tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-130373702024-03-07T14:39:20.139-07:00Steamboat DreamingMy life in Steamboat Springs and other places
(and plenty of opinion, which you're free to ignore)Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.comBlogger849125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-88308583134094503202019-07-18T05:39:00.000-06:002019-07-18T05:39:07.837-06:00Outlook and Email Groups - Stupid Behaviour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How many tens of millions of dollars do you think Microsoft invested in its Outlook/Exchange email product? "Lots" would be the answer. And despite the fact it is loaded with many advanced features, many of which aren't used my most users, it's too stupid to know that if I send an email to a group of which I am a member, I don't actually want to be sent a copy!</div>
Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-86441370610269431632014-08-27T01:17:00.000-06:002014-08-27T01:17:08.927-06:00Retro skiing<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last week I had a chance to go skiing in Australia for the first time in nearly twenty-five years. I figured if I was going back to the early nineties, I'd wear one of my old ski suits from that era.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNVpgPh9cdNy0I1rXueN0e8-6EQastCDHUh71yzrm7mGEaH-I5YpCSMc7K7K05vG9dYaTIF8qHPNXxMAXddzFnMcwvP-RVFmRPZlOyQA7ivKC48Yi4doafw2nbIKxBp7rsYLL/s1600/Skiing+at+Perisher+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqNVpgPh9cdNy0I1rXueN0e8-6EQastCDHUh71yzrm7mGEaH-I5YpCSMc7K7K05vG9dYaTIF8qHPNXxMAXddzFnMcwvP-RVFmRPZlOyQA7ivKC48Yi4doafw2nbIKxBp7rsYLL/s1600/Skiing+at+Perisher+2014.jpg" height="640" width="409" /></a></div>
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Chez retro? Chez chic? Nah. I can ski well enough that I carried it off, but in retrospect, perhaps not such a good idea. The suit is now permanently retired.<br />
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I got very lucky with the snow, with one of the best seasons Australia has had in years, and magnificent spring weather, and I thoroughly enjoyed skiing with my best mate Michael and hanging out apres ski with my old army buddies Peter and John.<br />
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All the runs I used to think were super hard are now dead easy. But I'm still counting the three days at Perisher Blue as a head start on my 2014-15 season tally. Bring on day 4 at Steamboat!</div>
Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-6142353128446218472014-08-11T00:06:00.000-06:002014-08-11T00:06:00.816-06:00Universal Converter Box<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Brilliant <a href="http://xkcd.com/1406/">comic on XKCD</a> today (even more brilliant than usual, I mean).<br />
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<a href="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/universal_converter_box.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/universal_converter_box.png" height="484" width="640" /></a></div>
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But I knew the minute I saw it that it wouldn't be universal. With the plethora of incompatible connectors out there, most of them perpetuated by manufacturers for no good reason (I'm looking at you Apple), it simply isn't possible to cover everything.<br />
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I also had a sneaking suspicion that the artist would neglect the lack of compatibility between US and international standards. There it is down there, second from the bottom on the left, a 120V US style plug without a universal adaptor in sight!<br />
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Power outlet adaptors are one of those constant annoyances when you travel internationally. I solve the problem by taking a power strip with me, which I plug in using a single adaptor. Then I can plug all of my other devices straight into the power strip.</div>
Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-66807990412060816172013-11-27T15:35:00.001-07:002013-11-27T15:35:14.918-07:002013-14 Opening Day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today was the opening day of the 2013-14 ski season here in Steamboat, and as opening days go, it was one of the better ones. With plenty of snow through October and November the mountain was able to open with 600+ acres of terrain, including my favourite tree run - shadows.<br />
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The snow was a little crusty in places but this run down Storm Peak face into Triangle 3 was very nice.<br />
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<center>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/a14NJTB9q1I" width="640"></iframe></center>
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Here's the GPS track.<br />
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="548" src="http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/409495738" width="465"></iframe></center>
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Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0Routt, CO, USA40.454026677622615 -106.751807429028340.447985677622611 -106.76189242902831 40.460067677622618 -106.7417224290283tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-49833657296556574902013-11-13T22:12:00.003-07:002013-11-14T12:40:12.365-07:00Fixing HealthCare.gov<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The HealthCare.gov debacle seems like a textbook case of everything that can go wrong in a large software development project, especially in the public sector where the procurement rules make it almost impossible to apply the hard lessons the software industry has learned in the past forty years—although some mistakes are inexcusable, like failing to appoint a single executive who was responsible for this and this alone, all day every day, with the authority to get it done. That's the quickest way known to mankind to screw up a project like this.<br />
