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Archive: March, 2007
Norman Spinrad: Bad education is dooming science fiction
Date: March 21st, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend, Science Fiction, Creative Writing, Books, Fantasy
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In a recent Asimov's magazine column, science fiction author, editor,
and former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of
America, Norman Spinrad, asserts that "hard" science fiction is in a
precipitous decline and here's why:

"In a society where the distinction between astronomy and astrology is
probably blurry in more minds than not...where very few viewers see
anything wrong in spacecraft executing banking turns in a vacuum...and
where the teaching of science in primary and secondary schools is
itself in steep decline, surely the potential readership for hard
science fiction must be dwindling even faster than that for science
fiction in general."

Spinrad, whom I know only by reputation, wants to connect the death of
a (never that popular) subgenre to the decline of contemporary
education. Except that the decline of contemporary education is a
myth. Despite the wildly misinterpreted statistics you hear on the
news, modern education-even American public education-is doing quite
well, thank you. The supposed harrowing trends of public school
decline, and of American education falling behind other industrialized
nations, is a simple product of lazy analysis.

America has universal education, meaning that we don't track out low
performers to vocational schools, and we don't reserve education to
particular income levels, so the impoverished and disinclined drag
down the average. (That's not to say all poor students are bad
students, just the as a whole, poor students perform worse than not-
poor students.) If you compare apples to apples-engaged, middle-class
students with strong family backgrounds-the American public education
system performs as well or better than public or private schools
anywhere in the world, and probably produces more potential achievers
(and science fiction consumers) simply by virtue of giving every child
a shot, regardless of presumed potential.

What Spinrad glosses over-though does mention-is that hard SF is found
almost exclusively in prose fiction, and that all prose fiction
consumption is in decline. TV, movies and most notably the Internet
have become more diverse, more available, and thus more competitive
against books. That trend, at least, is real-though whether this is a
bad thing is a matter of debate. What's happening here is simple
competitive economics: When a whole industry group is threatened by
competition, the low-performing niches of that industry are culled,
either by the market itself, or by industry leaders doubling down on
high performers at expense of the fringe.

Fantasy, being more intellectually accessible than science fiction
(especially "hard" SF), is sucking up all the space at the speculative
fiction publishers for exactly this reason. The Harry Potter franchise
and the Lord of the Rings films certainly helped accelerate the trend,
but it was happening anyway. Science fiction authors aren't
necessarily taking this lying down-thus the New Comprehensible SF
movement-but the real threat isn't to SF, but to prose SF. Science
fiction has its own TV channel, dozens of shows on the air with more
to come, dominates the movie box office, helped invent the video game
medium in which it is a star, and still manages to get thousands of
books published every year. Science fiction is healthy, even if prose
hard science fiction is not.

I have plenty of issues with contemporary education and with the SF
publishing industry, but let's not conflate those issues simply
because we don't like the direction science fiction is evolving. For a
crowd obsessed with realizing the future, we should be wiser than
that.

Cracking open game consoles, iPods, hard drives, and more
Date: March 21st, 2007
Blogger: Bill Detwiler
Category: Geekend, Gaming, Gadgets
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 4
Whether they are studying the latest software or hardware, I think
it's a safe assumption that IT professionals possess a keen interest
in learning how things work. Often, the examination involves a simple
installation and hands-on testing, but what happens when you want to
dig a little deeper? Before you break out the screwdrivers and pliers,
let us do the dirty work. We're happy to put our budget and
disassembly skills on the line. The following galleries give you a
glimpse at the inner workings of game consoles, iPods, hard drives,
and more.

Cracking open the Nintendo Wii Remote
Much has been written, speculated, and conjectured about the Nintendo
Wii Remote. As a follow-up to our disassembly of the Wii, we decided
to crack open the Wii Remote to see for ourselves.

Cracking open the Nintendo Wii
After taking it for a test drive, we began the painstaking and
somewhat frustrating disassembly process. Come along as we go inside
the Wii and see the hardware that makes Nintendo's console tick.

Cracking open the Sony PlayStation 3
Sony's latest game console was surprisingly easy to disassemble. Come
along as we go inside the PS3 and see the hardware that makes Sony's
$599 console tick.

Crack open the Xbox 360
Crack open the Xbox 360 and see the hardware that runs Microsoft's
next-generation console.

Cracking open Sony's PlayStation 2 (slim case)
Released in 2000, the PlayStation 2 (PS2) was Sony's second game
console. Many consider the PS2 to be the most successful game console
to date. See what's inside the redesigned, slimline PS2.

Cracking open the Nintendo GameCube
Released in 2001, the GameCube was Nintendo's fourth video game
console and a significant step forward. With the GameCube, Nintendo
moved away from cartridge-based games to 1.5-GB 8-cm disks-similar to
miniDVD.

Xbox anatomy
Crack open the Xbox's black shell and see the motherboard, hard drive,
and CPU that run Microsoft's first game console.

iPod anatomy
This iPod anatomy photo gallery gives you an inside look at the
hardware that makes the Apple iPod Mini, iPod Shuffle, and iPod Photo
sing.

