Why do we have leap years? It's a way of allowing for the fact that the Earth does not, in fact, orbit the sun in an even number of days. (We also have occasional leap seconds that only those keeping the most precise time need to worry about. If you sync your computer clock to an internet time server, they happen automatically for you).
When we think about other planets, we acknowledge that they will have to have different calendars. Whether these calendars are invented by natives or colonists from Earth, what are the chances that any planet's year will be evenly divisible by its day? Pretty slim. Another planet may have leap days every five years, or two, or ten. It's not something I've ever seen mentioned in fiction. And given the Romans invented leap years, you don't need what we would consider an 'advanced' society to realize the necessity (although a fantasy society may also use a purely lunar calendar and ignore the solar year except for planting...and a society that lives in the tropics is very likely to worry only about the lunar year. If you don't have seasons, the solar year becomes completely irrelevant).
What kind of calendars are used on your other worlds. And if humans have spread out into the stars, what kind of calendars do starships use...would Earth's year remain the standard for that kind of use?
It's these little details that make a world come to life.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Another BC recall
Spreading the word on this one, too.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-another-birth-control-recall,0,4467264.story
Honestly, people?
Also, poor Juan Pablo Montoya will now be the guy who took out the jet dryer for all eternity.
http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-another-birth-control-recall,0,4467264.story
Honestly, people?
Also, poor Juan Pablo Montoya will now be the guy who took out the jet dryer for all eternity.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Grrr....making history?
Of a less than good kind...I can't *believe* they had to postpone the Daytona 500. That never happens.
Literally, I mean, it never happens.
This is the first time ever. Maybe Danika jinxed it, I don't know.
(There was no way they were going to race in that. Maybe the Formula One people would have been crazy enough to...)
Literally, I mean, it never happens.
This is the first time ever. Maybe Danika jinxed it, I don't know.
(There was no way they were going to race in that. Maybe the Formula One people would have been crazy enough to...)
Friday, February 24, 2012
Copyright.
As everyone knows, I am not hardcore against copyright violation. I don't care too much if people pirate my stuff, because I think it might lead to sales.
I do have a problem, despite all that, with the poor way in which the Pinterest terms of service are worded. Anyone can pin any picture they find anywhere on the web. Hubpages has decided to add pin it buttons, implicitly giving permission. (Note, I did not agree to this and right now I would prefer my photos were not pinned, but I have no way to stop it).
People are not supposed to pin stuff without permission. They almost certainly are. Pinterest is claiming the usual boilerplate rights over stuff posted...with one exception. They have added 'sell' to the language.
It may be that they are just covering their butts in advance of a later addition of paid premium accounts. It may be that their lawyers told them they had to do that to make money off of advertising (But Facebook's TOS contains no such language).
Furthermore, pinning a photo does not link that photo to Pinterest...it uploads a copy. Will it lead to sales and traffic? Quite possibly. But why, I have to ask, does Pinterest want the right to sell this content?
And what kind of legal firestorm might ensue if they directly sell images or material containing images that the uploader did not own? Will they pass the buck and tell people they have to nail the original uploader? That's my true concern.
People are not encouraged to upload anything and everything to Facebook or Google Plus. Meanwhile, I have no Pinterest account and this will not change until the terms of service do. Or until Pinterest clarifies why they feel the need to use this particular language, publicly, something they are avoiding doing. (Note that if you want to read them for yourself, they are poorly tagged...they do not show up under 'pinterest terms of service' or 'pinterest tos', but you have to search for 'pinterest terms of use').
It's a shame, because Pinterest is a great idea and potentially a great marketing tool, but as it stands, it is facilitating copyright violation. And while I don't mind being pirated, I don't hand my work over to be exploited by others with no payment to myself.
I do have a problem, despite all that, with the poor way in which the Pinterest terms of service are worded. Anyone can pin any picture they find anywhere on the web. Hubpages has decided to add pin it buttons, implicitly giving permission. (Note, I did not agree to this and right now I would prefer my photos were not pinned, but I have no way to stop it).
People are not supposed to pin stuff without permission. They almost certainly are. Pinterest is claiming the usual boilerplate rights over stuff posted...with one exception. They have added 'sell' to the language.
It may be that they are just covering their butts in advance of a later addition of paid premium accounts. It may be that their lawyers told them they had to do that to make money off of advertising (But Facebook's TOS contains no such language).
Furthermore, pinning a photo does not link that photo to Pinterest...it uploads a copy. Will it lead to sales and traffic? Quite possibly. But why, I have to ask, does Pinterest want the right to sell this content?
