Books

Books
Books written by Ray Sullivan

Sunday 31 March 2013

On-line Services Need Off-line Logic

In the late 1960s the UK made the first faltering steps towards decimalisation.  I was just a kid and remember my teacher in what would now be called sixth grade but was just 'Junior 4' to me then, holding up some pre-decimalisation coins and explaining that we were going to get new coins to replace them.  I was fired up; at ten years old I was quite bored with the shillings and florins, not to mention the half crowns that I'd had virtually no exposure to.  This was new coinage and I had visions of triangular shaped coins to herald the new era in.

Of course the new coins weren't that radically different to what went before, in the final analysis, but the way of counting was.  Out went the old 240 pennies to the pound, in came the new-fangled 100.  It was a time of change and I grew up understanding the old and the new currency systems quite well, not that the old guinea based concepts had much practical use once we'd changed over.  We did the same with metrication at the same time and that did help as for much of my RAF career I worked on aircraft that used imperial and metric measurements, so interchanging between them was a common event.  It was the younger, post metrication, engineers who struggled with the imperial stuff.

But with decimalisation it was the older folk who struggled as they tried to reconcile a lifetime of working in pounds, shillings and pence and the toll on some was just too much.  As decimalisation became a reality in the early 1970s, when I was in secondary school, I remember reading about the oldies who just couldn't cope and had sadly ended it all.  I suspect that in many cases there would have been other underlying reasons for taking their lives, but probably none that would sell newspapers.

Today that generation of oldies are largely gone, we're forty plus years down the line and nobody realistically harks after the old money.  Today's decimalisation and metrication challenge is the use of computers.  It's hard to imagine that computers present a difficulty to anyone anymore, given that we've all been using them for thirty years, right?  Well, actually, a lot of people haven't.

First off, access to the technology was costly in the early days and in fact that barrier continued for a good fifteen plus years.  It was only geeks, nerds and me who seemed prepared to put their hands deeply into their pockets back then.

Then there was the underpinning technology - not terribly different from today's but not as well disguised.  Back in the early days of computing and, in fact, up until comparatively recently, you needed to deal in ones and noughts, arcane hexadecimal numbers or in meaningless technical jargon to use the blighters.  I've long advocated that computers should be like TV sets in that you pull them out of the box, plug them in and they work.  I believe we could have had true plug and play a lot sooner than we did but that would have meant the software designers going an extra mile.  And programmers, a breed apart, just don't understand why someone wouldn't want to type a line of perl instead of just clicking on an icon.

So there is a generation of older persons in the UK who missed the digital bus.  Not all, by a long chalk, and many of today's retired greys were the driving forces behind the technological revolution that we all use today.  But society is full of different people, with different skills, knowledge and abilities and many feel that computers are somehow complicated (and to be fair, underneath, they are) and that they couldn't possibly learn how to use one at their age (add any number above and including 45 in here and you're probably still excluding some younger people in this group).

So, in the UK and I'm guessing most of the developed world, there is a core of people who do not feel comfortable with computers.  Of course this is a social issue that we all should try to help out with - volunteer  assistance, provide free training or perhaps just cut those with poor IT skills a bit more slack than many of us do.  Now it appears that many of the people who are less likely to be good with computers are the ones who need access to government services - the elderly, the unemployed and those with issues that the social state deal with.  Unfortunately the government is making it harder to interact with it by any means other than through computers, which disenfranchises those with the most need in many cases.

The reasons are obvious - it's estimated that every face to face enquiry costs the taxpayer £8.62, a telephone enquiry as little as £2.83 but it's the on-line enquiries that make the most savings coming in at 15 pence a pop.  That's one shilling and twopence in old money.  The estimate is that the move to 'digital by default' will save the taxpayer - that's me and you, unless you happen to be Amazon, Google or Starbucks of course - about £1.2bn  a year, rising to £1.8bn long term.  That's a lot of savings, but at a very real human cost.

I can understand the government wanting to save money - and the Civil Service cuts must mean that there's less people to talk to anyway - but it shouldn't be at the expense of those who do not understand computers and probably don't have access to the technology.  Some of the £1.2bn savings needs to be redirected to providing meaningful training and access to on-line services and, at least for the current generation of oldies, preserve some access to face-to-face information to help them.  Let's face it, with appropriate education and assistance then the long term gains will pay for themselves anyway.


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I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!


