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January 31, 2006

Hairspray and Self Defense

roach.jpgHere's a tidbit that has some day to day practical use: Never run out of aerosol hairspray.

That may be obvious if you happen to actually style your hair, but there is another reason to keep this advice: a good, quick drying hairspray is a great defense against one of the world's greatest evils, the cockroach.

I have to say that living in Arizona is a wonderful thing most of the time. We don't really get many flying insects because it's just too hot and dry all of the time. There aren't any snow-related problems, and we don't have hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. However, if you happen to be completely creeped out by crawling things, this may not be the best place to live.

I, actually don't mind lizards, geckos and other similar crawlies, but bugs ... ug. So I've had to develop a defense strategy against cockroaches. Because we get a lot of them. My first approach was to scream like a girl and lock myself into a panic room while yelling at my wife to kill the beastie.

Thanks to Dan, though, I now have a real defense system: hair spray. Yep, a good fast-drying aerosol hairspray will do the trick. You may have to unload a can of hairspray at once, but eventually the hairspray will stop the roach and you never have to touch it.

You're welcome, again.

January 30, 2006

Fiction and Omnipotence

Superman has been my favorite superhero most of my life, but recently I have become a much larger fan of Batman. The fundamental reason is that Batman is human and is flawed. The problem with an omnipotent character is that it is nearly impossible to devise a believable threat. If you look at Superman and consider what he did in the first movie, anytime there is any real trouble, Superman could just fly around the planet a couple of times until he got it all right again. That really takes the fun out of it.

In my book, The Agency Delta, I came to a point in the story that I nearly quit writing. It was because I had given so many of the primary characters access to something that made it very difficult for me to provide a believable threat. I spent several nights agonizing over how to write around the problem, but each solution created new problems. Late one night the answer finally came as if lightning had struck my brain (what movie is that line from?).

Chapter 40 is the answer to the omnipotence problem in The Agency Delta.

Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Saturday, 12 March 2022 – 7:00 p.m. SAST

 

Daniel spent most of the day sleeping and rummaging through Brad’s home. He had scanned for wireless electronics a few times, but never found anything. He assumed that if there were any computers, they must be powered off or simply not connected to the net.

At three p.m. Daniel started to grow weary of waiting. The African had told him that they should be returning at about that time. Four additional hours passed before Daniel finally heard the sound of a car approaching.

 

Outside, the African watched as a car turned into the drive toward the small home. He had been waiting all day for his payment and his patience had waned. He followed the car on foot and stayed out of sight. He felt he needed to protect his investment and would ensure that he was properly paid.

 

Inside, Daniel heard the thump of car doors then footsteps and voices. He sat in the living room. The door opened and Brad made eye contact with him. Anupama stood immediately behind Brad gasping as she entered. Brad turned immediately.

“It’s okay,” he reassured. “He won’t be staying long.”

Anupama wasn’t convinced. Daniel wasn’t what she had expected to see. He looked more like a pop musician than a software developer. He was wearing khaki shorts and a shirt that only passed as such in the academic sense. It covered very little of Daniel’s torso providing a clear display of his numerous tattoos. His face had an unsettling devilish appearance.

“Hello Brad,” Daniel called. “How are you?”

Brad turned and glared. “I’ve been expecting you.” He turned to Anupama and whispered, “Can you give us a minute?” Anupama looked worried, but agreed.

“So, you know why I’m here then?” Daniel sat with his feet up.

Brad knew exactly why Daniel had come. “I don’t have it anymore.”

“That’s not good enough Brad. The fact that it exists at all is a problem. We need to fix that problem, so I need you to tell me where it is.”

Brad had no intention of giving anything to Daniel. It was true that he had commissioned the development of a device while he was at Naidu. He had been obsessed at the time. He didn’t have authorization to do it, but he was driven. He found a developer inside the team that he could trust and he paid her on the side to help him. Eventually they succeeded. He took the technology when he left.

“I don’t have it.”

“I’ve heard you say that already. What I’m saying is that I need to know where it is.” Daniel shifted slightly in the chair, just enough to reveal the weapon he carried.

“Are you threatening me?” Brad asked. He had moved from the doorway to the living room. He felt surprisingly calm, considering what he knew was about to happen.

“No,” Daniel responded in a condescending tone. He picked up the weapon and let Brad get a good look at it. “This?” he asked. “This is just for self defense. You never know who you might run into in Durban.”

Anupama had been watching from the bedroom. At the sight of the gun she burst into the room with a shriek. “No!” she called. “Brad, we have to go. Please. Let’s just go.” She turned toward the door.

“No!” he called as she pulled the door open. He jumped up and rushed after her. He tried to grab her, but she was a few steps ahead of him. “Anupama, wait,” he cried.

Daniel rushed to follow. He had not expected the reaction. He had no intention of hurting Brad or Anupama. He had come only to obtain and destroy the device. For all their differences, Daniel had always respected Brad. Brad was the most consistent person he knew, even if they didn’t agree on much.

As Anupama reached the edge of the porch, Brad heard the piercing whiz of a bullet. Thump. Anupama spun. Her eyes filled with horror as she crashed down on the steps just out of reach of her husband. He rushed to grab her. Thump. Brad felt a piercing sting, then the flow of warm blood over his chest. He clutched Anupama and watched the life slip from her eyes.

