Watch this space.

… like a hawk.

I’ve been keeping up with your blog, and wondered if you’d be interested in commenting on these videos concerning alternative energy sources. Apparently, we do have free energy technology, but the World Bank… wealthy oil shieks, and the government don’t want to share it with the people of the world. They are using it for deep space exploration, star wars, and military warfare such as tanks. Check it out. =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6yRn4IAsrU

also Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8stApCmxYEM

also Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h75_TGiwg78

Other people inventing the same thing. Unbelievable!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVhXrvCCILw

Air Car - Australia & France
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-A3XHFT5qc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq8aZVLpf-c

India Air Car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_i3aMz7q1w

My reply to her begins below, and continues after the jump:

I saw the videos and the material you sent, and, well.. you know me, I’m always the skeptical spoilsport. I hate to burst your bubble, but, don’t take this stuff at face value. Neither one of those things is the mythical ‘free energy’ that they’re billed as. Let’s start with the so-called ‘Water Car’.

WARNING: Lots and lots of ranting ahead. This is an old topic for me.

The inventor of the ‘Water Car’, Stan Meyer, was convicted of fraud in ‘96. He had been selling ‘dealerships’ to investors for the right to market his Water Engine technology for years, and while he seemed quite willing to demonstrate his device in his own home lab, he never actually *delivered* on the device to his investors, which is why he was sued. He was supposed to show his car to Michael Laughton, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London and Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, but when it came time to actually show up for the testing, he made excuses and never showed up. When his Water Fuel Cell was examined by 3 different experts in court, they all came to the same conclusion: it wasn’t what he claimed it was. It was a simple electrolysis device, no more or less efficient than any other. He was convicted of fraud and ordered to repay his investors they $25,000 dollars.

Basically, he was a con-artist, pure and simple. He had a sincere face and manner that made you want to believe him, and he was very good at fooling people at first glance: even scientists can be fooled by illusions. In fact, the best scientists know they can never simply trust their eyes and their first impressions, the human eye and mind are inherently fallible, and that’s one reason why properly designed experiments are so rigorous: we have to try and ensure that we can minimize the chance that we’re being fooled by our own senses.Stan Meyer was able to fool people like Professor Michael Laughton, Dean of Engineering at Queen Mary College, London, Admiral Sir Anthony Griffin, a former controller of the British Navy, and Dr. Keith Hindley, a UK research chemist, by showing them his water fuel cell device and claiming it produced much higher amounts of hydrogen than it really did. These people, however, never ran any proper tests, they simply viewed a controlled demonstration by the inventor, and that’s not really a proper setting. If I was in my own home and had plenty of time to prepare, I could ‘demonstrate’ all sorts of impossible things. The entire world of magicians and con artists is based on how easy it is to make something fake appear real, after all, when you can control the environment in which they take place.

The real test of his technology would have been if it could be replicated independently by other people. It hasn’t. Because there was nothing truly special there to replicate. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying his device didn’t *work*, it did: it was an electrolysis device that could, indeed, split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen. These devices are nothing new, and they’re used in all sorts of applications. Basically, you run a current through the water, the covalent bonds between the hydrogen and the oxygen are weakened and then broken, and, poof, you get Hydrogen and Oxygen gas. It works. The trick is that it’s not very efficient. It takes a lot of electricity to split those bonds: a *lot* more electricity than you can get by burning the Hydrogen again. The so-called Water-Fueled Car is not really fueled by water: it’s fueled by *electricity*, by the batteries that power the electrolysis reaction. And that electricity has to come from *somewhere*. The claims that it is so efficient that the battery can basically charge itself have been proven completely false time and again. Now, you might say, okay, fine, so it’s not as efficient as the guy claimed it is.. but it still runs only on electricity and only produces water as a byproduct, right? That’s gotta be better than what we have now? I’ll get back to that in a moment, but first I will address the ‘air cars’.

