Author Archives: James - Page 43
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T317 EMA Project Lessons
I'm now done studying until late September. For once I didn't finish the T317 EMA Project. Instead, I deferred until the next presentation. I keep the scores for the first three TMAs and need to repeat TMA4 and TMA5, which are linked to the T317 EMA Project. There were three reasons why I deferred, all linked to each other. In no particular order they were: - lack of time to study/work on my T317 EMA project - poor choice of T317 EMA project subject - unhappiness with quality of output & grades All of these are my fault. Partly they are circular. I had a downward spiral of motivation because I wasn't enthused by the project topic. This meant I didn't make the time to study. Also not studying meant that the grades deteriorated. The root cause for most of…
Attacked by a Zombie Baby (Story)
English: A participant of a Zombie walk, Asbury Park NJ, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This week I have been attacked by a story about a zombie baby. After spending too much time thinking about what was wrong with some contemporary zombie stories I ended up writing a bit of one to get it out of my head. Zombie Baby Patient zero in my story is a zombie baby. I had an interesting Twitter conversation with some doctors about how an Accident and Emergency might approach it. On the face of it we have a baby that is alive, it reacts to sight and sound and tries to grab people and bite them. So it's alive. However, no discernible pulse or respiration. Here are just some of the tweets I've been writing my zombie baby story in the wattpad app because…
Up Against It by M.J. Locke [Book Review]
Up Against It by Locke My rating: 5 of 5 stars I spent a long time getting into this book. It spent time on the shelf between each of the first few chapters and the time when I make it my main read. I persevered because it was recommended via Charles Stross's blog. I'm glad I did, because I enjoyed it immensely. Up Against It - the review Up Against It is a relatively long book, not quite up with some of the fantasy genre, but over 450 dense pages. There are three interwoven plots, which is why it has a slow burn start. There is quite a bit of setup to be done. Once it gets going though it is fantastically good. There is a well defined world for it all to happen in which is internally consistent.…
Zombie Stories Breaking my Suspension of Disbelief
I've been reading zombie stories recently and enjoying them, Max Brooks World War Z for a second time and Frank Tayell's Surviving the Evacuation series (1-3 so far). However, there are a number of things though that I find it hard to keep my disbelief suspended in. Zombie Stories So I completely understand that zombie stories aren't about the hard science, or even about zombies. They're underlying tales of the human struggle with death. We also like the post apocalyptic survival thing. Who doesn't think they could break the rules and survive when society breaks down? It's a cool escapist fantasy, and there are hordes of zombie movies and books out there that pander to it. Zombie Pandemic English: The Spanish Influenza. Chart showing mortality from the 1918 influenza pandemic in the US and Europe. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Pandemics happen.…
MJX X300C Quadcopter Drone [Product Review]
I was sent a free drone for review earlier this year, an MJX X300C Quadcopter Drone. It was a pretty cool toy, and I was looking forward to having fun with it. MJX X300C Quadcopter Drone While the battery was charging, which took about forty minutes, I read the instruction manual. There were a lot of pictures in it, which was just as well. The manual was clearly written in another language and then translated into English by a non-native speaker. It was rather unreadable, although I persevered. In the end I found some better instructions on the internet. I started off testing it a little indoors. I got it paired with my mobile phone. I had to download a version of the app from the manufacturer website as the version in the android store didn't work. I was a little nervous…