Category Archives: General

General

How Artists in the Late 1800’s Imagined Life in the Year 2000

The title is self explanatory.

The article, written by Kristin Hohenadel and found on Slate.com, can be found here:

How Artists in the Late 1800’s Imagined Life In The Year 2000

The illustrations presented are pretty absurd.  Given all the technological advances made in the 20th Century, it would be startling if anyone from the late 1800’s (well, other than Jules Verne!) could conceive of what things might be like one hundred years later.

I particularly enjoyed this piece, showing us a future school:

France_in_XXI_Century._School

Love the fact that in this far flung future you have books being dropped into some kind of grinder-like machine (and one of the students has to work that grinder!!!) and the information on the books is somehow transmitted to the students…how?

An auditory presentation?  The books are read to the students or perhaps the implication is that the headphones transmit the information to the kid’s minds somehow?

If you like that piece, you should see  some of the others!

Books/Literature, General

Copyright and the Diary of Anne Frank…

So it appears Otto Frank, the father of Anne Frank and the man most responsible for getting his daughter’s diary to the public, will now be listed as the “co-author” of the book.

The reason?  So that the book retains its copyright status as Mr. Frank died in 1980 and European copyright for publications lasts for 70 years after an author’s death.  By having Mr. Frank listed as a co-author, The Diary of Anne Frank can retain its copyright status until 2050 versus ending this year (Anne Frank died in 1945).

Want to read a little more about this?  Check out the below link:

Thanks to Copyright Bullshit, Anne Frank’s Diary Now Has A Co-Author

There are many in the commentary sections, along with the author of the piece, Rachel Vorona Cote for Jezebel.com, who decry this move (as if the headline for the article didn’t clue you in on this fact!).

As an author myself, I find myself more on the side of those who want to retain copyright of their fictional/nonfictional works.  Sure, Anne Frank passed away a very long time ago and with the death of Otto Frank in 1980, all immediate family from that original time are gone.  The beneficiaries of the continued copyright will be the Anne Frank Fonds, or the Anne Frank Foundation, which I understand contributes quite a bit of the profits made from selling the work to charity.

I’m also aware that copyright/patent laws can have a decidedly negative impact on society.  In this case I’m referring to things outside of books, novels, and autobiographies.  There are technologies that could advance tremendously if other companies were allowed to make their own version of certain items and then try to expand/improve upon them.

Elon Musk, for example, should be commended for allowing the schematics for his electronic systems be available for other car manufacturers to use.  He did this because he knew that if the electronic systems were to take over for gas powered cars, he’d need all companies focused on what works and what does not.  By allowing others access to material which he could well have kept to himself, he offers to share the technology.

With medicines, copyright/patents have also become a very sticky issue.  A company can create and copyright/patent a medicine and are the sole company to release it.  What’s to stop them from charging crazy fees for their medicines?  Further, I suppose they may prevent other companies from modifying their medicines and making them more effective.

But with books and, especially, novels, we’re talking about an author’s creations. Unlike new technologies or medicines, I don’t see how the ownership by an author/authors or their offspring of their fictional/non-fictional work prevents society from advancing.

Quite the contrary, I’m bothered when modern authors use past author’s famous creations to make -and benefit financially- with “new” works.  These modern authors might take on famous characters like Sherlock Holmes or Tarzan or any other character which has slipped outside copyright control and make money off these past author’s works while the family (distant though they may be by that point) may not make a cent from these “new” works or the printing by others of their relative’s past works.

My hope is always that someone, even if it is a distant relative of the original author, is compensated for the work, even if they themselves had little or nothing to do with it.

Why?

Because as an author I’m painfully aware of the great effort I put into writing novels.  Each work takes so much from me and it is my hope that when I’m gone they will serve as my legacy for future generations of my family.

There’s not guarantee this will happen, of course.  There are literally tons of novels published each year and only a precious few achieve some kind of popularity/longevity.  Even those that do may do so very temporarily and not stand the “test of time”.

But if my works somehow beat the odds and prove popular to future generations, it is my hope my relatives can benefit from my hard work when I’m gone.