Again, it’s the same basic situation. The cars are not simply ‘fueled by air’, they’re fueled by *compressed* air, and that’s a very important difference. You see, it takes a lot of energy to compress air. The compressed air, therefore acts as an energy *carrier*, not as an energy *producer*. Yes, the cars do work. Yes, they only use compressed air. They produce fewer emissions, and may indeed be able to get decent mileage. *But*: they don’t solve the problem, not even close. Because, you see, the energy to compress the air in the first place has to come from *somewhere*, right? Again, our old friend, electricity. And electricity is not free, it does not come from the air or from magical electricity fairies that grant it to us as a boon for being so very nice. Electricity is, for the most part, produced by burning coal and oil (which are also energy carriers, by the way, the only difference is that the energy they carry has been stored inside them for a very long time, so we didn’t need to worry about putting the energy into them in the first place.. but once that energy’s been extracted, it’s gone). Let’s say that, tomorrow, everyone in the world switched to air-powered and water-fueled cars. We’ve already seen that they are not the magical ultra-efficient devices that one might think: instead of consuming gasoline, they’d be consuming electricity. And that electricity needs to come from somewhere. In order to meet the demand, more coal-burning and oil-burning plants would have to be constructed, enough to satisfy the sudden *huge* spike in electrical consumption that both of these methods would require. The oil would still be burned, just not by your car. And the problem of dependence on oil remains unsolved.

Both of these things don’t *solve* the problem of oil-dependence: they merely shift the burden around. Instead of having the cars burn the oil, we would have to make the electrical companies burn it to produce the electricity we’d need for these vehicles. And it turns out that this is not very efficient: delivering all that electricity to everyone in such huge amounts would cause its own problems. The most efficient solution right now is, unfortunately, to have the power-generating plant on the vehicle itself, that is: an internal combustion engine.

Now, this is not to say that it’s not worth our while to examine more *efficient* ways of extracting the energy from fuels, or finding alternate fuels: Hybrid engines can increase that efficiency by quite a bit, and properly designed cars and braking systems can harvest extra energy from the car’s own movement, this increasing the efficiency even more. But you can never really have 100% or higher efficiency. It simply doesn’t happen. It’s one of the most basic laws of physics for a reason: it’s been tested, over, and over, and *over* again, by much, much smarter people than any of us, and it always turns out the same: there is always some energy loss, the system is never perfectly efficient. Entropy always rises in a closed system. It’s one of the most fundamental rules of modern physics, and it underlies much of what we know today.

People immediately will start saying ‘Yeah, well, science doesn’t know everything!’, and that’s exactly correct. It doesn’t. It never will, and it *knows* that. Science may never be able to truly explain everything about the universe, but it *is* our best way to at least try to understand it all, and it *works*. The laws of physics were not decided upon by a committee, there’s no shadowy cabal of scientists who meet behind closed doors at the Nobel Prize Institute and decide which laws they like and which they don’t. It doesn’t work that way: the laws of the universe exist *independent* of what we think about them. You can whine all you like about how much it sucks to have gravity: gravity doesn’t care, it still exists. You can dream all you like about how nice it would be to have engines with higher than 100% efficiency and free energy, the universe doesn’t really care. The Fourth Law of Thermodynamics still holds true, trough test after test after test.

The usual comeback to that is something along the lines of ‘Yeah, well, scientists once thought the world was flat, and they were wrong.’, or ‘Scientists once thought people couldn’t fly, and they were wrong.’. Yes, that’s true. Science is not infallible. We currently believe it is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light. We currently beleive that entropy will always increase in a closed system. These things *may* turn out to be wrong… but so far, experiment after experiment, by hundreds and thousands of independent researchers, shows that it is highly unlikely that these things are wrong. The whole of modern physics is based on these laws, and these laws *work*. If the Laws of Thermodynamics, and the rest of physics didn’t hold true, a lot of things we take for granted wouldn’t even exist. The very computer that I’m typing this on is proof of that, as the micro-circuitry in it depends on the laws of physics being exactly what we already know them to be in order to work. And you honestly have to look at claims like those of the Water Fuel Cell and ask yourself: which is more likely: that everything we know about physics, the physics that has brought us computers, airplanes, television, all the modern conveniences of life, things that we use every single day and they *work*, is wrong? Or that, perhaps, we are simply being fooled by a con-man, or by our own senses? That second explanation is more likely, and thus, the burden of proof lies on the inventors of these so called free-energy devices to show that they work, that they can be replicated, and to show where the energy is coming from.

