Ned Hayes's Blog, page 181

Historical Note

 

HISTORICAL NOTE

 

"A curious incident is brought to our attention from the year 1377. In December of that coldest year in the medieval records, the village of Duns in the northeast of England suffered a great tragedy.  Five of its young boys were burned to death in a house fire near the center of the village.

 

As was common with many tragic events in that century, it was supposed the Jews were to blame. Yet all Jews were destroyed, forcibly converted, or expelled from England by order of the Crown, some fifty years earlier, in 1325.

           

Although most English peasants at that time had never traveled during the course of their lives more than twenty miles from the place of their birth, five men from the village of Duns loaded the charred bodies of their children on a farm cart and journeyed over 200 miles to London. The record of the Court states that the villagers went to present the bodies to the King, and to demand justice against the Jews.

           

                        The historical record is clear on these few facts.

           

History does not record any further details about the incident — neither the motivations, intentions, nor experiences of those who undertook this arduous journey are noted. Not a single person from the village is identified, not even the guilty party. " 

 

         —- The Hollow Womb: Child Loss in the Middle Ages, Miria Hallum

Sinful Folk - About this novel

The book's title comes from this quote from Chaucer: 

                        

                        Pray for us, we sinful folk unstable

                                    ….

                                    My child is dead within these two weeks

                                      Soon after that, he went out of this town…

                                    With many a tear trickling on our cheeks…

                                                                       

                                                                      – Geoffrey Chaucer,

                                                                        The Canterbury Tales

 

 

Who are these people?

Who are these people, really?

Early this morning, I saw a tweet from @kendall, who apparently runs a "semantic web startup" in D.C. — I've never met the guy, but I wrote a quick reply and we had a lively discussion re. philosophy and software.

The same rapid-fire riposte happens for me several times a day — recent exchanges with @davepeck and @JessicaNorthey come to mind. Most are funny (jokes and humor are short and sweet), some are grave (#YesGayYA and #Jan25 come to mind) — but it's difficult NOT to trivialize even weighty topics in 140 characters.

But it IS possible to genuinely connect with another human being (unless you believe that Turing's famous test has already been passed). A tweet from @davepeck led to my current gig at @PARCinc, working with the great @Meshin team.

Today, I learned from @kendall that we share a passion for philosophy and software (attributes too rarely combined, imho). But is @kendall my friend? I've got over 200 people who "like" my writing on Facebook — but are they really my friends?

Some of them are — @KurtRader and I meet face to face about 2 hours a week over coffee and catch up on our lives — he's a deep friend. I hardly know @kendall, but we're linked a little now.

So who are these people, if they are not my friends?

Here's a second point to consider:

I was running late for a plane at SFO today (for my friends, this is not a surprise) — and I was in a LONG line.

I very nicely asked 25 people (1 by 1) to step aside and let me go to the front of the line. Each of them graciously did so.

Interestingly enough, years ago, when my wife was in labor with my daughter, and I hopped on a plane to get back home to Seattle — the same wonderful thing happened! (this time, no baby was being born)

I owe these people all a debt of gratitude. But I don't even know their names. Who are these people?

Whoever you are, thank you.

Thank you, @Kendall. Thank you, @DavePeck. Thank you to my facebook followers. And thank you to all those semi-anonymous "friends" who helped me make my plane and get off the ground. Thank you!

Who are these wonderful people?

Interview with Ned Hayes: My Novel SINFUL FOLK

 (from Dorothy Dreyer's great writing blog -- "We Do Write" )

In the meantime, let's meet another writer. This time we're talking to Ned Hayes. Ned has graciously allowed me to take a peek at his newest novel, and I was quite intrigued by his story.

Welcome to We Do Write, Ned. Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm interested in everything from technology mobility to post-modern theology to genetic engineering to bicycle hacking to medieval manuscripts to child-rearing and off-the-grid living. In addition to my newest novel, SINFUL FOLK, I wrote a book about technology and a mystery novel.

How long have you been writing?

I've been writing since I was 10 years old. I think I wrote my first attempted novel when I was 12, and I distinctively remember being fascinated by medieval stories and medieval life in 7th grade, when I wrote a story that won an award -- my story was set during the Hundred Years War between England and France. Writing has always been my passion -- I began by publishing shorter fiction and poetry (my book of poems, GLOSSOLALIA, appeared in 2009 from Orchard House Press. And I'm hopeful SINFUL FOLK will appear in 2012. 


