Freelance Writing Blog

And so, everything else. This format isn't working for me. I'm microblogging and I don't want to feel pressured to write more than I should. I'm moving here. See you there.



Mind the gap.

For those who are uninitiated, Transhumanism(H, H+) is a movement rooted in the concept of lengthening, improving, and eventually transcending humanity through the pursuits of science and technology. This includes virtual and augmented reality which can eventually be used to digitize consciousness, gene therapy, cryonics and designer drugs to extend the human life span, and a dazzling array of techniques that are on the bleeding edge and are being pushed every day to the limits of...

Granted, the human 'five senses' are a misnomer, as there are more like thirty, but for the sake of the article- and my terrible joke, just let is slide this time, alright?

Okay, transhumanists. You looking for a poor man's magnetoception? Now's the time to get an implanted magnet to provide you with a limited 'magnetic sense'. This will provide a range of sensations as they detect electromagnetic fields inside their finger.

I'm getting one. How about you? Story at Wired.


Mind the gap.

And if you weren't a child of the 80's you wouldn't get that joke.

In this short article from the Australia National University, Doctors Simon Ruffell, Madhu Bhaskaran, and Sharath Sriram are working on using a blend of piezoelectrics and nanotech to create a near-infinite power source derived from the particular device's user.

Your hands, dummy. Welcome to the future, bitch


-Mind the gap

The product of Onyx Ashanti (quite possibly the blackest name since Darkie McBlackface), BeatJazz is his invention which combines a HUD, two button interfaces that allow for gesticular control, and an input mouthpiece. The combination of devices allow for a type of improvisational performance never before possible. Are you ready for six minutes of the future in music?




One of my biggest peeves with sci-fi is their depiction of music of the future. It always ruins it for me when the writer...

Check this out, This guy Gary Cola came up with a process for strengthening steel to the level of most common titanium alloys in a matter of seconds in a manner that could make it stronger, lighter, and less expensive. Detroit, 1.

 

Here’s the whole story from Science Daily.

 

 

-Mind the gap

 

To bring you up to speed, Matthew Inman is funny and produces The Oatmeal, a webcomic mostly about absurd or geeky stuff(it's hilarious. Do yourself a favor and check it out), and he posts it online free to air. The problem is that Funnyjunk(whom I refuse to link to) posts it on their site as their own content and refuse to even give him the benefit of a credit for his work.

I'm all about the free sharing of information, but not at the cost of the creator. Give him his credit, or you don't...

Miniskirts and bikinis are no longer part of superhero attire in DC comics.

Finally.

I had a reader once confuse my bewilderment at someone in swimwear and stiletto heels fighting crime with an attack at women's sexuality.

To set the record straight I don't care what you wear, but don't call me an idiot by trying to convince me that anyone can perform any of these martial arts techniques dressed like 1990's Black Canary without slicing themselves in half.

That said, my inner pre-adolescent...

Ho-kay, so it seems that DC Comics is tired of playing second fiddle to Marvel, and opted to wrest the number one spot from them with a one-two marketing that involves renumbering their entire catalog back to #1 and changing everyone's costumes. Again. Because this time it'll work. There is little chatter of improving the content of the stories, making the characters richer and deeper, making the peril ring true, or just more stories that really resonate with the reader.



I'm so excited...

I was thinking about where my ideas come from, because for better or worse, they keep coming- and then I thought back to a couple of years ago to a post that Warren Ellis made on his site about the same thing. He makes a lot of really far-flung statements, and most of which made him sound a little masturbatory and quite insane. That was two years ago. I revisited the same post today, and his rantings of feeling like he could understand what would happen if "Einstein’s brain was placed...

-click to see the image-
Blowin' your mind like the Big Bang.

Yes, science is awesome, but sometimes, it's a little shortsighted. Apparently, nobody at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology has seen a Terminator movie, because if they did, they may have thought twice about making robots capable of creating their own language and speaking to one another.

Not a big deal?

Think back at high school when the Brazilian exchange students were tittering in the back of class, pointing at you and whispering in Portuguese and you...

Sometimes, science gets icky. Such as right now. E. coli can now be genetically modified used to change the color of your ca-ca to test your insides for toxins and contaminants.