Anatomy of a failed hard drive
This disk ran everything from Windows 2K to Red Hat Linux. Following
the failure of a well-used hard disk, we decided to dissect the drive.

Anatomy of a failed CD-ROM drive
Grab a sideline seat for this autopsy of a broken 40x Compaq CD-ROM
drive.

Have a specific piece of hardware you would like to see us crack open?
Let me know. Click the hyperlink on my name to access my TechRepublic
profile page. Then, contact me via the "Send private message" link.

Subscribe to TechRepublic's Photo Gallery Newsletter
This weekly newsletter gives you a direct link to the latest and most
popular photo and image galleries published on TechRepublic. Stay on
the cutting edge with software screenshots and photos of hardware, IT
news events, and even a look at tech's odd and unusual.Sign up for
Photo Galleries at TechRepublic.

Secret to cloaking devices, teleporters discovered-it's coffee!
Date: March 20th, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend, Star Trek, Gadgets
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 5
StarTrek.com has finally revealed the secret behind the Klingons'
cloaking device technology, as well as the Federation's vaunted
transporters-a good cup o' joe. You can buy a pair of thermo-sensitive
mugs that mimic these two iconic sci-fi effects whenever you fill them
with a sufficiently hot beverage. The Klingon Bird of Prey will
disappear, translating its caption into the English script of "Death
Before Dishonor." Meanwhile, the Transporter Mug will simply
dematerialize Kirk, Spock, and McCoy (who is probably none too keen on
the process) in reaction to your steaming dose of java. No word yet on
a Next Generation version that reacts exclusively to Earl Grey, or a
DS9 incarnation that's partial to raktajino.

Behold, a steampunk Death Star
Date: March 19th, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend, Star Trek, Star Wars, Science Fiction
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 5
Reason #4,752 why John Denardo's SFSignal is in a Lazarus-versus-
Lazarus deathmatch with John Scalzi's Whatever for the title of My
Favorite Blog: A Steampunk Death Star! To quote:

"This enormous Imperial space station, the size of a small moon or
asteroid, is in fact an immense analytic engine, a device capable of
making millions of calculations every day. Inside is kilometer after
kilometer of tubes and wheels, cranks and gears, all spinning and
clacking, spitting out an endless series of numbers for the Imperials
scientists to decipher."

So much self-referencing dorkulism compacted into so small a space, it
threatens to implode in upon itself, creating a quantum singularity of
geekiness from which no inside joke can escape. Sweet.

Can you endure 24-hour computer withdrawal?
Date: March 18th, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend, Holidays, Horror
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 4
From ShutdowDay.org: "It is obvious that people would find life
extremely difficult without computers, maybe even impossible. If they
disappeared for just one day, would we be able to cope? Shutdown your
computer on this day and find out! Can you survive for 24 hours
without your computer?" This is happening during the middle of March
Madness, so no, I can't do it. Anybody else less addicted (to hoops,
anyway)? Found via Neatorama.

Spam-A-Lot Grail-A-lot
Date: March 17th, 2007
Blogger: Rebecca Ward
Category: Geekend, Gaming, Fantasy
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I had to tell you all about two of my favorite things being brought
together - D&D and Monty Python! In this morning's email is a note
from Paizo, the publisher of Dungeon and Dragon magazines. They have
hidden 12 grails among the pages of their magazines and their
website. He who finds these grails, will get 5 - three sir - three
(actually one) entry into the contest. Prizes include Monty Python
DVDs, CDs, t-shirts, empty halves of coconuts, and a variety of
Spamalot gift items sold at the show on Broadway. Prize packs will be
given at random to fifty of the entrants.

While I know this reduces my chances of winning exponentially, I have
already found the first 7, so I have a distinct advantage over those
of you just reading this, and who don't have Dungeon and Dragon
sitting in their laps RIGHT NOW! (yeah obsessive-compulsive disorder!)

A Flash in the Dark...
Date: March 17th, 2007
Blogger: Bill Ward
Category: Geekend, Gadgets
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 2
For the first time in quite a few weeks, I actually had off from work
last weekend. Partially, that was because I've caught up, and
partially, it was because I had made a promise to the boys and other
leaders of the Boy Scout Troop that my son John is in that I would go
camping with them, and help to do a Historic Trails Hike through the
Yorktown Battlefield. Yes, I'm an Eagle Scout. Yes, John is working
for his Eagle Scout (and in full disclosure mode, he'll be presenting
his Eagle Scout Project proposal next Monday, 3/19). But that's not
what this post is about. Many of you camp, I'm sure, but ALL of you,
if you are truly geeky, do something much more basic... you use some
form of flashlight.

It's self evident why any self respecting geek has a flashlight; we
just have to crawl into our electronics, our boxes, our you name it
too much to not have need for one. Me, I'm partial to MagLites ever
since I was issued one while working in one of my former lifetimes as
a Radiological Control Officer for the Navy. Believe me, it's not as
glamorous as it sounds, crawling around in the bilge of a Nuclear
Submarine's reactor compartment, regardless of how Homer Simpson's
buddies show it. But I digress.

