints I want to follow and giving it another go from the start. So that's what I'm going to do now, in between trying to get my flash fiction published.
About that, right now, before I've submitted anything (I'm waiting for workshop feedback, due in about two weeks, for one story) I have a weird kind of optimism. While I know that most wannabe authors would go their whole lives without getting anything published at all, I'm still excited in advance, because part of me figures I'll only have to submit a story to two, maybe three places before I can start bragging. The rest of me believes that my little inner optimist is in for a serious reality check. But that's not for two weeks or so.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Until then, I'm going to be re-reading my first novel and writing out a plot summary.
PPS - And character descriptions.
About that, right now, before I've submitted anything (I'm waiting for workshop feedback, due in about two weeks, for one story) I have a weird kind of optimism. While I know that most wannabe authors would go their whole lives without getting anything published at all, I'm still excited in advance, because part of me figures I'll only have to submit a story to two, maybe three places before I can start bragging. The rest of me believes that my little inner optimist is in for a serious reality check. But that's not for two weeks or so.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Until then, I'm going to be re-reading my first novel and writing out a plot summary.
PPS - And character descriptions.
Thursday, 16 May 2013
Google should make weather alerts
I have two active weather alert systems set up: one to tell me when it's raining and I should bring an umbrella, and another from the Early Warning Network to email me any official Severe Weather Warning alerts issued by the Bureau of Meteorology. This means I get two emails when it's going to rain severely, and also that those alerts look exactly like normal email. What I really need is a single app on my phone that can provide me custom alerts for ordinary or severe weather on my phone without looking just like email. I want to know when the BOM thinks it will rain and when it thinks the weather is so severe that nobody should go outside. I imagine little weather icons in my Android alerts bar.
Now, the EWN does supply an app for severe weather warnings, but that doesn't give ordinary rain warnings. There are plenty of weather widgets for Android, but these take up a lot of screen space and you have to remember to check them. And while there are plenty of weather apps available, it's not clear whether they work in my area. That's because weather forecasts are provided worldwide by lots of different agencies in lots of different formats and it takes some effort to sort them out. More effort than many companies would like to put in.
You know who is uniquely positioned to organise the world's weather information? Google. They could integrate it with Maps, gathering and publishing local weather forecasts from known sources and assembling them into a worldwide KML map file of current and predicted weather conditions, all available as an online API. Then the only thing left for the app to do is consult the API and present the information to users.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - If anyone knows of a good weather alert app that works in Australia, please let me know.
PPS - It has to alert on both severe weather and ordinary rain.
Now, the EWN does supply an app for severe weather warnings, but that doesn't give ordinary rain warnings. There are plenty of weather widgets for Android, but these take up a lot of screen space and you have to remember to check them. And while there are plenty of weather apps available, it's not clear whether they work in my area. That's because weather forecasts are provided worldwide by lots of different agencies in lots of different formats and it takes some effort to sort them out. More effort than many companies would like to put in.
You know who is uniquely positioned to organise the world's weather information? Google. They could integrate it with Maps, gathering and publishing local weather forecasts from known sources and assembling them into a worldwide KML map file of current and predicted weather conditions, all available as an online API. Then the only thing left for the app to do is consult the API and present the information to users.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - If anyone knows of a good weather alert app that works in Australia, please let me know.
PPS - It has to alert on both severe weather and ordinary rain.
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Computer security
Computer system security is a lot more complicated than giving everyone a username and password. In real systems, people play different roles (sometimes several per person) and each function of a system can only be performed by certain roles. That would be good if it were all, but it is also the case that a person can have a different role depending on the data context. In one project, a user might be the project owner, capable of taking any action, but in another project, they might only be responsible for a small area, or have read-only access for whatever reason. So every action needs to be checked for the right person in the right role in the right context.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The point is that there are a thousand ways to do security wrong.
PPS - And only a few ways to do it right.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The point is that there are a thousand ways to do security wrong.
PPS - And only a few ways to do it right.
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Using and making tools
We as humans call ourselves tool makers, but most of us don't make our own tools. We are tool users, and our tools were made by others, which means they brought other needs and other assumptions into the design, and the rest of us just need to figure it out. This is why I find people's interaction with technology fascinating.
One of the big benefits of being able to write my own software is that I can make my own tools if I need them, but they don't exist. As a case in point, when I am working on database projects, I often need to search through all the database tables and scripts for particular combinations of table and field names, or sometimes a table reference where there *should* be a reference to a certain new field, but it doesn't currently exist. There are file search tools that will let you look for a specific string in a file or directory, but that's as far as they go. If you're looking for something more specific, or there are a lot of other files in your way, making the search harder, you're out of luck.
I, however, am not out of luck, because I can make my own tools. I wrote a program I called "JoinSearch" to do those other, tricky searches, and it's been great. It has been one of the secrets of my success as a database software developer, and it has grown with my needs, gaining features and sophistication as required.
This, to me, is the number 1 reason why people should learn to write software. JoinSearch will be with me for the rest of my career, in all likelihood, saving me (and maybe my co-workers) hundreds of hours at work searching through files (it comes up more often than you might think). When you have problems like that, if you can write software, you can solve your own problems yourself. It's what computers are meant to do for you.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Of course, making programming easier would be a great tool project.
PPS - And plenty of people are trying.
One of the big benefits of being able to write my own software is that I can make my own tools if I need them, but they don't exist. As a case in point, when I am working on database projects, I often need to search through all the database tables and scripts for particular combinations of table and field names, or sometimes a table reference where there *should* be a reference to a certain new field, but it doesn't currently exist. There are file search tools that will let you look for a specific string in a file or directory, but that's as far as they go. If you're looking for something more specific, or there are a lot of other files in your way, making the search harder, you're out of luck.
I, however, am not out of luck, because I can make my own tools. I wrote a program I called "JoinSearch" to do those other, tricky searches, and it's been great. It has been one of the secrets of my success as a database software developer, and it has grown with my needs, gaining features and sophistication as required.
This, to me, is the number 1 reason why people should learn to write software. JoinSearch will be with me for the rest of my career, in all likelihood, saving me (and maybe my co-workers) hundreds of hours at work searching through files (it comes up more often than you might think). When you have problems like that, if you can write software, you can solve your own problems yourself. It's what computers are meant to do for you.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Of course, making programming easier would be a great tool project.
PPS - And plenty of people are trying.
Monday, 13 May 2013
Pedestrians and planning
Pedestrians almost never walk where architects say they should. I just wanted to point that out, because there's so often some path that some designer has drawn on a plan that looks like it is reasonable, but if it's not the shortest path, and not everything else is physically obstructed or dangerous, people are going to find another way around.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Sometimes they'll go where it's dangerous or obstructed anyway.
PPS - Sometimes specifically because it's dangerous or obstructed.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Sometimes they'll go where it's dangerous or obstructed anyway.
PPS - Sometimes specifically because it's dangerous or obstructed.
Friday, 10 May 2013
Friday writing update
You may notice there is no Friday Flash Fiction today. It's not because I'm slacking off. Rather, it's because I have been doing a lot of things that make me feel like an author without facing reality. I write and publish here because it feels like being published for real. I wrote a novel and paid to have a cover produced, then published it here because that feels like having a real published novel. Then a few things lately have led me to believe that I should be doing more. So I'm going to try and get published for real.
I've joined an online writing workshop, Critters, where we submit, read and critique each others' work. I've got The (Submission) Grinder to let me see where I can submit my work for possible publication. Using those together, I'll be trying to get my work published for real - possibly reprints of what I've published here first, but I will be working on new things in the meantime. On Fridays, instead of Friday Flash Fiction, I'll be posting these updates on what I've been writing during the week, because that will keep me on track. I hope.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Friday Flash Fiction has been a very helpful exercise for me.
PPS - Writing a story a week for over a year got me to think a lot more about my work.
I've joined an online writing workshop, Critters, where we submit, read and critique each others' work. I've got The (Submission) Grinder to let me see where I can submit my work for possible publication. Using those together, I'll be trying to get my work published for real - possibly reprints of what I've published here first, but I will be working on new things in the meantime. On Fridays, instead of Friday Flash Fiction, I'll be posting these updates on what I've been writing during the week, because that will keep me on track. I hope.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Friday Flash Fiction has been a very helpful exercise for me.
PPS - Writing a story a week for over a year got me to think a lot more about my work.
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Cracked.com, sexism and alleged mixed messages
A short while ago (at the time of writing), Cracked.com published a video asking guys who make sexist comments on their videos towards the female comedians there to stop. Just stop it. It was partially presented tongue-in-cheek, and they made sure to present the actual comments as bluntly and obviously offensive as they were, so the point got across.
Then a few weeks later, they released a parody video about Final Fantasy and the illicit recreational drug-like use of phoenix down for resurrection. It was funny, but it also included all the Cracked columnists in FF costume, including Katie Willert. With a bare midriff. Stretching her arms backwards at one point.
Obviously the comments included a few along the lines of "Katie, you can't tell us not to make sexist comments, then dress like that and do those things." Actually, yes she can dress like that and act that way without being said to invite sexist comments. That's victim-blaming, the old (and wrong) "but she was obviously asking for it" argument. It doesn't work in real life, and it's not working online. So Katie Willert can continue dressing up as a Final Fantasy game character, or in any other costume she wants, and that is not "asking for it", no matter what you think "it" is. That is the real point of the first video. Nobody is asking for it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - For some reason this is especially prevalent online.
PPS - Because people are awful, when you get right down to it.
Then a few weeks later, they released a parody video about Final Fantasy and the illicit recreational drug-like use of phoenix down for resurrection. It was funny, but it also included all the Cracked columnists in FF costume, including Katie Willert. With a bare midriff. Stretching her arms backwards at one point.
Obviously the comments included a few along the lines of "Katie, you can't tell us not to make sexist comments, then dress like that and do those things." Actually, yes she can dress like that and act that way without being said to invite sexist comments. That's victim-blaming, the old (and wrong) "but she was obviously asking for it" argument. It doesn't work in real life, and it's not working online. So Katie Willert can continue dressing up as a Final Fantasy game character, or in any other costume she wants, and that is not "asking for it", no matter what you think "it" is. That is the real point of the first video. Nobody is asking for it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - For some reason this is especially prevalent online.
PPS - Because people are awful, when you get right down to it.
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
What's in a nerd?
What do we mean these days when we call someone a "nerd"? Is it someone who likes video games? No, because now that includes your mum on her Facebook games and even your standard jocks on Madden and Call of Duty. Is it someone who likes comic books and superheroes? Remind me again how much money The Avengers made, then tell me whether comic book superheroes are mainstream or not. Is it someone who dresses funny, without style? No, that's a hipster. So, someone who isn't good at sports but is academic instead? That's a slightly different value system, but every politician, news reader, journalist and professor the world over makes more of a living from their mind than their body. That's mainstream and perfectly acceptable too. To quote Penny Arcade, there's no such thing as a nerd.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Maybe it comes down to narrow passions.
PPS - I don't know. I'm just guessing now.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Maybe it comes down to narrow passions.
PPS - I don't know. I'm just guessing now.
Tuesday, 7 May 2013
My favourite podcasts
Podcasts I love. I listen to four audio podcasts regularly that I thought I should let you know about. The first two are Escape Pod and PodCastle, both from the same "group". They're weekly science fiction and fantasy stories, respectively, and usually run about the length of my daily commute, 40 minutes, though PodCastle very frequently goes over an hour and occasionally lets loose with "giant" episodes over 90 minutes. In balance with that time sink is Toasted Cake by Tina Connolly running at about 10 minutes per week, featuring fantasy flash fiction. I use them as filler when Escape Pod or PodCastle runs under 30 minutes. Finally, there's I Should Be Writing, an irregular advice podcast for "wannabe fiction writers" like me. Genuine, down-to-earth advice on how to keep writing and what to do with it when you're done, published by Mur Lafferty. She records when she's good and ready, and the lengths can vary a lot, so sometimes I have to pad this out with Toasted Cake too.
Also worth mentioning is TED, a video lecture series on a wide range of topics from science to charity and politics, under the broad heading of "Ideas Worth Sharing". I only watch some of them, if the topic grabs me, because I have a lot of other things to watch too.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Escape Pod and PodCastle have a third "sister" called Pseudopod, too.
PPS - I don't listen to that one, though, because horror isn't really my thing, and also I only have so many minutes in my day.
Also worth mentioning is TED, a video lecture series on a wide range of topics from science to charity and politics, under the broad heading of "Ideas Worth Sharing". I only watch some of them, if the topic grabs me, because I have a lot of other things to watch too.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Escape Pod and PodCastle have a third "sister" called Pseudopod, too.
PPS - I don't listen to that one, though, because horror isn't really my thing, and also I only have so many minutes in my day.
Monday, 6 May 2013
Software development anxiety
When things are going wrong in a software project, my first instinct is to knuckle down and try to figure it out myself. This usually takes a long time, which makes me feel bad for wasting time and money, which makes me feel simultaneously that I am a bad developer and that I need to fabricate some explanation for why this task was harder than I thought.
All of these feelings are bad and wrong, of course. The real way to deal with a problem like this is to go and ask someone for help, but that brings up the feelings of inadequacy, while adding to them some feelings of lowering myself in the eyes of my colleagues ("if he needs help, he can't be that good, so better not trust him or promote him") and feeling like I'm wasting someone else's time, too.
This fills my job with a lot of anxiety, and I'm not sure if any other developers have this problem or if I'm alone in it. And if other developers have these anxiety problems, is it just the bad developers?
Mokalus of Borg
PS - My brain can offer up a thousand reasons why I might not be a good software developer.
PPS - Or a good actor, author, friend, husband, son, brother...
All of these feelings are bad and wrong, of course. The real way to deal with a problem like this is to go and ask someone for help, but that brings up the feelings of inadequacy, while adding to them some feelings of lowering myself in the eyes of my colleagues ("if he needs help, he can't be that good, so better not trust him or promote him") and feeling like I'm wasting someone else's time, too.
This fills my job with a lot of anxiety, and I'm not sure if any other developers have this problem or if I'm alone in it. And if other developers have these anxiety problems, is it just the bad developers?
