Tuesday, July 22, 2014

WEP - A Picture Worth 1000 words: Infinity and Nuit Blanche

The WEP July Challenge
An image or a picture can trigger memories, beliefs and imagination. Here are my offerings.


INFINITY

Fort Jefferson
A prison
Soldiers and Civilians
The Dry Tortugas


The Archways of Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas, Fla., by DG Hudson


In our lives, there are many doors, some open to joy or insight, some to sadness, pain or loss. Life takes no notice of who you are or what your plans may be. Infinity shown as openings or archways can also represent hope that perhaps the next opening will lead to better times.  The road continues whether we fall by the wayside or not. Sometimes there is a choice at the fork in the road and at other times, we are at the behest of Fate.


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Nuit Blanche

Paris, France
It's a City Party
Exploring culture in the streets
The traffic is a parade.
So many bright lights=White Night


Nuit Blanche on the Rue de Rivoli, Paris, by Green Eye, prop. DG Hudson


Nuit Blanche (White Night) is an arts festival or city party which provides 'after hours'  free access to various forms of culture. Film, visual art and performing arts are staged at outside venues and certain galleries and locations. The Nuit Blanche is celebrated in the first week of October in Paris.

This image was captured from the fourth floor of a residential apartment building on the Rue de Rivoli.

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Previous post A to Z Blog Challenge 2012: N = Nuit Blanche, Paris
http://dghudson-rainwriting.blogspot.ca/2012/04/n-nuit-blanche-paris-to-z-blog.html

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Have you ever heard the term Nuit Blanche? Have you heard of the Dry Tortugas or Garden Key? Do you find it easy to be inspired by an image?

Please leave a comment to let me know you dropped by and I'll respond.
I apologize for the brevity of my entry to this month's challenge, fiction was not an option.

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Write, Edit, Publish!

Would you like to challenge yourself? Try Write...Edit...Publish! aka WEP
Join us for a monthly signup and some very interesting reading. It's flexible. I joined the once-a-month bloghop since it meets my needs. WEP can help you practice short writing. It's a good way to start story ideas.


Write…Edit…Publish! welcomes you to submit any of the following – flash fiction, poetry, non-fiction or playscripts to a word count of 1,000 words – artwork and photographs accompanied by your written inspiration in creating your work/s.


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Don't forget to visit the other posts on the July signup.

Next Challenge: August - Taking Chances
 
Owner/Originator: Denise Covey at her website.
 
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References

Photographs by DG Hudson and Green Eye.

Wiki on Fort Jefferson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Jefferson,_Florida

Link to info Wiki on Nuit Blanche
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuit_Blanche


Denise Covey's WEP information
http://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.ca/

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

ROBOT Uprisings - A Book Review


AI - Artificial Intelligence. Can they be trusted? What if they don't follow the Three Laws of Robotics* or any other Human imposed code of conduct?





ROBOT UPRISINGS


Including authors Cory Doctorow, Hugh Howey, Jeff Abbott, Ernest Cline, John McCarthy, and more, Robot Uprisings contains new stories based on a common theme. Open your awareness to the possibilities and the dangers that we imagine if we share our world with an entity that is manufactured, not born. Seventeen stories of which I've highlighted six authors. This is another library find; I can't refuse a book with 'robots' in the title.


A Sampling:

Cory Doctorow - Epoch

A system wide rollover is due, like Y2K, and everyone is making preparations to ride out the time, including the robots.

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Hugh Howey - Executable

Beware the reprogrammable computerized items in your home, like that little Roomba. And the fridge, the microwave. . .

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Ernest Cline - The Omnibot Incident

What if you got your own robot for Christmas? And it was better than anything you had imagined? Be cautious. When something seems better than it is, there might be a reason. . .

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John McCarthy - The Robot and the Baby

Delightful jab at future tech and privacy/freedom issues. This was fun to read, as it incorporated the media element in the future, and how little actual privacy we may have. Babies - robots don't do baby care, until now.

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Seanan McGuire - We are all Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen War

A story parents should read, about a Pied Piper of the future. Educational robots - can learn as well as teach. Beware.

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Jeff Abbott - Human Intelligence

After the takeover, they wanted to understand humans. Why? To become more like us or to better break us? Someone had resisted them. They, the conquering robots, want to know why and how?

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The Theme: What you can do, we can do better OR come the robot revolution. . .


Robot Uprisings, Vintage Books, Vintage Original Series, Edited by Daniel H. Wilson, and John Joseph Adams, Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2014. Daniel writes robotic-themed novels, one of which has been slated for film by Steven Spielberg. John Joseph Adams is the editor of digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and other interesting projects.

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Would you like your own robot? Are you worried about Artificial Intelligence taking over? Have you read any of these authors I've mentioned? Or heard of them?

Please leave a comment to let me know you were here, and thanks for visiting. I'll respond!

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References

* I. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics

Robots with Brains
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/roboticexplorers/f_robotics.html

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