tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374Sun, 01 Sep 2024 07:03:00 +0000the human conditionhumourAustralialifesciencepersonalpoliticswritersAmericabooksbloggingreligioncustomer serviceideassocietycomputersQueenslandnewsglobal warmingtechnologyeconomicsreviewwebsiteswritingcivil rightsanimalsBritainblogInternetkidsfilmslanguagepsychologyromance and relationshipsWeblogevolutionmusicPozieresenergyfamilypeak oilBarak ObamaBertieChinaJohn McCainatheismcensorshipsci-fiscience fictionBloggerTimeSplashatheistfriendsnewspapersspacewriting and poetryVaticanchildhoodphysicsrelativitytime travelweaponsHCIRussiaTwitterartclevernessebooksmedicinenovelterrorismtimeunionswarMySpaceNASAOlympicsTelstraWorpressagentbroadbandmúsicapre-historyquizrobotswordsA. F. PalmerAsus EeePCCindy McCainMacOSNicole KidmanPhoenixSantorumUnixWindowsallgemeinfocus fusionhistorypandemicprinterspublishersurveyttime travelvideowitchesThis is a blog about everything. Well, everything that matters. Graham Storrs is a writer and musician who lives and works on a mountain top in rural Australia. His natural troglodyte tendencies are offset by a wife, daughter and dog who just don't understand a man's need to have his cake and eat it.http://graywave.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (graywave)Blogger287125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-3008882703547127187Fri, 03 Aug 2012 06:14:00 +00002012-08-03T16:14:21.632+10:00blogBloggerbloggingbookspersonalthe human conditionwriterswritingYes, after almost exactly eight years, I'm finally winding up this blog. I won't delete it or anything - there's far too much good stuff in there and I know a lot of people still visit, read, and comment on those old posts - but I will stop adding to it. So this is probably the last post ever... ...on this blog. I will continue blogging at my other blog though. I've kept the two of them going http://graywave.blogspot.com/2012/08/move-right-along-nothing-else-to-see.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-7603092453133299014Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:47:00 +00002012-03-27T16:07:05.882+10:00AmericaAustraliablogbloggingbooksBritainhumournovelSantorumTimeSplashIve been to the States a few times. I had a great visit to Atlanta once, and an unforgettable holiday driving around the South West, starting and ending in the Rockies, oh and I gave a paper at a conference at Stanford Uni one time and stayed a few days in Palo Alto and that was terrific. So I've got some fond memories of beautiful places and lovely people. That's why it makes me a tiny bit http://graywave.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-does-america-like-me.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-3820874065371392662Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:06:00 +00002012-01-16T14:09:24.076+10:00booksclevernesscomputersglobal warmingideaslifephysicsrelativitysciencesocietytechnologythe human conditionThe other day someone pointed out an article for me by David Weinberger which appeared in The Atlantic, plugging his new book Too Big to Know. It was a strangely breathless article, but I'm not sure that Weinberger's point is a very interesting one. Essentially, he seems to be saying that we have been developing data sets that are so vast they are beyond what people - with our limited brains http://graywave.blogspot.com/2012/01/too-big-to-know-so-what.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-4275417744697462814Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:57:00 +00002012-01-09T08:57:17.453+10:00AustraliaChinaenergyglobal warmingnewsnewspaperssocietyWhat kind of rubbish is this? An online newspaper I read just published an article about an article in a print newspaper called The Australian. Since when was quoting another news outlet's opinions considered news? The piece in The Australian - a newspaper famous here for being a mouthpiece of the Rupert Murdoch view of life and a front-runner in his stable's race to the bottom -  was abouthttp://graywave.blogspot.com/2012/01/asset-stripping.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-6068825118132673465Thu, 22 Dec 2011 06:02:00 +00002011-12-22T16:02:34.060+10:00Nerfreader: Giveaway: TimeSplash by Graham Storrs! The audiobook of my time travel thriller, TimeSplash is being given away free at Nerfreader. Three copies of the audiobook are up for grabs, plus, as a bonus, there is a short story prequel to the novel, read by me, for each winner.Just saying.http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/12/nerfreader-giveaway-timesplash-by.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-2448753304762046240Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:14:00 +00002011-12-10T09:14:51.339+10:00Reviews By Martha's Bookshelf: Giveaway Three Audiobooks of Timesplash & Prequel!...: A month or so ago I posted a review of a good audiobook, Timesplash ! The author, Graham Storrs, has written a prequel, in the form of a s...http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/12/reviews-by-marthas-bookshelf-giveaway.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-7644446151411556568Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:01:00 +00002011-08-16T22:02:39.129+10:00animalsclevernesseconomicsevolutionglobal warmingideaslifenewspaperspeak oilpersonalpoliticspsychologyreligionsciencesocietythe human conditionunionswarweaponsI can sum up everything that is wrong with the world in three words: People Are Stupid. We like to think we are the pinnacle of evolution (in itself a stupid misconception of how evolution works) and that our vast intelligence separates up from the animals (sorry, stupid mistake, the other animals, I mean), but the fact is that we're not all that bright. We have a few advantages over, say http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-know-what-is-wrong-with-world-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-6505920142764365662Thu, 04 Aug 2011 01:39:00 +00002011-08-04T12:06:49.341+10:00Australiablogbloggingfamilyfriendskidslifemedicinenewspaperspersonalsocietythe human conditionIt is a sad and terrible indictment of the society in which we live that a woman like Yasmin McKillop might die because she can't afford the surgery that could save her life. Yasmin is a young woman, a nurse who cares for old people at my local hospital. She's one of those lovely people you take to immediately. She is married to my friend James, who is blind, and they have two young boys. http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/08/yasmin-needs-brain-surgery-but-cant.