Diary of a Network Geek

Science-fiction predicts the future again!

Okay, so here’s a story on Slashdot about researchers using brain cells from a rat to make a robot run. Big News, right? Nope.
A guy by the name of Joe Clifford Faust predicted this in a book called
The Company Man. A sadly out of print book that predicts this and several other things that are a little frightening. But, this book predicted that artificial intelligence, as such, never happens. Instead, animal brains are hooked up to computer systems instead. He predicted several “levels” of brain being used: rat, cat and dog.
It’s a really interesting book, if you can find it.

If you’re a regular reader of the Diary of a Network Geek, you know that I’ve started seeking out a deeper connection with God.

So, when I saw this article on Wired News it really made me think about where we’re taking religion as a society. A digital prayer a day? Hmm, well, why not? I mean, we can get other kinds of reminders to our phones or pagers, so why not a reminder to pray? I’ve seen plenty of free Islamic programs for the Palm, so why not a generalized one? A simple PERL script or two is all it should take to send a random reminder to pray to any Internet-enabled wireless device. Or, a more generalized “spiritual” message could be sent. Or, really, anything that would be regular and in text format.
Personally, I like the idea of getting random reminders to make contact with God. It might be nice to have my cellphone, which I’ve come to think of as a tool of the Devil, remind me that God is watching me and that He does care about me. Why shouldn’t technology remind us of our spiritual selves? Just because the old Catholic church had issues with early scientists doesn’t mean that we should not make use of this kind of tool for spiritual awareness. I’d like to think that the modern Vatican, which is online now, would agree with me.

Of course, I don’t think I’d pay $20 for it (that’s what they charge), so I may just have to figure out my own method. Hey, if I do, I can let other people use it for less money than that other guy is! Dang, I better get off to work on it!

Easier living through technology!

The Wall Street Journal On-Line has an article about how to be a high-tech slacker.
Okay, first of all, I was a little shocked to see the Journal running this kind of story. Second, I was suprised that people do this so much! Especially in this economy!! Here I am trying to find more things to do at work so that I can actually be usefull and all these people are out there slacking. Where did my parents go wrong?
Anyway, if one were to do this, there’s lots of high-tech ways to make it look like you’re working. The Journal has a list of things to use to make it look like you’re working, when you’re not.

Dunno, this just seemed like a good Friday story to put up here.
Enjoy.

Is Neo the Messiah?

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article about religion in science-fiction, especially the Matrix movies. It’s interesting to me because I’ve seen similar connections myself for a long time. Back in college, I wrote a paper about how similar the Luke Skywalker character was to the archtypeal hero from myth. It’s a short hop from that to the archtype of the messiah. The interesting thing to me, is that this: a) appeared on the Christian Science Monitor and b) was mentioned on Slashdot. Religion comes to Slashdot. I think it must be a sign of the end times.

I love paper art.

I have ever since I was a kid. My Dad brought home a couple of origami books from work one day and I was hooked. They were just some samples from a printer, who turned out to be a gangster, but they opened up a whole new world for me.
I’ve played with origami, or Japanese paper-folding, ever since. I can do some things from memory, like the ubiquitous “flying crane”, but most of the time, I need someone else’s directions. So, of course, I found someone on the web… The site is called Paper Folding. It’s well worth the look.

Enjoy!

Is such a thing possible?

Well, according to this article on Yahoo, it just might be! Imagine what it might mean to the future of publishing. Add in some wireless connectivity and you’ve really got something here. Textbooks that change based on which class a student is in when they’re opened. An entire university library available to students on campus, wirelessly. Books that can be downloaded from the ‘net directly to a reading device.
Then, of course, there is the interactivity aspect. The article talks about catalogs that can be used to place electronic orders. Add in the ability to automatically update inventory, price and availability and you’ve really got something.
Of course, we’re a ways off from that, so it’s still science-fiction, but the possibilities are endless. In a fully networked world, devices like this might replace PCs alltogether. They would become the ultimate PDA. It could be the Next Big Thing. We’re always looking for that Next Big Thing to invest in or adopt. The concept of “digital ink” has been around for some time, but it looks like they’re finally getting somewhere with it. It sure will be interesting to see if they finally pull it off!

with an asteroid.

Actually, this story has been at Space.com for some time, but I’m just getting to entering it in here now. It seems that there’s a group of scientists who are allowed to name celestial objects and they quite often name them after people they wish to honor. Well, a couple of these folks were Mr. Rodgers fans and they decided to memorialize him by naming an asteroid in his honor. This is not an honor that can be purchased or that is given lightly, by the way. These guys are pretty serious about this stuff. And, I think it’s really cool that they decided to honor someone who meant so much to me as a kid this way.

Transmissions are hard things to ignore.

But, I’m trying. My friend worked on my car, but it looks like the transmission is slowing going out. It still stalls out if I get over 45 MPH, then brake. But, I can keep that from happening if I drop it into neutral and rev the engine over 3000 RPMs, then pop it back into drive. It’s a little strange to do, but it does actually work. Of course, I don’t know for how long it will work, but still, it’s getting by for now.
In the meantime, he’s going to see what he can do about getting my other car running again. As bad shape as it’s in, that old Tracker is still better than the Explorer right now.
I have to tell you it’s a little disheartening to have these kinds of problems and not be able to afford getting them corrected. When I got into IT, I thought I’d never have to worry about that kind of thing again. Of course, I never expected to have a glut of Network Engineers in Houston or a lack of people interested in Certified Novell Engineers. And, I never thought I’d take a $13,000 pay cut just to keep my house, either. Things never do seem to work out the way we expect, do they?

Ah, well, I’ll survive somehow.