Motes, Utility Fog, Smart Dust & Climate Change

I've been fascinated by the idea of Smart Dust (also known as Motes) since I started doing research on how researchers calculate the global average temperature and thus decide if we are going through a period or trend of global warming or cooling. The past (and current as far as I know) method for calculating these global temperature averages involve data from land based weather stations combined with satellites in the lower troposphere and marine reports (among other methods).  

This methodology has many weaknesses:

• The land based weather stations are sprinkled around the globe but not evenly and in some cases, very far apart from one another;
• Different weather stations use different equipment for measuring temperature (some use older technology, for example);
• Not every location on the Earth even has weather stations and/or shares that data;
• There is no universally accepted "normal" temperature for Earth, yet climate data is generally reported as a departure from "normal";
• The weather stations, satellites, and ships are all at different elevations, wind conditions, latitude and longitude; adjustments for these factors are imperfect at best;
• There are dozen of different weather organizations (NOAA, NASA, EPA, GOAA, etc.) all measuring average global temperature with different results!

If you are interested in learning more, there is a great related article from NASA:

The Elusive Absolute Surface Air Temperature (SAT)

Now, some very cool reading on the topic of SmartDust and related technology:

SmartDust communication systems in the future world

The Inevitability of SmartDust
Graphene-based nano-antennas may enable cooperating smart dust swarms

In a very generalized nutshell, SmartDust or motes are teensy-tiny computers that have the ability to network. They are part of the now much-talked-about "Internet of Things". These tiny computers could in theory be programmed to check anything, weather/temperature included. 

I see huge possibility in terms of more accuracy with climate trends and even weather predictions.  With networked capability, and even the capability to fly or swim, they could reach areas of the Earth for temperature readings that are currently not possible or practical, such as the bottom of the ocean or the top of a mountain. SmartDust could be sprinkled in a much broader swath of Earth, Sky and Water, even maybe underground in caverns.  

Since these tiny computers could be programmed remotely to use the same methods of temperature measurement, be directed to migrate to the same exact elevation at the exact same time, synchronize data collection rates, or even travel an entire area in a swarm checking temperatures at various spots and various levels to get a more accurate average temperature, it would seem we could get a more universal, real-time weather trend than is possible today.

This is exactly how a major character in my novel does her climate change predictions! 

Review of The Neighbor by Ania Ahlborn

The Neighbors by Ania Ahlborn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Well, what can I say? I bought this Kindle book with one of those Amazon promotions for books for $1.99 or such and I didn't read any reviews first. Despite that, it was a fast read and I finished the entire thing, which is not something I usually do for books that I end up giving only 2 stars to, so kudos to the author for somehow keeping my curiosity going until the very end! That said, I can't even recall any of the characters names off the top of my head and I just finished it last week - that says something...not something good.

** MAJOR SPOILERS ** NO POINT IN READING STORY AFTER YOU READ MY REVIEW!

Here are the main challenges with the book as I see it:

1.) THIN PLOT: Very thin plot that made little sense (leaving home due to mother being alcoholic and agoraphobic) and going to live in a dump with a childhood friend just 1 town away? Quitting job at supermarket that is so close by, only to apply at other supermarkets 1 town away and get rejected because he left the other job without 2 weeks notice. Really??

2.) THE NEIGHBOR: Crazy but beautiful 40-something woman as serial seducer and killer of young boys (for decades undetected!) Reason? To "replace" her son that she also killed, due to her childhood sexual abuse by her religious priest father and mother killed by a rapist? I don't even know where to begin with this one - I mean, really? It was like the author just decided to toss in every cliche reason for serial killing;

3.) THE NEIGHBOR HUSBAND: The husband just stands by, knowing everything, after his wife molests their son, eventually kills him and continues the pattern for decades. Then - suddenly! - at the end, he gets a pair of you-know-whats and stands up to her because he thinks she is falling in love with her latest boy-toy, the main character? I just wanted to poke him in the eye and find out if anyone was actually in there.

4.) DISMEMBERMENT AND MISSING BODIES: The underground bunker for chopping up her prey after killing them, carried out by the childhood friend who lives next door? He then drives the bodies "somewhere" and dumps them. None have ever been found after DECADES of this? Seems highly irregular, though I guess Jeffrey Dahmer got away with it for a long time...

5.) MOTHER COMPLEX: The whole mother-figure-sexual-attraction with the 40-something neighbor was just weird; his excitement over cookies and pancakes was overdone. At times I felt like the book was actually written by a teenage boy, but a crazy one. Maybe that is a point for the author if that was the goal!

6.) MIRACLE CURE: And the final insult...when the main character returns home to his real mother after the whole incident and she miraculously gets over her agoraphobia and alcoholism, and shocker, the house is even clean!

The more I write this review, the more I wonder why I was compelled to finish it. Oh well, on to a new book!

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