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-6877453643105674898Tue, 28 Jun 2011 00:05:00 +00002011-06-28T10:05:21.692+10:00I tend to say things like "I believe in reality and nothing else." Possibly seeing the world "reality" as a potential chink in the armour of my belief system, someone asked me recently to define what I mean by it. You know, it's a hard question, and I can only think of long answers to it. Basically, like Samuel Johnson, I'm a rock kicker, not a solipsist (that Occam's Razor thing again). Once http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-does-it-mean-to-believe-in-reality.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-499402938679828797Fri, 20 May 2011 00:16:00 +00002011-05-20T10:16:58.664+10:00atheisthumourlifereligionthe human conditionJust a quick note to give you a couple of predictions about the future. Here they are: The Rapture will not happen tomorrow (as predicted by the Christians). The world will not end in 2012 (as predicted by the Mayans). No prediction from any religious text, or any ancient text whatsoever about the end of the world will ever be correct. I will absolutely stand by these predictions and will happilyhttp://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-predictions-for-future.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-3226140658794581242Sun, 08 May 2011 04:14:00 +00002011-05-08T14:16:53.364+10:00bookssci-fiscience fictionwriterswritingThere are a couple of short stories of mine appearing soon in anthologies and I'd like you to look out for them, please. Since I almost never try to flog my books here, I thought you might forgive me. Two of these anthologies ('Hope' and 'Nothing But Floweres') I donated stories to for free because they are being sold to benefit good causes. In Situ – a spec fic anthology from Dagan Books, ed. http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/05/word-from-our-sponsors.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-3853209464913847321Tue, 03 May 2011 03:44:00 +00002011-05-03T13:48:08.184+10:00AmericaBarak Obamaeconomicsideaslifenewspersonalpoliticssocietyterrorismthe human conditionwarSo what? Here are a few early thoughts on what it might mean that the "world's most wanted man" has finally been tracked down and executed. 1. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Bin Laden was waging war. Sometimes wars don't go the way you'd like them to and, even when you're a big-shot general, sitting safely in your stronghold, well away from the fighting, sometimes the enemy gets http://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-is-dead.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-592440901659628411Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:38:00 +00002011-03-31T17:38:44.469+10:00civil rightseconomicsenergyevolutionglobal warmingideaslifemedicinenewspaperspoliticspsychologyreligionsciencesocietythe human conditionwordsThey should make it illegal to talk crap. I can't think of any other way to stop the flood of bullshit that threatens to drown out all sensible discourse. It should be a crime to say or write anything for public consumption that is provably wrong at the time it was said. The irritating and most visible manifestation of the untrue rubbish people spout is in advertising. I don't just mean ads thathttp://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/03/there-ought-to-be-law-against-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-585027891581605485Thu, 03 Mar 2011 07:30:00 +00002011-03-03T17:30:14.161+10:00agentAustraliabooksnovelpersonalsci-fiscience fictionwritingRemember what  my 2010 end of year report said was the one thing 2011 would be all about? Or when I tried to find a single word to describe my hopes for 2011? Yes, this was going to be the year that I got myself a literary agent, someone who would represent my work to the big-league publishers, someone who would promote me in circles I simply cannot reach, someone who would talke my writinghttp://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/03/graham-storrs-to-sign-with-book-harvest.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-5962424615850239363Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:17:00 +00002011-03-02T17:17:30.252+10:00Americacomputerscustomer serviceeconomicslifepersonalpsychologysocietythe human conditionWifie has just been scammed by a company she got involved with online. It's an American company that ran a print ad in an Australian women's magazine offering a free trial of their product for the price of the postage. She paid the $7 postage with our credit card and the product duly arrived in the post. Then, when the credit card bill arrived, we saw the company had taken over $200 on top of thehttp://graywave.blogspot.com/2011/03/scammers-and-gift-of-sociopathy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-6287797305121346631Fri, 03 Dec 2010 02:03:00 +00002010-12-03T12:03:46.880+10:00agentAustraliabloggingbooksebooksnovelpersonalpublishersci-fiscience fictiontime travelTimeSplashwriterswritingwriting and poetryDecember 1 One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell) 2010 – Publisher 2010 was the year I achieved a lifelong ambition and had my first novel published. TimeSplash - a rollicking sci-fi romp set in the near future - was by no http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/12/one-word-reverb10.