I went into work on my own yesterday afternoon and got into my dialer sitting beside JT for the first half. I had really slow start and it took me half an hour to get on the board. I was at $300 by break and then I realized as slow as it is, I’m really on pace for what I did yesterday. At the break I ended up moving away from my lousy dialer and moved over to Buds ex dialer and I didn’t do much better but I ended up with $440 and no credit cards. I got a call from Anne and she says that the Source has keyboards ranging anywhere form $100-200. Good stuff. Rob rode co pilot with me to Rexall. The Oil Kings were playing tonight. They won by the way. Denver in tomorrow night against the Oilers. Anyway, Anne was shortly behind me on the train. I had a bit of a chat with Charles but he has a cold. I mentioned to Charles about Coast to Coast. He doesn’t have a radio with him for tonight. But tomorrow night is their annual JFK night. Looking forward to that one.

I got in to do a bit of maintenance and watch the News. Not much going on lately. Just work and writing and watching the odd bit of hockey.

I’m kind of tinkering with the time I need to do things. I need 2 hours spent on Cw/day. I need at least 2 hours on writing/day. I need at least an hour practicing/day. An hour for diary work and blogging and an hour for reading. So that’s 7 hours/day. Now if I’m up at noon, I get 2 hours before 2pm. I get an extra hour from 3-4. So there’s 3 hours during the afternoon. Plus I get 1 hour from when I get home and lunch from the afternoon and evening. Not to shabby. Most of my time comes from midnight to 3am. So that all in all gives me 6 hours to work with. I can regain the 7th hour by getting up a bit early at 11am. To much to do so little time.

The big news that broke this week is in stem cell research. It seems that the same benefits of stem cells once thought to only be used from embryo’s now can be harvested from human skin. This was tested in lab rats and it works. So far it’s going to help people with Parkinson’s disease and heart disease. No doubt within the next 5-10 years will help people who suffer from macular degeneration and that’s huge. With stem cells, some even think that stem cells can halt the aging process as well and that’s the holy grail of stem cells in my opinion. The stem cells taken from human skin come from the thigh of the leg area. Of course the people who would criticizes this the most wouldn’t be who you think. Criticism from this breakthrough would be those that have invested billions of dollars in using stem cells from embryo’s. Even US President Bush I think announced there would be no contention from this use of stem cell research and possible funding. It’s all about funding. But I don’t think we’ll see the halt to the aging process anytime soon. Certainly not in my lifetime. But it is exciting news none the less. In a way stem cells (maybe 50 years ago) is considered by some still in the realm of science fiction.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s JFK spotlight on Coast. The really compelling evidence against Oswald not shooting JFK is the simple fact that there was no nitrate found on his face but there was nitrate on his hands. (The paraffin test) Also Oswald had no motive for wanting to kill Kennedy. Those two items alone for my money indicates Oswald didn’t kill JFK but that doesn’t mean there was a conspiracy. A cover up sure. A lone gunman obviously.

The New Space opera book is coming along fine. I’m just beginning to read the first story by Gwyneth Jones “Saving Tiamaat.” I was reading the end of the introduction in between calls last night. If this book is as good as is my expectations then I hope Dozois puts out another one. To me the king of all Space Opera in the print science fiction genre is Perry Rhodan. Arguably one of the longest running SF series of all time. Second only to Dr. Who. I’ve never been a fan of Dr. Who for the simple reason that there have been too many actors playing him in film. Perry Rhodan hasn’t to the best of my knowledge ever made it to film. The best Space Opera here in North America in my opinion is Star Wars. In print it would have to be Piers Anthony “Bio of a Space Tyrant.” Cool stuff. I haven’t read Alastair Reynolds yet or Peter F Hamilton although I’ve got his “Pandora’s Star” books. I hope to read them next year.

 Anyway, that’s all for now

e. Jim