He looked across the garden to see a small African man pointing a gun at him and shouting in Xhosa. There was another pop, this time from behind. The African spun and fell. Brad craned his neck around to see Daniel lowering his own gun and shouting.

Daniel looked down. Brad gasped for a breath and wheezed, “You did this to yourselves.”

Brad was still holding a set of keys. Both the car he drove and the house he lived in were still locked and unlocked with manual metal keys. It wasn’t the keys that Daniel noticed, though. On the chain was a small remote device, an old radio frequency transmitter. Brad pushed the button. The chain fell to the step.

Daniel’s eyes widened. He activated his implants and stared into his visual overlay. His shoulders fell limp and he staggered to the rail to support himself. Physical weakness overcame him as he realized the implications of the information streaming through his view.

“No,” he whispered to himself as he collapsed onto the porch.

 

Monday Movie Review

We tried to go see Nanny McPhee this weekend but were unable to find a time that would mesh with our schedule, so we're planning to go tonight. I will report on that as soon as I can.

I have to mention Time Bandits. I returned this movie to Netflix.com this morning. I believe that this is the movie from which the phrase stranger than fiction was originally derived. I have no idea what the movie was about or what I was supposed to think about any of it, but for some really strange reason, I liked it. I can't really rate it because I'm not sure how, but I would suggest you throw it in your Netflix queue, then tell me what you think.

January 27, 2006

Calling Switzerland

I need some help from my international readers. I recently posted an article about gun ownership and received several emails and one direct comment. I would like to get some feedback about a common response to gun ownership that I hear. In a nutshell, almost every strong defender of gun ownership presents an argument something like this:

"In [insert country of choice], every household owns a gun because they are issued by the military. Therefore bad guys in those countries don't dare commit crimes. Ergo, if everyone has a gun, less people will get shot"

Now, I may be misunderstanding the argument, but for now that is not the point. What I want to know is:

1. Are there countries that issue guns to every person (or a majority of people) at a certain age? If so, which countries. Also, are those guns ever returned to the issuer.
2. For those countries where guns are issued, is the occurrence of violent crime actually lower? If so, is it related to personal gun ownership or is it because of cultural or political differences?

One of my commenters said that Switzerland is a country in which all men receive guns at age 18. I'd like to find out from my international friends if this is accurate and if it is, what is the impact on crime, accidental shootings, etc.

I would be happy to translate this post into French and German for my Swiss readers but at this time in my life I can only think of one French phrase, "Je pense que j'ai oublié ma clef," and one German phrase, "Meine papiere ... iche habe sie verloren," both of which are lines from The Bourne Identity. If someone else wants to translate this call for help, I'll post it.

Please pass this on to your international friends and let us see if we can learn something.

January 26, 2006

Congratulations to Chipotle

Chipotle has gone public and is planning a significant expansion in the next three years.

They also now have online ordering.

Congratulations!

The Google Effect (Part III)

Several people have asked me about the Google personalized homepage and my Google module. Leslie Franke has recently posted an article about it and included my traffic module as one of the recommended modules.

It has been interesting and exciting to see the massive traffic increase because of this new exposure. Yesterday I received 148,000 hits to my web site. Yep, that was one day. That's up from 660 hits on the first day of January.

Just so I've said it, though. The hits don't mean much if I don't accomplish what I originally intended to do with this blog: create a platform to sell my book.

January 25, 2006

Writing a Query Letter

Current conventional wisdom indicates that when a new author is seeking a literary agent (or publisher) that the proper way to make first contact is by sending a query letter. For fiction, a query letter should indicate the genre of the book, a brief description of the book and of the author. I read everything I could find on creating the perfect query letter and gave it a shot. Well, four shots actually.

Here are my four query letters:


The first two were ugly and neither one produced any positive response. So, I read everything I could find on design so that at least my letters would look better and I created #3. I never sent that one out because I showed it to some friends whose comments led to #4. I sent query letter #4 to about 50 agents.

All but three of the responses simply said "We already have plenty of work. Thanks, but no thanks." (or something similar). I took that to mean that either they really are too busy or that they hated the letter or the concept and simply weren't interested. That's fine.

Two of the responses were from publishers that aren't what I am looking for. They were POD or vanity and that's just not where I want to go with this book. If I were to choose POD, I would definitely use Lulu again.

One response led to me sending the completed manuscript. I just learned that it was not accepted.

In the middle of all of that, I started this blog. If you haven't yet started, read my book. Each chapter is very small. If you like it, let me know. If you hate it, let me know. If you are the sister-in-law (or any other relationship) to a literary agent, tell them about this site. If you aren't the sister-in-law to a literary agent but you are related to someone, tell them about this site.

As soon as I can get to it, I'll upload some of the response letters to my queries. Some of them are very entertaining.

The Bunny Chow

I just uploaded chapter 39 of The Agency Delta. This is one of my favorite chapters in the book.

I lived in the Durban (South Africa) area for only a few months, but its culture really got under my skin. In chapter 39, I take one of my favorite characters down to the Indian Market (now the Victora Street Market) for a bunny chow (you really should click the link to learn what a bunny is). I could sure go for one of those right now. Mmmm, mutton curry.

