The Last Discworld novel

A couple weeks ago, my gorgeous lady bought me The Shepherd's Crown for my birthday. I had been waiting with a rabid anticipation (as I always have for a new Discworld novel) but when I actually had it in hand a strange thing happened. I wasn't sure if I wanted to read it.

The abstract on the back of the jacket ends with a devastating line: "The Last Discworld Novel". Thats it. The last one. Fin.

This, the 41st Discworld novel, rushed up the best seller lists, taking just three days to sell over 52 000 copies in the UK alone, and Terry Pratchett's daughter (Rhianna Pratchett) and his assistant (Rob Wilkins) have confirmed that neither of them will be writing any more Discworld books.

The series has been a running theme in my life for so long that I can't really envision a world where it doesn't continue. It occurred to me that if I don't read The Shepherd's Crown, there will always be a new Discworld novel waiting for me.

That's obviously insane and I am, of course, going to read it. Still: if ever there was a time to build the anticipation, the last Discworld novel must be it. To that end I'm going to re-read the other Tiffany books before I sit down with The Shepherd's Crown.


If you're a fan of Pratchett I wonder if you thought of this at all and if you're not, then I envy you the discovery of the Discworld.

-Odd

"Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can. Of course, I could be wrong." -Terry Pratchett

Geeks Games and Greatness Podcast: Episode 9 - Books

We bring the 9th episode of the Geeks Games and Greatness Podcast in which we discuss Magic: the Gathering, The Dark Knight Rises, Moving houses, UFO, and some of our favourite books.

WARNING: This podcast may contain adult language, massive tangents and spoilers:WARNING

Links:
BirdBox on YouTube

And remember you can find us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GeeksGamesGreatness so go and like us on Facebook and drop us a comment :)

You can also get hold of us on twitter: @OddModlin and @i4n0fd00m or by email: oddcastblog@gmail.com

Geeks, Games and Greatness Podcast - Episode 6: Moar

The 6th episode of the Geeks, Games and Greatness podcast is available here to tickle your eardrums. In this weeks rambeling we talk about more Anime, The Pretender, Star Trek DS9, Settlers of Catan, The Knights of Badassdom, The Higgs Boson, Choose-your-own-adventure books and we argue about pet tigers.

Download

As always, if you enjoyed the Podcast please leave us a comment, get hold of us on twitter (@OddModlin and@i4n0fd00m) or drop us a mail (oddcastblog@gmail.com)

Book Review: The Malazan Book of the Fallen

The Malazan Book of the Fallen is a series of heroic fantasy novels written by Steven Erikson, it is a 10 book series starting with Gardens of the Moon and culminating with The Crippled God.

This is without a doubt the best series of heroic fantasy I have ever read. Period.

The chartacters are unique and engaging and the writing style is lyric and stylish. The world (or worlds, I guess) in which it is set has to be one of the most complete visualisations of a fantasy setting that has ever been attempted.

I'm also really, really, really (seriously - I can't overstate this), really, impressed with the magic system in this series. It's unique (which is very difficult to do with the sheer amount of novels in the genre) and plays a large role both in the overall plot and in keeping the reader guessing as to exactly how everything fits together.

So what's the catch? Well... besides being a beefy 10 books long (and the books themselves might be better described as tomes), this is not a series that is intended for novices of the genre. I would suggest that anyone interested in picking up these books be quite comfortable the standard elements of the genre (mages, multiple worlds, various races and such) because the story itself is so intricate and emotionally fraught that it could be easily overwhelming if you're trying to absorb the basics too.

This isn't a series that can be easily paired down into a brief plot review, so I'm not even going to try. I will tell you that the characters are alarming powerful (these guys will really mess you up) while at the same time maintaining and communicating heart-wrenching human emotion... it's just incredible.

Also, keep an eye out for my two favorite characters Quick Ben and Andromander Rake... I almost wish the series had continued longer so that I could keep reading about them, but on the other hand I'm glad it didn't drag out ala Wheel Of Time.

From start to finish this is a masterpiece of literature. Do yourself a favor. Read it.

-Odd

"Name none of the fallen, for they stand in our place, and stand there still in each moment of our lives. Let my death hold no glory, and let me die forgotten and unknown. Let it not be said that I was one among the dead to accuse the living." -Duiker

Violent Video Games and human nature

Steve Napierski over at Dueling Analogs posted a strip this week about a report by the world health organisation saying that video games are a contributing factor in child obesity. Steve sees it as another extension of the bad press around video games, specifically violent ones.

