Well, I've really done it this time!

Yep, I made a <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/namegen.shtml">name generator</a> based on the <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/wordgen.shtml">Conlang Word Generator</a> and the <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/wordgen2.shtml">Conlang Generator</a>. It's pretty cool, if I do say so myself! Now, keep in mind, the names aren't perfect and they're <i>based</i> on the languages in the drop-down list, but they aren't <i>from</i> the language. In other words, if you choose "Chinese" as your base language, you won't get Chinese names, but conlang names <i>based</i> on Chinese phonology. And, if you choose "Tsolyani", the names will be in the correct "format", but not really quite like names from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.tekumel.com">Empire of the Petal Throne</a>. Still, it is fun. And, if you're an author looking to crank out some names fast, it works pretty well.

In any case, I had fun doing it, so enjoy!

Imagine the entire universe laid out in a three-dimensional map.

Well, imagine no more, it's a reality. According to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,59051,00.html">this article on Wired News</a>, a couple of scientists in New York have made just such a map. It's not as accurate as they'd like, but that's mainly because our actual knowlege of the universe is pretty limited. Still, it's a three-dimensional map of the heavens that can be navigated in pretty fast "real-time". Though, real time would take hundreds of years to get us from place to place, so it's actually a lot quicker than that. A very cool learning tool that will, hopefully, inspire legions of future astronomers and space scientists.

You can experience the magic, in a more limited fashion, right on your desktop. The Hayden Observitory, who created the "big" map, also created <a target="_blank" href="http://www.haydenplanetarium.org/hp/vo/partiview/pv_whatis.html">Partiv…;, which let's you see the same thing they show at the observatory at home, though it's not quite as spectacular.
Enjoy!

Notice how bare the <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/fiction/">Fiction cupboard</a> is?

Well, there's a reason. My day job has kept me pretty busy. And, as much as I love this site and writing, my day job is what pays the mortgage and puts food on the table.
You can see what my "other" life is like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/netgeek/">here</a&gt;.
And you can see <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ryumaou.com/hoffman/resume.html">my Resume</a>, here.

Who invented pickles?

I don't really know, but I know I sure love them. And, while eating a pickle this weekend, I started to wonder about them. What does it say about a culture to have started making pickles? Lots of cultures have pickles of one kind or another, and have had them for a long time.
First of all, it indicates a certain level of agrarian culture to produce the produce that goes into the pickle. Or does it? Several Scandinavian cultures have pickled fish, like herring, so it's not limited to a simple agrarian culture.
Secondly, there has to be a need of some kind. No one ever invented anything that has lasted without trying to solve a need of some kind. So, what need drives the invention of pickles? Simply put, the need to preserve food. Why a culture needs to preserve food is another matter. War? Famine? Seasonal hardships? All are possibilites and reasons to hoard food. Food hoarding implies some kind of preservation techniques, of which pickling is just one.
So, that covers the absolute basics, but how do pickles fit into a culture? Are they a delicacy? A staple? Or, does it depend on the time of year? Or, perhaps, what has been pickled?

As you can see, lunch is never simple at my house. Even something as simple as a pickle can generate questions and ConWorld possiblities. Worse yet, it may inspire me to do something like try to reproduce the technology myself! Come Fall, we may just find ourselves pickling any number of strange things.
But, this all illustrates a point that I try to make over and over again when it comes to writing and exploring created cultures: never stop asking questions. Question everything from how bread is made to how water is moved to how sewage is removed to how the average citizen makes their living. Anything and everything, if studied carefully, can provide information or inspiration for a conculture or conworld. Even pickles!

Have you ever wondered?

Well, wonder no more! Scientists at UCSC have run a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=355">comput… simulation of just such an event</a>. There's a pretty big meteor that has a 0.3% chance of hitting the Earth in 2880, but, not wanting to wait until the last minute, these folks decided to see what would happen if it hits us. Or, rather, our distant relatives.
Well, it might not be the most <i>pressing</i> concern, but it does provide some fodder for fiction. After all, these scientists are answering questions that a science-fiction writer might ask if they were going to write about such an event. They even have a picture of it, which I've linked to locally here. <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/scroll/archives/fig2_martin-lg.html&quot; onclick="window.open('http://www.fantasist.net/scroll/archives/fig2_martin-lg.html&#039;, 'popup', 'width=750,height=335,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false">View image</a>

It's really a very interesting possibility, to me. Would new islands be created in the blast crater afterward? How would the ocean life change in that area? Would we have to deal with the darkening skies and changing temperatures that killed the dinosaurs? What will the Earth be like, say, 20 years after the impact? All very interesting indeed. Make a good story, or <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449208133/fantasistnet">novel</…;, eh?

Playing a little catchup here.

