THE STORY SO FAR: PART 248

IF YOU CAN MAKE A CAR THAT DRIVES ITSELF, WHY NOT A PERSONAL AIRCRAFT?

Tuesday was a very long day that finished after 2.00am. I actually stopped work at 8.00 pm to have supper and relax with RETURN TO LONESOME DOVE but the screenplay was so embedded in my mind that eventually I went back to work on it. I was trying to resolve a particular issue concerning how two characters meet—and eventually did so by re-writing and moving a scene around. I was very pleased because that problem had been bugging me for some time.

As I have written before, I don’t approve of working too late—we need our sleep—but sometimes the imperative is hard to resist.

Terrafugia are known as the developers of a flying car—which looks as if it just might work and be commercial. Hard to know because that has been an unrealized dream for years though my late friend, Robert Fulton, did develop a functional machine over half a century ago—and got it certified by the FAA—but it never went into commercial production. He called it an Airphibian and it is currently in the Smithsonian.

Terrafugia have now gone one further and have announced the development of the Terrafugia TF-X. This is an extraordinarily ambitious vision which the company expects will take the bones of a decade to realize.

Specifically, it involves the development of a personal hybrid electric tilt-rotor aircraft which will take off and land vertically—and which will convert to a road drivable 4 passenger car. As if that isn’t enough, the machine will—in effect—fly and drive itself.

The thing is—all the technology to make such a vehicle currently (more or less) exists but whether it can all be made to work together is another matter entirely. Consider the endless problems of the V-22 Osprey which was in development for decades.

For all that, there is a clarity about Terrafugia’s vision which suggests they just might pull it off.

Check them out at www.terrafugia.com It’s a fascinating project.

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 247

“INFORMED BUT NOT BLINDLY DRIVEN BY THE DATA”

DOCTOR DAVID FERRUCCI

I have long been fascinated by the potential of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and actually it has featured as a background topic in several of my books.

For instance, my character, Joachim Henssen—generally known as “Henssen”—who features in my book GAMES OF THE HANGMAN, and other titles, is an AI guru. He works for German intelligence (the BKA), feels–quite rightly—that his masters don’t appreciate his work, and ends up making an unorthodox, but successful alliance with a group based in Bern, Switzerland. Later, in subsequent books, he—philosophically a “Green”—gravitates to living on Fitzduane’s island—and to developing artificial intelligence to a higher level. In the world of counter-terrorism, such developments have consequences.

Who is Fitzduane? Good grief! If you don’t know that, you would be wise to read one of my books.

Dr. David Ferrucci (who I regret  I have never met) would appear to be the nearest thing to a real life version of Henssen (or close enough); and there is an interesting article about him today’s New York Times. After a 20 year career with IBM culminating in his leading the development of Watson (the IBM computer that won Jeopardy) he has joined the vast hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates—a development I find rather sad.

The financialization of the U.S. continues—to excess. Personally, I’d like to see the extraordinary power of computers like Watson focused on solving some of our real life problems—everything from city planning to medical diagnosis. And I have faith that such unimaginable computing power can and will—if the necessary political will exists (a rather large qualification).

I have finally caught up with my blogs—you will recall I stopped blogging for something like 16 days when working intensively on a screenplay. It proved to be a harder task than I imagined—but the results are better than I had hoped.

I love the phrase: “Informed, but not blindly driven by data.” It’s worth thinking through.

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 246

ANOTHER SPLENDIFEROUS DAY—WE’LL GO INTO SHOCK WHEN THE WEATHER CHANGES!

Those who know my Irish background often like to assume that I must feel right right at home in Seattle because the climate is so similar of that of Ireland’s.

I don’t find it so. Ireland is chillier—and rarely features absolutely cloudless days. In fact, one could argue that it rarely features a genuine summer. Seattle, rainy and gloomy though it can be, is definitely ahead on points. I offer the current run of spectacular weather in evidence.