Here's the story(and some pics of pooh-pooh).
No, I am not posting pics of the poly-chromatic poo. So I'll just post one of Turk and JD.




"Cuz the answer's not in your head, my dear- it's in your butt!"


-Mind the gap... and wash your hands.

How? NEUROSCIENCE!

I heard this story on NPR this morning. Truly amazing stuff.


Now, to get a Robospine™ and a MechaFist™ to go with my ZombieHand™

My favorite pro wrestler from when I was a kid, Macho Man, died today of a heart attack. He was 58.




Here for the full story


I'm off to get some Slim Jims and try not to cry in public.

-Mind the gap, you guys.

So apparently, IDW is relaunching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and if these images mean anything, they are going back to their roots.


My girlfriend has a thing for Donatello. Me? Pff. We all know who is the baddest, raddest Turtle.



Shell yeah.


Hitting stands in August FULL COLOR. I can't wait! For good measure, check out Fight the Foot, a test trailer by Richard Krause


-Mind the gap.

Because I'm getting new hands!! This kid lost control of his left hand after a work accident, and got it amputated, then UPGRADED.


I want a matching set.


You know you want one, too.

-Mind the gap

My girlfriend, for the longest time, reeled in horror if anyone called her a geek, even while she was in the middle of doing geeky shit. Then she started playing Magic: The Gathering. Then there was the video games, oh, and comics.

Lord, does she love comics.

I feel bad, because it's my fault. She was such a cute little undercover geek (that watches the IT Crowd... and gets the jokes), and now she lets her freak flag fly.

Just recently, she has crossed over into the realm of the... wait...

I read a lot, but I want more, and there is little that I hate more than a bad book. Hence, the Bleeding Edge Book Club! I have a few books that I have read and love and recommend all the time, and I will write mini reviews for them, but don't be shy, I need suggestions for new books to read and review all the time. So gimmie. Fire up those Nooks and Kindles, kids.

Here is the short list of titles that I am recommending.

Altered Carbon  Richard K. Morgan
Futureland   Walter Mosley

Last night, I was having some difficulty sleeping, and I foolishly thought that watching TED talks would help. Fast-forward another hour, and I’ve consumed more than my share of science and tech and ideas, and then I stumbled upon something that made a small part of me shriek in glee.

Here is a TED talk from 2009 with Pranav Mistry and his SixthSense device.

 

 

-Mind the gap

I am actually too excited to read this story before I post it, so I am just going to say that I am excited that science is finally on track crack one of the biggest issues of the human condition: a possible cure for HIV/AIDS.

Here is the story!

Next, cancer and male pattern baldness!

That's a shame. I really wanted a decent superhero television show, and despite Warner Bros' protest(if you remember in 2007, the 'rumor' that they will no longer pursue movies with female leads), they were pushing it, but in my opinion, it's for the best. I'd rather they kill it early and avoid what was appearing to be another Bionic Woman.  I loved Bionic Woman, and the lead was hotter than a pistol, but the show's plots were stupid, and there were key points that bugged me. Similar...

Wait for it! Game dev David Braben has a microPC that runs Linux and is the size of a key fob, and all for 25 bones.


Here's the specs from the Raspberry Pi website

Provisional specification:

700MHz ARM11
128MB of SDRAM
OpenGL ES 2.0
1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
Composite and HDMI video output
USB 2.0
SD/MMC/SDIO memory card slot
General-purpose I/O
Open software (Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice, Python)



Here's the Geek.com article as well.

Witness the future of microcomputing right now.

-Mind the gap,...

Free comics!

I love Free Comic Book Day. It's like Christmas. It's like the 'come to Jesus'. If you haven't been making the effort to grab the latest titles, then you get the perfect opportunity.

I am getting caught up on The Boys with the 'Highland Laddie' arc, and my girlfriend got some Sin City and I am showing her the best Iron Man arc on Netflix streaming; 'Extremis'. Of course, a Warren Ellis joint. If you haven't read it or seen it, Extremis is one of my favorite stories in any...

I love The Gutters.
It can be a little on the obscure at times, but other times, it's right on the money.