Saturday 30 March 2013

Unbelievagoogleable

I've got several dictionaries at home, gathering dust.  Not one of them, unfortunately, is remotely up to date.  None of them, for example, list 'internet', mainly because since the advent of the internet, there hasn't been a need to buy a new dictionary.  But they're unbelievably useful things, these books of common and exotic words with their carefully crafted definitions.  It's just that it's much easier when writing to look up an online resource than to put the laptop down, walk over to the bookshelf and flick through the dictionary.  And of course, you never do just look the one word up when you do get that book down off the bookshelf, because right next to the word you're looking for is a similar word that has an incredibly rude meaning.  Then there's the other words in the pages nearby.  Look up a spelling, check a meaning you're 95% certain is correct, and there's the afternoon gone.

Better I stick with the online version which tends not to drag me away or pervert my generally unspoiled mind is my view.

The reason the dictionaries in my house are out of date, of course, is that the English language doesn't stand still, never has, which is why Shakespeare sounds so odd, yet familiar too.  Dictionaries reflect the way we speak and the words we use.  We've all seen the newspaper columns announcing that some hip youth term that frankly I hadn't heard of until the news report came out is now being introduced into the dictionary  while my favourite technological oddity is coming out, simply because I'm the last person in the country to use the device and nobody understands what I'm talking about when I mention its name.

And it's not just English that's growing, all modern languages are, although the predominance of English in business and modern culture means that English words are being absorbed into other languages rapidly.  Technology has driven many of the new words in the dictionaries of the world, and many of the technological words I use in my blogs are recognisable across the world, even if my quirky sense of humour doesn't necessarily translate as readily.

Like most modern languages, Swedish is adopting words and creating its own.  And like most modern languages it has a body that looks after its language officially.  Where we have the Oxford English Dictionary to monitor the pulse of UK English words in common usage, Sweden has the Language Council of Sweden which promotes and demotes words in the Swedish language based on observation of usage.  Consequently they have promoted 'ogooglebar', which translates to 'ungoogleable' to mean any word, phrase, concept or idea that cannot be found in a search engine.

Google have complained that their trademark has been infringed and have insisted that the Council remove the word from its listing.  Their main complaint is not that there are words, phrases, concepts or ideas that cannot be found on Google - I'm guessing they're cool about that because if you Google 'ungoogleable' on Google then you'll find plenty of suggestions for ungoogleable ideas, although the fact you found them on Google does put that concept into doubt.  But the fact that they don't have knowledge of stuff is OK by Google.

Google's complaint is that the Swedish definition included any search engine, not just theirs.  So if I've got this right, Google want 'ungoogleable' to mean a word, phrase, concept or idea that cannot be found using Google but could on Bing or Yahoo.  In fact, the more I think about it, Google are actually suggesting that rather than we accept or even invite failure, we should try Bing or Yahoo first.  Then, when you fail with those two, give up because it is worse than 'ungoogleable', it is unbingable or, worse, unyahooable.  It seems a strange objection, but it does have a basis in logic.

There have been cases in the past where product tradenames have become so generic that the name owners have lost the legal right to exclusive use of the name.  One example that didn't go to the extreme that the company lost its rights, but did suffer long term, is Hoover.  In the 1930s Hoover were the predominant manufacturer of domestic electric appliances in the UK to the point where anyone running a vacuum cleaner over a carpet tile or two would say they were 'Hoovering', regardless of the make of vacuum cleaner.  Back then, with Hoover making virtually all the vacuum cleaners, electric cookers and washing machines in the UK and, apparently, dams in the US, the over-use of the trade name didn't do them any harm.  However, fast forward a couple of decades and we have new guns coming on the market, the Vaxs and Dysons of the vacuum cleaner world and they start to make serious inroads into Hoover's market share, and now the adjective 'to hoover' played against them.  Their tradename wasn't recognised, just the activity.

I suspect that this is what Google are trying to avoid, however I've got some bad news for them.  When the boss sticks his head around the door and shouts for someone to Google such and such, I'm sure anyone in the office currently using Bing or Yahoo don't close it down and open Google.  Google may have 90% of the search engine market, just as Hoover had of the UK vacuum cleaner market some time back, but the term 'to Google' is synonymous with using any search engine already, including the one you already have open on your desktop.  Of course Bing and Yahoo aren't going to bring Google down - they're too busy hanging onto the coat tail trying to keep up to do that - but someone will.  Probably some seventeen year old working on an app in a bedroom, an app that will blow away Google, Bing and Yahoo in one svelte move.  Almost certainly Google are keeping an eye for that app, because not only do they have spare cash for lawyers to bully Swedish wordsmiths, they have cash to pay seventeen year old kids with, too.

