Geek Book You Should’t Miss: Anathem

By Jimmy Rogers
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Far be it for me to suggest anyone read anything offline, but if one were were to do so, I would definitely have to suggest Neal Stephenson’s newest creation: Anathem.

Just from the title it sounds imposing.  In a way it is, because it’s a tome of 900-plus pages.  That being said, if you’ve ever had any experience with Stephenson’s other novels, such as Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon, you know that he makes every page worth the time you take to read it.  I’ll be honest, when I was just over 250 pages into the book, I swore that I’d already had one book’s worth of story and it was still unraveling the central plot.

So what is Anathem about?  Well it’s something best described over a hundred pages or so, but to summarize, it is a speculative fiction novel that explores the potential future of a world where religion and science took on different cultural roles early in society.  For instance, where in our history the religions of the world were largely cloistered and science was discussed in an open forum, the Anathem world (called “Arbre”) placed scientists and philosophers in special monasteries called “maths” or “concents” while religious people took a more direct role in human affairs.  This is of course a gross abbreviation of Stephenson’s incredible alternate world, but hopefully you’ll take a chance and get the book.

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Will Star Trek fans fire all torpedos at the script writers?

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

The new Star Trek movie isn’t due for release until next year but there’s already nervousness and concern from fans that script writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are going to write a bad script and send the Star Trek universe in entirely the wrong direction.

Never mind the bitching from William Shatner – that’s just sour grapes in my opinion that he isn’t getting the starring role that he is used to.   But the pressure from fans and from the studio must be enormous.  I wouldn’t like to be in Orci and Kurtzman’s shoes for all the money in the world.

Wired has an interesting interview with both writers in which they talk about taking on the role of writing the script for the next Trek movie.    It’s well worth a read.

What do you think?   Are you looking forward to the next Trek movie?   Do you think JJ Abrams is the right man to be doing this one?   Or are you filled with fear, dread and foreboding about what is coming?    Are you ready to fire all torpedos at Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman come May 2009?

4 Long-Dead Celebrities Resurrected Via Typeface Art

Used to advertise movie posters included in the Sunday edition of the Brazilian Folha de S. Paulo newspaper, the following 4 illustrations of long-dead movie celebrities were made using only simple fonts. The result is, shall we say, rather surprising. I’ve included the first picture below, and if you want to see the other ones, just hit the more link.

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A Long Ride with Elevator Music

by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

The idea of a space elevator isn’t exactly a new one, but CNN just published an article speculating that it may happen within our lifetimes. Apparently this “new space race” is being measured in stories rather than miles–one hundred thousand of them. Hundreds of engineers from all over the world are meeting at a conference in November to brainstorm the problem.

How’s it coming? Well, they apparently have the right material, carbon nanotube, about 180 times stronger than steel cable. But presently the technology isn’t there to make it quite strong enough or long enough for that journey into space. However, some scientists are particularly optimistic. The Japanese think they’ll have an elevator under construction by 2030.

Of course there are a wide range of potential uses for such a thing if it ever exists. Disposing of nuclear waste, placing solar panels, transporting objects… or, of course, people. You may have heard that Charles Simonyi, the former Microsoft employee who oversaw the development of Word and Excel, is planning his second trip into space. His first trip last Spring, in which he orbited the Earth for 12 days, cost $20 million.

So here’s something to think about. If there were a space elevator, or any kind of technology that would make a short trip into space easier and more economical (if the cost were more like, say, a very pricey vacation rather than more money than you’ll probably ever see in your lifetime), is that a trip you’d want to take? If so, how much would you be willing to spend? I was never one of those kids who dreamed of being an astronaut… but I do admit that the science fiction geek in me would love an opportunity to see the stars up close, even if I wouldn’t be willing to break the bank for it.

Liquid-Filled USB Flash Drives

Marketing agency CNK Promotions just came out with a bunch of incredibly cool-looking promotional flash drives that promise to make you the center of attention pretty much everywhere you go. Just check these out, and tell me that you honestly wouldn’t like to have one hanging on your keychain.

Now if that’s not an amazing marketing idea, I really don’t know what is.

[Product Page]

We’re Back Up!

I’m sure most of you noticed, we’ve been down on and off for the past 3 days. 2 weeks ago, I decided to move GAS to Dreamhost’s new VPS hosting solution. This new service promised to allow a site to run on a fixed amount of protected memory and CPU time. [GAS] got moved on Friday evening, and since then, it’s been down about 50% of the time. We’re still working out the glitches with Dreamhost, and I hope this will be the last time I’ll need to post such a message.

