Generating worlds, exploring them, losing the thread.
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Smartwatch dementia
If her Polar smartwatch tells her she slept like a baby last night, Sara asks, how can she feel the way she feels this morning?
I’ve had similar experiences with my Apple smartwatch. One morning it will report, on the basis of four different measures, I should be all bushy tailed and ready to rock, never mind I can hardly drag my butt to the teapot. The next morning it claims I had no “deep sleep” at all, … Read more
In the last chapter, Jack had dinner and a few drinks with Fat Fat.
Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner
The noted etymologist J.B.S. Haldane, perhaps more of a wag than most of his ilk, famously suggested that “The Creator, if He exists, has an inordinate fondness for beetles.” So I noted in an earlier post (Japanieces, tilefish and things ).
Now we can add the following to our list of God’s attributes. We also have good reason to believe He laughs at gooney birds. Some commentators prefer to suggest He laughs with them, seeing as how He … Read more
This week Fat-Fat invites Jack to a nice dinner.
Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner
So has my Muse fled the scene forever, or is she merely suffering pandemic burnout?
Psychologists are reporting a rise in “pandemic burnout” as many people find the current phase of lockdowns harder, with an increasing number feeling worn out and unable to cope.
The Guardian
So here I’ve parked, this past year, largely confined to home with computers and ideas for books on all sides, shielded from such distractions as a social life. Liberally supplied with food, water, tea … Read more
Last week Mu did what she could to bulletproof Jack, given his tendency to annoy the wrong people. This week Jack hears from yet someone else he’s just a babe in the woods.
Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner
As predicted, the worlds described in MOM and Genesis 2.0 lie just down the road. I wrote this “science fiction” in full knowledge it might soon be better described as history. And I was right. Consider the exponential advances of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nanotech; see what transformations they have already wrought.
Read the MAGIC CIRCLES novels for a preview of how the human condition might soon be further shaped, for example, by a global pandemic — one far … Read more
This week Jack tries to undo some of the damage he has done to himself. Meanwhile, Mu does what she can to bulletproof him against any and all of life’s slings and arrows.
Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner
Aphorism du jour (hot off the press)
One good thing about blogging: you can present nearly any proposition you like, and nowhere is it written you must provide hard evidence to support it.
So I’ll let the following rip just because I’m in the mood and because I don’t have to please academic supervisors or my mother or anybody.
A few weeks ago we saw how our preferred books, movies, music and choices of underwear, rather than being determined by … Read more
Last week, Hippolyte Lafleur advised Jack to stop doing the Funky Chicken in the middle of everyone else’s nice waltz. This week Jack gets another warning.
Selections from Arno Petty’s Intelligencer and Weekly Gleaner
THE BETTER PART OF VALOR. Too often tourists take exception to the admittedly obnoxious touts on Patpong Road, and find themselves involved in fisticuffs. Be advised that anybody in these parts you asked would probably guess the Marquis de Queensbury was a new … Read more