Mokalus of Borg
PS - My brain can offer up a thousand reasons why I might not be a good software developer.
PPS - Or a good actor, author, friend, husband, son, brother...
Friday, 3 May 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Necradia
Necradia stood back, watching with arms raised like a puppeteer, as her small herd of zombies attacked the bank tellers. Their screams filled the air, drowning out the alarm, and she closed her eyes to savour it.
It was then, just when she was starting to enjoy herself, that a young woman, no older than Necradia herself, managed to scramble across the floor and drop to her knees in front of her. The woman's face was streaked with blood, and her tears had run her mascara down her cheeks, in a look similar to the one Necradia herself had worn last season. _Well, without all the snot, of course,_ she thought to herself. She was about to call one of her zombies back to deal with the woman when she spoke.
"PLEASE STOP IT! For the love of God, call them off! We'll give you whatever you want, just stop it! Why are you doing this?"
Looking down into the woman's pleading eyes, hearing the desperation in her voice, Necradia had just a moment of doubt. As if in slow motion, she looked around the bank, noting the carnage everywhere, and for once she could not stand to take it all in. Her eyes skipped over it, trying not to register the details of the horrific scene she had wrought, but as the alarms kept sounding and the screams burbled down, everywhere she turned it was severed this, dismembered that, pool of coagulating such-and-such. It all looked so ... shocking.
She shut her eyes tight. _What's happening to me?_ she wondered, then felt an unusual warm spot where the woman on the floor was touching her leg. Opening her eyes, she saw a soft, blue-white glow under the palm of the woman's hand. Necradia jerked her leg away, but the nauseating feeling persisted. The room began to spin, and she grabbed onto a hand railing for balance. She turned to the woman on the floor.
"What did you do?" she asked, her voice a mix of awe and dread. Before the woman could answer, the zombies had converged on her, turning any response into more screaming. Though Necradia did, at last, call them off, it was too late. Whatever the mysterious woman had done, Necradia would not find out from her now. She heard sirens in the distance, and recognised that she would or should be feeling like that was the start of the real party, but the feeling wasn't there. She hesitated, then took the handle of just one of the bags of cash from the vault, hovered a short distance into the air to make sure she wasn't still woozy, then flew off, out the door and accelerated to full speed over the rooftops. Her zombies would follow on foot, or distract the cops long enough for her to get away. They'd catch up, or she'd summon more if they died. She started feeling bad for them, then wondered at that. There were always more zombies. Why feel anything at all for these ones?
Whatever that woman had done, Necradia hoped it wasn't permanent, but she had a horrible sinking feeling that she'd been infected with something. Something, she made a face, good, like "compassion".
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Necradia was my favourite of my City of Villains characters.
PPS - She was how I explored the "Going Rogue" expansion.
It was then, just when she was starting to enjoy herself, that a young woman, no older than Necradia herself, managed to scramble across the floor and drop to her knees in front of her. The woman's face was streaked with blood, and her tears had run her mascara down her cheeks, in a look similar to the one Necradia herself had worn last season. _Well, without all the snot, of course,_ she thought to herself. She was about to call one of her zombies back to deal with the woman when she spoke.
"PLEASE STOP IT! For the love of God, call them off! We'll give you whatever you want, just stop it! Why are you doing this?"
Looking down into the woman's pleading eyes, hearing the desperation in her voice, Necradia had just a moment of doubt. As if in slow motion, she looked around the bank, noting the carnage everywhere, and for once she could not stand to take it all in. Her eyes skipped over it, trying not to register the details of the horrific scene she had wrought, but as the alarms kept sounding and the screams burbled down, everywhere she turned it was severed this, dismembered that, pool of coagulating such-and-such. It all looked so ... shocking.
She shut her eyes tight. _What's happening to me?_ she wondered, then felt an unusual warm spot where the woman on the floor was touching her leg. Opening her eyes, she saw a soft, blue-white glow under the palm of the woman's hand. Necradia jerked her leg away, but the nauseating feeling persisted. The room began to spin, and she grabbed onto a hand railing for balance. She turned to the woman on the floor.
"What did you do?" she asked, her voice a mix of awe and dread. Before the woman could answer, the zombies had converged on her, turning any response into more screaming. Though Necradia did, at last, call them off, it was too late. Whatever the mysterious woman had done, Necradia would not find out from her now. She heard sirens in the distance, and recognised that she would or should be feeling like that was the start of the real party, but the feeling wasn't there. She hesitated, then took the handle of just one of the bags of cash from the vault, hovered a short distance into the air to make sure she wasn't still woozy, then flew off, out the door and accelerated to full speed over the rooftops. Her zombies would follow on foot, or distract the cops long enough for her to get away. They'd catch up, or she'd summon more if they died. She started feeling bad for them, then wondered at that. There were always more zombies. Why feel anything at all for these ones?
Whatever that woman had done, Necradia hoped it wasn't permanent, but she had a horrible sinking feeling that she'd been infected with something. Something, she made a face, good, like "compassion".
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Necradia was my favourite of my City of Villains characters.
PPS - She was how I explored the "Going Rogue" expansion.
Made-up words that sound good
One thing I really admire about JK Rowling's writing in the Harry Potter books is how even her made-up words sound natural. Voldemort. Horcrux. Dumbledore. Hogwarts. They've got a natural rhythm and flow to them that can be really difficult to pull off, but the books are full of them and they all sound like they belong. I wish I were as good at making up words as that.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - And they've all got a similar feeling to them, like they belong together, too.
PPS - I don't know if that's by design or because they're all Rowling's words.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - And they've all got a similar feeling to them, like they belong together, too.
PPS - I don't know if that's by design or because they're all Rowling's words.
Thursday, 2 May 2013
Lost knowledge
Knowledge is only as good as the people who understand it and retain it, and this will never change. We can preserve our knowledge in books but that is only meaningful if someone can come along, read the book, and apply the knowledge. If every neurosurgeon in the world died tomorrow, in some horrible World Neurosurgery Conference volcano/cyclone/food poisoning disaster, while we do still have all the neurosurgery knowledge in books, we can't still say that we, as a society, know how to do neurosurgery. Someone has to re-learn it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Regaining that knowledge becomes even harder if it's written in a dead language.
PPS - Dead languages are, themselves, excellent examples of this lost knowledge idea.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Regaining that knowledge becomes even harder if it's written in a dead language.
PPS - Dead languages are, themselves, excellent examples of this lost knowledge idea.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Meeting agendas and audience relevance
Unless everyone needs to hear it, it shouldn't be on a meeting agenda. If you're not following this rule, people hate your meetings and you're wasting their time. They might not say so, especially if you're the boss, but it's true, and you should fix it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I don't have to run meetings myself.
PPS - If I did, I'm pretty sure they'd be terrible.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I don't have to run meetings myself.
PPS - If I did, I'm pretty sure they'd be terrible.
Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Ice Break No Added Sugar is not low in sugar
Ice Break have released a "No Added Sugar" version of their iced coffee flavoured milk. There's still 36g of sugar in a 500mL bottle, though, which means "no added sugar" doesn't really mean "low sugar". For comparison, ordinary full-cream milk has about 5g of sugar per 100mL, which is 2g/100mL less than this.
2g is about half a teaspoon, which isn't much of a difference. 36g, however, converts to 7.2 teaspoons of sugar, or about 3.5 teaspoons per cup. That's a bit over the top, and that's what you get in a "No Added Sugar" Ice Break: almost twice the sugar a sweet-tooth puts in his or her ordinary coffee.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Regular Ice Break, of course, contains much more sugar than that.
PPS - 9.5g/100mL, or over 11 teaspoons per cup.
2g is about half a teaspoon, which isn't much of a difference. 36g, however, converts to 7.2 teaspoons of sugar, or about 3.5 teaspoons per cup. That's a bit over the top, and that's what you get in a "No Added Sugar" Ice Break: almost twice the sugar a sweet-tooth puts in his or her ordinary coffee.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Regular Ice Break, of course, contains much more sugar than that.
PPS - 9.5g/100mL, or over 11 teaspoons per cup.
Monday, 29 April 2013
So much entertainment, so little time
There are so many books that I want to read, and so many new ones that will come out in the meantime, that I will probably never get through them all in my lifetime. The same goes for many other aspects of life. There are too many movies to see, too much TV to watch, too many articles to read, too many people to meet, too many careers to try. This is what I mean when I say that life is too short: the world is much too big to ever experience it all.
The upshot of all this is that, if there's not enough time to read all the books I want to read, I certainly don't have time to go back and read any over again. I don't have time to watch TV series a second time around, or to watch any of my movies again. So from that point of view, there's not much point collecting them. There's no reason to build a library of books or DVDs, because I can never afford the time to read or watch any of them again. Once I'm done with them, I have no reason to keep them. All my entertainment is disposable.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - A personal library is like a shrine to good memories.
PPS - In that way, it's a lot like photo albums. You can't go back there, but you can remember.
The upshot of all this is that, if there's not enough time to read all the books I want to read, I certainly don't have time to go back and read any over again. I don't have time to watch TV series a second time around, or to watch any of my movies again. So from that point of view, there's not much point collecting them. There's no reason to build a library of books or DVDs, because I can never afford the time to read or watch any of them again. Once I'm done with them, I have no reason to keep them. All my entertainment is disposable.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - A personal library is like a shrine to good memories.
PPS - In that way, it's a lot like photo albums. You can't go back there, but you can remember.
Friday, 26 April 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Heroics
Dire Sun had been living on his own for three months now. The army didn't seem to have followed him. Nobody from the Red Giant program had shown up to take him away again. His former squadmate, codenamed "EKG", had left as soon as he'd regained consciousness after the escape. Dire Sun hoped EKG was doing well for himself.
He stalked the aisles of the all-night grocery store, feeling out of place, pushing a trolley that seemed just a little too small. His bulky body and ham-hock hands made him feel out of place everywhere, and people tended to stare. His mountainous frame was built for battle, not suburbia. He felt better when he avoided people, hence the all-night grocery store at 1am.
As he was trying to decide between some different cuts of steak to go with his daily pasta dish, he heard a commotion at the front of the store. He peeked around the end of the aisle to see what was going on. Some punk kid with a knife trying to rob the register. Don't get involved, don't get involved, he thought to himself, eyes squeezed shut. He was wearing his army fatigues just because it was laundry day, so he felt like keeping an extra-low profile today. But when the woman at the checkout screamed, his body leapt into action of its own accord.
Dire Sun rounded the corner of the aisle and bounded down it, picking up speed. The shelves shook and his heavy footsteps echoed all through the store. Halfway down he gave a yell which drew the robber's attention. The kid's head snapped up in surprise, just before Dire Sun's full bulk smashed him into the back wall. He was knocked out cold, and Dire Sun extracted himself from the massive dent he had made.
"Oh, thank you so much!" said the distraught cashier through her tears. She wiped them away and took a better look at her rescuer. "I haven't seen you somewhere before, have I?"
"I ... shop here a lot," he said, starting to squirm. He noticed the kid coming around, so took out a zip tie from his pocket and hog-tied the kid's hands to his feet in a smooth, practised motion.
"I should ... get going," he said, and turned to head out the doors.
"What about your food? Oh, and we should take a picture! For the news or at least for my Facebook. Please?" She was looking at his enormous biceps, which flattered him just enough to get him to pose for the picture. He did go back for his shopping after that, and the police arrived a few minutes later. And even though it was just police procedure, Dire Sun found he liked this kind of attention.
He liked it even more the next day when the press showed up to take his picture and get his story. He especially liked that they kept calling him "hero".
A guy could get used to this, he thought.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The next stage in the journey of Dire Sun.
PPS - I'm trying him out as a character in the Champions Online MMO.
He stalked the aisles of the all-night grocery store, feeling out of place, pushing a trolley that seemed just a little too small. His bulky body and ham-hock hands made him feel out of place everywhere, and people tended to stare. His mountainous frame was built for battle, not suburbia. He felt better when he avoided people, hence the all-night grocery store at 1am.
As he was trying to decide between some different cuts of steak to go with his daily pasta dish, he heard a commotion at the front of the store. He peeked around the end of the aisle to see what was going on. Some punk kid with a knife trying to rob the register. Don't get involved, don't get involved, he thought to himself, eyes squeezed shut. He was wearing his army fatigues just because it was laundry day, so he felt like keeping an extra-low profile today. But when the woman at the checkout screamed, his body leapt into action of its own accord.
Dire Sun rounded the corner of the aisle and bounded down it, picking up speed. The shelves shook and his heavy footsteps echoed all through the store. Halfway down he gave a yell which drew the robber's attention. The kid's head snapped up in surprise, just before Dire Sun's full bulk smashed him into the back wall. He was knocked out cold, and Dire Sun extracted himself from the massive dent he had made.
"Oh, thank you so much!" said the distraught cashier through her tears. She wiped them away and took a better look at her rescuer. "I haven't seen you somewhere before, have I?"
"I ... shop here a lot," he said, starting to squirm. He noticed the kid coming around, so took out a zip tie from his pocket and hog-tied the kid's hands to his feet in a smooth, practised motion.
"I should ... get going," he said, and turned to head out the doors.
"What about your food? Oh, and we should take a picture! For the news or at least for my Facebook. Please?" She was looking at his enormous biceps, which flattered him just enough to get him to pose for the picture. He did go back for his shopping after that, and the police arrived a few minutes later. And even though it was just police procedure, Dire Sun found he liked this kind of attention.
He liked it even more the next day when the press showed up to take his picture and get his story. He especially liked that they kept calling him "hero".
A guy could get used to this, he thought.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The next stage in the journey of Dire Sun.
PPS - I'm trying him out as a character in the Champions Online MMO.
Compatibility
I love technology when it works, but these days "when it works" is getting to mean "when it works together" a lot more often. Every network has a different protocol, every mobile has a different operating system, everything wireless works on a different frequency and all data is in incompatible formats. Getting two pieces of technology to work together is becoming more of a challenge every day, which either means we are trying to do more difficult things with it or that standards are advancing too rapidly to keep up.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I think it's a bit of both.
