New Story: Sky Wolf

I wanted to use a few ideas from the Nuegua chapter "Ghost Sickness" concerning the Super Dogs.

Aside from the predictable enhanced reasoning capabilities a reader would expect, the real leap forward is in their larnyx. The Super Dogs --bred as corporate war machines--can subtly alter the harmonics of their howls to communicate with other Super Dogs miles away. Ordinary humans can't hear it, but our Ellie can. The latest development is the Mongrel, a wolf-man hybrid that can withstand extreme cold temperatures, because of its wolf physiology (yellow fat), but has human hands, and binocular, albert color-blind vision. Mongrel speaks to his handlers in AmSlan He breaks out of confinement in Northern Alberta, and escapes into the Yukon. He is of course hunted by corporate soldiers, who must remain incognito, so they head north as caribou hunters. This sets the season for the story.

Ellie is pureblood Inuit. Because of a childhood sickness, she is mute, although she can make sounds. Her hearing is superior to most humans, and she is of a very high order of intelligence, especially with regard to mechanics. She is highly proficient in AmSlan, and a marksman. She is sixteen at the time of the story, and her goals are to learn to fly a helicopter, and to go to Maui to learn to surf. She intends to be the first Inuit wahini.
Dwayne is the corporate hunter assigned to bring down Mongrel. He is recently divorced, and is rebuilding his life at the time of this assignment. Through one of teams' abilities to use AmSlan, he connects with Ellie.
The crucial sequence is Ellie's connection to Mongrel, and Dwayne's blossoming friendship with Ellie, a replacement for the teenage daughter that he has failed. Ellie is out hunting caribou, unknowingly in Mongrel's territory, and slips her snowmobile. Mongrel comes upon her, and she begs him in AmSlan to help her. He signs back, and reluctantly brings her back to his lair. Mongrel tells Ellie his story, ending with: "They made me a monster, to hunt and kill people." Ellie vehemently argues against this, with: "No! They made you for me." Mongrel becomes very attached and protective towards Ellie. The only reason she can leave him is because he understands that the other Innu will come hunting for her, and then the White police. But ultimately, Dwayne--the handler who treated him the worst--will come.

What is the core theme of the story, apart from the exciting hunt? The Super Dogs are the new biological weapon of the Corporation A, which has not yet revealed their existence. Super Dogs have been created as industrial spies and provocateurs. At this date EMF pulse weapons are standard issue for Corporation B, and the Super Dogs can slip right by them. Mongrel is the next development: a Super Dog with hands, and sometimes upright posture--though still backward-pointing knees--who has had enhancements to his right parietal lobe that allows him to sense electrical and electronic equipment. I'm going to use my class Parapsychology experiments to flesh this part out.

Dwayne goes in, knowing Mongrels' physical abilities, but it not told of his quasi-psychic senses, because Dwayne is being used by Corporation A as a test subject in an experiment with Mongrel.

Sin Angels Version Two: Angels or Zombies?

After discussing the basic plot and worldview of Sin Angels, it occurred to me that the 'optimization explosion' caused by Perfect Man and Perfect Woman would be much more interesting if it had an inherent flaw: it optimizes all human flesh (previously programmed to human DNA), whether living or dead. Living produces Angels--the perfection of the human form. Dead produces Zombies--the nano-beings labouring in vain to create a living creature, and using all their problem-solving skills amiss. What they create is a creature that can live for no more than 48 hours, and requires fresh human flesh to rebuild necrotic tissues. So...rather than just a gnawing hunger, there is a purpose to it. And they need to drink copius amounts of water to keep the process going. The nano-beings are designed to maintain life in a nearly dead body. When our Serena kills the two johns, their bodies are fresh. They are in coma, and are nano-repaired in the morgue. Since the nano-beings were there so quickly, the johns still have functioning eyes and brains. They get up and walk out of the morgue, looking for fresh human flesh. They are awake at night, and in coma/rebuild during the day.

