Story Segment: #0512

((Here's story segment #0512. I think that I'll write segment #0513 next, and post it next week.))

Corporal Dalton's gut wasn't very good at telling him things. It only seemed to tell him when he would definitely succeed or definitely fail, which he could usually figure out for himself anyway. He didn't need his gut to tell him not to play the lottery, or not to play that knife game with his fingers, given his coordination. Nevertheless, when Corporal Dalton saw that figure clad in white with bits of black, and holding something that glowed a bright, pale blue in its right hand, his gut told him that he didn't stand a chance.
---
There are three primary ways to improve the visibility of a laser beam, short of looking into the beam itself. One way is to darken the surrounding environment, in order to make the scattered light stand out even more. A second way is to increase the amount of medium-borne particulates which scatter the light in the first place. A third way is to increase the intensity of the laser itself. When dealing with a laser beam-producing device which strongly resembles a weapon, this is relevant to one's interests.
---
Xot Ut ran low to the ground. As he approached the first soldier, he let his sword get so low as to begin to char the stones beneath it. The soldier had barely brought his weapon up to fire when Xot Ut was right under him. Xot Ut leapt up, cutting through the soldier's assault rifle. His jump landed him well past the first soldier's position, where he made a sharp right turn, running low to the ground again toward another soldier. This one had just turned around due the noise, and effectively had no better warning than the first. The rifle was cut in two again, and this time Xot Ut went left, parallel to his original direction, where there were three soldiers conveniently lined up.
---
Corporal Dalton was a bit shocked. It may have been the brief and sudden but strong heat that he felt as the laser sword went past him, mere inches from his body. It may have been that said weapon just cut cut his primary means of attack and defense. It may even have been that someone with no firearms, explosives, or other ordinance just charged an armed soldier like a total loon and somehow won. It was really the sort of thing that would take more than a few seconds to work out.
Dalton did get the notion to warn the others, though. Unfortunately, his shout ended up lacking words. He just yelled. However, the most useful thing that anyone managed to immediately shout was "What IS that?", so he didn't feel so bad about that later on.
---

((Having a random segment of a random story makes no sense? Read this post for the short explanation, and pretty much everything with the story tag for more info.))

Announcement: Story Stuff

Alright, I'm hoping to post a bit of that story that I was writing. You remember that, right? Look for posts under the "story" heading to get caught up.

Here's the short version of good stuff to know if you care:
1. I first came up with the idea around 1999-2000 CE.
2. It originally took place in 2010 CE. Combining this with the 1st point, know that it was at least 10 times as far in the future then as it is now.
3. I'm using a numbering system for the segments that I post. That system is described here.
4. I may suck at writing, but you get that for which you pay. That said, constructive criticism is OK. However, that said, in the end, my purpose in writing this story out is my own. So, even if what I produce amounts to an affront to literature itself, well, so be it.
5. My writing is only done in my spare time. By no means do I consider myself a professional writer at this time. In fact, these are tied together - I do not dedicate working time to writing because I have no reason to believe that it will lead to gainful employment. At the moment, this is just a hobby.

Expect a story segment tonight.

Super-superregnum

I want to post this before I forget (and before someone else claims it). I think that we should preemptively add a "top" level to our classification/cladistics/phylogeny. It's tentatively a "super-superregnum" level, which puts lifeforms into entire biologies based on their planets (or other regions) of origin. I think that ours should be called "Terrus" because it sounds like "Terran" but "Terran" is already used descriptively in other ways, and because most of these end in "-us" or "-um".
I also hold that one super-superregnum (such as "Terrus") could in fact cover multiple planet, in cases of panspermia, whereby one planet's (or other region's) biology originates from another's.

What I'm Reading

Life's been pretty weird lately, what with looking for work and trying to find time for everything else and all that. Lately, I've been trying to do a bit of reading, too. Currently, I'm reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (I picked up a big book containing all five novels, but I might save the others for later - see below) and Steampunk, an anthology of steampunk works that I got as a gift back around Xmas.
I've also been gathering a list of things that I ought to read. Over time, I've frequently run across something that I ought to read eventually. However, I have often forgotten these later. My solution is that I now have an ever-growing list of things that I should read (or re-read). In fact, for the hell of it, here's the list so far (the list is in no particular order):

• Watership Down (Richard Adams)


• Fear and Trembling (Soren Kierkegaard)


• On the Genealogy of Morality (Friedrich Nietzsche)


• The Prince (Machiavelli)


• The Difference Engine (William Gibson and Bruce Sterling)


• Prelude to Foundation, Foundation, etc. (Isaac Asimov)


• Starship Troopers (Robert A. Heinlein)


• Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)


• Dune (Frank Herbert)


• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)


• A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess)


• Neuromancer (William Gibson)


• The Gods Themselves (Isaac Asimov)


• Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)


• Cryptonomicon (Neal Stephenson)


• The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde)


• The Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson)


• The End of Eternity (Isaac Asimov)


• Hyperion (Dan Simmons)

I reiterate that these are in no particular order.
I also recently discovered SFFMedia , where, among other things, they give various mentions of upcoming SF movie adaptations. I was looking at some classic SF and some other good stuff, too, and, well, let's just make another list, this time of upcoming science fiction films of interest (info based on SFFMedia articles - just use Search):

• Dune - A new Dune movie, much closer to the original work, is supposed to come out. As of May 2009, the creators are working on a script and will turn it in soon.


