Congratulations And Updates...

The Olympics

First of all I'd like to congratulate all of the Olympic athletes for amazing performances in what is certainly a great year for the Olympics. They really are heroes and considering the amount of time and effort that is put into a performance of only a few minutes, they are nothing less than remarkable as are the people that make that possible. Every second of several years of effort leading up to one moment of achievement, though the sense thereof I hope for all such athletes comes from the achievement of having tried rather than having not tried at all. There is only loss for one who does not try.

In The Writing Arena

There have been numerous chapters added to A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth, Heroes Of Our Own and finally to Our Place making this set of updates one of the biggest in the history of this blog. 

In addition I've written a whole slew of new poetry as well possibly inspired by the perseverance of Olympic athletes, the opening ceremonies and a little bit from my own struggles against some real life trolls.

Heroes Of Our Own is going to require a little bit more going over in order to get the quirks out but it seems to be taking on a life of its own. Definitely a recommended read for cosplayers.

On Risque Factor (viewer discretion is advised) there has been at least one new article posted on Social Engineering And Identity Theft that should be read by media measurement specialists and content producers and providers alike as it really gives some clues to the forces currently shaping the internet in terms of content and the obstacles that are likely going to affect the value of content and advertising unless it is at least checked out a bit.

Technology

One area that recently received some attention from a great television show (Charlie Rose) was an interview that talked about D-Wave, a company that makes real quantum computers which I was completely unaware of. 

Quantum computers are of course computers that avoid the pitfalls of classical and linear computing by taking advantage of qubits, which enable a calculation to be conducted based upon superposition and the collapse of the wave function. It is analogous to computing all the possible solutions to a given task simultaneously or even computing the solutions to such tasks utilizing the time space of other universes running completely concurrent to our own and using one such universe for the superposition of each qubit.

This is some pretty amazing news and I suspect that we are within the next twenty years going to see a revolution that will equal that of all other technical revolutions that came before it including machine intelligence and possibly a complete understanding of human consciousness and its relation to the quantum mechanical properties of the universe.

Imagine having computers that could help us simulate phenomenon that would make the development of cures for disease and testing theories related to technologies like warp travel possible. The engineering of super materials bonded at the atomic level and some other absolutely phenomenal achievements will be possible.

These are some of the possibilities with quantum computing of course the challenge lies in developing techniques to use the concept of superposition in the calculation of these problems. Developing software for quantum computers will become a career with huge demand in the next decade.

Science, Religion And Faith

In the book Contact by Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan as does the excellent movie directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Jodie Foster and Mathew McConaughey, science and religion are put at odds with one another (as they often have) when scientists at SETI receive a message from a distant alien intelligence. Recently science and religion have been finding similar unrest and this is a shame.

In a day and age where more and more developments are leading to new discoveries and taking humankind further into our future, why is it that the two must compete for the right to exist or even to be taken seriously. Mostly its about who has say in the distribution of finances with regard to research and our future as a species upon this planet and our place in the universe. 

Science, Religion, Philosophy and Faith have and always will have an important place in all of our most important decisions for to tread without one is to journey without an important part of ourselves. It is excessive zeal, dogma and pragma that seem to be the real culprits and obstacles to progress. Both the religious and the non-religious are susceptible to disease just as both most certainly benefit from a cure. Both sides of such a debate lose people to death and both sides likely do a some soul searching therein.

One is objective and one is subjective. One is how long have we been here? The other is why are we here? One has a definite answer. For the other the answer is different for each of us. Reconciling those differences is our challenge.

Stay Well and and don't let them make you into the bad one,
Brian Joseph Johns

Olympics

I'd just like say that the opening ceremonies of the Olympics were absolutely astounding and an incredible achievement in artistry, construction and presentation. Watching the presentation of Tolstoy's War And Peace was pretty emotionally intense. The whole scene was incredible and paid homage to Russia's rich cultural history and to one of my favourite if not my favourite classical composer.

It was great to see all of the teams make their entry way onto the stadium floor and I literally got goose bumps when the team of my country arrived.

To all of the countries taking part I'd like to wish you well in the spirit of the Olympics which supports diversity across the board in all aspects as does the place from which I originate and am very proud to be a part of. 

I am a citizen of the world and definitely a child of my place of birth. To use the words of a friend I am as we all are perfectly imperfect.

Let's hope that those representing us all at the 2014 Winter And Summer Olympics are even more so. ;-)

They are definitely the heroes of us all.