PPS - We can't let it go too far, or nothing will work with anything else any more.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I think it's a bit of both.
PPS - We can't let it go too far, or nothing will work with anything else any more.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Foxtel IQ could run on the Xbox
Since the Xbox is basically a computer, including a hard drive, and it already has the ability to receive Foxtel over the internet, you could run a Foxtel IQ app (that is, a DVR) to record and rewind shows just like the dedicated Foxtel IQ appliance. The real difficulty, I expect, would be hard drive space, which is quite limited on the Xbox.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - You'd also have to convince Foxtel to go for the scheme.
PPS - Which I doubt they would.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - You'd also have to convince Foxtel to go for the scheme.
PPS - Which I doubt they would.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Outsourcing to the extreme
Once all functions of a corporation are outsourced - accounts, IT, legal, whatever - everyone is just consulting for everyone else. At that point, it is the project managers and coordinators or the clients that are the only ones in power. It's a significant shift in the way business is done, because it takes extra skill to manage a multi-disciplinary project team.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The end result may be smaller projects.
PPS - Because there just aren't that many skilled managers around.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The end result may be smaller projects.
PPS - Because there just aren't that many skilled managers around.
Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Trust and second chances
I hate not getting second chances, because I usually screw up my first chance. Doesn't everyone? I mean, that's life and learning, right? The problem is that second chances usually go to second candidates, which really means that there are no second chances, only someone else's first chance. That stinks, but it seems to be how people do "trust" these days. You get one chance to prove yourself when you meet someone, but then as soon as you make a mistake, the trust is gone and will never come back. Fool me once, shame on you, but you will never get a chance to fool me twice.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Where "fool me" can mean as little as "interact with me".
PPS - But maybe it's only this extreme on TV and in movies.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Where "fool me" can mean as little as "interact with me".
PPS - But maybe it's only this extreme on TV and in movies.
Monday, 22 April 2013
Joke religion collides with real bureaucracy
Nobody is really a Pastafarian. Sometimes - on BoingBoing, mostly - a story will come up saying that so-and-so, a "devout Pastafarian", has been denied freedom of religious expression because somebody refused to let him/her wear a colander on his/her head for an official photograph (driver's license, passport etc). This is a joke, of course, because nobody actually believes that the world was created by a flying spaghetti monster. It's a highly sarcastic point rooted in a belief in strict materialism - nothing exists outside this observable universe of matter and energy.
So my question is this: although Pastafarianism is meant to ridicule all religions, what point does it make to insist on wearing a colander on your head for your driver's license photo? Are you making the point that religious headgear should not be allowed in such photos? Are you just making fun of the officials involved for not having heard the joke? In essence, I believe that referencing Pastafarianism in this way makes it out to be more than an argument against religion, and implies that you actually take the belief seriously, which you don't.
The weird part is that the BoingBoing article is usually written as if it encourages religious tolerance, but you don't have to go far in the comments before getting to "When are we going to destroy all religion because grar millitant atheism grar!"
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Pastafarianism is, strictly speaking, not compatible with religious tolerance.
PPS - If only because it is a way of saying "all religion is ridiculous".
So my question is this: although Pastafarianism is meant to ridicule all religions, what point does it make to insist on wearing a colander on your head for your driver's license photo? Are you making the point that religious headgear should not be allowed in such photos? Are you just making fun of the officials involved for not having heard the joke? In essence, I believe that referencing Pastafarianism in this way makes it out to be more than an argument against religion, and implies that you actually take the belief seriously, which you don't.
The weird part is that the BoingBoing article is usually written as if it encourages religious tolerance, but you don't have to go far in the comments before getting to "When are we going to destroy all religion because grar millitant atheism grar!"
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Pastafarianism is, strictly speaking, not compatible with religious tolerance.
PPS - If only because it is a way of saying "all religion is ridiculous".
Friday, 19 April 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Brothers on the Marsh
Two figures, brothers, trudged across the marsh, tall rubber boots splattered with mud. They travelled without speaking. Any voice could disturb the purpose of their trip. When one stumbled, the other offered a hand to help him up. When they crossed a gully, they helped lower each other down and boosted or hauled each other up the other side.
The ground grew softer with every step. Every metre they travelled took longer than the one before, but they had to go on. Their goal was visible ahead, where the maps had said it would be - a silver-coloured tree in the middle of the marsh, bare of leaves, glinting in the sunlight, standing alone.
The younger brother, who was not younger by much, stepped by mistake into a bog hole, sinking up to his middle. He caught his breath before he cried out in surprise. The elder brother gestured at him to keep still and, in the thick mud around the hole, searched for a solid place to pull his sibling to safety.
The best place was not perfect, not even very good, but it would have to do. He tied a rope around his middle, made his footing as secure as he could, tied another loop in the other end of the rope and threw it to his stuck brother. The stuck man shuffled his shoulders into the loop, secured it as best he could, then gave the signal to be hauled out.
The rope pulled taut and the younger brother in the bog fell forwards, his head submerged for a breathless moment. The other man pulled faster, and his head emerged with his gasp for air. He helped pull himself out, when his arms were free, but his boots had been lost at the bottom of the sticky mudhole.
Both men stood still, trying to decide what to do. The younger brother gestured that the older should go on, the older indicated that they should turn back. It was not safe to travel on the marsh barefoot. The promise of the silver tree and its glassy, miraculous sap would not be worth anything if they could not make it there or back. The younger pleaded with his eyes. The tree was so close, and it would surely be just as treacherous to travel back now as to go on a little further first.
The older brother sighed and assented. They trudged on, even more carefully now, the younger brother getting more exhausted with every step, his boots no longer helping his footing, but they reached the base of the silver tree. The glass-like sap of the silver tree, when conditions were right, could harden into a bead the shape of a water drop, as hard as rock on one end, but explosively fragile if the pointed tip were fractured. It was said to happen only once or twice a decade, and only here on the dreaded marsh. The medicine man had asked for one of the beads as the price for curing their brother. None of them knew whether such a bead would be here, or if the brothers could bring it back intact.
They examined the tree from root to branch tip, searching for the bead of sap, until they finally found one, tiny and delicate, clinging to the tip of one twig. It refracted the sunlight into a little rainbow circle with rays cutting across it. The brothers could see why the medicine man wanted it, and why they were so valuable.
The younger brother, with as much care as he could muster, plucked the bead from the twig and rested it in the padded box they had brought. He tied it closed, wrapped the box in a blanket, and eased it into his pack. They smiled at each other. If they made it back in time, their youngest brother would live, and everything would be fine.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The bead of sap I describe is essentially a Prince Rupert's Drop.
PPS - Though those are made of glass and cooled in water.
The ground grew softer with every step. Every metre they travelled took longer than the one before, but they had to go on. Their goal was visible ahead, where the maps had said it would be - a silver-coloured tree in the middle of the marsh, bare of leaves, glinting in the sunlight, standing alone.
The younger brother, who was not younger by much, stepped by mistake into a bog hole, sinking up to his middle. He caught his breath before he cried out in surprise. The elder brother gestured at him to keep still and, in the thick mud around the hole, searched for a solid place to pull his sibling to safety.
The best place was not perfect, not even very good, but it would have to do. He tied a rope around his middle, made his footing as secure as he could, tied another loop in the other end of the rope and threw it to his stuck brother. The stuck man shuffled his shoulders into the loop, secured it as best he could, then gave the signal to be hauled out.
The rope pulled taut and the younger brother in the bog fell forwards, his head submerged for a breathless moment. The other man pulled faster, and his head emerged with his gasp for air. He helped pull himself out, when his arms were free, but his boots had been lost at the bottom of the sticky mudhole.
Both men stood still, trying to decide what to do. The younger brother gestured that the older should go on, the older indicated that they should turn back. It was not safe to travel on the marsh barefoot. The promise of the silver tree and its glassy, miraculous sap would not be worth anything if they could not make it there or back. The younger pleaded with his eyes. The tree was so close, and it would surely be just as treacherous to travel back now as to go on a little further first.
The older brother sighed and assented. They trudged on, even more carefully now, the younger brother getting more exhausted with every step, his boots no longer helping his footing, but they reached the base of the silver tree. The glass-like sap of the silver tree, when conditions were right, could harden into a bead the shape of a water drop, as hard as rock on one end, but explosively fragile if the pointed tip were fractured. It was said to happen only once or twice a decade, and only here on the dreaded marsh. The medicine man had asked for one of the beads as the price for curing their brother. None of them knew whether such a bead would be here, or if the brothers could bring it back intact.
They examined the tree from root to branch tip, searching for the bead of sap, until they finally found one, tiny and delicate, clinging to the tip of one twig. It refracted the sunlight into a little rainbow circle with rays cutting across it. The brothers could see why the medicine man wanted it, and why they were so valuable.
The younger brother, with as much care as he could muster, plucked the bead from the twig and rested it in the padded box they had brought. He tied it closed, wrapped the box in a blanket, and eased it into his pack. They smiled at each other. If they made it back in time, their youngest brother would live, and everything would be fine.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The bead of sap I describe is essentially a Prince Rupert's Drop.
PPS - Though those are made of glass and cooled in water.
Things I love
I don't much want to post a simple list without any explanation, but I'm trying to channel some positivity, and this seems like the quickest way to a lot of it. So here are some things I love in this world:
- Telling a good story, especially when it's funny.
- Hearing someone else tell a good story, whether verbally, on paper or on screen.
- Sleeping in.
- A good home-cooked meal.
- Hugs.
- Clean sheets.
- Parties that never seem to end, with friends who could talk until the sun came up.
- Floating in a pool without a care in the world.
- Finishing a project.
- Knowing the next step.
- Feeling like the world has become a little bit better today.
- Making progress.
- Having all the time in the world.
- Dogpile on that guy!
- The animal warmth of my family around me or, failing that, a sleeping cat on my lap.
- Pancakes.
- Antici...pation.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - My friends and family are in there, but it should be more than once.
PPS - I'd be very lost if I were alone.
- Telling a good story, especially when it's funny.
- Hearing someone else tell a good story, whether verbally, on paper or on screen.
- Sleeping in.
- A good home-cooked meal.
- Hugs.
- Clean sheets.
- Parties that never seem to end, with friends who could talk until the sun came up.
- Floating in a pool without a care in the world.
- Finishing a project.
- Knowing the next step.
- Feeling like the world has become a little bit better today.
- Making progress.
- Having all the time in the world.
- Dogpile on that guy!
- The animal warmth of my family around me or, failing that, a sleeping cat on my lap.
- Pancakes.
- Antici...pation.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - My friends and family are in there, but it should be more than once.
PPS - I'd be very lost if I were alone.
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Great expectations
I have a history of trying to reduce everyone's expectations of me. I tell them I can't sing, can't dance, can't improvise. I hate the feeling of disappointing someone. It is the worst feeling in the world to me. So if everyone expects little of me, I don't have anyone to disappoint. It is simple, solid, deeply flawed logic.
So how can I get over that? I don't want to swing far in the other direction, so that I'm talking myself up before falling short, but there has to be some way to middle ground, where I am objective and honest about my abilities and I meet the expectations they set up. I wish I knew how to get there.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Maybe, through fear, I put too much pressure on myself.
PPS - And maybe my supposed failures aren't as bad as I imagine.
So how can I get over that? I don't want to swing far in the other direction, so that I'm talking myself up before falling short, but there has to be some way to middle ground, where I am objective and honest about my abilities and I meet the expectations they set up. I wish I knew how to get there.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Maybe, through fear, I put too much pressure on myself.
PPS - And maybe my supposed failures aren't as bad as I imagine.
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Apple and limited choice
Is it true that part of Apple's success in consumer electronics is offering much less choice than rivals? Now, granted, you'd never hear someone saying "well, I was going to buy an Android phone, but there were just so many fewer options from Apple that I couldn't resist!" My point, though, is that choice is hard, and the near-infinite options you have for most items like phones or computers can be paralysing. When Apple offers you "phone" or "slightly bigger phone", suddenly you'd be much more at ease and more likely to buy. Couple that with post-purchase rationalisations about knowing it will "just work" and the fact that Apple designs shiny things, and everything lines up for them. Apple knows that you find choosing hard, and they design and sell based on that.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Plus the limited form factor means that the accessories market is bigger.
PPS - It's subtle, but I think it's a valid strategy.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Plus the limited form factor means that the accessories market is bigger.
PPS - It's subtle, but I think it's a valid strategy.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Turn-based vs real-time RPG combat
Many years ago, as my beloved adventure games were slowly consumed by role-playing games, I resented the very idea of RPGs on several levels. I had never played an RPG properly, and I was absolutely convinced that turn-based combat would be essential for my enjoyment. Now I have had the experience of playing three types of RPG: the MMO City of Heroes, which was an action RPG, all real-time, and the two very different styles that were manifested in the Penny Arcade Adventures series. The first two episodes had semi-real-time combat sequences, and the third has turn-based combat, but with a time line to determine whose turn it is next. Now, prepare to eat my words, younger self, because the real-time options absolutely wipe the floor with turn-based combat.
When you can literally walk away during a battle and be in no danger at all, something is lost. You don't even have to pause. It drains all of the excitement and tension out of the game for me, making it all about what weapons or spells to choose next. It also means that the game designers can go absolutely nuts with the number of options in combat, and they do. In the first two Penny Arcade Adventures episodes, you had three characters with one pre-equipped weapon each, capable of an ordinary attack or one of three special attacks. There were also about 15 different items you might use, and most of those were different strengths of the same type of item. There's no time to sift through a dozen sub-menus, because your characters will be dead by then.
In contrast, the turn-based Episode 3 has each character with one built-in class, two equipped classes and an upgradeable weapon, each with at least four different possible attacks or spells. There are so many new options every time someone levels up that I just stopped reading the post-combat summary and decided to learn my attacks during combat. After all, the names aren't going to tell me what they do. The mechanics of turn-based combat meant that the game designers added a lot of complexity to the play mechanics, and those start getting in the way of the fun.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - So there you have it. For me, at least, turn-based combat bad, real-time good.
PPS - Based on the third Penny Arcade Adventures episode, I may not buy the fourth.