<br />
I might blog on that and other mistakes at length some other time, but for now I'm more interested in what happens next. I can't help but laugh at the Obama administration's promises that it will all be fixed by the end of this month.<br />
<br />
I have been designing, planning, and implementing large, complex, mission-critical government systems for the past twenty years. If I had been planning this project, I would have allowed at least three months for testing and fixes. <b>By the end of this month, they won't even understand what all the problems are</b>, or even have a concrete plan to fix it, let alone have time to actually fix the problems.<br />
<br />
Testing systems that have thousands of inter-dependent functions in them is hard, and it requires a very methodical approach. You need a plan that ensures you test as many of the different paths through the process as possible. If the system has lots of rules and options and interfaces with other systems, and this one does, testing becomes a major project in its own right, and unless you apply the same discipline to testing any fixes, you run the risk of introducing more bugs without knowing it.<br />
<br />
I don't have any inside information, but I ask myself what's going on inside this project right now, and my answer is that they are all running around like headless chickens in response to the enormous political pressure they must be feeling. Which means they are just spinning their wheels and that each week that passes doesn't bring the problem a week closer to resolution, it just pushes the true resolution date out another week.<br />
<br />
My prediction is this thing won't be working in any meaningful sense of that word for at least three months and probably six.</div>
Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-27640529220473541922013-09-24T12:36:00.003-06:002013-09-24T12:36:52.222-06:00My latest novel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My latest book, now available on Amazon.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9LhSqcyNaHdML4P9P_kH9fWFy55S3mjQfEAZsgSXZNT8wFYm6Lpa2H5_B2k_BLG4eaurUQ2kBeAuxQJLCsqXj6xioHW1vl9syYw11ViC4QNOI5jDxSG-b8wgLp-wtyLjyRgn/s1600/Fullers+Mine+Kindle+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS9LhSqcyNaHdML4P9P_kH9fWFy55S3mjQfEAZsgSXZNT8wFYm6Lpa2H5_B2k_BLG4eaurUQ2kBeAuxQJLCsqXj6xioHW1vl9syYw11ViC4QNOI5jDxSG-b8wgLp-wtyLjyRgn/s320/Fullers+Mine+Kindle+Cover.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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Of course, you need to read part 1 first if you haven't already!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3SA-7hWxuAE4GE6DlihDm8XvkdB5owTBfm2Rwvh0VDLXU7-iHln7QrrNQzF56qo4pd8KQ4PZHep5Lj1qFvhcDMNpcxpCe6TBt-0Q2TS-CAbbdr_VNDW3_Tdi4S06HkSgVMG5k/s1600/Newtons+Ark+Kindle+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3SA-7hWxuAE4GE6DlihDm8XvkdB5owTBfm2Rwvh0VDLXU7-iHln7QrrNQzF56qo4pd8KQ4PZHep5Lj1qFvhcDMNpcxpCe6TBt-0Q2TS-CAbbdr_VNDW3_Tdi4S06HkSgVMG5k/s320/Newtons+Ark+Kindle+Cover.jpg" width="219" /></a></div>
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Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-48001976036985630432013-04-01T20:14:00.000-06:002013-04-01T20:14:46.962-06:00MumToday, April 1st, would have been my Mum's 71st birthday. Sadly she passed away three months ago, in the early hours of New Years Day, after a two and a half year battle with cancer.<br />
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Three days after, a massive bushfire tore through the small village where she had lived. This was what was left of her house.<br />
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As I remember Mum on her birthday, my thoughts are best expressed in the words I said at her funeral.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Today we are here remember my mother Barbara Hill with our words and our presence. They are never really enough to honor someone we love, but they are all we have left.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
She was christened Barbara Ann Graham but she was known to her family as "Dick". I only discovered the reason for that two days ago when talking to Mum's brother, Geoffrey. It seems when she was small she had an Aunt Victoria nearby--Aunty Vic--but Vic came out as Dick and the name stuck.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My late father David, called her by many names, but they were all filled with love and affection. To myself and Joanne and James she was always Mum. To others she was a beloved mother-in-law, Auntie, sister, sister-in-law, and to many a true and loyal friend.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What do you say about your mother's life? My perspective on her is dominated by that wonderful experience of a mother's love - constant and unconditional. She worked incredibly hard at being a good mother. She often struggled to suppress her natural instinct to wrap us in cotton wool, knowing that she needed to let us fall, and that the best thing she could do as a mother was be there to pick us up. Her own childhood had its challenges--something I only came to fully understand in recent years--but she never used that as an excuse, but rather as motivation to always do the best she could by her kids.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Perhaps it is better to sum up her life in her own words: "I've lived a life I could never have imagined as a child," spreading her wings far beyond Pottsville, the sleepy seaside village in which she grew up. She could however see the irony in ending her days in the sleepy seaside village of Dunalley.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
