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Monday, September 30, 2013

Suture the Sundered

A new poem that is most likely going to appear in Myths to Believe In! Please enjoy!



Suture the Sundered

Walking far and fatigued, his arms
Swing beneath the autumn trees, broken and disarmed.
Leaves break and fly away, in the breeze embrace 
They pass from day to day; his tongue embalmed of a bitter taste.

He sees a mile so far away, yet watches through opaque eyes.
Dismissed, his thought flies as a curse inside the rest; 
Those that seek the virtues of ending all remiss.

The bloody war rages inside his head; the fires 
And troops stretch out for lines, and volley to the death.
The ground they stand upon grows brown, with every single day; 
The fertile dehydrates alive, with every cry in vain.

Stumbling sleepily through gardens lit, his thoughts 
Collide with mind unfit. Halves in two with wilting split, 
The uprooted tree from Earth’s fragile grip.

And so it is now yet he knows it not, that distance between
The link. He asks us now about his daze, his mind with
Thoughts to drink. He asks about that learning parable, 
The one that teaches constant use:
His slumbering walk with separable halves, 
The link forever loose.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Google: A Birthday Blogpost

Yesterday was the fifteenth anniversary of the incorporation of what would become one of the most prominent businesses in the world; a search engine that would revolutionise the Internet and even would be entered as a verb into the Oxford English Dictionary. So pervasive is Google, that they aim for the lofty height of organising the world's information, and making it universally accessible and simultaneously desiring to do no evil.

But this post is not about Google's 15th birthday, it is instead about our birthday present from Google, affecting 90% of all searches! Senior VP Amit Singhal unveiled a new algorithm called Hummingbird. This product joins the lines of algorithm services such as Penguin and Panda. But unlike integrating search with social as the Penguin 2.0 update attempted earlier in the year, Hummingbird is attempting to increase the very intelligence of the search engine via matching meanings of words and not just the words themselves, meaning it should be able to answer actual questions when asked by a user. This heightened sense of relationship between words is also applied to raw information in terms of concepts and the connections between them in order to boost the yield of useful information for users and as a result, create an all-round better service for you. Before this update the technology had only been applied to Knowledge Graph, but now is seeing its debut engine-wide.

To celebrate Google's anniversary here is a timeline of search updates, courtesy to PC World.

Google's Development: 1998-2013; So much achieved in so little time. 




LINKS:

1. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/google-changes-search-to-handle-more-complex-queries/?_r=0 (New York Times, 27/9/2013)
2. http://searchengineland.com/google-hummingbird-172816 (SearchEngineLand, 27/9/2013)

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Scrivener (Software Review)

Congratulations http://jbwalkerwriting.blogspot.co.uk on your fiftieth blog post! This time round I thought I'd do something a little different and so, I've decided to review the software for writers: Scrivener. It can be bought via the Mac App Store for under £35 and comes with tutorials and images etc. to help you get used to it. Similar aids can also be found on the Literature & Latte website and YouTube channel.

So what is Scrivener? Scrivener is designed by a writer for other writers who may not be all to happy with the mainstream word processors like Word, Pages etc. The software was designed to distill the writing process into a concise programme that allows for much greater flexibility and a wider variety of methods in which to write anything that requires particular depth, whether that be novels, screenplay (there is a template for that,) theses, poem collections etc.

And how does the software do this? The main features are as follows:

The Binder: This is a column running down the left-hand side of the page showing three default folders: "Draft," "Research" & "Trash." You can add more folders should you feel the need and/or rename them to accommodate your personal project. Within these folders you can split any work into multiple chunks and find your workload reduced as a result. The best aspect of the Binder however is the ability to import existing files including RTF, .doc, PDF etc. and amalgamate them all into a single Scrivener file (SCRIV) instead of having several loose documents floating around on your desktop, forever worrying if you've lost them. Not only that but if you've written a project as a single Word document with several sections, upon importing you can split the document into smaller chunks anyway very easily despite the original being a single word doc, which makes the work look a lot tidier and easier to tackle, especially when you move onto further drafts. And the best part is, you can compile everything at the end into .ePub, .doc files amongst others!