Time after time, these free energy crackpots pop up, and it’s telling that most of them are *not* scientists, and have no scientific background. Many of them are con-artists. They make big claims, run easily-faked ‘demonstrations’ (and this is nothing new, people have been faking ‘perpetual motion machines’ *forever*) and fool people into investing in their technology.. and then they never deliver. Most of the time, their devices are never even examined. And those that are, always turn out to be frauds. Another group of free energy proponents are not frauds: they really are sincere, and honestly think they have invented devices with higher than 100% efficiency. Without fail these devices never hold up to careful scrutiny. Either they ’stop working’ when they’re taken out of the lab (not that they ever really worked in the first place), or closer examination reveals a hidden source of energy that the inventor had not taken into account. Every single time.

So, in the end: yes, the world is an ugly place. It’s run by greed, and things aren’t as good as we wish they were. There is, indeed, a growing energy crisis: someday we’re going to run out of fossil fuels, and we need to find an alternative. But there is no such thing as ‘free energy’, and it has nothing to do with any supposed global conspiracies. It is simply a fact of basic physics that causes all these ‘free energy’ devices to disappear:not some shadowy group killing off crackpot inventors. The devices are never released not because they are being suppressed by oil sheiks or ‘the government’ (and really, anyone who has ever *dealt* with ‘the government’ can tell you how ridiculous the idea that such a conspiracy could even exist is.. the myth of the ultra-efficient and all-powerful government is exactly that: a myth. In reality, the government is extremely inefficient and barely able to keep itself running, much less secretly run huge conspiracies that would require hundreds of thousands of people *all around the world* to keep incredibly huge secrets for decade after decade.. I mean, anyone who’s ever worked at an office building and seen how the rumor mill works knows how goddamn hard it is to keep *anything* secret when you have more than 2-3 people involved. And the more people involved, the more unlikely it is that the secret can be kept. If people can’t even keep the fact that Bob made out with Marsha behind the copy machine a secret for more than a day, do you really and honestly believe that hundreds of thousands of people around the world could all be keeping something like a huge conspiracy to ‘keep down free energy’ a secret?). Deep space exploration is fueled by pretty mundane means: small nuclear energy cells, highly-efficient batteries, solar energy. ‘Star Wars’ is a fairy tale. Tanks run on diesel and gas turbines. And as much as I wish it was otherwise, free energy is a myth.

Mingle² - Online Dating

Yeah, I know I haven’t updated this blog in a while, most of my random linking and sillyness has been concentrated on my Tumblelog and over on Facebook.. but really, why would you want me to update this filthy, terrible, nasty blog, anyway? Did you see what rating it ended up with?

… I’m so proud!

10 Reasons It Doesn’t Pay To Be “The Computer Guy”

I only met my brother’s ex-girlfriend’s family once — the year they invited our family over to share Thanksgiving dinner. Since we were basically a group of strangers looking to make a good first impression, the table conversation was nothing more than friendly idle chitchat.

When I asked our hostess for more mashed potatoes, she took the opportunity to ask me about myself while dishing out my second helping — “So Shaun, what do you do for a living?”

Hesitantly, I responded: “I work in computer support.”

The transition to silence was immediate. All eyes suddenly turned to me, raised eyebrows all around. If you hadn’t heard my response, judging from everyone’s reaction you might think I said something outrageous like I was a male stripper or a gynecologist — but I knew the awkward silence would soon be broken by an overwhelming outpouring of computer questions.

“Oh wow, a computer guy!” — “So you know how to remove spyware and viruses and stuff, right?” — “Our family computer is really slow, I think it as a virus.” — “Do you have a business card, or can I get your number?”