And what kind of legal firestorm might ensue if they directly sell images or material containing images that the uploader did not own? Will they pass the buck and tell people they have to nail the original uploader? That's my true concern.
People are not encouraged to upload anything and everything to Facebook or Google Plus. Meanwhile, I have no Pinterest account and this will not change until the terms of service do. Or until Pinterest clarifies why they feel the need to use this particular language, publicly, something they are avoiding doing. (Note that if you want to read them for yourself, they are poorly tagged...they do not show up under 'pinterest terms of service' or 'pinterest tos', but you have to search for 'pinterest terms of use').
It's a shame, because Pinterest is a great idea and potentially a great marketing tool, but as it stands, it is facilitating copyright violation. And while I don't mind being pirated, I don't hand my work over to be exploited by others with no payment to myself.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Things that make me see red...
The barn I ride at recently acquired a horse by the name of Trouvee. She is a lovely dunskin (buckskin and dun) Quarter Horse mare who is very well put together, with a sweet temperament.
She is also one of the most messed up horses I have ever sat on. She does not respond to normal leg cues, then over-reacts to the rider's heel (a clear symptom of a horse that has been over-spurred). Her reaction to the rein isn't much better. She carries her head up in the air and her back hollow. Worst of all, the first time they asked her to turn left, she nearly fell over. Her extreme tension has left her requiring chiropractic treatment and her left hind leg is so weak I joked that nobody had ever turned her left in her life.
I don't know whether I can go as far as to say this mare is a victim of abuse, because I didn't see it and I have no proof. But everything about her points to the fact that this sweet, tolerant horse has been ill treated. My guess, based off of the inability to turn left, is that they had her running barrels (barrel patterns are always run to the right), and never properly schooled or trained her. I can be absolutely sure some nasty spurs were used on her.
Yet, she still likes people, she still opens her mouth for the bit. Some people, like some horses, will stand the most extreme abuse for somebody they think they 'love'. I have no doubt that Trouvee was fond of her abuser (horses are capable of liking and friendship) and they repaid her by damaging her physical health and her sanity.
Most likely, they did so to win. To writers, we need to watch out for those who would abuse us in order to win. Also, we need to make sure we do not abuse ourselves in the quest to be published.
She is also one of the most messed up horses I have ever sat on. She does not respond to normal leg cues, then over-reacts to the rider's heel (a clear symptom of a horse that has been over-spurred). Her reaction to the rein isn't much better. She carries her head up in the air and her back hollow. Worst of all, the first time they asked her to turn left, she nearly fell over. Her extreme tension has left her requiring chiropractic treatment and her left hind leg is so weak I joked that nobody had ever turned her left in her life.
I don't know whether I can go as far as to say this mare is a victim of abuse, because I didn't see it and I have no proof. But everything about her points to the fact that this sweet, tolerant horse has been ill treated. My guess, based off of the inability to turn left, is that they had her running barrels (barrel patterns are always run to the right), and never properly schooled or trained her. I can be absolutely sure some nasty spurs were used on her.
Yet, she still likes people, she still opens her mouth for the bit. Some people, like some horses, will stand the most extreme abuse for somebody they think they 'love'. I have no doubt that Trouvee was fond of her abuser (horses are capable of liking and friendship) and they repaid her by damaging her physical health and her sanity.
Most likely, they did so to win. To writers, we need to watch out for those who would abuse us in order to win. Also, we need to make sure we do not abuse ourselves in the quest to be published.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Sustainable societies
I've long been fascinated by elephants. Their sheer size makes them impossible to ignore...but despite it, they somehow manage to be cute. (Baby elephants are adorable). They seem to have a sense of humor lacking in many animals.
Elephants are highly social creatures who share a surprising number of qualities with humans. Those trunks make a handy manipulator device, if not as versatile as fingers (but it does demonstrate that another race on another world might have different ways of using tools. Like humans, elephants have an extended childhood.
The sexes live mostly apart, with females forming small groups and males leading lives that used to be thought to be solitary. More recent research has indicated, however, that males socialize with one another. In one recent incident, a neighborhood in Africa was having trouble with a group of young elephants - all males - who were trampling gardens and vandalizing property. (Sound familiar?). A conservation group relocated an older bull to the area and the 'street gang' of elephants broke up and vanished quickly. Clearly, he got them back in line.
In fact, elephants don't have to live together to socialize. They communicate using infrasound, which carries long distances. Elephants can talk when several miles apart.
Elephants have midwives with them when they give birth. Orphaned calves are always cared for by another female (behavior which is unusual in other herd forming herbivores). They are the only species other than humans proven to honor their dead with ritual.
