Hi everyone! I wanted to make a note that this blog has moved to the following URL:
http://www.damonalan.com
See? That's me. Damon Alan.
Sadly, this site will be stagnant from now on. I know, I know, that's sad. But the other site gives me much more creative control! As of 6.24.15 I'm still updating content. But you're welcome to stop on by.
Damon
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Saturday, May 9, 2015
What is sci-fi?
It should come as no surprise that there are as many forms of science
fiction as there are science itself. We all think spaceships and
rayguns, but what about the TV show Helix? All modern day stuff except
for the biology.
That's sci-fi.
Or how about Jurassic Park? Paleontology, biology... as sci-fi.
That's sci-fi.
Or how about Jurassic Park? Paleontology, biology... as sci-fi.
Blade Runner? Set in the future, yes, with flying cars, a dark reality,
but also with biological science enough to create life in the form of
the replicants.
Even Isaac Asimov's Foundation is not just space travel, it's also Hari Seldon and his ground breaking psychological science, called Psychohistory.
Some people who say they don't like science fiction might be really surprised to find that they do like particular subsets of it. After all, what is The Hunt for Red October, but military thriller with a twinge of sci-fi? Magnetohydrodynamic drive indeed....
Even Isaac Asimov's Foundation is not just space travel, it's also Hari Seldon and his ground breaking psychological science, called Psychohistory.
Some people who say they don't like science fiction might be really surprised to find that they do like particular subsets of it. After all, what is The Hunt for Red October, but military thriller with a twinge of sci-fi? Magnetohydrodynamic drive indeed....
Saturday, March 21, 2015
I love to cook.
If the kitchen isn't a mess, that is. If my daughters do their chores, the often get rewarded with delicious food.
Let me share a fabulous recipe.
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Get your non-stick muffin pan. Spray it with cooking spray or even better coat it with butter.
Mix up eggs as if you were going to scramble them. One per muffin tin hole you plan to use.
Fill the muffin pan with anything you might use in an omelet. Ham, sausage bits, cheeses of your choice, mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc. Fill them about halfway full.
Pour the egg mixture in on top until the muffin cup is 95% full. I mix my eggs in a 4 cup measuring cup because it makes pouring them out easy. If you plan on adding salt and or pepper to the mix, add it to the eggs and mix it in for consistency. I often put in a couple of tablespoons of hot sauce for a great kick. You could also mix in some salsa. Depending on how much you use, you might leave out an egg or two so you don't have too much for the pan.
Once that's all done, sprinkle real bacon bits on the top.
Then cook for 25 minutes. The eggs will look like muffins, even rising to that muffin shape.
Oh my, you're in for a treat now.
If you try this, leave a comment with the ingredients you use.
Let me share a fabulous recipe.
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Get your non-stick muffin pan. Spray it with cooking spray or even better coat it with butter.
Mix up eggs as if you were going to scramble them. One per muffin tin hole you plan to use.
Fill the muffin pan with anything you might use in an omelet. Ham, sausage bits, cheeses of your choice, mushrooms, onions, peppers, etc. Fill them about halfway full.
Pour the egg mixture in on top until the muffin cup is 95% full. I mix my eggs in a 4 cup measuring cup because it makes pouring them out easy. If you plan on adding salt and or pepper to the mix, add it to the eggs and mix it in for consistency. I often put in a couple of tablespoons of hot sauce for a great kick. You could also mix in some salsa. Depending on how much you use, you might leave out an egg or two so you don't have too much for the pan.
Once that's all done, sprinkle real bacon bits on the top.
Then cook for 25 minutes. The eggs will look like muffins, even rising to that muffin shape.
Oh my, you're in for a treat now.
If you try this, leave a comment with the ingredients you use.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
California and the Hippies.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-famiglietti-drought-california-20150313-story.html
This is what happens when you stuff 50 million people into an area with the water supply for 10 million. Colorado is probably going to experience the same someday, because I think I know full well where all these people are going to want to go once they're done screwing up their state as bad as it can possibly be screwed.
The sad thing is that this is preventable. Nuclear powered desalinization could provide all the water this state needs, not to mention Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, etc. Thorium, not uranium. Humans have a habit of destroying things and moving on. We in the USA like to think we're enlightened, and Californians are some of the worst in that type of arrogance. This isn't about global warming, because regardless of how you believe on that issue, global warming has become more religion than science. This is about foolish population practices. How environmentally friendly is it going to be when CA is importing billions and billions of plastic encased water bottles?
We have the technology to make the Southwest a paradise. Instead we build fountains in the desert and suck all the water out of the ground until there is nothing left but dust. What took millions of years to fill and stabilize we've destroyed in a century. Funny thing is we're inviting more people into this ignorance, even as we don't have the resources to provide for those that are already here. But that's about voting trends, not about human life.