When you can literally walk away during a battle and be in no danger at all, something is lost. You don't even have to pause. It drains all of the excitement and tension out of the game for me, making it all about what weapons or spells to choose next. It also means that the game designers can go absolutely nuts with the number of options in combat, and they do. In the first two Penny Arcade Adventures episodes, you had three characters with one pre-equipped weapon each, capable of an ordinary attack or one of three special attacks. There were also about 15 different items you might use, and most of those were different strengths of the same type of item. There's no time to sift through a dozen sub-menus, because your characters will be dead by then.
In contrast, the turn-based Episode 3 has each character with one built-in class, two equipped classes and an upgradeable weapon, each with at least four different possible attacks or spells. There are so many new options every time someone levels up that I just stopped reading the post-combat summary and decided to learn my attacks during combat. After all, the names aren't going to tell me what they do. The mechanics of turn-based combat meant that the game designers added a lot of complexity to the play mechanics, and those start getting in the way of the fun.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - So there you have it. For me, at least, turn-based combat bad, real-time good.
PPS - Based on the third Penny Arcade Adventures episode, I may not buy the fourth.
Monday, 15 April 2013
Videogames for the elderly
When people retire and have very little to do with their time, can't move around a lot but still want to socialise, the internet can help fill that need. And what better way to use it than designing videogames for grandpa? Think about it. They probably won't want to or won't be able to handle the same twitch-spasm FPS titles that appeal to the core demographic of 14-year-old boys, but their brains could use the workout other games have to offer. Something designed specifically to appeal to the elderly, without being insultingly simple or too similar to overwrought "educational" titles, should do really well. And how do you keep those 14-year-olds from coming in and beating everyone, ruining it all? For the most part, they'll be too busy in their own games, injecting caffeine directly into their hearts to shave milliseconds off their reaction times, all to earn the right to call each other names. Games written for the elderly simply won't appeal to them, either because they're boring or because they won't be competitive enough.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I would love to see games where the elderly simply out-perform the young.
PPS - That would be pretty satisfying for everyone.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I would love to see games where the elderly simply out-perform the young.
PPS - That would be pretty satisfying for everyone.
Friday, 12 April 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Bane Mage
The figure standing over Randall looked just like the stories he had heard. A sorceress escaped from Hell, wearing torn, dark latex and a severe, straight haircut covering half her face. Her fist glowed with blue-white energy. She was standing with one foot on his chest and a furious, almost crazy, glint in her eye. Bane Mage, crime-fighting "superhero". She'd been hauled in front of the Registrar a dozen times for misconduct since arriving in the city, but they always let her back on the streets. She got results. She also patrolled areas where other heroes feared to tread, or fly.
And this was who had stopped Randall from mugging that old lady. Just my luck, he thought to himself.
The energy around her fist glowed brighter, and Bane Mage's grin turned manic. Randall had to try something to avoid getting crispy-fried.
"What did I do? Why are you doing this?"
Bane Mage gave the briefest shake of her head, as if a gnat had landed on her nose. "You know why," she said, and resumed building up her energy for a last strike.
"But it was just a mugging! She got the purse back!"
"So I should just let you go? Not a chance. Evil ... Must ... Be ... Punished!"
Just as her fist seemed like it would blast Randall on its own, Bane Mage turned , slapped at her ear and screamed "WHAT?" The built-up energy beam sizzled against the ground, next to Randall's head.
"No!" she kept saying into her earpiece radio. "He has to ... I have him ... It's my ..." Finally she just started yelling incoherently until she tore off the earpiece and dashed it to the ground where it broke in two.
With some obvious reluctance, Bane Mage pulled out a teleport tag from her belt and slapped it down hard on Randall's chest, then gave him a kick in the ribs for good measure.
As he faded out, being teleported to the holding cells at the local police precinct, he heard Bane Mage shout after him "Don't you DARE try this again. Next time, I might be in a bad mood."
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This is another of my City of Heroes characters.
PPS - She ... had a lot of personal growth in the story in my head as time went on.
And this was who had stopped Randall from mugging that old lady. Just my luck, he thought to himself.
The energy around her fist glowed brighter, and Bane Mage's grin turned manic. Randall had to try something to avoid getting crispy-fried.
"What did I do? Why are you doing this?"
Bane Mage gave the briefest shake of her head, as if a gnat had landed on her nose. "You know why," she said, and resumed building up her energy for a last strike.
"But it was just a mugging! She got the purse back!"
"So I should just let you go? Not a chance. Evil ... Must ... Be ... Punished!"
Just as her fist seemed like it would blast Randall on its own, Bane Mage turned , slapped at her ear and screamed "WHAT?" The built-up energy beam sizzled against the ground, next to Randall's head.
"No!" she kept saying into her earpiece radio. "He has to ... I have him ... It's my ..." Finally she just started yelling incoherently until she tore off the earpiece and dashed it to the ground where it broke in two.
With some obvious reluctance, Bane Mage pulled out a teleport tag from her belt and slapped it down hard on Randall's chest, then gave him a kick in the ribs for good measure.
As he faded out, being teleported to the holding cells at the local police precinct, he heard Bane Mage shout after him "Don't you DARE try this again. Next time, I might be in a bad mood."
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This is another of my City of Heroes characters.
PPS - She ... had a lot of personal growth in the story in my head as time went on.
Computer platform instability
Are we headed towards or away from computer platform stability? In the very early days of computers, each one needed a custom operating system, because they were all that different. As time went by, hardware started standardising, and so did operating systems, through the mainframe days into desktops and servers. For a while, there was peace, with just a few desktop operating systems, and that is still the case to an extent, but there are more minor OSes popping up every day, usually based on Linux, because it's open-source, and even the new versions of the major platforms fail to completely displace their old versions (Windows XP is still going strong, despite being unsupported and now superseded three times over).
Cut to the mobile marketplace, where not only do we have unique hardware, but every company insists on putting its own spin on Android, quite often with special requests and additions for the mobile carrier too. New versions fail to displace the old, and our only relief is planned obsolesence where the phones break down on their own after a year. Meanwhile there are more and more software development libraries promising to make cross-platform development easier, usually by liberal application of JavaScript and HTML5, the lowest-commond-denominators of the software world.
So is it going to get better any time soon? Probably not. Until it is legally mandatory for every mobile phone to be equipped with a factory reset button that installs stock-standard Android without carrier and manufacturer cruftware, all those custom tweaks will make life hell for developers like me, unless we resign ourselves to a lifetime of complex server-side development with tools that were meant to make images change on 1990s websites.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Right now, to target "every major platform", you need at least six versions of your app.
PPS - Which is why so many people just make a website and call it an app.
Cut to the mobile marketplace, where not only do we have unique hardware, but every company insists on putting its own spin on Android, quite often with special requests and additions for the mobile carrier too. New versions fail to displace the old, and our only relief is planned obsolesence where the phones break down on their own after a year. Meanwhile there are more and more software development libraries promising to make cross-platform development easier, usually by liberal application of JavaScript and HTML5, the lowest-commond-denominators of the software world.
So is it going to get better any time soon? Probably not. Until it is legally mandatory for every mobile phone to be equipped with a factory reset button that installs stock-standard Android without carrier and manufacturer cruftware, all those custom tweaks will make life hell for developers like me, unless we resign ourselves to a lifetime of complex server-side development with tools that were meant to make images change on 1990s websites.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Right now, to target "every major platform", you need at least six versions of your app.
PPS - Which is why so many people just make a website and call it an app.
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Braid review
I really liked playing through Braid. It was short and used a unique play mechanic added onto a familiar genre - in this case, time control in a platformer. It makes a big difference to the way you play when, instead of dying and restarting the level, you just rewind time and try again. I was much more reckless and willing to try difficult or dangerous things, because progress is never really lost. It is still a challenge, though, because there are the time mechanism puzzles, playing with the concept and twisting your brain. Lots of fun, though I had to consult a guide for a couple of puzzle solutions. One in particular was the way a puzzle display in the background acted as an extra platform, and I just didn't notice.
The ending, the very final level, was where the real "wow" factor came in, though. I don't want to spoil it, in case you feel inclined to go and play it yourself, but it was, to me, the cleverest part of the entire game, and put a new spin on everything that came before. So do go and play it now.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I realise this is not the newest of games.
PPS - I just wanted to say what I thought of it.
The ending, the very final level, was where the real "wow" factor came in, though. I don't want to spoil it, in case you feel inclined to go and play it yourself, but it was, to me, the cleverest part of the entire game, and put a new spin on everything that came before. So do go and play it now.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I realise this is not the newest of games.
PPS - I just wanted to say what I thought of it.
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
High-demand concert ticket lotteries
When tickets to special events are sold out in mere hours or even minutes, and could command prices much, much higher if they wanted to, perhaps we should change from a straight-up queue system to a lottery instead.
The main problem with selling tickets online is that everyone in the world arrives at the front door the second the servers are open for business, or a long time before that. Then, while you and several thousand other people all clamour for the attention of the poor server, some who get through buy their tickets and the rest of us go away empty handed.
A better way would be to take a page from the Olympics ticket allocation system. If you want to go to an event, you register for a lottery that will be drawn at a later date. There's no rush, because it is no longer a mad grab for all available tickets, so the servers should experience less load. Then, at the appointed time, a selection of patrons is drawn randomly from the registrations and those people get to buy tickets.
The main problems with a system like that are social. People have grown to expect queues and crowds. We can deal with that. The idea that you showed up at three seconds after 9am while I showed up a lazy four seconds after means that you are clearly more deserving of the tickets than me. We understand it. The idea that you can "win" your right to buy a ticket at random is weird and confusing. You can bet there would be a lot of backlash from people who prefer queues, or from people who have never had problems with them.
But on the whole, I think it's a better system for extremely high-demand events. Give everyone the time to register their interest, then everyone gets a fair go. No more first-come-first-served-sorry-mate-sold-out-at-9:01 mad rush.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I've missed out on tickets in the "mad rush" system.
PPS - I'm sure I'd miss out in a lottery system too, but it might feel less like a personal failure.
The main problem with selling tickets online is that everyone in the world arrives at the front door the second the servers are open for business, or a long time before that. Then, while you and several thousand other people all clamour for the attention of the poor server, some who get through buy their tickets and the rest of us go away empty handed.
A better way would be to take a page from the Olympics ticket allocation system. If you want to go to an event, you register for a lottery that will be drawn at a later date. There's no rush, because it is no longer a mad grab for all available tickets, so the servers should experience less load. Then, at the appointed time, a selection of patrons is drawn randomly from the registrations and those people get to buy tickets.
The main problems with a system like that are social. People have grown to expect queues and crowds. We can deal with that. The idea that you showed up at three seconds after 9am while I showed up a lazy four seconds after means that you are clearly more deserving of the tickets than me. We understand it. The idea that you can "win" your right to buy a ticket at random is weird and confusing. You can bet there would be a lot of backlash from people who prefer queues, or from people who have never had problems with them.
But on the whole, I think it's a better system for extremely high-demand events. Give everyone the time to register their interest, then everyone gets a fair go. No more first-come-first-served-sorry-mate-sold-out-at-9:01 mad rush.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I've missed out on tickets in the "mad rush" system.
PPS - I'm sure I'd miss out in a lottery system too, but it might feel less like a personal failure.
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
TeamViewer review
One of the software tools I used to rely on every single day was Windows Live Mesh, because it could synchronise large collections of files and provide remote computer access in a simple, set-and-forget way. Microsoft decided to can that entire useful service to focus on making a Dropbox clone instead, which is what led me to install TeamViewer on all my computers. My cousin-in-law pointed me to it, and I can't thank him enough.
TeamViewer does the remote access job of Live Mesh, plus a couple of other tasks, and I am very pleased with it. It works faster than Live Mesh did, and more reliably, in my experience. Once I'm logged in on all my machines, I just choose one from a list, double-click, and it's like I'm right there in front of it.
But TeamViewer has a few extra tricks up its sleeve, too. You can start a one-to-one VPN with a connected machine, too, which allows you to transfer files and access private web services too. That's pretty handy. And with the Android app, I can do all this from my phone as well.
The most useful thing it does, however, is allow me to connect to family PCs for that all-too-frequent family tech support. I set it up on my Dad's machine, and if he's having trouble, I can log in and help, rather than trying to talk him through it blind, which is like helping a panicky passenger through land a plane over the radio. It's much better to actually see what's going on and be able to help with my mouse and keyboard.
For all these reasons, TeamViewer gets my personal recommendation, and it's staying in my toolbox.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It's free for non-commercial use.
PPS - I haven't needed it for commercial use yet.
TeamViewer does the remote access job of Live Mesh, plus a couple of other tasks, and I am very pleased with it. It works faster than Live Mesh did, and more reliably, in my experience. Once I'm logged in on all my machines, I just choose one from a list, double-click, and it's like I'm right there in front of it.
But TeamViewer has a few extra tricks up its sleeve, too. You can start a one-to-one VPN with a connected machine, too, which allows you to transfer files and access private web services too. That's pretty handy. And with the Android app, I can do all this from my phone as well.
The most useful thing it does, however, is allow me to connect to family PCs for that all-too-frequent family tech support. I set it up on my Dad's machine, and if he's having trouble, I can log in and help, rather than trying to talk him through it blind, which is like helping a panicky passenger through land a plane over the radio. It's much better to actually see what's going on and be able to help with my mouse and keyboard.
For all these reasons, TeamViewer gets my personal recommendation, and it's staying in my toolbox.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It's free for non-commercial use.
PPS - I haven't needed it for commercial use yet.
Monday, 8 April 2013
Expensive ink and brand choice in new printers
Another unusual side-effect of expensive printer ink is that you'll replace your printer with the same brand just to use your spare ink. That is, if your printer lasts a while, and you have some spare ink left over when it does break, it may be more worthwhile buying the same brand of printer rather than letting that spare ink go to waste.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It would depend on how much you spend on ink over the lifetime of a printer.
PPS - Or how much you think you spend.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It would depend on how much you spend on ink over the lifetime of a printer.
PPS - Or how much you think you spend.