The biggest disappointment for Google, though, is that although they have persuaded the Swedish Council to not list ogooglebar and its meaning, it isn't going to go away.  Nor will ungoogleable in the English language, if we have any say in the matter.  It might have if they hadn't threatened legal action against a group of people whose only crime was to reflect the usage in their society, but now I would suggest everyone in Sweden will use the word even more, with the definition that Google don't like being pushed.  I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a backlash against Google in Sweden over the audacity of the company, which is currently defined as upgooglesownarse in Swedish, by the way.  Perhaps Abba could reform for the next Eurovision Song contest with a song entitled Ungoogleable, about how they searched for the pretty girl everywhere, using every resource at their disposal. Even the search engines Yahoo and Bing (rhymes with sing, so may work). And Google (ryhmes with misguided). Google might be able to challenge the financial might of Sweden with ease, but Abba?

Make sure you use ungoogleable at every opportunity possible, and make sure that it is clear that the word means that there is no means at your disposal that would help you find whatever it is you are looking for- the car keys are ungoogleable, I've looked everywhere dear. No, I haven't Googled for them, they're ungoogleable. My marbles are lost - yes I've tried all the search engines. They're ungoogleable.

Does anyone know of a search engine that doesn't have a distorted view of its own self importance? Absolutely ungoogleable.


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I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Friday 29 March 2013

A Good Friday for a Great Read

Regular readers will know that I urge all Kindle owners or users of the Kindle app to subscribe to the Kindle Deal of the Day.  As far as I know, there are separate deals posted in the US and in the UK and your eligibility to access one or the other depends on where your account is based.  I really don't know if other regions have a deal of the day email, but if you don't then start lobbying Amazon.

So with apologies to my non-UK based readers this mini blog entry today is directly of interest to UK based Amazon account holders, especially for those with an interest in well written mystery thrillers, but please don't let that stop those of you originating outside of the UK taking a look at the subject of today's UK Deal of the Day.

If you could wend your way to the Deal of the Day today then you will find that Amazon have offered three books up for sale at the very reasonable price of £0.99 each.  The one I'm going to bang on about, though, is the long awaited new book by Gordon Ferris, 'Pilgrim Soul'.  Gordon has been steadily carving a niche for himself over the last couple of years, starting with 'The Hanging Shed' which was a big hit in the Kindle community when released.  Gordon has just released his fifth thriller, 'Pilgrim Soul', which unites his two main characters, Danny McRae and Douglas Brodie, in an adventure that sees Brodie stalking the mean streets of post World War 2 Glasgow.  Normally Gordon's books sell on the Kindle store for £2.63, which is still a fair price for them, but mosey on over to Amazon today and you can pick the new book up for just £0.99.

Here's Gordon's personal blurb for his book, emailed to myself and many other like minded people this morning:


It's a grim irony that my latest book, PILGRIM SOUL, is set in the worst winter in the 20th Century. But by 29 March 1947, the Big Thaw had set in and Britain was inundated. Shades of things to come? But it's not just the weather that seems to be set on repeat. There are other themes from 66 years ago that echo down the years: the rise of terrorism, upheavals in the Middle East, anti-Semitism, a UK financial crisis, war crimes' tribunals, soldiers with battle fatigue [Post Traumatic Stress], and issue of the first Retail Price Index

On the cheerier side: Princess Elizabeth married Philip Mountbatten, Edinburgh hosted the first Arts Festival, Cambridge University voted to allow women to become full members, and Pakistan and India gained independence from Britain. It was also the year in which Elton John was born, not to mention Camilla - our future queen?


Which is a long preamble to my Spring news: PILGRIM SOUL is today's Amazon Kindle Daily Deal at 99p [see below] For those of you who prefer the real thing, PILGRIM SOUL comes out in hardback on 1 April and has been chosen as Waterstones' [where to put that apostrophe?] Book of the Month in Scotland. To coincide with publication, I'm in Glasgow on the morning of 4 April for book signings at Waterstones in Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street. I'm also giving a talk and Q & A session at Newton Mearns on 3 April, 7-8 pm, Bistro in the Shopping Centre, followed by East Kilbride on 4 April, 6.30 to 8.00 pm at Waterstones.

On 9 April, between 2 and 4pm, you can hear me interviewed by Janice Forsyth's Culture Studio on BBC Radio Scotland. Then, on 2 June, I open the Big Lit Day at the Dumfries & Galloway Festival at Gatehouse on Fleet; I'm particularly chuffed to be 'bookended' by James Kelman, of Booker Prize fame. Maybe some of that Booker magic will rub off on me... Lastly, the paperback version of PILGRIM SOUL comes out in August, just in time for my gig on 11 August at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. I'm appearing at 6.30 pm with Deon Meyer, a writer from South Africa, who's getting international notice.

