I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Weekend Linkee-poo can feel your love fading, I'm losing you

A short one because you should be out enjoying the fleeting fall. Okay, well, I should be, then.

Ivan Ewert on how to write horror. When writing one horror story I had a critiquer say, "How could you do that. Didn't you know that would hurt some people." It was at that point I knew I was on the right path.

What fears make for good horror? Your personal ones. Elizabeth Bear shares some of hers. Want real horror, find what your character can't live without, and then take it from them.

The richest people in history. Adjusted for inflation, Mansa Musa I of Mali comes in first place. Also William the Bastard/Norman/Conqueror and two of his compatriots make the list. I didn't know it would have cost so much to conquer England. (Pointed to by John)

A company is claiming they've figured out how to take CO2 and H from water and make the appropriate hydrocarbons found in gasoline. I'd want to see it work, first. Although it's not an impossibility to construct hydrocarbons, the hard part is to use either equal or less power in to produce stored energy (in the form of those hydrocarbons) heading out the back door. The linked to hyperbolic article is a little misleading as "fresh air" has lower CO2 and it won't so much "curb" global warming as slow it (as it's basically recycling carbon, but if it take more carbon to manufacture than the equivalent energy density of just pumping the stuff from underground, it doesn't do anything) because they're forgetting that as you burn that fuel you rerelease that carbon. (Pointed to by Dan)

In case you think that webzines and other "for the exposure" sites are just for writer wannabes, they're also invading the technical paper space. With similar results vis a vis quality. (Pointed to by Dan)

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