Who would have known that I would have woken up this morning checked /., http://www.slashdot.org/ (News for Nerds for those who don't know), and loe doth I find that it is the 10 year anniversary of the release of Half-Life. Link to that all the great mods and sequels that have spawned just from this one revolutionary game and it would naturally lead one to assume that this is one of the great moments in human history. Well that might be taking it a big far, though its pretty darn close.
For those who don't know Half-Life is the story of the physicist Gordon Freeman in a typical day at the Black Mesa Research Facility, as the day turns from typical to one of alien invasion. The story is unveiled entire through in-game interaction and dialog with the characters, not through in-game cinematics or cutscenes, which was revolutionary at the time. A tightly scripted story about alien invasions, a government coverup, and one lone physicist just trying to make his way out alive won the game of the year for over 50 publications at the end of 1998.
Beyond that Valve released extensive modding tools with the original release of the game. The is the other source of Half-Life's longevity and critical acclaim. It allowed virtually anyone with little to no programming experience to make their own mods. Which spawned the mods Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress Classic, and many others among them. Particularly Counter-Strike generated its own momentum and spawned innumerable mods of its own.
In celebration of the annivesary today Valve is offering the original Half-Life for 98 cents, for its release back in 1998. A timeline history of Valve, its development, and its games is offered here. Lastly here is another quick overview of the first ground breaking mods that were introduced via the Half-Life toolset.
And with this grand anniversary I bit a happy gaming to all of you out there.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
News on the Library Front
Librarians are always on the cutting edge. Whatever the cutting edge is we're there. New technology and ways of applying it to help students, we're there. Innovative new approaches, we're. The stories below are just a little showcase of what dedicated Information Professionals are doing.
Biblio Burro
The cutting edge here is in the green and renewable transportation employed by this columbian librarian to get books to rural villages with little to no main roads.
New Reference Technology
The Librarians at this public library are employing the latest in renewable, self regenerating reference sources.
Democratization of Literature
And finally in this last story of literature and dark times, a new literary form has worked its way from the masses up into the library.
Biblio Burro
The cutting edge here is in the green and renewable transportation employed by this columbian librarian to get books to rural villages with little to no main roads.
New Reference Technology
The Librarians at this public library are employing the latest in renewable, self regenerating reference sources.
Democratization of Literature
And finally in this last story of literature and dark times, a new literary form has worked its way from the masses up into the library.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Alternatives to Microsoft Office
Every single desktop, laptop, and netbook purchased by consumers today comes preinstalled with oodles of software with varying degrees of usefulness. It is pretty standard that nearly everyone is familiar with the preinstalled antivirus software that has only two weeks of usage and then demands a 50 dollar payment for the renewal of the subscription. Then there is the impossible to uninstall random toolbars that come with IE. It is generally a rare computer that doesn't come loaded down with a lot of useless software like this. But the one thing that every student does need in the slew of preloaded trite that accompanies their computer is the word processor. It is a rare student that is not able to get by without today defacto standard, Microsoft Office.
When Microsoft Office 2007, with its new interface face-lift and file format, were introduced many people and institutions have been finding it hard to get past that steep learning curve. And some of those same people and institutions are having to come to the hard decision of whether or not to pay the steep expense of purchasing and then upgrading to Microsoft 2007, without ever reasoning that there are cost effective alternatives that can still interface with .doc and .docx formats. There are some alternatives to Microsoft Office that provide the same level of useability that users have grown use to but at generally fractions of the cost.
Star Office
http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/
This office productivity suite from Sun Microsystems features direct analogs to whatever Microsoft office has to offer. At roughly 20% of the cost of the full Microsoft Office Suite this is not only an award winning software product, but one that costs significantly less than the competition while delivering comparable services and results. The current iteration Star Office 8 is available for immediate download or can be ordered in the traditional method of on a CD. The chief difference between Star Office and Open Office is that Star Office comes software support provided by Sun. This extra level of service is especially attractive to businesses who more often than not do not have the time to worry about toying around with new software acquisitions. And if there are any problems there is full technical support which is provided for Star Office. While right now Star Office 8 does not have compatibility with Office 2007, the new edition Star Office 9 will have full interoperability with Office 2007 and is on schedule to be released before the end of this year.