I politely and patiently answered their questions, hoping that we’d exhaust the subject in a matter of minutes and then move on to something else. As it would turn out, my hopeful prediction was very wrong — the gentleman sitting next to me scooted his seat closer to me to begin an interrogation.

This man I was meeting for the first time must’ve truly believed that I was going to help him with his problem at that very moment. It didn’t matter how uninterested I looked or sounded, he was convinced that I must know the answer he’s looking for and he was determined he would get it.

Situations like this one were common for me. I’ve had eavesdropping strangers approach me with questions about their computer while I was eating in a restaurant. I’ve had oblivious coworkers step in front of me in a buffet line to tell me about their computer problems while I was serving myself food. I’ve had neighbors who spotted me from their window rush outside to coax me into working on their home computer while I was walking to the corner market. My knack for solving people’s computer problems had become so well-known among my neighborhood that these circumstances were near impossible to avoid.

You might be thinking, “So why complain? If your help is in high demand, why not embrace your talents and charge people for your time?”

I tried to for seven years. I’ve worked in the computer industry in various ways — help desk support, web design, consulting and sales, field technician, freelance computer specialist, and whatever other fancy name you want to give “the computer guy.”

I stopped enjoying it. There were certainly times when I enjoyed myself, but most of those times were when my computer talents were still developing. Once I stopped learning new things on the job, I would become fidgety and want to move on to something else.

From my career-hopping experiences in the computer industry, I’ve become acquainted with the Top Ten Reasons it doesn’t pay to be the computer guy:

Reason #10 - Most Of Your Accomplishments Are Invisible

The computer guy never hears anyone tell him, “I just want to let you know … everything is working fine!”

The reality is that people call the computer guy when something is wrong.

As a computer guy, if you work really hard to make everything work the way that it should, and things work fine, then people believe you don’t do anything. Everything you manage to get working correctly or do perfectly will forever remain unnoticed by computer users. They’ll only ever notice that you do anything when something isn’t working correctly, and you are called upon to fix it.

Reason #9 - Every Conversation You Have Is Roughly The Same

When the computer guy dares to mention what he does for a living, the typical response is, “I have a question about my home computer…”

Or when the computer guy first hears about a widespread problem within the computer network he’s responsible for, he can barely begin to assess the problem before a dozen other people call to report the same problem.

Or when the computer guy explains a certain process on a computer to a user who is incapable of retaining the process, he will inevitably need to re-instruct the user of this same process — indefinitely.

Reason #8 - You’re An Expert Of Bleeding-Edge Technology Products, Aren’t You?

The computer guy often finds himself in situations where someone is asking him for advice on a pending investment of the technological variety.

“I heard about (some hardware or software product) that can do (something desirable) for me. I brought you these (advertisements/reviews/printouts) because I wanted your recommendation. Which would you buy?”

Although the inquiring person sincerely trusts the computer guy’s judgment over their own, in almost every instance the real objective of these meetings is to ensure their own immunity from making a risky purchase.

If it turns out to be a bad investment, and they cannot get (the hardware or software product) to do (anything desirable), then you will be their personal scapegoat — “But honey, the computer guy said I should buy it!”

Reason #7 - Your Talents Are Forcibly Undervalued

Thanks to the constantly declining price of new computers, the computer guy cannot charge labor sums without a dispute. If he asks to be paid what he is worth, he will likely be met with the “why not buy new?” argument.

That is, desktop computers are always getting smaller, faster, and cheaper. It’s possible to purchase a new desktop computer for under $400. If the computer guy spends five hours fixing a computer and wants $100/hour for his time, his customer will be outraged, exclaiming “I didn’t even spend this much to BUY the computer, why should I pay this much just to FIX it?”