Targets: These are word counts that can be set for each session as a motivator to get you to write!






The Corkboard: This is a series of index cards containing the synopsis of each individual scene/section etc. and can be used to plan the work in advance before you begin writing, and since you can create your own folders within the project, you could create different sections devoted to planning itself and not just he draft sections. In all, the flexibility of these tools allows for a project however you want it to be set out. I could go on about all the features but there are just so many that I might run out of room!



Other cool features included!

- Snapshots (allows for comparison between earlier drafts)
- Fullscreen Background Fader 
- Statistics (see word frequency amongst other approximations such as average number of paperback pages & manuscript pages)


So in summary, is Scrivener worth it? Well considering it will benefit me in university with writing reports as well as my creative writings, the answer is yes! Should you buy it though? If you write texts that are 'deep' i.e. not necessarily long but that require a great deal of research etc. then definitely yes, it will pay for itself many times over in all those precious seconds that might otherwise have been wasted fumbling around and keeping everything in separate folders; and I'm very organised so I know where everything is usually anyway but still, it's so much easier having a central HUB folder with everything in as opposed to multiple, colour-coded folders on my desktop. But please check out the site and YT tutorials to get a far better understanding because honestly, it's worth the hour or so it might take to adjust to the new software. In any case, I hope you found this review enjoyable and informative and if you choose to buy it, I hope it serves you well.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

What I Like About the Culture (So Far...)

Today I finished reading my fourth Culture novel (Iain M. Banks,) and rather than review every single one, (I reviewed Use of Weapons a while ago,) I decided to make a quick list of things I like about the series and that SF fanatics would enjoy.

Awesome things about the Culture:

- Highly imaginative environments that traverse a multitude of territories including space, oceans, catacombs, biological environments within behemoth creatures, cities, towns etc.
- Brilliance of characters that develop alongside their respective antagonists, often blurring the good/evil line like any good story.
- Accurate technological explanations that are scientifically sound enough for the realist, yet subverted enough to allow for tonnes of imagination and for the unrealistic to take root (especially on subjects such as interstellar gravity effects on celestial bodies.)
- Comical dialogue between various sentient beings and species, as well as with near-sentient robotic characters.
- Complex story-lines that deal with often relatable circumstances as far as real-world politics is concerned that make their respective protagonists even more relatable.
- Dazzling technology that just adds to the cool factor of the novels!

Culture Novels- Order of Publication:

Consider Phlebas (1987)
The Player of Games (1988)
Use of Weapons (1990)
The State of The Art (1991)
Excession (1996)
Inversions (1998)
Look to Windward (2000)
Matter (2008)
Surface Detail (2010)
The Hydrogen Sonata (2012)

*As a quick note, having finished Look to Windward (2000) don't read that particular novel first because it practically serves as a sequel to the first novel Consider Phlebas (1987.)

*Look out for other SF titles from Banks that aren't necessarily set in the Culture!

The Culture Novels: A Selection

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Maxims of the Morons

This post is going to be a little different to the usual, as I dispel something that I just had to address. For those of you who know a little about (white) nationalism on the Internet, you may have come across complete retards posting stuff like 'anti-racist is codeword for anti-white' amongst other guff. It comes from a Canadian politician called Bob Whitaker who has written a document called Bob's Mantra. Here it is:

ASIA FOR THE ASIANS, AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS, WHITE COUNTRIES FOR EVERYBODY!


Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white

Now straight away we can see a huge error in the strapline alone, conflating continents with 'racial' criterion of countries. I'll revisit the error of 'white countries' in due time, but for the moment let's press on to the start of the mantra.
"Everybody says there is a RACE problem." Who says; everybody apparently, apart of course from all of those people who don't, myself included. "Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY white countries." Here's a newsflash: Countries are not defined by the colour of the skin of the majority of the inhabitants who happen to live there; ONLY by racists have they ever been defined in such a way.
Moving on, Whitaker makes the claim that Japan and the Netherlands are just as crowded as Belgium and Taiwan. Okay then, here are some figures for population density per Sq mile, which is not the measurement for how 'crowded' a country is because as we all know, much of Japan is inhospitable i.e. everybody lives on one piece of the land instead of there being complete human spread across a typical Sq Mile land mass. Here are the figures:
Japan: 873 People per Sq Mile
Belgium: 879 People per Sq Mile
Netherlands: 1023 People per Sq Mile
Taiwan: 1849 People per Sq Mile 
Okay, so he's part right about that at least but to put this into perspective, here are some other countries with a higher population density than Japan: Monaco- 42143 People per Sq Mile; Singapore- 18645 People per Sq Mile and finally Gibraltar- 12056 People per Sq Mile. So is Monaco more crowded than Japan, of course not, because the infrastructure of the country and what occupies the land mass takes up more space than the humans who live there. 

Progressing to the next paragraph, Whitaker ominously suggests that the "final solution" to the so-called race problem is only white countries assimilating or intermarrying with other races. This of course is bollocks because there are NO 'black' OR 'white' countries; it's as if he thinks whites never go anywhere else despite the fact that America was founded upon mass immigration by largely whites from Europe, as was S. Africa and Australia. 

More to the point, there is absolutely nobody FORCING whites to intermarry and/or have kids with anyone that they don't wish to. His further hypothetical of the situation, turning on it's head and the shoe being on the other foot with so-called 'black' countries accepting mass white immigration, he brands this as people perceiving the "'final solution' to the BLACK problem," which is where he begins to suggest that a genocide against the whites is sliding by unchallenged, alleging that any "sane" black man would object to this.

He then accuses Liberals and respectable Conservatives (obviously he isn't respectable,) of branding him a "naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews" and states that the anti-racists are anti-white. This is the utter logic fail that brings this mantra to its knees, since anti-racist is code for anti-white, which pretty much states that whites are either inherently racist or implies that all whites should be racist, because white would equal racist according to this logic. 

The funny thing about this is that these so-called white nationalists, also white supremacists as well, more often than not, taking pride etc. in their ethnicity; yet by saying that whites are going to be wiped out out of existence via breeding, what they are effectively saying is that black genes are more dominant than white genes, which would usually lend credence to those espousing 'scientifically racist' views on the nature of races and their alleged superiority/inferiority dressed up as 'recognising differences'. Ironically, these are the true black supremacists because they believe that white genes are somehow wiped out, though in reality any set of black/white parents could theoretically have one child entirely black and another entirely white, because the genes from both parents are present regardless.

But the final point is on the idea of the white genocide. These people often claim that their definition of the word genocide comes from the United Nations Convention on Genocide, specifically Articles 2 & 3. Here they are:


Article 2


In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (my underline)

  • (a) Killing members of the group;
  • (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
  • (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
  • (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  • (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.


Article 3


The following acts shall be punishable:

  • (a) Genocide;
  • (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
  • (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
  • (d) Attempt to commit genocide;
  • (e) Complicity in genocide.

Okay then, so let's go through Article 2.

a) No one is being killed; in fact the argument Whitaker uses is that more people are being produced.
b) Serious bodily or mental harm is not happening aside from the mental anguish caused to a few bigots it seems. The rest of us seem just fine in living with those who are ethnically different.
c) Nothing is being CALCULATED; there is no such thing, according to the UN, as an indirect genocide. 
d) No births are being prevented; if anything, the argument is once against about births happening albeit being outside the preferred skin colour of Whitaker and co.
e) No children are being forced, against their will to transfer or are being exiled. Again, if anything the argument being used is about more children being created in countries that Whitaker deems to be 'white' areas.