I do feel sorry for California, but in the same sense I'd feel sorry for a disabled person beating their head on the wall when left on their own to do so. I can only assume California suffers some sort of mass mental illness that has created this mess. Electing movie stars (Ahnold!) and known idiots like Jerry Brown over and over are proof that there should be standards for allowing people to vote.
I believe this is how republics fall. This is how the Romans fell. They elected people who spent them into debt and gave charity through redistribution until there was no incentive left to innovate or produce.
I'm not saying nature isn't partially to blame, drought sucks. But it's also a fact that it happens. Dust Bowl anyone? For Californians not to see that and make plans to prevent something similar where they live is just the worst.
Like I said. We have and had the technology. Have had it for 30 years. We built the Hoover Dam, but we can't build desalinization plants? It might have happened but the same hippies that are now going to drink dust were 100% opposed to anything nuclear because they're too stupid to be entrusted with long term policy. Yet entrust them CA did and now they reap the rewards.
I feel sad as I look at CA's bloody forehead. And even more sad when I realize I'll probably be moving out of the state I love when all the fools who ruined CA move to CO.
Some days I wonder if we'll make it to the stars. Then there are other days when I look at the greatness we're accomplishing and realize we will, if we stop doing things the California way.
This is what happens when you stuff 50 million people into an area with the water supply for 10 million. Colorado is probably going to experience the same someday, because I think I know full well where all these people are going to want to go once they're done screwing up their state as bad as it can possibly be screwed.
The sad thing is that this is preventable. Nuclear powered desalinization could provide all the water this state needs, not to mention Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Utah, Nevada, etc. Thorium, not uranium. Humans have a habit of destroying things and moving on. We in the USA like to think we're enlightened, and Californians are some of the worst in that type of arrogance. This isn't about global warming, because regardless of how you believe on that issue, global warming has become more religion than science. This is about foolish population practices. How environmentally friendly is it going to be when CA is importing billions and billions of plastic encased water bottles?
We have the technology to make the Southwest a paradise. Instead we build fountains in the desert and suck all the water out of the ground until there is nothing left but dust. What took millions of years to fill and stabilize we've destroyed in a century. Funny thing is we're inviting more people into this ignorance, even as we don't have the resources to provide for those that are already here. But that's about voting trends, not about human life.
I do feel sorry for California, but in the same sense I'd feel sorry for a disabled person beating their head on the wall when left on their own to do so. I can only assume California suffers some sort of mass mental illness that has created this mess. Electing movie stars (Ahnold!) and known idiots like Jerry Brown over and over are proof that there should be standards for allowing people to vote.
I believe this is how republics fall. This is how the Romans fell. They elected people who spent them into debt and gave charity through redistribution until there was no incentive left to innovate or produce.
I'm not saying nature isn't partially to blame, drought sucks. But it's also a fact that it happens. Dust Bowl anyone? For Californians not to see that and make plans to prevent something similar where they live is just the worst.
Like I said. We have and had the technology. Have had it for 30 years. We built the Hoover Dam, but we can't build desalinization plants? It might have happened but the same hippies that are now going to drink dust were 100% opposed to anything nuclear because they're too stupid to be entrusted with long term policy. Yet entrust them CA did and now they reap the rewards.
I feel sad as I look at CA's bloody forehead. And even more sad when I realize I'll probably be moving out of the state I love when all the fools who ruined CA move to CO.
Some days I wonder if we'll make it to the stars. Then there are other days when I look at the greatness we're accomplishing and realize we will, if we stop doing things the California way.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Crash Bang Boom!
So last week my computer died. Crash bang boom.
I'm not sure what went down exactly, but I think it was my OCZ 128GB SSD that cost me an arm and a leg 4 years ago. I guess getting that lifespan out of what was essentially new tech at that time isn't too bad. So, since the computer was down, I decided to upgrade. I guess down isn't exactly the right word. It was VERY unstable. So much you couldn't do anything because any moment it was going to crash. That's essentially down.
Maybe I've been lucky. Every other time in my life I've put a computer together, it basically went as planned and it fired right up. Maybe a small hitch here and there, but nothing like this time.
I have Samsung SH-S223 DVD writers. Two of them. My new motherboard seemed to hate them like my 70 year old Mom hates gangsta rap. It took me a long time to figure out who wasn't getting along, however. Two days, in fact.