Tell us about SINFUL FOLK. 
SINFUL FOLK is the story of a desperate mother who carries a hidden secret and a terrible grief. 


In December of the year 1377, the village of Duns in the south of England suffered a great tragedy. Four young boys were burned to death in a house near the center of the village. It was the dead of winter, and the house burned to the ground. Although most English peasants of that era never traveled more than twenty miles from the place of their birth, villagers loaded the bodies on a cart and journeyed over 200 miles to London, to present the bodies before the King and demand justice. 


SINFUL FOLK is the story of that mid-winter journey through the eyes of Mear, a middle-aged former nun who has lived for decades disguised as a mute man, raising her son in secret in this isolated village. Through the course of the journey with the men of the village, Mear’s story is told, her decades-long secrets come to light, and she is able to confront not only her son’s killer, but also the promise of her past, and the possibility of a new future as a noblewoman. 


Mear begins her pilgrimage in terror and heartache, and ends in triumph and redemption. 

Having read SINFUL FOLK, I have to say you presented the story well. I was brought right into the setting, the angst and sorrow Mear felt, and even wanted to punch a character or two. Her journey flowed well, and I was satisfied with the ending. How did the idea of the story come to you?

I was in graduate school for English Literature, studying Medieval Literature and reading Middle English works along with Chaucer. In the course of my reading, I came across this wonderful book by Miria Hallum called The Hollow Womb, in which the story of the village of Duns and the boys who burned to death there. It suddenly came to me that there was a person who so full of hate in that village that they burned down the house with all the boys inside. In a blind rush, I had to write a whole chapter from his perspective. I wrote a chapter in which he finds wood, carefully and surreptitiously stacks it against the house with the sleeping boys inside, and burns the place down. The whole chapter is so full of malice and anger that I found it breath-taking. I also realized I had no idea how to continue the story in the voice and head of that character. So I found my way into the head of Miriam (called Mear in the book), a woman who has been concealed in that village for years. Her perspective on the tragedy turned into the book SINFUL FOLK. The whole section I wrote from the perspective of the murderer was gradually cannibalized into difficult moments in Mear's journey and life, and the malice stripped away. However, I've never lost the sense that behind these deaths was a horrific ego and a sense of twisted payback, and the villain I knew so well traveled with Mear for all of her journey. 

What’s the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part is hearing that what you've written isn't read the way you intended, and figuring out how to revise. I wrote a complete first draft of SINFUL FOLK after my agent requested the book -- it was half done, and I'd been putting it off forever. When she asked for the novel, I knew I had to complete it. So I finished up the first draft in a headlong 3 month rush. I thought it was suspenseful and thoughtful at the same time. Instead, as my early readers told me, it was simply ponderous. It moved too slowly, and it was hard to hear that readers found it slow-going. I am intensely grateful to my friend Sheri Boggs, because if she hadn't loved it (even at its first slow pace), I might never have picked it back up again. My friend Manek helped me find the way forward... and many other friends have contributed to the ideas. Writing for me isn't really an act of isolation, but an act of community.


The hardest part of writing is to be utterly alone in the knowledge that your book isn't working, and no one else can tell you exactly what to do next. You can get good advice, but in the end, you are marooned in an ocean of possibilities. and no way forward unless you write it. 

Any tips you’ve learned about writing you’d like to share?

Most people think that writing is inspiration. It is not: it is perspiration. Write as much as possible, put words on the paper. If you keep putting 500 words down every day (that's only 2 pages, double-spaced!), you'll have 182,500 words in one year -- that's about 2 books for the average writer. Two books a year. The more you write, the more you are inspired. I wrote the first, second and third drafts of my novel for an hour a day while commuting on a train every day to a really demanding job that occupied me for 50 hours a week. You can always find time to write a page or two a day... just keep moving forward!


The other thing I've learned is that the more you write, the more inspiration comes to you. You have to be swimming to find fish. 

Very wise! Let’s get to know you on a deeper level. What do you absolutely have to have nearby when writing?

I have to have something to write with. That's all. I prefer a laptop without connectivity, so I don't get distracted by going online and "researching" (time-wasting!). But I have written on a trans-Atlantic plane in the middle of the night, I've written in a train while commuting, I've written at my desk on lunch hours, I've written at a playground with children playing loudly, and occasionally I've even written in my lovely home office with my lovely wife and excitable children banging around nearby, and I've written in the back yard. Of course, quiet, music, hot tea and a nice view are preferable. But at the end of the day, there's no need for anything but a good idea, a piece of paper and a pen. Every now and then, I've come across a good phrase while driving or biking, and I've had to memorize it for later because I have no writing implements there with me. But it's still writing. 