Reason #6 - You’re Never Allowed A Moment’s Peace

The computer guy is so prone to interruption that he rarely finds an opportunity to work on his own problems. This is because:

Computers never sleep.
Computer problems aren’t scheduled.
Every problem takes time to diagnose.
The computer guy can only give one problem his full attention.
Each user believes their problem deserves attention now.
Consequently, the computer guy has a 24/7 obligation to keep critical computer systems running, while simultaneously juggling everyone’s problems. He’ll often need to forfeit any opportunities to tend to his own needs for the sake of others — because at any moment, of any day, he can be interrupted by someone who wants to make their problem his problem.

Reason #5 - People Ask You To Perform Miracles

The computer guy is often mistaken for someone who possesses the combined skills of an old priest and a young priest. I’ll sum this up easily by example:

“No, I really can’t recover any files from your thumb drive, even if you did find it after it passed through your dog.”

Reason #4 - Your Assumed “All-Knowing” Status Sets You Up To Let People Down

There is no common understanding that there are smaller divisions within the computer industry, and that the computer guy cannot be an expert in all areas. What makes things worse, is when the computer guy attempts to explain this to someone asking for help, the person will often believe that the computer guy is withholding the desired knowledge to avoid having to help.

This is somewhat related to the next reason:

Reason #3 - You Possess Unlimited Responsibility

The computer guy is expected to solve problems. It is difficult to determine the boundaries of that expectation.

Some of the oddest things that I’ve been asked to do include:

Use pirated software to undelete important company files.
Create an Intranet, after explaining I didn’t know how to.
Teach someone how to hide their pornography collection.

Solving problems can range from replacing batteries in a wireless keyboard to investigating why the entire building loses power at the same time every morning. Resolutions can necessitate weaving a 50-foot cable through a drop ceiling, or wriggling under a house on your belly to add an electrical outlet.

Reasons #4 and #3 boil down to this: no matter how often you want to play the role of a hero, there will always be circumstances that test the limits of your ability to be one. It’s difficult to judge when helping someone means doing something immoral, and it’s even harder to admit you are unable to solve someone’s problem — and chances are, that someone will view you as incompetent because you were unable to help them.

Reason #2 - A Life Of Alienation

People only talk to the computer guy when they need him to fix something. Also, when the computer guy approaches a user, they’ll hop up out of their chair under the presumption that he’s there to fix something — as if it would never be expected that he only wants to strike up a conversation.

The fact that the computer guy never gets a moment’s peace can also practically force him to withdraw into solitude. His co-workers don’t understand that he doesn’t want to hear about their computer problems during his lunch hour — he does that every other hour of the day. That’s why the computer guy eats lunch alone with his door closed, or goes out to eat every day — not because he’s unfriendly, but because he needs to escape the incessant interruptions.

Reason #1 - You Have No Identity

It’s an awful experience when the computer guy shows up at a neighbor’s doorstep with a plate of Christmas cookies, only to have the child who answered the door call out, “Mom, the computer guy is here!” He begs for an identity that is not directly associated with computers, but “the computer guy” label walks ahead of him — it simply cannot be avoided. I was given a name and I’d love to be addressed by it.

Having read these reasons, you may believe that I’m complaining. It’s true that I was upset with many aspects of my life as the computer guy, but I’m past the point of complaining.

I took a good hard look at my existence and realized that things were not likely to change in the line of work I had chosen. Instead of just complaining, I took action and began making positive changes in my life.

Working in the computer industry isn’t for everybody. It wasn’t for me. I’ve compiled my reasons for putting it behind me and placed them here, so that anyone who is unsatisfied with their life working in computers might recognize it’s not for them either.

Ahh… cathartic. Looking forward to my own exit from being ‘the computer guy’ in the relatively near future.