I've never really weighed in on the subject, so I thought I'd give you my two cents: Human beings are predators, we evolved with forward facing eyes and aggressive tendencies so that we could hunt our food. As Cormac McCarthy said, "War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner." We're a violent bunch, if we weren't playing video games then we'd be watching an action movie, boxing or going out the roman circus to see gladiatorial combat.

What I do find troubling is the small number of games that are creative rather than destructive. The few that are around, like Guitar Hero, Farmville or Tamagochi (remember those?) seem to do very well. Maybe we should be encouraging the positive games rather than declaring war on the negative ones... that would seem to be far more consistent to me.'

In the news:

Book Review: The Warcraft Civilisation: Social Science in a Virtual World - sounds like a really cool book ^^

iPhone finally gets multi-tasking - it took you long enough....

Aussie Army Trains With Fleet of Robots On Segways - so cool! I want to have a run.

South Korea Announces Daily MMO Blackouts For Youths - very interesting since South Korea is one of the worlds  most technologically adoptive countries, and that they've got a HUGE market in neatly free MMO's.

Power Beaming For UAVs and Space Elevators - it's getting closer and closer, the Stage1 prize was taken at last years Space Elevator Games, lets hope for some more breakthroughs at the competition this year.

NSA Develops USB Storage Device Detector - and big brother sees just a little bit more than he did before.

First Pulitzer Awarded To an Online News Site - welcome to the digital age....

My post last week was a little weak ^^.... so I've added a couple pics to it so that you can all get a glimpse of Matt and Ian's awesomeness. Hope you enjoyed the post, as usual - tell your friends ^^

-Odd

Zeus most glorious and most great, Thundercloud, throned in the heavens! Let not the sun go down and the darkness come, until I cast down headlong the citadel of Priam in flames, and burn his gates with blazing fire, and tear to rags the shirt upon Hectors breast! May many of his men fall about him prone in the dust and bite the earth!
- Homer (The Illiad)

Science Fiction and Science Fantasy, The difference.

Right, so this might be a boring topic for some, but I think it's an interesting distinction, so I'm going to talk about it anyway. People who don't read sci-fi lump whole sections of literature under that one title (often including heroic fantasy, if you can believe that), like some sort of horrible mutant chimera. In reality there are some very clear distinctions in the genre.

Science Fiction as a genre includes such gems as the works of Issac Asimov, or the new Joss Whedon show Doll House. So what categorizes these as science fiction? It's actually fairly simple: The major element in any Science Fiction story is the science. What a science fiction writer does when developing a story is to choose a particular type of technology and then extrapolate it into the future to see how people will react to it. Because the science is the major protagonist in the story, it has to be very well thought out and communicated, there is always an in depth explanation on how and why this technology works.

Science Fantasy (also sometimes called a 'space opera') on the other hand doesn't rely on science for the story's direction. This sub-genre includes epic pieces of story telling like Star Wars (personally I'm referring to IV, V and VI when I say this) and Joss Whedon's amasing FireFly. While these stories might be set in the far future, and so require space-ships and lasers and the like, these things are more incidental to the story that the writer is trying to tell and so we don't get a lot (or any) explanation of how the science works.

To simplify the difference: Science Fiction is a story about people's reactions to piece or type of technology while Science Fantasy is a story that just happens to be set in a place or time with futuristic gadgets. Both genre's are very cool and lots of fun to read (or watch), but for completely different reasons.

In the News:

Robots To Clear the Baltic Seafloor of WW-II Mines - Our metal friends helping out again

Can He Make The Dancing Hexapod Robot Happy - Another cool article on the development of AI

Is Hyperlongevity Immoral? - an interesting exploration of the ethical ramifications of our drive to immortality

Blind people use both visual and auditory cortices to hear - interesting goings on in our brains.

Scientists solve ageing puzzle - "who wants, to live, forever?"

US military to make jet fuel from algae - the jarheads are going green, it seems.

New results confirm standard neutrino theory - some results to back up quantum theory.

Google demonstrates phone that translates text - a step closer to a universal translator

Switzerland peruses violent game ban - big brother steps in against electronic mayhem... it'll sure be boring if they pull it off

Lego Robot Solves Any Rubik's Cube in 12 Seconds - this thing is COOL! check out the vids

Robot Soccer Getting Better - news from the Robot World Cup

Minority Report Interface Is Real, Hitting Mainstream Soon - awesome gadget... I want one!!!

Nanodiamonds Produce 'Game Changing Event' for MRI Imaging Sensitivity - Nano technology doing cool stuff.

Oil droplets can navigate complex maze - scientists have taught oil droplets.... teaching inanimate objects? WTF?!

