Journal Entries
Lots Going On
Posted Aug 8, 2014
Seriously lots.
Coding is still happening over on the test system, the new database is coming along nicely, *much* quicker than the current one and far more organised. There's still a way to go, but it's getting there.
I've got a book of short stories soon to be released, it's on its final proof reading now. Mostly this is to tide the fans (well, the readers who didn't hate the first book 
) over until I've finished writing the second book. Which is taking longer than I'd like. The problem is, there's parts of it I'm not happy with. Parts that just don't seem right. So rather than just churn it out, it's going to take a bit longer while I rewrite them.
And if that wasn't enough, as some of you are aware, I've converted part of my garage into a brewery. A fully registered commercial brewery. I did the first two brews the beginning of this week, and will be doing two (maybe three) more this weekend.
I've been worrying a bit about this, because brewing beer's one thing, but you've then got to sell it. I've had a word with a couple of the places I drink in, and they're willing to give it a try, and if they like it they'll stock it. Which is okay.
However today I got a message from a bar (that I admit I've not been to (yet)) asking if they can stock it when it's ready.
I've not even bottled the first batch, and a bar is asking to stock it.
I can only hope that this is the start of a trend, because brewing leaves a lot of spare time during the day that I use up by writing and coding.
And if *that* wasn't enough, last night I think I may have suggested that we (me and the better half) do a sportive next year, a 100 mile timed cycle run. So I was out on the bike today to test what my distance cycling is like these days.
Thankfully, even with the *cough* years gap, I comfortably managed 30 miles with an average of around 10 miles an hour. It would have been faster, but this was a lot of city cycling, and that's a lot of traffic lights.
I did run out of energy around the 20 mile mark, so a quick dash (slow crawl) into a shop and stocked up on chocolate and energy drinks, which I then scoffed.
I'm planning on trying to fit some sleep in next week.
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Latest reply: Aug 8, 2014
Duality Ships
Posted Apr 25, 2014
Yesterday I wrote a short story. Actually, I've been doing a different one each day during April, but yesterday's short led me to create an idea for a sci-fi series.
To come up with this one though, I've come up with a type of spaceship, one I'm calling a Duality Ship, because it needs two people to fly it. The premise is really rather simple, in that the ship's engines can go *really* fast, but the human pilots can keep up with them. So the ships go a lot slower than they could. Now, also, to combat the possibility of errors there are two pilots.
Each pilot flies the ship as though they were the only pilot, but the ship's computer then takes the middle path, the mean/average of what the pilots do. This way, if one pilot makes an error, it gets smudged out by the other pilot. With two pilots flying like this, the margin for error is a lot less, and therefore the ships can fly faster.
I've also added a third crew member, a navigator/comms person who keeps an eye out for other fast flying ships, and warns the pilots about them.
Now, in the story/world, it's seen that the psychic link between twins means that they're able to fly with even less margin of error, and therefore can fly the ships even faster. So the space programme (as it were) evolves around the nurture of twins, which are very rare, and the enrolment of them as potential pilots.
My story/series though is set to follow Matt and Hugh, two pilots who go through the training and probationary period, and then on their first solo flight, a cargo run, steal the ship with their navigator, Clare. It then turns out that Matt and Hugh aren't twins, but triplets, with Clare. They rewire/jury-rig their stolen ship to be flown by three people, with even less margin of error, and therefore faster than the twin piloted ships.
This idea and world then gives me a lot of scope to write short stories and longer novels, to introduce new characters and worlds. It's currently sitting in my head as a sort of a cross between Firefly and Dr.Who, but something different.
Too many modern sci-fi stories start post-apocalyptic, or are all shiny surfaces and daring do. What I want to write is some realistic sci-fi. Something that you read and think, "Yes, that could actually happen." Hopefully this idea will allow me to do that.
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Latest reply: Apr 25, 2014
Planning A Holiday
Posted Apr 10, 2014
Last year we were lucky enough to go out to the States and not only see some wonderful scenery, culture and brew pubs, but visit Happy Nerd and Witty Moniker. It really was a great holiday, and a well spent redundancy package.
We weren't expecting to go on holiday again so soon, especially with me having quit my job so I could focus on my writing and rebuilding h2g2, but I've recently inherited a small amount of money. Not much, but enough for a decent holiday.
So, we're now planning our next trip abroad. After visiting the US, the next one was always going to be New Zealand, before hopefully getting back the America in a couple of years. Which means we're now looking at where to go and what to see in New Zealand, and possibly a side trip over to Sydney to visit my cousin.