First, if you already have an iPod, you probably already have the latest version of iTunes and can use that to subscribe. Otherwise, go snag a copy of Juice Receiver, so you can subscribe. Then, another quick step that will make your life easy is to go to Podiobooks.com and sign up, it’s free, and it’s the easiest way to get started. Then browse the list below:

Let’s start in with the classics, and where it all started:

• Earthcore: Scott Sigler’s bid for world domination starts here, with the story of a mining company and the secret they discover when they try and go for a huge motherload of platinum 3 miles below the surface. There’s a reason no one’s claimed it before: something’s down there, guarding… and waiting.
• Morevi: Morevi, a landlocked kingdom shrouded by jungles and mystery, falls under the rule of Askana Moldarin, known in her realm as “The Black Widow” following her swift and bloody ascent to the throne. In the dawn of this New Age, hidden traitors in her own regime threaten to destroy everything. Askana, independent of council, seeks help to reveal the conspiracy against her… Enter Rafe Rafton, captain of the Defiant.
• The Pocket and the Pendant: More towards the ‘Young Adult’ side of the spectrum, but if you enjoyed books like ‘His Dark Materials’, this might just tickle your fancy: WHEN TIME mysteriously stops, young Max Quick must travel across America to find the source of this ‘temporal disaster’… Along the way, he and his companions encounter ancient mysteries, quantum Books, and clues to the riddle of stopped Time. But the more Max learns, the more it seems that his own true identity is not what he once believed…

Those were the ‘Big Three’ that sorta kicked things off in the whole Podiobook arena, and they’re all pretty great, and make a great introduction to the genre. After that, more and more books started coming out, and just as exciting, several ‘radio drama’-style have come up as well, with multiple voice actors, sound effects, etc. Here’s some of the best, from both the Podiobook and ‘audio drama’ veins. Most of these are things I’m listening to right now, and I recommend them all:

Let’s start with the rest of Scott Sigler (the hardest working man in the business) has written. Every single one of his books rocks:

• Ancestor: Scientists struggle to solve the problem of xenotransplantation — using animal tissue to replace failing human organs. Funded by the biotech firm Genada, Dr. Claus Rhumkorrf seeks to recreate the ancestor of all mammals. By getting back to the root of our creation, Rhumkorrf hopes to create an animal with human internal organs. Rhumkorrf discovers the ancestor, but it is not the small, harmless creature he envisions. His genius gives birth to a fast-growing evil that nature eradicated 250 million years ago — an evil now on the loose, and very, very hungry.
• Infection: Perry Daswey is 6-foot-5, 265 pounds of angry ex-linebacker. He knows all too well that if he doesn’t control his quick temper, people get hurt. Through constant focus, he has locked his violent past away in the deep dungeons of his mind. — The infection changes everything. — Strange, microscopic parasites tap into Perry’s bloodstream like tiny little vampires. They start as bright orange blisters, but soon take the shape of triangular growths just beneath his skin. The “Triangles,” as Perry calls them, try to control their host by manipulating hormone levels and flooding his body with neurotransmitters - imbalances of which cause paranoia, schizophrenia and excessive aggression. — As Perry begins a desperate battle to cut the Triangles out of his body before it’s too late, his self-control dissolves into raging, murderous madness.
• The Rookie: Imagine a story that combines the intense football action of “Any Given Sunday” with the space opera style of “Star Wars” and the criminal underworld of “The Godfather.” What? space football doesn’t sound like your cup of tea? Give Scott 4 episodes. Just 4. I hate football too.. but this story had me screaming like a loon with every touchdown, every interception, every tackle. It’s insanely good, and it just finished. Go check it out, and GO KRAKENS, WOO!!!

Once you’re done with those three, plus Earthcore, I can guarantee you’ll be just like me: one more damn, dirty junkie jonesing for his Sigler fix. Can’t wait for the next one, Nocturnal.. and Earthcore 2 sounds like it’ll be a blast.