Now, onto the details of the Optimization: Serena Nicotine is losing her second set of teeth, and her jaw is being re-aligned. Rowena, our Native policewoman, is convinced that this is a result of a severe beating by the two johns. The medical report--prepared after she escapes--says this not so; these appear to be natural changes. Also, her larnyx is being rebuilt, along with the nerve bundles in her spinal cord. This would require that the skeleton is being rebuilt. I intend to make all this rebuilding extremely conscious and painful. (This is one of the argument between Perfect Man and Perfect Woman. One wishes to push Serena under, and have her awaken completed. The other wins the argument that it is better for Serena to be fully conscious during her ordeal, so as to develop the necessary super-conscious intellect she will need.) This is fun also, because Serena can only communicate by crude sign language. Rowena concludes that Serena may be a deaf mute, and uses AmSlan to communicate. (Rowena has been an FAS worker before she became a policewoman). Serena masters AmSlan in a single hour, and this leads Brian to wonder is she isn't just faking all this trauma, which of course infuriates Rowena.

It is Brian who is trying to put all the odd puzzle pieces together. When we meet him, he is anxious to be promoted to Detective, but it looks like Rowena is on the fast track, not him.

Serena's change in larnyx gives her a voice that is unrecognizable to her mother, when at last Mary Nicotine--a devout and sober Catholic--arrives from the reserve to free her daughter. The larynx is now an organic maser (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation). She can use various consonant and vowel combinations as physical tools and weapons. For example kayKAY is a punch, capable of knocking a man over.

Here's the story in structure:

Act One: Encounter On The Stroll

• act 1 scene 1: the silent 5th wheel
• act 1 scene 2: breakdown at the station
• act 1 scene 3: the morgue is a busy place

Act Two: Recognition At The Fringe

• act 2 scene 1: this is not my daughter
• act 2 scene 2: this is not my girlfriend
• act 2 scene 3: the escape

Act Three: The Plague On Broadway

• act 3 scene 1: perfect man, perfect woman
• act 3 scene 2: policewoman's dilemna
• act 3 scene 3: contagion

The setting: the first Friday night of the Saskatoon Fringe Festival, July 2010
All three acts occur in a 12-hour period:

• Serena is rescued at 1o p.m.
• Serena is captured at 5 a.m.
• Serena is released at 10 a.m.

Characters:

• Serena Nicotine, the Optimized One
• Rowena Eagle Feather, the Native Policewoman
• Brian Hastings, the White Policeman
• KayKay, a Native child prostitute
• Bob, a john
• Ned, a john
• Emergency room doctor
  
• Jimmy Starling, a Native wannabe pimp
• Perfect Man, a trans-dimensional
• Perfect Woman, a trans-dimensional
  

Solving the Zombie Problem

Since Zombie movies are so incredibly popular, and done nearly to death, it seems to me high time for me to try to create a believable source for them. So far, I've thought that 'Fido' did the best job: some sort of organism borne on a comet, that made it to Earth, and then proceeded to propogate. I like the idea of something bioengineered that is running an optimization routine. It would be a macrovirus / nanomachine that is going through human flesh looking for something, all the way back to charred remains and skeletons. I'd like to combine it with the 'Strangers' from 'Dark City'. These virii/ machines are hunting for some winning genetic combination, and the best way to do that is for any human organism to try to infect and ingest another until the combination/permutation occurs: a superior life form, based on human DNA.
It doesn't seem that far-fetched, since already the move toward purely carbon-based nanomachines has already occurred. If these mechorganisms (a NEOLOGISM if ever there was one) could spin or secrete fullerenes fueled by rotting flesh, they'd have all the resources they'd need to reanimate corpses.
So that should solve the locomotion, fuel supplies and motivations for a Zombie.

To make the point more clearly, my idea is not intended to *resurrect* the
dead, instead I want my mechorganisms to *mine* them. Or utilize them, like a very intelligent and resourceful hermit crab.

I have in mind 'the walking dead' covered with spider-silk (fullerenes,
actually) that have interpenetrated the corpse, and are utilizing its flesh,
not re-animating it.

My idea would be that for some reason, the mechorganisms sampled human flesh
first (perhaps a cell or two on space debris), decided it was acceptable and
then invaded our planet.

