Press clipping from The Wirral News , 6th July, 2011, announcing Riverside Writers' event tomorrow.   Click on the image to see it in a larger size. The clipping's title makes it sound as if attendees will be expected to write all afternoon.  Not so!  People will be treated to a diverse range of original fiction and poetry from some of Riverside Writers longest-standing members, most of whom are published (and I do not mean self-published!). Telling Tales is the first of two literary events which I'll be organising this year, the other being Parallel Dimensions, the third annual Wirral Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror festival whose audience gets bigger each time. 

" We believe that the world needs a different ideological paradigm...  The new ideology should assert, as one of its priorities, the necessity of using breakthrough technology for an improvement of man himself and not only of his environment.  We believe that it is possible and necessary to eliminate aging and even death, and to overcome the fundamental limits of the physical and mental capabilities currently set by the restrictions of the physical body. "Scientists from various countries in the world are already developing technology that ensures the creation of an artificial human body prototype within the next decade.  We believe that before 2045 an artificial body will be created that will not only surpass the existing body in terms of functionality, but will achieve perfection of form and be no less attractive than the human body." Source: http://2045.com/plan/

"The footage was filmed near the BBC Radio 1 building in Great Portland Street, and shows specks of white light flying at high altitude over the capital. A larger object then emerges from behind a cloud before vanishing moments later." Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8599547/UFOs-spotted-over-London.html

I watched the recent TV documentary - on iPlayer as I have no desire to own a TV - which featured the popular Fantasy author Terry Pratchet at Dignitas Clinic. He spoke to two people before they chose to take their own lives at the clinic, and he watched as one of them did so. We, the viewers, watched too. Inevitably the programme has caused a storm of protest. People argue about the sanctity of life being violated, and are concerned about the dismissal of various religious ideas, the ethics of money earned through aiding suicide, the potential exploitation or ‘removal’ of vulnerable people, and the possible grim ramifications of state-sanctioned suicide. These are valid points which need serious consideration. Who has the right to define any standard on what is a good and worthwhile life for anyone other than themselves? My definition will differ from yours, and yours will differ from the next person’s, and so on and so on, endlessly. Pratchet’s documentary emphasised that

"Hidden among sandstone hills in remote western Tibet, a stretch of honeycomb-shaped caverns is way beyond the reach of most travellers. Known as the Donggar Piyang grottoes, the 1,000-year-old caverns in the Tibet Autonomous Region's Ngari Prefecture hold one of the world's greatest collections of Tibetan Buddhist murals...  Frescoes that are currently open to the public mainly depict Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other deities, but also feature animals that are not native to Ngari." Source: http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/06/rare-look-into-tibets-largest-buddhist.html

"It is my view that long before that there would be a big population of people who are several hundred years old...." Nick Bostrum is the Director of the Future of Humanity Institute. Source: http://www.bedeutung.co.uk/magazine/issues/3-life-death/withey-interview-bostrom/

"Seventeen lost pyramids, thousands of tombs and more than 3000 settlements have been discovered in Egypt, using infrared technology from 700km above Earth.  "'These are just the sites close to the surface. There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt,' (U.S. Egyptologist) Sarah Parcak said." Source:  http://au.news.yahoo.com/queensland/a/-/article/9519866/egyptian-pyramids-found-from-space/

"Wealthy Britons can now pay to freeze and store their stem cells as an 'insurance policy' that could be used to treat diseases they develop in the future or even grow new organs.  "The companies behind the project, which charges £2,495 to collect and store the stem cells in cryogenic freezers for 20 years, have begun taking the blood samples from their first clients..." Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8556764/Blood-stem-cell-bank-to-provide-biological-insurance-for-adults.html

"Retailer HMV Group is selling its Waterstone’s bookshop business to A&NN Capital Fund Management for £53 million...  Waterstone’s sales had deteriorated due to weakness in the book market." Source:  http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/28459/hmv-sells-bookshop-chain-waterstones-to-tackle-debt-28459.html Personally, I suspect Waterstone's sales have dropped off because of poor choices in stock.  Browse the shop these-days and I rarely find anything that appeals amidst a growing mountain of junk - cookery books, 'celebrity' biogs and TV-related trivia.   The Mind, Body & Spirit shelves groan with sickly-sweet 'angels' and the kind of introductions to Wicca which begin with "This is a cauldron.  Mine has pink sparkles".  The Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror sections are ok if you want to read anything by someone you've already read most of the books by already.  Hmm, or maybe that's because I read a lot... 