Friday, 5 April 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Escape
Alarms startled Dire Sun out of a deep sleep in his cell. It took a few seconds to shake the cobwebs free from his mind, but when he realised what was happening, he snapped to full alert, years of training and conditioning kicking in. The rising tone was an evacuation alert. His door was ajar just a few centimetres, which was odd.
He picked up a sidearm and grabbed the cap that kept his bald spot from showing. Force of habit. He strapped on the weapon as he strode out the door and down the passage towards the fire exit. None of the other cell doors were locked, which further confirmed his suspicion that this was no drill. He and his fellow soldiers would be locked in during most mundane drills.
He passed door after door, checking in each one with a quick glance before moving on. Empty, empty, empty. Where was everyone? When he reached the door at the end of the passage, he could smell the smoke.
The door wouldn't budge and the smoke was becoming thicker and more visible. He braced against the floor, put his full weight behind the push, even shoulder-slammed it with his full 175kg of solid muscle, but it didn't even dent.
He pulled the front of his uniform shirt up over his mouth to keep from breathing in too much smoke. It didn't help much, though it might keep him going a little longer. The smoke started to sting his eyes. He raced to the other end of the military-grey corridor and turned a corner, almost tripping over a prone form at his feet. The man's code name didn't come to mind, only his serial number - D14. Dire Sun was D15. He hefted his fellow soldier's unconscious body over his shoulders with a grunt and charged for the fire door at the other end of the corridor. With the weight of two of them, Dire Sun couldn't move fast, but their combined momentum would be unstoppable. As he reached the door, he extended a meaty foot with his last step and let his and his squad mate's mass carry the kick into the door.
His whole frame shuddered with the impact on the reinforced steel, but the locking bolts bent and popped out of place. The door swung free on squealing hinges. The thickening smoke followed them out into open air, and Dire Sun collapsed, allowing D14 to fall from his shoulders and getting his breath back.
In a control room, not far away, a technician turned from his video monitor in disbelief to ask his commander, "Did you see that?"
The commander kept watching with stoic composure. "I saw."
"That was ten centimetres of hardened steel with *six* lock bolts! And he just, you know, POW!" The tech smacked a fist into his open palm to emphasise his point.
"Private, I saw it. It's why we made him."
"But, well, uh, permission to speak freely, sir?"
The commander nodded.
"Why the fire? Why are we doing this to him?"
"Super-soldiers escape, private. It's inevitable. We're just making escape part of the plan."
The technician nodded, without certainty. On the monitor, Dire Sun picked up his fellow soldier again and started for the fence.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Dire Sun was one of my City of Heroes characters.
PPS - I was kind of vague about his back-story, but I think I'd like to write it like this.
He picked up a sidearm and grabbed the cap that kept his bald spot from showing. Force of habit. He strapped on the weapon as he strode out the door and down the passage towards the fire exit. None of the other cell doors were locked, which further confirmed his suspicion that this was no drill. He and his fellow soldiers would be locked in during most mundane drills.
He passed door after door, checking in each one with a quick glance before moving on. Empty, empty, empty. Where was everyone? When he reached the door at the end of the passage, he could smell the smoke.
The door wouldn't budge and the smoke was becoming thicker and more visible. He braced against the floor, put his full weight behind the push, even shoulder-slammed it with his full 175kg of solid muscle, but it didn't even dent.
He pulled the front of his uniform shirt up over his mouth to keep from breathing in too much smoke. It didn't help much, though it might keep him going a little longer. The smoke started to sting his eyes. He raced to the other end of the military-grey corridor and turned a corner, almost tripping over a prone form at his feet. The man's code name didn't come to mind, only his serial number - D14. Dire Sun was D15. He hefted his fellow soldier's unconscious body over his shoulders with a grunt and charged for the fire door at the other end of the corridor. With the weight of two of them, Dire Sun couldn't move fast, but their combined momentum would be unstoppable. As he reached the door, he extended a meaty foot with his last step and let his and his squad mate's mass carry the kick into the door.
His whole frame shuddered with the impact on the reinforced steel, but the locking bolts bent and popped out of place. The door swung free on squealing hinges. The thickening smoke followed them out into open air, and Dire Sun collapsed, allowing D14 to fall from his shoulders and getting his breath back.
In a control room, not far away, a technician turned from his video monitor in disbelief to ask his commander, "Did you see that?"
The commander kept watching with stoic composure. "I saw."
"That was ten centimetres of hardened steel with *six* lock bolts! And he just, you know, POW!" The tech smacked a fist into his open palm to emphasise his point.
"Private, I saw it. It's why we made him."
"But, well, uh, permission to speak freely, sir?"
The commander nodded.
"Why the fire? Why are we doing this to him?"
"Super-soldiers escape, private. It's inevitable. We're just making escape part of the plan."
The technician nodded, without certainty. On the monitor, Dire Sun picked up his fellow soldier again and started for the fence.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Dire Sun was one of my City of Heroes characters.
PPS - I was kind of vague about his back-story, but I think I'd like to write it like this.
Science, fun and precision
Engaging, interesting communication is not always going to be precise. It still has to be accurate, but you can't expect people to listen to boring communication just because it is as precise as you can make it. I saw a TED talk where Tyler DeWitt talked about communicating science to children. Because this is usually done by career scientists, they strive for two things above all else: precision and seriousness. If your textbook is too imprecise (saying, for example, "viruses have DNA" when some viruses don't) or too much fun, then it won't be accepted as a textbook for use in school.
DeWitt's point is that hyper-precision right off the bat is not going to ensure kids fall in love with science. It has the same effect as your annoying friend who corrects your stories as you tell them. It doesn't make the story more engaging, it becomes harder to follow and more annoying. Also, of course, if you're being deliberately not-fun, you shouldn't be surprised that kids aren't having fun in class and therefore aren't interested in science as a result. "Fun in class" even sounds strange to me, and I'm right on board with this. So it's infected me too.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - For now, I love science TV.
PPS - TV science is, of course, missing on the accuracy axis, but it's fun.
DeWitt's point is that hyper-precision right off the bat is not going to ensure kids fall in love with science. It has the same effect as your annoying friend who corrects your stories as you tell them. It doesn't make the story more engaging, it becomes harder to follow and more annoying. Also, of course, if you're being deliberately not-fun, you shouldn't be surprised that kids aren't having fun in class and therefore aren't interested in science as a result. "Fun in class" even sounds strange to me, and I'm right on board with this. So it's infected me too.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - For now, I love science TV.
PPS - TV science is, of course, missing on the accuracy axis, but it's fun.
Thursday, 4 April 2013
Ripping entertainment
It's okay (in Australia) to take some entertainment you bought on a round plastic disc and copy that data to your computer for personal use, as long as it only involves sound, not moving pictures. When you look at it that way, this is a very weird and inconsistent law, and I think it's time it changed. Why am I forbidden from doing to my DVD movies the same thing I am allowed to do to my CD music - that is, to rip it and copy it to my tablet or phone? Why is the law so specific about the type of entertainment to which I can do this?
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The same laws are in force in most countries.
PPS - Because ripping movies is stealing but ripping music is just using it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - The same laws are in force in most countries.
PPS - Because ripping movies is stealing but ripping music is just using it.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Goal setting
I used to get very upset when people talked to me about the important - some would say paramount - task of setting goals. You have to set goals, they said. It's vital. The most important thing you can do, or else how do you know where you're headed?
Okay, I'd reply in my head, I have a goal to own and run a software company. Now what? There was no guidance on that. That's what frustrated me. I could have goals, but no idea how to get there, even in very tiny steps. What is the task I should have done, that day, as a high school student, to progress towards my goal? The only thing anyone seemed able to offer me was "set goals". It seemed as if their entire strategy was to impress upon me the importance of goal setting, and then let the rest sort itself out in my undeveloped teenage brain somehow.
My point is that goals are only half the story. You need a plan to get there and, in that sense, the plan is even more important. Yes, you need to start by figuring out where you want to be, what you want to do, but how you're going to get there is essential.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - These days, my life goals are only reviewed once or twice a year.
PPS - According to GTD, they're supposed to help filter my day-to-day actions for relevance.
Okay, I'd reply in my head, I have a goal to own and run a software company. Now what? There was no guidance on that. That's what frustrated me. I could have goals, but no idea how to get there, even in very tiny steps. What is the task I should have done, that day, as a high school student, to progress towards my goal? The only thing anyone seemed able to offer me was "set goals". It seemed as if their entire strategy was to impress upon me the importance of goal setting, and then let the rest sort itself out in my undeveloped teenage brain somehow.
My point is that goals are only half the story. You need a plan to get there and, in that sense, the plan is even more important. Yes, you need to start by figuring out where you want to be, what you want to do, but how you're going to get there is essential.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - These days, my life goals are only reviewed once or twice a year.
PPS - According to GTD, they're supposed to help filter my day-to-day actions for relevance.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Identical beautiful people
When the actors and actresses on a TV show are too pretty, I feel like I'm never going to remember them. They're like mannequins, all identical. They slide out of my memory like water. This may be related to the fact, according to research, that the people rated most attractive on online dating websites don't tend to get as much attention as more "average-looking" people.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - After a while, I do get used to it.
PPS - Because the human mind has great capacity for adaptation.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - After a while, I do get used to it.
PPS - Because the human mind has great capacity for adaptation.
Monday, 1 April 2013
Satisfying progress
One of my personal problems (and I have many) is that I like feeling like I'm making progress, so sometimes I will do things that only feel like progress, rather than achieving something real with my time. And sometimes I will stop a task halfway through, because that feels like enough progress, and tomorrow I can do the rest, and get that same feeling again. Finishing a task does hold some satisfaction, but that very same satisfaction is right there in the middle, too, as long as I can see I'm getting closer to the goal.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - So if progress is measurable, I'll stop halfway.
PPS - And if progress is not measurable, I'll stop as soon as I realise that.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - So if progress is measurable, I'll stop halfway.
PPS - And if progress is not measurable, I'll stop as soon as I realise that.
Friday, 29 March 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Adrift
"What is this place?" Karen stared out over the edge of the cliff. They seemed to be above the clouds, whose grey mass rolled and boiled, just out of reach below them. Further out, there was more of the same. There was no horizon - the horizontal expanse of clouds just joined with the sky, curling upwards into a hazy canopy. The leaves in the trees behind them hung still and silent.
"This is the emptiness. The edge of the world, where everything ends," said Karl.
"Why are we here at all?" asked Kasey, working at a rock in the ground with his toe. The other two ignored him. He got the stone loose, picked it up and attempted to skip it across the clouds. To everyone's surprise, it actually did jump once, twice, then dropped out of sight.
Karl knew why they were here. He decided to try and explain.
"You know our world has been dying. Fires don't burn as bright, the sun is a faded red orb in the sky, the air feels thinner. Yes?"
Karen nodded. Kasey tried to work another stone loose.
"We're adrift," said Karl. "A world without anchor."
"Worlds don't have anchors," Kasey objected.
"It's a metaphor," said Karen, then indicated at Karl to go on. He thanked her with a silent nod.
"Our world is one of many. The wizards used to use strong magic travel between worlds nearby - other healthy, strong worlds - but we aren't one of those any more. The River of Worlds-" Kasy began another interruption, but Karen cut him off with a look. "The River holds us together while we're strong, but when the worlds get weak, they drift away. That's what's happening to us now."
There was silence for a while, and they all contemplated the clouds at the edge of their world. Kasey skipped another stone.
"What's at the end of the river?" asked Karen.
"Logjam," said Karl. "The fading, dying worlds all crammed together tight."
"Touching?"
"Edge to edge."
"So right here will be another world, and we can just walk there?"
Karl nodded. They all watched where the horizon should be, imagining it draw just a little bit closer. Kasey pitched another stone and they all watched it skip on the clouds once, twice, three times, four.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This basic idea is from A Heretic By Degrees by Marie Brennan.
PPS - I've linked to the PodCastle version, because that's where I heard the story first.
"This is the emptiness. The edge of the world, where everything ends," said Karl.
"Why are we here at all?" asked Kasey, working at a rock in the ground with his toe. The other two ignored him. He got the stone loose, picked it up and attempted to skip it across the clouds. To everyone's surprise, it actually did jump once, twice, then dropped out of sight.
Karl knew why they were here. He decided to try and explain.
"You know our world has been dying. Fires don't burn as bright, the sun is a faded red orb in the sky, the air feels thinner. Yes?"
Karen nodded. Kasey tried to work another stone loose.
"We're adrift," said Karl. "A world without anchor."
"Worlds don't have anchors," Kasey objected.
"It's a metaphor," said Karen, then indicated at Karl to go on. He thanked her with a silent nod.
"Our world is one of many. The wizards used to use strong magic travel between worlds nearby - other healthy, strong worlds - but we aren't one of those any more. The River of Worlds-" Kasy began another interruption, but Karen cut him off with a look. "The River holds us together while we're strong, but when the worlds get weak, they drift away. That's what's happening to us now."
There was silence for a while, and they all contemplated the clouds at the edge of their world. Kasey skipped another stone.
"What's at the end of the river?" asked Karen.
"Logjam," said Karl. "The fading, dying worlds all crammed together tight."
"Touching?"
"Edge to edge."
"So right here will be another world, and we can just walk there?"
Karl nodded. They all watched where the horizon should be, imagining it draw just a little bit closer. Kasey pitched another stone and they all watched it skip on the clouds once, twice, three times, four.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This basic idea is from A Heretic By Degrees by Marie Brennan.
PPS - I've linked to the PodCastle version, because that's where I heard the story first.
On Writing
A few things about my writing in general today. I've been practicing writing action in detail, because I tend to skip over it. I picked a movie scene with which I was very familiar (the opening of The Matrix) and wrote the detail and action as if it were my own story. I need to keep doing this.
Something else I've been practicing is writing without adverbs. Adverbs are one of those word classes that are frowned upon. You're allowed to use them, but it stands out a lot once you're made aware of them. I tend to overuse adverbs, and my writing suffers. Quite often, nothing is lost when an adverb is cut, but sometimes it takes more effort to replace it. So I'm working on that, too.