So in summary NONE of this applies to the narrative of the white genocide conspiracy theorist, the arguments generally describing anything but a genocide. And also, here are some other questions:

WHO is doing it, considering most people in power in these areas of the world tend to be white?
WHY are they doing it, because those in power really don't benefit in any way from a whole segment of the population disappearing, especially given the fact that, again, those in power are white themselves. 
HOW do you get around the paradox of the anti- equivalences and the logical problems that they entail?

As a final message to the White Genocide morons, you can type that mantra into a comment section till time ends and it will convince no-one. The very definition of the word mantra is a slogan or song, tagline etc. It is NOT an argument for anything, the only use it has is as such, a song, a mantra to egg on those already pious, to preach to the already converted. 

Thanks for reading this critique and see you soon.

LINKS:

http://www.whitakeronline.org/blog/the-white-mantra/ (Bob's retarded 'Mantra' 15/9/2013)
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html (Links to Population Densities, 15/9/2013)
http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html (UN Genocide Convention in full, 15/9/2013)

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Dauntless (The Lost Fleet Book 1) Review

The book Dauntless is the first in Jack Campbell's (aka John G Hemry's) The Lost Fleet series. This Military SF saga depicts the story of the Alliance fleet's retreat through the territory of their enemies, trying to make it home against insurmountable odds. There is a twist however: The central character, John 'Black Jack' Geary, having spent a century in survival hibernation has been discovered by the fleet, realising that he is now the protagonist of legend and, according to the desperate sailors, the only one who can get them home safely.

The book was a brilliant introduction to the series; fast-paced, strong and developing characters and a specific writing style that blends the best of both hard and soft SF that reveal the military past of the author, Hemry having served in the US navy for some years, are all the hallmarks of this explosive introduction to what I hope is to become a great story!

The main aspects of the book that I particularly enjoyed was firstly the character construction and dialogue. Geary's character, whilst being almost invincible to one's eyes at first, is developed not only through dialogue with his closest admirers, but more specifically through internal monologue as he remembers the battle in which he took part 100 years ago that to him, feels like a matter of weeks in the past. Metaphors are repeated but without becoming tedious or lazy because they are used as a scale almost, a developmental chart that plots his progress e.g. the growing/shrinking lump of ice metaphor to depict coldness etc. (In many ways he is similar to Cheradenine Zakalwe from Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks.)

Focusing on the dialogue, the characters' verbal exchanges are lifelike, ranging from humorous to tense. This is best seen in Geary's exchanges with his dissenters, which provide the cracks on occasion in Geary as the commander, other, mostly unlikable, sailors becoming enemies as much as the generally faceless fleet of the Syndics.

A second enjoyable part of the book is found in its lifelike battles. This is where the technical terms enter the lexicon and measurements in lightminutes/hours becomes commonplace. These are continual throughout the story alongside messages and video footage being emphasised as arriving to and from each party out of synch with real time, instead being numerous hours late, which is where the hard SF elements of explanation comes into play. However, the characters also have dialogue with less experienced characters and in them explaining similar material to internal sources, this places you in the situation almost as a fellow listener being given a lecture on the nature of interstellar war and the predicaments of physics etc. Please don't allow this to discourage you, I promise it's not difficult in any way to understand and the softer elements provide a very enjoyable bedrock to a fantastically realistic environment.

Similar language is also employed when in battle. These are some of the most exciting scenes in the story, with military strategy being detailed and explained both internally via character dialogue and externally via the 3rd person narrating voice. But Hemry also describes in enthralling imagery the destruction wrought to ships, with dithering fast- and slow-motion language; this destruction by the characters you've come to know and love with good reason, is shown in great clarity, and drives the story like a bulldozer through a small town, dragging you through every jump point in Syndic space, begging for the next chapter to come. In short a brilliant read for anyone who can!  