The zombie form would only be a preliminary, but...think of the horrific
possibilities! If a entire nuclear family was infected, the mechaorganisms
might decide to isolate the bloodline, and create a single moving beast out of
Mom, Dad, and the kids. Crawling with silvery spider shapes at the very edge
of visual acuity.

That image alone is completely *original* folks. Yes, it's a bit of
'Thing','Assemblers of Infinity', and the 'Mist', but still...it's two moves
to the left, and that in artist's terms is originality.

Building Our Heroine: Rintiala from Watercolor Sketches to 3d Animation

This is the first time I've written a computer graphics tutorial, and I'm going to take the perspective of an accomplished visual artist starting from traditional media--in this case watercolors and pencils--and move into the daunting realm of 3d graphics.

Most of the necessary illustrations can be viewed at:

http://www.nuegua.ca/images/characters/index.html

Okay, it's almost a year later, but I've stayed on it. I now have a working knowledge of armature rigging and weight painting. There's lots to learn yet, but it seems that the most practical way to use Blender to animate a character is to: (1) create the mesh first, (2) build the armature and add it to the mesh as a modifier; (3) run the animation, and add shape keys to correct mesh deformations.

With a mesh as complex, and subtle, as a MakeHuman, the shape keys are the real trick here.

So, I'm going to start with this first animation of Rintiala in her Dreaming Body of Water Woman.


You'll notice that the rig doesn't have any fingers (phalanges) or toes (tarsals) yet. I'm primarily interested in the mesh deformation problems. Since I haven't set any constraints on
leg and arm motion yet, I can discover just how bad it be with simple weight painting.

You can download the .blend file from:

http://brkurt.googlepages.com/rinRig1.blend

So, let's see what a quick set-up animation looks like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP48td6qhgg

The first thing I learned: don't paint a single vertex more than necessary.

Next problem: Shape Keying (Morph Targeting).

And here's the solution. I had to separate out the top and bottom Dentures, so that create the Preston Blair/Gary C. Martin visemes would be doable.

Ghost Sickness Synopsis

I was working on animating a model of the CarboCrete roadway in "Ghost Sickness" when I solved my "when does all hell break loose?" problem.

So, here's a new synopsis. It features a POV from all the four main characters--Rintiala, Hunts-the-Ruins,Alathea, Finds-Water--beginning and ending with Rintiala.

Scene 1: Agua Linda to Ultimate Boutique. The setting foot into Agua Linda Park. Here the first challenge besets the team. An overzealous sniper knicks Alathea, and Carl Heineke, nominally a Western Bandit, comes out to parley. He will accompany Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins into Paradise Valley, but Alathea and Finds-Water must stay in Agua Linda.
All of the team's weapons and supplies are carried on his mule (a jenny), leaving Alathea and Finds-Water defenseless. As R and HTR make their way to the first major intersection, where the Ultimate Boutique is located, the first calamity occurs. Tilly, the boutique's AI, unwittingly unleashes the Black Bear sickness upon the three, and Rintiala must chose between HTR and Carl as to who must live and who must die. She of course choses HTR, and the events that lead to armed conflict between Apache Police and Western Bandits are set in motion.

Far off in the distance, keeping their promise, are the Apache Police. They have been told not to take action until high noon. That is the agreement between them and the Western Bandits.


Note to self: Keep exposition to a minimum here. All the reader needs to know is who are the most important protagonists --Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins--and what their goals are.

Transition 1: Ultimate Boutique to Sanctuary. So much happens in the first scene, that this travelling sequence is the best time for exposition. Info-dumps are perfectly acceptable here, as Tilly explains Paradise Valley to Rintiala, while Rintiala attempts to hide her true identity from Tilly. The reader should know that a time-bomb is ticking in the form of the AI Cy. He will certainly recognize the Nueguan and the Apache as enemies, and act accordingly.

