« December 2002 | Main | February 2003 »
January 31, 2003
RPGs
I love to play computer role-playing games (RPGs). The last RPG I played was Suikoden III. I'm always looking forward to upcoming interesting RPGs. One such RPG is Lionhead Studio's Project Ego. Project Ego is unique because the main character transforms with time and environment. Keep your character out in the sun too long, and he tans. Battle wounds heal, but leave scars. Feed your character too much, and he'll become obese. With time, the character will age, and ultimately, die. The screenshots look quite impressive as well.
Posted by Kathy at 05:53 PM | Permalink
January 27, 2003
Unfortunate Ruling for Woman in Israel
An Israeli woman should not vote against her husband's will, according to a rabbinical court in the port city of Haifa. Believe it or not, this article was posted in the "Funny" news section of Yahoo!. I find the rabbis' quote "the head of any party would be happy to lose her vote in the name of marital bliss" quite disturbing. This will set a poor precedent.
Posted by Kathy at 05:55 PM | Permalink
January 20, 2003
Virginia Celebrated Lee-Jackson Day?
For Americans at least, today is a day of reflection. We ponder Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words and think about what has changed for the better in terms of racial equality. Things are better today than say, 40 years ago, but racism is obviously still alive. In order to successfully fight racism, education needs to begin at home. Parents should teach their kids the importance of acceptance. I've lost track of how many times I've been picked on in elementary school just because I look different.
Can you believe the state of Virginia celebrated Lee-Jackson Day on the same day as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? I say "celebrated" because it was only two years ago when the state voted to move Lee-Jackson Day to three days before Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As far as I know, no other state officially celebrates Lee-Jackson Day. Also, Virginia started celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. day in 1984. The following year, Lee-Jackson Day celebration started. Am I the only person who thinks there's something more to Lee-Jackson Day than it seems?
Posted by Kathy at 05:59 PM | Permalink
January 14, 2003
Get Money From Major CD Distributors
You can now be part of the settlement group for a lawsuit against some major CD distributors such as Capitol Records, Time Warner, and BMG music, as well as CD retailers such as Tower Records. The allegation is that the distributors/retailers were conspiring to illegally raise the prices of prerecorded Music Products by implementing Minimum Advertised Price policies, in violation of State and Federal laws. You qualify as a member of the settlement group if you've purchased compact discs, cassettes and vinyl albums, from one or more retailers during the period January 1, 1995, through December 22, 2000. Read about your rights here.
On a lighter note, would you believe Boromir and Faramir from Lord of the Rings trilogy have a half-brother, Jar-Jaromir? Me neither, until I saw this. Even though this is just a joke, I was amused that someone actually took the time to think this up and write a story about it. What's next, Jar-Jar in Matrix 2 as Neo's long-lost brother?
Posted by Kathy at 06:01 PM | Permalink
January 11, 2003
Mars Rovers Set to Launch
Exciting news: NASA engineers and scientists are about to pick a landing site for the two Mars exploration rovers that are going to probably be launched at the end of May and June. The site choices have been narrowed down to four, and if launched on schedule, the twin rovers are expected to both separately land on Martian surface sometime in January of 2004. Very cool.
This is so out-there that I just had to post it: The time travel fund. You send the fund $10, and with compound interest, your $10 becomes almost $40 billion in 500 years. The purpose of this fund is so that someone from the future can be paid to retrieve you from your present, and bring you to their present (your future). I thought it was an amusing idea. People are buying into the cryonic suspension solution. Is this idea that weird compared to cryonics? Read it and see for yourself.
Posted by Kathy at 06:04 PM | Permalink
January 09, 2003
No Outward Sign, Bill Neugent
I have just finished reading Bill's debut novel, and I am quite impressed with the quality of his writing. Bill is a very promising writer who has the rare ability to keep the reader engaged throughout the entire story.
"No Outward Sign" is a fictitious technical novel set in the modern-day timeframe. The location is in the Washington, D.C. area. Our protagonist, Brent Singleton, is a grayhat computer hacker. This first person narrative follows Brent Singleton as he unravels events that, if left unchecked, would lead to mass disruption of the United States computer infrastructure. Along the way, Brent also unmasks other sinister plots, which I will not detail here. Read the book. It will be well worth your time.
Bill is a vivid writer. He is adept at painting the imagery of each scene in the story. Because of this, the characters are very three-dimensional. Whenever I start reading a novel, I wonder to myself the following questions: "Is this book going to be a page turner? Is this book going to be memorable? Is this book going to inspire me to want to write a book of my own?" I'm happy to report that "No Outward Sign" has me answering "yes" to all of the questions above.
Good technical fiction challenges the reader to think about the events that occur in the story while maintaining plausibility of the events. "No Outward Sign" does feature some really elite hackers. However, the tactics written about here are quite possible. I think this is accomplished because Bill is an actual computer security engineer. This is what really makes "No Outward Sign" unique. Compared to works like Vernor Vinge's "True Names" and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game", I was left wondering just how the attacks there could have been implemented. This is because Vinge and Card, while impressive writers, do not have the technical perspective Bill possesses.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is a computer security professional, or is even mildly interested in computer security. For these people, this book will be a pleasurable read. I also recommend this book for people who are skeptics about the importance of security infrastructure implementation. For them, this book will serve as an eye opener.
Posted by Kathy at 10:58 PM | Permalink
No Outward Sign and Holy Fire
I recently finished reading two books: Bill Neugent's No Outward Sign, and Bruce Sterling's Holy Fire.
Take the time to read Bill's book. I enjoyed it immensely, and am definitely looking forward to reading Bill's future works. There's a review as well.
Posted by Kathy at 06:08 PM | Permalink
January 08, 2003
Wintery Activities
Fun facts for today:
Have you heard of performance ice sculpting? Ask the performance ice sculpting group Fear No Ice what they are, and the answer will be along the lines of "Michelangelo meets Blue Man Group - with chainsaws". Wielding chainsaws, the performers blast through ice in about 15 minutes to create beautiful sculptures while rock musics blares in the background.
The novelty of new sports never cease to catch my interest. Recently, I became aware of skijoring. What is skijoring? Well, it's a combination of cross-country skiing with mushing. Yes, dogs pull you while you're skiing. Images of me flopping around in the snow while I try to get the dogs to stop running cross my mind. Yet, I think it may be fun to have the dogs help me along with skiing. If you want to give it a shot, there are several places, such as Telemark Inn, Voyageur and Klondike Ventures, and Trailsview Treks, that cater to skijorers.
Posted by Kathy at 08:00 PM | Permalink