Open Office
http://www.openoffice.org/
With Star Office providing such a well rounded experience not only in an entire office suite, but also all the technical support features that make it attractive for businesses and some consumers. All of this still comes at a cost. And for students who already spent most of their money on tuition and books, there might not be that extra 20 or 30 dollars. This is where Open Office comes in. Star Office and Open Office are essentially the exact same product, but Star Office has technical support included and Open Office is an open source project.
What is meant by an open source project is software which is developed in a public, collaborative way with few copyrights restrictions. When those restrictions do exist it is more to restrict other parties from being able to say who can and can not make changes to the project, because the essence of open source is allowing anyone to take the foundation of the project and then allow them to make any changes needed to it. Since Open Office is an open source project it is distributed freely among individual users and only asks for a donation. That donation can be as much, or as little as the individual downloader wishes to make it.
Open Office as of October 2008 officially offers full compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007. This for many people is the key reason to select Office 2007, with its giant price tag, in the first place.
Google Docs
http://docs.google.com
The most exotic alternative Microsoft Office surprisingly was debuted by Google about two years ago. Their aim was to create an Office suite that would be fully integrated with your Internet browser with the ability to save documents that you create and work on. Better still with the ability to work on any document, from any computer and all that is needed is internet access. When Google Docs first started off there was only the option of working on word processor files, but very soon after that it expanded into excel spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, and also web surveys. As of the writing of this review Google Docs does not have anyway of interacting with .docx format, but Google is always adding new things and is continually refining Google Docs. There is the additional ability to share any documents created among any number of Google Docs users. Using this powerful collaborative tool thereby to jointly refine, and edit documents at the sametime.
If there are people out there thinking that there might be problems if internet connectitivity is lost, then the ability to interface with their documents is lost also until internet access is restored. That problem to has been solved by google with the introduction of Google Gears. A software program that once installed allows offlines access to all documents on Google Docs, and when internet access is restored automatically updates your online Google Account.
As of the writing of this review I have 100% migrated to using Google Docs for nearly all my Office Suite Needs. The one thing that continually sticks out to me is the absolute wonderful feeling of being able to do my work from wherever I am, and not being tied down to any single computer.
Wrap Up
To wrap things up whatever your need 24/7 technical support, freedom of movement, low cost it is good to know that there are definite alternative to Microsoft Office that can still meet a users or companies demands places upon it.
When Microsoft Office 2007, with its new interface face-lift and file format, were introduced many people and institutions have been finding it hard to get past that steep learning curve. And some of those same people and institutions are having to come to the hard decision of whether or not to pay the steep expense of purchasing and then upgrading to Microsoft 2007, without ever reasoning that there are cost effective alternatives that can still interface with .doc and .docx formats. There are some alternatives to Microsoft Office that provide the same level of useability that users have grown use to but at generally fractions of the cost.
Star Office
http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/
This office productivity suite from Sun Microsystems features direct analogs to whatever Microsoft office has to offer. At roughly 20% of the cost of the full Microsoft Office Suite this is not only an award winning software product, but one that costs significantly less than the competition while delivering comparable services and results. The current iteration Star Office 8 is available for immediate download or can be ordered in the traditional method of on a CD. The chief difference between Star Office and Open Office is that Star Office comes software support provided by Sun. This extra level of service is especially attractive to businesses who more often than not do not have the time to worry about toying around with new software acquisitions. And if there are any problems there is full technical support which is provided for Star Office. While right now Star Office 8 does not have compatibility with Office 2007, the new edition Star Office 9 will have full interoperability with Office 2007 and is on schedule to be released before the end of this year.
Open Office
http://www.openoffice.org/
With Star Office providing such a well rounded experience not only in an entire office suite, but also all the technical support features that make it attractive for businesses and some consumers. All of this still comes at a cost. And for students who already spent most of their money on tuition and books, there might not be that extra 20 or 30 dollars. This is where Open Office comes in. Star Office and Open Office are essentially the exact same product, but Star Office has technical support included and Open Office is an open source project.