Scene 2: All Hell Breaks Loose. Here, as Tilly goes to 'ring the bell' at the entrance of the Sanctuary, all the hidden technology of Paradise Valley defends itself. The great desert flower statues turn out to be weapons, giving hundreds of Cy copies the weapons and whereabouts of Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins. The carboCrete arches itself like an angered cat, hurling both Rintiala and Hunt-the-Ruins into the immaculate desert gardens in front of the Sanctuary. This proves to be their salvation, as Rintiala's blood alerts the Landesten AI to her presence. A way is open underground to a dungeon where she must face the test of the Water Woman alone.

Transition 2: Rintiala Alone. Here we see our herione prove her worth. She must reason out the problem that the Water Woman has set before her. The ball of snakes is not a physical thing such as Rintiala dreamed, but a transformation of Rintiala herself. The power of Remaking is given her after she nearly dies of the attack of the nanobiological weapons of the Water Woman.
This transition ends when Sean Landesten appears, offering her a way out of the dungeon she has found herself in.

Scene 3: Alathea and Finds-Water Attempt a Rescue. Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins are only 1500 metres away from the elders when Tilly's mistake kills Carl. A fusillade, now intended to kill, rains down from the towering edifices that weave through Paradise Valley. Alathea takes the battle to them, half-carrying the seventy-year-old Finds-Water. This sequence should be non-stop action, with only minimal description of backstory and architecture. Alathea is successfull in retrieving her weapons, but Finds-Water is seriously wounded, and she must adminster the strongest remedy to him on the battlefield that she has. She inserts the Little Doctor termites into his wound, and they stop the bleeding and tie it up. He goes comatose and she has to fight dozens of snipers on the rooftops while carrying him. This will cement in the mind of the reader the superiority of the Nueguans.
Her rescue is not successful, as she arrives only to see the carboCrete writhing after it has thrown Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins from itself.

Transition 3: Meeting with the Father of All. The Landesten AI, having retrieved both Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins, explains the situation to them. As long as they remain within the Sanctuary, he can protect them, but once outside its precincts, they will be prey for the Cy AIs, and the Western Bandits. Landesten's communication networks indicate that there are nearly two hundred Cys now, and at least one hundred Western Bandits converging on the outskirts of Paradist Valley. The Apache Police are starting to move, but it will be noon before they can arrive at the wester boundary of the Sanctuary, to protect the team.

Scence 4: The Showdown. Landesten equips Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins with Sky Wanderer armor and weapons, but he cannot aid them otherwise. Worse, the Cy automatons are paying no attention to the Western Bandits, as they have intelligently surmised that whoever can enter and leave the Sanctuary at will, and yet is not a true Sky Wanderer, is much more of a threat than a few primitive Old Humans. Seamus Espinoza, leader of the Western Bandits, calls for a parley with Rintiala and Hunts-the-Ruins. All seams to be going well until frivolous Tilly runs into the middle of the parley to get Rintiala, and a Western Bandit sniper recognizes the cause of Carl's death. Weapons are fired, including Nueguan arrows as Alathea fights to protect her daughter. Finds-Water, resuscitated, holds up the Apache Traders medallion, and risking being shot, wades through the melee to make an offer to the Western Bandits. They accept, and Tilly convinces Cy to back down. The Remaking has altered Rintiala, and now she appears to him as a Sky Wanderer.

Transition 4: The Promenade Reopens. The team is re-united in the Sanctuary at Sean Landesten's behest. Although he is asked many questions, his only answer to open up the Promenade, and allow the team access to all of Paradise Valley's technology. He hints that the return of the Sky Wanderers will be much sooner than anyone expected.

Ghost Sickness Version Two

I'm rewriting all my Nuegua pieces, except for "No Mercy in the Cathedral", which is already complete.

