So...

What would you predict to be the first use of a cloaking device? Military camouflage? (Actually, they sort of already have one, although its not very good).

How about...traffic control?

This is very interesting and potentially quite exciting. Might even save a few lives.

Not long ago...

Not long ago I saw hope in Egypt, with Muslims protecting Copts.

Now? Suddenly the country is embroiled in violence. Tunisia is also in the throes of revolution. This...is not what I meant.

Yet, this might also be one of those omelet making moments. It may well be that eggs are being broken right now. We don't know.

We don't know because the Egyptian government has managed to mostly shut down the internet. And much of the cell phone network. I rather hope there are some ham operators in the country who can get word out by lower tech means.

I sit here and I pray that this resolves itself in a manner that brings hope. That IS hope. That the decades of authoritarian rule and corruption end.

And I remember not that long and a lifetime ago seeing a wall come down. I do remember, yes, that a people bent on freedom cannot, in the end, be stopped.

So, this one goes out to everyone in Egypt. To everyone who has been trapped there by these troubles.

And finally, I would remind everyone in America that 'Revolution' is not always a dirty word.

Snow...

Worse than that. Ice. I think I'm going to hibernate and write now.

I will get out a better blog post soon, but I've not had that much inspiration for them over the last few days.

Right now......

I'm begging the weather gods NOT to drop a foot of snow on me. This city can't handle it and I have stuff I want to do.

The Great Secrets

Yesterday, I got an...interesting letter in the mail. With no return address (always suspicious). On opening, it proved to be an offer noone could refuse. All I had to do was send back the form, and these unnamed people would provide me with their book. Free.

Their book would, let's see here, help me: Lose weight, look younger, be more appealing to my husband, be loved by everyone, launch a multi-million dollar company, win at gambling, predict the future, heal the sick, play the piano and paint.

(I know I probably COULD make this stuff up...I'm a writer...but!)

In fact, these people claimed to be a secret society and included a demand to keep the communication confidential (see how well I'm obeying it). I got hours of laughter out of it. (There are real 'secret societies', this is not, people, how they operate). They even tossed in a couple of kabalistic references. My husbands reaction: Wow, they invited you to join the Illuminati.

I eventually defined it as the bastard offspring of Scientology and a vanity publishing scam.

But since then I've been thinking about it. There really is a great secret. The problem is, knowing the secret won't help you. In fact, I'll share the 'great secret' right now.






Believe in yourself.

See. Knowing it won't help you. Doing it will, and that's a day to day struggle that's hard. Like everything in this life that's worthwhile. No fake secret society can teach you how to do it. It has to come from within.

Like everything worthwhile.

It's rather entertaining...

Reading *fact* articles from Analog from the early 1990s. Amusing to see which guesses are right and which wrong.

Predicting technology is a gamble...I'm amazed British bookies, who'll take bets on anything, aren't cashing in. Too long a period, I suppose.

If I could just...

remember the really good idea I had for a blog post right as I was falling asleep last night. Yeah, I was too dozy to get up and write it down.

Gotta love when that happens...and it does seem to be a hazard of being a writer. Inspiration will strike when you don't even have a pen and paper even if you carry said items religiously. Not sure what the answer is until we all get brain implants with direct connection to the internet ;).