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The Subspace Cafe is a semi-regular publication about recent (or not-so-recent) developments in the world of Star Trek and other science fiction-related issues. Check back often for reviews and commentary, musings about (fictional) politics and ethics, rants about inconsistency and idiocy, or any other sort of soapbox material! Yes, it's another blog.
Category: I Need to Vent!
Published March 31, 2008
Maybe I just don't quite "get" the concept of some pranks on April Fools Day. But I'm going to be a crotchety bastard and announce my intention to avoid reading any news from any sources that I wouldn't imagine being published by an office full of cubicle-bound, button-down-shirt-and-tie-wearing journalists. Because it seems like for any other site, there's a 75% chance that their major articles of the day are made up. (Along with 53.2% of all statistics, but that's beside the point right now.)
Don't get me wrong; I think that it's great to pull pranks on April the First. I've done a few myself. But I think that there's a line that's been crossed by the general Internet over the past few years, with the tendency of various groups to come up with clever, headline-grabbing publicity stunts. (And in retrospect, the prank that the admins of the SCN pulled in '04 was probably in bad taste...)
Consider what news is published via the Internet in a semi-static medium; people can happen by at any time and read the material. But then they leave the site, move on, potentially believing everything they've read. Unless the reader takes the time to go back and check every page they've read later in the day to see if it was a prank or not, how can you be sure what is real?
What makes it worse is that, even though it's still mid-evening on March 31 where I live, some people seem to have already begun their "festivities" since the GMT/UTC clock ticked over a little while ago. That really skews with the sense of time and which day said festivities are supposed to be "for." I just don't know which news sources to trust for the next 36 hours or so... and so, I'm going to flip the bird to all those well-meaning but misguided pranksters and only read sites like CNN and the New York Times until this all blows over.
*sigh*
Category: Random Musings
Published March 23, 2008
...And I think they want their colors back.
It's a beautiful thing when two or three geeks can get together and do something crazy with technology "just because we can." In this case, my roommates and I all share an obsession for Apple technology. Some people buy artwork or unique furniture as conversation pieces for their living rooms; we've set up our very own turn-of-the-millennium Internet café! (From left to right: a Bondi Blue, a Flower Power, and a Strawberry iMac.) All three of these machines are fully functional and up-to-date, and connected to the Internet, to boot.
For my next trick, I'm thinking of taking an old SE/30 with System 7.5.3, hook up a SCSI-to-Ethernet adapter, and cruise the Internet in glorious 9-inch monochrome. (Laugh, do you? I'm serious!)
Category: Random Musings
Published March 14, 2008
One of the perks of working in a field that you're passionate about is the ability to justify getting all sorts of new toys as something that you "need" for your job. There's a new tablet released? Ooh, I need that. Cheap hard drives? Where do I sign? Cool new software? PayPal is my friend. (The drawback, of course, being the payment for said toys.) I guess the best word to describe me would be dilettante — in the non-derogatory context, of course!
As a teacher of many things computer-related, I've started to branch out more into the realm of content creation. In the past few months, I've been slowly journeying into the realm of prosumer digital photography. At first I just wanted to learn how to use a fancier program for organizing the occasional photos that I'd snap (again, mainly because the program piqued my interest). But as I started to learn more about how to edit and adjust photos, I realized how crummy the photos I was taking actually were. So of course, I had to get a better camera.
So far, I'm still learning a lot about the basics of manual control of the aperture, the shutter speed, and the ISO rating. But I can already tell the difference with some of the pictures, compared to the previous (very decent) camera I've been using. Anyway, I figured I might as well get off my proverbial rear end and publish some content to this website again, so why not do a few snaps from this evening's low-light image exercise?
Category: Just a Thought
Published December 5, 2007
I just finished watching the latest Atlantis episode, "Miller's Crossing," and I can't help but wonder about the writers' thoughts as they set up the story's plot. For those who missed it, McKay's sister Jeannie gets kidnapped by some thugs who have been spying on the family, including monitoring her e-mail via a trojan horse on the family laptop. They decide to take her after McKay asks for her help in solving a problem with the reprogramming of the Replicators.
Now think about that for a minute. McKay has been regularly sending e-mail from the Pegasus Galaxy to his civilian sister (who, granted, knows all about the program). E-mail about super-secret projects that require the highest security clearance in the world. He's sending that e-mail to her home laptop. And the latest e-mail he sends contains the complete Replicator source code.
Sure, Rodney deserves a lot of blame for getting his sister into the whole mess in the first place. But they were both begging for trouble by communicating the way they were. Who the hell set them up with their communications, FEMA? Isn't the government supposed to maintain full control over any laptop that has access to classified information? Or was Rodney just sending his messages to her Hotmail address?
(I wonder if it's any coincidence that the Stargate franchise seems to have a cozy product placement deal with Dell? As McKay himself once observed, they probably should have used a Mac.
)
Category: Miscellaneous
Published November 7, 2007
If you've ever played any games from the Civilization series, you're probably familiar with some of the humorous quotes that are thrown in when you're negotiating with the various other world leaders. But even so, you occasionally find some of the most unexpected comments. It's especially funny when you get certain random combinations; the third one especially is particularly hilarious. It's the kind of humor that you have to wonder whether it's deliberate, or random.
Who knew that Mansa Musa spoke with a Brooklyn accent?
Category: I Need to Vent!
Published November 1, 2007
I've been a Mac user for pretty much my entire life. I have never owned or maintained a Windows PC (I barely know how to navigate one, though I can figure out the basics easily enough), and generally despise most things related to Microsoft. Yet in a cruel irony, I've become something of the de facto "expert" on running Windows on the Mac. Go figure.