To prevent info dump, I'm going to rewrite the first chapter of the Nuegua books , "Ghost Sickness". All the elements are there for building a complete world, but the sense of urgency was not. Therefore the plot got bogged down in the middle. I went back to a present-day street map of Paradise Valley Arizona for my solution. The team of Finds-Water, Hunts-The-Ruins,Alathea and Rintiala have just come from Pima Highway and are facing west, staring at the fetish (a combination of biohazard signs and vulture skulls). As soon as they set foot in Aqua Linda park, the Sky Wanderer technology and the local ecology is alerted to intruders. The team's goal is to travel down East McDonald Drive (approximately one and a half miles straight run. The Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain is line-of-sight to the team. I'm going to stress how easy it looks: flat desert highway, no visible obstacles. All that remains of Paradise Valley's inhabitants are the chandelier-like buildings of the Sky Wanderers and their indestructible roadway called carbocrete.
Arrayed against them, and well hidden in the safe spots are the Western Bandits, coyotes, bioengineered wolves, and worse automatons who normally are the maintainers of the Sanctuary.

What is the main goal of this guantlet? Rintiala has had a dream (inside a Cactus Mother, so that Alathea can verify it) of a glowing sapphire ball that will open up all the Sky Wanderer buildings and deactivate their defenses.

Just how dangerous are these buildings. All one has to do is to direct one's gaze into a ground-level window, and the automatons will sense intelligent life. Coyotes are free to roam the streets. The wolves, created by the Sky Wanderers , will catch and kill any interlopers that manage to get by the automatons.

Even worse, earlier attempts to open even small outlying buildings have unleased virulent plagues that decimated the Western Bandit population in the area. Rintiala plans to enter the Sanctuary itself.

Further complications: Paradise Valley is a highly contested area. The Phoenix Apache, wishing to take their place in the nation of Apacheria, need to drive the Western Bandits out of the greater Phoenix area, and to remove the dangers of the Sanctuary. To do this, they have entered into an agreement with the Healing Sisters of Tiala, altering the political structure of the area. The Tialans, have never ventured out of the confines of Nuegua. Finds-Water and Hunts-The-Ruins are taking a calculated risk that the resulting wealth flowing out of the Sky Wanderers cities will position them at the top of Apacheria. Both have their reasons for doing so.

Alathea, knowing that Tialans are declining in influence within Apacheria as the Demetrans grow vastly more numerous has decided that the direct approach of a joint venture is necessary. Demetrans are having many, many children from the Apache Traders and as a result the purist Tialans may become a mere curiosity in a few more generations.

For Rintiala, the youngest of them, the goal is simple. To find and control this talisman will ensure her promotion to First Sister.

What makes me a better instructor?

Simply put, a desire to look towards the future without fear. In that respect, I'm willing to embrace new points of view and new methods of teaching in order to draw out of students those abilities they might not even know they have.

What makes my method of instruction better?

I use the Web live in the classroom, but more than that, I think Web: interactive, always updating, dynamic. I believe there is a place for lecturing in Introductory Psychology, but one must always remember that today's students are used to immediate contact with the information, and much of it is visual. This year, I intend to lead St. Peter's into the wireless age, by encouraging my students to bring their laptops to class, and using a wireless router, have them access my website during class.

What do I do in my class to facilitate learning?

Primarily, I want to develop useful skills in my students: the ability to think critically, to write well, to pay attention to details of human behavior they probably didn't think were very important. To integrate these, I have them do a movie review of a film with a psychological issues. Part of that review is a verbatim, a reverse engineering, if you will, of a scene, with a focus not only on dialog, but how that dialog (complete with body language) looks and sounds to a psychologist.

This year, also, I'm using 3d graphics designed by myself to walk students visually through the brain. Rather than show a video, I use the design program (Blender for Windows) itself to zoom in and pan around the brain.

Finally, my students do all their reading work in small teams. Teamwork, not competition is the great goal and gift that St. Peter's College can impart.

How would you apply what you teach to real life?

My students begin with a movie review, then learn to read the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, finally writing a thouroughly-researched fifteen-page paper on the particular disorder they have studied in the movie. This takes a full eight months to teach. At the end, they have an example of their best written work to put in their resumes and to hand to their prospective employers.

How does my teaching style relate to Benedictine Mentorship.

That's easy! I'm a Benedictine monk. I believe that what we teach at St. Peter's is the cure for much of the ills of our world: social harmony integrated with individual excellence.