In the meantime, Happy Easter; keep warm!

Amazon.co.uk
Kindle StoreKindle BooksFiction

Kindle Daily Deal: March 29

For today only, three gripping crime novels are just £0.99 each: "Pilgrim Soul" by Gordon Ferris, "The Crowded Grave" by Martin Walker and "Gone Again" by Doug Johnstone. You save at least 70% off yesterday's Kindle price.

 Learn more  
Kindle Daily Deal: March 29
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I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Parallel Lives chapter 77


Simon was pissed off. He had supplied the two agents with the location, had beamed photos, descriptions, likely alias's, everything. All they had to do was a little detail checking.
Now the civvy police were poking their noses in and it was getting increasingly difficult to keep a cap on this operation. The man they had roughed up wasn't a problem himself, he didn't want any attention given he was in the company of a prostitute when it happened. Unfortunately a few of the other residents had decided to call the police after searching their consciences. That, the wanton vandalism of the tyres in the car park, the return of the two thugs literally kicking in the door of the room next to the one they had barged their way into earlier and the little matter of forcing the motel manager to reveal details about the guests at gun point.
Relations with the police were generally strained, but today had stretched all goodwill to breaking point. Of course Special Branch was involved with trying to solve the main problem, however it was the same old story. The Secret Service and the police were supposed to liaise with each other via the Special Branch, among other things, but invariably those officers that were good at this communication piece were replaced by officers with a penchant and ability for intelligence work, usually at the request of the Secret Service. The temptation to bolster manpower at the expense of someone else's budget was too good an opportunity to waste on 'liaison officers'. Consequently communication suffered.
The operation to locate the missing Jews, and more specifically the missing mutated bird virus, had spread the Service extremely thinly and it had only been a matter of fortune that there were two agents within driving distance of Bristol when the call had been made. Of course there were other intelligence personnel at GCHQ in Cheltenham, where the two men had been reviewing some unassociated intelligence, but Simon wasn't prepared to put untrained people on active duty. The memory of the airforce guy was a good enough justification, and he dreaded to think how things would have panned out had he succumbed to the pressure to utilise a couple of interpreters.
One thing was becoming very clear; these Howells people were not just ordinary folk. Fair enough they had the assistance of Watson, who had a lot of inside knowledge, but you just didn't outwit the Service consistently without some training.
Money, Simon had concluded, had to be it. And that may be all it would take to get Staples back. It might stick in the craw, but if it got them the intel they needed on this then so be it. If they managed to escape with their dirty money to Russia or America, assuming they could spend it there, well good luck. Not that Simon would make that part of the process easy, he just wouldn't go out of his way to make it difficult either. And if they failed then he'd happily help put the treason case together.
He shook his head, realising he was believing all the gobble-de-gook about the project. When he had sat down to be told about the research carried on by the DTRU over the years, the discovery of Staples, the rarity of usable level three-ers, he had sat with his jaw open.
They had a crisis of enormous magnitude on their plate, the operation was involving every spare man and woman in the Service, both the internal and the overseas branches, historical competitors working hand in hand like never before. The overtime budget was decimated, personnel were working effectively for free, families were wondering where their loved ones were, having not seen them for over a week. Now Simon had been told he had to divert manpower, had to draft in extra from anywhere he could, to find a man who may know something that may, possibly, give them a lead.
The science was explained in simple terms, not that it meant much to Simon, his degree was in history and modern politics. Deep down he only accepted that electricity was for real because to deny it was to deny the bonuses of modern life. To extend this scant belief in science to one that encompassed parallel universes was a leap he struggled to make.
But here he was, sucked in and squeezed dry of all scepticism, a believer. Because there was no other hope on the horizon, this was their only break, and the only alternative was to walk away from his job and his pension; that and drink bottled water for evermore. (And where does it come from, before its bottled, he asked himself). So, for arguments sake he believed, embraced the theory. But he had argued, and had been told that personnel would be used to find this man, Staples, regardless of his views. Either he would head it up or someone else would, and only one route would be positive for his career.
Perhaps he would offer them money, but perhaps he would also go out of his way to make escaping difficult after all, he thought to himself.


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Copyright Ray Sullivan 2011


The characters, places and events described in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to persons, places or events, past or present, is coincidence.  All rights reserved

Parallel Lives is published in paperback and as an eBook


I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me


Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Thursday 28 March 2013

Fingerprinting Your Route

We've all got fingerprints, and apparently they are all unique.  I say apparently because they are a bit like the common belief that all snowflakes are different - until we catalogue each and every snowflake it is just an assumption based on the observation that they all seem to be different.  Of course, if governments and police agencies have their way then there will be a time that all the fingerprints and all the DNA profiles in the world will be on one database or the other.