  

Monday, September 9, 2013

An Update on The Future

Hi everyone, sorry I've been less consistent with updating this blog as of late. I'm writing mainly to just say that I'm still alive and well and that as the university start date approaches, I have decided to launch a new project on this blog. As I've already mentioned, I will be working with Carat Media over the next six or so months alongside my 2nd year studies and so will publish a weekly journal detailing my tasks, experiences, roles and the people I will meet. The growing body of entries should hopefully detail my journey in much greater rigour and clarity than my retrospective account of Tomi Clothing, which will be linked below if you haven't seen it yet.

Additionally, I have been preparing for the forthcoming academic year; the subjects to be covered aside from working life (the internship route) will include sociology theories of consumer behaviour and culture, brand management, creation, brainstorming etc. as well as the intricacies of direct marketing and building relationships. The reading lists look interesting and I look forward to getting back into the swing of student life and moving back into the city once again. Apologies for not updating but thanks for reading; the novel is still being edited (the first two chapters have seen revision) and Myths to Believe In is coming together, with new poems being written around the current body to ensure a better lyrical, structural etc. flow of pieces.

Regards

http://jbwalkerwriting.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/work-life.html (Tomi Clothing piece)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Syria & Cameron's Defeat in the House of Commons

I feel I should discuss this issue as it currently brews in the middle-east and as pressure mounts upon us all. I hope you find it useful and informative.

This month has seen a chemical weapon attack kill in the Syria region of Damascus (according to US State Secretary John Kerry) over 1400 people, the figure currently disputed. There has been a gathering storm of interventionists wishing to see direct, military action against the regime and prosecutions for war crimes, the use of such weapons being outlawed by the Geneva Convention to which Syria is a signatory, however, the country is one of seven not to be signed to the protocol stipulating their illegality in the Chemical Weapons Convention. Needless to say, opinions have been flying both in the US and the UK, particularly in Westminster where David Cameron (incumbent PM) recalled Parliament on Thursday for a vote on proposed action.

The eight-hour debate dragged on as Cameron appealed to MPs on all sides to stand with him and fight the use of chemical weapons to which he is passionately opposed. The House of Commons was not due to reassemble until the middle of next week, Cameron calling for an impromptu recall in the face of an escalating situation. At the time, we did not know who fired the weapons (Assad or the rebels) and nor did we know precisely where they came from and as to what the chemical was required further testing and nor had the UN inspectors arrived back home- their report is due to be published in 2-3 weeks. All we really knew was the suffering endured by the Syrians, which is why Cameron called for direct military action, deciding to put it to vote so as not to make similar mistakes to those experienced in the past, namely Iraq under Tony Blair, which has fuelled the international bonfire of doubt.

Opposition:

It is because of this, that Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband set a litmus test of sorts in an amendment of his own, duplicating Cameron's pledge with requirements of strong evidence incriminating the regime for the attacks since we still don't know who fired them and for the UN to specify a common military goal with a vision of success upon the completion of that goal. This was to be done after other options were exhausted. The house rejected the opposition motion that would keep war on the table albeit being 'watered down', however, in a surprise defeat for the war motion, (last seen in 1782 when Lord North was refused to send more troops to America to fight the colonies,) Cameron found himself needing to backtrack on his initial decision. He said: "This house has voted for neither motion tonight... I get that and I will respect Parliament's wishes." Cameron's motion was defeated by 285-272 votes, meaning that, as it stands, the UK will not be going to war although later motions could potentially be tabled, should the situation escalate.  