• Neuromancer - As of April 2008, it's got a producer, director, lead actor, and budget, and is slated for 2009. I'm just going to assume that that'll be this holiday season if it's this year at all.


• Hyperion - They're going to turn the first two books in the Hyperion Cantos into one movie, which is apparently too much to cram in. As of February 2009, it has a director and a screenwriter.


• Foundation - The first 3 books are being turned into a movie. As of January 2009, it has a director.

So, those are a few that I looked up the other day. I hope to do a more exhaustive list, based on my full list of things to read (well, just the SF stuff really) later. The reason for making this list now is to get an overall order for the movies. Then, I have to decide whether to read the books before the movies. On the one hand, it's traditionally better to read books before movies, since the movies can act like spoilers for the books. On the other hand, movie adaptations are almost never as good as the originals, so it might be better to watch the movie first, since the book won't disappoint thereafter. I guess that the question is one of ruin versus spoilage. Thoughts?
Also, I'm still taking suggestions for my reading list.

Is Jon Stewart a Modern-Day David Frost?

I'm going to summarize last night's interview of Jim Cramer by Jon Stewart as follows:
Jon Stewart pwned Jim Cramer.
Now, I know that there are limitations to comparing Jon Stewart to David Frost. For starters, Cramer isn't nearly as important as Nixon, and of course, Stewart is a comedian, whereas Frost was a reporter. Actually, even within this fiasco, Cramer isn't as important as Nixon was with his administration, since Cramer isn't in charge of the others.
Now, Stewart didn't sit around interviewing Cramer several hours a day for about a week, but of course, Stewart didn't need to wear Cramer down and get him to say internally inconsistent things within the interview. Of course, he had a modern advantage. It has become easy - and in fact standard - for there to be several clips ready to be played at a moment's notice.
I found it particularly amusing when a clip was rolled where Cramer was explaining how to pull one of those tricks regarding hedge funds. Cramer tried to say that he was trying to out the bad guys and explain how it works. Then, of course, another clip was rolled, showing that Cramer was suggesting this as actual advice. Cramer was caught in a lie in the interview. Even if he didn't lie during the interview, however, it still would have shown him for what he is.

OK, I'm going to post this even though it's not polished yet, just to get it out there. I've got plans today and tomorrow, so I don't know when I'll finish this.
Also, FYI, I wasn't really planning to blog right now, but once I saw that interview, I knew that I just had to say something.

You can see the whole interview uncensored (i.e., unbleeped), at http://www.thedailyshow.com/index.jhtml .

EDIT 2009/Mar/20: OK, I know that I intended to flesh out that post more, but I've been too busy. I'm shooting for early next week. In the meantime, I figured that this is as good of a place as any to write down this quote that I've been meaning to grab for a few weeks now:
"Isn't the Dow Jones Industrial Average just a short-twitch numerical representation of a bunch of guesses about other people's assumptions about the financial well-being of an arbitrarily chosen group of thirty out of tens of thousands of possible companies?" -Jon Stewart

Update: I'm Busy

OK, basically, I'm really busy right now. I'm trying to find a job. If I don't find a real job soon, then I'll have to go get a grunt job somewhere. That, of course, will take up even more time, since I'll still be looking for a real job.
Regarding my play by e-mail RPG, D. hasn't responded to my latest e-mail yet, so that's stuck. I have found a group with which to hang out once per week. Once I squeeze that in, though, there's not much time left for blogging.
Expect real blog posts about subjects that I actually want to discuss to appear after I get a real job.

Posts to Come: All-in-one List as of Xmas 2008

It's harder to track my list of posts to make when they're all spread about, so here's a consolidated list of what I still need to do, as of now:

Posts:
Was Serenity a Nail in Firefly's Coffin?
Things of a Literary Nature: Innate Timeline Branching in Fiction
Crisps, Chips, or Fries?
Centaur or Thri-Kreen?
something about Arkham Horror (mechanics, summer league, etc.)
some kind of game review

Edits:
Add to and update "RPGs for Me to Play".
http://games.yahoo.com/daily-games/sudokudaily for having found sudoku w/ green dots

I also intend to post a section of that story that I'm trying to write. I'm not doing it by chapter at this point. I am still trying to write, but I seem to have trouble getting the words to flow. Here's what else is going on in my life:
Basically, since commencement (Did I mention that I'm graduating? The bureaucracy still needs to do some stuff, but, as far as I know, I've got a diploma coming my way.), I've been taking a break. That won't last long, since I need to find a job.
I also want to get through the Arkham Horror Summer League (new URL: http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=6&esem=4 - and you have to log in for the text to turn into links). At this point, I'm doing it by myself, and I'm halfway through. The last scenario got released last week. I hope to get through the last of the scenarios that don't require Curse of the Dark Pharaoh by ... soon. Then, I need to get Curse of the Dark Pharaoh so that I can do the rest. I also got 4 books for Xmas, 3 of which I intend to read when I get the chance (the 4th is for either of two RPG systems that I don't use yet, so that will wait).
Of course, this is all aside from the stuff that I need to do, like looking for a job and working on getting some certifications. And losing weight. And practicing my martial arts. And cleaning my room.
That's all for now.