My Favorite Future

One of the most atractive things about the Sci-Fi Genre is the visions of the future that writers create. One of my favorite visions of the furture woiuld have to be the world of Julian May's "The Exile Series". It combines celtic mythology with the evolution of mankind, contact with aliens and our place in the world. Here's what the Wikipedia has to say about it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_of_Pliocene_Exile

What are your favorite futures? Which author/screenwriter do you think captures a really cool future? Do you dream of ewoks or have nightmares about Reevers? Are you hoping the doctor will just drop on in? Do you think Huxley and Orwell were right? let me know.

I love my eee pc

As part of my tax return I got a linux eee pc. I partly got one as it was both cheap and robust and more likely to survive a house that has 4 teens and three cats and a husband studying IT (who likes to "modify" things). It is wireless, plays music, streams video, has wifi and is the size of a hardcover book. We have since bought a couple more for family use. Why do you mention this on this blog? you ask. Good question. I just love it and wanted to share this with you. The use of an open source operating system greatly reduces the price of the system. I can see these being used by students as they are really portable and fully functional and have a much bigger screen than mobile phones who pretend they are really good mini computers but will give you eye strain trying to look at the really tiny screens.


It is also a great example of really good branding, especially with the new disney movie "Wall-E" about to come out.

For those of you who love your microsoft- you can also get versions that have xp as well

If you want, here's the wikipedia link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC

You tube- my favourite? At least I have chicken!

I'm stretching things here- This bit is about gaming, most notably WOW (World of Warcraft) instead of pure Sci fi, but it also involves popular culture, Wikipedia and South Park. It is one of my favourite pieces of footage. Be warned, there are a few naughty words as the individuals concerned express their disatisfaction with the way events unfold.



There is more information on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeroy_Jenkins


and as the ultimate compliment, it gets parodied on South Park.

And you think cats are from earth.

Proof that cats evolved on a planet with an entirely different set of laws of physics. This is Xearge. He actually was asleep like this.

Mobile Phones- Thank you Star Trek

There is a facinating link between Science Fiction and Scientific advances. The imagination of the writer gives rise to the great ideas in the reader who then go on to create the things we use today. One great example I can think of offhand is the humble communicator on Star Trek that became the mobile phone. (Star trek also inspired the creation of the tablet PC, PDA's and MRI's as well as research in to teleportation)

The mobile phone itself has transformed our lives in a way the Writers of that series would never have even imagined possible. When the series was made, Whole generations of children are growing up with the idea that a land line is somthing you need to get ADSL and that communication is done by either email or by mobile phone.

My phone is used as an alarm, first point of contact when the rest of the family is out and about, camera, organiser, mp3 player and back up for files if necessary.

How do you feel about your mobile? can you live without it?, Is it an essential part of your life? do you get palpitations when you realise your battery power is heading intothe red zone? Do you get depressed when no one texts you? Do you still insist on using correct grammer in your messages or have you had the occasional lapse and find your self typing CUl8TR? Do you have a favorite ringtone? Which ones drive you nuts?

Feel free to vent