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Thinking Chaos, Thinking Fences
This is for those who descend into the code
and make their room a fridge for Superman
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July 31, 2003 |
I recently finished Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Cory Doctorow's first novel. Cory Doctorow is one of the few people whose life I want. He's a novelist, works for the EFF, contributes to the seminal BoingBoing.net and is way, way cooler than I am. Mind you, he lives in the States, so that's a minus. From a note I sent to Cory regarding his book:
A brief note to say that I just finished Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and really enjoyed it. I'm not a big science fiction reader, so I appreciated the clarity with which concepts like whuffie, deadheading, etc, were expressed. These concepts had a sort of plausible realism--they very much seemed logical extensions of social and technological trends. Few authors like comparisons, but I found your writing kind of Douglas Couplandesque. It had the same sort of friendliness and easy cadence to it.
I read the first chapter online and then went out and bought the deadtree edition. I'm quite sensitive to smells, and the pages have exactly the same odour as the Dungeons and Dragons books of my youth. I don't know if it's the paper stock or the ink or a combo of the two, but I rarely find books with that smell.
So, not only did I enjoy reading your book, but it was also a pleasure to smell.
It suffered from a little first-novelitis--uneven characters and occasional cliches--but, given the inventive plot, themes and setting, these minor flaws are ignorable.
Though he was published, Cory also released his novel for free on the Internet. I recommend you give the first couple of chapters a read and, if you like it, buy the deadtree edition.
5:52:19 PM
Books
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More for the local readers only (apologies to my non-Left Coast readers, but it's going happen occasionally):
My Ultimate frisbee team needs more players for the fall season. The season runs September and October on weekends (ideally, Sunday afternoons). Experience is preferred, but probably not required. I've got almost no skill myself, and I'm on the team. Email me at darren at darrenbarefoot.com if you're interested.
9:06:07 AM
Sports
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It's getting so tricky to compete these days. Check out these rates from PPI:
Costs for software maintenance and report writing start at 69 cents per hour. Software testing requires less skill and this service starts at 45 cents per hour.
There's also this insight into hiring developers: |
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Great apes (hominids) do not have tails, while monkeys do. Research indicates that great apes are very productive in the areas of software maintenance and report writing, while most monkeys will struggle. Monkeys, however, are great at software testing. So the rule of thumb is, if you don’t have a tail, you can probably program.
8:34:33 AM
Internet Technology
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Stevenf makes this morbid reference:
Have you ever read those news stories where someone with a web log has died, and they put in the URL of their blog, and you go there, and their last entry is some horribly inane thing?
That's always my fear about music while driving. I occasionally think to myself, while listening to a particularly inane song: If my car rolled right now, and I was crushed underneath it, but the radio was still going, would I want to breath my final breath while listening to 'Beautiful' by Christina Aguilera. Then I quickly change to the CBC.
In truth, Steve's entry reminded me of a business idea I had a while back. It probably already exists, but here it is: computer mortician. When someone dies, their immediate family may not be computer-literate, or may not be aware of the deceased computer usage (passwords, online presences, etc). So, you call my company, we come and conduct an autopsy on their computer(s). We organize all of their data, etc, into some neatly packaged form and hand it to the family like an urn of their ashes. They write us a big fat cheque and we go home.
I'm not really going to do this, so if anybody else wants to, go crazy.
8:30:12 AM
Internet Technology
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