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Saturday, 12 March 2022 – 3:30 p.m. SAST

 

Brad and Anupama spent the majority of the day helping finish the interior of two new homes. Dozens of volunteers helped in the painting, tiling and carpeting of the homes. As always, Brad and his wife worked in the same area of the homes so they could be close and talk. Even after years of marriage, they always found something to discuss.

Brad seemed to be distracted today. Anupama tried several conversation topics, but nothing stuck. Eventually Brad would drift off into a thoughtfulness that Anupama did not recognize.

“Brad, are you sure you’re okay today?” she asked several times. Each time the answer was the same.

“Yes,” he would reply then follow with “I love you so much.”

They spoke briefly about the tragedy in Karachi, then of local politics and of the weather. By noon there was a serene stillness about them both. The work party broke just after three p.m.

“Do you mind if we go downtown before we go home?” Brad asked as they loaded into their car. Brad usually didn’t like to go out. It was particularly unusual that he would want to go downtown before cleaning up, but Anupama could sense that Brad needed something.

“That would be fine,” she answered.

He started the car. There was an initial squeak in the engine as it turned over.

“We really need to get that checked,” Anupama commented. “This car may not last much longer.”

Brad smiled. She was right, but he knew that it wouldn’t matter tomorrow.

There was silence for a moment as Brad weaved through the residential streets toward the highway. “I may be getting a visit from an old friend,” Brad said as nonchalantly as he could. He had spent most of the day trying to decide if he was going to say anything at all.

Anupama felt that this was not good news. “Who?” she asked.

“An old coworker from India named Daniel.” Brad tried to sound upbeat about the information. He glanced over to read Anupama’s expression. She was clearly concerned. The truth was, Brad didn’t actually know much about the cause of his death, but he felt that it would involve Daniel. He assumed that eventually they would discover what he had taken from Naidu when he left.

“He’s not visiting on holiday, is he?”

“No, if he comes it will be work related.” Brad tried to force a smile. Anupama started to say something, but he cut her off. “I wanted to go down to the market, pick up a few things and maybe grab a bunny.”

Anupama knew that Brad always loved to visit the Victoria Street Market with its eclectic offerings and bustle. It was the only place that Brad liked to go that was busy. He always liked to walk past the spot where they had first met and reminisce about all the changes in their lives since then. And he always enjoyed a bunny chow, the curry-filled half loaf of bread unique to the area. They would usually get one bunny to split and eat it while they observed the crowds of the market.

“That sounds fine,” Anupama commented. “Are you sure things are okay? It seems you’ve been worried today – perhaps about this visitor?”

“It’s nothing. We’ll deal with that if and when it comes.”

There was silence in the car for a few moments. Anupama was concerned, but she knew not to press Brad about his past. He hated discussing it. She knew very little of his work, but she knew that he left for personal moral reasons. She had never considered that he could be in danger for having left, but it crossed her mind as they approached Durban.

“Do you have any regrets in your life?” The question broke the silence. Brad had a gift for jumping from topic to topic without a thread of continuity.

“Sorry?” Anupama asked. The question was so disconnected from her thoughts that she wasn’t sure she had heard him right.

“Any regrets. I mean, do you feel like you missed out on anything? Something you would have liked to have done or experienced?”

Anupama considered her answer. She had always wanted to have children, but they had decided early on in their marriage that they were too old. Brad was forty-four and Anupama was forty-one when they married and though they could safely conceive at that age, they felt that they were not emotionally young enough to properly raise children. They had fully established their lifestyles and they enjoyed their quiet time. But deep inside, it truly was the one regret she had.

“Children,” she said. “But you know that. It’s not so much that I regret our decision, but I do regret that we met so late in our lives.”

Brad reached over and gently took her hand. He felt the same way at times, but he had another motivation for not wanting to bring children into his life. He didn’t want to leave them fatherless at a young age. He smiled at her, but there was nothing he could say.

“What about you?” she asked, changing the subject before the tears started.

“So many,” he answered. “But none since I met you.”

Anupama squeezed his hand. She wondered if he would open up. “Can you tell me about it?”

Brad sighed. “There’s too much to tell. We don’t have the time.” He chuckled and shook his head.

Anupama waited.

“I sometimes just wish I could go back and change it all. Not so much the things that I did, but being involved with those people, those businesses. It was all greed and power and corruption. And I was there in it. If I could go back...”

“But you are not there now,” Anupama reassured. “You chose to leave. And that speaks volumes about your heart. It’s all in the past. Don’t think on it.”

Brad smiled. She was the greatest gift of his life.

They spent a few hours of quiet browsing in Durban and shared a lamb curry bunny chow while enjoying their time together. Eventually Brad realized that his present had caught up to his future. The time to return home had come.

 

January 24, 2006

Something Fun

After writing something serious, it was necessary to write something fun.

Here is a quick list of movies coming this year. Certainly this is not an exhaustive list, but it covers most of the big stuff:


There are a few obvious must-see movies on the list: Superman, X3, Pirates and The Da Vinci Code. I'm hopeful for each of them and want Superman and Da Vinci to really hit the mark. I expect X3 will be right on since X2 was better than X-Men. I hope a sequel doesn't wreck the Pirates' ship.