What human beings need to write is imagination. That is all. 

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

I would love to have the ability to go without sleeping. I love late nights -- the quiet, the solitude, the sense of working while the world sleeps around you. But I also love early mornings and dawn as the sun rises and the birds sing. Why can't I have both, and be writing through the night and into the day? 

Quick writing test! Use the following words in a sentence:argument, tiger, and ballet shoes.

The Mad Hatter found himself without an argument when the tiger came to call, bringing ballet shoes to dunk into the tea-cups all around before he ate the March Hare whole and turned to say "Good day!"
(Ok, that was a little strange, but it was certainly fun. Thanks!)

It really was! Okay, here’s the part where you thank the people who are supporting you. Let's hear your shout outs.

I truly appreciate two kinds of friends and readers. First, I really need the cheerleaders and the positive supporters who tell me how great my writing is, and love what I've done -- my friends Sheri, and Bianca Davis and my wife Jill, whose boundless support always buoys me up. Without them, I'd just sink into despondency. But I also really, really need the support and good insights of my critical readers like Manek Mistry, Christine Gunn, Larry Clark, and Matt Haugh, who tell me exactly what isn't working with a book, and how to fix it. Again, as I've said before, for me writing is really an act of community. All these wonderful people come around to help and encourage, and hone and edit, and all of their good ideas help my ideas get better and better. Thank you all!!! 

And finally, where can people find you online?

Readers can find out more about SINFUL FOLK athttp://www.SinfulFolk.com 
You can find much more of my writing at http://NedNotes.com 
 You can follow me on Twitter -- @nedwriting or check out Sinful Folk on Facebook at https://facebook.com/SinfulFolk
 
My poetry book GLOSSOLALIA (Speaking in Tongues) is on Amazon at GLOSSOLALIA
 
And I hope SINFUL FOLK will be up on Amazon soon... as well as in bookstores around the world. 

Thank you so much for chatting with us, Ned. And thank you for letting me read your wonderful work. Be sure to let us know when SINFUL FOLK is available!

Sinful FolkNed Hayes

Interview with Ned Hayes: My Novel SINFUL FOLK

 (from Dorothy Dreyer's great writing blog — "We Do Write" )

In the meantime, let's meet another writer. This time we're talking to Ned Hayes. Ned has graciously allowed me to take a peek at his newest novel, and I was quite intrigued by his story.

Welcome to We Do Write, Ned. Tell us a little about yourself.

I'm interested in everything from technology mobility to post-modern theology to genetic engineering to bicycle hacking to medieval manuscripts to child-rearing and off-the-grid living. In addition to my newest novel, SINFUL FOLK, I wrote a book about technology and a mystery novel.

How long have you been writing?

I've been writing since I was 10 years old. I think I wrote my first attempted novel when I was 12, and I distinctively remember being fascinated by medieval stories and medieval life in 7th grade, when I wrote a story that won an award — my story was set during the Hundred Years War between England and France. Writing has always been my passion — I began by publishing shorter fiction and poetry (my book of poems, GLOSSOLALIA, appeared in 2009 from Orchard House Press. And I'm hopeful SINFUL FOLK will appear in 2012. 


Tell us about SINFUL FOLK. 
SINFUL FOLK is the story of a desperate mother who carries a hidden secret and a terrible grief. 


In December of the year 1377, the village of Duns in the south of England suffered a great tragedy. Four young boys were burned to death in a house near the center of the village. It was the dead of winter, and the house burned to the ground. Although most English peasants of that era never traveled more than twenty miles from the place of their birth, villagers loaded the bodies on a cart and journeyed over 200 miles to London, to present the bodies before the King and demand justice. 


SINFUL FOLK is the story of that mid-winter journey through the eyes of Mear, a middle-aged former nun who has lived for decades disguised as a mute man, raising her son in secret in this isolated village. Through the course of the journey with the men of the village, Mear's story is told, her decades-long secrets come to light, and she is able to confront not only her son's killer, but also the promise of her past, and the possibility of a new future as a noblewoman. 


Mear begins her pilgrimage in terror and heartache, and ends in triumph and redemption. 

Having read SINFUL FOLK, I have to say you presented the story well. I was brought right into the setting, the angst and sorrow Mear felt, and even wanted to punch a character or two. Her journey flowed well, and I was satisfied with the ending. How did the idea of the story come to you?