Since I do a lot of maintenance on many of the machines at work, including software updates, it fell to me to do the distasteful job of installing Windows on several units. Both Boot Camp and Parallels. So I've become distressingly familiar with the requirements and process for installing and setting up Windows.
As a wise Russian once said, I can only conclude that I'm paying off karma at a vastly accelerated rate.
So I'm just going to take a moment to vent about a couple of absolutely charming "features" that I've encountered when installing Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 2), from the perspective of someone who's used to managing the Mac.
First, that wonderful feature known as activation. I can certainly understand the need for anti-piracy measures, considering how frequently people all over the world choose to make unauthorized copies of the system. That being said, could it be humanly possible to create an activation system that's not more annoying than it already is? When the serial number gets rejected, they give you a simple 54-digit code (yes, 54 digits!) to verify that you really don't have a pirated copy of Windows. Then you have to manually call that code in. And these days, you don't even get to talk to a human being while you're doing that; it's entirely automated. So why the frell can't it be automated on the computer instead of over the phone? Sigh.
So once Windows has been activated, it's time to make sure the system is up to date. Still, the process is ridiculously tedious, even if you choose the "Express" option. Before you even run the updates, you have to update the updater. That's a really reassuring prospect, that there are problems with the update program itself!
So once you run the updater (and reboot), you download the next batch of updates, usually three or four (depending on the system). Okay, not so bad. Then reboot again. Run updates. ...Wha—?! There are now 88 more updates? Okay, granted, SP2 is over three years old, so it's accumulated a fair number of updates. But has Microsoft ever heard of the concept of a combo update? Jeez! Put all the damn patches into a single package for quicker downloading and installation!
And finally comes my favorite error. During the install process, Windows prompts you to install Internet Explorer 7. Fair enough; it's comparatively a worthwhile update next to IE6. So you install the IE7 update, and the various patches continue in the background. Until you get a message that the security updates for IE6 have failed. Well gee, I wonder why?
Fortunately, there's one good thing to come out of this whole debacle. It makes me all the happier to come home to my beloved iMac!
Category: Random Musings
Published October 27, 2007
Every child knows about Santa Claus, and how he and his elves work tirelessly to bring presents to all the good little boys and girls of the world; how Santa and his reindeer magically fly around the world to deliver said presents, visiting every house in a single night. It's a great, comforting tale for a child.
But no one ever thinks of Santa and his elves. Just how many hours do they have to work to get all the gifts made up just right? How feverishly does Santa have to rush around to make sure that each child gets exactly the right presents, with no late or misdirected deliveries? What kind of overtime might they get paid for?
Perhaps more importantly, do the elves get presents of their own? When they're done their job, and they get back home, do they slump into bed, exhausted, or do they gleefully unwrap their own gifts?
Right now, I think I feel a lot like one of Santa's elves. About twenty-four hours ago, I was frantically running around, making sure that all the toys were being set up properly so the exuberant boys and girls could get a chance to play with all the shiny new gadgets. Then I got maybe six hours of sleep (too little for my internal sleep clock) before heading back to work to deliver those wonderful toys.
Was it worth it? Absolutely! I had lots of fun, but I'm also completely bushed. It's already past midnight, and I sit here with a shiny blue progress bar on my iMac's screen. But I won't be getting much sleep tonight. Because now, it's my turn to play.
Category: Random Musings
Published October 25, 2007
It may be a cliché, but it's also very true. Doctors always make the worst patients. But that principle doesn't just apply to medicine; it's also applicable any time an expert in a field needs assistance from another expert.
Take, for example, technical support. It's not the primary definition of my job, but it's a big part of what I do. Every day, I field questions on a ridiculous variety of subjects, from the mind-numbingly mundane (my iPod's screen is frozen) to the delightfully obscure (I can't reinstall the operating system because it won't recognize the hard drive as a valid install destination, even though it sees the hard drive just fine). It's my job to make sure that I think of all the possible causes of a problem, any potential consequences for changing certain settings.
So naturally, when I encounter a problem with my own equipment, I've already got a vast repertoire of experience to draw on for solving the issue. Most of the time, that's quite sufficient to solve the problem. But every once in a while, there's a real puzzler. I'll pull out every trick I can think of, try different solutions... and usually forget an obvious alternative answer to the problem.
An answer like, say, plugging the damn wireless router into my ethernet port instead of trying to administer it wirelessly. In my defense, administering a router wirelessly is treated as perfectly acceptable where I come from, because of the tools that we use. But I came to take it for granted, and so completely forgot about it when the router froze up and needed a firmware update that refused to be installed wirelessly.
Oh well. Lesson learned, I hope!
Category: Miscellaneous
Published October 11, 2007
The thing I hate most about moving is how it takes time to get certain utilities activated a your new residence. Certain important utilities. Like Internet access.
I don't know how I'd be coping without my wonderful iPhone to help me get a fix... Although the small screen is still a bit hard to read over long periods of time (read: several hours). Hopefully things will be up and running again in a few days.
Category: Random Musings
Published October 3, 2007
It's a wonderful feeling when you can do something that no one else around you can do. And when you can combine that feeling with the ability to control dozens of computers at once, the sense of power is darn near addicting.
So there I was, running between tables this evening, cackling like a mad scientist. Because several weeks of research and experimentation with Apple Remote Desktop had paid off, and I was conducting thirty-some computers from a single screen and keyboard.
Sometimes initiative and enthusiasm don't pay off in dollars (not that I don't deserve more compensation, of course... Who doesn't?). Sometimes it's just the knowledge that you've taught yourself a complex new task, and you're saving yourself lots of time with your accomplishments.
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