Reaction:

The immediate reaction from many newspapers was that Cameron was humiliated, especially given the shambolic organisation of the Chief Whip (Sir George Young,) who has been criticised widely within the Conservative Party for his lack of organisation. Cabinet Ministers who missed the vote by not hearing the bell included Kenneth Clark (Minister without Portfolio) and Justine Greening (Secretary of State for Transport.) This may cost the Chief Whip his job and as a backlash, Cameron is expected to reshuffle the Cabinet in a matter of weeks. Other happenings upon votes being announced included Secretary of State for Education & Science, Michael Gove, shouting at the 39 rebellious MPs (30 Tories & 9 Lib Dems,) "you're a disgrace." He had to be calmed down by other ministers.

On the other hand, some news outlets praised his grace and humility and his respect for democracy. Upon hearing the defeat, Miliband asked Cameron for a promise to not use the Royal Perogative to waive Parliament's decision. Cameron agreed to that demand in Parliament, thereby bounding him to his word in the public eye for the time being.  

Unfortunately for Cameron, the grace he had seemed to have disappeared in the reaction of Downing Street spokespeople, who have made statements such as: "Ed Miliband is a fucking cunt and a copper-bottomed shit," and accusations that he was "buggering around" with Labour's position. This accusation has been repeated within the Tory ranks, blaming Miliband for political point-scoring off the back of innocent Syrians. Although no one truly knows what was discussed on multiple occasions within Downing Street, some senior Tories & Lib Dems have stated that Miliband changed his position on multiple occasions and made a U-turn in Parliament.

What I Think:

My opinion on this is that regardless of what was discussed on the run-up to the vote, Labour did provide a cogent amendment to the original motion and, en masse Labour MPs alongside government ones, rejected either one or both of the amendments, resulting first in Labour's motion being defeated (Cameron himself voted against that one along with most of the government,) and Cameron's own motion to press ahead with military intervention was also defeated, placing -as the situation currently stands- war off the table. This has been interpreted as isolationist by some such as ex-army former Lib Dem MP, Lord Ashdown, who stated that he was "ashamed" by the Parliamentary decision. Others have accused the Parliament of 'turning our back on America', with President Obama recalling Congress in order to determine a democratic result in the motion for war. We can only hope how that goes in the meantime.

As far as intervention goes, I cannot see how bombing Syria will help innocents given that we still don't know for certain that it was Assad, nor did we know where they were fired from, who the rebels are and what they represent, whether the war would turn out to be illegal should new evidence be unveiled and nor did we have: a military plan, a vision of success, a timeframe of conflict (resonating with Iraq memories) and nor did we truly know who would in fact join us (likely the US, though starting conflict first could potentially have serious consequences for us in Britain as well as Syrians who would likely die as a result of an invasion by western forces.)

What the Public Think:

The recent Observer/Opinium Poll discovered that 60% of the British public did not support a war with Syria, the ideal solution to the crisis being economic sanctions and further diplomatic pressure (59% of the public.) The decision to follow the opinion of the public has been seen as democracy in action across the political spectrum. This is why I ultimately support the action of Parliament and am against intervention on the grounds of deficient evidence and the potential for collateral, which can increase the death toll further than necessary, such as was the case in Iraq.   

*As a quick though before ending this entry, I want to point you to a very useful site: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mps/
This details the voting record of every MP since taking office on every motion from war, to gay rights and tuition fees. It's very enlightening indeed and I hope that you have found the info/opinions above useful. See you soon.

LINKS:

  1. http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=XXVI-3&chapter=26&lang=en (UN: 1/9/2013)
  2. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2013/aug/29/mps-debate-syria-live-blog (Guardian: 1/9/2013)
  3. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/30/obama-strike-syria-britain-vote (Guardian: 1/9/2013)
  4. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/labours-amendment-syria-full-text (Labour Amendment: 1/9/2013)
  5. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/aug/31/poll-british-military-action-syria (Poll, 1/9/2013) 
  6. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2406208/Syria-conflict-Tory-rebellion-forces-Prime-Minister-David-Cameron-rule-military-strike-country.html (Daily Mail: 1/9/2013)
  7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZoaeF21LZQ (Lord Ashdown video: 1/9/2013)