What isn't often appreciated is that although each fingerprint is a complex collection of individual whorls and whirls, peaks and troughs, a good analyst only needs a relatively small amount of markers to definitively identify a fingerprint assuming a perfect copy is already on record.  Since the 1930s it has been known that a good analyst needs only twelve such data points, which is a bummer for all those detective stories on the TV where they sigh and shrug about the fingerprints being a partial.  In all probability it is enough if the perp, if that's what law enforcement agencies really call alleged criminals - another assumption up there with fingerprint and snowflake uniqueness, I guess - has allowed his or her fingerprints to be left on a public record somewhere.  What isn't adequately admitted in these police dramas, by the way, is the labour intensive methods still needed to match fingerprints - sure some of the process can be automated but a real person has to sit and do some manual checking still.  And what's all that about, flashing up the photos of all the persons that the fingerprint doesn't belong to?  Why would anyone programme a computer to do that?

Anyway, if you think twelve data points is a trivial amount of data to identify a person uniquely, then you may be a bit surprised that the way you move around your home town can identify you in as little as four data points.  You see, we're all sharing information about ourselves to a number of databases, sometimes in real time.  If you have a cell phone, then it periodically locates your phone.  Use Facebook?  Do you post information about where you are.  Twitter - say no more.

But of course, the phone company knows who you are and if it knows where your phone is then there is a reasonable chance you are there too.  However researchers at MIT have spent an interesting few months looking at what is called 'anonymised' data, data where the identity of the persons associated with the data is suppressed.  They looked at 15 months' worth of anonymised phone data for 1.5 million phone users.  That's a lot of data to wade through - I still get a paper bill for my mobile phone, which I think I use lightly, and the phone, text and data usage information regularly falls across three pages each month. I dread to think what the records for 1.5 million phone users looks like.

By analysing this data they were able to identify mobility traces, as they call them, for the phone subscribers and once this had been done then it only took four data points to identify an individual.  The New York Times did a similar piece in 2006 using anonymised data released by AOL and actually tracked down a specific individual.  This is so Secret State it sounds like a bad plotline in one of those detective stories where they shrug their shoulders at the partial fingerprint, sigh and look wistfully at the flashing images of all the people who couldn't be the perp.

We share our location data because it allows our service providers the opportunity to serve us better, to provide meaningful weather forecasts, local theatre information, lists of local premises willing to charge an arm and a leg for coffee.  But civil libertarians may be a bit alarmed to learn that we're all very trackable and identifiable even when our identity is suppressed.  However all this location information becomes extremely necessary when we want our phone to navigate us to somewhere else, because knowing where we are now is a fundamental starting point for the mapping software.

And finding our way is something we've been obsessed with since our hunter/gatherer beginnings and Google has been helping a bit lately.  So has Apple with their mapping routine, but I think most of us can do without that kind of help.  Anyway, not content with mapping every road and street in the world, always on the day the garbage wagon is due judging by the amount of street view photos with black bin bags outside houses, Google is turning to map indoors.  Apple has responded by buying an indoor mapping company, Wifislam, to try and keep up with Google.

Wifislam uses existing WiFi networks to identify a phone's location to within a couple of metres indoors and also uses its technology to work out where your friends are relative to yourself.  Handy at the end of a pub crawl, I guess.

Neither Google or Apple are working with anonymised data, so it isn't unreasonable that their efforts will result in our locations being identified extremely accurately however, if MIT researchers are correct, it seems that our locations are reasonably predictable anyway.  Perhaps we'll only need three or maybe two anoymised data points to locate us in future?


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I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Wednesday 27 March 2013