After raising a family Mum went back to study and became a librarian, a job which gave her real satisfaction and pleasure. Mum and Dad travelled extensively, although sadly Mum never got to make that one last trip. Of course if she had, I'm sure there would have been another "one last trip" because she wanted to see it all.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At heart Mum was a creator and an artist. There was pottery and painting and her garden--which went a little crazy once Dad wasn't there to restrain her--and her bonsai trees, some of which she had been growing for thirty years, living works of art that to me best captured the true spirit of a wonderful woman.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
At least by Mum's telling, she was a bit of a rebel in her early years. That's pure hearsay--inadmissible in a court of law--but I can swear from first hand observation over many years that she didn't know how to give up. As was her nature she went out with one hell of a fight.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As most of you will know, a terrible firestorm tore through Dunalley on Friday and the residence affectionately known as "The Shack" is no more. I am so thankful Mum wasn't here to see the place she and Dad poured so much love into destroyed in one hellish afternoon. Without her presence, though, it's only a building that has been lost, a timely reminder of how much more we have truly lost in Barbara's passing.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-61542961513389440212013-03-13T12:09:00.000-06:002013-03-13T12:09:05.095-06:00Sliding into SpringIt's spring here in Steamboat which means the snow is slowly sliding off my side roof. Fortunately there's no access to that side of the house, so I don't have to worry about it falling on someone, but it still makes a hell of a noise when it hits the ground.<br />
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Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-20997053783199563352012-11-07T17:27:00.001-07:002012-11-07T17:29:05.495-07:00Proud to be a Coloradoan<a href="http://steamboatdreaming.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-wasted-vote.html">My candidate for President</a> didn't win last night, gathering a paltry 1% of the vote. But there was one result I was very happy with. The voters of Colorado decided to lead the nation in ending the ridiculous prohibition of marijuana (yes I know, there is still the small problem of Federal prohibition, but one step at a time.)<br />
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I find a useful guide to thinking about many social policies is to ask yourself what people will think twenty of forty years from now. I'm pretty sure future generations will find it hard to believe that once upon a time we sent SWAT teams to break down people's doors in the middle of the night and send them to jail just to stop a few people getting high, all while creating the massive black market on which the criminal organisations who reap so much death and destruction thrive. Sort of like we did in the 1920's when we ran the same experiment with alcohol with the same tragic effects. Alcohol is not without its problems, but I think we've proved that it does massively less harm when legalized and regulated.<br />
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Not that I plan to rush out and smoke a joint. Doesn't appeal to me at all. But neither does sky diving. People get hurt doing that too, but that's a pretty stupid reason to make it illegal. Police should focus on real crimes; the ones where people hurt someone other than themselves.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-3585421948482711912012-10-31T08:28:00.002-06:002012-10-31T11:43:28.193-06:00A wasted vote?I've spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to figure out which of the two presidential candidates would be least bad.<br />
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Yesterday I submitted my ballot (I voted by mail - everybody going to a polling place on one day is a ridiculous process for managing an election in the twenty-first century).<br />
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I voted for the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson.<br />
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A number of people have told me I wasted my vote (including one libertarian!). I strongly disagree. Voting for either of the other two would have been a waste of my vote. Worse, it would have been seen as tacit approval of a man, regardless of whether it was Obama or Romney, with little regard for personal or economic freedom and no willingness to take the hard decisions necessary to fix America's fundamental problems.<br />
