Robyn Paterson's Blog, page 45

Gun Control Revisited

I’m for gun control. I have been for a long time, it’s probably just a natural part of being Canadian. I don’t think we need to carry around handguns to be safe in our country, and I have been all for the idea of restricting access to firearms as much as humanly possible because I believe it’s a heck of a lot harder to kill 40 people with a kitchen knife.

That is, until I listened to the most recent episode of Dan Carlin’s Common Sense podcast. (Which is one of the best shows Dan has ever done...

Ghost Ends

I just finished watching the final episode of the Korean Drama called Ghost that I previously reviewed on the blog. The ending was a week late because of the Olympics, but was totally worth the wait. It was a great roller-coaster of a series, and now that it’s finished I have to say it’s one of the best Korean dramas I’ve watched to date.

One thing that impressed me about the ending was that despite all the twists, turns and tricks the producers have used over the twenty episodes to keep the s...

Urban Sprawl- Mexico City Style

A friend linked to this picture of Mexico City this morning and I have to say it really made my jaw drop. I don’t even think the term “Urban Sprawl” does this picture justice, it’s like a giant maze of a city. Make sure you click on it and see the full version to understand.

This post is from my blog at robynpaterson.com.

Funny Mama – Harry Potter Comics

I don’t usually post links to things like this, but this collection of Harry Potter gag comics really made me laugh this morning, so enjoy!

Funny Mama – Harry Potter Comp.

John Ralston Saul on The Collapse of Globalism

Just finished watching this amazing 2 part interview with John Raulston Saul that aired on TVO’s The Agenda this week. A really fascinating discussion of the real nature of Globalization and how and why Saul believes it failed.

I’m not sure I agree with everything Saul says, but most of it does make a large degree of sense. One of the most interesting things he explained (for me) was about the “Oil Crisis” that occurred in the 1970′s, of which Oil was only a part of the problem. The short vers...

Excellent Interview on Cybercrime with Misha Glenny

If you get the chance, absolutely watch/listen to TVO’s interviews with Misha Glenny on cybercrime. They’re really fascinating stuff, even to someone like me who already knows a bit about the topic. Glenny covers not only how it’s done, but who does it, and how they get involved with this shadowy underworld. He also talks about the most vulnerable place for cybercrime in the world- North America. Why? Give them a watch.

If Ian Fleming – author of the James Bond spy novels – were alive today, a...

TeaNoWriMo Results/ Writing Update

Well, I tried to make July 2012 in Teacher’s Novel Writing Month, hoping that using this month off could help me boost my creativity and give me a jump forward.

How did it turn out?

Well, with a goal of around 50,000 words for July I managed to pull of a whopping 6000 or so. Yay me!

As it turned out, July was a month filled with personal issues and obstacles that basically killed my writing time. It’s odd, really, sometimes I feel I’m busier and more occupied in the Summer when I’m not at the...

The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic – NYTimes.com

CALL me a converted skeptic. Three years ago I identified problems in previous climate studies that, in my mind, threw doubt on the very existence of global warming. Last year, following an intensive research effort involving a dozen scientists, I concluded that global warming was real and that the prior estimates of the rate of warming were correct. I’m now going a step further: Humans are almost entirely the cause.

via The Conversion of a Climate-Change Skeptic – NYTimes.com.

Naruto creator has gay ending planned?

Interesting. When I think about it, it does make the most sense. I’m not sure if it will really happen, or if this is just him trying to drive up ratings for his series (which has devolved into endless fights and lost my interest a while ago). I would prefer Naruto and Hinata myself, but this ending can work too.

“Masashi Kishimoto-sensei, creator of Naruto, who openly declared that he liked Shounen-ai, his favourite pairing was SasuNaru and that he was going to give the manga an end of that n...

Pixar Story Rules in LEGO!

Alex Elyar on Slacktory has taken Emma Coat’s Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling and turned them posters illustrated with Lego for great visual results:

I’ve always heard that you can have one major co-incidence per story and the audience will generally let it pass. However, this rule is pretty good too!

I learned this one from doing Audio Drama, but it’s stuck with me while doing prose fiction as well. It’s a variant of the K.I.S.S. rule.

Good advice. As someone who is currently having a small bit o...