I'm excited to see Nanny McPhee for the magic (I guess I'm still thinking about Narnia) and just simply to see how Emma Thompson was transformed for her role.

The Pink Panther could be funny. I've seen all of the others, so I hope this one delivers the style of comedy that its predecessors did. If so, it will be great. If not, it will fall into the slush pile of redo's that really didn't. I feel the same way about the Shaggy Dog. We've seen a lot of Disney redo's lately (mostly responsible for Lindsay Lohan's ... um ... career). With another Santa Clause sequel, we'll see plenty of Tim Allen this year. Hopefully we won't regret it too much.

There are a few comedies that I will see: Stranger Than Fiction has a storyline that reminds me of the John Candy movie, Delirious. If you haven't seen Delirious, throw it in your Netflix.com queue. I think you'll like it. My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Click both have funny-sounding storylines. Let's cross our fingers for those.

Now for the wild cards: Nacho Libre could be funny or it could be complete crap. We'll revisit that in June. Mission Impossible III is anyone's guess. Mission Impossible was great, MI:2 was a disaster. If this series pulls off an Indiana Jones, I'll actually be quite happy, but honestly I'm expecting a Jurassic Park. Casino Royale is supposed to be a Bond movie with less emphasis on gadgets and more edginess. I liked Brosnan, but that last movie was not great. Maybe a new Bond (again) will be a good thing.

There are the 911 movies on the list. I can't even guess on those. I'm sure they'll do well in the box office, but I'm not sure if I'll like them. I'm more of a suspension-of-reality moviegoer. I thought Schindler's List was very good, but too depressing for everyday viewing.

There are plenty of kids films on the list. I'll probably enjoy all of them.

There are two left that I haven't mentioned. Do you know what they are?

First, there's Lady in the Water. This is an M. Night Shyamalan film. So far, I've only liked The Sixth Sense but unfortunately Unbreakable is on my list of worst movies ever. I have no idea what to expect with this film. Second there's Miami Vice. Now that's just wrong.

The Right to Bear Arms

Most of the time I feel rather comfortable with my Republican-leaning perspective. I must admit, though, that I really don't understand gun ownership. Now, let me be clear: I have no agenda toward the right to bear arms. I think that the rights must be maintained. What I'm talking about is the desire to bear arms. I don't understand why most normal people want guns in their homes. I just don't.

Take this article: Boy shoots girl at day care center.

Call me naive, but it seems to me that if there had been no gun, there would have been no shooting. In my very simple mind, the primary purpose of a gun is to shoot it. It may be the case that guns could also be used as paperweights, or to prop up the corner of a wobbly table, but I think they were created to shoot things. So, in my mind the logic goes something like this: guns are used to shoot things, there are guns, therefore things get shot. When the things that get shot are people, I think that's a big deal.

Now, I have had many close friends who are gun advocates who try to convince me that my views are naive in that without a gun I have no method for self-preservation. However, as much as I like to think that my life is as interesting as that of Jack Bauer or Jason Bourne, that just is not the case. I have not yet, nor do I expect at any time to have gun-wielding bad guys intersect my life. In fact, I don't know anyone who personally has that experience on a regular basis. Again, I may be naive, but I just don't think I have a need for a gun, nor do I think very many people do.

Thus, eliminate the guns (because you really don't live in the same house as Jack Bauer) and make your home safer for kids (who do actually live in the same house as you).

Ok, this blog is now officially open for flames.

Something Else to Read

Here's another short story site that I found because of the author's comments on my site: http://storyblook.blogspot.com/. The writing style is clean. The stories are short. It's worth a look.

If you've been reading my stuff you'll know I tend to write PG rated. The above might be more like PG-13.

January 23, 2006

Jazz and The Pat Metheny Group

I don't know anything about Jazz. But one of the characters in my book (read here) enjoys Jazz and so when I needed to choose his favorite Jazz artist I turned to my good friend Jeffrey. Jeffrey recommends the Pat Metheny Group for jazz lovers.

Now you know why Ramesh listens to the Pat Metheny Group.

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Saturday, 12 March 2022 – 11:00 a.m. SAST

 

Ramesh had been traveling for nearly fourteen hours when he awoke to some minor turbulence. He had tried sleeping, reading and watching movies to take his mind off the flying, but it had not been successful. He stretched out in the comfortable leather seat and lifted his eye mask. It was dark.

The green start icon still sat unused in Ramesh’s field of view. He had not been motivated to try his implants since he had left. There had been so many things happening in the past few days that he relished the quiet. He groaned. He still didn’t want to run through the tutorial, but he wasn’t sleeping. He closed his eyes and focused on the pointer. He forced it to start.

Craaaack! Ramesh jumped nearly out of his seat as the auditory implant activated. He slammed his hands to his ears then realized that the sound was coming from inside his head. It had not been particularly loud, but it was initially unnerving. A moment later, a vibrant audio-visual presentation began. It was Valerie’s voice.

