Apr 29
After Philip K. Dick got his first glimpse of Bladerunner (based on his “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”) he wrote this letter to the production company: October 11, 1981 Mr. Jeff Walker, The Ladd Company, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, Calif. 91522. Dear Jeff, I happened to see the Channel 7 TV program “Hooray For …
Apr 27
I have a couple pieces of news regarding Technicolor Ultra Mall. The first is that my publisher has made the ebook version available through the Amazon Lending Library. So, if you’re an Amazon Prime Member, you can borrow it for zero dollars. If you’re old fashioned like me, it looks like the Canadian Amazon has …
Apr 23
This 1949 letter from Aldous Huxley to George Orwell is from Letters of Note. While these two authors shared a dystopic view, they disagreed on how it would be realized. Not to put too fine a point on it, Huxley feared the carrot while Orwell feared the stick. Wrightwood. Cal. 21 October, 1949 Dear …
Mar 30
This is an interview that occurred in late January and will be hitting 12 television stations and 80 radio markets in about a week via TVCOGECO. It’s for Brent Holland’s Night Fright Show. Ryan Oakley – Technicolor Ultra-Mall via Skype from Toronto Canada. What if in the future Toronto had been turned into a huge indoor mall? …
Mar 02
This gun, created by Japanese researchers, is capable of stopping speech at a range of 30 metres (100ft). I’m sure we could all think of a use for it. The dystopian, silence the protesters, angle jumps right out at ya. But I would remind people that the police already have used bullets, batons, tear gas and tazers. …
Feb 10
Looks like this drone fad is catching on. From Singularity Hub: According to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service, nearly one in three US warplanes are drones…and those machines are changing the way the world wages war. US soldiers in Afghanistan rely more and more upon intelligence gathered from drones, and President Obama recently …
Jan 20
Megaupload has been taken down and its founder arrested on charges of piracy. You can read the indictment here. Just so we’re clear, Blackwater, a mercenary group that has committed war crimes is a private contractor. Megaupload, a website that allows people to store information online and others to download it, are criminals. Blackwater, though …
Dec 24
This is an interesting conversation on AJE about the growing militarization of the police. Of interest to people in Toronto because the G20 is part of the conversation. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has granted $34 billion over the last 10 years to state and local police departments to combat terrorist threats and drug trafficking. But critics …
Dec 07
I’d say this is a pretty realistic assessment.
Dec 02
You should probably grab yourself a good, stiff drink and read this article. A bill co-sponsored by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin and GOP Sen. John McCain (S. 1867) — included in the pending defense authorization bill — is predictably on its way to passage. It is triggering substantial alarm in many circles, including from the …