I was in graduate school for English Literature, studying Medieval Literature and reading Middle English works along with Chaucer. In the course of my reading, I came across this wonderful book by Miria Hallum called The Hollow Womb, in which the story of the village of Duns and the boys who burned to death there. It suddenly came to me that there was a person who so full of hate in that village that they burned down the house with all the boys inside. In a blind rush, I had to write a whole chapter from his perspective. I wrote a chapter in which he finds wood, carefully and surreptitiously stacks it against the house with the sleeping boys inside, and burns the place down. The whole chapter is so full of malice and anger that I found it breath-taking. I also realized I had no idea how to continue the story in the voice and head of that character. So I found my way into the head of Miriam (called Mear in the book), a woman who has been concealed in that village for years. Her perspective on the tragedy turned into the book SINFUL FOLK. The whole section I wrote from the perspective of the murderer was gradually cannibalized into difficult moments in Mear's journey and life, and the malice stripped away. However, I've never lost the sense that behind these deaths was a horrific ego and a sense of twisted payback, and the villain I knew so well traveled with Mear for all of her journey. 

What's the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part is hearing that what you've written isn't read the way you intended, and figuring out how to revise. I wrote a complete first draft of SINFUL FOLK after my agent requested the book — it was half done, and I'd been putting it off forever. When she asked for the novel, I knew I had to complete it. So I finished up the first draft in a headlong 3 month rush. I thought it was suspenseful and thoughtful at the same time. Instead, as my early readers told me, it was simply ponderous. It moved too slowly, and it was hard to hear that readers found it slow-going. I am intensely grateful to my friend Sheri Boggs, because if she hadn't loved it (even at its first slow pace), I might never have picked it back up again. My friend Manek helped me find the way forward… and many other friends have contributed to the ideas. Writing for me isn't really an act of isolation, but an act of community.


The hardest part of writing is to be utterly alone in the knowledge that your book isn't working, and no one else can tell you exactly what to do next. You can get good advice, but in the end, you are marooned in an ocean of possibilities. and no way forward unless you write it. 

Any tips you've learned about writing you'd like to share?

Most people think that writing is inspiration. It is not: it is perspiration. Write as much as possible, put words on the paper. If you keep putting 500 words down every day (that's only 2 pages, double-spaced!), you'll have 182,500 words in one year — that's about 2 books for the average writer. Two books a year. The more you write, the more you are inspired. I wrote the first, second and third drafts of my novel for an hour a day while commuting on a train every day to a really demanding job that occupied me for 50 hours a week. You can always find time to write a page or two a day… just keep moving forward!


The other thing I've learned is that the more you write, the more inspiration comes to you. You have to be swimming to find fish. 

Very wise! Let's get to know you on a deeper level. What do you absolutely have to have nearby when writing?

I have to have something to write with. That's all. I prefer a laptop without connectivity, so I don't get distracted by going online and "researching" (time-wasting!). But I have written on a trans-Atlantic plane in the middle of the night, I've written in a train while commuting, I've written at my desk on lunch hours, I've written at a playground with children playing loudly, and occasionally I've even written in my lovely home office with my lovely wife and excitable children banging around nearby, and I've written in the back yard. Of course, quiet, music, hot tea and a nice view are preferable. But at the end of the day, there's no need for anything but a good idea, a piece of paper and a pen. Every now and then, I've come across a good phrase while driving or biking, and I've had to memorize it for later because I have no writing implements there with me. But it's still writing. 


What human beings need to write is imagination. That is all. 

If you could have any super power, what would it be?

I would love to have the ability to go without sleeping. I love late nights — the quiet, the solitude, the sense of working while the world sleeps around you. But I also love early mornings and dawn as the sun rises and the birds sing. Why can't I have both, and be writing through the night and into the day? 

Quick writing test! Use the following words in a sentence:argument, tiger, and ballet shoes.

The Mad Hatter found himself without an argument when the tiger came to call, bringing ballet shoes to dunk into the tea-cups all around before he ate the March Hare whole and turned to say "Good day!"
(Ok, that was a little strange, but it was certainly fun. Thanks!)

It really was! Okay, here's the part where you thank the people who are supporting you. Let's hear your shout outs.