Parallel Lives chapter 76


Jack supervised the loading of John into his car; Alan, Karen and Michael were going to travel together in the hire car. He looked around nervously, expecting the two men to return any second. It had occurred to him that no matter how they had found out about the location they would have travelled there by car, and he hadn't heard any cars come or go since they had watched the two men disappear around the corner to the reception.
Looking around he pulled on Alan's arm. ' What do you notice about the cars in this car park? What do the majority have in common?' he asked. Alan looked around, taking in the variety of vehicles; estates, saloons, so called superminis, they were all there, every type bar executive, most ages catered for from new to ten or more years old.
'Buggered if I can see anything in common,' he answered, watching the cool air condensing on his breath as he spoke. He looked around again. 'I get it,' he said, 'most are frozen or part frozen. It's only ours and a handful of others that aren't. That means we know to within a few cars which is theirs,' he said, rummaging in his jacket pocket. Jack beat him to the draw, unclipping his combination tool from his belt.
'You've got one of these,' he asked, pulling out and locking the smooth blade on his American combination tool. Alan nodded, appreciating the forbidden US technology.
'Not as fancy as that one, but good enough for what we need to do,' he replied. Jack led the way.
'I haven't done anything like this since I was a junior soldier,' he said as they walked towards the first couple of cars that weren't frozen over. 'Feel the bonnet, from what that guy looking after John said, these are anything other than local cops, they will have travelled awhile to get here. Their bonnet should be warm to the touch,' he said, resting his hand on the first one he reached.
Silently both men moved around to the opposite sides of the car. Angling their blades into the middle of the sidewalls they pushed, each penetrating the front tyres on their respective sides virtually simultaneously. Without waiting to check the results they moved off, to different cars each this time. Within thirty five seconds they had trashed the tyres on every car in the car park that could have belonged to the two men.
'Right, said Alan, I believe you are leading the way again?' Jack nodded.
'Let's start at the beginning,' he said, 'it always makes more sense that way.'
As the two cars left the car park in convoy they saw two men come running out from the reception, rushing back up the stairs.


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Copyright Ray Sullivan 2011


The characters, places and events described in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to persons, places or events, past or present, is coincidence.  All rights reserved

Parallel Lives is published in paperback and as an eBook


I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me


Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Tuesday 26 March 2013

An Advert For Life

Here's a top tip for you, the next time you find yourself heading out into the desert - it's not something we do that often in north Wales but Talacre beach is very sandy, mind.  Don't ask how to pronounce the name, though, it can set off some very deep divisions.  Locally we pronounce it tal-ak-rurr, the visitors from Liverpool have been known to refer to it as Tall Acres and the BBC recently pronounced it as tal-a-cray, which sounds like it should be on a bottle of Scotch to me.

Anyway, back to your trip to the desert.  Even if you intend coming back the same day it's advisable to take some emergency equipment with you - a bottle of Talacre Welsh whisky obviously being one of them.  The other is a sheet of polythene, at least a metre square, bigger if you can find it.  Make sure is isn't holed and try to get a decent thickness to reduce the chances of a hole being made.

You see, should you find yourself having to make an unscheduled overnight stop in the desert you may find your stocks of life-giving water  becoming used up rapidly, especially if you pop a dash in with the Welsh whisky you have for your nightcap.  The trick is to scoop out a shallow indentation in the ground adjacent to where you intend spending the night - either pack a folding entrenching tool in your backpack or, alternatively, pack one of those no-name cheapo eReaders that are turning up on Groupon and Living Social these days - you don't want to risk damaging your iPad mini or Nexus 7 in the desert when there's no WiFi and anyway, the battery won't last.

Use the cheapo eReader, or the folding entrenching tool if you really are that much of a control freak, to scoop the sand into said indentation and lay the polythene sheet over it (the indentation, not the eReader - you need that to read yourself to sleep with a glass of Welsh Talacre whisky), weighing it down in the centre with a convenient rock and pegging the edges with similar rocks.  I wouldn't advise bringing your own rocks as that would be silly - a handful of no-name android pay-as-you-go not-so-smart phones will do just as well.  Have a read, have a drink, then go to sleep.

In the morning the dew will condense on the polythene sheeting and, because you created an indentation and weighted the sheeting to the centre of the dip, the polythene sheet will have accumulated water.  Probably not much, but enough to keep you alive, or at least until the battery on your no-name eReader gives up on you.

This top tip, by the way, comes courtesy of the SAS Survival Guide, which unfortunately doesn't appear to have made it onto Kindle format yet.  My copy is a dog-eared paperback edition that predates eBooks anyway, but it occurs to me that in this day and age an eBook version for the Kindle would be a sensible item to have in the backpack.  The book discusses other, less attractive, methods of collecting water including filtering my own urine, but really I'd rather just pack a sheet of polythene.  If you really want to try the urine method then drop me line letting me know where you want the urine sending.

Now most of the readership of this blog will, like me, take the option to turn a tap (or faucet for the north American readers) to pull a glass of water.  Those with perhaps more spare cash than myself might pull a bottle of expensive water out of the fridge - did you know that Evian spelled backwards is Naive?   Despite a very broad international readership spanning every continent on the planet, I still reckon most of you won't struggle for a drink of water.  The Welsh whisky, well that's a different challenge especially as I made it up, but a drink of water is something many of us take for granted.  But not all.