I've also been listening to a lot of I Should Be Writing, Mur Lafferty's podcast "for wannabe fiction writers". It's good advice, and I'm enjoying it, but it also makes me realise how much I've been holding back or being lazy. In some ways, my Friday Flash Fiction is me being kind of lazy in my writing. Rather than really polishing up a piece, getting feedback, seeing if I can get it published anywhere, I just slap it up on the blog on a Friday and hope someone notices. If I want to make a go of this and be a real author, I'm going to have to put in some hard work beyond what I've been doing. I'm also going to have to think about the impression I'm sending online. If I put up sloppy work, that will reflect a bad image of me and make it harder to go pro. From that point of view, I'm thinking about stopping Friday Flash Fiction. Maybe just for a little while, until I know what I want from it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I think this week's story reflects that a little bit.
PPS - And it contains no adverbs!
Something else I've been practicing is writing without adverbs. Adverbs are one of those word classes that are frowned upon. You're allowed to use them, but it stands out a lot once you're made aware of them. I tend to overuse adverbs, and my writing suffers. Quite often, nothing is lost when an adverb is cut, but sometimes it takes more effort to replace it. So I'm working on that, too.
I've also been listening to a lot of I Should Be Writing, Mur Lafferty's podcast "for wannabe fiction writers". It's good advice, and I'm enjoying it, but it also makes me realise how much I've been holding back or being lazy. In some ways, my Friday Flash Fiction is me being kind of lazy in my writing. Rather than really polishing up a piece, getting feedback, seeing if I can get it published anywhere, I just slap it up on the blog on a Friday and hope someone notices. If I want to make a go of this and be a real author, I'm going to have to put in some hard work beyond what I've been doing. I'm also going to have to think about the impression I'm sending online. If I put up sloppy work, that will reflect a bad image of me and make it harder to go pro. From that point of view, I'm thinking about stopping Friday Flash Fiction. Maybe just for a little while, until I know what I want from it.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I think this week's story reflects that a little bit.
PPS - And it contains no adverbs!
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Stopping sneezes
I've learned that I can control sneezes in a couple of ways, if you feel them coming. The first and best way is to start breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose. Whatever irritant is in the nose is expelled that way, rather than going deeper in. I feel the urge to sneeze decrease over time when I do this, and it takes just a couple of breaths.
A more difficult way is if the sneeze is already coming and can't be stopped, I can clamp down on it in my throat and silence it, but I can't stop the head forward, eyes closed reflex. It takes practice, and it doesn't always work. Either way (breath control or holding it in) I feel like I need to blow my nose afterwards.
You may or may not want to learn this, depending on your circumstances. If you have regular need for stealth (eg, you are a ninja) then it might come in handy. On the other hand, I've heard that it is an acceptable excuse for some kinds of traffic violations, because it is supposed to be involuntary and uncontrollable. Learning to control your sneeze reflex might take that excuse away from you.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - In The Matrix, how come Cypher had to sneeze? It's not like it was real dust he breathed.
PPS - That's called the Sneeze of Doom.
A more difficult way is if the sneeze is already coming and can't be stopped, I can clamp down on it in my throat and silence it, but I can't stop the head forward, eyes closed reflex. It takes practice, and it doesn't always work. Either way (breath control or holding it in) I feel like I need to blow my nose afterwards.
You may or may not want to learn this, depending on your circumstances. If you have regular need for stealth (eg, you are a ninja) then it might come in handy. On the other hand, I've heard that it is an acceptable excuse for some kinds of traffic violations, because it is supposed to be involuntary and uncontrollable. Learning to control your sneeze reflex might take that excuse away from you.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - In The Matrix, how come Cypher had to sneeze? It's not like it was real dust he breathed.
PPS - That's called the Sneeze of Doom.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Newspeak polarised language
I have always thought of the concept of NewSpeak in George Orwell's 1984 as a bankrupt linguistic concept, because it sought to make undesirable political opinions into ungrammatical sentences. The example given in the book is that "BB is ungood" would just make no sense to a native NewSpeaker. I have only just realised that this could be achieved, but the language itself would be much more complex and difficult as a result.
To make undesirable opinions into ungrammatical sentences, you need more word classifications than simple nouns, verbs and adjectives. They need to be polarised into positive and negative pools, so that only positive nouns and positive adjectives can go together. The things you're supposed to love can only be described with positive words, and the things you're supposed to hate can only be described with negative words. Verbs would get more complicated, because you want to be able to express that positive nouns can take negative actions against negative nouns, but not positive ones. The subject and object polarisation both matter when using a verb, but you still only need two types of verbs.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I still think people would break free of these artificial rules, though.
PPS - It's what we do with language anyway.
To make undesirable opinions into ungrammatical sentences, you need more word classifications than simple nouns, verbs and adjectives. They need to be polarised into positive and negative pools, so that only positive nouns and positive adjectives can go together. The things you're supposed to love can only be described with positive words, and the things you're supposed to hate can only be described with negative words. Verbs would get more complicated, because you want to be able to express that positive nouns can take negative actions against negative nouns, but not positive ones. The subject and object polarisation both matter when using a verb, but you still only need two types of verbs.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I still think people would break free of these artificial rules, though.
PPS - It's what we do with language anyway.
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
Watch Later Elsewhere
YouTube's "Watch Later" feature would be a lot more useful to me if it could include videos that are not hosted on YouTube at all. But that's not going to happen, because (1) it's hard to do and (2) it would mean I'm not watching everything on YouTube. Right now, I'd settle for being able to add any embedded video to my Watch Later list without having to start playing it first.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It would also, in all likelihood, violate the terms of service of other video sites, too.
PPS - That's assuming you could get it to work at all.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It would also, in all likelihood, violate the terms of service of other video sites, too.
PPS - That's assuming you could get it to work at all.
Monday, 25 March 2013
A six-pack of computers
All my sci-fi and futurism books that I had when I was young suggested that one day we might go to the shops and pick up "a six-pack of computers" along with the milk. That never made any sense to me - computers are big, bulky things, and they are all unique in some way - so I was a bit sceptical about the claim. How can you replace a computer when the loss of one in our house would have meant a lot of data going missing and a lot of pain and hassle reinstalling and reconfiguring the programs you use? I figured I could use at most one computer at a time in my life.
Many (many) years later, I noticed something about our computers. They're small, portable, all-in-one units now, like the iPad and the Google Nexus 7 and 10. Our files are often stored on remote servers and our software comes from online app stores, linked to an account we can use anywhere. You can replace your computer now with a login and a refresh from backup. The shopping list of a carton of milk and six computers is looking much more feasible these days. Is that what those futurists of my childhood had in mind? Maybe not exactly, but I'm sure it's pretty close.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Of course, right now, a six-pack of computers would set you back at least $1500.
PPS - And that's for the little Nexus 7 tablets from Google.
Many (many) years later, I noticed something about our computers. They're small, portable, all-in-one units now, like the iPad and the Google Nexus 7 and 10. Our files are often stored on remote servers and our software comes from online app stores, linked to an account we can use anywhere. You can replace your computer now with a login and a refresh from backup. The shopping list of a carton of milk and six computers is looking much more feasible these days. Is that what those futurists of my childhood had in mind? Maybe not exactly, but I'm sure it's pretty close.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Of course, right now, a six-pack of computers would set you back at least $1500.
PPS - And that's for the little Nexus 7 tablets from Google.
Friday, 22 March 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Fix
"You gotta let me in, man," said Dave, scratching at his forearm. "Just for a little while."
The librarian scowled at the man with contempt. "Forget it, Dave. We took your library card back for a reason."
"Then just gimme something to read out here! Come on, Mike, a novella? a chapbook? A little pamphlet just to take the edge off? Come on."
"Look at yourself, Dave! When was the last time you took a shower?" Mike could hardly stand the sight of his old friend like this, scrawny and jonesing for a read. And I always thought book addiction was a metaphor or a joke he thought to himself. Looking again at his emaciated friend, he couldn't take it any more.
"Dave, if you promise to get help, I can let you in for an hour. You take it easy here. One book. One! You stay near the desk where I can keep an eye on you, and then this afternoon we'll both go and get you some real help, okay?"
Dave nodded with great enthusiasm, and his old friend led him inside at last, wondering exactly who helps someone addicted to reading.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - "When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes." said Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.
PPS - I don't think he said it in English, though. Just a hunch.
The librarian scowled at the man with contempt. "Forget it, Dave. We took your library card back for a reason."
"Then just gimme something to read out here! Come on, Mike, a novella? a chapbook? A little pamphlet just to take the edge off? Come on."
"Look at yourself, Dave! When was the last time you took a shower?" Mike could hardly stand the sight of his old friend like this, scrawny and jonesing for a read. And I always thought book addiction was a metaphor or a joke he thought to himself. Looking again at his emaciated friend, he couldn't take it any more.
"Dave, if you promise to get help, I can let you in for an hour. You take it easy here. One book. One! You stay near the desk where I can keep an eye on you, and then this afternoon we'll both go and get you some real help, okay?"
Dave nodded with great enthusiasm, and his old friend led him inside at last, wondering exactly who helps someone addicted to reading.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - "When I have a little money, I buy books; and if I have any left, I buy food and clothes." said Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus.
PPS - I don't think he said it in English, though. Just a hunch.
The Pomodoro Technique
I saw "The Pomodoro Technique" listed along with some personal organisation methods as one that people like me (programmers) find helpful, so I checked it out. I figured it might be simpler and more applicable to my workflow than the complexity of full-on Getting Things Done. When I checked it out, however, it turned out to be more of a focus and estimation technique than a personal organisation methodology.
The idea, in case you're interested, is to estimate how long you will take to complete a task in terms of 25-minute "pomodoro timer" intervals, and to allow no interruptions or distractions during that time. As you go on using that technique, you'll get better at estimating how long tasks take. That's it. No help on prioritising which tasks to do first, nor on keeping track of what comes next. I imagine it is very useful for learning estimation and focus, but not for personal organisation.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I could stand to get better at focus and estimation.
PPS - I imagine most people could.
The idea, in case you're interested, is to estimate how long you will take to complete a task in terms of 25-minute "pomodoro timer" intervals, and to allow no interruptions or distractions during that time. As you go on using that technique, you'll get better at estimating how long tasks take. That's it. No help on prioritising which tasks to do first, nor on keeping track of what comes next. I imagine it is very useful for learning estimation and focus, but not for personal organisation.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I could stand to get better at focus and estimation.
PPS - I imagine most people could.
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Mobile operating systems need firewalls
We're getting to that point now where phone operating systems need to be written with firewalls built in. There will be apps we don't trust to read our contact details, but we want for other purposes. There will be some games that want to spy on us as their business model, and it is our right not to be spied on if we do not wish it. Instead of accepting or rejecting the whole collection of an app's permissions based solely on what the developer asked for, we need granular control to say yes, you may modify my USB storage contents, but no, you may not access the internet at all.
This will change a lot of things. For one, it will no longer be possible for app developers to just slap a banner ad control on their free app, request full internet access and rake in the fractions of cents for click-through commissions. We may have to pay for apps or the app stores will have to offer other incentives to developers just to encourage app development.
The banner ad controls are the main reason this seems like a problem at all to me. Every time I install a free app, it seems to request full internet access, just to show ads. I think the Android SDK should include an ad banner control built in, with its own specific permission, different to the "full internet access" permission. That way, if an app developer is after ad revenue, they can use the built-in ad control and their users can rest assured that requesting permissions for internet access is only done for ads in this case.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It would also make Google the primary ad provider on the platform.
PPS - And I'm sure that's something they'd like very much, assuming it's not already true somehow.
This will change a lot of things. For one, it will no longer be possible for app developers to just slap a banner ad control on their free app, request full internet access and rake in the fractions of cents for click-through commissions. We may have to pay for apps or the app stores will have to offer other incentives to developers just to encourage app development.
The banner ad controls are the main reason this seems like a problem at all to me. Every time I install a free app, it seems to request full internet access, just to show ads. I think the Android SDK should include an ad banner control built in, with its own specific permission, different to the "full internet access" permission. That way, if an app developer is after ad revenue, they can use the built-in ad control and their users can rest assured that requesting permissions for internet access is only done for ads in this case.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It would also make Google the primary ad provider on the platform.
PPS - And I'm sure that's something they'd like very much, assuming it's not already true somehow.
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
A happy life
You know what? I have a really happy life. I'm doing what I love for a job, but I also get to write fiction and share it with the world (when people actually read it). I get to perform on stage now and then, whether singing or acting, I have a lot of good friends and there's lots (like way too much) of good TV, movies and books that I can enjoy at any time. I even have fun keeping organised and completing projects (though some of them have been uncompleted for too long). I'm married to a wonderful woman who loves me, I have a nice house (with a bit too much stuff in it) and a car that runs well. It's a really good life, and I'm pretty happy with it.
I have to remember to practice recognising the good things in my life when I feel down for no reason. That happens sometimes.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It's happening right now, actually.
PPS - Well, maybe not right now, depending on when you're reading this, but it was.
I have to remember to practice recognising the good things in my life when I feel down for no reason. That happens sometimes.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It's happening right now, actually.
PPS - Well, maybe not right now, depending on when you're reading this, but it was.
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Firefox might be faster than Chrome
A while ago, I got fed up with Firefox being so slow, and I switched to Chrome. It had a lot of advantages at the time, including a much cleaner interface. It also let me sync open tabs between home, work and my phone, sort of, which was a big plus. Firefox slipped to the back of my mind.
This past November, however, while I was participating in my second NaNoWriMo, I was using my little Samsung netbook on the train to and from work every day. Occasionally I would get a WiFi-enabled carriage. Signing on requires a click-through EULA, and Firefox was still set as the default browser, so that's where the page opened. I was stunned at how quickly Firefox opened up on this tiny, underpowered machine. Was I too quick to dismiss Firefox from my life? Maybe I should give it another try.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It does have synchronisation now, too.
PPS - I might try it again for a week and see how it feels.