So there we are... another post down. If you enjoyed it, leave a comment, follow and tell your friends. Or tell me... I'd dig to know if anyone actually reads these things. ^^

-Odd

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law - Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics.

 

Hello, my name is Odd and I'm a bibliophile

I recently bought the 25th anniversary edition of David Gemmel's masterpiece Legend (and, being the raging geek that I am, bought one for my gorgeous girlfriend so that she has to read it too ^^), and it got my thinking on my reading habits.

I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction (besides textbooks, i don't touch it) or even real world fiction, my textual consumption consists entirely of Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction... and some people have a problem with that. It would never have crossed my mind that some would find my reading habits frivolous and wasteful, but I spend a fair amount of time reading in coffee shops and I'm often randomly accosted (usually by business types) asking why I'm wasting me time reading whichever novel I happen to be engrossed in.

Usually I just send them politely on their way... they're much to busy and self important to actually listen to any sort of rational (which begs the question, how do they have time to give me greif?), but occationally I do put down the book, set aside the caffinated ambrosia and try educate the unwashed masses.

I think that Heroic Fantasy and even more so Science Fiction are the most important genres that the combined genius of humanity produces. Heroic Fantasy (the good ones at least) open and expand the mind to a degree that non-fiction and real world fiction just can't match. It introduces us to ideas, worlds and situations that (while not physically possible in this reality) mirror, exemplify and extrapolate everything in the world around us.

Science Fiction is an even greater necessity for the modern world. Every piece of technology, scientific theory and every gadget that has integrated so seamlessly into our lives were (at very least) influenced by the work of a SciFi writer. They are the true visionaries of our age, and we can only benefit from tapping into their genius.

So, next time you're in a book store... be expansionist in your thinking: visit the Fantasy/Sci-Fi section... and if you happen to see me in a coffee shop, brain deep in a novel bigger and more complicated than a V2 rocket manual, have a thought before wrenching me back to reality to tell me I'm wasting my time.

In the News:

Europe's LHC To Run At Half-Energy Through 2011 - The LHC is still a long way from full operation.

Dune Remake Could Mean 3D Sandworms - Hope they do a good job on this one, it's one of the greatest Sci-Fi series ever written.

Patient presumed vegetative communicates via brain scan: study - I can think of nothing scarier than being stuck in my own head with no way to communicate... thankfully, science is making progress.

Stanford's robotic Audi to brave Pikes Peak without a driver (w/ Video) - Self driving cars are getting closer and closer

Carbon Based Chips May One Day Replace Silicon Transistors - A new technology that could keep Moore's Law going.

Hello Robotnaut: Nasa, GM introduce latest humanoid robot - NASA joining the race with this cool new robot.

Artificial intelligence: Can AI crack the conundrum of consciousness? - a great article on AI, how it's evolving and how it can tell us about ourselves.

Virus-Detecting "Lab On a Chip" Developed At BYU - great medical breakthroughs with nano-tech

Google Shooting For Smartphone Universal Translator - totally SciFi technology from my favorite evil corporation.

New Material Transforms Car Bodies Into Batteries - a new meta-material that could change the automotive industry and go a long way to making all our lives the little bit greener.

And there you have it, another week of looking into the excuse I call a mind. ^^ hope you enjoyed it.

-Odd

“Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil. Never back away from an enemy. Either fight or surrender. It is not enough to say I will not beevil. Evil must be fought wherever it is found.” - The Iron Code of Druss

 

Modern Robotics

Of all things sci-fi and techie, robots are probably the most easily explained and recognisable phenomenon. They’ve featured in numerous sci-fi books and movies, mostly as grossly overpowered machines of human extinction, but also occasionally as sensitive, thinking, feeling companions to mankind. Today, I will give you a few brief insights into how modern science is trying to realise the promises of those epic sci-fi stories.

The definition of a robot (in this case taken from Wikipedia) is anautomatically guided machine, able to do tasks on its own. Another common characteristic is that by its appearance or movements, a robot often conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. “Automatically guided” is an important distinction, as a lot of machines that people consider to be robots are actually not.

The US military has a number of these typesofthings, but currently doesn’t have any real robots. That will soon change, with DARPA giving out a $32 million grant to the company responsible for the very (very, very) cool Big Dogrobot. This handy (fully automatic) machine is going to be used as a robotic pack mule, lugging around supplies for a troop of soldiers travelling through rough terrain. Big Dog has some really advanced movement systems, so much so that it can come across quite creepy to some people (I think it’s WAY too cool to be considered creepy, but maybe that’s just me ^^).