“Welcome to the Q-Morrow military-grade a/v implant user tutorial,” she began. Ramesh settled back in his seat. There was still a slight ringing in his head, but it was not particularly distracting. The tutorial provided a vast amount of information. It was broken into segments with practice opportunities throughout. The first segment was dedicated to the user controls and the overall feature set.

After twenty minutes of instruction, Ramesh found that he was able to identify all of the wireless devices on the plane. Most of them belonged to the crew. The implants provided not only information about the existence of the devices, but also the approximate physical location of each. He noticed that many of the devices had inadequate security and he was able to access some mundane information such as phone number lists and camera images. He shook his head and sighed. He had no interest in continuing his electronic voyeurism, but realized how easily this kind of technology could be abused by the general public.

He continued through the training. He found that he had access to the net at large, to databases, libraries and research facilities. He was instantly able to create text messages to be carried either by email or instant messaging. He also had instant access to imagery, video, maps and other media of all types. It was overwhelming. He mused at how quickly he would be able to organize his writing career using the instant accessibility of the implants.

The next portion of the tutorial introduced the text editing capabilities. Using the simple up, down, left, right, forward and backward controls combined with an advanced predictive text algorithm, entering long sections of text was surprisingly easy. Ramesh began by attempting to enter his favorite quote from Gandhi, “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

He started by selecting the letter t. Then by simply indicating a move to the right, and up, the letter h slid into position. The predictive text algorithm only presented letters that could logically follow the preceding ones. For longer words, the text seemed to nearly flow without any effort. Ramesh was impressed.

He stopped the tutorial and wrote a one-line message to Quinn: “This is amazing technology. –Ram

He thought again of his writing career. He detoured from the tutorial to see if he could access his home computer directly. Within a matter of a few seconds, he had full remote access. He laughed with the giddiness of a child as he checked his messages, replied to some colleagues and started a draft article for one of his regular columns. The in-flight hours passed much more quickly.

After spending some time experimenting with the implants, he eventually returned to the tutorial. The next segment covered the use of the futurestream. This is not a module that is not usually discussed in the military-grade package, he mused.

He learned far more about the futurestream than he had expected. It was more than simply a stream of information. It was a comprehensive database of information indexed and categorized and scored. Every bit of information was evaluated using not only simple database indexing techniques, but also using natural language algorithms to further categorize and classify the information. Scoring was based on a complex mathematical formula that comprehensively evaluated all relevant information. For each mention of an event in the future, all other similar events were cross-referenced and weighted. The more consistent the events were, the higher the score.

“Few events ever appear with a probability of one hundred percent,” said the recording of Valerie. “This is due to many factors, some of which we have yet to identify. When considering the probability of a future event, consider both the immediacy of the event and the possibility of human interaction with the event. For example, an event listed with a high probability that is to occur within the next hour is very likely to actually occur. Any event in the more distant future is less likely to actually occur unless the impact of human interaction on the event is negligible. Future weather events and geological events are not affected by human interaction. They will happen as listed in the futurestream.

“Completely random future events like lotteries have high probabilities. However, anything that can be affected by any human interaction has a decreasing probability of actually occurring over time. Stock markets are affected by emotional buying or selling conditions. Births, deaths, marriages and other similar events are fully at the mercy of human decision.” The tutorial continued. Ramesh listened intently to the overview section, waiting anxiously to learn how to activate the futurestream so he could explore it.

Finally he found the information he was seeking. He activated the futurestream search. He sat for a moment, contemplating what he might explore. He typed in a name: Quinn Sorensen. There were over fifteen million search results. He tried again: Ramesh Kapoor. This time there were only a few thousand results. He looked at the list. It was organized very much like any network search page. He could sort by relevance or by date or by probability and he could search for results similar to other results.

He glanced through the list. Within the next few hours he saw that he would be mentioned in a few articles related to the International Genomics Consortium. He read the contents of an article and was disappointed to see that it was biased against genomic research. He continued searching his near future. There were some other mundane references and a few references to another person with the same name. At the moment that Ramesh was about to return to the tutorial, one of the results caught his attention.

...American citizen, Dr. Ramesh Kapoor died at the scene. Local authorities calling this a tragic accident...”

Ramesh read the entire article. His heart pounded as he read an emotionless news story depicting a multiple-vehicle accident on the N3 highway near Pinetown in which he and several other people were killed. The date of the article was tomorrow.

Ramesh felt himself getting sick. He felt his muscles tighten as he tried desperately to control the input device. He couldn’t manage to clear the screen. He began to feel claustrophobic as he scrambled to deactivate the view. He couldn’t help but read the lines over and over. His breathing quickened. He threw off the eye mask and rushed to the lavatory. He fumbled with the lock and then spun around and fell to his knees. For a moment a waves of nausea ebbed. He forced himself to breath.

After a moment, he stood. He stared into the mirror. The article was still in his view. He gained enough composure to clear the screen. The last thing he saw was the probability of the event: sixteen percent.

He breathed. It was all he could do. Several minutes passed as he tried to process what he had seen. He decided to message Quinn.

Quinn, I have encountered a disturbing future event. I apologize for disturbing you, but will appreciate any advice.

