Archive: November 28, 2010

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Cryptonomicon

Sunday,  11/28/10  07:33 PM

Last night I finished Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson.  Wow!  I'm pretty sure it has moved up to second on my all time list, behind the amazing Godel, Escher, Bach, displacing William Gibson's Neuromancer which was my previous #2.  What a *great* book!

Funny, serious, entertaining, and thought-provoking, it is full of knowledge about cryptography, World War II, the Philippines, 1990s business, and features amazing characters, fully drawn.  I am so sad that it's over, but so excited to read the as-yes-to-be-released two next members of this "series".

I think my main reaction is awe.  To take so many subjects and subplots and weave them together so seamlessly is awesome.  And the thought of lighting the Qwghlmian "Galvanick Lucifer" brings a huge smile to my face :)

 

Sunday,  11/28/10  10:21 PM

Wrapping up a  l o n g  weekend, yay!  I can't remember the last time I didn't have some urgent deadline which was hovering over me for Thanksgiving weekend, I give thanks for that!  Was able to ride (somewhat, despite the cold!), and eat, and enjoy my family, and watch football, and even blog a little.  And I got the Christmas lights up, always important!

Onward into the week; I am making my annual post-Thanksgiving pilgrimage to Chicago for the RSNA conference, and then heading on to New York and New Jersey for meetings with customers.  On the road again...  but in the meantime, a filter pass:

Thanksgiving in 1910, compared to 1810 ... and to 2010.  "The world has changed more in the last 100 years than in any 1,000 that have gone before."  I think this statement is generally true, and can be made at any time; human progress is logarithmic.  What will Thanksgiving in 2110 be like?  The mind boggles... 

So... in 2010, does anyone ever print photos?  No.  So it follows that rather than continuing to add resolution, camera manufacturers should be adding online interfaces.  I have a 12Mp Fuji camera, I love it, but I mostly use it to take 3Mp photos, because they're going onto my Facebook or blog or website or being emailed...  the one feature I'd love to have is WiFi or cell connectivity, with the ability to email or post directly to FB or my blog.  I often end up taking pictures with my Pre phone's inferior camera just because it is connected.  Add point-and-shoot cameras to the list of devices which will be obsoleted by smartphones. 

Related: AirPrint, a technology which enables things to be printed by sending email.  Perfect for smartphones and tablets ... and perfect for connected cameras :) 

The periodic table ... of stuff.  I love it. 

Interesting: Eric Raymond ends up with an Android G-2 (which doesn't have a keyboard), and likes it better than a G-1 (which does).  I am ... sigh ... somewhat seriously considering an iPhone, assuming it shows up on Verizon, and continue to worry about not having a physical keyboard.  But if Eric can get used to it, maybe I can too? 

I checked out The Feed, an RSS reader for the iPad.  Works great.  I must say I prefer to scan headlines visually rather than scrolling through items, it's faster.  Granted scrolling is fast on the iPad, but nothing is faster than visual scanning.  I must say I am still mystified by how few people use RSS, it is so cool.  I guess the "activation energy" to setup and maintain subscriptions is too high?  Or perhaps using yet-another-tool to get news is disorienting. 

ZooBorn of the weekend: a rare pygmy hippo

And so I'm off - not sure what my blogging schedule will be, but please stay tuned.  And have a great week!

 

 
 

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