They are one of the few animals to pass the 'mirror test', demonstrating an ability to recognize their own reflection. The test is performed by drugging the animal then putting dye on it. They pass if they attempt to remove the dye. Other than elephants only bottlenose dolphins and the great apes have been demonstrated to pass the mirror test. What does that mean? It means elephants are self aware. In the true sense.
In the United Arab Emirates a huge array of fossilized elephant tracks, known as a 'trackway', was found recently. Analysis of the tracks (where they are going, the weight and size of the animal) indicates that the elephants that made the tracks were living much as elephants do today, moving in the same patterns as they went through their lives.
These tracks have been dated.
They are seven million years old.
Right here, on our own planet, we have a society that has been stable for seven million years. Talk about sustainability. In fact, the only thing that threatens that society is us...and I hope we have turned that corner.
The catch? Elephant society is non-technological. Although elephants do use tools - the National Zoo's 8 year old male Kandula demonstrated that when he was provided with food he couldn't reach...he went and got a stool and stood on it. Just as we would - they do not make them beyond basic modification. They're still in the stone age.
Which brings one to the worrying thought that a truly sustainable society has to be non-technological. Or does it? Can we learn from the elephants without sacrificing ourselves? If nothing else, elephants may teach us how to recognize, if we ever reach another world, non-technological sentients and other lifeways. At best, they may teach us how to save both them and ourselves.
Elephants are highly social creatures who share a surprising number of qualities with humans. Those trunks make a handy manipulator device, if not as versatile as fingers (but it does demonstrate that another race on another world might have different ways of using tools. Like humans, elephants have an extended childhood.
The sexes live mostly apart, with females forming small groups and males leading lives that used to be thought to be solitary. More recent research has indicated, however, that males socialize with one another. In one recent incident, a neighborhood in Africa was having trouble with a group of young elephants - all males - who were trampling gardens and vandalizing property. (Sound familiar?). A conservation group relocated an older bull to the area and the 'street gang' of elephants broke up and vanished quickly. Clearly, he got them back in line.
In fact, elephants don't have to live together to socialize. They communicate using infrasound, which carries long distances. Elephants can talk when several miles apart.
Elephants have midwives with them when they give birth. Orphaned calves are always cared for by another female (behavior which is unusual in other herd forming herbivores). They are the only species other than humans proven to honor their dead with ritual.
They are one of the few animals to pass the 'mirror test', demonstrating an ability to recognize their own reflection. The test is performed by drugging the animal then putting dye on it. They pass if they attempt to remove the dye. Other than elephants only bottlenose dolphins and the great apes have been demonstrated to pass the mirror test. What does that mean? It means elephants are self aware. In the true sense.
In the United Arab Emirates a huge array of fossilized elephant tracks, known as a 'trackway', was found recently. Analysis of the tracks (where they are going, the weight and size of the animal) indicates that the elephants that made the tracks were living much as elephants do today, moving in the same patterns as they went through their lives.
These tracks have been dated.
They are seven million years old.
Right here, on our own planet, we have a society that has been stable for seven million years. Talk about sustainability. In fact, the only thing that threatens that society is us...and I hope we have turned that corner.
The catch? Elephant society is non-technological. Although elephants do use tools - the National Zoo's 8 year old male Kandula demonstrated that when he was provided with food he couldn't reach...he went and got a stool and stood on it. Just as we would - they do not make them beyond basic modification. They're still in the stone age.
Which brings one to the worrying thought that a truly sustainable society has to be non-technological. Or does it? Can we learn from the elephants without sacrificing ourselves? If nothing else, elephants may teach us how to recognize, if we ever reach another world, non-technological sentients and other lifeways. At best, they may teach us how to save both them and ourselves.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Plate Tectonics and Possibilities
Recent observations have indicated that both Mars and the Moon may be more tectonically and geologically active than we thought.
This is a good indicator that planets in general may be more geologically active than we thought. This is extremely important. Life probably requires geological activity to get started. Certainly, it's important to keeping a planet habitable by our kind of life (consider that next time there's a massive, damaging earthquake).
So, if geological activity is 'easier', which these results might indicate, then life is easier too. Our kind of life, that is. Other kinds? Who knows. There may be living things out there we would not even recognize as living.
This is a good indicator that planets in general may be more geologically active than we thought. This is extremely important. Life probably requires geological activity to get started. Certainly, it's important to keeping a planet habitable by our kind of life (consider that next time there's a massive, damaging earthquake).
So, if geological activity is 'easier', which these results might indicate, then life is easier too. Our kind of life, that is. Other kinds? Who knows. There may be living things out there we would not even recognize as living.
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