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
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 […]
Construction of my new website
I have been working on my new website for a few weeks now. It combines my old static website and my Blogger blog with some additional blog posts from my former business, Wangaratta Website Design Services. I have pages on my fiction and non-fiction writing, as well as a page on my web design efforts. […]
Review of The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch
The Gone World is a science fiction novel that involves time travel—but not your run-of-the-mill ordinary time travel. The prologue tells readers they are in for something different. In it, the main character, Shannon Moss, is frantically searching for safety in a winter landscape when she comes across a woman suspended in mid-air, naked, arms […]
Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood
Cat’s Eye is a novel about a successful artist, Elaine Risley. She has returned to Toronto, where she grew up, for a retrospective exhibition of her work. While there, she reflects on her childhood and wonders whether one of her childhood “friends,” Cordelia, will attend the exhibition. The novel is set in the mid-1980s. As […]
Review of Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
Autonomous is set in 2144 in a divided world where the rich have access to wonderous drugs, while the poor can’t afford expensive health care. Many poor are indentured to owners who control their lives as if they are slaves. It is a world where sentient androids can either operate autonomously or follow the programmed […]
Review of the ChatGPT scripted movie The Last Screenwriter
The Last Screenwriter claims to be the first feature-length movie totally written by ChatGPT. The original cinematic world premiere was cancelled due to hundreds of complaints made to the cinema’s owner. It became free to watch on July 5. To create the script, the makers of the film entered the following prompt into ChatGPT: “Write a plot to […]
Review of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818 and revised it for an 1831 edition. This review is of the 1818 edition, curiously labelled as an uncensored version. The novel begins with a series of letters between Captain Robert Dalton and his sister as he sets out to explore the North Pole. His ship gets stuck in […]
Review of The Redemption of Time by Baoshu (the fourth book in the Three-Body Problem series).
The Redemption of Time is an extension of the Remembrance of Earth’s Past (Three-Body Problem) trilogy by Cixin Liu. It started as fanfiction by author Baoshu (the pen name of Li Jun). Publishers approached him, and with Cixin Liu’s blessing, a novel was published. Baoshu has written three other novels and won six Nebula Awards […]