Water is, of course, the single most important requirement for human survival other than air - doctors talk about the three threes - three minutes, three days and three weeks, where they refer to the effective survivability without, in turn, air, water and food.  For those populations that don't have ready access to clean, drinkable water, the three days limit might not sound as generous as it might to those of us blessed enough to be born in places that don't struggle for water.

In Peru, just outside Lima, an innovative idea has been implemented to provide free clean water to anyone who has a need.  A massive advertising billboard has been erected that uses a very similar technique to the SAS trick to condense water that is in the atmosphere and to deliver it, up to 96 litres a day, to the inhabitants of the village which is in an area that is considered virtually a desert area and where access to clean water is a challenge.  The billboard earns its keep by delivering adverts - that's what billboards are good at - and the locals get free, clean water for allowing adverts to be shown by their road.  It sounds a good deal to me.

Perhaps when I get around to creating the new Welsh whisky, Talacre, I could try marketing it in Peru using such a billboard.  At least I know the locals can get a dash of clean water to drop into the whisky there.


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I can be followed on Twitter - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Monday 25 March 2013

Parallel Lives chapter 75


The night manager returned to the counter once more, despairing of ever getting his evening meal. Generally there was an early evening rush as out-of-town-ers finished their meetings and located their rooms before sampling Bristol's night life. Then there was a lull until about nine o'clock when the businessmen aiming at an early start pitched up from all points on the compass.
Unfortunately the lull had been interrupted by sporadic requests for all sorts; changes to rooms, cancellations and information regarding residents. To make matters worse, most of the interruptions had been centred around the same guest.
'Mr Staples, must be a popular guy,' he said to the two young men. One of them looked at a piece of paper he was holding.
'He's here then?' he asked. The manager shrugged.
'He was about an hour ago, of course he could be eating now. Have you tried the pub restaurant, most guests use that to eat,' he suggested. The young man pursed his lips.
'No, but I'll try that if I can't find him in his room. He told me this morning he was booked into room thirty two, but I've just called there and its occupied by someone else,' he forced a smile as he spoke, trying to keep the manager on-side. The manager felt anything but on-side by this conversation which was merely serving to eat into his own free time.
'I don't know how he could have given you that room number this morning, because he didn't check in until this afternoon, no pre-booking, just turned up,' stated the manager, deciding that if time was being wasted then it wasn't going to be just his. The Secret Serviceman flinched; he'd made a basic error, the sort that got you put under the microscope in the training academy, what was known as the stupid sort.
'OK, it must have been this afternoon, we've been speaking on and off all day,' he said. The manager stood, just looking at the man for a few seconds before turning to the computer screen.
'Well, he did have number thirty two for a while, but he asked if he could change it for a twin bedded room. He's with a business colleague and he's trying to economise. But I guess you would have known that,' said the manager, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. The reception phone rang, an internal call. 'Excuse me,' said the manager, 'this'll be a guest.'
The Secret Servicemen looked on impatiently as the manager took the call, initially staring at the calendar hanging to one side as he listened, grunting understandingly to the caller.
'I understand, you don't want the police involved,' he said into the phone, 'but you've got to see it from my point of view sir, this sounds an ugly situation,' he continued before being forced to listen politely. 'I can't see how we can improve security on the external rooms, sir, this is an open site. Did they take anything Mr, er...' he asked, realising that the caller hadn't given his Name or room number. He looked up at the two Secret Servicemen worriedly.


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Copyright Ray Sullivan 2011


The characters, places and events described in this novel are fictitious and any resemblance to persons, places or events, past or present, is coincidence.  All rights reserved

Parallel Lives is published in paperback and as an eBook


I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me


Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Sunday 24 March 2013

Watch Out Apple, It's Google's Time

Apple has been rumoured to be working on a smart watch for some time and some folk have given up waiting for the Cupertino company to produce such a device by making their own by strapping an iPod nano to their wrists.

Of course there are others who have been looking at building a smart watch, and some have succeeded.  You may have seen my posting on the Casio G-Shock Android phone from January 2012.  As I said at the time, I'm intrigued by the possibility of a mobile phone on my wrist, for several good reasons.  For one, I'm forever missing calls and texts on both of the phones I carry - I know, it's a modern burden that we carry all of these things around and yet I still miss the call.  It's because I tend to leave both phones on silent as it's considered bad form to have them ring in meetings and for some reason the vibrate mode doesn't always get my attention.

