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Consensual Hallucination : The Last Word On Nothing
When William Gibson coined the term cyberspace in 1984 in the book Neuromancer, he described it as “a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators in every nation.”
Decades later, Gibson declared that cyberspace was everting. Which is to say, entering the next phase of its evolution by creeping out of the virtual boundaries that once defined it and into what we consider “real life.” Sure enough, about 5 minutes later, the world proved him right, again, and the Internet of Things began to erode the distinction between the virtual and the real. -
Objology: One of the Best Bits of Programming Advice I ever Got
One of the Best Bits of Programming Advice I ever Got
Years ago (early 1992), I attached myself to this crazy skunkworks project that was using this weird language called Smalltalk. "Object Oriented" was in its infancy as a "hot" item. High paid consultants. Lots of people laying claim to what this new object religion was all about. This was 5 years before Alan Kay would make the statement "I invented the term 'Object Oriented Programming' and this {Java and C++} is not what I had in mind."
Shortly after hooking up with this whacky group with the whacky language, still confused about what the difference was between an instance variable, a class variable, and a class instance variable, I found myself in a training course taught by Russ Pencin, of ParcPlace. Russ would say something that I didn't really appreciate at the time. Despite not understanding the point behind this sage advice, I endeavored to follow it. It would take years of experience and exposure to appreciate it's value. The advice?
Don't make objects that end with 'er'. -
A deep dive into Windows 8 Developer Preview - Computerworld
omputerworld - After spending several days with the Developer Preview of Windows 8 on a PC, it's clear that Microsoft's new operating system -- which offers two separate interfaces, Metro and Desktop -- is a transitional one between traditional computers and mobile devices. All of Microsoft's energy and creativity has been devoted to the new Metro interface; there's very little new of note for the old-fashioned Desktop.
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OmnesViae: Tabula Peutingeriana - Itinerarium Romanum
Salve! Do you have trouble finding your way from Brindisium to Antium or planning a vacation at your villa in the Appenines because no one produces an online map with directions in good Latin these days? Well, be of good cheer, friend, OmnesViae has what you need. [more inside]posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:56 AM - 17 comments
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BBC News - Virtual monkeys write Shakespeare
A few million virtual monkeys are close to re-creating the complete works of Shakespeare by randomly mashing keys on virtual typewriters.
A running total of how well they are doing shows that the re-creation is 99.990% complete.
The first single work to be completed was the poem A Lover's Complaint. -
How Doctor Who Became My Religion | Cracked.com
Recently, my son started watching Doctor Who on Netflix and after a few months of hearing about time vortexes and sonic screwdrivers, I decided to check it out for myself. For those who don't know: Doctor Who is a British program that has been running almost continually since its 1963 debut. It involves a 900-year-old Time Lord from the destroyed planet of Gallifrey who travels through time and space inside the TARDIS -- a sentient spacecraft shaped like an old UK police call box. He also has the ability to regenerate, taking on new forms and new personalities which also has conveniently allowed for new actors to assume the role over the last fifty years.
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From the man who discovered Stuxnet, dire warnings one year later - CSMonitor.com
One year ago a malicious software program called Stuxnet exploded onto the world stage as the first publicly confirmed cyber superweapon – a digital guided missile that could emerge from cyber space to destroy a physical target in the real world.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
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