I've read two books in about as many weeks and I'm just now getting to put something up about them.
The first is <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345466861/fantasistnet">Beneath an Opal Moon</A> by Eric von Lustbader, who also wrote the excellent book <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449209164/fantasistnet">The Ninja</A>, though it's not related. His fantasy work is not quite as good as his modern fiction, but it's pretty good. Okay, it's not bad, but it's not quite as good as I remembered it as a kid. Kind of pulp-fiction feeling, but a little less purple prose than a lot of things from that genre. <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345466861/fantasistnet">Beneath an Opal Moon</A> is about a navigator/adventurer tyring to find a way home, but getting entangled in someone else's adventure. It ends up being a quest to prevent the end of the world. I know, I know, it sounds terrible, but it's really not that bad. It makes nice Summer reading, anyway.

Another Summer read that suprised me was <A target="_blank" HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0590353403/fantasistnet"&gt;
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone</A> by J. K. Rowling. I've been resisting reading this series simply because it's so popular and because my wife and daughter have read it and are likely to sneak out spoilers on me. But, it, too, was a good, light Summer read. It really <i>is</i> a kid's book, in spite of how it was billed, but, it still was engaging enough to capture my attention for a couple of days. And, thanks to stuff at my job, all I really wanted was some simple escapist fantasy, which this provided quite well. Of course, by now, everyone in the world knows the story of the "boy who lived". If not, read the book or rent the video or just ask any kid under 15 who happens to be walking by a bookstore.

Until next time!

A young fan of my site challenged me last week.

Nikhil Sinha saw my <a href="http://www.fantasist.net/wordgen2.shtml">ConLang Generator</a> and thought it was cool, but needed a little work. I hate to admit it, but it really did need some improvements. I had a problem with duplicate created words. The script on which I based my version of the Generator didn't sort out duplicates and I hadn't gotten around to working out why. Well, thanks to Nikhil, I finally got off my big butt and did it. So, thanks, Nikhil, for getting me going on that again.

Oh, Nikhil has a conlang, too. It can be found at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.geocities.com/nihilosc/index.htm">Nihilosc</a&gt;.

Yeast based fuel?

Hmm, why not? Here's an article on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/">Wired News</a> about <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,58750,00.html">yeast-based fuel cells</a>. I think it would be a good blend of hard and soft sciences, if they can make it work on a large enough scale. I rather like the idea of yeast powering my car, for instance. A nice by-product of water vapor, theoretically cheaper fuel. Ah, there's the rub. Will the oil companies let this fly? Somehow, I doubt it. But, what if it does?
Here's a great chance to speculate on how a technology <i>might</i> alter our lives in the future. That is what great science-fiction authors do, of course. They make plausible predictions about what <i>might</i> happen in the future. Sometimes, they're dead on right. Other times, not quite. But, the fun is in the speculation and the story they tell. So, will this ruin the smoggy skies of dystopian futures? Or, will it lead to completely biological cars? Get out your Imagination Helmet&trade; and get to writin'!

Will that be cash, check or charge?

Technology keeps marching on, doesn't it? Now, according to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,58610,00.html">this article on Wired News</a>, there's a Canadian company that offers churches a new way of collecting donations. An interactive kiosk. What will they think of next? Will indulgences be autioned off on eBay? Will "independant" churches offer PayPal as a method of donation? I wonder what God thinks of all this? Does this offend his sight? <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/kjv/mat.htm#21:12">Are the money lenders in the temple</a>?
It seems strange to me, but then, I guess it's harder and harder to collect money for charity these days. Who knows if it will even work? It sure is an interesting idea, though. Even if it is a bit frightening.

Will this become more common as we become more integrated with technology? Will shrines have donation kiosks available to distribute prayers for the faithful on their pilgrimages? Can a priest be replaced with a PERL script? Man, there are so many ideas for stories here that I can hardly imagine all the possibilities! Sci-fi religion at it's best!

A digital prayer a day?

Hmm, well, why not? I mean, we can get other kinds of reminders to our phones or pagers, so why not a reminder to pray?
This <a target="_blank" href="http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,56991,00.html">article on Wired News</a> really made me think about where we're taking religion as a society. I've seen plenty of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.al-sunnah.com/free.htm">free Islamic programs</a> for the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.harf.com/software/esoftware.htm">Palm</a&gt;, so why not a generalized one? A simple PERL script or two is all it should take to send a random reminder to pray to any Internet-enabled wireless device. Or, a more generalized "spiritual" message could be sent. Or, really, anything that would be regular and in text format.
Personally, I like the idea of getting random reminders to make contact with God. It might be nice to have my cellphone, which I've come to think of as a tool of the Devil, remind me that God <b><i>is</i></b> watching me and that He <b><i>does</i></b> care about me. Why shouldn't technology remind us of our spiritual selves? Just because the old Catholic church had issues with early scientists doesn't mean that we should not make use of this kind of tool for spiritual awareness. I'd like to think that the modern Vatican, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm">which is online now</a>, would agree with me.

Hmph, maybe I'll have to develop something to make that work. Stay tuned!