Category Archives: Blog

Blog

Top 10 predictions for 2009

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Every year since 1985 the editors of the Futurist magazine have selected their top ten predictions for the future:

1. Everything you say and do will be recorded by 2030. By the late 2010s, ubiquitous, unseen nanodevices will provide seamless communication and surveillance among all people everywhere. Humans will have nanoimplants, facilitating interaction in an omnipresent network.

…

6. Professional knowledge will become obsolete almost as quickly as it’s acquired. An individual’s professional knowledge is becoming outdated at a much faster rate than ever before. Most professions will require continuous instruction and retraining.

[via KurzweilAINews][image from Foxtongue on flickr]

Blog

Will the Phoenix rise again?

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander - artist's impressionVia pretty much everywhere comes the news that NASA has pronounced the Phoenix Mars Lander “silent, presumed dead”. The Martian winter is settling in, and the resulting cold and darkness have put the plucky robot out of action, though there is a vague hope it might revive itself when the seasons change. [image courtesy NASA]

In addition to finally confirming the water-on-Mars matter, Phoenix has been a real (and much-needed) media success for NASA; they tapped into the right channels to keep the mission in the public consciousness, not just through a regular (but very sexy and content-laden) website, but through Twitter as well. It feels as if now, after two decades of disappointments, disasters and disillusionment, space is something to get excited about again. Let’s hope it stays that way, eh?

Blog

NaNoWriMo advice: Write or Die!

Some of you brave souls who’ve taken on the NanoWriMo challenge this year are struggling with your daily wordcount targets… at least, you are if my Twitter feed is to be believed!

I know where you’re coming from: that intimidating blank screen, the panoply of possibility, the agony of indecision… not to mention the constant self-editing. All of these are major factors in me not having a writing career that makes John Scalzi look like a hobbyist[1].

But help is at hand! The Lifehacker team have discovered the ultimate anti-procrastination app for writers, the aptly named Write or Die:

Set a word count and time you want to write for. Then, set how you want the app to “remind” you if you stop writing—”Gentle” pops up a text box, “Normal” plays a harsh sound file, and “Kamikaze” mode slowly deletes back from your stopping point until you get back to it.

Kamikaze mode sounds thoroughly evil, but I’ll bet it gets you hitting your targets pretty fast. Then there’s just the editing to do…

[ 1 – It must be pointed out that laziness and lack of talent are also major players; even more major than the others, perhaps. ]

Blog

Writing advice from Matthew Cheney

Matthew “The Mumpsimus” Cheney is guest-blogging over at Colleen Lindsay’s site, and he’s decided to do a post entitled “If Only I’d Known: Writing Advice to my Younger Self“. In sharp contrast to the gung-ho you-can-do-it teach-yourself-to-write books, however, he advocates making sure you write for the right reasons:

Publication can be fun, but I don’t think a healthy psyche finds it much more than that. If you haven’t been able to find balance and contentment in your life, publishing won’t help you, and, if anything, it may hurt.

It’s an interesting piece, written with Cheney’s characteristic honesty and heartily recommended for any writerly types in the audience – published or otherwise.