What is meant by an open source project is software which is developed in a public, collaborative way with few copyrights restrictions. When those restrictions do exist it is more to restrict other parties from being able to say who can and can not make changes to the project, because the essence of open source is allowing anyone to take the foundation of the project and then allow them to make any changes needed to it. Since Open Office is an open source project it is distributed freely among individual users and only asks for a donation. That donation can be as much, or as little as the individual downloader wishes to make it.
Open Office as of October 2008 officially offers full compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007. This for many people is the key reason to select Office 2007, with its giant price tag, in the first place.
Google Docs
http://docs.google.com
The most exotic alternative Microsoft Office surprisingly was debuted by Google about two years ago. Their aim was to create an Office suite that would be fully integrated with your Internet browser with the ability to save documents that you create and work on. Better still with the ability to work on any document, from any computer and all that is needed is internet access. When Google Docs first started off there was only the option of working on word processor files, but very soon after that it expanded into excel spreadsheets, powerpoint presentations, and also web surveys. As of the writing of this review Google Docs does not have anyway of interacting with .docx format, but Google is always adding new things and is continually refining Google Docs. There is the additional ability to share any documents created among any number of Google Docs users. Using this powerful collaborative tool thereby to jointly refine, and edit documents at the sametime.
If there are people out there thinking that there might be problems if internet connectitivity is lost, then the ability to interface with their documents is lost also until internet access is restored. That problem to has been solved by google with the introduction of Google Gears. A software program that once installed allows offlines access to all documents on Google Docs, and when internet access is restored automatically updates your online Google Account.
As of the writing of this review I have 100% migrated to using Google Docs for nearly all my Office Suite Needs. The one thing that continually sticks out to me is the absolute wonderful feeling of being able to do my work from wherever I am, and not being tied down to any single computer.
Wrap Up
To wrap things up whatever your need 24/7 technical support, freedom of movement, low cost it is good to know that there are definite alternative to Microsoft Office that can still meet a users or companies demands places upon it.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Website Evaluation
So picture this scene. There is a student sitting in front of a computer, and it is late. Maybe its 2am or 5am, the exact time doesn’t matter. Empty cans of red bull, and coke are strewn about haphazardly. The student is paying absolutely no attention to the cleanliness of the room at this moment. All of the student’s attention is fixated on the glowing pixilated screen in front, while alternating between feverishly typing, thinking, deleting, or googling.
And what is all of this effort being put into? The odds are if you are reading this, then the probability exists that you already know. That there is some essay X, which is due for class Y, at time T. And to make things even better the essay is 178% of the final grade. There that nameless student sits; trying to find some sources and glean a last few scraps of information to patch together this Frankenstein of a document.
In this flurry of essay writing, how does this student know that the websites being visited have the information that is needed? Odds are also that the websites being cited were probably found within the first page or two of search results on Google, or some other search engine like Yahoo.
Just as important as finding an informative website, is being able to judge the quality of the information found within the website before utilizing it. The scene portrayed above is played out on countless computers, but how many of those students take the 2 or 3 minutes to stop and look at the website to judge if the information contained is accurate and unbiased.
Taking the time to learn how to look at a website is just as important as finding the information. Learning the cues to look for could potentially tip one off to an inaccurate website and may mean the difference between passing and failing. So while searching through any search engine can always turn up results, the ability to judge the accuracy and truthfulness of that website is infinitely more valuable.
This is a very important skill that can be practiced every time a webpage is visited by just keeping in mind a few simple guidelines.
Author – Things to consider about who wrote the document
o Is the author qualified to write to document? A lawyer would not necessarily write about how to program.
o Is the author’s contact information provided?
Organization – Things to consider about who is hosting the document
o What kind of organization is it? This can be quickly seen by looking at the Top Level Domain of an internet address. For example ‘.com’ is commercial websites and ’.gov’ is used for government websites.
o What sort of interest does the organization hosting the web document have? For instance an article on smoking being hosted by a tobacco corporation.
Publication – Things to consider about the document itself
o When was the last time the web document was updated?
o Is the information still accurate?
o Is it fact or opinion based?