Thankfully, the military are not the only ones exploring Robotics in its true form, the civilian sector might actually be well ahead. South Korea in particular is making a big push to be the world leader in robotics, having made the very ambitious promise to have a robot in every home by 2020. They could even make the deadline, with awesome tech like Honda’sASIMOrobot and thismaid robot. These civilian robots are still a far cry from C3-P0, only able operate in a very limited set of environments and actions.

So the robots are coming! And with showcases like the Robotic Soccer World Cup, and constant advances in computers allowing us to evolve the software to run the robots, it’s only a matter of time.

Lots of news this week:

Twitter Developing Technology To Thwart Censorship – Twitter taking up the challenge of opposing despotic countries. Brave.

Scientists Produce Unprecedented 1 Megajoule Laser Shot, Step Towards Fusion IgnitionLevitating magnet may yield new approach to clean energy – The biggest “laser beam” built yet, Dr. Evil would approve.

Apple Ipad – various views from industry commentators.

China Is Winning Global Race To Make Clean Energy - Who would have thought?

The BCI X PRIZE: This Time It’s Inner Space - A new X-Prize being setup to advance the electronic/brain interface. Sweet.

New adhesive device could let humans walk on walls - I want to be spiderman!

Scientists Discover New Species of Tyrannosaur - Pretty cool ^^

India Objects To Google Book Settlement - Google having more problems with it’s Books program

Super Strong Metal Foam Discovered - New meta-materials are always cool

Another week, another post. Hope you found it interesting. Peace.

-Odd

“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one”

 

On Augmented Reality and how it will change our lives

There is a branch of philosophy that argues that what we experience is in fact reality…. This is debatable (every thing is, when you get right down to it), but it’s a particularly interesting viewpoint if we look forward a few years to a new technology that is emerging, Augmented Reality.

Wikipedia defines Augmented Reality (AR) as “a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with (or augmented by) virtual computer-generated imagery - creating a mixed reality”. Basically, you have some sort of computer overlaying digital images over the real world.

It gets really interesting when you combine these with something like this and the networking capabilities of a modern cell phone. What they all combine to do is give you a real-time, internet connected, digital overlay of everything you see, navigated by your thoughts alone.

Want to know what shops are in that mall over there? Easy. How about looking up the specs for that sweet car behind you in the traffic? All you have to do is think about it. How much do those shoes cost? How the $%^# do I get home from here? What’s the traffic like on the M1? The possibilities are virtually (no pun intended) endless. Think what it would be like to have easy and constant access to knowledge sources like Google or Wikipedia. These are all fairly basic continuations of services we already have in place, but this kind of always on AR also opens up a whole new world of weirdness.

We could have digital tattoos, for instance, a simple signal broadcast to AR devices around you tells them to overlay a given picture (or animation) over a part of your body. Why stop at tattoos? When the imaging resolution gets advanced enough (and it will), we could portray an entire appearance that is drastically different to, but indistinguishable from, ‘reality’. Soon you’ll be sharing the sidewalk or bus with elves and vampires. This technology could also have an impact on architecture; we could digitise facades for our buildings, creating epic and physically impossible views and spaces.

Possibly the most exciting, and dangerous, use of this technology would be it’s integration with social networking. Have you ever thought of how useful telepathy would be? To be able to simply think at someone and have them respond? Of course, there’s a darker aspect as well, stalking is already rampant on sites like facebook or myspace, and it can only get worse when we can pick out someone’s profile just by looking at them.

The benefits of this technology are too numerous for any but a Luddite to even consider boycotting it, but it will have profound effects on how we interact with each other and the physical world. It’s going to be interesting to see how people adapt.

Who knows? In a few years we might have to completely redefine what we consider as ‘Real’.

 

Aaaand in other news:

Get Naked: It’s Good for Your Brain – Here’s one to send to your girlfriends (or boyfriends) ^^

AI/Nanotech Breakthrough? Transistors That Work Like Our Brains Do – A really interesting research track, and one that (if it works) could produce the first sentient computers.

NASA Prepping Plans For Flexible Path To Mars – NASA’s coming up with a new plan to be productive during the recession.

Ursula Le Guin's Petition Against Google Books – One of my favorite authors has organized a petition against Google’s terms and conditions in their Google Books program… I’m at a loss over who to support.

Uranus and Neptune May Have "Oceans of Diamonds" – more of our solar system’s wonderful weirdness.

SETI Founder Outlines Ambitious Future Plans – the search for extraterrestrial intelligence continues

Dinosaur Feather Color Discovered – I never thought they’d be able to work this out… I’m really glad they did… SUGOI!

How Cyber War is Heating Up – the new face of warfare.