Here’s another author who’s work I thoroughly enjoy: Mur Lafferty. She has several podcasts going on, such as I Should Be Writing and Pseudopod (more on that one later), and she’s written a cool series of podiobooks:

• Heaven, Season One: What if Heaven wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Friends Kate and Daniel find that after their untimely deaths, Heaven leaves them dissatisfied and itching for something… else. So they’re off, with a passport to discover more afterlifes, heroes and gods. During their adventures, they find out that their travel isn’t a journey taken on a whim, but may be orchestrated, or even prophesied.
• Heaven, Season Two - Hell:Kate and Daniel are reunited at last, but they have to return to their duties in traveling the afterlife. There are stolen souls suffering without cause in Hell, and only they can help. Kate is back in her corporeal body, but keeping memories of her time as pure soul energy, recently touched by the divine. Daniel carries the magic of an old god
  and the sword of a death goddess, as well a grudge against the deity who tricked him into losing nearly everything. As they search for the missing souls, Kate and Daniel have to come to terms with themselves and see if their friendship - not to mention the cosmos - can handle everything they’ve been through thus far.

I’m highly looking forward to the third book, ‘Earth’, once it comes out. Next in our list of authors: J.C. Hutchens, author of the amazing 7th Son trilogy:

• 7th Son, Book One - Descent: Three weeks ago, the U.S. president was murdered by a four-year-old boy.

  Today, seven men stare at each other in a locked conference room. Kidnapped and brought to this underground facility, the strangers are sitting in silence, thunderstruck. Despite minor physical differences, they all appear to be the same man, with the same name … and the same childhood memories.

  Unwitting participants in a secret human cloning experiment, these seven “John Michael Smiths” have been gathered by their creators for one reason — to capture the mastermind behind the president’s assassination.

  Their target? The man they were cloned from; the original John Michael Smith, code-named John Alpha.

  Soon our heroes — John, Jack, Michael, Kilroy2.0 and the others — realize the president’s murder was merely a prologue to Alpha’s plans. As the mystery deepens and the implications of Alpha’s scheme are slowly revealed, the clones decide to stand against John Alpha. The outcome will unearth a conspiracy larger than they could have ever imagined.

• 7th Son Book Two - Deceit: Two days ago, seven human clones — John, Michael, Father Thomas, Dr. Mike, Jonathan, Jack and Kilroy2.0 — were torn away from their “normal” lives to stop a ruthless plot created by their progenitor, a man code-named John Alpha. Their quest was a descent into conspiracy, violence and death.

  The clones were successful in their mission, but victory was not without its price.

  As 7th Son: Book Two - Deceit begins, the Beta clones are demoralized, reeling from their loss … and about to learn that John Alpha’s plans are far from over.

  To prevent the next phase of Alpha’s plan, John, Kilroy2.0, and the others must unearth more dark secrets about the government project from which they were spawned. They will experience the horrors of betrayal, and race cross-country to track John Alpha.

  And they will finally realize the scope of Alpha’s wrath — the bloodshed the clones have witnessed is merely a prelude to the world-rending destruction to come. Unless they can stop it first.

Book Three comes out on 07/07/07, and I cannot wait. This series is truly, truly excellent. Now, for a few more random books:

• The Failed Cities Monologues: In a hardboiled dystopian future, one major American city has been divided in two. Separated by much more than a river, one side is an unfinished technological marvel populated by mega-skyscrapers where the wealthy live, work, and play. The other is a forsaken wasteland where order is strictly maintained by a rogue group of cleric soldiers known as the street preachers. But this dichotomy is about to change. Slowly, quietly, clandestine forces are working to undermine the small piece of redemption the street preachers have brought to their concrete flocks. In the face of watching their second chance crumble to dust, some will fight to stop it. Others will kill to make it happen.
• Crescent: The past never dies, it only sleeps. — In a solitary station, on the fringe of known space, the past is beginning to stir. — And when it awakens, Crescent Station will be as the belly of the beast… — There are some places far darker than deep space…
• Come, Let Me Whisper: Macabre fiction. Horror fiction. Dark fiction. Whatever you choose to call it, that is what is contained within this collection of short stories. But other than that, these tales are as varied as can be. Ghost stories… they’re in there. Lovecraftian monsters… certainly. Twist endings… got it. Psychological terror… of course. Sunny, happy endings… not so much. Oh, and one other thing these stories have in common: they are intended for a mature audience- one who is not easily offended, I might add.
• Brave Men Run: “Brave Men Run” is the story of Nate Charters. Born different, unsure of his origins, he’s an outcast at Abbeque Valley High School, a self-proclaimed “boy freak” with few friends and low self-esteem. When the Sovereign Era dramatically dawns, Nate finds himself in quest to discover the truth: is he more than he seems, a misfit in a miraculous and powerful new minority… or something else entirely?