I truly appreciate two kinds of friends and readers. First, I really need the cheerleaders and the positive supporters who tell me how great my writing is, and love what I've done — my friends Sheri, and Bianca Davis and my wife Jill, whose boundless support always buoys me up. Without them, I'd just sink into despondency. But I also really, really need the support and good insights of my critical readers like Manek Mistry, Christine Gunn, Larry Clark, and Matt Haugh, who tell me exactly what isn't working with a book, and how to fix it. Again, as I've said before, for me writing is really an act of community. All these wonderful people come around to help and encourage, and hone and edit, and all of their good ideas help my ideas get better and better. Thank you all!!! 

And finally, where can people find you online?

Readers can find out more about SINFUL FOLK athttp://www.SinfulFolk.com 
You can find much more of my writing at http://NedNotes.com 
 You can follow me on Twitter — @nedwriting or check out Sinful Folk on Facebook at https://facebook.com/SinfulFolk
 
My poetry book GLOSSOLALIA (Speaking in Tongues) is on Amazon at GLOSSOLALIA
 
And I hope SINFUL FOLK will be up on Amazon soon… as well as in bookstores around the world. 

Thank you so much for chatting with us, Ned. And thank you for letting me read your wonderful work. Be sure to let us know when SINFUL FOLK is available!

Smartphone Futures: Nokia & Microsoft

[image error]How mighty Nokia has fallen. Today, Nokia announced a "strategic alliance" with once arch-enemy Microsoft. In so many ways, this looks like a stealth takeover. After all, former Microsoft leading light Stephen Elop became CEO of Nokia in September. A mere five months later, he announces that Windows Phone 7 will become Nokia's "primary platform" for smartphones.

To Elop's credit, it is quite true that Nokia was standing on a burning platform, and there were few good options for the storied mobile leader. Once, Nokia was Europe's strongest technology company: in the 1990s Europe had standardized on Nokia's as the platform of choice — Symbian was on 330 million phones! When I was studying mobile trends at Adobe's Advanced Tech Lab in the 90s and early 2000s, Europe was the place to be for mobile innovation. Silicon Valley was far behind.

The iPhone changed all this in 2007. Gradually, Apple cornered half the profits in mobility — even though Nokia still had the lion's share of the market.   (See this chart from the Economist for details.) American install base rapidly surpassed Europe, and the iPhone became the dominant mobile paradigm — at least on the high end. On the low end, Chinese cheap phones crept into the developing world, and took over 1/3 of the market. In 2010, Huawei brought in $28 billion in revenues (and nearly $3 billion in profits!), matching Sony Ericsson point for point. The game was almost over for Europe — and for Nokia. 

The real story behind the Nokia+Microsoft deal isn't the particular platform that Nokia chose, but rather the fact that Nokia fully realizes that the game in moible isn't hardware anymore, but software and services.

Nokia was trapped in a commodity hardware world, where kit mattered more than content. But mobile has rapidly moved from hardware to software and content services like search, mobile apps and data on device. For this market, Google and Apple could bring heavy weaponry — both companies understood how to capitalize on content and software platforms. iOS and Android were perfectly positioned for this sea-change in mobility. The jury is still out on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform, but Steve Ballmer is investing heavily in becoming a player (again!) in mobile. 

Personally, I don't really care which platform Nokia chooses — but competition is good for everyone. Here's hoping Nokia succeeds in a desperate gamble to become relevant again in smartphones. 

Amazon, Grow Up

Today, Amazon announced they'd be shutting down a distribution center in Dallas, Texas. This is a result of Amazon's ongoing battle with Texas over collecting sales tax, and is just one more salvo in the war Amazon is fighting with a number of states, ranging from California to New York to Colorado to North Carolina to Tennessee. 

A lot of people are up in arms, opposing any attempt to collect sales tax — on that side of the equation are many of my fellow technorati. 

The rally cry goes "Information wants to be free!" and apparently, "Business wants to be free!" 

I'm in the opposite camp. Here's why.

Believe it or not, taxes exist for the common good. Especially state taxes. I live in a state capitol (the lovely Olympia, WA), and I gotta tell you, state workers are hardly over-compensated. Every dime is micro-managed down to the bone, and the vast majority of funds are used for important items like nursing homes, rehabilitation services, child welfare services, police pay, highway repair, and — believe it or not — ensuring that we have a solid infrastructure for corporations.

Amazon is the beneficiary of an improving public transportation system (which will be improving further) in Washington State, and a dynamic building boom in the Seattle area — much of which was funded by public dollars. Taxes. Corporate taxes. 

