New Vertebrate

Caecilians are in fact are a well-known, if uncommon, amphibious denizen of warmer climates.  What makes this one special is it's new.  Non-vertebrate species pop up all the time, but it seems mankind has located most the critters with backbones - and grilled them, I think.  They often resemble and are mistaken for earthworms, easy to understand considering this example:

    

The newest member of the Caecilians, Chikilidae, is pictured below.  They spend their whole life cycle underground, which is how they managed to stay unnoticed in India until now, where they are wrongly regarded as rare, highly poisonous snakes. They're young are hatched fully developed.  Interesting stuff, thought I'd share 8)

Click on the picture below for the Fox story.



Under Construction

So, I've been thinking (cue laughter).  I wrote a handful of stories back in October, but they've just been sitting there.  Well, not entirely; I've gotten rejection letters for a couple of them so far.  I'm thinking now that I should polish them up and publish them as an anthology on Amazon.

With that in mind I began to investigate just how that Amazon self-publish thing works.  As it turns out, it ain't easy.  Publishing for Kindle isn't just about writing a story; that's the first step followed by formatting the story into a special sort of web page.  It takes a hybrid of HTML and MOBI - two computer languages used to make web pages.

Oy.

I'll figure it out, eventually.
8)

Awright, Already - I Get It

I don't particularly enjoy getting submission rejections, but it is part of the journey to being published.  To me the worst part is the impersonality - usually they are form letters, especially from the biggest publications.  But I understand that many hundreds of submissions come every month, no time for the niceties to those who aren't already famous or whose story didn't pass the first read.

Here, let me show you an example (names removed):

Thank you very much for letting me see "Mutual Problem." We regret that we cannot make use of it at this time.
All submissions will be examined as promptly as possible, and if suitable, will be paid for on acceptance.
Many manuscripts are rejected because of fundamental faults.  Check these things:
—Since XXX is a science fiction magazine, we consider only science fiction stories—that is, stories in which some aspect of realistic science or technology plays an integral part.  We do not publish fantasy or stories in which the science is only peripheral.
—Science fiction readers are problem solvers!  Stories with downbeat endings, in which the characters have no hope of solving their problems, are strongly disliked by XXX readers.  In a good SF story, the characters strive to solve their problems—and even if they fail in the end, they go down fighting, not whimpering.
—Good fiction demands strong, believable characters who face powerful, intriguing problems.  Without these, there is no story, no matter how fascinating the ideas or scientific background may be.
—Some plot ideas have been so overworked that it’s virtually impossible to wring a fresh story from them.  These include “scientific” retellings of biblical tales, time travelers who unwittingly change their world when traveling into the past, UFO stories, and stories in which the “alien” world turns out to be Earth.
—Write about what you know.  XXX writers should be able to do sufficient research to get their facts straight, and they should be keen enough observers of people to write realistically about them.
—Please don’t ask for individual criticism.  With hundreds of submissions per month, it is physically impossible to answer them all personally.  Many writing errors are quite subtle, and extremely difficult to define clearly in a sentence or two.

See?  If you're going to write, be prepared to see a lot of these.  I would tell you, gentle reader, what I don't like about this one, but I'd rather not risk the publisher's wrath.

8D

Why The Hate?

I watch Bill Mahr.  If you don't because you don't have the opportunity, I'm sorry you can't afford HBO.  If you don't watch because you don't like the show or the man, I'm sorry for you.  But sometimes, Bill pisses me off.

I'm fat.  Obese, really.  It's a problem I've lived with my entire life; one of my earliest memories of extended family was a remark by an uncle: "He's a fat thing, ain't he?"  He was one of those fellows who believed that being overweight indicated a mental flaw or weakness, and that somehow pointing it out over and over would help.  How many of you do that?  "Oh, dear, just eat less," or "Look at me, just a few minutes at the gym every day," or one of my favorites, "it's all a matter of willpower."

So Bill announced a bit of news I'd already been following.  Certain cells in the stomach, it has been discovered, help control hunger by directly controlling certain brain 'switches.'  Chronically obese folks are often plagued by hunger even though they've had enough to eat, regarded by non-obese people as weakness of character.  Turns out this hunger is sometimes caused by false signals from the stomach cells to the brain - and that hunger is very real.

So Bill announced that scientists were testing a pill to help the obese lose weight and then jokingly criticised the need, asking why lazy Americans needed a pill to cure everything, particularly a condition for which all anyone has to do is eat less or exercise more.  Which kinda pissed me off, more so when the crowd applauded and laughed.

Obesity - real, chronic obesity - is far more complex than most people think.  Half-a-dozen systems control hunger and satiety, like the  stomach cells I mentioned above (if I get a few +1s on this post, I'll put together more of what I've learned in a future post).  If just one of these systems is out of whack, weight becomes a problem; more, and you're in for a lifetime of denigration and ridicule.

I've put up with my obesity and people's opinions about it my whole life.  I'm not the only one; almost everyone either shares this problem, or shares their hating.  Imagine a pill that could help an obese person take back control, lose weight, and live a better life.  Why in the heck would that be lazy?  Why would that be ridiculed?  Why the hate?

We Robot?

