A.C. Flory's Blog, page 126

Australia Post #scam email

This one really had me going for a sec. Have a look:

We’ve been getting a lot of parcels lately, the Offspring and I, so when I saw this email, my first thought was that it was genuine. Luckily the weight shown below the bogus tracking number – 1.67 kg – made me suspicious as nothing we’ve bought has been heavy.

The very next thing I looked at was the ‘From’ line which reads:

Australia Post

Quite apart from the weird email address for a supposed national postal service, the country code is ‘.es’ and that stands for Spain, not Australia. So I think I can safely say this was not from my friendly post office.

I can also say that as a scam, this looks bloody good. The graphics are all correct. I couldn’t see an obvious typo or poor grammar. No attachment to be wary of, and no obvious links taking you god knows where… BUT…have a look at that big red ‘Print out package info’ button. It doesn’t look like a link, but I’ll bet that it takes you somewhere that requires some kind of ID to be entered [I didn’t click so I don’t know for sure but I’m pretty confident].

So…a very clever scam email. If any of my aussie friends get one – delete, delete, delete!

cheers

Meeks

 

Filed under: Community Service Tagged: Australia-Post, email, link, print-package-info, scam

#Internet #Addiction – guilty as charged?

This article is about e-addiction. Don’t reach for your dictionaries, I just made that up. The addiction, however, is very real and I’ve experienced it myself, both as a gamer and as a netizen.

According to this article in the Washington Post :

‘[internet] Addicts lose interest in other hobbies or, sometimes, never develop any. When not allowed to go online, they experience withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, depression or even physical shaking. They retreat into corners of the Internet where they can find quick success — a dominant ranking in a game or a well-liked Facebook post — that they don’t have in the real world, experts say.’

The emphasis on ‘success’ is mine, and I believe it is the foundation of this psychological addiction. If real life sucks, go online and become a ‘god’ who is respected and adored by everyone. Or words to that effect.That kind of ego stroking is very hard to ignore because we all want to be respected, admired, liked.

The real problem, however, is not that we find ‘success’ online, but that we do not find it in the real world.

In a way, I guess this is just another First World problem, but it is real, and it will become more prevalent as the mobile generations swap their Smartphones for SmartJewellery, or SmartClothing, or SmartGoggles…or whatever. All these future devices will be fantastic, but they will not make living in the real world any easier.

Definitely food for thought,

Meeks

p.s.in Korea, the pressures of real life have already created a whole society that is more ‘connected’ than any other. And they’re starting to have serious problems. This case is unusual but brings home the message.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: addiction, gaming, psychology, rank, self-esteem, South-Korea, success, USA

#Innerscape part 10 – Real time vs Innerscape time

-grin- Venting in the previous post worked like a charm! Brain refocused and came up with this:

 

Thank goodness for Excel! I could never have nutted this out manually.

cheers

Meeks

 

 

 

Filed under: Innerscape Tagged: Innerscape, Innerscape-time, real-time, spreadsheet, update, vs

#Innerscape part 10 – the thriller I had no intention of writing

I’m in way over my head! I write sci-fi, not thrillers or mysteries…so how did I get to a point where I’m having to work out time differentials for the plot?

Before I try to explain what’s been driving me crazy, I need to say that all of my favourite sci-fi books weave together a mix of history, culture, psychology, politics, technology, conflict and an element of mystery. Think Dune, and working out the relationship of the great worms to the planet’s ecology. All of that is normal because good sci-fi creates worlds, and worlds are full of people, and people do ‘stuff’.

I understand all that, especially the bit about people doing ‘stuff’. My problem is that I never expected the characters in Innerscape to finish up doing mystery thriller type stuff.

I’ve read mystery thriller type books by the boat load, but there is a world of difference between reading in a genre and trying to write in that genre. I feel as if I’m groping for the ‘rules’ on the fly, and it’s hard. Integrating the requirements of mystery/thrillers into a sci-fi environment is even harder, and at the moment I’m stuck on ‘time’.

To make the plot work, various people have to do various things, together and in sequence, so I have to know when things happen, right down to the last minute. But…in order to make the Residents of Innerscape feel as if they are living for longer, time in Innerscape runs faster than time on the outside. About twenty minutes faster.

As an aspect of science fiction, this time differential between Innerscape and the outside world is not a big deal. I do some hand waving and a bit of arithmetic and the time flows make sense. Easy peasey…until I introduce the twin elements of mystery and thriller to the mix. Suddenly the difference between Innerscape time and real world time matters, a lot. So does how I present this conflict between internal and external time.

Right from the beginning of Innerscape, I’ve worked hard to make the reader feel as if time really is passing, hopefully without hitting them over the head with dates and durations and elapsed blah blah. Now, though, I’ve reached a point where I really am going to have to elevate time to the position of Very Important Plot Element, and I’m struggling.