These guidelines very often won’t help students finish essays the night they are do. No one, but the poor soul writing the essay can help with that. But by keeping these guidelines in mind can help insure greater accuracy when an essay is submitted.
And what is all of this effort being put into? The odds are if you are reading this, then the probability exists that you already know. That there is some essay X, which is due for class Y, at time T. And to make things even better the essay is 178% of the final grade. There that nameless student sits; trying to find some sources and glean a last few scraps of information to patch together this Frankenstein of a document.
In this flurry of essay writing, how does this student know that the websites being visited have the information that is needed? Odds are also that the websites being cited were probably found within the first page or two of search results on Google, or some other search engine like Yahoo.
Just as important as finding an informative website, is being able to judge the quality of the information found within the website before utilizing it. The scene portrayed above is played out on countless computers, but how many of those students take the 2 or 3 minutes to stop and look at the website to judge if the information contained is accurate and unbiased.
Taking the time to learn how to look at a website is just as important as finding the information. Learning the cues to look for could potentially tip one off to an inaccurate website and may mean the difference between passing and failing. So while searching through any search engine can always turn up results, the ability to judge the accuracy and truthfulness of that website is infinitely more valuable.
This is a very important skill that can be practiced every time a webpage is visited by just keeping in mind a few simple guidelines.
Author – Things to consider about who wrote the document
o Is the author qualified to write to document? A lawyer would not necessarily write about how to program.
o Is the author’s contact information provided?
Organization – Things to consider about who is hosting the document
o What kind of organization is it? This can be quickly seen by looking at the Top Level Domain of an internet address. For example ‘.com’ is commercial websites and ’.gov’ is used for government websites.
o What sort of interest does the organization hosting the web document have? For instance an article on smoking being hosted by a tobacco corporation.
Publication – Things to consider about the document itself
o When was the last time the web document was updated?
o Is the information still accurate?
o Is it fact or opinion based?
These guidelines very often won’t help students finish essays the night they are do. No one, but the poor soul writing the essay can help with that. But by keeping these guidelines in mind can help insure greater accuracy when an essay is submitted.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Back to School Literature
Well it is again that time of year again when all students return to school and continue their education. It is with this in mind that I what to give everyone reading this a small lesson in classic literature. Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer, 1st Baron Lytton, was a very well known and well regarded poet, playwright, and novelist. He was born in 1803 and died in 1873. Very well renowned in his day, his novels now adays symbolize the overembellishment and extreme verbosity inherent in Victorian era prose. His most famous sentence was the line to the opening of his novel"Paul Clifford",
This year's winner was submitted by Garrison Spik of Washington D.C.,
There are the other dishonorable mentions and runnersups that more than deserve their own spot in the literary limelight.
“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”And in 1982, using the sheer weight and verbosity of this sentence, the English department of San Jose State University sponsored a small, whimsical literary contest entitled the Lytton-Bulwer Fiction Contest. The purpose was simple, "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels".
This year's winner was submitted by Garrison Spik of Washington D.C.,
"Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped "Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J."It was with this gem that Mr. Spik won the vernable literature contest.
There are the other dishonorable mentions and runnersups that more than deserve their own spot in the literary limelight.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The Hugo Awards
Very big news for all those of the science fiction and fantasy variety. The winners of the Hugo awards were just announced this past weekend. Now for those who don't know the Hugo awards are the big name award given out every year for outstanding contribution to the field of Science Fiction and Fantasy, in a variety of categories. These people and works are the best of the best. So go out there and pick up either a nominee or a winner. You will be pleasantly surprised.
For some answers to any questions concerning the Hugos I would recommend consulting their official FAQ.
The full list of nominees are:
I have also put the winners in bold.
For some answers to any questions concerning the Hugos I would recommend consulting their official FAQ.
The full list of nominees are:
I have also put the winners in bold.
Best Novel
- The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)
- Brasyl by Ian McDonald (Gollancz; Pyr)
- Rollback by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor; Analog Oct. 2006-Jan/Feb. 2007)
- The Last Colony by John Scalzi (Tor)
- Halting State by Charles Stross (Ace)
Best Novella
- “The Fountain of Age” by Nancy Kress (Asimov’s July 2007)
- “Recovering Apollo 8″ by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov’s Feb. 2007)
- “Stars Seen Through Stone” by Lucius Shepard (F&SF July 2007)
- “All Seated on the Ground” by Connie Willis (Asimov’s Dec. 2007, Subterranean Press) - I've read some good stuff by Connie Willis, she also won a Hugo for fill length novel in prior years.
