Industrial Magic

Curious. I just stumbled across a reference to VeriChip, an implantable microchip used to store identification and used on humans. The article I read indicated it’s trial use by an expensive club in some foreign clime, where punters with the chip could buy food and drinks “with a wave of the hand” and have doors opened for them etc etc.

Anyone who knows me knows this would bother the daylights out of me - it has frightening implications on so many levels. In another article I found the company that marketed the chip were blathering about how it could never be coerced, the government couldn’t coerce anyone to use these chips - hence this is obviously not the infamous “Mark of the Beast” of Revelations. Thing is, what would it take for governments to begin requiring it for certain secure jobs, then anyone in the military, or in certain sectors, or anyone who wanted to travel by air….

Frankly I’m not sure what to think - it’s kind slipped in under the radar, and even in my cynic mode I must admit it has disturbing resonance. Must think on this - I suspect I will rant some more later on.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Something interesting occurred to me last night. I have been aware for a while that my general productivity etc declines sharply when R is around, but I’ve only just realised why that is. When she’s around, I follow her about like a lost puppy. Sometimes I literally wander about the house after her snatching hugs and kisses when I can and sometimes I’m just mentally wandering after her. I’m such a sop I just like it when she’s around, more so when I can look over and see her - and added to that the distraction of playing with the little one and organising him it’s no wonder I manage to put off everything I’m supposed to do.

So the solution? Nothing major I think - the obvious answer is to have R and B around less, which is patently unnacceptable so I think I just need to learn to go about my own business while they’re in the house - interact with them, spend some time playing with the muppet etc but still cruise on and get my own bits and pieces done. I never used to be so bad at this - I think the closer we’ve grown the more I dote on the pair of them. Plus I do just revel in it all sometimes - it’s pretty amazing to be so immersed in love and happiness so constantly. Some of this is a hangover from the past obviously - a little fear of repeating mistakes perhaps, I know I can be over-cautious about these things. Once again, it comes down to balance - now that I can see the purpose I can achieve it, so I’ll let you know how it turns out…

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 22nd, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Last night didn’t go exactly as planned. I had wonderful intentions of not watching any television, doing some work on the computer, making myself dinner etc etc and if I achieved those goals then playing some Kotor. When I got home, I tried to begin some processes on the pc that would install the relevant components for showImg (using apt to get kdebase3-devel etc) and everything went bad from there. Something didn’t work so I got tinkering, then I caught my foot in the damn telephone cord and the modem disconnected. For some reason I couldn’t get it to pick up a dialtone again, and spent ages fussing around until finally after the fourth or fifth attempt at disconnecting and reconnecting the various assorted plugs in the chain of cabling that snakes all the way from under my desk through the study and the lounge room, then around the hallway until it finally reaches the phone jack in the wall. sigh.

At this point, my schedule was ruined, and me being me I farted about for a bit longer trying to get some things to work then ended up in front of the television with the last of the mead and a microwave risotto. Not so good. Tonight must be better - walking is required, and much work to be done on the ‘puters.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Argh! I just tried to update an earlier entry and clicked the wrong button. Being in the industry I’m in you’d think that was pretty well deserving of a boot to the head… I have a dark blue theme on my window manager (I run linux) and it causes me some odd conflicts at times - like with the style sheets attached to movable type. The buttons come out dark blue and the writing on them a faint gray so I can’t read it I wasn’t paying enough attention and I hit delete AND confirmed without really thinking about it. Serves me right I suppose…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Watched the film 28 days later last night - it’s fantastic. An amazingly well written story, and overall quite horrifying. They filmed it using digital cameras rather than film - which allowed them to operate and setup / break down much more rapidly, so they could get sections of london and the M1 etc shut down briefly for filming. It’s amazing to see wesminster bridge, the M1 and all these other places I’ve spent time - completely and utterly empty. It really sets the scene for the film - one of my favourite bits was the “That must be Manchester” line. They’re driving along a deserted M1 and after the line is delivered the camera pans up the road slowly until you see the entire expanse of what was once Manchester (not at all a little town) smoking and burning - nothing left but flaming rubble. One of the characters makes the comment about there being no fire crews to stop the blaze and of course she’s right - the whole city burned because nobody was there to stop what was likely a small fire of the sort usually put out every day or two.

Makes you think - in the little documentary about the making of (I love DVD special features!) they talked a fair bit about the realities of this. Did you know a group of scientists not so long ago created an entirely synthetic strain of polio virus - using only information from the internet.? The information age certainly has a second edge…

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 18th, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Spent a bit of time yesterday cruising for interesting blogs etc and have come across a few gems - not to mention a pile of online writers resources, like market information, advice etc. I’ll filter through it and put a few links up - I think a lot of it will make good content for the “Learn” section of the new PL.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 18th, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Damn… back home and back to work. I’ve actually been home a couple of days but am just getting around to writing. Dunkeld was wonderful - time away in the bush, doing very very little. I read 5 and a half great books, wrote a bit, and just spent time relaxing. After a day or so I started feeling as though I were hung over - turns out I was having withdrawal from the drugs I’m supposed to be taking for my back but finally got a new prescription so that’s beginning to recede now, thank goodness. More later when I’ve had some sleep…

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Whelp, finally got here. Time to start committing to this thing I think. No idea what kind of rubbish is going to end up being posted but at the very least it will get me writing more frequently, which can’t be a bad thing.

I’m becoming engrossed in “Becoming a Writer” by Dorothea Brande - it’s an old book but it’s absolutely fantastic. Apparently a very well regarded piece, it’s not big but it’s all about learning to *BE* a writer, rather than learning how to write plots and dialogue etc etc. The exercises it outlines are brilliant, and in truth I’m finding they’ll probably apply well to the other things that need changing in my life. A lot of the issues described as common bad habits or blocks for new or struggling writers mirror the issues I’m having myself.

So multiple purposes are served by this it seems. An exercise in discipline, regular writing, a journal and I will be keeping track of my progress with the exercises in the book - as well as anything else that flits across my mind while I’m in front of the keyboard I imagine.

If I am to do it, there’s no point doing it half-heartedly, so I must make every effort to write regularly. And when I reach the exercise of dedicated writing in the book I must reorganise myself and commit a debt of honour, as Dorothea names it, to write every day. Here goes…

P.S. hopefully new (nicer) look coming soon but I want to use a modified version of another design and I think I’ll wait to get a reply to my mail before I go ahead and plagiarize it *grin*

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2004 at 00:00 and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.