The pic below is a screenshot of the StoryBox navigation pane for Part 10. It’s one of the reasons I love StoryBox as it allows me to outline, more or less on the fly:

 

As an outline, the pic only makes sense to me [just as well or I’d have to post a Spoiler Alert!]. But it does show how I’m trying to work out what happens when.

Sadly, the reason I’m writing this post is that I’m sort of stumped…and procrastinating. Once I finish the post, I’m going to have to resort to pen and paper to storyboard the exact sequence of events because at the moment, I feel horribly muddled. -sigh-

If there are any thriller/mystery writers out there with tips, I’d love to hear them.

cheers

Meeks

 

 

 

Filed under: Innerscape Tagged: mystery, plotting, sci-fi, StoryBox, thriller, time, writing

#VR – will it need safety standards?

The following quote describes the [current] experience of VR [virtual reality]:

‘“The gap between ‘things that happen to my character’ and ‘things that happen to me’ is bridged,” Stephan said. This distinction can transform an experience from merely flinch-inducing to sincerely frightening. “The way I process these scares is not through the eyes of a person using their critical media-viewing faculty but through the eyes of I, the self, with all of the very human, systems-level, subconscious voodoo that comes along with that.”’

Given how immersive even normal gaming can be, I do not find this phenomenon all that surprising. What I do find surprising is the genuine note of warning sounded in the article. You can find the entire story here:

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/the-coming-horror-of-virtual-reality

[and thanks to the Passive Guy for pointing the way]

Back to VR. As a gamer, I’ve been thinking about the consequences of addiction for a long time, and in Emmi’s story [in The Vintage Egg], one of the ideas I toss out there is that in the future, legislation will stop gamers from ‘playing’ for longer than a few hours. For their own good.

Will society really impose restrictions on the use of VR and AR [Augmented Reality]?

-shrug- Who knows, but it is gratifying to find that someone else is also thinking beyond the ‘oh goody, a new, supa doopa toy’ to the possible consequences of using that toy. I suspect that we will have to have deaths before the technology is regulated, which is a sobering thought. One thing I am certain about, however, is that next five to ten years will deliver a world-wide, totally voluntary [and probably expensive] social experiment on disruptive technology.

Next gen #gaming for the masses

Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson have been toiling away at augmented reality for years at their startup, CastAR. Their ambition to make a fun AR product has been cooking for a while, and they’re taking a very different approach to the next-generation gaming platform. And given Ellsworth’s background as an underdog, it’s no surprise she’s…

via How CastAR’s Jeri Ellsworth will use augmented reality for fun tabletop gaming — VentureBeat

This post was like a bolt of lightning for all sorts of reasons – it’s about gaming, it’s about everyday people and it’s the vision of an amazing young woman.

Women in technology are still rare enough to make me sit up and take notice. Women in technology who may be creating the very next big thing? Phenomenal!

Go girl.

Eurovision 2016 – congratulations Ukraine!

The Offspring and I just finished watching the scoring for Eurovision 2016, and we’re both knackered! So exciting but also incredibly nerve wracking.

Ukraine won at the very end, but out very own Dami Im led for most of the judging, and we couldn’t be more proud. Congratulations Ukraine and THANK YOU, Dami.[image error]

cheers

Meeks

p.s. This is the people’s favourite – You’re the Only One [Russia]:

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: 2016, Australia, Dami-Im, Eurovision, The-Sound-of-Silence, Ukraine, video

Clever kitty!

If you love #kittens and #cats and clever photography/photo manipulation, you will love this jigsaw puzzle!

Enjoy!

Meeks

p.s. apologies for the lack of posts, but after being sick last week and going back to work this week, I have no energy left for thinking type stuff.[image error]

 

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: jigsaw, kitten, photo-manipulation, photography, tiger

#VR – Virtual reality – ‘suit’

In Innerscape, I imagined an immersion ‘tank’ as the the technology for the top end of virtual reality gaming, but this suit is miles better. And its technology is perhaps five years away, not 80 plus.

If you don’t want to watch the video, have a look at this article from Gizmag:

http://www.gizmag.com/axonvr-virtual-reality-suit/43179/

More and more, I’m realising that the future is now. Heaven only knows what the real future will bring!

cheers

Meeks

Filed under: Innerscape Tagged: exo-skeleton, gaming, sensors, suit, tactile, technology, thermal, virtual-reality, VR

Stealing when you’re hungry is not a crime

Sometimes the judicial system gives me hope.

An Italian court ruled that a man caught stealing some cheese and sausage – because he was hungry and penniless – did not commit a crime. This decision over-ruled a previous conviction for theft.

Included in the decision was this:

‘….the court’s judgment “reminds everyone that in a civilized country, not even the worst of men should starve”.

Amen.

My thanks to Quartz for this article and for making me feel better today. I caught the Offspring’s flu and I’m not a happy camper.

Meeks

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: cheese-and-sausage, hungry, Italy, justice, Law, not-theft