- “Memorare” by Gene Wolfe (F&SF April 2007)
Best Novelette
- “The Cambist and Lord Iron: a Fairytale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham (Logorrhea, ed. John Klima, Bantam)
- “The Merchant and the Alchemist”s Gate” by Ted Chiang (F&SF Sept. 2007)
- “Dark Integers” by Greg Egan (Asimov’s Oct./Nov. 2007)
- “Glory” by Greg Egan (The New Space Opera, ed. Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins/Eos)
- “Finisterra” by David Moles (F&SF Dec. 2007)
Best Short Story
- “Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, ed. George Mann, Solaris Books)
- “Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear (Asimov’s June 2007) - Greg Bear, bearing no relation to Elizabeth Bear but a very fine author
- “Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359?” by Ken MacLeod (The New Space Opera, ed. by Gardner Dozois, and Jonathan Strahan, HarperCollins/Eos)
- “Distant Replay” by Mike Resnick (Asimov’s April/May 2007)
- “A Small Room in Koboldtown” by Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s April/May 2007, The Dog Said Bow-Wow, Tachyon Publications)
Best Related Book
- The Company They Keep: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as Writers in Community by Diana Glyer; appendix by David Bratman (Kent State University Press)
- Breakfast in the Ruins: Science Fiction in the Last Millennium by Barry Malzberg (Baen)
- Emshwiller: Infinity x Two by Luis Ortiz, intro. by Carol Emshwiller, fwd. by Alex Eisenstien (Nonstop)
- Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction by Jeff Prucher (Oxford University Press)
- The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
- Enchanted Written by Bill Kelly Directed by Kevin Lima (Walt Disney Pictures)
- The Golden Compass Written by Chris Weitz Based on the novel by Philip Pullman Directed by Chris Weitz (New Line Cinema)
- Heroes, Season 1 Created by Tim Kring (NBC Universal Television and Tailwind Productions Written by Tim Kring, Jeff Loeb, Bryan Fuller, Michael Green, Natalie Chaidez, Jesse Alexander, Adam Armus, Aron Eli Coleite, Joe Pokaski, Christopher Zatta, Chuck Kim. Directed by David Semel, Allan Arkush, Greg Beeman, Ernest R. Dickerson, Paul Shapiro, Donna Deitch, Paul A. Edwards, John Badham, Terrence O’Hara, Jeannot Szwarc, Roxann Dawson, Kevin Bray, Adam Kane
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Written by Michael Goldenberg Based on the novel by J.K. Rowling Directed by David Yates (Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Stardust Written by Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman Directed by Matthew Vaughn (Paramount Pictures)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
- Battlestar Galactica “Razor” Written by Michael Taylor Directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá and Wayne Rose (Sci Fi Channel) (televised version, not DVD)
- Doctor Who “Blink” Written by Steven Moffat Directed by Hettie Macdonald (BBC)
- Doctor Who “Human Nature’ / “Family of Blood” Written by Paul Cornell Directed by Charles Palmer (BBC)
- Star Trek New Voyages “World Enough and Time” Written by Michael Reaves & Marc Scott Zicree Directed by Marc Scott Zicree (Cawley Entertainment Co. and The Magic Time Co.)