I tried very hard to rest over the weekend—and succeeded to an extent—but still devoted some hours to catching up on this blog. I missed something like 16 days (I blush) but now have only four to fill in. I’m feeling much encouraged. I find it very hard to know the value of this blog—except as a writing exercise—but it means a great deal to me, partly because I never thought I could do it. After all, I have never been able to keep a journal. But here the blog is; and it speaks for itself.

I went exploring in the afternoon and found a new and easier way to walk to the local shopping center. This route features some very pretty—and well maintained—houses and gardens. I should probably say “yards” but a yard to me is an open working area surrounded by farm outhouses.

You would think a walker like me would regularly encounter other walkers, but I rarely do. The CDC recently announced its latest exercise standards and stated that 80 percent of Americans don’t exercise enough. It appears I’m on the edge of acceptability largely thanks to my walking. Personally, I think I don’t walk enough. It promotes thought, and thinking is the precursor of writing.

And what else is there in the world!

All in all, a pretty good day.

 

 

 

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 245

MY OLD UNIVERSITY, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, IRELAND—IN A BOLLYWOOD MOVIE

I’M CURRENTLY SCANNING THE SKIES FOR FLYING PIGS

Saturday is my official day for doing absolutely nothing—or kidding myself I’m resting (even when I’m not).

Today, I really needed the rest, and either slept or read until lunchtime. I was absolutely played out. It felt wonderful—I think. I was asleep most of the time. Holding a book can be hard work when you are tired.

The surprise of the day came later when I watched EK THA TIGER—a Bollywood action thriller (leavened with considerable humor) featuring an Indian RAW agent and a Pakistani ISI agent who fall on love while on a mission in Dublin, Ireland. The movie as a whole is set in something like five countries, but something like a third is set in Dublin (which looks remarkably well in the movie).

All in all, it’s a thoroughly entertaining film providing you adjust your standards. For instance, it’s a Bollywood convention that even in an action thriller like this, there will be several musical numbers. This is quite disconcerting at first—think SKYFALL crossed with SINGING IN THE RAIN—but the numbers themselves are excellent, and the main protagonists are both beautiful people. The female lead is Katrina Kaif for whom the phrase “Drop dead gorgeous” was invented. It isn’t adequate.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie although I’m still trying to adjust to the the notion of Trinity being a location.

I expect the sequel to be set in the Vatican—and the Swiss Guard suddenly to start tap-dancing.

Why not, indeed! Go watch!

 

 

 

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 244.

“MAN WAS MADE AT THE END OF THE WEEK WHEN GOD WAS TIRED”

MARK TWAIN

Man gets tired to0, I’ll have you know! 

I normally have pretty good stamina when it comes to writing—I regularly work ten hour days or more—but, after a particularly hard burst of work, a reaction can set in. 

This morning, despite sleeping well, it hit with a vengeance. I should have stayed in bed if I had any sense, but instead was compelled by my work ethic to drag myself out of bed and go stare at the computer. Madness! A writer should know his limitations.

It’s actually very important to balance work and rest—but if you want to know how to do that, I’m the wrong person to read. I love to write and only stop when exhausted.

When you are really tired, the core problem isn’t how you feel, but the fact that you can’t think straight—and that is no way to work given that writing is primarily about thinking.

Time to go to a walk and re-charge. Time to do something other that writing to relax. Time to sleep. I am really, absolutely, and completely wiped. But I feel ok otherwise. I’ve been very productive recently.

Immensely satisfying. This, as far as I am concerned, is what life is all about.

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 243.

WE KNOW THAT AMERICANS AGE SICKER AND DIE YOUNGER

COULD IT BE THAT WE ARE POISONING OURSELVES—WITH A GREAT DEAL OF HELP FROM CORPORATE AMERICA?

I collect reports on this sort of stuff—have been for years--and have to say that the findings are both consistent and alarming.

Add in the fact that this is not a healthy population, and that Americans die younger than their peers in most developed countries, and a reasonable person might conclude that we have a serious crisis—in terms of casualties, on a par with a major war.