And now, for the radio dramas: a different experience, but no less excellent for all of that:

• Shadow Falls- Season One: When a second young girl goes missing and two mysterious strangers arrive in town, there are some locals who believe the 150 year cycle of violence that has plagued the town of Shadow Falls has started anew.
• Shadow Falls - Badlands: One hundred and fifty years before the tragic events of Season One, an ex-soldier’s nightmarish visions of the future, and a town he’s never heard of, leads him on a cross-country journey to unlock the secrets hidden inside his nightmares. What this tired gunfighter believes to be a quest for his own redemption, may only serve to open the door to a darkness far beyond his control.
• Silent Universe: With a style of drama that mixes elements of “24” and the new “Battlestar Galactica,” each episode of the Silent Universe reveals layers of suspense and intrigue that leaves audiences guessing at what twists its plot will take next. Its motley cast of characters includes weapons specialists, a computer hacker, an ex-mercenary and even a casino tycoon, all forced to go to extreme lengths to prevent tragedy from striking the solar system. In a world where nuclear weapons are common to even the poorest countries and the United Nations is nothing but a quaint historical footnote, even the smallest conflict between powers can threaten to plunge mankind into Armageddon.
• Children of the Gods: We barely survived the first Tarthet assault on our planet. Afterward, it didn’t take long for us to realize that our world was too devastated to provide for us any longer. In a bid to allow the planet to recover, we left our homes behind to live among the stars. Five centuries later, science has shown us many wonderful things, and we have finally begun to accept the fact that it may be many generations more before we can return to our homeworld. Now, the Tarthet have returned to claim our birthright for their own. The odds are against us, but we will not give up this battle. We will not simply concede defeat and fade away. We will fight them with every last breath. WE WILL SURVIVE!

And, finally, last but most certainly not least, the short story podcasts, every week putting out brand new short stories:

• Escape Pod: The Science Fiction Podcast magazine, they’ve run stories of all shapes and sizes, many by Hugo and nebula award winning authors.
• Pseudopod: sister podcast to Escape Pod, and the world’s premier horror fiction podcast. If you’re a fan of horror fiction, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
• Variant Frequencies: Variant Frequencies is a monthly podcast of original fiction. Stories blending gothic horror with space adventure, dark fantasy with sci-fi, recalling the reality-bending vibes of The Twilight Zone, and offering something wholly unique that fits inbetween and outside. Our podcasts are fully produced, including talented voice actors and original music scores. Subscription is free. Entertainment and escapism are guaranteed.

So, I think that should be more than enough to get anyone started. Enjoy listening, and if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments. Best part? All of these are free, so download and enjoy, free of charge!

http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com/

Neat, huh? Now, go here:

http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/

Neater! Do your part, put in your address.. the more that do it, the more the secret’s revealed!

Because I’m an idiot and shoved a bunch of things into an “action” folder, I’ve almost missed telling you about this:

From May 7 to May 21 you can sign up to be on the national bone marrow registry for free (usually it is about $50-75 unless you sign up at a marrow drive). And they are making it VERY easy- they send you the entire kit in the mail and it only involves swabbing your cheek with a Q-tip, signing some forms, and sending it back. Most people stay on the list and never hear from them for their entire lives but by being on it you could potentially save the life of a child/adult with a bone marrow disease like leukemia.

If you are interested go to the website: www.marrow.org and click on the “Thanks Mom” icon.

Joe’s cousin John sent this to me. Get signed up and get active… please! Headed there right now myself.

Got this from the Wingin’ It guys, and it’s a good thing to do, I just signed up as a donor myself.