Hidden languages.

This is not the first time a hidden language, different from its neighbors, has come to light in a remote area.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101005-lost-language-india-science/

But this one shows a unique situation. Two languages, spoken by distinct subgroups...yet both groups claim to be of the same ethnicity. The only known parallel would be speakers of ASL...a language forced on deaf people by circumstances.

In almost all cases, language becomes identity (In fact, some deaf parents refuse to allow their children to be fitted with cochlear implants because deafness, having its own language, has become an identity). Yet these people insist there is no difference between them.

There's an alien feel to this. I may have to do something with it.

Here's one...

for the cyberpunk types.

Or for sci-horror...this *screams* unintended consequences.

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/features/print/3787/super-charge-your-sleep

Actually, the unintended consequence it screams the loudest to me is: If we only need four hours sleep, then instead of employers expecting 16-18 hour days out of people, they'll start expecting 20-22. We live in a sleep deprived society and while this at first glance looks like a possible 'cure', I think it might only make the problems worse.

And what if there are people it does not work for? Will they be left on the scrap heap of the rat race? Maybe it's time to look towards social and technological developments that, instead, redefine success itself.

Perceptions of time.

Now, here is an interesting thought.

Postulate this. A sentient race evolves on a tidelocked planet. The life zone extends inwards from the terminator. Traveling to the dark side would require a reasonable level of technology. Thus, the sun is always visible. There are no stars in the sky. Very rarely, said sentients might glimpse another planet, if its between them and the sun.

The only variation in light level would occur by latitude. Because the life zone runs around the planet's equator, there is little or no seasonal variation. Day and night would be meaningless terms to such people.

How would such a people measure time? The only possible way would be 'the length of time it takes to'.

It is easy to postulate a sentience that has no concept of time that is not related to personal, directly caused change. 'In the time it takes me to walk to the next village'. Or 'The time it takes me to chop a log'. As it would take different individuals different amounts of time to perform any given action...

One might thus postulate a culture that never develops the concept of a separation between time and distance. Just as early humans likely measured distance by time (and how often do people today say 'Its four hours away' instead of giving a distance in miles), there would be no separation between time and distance or time and change.

The illusion of time as separate from space would therefore not develop in their minds.

As strange as all this seems, it might well be the perception of time experienced by beings on Gliese g...and thus the best ambassadors from Earth might be Inuit or, say, Aborigines. People who have never fallen into the 'time is separate from motion' trap.

I love it when a plan comes together...

Who said that?

Most people know. Even people who never watched the show OR the movie could probably guess that that is the catchphrase of John 'Hannibal' Smith, leader of the A Team.

For my generation, the A Team was something we grew up with. It was many things. One thing it was not...was good. The characters were two dimensional, the episodes were formulaic and the show has been accused of sexism...not without cause.

The plot? Find hot young woman who's in trouble. Break Murdoch out of secure mental. Turn BA's van into a tank. Get into massive shoot out in which they expend the entire remaining episode budget on ammunition...without hitting anyone. Get BA on a plane (most often by drugging him, sometimes by locking him in a cargo container). Get into second massive shootout. Defeat bad guy. Drive off into sunset...with BA's tank mysteriously having somehow turned back into a van.

Even the movie held many of the same formulaic episodes. (And somehow managed without Mr. T. Somehow.)

But...you know. It wasn't good. It wasn't deep. It certainly wasn't literature. What the A Team was was non stop, simple fun. Good, old fashioned (if somewhat violent) entertainment. Entertainment good enough that it has been continuously aired in the UK since the mid eighties. By somebody. Even the theme song...yeah, that theme song. The one that sticks in your head for days...

In short, a classic example of how it need not be quality literature to be fun. Possibly the best pure action show of all time.

So. Why did I just blather on about the A Team for paragraphs.

I wish it was for a good reason.

Last night, at the age of 69, the quirky producer of the A Team and the Rockford Files and prolific writer Stephen J. Cannell departed this life due to complications from melanoma.

I think that we have lost something...somewhere...between the 80s and now. Don't get me wrong, I love cerebral shows. But there is something that era gave us...that it would not be bad to recapture. And one of its giants has been lost.

No rational explanation...

This might be a useful story if you're doing something with and need to understand magic realism.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-27/world/chile.miner.butterfly_1_white-butterfly-fellow-miners-cave-ins?_s=PM:WORLD

I'm not sure I'd attempt the genre myself, steeped as it is in Hispanic culture, but isn't that a great story?

Artifical brains?

It's not doing any thinking of its own, but this artificial brain might help with the treatment of Alzheimer's. Or, for that matter, it might start thinking on its own...

(I think there's a horror story hiding in there somewhere).

http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/3760/artificial-human-brain

I sometimes think that the more we study, the more we realize life is both simpler and more complex than we imagined.

I'm going to share...

The most useful writing tip ever. Bar none. Something that will help more than any rules about punctuation or adverb use or dialog.

Read it out loud.

Everything you write, every time, before you send it anywhere. It makes a huge difference. Trust me.