 

Ramesh wasn’t sure how long he might wait for a response. He checked the time. It was just before four a.m. in Phoenix. He washed his hands and face then unlocked the door. A response appeared in his view as he took his seat.

Ramesh, I apologize for not having had more time to prepare you for things such as this. I found the article about your death tomorrow. I assume that’s the event you found? The good news is that it has only 10% probability (by the time you check it again, it will be less, or it will be gone).

Remember that you’re in control of your own future. To avoid this death, simply avoid taking that route. Or go at a different time. The article suggested that the accident occurred at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Go later or earlier – and avoid that area of the freeway.

 

Feel free to contact me anytime.

 

Quinn

 

Ramesh pondered the response. Though he had never given it much serious consideration, he had always believed in a bit of predestination about his own death. At the same time, he realized that he had always believed that something could have been done to save his wife and kids.

Ramesh thought about Brad. He now had a clear understanding of the moral battle that Brad faced every day he worked for Quinn and Sireesha. He sympathized with his old friend. They would have so much to discuss.

Looking out on the world from thirty-thousand feet, Ramesh saw the pale light of dawn stretching over the sky. It would still be several hours before he arrived in Johannesburg, then a few more to Durban. He wondered if it would be possible to access some of his personal music files and listen to them with the implants. In moments he found his collection. He chose a few selections from the Pat Metheny Group, a jazz band from the late twentieth century that he found relaxing. He adjusted the volume of the playback and settled into his chair. Within a few minutes he was asleep.

 

Super Size Me

I just returned Super Size Me to Netflix.com this morning. What a movie!

I don't watch a lot of documentaries, but this movie is more entertaining than any other documentary I've ever seen. It's so disturbing. I recommend that every person see this movie, though I must say that parents should watch it before letting children watch it. There are some frank discussions about sex and a few four-letter words that may be offensive, but if you don't know what fast food is really doing to the world, you need to watch this.

The good news for me is that I don't eat McDonald's very often. That place has a ketchup factor of at least 4 and even the ketchup there isn't very good. The bad news for me is that I shouldn't be drinking so much soda.

I'd love your comments on this movie!

January 20, 2006

The Google Effect (Part II)

Seth writes about the Google funnel today. This is particularly interesting for me since I am now getting about 60% of my traffic from Google, but nearly none of it is really targeted to this site or any of my sites per se. They're just looking for my modules (listed in the Google directory here).

Any suggestions on how to turn all this traffic into a book deal?

January 19, 2006

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Saturday, 12 March 2022 – 7:00 a.m. SAST

 

Daniel jogged briskly on a treadmill in the hotel fitness center. He had spent most of his time in Durban either at the beach, in the fitness center or at the nightclubs. It had been nearly thirty-six hours since he had commissioned the search for Brad. Throughout the fitness center, International news broadcasters presented a constant loop of images of Karachi intermingled with reports from experts of all kinds. Daniel knew that this was just the beginning.

At seven fourteen a.m. a small indicator flashed in Daniel’s line of sight. It was the beacon. The African had found Brad. Daniel immediately stopped his exercise and went to his room to change. As he did, he called up the position of the beacon and mapped it. The signal originated in Hillcrest, just thirty minutes away.

Not far from the Royal Hotel was Jordaan Motorsports, a dealership of the finest in luxury vehicles. Daniel had spent an hour there yesterday perusing the selection and meeting the staff. They had exactly what he needed.

“Good morning again,” called the young English salesman that he had met yesterday.

“Morning.”

“Have we come for a test drive?”

“No.” Daniel wasn’t the kind of person who test drove. He didn’t waste his time. He knew exactly what he wanted. He knew exactly what it would cost. “I’m here to buy.”

The salesman lit up. “Which of our cars?”

“Not a car. A Volak.” Daniel reached out and ran his hand over the molded frame of a jet-black and chrome motorcycle. It was manufactured by Volak, the Czech manufacturer that had grown into one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers in the world. While most manufacturers had transitioned to electric or hybrid engines, Volak had remained true to the gasoline-engine aficionados.

“Perfect.” The salesman considered for a moment mentioning the excessive pollution tariffs on the Volak, but decided better of it. Daniel didn’t appear to be the kind of buyer that would settle for anything less than the best. “And will you be paying in Rand or Dollars?”

“Dollars.”

“Excellent.”

At seven fifty-six, Daniel raced away from downtown Durban toward Hillcrest. He weaved through traffic along the N3, the national highway connecting Durban with Pietermaritzburg. The freeway was relatively busy, but the traffic appeared almost stationary as he ripped through it. Traffic thickened near Pinetown at which point he used the shoulder. As he approached Hillcrest, the map in his view zoomed and rotated to match his position.

Just outside of the main town center, Daniel weaved through the hilly neighborhoods of Hillcrest. It had been a small town when he lived in the area, but Hillcrest had grown to become a suburb the Durban Unicity Metropolotan Area area. It had become the fashionable upper-income suburb of Durban with the type of shopping and lifestyle that made it a destination unto itself. The homes were obviously owned by the wealthy. They were large homes on large plots. They were gated and secure.

Daniel slowed as he approached a small gray kombi parked askew on the side of a small residential road. The beacon originated from the kombi. Daniel approached and knocked on the glass, waking the African who had been waiting for just over an hour.

