Links for 04-05-2007
Promoting slush-pile diversity, characterisation through verbs, the MacLockPick, UK X-files go public, the ethics of space missions…
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1 – How To Promote Diversity in Fiction Markets
“Why isn’t the slushpile more diverse? There are several factors, some of which have nothing to do with the magazine or editor.” Interesting and unflinching advocacy for increased diversity. Worth reading.
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2 – Characterization through verbs
“I took an old favorite of mine, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, and color-coded the verbs by character.” Very useful and insightful analysis.
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3 – It’s Apple Mac-Guyver: pocket sized detective tool hacks into computers
“MacLockPick is a USB sized gizmo that can extract passwords, e-mail addresses, recently accessed files, search strings, bookmarks and internet history from running or sleeping computers.”
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4 – MoD opens its files on UFO sightings to public
“The Ministry of Defence plans to open its “X-Files” on UFO sightings to the public for the first time.” But how do we know that these are *all* the files, or that they’re not fakes? Huh? Huh? The people deserve the truth!
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5 – We all helped to speed the demise of professional photographers
“…many professionals make their money from photographs that are no longer news – the stock images sold by picture libraries. This is the market that the web will devastate.” Carriage makers meet automobile economics.
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6 – Web Services ‘Wizard’ May Help Computers Do People’s Work, Scientist Says
“Petrie wants to create software to enable computers to negotiate with each other over the Internet to achieve goals that now require human time and toil.” Science fiction got there first.
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7 – On Trip to Mars, NASA Must Rethink Death
“When should the plug be pulled on a critically ill astronaut who is using up precious oxygen and endangering the rest of the crew? Should NASA employ DNA testing to weed out astronauts who might get a disease on a long flight?”