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I don't blame the politicians despite my lack of regard for them. They are simply the best two men in the country at giving the electorate what it wants no matter how irrational those desires might be, 2012's masters of pandering. Right now what the people want is to moan and cry about how terrible everything is and how they want something better, but not to have anything actually change. That is to say, the majority of American voters want to keep doing the same things but get a different result. Last time I looked, that was the definition of madness. Well I refuse to be a part of it.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-35248531675736664032012-10-09T16:21:00.002-06:002012-10-09T16:21:30.606-06:00New author blogIf you are more interested in following my journey as an author than my exploits as a skier you may prefer to follow my new author blog at <a href="http://www.dahillauthor.com/">http://www.dahillauthor.com</a><br />
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For those of you more interested in skiing, don't worry, the 2012-13 ski season is only 43 days away and I shall soon be providing my normal blow by blow account of what I hope is a better season than last year!Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-21195785147363080332012-10-08T16:57:00.000-06:002012-10-08T16:57:08.840-06:00When is a holiday not a holiday?When you live in the US. Of the many places I have lived (or spent extended periods of time working) the US is the least universal in its observance of public holidays. Sure everybody takes Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas but there are a whole lot of other "holidays" where only a small proportion of people are actually off work (which is kind of inconsistent with the whole concept of holiday if you ask me.)<br />
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Columbus Day (today) is one of them. It's one of those holidays that is largely unobserved unless you work in a government office or the Post Office. I know this because Marie just asked me if the Post Office was closed today. So I typed Post Office Columbus Day into Google and had the answer seconds later. Which leads me to the real point of this post, to ask "how did people live before the Internet?"Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-15452856723994978792012-09-17T14:37:00.001-06:002012-09-17T14:37:37.712-06:00Fusion ReactorsAs I have <a href="http://steamboatdreaming.blogspot.com/2012/07/keeping-sci-fi-real.html">mentioned</a> <a href="http://steamboatdreaming.blogspot.com/2012/08/more-on-keeping-sci-fi-real.html">previously</a>, I was very conscious in writing <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347914103&sr=8-2&keywords=newton%27s+ark">Newton's Ark</a> to keep the science as real as possible. The most speculative technology I included was probably the micro fusion reactor - a small, highly portable fusion reactor that could power a sattelite for decades.<br />
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This technology requires us to find a way to build a self-sustaining fusion reaction that produces positive net energy. And then you have to miniaturize it - I'm going to ignore that challenge assuming we can solve the main problem.<br />
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This technology has been a decade away for the past sixty years. Will we ever solve this problem? Who knows. It may really be a only decade away, it may be another sixty years away or it may never happen. It's hard to extrapolate from the experience to date. There has been some progress but not enough to be completely confident that the fundamental challenge can be overcome.<br />
<br />
It is still an active area of research though. In fact I recently received an assignment to design a biometric security system (iris recognition) for an experimental fusion reactor facility!Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-41782550731994624472012-08-11T21:31:00.000-06:002012-08-11T21:31:37.649-06:00More on keeping sci-fi realI posted recently on <a href="http://steamboatdreaming.blogspot.com/2012/07/keeping-sci-fi-real.html">keeping the sci fi real</a> in my first novel Newton's Ark.<br />
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I just ran across this <a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/armageddon-splitting-that-asteroid-wouldnt-have-worked-120809.html">article talking about prospects for stopping an asteroid</a>, specifically debunking the scenario presented in the movie Armageddon of using a nuke to split it in half.<br />
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Here's a relevant passage from my book:<br />
<blockquote>
“Despite all the holo-movies you might have seen where they destroy the asteroid before it hits the Earth and everyone lives happily ever after, it isn’t possible with the technology and time we have available. To nudge the asteroid off course we have to hit it far enough out that we would need to launch now. Problem is we don’t have anything with the range and payload required....”<br />
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“Can’t we just nuke the damn thing when it gets closer to Earth?”<br />
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“Yes sir we can, but we risk turning a single very large asteroid into multiple asteroids, each still plenty big enough to wipe out a large city. Better to have only one object to track and to limit the impact to a single location.”</blockquote>
I think this quote from the article nicely captures my philosophy:<br />
<blockquote>
...fiction is all about the make-believe. But good science can make for a more plausible narrative, making it easier to suspend disbelief.</blockquote>
Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-23051876547740955162012-07-20T10:50:00.000-06:002012-07-20T10:50:56.658-06:00Keeping sci-fi realOne of the things I set out to do when writing <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">Newton's Ark</a>, was to keep the science part of the science fiction plausible, by basing the technology of the future either on already emerging technologies or at least on plausible projections of current technology trends.<br />
<br />
This article on <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18643134">taking control of drones by spoofing GPS signals</a> is a good example.<br />
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Here's the relevant section in the book:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“The early drones worked exactly that way, Major. They were vulnerable; if communication is disrupted the drone is pilot-less. Worse still, if the signal is intercepted it is possible for a hostile force to take control of the drone. Back as far as 2012 the Iranians captured what was then one of our most advanced drones by spoofing a GPS signal. They convinced the drone that it was landing back at its base in Turkey when it was really landing in Teheran. Incidents like that were the impetus for the EM program."</div></blockquote>Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-64796606154224428572012-07-07T18:01:00.000-06:002012-07-21T11:26:46.494-06:00New book formatNewton's Ark is now available via Smashwords in EPUB format suitable for iBooks, the Nook and the Sony eReader.<br />
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<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/179199">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/179199</a> <br />
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It should also be available via iTunes, Barnes and Noble and the Sony Store within the next week or two.<br />
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<b>Update July 18:</b> It is now available on iTunes (and looks great in iBooks on the iPad) but not yet on the other channels.<br />
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<b>Update: July 21:</b> It is now <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/newtons-ark-d-hill/1110304519?ean=2940044702141">available in the Barnes and Noble store</a> for the Nook.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-4278395970457078972012-06-14T17:15:00.001-06:002012-06-14T17:15:56.758-06:00Reality intrudesI was making good progress on the sequel to my first novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">Newton's Ark</a>, with the first thirty pages <a href="http://steamboatdreaming.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/writing-sequel.html">almost writing themselves</a>. Then reality intruded. I was offered a month of consulting work at a daily rate that exceeds my annual book royalties based on current the sales velocity. Hard to say no to.<br />
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I also stumbled across a wonderful idea for another book which I had to start writing while the idea was fresh in my mind. So my expected completion date on book two of the Emulation Trilogy is now more like Christmas 2012. Apologies to those who have read the book and are waiting to discover what happens next!Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-51870807618058316542012-05-24T19:30:00.000-06:002012-05-24T19:30:06.544-06:00World's worst telcoI haven't tried every telco in the world, but I would be very, very surprised if there is anyone out there worse than Australia's Telstra. Even AT&T aren't this bad and they are the template for "totally customer un-friendly former monopoly telco". I'm trying to use a Telstra pre-paid mobile phone while I'm in Australia - unfortunately Telstra is the only carrier with coverage at my Mum's house - and at <i>every </i>single step the processes and technology have failed to work as they should. Whatever is the opposite of the Midas Touch, Telstra has it; <i>everything </i>it touches turns to crap.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-86617608692751339042012-05-18T18:12:00.000-06:002012-05-18T18:12:00.444-06:00Paperback now available in EuropeThe paperback version of Newton's Ark should be available via Amazon in Europe from tomorrow for £5.99 or €6.99.<br />
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US pricing for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Volume-D-Hill/dp/1475166141/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">paperback</a> is $7.99.<br />
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If you're really worried about price though, the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">Kindle</a> edition is a bargain at $2.99 (or the equivalent in pounds or euros). Interestingly, I make a bigger royalty on a $2.99 kindle edition than I do on a $7.99 paperback.<br />
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That makes it hard to see how traditional publishers can justify asking almost as much for the Kindle version (and sometimes more!) than for the hard copy. e-books should be considerably cheaper, not only because they are much cheaper to produce and distribute, but also because they are more restrictive (you can only lend them once ever, if at all, and you can't resell them) which ought to mean more sales. The disruption of the publishing market has really only just begun.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-27411236963580344752012-05-18T00:52:00.000-06:002012-05-18T00:52:30.704-06:00"Plant Our Brains in Robots"If you find the ideas in<a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/dmitry-itskov/"> this article from Wired magazine title Russian Mogul’s Plan: Plant Our Brains in Robots, Keep Them Alive Forever</a> interesting, then you should read my book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">Newton's Ark</a> (and the forthcoming sequels).<br />