“I’ve found him,” stated the African after crawling out of the disheveled kombi. “He lives there.” He pointed at a distinctly smaller home situated just below the road connected by a narrow dirt driveway.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. But he is not there now. No one is there.” The African fumbled through his pockets in search of a cigarette. He drew a long breath then continued as he exhaled, “He works at the house project. My mother’s sister knows him.”

Daniel looked skeptically at the African. “Did you actually see him here?”

“No. But he will be back later ... after two or three, when the project finishes for the day.” The African took another long pull on his cigarette then flipped the butt into the road. “You’ll pay me now?”

“Not until I see him,” Daniel answered.

The African considered pressing the issue for a split second, but decided against it. He remembered how quickly Daniel had disabled the Englishman at the nightclub. He grunted in disapproval but said nothing.

“I’m going to wait in the house,” Daniel continued. “You can stay here or come back later – it makes no difference to me, but remove this heap from the road and don’t let them see you.”

“I’m going nowhere until I have my money,” the African growled.

“You will stay low. I’ll be at the house until they return. I’ll pay you when I leave.”

Daniel did not wait for a response. He strode to his bike and made his way down to the small house. He parked the bike prominently in front of the house and made his way inside.

 

Inside the house, he found very little. There was no indication of the wealth Brad had accumulated in his years at Q-Morrow and at Naidu. There were few pictures of any kind, but Daniel did find what appeared to be a wedding album. He skimmed through it and left it open when he found a good picture of Brad. After a few moments of rummaging through the bedroom, Daniel returned to the main living room. He sat down and activated a small viewscreen – the only visible modern technology in the house.

He checked his watch. It would be nearly noon in Bangalore. He called Sireesha.

“I’ve found him,” he said immediately after Sireesha answered the call.

“You’re there with him now?”

“No. I’m at his house. He’s not here now, but I’ll stay until he returns.”

“Is there any indication of the device?”

“There’s nothing here at all,” Daniel answered. “Nothing but entertainment devices.”

“Could it be hidden there?”

“Not likely. I scanned for network devices straightaway. There’s nothing modern here at all – I don’t know how he lives.”

Sireesha sighed. “Keep looking. And keep me informed. This is good news.”

The phone clicked. Daniel reclined on the chair and put his feet up. He would wait.

 

The Google Effect

traffic.gifHere's a graph representing the traffic to my site this month. Notice what happens when Google constantly sends traffic to your site (starts about Jan 17).

What still amazes me is that still only a tiny fraction of Google's traffic is having any impact on my site right now.

January 18, 2006

Convenience Progression

Back in the early 1980's I remember when the concept of video rental came to my home town. A local entrepreneur, Nyle Fullmer, opened a video rental store on Main street in Rexburg. Back then you could not only choose from a massive selection of about 25 VHS tapes, but you could also rent a VHS player (because as hard as it is to believe now, not everyone owned any type of video player).

The process was pretty ugly. You had to hope that there were still players available, then you had to lug a 40 pound suitcase-like bag of equipment out of the store to your home, then hook everything up, watch your movies, then take it all back. At the time, the wow factor of watching movies at home outweighed the negatives (unless you happened to end up with long-term back troubles from porting the equipment around, of course).

Things have obviously gotten better since then, but I do have to say that Netflix.com has shown me that there was a gap in convenience that needed to be filled. Netfilx has done it. I love Netflix. You pick movies online, they come in the mail (often the next day), you watch them, you drop them in the return envelope, you're done. In the meantime you can keep the movies as long as you want/need. There are no late fees. And for me, I can't believe how much more convenient it is than running back and forth to the video store (where I can never find the new releases anyway).

You can get started with Netflix.com for just $10 per month, too. Now that is convenience.

Google Modules

The people at Google decided that they like two of my Google Modules and have listed them here.

Server traffic is off the charts today. I just need to figure out how to get more of that traffic to read my blog.

Pretty cool stuff, though!

January 17, 2006

The Ketchup Factor

The Ketchup Factor™ is a new concept that I'm just starting to work on. Basically it's a rating system for fast food (or any food). Instead of rating from 1 to 10 where 1 is the worst and 10 is the best, The Ketchup Factor™ would actually rate food based on how much ketchup (or other condiment) is required to make the food edible.

Two examples:

1. Last night I had Taco Bell. I know that's a mistake in itself, but I did it anyway. I realized how much I dislike the taste of the food when I was at home squirting about two tablespoons of ketchup followed by about a teaspoon of pepper sauce onto each taco just so I could eat them.

2. Sunday evening we decided to cook up a quick snack for a movie. My wife had purchased some miniature corn dogs and had included them in the snack. She asked how I liked them, to which I responded that they were fine. She said they tasted funny like chemicals. So I tried one without mustard and she was right. They were nasty. So, by accident I had made them edible with a 1-to-1 ratio of mustard to corn dog.

I think the idea needs a little refinement, but I'm thinking of something like: Ketchup Factor 1 - 5 where KF1 means it's okay, but KF5 means that you should probably just eat the ketchup.

Thoughts?

January 16, 2006

Monday Movie Review

First of all, I just have to say that I might be talking about 24 a lot for a while. Last night was the first half of the season opener and it was incredible. More on that later.