Stay well,
Brian Joseph Johns

New Chapters, Some Philosophy, Toronto And Mayor Rob Ford, ASMR, Philip Seymour Hoffman And Something To Combat Identity Theft And See The Real Me

New Chapters

I hope that you all had a great weekend and that the start of the week has been equally good. Last week I had a bit of time to work on A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth and Heroes Of Our Own, both of which received at least a new chapter (A Lady's Perogative:Wounded Aerth received a few).

Just a word of warning that some of the topics in Wounded Aerth being covered are a bit controversial depending upon your beliefs. I would ask readers to remember that it is an in progress effort and that elements encountered in the story now do not reflect the overall viewpoint reflected while we are still early in the plot arc. Ideas are being challenged and will be explored and challenged much further before it is over.

Heroes Of Our Own is my personal interpretation of the superhero genre, cosplay and the fashion industry and definitely pays its homage to all of those areas the of story. It is still early in the plot but it is picking up momentum.

Stories From The End as ambitious as it started has slowed although I know the rest of the story from here, it is just a matter of writing it down. I apologize to those who are awaiting the conclusion. See the following paragraphs for an explanation of why the new chapters have been delayed so much.

Wanted: Troll Detection System

Thankfully I managed to write for two days undetected by my personal trolls (people close by that make life and writing like hell) so that was a peaceful experience and I managed to produce some chapters that required the least rewrites. That goes to show you that the act of creating something isn't dependent upon someone else artificially inducing pain or tormenting you while you do. They made up for lost time though after they found out and I'm still recovering from that now. I'm literally in bed sick as I write this.

Philosophy And Polarity And Control

On the philosophy side of things, hate and love might be the polar opposites to balance and alike in their amplitude from perfect balance, but they are not alike in practice. You'll get two very different results by the abundant application of either. 

Love will cause the body to create life prolonging and healing properties within the human body while hate will cause the body to fail in the production of what is necessary for good health. 

Beware of those using abundant hate to transform the world or to build an abundance of such that they later consume for themselves by reversing the polarity and consuming it as love. 

During that process what was formerly love becomes hate so they're still leaving everyone else with all of their residual leftovers of that negative emotion. 

Beware of others that consider it necessary to keep a balanced quota between the exceptions that you show to those that are dear to you and others who are not. Getting away with things that you would only accept of those very dear to you is often the means that such a group believe that they can use to control you. 

We could learn a lot from the Far East and other parts of the world in regard to their respect of these ideas as well as those who in western philosophies and faiths that have learned stave off the ideas of hate manifesting as a means emotional consumption and for emotional manipulation of others.

The Mayor Rob Ford Scandal: Taking Back The City

A good example of people using this as a method of control is the recent bad publicity that the city of Toronto and its Mayor experienced in controversy by giving exception to and being blackmailed by a gang and a crack dealer. 

To the people involved they believe that the citizens of Toronto are now under the Mayor who is under a crack cocaine dealer and that a crack dealer is in charge (he's subverted the Mayor of a major city of four million people). 

The only way to deal with such a thing is to deal with it in the like. I think that it takes a very goofy person to deal crack cocaine in the first place and worse, it takes an even goofier person to lure women into selling their bodies to pay for their addiction to it.

Now by me, a computer nerd referring to crack cocaine dealers in such a way, that does not mean that I expect the subservience of the citizens of Toronto or its Mayor because I took it back from a crack cocaine dealer. I don't expect anything at all except a bit of peace and quiet and for the world to look at the city for what it is, a great place to live, visit, shoot movies, enjoy the diversity and selection of hospitality, live the night life and do business and that like most cities in the world has its growing pains and share of bad elements.

I just happen to believe that the citizens of Toronto are not garbage bags for a crack dealer. I voted for a Mayor (though I won't say which one I voted for). I didn't vote for a goofy crack dealer so I am taking back our city and giving it back to the people of Toronto and its voters and the Mayor.

Also, nobody in the city or in the world is my garbage bag so don't take this as my attempt to do anything like subvert others to me in any way because its not. I wrote these paragraphs, nobody else did. The words left my mouth not anyone else's. Its my gift to Toronto and none of it is hate means love. Said as it is meant.

I'll still go outside and lead my life as usual, unafraid.

ASMR: A Chance To Heal

For those of you looking for a cure or a means to rebalance the damage that one might experience as a result of being subjected to an abundance of hate, see ASMR on youtube or check my Channels And Sites page and the Healing And Well Being and ASMR section to find places to heal. Thanks to all the people involved in the process of helping others to heal emotionally.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

My condolences to the family, friends and fans of Philip Seymour Hoffman who died recently. You might remember him from his performances in The Big Lebowski, State And Main (with Julia Stiles and Sarah Jessica Parker), Capote, Mission Impossible III (my personal favourite of that franchise next to Mission Impossible II, featuring Michelle Monoghan, Maggie Q and directed by J.J. Abrams) and Hunger Games: Catching Fire with two more Hunger Games productions still to come featuring his character from Catching Fire. You are already missed buddy.