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-8791420746835290013Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:16:00 +00002010-08-24T08:18:52.856+10:00animalsbookschildhoodevolutionideaslifepre-historyreviewsciencetechnologythe human condition (This review first appeared in The New York Journal of Books on 23rd August, 2010.) The Artificial Ape is a book with a plausible idea, but that is all it has. If you are looking for a convincing argument that “technology changed the course of human evolution” or even some compelling evidence, this is not the book for you. However, if you like informed speculation about humanity’s http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-artificial-ape-how-technology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-7492987158176243084Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:53:00 +00002010-07-14T14:53:44.741+10:00ideasphysicsrelativitysciencetimetime travelTimeSplashYou may remember I wrote a couple of months ago about a strange conundrum regarding time. I mentioned this post on a number of lists I belong to, hoping that someone with a better grasp of physics than I would be able to explain it to me. I got many, many responses but, sadly, not one seemed to understand what the issue was and the great majority assumed I just needed a quick primer in special http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/07/great-puzzle-of-why-sun-rose-this.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-4955169293368296470Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:31:00 +00002010-07-13T20:36:51.294+10:00booksenergyideasphysicsrelativityreviewsciencetime(This review first appeared in the New York Journal of Books on 13th July 2010.) Why Does E=mc2? is one of those questions that educated non-physicists must have been asking themselves for over a hundred years, ever since Albert Einstein derived the equation back in 1905. Now, in this easy-to-read little book from Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw, we have the answer. The authors are both http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/07/review-why-does-emc2-and-why-should-we.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-4418300226120804517Thu, 27 May 2010 07:02:00 +00002010-05-27T20:42:09.946+10:00ideasphysicsrelativitysciencetimetime travelThere's something wrong with my notion of time. I used to think it was all subjective - by which I meant relative to one's frame of reference, as general relativity tells us. I am more than happy to accept all the experimental evidence that says moving very fast, or being near a large mass, will slow down the passage of time relative to an observer outside your frame of reference. There is so http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/05/time-relativity-time-travel-and-great.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-5619181634032659933Thu, 13 May 2010 23:41:00 +00002010-05-14T09:41:48.667+10:00Americabookskidspeak oilreviewsci-fiscience fictionsocietytechnologythe human conditionwriting(This review first appeared in the New York Journal of Books on 12th May, 2010) Epitaph Road is the latest in a string of successful young adult novels by David Patneaude. In 2067 a world reeling from recent nuclear brinkmanship between the USA and China is suddenly devastated by a virus that kills almost every male person on the planet. Only those males at sea or in remote places http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-epitaph-road-by-david-patneaude.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-1771718358856124671Sun, 02 May 2010 22:29:00 +00002010-05-03T08:29:44.839+10:00animalsartbooksevolutionhistorylifepre-historyreviewsciencethe human condition(This review first appeared in The New York Journal of Books on 2nd May 2010.) By any standards, Brian Fagan is a leading authority on archaeology, and, with 46 books on the subject to his credit, he is among the world’s leading popularizers of the field. In Cro-Magnon, he gives us an easily digested round-up of what is known about the pre-history of modern humans in Europe. Fagan presentshttp://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-cro-magnon-by-brian-fagan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-2247313946072520570Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:20:00 +00002010-03-22T20:20:03.933+10:00Australiacensorshipcivil rightsInternetpoliticssocietytechnologywritersI received this email from EFA and I reproduce it here in full, in case anyone out there would also like to help in the campaign against Internet censorship in Australia. Electronic Frontiers Australia needs your support to protect online civil liberties in this country! Over the past few months, EFA has been working hard campaigning for an Open Internet against Government censorship of the http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/03/post-on-behalf-of-electronic-frontiers.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-6517264853928642773Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:27:00 +00002010-03-12T14:35:04.459+10:00atheismatheistbooksevolutionideaslifepersonalpsychologyreligionreviewsciencesocietythe human conditionThis review originally appeared in the New York Journal of Books, where you can also find other reviews by me. Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit by Krista Tippett (Penguin Books, February 2010) Krista Tippett has spent the past decade interviewing people about religion and spiritual ethics as the host of public radio’s “Speaking of Faith.” Einstein’s God is an http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/03/review-einsteins-god-by-krista-tippett.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33572374.post-4062162505387794430Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:58:00 +00002010-02-20T09:17:37.777+10:00atheismatheistAustralialifemedicinenewspersonalreligionsciencetechnologythe human conditionVaticanYou know what? You don't cure cancer with magic. You cure it with medical procedures. You take thousands of scientists, thousands of doctors, and they work on the problen night and day for decades and decades. They train for the best part of a decade, they devote their lives to chipping away at this monstrous problem, they spend their whole careers doing it, just so they can pass a few, precious http://graywave.blogspot.com/2010/02/saints-alive.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (graywave)2