Will Once's Blog, page 17
February 19, 2015
How random is random?
There is a fascinating article on the BBC news website. Apparently, some people have been getting upset about the random function on Spotify. Cue the creepy X-files music. You see, Spotify users have been spotting patterns. Favourite songs coming up more often than you would expect. Songs from the same genre of even the same…
February 16, 2015
Expectant Father Syndrome
It’s that time again. I am about to publish a new book. The proof reading is well underway. We have a title and a cover. It is finally going from “will it ever be finished” to “nearly there”. There is no feeling quite like it. I am excited and��nervous all at the same time. I’m…
February 13, 2015
Beware the infodump, my son
“Beware the Infodump, my son! The facts that bite, the plots that catch! Beware the exposition itch, and shun The frumious dialogue.” I’ve been reading a lot of self-published novels recently. For me, it’s part of the deal about being a self-published author myself. If I want people to read my books, then I should…
February 9, 2015
It’s just not cricket
There is a debate going on in the Goodreads humour club about British humour versus American humor. And we have just got to the subject of cricket. Joseph has come up with the delightful explanation: “Cricket is actually an elaborate rain-ceremony with a high success rate.” That is such a good line that I was…
February 7, 2015
The secret of British humour
There is a debate going on over in the Humor (sic) Club on Goodreads ��� who are funnier, British or American literary humourists? And this fragmented into a sub-question. Where did the British sense of humour come from? How did this tiny island produce Monty Python, PG Wodehouse, Tom Sharpe, the Goons, the fork handle…
January 31, 2015
The robot apocalypse spell checker
My son – aka the Best Boy in the World ��� said an interesting thing the other day. He pointed out that most dating these days is arranged by match-making websites. And that means that computers are choosing who gets matched with who. So if the robot apocalypse ever does happen, the computers could start…
January 27, 2015
Spam, spammers and spamees
A year and a half ago, I decided I wanted my very own internet domain name. I suppose it’s the modern version of personalised car number plates. Or wearing your name printed on your underpants if you genuinely are called Calvin Klein. And that is why I am the proud owner of will-once.com. It is…
January 25, 2015
The Once Cringeometer of Offensiveness
Rod left an interesting comment on my blog “The bare facts”. He said: I believe that interfering with rights and offending someone are two different things. Rights are about actions and offense is about thinking. Sorry, Rod, but I don’t agree. Let me explain why. Many people are talking about the freedom of speech and…
Did Elvis have ugly ears?
A funny thing happened last night. My wife and I were sitting down to watch the goggle box. It was that time of the evening where, if we were younger, we would be having sex. ��But we’re not, so we weren’t. We were watching television ��� the twenty first century’s replacement for sex. And we…
January 22, 2015
The bare facts
Let’s talk nudity. This picture is the front cover of the Nirvana album Nevermind. It is perfectly legal to own this picture. But it would not be legal – in the UK at least – to own a collection of images like this. That would be bordering on child pornography. So one image is okay…