Need For Speed: World

I've been putting off my review of Need For Speed: World, an MMO driving game but suffice it to know that I have played it and it is a great MMO sandbox driving experience. A full review is coming for certain.

Something To Verify My Identity In Person And Online

I made a video recently and posted it to youtube in hopes of clearing up some of the issues related to the form of identity theft that I've encountered during the process of trying to flesh out and protect my online persona as well as my in person identity.

Basically by watching it you'll learn a bit more about me and the very modest bachelor pad that I live in where I do most of my writing. You might learn some personal details about me that you might not (or might) want to know but all in all it verifies my identity and as the writer of these stories. You can also put a voice to my words.

I am 46 years old, 6 ft tall, 155 lbs and sometimes wear glasses and sometimes not. I am single and have been for four years. I am monogamous and have never been promiscuous in a relationship. I have no criminal record or charges. I do not use, buy or sell narcotics and that definitely includes crack cocaine. 

After that you might be able to have a good laugh.

Stay well,
Brian Joseph Johns

New Chapters to A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth

There are new chapters to A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth if you are interested. We find Jasmer and Yirfir figuring things out in Unruly Plans and we follow Nelony through Nelony's Night. As well a very in depth pursuit into the life of Shaela with a chapter of her namesake. I sincerely hope that you enjoy them as it took many tears to complete these chapters.

For those of you who'd like dessert, you could always check out the additions to Heroes Of Our Own which has received a cleanup and rewrite of some of the original material as well as additions. Some of you might even begin to recognize it from other places if you know me and my pursuits well enough.

I'll add to them sparingly over the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

Thank you to all my readers.

Brian Joseph Johns

Nostalgia finds root here.

Here's some greetings from a distant past.

A stone house 'pon where magic found root by way of a ning and a hen.

As well 1973, I'll be on heights if you can from down the hall remember me.

All the best to the Kingslake and Woodbine crew! I miss you all and you're in here all of you!

I like the night but I really I've loved the dawn.

I shan't don another view as terrific as you thrice plus two as nice.

Jam is great with bread but we had nothing but jam and thankfully it was instrumental.

We go through stages like the peels of an onion.

Update

Hello to any loyal readers that I have out there in this wonderful cyber world that has made the world a smaller place by some degree, though I wish it was smaller as I'd likely have friends that were a bit closer.

I thought I'd let you in on a little bit of what is going on and why there is a delay in the writing of the forthcoming chapters to A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth and Stories From The End and a few others I've been working on and started.

First of all in case some of you didn't know there are a large number of people who make it a game competing for the credit for what someone else does online. It has become like a modern form of identity theft where your own identity is swapped with that of someone else and often to your detriment and their benefit. All of this happens locally and for what I put out mostly a lot of bad comes back. I have a feeling that this is something that may be going on many places and that I am not the only victim.

I've actually had the same thing happen with my activism as well with some people locally taking credit for my online efforts for Amnesty International in terms of letter writing on behalf of prisoners of conscience. Many people take part in such activities so when someone does such a thing it really makes a mockery of the effort as a whole. In this case not only did it affect my sense of contribution but it also affected me financially costing me a sizeable sum of money. I've since restricted my participation in such activity though I would say that others should not be discouraged.

Anyway I have decided that until this activity stops or until I relocate to somewhere more peaceful, that I am indefinitely ceasing work on any of the stories on this blog. I apologize that this affects the readers and others who peruse this blog, those who are among my most valued allies and many friends. Thankfully I don't have any children or dependants whose lives would be affect by such a thing.

Risque Factor will from time to time contain my efforts to expose this activity in order to help others who are victim to it understand it a little bit better as well while keeping it away from conspiracy and paranoia and more concentrating on that aspect of it being a social phenomenon. Some of the more recent articles apply to this research effort.

Any, for the time being I'd like to add some more inspirational women to the list that I'd not mentioned only because they were a part of this whole thing way back in the beginning. Tina Fey and fellow comedienne and actor Amy Poehler were a part of that from their work on Saturday Night Live and many other great performances. Speaking of comediennes I'd also like to mention Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara of SCTV fame, both who are multi talented performers and have a wide variety of memorable recurring characters.