If I booted from the old SSD in AHCI mode, the computer would barely get to the Windows logo and hit the blue screen of death. If I booted in IDE mode, it would boot all the way but the DVD writers wouldn't be recognized by the bios. Which is a problem if you need to load in new software for your new motherboard including the drivers that will let it get to the internet so you can get to the most current drivers. Not to mention an operating system to run the computer at all. I had no way to load Win 7 to my new SSD, a Crucial 500GB monster.
Eventually I figured out what the problem was. Bought 1 HP dvd1265 to replace the 2 Samsungs, and everything booted up fine under AHCI. Go figure. I was able put Win 7 on the new SSD and the computer is running great.
MSI Gaming 5 motherboard, 16GB of Corsair RAM from my old machine. It's still fast enough, it's DDR3.
i5-4690K CPU that I haven't overclocked at all. I just got a really good deal on it.
Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card, 4GB DDR5.
I reused my old case, power supply, and 1TB Seagate HD. I think the entire upgrade wound up costing me $780, but that's because I got the motherboard for $10 after I bought the CPU at Microcenter. The CPU was on sale as well, for $199. That's crazy. I splurged on the graphics card because of the savings on the rest.
It all runs like a top now.
But then you remember. I have to reinstall 4 years of my life to this new machine. Which is happening, but just as I need it. Firefox over IE. Thunderbird. Office 2007. Yes, that still works great, get it if you get a deal. Scrivener for writing. Aeon Timeline for any plotting. Steam for games.
My advice to any of you out there that maintain your machine: If you don't have a cloud service to back up your important files, DO THIS RIGHT NOW. I use Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) and they give you 2GB for free. I have iCloud too, another 5GB free. I store all my art and writing at dropbox, all my photos and other stuff at iCloud.
So anyway, that's why no updates.
I'm really excited about getting back to work on my books. I got a smoking good review on Amazon this week, and I'm fired up. The Anvil of Dust and Stars continues to do better than I'd dreamed. Now to use it as inspiration to continue.
Hopefully I'll blog more too since the computer is doing well.
I'm not sure what went down exactly, but I think it was my OCZ 128GB SSD that cost me an arm and a leg 4 years ago. I guess getting that lifespan out of what was essentially new tech at that time isn't too bad. So, since the computer was down, I decided to upgrade. I guess down isn't exactly the right word. It was VERY unstable. So much you couldn't do anything because any moment it was going to crash. That's essentially down.
Maybe I've been lucky. Every other time in my life I've put a computer together, it basically went as planned and it fired right up. Maybe a small hitch here and there, but nothing like this time.
I have Samsung SH-S223 DVD writers. Two of them. My new motherboard seemed to hate them like my 70 year old Mom hates gangsta rap. It took me a long time to figure out who wasn't getting along, however. Two days, in fact.
If I booted from the old SSD in AHCI mode, the computer would barely get to the Windows logo and hit the blue screen of death. If I booted in IDE mode, it would boot all the way but the DVD writers wouldn't be recognized by the bios. Which is a problem if you need to load in new software for your new motherboard including the drivers that will let it get to the internet so you can get to the most current drivers. Not to mention an operating system to run the computer at all. I had no way to load Win 7 to my new SSD, a Crucial 500GB monster.
Eventually I figured out what the problem was. Bought 1 HP dvd1265 to replace the 2 Samsungs, and everything booted up fine under AHCI. Go figure. I was able put Win 7 on the new SSD and the computer is running great.
MSI Gaming 5 motherboard, 16GB of Corsair RAM from my old machine. It's still fast enough, it's DDR3.
i5-4690K CPU that I haven't overclocked at all. I just got a really good deal on it.
Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card, 4GB DDR5.
I reused my old case, power supply, and 1TB Seagate HD. I think the entire upgrade wound up costing me $780, but that's because I got the motherboard for $10 after I bought the CPU at Microcenter. The CPU was on sale as well, for $199. That's crazy. I splurged on the graphics card because of the savings on the rest.
It all runs like a top now.
But then you remember. I have to reinstall 4 years of my life to this new machine. Which is happening, but just as I need it. Firefox over IE. Thunderbird. Office 2007. Yes, that still works great, get it if you get a deal. Scrivener for writing. Aeon Timeline for any plotting. Steam for games.
My advice to any of you out there that maintain your machine: If you don't have a cloud service to back up your important files, DO THIS RIGHT NOW. I use Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) and they give you 2GB for free. I have iCloud too, another 5GB free. I store all my art and writing at dropbox, all my photos and other stuff at iCloud.
So anyway, that's why no updates.
I'm really excited about getting back to work on my books. I got a smoking good review on Amazon this week, and I'm fired up. The Anvil of Dust and Stars continues to do better than I'd dreamed. Now to use it as inspiration to continue.
Hopefully I'll blog more too since the computer is doing well.
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