Fantasist's Scroll

I haven’t been a total slacker.
I have worked on other neato tools for the site, honest! In fact, I whipped together a fun, little PERL script that generates funny sounding full and proper names. Oddly enough, I call it the “Funny” Proper Name Generator. Originally, I made it for participants in the Ghyll Encyclopedia Game, but it seemed worthy enough for public consumption.
So, if you’re writting a funny fantasy piece set in vaguely Edwardian or Victorian times, this is a great tool for you. Or, you could just use it to make names to fill in on web forms…. Use your imagination.

Aw, go ahead, it’s Friday! Have fun!

I re-read the Science of Breath last week.
For a skinny, little book it sure is packed full of information. Those yogis really pay a lot of attention to the details of everyday physical life. We all breath, but how often do we actually contemplate our breathing? The Science of Breath asks us to do just that. What’s more, it offers the most correct way of breathing for maximum health and benefit. It also gives the yoga student breathing exercises that help revitalize, reinvigorate and recharge themselves on many different levels. I re-read the book to refamiliarize myself with those breathing exercises which, over the years, I have found extremely helpfull in times of stress. As one might imagine, they are very meditative in nature and I found them quite relaxing.
This little, 90-page book is now a bit of a challenge to get, but well worth the effort. (Oh, and don’t be fooled by the other books of the same title. The one to get is the one by Yogi Ramacharaka.)

The title says it all!
Okay, so what I finally decided on was simply reducing the datasets for the troublesome WordGenerator apps. It doesn’t seem to have reduced their functionality at all and, so far, has not resulted in the same server-crashing error. Of course, some of the problem may stem from the immense popularity of the applications. You conlang nuts really hammer those apps!
I suppose I should really figure out how to do it all in a more “modern” language, like PHP, but PERL is still my first web programmging love. And, I can use the same scripts locally on my machine without the restrictions. But, no, I won’t make them available to the general public because I don’t really want to support PERL on your local machine.

One final word on this. Remember, these are free resources, so sometimes they go off-line without much warning. If my ISP has issues, I kill the app first and and questions later. My webhost, Amzia.net, is really patient with me, because he’s a cousin of a friend of mine, but I’d rather not push it. And, if your really, really like the apps, buy something from the Ye Olde Shoppe or at least click on an ad. Anything to show your support. Thanks!

Do not go to this site drunk!
This very plain-looking site, called the Zoom Quilt, hides freaky, phantasmagoric art like you’ve never seen. There are three “versions”, including the Windows screensaver, but I reccomend the Flash version, which is automated. Basically, you’ve got a series of paintings done by different artists that have a combined theme and elements that tie all the paintings together into a looping sequence. It’s way trippier than it sounds, though, so go check it out.

Aw, c’mon, it’s Friday, so go click the link!

Remember when I posted about an unusual star system some time back?
Well, according to this article on Space.com, there’s even more evidence that such a system can not only be possible, but may actually exist! Hey, I’m a visionary! (Well, okay, I had help from an astrophysist, but, still, I did imagine it.) So, it’s possible that somewhere out there a planetary system very much like Hoffman’s Quartet exists. How cool is that?
Oh, by the way, I have that document that I mentioned in the other post. I finally got it scanned in and proofed. So, I’ve also finally uploaded it. You can find it here, on the World Building page.

Oooo, freaky!
I’ve always loved the surrealist Hieronymus Bosch. His visions of Hell are so strange and disturbing, I can really believe that he might be right? Of course, I’ve been told that I’m not quite right in the head anyway and I’ve always loved all the surrealists, so I may be biased. On the other hand, someone thought it was cool enough to make these: Hieronymus Bosch Action Figures. It doesn’t look like you can actually buy them, but oh, the idea….

And, anyway, it’s a freaky Fun Friday Link, right? (Go ahead, no one’s looking. Just click on it!)

Several people have asked about my Word Generator.
Well, it was crashing the server, so I suspended it, temporarily. Unfortunately, “temporarily” got a little stretched out because of some things in my personal life, as well as a heavy work-load at my “day job”. I do intend to get it working again, though, so please bear with me.
Also, I intend to make any and all announcements about updates to this site via this blog. So, if you’d like to keep up to date, subscribe to this blog with Bloglines! Of course, you’ll have to set up a username and password and all that jazz, but it’s worth it, trust me. Also, check out their notification applets. There’s one for every operating system, so don’t worry that you’ll be left out.
And, with that, I’ll add only “Stay tuned for updates!”

Right out of science-fiction.
I can’t even begin to recall all the different science-fiction books and movies that used fingerprints as identification for everything, including monetary transactions. Well, now it’s reality. According to this news story from Cnet.com, Thriftway has setup something called “Pay By Touch” which lets you pay with your fingerprint. Of course, there is a setup procedure and this is only good in Thriftway stores, right now, but it’s still there. How long before it spreads? Can Walmart be far behind? I would bet they will be because the article claims that Pay By Touch now “makes up 30 percent of Thriftway’s electronic payments”. Cool.