But it's not just the chance of realising when someone is trying to contact me, it's the fact that from the get-go my smart watch will always be within arm's reach - literally.  I'm a little too fond of laying my mobile phone on my desk next to my keyboard and then wandering off without it.  It's also a little obvious if I'm checking my emails or the progress of the blog in work, so having it on my wrist would make that a little more discrete.

I don't think smart phones will replace mini tablets for net surfing, but a simple Google search should be possible on the hoof, or at least off the cuff, and I've recently started forwarding the main appointments in my Outlook diary to my Google mail account, so that they are embedded in my Nexus tablet and HTC mobile phone calendars, so I can brace for the day's main tasks off-line.  However, once in work I tend to leave my Nexus on my desk awaiting lunch break when I read the latest eBooks I've downloaded and I've already mentioned I miss virtually all the alerts on my phone, so having something on my wrist that vibrates, flashes on and off and scrolls a message to let me know I should be leaving for a meeting would be a great help.

And although I'm a little cautious about making and receiving phone calls while driving, get the microphone settings right for - ahem - hands free, then taking a call when en route should be a real bonus.  Of course, I'm a Brit so using a manual stick with the left hand might mean I have to change the arm to wear my watch on.  Or gear changes might need to be coordinated with the flow of conversation.

So Apple are planning a smart watch that will, of course, double as a phone, an iPod, a browser and a latte dispenser no doubt, and we know this because they've leaked it.  But leaking a concept and producing it can be two different beasts, especially with a company like Apple which tends to hold its best product releases very close to its virtual chest.  In fact, the fact that they have allowed the idea to leak indicates that they aren't actually that far down the development road, but perhaps want to find out what the demand might be.  Because the downside of the smart watch is the size - make it big enough to do all the things we would like and it will become intrusive on the arm, or make it small enough to look like a piece of tech jewellery and the only function it is likely to perform adequately is telling the time.  And it won't have bypassed 'form and function' gurus Apple that there are suitable devices that do that already.

Now it turns out that Google have leaked hints that they are working on a smart watch design.  The Nexus 1 maybe?  It makes sense; Apple have proven the benefit of the holistic approach to devices - how many people do you know have an iPhone, an iPad and maybe an Apple Touch?  I reckon that few have just the one Apple device.  Now Google have the Nexus 4, 7 and 10, with the number relating to the screen size, so the idea of the Nexus 1 (or 2 - flip the watch on its side then you have a usable landscape screen for all the uses I mentioned earlier plus maybe the holiday snaps).  Because you have a Google mail account you can link items like your calendar together across all of your Nexus devices.  If Google, or Apple perhaps, can work out how to share your phone sim so that you can still use your mobile and your smart watch using the same phone number then we're on a winner here.

Apple might be playing around with the concept, but given their ongoing competitiveness with Google my guess is that they will either put the iWatch on fast track development or they'll call time on the project.  Personally, I think this is a development whose hour has come, I just hope it doesn't cost an arm and a leg - well an arm at least.  Come on Apple and Google - the clock's ticking.


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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!

Saturday 23 March 2013

Get a Bit of Jo Bo in Your Life

If you enjoy music you may have heard of one of the fastest up and coming guitarists of this generation.  He's been around a while now and is considered to be one of the hardest working guys in the business.  His name is Joe Bonamassa and he's served a long apprenticeship along the way.

I first became aware of Joe a few years ago when his Sloe Gin CD was released.  Despite this being a major blues hit, Joe was working for peanuts back then.  I had the opportunity to see him in a Leeds venue for £15 - that wouldn't cover the programme today.  I had to pass that opportunity up but did get to see him last year at the Liverpool Echo Arena.  Here's a tip - do try and get a front row seat (I have my wife to thank for that) - but also consider taking ear plugs with you if that front row seat is facing the PA speaker!  I was deaf for half an hour after the gig and my father-in-Law took nearly three days to hear anything!

Joe is promoting a new CD/DVD/Blu-Ray outing, an acoustic set in Vienna that is due to be released anytime soon.  If you like Joe's music or would like to try a track out, why not follow the link below to download a free track - Athens to Athens.

If you know someone who may like the song then why not copy and paste the link for them?

I think you'll enjoy this free song download from one of my favourite musicians and #1 billboard artist, Joe Bonamassa. Get the free song from his latest album "An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House" from the link below.  http://mbsy.co/cGvH


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I can be followed on Twitter too - @RayASullivan
or on Facebook - use raysullivan.novels@yahoo.com to find me

Why not take a look at my books and read up on my Biog here

Want to see what B L O'Feld is up to?  Take a look at his website here

Worried/Interested in the secretive world of DLFs?  Take a look at this website dedicated to DLFs here, if you dare!