C.J. Moseley's Blog, page 123
March 28, 2015
Gamestop as a fee-free, convenient banking institution
JWZ’s law
states that “Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail.” A
corollary is that every complex system expands until it becomes a bank.
Yesterday, I wrote about how a chatbot for organizing coffee orders became a full-fledged bank.
Now, here’s a 4chan post
explaining a dumb/clever way of using Gamestop stores as fee-free
banking institutions by pre-ordering (and pre-paying) for games, then
cancelling your orders and getting a refund (to make a withdrawal), and
ordering new games (to make a deposit). It’s fee-free, and as a
pre-orderer, you get all the bonus stuff (your bank pays you!).
This is probably more of a reflection of the total dysfunction of
banking, where low interest rates and hidden inflation, as well as high
fees, conspire to bleed out savers to pay for reckless speculation, but
it’s still a pretty clever way of getting fee-free banking from an
institution with more branches, and better hours, than many banks.
Since Barclays have games on their website now this may just be a case of convergence - eventually everyone will be a retail, banking, gaming conglomerate…
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March 27, 2015
ultrafacts:
pizzaismylifepizzaisking:ultrafacts:Welsh folklore…
Welsh folklore says the corgi is the preferred mount of fairy warriors. There is also a folk legend that says corgis were a gift from the woodland fairies, and that the breed’s markings were left on its coat by fairy harnesses and saddles. [x]
Source: http://dogtime.com/dog-breeds/pembroke-welsh-corgi
Drawing by Skottan
Follow Ultrafacts for more facts
I wonder if the Queen has a secret army of fairy warriors and that’s why she has so many Corgis.
She might…
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pizzaismylifepizzaisking:ultrafacts:Welsh folklore… appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 26, 2015
So many things to do so little time
The Easter holidays are nearly on us (and the Moseley clan are off to Orlando, FL, on Wednesday) and I still haven't finished "Ironmaster & Other Tales" yet![caption id="attachment_14679" align="alignleft" width="1024"]
[/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="2048" caption="A recent visit to Leeds cut into editing time... "]
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I have been editing, although I haven't found much to reduce so far (and only a few corrections), and suspect that each chapter being a separate story has swelled the collection far larger than a more normal novel would be - at least three Novellas lurk in the text, so it will be value for money. I've also recruited a few more beta readers to get more feedback and see if any other changes should be made.
I've also finished planning a thriller (even more commercial than Ironmaster- I hope) that mixes in a few subtle hints of pancosmic horror, that will build during the sequels until 'The stars are right' and R'lyeh rises... Which should be fun.
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="2048" caption="I also visited my mum for her birthday - this is the view out her kitchen window atm"]
[/caption]
And I'm still working on plans for a YA post-apocalyptic series that we are currently world-building with the monthly RPG night (which is tomorrow). This month's episodes explored the Culture and society of the Techno's, Innocs, and their Space-Brothers...
The story I'm working on for it should explore concepts of alienation in a society that has hard borders and an evolving caste system that creates some interesting political tensions - and I might throw in an Alien Predator or Doom-esque escapees from Hell for a bit of light relief and action... but I really should be designing that scenario and not posting a blog update here.
On we go then...
Posted from my Phone so...
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asylum-art:Irresistible Paris on Watercolors of Thierry…
Irresistible Paris on Watercolors of Thierry DuvalFrench watercolorist with an impressive talent for capturing city life Thierry Duval was born in Paris, France in 1968. He is one of the best watercolor artists of the moment. His watercolors are characterized by a strong
light and precision in drawing, being almost or hyperrealism in the
results mainly in his Paris watercolors. By using glazing technique he
works in several steps up to get the final, very realistic result.
Thierry enjoys photographing the Seine in the early morning, he likes to
filter light below decks, roofs gleaming in the rain, the silhouettes
of majestic monuments that arose at the turn of an alley, the sounds of
Paris, barges, markets, cafes. He likes to observe these lonely passers
on the Pont des Arts, he likes to soak up the fall in Paris. This
photographic work, nourishes and inspires him in his painting: this
leads to the realism of a Paris dreamlike, poetic, nostalgic and
timeless. If you love Paris you’ll find these Paris watercolors
irresistible!
I thought nice photos until I read the title. Watercolours?! I may never paint again.
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March 25, 2015
chronicintrovert:starlordsdickmessage:Alice Oseman being…
Alice Oseman being adorable [x] and giving fabulous writing advice.
tbh i would read a book about sparkly werewolf vampire boyfriends in a magical school… just saying
I wouldn’t but I suspect a lot of people would…
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March 24, 2015
I write like Cory Doctorow
I dropped the first story of Ironmaster into the ‘I write like’ engine…
I quite like the comparison.
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the-actual-universe:
sixpenceee:Underside of old frying pans…
Underside of old frying pans by Christopher Jonassen
No matter how many times I read that caption I still struggle to not see these as, like, Jupiter’s moons or something.
o_0
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sixpenceee:Underside of old frying pans… appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 23, 2015
samiholloway:
Accurate.
