I first read George Orwell’s “1984” in, let’s say, 1969. It was Jr. High, I must have been reading it because it was a cool semi radical thing to do at the time, Big Brother is Watching You, etc..
I’m reading it today, and it may as well be the first time I’m reading it.
The first 12 pages are horrifying and I can’t get over the feeling, as I read it on this IPad, that I’m staring into the screen of the all-seeing, all-hearing, “telescreen”.
What have we unleashed on the world?
Boolean-Logic
Boolean logic is a form of algebra in which all values are reduced to either true or false.
2018/07/28
2018/07/05
The Infinite Improbability Drive
From wired.com - Felix Salmon - 07.05.18
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the problem of intergalactic travel is ultimately solved by suspending an atomic vector plotter in a nice hot cup of tea. The tea, it turns out, is a strong producer of Brownian Motion: The molecules of water are moving pseudo-randomly, and any given specific configuration of those molecules is highly improbable. The vector plotter takes the improbability of that particular nice hot cup of tea, converts it into the identical improbability of intergalactic travel, and, presto, spaceships can travel, instantly, through every point of every conceivable universe.
In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the problem of intergalactic travel is ultimately solved by suspending an atomic vector plotter in a nice hot cup of tea. The tea, it turns out, is a strong producer of Brownian Motion: The molecules of water are moving pseudo-randomly, and any given specific configuration of those molecules is highly improbable. The vector plotter takes the improbability of that particular nice hot cup of tea, converts it into the identical improbability of intergalactic travel, and, presto, spaceships can travel, instantly, through every point of every conceivable universe.
2018/07/01
Zombie Life
Walking through the Wal-Mart parking lot today I saw some kind of “Zombie Protection Squad” badge on some little econobox. I’ve been seeing these, and things like it, for some years.
It’s comforting to know that the world has never been more prepared for a Zombie apocalypse.
It’s comforting to know that the world has never been more prepared for a Zombie apocalypse.
2018/03/10
Some Days You Just Need a Vorpal Blade...
Jabberwocky
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.
’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
2018/01/19
In the near future (.001)
Was dozing in front of the television a few nights ago and opened up my eyes to see my brother (Chris) sitting at a table with some other people in an advert for something. Of course it wasn't him, but in my drowsy state it was him.
So, this got me thinking about where things could and maybe will go in the world of "The Cloud" and IoT.
Imagine all of your personal devices interconnected, storing all your stuff in the cloud, family pictures, movies, purchasing history, books, social media preferences. Pretty easy to imagine, right?
Now add a new generation of smart televisions to the mix. (Smart televisions are already connected to the internet) This new generation will find your cloud data and inspect everything, finding and categorizing everything it finds. Oh look, here's some pictures of the same guy, and he's in a movie with sound too. The smart television will connect to an advertising assist service and upload all data it found on this guy. The service will build a "virtual guy", capable of doing and saying anything an advertiser plugs into it, and drops the virtual guy back down to your smart television.
Then, one night, make it dark and stormy, Wankels Widgits really wants to sell you one of their wonderful widgets, based on your shopping history. The wunderkids at Wankel digitally transfer a royalty fee to the advertising assist service to obtain a one-time use license, and then downloads the code to unlock and use the virtual guy's image and voice in an advert.
So there I would be, watching reruns of Lost, when the show breaks to Wankels Wonderful Widgets, starring my brother Chris, trying to sell me, and convincingly so, the Widget of my dreams. (Just Click on the Link Below to Purchase Now!)
So, this got me thinking about where things could and maybe will go in the world of "The Cloud" and IoT.
Imagine all of your personal devices interconnected, storing all your stuff in the cloud, family pictures, movies, purchasing history, books, social media preferences. Pretty easy to imagine, right?
Now add a new generation of smart televisions to the mix. (Smart televisions are already connected to the internet) This new generation will find your cloud data and inspect everything, finding and categorizing everything it finds. Oh look, here's some pictures of the same guy, and he's in a movie with sound too. The smart television will connect to an advertising assist service and upload all data it found on this guy. The service will build a "virtual guy", capable of doing and saying anything an advertiser plugs into it, and drops the virtual guy back down to your smart television.
Then, one night, make it dark and stormy, Wankels Widgits really wants to sell you one of their wonderful widgets, based on your shopping history. The wunderkids at Wankel digitally transfer a royalty fee to the advertising assist service to obtain a one-time use license, and then downloads the code to unlock and use the virtual guy's image and voice in an advert.
So there I would be, watching reruns of Lost, when the show breaks to Wankels Wonderful Widgets, starring my brother Chris, trying to sell me, and convincingly so, the Widget of my dreams. (Just Click on the Link Below to Purchase Now!)
2017/12/09
Newspaper - Part 1
This morning, Saturday, our newspaper was not delivered. The Sunday advertising and fluff pages were however delivered. I don't know how that happens, are there two delivery persons? Does one person make two trips?
Anyhow, this is the second time in a week with no newspaper, so my wife sent a scathing, but polite, Email to the circulation dept. and they responded that they would make sure we got a paper today.
Long story short, we went out to run our typical Saturday errands and when we arrived home, lo and behold, there's a newspaper in our driveway. It was another Sunday advertising and fluff sections, but by golly it was a newspaper.
This got me to thinking about my times as a paperboy in a southeast suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.
You need to know that my brother and I (we shared a "route") were 13 and 14 years old.
Every morning, except Sundays, Mom woke us at 4:30 am to make our walk or bike ride to the top of the suburban street where the paper guy would leave our wire bound bundles of newspapers on the bench of a bus stop. A pair of pliers was needed to cut the wires off the bundles so the papers could be stuffed into muslin bags with thick shoulder straps and we were on our way!
Many of customers were steel and auto workers who needed to be on the job at 5:00 - 5:30 am, and many of them liked to read the paper before leaving home. They tipped us for this service, which is why we rose at 4:30. Did I tell you my Dad was an auto worker? That's why Mom was up at 4:30 am.
Next week, weather, bicycles, milk chutes, and lawns.
Anyhow, this is the second time in a week with no newspaper, so my wife sent a scathing, but polite, Email to the circulation dept. and they responded that they would make sure we got a paper today.
Long story short, we went out to run our typical Saturday errands and when we arrived home, lo and behold, there's a newspaper in our driveway. It was another Sunday advertising and fluff sections, but by golly it was a newspaper.
This got me to thinking about my times as a paperboy in a southeast suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.
You need to know that my brother and I (we shared a "route") were 13 and 14 years old.
Every morning, except Sundays, Mom woke us at 4:30 am to make our walk or bike ride to the top of the suburban street where the paper guy would leave our wire bound bundles of newspapers on the bench of a bus stop. A pair of pliers was needed to cut the wires off the bundles so the papers could be stuffed into muslin bags with thick shoulder straps and we were on our way!
Many of customers were steel and auto workers who needed to be on the job at 5:00 - 5:30 am, and many of them liked to read the paper before leaving home. They tipped us for this service, which is why we rose at 4:30. Did I tell you my Dad was an auto worker? That's why Mom was up at 4:30 am.
Next week, weather, bicycles, milk chutes, and lawns.
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