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If someone stole your car, would anyone suggest this wasn't so serious an offence if the vehicle was later found abandoned and in a repairable condition?  Hey, you got your car back when it was all over. Or if a burglar broke into your home and stole favourite, valuable or useful items, would the fact that the house wasn't also set alight and reduced to rubble mean that the burglar should then be handed a lesser sentence?  There was no visible damage, not even chipped paintwork, to show for the invasion of a person's private sanctuary. What if a team of professional criminals broke into The Louvre and swiped the world's most beloved paintings, then later admitted, "Sure, it was us!", should they then be made to do a spot of community service, perhaps, since no real harm has been done?  The paintings survived.  And if these same thieves claimed they'd merely misunderstood the exact meaning of the phrase "public ownership", would any jury belie

"...People are working on exposing the pyramid walls every day... There are huge cement blocks underneath approximately a meter of soil everywhere they dig. Top, bottom, different sides of the pyramid… everywhere. They have found edges that connect two sides and even some entrances have been found.  The Archaeological Park: Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation is saying that this is a step pyramid and the 90 degree walls are its steps. Experts from all over the world are joining the project and are actively involved." Source:  http://www.bosnianpyramids.org/index.php?lang=en   (View the source link for a photo gallery and more information).

"In the winter of 2010, the ...romance novelist Nyree Belleville suffered the same fate as many a scribe — she was dropped by her publisher. The most any of her 12 spicy romances, penned under the name Bella Andre had earned was $21,000. "So, out of sorts and feeling blue, she sat down one morning and figured out how to self-publish... A few weeks later, she checked her account. She had sold 161 copies. She’d made $281.  She put her other old book online and figured out how to place both on other e-readers. The next month, her royalties bumped to $474. Giddy, she self-published a new e-book in July. She made a jaw-dropping $3,539." Source:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/novel-rejected-theres-an-e-book-gold-rush/2011/04/09/AFZdqb9F_story.html

"The Air Force Academy in Colorado held a dedication ceremony for an outdoor stone circle erected last year as a place for Pagan and Earth-centered faiths to congregate and worship.  Despite the controversy and setbacks this has been a step forward for the equal treatment of Pagan religions within the military." Source:  http://wildhunt.org/blog/2011/05/air-force-academy-dedicates-pagan-chapel.html

"A UK developer has created a computer for school children that will cost as little as £10 to £15, potentially ending the education gap between wealthy and poorer families.  David Braben, who co-developed the Elite space trading computer game, has developed a tiny computer based around a USB stick called the Raspberry Pi. The little device will plug into a HDMI TV for video output and will allow a keyboard to be plugged in via the USB port." Source:  http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2068735/uk-developer-creates-gbp15-kids

"If you get up any morning for the next few weeks, you’ll be treated to the sight of all the planets except Saturn arrayed along the ecliptic, the path of the sun through the sky." Source:  http://www.space.com/11509-skywatching-tips-6-planets-visible-dawn.html

I could use a new garden shed. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/7928348/The-tumbledown-Italian-shed-that-will-sell-for-1.2-million.html Or... http://www.buyshedsdirect.co.uk/ No need to guess which offer makes the most pragmatic sense, hmm? Seriously, I do not understand the adulation which Aleister Crowley attracts.  He died a drug addict and alcoholic, and his only income came via donations from his supporters, thus demonstrating that he had not mastered the art of looking after himself - physically or financially.  I can see no reason to applaud self-proclaimed occultists who can't even summon the skill to pay their own bills. Crowley was supposed to have been rather good at climbing mountains and playing chess but otherwise left behind a trail of disasters for other people to deal with.  He penned a number of mostly self-published books and wrote flowery, verbose poetry, and certainly he daubed colours on canvas and walls alike - though sorry,

"In Glasgow, which has a population of almost 600,000 not one application for a street party has been made.   In the London boroughs...there will be around one party for every 9,600 residents.  But in Birmingham the figure is just one for every 41,000 residents, in Liverpool one for every 27,630 and in Manchester one for every 20,130.  Bradford...is having just four street parties...while Leeds has 21 and Sheffield 31. " Source:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8468812/Royal-wedding-street-parties-list-suggests-class-divide.html The figures present their own evidence for the dominant national opinion regarding the forthcoming royal wedding.  The greater majority of people simply aren't interested.  Perhaps the street closure licence of £150 per party has contributed to the lack of applications.  It seems an extraordinary sum of money for something which could easily be arranged for free with the mutual consent of any secondary road's residen

"The publishing tide is shifting fast: E-book sales in February topped all other formats, including paperbacks and hardcovers...  E-book sales totaled $90.3 million in February, up 202% compared to the same month a year earlier, according to a study from the Association of American Publishers. That put e-books at No. 1 "among all categories of trade publishing" that month -- the first time e-books have beaten out traditional publishing formats. " Source:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/15/technology/ebooks_beat_paperbacks/index.htm?source=cnn_bin&hpt=Sbin