- Torchwood “Captain Jack Harkness” Written by Catherine Tregenna Directed by Ashley Way (BBC Wales)
Best Professional Editor, Short Form
- Ellen Datlow
- Stanley Schmidt
- Jonathan Strahan
- Gordon Van Gelder
- Sheila Williams
Best Professional Editor, Long Form
- Lou Anders
- Ginjer Buchanan
- David G. Hartwell
- Beth Meacham
- Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Best Professional Artist
- Bob Eggleton
- Phil Foglio
- John Harris
- Stephan Martiniere
- John Picacio
- Shaun Tan
Best Semiprozine
- Ansible edited by David Langford
- Helix edited by William Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans
- Interzone edited by Andy Cox
- Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, Liza Groen Trombi
- New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, Kristine Dikeman, David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney
Best Fanzine
- Argentus edited by Steven H Silver
- Challenger edited by Guy Lillian III
- Drink Tank edited by Chris Garcia
- File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
- PLOKTA edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott
Best Fan Writer
- Chris Garcia
- David Langford
- Cheryl Morgan
- John Scalzi
- Steven H Silver
Best Fan Artist
- Brad Foster
- Teddy Harvia
- Sue Mason
- Steve Stiles
- Taral Wayne
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (Sponsored by Dell Magazines and administered on their behalf by WSFS)
- Joe Abercrombie (2nd year of eligibility)
- Jon Armstrong (1st year of eligibility)
- David Anthony Durham (1st year of eligibility)
- David Louis Edelman (2nd year of eligibility)
- Mary Robinette Kowal (2nd year of eligibility)
- Scott Lynch (2nd year of eligibility)
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Internet Trolls
The Oxford English Dictionary Definition for the word troll as in Scandinavian mythology, one of a race of supernatural beings, now, in Denmark and Sweden, as dwarves or imps, supposed to inhabit caves or subterranean dwellings.
Wikipedia Defines an Internet Troll as, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
The Encyclopedia Dramatica Defines a Troll as the term derives from "trolling", a style of fishing which involves trailing bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. As a verb, "to troll" is probably a corruption of "trawl." Troll is fine as a verb since trawling for comments and flames is innate troll behavior. A "Troll" is a mythical monster that lives under a bridge and surprises people who try and cross the bridge with some bizarre puzzle or challenge that they must complete before crossing. It has been suggested that people who lurk in groups and suddenly enter discussions with unwanted and provocative contributions inspire the same type of fear in law-abiding netizens. More rational people know that Trolls are, in fact, monsters who live under a bridge, probably in Utah, who flocked to the information superhighway after real superhighways were declared obsolete by Al Gore. Bad things happen when trolls meet IRL.
All of these definitions for the word troll are actually leading up to something. There was a very interesting article in this weekend's NYTimes magazine about Internet Trolls, malicious mischief they cause. There was even an update on the troll profiled in the article, Jason Fortuny, where one of his victims actually tracked him down and sued him. Accompanying all of this is a very interesting and lively discussion on slashdot about this whole affair which people might find interesting.
Wikipedia Defines an Internet Troll as, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum or chat room, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response[1] or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.
The Encyclopedia Dramatica Defines a Troll as the term derives from "trolling", a style of fishing which involves trailing bait through a likely spot hoping for a bite. As a verb, "to troll" is probably a corruption of "trawl." Troll is fine as a verb since trawling for comments and flames is innate troll behavior. A "Troll" is a mythical monster that lives under a bridge and surprises people who try and cross the bridge with some bizarre puzzle or challenge that they must complete before crossing. It has been suggested that people who lurk in groups and suddenly enter discussions with unwanted and provocative contributions inspire the same type of fear in law-abiding netizens. More rational people know that Trolls are, in fact, monsters who live under a bridge, probably in Utah, who flocked to the information superhighway after real superhighways were declared obsolete by Al Gore. Bad things happen when trolls meet IRL.
All of these definitions for the word troll are actually leading up to something. There was a very interesting article in this weekend's NYTimes magazine about Internet Trolls, malicious mischief they cause. There was even an update on the troll profiled in the article, Jason Fortuny, where one of his victims actually tracked him down and sued him. Accompanying all of this is a very interesting and lively discussion on slashdot about this whole affair which people might find interesting.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
The Antikythera Mechanism
The Antikythera Mechanism is hailed by many archeologist as one of the most important finds ever discovered. It was discovered in 1900 off the coast of the island of Antikythera between the islands of and mainland Greece. The mechanism itself is the earliest computing device ever discovered, and has been accurately dated to 150BC - 100 BC.
Over many years of study the basic design, and purpose of the machine has been slowly gleaned from the various fragments that have been recovered and studied. The device itself is meant to model astronomical phenomena, and it does so to very accurate degree.