General

France

It’s difficult to write about what happened over the past weekend in France.

I mean, what is there for someone like me to add?

The situation is all manners of horrifying and enraging and sad and words are insufficient to lay out the depth of feelings I, and I’m sure many others, have regarding what happened.

It takes me back to 9/11, to turning on the television and seeing the news of a fire (that’s what I thought it was at first) at the World Trade Center and then hearing a plane crash was the cause of the fire.

No sooner did I find that out when the second plane hit the other tower and the network talking heads knew we were well past a possible tragic accident.

But the very worst feeling, when I struggled not to throw up, was when the first of the two towers fell.  I believe Peter Jennings was talking at that moment about the planes hitting and somesuch and he wasn’t aware of what was happening on screen at that very moment as the first of the two towers fell.

That day was shocking, but so too was what came afterwards.

I was never a fan of then President George W. Bush and his administration’s drumbeat to invade Iraq, which began right after the events of 9/11, struck me as strange given those responsible for that atrocity were, the experts said, in Afghanistan.

I sorry, I don’t mean to go off on a tangent, though like dominoes one could argue one event lead into another and another and another.

What happened on 9/11 was horrific and so too was what happened in France.  I just hope the nations of the world and their leaders go after and get those who were responsible first and foremost and we break this deadly chain.

General

Today in politics…

This upcoming election, at least on the Republican side, has looked not so much like the road to a nomination but rather a circus event.  The two leading candidates for the Republican nomination, at this moment, are Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

While one can laugh at some/many/most/all of Donald Trump’s statements (he’s made mincemeat, IMHO, of “serious” candidates like Jeb! Bush), the fact is he’s a carnival barker and a reality TV star.  Sure he has a real estate empire and knows more than a thing or two about the business world, but what exactly does he offer as president?  Stripping away most of his very heated talk, his most “serious” proposal is to deport millions of illegal immigrants (humanely!) and build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.  He’s made some vague statements regarding international trade and China, but they’re too vague to glean any action he intends to take.  Given his volcanic nature, I’d be really frightened to give him the keys to the kingdom and, especially, the “button.”

Likewise, Ben Carson really scares me as well.  While he is clearly a brilliant surgeon, he otherwise appears to be a man who lives in some kind of alternate reality.  I need not repeat some of his more odd pronouncements (like his idea of what the Pyramids are all about), but every time he does speak I seriously wonder what color the sky is in his world.   As the famous Mark Twain saying goes:

It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.

The idea of someone so…detached…from the real world leading us in the real world is therefore beyond scary.

But those two individuals are nonetheless at the top of the polls for the Republican party, much to the chagrin of the “old guard” and now, some are wondering…

Time for GOP Panic?  Establishment Worried Carson or Trump Might Win

The above article, written by Phillip Rucker and Robert Costa for The Washington Post, notes that while there is still quite a bit of time before the general election (a little less than a year at this point), we’re rapidly running out of time regarding the presidential nominations.

In fact, we’re less than three months from the Iowa Caucuses which begin the nominating process and, to date, Trump and Carson not only have but also maintain a strong lead over all the other candidates.

According to the article, many donors are withholding their money and its understandable.  Why would you donate to a Jeb! Bush or a John Kasich, two candidates viewed as far more electable in a general election, when they so far haven’t come close to either Trump or Carson in the polls and therefore don’t appear to have a chance -at least so far- of getting the Republican nomination?

Many thought this nomination cycle would be like the last.  In the previous election, there were a bunch of really far-out candidates for the Republican nomination.  Each of them had their moment in the sun (and polls) only to melt under its harsh lights.  Eventually Mitt Romney, the “safe” candidate, was nominated while all the others were long gone.

Not so this time around.

I’ll be honest here: I’m liberal.  I like change and feel we should always be looking for ways to improve society rather than try to strip away people’s rights and/or return to some kind of non-existent “rosy” past.

You would think someone like me would therefore be gleefully taking in the circus that is the Republican party and relishing the fact that the “old guard” is dealing with the seeds they’ve sown (and make no mistake about it, the “old guard” is every bit as responsible for this mess as they are chagrined by its results).

