Fingers flying ...

Have you been following, over at The Grantville Gazette, the "company man" story arc ? That's my SFnal homage to Dashiell Hammett's acclaimed -- and nameless -- "Continental op."

A beginning (of sorts)

First (May 2017) came "The Company Man." Next (September 2017) was "The Company Dick." And now, I am pleased to report, I've signed the paperwork from TGG for "The Company Mole." In the latest story, our nameless hero(?) confronts the direst -- and lengthiest -- phase yet of increasingly ominous circumstances. In fact, this latest tale will be split across two issues of the zine. Look for it in the November 2018 and January 2019 issues.

And -- with great enthusiasm -- I'm also happy to report finding myself a good 60 pages into the company man's climactic adventure: "The Company Bane." Woo7!

But even as I covet the time away from "The Company Bane" a weekly post would take for me to compose, my to-blog-about file doth brim with fascinating, computer-centric items. So allow me to offer a few -- all of which the company man might find interesting. Of course by his era, these technologies have seriously progressed ....

• "Bitcoin is still a total disaster." To wit: "There’s one thing a currency is supposed to do that bitcoin never has. That’s maintain a stable value." Or let the nearby graph tell the tale:
  
• If crypto currencies have been a feverishly hot topic, then surely 3-D printing (aka, additive manufacturing) has been another. If you've been curious about "printing" solid objects, you'll want to read "Five myths about 3-D printing."
• And a third fast-changing, much discussed, computer tech is artificial intelligence. So far, AIs are basically idiot savants -- getting good at narrow tasks, whether playing chess, classifying facial images, or (mis)understanding speech -- while unable to do anything else. But when true, general AI comes around? Then we'll surely all want "Rules to encourage well behaved artificial intelligence."

And on that last-mentioned topic, I'll also bring to your attention a blog post in followup to my recent interview on The Innovation Show. The host's followup? "Ethical AI -- 'Without reason, without heart, it destroys us.' "

There you have it: thought-provoking items to tide you over as I fat-finger my way to the conclusion of "The Company Bane." Something for everyone :-)