Topics
Precrime: China Goes Minority Report
China’s effort to flush out threats to stability is expanding into an area that used to exist only in dystopian sci-fi: pre-crime. The Communist Party has directed one of the country’s largest state-run defense contractors, China Electronics Technology Group, to develop software to collate data on jobs, hobbies, consumption habits, and other behavior of ordinary citizens to predict terrorist acts before they occur. “It’s very crucial to examine the cause after an act of terror,” Wu Manqing, the chief engineer for the military contractor, told reporters at a conference in December. “But what is more important is to predict the … Read more
Are The Force Awakens’ & ‘A New Hope’ The Same Movie?
While Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the true definition of a box office phenomenon, one that fans and critics both loved, there is a huge problem people have had with the movie since it arrived in theaters this past December. And that’s the fact that it is way too similar to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Both stories certainly run parallel to each other, and both hit some of the same beats to the minute. Now, a new study shows that the two movies are much more similar than you may have originally thought! McGill University … Read more
Me Me Monday!
Welcome to ME ME MONDAY at our FB discussion group – your chance to pop in and tell us about your latest success. Have a new book or short story coming out? Let us know. Just sell something? Let us know so we can cheer you on. HOW IT WORKS: I’ll pin this topic to the top of our FB discussion page for the day. –Please post your announcement as a separate post, so I can also share it over to our FB page (as opposed to this discussion group). –If you want, send me your book announcement info at … Read more
Mark Hamill: Luke Skywalker Is Gay
“I just read online that JJ is very much open to that. In the old days you would get fan mail. But now fans are writing and ask all these questions, ‘I’m bullied in school… I’m afraid to come out’. They say to me, ‘Could Luke be gay?’ I’d say it is meant to be interpreted by the viewer. If you think Luke is gay, of course he is. You should not be ashamed of it. Judge Luke by his character, not by who he loves.” Full Story at LGBTQ Nation
QSF Gathering at DSP
We’re planning our third official QSF gathering – this one at the Dreamspinner retreat this weekend. We’ll be meeting in St. George 114. We ran through a number of possibilities for dinner, and this one makes the most sense. If you plan to come, start by checking the menu for Wreckers: Wreckers Menu Then stop by in the late afternoon or at 6 PM – you can place your order to go at the restaurant. Once you have it, hop on over to St. George 114 – we have the room from 6-8:30 PM (the reception starts at 9). We’ll … Read more
New Discoveries Day
Hey all, Recently we launched New Discoveries Day – a day once a month (usually on the last day of the month) when we discuss recent discoveries that fascinate us and that could spawn plot bunnies (or plot squirrels or plot mongeese – your plot animal of choice). So chime in and let us know about any new discoveries you ran across in the last month – links are always appreciated. Thanks to Freddy MacKay for the great idea! –Scott Come Join the Chat!