All the best and hopefully this matter will be resolved soon,

Brian Joseph Johns

A New Post On Risque Factor

I thought that I'd take a moment to notify some of you who might not know about one of my other blogs which is called Risque Factor. Just like the name implies, it covers some mature themed content and social issues that might not be suitable for all readers.

The latest post is a rather important one entitled Love Is... Secrets

Thank you for your time and do enjoy if you decide to take the risk in checking out the Risque Factor blog. 

Brian Joseph Johns

A Lady's Perogative: Control Wars

Coming soon...

Where Are Those Updates?

Just thought that I'd say hello after rising up from the depths of slumber. I've been doing battle with some of my own personal demons and they tend to get annoying at times. Maybe I'm just getting a trip into the depths to shelter Nelony from experiencing the same thing in the upcoming chapters of A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth. None of the stories have received any updates recently and I'm expecting that they will within a week or two, although I believe I said the same thing last post. Hopefully this time I'll be alleviated enough to actually get to writing it. 

I've been dodging a group of people who've been trying to imply their influence over the story and its progression so that part has been difficult. The rest of the Wounded Aerth story and the following book A Lady's Perogative: Control Wars will cover some very intense and pertinent material to modern times and cover some themes that are a part of current life everywhere including mine, hence the stories.

Until that point I wish you all the best!

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had great holidays and got a chance to take a break and be in the presence of those they love regardless of what you celebrate at this time of year.

I had the chance to visit with family and friends, though not as many as I would have liked to but I still had a great time having my butt whooped at Scattergories and playing and singing carols. Speaking of board games, check out Geek And Sundry, which puts celebrities in modern day board game and video game matches against one another in friendly competition and hosted by Wil Wheaton.

My New Years plans didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped, but it was still nice to make sure that some one else that I care about was doing well and that's the important thing.

My writing schedule is going to be a little bit messed up for the next little while as I deal with some other things in life and I feel like I've already paid the emotional investment for the next few chapters of A Lady's Perogative: Wounded Aerth so hopefully that won't be too taxing on anyone else. 

I'm working on a software package that should be released sometime in the near future as well if things go as planned so bouncing time around between that, writing and some other volunteer activities for good causes (which have kind of slowed after someone in my proximity stole my identity for doing such resulting in a personal financial loss for myself). 

Modern identity theft can take on some very disturbing methods and modes as more people figure out ways to impersonate and benefit from your online identity in public, and do the same with your public identity online often damaging one or the other. As a single guy who struggles for what he makes, that can be pretty damaging especially when you're hit like that during the holiday season. For those of you out there, heads up for such activity in your proximity as your identity has value and identity impersonation has become a modern risk both online and offline.

I have plans to jump back and forth between stories and finally finish Stories From The End within the next two months if I get the peace and the right frame of mind. The frame of mind part is rarely a problem but having peace enough to write is difficult as I'm sure that there are many people that can attest to that. Relocation may soon be in order if things work out correctly and that will most likely have a positive effect upon the timing of completion as the biggest hurdle right now is in my living circumstances. Great apartment and management in the midst of difficult elements for aspiring writers.

Some other ladies that have recently crossed my mind with regard to notable influences upon A Lady's Perogative that I have forgotten to mention in the prior posts are Jamie Lee Curtis whose roles and performances have always been overwhelming in terms of her boldness and beauty (I recently saw a deserving tribute to her work in film) and Sofia Coppola (I saw The Godfather: Part III recently in which she performed, not to mention her many directing credits and cameos) and Maggie Cheung (her inspirational history in film and for her performance in Hero alongside Jet Li, Tony Leung and Donnie Yen). Also in Hero is Zhang Ziyi, a great actress and a trained ballerina. I highly recommend the film Hero as it is a work of visual art and inspired many great filming techniques behind modern film making, art direction and direction of photography like the film Elektra. Elektra is a Marvel superhero inspired martial arts action film starring Jennifer Garner (she was already mentioned in the previous post). Elektra was the love interest of and of course fought alongside Daredevil in the movie of the same name which was directed by Jon Favreau who of course directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

As well, I'll be posting a review of Need For Speed: World, a great massively multiplayer online racing game in the next week or two.

Until then stay well and all the best.

Brian Joseph Johns

In The Spirit Of Space Exploration

Last Saturday at 8:11 a.m. EST on (Dec. 14, 2013), the Chinese landed a craft on the moon (pictured below courtesty of the Associated Press on their youtube presence). This craft with a remotely controlled rover is the first such craft to grace the moon's surface since 1976 when Russia had landed similarly.

