Review of All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Books by Martha Wells are consistently mentioned in social media science fiction groups as favourite reads, so I decided to read one of her novels to see what her imagination and writing are like. I chose All Systems Red as it is about a sentient android. The subject of sentient artificial intelligence fascinates me. I have […]

I will continue blogging

graham clements logo

After some thought, I have decided to continue blogging as I enjoy reading, researching, and writing for each post.  Just one post a week once I settle back down (you can sign up to receive notification of a post using the form at the bottom of this post). I will have to find new ways […]

Dancing with myself

Due to the lack of likes and comments, it would seem either no one is interested in the subjects I blog about, I am a terrible blogger, the only things looking at my posts are bots, or maybe all three reasons. Although I enjoy writing the posts, it seems I would be much better off […]

Is Facebook the king of enshittification?

cover of Macquarie Dictionary

The Australian Macquarie Dictionary has declared enshittification 2024’s word of the year. The dictionary defines it as: “The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.” The word was first coined by science fiction […]

Review of War and Peace

cover of war and peace

If ever there was an epic novel, War and Peace is that novel. Its 1440 pages cover 1805 to 1813, which encompasses the period leading up to Napoleon’s invasion of Russia to a few years after his ultimate defeat. This is a review of an edition translated by Rosemary Edmonds and first published in 1957. […]

Captcha plugging blocking comments

captcha logo

A captcha plugin has prevented visitors from commenting on this blog and my website overall. I just found out about it today when a Facebook friend told me. I don’t know how long it has been a problem. I removed the plugin. This is the second time since I put this site up that a […]

AI generated image used on TOR book cover

[This post has been edited] Gizmodo.com says Tor used an AI-generated image on a book cover. In that report, Tor says the image came from a “reputable stock house”.  The caption on the image in the article says that it was from Shutterstock. I immediately thought it should have been labelled as AI-generated at Shutterstock, […]

Way back machine hacked and offline

The Way Back machine went offline due to being hacked on Wednesday after two denial-of-service attacks on Monday and Tuesday. In the hack, the details of 31 million members were stolen. It has been reported that a pro-Palestinian hacktivist group has claimed responsibility. They say: “They are under attack because the archive belongs to the USA, […]

Banning kids from social media

happy children using computer

This post is a response to the South Australian Government’s attempts to ban children under 14 from social media.  It seems the Victorian Government is on the same path, and so is the Federal Government. I wonder if they have thought about the implications for children who have disabilities and find solace in communicating with […]

Blog construction

I have spent some time setting up an account with a marketing automation service so my blog readers can sign up to be notified when I write a new post. This process involves a number of steps. First, set up a feed from the blog. Second, sign up to a service. Third, construct a subscriber […]