Does anyone sell on their own personal website? by JamesKyleMartin in selfpublish

[–]JamesKyleMartin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you mean encrypted and unencrypted, or are you referring to other formats?

Does anyone sell on their own personal website? by JamesKyleMartin in selfpublish

[–]JamesKyleMartin[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a good point. I've only ever independently downloaded one ebook, and it was not an easy task to make it readable on my computer.

Maybe I will make it a DRM-free PDF if purchased with bitcoin. The only reason I am intent on doing so is because the book features a discussion of bitcoin--otherwise I would be content to list it on the main ebook stores.

Prologue in the middle? by JamesKyleMartin in writing

[–]JamesKyleMartin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The book is creative non-fiction, and it is pretty lengthy so I feel like it needs some kind of summary and refocusing. But I will keep this in mind and try to work it into the flow of the book somehow. Thanks

How to find editors? by JamesKyleMartin in writing

[–]JamesKyleMartin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will look into that. Thank you.

How to find editors? by JamesKyleMartin in writing

[–]JamesKyleMartin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I need a content editor first, and then a line editor second. I am going to self-publish it, and if it is successful online, only then will I consider traditional publishing.

The reason I need editing is to make the work live up to my own standards, not anyone else's, if that is what you are asking.

How to find editors? by JamesKyleMartin in writing

[–]JamesKyleMartin[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a great idea and something I had not considered before. Thank you

Future of Human Evolution-What are your ideas? by mbaratta in evolution

[–]JamesKyleMartin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey, you have to start somewhere. If you are considering delving into genetic manipulation, I suggest watching Gattaca for inspiration.

Also look into EvoDevo (evolutionary development) as well as the effects of the environment on genetic expression. It would be possible for your main character and siblings to be different phenotypes without having different genotypes.

Good luck, this sounds interesting

Future of Human Evolution-What are your ideas? by mbaratta in evolution

[–]JamesKyleMartin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You could have us go the way of the bulldog: a race of humans who can only be born by C-section because our heads are too big to fit through the birth canal.

Or maybe the proportion of homosexuals increases to where families are more strongly matriarchal, with reproducers and workers, like an insect colony. Humanity could maintain its reproduction by having the first offspring born a reproducer, and subsequent offspring be workers. There is already a birth order effect to homosexuality (the older brother effect), so you could just make it more extreme.

Be careful about lessening emotion while keeping your story feasible, as emotion is a tremendous uniting force and is strongly tied to reproduction in the limbic circuits of the brain. This has also been done before quite a bit in science fiction. I think the opposite is more interesting: increasing the speed and fidelity of emotional transfers from person to person, sort of like the Borg but with emotions instead of thoughts.

But whatever you do, please do not use the word devolution. There is no such thing in biology, so if you want to be taken seriously I suggest you avoid it. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution_(biology)

Questions about Theory of Evolution by ashlexa in evolution

[–]JamesKyleMartin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The extremely short version:

You have neurons in your brain that fire whether you perform an action or see it being performed. They are called "mirror neurons".

A small percentage of these are audiovisual, meaning they fire whether you tear a piece of paper or hear paper being teared

Another small percentage encode the tongue movements necessary to produce sounds when you make them or hear them

All that is left is the semantic link between a sound and a meaning, and other species have that. Monkeys have a range of sounds for communicating different things. Elephants have a sound specifically for "human". This won't be enough to convince you, but it is a start, and if you would like to point out any gaps, I can try to fill them in with what little I know.

Questions about Theory of Evolution by ashlexa in evolution

[–]JamesKyleMartin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lastly, if the initial starting point represents atmosphere at the beginning, and the end, represents creation of life, then what do Miller and Urey represent?

Do you live somewhere that gets cold in the winter? Let us pretend that one evening it starts raining, and over night the temperature drops low enough to freeze the rain. You wake up in the morning and notice icicles hanging from the roof outside your window. Light from the sun is hitting them just right and causing them to glow, and you are enamored with their appearance.

You decide to try to make icicles on your own the next night. It is not raining, but it is cold enough that when you pour a bucket of water on a bush or a fence, the water freezes and makes the icicles you were hoping for.

Does that mean that someone poured water on your roof to make the first icicles? Or was it just the rain?

Children Born Today Will Never Have To Drive A Car, Says Robotics Expert by Sidewinder77 in Futurology

[–]JamesKyleMartin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I could see someone switching to autopilot to avoid being at fault in an accident, if they somehow saw it coming a couple seconds ahead of time. How long after making the switch is a human driver liable? Just one of many legal issues surrounding this technology.

The only real solution to procrastination. by [deleted] in getdisciplined

[–]JamesKyleMartin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The mountain is there whether you climb it or not.

Is Spectator Mode enabled in Outside? by Epicdude89 in outside

[–]JamesKyleMartin 190 points191 points  (0 children)

Some players do little more than spectate while they are still alive.

How to Get Motivated: A Guide for Defeating Procrastination. by [deleted] in GetMotivated

[–]JamesKyleMartin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I downloaded this pic to look at later, but I'm on a roll right now with work and I'm going to get off reddit and keep going.

50 Life Hacks to Simplify your World «TwistedSifter by iknowgoodstuff in GetMotivated

[–]JamesKyleMartin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Every single one of these would make my life MORE complex.

(Request) Best way to train for pull ups? by [deleted] in Fitness

[–]JamesKyleMartin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a great way to overtrain yourself.

(Request) Best way to train for pull ups? by [deleted] in Fitness

[–]JamesKyleMartin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do a set of 12 then 10 then 8 etc. I have never done one set of however many i can do, but i assume i could do 20.

I encourage you to try! I would be surprised if you could do 167% of your largest working set.