Cookie notice, or: I hate you, EU

You may have noticed recently an annoying grey bar descending on Blogger blogs. One appeared on this blog, without warning or permission. It said:

This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services, to personalise ads and to analyse traffic. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies.

Then you get to tick Learn more or Got it. Alas, however many times you click Got it, you will still be seeing this sign pop up. Over and over again, every time you go to that blog, or any other Blogger blog. Google never trusts you to have got it.

For a nifty video on why the EU cookie law is a truly terrible idea, go here.

I've disabled mine. If you want to on your blog too, here is a handy video to tell you how. Is this blog now illegal and subject to huge fines? I don't think so, because in a cunning move, I've added a notice bottom right warning my readers about the scary evil cookie menace.

Time Rats 2 and androids

I've decided that the best use of my spare time in the thirty days TIME RATS Book 1, The Trouble with Time, is on Kindle Scout is not to fret over the Hot and Trending chart, or spend time and money whipping up nominations. Instead I'm formatting the print version of the novel, and working on TIME RATS 2. 

EDIT: There's an interesting discussion on Kboards here as to whether this approach is sensible or a big mistake, with comments from writers who have been chosen as well as those who ran a 'successful' campaign and were then rejected. It's worth reading if you are thinking of doing Kindle Scout.

Time Rats 2 starts with a new character called Angel. Here's my elevator pitch for TR2: Angel is Brian’s perfect woman; gorgeous, loving and compliant. She’s also an android. He installs an illegal upgrade to make her as smart as she is beautiful; but once Angel is able to think for herself, what will she do?

While I was researching androids on Google, I came across this striking animatronic sculpture by Jordan Wolfson. Although he was not attempting to make a slavishly true-to-life android, but aiming for something edgier, she is so much more lifelike than those passive Japanese super realistic robots. This particular video, and the comments below it, set me on the road to creating Angel.