Finally, they sure as hell couldn't attract their employees to Seattle if it had the tax base of a Detroit. High-tech employees wouldn't re-locate to an area with terrible schools, defunct public utilities and urban blight. The taxes paid by every other company in Washington State sure as hell made it possible for Amazon to exist, and thrive in this state. Hell, they couldn't have a distribution center in Texas — or Colorado — if some corporation hadn't paid taxes for the airport and the roads. 

Pony up, Amazon, make it right. (By the way, if you work for any brick-and-mortar retailer, Amazon's approach to this fight has a corollary in the way China's policies have crippled our economy in real competition. Amazon is also fighting an unfair fight. If you're a techno-libertarian — or a conservative economist — don't you want a fair field for a fight? Should government largesse privelege one player over another?)

Here's a quote that sums up the moral contract a business should uphold as a "corporate citizen" in our society: "A company the size of Amazon with $14 billion in sales should not be given a government-sponsored advantage over brick-and-mortar retailers," said Jason Brewer, a spokesman for Retailer Industry Leaders Association.

The libertarian rallying cry taken up by many is really a childish approach to the tax fight. Amazon is simply trying to avoid the basic responsibilities of a grown-up business, to contribute to the economy in areas in which it has customers. Sure, it won't be good for the bottom line.

That's kind of the point. It's for the larger good. Not your bottom line. 

Be a grown-up business, and stop fighting the hand that actually feeds you. 

Grow up, Amazon. 

Are smartphones broken? You tell me.(This is the problem...

Are smartphones broken? You tell me.

(This is the problem statement for Aro Mobile, which I worked on most recently at Kiha Software)

creating a better body

I've had some fun recently watching and reading about the Terminator series. It's not a bad attempt to bring a large SF franchise into the more constrained world of TV, and there's considerable fan momentum. As I watch and read, I've been thinking about the distinctions drawn on the show between human beings and the machine beings they confront / work with / fear. Although it's just entertainment, the questions raised by drama like this will begin to be increasingly important to us in the coming decades. For example, let's think a bit about constructing a human-like machine.

If you were creating an artificial lifeform from the ground-up, what kinds of elements would you use?

First, in any kind of hostile environment, it would be wise to create an internal skeleton made of a matrix of some sort of highly flexible yet very strong metal. A network that would carry materials to re-build and upgrade internal systems — the best way of communicating would be through a chemical/electrical metallic soup of individually independent systems — little nano-like magnetized iron particles, each of which would contain the whole blueprint for the system, so you wouldn't have to send signals back to some sort of central system in order to effect remote repairs on independent portions of the system.

Oh, and best of all, if you could have a self re-generating type of exoskeleton that would render the internal system and iron-based fluid network impervious to water contamination or external forces, that would be great. So, it really suits the Terminator-like model: metal interior skeleton, electrically-conducting interior network, metallic, iron-based magnetized nano-particles that each have a miniature copy of the entire system. Self-re-generating properties. Couple that with a strong brain based on electrical and chemical reactions, and we actually have… a human being.

Calcium — the basic building block of our internal skeleton — is, in fact, a metal. Here's some more information about the metal calcium, the fifth most abundant element in the Earth's surface. When used in a lattice-like framework, calcium is incredibly strong. Stronger than steel of similar weight and construction (which is the reason that in the Terminator movie and show they use a hitherto-undiscovered metal). And each of our blood cells in our veins contain our DNA as a blueprint of our whole system, and blood itself is iron-based — and arguably magnetizable (the considerable degree of iron in our blood turns it red on exposure to oxygen, and turns it brown like rust after long exposure). The brain, and our nervous system run off a combination of electrical and chemical impulses.

When we think of trying to construct a metal robot that is bipedal and self-sufficient (not to mention self re-generating), we really have in front of us an amazing model of how metal and electrical systems can evolve.

While we're on the topic, I came across an interesting bit of Terminator trivia this weekend.

Remember the original Terminator movie? Whenever you see through the eyes of The Terminator himself, a bunch of computery text is scrolling by. It turns out this text is the source code for an Apple II checksum program, among other programs. The code was first published in Nibble magazine in the early 80's, so was close at hand when the movie's producers needed something high-tech for their futuristic robot/killing machine/bodybuilder.

The code featured in the movie runs on a 70's-era MOS 6502 microprocessor.

This is a Tumblr Cloud I generated from my blog posts between...

This is a Tumblr Cloud I generated from my blog posts between Dec 2009 and Feb 2011 containing my top 20 used words.