Companies constantly seek ways to 'dumb down' the workplace.  Why?  They want a job simple to train employees for, thus making it easy to replace said employee.  There are reasons for this - companies don't want to be at the mercy of highly-trained, key employees and their unions; lower skill requirement means lower pay; once the job is simple enough it can taken overseas, or even automated.

But there's always a tradeoff.  Manufacturing companies can lose and sales, service companies lose customers, and everyone wants to buy American.  What is a greedy, soulless corporation to do?  Turn workers into robots.  Literally.

Science and medicine are making stunning progress in 'curing' paralyzation.  Soon, perhaps within 5 or 10 years, paraplegics with implants will walk, muscles moving normally at the command of their brain via a computer interface.  Not long after that computers, sensors, and muscle activators will be able to control any part of the human body with a thought. 

And not too long after that, we might see healthy people allowing themselves to be fitted with this technology just to have a job.  Imagine; no skill or training required, just plug in, get put to sleep so as not to interfere with the program, and let the company computer take control. 

The employee would get a steady paycheck and a multi-year contract, no education needed.  The company gets a cheap worker that can't waste time, can't cause trouble, can't talk back, and can't walk out until the shift is over.  The employee doesn't have to bear the drudgery of boring, repetative tasks and the company gets 8 hours of consistent, error-free work.

It will be the age of paycheck zombies.

Milestone Passed! Well, Quarter Mile, Maybe?

Today my blog has surpassed 1,500 pageviews since I started in May of 2011.  In comparison, that's about how many views Stumbleupon gets in 10 seconds.  Heh!

I appreciate all who stop by to read my ramblings; thanks.  Please remember that comments are welcomed, especially on the fiction entries - knowing what a reader likes and dislikes is another step to writing success.

Matthew Champine
Ada, Oklahoma

Not Politics - No Rights For Mutants, and Global Cooling On Way

Had to rein myself back from ranting on politics the last few days.  It's not that I couldn't think of something else to write about, but everything I started to write stalled because I was distracted by the crazyness.

Not that I'm a political expert, party member, or even a fan of politics.  It's probably a symptom of genteel-yet-poor retirement; too much time and not enough money for distracting, expensive hobbies.  But, honestly; this is some of the most insane political stuff I've been aware of in my life.
But I'm not here to talk about politics, or my daily activities, or the status of my bunions.  I'm just not going to do that.  So. . .


No Rights For Mutants

Though this is the first time I've heard about it, almost 10 years ago the USA decided that mutants, specifically superheroes, are not humans.  It was actually a fight over import taxes - apparently toys classed as 'dolls' cost twice as much to import than toys like action figures.  In 1983, US Customs declared action figures to be dolls, and Marvel had to pay.  The legal battle went on for 19 years, but big business beat the tax man by forcing the the United States of America to agree that, by definition, "dolls represent ONLY a human being," and ". . .the court finds that these action figures do not represent human beings."

With this legal decision on the books, I'd be wary of revealing my superpowers if I were you.


Global Cooling On Way

According to experts, global warming was 'flat' for the last ten years; that is, global warming isn't warming lately.  They are quick to claim that long term measurements still predict more warming ahead and the last ten years of no warming is within statistical possibility, and the next ten years should continue the global warming trend.

Unless it doesn't.  2012 is the peak of our Sun's 11 year output cycle, and solar experts predict the next 11 years will see the weakest, coolest cycle since the 1600s - the middle of what scientists dub the Little Ice Age.  This means less sunlight and less warming from our Sun, for the next 11 years.  Throw in a volcanic eruption or two, and Earth could be back in the ice box again.

Don't throw out all your old sweaters; you might be needing them soon.

Back Again (again)

I promised to keep this blog from being a diary, feeling that 'I had a flat tire today' wasn't the point, at least for me.  Yet, here I am, reporting why I haven't posted for a month.  Suffice to say it has been an uncomfortable 30 days since my last post - uncomfortable enough to render typing, much less creativity, impossible.  Please accept my apology for breaking the explicit promise of daily posts.  Again. 8)

Imagine Creation In 3D

Who hasn't heard about 3D printers?  Put down your hand, it's a rhetorical question.  Until quite recently, creating things at home meant a shop full of tools and all the time you could spare.  Thanks to relatively cheap home 3D printing machines, it is now possible to 'print' an object of practically any shape at home without a tool in sight. 

How does it work?  The video below makes it clear, but a basic description goes like this:  An inkjet printer does it's thing by passing line by line over the paper, spraying ink where the computer commands.  In 3D printing the exact same method is used, with a print head moving over a platform and depositing material where commanded.  When each layer is done, the platform moves down a click and another layer is built upon the last.  Like this device called Makerbot:

This device can use 2 different plastic materials and several colors are available in each.  The process is slow, taking several hours to make a finely detailed object.  However, slow is relative - it would take hours or even days to complete a similar model by hand.  Materials are limited at present, but we may expect that to change as the technology advances.

Even at this stage, the benefits are clear.  Obsolete parts, 3D art, and rapid prototyping are just a few of the possible uses.  And with a growing library of downloadable object files, you don't need to be an engineer to create useful objects or unique gifts.  Talk about your DIY; this is the bomb!

Wait, that was rhetorical; don't build a bomb, please.
8)