The Writer's Life 5/1 - Making Waves

No one would have ever thought that rival comic book empires Action and Marvel would cooperate with each other, but they have, offering material to a new book: We Spoke Out: Comic Books and the Holocaust by Rafael Medoff and Neal Adams. It's now available at Amazon, $38.15 in print, 29.99 Kindle. I just took a look inside it at the site. It seems a treat for fans of comics and for those interested in Holocaust history. Stories are printed in their entirety and there is commentary from the genre's royalty.

Sci-fi is again meeting real life. Companies throughout China are using brainwave sensors to train workers and screen for mental fitness. More than a dozen factories require workers to wear devices that use artificial intelligence to monitor emotions. Sensors are wirelessly embedded into the brim of electric company employees’ helmets, and the hats of high-speed train conductors. They monitor brainwaves, detecting the spikes and dips in emotional activity associated with panic, fatigue, sadness and other feelings. The devices have been adopted for electricians who install and repair parts of the power grid. A similar one detects fatigue in conductors, triggering an alarm if it is ascertained they’re dozing off. Officials claim the devices reduce accidents and boost profits. Companies may ask a stressed worker to take a break, and may also dismiss one for the day or even demote one to a different position. Critics ask: What happens if a false positive flags a healthy worker? A professor states: "The employer may have a strong incentive to use the technology for higher profit, and the employees are usually in too weak a position to say no.” I wonder what would happen if American companies tried to do this. I'd bet lawsuits would begin immediately. If they'd been used on the commodity trading floor, they probably would have suffered overload. Here's what one of the devices looks like:

Surfer Hugo Vau has set a new world record, verified by Guinness, riding a 115 foot wave. He did it off the coast of Portugal. Here's a pic of the event:

My Tuesday benefactress showed for the first time in many months. She donated four Stephen King novels, three DVDs, and stamp-related material the size of postcards. Ira wasn't necessarily interested in that. He liked the small wooden boxes in which they were stored, particularly their construction, which featured dovetails seen on Antiques Roadshow. He bought them and a Three Stooges CD. Jimmy purchased a book on floral arrangements, another on getting the most out of one's money, and the Annie (1982) and Popeye cartoon DVDs. My thanks, gentleman, and to the woman who bought a Danielle Steel novel in Russian. Special thanks to my benefactress, who I ran into on my way to CVS. She laughed when I told her the postal stuff sold. 

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