But I’m not gleeful.

Why?  Because of this chilling line found in the article.  It is provided by an anonymous Republican strategist and puts all this nonsense into perspective (I’ve highlighted the most chilling part):

“We’re potentially careening down this road of nominating somebody who frankly isn’t fit to be president in terms of the basic ability and temperament to do the job,” this strategist said. “It’s not just that it could be somebody Hillary could destroy electorally, but what if Hillary hits a banana peel and this person becomes president?”

There’s another saying, attributed to Woody Allen, that bears repeating here:

90% of success is showing up.

A President Trump?  A President Carson?

Scary thoughts indeed.

General

How One Man Pranked the Presidential Race…

While I’m not usually one to enjoy pranks (I find phony phone calls, for example, to be a bore), I had great fun with this prank.  The article regarding the prank, written by Chris Moody for CNN.com, made me laugh quite a bit:

How One Man Pranked The Presidential Race

Please click on the link above and read the full story…it is worth it.

I’ll provide a summary below, but, again, you should read the whole thing and check out the video as well.

So here’s what happened: Vic Berger, a freelance video editor “with a sharp eye for absurd humor”, took a Jeb! Bush video on YouTube where the candidate talks about his love of Apple products, edits it to highlight Jeb!’s cringe factor, and got a lot of views of it…including from Jeb! Bush’s staff.

Realizing the Jeb! campaign was looking at his work, Mr. Berger communicated with them and stated he would get a Jeb! tattoo if his post hit a million views.  The Jeb! campaign, thinking this was great promotion, aided him in getting those views and Mr. Berger then did (not really) what he promised: He took a video of his visit to a tattoo parlor to get a terrible (and very large) “Jeb4Prez” tattoo on his neck.

And this is where the ingenious/hilarious elements of this prank kicked in.

Though I really wish you’d read the full article, this single paragraph notes what happened next and had me laughing out loud.  I present it in full:

Back on Twitter, an account claiming to be run by Berger’s father started sending messages to Bush and his campaign staff telling them that they had made a terrible mistake encouraging him (to get the tattoo). The man claimed that Berger had “undiagnosed issues” and that by pushing him to go through with it, he had lost his job and that his life was ruined. Berger himself began telling reporters that he no longer wanted to talk because he was repairing relations with his family after the episode.

You can imagine what happened next.  Those “encouraging” Jeb! texts/tweets suddenly disappear and the Jeb! campaign goes silent regarding the issue, thinking they’d just destroyed -or at the very least harmed- a mentally fragile man.

Read the entire article and see the absurd tattoo for yourself!

General

Acrophics (like me) beware…

This is just insane.

Insane I tell you…

Here you go: Crazy man climbing around the Eiffel Tower.

While the video stars at night-time (the man filming himself was obviously not given permission to do this climb and therefore had to enter the structure unseen), a minute or two into the video the sun comes out and we see his climb in all its vertigo-inducing glory.

I think I’m going to curl up in my bed now.

General

The Human Flaw in Self-Driving Cars…

As those who frequent this blog must know by now, I’m fascinated with what I predict is the future regarding cars: They will all be self-driving.  In fact, I predict that in the very near future people will no longer own cars at all.  We will use our smart-phone and a Uber-like app to to call in a self-driving car and it will take us to our destination for a very low fee and, when we’re done at our destination and need to go somewhere else we again whip out our smartphone and viola! call in another vehicle to take us.

It wouldn’t surprise me if my daughters’ children (or, if there’s a delay, their children) wind up being the first generation of people who never bothered to learn to drive at all.

(A random thought here: How will movies deal with the idea of driverless cars?  Will that action staple, the car chase, eventually disappear from films?)

Having said all this, we’re still a few years off from having that fleet of driverless vehicles at our disposal.  In the meantime, Tesla has released a new model of their car and it features driverless functionality, though the auto maker is clear that this should be used as an aid to driving and the driver should not take their hands off the wheel even in the driverless mode.