This past November, however, while I was participating in my second NaNoWriMo, I was using my little Samsung netbook on the train to and from work every day. Occasionally I would get a WiFi-enabled carriage. Signing on requires a click-through EULA, and Firefox was still set as the default browser, so that's where the page opened. I was stunned at how quickly Firefox opened up on this tiny, underpowered machine. Was I too quick to dismiss Firefox from my life? Maybe I should give it another try.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It does have synchronisation now, too.
PPS - I might try it again for a week and see how it feels.
Monday, 18 March 2013
Google Reader being shut down
I've learned recently that Google Reader is shutting down. This is a problem for me, and for an unknown number of other people too, because I mostly experience the web through Reader. The only tabs I usually have open in my browser are Reader, GMail and Facebook, and that's only because Facebook doesn't have a news feed I can subscribe to, as far as I know. Google says there aren't enough users to make Reader worth keeping, though exactly how many is "not enough", they're not saying.
My main problem with server-side programming is illustrated nicely by this whole fiasco. We may love a website or service, and we may even come to rely on it. It may become part of the world's ecosystem for its specific features (Google Reader was used as a sync point for a lot of desktop news readers) but in the end, it costs someone money to run it, and that money has to come from somewhere. As soon as the owner of the service decides that the service isn't worth keeping around, they'll cut it off and that's the end of the story. You can plead with them, sign petitions, complain in public, but at the end of the day its their server and their decision. It's out of your control.
Computers and the internet are meant to empower people, but lately it seems they mostly empower the people who already have power.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I'm looking into NetVibes and The Old Reader as alternatives.
PPS - The Old Reader is waiting to import my feeds, but the number of people "in queue" ahead of me keeps going up.
My main problem with server-side programming is illustrated nicely by this whole fiasco. We may love a website or service, and we may even come to rely on it. It may become part of the world's ecosystem for its specific features (Google Reader was used as a sync point for a lot of desktop news readers) but in the end, it costs someone money to run it, and that money has to come from somewhere. As soon as the owner of the service decides that the service isn't worth keeping around, they'll cut it off and that's the end of the story. You can plead with them, sign petitions, complain in public, but at the end of the day its their server and their decision. It's out of your control.
Computers and the internet are meant to empower people, but lately it seems they mostly empower the people who already have power.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I'm looking into NetVibes and The Old Reader as alternatives.
PPS - The Old Reader is waiting to import my feeds, but the number of people "in queue" ahead of me keeps going up.
Friday, 15 March 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Making Cuts
With wheir eyes locked over the board room table, Harkin the CEO and Damon the efficency expert faced off, swords drawn.
"This isn't what I called you for," accused the CEO, his voice flat and tense.
"It is," countered the expert. "You just didn't know it would end here."
The CEO circled left, light on his feet, maintaining his stance. "I didn't get here by being weak or slow."
Damon followed around the table, breathing deep and measured. "You didn't stay here by being necessary." For good measure, he made a short jab-feint towards his opponent, more a test than an attack.
Harkin jumped back a step at the feint, then stepped carefully forwards again, still circling. "The company's profits are up 13% this quarter thanks to me! The only reason you're here is to cut costs and make me look even better!"
"That is two reasons. Do you realise that your salary alone is a third of the company's expenses?"
"I earn that salary!"
"How? You haven't introduced a single initiative to the board of directors in a year." Damon gave the table a powerful kick, shifting it a centimetre or two. The CEO went onto his back foot, and Damon had his advantage. He leapt to the middle of the table, two feet at once, and Harkin made the predictable move of slicing low. The expert's feet were already gone, though, as he somersaulted over Harkin's head, landing behind him. He thrust his sword backwards before Harkin could recover from his wild slash and felt it slow as it pierced the other man's body. The CEO fell down, dead. It was a quick death, and would likely make the business section tomorrow.
The company would do fine, thought Damon to himself. The board of directors had been running the place for over a year, without any real help from this buffoon. Without his salary holding them down, they should do even better. He closed the dead man's eyes, lifted him onto the table and arranged his arms to hold his sword like a warrior's tomb. Dignity in death was important for the expert's consultancy.
He sheathed his own sword and collected his fee from the late CEO's assistant, advising her that she should probably seek new employment. She glared at him, hand on the hilt of her dagger, but she did not attack. Harkin didn't mind her anger. He was not in business to make friends, just to make quite literal cuts for efficiency.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I wondered once how corporate politics would feel if it involved literal weapons.
PPS - Probably not a lot like this, but I thought it was fun.
"This isn't what I called you for," accused the CEO, his voice flat and tense.
"It is," countered the expert. "You just didn't know it would end here."
The CEO circled left, light on his feet, maintaining his stance. "I didn't get here by being weak or slow."
Damon followed around the table, breathing deep and measured. "You didn't stay here by being necessary." For good measure, he made a short jab-feint towards his opponent, more a test than an attack.
Harkin jumped back a step at the feint, then stepped carefully forwards again, still circling. "The company's profits are up 13% this quarter thanks to me! The only reason you're here is to cut costs and make me look even better!"
"That is two reasons. Do you realise that your salary alone is a third of the company's expenses?"
"I earn that salary!"
"How? You haven't introduced a single initiative to the board of directors in a year." Damon gave the table a powerful kick, shifting it a centimetre or two. The CEO went onto his back foot, and Damon had his advantage. He leapt to the middle of the table, two feet at once, and Harkin made the predictable move of slicing low. The expert's feet were already gone, though, as he somersaulted over Harkin's head, landing behind him. He thrust his sword backwards before Harkin could recover from his wild slash and felt it slow as it pierced the other man's body. The CEO fell down, dead. It was a quick death, and would likely make the business section tomorrow.
The company would do fine, thought Damon to himself. The board of directors had been running the place for over a year, without any real help from this buffoon. Without his salary holding them down, they should do even better. He closed the dead man's eyes, lifted him onto the table and arranged his arms to hold his sword like a warrior's tomb. Dignity in death was important for the expert's consultancy.
He sheathed his own sword and collected his fee from the late CEO's assistant, advising her that she should probably seek new employment. She glared at him, hand on the hilt of her dagger, but she did not attack. Harkin didn't mind her anger. He was not in business to make friends, just to make quite literal cuts for efficiency.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I wondered once how corporate politics would feel if it involved literal weapons.
PPS - Probably not a lot like this, but I thought it was fun.
Thursday, 14 March 2013
Most people are not like you
Most people think most people are just like them. This causes plenty of problems, all unique to the traits you think everyone else possesses. Next time you find yourself wondering why on earth someone would do something that baffles you, try to think of the ways they might be different to you, because they probably are.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - For instance, I tend to think most people think very logically and literally.
PPS - And I make that mistake a lot, even when I try not to.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - For instance, I tend to think most people think very logically and literally.
PPS - And I make that mistake a lot, even when I try not to.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
What makes art
In her story called Some Zombie Contingency Plans, Kelly Link makes a point that sometimes people say "this isn't art" when they are looking at something that could obviously serve no other purpose than to be art. I think what people usually mean by "this isn't art" is "this isn't good art" and, quite often, that it was a waste to produce. A waste of the raw materials that went into it, a waste of the alleged artist's time to produce it, a waste of space now that it's done, and a waste of the audience's time to be subjected to it now. And if something is waste, we have different words for that. Junk. Garbage. Rubbish. Landfill. Waste.
It sounds quite harsh to put it that way. If you have attempted to produce art, and have failed, then you have produced garbage. But if it isn't good at being art, then that's just what it is.
So what does it mean to be "good at being art"? That probably depends on whether you ask a postmodernist or not. If you ask the average person, they will tell you that a piece of art is good if it causes the audience to appreciate beauty, to contemplate some notion, or to feel happiness, awe, sadness, or some other "noble" emotion. If you ask an artist, they will probably tell you that their art is good if it conveys what they intended - it makes the audience feel what the artist wants. If you ask a postmodernist, all you will get is the argument that art is art if it makes you feel anything, regardless of what the artist intended, or even if there was no artistic intent. Art is art if it makes you feel a feeling.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Even if that feeling is unpleasant.
PPS - As long as that is the artist's intention.
It sounds quite harsh to put it that way. If you have attempted to produce art, and have failed, then you have produced garbage. But if it isn't good at being art, then that's just what it is.
So what does it mean to be "good at being art"? That probably depends on whether you ask a postmodernist or not. If you ask the average person, they will tell you that a piece of art is good if it causes the audience to appreciate beauty, to contemplate some notion, or to feel happiness, awe, sadness, or some other "noble" emotion. If you ask an artist, they will probably tell you that their art is good if it conveys what they intended - it makes the audience feel what the artist wants. If you ask a postmodernist, all you will get is the argument that art is art if it makes you feel anything, regardless of what the artist intended, or even if there was no artistic intent. Art is art if it makes you feel a feeling.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Even if that feeling is unpleasant.
PPS - As long as that is the artist's intention.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Harsh Truths
From Cracked.com: 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person.
This is not a nice article. It is harsh and cold and really quite unfriendly. It won't hold your hand and tell you that you're a special unique snowflake that the world doesn't know how to appreciate. It is, however, capable of making you a better person in some very specific ways. It's not what everyone needs to hear. Some people - I'm thinking particularly of the chronically depressed who have actual brain chemistry problems - will not be able to act on its advice without medical help. If, however, you are one of those people who is simply waiting for the world to throw you a parade for being a really nice person, you might want to read it.
It is a deeply pragmatic article, talking about what the world values in you. Hint: it isn't (usually) your positivity or the list of vices you don't have. If your main contribution to the world is the bad things you don't do, then you are on par with a store mannequin. You do nothing, it does nothing. You're both letting the world become worse on its own, and anything you can provide by avoiding doing bad, so can the mannequin.
That quote from the Dalai Lama that says "If you can't do anything good, at least don't do anything evil" is terrible, from this point of view. If you literally can do nothing at all good where you are with what you have, then you also lack imagination. There's a 90-year-old woman at our church who is capable of doing almost nothing but decorating coat hangers to sell and raise money for the church. She does that.
The central lesson of the article is this: the world values what you do, not who you are.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Unless you're riding the momentum of celebrity.
PPS - That is, remaining famous because you're already famous.
This is not a nice article. It is harsh and cold and really quite unfriendly. It won't hold your hand and tell you that you're a special unique snowflake that the world doesn't know how to appreciate. It is, however, capable of making you a better person in some very specific ways. It's not what everyone needs to hear. Some people - I'm thinking particularly of the chronically depressed who have actual brain chemistry problems - will not be able to act on its advice without medical help. If, however, you are one of those people who is simply waiting for the world to throw you a parade for being a really nice person, you might want to read it.
It is a deeply pragmatic article, talking about what the world values in you. Hint: it isn't (usually) your positivity or the list of vices you don't have. If your main contribution to the world is the bad things you don't do, then you are on par with a store mannequin. You do nothing, it does nothing. You're both letting the world become worse on its own, and anything you can provide by avoiding doing bad, so can the mannequin.
That quote from the Dalai Lama that says "If you can't do anything good, at least don't do anything evil" is terrible, from this point of view. If you literally can do nothing at all good where you are with what you have, then you also lack imagination. There's a 90-year-old woman at our church who is capable of doing almost nothing but decorating coat hangers to sell and raise money for the church. She does that.
The central lesson of the article is this: the world values what you do, not who you are.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Unless you're riding the momentum of celebrity.
PPS - That is, remaining famous because you're already famous.
Monday, 11 March 2013
Pro vs Anti
I've seen the pro-life side of the abortion debate starting to be referred to as "anti-choice", presumably by the "pro-choice" side. Without picking a side here, just realise that this will mean pro-lifers will get to call the other side "anti-life", which is the worst possible label of all four.
The reason the "pro" labels were adopted is that they summarise each side's positive arguments in a non-offensive way. When you go back to negatives such as "anti-choice", you try to silence the "undesirable" opinions in order to bolster your side against the menace of The Other Guys. It's not the way forward, and it won't settle things at all.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It doesn't seem too common just yet.
PPS - I hope it stays that way.
The reason the "pro" labels were adopted is that they summarise each side's positive arguments in a non-offensive way. When you go back to negatives such as "anti-choice", you try to silence the "undesirable" opinions in order to bolster your side against the menace of The Other Guys. It's not the way forward, and it won't settle things at all.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - It doesn't seem too common just yet.
PPS - I hope it stays that way.
Friday, 8 March 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - Older
The old man did not wish to be recognised. No matter his precautions, there was still a chance of that though. On his way to the train station he stopped to buy a magazine. Something about cars should be a sufficient disguise.
The train arrived one minute late, just as he remembered from the first time he was here so many years ago. He found the seat he needed, near the centre of the carriage, beside the young familiar face. The young man was reading, near the end of a long novel. He would not look up. The appearance of an old man was nothing remarkable, and the magazine would throw off any hint of recognition.
Between two stations, the old man folded his magazine and braced himself against the seat carefully. That was when the train lurched, jumped off the tracks and toppled over, sliding sideways along the tracks in a cacophony of distressed metal and screaming people.
When the train came to a rest, the old man was unconscious. The young man was injured, and felt like just sitting still, but saw the old man lying across the seats, helpless. Through the smoke and the hot metal, the young man managed to hoist the old man up and carry him the short distance away from the tracks, to relative safety. Just as they cleared the carriage, it started burning and filling up with choking smoke. Another few seconds inside and they would have both been dead.
The old man woke, coughing and spluttering, he grabbed the young man by the arm with surprising strength, and spoke: "When the time comes, remember why you did this." Then he passed out again. He never woke up.
The young man sat staring at the old man for a while, trying to place his face. Was he someone he'd seen on the train before? Maybe he was a distant uncle he'd met at some family gathering.
Then it all started coming together. That nose. The mole to the left of his chin. The scar on his right arm where he - they both - had fallen when nine years old. He shook his head, as if trying to dislodge the impossible idea, but there was no denying it. The old man had saved his life because they were the same person. And when the time came, somehow, he would have to return the favour to himself somehow.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I dug this almost fully formed from my writing ideas file.
PPS - I haven't spent as much time on it as I would have liked, though.
The train arrived one minute late, just as he remembered from the first time he was here so many years ago. He found the seat he needed, near the centre of the carriage, beside the young familiar face. The young man was reading, near the end of a long novel. He would not look up. The appearance of an old man was nothing remarkable, and the magazine would throw off any hint of recognition.