I'm on my third MiniMag; one unfortunately was lost forever during the
aforesaid work (I wonder if 10000 years from now, it will still work
if someone can find two AA batteries?). The second unfortunately had
a battery explode in it (a rarity, I know) which has flash welded the
end cap to the shank. Ah, but the third..... it fell into water,
exploded, and then sank into the swamp.... well, not really, but I
couldn't resist the Monty Python reference.

The third is one of my two standard flashlights when camping, and is
my standard flashlight, period, when I'm working on my computer (which
is back to where we started). I also camp with a MaxiMag, three D
Cells, as well. On this past camping trip, one of the other adults
had a crank powered LED light. Rated at 1 hour of operations for one
minute of cranking, he reported he really got about twenty minutes per
minute, and cranked it on and off all weekend; he'd be sitting around
talking just slowly charging it. When I got back from the trip,
Rebecca had researched LED Flashlights, and had found the kit shown
above for Maglites. It's $8.95 at Lowes locally, but you can get it
from ThinkGeek, too. Using the batteries that I used all weekend,
it's bright enough as a three LED flash to sear your retina for a few
seconds. And it includes a push button that acts as an overall kill
switch. Yes, you can and do still turn it off normally, as well, but
now you can turn it off while it's in Candle Mode. Oh, and it's still
supposed to be water proof. Battery life is supposed to go up to
about 96 hours continual usage on a fresh pair of Alkaline AA
batteries, versus about 4-6 hours with the regular halogen bulb,
though I would only count on about half that at best. That's a still
lot of searching for a lost jumper in a computer case, though. And it
still looks and feels exactly like it always did, still MiniMag
quality. The second picture above actually is a smart switch to turn
on or off the MagLite.

As yet another total aside, does anyone know the URL of the person
who a few years back made a Lightdagger out of a MagLite? I think he
was inspired by Yoda's lightsabers.

Rebecca also found a nifty little three AAA 6 LED flash. I'm not as
secure in battery life, and the individual LEDs aren't as bright, but
it's a brighter overall light. A bit thicker in the shank, larger in
the lens, but substantially shorter, it's a nice flash for holding
while wearing gloves. Doesn't do candlemode like a MagLite, though.

And then there are the tiny LED lights meant to be used on keychains
and such. While not particularly bright (similar to the wind up jobs,
they just don't put out huge amounts of light), they're useful for
small jobs or lightweight usage. I wouldn't trade one full time for
my MiniMag, but they have their uses.

Part of the initiative for why we suddenly are switching to LED
flashlights, though, is safety. Conventional flashlights are good for
about 2 hours worth of light before they are nearly unusable. Halogen
MagLites are good for between twice and three times that amount. But
LED flashlights are good for 12 hours and up (sometimes much up... this
kit of mine is potentially good for up to 96 hours). So if one of my
youthful charges becomes lost, but he has one of these lights, he's
much more likely to be spotted by rescuers during night searches. And
no, I don't need one for that reason for ME.... after all, I'm not lost,
my tent is just lost.

So, what flashlights do you use when you're working on your computer,
or out camping? Share, and maybe we can find the ultimate LED light!

Let your browser solve that Rubik's cube
Date: March 17th, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend, Hacks, Gadgets
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 8
Frustrated by your Rubik's Cube (or Sudokube, for that matter)? Don't
be, because this enterprising little Web applet can solve your Rubik's
Cube for you. All you have to do is translate your current cube layout
into the diagram, hit solve, and it will spit back turn-by-turn
directions for restoring the monocolor sides to your overly rotated
puzzle polyhedron. Is that cheating? Almost certainly, but then so is
using Google to answer all those trivia questions I ask, and that
never stopped anybody. Found via SFSignal.

Sudokube: Because brain-fun was getting too easy...
Date: March 16th, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend, Gadgets
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 4
Sudoku is hard, unless you're a math genius. Rubik's Cubes are hard,
unless you're a math genius. Clearly, the math genius demographic was
being underserved by the national brainfun hobby industry, until now.
Enter: Sudokube, the Sudoku Rubik's Cube. It's all the infuriation of
the world's most notorious puzzle-slash-paperweight, with the added
complexity of a New York Times-level number theory exercise. Found via
Forever Geek.

Attention Geekend fans-xkcd needs your help!
Date: March 16th, 2007
Blogger: Jay Garmon
Category: Geekend
0 comment(s) Email Save Print Digg This Recomend 2
As I learned this morning, the artists behind the oft-appearing-in-
this-blog comic xkcd got his laptop stolen while he was backing up his
files, so he's lost all the final versions of his comic since the new
year. It was a nice Fujitsu Lifebook P1510 tablet, and right now it's
circulating the seedy underworld of stolen goods. If anybody out there
knows a good method of tracking down his device-or simply exacting
revenge on those responsible-send those vibes along to the artist.

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