Suggestions very welcome 
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Latest reply: Apr 10, 2014
Facts, Damn Facts, and Biased Facts
Posted Mar 25, 2014
Wikipedia, the repository of editable facts, has decided that it can choose what is fact and what is fiction. Or rather, it’s founder Jimmy Wales has.
Over on change.org (http://www.change.org/petitions/jimmy-wales-founder-of-wikipedia-create-and-enforce-new-policies-that-allow-for-true-scientific-discourse-about-holistic-approaches-to-healing) a group of people created a petition to try and get Wikipedia’s policies regarding holistic healing changed. Now, whether you agree that holistic healing works or not is besides the point. This issue here is Jimmy Wale’s response to this (http://www.change.org/petitions/jimmy-wales-founder-of-wikipedia-create-and-enforce-new-policies-that-allow-for-true-scientific-discourse-about-holistic-approaches-to-healing/responses/11054)
--
No, you have to be kidding me. Every single person who signed this petition needs to go back to check their premises and think harder about what it means to be honest, factual, truthful.
Wikipedia's policies around this kind of thing are exactly spot-on and correct. If you can get your work published in respectable scientific journals - that is to say, if you can produce evidence through replicable scientific experiments, then Wikipedia will cover it appropriately.
What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of "true scientific discourse". It isn't.
--
In short, Jimmy seems to think that unless you can convince a bunch of already biased people, by reproducing things in laboratory conditions, then your work is not fact.
And that is very worrying indeed.
Pretty much every great scientist in history was laughed at by their peers, so relying on those peers is a dangerous step to stopping change from happening. Because not everything can be reproduced or explained by laboratory experiments.
Taking two entries from Wikipedia itself, firstly the one on the Placebo Effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo
This effect has been shown time and again, even under the aforementioned laboratory conditions, to actually work. Yet the majority of the introduction to the article dismisses its effectiveness, and later on in the section on clinical utility it starts off again with reference to work that also dismisses it. So even something that has been clinically proved and accepted, but can’t quite be explained, has an entry that is pretty biased.
At the far end of the scale for the second article, Alien Abduction, again we see that same dismissive tones. Even though it mentions a scientific study that backs up the potential, it is immediately followed by a reference to a Skeptic disputing it. The scientific study was done by a respectable professor at Harvard, the non-qualified or respected Skeptic wrote something for a small paper.
So how then are we to learn more, how are we to further humanity’s knowledge if we don’t at least keep an open mind? Wikipedia is seen as a reference site but if all it references are biased views then we shall see people grow up biased, and we shall see knowledge stagnate.
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Latest reply: Mar 25, 2014
BBC3 Is Dead, Long Live BBC3
Posted Mar 6, 2014
For those that don't know it, BBC3 is the BBC's "light entertainment" channel, basically a load of (in my opinion) awful comedy shows. But even though I don't like the shows on it, I do like the channel. It provides the BBC with the airspace and opportunity to take risks with new writing and acting talent, and it provides a very good service for its target demographic of teen to late twenties.
Yesterday however the news broke that the BBC were going to "axe" the channel. Headlines like "BBC3 closure triggers protests from channel's star names" over at the Guardian newspaper, and even more sensationalist over on the other tabloids, appeared telling the world that the channel was closing down.
Except it's not.
The BBC are not closing BBC3, they've never said they were. The news articles surrounding this "story" are just that, stories. They’re so badly biased towards BBC bashing that they're mixing the truth up with the gossip.
So here's what is happening. The BBC needs to save money, and to do so they've looked at both BBC3 and the cultural BBC4. When looking at them, they've realised that the target audience of BBC3 tend to mostly watch programmes on iPlayer while the target audience of BBC4 tend to sit down and watch the programmes when they're broadcast. So they're making BBC3 purely online. They're not closing or axing BBC3, they're just moving it to be purely available on iPlayer.
Now, I think that this is a brilliant, if slightly risky, move by the BBC. If this works, this could well set a precedent for other stations. People no longer arrange their lives around television listings, they no longer make sure that the entire family is sat down after dinner, ready to watch the next episode of their favourite show. Technology has moved on, and so have people. People now use things like iPlayer and 4OD so that they can watch the episodes they want to watch, when they want to watch them. You can work late, or go to the pub for a few drinks on your way home, and with just a few click on your telly, laptop, tablet or phone, watch a show originally broadcast while you were socialising with your mates.
And to me it seems that the BBC are focussing on this. A lot of the press are claiming that the BBC are stuck in a time-warp, saving BBC4 at the expense of the more youth focused BBC3. But it's the exact opposite, the BBC are potentially leading the field here showing what the future of broadcast television could be like. And I congratulate them on that move.
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Latest reply: Mar 6, 2014
Pastey
Researcher U45177
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