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I'm attempting to explore similar concepts through fiction, with the goal of trying to understand how these sorts of technological developments might affect the human experience. My view is that when confronted with ideas this radical, stories are the best way to explore the possible implications. Otherwise it's all too abstract, all to clinical, all too remote, and therefore all too easy to ignore, at least until it actually begins to happen and we're totally unprepared.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-4841013283335505242012-05-14T01:56:00.000-06:002012-05-14T01:56:40.259-06:00Book pricing in AustraliaI'm in Australia at the moment visiting family and while I'm here I've been into a few book stores. Shocked is the only word I can use to describe my reaction to the price of books here. Take, for example, Caleb's Crossing, the latest book by Geraldine Brooks (I haven't read it but I loved People of the Book). <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Calebs-Crossing-Novel-Geraldine-Brooks/dp/0143121073/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336980767&sr=8-1">It is available on Amazon.com</a> for $10.88 in paperback and $16.17 in hardback; it's nearly $25 (in paperback!) in the book store here.<br />
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For all Australian readers, I would say if you don't have a Kindle buy one. Now. Forget about walking the dog. Forget about feeding the kids. Jump on Amazon.com now and buy a Kindle. Caleb's Crossing and lots of other great books are only $9.99 on Kindle (and even the 'expensive' books are $12.99). Not to mention there are lots of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">books like mine</a> available at the ridiculously cheap price of $2.99.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-19827252240243083802012-05-03T20:15:00.003-06:002012-05-03T20:15:46.567-06:00Usual occupation?We are in Australia at the moment visiting family. When filling out my arrival card yesterday I decided to answer the question on usual occupation as AUTHOR. Now the pressure is on to take this writing gig seriously!Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-69796922676132380862012-04-21T18:12:00.001-06:002012-04-21T18:12:32.532-06:00Special offer - Newton's Ark for freeAmazon are running a special offer on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">my book</a> for tomorrow. For one day only the Kindle version will be available for the special price of <b>free</b>.<br />
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The deal runs from midnight to midnight Pacific time (currently GMT -7) on April 22.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-63378168969125534602012-04-19T17:17:00.001-06:002012-04-19T17:17:34.798-06:00Writing the sequelWhen I finished my <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">first novel</a> a little less than two weeks ago, I felt like I would need a break of a month or two before starting work on the sequel. One of the things I discovered though was that part way through the characters started to drive the story.<br />
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It seems the characters are still driving the story and were keen for it to continue. A few days ago I found the characters were giving me so any ideas for book two that I just had to start writing. The good news is that it is going much quicker this time--I've written four thousand words in the past two days. I think that is because most of the characters are already established. All I need do is ask them what happens next!<br />
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The working title is Faraday's Mine.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13037370.post-36127307218165036722012-04-18T10:04:00.001-06:002012-04-18T19:20:05.688-06:00Seeking feedbackNow that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">my book</a> has been available for a week and a half I'm hoping that a least a few people have read it. What I'd really like now is some feedback. What did you like, what didn't you like, which characters appealed to you, are you looking forward to reading the next book in the trilogy? Anything that will help me improve as a writer.<br />
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I would especially like people to add a comment on Amazon because that helps not only me, but also potential buyers. I'm not looking for unrealistic five star reviews to pump the book up, but rather genuine and informative reviews that will help someone decide whether it's the kind of book that would appeal to them and whether it's worth handing over three bucks to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Newtons-Ark-Emulation-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B007SBGD14/">Newton's Ark</a> (of course it is!)<br />
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Here's the link to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_wr_link?ie=UTF8&nodeID=&asin=B007SBGD14">create a review</a>.Steamboat Lionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12645780586629716757noreply@blogger.com0