Thank you for your patience. In the end, it will be all worth it.

Scripting Languages and the Web

By Sterling “Chip” Camden
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

When Tim Berners-Lee first proposed the “Mesh” (later renamed to the World Wide Web) to CERN back in 1989, the concept was much simpler than it has become today.  The problem Berners-Lee sought to solve was how to establish links between the massive number of related documents generated world-wide by CERN projects, especially the LHC.  So he focused primarily on hyperlinked text.  In a section of the proposal titled “Bells and Whistles”, we read:

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Dead German poet told to pay his television license

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

It seems that even being dead for over 200 years still doesn’t escape you from the curse of the German bureaucrats.

One of Germany’s most famous poets and playwrights, Friedrich Schiller, was sent two threatening letters by the GEZ (the television licensing agency).   They told him that he had to pay 17 Euros ($24) a month for the right to watch his television and listen to his radio otherwise they would begin legal action against him!    The letters were sent to the Friedrich Schiller Primary School in East Germany.

The second letter came despite the school’s headteacher sending the agency a letter informing them that “the addressee is no longer in a position to listen to the radio or watch television”.   He also enclosed Schiller’s resume listing his accomplishments such as writing the world famous “Ode To Joy” which was later put to music by Ludwig Van Beethoven.

The bureaucrats replied back saying Schiller would not have to pay if he could personally prove that he was “not in a position to watch television or listen to radio”

They finally got it into their heads that Schiller has been dead since 1805 and issued an apology.    Their excuse for the screw-up?   Yup, you guessed it – a “computer error”.    Amazing how bureaucrats fall back on that classic excuse of blaming everything on the computer!

So I guess that means the payment demands for Mr L Van Beethoven, Mr J S Bach and Mr W A Mozart are now in the post then?

ASK [GAS] : What was your first computer and how did it change your life?

by Casey Lynn
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

I was a child of the eighties, and the first computer that my parents bought was a Tandy CoCo, on which my mom taught me to type when I was seven. That computer also jumpstarted my love of videogames, since hours of playing Maniac Mansion revved me up to beg for a NES the very first time I saw an ad for one on television.

Though my family went through a slew of other computers as I grew up, including the Dell that went off to college with me, the one that I still think of as “my” first is the one that I picked out on my own, after said Dell crashed and burned–an iMac G4, shortly after the line was released. I’d previously been running a dual-partition of Windows and Linux and found the shiny new OSX to be preferable to both. Though I’ve since had to switch to a PC desktop for work, I still have that iMac. It’s sitting on the entertainment center in my living room, and its sole purpose in life is to store MP3s and play iTunes while hooked up to a rockin’ sound system. I’m sure that many computers wish for such dignified last days.

Do you remember your first computer? How did it change your life? Have you ever had one you loved too much to let go?


Church Leaders Draw Up Ten Blogging Commandments

By Mark O’Neill
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Church leaders are apparently so alarmed at the hate and vitriol coming from religious blogs that they have drawn up a list of ten “Blogging Commandments” to save their bloggers from damnation, sin and everlasting hellfire.

Obviously, when Moses was busy writing out his commandments, he didn’t factor in things like the internet, website trolls, IT people, spammers, right-wing Christian conservatives and George W Bush.  So being the modern technological 21st century, a re-write seems to be in order – “The 10 Comms – The Bloggers Edition”.   Hey, if George Lucas can go back and re-do Star Wars, why can’t we go back and fiddle around with the Ten Commandments?

You might think that being religious, “God Bloggers” are nice quiet calm peaceful folk.   But it seems to be the opposite.   American right-wing bloggers are supposed to be the most extreme in their postings and Christian blogs seem to attract a lot of hateful comments.

So the Evangelical Alliance has put forward the following Blogging Commandments to religious bloggers to get them to change their tune :

  1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity (oh yay)
  2. You shall not make an idol of your blog (amen)
  3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin (I’m talking to you Judas!)
  4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog (all that preaching is tiring!)
  5. Honor your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes (just make sure instead that their mistakes reach number one in the search results)
  6. You shall not murder someone else’s honor, reputation or feelings (you can just kick it around a bit..)
  7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind (how can you have sex in your head?  Is that a Catholic thing?)
  8. You shall not steal another person’s content (you shall instead use a blog scraper to steal it for you on your behalf)
  9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger (that’s what the police is for! dimwit!)
  10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s blog ranking. Be content with your own content (is it a sin to worship Google PageRank?)

Can you think of any more commandments that should be added for bloggers?

Thou shalt not upload – Times Online