Actual Raw Footage Of China's Moon Landing
Courtesy of the Associated Press.

Channel 4 News story of China's moon landing 

from the Channel 4 News youtube presence

There has been a lot of nay say in regard to their moon landing but I'd like to take a few moments to appreciate the gravity of their effort (pun intended) .

First of all it is an incredible feat for a nation to accomplish and there have only been two others that I am aware of that have accomplished it similarly.

Secondly this isn't really a victory for just one part of the world but really the whole world itself in the spirit of exploration. We are seeing the beginning of a new era where both national powers and business will be breaching the outer atmosphere of our planet and starting to populate the other reaches of our solar system. The Chinese landing is a wondrous thing as they help carry the torch of space travel with the likes of NASA, the ESA, the CSA and big business like Virgin Group and crowdsourcing start ups like Mars One for all of human kind.

I think that this is the start of "something wonderful" to borrow a quote from Stanley Kubrick's 2010: The Odyssey Continues and that instead of a sense of dread we should instead be happy to share a part of something bigger than ourselves and the beginnings of our Trek out to the stars.

The difference between this day and age and the space race of the late 1960s is one of social and media focus. In the days of the space race, there were generally fewer "eyes" for the public and most of the focus was centered around television stations such as CBS (Walter Cronkite seen below thanks to Jason Kottke on his youtube presence). This gave the nations taking part in this race, and perhaps the world a centralized view of what was going on.

Walter Cronkite coverage of the first moon landing 

courtesy of EnsingInRed on their youtube presence
Original footage courtesy of CBS and NASA

Walter Cronkite coverage of the first moon landing 

courtesy of Jason Kottke on his youtube presence

Original footage courtesy of CBS and NASA

In this day and age there are so many sources for information and so many different advances being made all over the place that it's difficult to get a sense of all of this contributing to some bigger picture. The international space station has at become the symbol for nations working together both technically and socially but our future needs to be inclusive of other nations that can make the investment for space research, commerce and travel.

That means remembering that the successes of other nations are a part of our whole and the story of humankind. When they need our help that we're there as much as when we need theirs.

My Inspiring Women's List Has Grown Substantially

My apologies to Annie Lennox (who has a nice seasons greeting up), Bjork and Heidi Klum, Katherine Heigl, Melissa DiMarco, Shania Twain, Katy Perry, Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare In Love is one of my top movies and no, I haven't an identity crisis within that movie's title role), Rachel McAdams (The Time Traveler's Wife and Sherlock Holmes amongst many other roles) and of course Celine Dion, Kate Winslet, Ann Druyan whom I unintentionally left out. When I started the list, I started it based upon film roles and it quickly expanded to other areas as I realized the influence of women from many different areas beyond the television and film.

My list of women inpirations for some of my stories such as A Ladies Perogative 1 & 2, Testament Of Time and Heroes Of Our Own has grown to include (in approximate chronological order) Amelia Earheart, Ingrid Bergman, Mae West, Judy Garland, Jessica Tandy, Shelly Winters, Rachael Welch, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Carol Burnett, Vampira, Mary Tyler Moore, Akiko Wakabayashi, Nichelle Nichols, Queen Elizabeth II, Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Persis Khambatta, Lily Tomlin, Gilda Radner, Carrie Fisher, Sigourney Weaver, Tracy Ulman, Linda Hamilton, Annie Lennox, Annette Bening, Sharon Stone, Isabella Rosellini, Susan Sarandon, Michele Pfeiffer, Cher, Celine Dion, Kathy Bates, Diana, Princess Of Wales, Drew Barrymore, Meg Tilley, Julia Roberts, Sophia Coppola, Meg Ryan, Marisa Tomei, Oprah Winfrey, Alyssa Milano, Julianne Moore, Sarah Polley, Lucy Liu, Nicole Kidman, Milla Jovovich, Bjork, Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Michelle Yeoh, Carrie-Anne Moss, Halle Berry, Ellen DeGeneres, Heidi Klum, Famke Jannsen, Kelly Hu, Keira Knightly, Roberta Bondar, Jennifer Lopez, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Garner, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Rodriguez, Angela Bassett, Pam Grier, Pamela Sue Anderson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Anne Hathaway, Meagan Fox, Dita Von Teese, Noomi Rapace, Jennifer Lawrence, Anna Paquin, Emily Watson, Katy Perry, Yaya Han and iJustine, the women in my family and that I grew up with and many more that I've not mentioned.

Enjoy and have a great day.

Brian Joseph Johns