 

And there we have it… another post… and I haven’t missed a deadline yet (probably because I haven’t really set one ^^). Hope you enjoyed it, and if it’s got you thinking I hope you’ll post a comment with your thoughts. Tune in next week for more of the same.

 

-Odd

“What we have here, is a failure to communicate”

 

In the news this week:

There’s been a lot of interesting developments in the news this past week, so I’m just going to give you a rundown of those and do a proper post some time later in the week.

 

NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Grinds "Cool" Rock – Nasa’s mars rover ‘Spirit’ has been having some success, coming across a rock that must have been made by volcanic activity. This gives scientists more insight into the red planet.

Scientists To Breed the Auroch From Extinction – life imitating art, with shades of Jurassic Park, a group of scientists are going to resurrect the giant buffalo-like creature from extinction… cool!

2-D Avatar To Be Pulled From Theaters In China – China bans the movie ‘Avatar’ for promoting anti-authoritarian dogma.

NASA Designs All-Electric Personal Flight Vehicle – Maybe NASA is trying to produce something that's usable by more than just astronauts? I want one!

Correlation Found Between Brain Structure and Video Game Success – I think working for the scientists who did this study could very well be my perfect job. ^^

NASA Will Crowdsource Its Photos of Mars – NASA has put out the call for opinions on the internet, want to see a specific piece of the Martian landscape? Give them a call.

Pope Urges Priests To Go Forth and Blog – The pope is trying to bring the church into the modern world? Then what about his stance on gay marriage? A tad hypocritical if you ask me.

A Case For the Necessity of Science Fiction – I knew it all along.

Colliding Particles Can Make Black Holes After All – experiments similar to those being conducted by the LHC could actually cause a black hole and swallow the earth. But don’t worry… it’d have to be A LOT larger.

 

There you have it, all the cool tech news from the last week. Check back in a couple days for a post on how Augmented Reality will soon be changing the world as we know it.

-Odd

“just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t really after you”

 

The Technological Singularity: A brief explanation

The phenomenon that is being called the ‘Technological Singularity’, if or when it happens, will change our lives in a drastic and fundamental way, so what is it exactly?

Scientists use the term singularity to refer to a question to which they don’t have any answers, such as what happens beyond the event horizon of black hole or the condition of the universe before the big bang. We simply don’t have the tools or knowledge to describe these things, so we copout and say that it’s unexplainable.

But technology is explainable, surely? We’re the ones who built it the first place, yes? Well… no, not really. The Technological Singularity will happen when we create a self improving computer system that is ‘smarter’ than a human, even just fractionally smarter. The system then works on itself, improving exponentially until (in a relatively short period of time) it becomes a super-intelligence, vastly more complex and powerful than a human mind. As the super-intelligence will be so far beyond us, or anything we can imagine, we simply can’t predict what sort of impact it will have on our world.

Can you imagine what sort of answers we could get out of such a system? A unifying theory of the universe, perhaps? Faster than light drive technology for our spacecraft? Unlimited clean energy? Or (knowing what we’re like) weapons capable of ever greater destruction? Will the super-intelligence even bother to talk to such limited beings as humans?

A lot of these questions cannot be answered, and others depend a lot on the environment that the singularity arises in. I think we’d all prefer that the singularity gets kicked off by a group of independent scientific researchers rather than a belligerent military and thankfully there are some people working towards that. The Singularity Institute is a forum of scientists working towards speeding up the Singularity and getting it started under peaceful conditions.

Even given the best possible scenario for the Singularity, it will still have a drastic effect on our society. A lot of people are already having problems adapting to the incredible pace of technological change, what will it be like when the Super-Intelligence puts it foot on the gas? We all need to ask ourselves if we’re ready for this, because it is coming… whether we are or not.

In the news:

Options Dwindling For Mars Spirit Rover - NASA’s having serious problems getting it’s little robot friend out of a ditch… a call to AAA (alien automobile association) might be in order ^^

Wii Balance Board Gives $18,000 Medical Device a Run For Its Money – A fine example of gaming making technology more accessible to everybody. Go Nintendo!

Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft – for a company with the motto “Don’t be Evil”, Google seems to be leaning towards the dark side quite a lot. First it was the whole drama over China and it’s censorship laws and now they’re pushing Apple into cooperation with the borg? Not cool, guys!

Legend – The first book written by David Gemmel is out in a 25^th anniversary edition. If you haven’t read this yet, do so!

 

Well, there you have it… another post down. If you found it illuminating, entertaining or even just irritating, please use the link below to post a comment.

-Odd

“I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” – Terry Pratchett.