It gets worse. Our costs of dealing with this crisis are nearly twice as high as anywhere else in the world—for a generally inferior service (unless you are wealthy). And concurrent with that, while medical costs are going up at rates which are consistently above inflation, most Americans are steadily getting poorer. That adds up to crunch-time sooner rather than later—and, as normal, we are doing virtually nothing about it. In fact, we don’t even seem to accept that we have a crisis.

I believe that we have a holistic problem and that treating one facet of the problem alone—like Healthcare—is just not good enough. We need to deal with the issues concurrently, and thoroughly, with the same sort of focus that was displayed in WW II.

The salient point is that all these issues are connected. So what are they?

• Environmental pollution on a massive scale which not only harms people directly, but also contaminates the air, the earth, and everything that grows.
• Factory farming based upon techniques which favor quantity as well as quality. As a consequence, the quality of our raw material has been severely debased and, in may cases, is actively harmful.
• A food industry that takes these sub-par ingredients and further debases them through adding too much fat, sugar and salt—then over-processing the result.
• A fast food industry that has been proven repeatedly to be harmful.
• Lifestyles that are known to be unhealthy.
• Healthcare which is overpriced and rapidly becoming unaffordable.
• A corporate culture which is focused solely on profits to the exclusion of the public good—and which has demonstrably failed to solve the issues described despite decades during which corporations have had every opportunity to balance their responsibilities.
• A highly ignorant and much manipulated population.
• A Congress that is prevented from acting because it is in thrall to corporate interests.
• Corporate owned media which are both constrained and unwilling to raise the problem in its entirety.

So how do I know all this? The data are out there—and you just have to read them. Also, I have had the advantage of living in a number of other countries so have observed how they do things.

I’m not the only person who feels this way. Talk-show host Bill Maher comments regularly that we are poisoning ourselves—as do nationally known writers like Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman (albeit not quite so directly). Many others write regularly about the deficiencies of our food chain. Similarly, many private citizens are greatly concerned. Just not enough to pressure Congress to deal with some pretty evil and dangerous corporate practices.

Adding excessive fat, salt, and sugar to the profound detriment of our health is only a small part of it—as is over-processing and the habit of padding out ingredients with soy and other fillers. If you really knew what goes into American food, you would feel in fear of your life—and you would be right. But the actual cause of death will be stated as something like cancer or heart disease.

The situation is broadly similar to smoking. Smoking—like American food—does not kill directly. Both work  through lethal intermediaries. You still die just as unpleasantly.

Few treat the problem holistically. I‘m not quite sure why that is because the linkage is self-evident—and well proven.

I have not listed a single issue that can’t be reduced to manageable proportions within a decade—but we seem to have lost the art of mounting a great national effort other than war.

It’s a great shame that Americans are not aware how many harmful chemicals and processes, which are freely used in the U.S., are banned elsewhere for health reasons.

We are being suckered—and it’s killing us.

The U.S. can be, and should be, so much better than this.

 

 

THE STORY SO FAR: PART 242

NUTS!

May Day! I feel I should grab a banner and demonstrate—but demonstrating is really not my thing.

I’m not particularly proud of that fact—I believe there are many issues that are worth fighting for—but my particular method is to write about them; and, if the opportunity exists, to speak.

It’s a gorgeous day—an absolutely cloudless blue sky—and my local squirrel has been out and about from an early hour. What he has been up to, I don’t know, but I confess I’m curious. You see the immediate tree I look out at is dead—though its bark is so beautiful, I find it endlessly fascinating. Just behind it, the trees are all hale and healthy, but it is the dead tree that holds my interest—and, it seems, that of my local squirrel. Clearly, I need to learn squirrel.

I have begun filling in my missing blogs. I have done that for a few days before, but back-tracking for over two weeks is a greater challenge. Is it worth doing?

I certainly cannot justify it in economic terms, but I am determined to complete a year with a blog written every day—and I believe the challenge is worth it. Exercises the mind.

Based on my limited knowledge of squirrel gestures, he thinks I’m nuts.