Will Oremus over at Slate.com offers an interesting look at the current state of driverless vehicles and, specifically, the Tesla models and I encourage anyone who, like me, is interested in this topic read his thoughts:

The Paradox of the Self-Driving Car

What Mr. Oremus gets at is the thought in some quarters that if you’re making a self-driving vehicle, you should probably go all the way toward it, like Google is doing (ie eliminating the steering wheel from the driverless car and anticipating a future where all the cars on the road are driverless and therefore human error is completely eliminated).

Mr. Oremus points out that an “assisted” driverless feature like the one the Tesla may create bad habits in drivers.  They may, for example, check whatever is going on with their smartphone more while driving using the feature, which Tesla clearly doesn’t want them to do.

But people are people and it isn’t surprising they indulge in stupid things they shouldn’t, such as…

Watch a Tesla being driven in autopilot – From the backseat

To say the least, seeing the above article/video made my blood freeze.  Yes, I’m all in favor of driverless cars but Tesla has made it clear their driverless feature is NOT meant to be used like this.

Regardless, we most certainly are living in interesting times regarding cars.  The driverless car is coming (if not already here) and, with technological advances regarding battery power, I suspect we’ll see the end of gasoline use as well.

An exciting -and, after seeing hte above video, scary!- time for sure.

General

Because you had to know! (part the seventh)

How to Fart in Public and Get Away With It

The article linked to above is by Patrick Allan and appears on lifehacker.com.

Hilarious, hilarious -yet informative!- stuff.  I laughed out loud (yeah, that kind of humor appeals to me…what can I say) just by the opening graphic:

How to Fart in Public and Get Away with It

Click the link and get to know such wonderful terms as “crop dusting” and understand the “rule of three or more”.

And remember…whoever smelt it dealt it.

Invaluable stuff! 😉

General

The 1938 Aircraft That Came From The Future…

I love love love seeing “futuristic” material created in the 1930’s.  Something about the flights of fancy (pardon the pun) of that epoch really hits me.  From the art deco designs to the futuristic musings of authors and artists, there’s a reason that era’s sci-fi works were considered a “golden age”.

Back in 1938 Ettore Bugatti and Louise De Monge designed a futuristic aircraft that, because of the advent of World War II, never made it beyond a single model that was created and never flown before being cut up and hidden from the Nazi’s.

However, though never flown the model was not forgotten and a model has been created and shown to fly and a full sized replica created, which will be flown very soon, and you can read all about it in the article below, found on kotaku.com and written by Luke Plunkett…

The 1938 Aircraft That Came From The Future

In that link you’ll see images of both the full sized replica as well as see a video of the smaller model in flight.  I won’t post both here, but I will post this beautiful painting of the plane in flight as envisioned by an artist…

The 1938 Aircraft That Came From The Future

Great, great stuff.

General

Adaptive Learning Software…

I found the article below, written by Will Oremus for Slate.com, a fascinating look behind what may be the future of education:

No More Pencils, No More Books:  Adaptive Learning Software is Replacing Textbooks and Upending American Education

As a father whose children are finishing up High School and in College, respectively, I’ve been amazed at the differences between their education and mine.  At the High School Parent/Teacher meet up this year, everything from the classroom design -including some truly comfortable new seats!- was a revelation.

But what continues to amaze me is how few textbooks these students need.  In this particular school they use Google laptops and all lessons/homework flows through there.  Some teachers, we found, quickly adapted to this new system while others are less inclined to do so yet I couldn’t help but marvel at how the computer and internet have again wormed their way into another aspect of our lives.

For the better, I feel.

However, just because something is new and shiny doesn’t mean it works perfectly out of the gate, and Mr. Oremus’ article goes very deep into the pros and cons of these new systems.

Perhaps the biggest “pro” is the fact that we can have classrooms where students are learning at their own pace, each receiving work that fits in with their individual needs and speed at learning.

But the negatives have to be considered as well and Mr. Oremus gives readers a robust look at the negatives as well as positives regarding the direction of our education system in the age of the computer.