Fantasist's Scroll

No, it’s not aliens watching you.

In this case, it’s a security company with satellites watching trucks with hazardous materials. According to this article on Space Daily, Satellite Security Systems has developed a system for tracking trucks hauling hazardous-waste or petrochemical products and, if they become targets of terrorists, shutting them down. In fact, this system is so new that they just tested it this month! And, the test was successful, so I’m sure we can see this technology becoming a standard in those industries. Anyone care to speculate on the implecations of that?

A writer’s resource for the BBC.

No, really, it’s all about helping writers get their stuff onto the BBC. It’s called The Writer’s Room and it’s a pretty complete resource for writing drama and comedy for television, radio and film. At least, in the UK. I assume that it’s fairly slanted toward the BBC, as well, because what else is there in the BBC for television, radio and film? In any case, it might be a chance to break into a different market.

Have fun with it! And, as always, keep writing!

Well, I’ve never bought one, but…

According to this article on YahooNews, but from Reuters, e-books are basically dead. Not quite dead, but almost. Seems that they never sold as well as they were hyped and the competing formats damaged their overall reputation. Still, there is still a small market for e-books. I know, for instance, that there’s a market for e-book gaming suppliments, adventures and the like. But, overall, that’s a pretty small slice of the pie, so I can see how publishers would be less than willing to layout the expense.
In any case, it’s an interesting article. Just make sure to read between the lines. E-books aren’t really dead, just way, way ahead of their time.

Well, actually, macadamia nuts, but still…

According to this article on the Sydney Morning Herald, there’s now a power plant in Australia that runs on the shells of macadamia nuts. It opened on September 18 and is the first of it’s kind. The “green” facility will “…convert 1680 kilograms of waste shell into 1.5 megawatts of electricity” but “will reduce greenhouse gases by around 9500 tonnes which is the equivalent of taking more than 2000 cars off the road”, and that’s just in its first year.
The article says that several other countries have expressed interest in this plant, including the United States. About time. We need power that is less damaging to our environment. Way to go Australia!

What do you use to get the Job done?

Slashdot, a geek news service, has an interesting article about writer’s choices of tools. They mainly focus on word processors, of course, but it goes beyond that. There are some rather insightful comments about the article, too. Especially, the comment made that, basically, all we need in a word processing program is Open, Save, Bold, Italic, Underline, Spellcheck, and Print. What else do you really need to get the message accross? That’s all I use in this blog, for instance. So, do we need to spend big money on the latest version of Microsoft Word? Not really. We can do just fine with the free Wordpad, if we’re willing to use an actual dictionary instead of Spellcheck.
So, what are you waiting for? Go start writing!

Here’s a disturbing little thought for anyone who wants to create literature for a living…

It’s one thing when songs are pirated, or movies, after all, we all know how much those artists make and waste, right? Well, okay, maybe they’re harder up than a lot of us think. Still, this article on Slate about publishing piracy really disturbed me.
I’ve seen this trend coming, really, but it still scares me. As the economy gets tighter, more and more people can justify in their own minds taking advantage of the pirate networks. It started with the incredibly inflated prices of software, then music and movies, and, now, books. The problem is this: in each case, there is a smaller and smaller margin. For one thing, the print industry is even harder to break into than the music industry, which is pretty damn hard to crack. What’s more, there’s an even smaller market for printed material than for music. (Not in my house, but, then, I’m a geek who wants to be a full-time writer.) I know, first hand, just how little an individual author makes off a published work. Piracy cuts directly into that small percentage of revenue.
So, read the article, think about it, and “go forth and sin no more”.

I sure do, even though I’ve never gotten one.

Here’s an entry on Slashdot about micropayments. I remember thinking they were a good way to pay for a good website with fun tools. I remember a lot of people who felt the same way, once, too. I wonder what went wrong?

You know, if you’d like to experience micro-payments, you can donate to this site via PayPal:

Or, via The Magus’ Wish List.

All right, all right, my shameless begging is over!

Way back before the Comics Code, comics were bad.

Or at least, according to this article on Wired News, that’s what a bunch of people thought. Frankly, when I read this, it reminded me of the whole controversy over explicit song lyrics. But, the funny thing is, nobody seemed to raise the same ruckus over the censoring of comic books. And, today, comics have gotten edgy again. They tell socially relevant messages. They take chances.
Anyway, it’s interesting to see where they’ve come since then. And, it’s an interesting Friday read.