Diary of a Network Geek

The trials and tribulations of a Certified Novell Engineer who's been stranded in Houston, Texas.

11/22/2013

Virtual Characters

Filed under: Art,Fun,NaNoWriMo — Posted by the Network Geek during the Hour of the Tiger which is terribly early in the morning or 5:53 am for you boring, normal people.
The moon is Waning Gibbous

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this month, and you’re reading this post, you’re either so far along on your book that you have time to burn, or you’ve given up.
Please, don’t give up.

In 2011, John Scalzi wrote about “being fictional”, which was his take on Elizabeth Bear’s post regarding how she is, in the minds of fans who have not met her, essentially, a fictional person.  It’s an interesting thought, I think, that someone can think they know us so well…
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6/21/2013

425 Free eBooks

Filed under: Fiction,Fun,Red Herrings,Things to Read — Posted by the Network Geek during the Hour of the Hare which is in the early morning or 7:19 am for you boring, normal people.
The moon is Waxing Gibbous

Wow, what a busy week!

I’m sorry that my weekly post of something fun and free isn’t more than this or more in keeping with a theme for the month, but, well, it’s the best I can do this week.  I’m not absolutely sure that I haven’t used this link before, in fact, but, if I did, I’m sure they’ve since added more material to their site.

This week, I’ve got a link to 425 free ebooks!

They’ve got everything from classics of…
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5/31/2013

Writerly Advice

Filed under: Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes,Fun Work,Life, the Universe, and Everything,Red Herrings — Posted by the Network Geek during the Hour of the Dragon which is in the early morning or 8:16 am for you boring, normal people.
The moon is Waning Gibbous

There is no shortage of advice for writers.

And, honestly, the advice you like least is probably the best for you.  Why do I say that?  Because the advice that rankles you the most is probably digging at the precise issue that you have as a writer and are trying to ignore.  Or, is that just my Freudian slip showing?
I hate to admit it, but I fall into the classic traps of wanna-be fiction writer all the time.  My biggest failing? …
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9/30/2008

Review: Little Brother

Filed under: Deep Thoughts,Fun,Life, the Universe, and Everything,Linux,News and Current Events,Review,Things to Read — Posted by the Network Geek during the Hour of the Hare which is in the early morning or 7:18 am for you boring, normal people.
The moon is a New Moon

I finished Little Brother by Cory Doctorow this weekend.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is so, so worth braving the Young Adult section of the bookstore or library to get and definitely worth getting for your own young adults. Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s geared toward a younger audience, because there’s actually a bit more sex in it than most science-fiction I’ve read this year! Seriously!
Little Brother, in short, is about the Department of Homeland Security. Not quite the way it is now, but where it might be going if we’re not careful. The story is about a somewhat precoscious teen named Marcus who’s a bit of a geek. He plays live-action role-playing games and works with computers and subverts his school’s security measures to get out of class to play alternate reality games. But, he and several of his friends get caught up in a bad situation while doing this one day. In the story, terrorists blow up the Bay Bridge in San Francisco while Marcus and his friends are skipping school. And, the DHS sweeps them up with other questionable people and interrogates them.
Frankly, the interrogation techniques are probably what you’ve read about already. Simple humiliation by not being allowed to use bathroom facilities, sleep deprivation, isolation, aggressive and extended questioning sessions, you know, the usual. The kinds of things that are used all the time to get information out of alleged terrorists. Only Marcus isn’t a terrorist and he hasn’t even been charged with a crime. The DHS is only questioning him because he seems a little suspicious and out of the ordinary. You know, the usual. The usual nightmare that anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time just being a regular, normal citizen might go through because we’re handing over our freedoms with the idea that we might gain security in exchange.

Well, they release Marcus and two of this three friends. Marcus got the worst of the questioning, but all of them are worried about their missing friend. Only Marcus, he’s gotten angry at how he was treated. Much the way I imagine many otherwise innocent people have gotten angry at how they’ve been treated or “questioned”. So, Marcus decides he’s going to get back at the DHS. And, thanks to his talents as a young computer hacker, he does.

I won’t ruin the story by telling you all that happens, but it is a gripping read, not lessened by the fact that it’s something which could happen right here in our country. In fact, some people feel it is happening. One of the many things I liked about this book was how accurate the computer security was. Doctorow really researched this well and even called in contacts like the infamous Bruce Schneier to help get it right. As a matter of fact, they get it so right that I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in getting the basics of computer security. They explain public key cryptography, protocol tunneling, and several other key concepts in modern computer security that, frankly, are somewhat hard to explain.
If you’re worried about the future of your country, or just the future of your children, I encourage you to read this book. If you want to encourage the next generation to be politically aware and have a good understanding of the issues, buy this book for them.

I may not always agree with Cory Doctorow’s political agenda, but Little Brother is a great book and will provide many topics of discussion for interested classes and families.
Read this book!

10/15/2007

Writer’s Rites

Filed under: Criticism, Marginalia, and Notes,Life, the Universe, and Everything,News and Current Events,Personal,Red Herrings — Posted by the Network Geek during the Hour of the Pig which is in the late evening or 10:29 pm for you boring, normal people.
The moon is Waxing Crescent

No, that is not a misspelling.

So, recently, there was a big brouhaha over at BoingBoing because Cory Doctorow posted an ultra-short story by Ursula K. LeGuin. She objected, but she did so via a third party that happened to be in Cory’s twitfilter, so he didn’t know she objected. When it was all finally sorted out, Cory offered an apology to Ms. LeGuin, which she accepted. Along the way, however, one of the Grand Old Gentlemen of science-fiction, as well as a brilliant author, Jerry Pournelle got involved. Now, I may not agree with his politics, or many other things, but at one point in my life, I loved his writing. He is also a collaborator with another of my favorite authors, Larry Niven.

In any case, before the aforementioned brouhaha, I had not visited Mr. Pournelle’s website, so, while chasing a couple of links, I had a look around. Well, he mentioned something that he and Mr. Niven apparently learned from a third brilliant science-fiction writer, Steven Barnes, called the Five Tibetean Rites. Sometime in the unknown past, Mr. Barnes found for these Elder Statesmen of science-fiction a series of exercises meant to increase general health and energy. It is rumored that Mr. Niven can manage an amazing twenty-one repititions of these exercises and finds them to be quite invigorating. Naturally, as I am quite interested in imporving my health these days, I was intrigued.  They don’t seem too hard, until you read the suggestions about how many times to repeat the motion.

Well, I guess, like so many things, we’ll just have to see.


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