Between two stations, the old man folded his magazine and braced himself against the seat carefully. That was when the train lurched, jumped off the tracks and toppled over, sliding sideways along the tracks in a cacophony of distressed metal and screaming people.
When the train came to a rest, the old man was unconscious. The young man was injured, and felt like just sitting still, but saw the old man lying across the seats, helpless. Through the smoke and the hot metal, the young man managed to hoist the old man up and carry him the short distance away from the tracks, to relative safety. Just as they cleared the carriage, it started burning and filling up with choking smoke. Another few seconds inside and they would have both been dead.
The old man woke, coughing and spluttering, he grabbed the young man by the arm with surprising strength, and spoke: "When the time comes, remember why you did this." Then he passed out again. He never woke up.
The young man sat staring at the old man for a while, trying to place his face. Was he someone he'd seen on the train before? Maybe he was a distant uncle he'd met at some family gathering.
Then it all started coming together. That nose. The mole to the left of his chin. The scar on his right arm where he - they both - had fallen when nine years old. He shook his head, as if trying to dislodge the impossible idea, but there was no denying it. The old man had saved his life because they were the same person. And when the time came, somehow, he would have to return the favour to himself somehow.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - I dug this almost fully formed from my writing ideas file.
PPS - I haven't spent as much time on it as I would have liked, though.
Thursday, 7 March 2013
Clarity in communication
Clarity in communication is vital. All my personal and professional experiences hammered home this point for my whole life. You must make sure that you are speaking from common ground when you communicate. Set the rules of vocabulary so that you both agree what you mean when you use those words.
Now my current understanding is this: clarity is 100% your job, and changing someone's mind about their own vocabulary is just about impossible. If someone is calling a kangaroo a tomato for some reason, it won't do you any good to point out that the real name is "kangaroo". You just have to go with it, and mentally file away a mental vocabulary mapping of "tomato = kangaroo" and remember to use it whenever that person is around. You don't always build common ground through discussing the vocabulary, but you can build common ground by swallowing someone else's vocabulary whole, and using that instead of what makes sense to you.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Otherwise, you become that pedantic "actually..." interjector.
PPS - As I so often am, but I'm trying not to be.
Now my current understanding is this: clarity is 100% your job, and changing someone's mind about their own vocabulary is just about impossible. If someone is calling a kangaroo a tomato for some reason, it won't do you any good to point out that the real name is "kangaroo". You just have to go with it, and mentally file away a mental vocabulary mapping of "tomato = kangaroo" and remember to use it whenever that person is around. You don't always build common ground through discussing the vocabulary, but you can build common ground by swallowing someone else's vocabulary whole, and using that instead of what makes sense to you.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - Otherwise, you become that pedantic "actually..." interjector.
PPS - As I so often am, but I'm trying not to be.
Wednesday, 6 March 2013
Mobile package delivery
What's the mobile phone equivalent for physical package delivery? What I mean is that we have a phone in our pocket that goes everywhere with us. When we get a phone call, it doesn't matter if we are at home, at work, in between or somewhere else entirely, our calls and messages find us and come straight to us. How could you do that with physical packages, turning the postal service into mobile delivery?
Well, perhaps the phone is the perfect place to start. If you're expecting a package, you could opt to transmit your current location, via mobile app, to the post office or courier service. Then, no matter where you go, they would be able to find you and get your package to you. This also eliminates the need for keeping postal addresses up to date with companies. When they want to send you something, it can just come straight to you, even if you move house permanently. You don't need to arrange for anyone to pick up your mail while you're on holiday, either, although getting bills at that time might ruin the relaxation.
It might be tricky and creepy in crowds, and in some places you might need them to wait outside for you - if you're at the movies, for instance, you don't need your mail carrier to buy a ticket and follow you inside.
It also raises some privacy concerns, since a system like that would (not just could, would) either be hacked or abused by post office employees. It would make the hard part of a process server's job much easier, but would probably make subpoena avoidance a simple matter of turning off your phone.
Lastly, for very bulky items, you're probably going to want them to go to your home anyway. You don't want to get something huge delivered to work and then have to carry it home on public transport, if that is your custom.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - You could probably make it work as a high-end option for couriers.
PPS - As long as it's reliable.
Well, perhaps the phone is the perfect place to start. If you're expecting a package, you could opt to transmit your current location, via mobile app, to the post office or courier service. Then, no matter where you go, they would be able to find you and get your package to you. This also eliminates the need for keeping postal addresses up to date with companies. When they want to send you something, it can just come straight to you, even if you move house permanently. You don't need to arrange for anyone to pick up your mail while you're on holiday, either, although getting bills at that time might ruin the relaxation.
It might be tricky and creepy in crowds, and in some places you might need them to wait outside for you - if you're at the movies, for instance, you don't need your mail carrier to buy a ticket and follow you inside.
It also raises some privacy concerns, since a system like that would (not just could, would) either be hacked or abused by post office employees. It would make the hard part of a process server's job much easier, but would probably make subpoena avoidance a simple matter of turning off your phone.
Lastly, for very bulky items, you're probably going to want them to go to your home anyway. You don't want to get something huge delivered to work and then have to carry it home on public transport, if that is your custom.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - You could probably make it work as a high-end option for couriers.
PPS - As long as it's reliable.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Reading my own writing
This week I'm in Perth on business. And next week, too, which is a bit sucky. Anyway, normally I don't do this - write a straight-up journal post about what I'm doing - because that's not what this blog has become, but I think maybe there should be more of that, particularly as I try to do more fiction writing and get better at that.
What I wanted to mention right now is that on the flight from Brisbane I read over my entire backlog of little writing snippets and ideas. It took about two thirds of the flight, but it was still slightly depressing how brief it was. In my mind, it is a mountain of unfinished work, waiting for inspiration. In the file, it's a few hundred paragraphs of random inspiration written down when it struck me. I did this because I read online that this was a good practice, and re-reading all your little snippets in one hit can cause you to see and make links between them that you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. And it did, so that's good. I even found an almost fully-formed story that I had forgotten. I'll be doing it again, maybe in a couple of months, to keep it all fresh in my head. The trick will be finding a few hours to do it all together, the way it should be.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - That story from the archive will probably be this week's Friday Flash Fiction.
PPS - If I can polish it up in time.
What I wanted to mention right now is that on the flight from Brisbane I read over my entire backlog of little writing snippets and ideas. It took about two thirds of the flight, but it was still slightly depressing how brief it was. In my mind, it is a mountain of unfinished work, waiting for inspiration. In the file, it's a few hundred paragraphs of random inspiration written down when it struck me. I did this because I read online that this was a good practice, and re-reading all your little snippets in one hit can cause you to see and make links between them that you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. And it did, so that's good. I even found an almost fully-formed story that I had forgotten. I'll be doing it again, maybe in a couple of months, to keep it all fresh in my head. The trick will be finding a few hours to do it all together, the way it should be.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - That story from the archive will probably be this week's Friday Flash Fiction.
PPS - If I can polish it up in time.
Monday, 4 March 2013
The hoon solution
Possibly one of the best things we could do to combat "hoons" on the roads is to create cars that just make it feel like you're going much, much faster than you really are. That way, you can get your 200kph speed kicks at 50kph instead.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - But then again, I gather that is kind of the opposite of the point.
PPS - In that it doesn't matter what you feel, as long as other people know you're cool, because fast cars.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - But then again, I gather that is kind of the opposite of the point.
PPS - In that it doesn't matter what you feel, as long as other people know you're cool, because fast cars.
Friday, 1 March 2013
Friday Flash Fiction - The Real Martin
Martin was not an upstanding member of any level of society. He drank too much, had frequent violent outbursts and smoked unusual substances like he was going for some kind of record. He had a famous musician for a father and a semi-famous mother who had very little to offer society.
In other words, Martin was perfect reality TV fodder.
The station hounded him non-stop about it, saying, among other things, that it would help get the papparazzi off his back. Never mind that the station sent most of the photographers in the first place to make their point.
When Martin finally agreed (somewhere in the middle of a drunken tirade about there being no good clubs in the city) the lawyers pushed a pen and contract into his hands and the deed was done. They set him up with jobs at big, respectable firms, and he would be fired very quickly afterwards, sometimes on the same day. He would throw reams of paper at people in the copy room, spike the water cooler with vodka, proposition the secretaries and took clients to lunch at disreputable establishments.
And the whole world loved it. It was the easiest reality show the network had ever produced - they didn't have to fake, set up or prompt anything. In that sense, Martin was the easiest reality star they had ever worked with.
If not for The Incident, life would have continued to be roses for both Martin and the network for a long time.
In the middle of season 3, Martin was working at an industrial bakery and had just been fired for getting his cigarette ash in the dough. He was sitting in the gutter outside, cig still in one hand, 9am beer in the other, when an ex-girlfriend wandered up. The crew fired up the second camera to get good footage of the inevitable fight, but they weren't prepared for what happened next.
As she recognised him, the girl sat down beside Martin and just started asking, softly, "what's wrong?" over and over until he spilled his guts.
"It's just ... I try so [bleep] hard, you know? I have a good time at work, try to make friends - I'm really trying, right? And then they fire me and it's like, what was I doing wrong? What do people want from me?"
"They want you, Martin. They want to get to know you, without the drugs and booze. You remember why we broke up?"
Martin sniffed and wiped his nose with hsi beer hand. "Love, I hardly remember your name. Oh, [bleep], I'm so sorry. Who are you?"
She smiled. "I'm Angela. I tend bar at The Twisted Weasel?" Martin nodded, eyes somewhat glazed. "It's okay. The point is, even with your fun-loving personality and your camera crew, people can't see you. I couldn't see you when we were together."
"What do you mean?"
"All I mean is that people don't need the party animal. They just need you."
Martin set his beer down and dropped his still-burning cigarette butt into it, though neither was even half finished yet. He gave Angela a hug, which was almost unheard-of for Martin, and she excused herself, wishing him well, then glaring daggers at the cameras as she left.
From then on, Martin just wasn't as much fun for the cameras. He cut way back on his drinking and smoking, and he held down jobs for weeks at a time. Despite the crew's prodding and tempting, he just wasn't interested in wild parties any more. The crew scrambled to find more interesting footage than Martin calmly making fifty copies of a report and turning them in on time. The whole show crumbled, but Martin seemed a lot better. It just turned out that happy Martin was bad TV, so the show had to be cancelled. And that, finally, was what made Martin truly happy.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This is much later than I usually post for Friday, so I'm sorry.
PPS - But it is still Friday.
In other words, Martin was perfect reality TV fodder.
The station hounded him non-stop about it, saying, among other things, that it would help get the papparazzi off his back. Never mind that the station sent most of the photographers in the first place to make their point.
When Martin finally agreed (somewhere in the middle of a drunken tirade about there being no good clubs in the city) the lawyers pushed a pen and contract into his hands and the deed was done. They set him up with jobs at big, respectable firms, and he would be fired very quickly afterwards, sometimes on the same day. He would throw reams of paper at people in the copy room, spike the water cooler with vodka, proposition the secretaries and took clients to lunch at disreputable establishments.
And the whole world loved it. It was the easiest reality show the network had ever produced - they didn't have to fake, set up or prompt anything. In that sense, Martin was the easiest reality star they had ever worked with.
If not for The Incident, life would have continued to be roses for both Martin and the network for a long time.
In the middle of season 3, Martin was working at an industrial bakery and had just been fired for getting his cigarette ash in the dough. He was sitting in the gutter outside, cig still in one hand, 9am beer in the other, when an ex-girlfriend wandered up. The crew fired up the second camera to get good footage of the inevitable fight, but they weren't prepared for what happened next.
As she recognised him, the girl sat down beside Martin and just started asking, softly, "what's wrong?" over and over until he spilled his guts.
"It's just ... I try so [bleep] hard, you know? I have a good time at work, try to make friends - I'm really trying, right? And then they fire me and it's like, what was I doing wrong? What do people want from me?"
"They want you, Martin. They want to get to know you, without the drugs and booze. You remember why we broke up?"
Martin sniffed and wiped his nose with hsi beer hand. "Love, I hardly remember your name. Oh, [bleep], I'm so sorry. Who are you?"
She smiled. "I'm Angela. I tend bar at The Twisted Weasel?" Martin nodded, eyes somewhat glazed. "It's okay. The point is, even with your fun-loving personality and your camera crew, people can't see you. I couldn't see you when we were together."
"What do you mean?"
"All I mean is that people don't need the party animal. They just need you."
Martin set his beer down and dropped his still-burning cigarette butt into it, though neither was even half finished yet. He gave Angela a hug, which was almost unheard-of for Martin, and she excused herself, wishing him well, then glaring daggers at the cameras as she left.
From then on, Martin just wasn't as much fun for the cameras. He cut way back on his drinking and smoking, and he held down jobs for weeks at a time. Despite the crew's prodding and tempting, he just wasn't interested in wild parties any more. The crew scrambled to find more interesting footage than Martin calmly making fifty copies of a report and turning them in on time. The whole show crumbled, but Martin seemed a lot better. It just turned out that happy Martin was bad TV, so the show had to be cancelled. And that, finally, was what made Martin truly happy.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - This is much later than I usually post for Friday, so I'm sorry.
PPS - But it is still Friday.
Custom making handbags
The first consumer items custom made by default will probably be handbags. They'd have the highest value proposition for custom manufacturing. Hair accessories would be easier, but not as worthwhile, and clothes would be very worthwhile but not as easy. But I've been dragged along handbag shopping with women, and there is always some very specific set of properties they are looking for, all individual to the woman in question. One wants a big, deep bag with a short strap and a wide opening, while another wants dozens of tiny pockets stitched together and several openings. I am certain, with a few very basic mix-and-match components, you could make handbags to order quickly and easily, though perhaps not very cheaply. But if they're made of good materials, people will pay for quality.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - That's the theoretical business model, anyway.
PPS - And likely to stay theoretical.
Mokalus of Borg
PS - That's the theoretical business model, anyway.
PPS - And likely to stay theoretical.
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