I’d forgotten that skit!
Accurate.
I’d forgotten that skit!
The post samiholloway:
Accurate.
I’d forgotten that skit! appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 17, 2015
sixpenceee:
Hey! Everyone’s glitch in the matrix posts have…
Hey! Everyone’s glitch in the matrix posts have been great so far.
Once again a glitch in the matrix, is any odd, bizarre or creepy event.
I’ve read some excellent ones. And I’ve found new, really cool stories that are supposedly true. I can’t guarantee you they are, but these are what people have reported happening to them.
Hope you and enjoy, and never forget that if you want to share your creepy experience with me you can. Just tag “sixpenceee” in your post! Maybe I’ll make a post with the best glitch experiences as reported by tumblr users.
Alright let’s begin this post.
THE MAN FROM ANOTHER WORLD
On a normal day in 1954, a man allegedly flew into Tokyo. When he handed over his passport to be stamped, the man was immediately interrogated. While his passport looked authentic, it listed an unknown country called Taured.
The man claimed his country was located between France and Spain, but when he was asked to point it out on a map, he pointed to the Principality of Andorra. He said he had never heard of Andorra and that Taured had existed for 1,000 years, he claimed that he was in Japan on business. His passport seemed to back up his story, as it was covered in previous customs and visa stamps. He even had a driver’s license and checks issued by the mysterious country and an unheard of bank.
The traveler was sent to a nearby hotel until an official decision could be reached. The next day they discovered the mystery man had vanished without a trace. The Tokyo police department conducted an extensive search but came up empty-handed.
WHAT IF THE BEATLES NEVER BROKE UP?
A man claims he was chasing his dog through Del Puerto Canyon in California on September 9, 2009 when he tripped and knocked himself unconscious. Upon waking up, he found himself in a room next to an unrecognizable machine with a man who introduced himself as Jonas.
According to the strange man, while on a work-related trip for a dimensional travel agency, he had used the machine to transport the unconscious Richards to a parallel Earth in order to help him.
They started to talk and ended up talking about the Beatles, a band both dimensions shared. To Richards’s surprise, in this alternate dimension, The Beatles were all alive and still creating music. Richards brought back a souvenir cassette tape entitled Everyday Chemistry that was composed of Beatles songs never released in our dimension, which he helpfully uploaded to his website.
LIFE WAS NEVER THE SAME
In July 2008, a 41-year-old woman named Lerina Garcia woke up in her bed and went about her day. However, as she went on with her normal routine, she claims she found small details that seemed peculiar. For example, her sheets and pajamas were different from what she remembered wearing to bed. She brushed it off. However, when she arrived at her job, she realized it wasn’t actually her department, despite being in its usual location on its usual floor.
She returned home only to find the man from whom she says she had separated six months before, act like the separation had never taken place. Her new lover, whom she claimed she had been seeing for four months, was nowhere to be found. Even after hiring a private detective, his whereabouts remained unknown. There was no trace of him at his alleged residence nor any trace of his family.
While it seems more likely that Garcia’s perceptions are the result of some neurological malfunction, she believes she woke up in a parallel universe.
SHADOW PEOPLE
One tale describes a woman’s meeting with the mysterious entities as a little girl in Massachusetts during the mid-1990s. During her first night sleeping in a new room, she claims to have seen a tall and unnatural shadow on the wall. To her surprise, the shadow stepped off the wall and glided around the room, wearing what appeared to be glasses.
She saw three more of these shadow people near her closet. She eventually realized a large shadow was slowly enveloping the entire room, leaving her in pitch darkness before she leaped from her bed to take comfort in her grandparents’ room.
THE FOREST TO THE OTHER DIMENSION
The Markawasi stone forest lies in the Andes Mountains in Lima, Peru. A dimensional door that is said to be located in the forest.
According to Dr. Raul Rios Centeno, an investigator of the unexplained in Lima, a patient came to see him about her extreme case of hemiplegia, a disorder that results in a complete loss of motor function in half of the body.
When he inquired about the woman’s condition, she revealed that she had been camping with friends in the Markawasi. According to the patient, they had gone out exploring late in the night and happened upon a torch-lit stone cabin filled with dancing revelers in 17th-century attire.
The woman said she felt an otherworldly pull toward the cabin, but she was yanked away by one of her friends before she could fully enter. The incident left the side of her body that had entered the cabin paralyzed.
Her test results revealed no discernible cause for her paralysis. Centeno believes the woman experienced a dimensional shift, producing a change in her nervous system’s energy flow. Many natives as well as scholars believe that a dimensional doorway exists in the stone forest of Markawasi.
Love it
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Hey! Everyone’s glitch in the matrix posts have… appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
March 16, 2015
scificity:
New X-Wing Colorshttp://scificity.tumblr.com
;)
scificity:
New X-Wing Colorshttp://scificity.tumblr.com
;)
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New X-Wing Colorshttp://scificity.tumblr.com
;) appeared first on CJMoseley.com.