I didn't see anything at the theater this weekend, but I watched a couple from my Netflix.com queue. First we watched The Abyss. It's a James Cameron film (think Terminator) with a really cool concept and a reasonably good cast, but the dialog was abyssmal (cute, huh?) reminding me of another movie with a horrible screenplay. It was a VERY long movie as well which may also be a Cameron trademark (think Titanic) and I kept wondering when we were going to get to the good stuff. The very end of the movie reminded me a little of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but that didn't salvage anything. 0.5π.

I watched The Island again. It's even better the second time.

I Tivo'ed The Matrix: Reloaded for sometime later this week. I'm a Matrix junkie. I can't help it.

Rooibos Tea

I just uploaded another chapter of The Agency Delta which opens with a character sipping rooibos tea. Rooibos is an herbal tea that I drank at least once a day for the two years I lived in South Africa but that I have never seen here in the United States.

I hated it when I first tried it, but after two years I loved it. I wonder how I would feel about it today.

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Saturday, 12 March 2022 – 5:00 a.m. SAST

 

Brad Harris sipped a cup of hot rooibos tea as he waited for Anupama, his wife of nearly seven years to finish packing their lunch and supplies for the day. It was a beautiful day in Hillcrest, the Durban suburb in which he and his wife had decided to settle. Their house was small and unassuming, perfect for a couple that had chosen to focus on themselves. He had been off the grid since he left India and that suited him perfectly.

Brad glanced at his watch. It was just after five a.m., the twelfth day of March. For eight and a half years Brad had constantly thought about this day. For eight and a half years ago, Brad had taken his last look into the future and had seen his own death.

A short article from an obscure Durban news wire had mentioned his death and an investigation. The probability of the event was less than ten percent, but Brad knew that the probability was skewed because there was so little information about him transmitted over the net. He was also sure that the news was only available on the futurestream created by Naidu Technical. Quinn’s network was not as pervasive in Africa and Asia as was Sireesha’s. He assumed Quinn wouldn’t know. But he hoped.

“Do you have your gloves?” called Anupama from the house.

Brad reached to his back pocket to check. “Yes, I’ve got them.”

Brad and Anupama had spent the better part of their married lives volunteering their time to various service organizations. For years they had worked in an agricultural program organized by the United Nations. Today they were going to work in a home building program that had recently been introduced by the South African government. Brad loved his volunteer work. It was for him a penance for his past.

Anupama was fully involved and fully supportive. She loved being able to help. She had been raised in Chatsworth, poor and fatherless. She met brad at the Victoria Street Market, a hub of Indian commerce in downtown Durban. There had been an almost instant connection. Their courtship took time. Anupama was unsure about the cultural backlash from her family, but three years of patient and consistent effort had paid off. Brad was loved by his extended family at least as much as he was loved by Anupama.

Brad had kept few secrets from Anupama while they were courting. One was the futurestream and the details of his past work. The other was his excessively large nest egg. Only after they were married did Brad reveal the full extent of his wealth. To Brad, however, the wealth was a constant reminder of the transgressions of his past. The other secrets of his past he never fully divulged. He hated that part of his life.

Today was a day that he could not help but think about the past. He was sullen and distant, but not sad. He had planned for this day and he had lived his life fully. He had a beautiful, wonderful wife, a supporting and loving family and he had spent all of his time helping people. He was ready for death if it was to come today. He hated the sadness that it would bring to Anupama, but he had no regrets.

When Anupama joined Brad on the stoop, they stood for a moment and enjoyed the pre-morning quiet. She kissed him softly, noticing an unfamiliar look in her husband’s eyes.

“Is anything wrong?” she asked.

He snapped from his reverie. “No,” he smiled. “I love you.”

 

January 13, 2006

Ego Surf

Ego Surf is the perfect diversion for anyone who has a web site. It calculates an ego level based on the frequency of your name and website appearing together on major search engines.

The following is my ego result link for Google. I have over 4,000 ego points, how about you?

Just to keep me humble, my brother did better than I:

January 11, 2006

New Chapter Available

I just uploaded chapter 35 of my book, The Agency Delta onto the site and re-read it as I did. I finished the book before Revenge of the Sith was released and now I wonder if I would have included so many Star Wars references in my book if I were to write it now.

Still, the Star Wars concept is great and the story (filtering out all of the bad dialog) is very cool.

If you're not familiar with how to read my book or short stories online, read this article.

If you like my site and sometimes forget to check back, you can always sign up for email notifications or use RSS. I suggest RSS if you already use My Yahoo, Google Personalized Homepage, Google Desktop, My MSN or any number of other RSS readers. If you're using FireFox (and who isn't?), you should see a live bookmark icon when you visit this site. The icon looks like this: livebookmark.gif and it will either be at the bottom of your browser or in the address bar (where you type in the web site URL). Clicking the live bookmark button will add quick links to my recent articles right in your browser. Very cool!

To sign up for email notifications, just enter your email address in the right-hand column under Subscribe. For RSS, look in the right-hand column under Feeds. If you still have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry, just read something funny like this or this.

Chapter 35

Chapter 35