Daily archives: June 9, 2010

links for 2010-06-09

This entry was posted in Links on by
  • Hit-hungry Hollywood gambles on litany of 'romaction' flicks
    When did romantic comedies go ballistic?

    Or was it the action movies that went soft?

    (tags: film action romcom)
  • Why, no, I am not one bit afraid of these swarming, flying robotic drones – Boing Boing
    Robotics developers at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich's Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control have built autonomous robots that drive, dock with their peers on the ground, then fly into the air in coordinated swarms….all of this without human direction. In fact, the vehicles can drive around on the ground as individual, autonomous units, but "it is not until they assemble that they are able to fly," according to the researchers:
    (tags: robots)
  • Buy the car – and the firm that made it – Telegraph
    Claimed to be one of the finest examples of its kind, the 1953 three-and-a-half-litre Bentley Saloon is valued at between £75,000 and £90,000 and is offered together with a comprehensive collection of diaries documenting its many trips in great detail, some 75 years after it was built.

    More unusually, however, it comes with ownership of the company which built the bespoke bodywork and interior of the car; Freestone and Webb

    (tags: bentley classiccar)

Post bike!

This entry was posted in Bikes flickr on by



Post bike!, originally uploaded by spinneyhead.

The Post Office wants to phase out deliveries by bike because they’re shortsighted. Give posties trailers. And electrical assistance if necessary. My trailer cost £70, including delivery, or they could commission one from Pashley which would be a bit more expensive but British made, lovely and sturdy.

Weeknotes

This entry was posted in Facts and Fictions Point of Contact Post and Publish Ruby Red Weeknotes on by

Yes, I know these things are supposed to be weekly not fortnightly.

What has passed

There have been a few things in the last week and a half which have distracted me or taken me away from work. With the exception of a friend’s birthday celebrations none of them have been good. So productivity has been poor.

I managed to get a page of Point of Contact done for last week, but not for this. With stuff that’s coming up I don’t think there’ll be a new page for several weeks. The next page introduces some important characters and sets up part 1’s big finish, so I want to make a better job of it than I feel capable of at the moment.

One thing I did manage was getting a book onto Amazon’s Kindle platform. Post and Publish collects three novellas and four short stories for the ebook reader (and many i-devices too). No sales yet, but it’s a little more length in my long tail. I’ve just uploaded Ruby Red, with luck it should be live by the weekend.

The bike business is steady, after a particularly good week a fortnight ago. I haven’t got rid of any of the bikes I was working on, but others have left the building and given me a little more space. I’m also now the proud owner of a bike trailer, which should make carting stuff around easier.

What shall come

I may have lost any momentum I had earlier in the year. It’ll come back to me, but I’m going to take a week or three to deal with some stuff I think. Projects will be rebooted/finished as soon as possible and there’ll probably be some campaigning and political stuff to liven things up. I can’t give any definite plans for the next week or so.

Longer term I think there may be a market on the Kindle for shorter works sold cheaply- 10,000 to 40,000 word novellas, possibly as parts of a series- so I’ll kick off some ideas along those lines.

Next time I hope to bury you under news of projects nearing completion, starting up and in planning.