Friday, February 02, 2007

Blofeld Sings!

If only George Lazenby showed up and started fighting him. 

Security Stupidity

I don’t know about you, but I am getting tired of the security hype. It’s getting to be a joke.

Nano Machines Now!

A breakthrough in nanotech sounds like just what was needed to make the serious applications possible. Like what? Think Star Trek Replicators and cures for everything from pollution to cancer and AIDs.

The new motor mechanism will enable scientists to do things that are much closer to what biological machines do.

Nanotechnology is already being used in cosmetics, computer chips, sunscreens, self-cleaning windows and stain-resistant clothing.

Leigh believes nanoscale science and engineering could have a huge impact on society—comparable to the impact of electricity, the steam engine and the Internet.

But quite how, is difficult to predict.

“It a bit like when stone-age man made his wheel asking him to predict the motorway,” he said.

“It is a machine mechanism that is going to take molecular machines a step forward to the realization of the future world of nanotechnology. Things that seem like a
Harry Potter film now are going to be a reality.”

Secrets of Writing: Point of View

There are times in a story you may want to show what the character sees through their own eyes. this is known as a POV or Point of View. This technique serves two purposes. It puts us in the head of the character so we can experience life the way they are at that given moment in time. It also shows us a different perspective on the story than we may have been experiencing.

POVs can be used in one panel, or in an entire scene, or for an entire story. William Messner Loebs wrote a Johnny Quest comic that was seen entirely through a computer screen’s POV. The POV doesn’t have to be from a human’s perspective. It can be from anywhere. But the most common use is through the eyes of the Hero or a main character.

POVs are not limited to visual points of reference. We can do an external POV. This is done by having the character narrate the story and what we are shown is how the character interprets the action. The character also narrates the story from their personal perspective and world view.

Neil Gaiman used this approach effectively in his MIRACLEMAN “The Golden Age” stories. Non superhuman people were observing the affects superhumans had on their lives. This technique was later used in MARVELS, by Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross to much acclaim.

The secret of POVs is remembering that it’s not your view as the writer, but the character’s personal view based on their limitations, opinions, attitudes, and perspective. It can be used as a characterization device, or it can be used as a means to show the horrible situation a character is in. It can be used to show how appalling the character’s mind set is. Or how good it is.

When you write from a character’s POV, you must understand the character as if they were you. You must believe what they believe as you write them. You must become that character for a time, even if that character is a complete anathema to you. If you’re a black writer doing a story from the POV of a Klansman, you need to understand the Klansman’s views as if they were your own. You actually have to allow yourself to believe it as you write so that the character comes across as real. If you’re a white writer doing a story from the POV of a Native American during the Indian Wars, you need to understand the perspective of the red man and their culture and why they feel that way. You have to avoid all the stereotypes you’ve seen in movies and go for the truth.

Even if you agree with the character you are writing from POV, you need to make sure they come off as human with flaws. Otherwise, you’re being nothing more than a tour guide pointing out sights along the way. We need insight during a POV. We need to understand what makes the character tick. We don’t need the same old same old.

POV should never be wasted on generic views or scenes, because it’s a very personal technique. It puts the Audience into the mind of the character. If you establish the experience as straightforward and uneventful, the audience will quickly become bored because they are seeing nothing to make the experience worthwhile.

REMEMBER: POV is not your view, it’s the character’s.

Nazi Tank Manuals

Funky Art in these.

Meltdown

The Fourth IPCC TAR report comes out today, and like the last one, it’s a pile of jury rigged conclusions.

Scientific evidence for human-induced global warming will receive a significant boost Friday when the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases the summary of a key report, according to environmental activists and top Democrats in Congress.

But wait.

Some climate researchers and environmental scientists previously associated with the IPCC claim the public relations summary of the panel’s fourth assessment report distorts the actual scientific findings and that the discrepancies are driven by a political agenda.

The IPCC Summary for Policymakers, roughly 20 pages long, is primarily the work of political appointees, not of scientists, according to Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric science at MIT.

The full text will not be available for another three months, as two further documents making up the fourth assessment report are scheduled to be released in April and May.

Lindzen specialized in the study of clouds and water vapor for IPCC’s third assessment report, which was released in 2001.

He told Cybercast News Service the rules for the fourth assessment report specifically require changes to be made to the body that will bring it into line with the summary statement.

“If you were doing that with a business report, the federal trade commission would be down your throat,” Lindzen said.

Whenever people from one side of a political fence are screeching about something, and you can be sure it’s an agenda of some kind. All you have to do is drill down, objectively, to see that it’s all about the Benjamins. While pro GW people like to claim all skeptics are tools of the greedy oil companies, it never seems to dawn on them that they are parroting propaganda from the leaders of this GW movement, who are bureaucrats and grant grubbing scientists.  Bureaucrats love manufactured crises because they can use them to get laws passed that give them more tax dollars and power. Grant grubbers use these kind of crises to get more grant money. After all, many scientists live on grant money. That’s their income. So they will do anything to insure the gravy train is running, including lie and falsify reports.

When you consider that their best evidence is computer models which are easily faked and not the weather, which conveniently is unseasonably warm sometimes, but not consistently. And the fact that most of the arguments used by the GW proponents are based in logical fallacies it becomes clear that the man-made global warming theory is just that, a theory, based more on assumptions than real facts. Theories are made to be criticized. To be held up to analysis.