For more information about the device you can read the NYTimes article on it.
And for very detailed information there is the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project.
And there is the wikipedia article also.
And for the latest research there is a published piece in the journal Nature.
Over many years of study the basic design, and purpose of the machine has been slowly gleaned from the various fragments that have been recovered and studied. The device itself is meant to model astronomical phenomena, and it does so to very accurate degree.
For more information about the device you can read the NYTimes article on it.
And for very detailed information there is the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project.
And there is the wikipedia article also.
And for the latest research there is a published piece in the journal Nature.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
CAPTCHAs Cracked by Spammers
Everyone knows those ubiquitous, squiggled, words in the text boxes at the bottom of signin/sign-up pages. Those squiggled little words, that can be very hard to read, are called CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart). And CAPTCHA are for the moment still a vital security device used by companies in helping to secure our data. The purpose of the CAPTCHA itself is to authenticate someone as a human in order to not allow a computer program, most often called a Bot, to get past the security of the signin page
The general plan for a spammer would be to use a computer program to automate the process of signing up for thousands upon thousands of email accounts. Then to use those accounts to send out spam, with 99% of spam being scams of one sort or another.
What CAPTCHAs accomplish is to provide a very effective blocking mechanize against bots from setting up those spam accounts in the first place. One of the toughest problems still left to solve for computer science is that of image recognition for computer programs, and a CAPTCHA will capitalize on that because only a human will be able to read the text.
All of this is leading into a very interesting article in Computer World describing the downfall of the CATPCHA due to advances in computer algorithms utilized by spammers.
"How CAPTCHA got trashed" by
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;489635775 - Interesting Link - Blog About this in morning.
The general plan for a spammer would be to use a computer program to automate the process of signing up for thousands upon thousands of email accounts. Then to use those accounts to send out spam, with 99% of spam being scams of one sort or another.
What CAPTCHAs accomplish is to provide a very effective blocking mechanize against bots from setting up those spam accounts in the first place. One of the toughest problems still left to solve for computer science is that of image recognition for computer programs, and a CAPTCHA will capitalize on that because only a human will be able to read the text.
All of this is leading into a very interesting article in Computer World describing the downfall of the CATPCHA due to advances in computer algorithms utilized by spammers.
"How CAPTCHA got trashed" by
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;489635775 - Interesting Link - Blog About this in morning.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
ALA Gaming Grant
Well who would have thought that just randomly going to the ALA's homepage would result in really awesome news of the gaming variety. But there it is. The Verizon Foundation has given the ALA $1 million dollar grant to study how gaming can be used to improve problem-solving and literacy skills.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Students And Text Books
Tuition has always been the biggest single bill that has to be paid at college. But the other largest bill is often not seem until the first week of school when the student stops at the school book store is all the text books. A single semester's worth of text books can run anywhere from 400 - 600 dollars.
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education highlights the problem. But upon reading the article I noticed a lack of a response for the chief reason that students pirate text books in the first place. That being the excessive cost vs. that actual use that most students get from their text books in your average 4 month college semester.
There is a website which "is a registry of textbooks (and related materials) which are open — that is free for anyone to use, reuse and redistribute. It is run by the Open Knowledge Foundation."
There are some schools that are doing things a bit unconventionally. Some sort of new business model like this is sure to be the future, with many schools now offering extensive material online
A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education highlights the problem. But upon reading the article I noticed a lack of a response for the chief reason that students pirate text books in the first place. That being the excessive cost vs. that actual use that most students get from their text books in your average 4 month college semester.
There is a website which "is a registry of textbooks (and related materials) which are open — that is free for anyone to use, reuse and redistribute. It is run by the Open Knowledge Foundation."
There are some schools that are doing things a bit unconventionally. Some sort of new business model like this is sure to be the future, with many schools now offering extensive material online
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Start of the Tech Librarian Advice Column
This is the first post of what I hope will be a very active blog to help the students with questions about libraries, technology, and information. I'll mostly be focusing this to help the students are Briarcliffe College, but I do not want to just limit this blog to only one school. So if you have a question please feel free to email or comment your question.
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