Stephen Hart's Blog, page 2
June 26, 2014
FYI: Fake amazon email
Just a quick warning for those of us who place orders with Amazon (a fair number, I imagine).
There is another fake email thingie going round, purporting to be from amazon about an order.
It is quite convincing and has links back to the real site.
The giveaway is the attachment order_id.zip which contains a windows executable file (called order_id_78362478236784236784623875.exe if anyone is interested...)
It probably wouldn't infect your Mac but don't click on it anyway.
I've reported it to Amazon.
There is another fake email thingie going round, purporting to be from amazon about an order.
It is quite convincing and has links back to the real site.
The giveaway is the attachment order_id.zip which contains a windows executable file (called order_id_78362478236784236784623875.exe if anyone is interested...)
It probably wouldn't infect your Mac but don't click on it anyway.
I've reported it to Amazon.
June 12, 2014
Creative Displacement Activity
Like, I am sure, many other writers I suffer from chronic Displacement Activity. That is, I keep finding something else more inspiring than the book I am currently supposed to be writing.
Like blogging for Goodreads, for example.
So I came up with the cunning plan of organised displacement. I keep a second project running which I know that I definitely, positively should not be working on.
The rather chaotic space that is my brain gets tricked into thinking that working on this is really goofing off.
'Cant - A Gentleman's Guide' came to fruition this way. I was supposed to be working on the sequel to 'The Unfortunate Deaths of Jonathan Wild' but I kept straying.
By the time my brain realised it had been tricked, Cant was very close to completion. This being the case, I thought I might as well finish it properly, which I did.
I am now back to working on the sequel - entitled 'The Orphans of Lady Mattingham' if anyone is interested - but I need a new displacement activity.
Recently, I discovered a fascinating diary written by a body-snatcher in the early 19th century.
Under no circumstance must I do any work on this.
Like blogging for Goodreads, for example.
So I came up with the cunning plan of organised displacement. I keep a second project running which I know that I definitely, positively should not be working on.
The rather chaotic space that is my brain gets tricked into thinking that working on this is really goofing off.
'Cant - A Gentleman's Guide' came to fruition this way. I was supposed to be working on the sequel to 'The Unfortunate Deaths of Jonathan Wild' but I kept straying.
By the time my brain realised it had been tricked, Cant was very close to completion. This being the case, I thought I might as well finish it properly, which I did.
I am now back to working on the sequel - entitled 'The Orphans of Lady Mattingham' if anyone is interested - but I need a new displacement activity.
Recently, I discovered a fascinating diary written by a body-snatcher in the early 19th century.
Under no circumstance must I do any work on this.
June 8, 2014
We are the Necron Army
My son has recently discovered Warhammer 40K - a tabletop wargaming system immensely popular with a generation or two after mine. Takes me back to my Napoleonics figurine days.
The 40K refers, not the exorbitant cost of the pieces of plastic, but to the setting - the 41st century. The galaxy is being overrun by [choose favourite alien] who threaten [choose appropriate horrible fate] opposed only by the forces of [choose appropriate staunch defender].
My son has chosen to play one of the evil aliens. Good on him, I say. A chip off the old block.
So we are now building a Necron army - vicious robots awakening from a sixty million year hibernation (they don't think small in this game) and preparing to rid the galaxy of all those pesky organic lifeforms.
Children are great. They remind you of things you have half-forgotten - just how much fun you can have with world-building and imagination and not just in the context of books.
I can't help it. I've started working on a set of scenarios where the Orks (think Tolkien orcs with tanks and rocket launchers) discover a newly-reviving Necron Tomb World (don't ask) and attempt to eliminate the Necrons before they can get going properly.
The only problem is I now have Tom Lehrer's 'Folk Song Army' running through my head all the time.
We are the Necron Army...
The 40K refers, not the exorbitant cost of the pieces of plastic, but to the setting - the 41st century. The galaxy is being overrun by [choose favourite alien] who threaten [choose appropriate horrible fate] opposed only by the forces of [choose appropriate staunch defender].
My son has chosen to play one of the evil aliens. Good on him, I say. A chip off the old block.
So we are now building a Necron army - vicious robots awakening from a sixty million year hibernation (they don't think small in this game) and preparing to rid the galaxy of all those pesky organic lifeforms.
Children are great. They remind you of things you have half-forgotten - just how much fun you can have with world-building and imagination and not just in the context of books.
I can't help it. I've started working on a set of scenarios where the Orks (think Tolkien orcs with tanks and rocket launchers) discover a newly-reviving Necron Tomb World (don't ask) and attempt to eliminate the Necrons before they can get going properly.
The only problem is I now have Tom Lehrer's 'Folk Song Army' running through my head all the time.
We are the Necron Army...
June 4, 2014
Pastor Moritz in England
I came across a fascinating book called 'Travels in England in 1782'. It is an account by a young Prussian pastor - Charles Moritz - of seven weeks he spent in England in 1782.
One of his complaints is that you just can't get a decent cup of coffee, the English version of which he describes as "a prodigious quantity of brown water".
I still have memories of being in England almost precisely 200 years later and asking for a cappuccino. I watched in horror as the the man mixed instant coffee and powdered milk in a styrofoam cup, added some boiling water then frothed the resulting mess.
Of course, that was more than 30 years ago. I'm sure it is much better now.
He had his occasional troubles with English service as well. At one inn where he stayed he was treated so badly that when the chambermaid lined up to ask for a tip saying 'remember the chambermaid' his exasperated reply was "Yes, I shall long remember your most ill-mannered behaviour and shameful incivility."
He left without leaving a tip and was pursued up the street by the servants, cursing him as he went.
Unlike the coffee, I have no bad memories of the service and was certainly never pursued up the street. And indeed Pastor Moritz mostly met with kindness during his travels.
I love the 18th century - it is full of fascinating and colourful characters.
I'll write a full review of this when I finish but I just had to share it now.
It is available from Project Gutenberg for the very reasonable price of free.
Oh yes, I also love Project Gutenberg
One of his complaints is that you just can't get a decent cup of coffee, the English version of which he describes as "a prodigious quantity of brown water".
I still have memories of being in England almost precisely 200 years later and asking for a cappuccino. I watched in horror as the the man mixed instant coffee and powdered milk in a styrofoam cup, added some boiling water then frothed the resulting mess.
Of course, that was more than 30 years ago. I'm sure it is much better now.
He had his occasional troubles with English service as well. At one inn where he stayed he was treated so badly that when the chambermaid lined up to ask for a tip saying 'remember the chambermaid' his exasperated reply was "Yes, I shall long remember your most ill-mannered behaviour and shameful incivility."
He left without leaving a tip and was pursued up the street by the servants, cursing him as he went.
Unlike the coffee, I have no bad memories of the service and was certainly never pursued up the street. And indeed Pastor Moritz mostly met with kindness during his travels.
I love the 18th century - it is full of fascinating and colourful characters.
I'll write a full review of this when I finish but I just had to share it now.
It is available from Project Gutenberg for the very reasonable price of free.
Oh yes, I also love Project Gutenberg