But when they use the evil oil companies are behind the critics defense, that’s clearly a straw man argument. Another logical fallacy. Just because someone disagrees with man-made global warming doesn’t make them an oil company shill and it does nothing refute the merits of the critics position. In fact, even if energy companies hold an anti-global warming position, that doesn’t mean they’re wrong.

Personally, I am all for getting rid of fossil fuels. But until we have a working replacement for them, it’s not practical. And radically transforming society to cut back on energy use when it’s not necessary is only going to hurt people’s livelihoods and well being. People are not going to give up their jobs and their comforts for some half baked theory. Nor should they.

New energy sources will come on line in the near future. Progress marches on. Someday, in most of our lifetimes, this will be a moot argument.

UPDATE: See what I mean about liars? The new IPCC report cuts a lot of the previous GW estimates, which should tell you how accurate they are at all. 

Thursday, February 01, 2007

No National ID!

Several States have been moving to block the Federal “Read ID” requirement, which I say is a good thing. Main already rejected it last week, leading the way. The Bush administration tends to go way too far in some area, and this is one of them.

Risking broad penalties for their residents, lawmakers in several states are fighting implementation of the Real ID Act, a federal measure that seeks to prevent non-compliant cardholders from boarding airplanes or entering federal facilities.

Opponents say national standards for drivers’ licenses would be a costly creep into the arms of big brother. Supporters say it is intended to protect Americans’ from fraud and potentially terror-related crimes.

“We don’t want it, we can’t afford it, get rid of it,” said Montana Democratic state Rep. Brady Wiseman, who authored the bill ordering the state not to participate in the federal program. The bill passed the Montana House of Representatives on Wednesday along with a companion measure, which challenges the Real ID law on constitutional grounds. Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer has spoken in favor of Wiseman’s bill.

I can see a lot of legit reasons for a real id. But the abuse aspects, the big brother and the control over people’s movements is downright Orwellian. The Feds have stripped away too many states rights. We need to see a return to more state rights and less Federal. Bush is one of the worst presidents when it comes to increasing the size of government bureaucracies. National Security during the war on terror is important. But so are civil liberties. We should never allow those to be stripped because it will be hard to get them back.

Secrets of Writing: Defining Moments

These are scenes that tell us, in a demonstrative way, what kind of person a character is. Some writers can pull this off in one panel of a comic. In film, they are often done in a defining scene. Often, this is done in their introduction scene. It makes a strong and lasting impression to set up the scenes that follow.  But often, you need a scene to set up the defining moment.

It’s critical to establishing the character firmly in our minds. They need to happen at least twice for the Hero and once for every major character.

Early in the story we need one to tell us where the hero is at the beginning of his arc. By the end of the story we need another to show where he is at the end of the arc. For the hero, that final defining moment should be during the climax. 

The contrast of how the character is at the beginning and end can give us a strong sense of how far he has come on his journey.

For Villains, the defining moment is based on what the Audience perception of the Villain is supposed to be in the story. If the Villain is a false protagonist throughout most of the story, you need to define him as such until you reach the point where you are going to pull off their mask. Then, you hit the audience with a defining moment that shows us what the Villain’s true feelings are.

An excellent example of this can be seen in the Alfred Hitchcock film SHADOW OF A DOUBT. In this film Joseph Cotten plays a character named “Uncle Charley” who everyone loves, including the heroine of the story, his niece. But throughout the course of the story, the niece begins to realize something isn’t right with her uncle. She begins to suspect him of being a serial killer. There’s a dinner scene where Uncle Charley starts talking about widows and what he thinks of them. This scene is a perfect example of a defining moment.

Another excellent example can be found in the graphic novel WATCHMEN by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. In the first issue, Rorschach, the false hero of the story, enters a seedy bar to get information. When he enters the bar the bartender first nervously welcomes Rorschach and then...almost in the same breath, says: “Please don’t hurt anyone!”

This scene shows us how Rorschach is perceived by the public at large. It’s a defining moment using other characters to define the central character. This is an alternate technique to reach the same goal.

Defining moments make the story more exciting. They add to the power of a story by delivering a gut punch at just the right time. These are the moments you really want to learn how to pull off well. They will help make your story all the more enjoyable.

REMEMBER: Defining moments help make your characters come alive.

France Wants to Tax Us

Here’s a classic example of why the Global Warming thing is a scam. Bureaucrats want to use it to tax us using an international tax. Kyoto signatories have to pay fines if they don’t measure up (no country has), but since we didn’t sign it we’re exempt. So what then?

President Jacques Chirac has demanded that the United States sign both the Kyoto climate protocol and a future agreement that will take effect when the Kyoto accord runs out in 2012.

He said that he welcomed last week’s State of the Union address in which President Bush described climate change as a “serious challenge” and acknowledged that a growing number of American politicians now favor emissions cuts.

But he warned that if the United States did not sign the agreements, a carbon tax across Europe on imports from nations that have not signed the Kyoto treaty could be imposed to try to force compliance. The European Union is the largest export market for American goods.

“A carbon tax is inevitable,” Mr. Chirac said. “If it is European, and I believe it will be European, then it will all the same have a certain influence because it means that all the countries that do not accept the minimum obligations will be obliged to pay.”

I guarantee, the Euros will try to find a way to try to milk us one way or another using this scam. But will they have the balls to do it with China, who is becoming a much bigger polluter than the US? We’ll see.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Chick Repellant

What accessory will keep you from getting laid?