52 Books in 52 Weeks, 2005: a review

It seems like a long time ago that I started this meme. I was four months late (the introductory entry was published on April 1st, 2005), and worried at the time that I wouldn’t make my goal (which, if you haven’t been paying attention, was 52 books in 52 39 weeks). I’m proud to say that I actually managed an impressive (to me) 64 books as of Friday the 30th.

The total number of pages digested was 21’418, although this is a misleading figure since the books varied wildly by size, print face, and type. Still, I’m hoping that next year, with the full 52 weeks, I can top these numbers easily.

Some of the books I read were simply new additions by authors I am familiar with and enjoy. The new George Carlin, for example, which fell flat on its face. Others were gambles, and I am delighted to say that I was taken by surprise in many cases. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was excellent, as was The Time Traveler’s Wife. A few, like David Bodanis’ Electric Universe or Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance were disappointments.

In the end, I’d say this meme was an overwhelmingly positive experience, and there’s no doubt that I will do it again in 2006.

§916 · December 31, 2005 · 2 comments · Tags:

A blast from the past

P.Z. Meyers has to think back further than I do, but it doesn’t make this meme any less painful.

Where did you graduate from and what year?

Joliet West, 2003.

Who was your significant other?

As of senior year, it was Allison. Still is.

Was your Prom a night to remember?

Well, it was a prom. It was my first and only dance in high school (after having repeatedly insisted that I would never attend a formal dance). Also, we had a band competition the next day.

What was your favorite song you danced to the night of Prom?

I don’t specifically remember any of the songs that were played except for Aerosmith’s “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” which I believe was the theme of the dance.

Do you own all 4 yearbooks?

Only one, which was given to me by mistake.

What was your favorite movie in high school?

Probably Die Hard.

What was your number 1 choice of college in high school?

I only had one college that I thought about or applied to: USF, because it’s close and free.

What radio station did you jam out to in high school?

Hated radio. Crappy sound quality, too many commercials, and boring playlists. I listened to CDs, either via an old portable player and a tape adapter, and later via a decent car stereo I got installed.

Were you involved in any organizations or clubs?

SAGE, the CCG-playing club, during the first two-ish years; then it sort of evaporated because no one liked playing Magic anymore. Otherwise, not really. I had a point of not wasting any time on clubs or organizations: gave me more time to read and mess around with computers at home.

What was your favorite class in high school?

AP Chemistry, mostly because we didn’t do anything. The teacher either just told us interesting chemistry-related anecdotes. At one point, we built rocket cars.

Who was your big crush in high school?

Allison. See the “significant other” question above.

Would you say you’ve changed a lot since highschool?

In a predictable way, sure. I’ve gotten a little hairier. A little wiser, a little wearier, a little more cynical. But certainly happier in college than I was in high school.

What do you miss the most about it?

Couple of teachers; that’s about it.

Your worst memory of HS?

Ooh. All of it. If pressed, I’d have to say either marching band or my second-year Spanish teacher.

Did you have a car?

If you could call it that. At the start of senior year, a 1990 Plymouth Horizon that got towed the second day. By November, a 1992 Volkswagen Golf, which I considered to be a major upgrade.

What were your school colors?

Black and gold (and blue)

Who was your favorite teacher?

Kim Williams was exceedingly nice (humouring all my morose bullshit for two consecutive years), but my favorites were Mark Eleveld (junior year English) and Ricardo Rebollar (AP Chemistry).

Did you own a cell phone in high school?

Senior year, I had a crappy one, yeah; couldn’t bring it to school, though.

Did you leave campus for lunch?

Nope. For two years, I ate lunch at a table all to myself. Senior year, I didn’t eat lunch at all.

If so, where was your favorite place to go eat?

N/A

Were you always late to class?

Nope. I always walked very quickly in the hallways, which was a combination of my naturally long stride and my aversion to large groups of people. As a side effect, I generally got to class in plenty of time.

Did you ever have to stay for Sat. School?

No. I think I would have revolted. Plenty of busy Saturdays during marching season, though.

Did you ever ditch?

Nope. Except on Senior Ditch Day.

When it comes time for the reunion will you be there?

If I had wanted to keep in contact with people, I would have keep in touch with them. The only possible reason to attend a reunion is to laugh at all the twits who ruined their lives by drinking themselves out of college or some other silly thing.

§919 · December 31, 2005 · 10 comments · Tags:

The Search

The Search The Search by John Battelle
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Year: 2005
Pages: 320

I admit immediately that my desire to read this book had more to do with my curiosity about Google itself—the Mecca of technology companies, usurping the Nerdvana title that Microsoft held for so long in the late 80s and early 90s, when it made millionaires. I realize that I could have just as easily fulfilled this voyeuristic desire by using (ironically) Google, but I thought that Mr. Battelle (whose credentials are impressive) might have a more interesting take on it.

As I might have gleaned from the subtitle—had I bothered to read it—this wasn’t a tabloid-style exposé about the young search colossus, or even a dry memoir about its inception, but rather a broader look at how search has changed the very nature of the web and of our culture.

Battelle waxes grandiose in the first chapter, describing what he calls the “Database of Intentions,” or rather what people are looking to find when they search, hinting that the rest of the book will illumine how the successful leverage of this “database” will be crucial not only to the future of the internet, but of marketing and sales in general. Pretty heady stuff. Then the next half of the book is a half-dry, half-tabloid history of search, beginning with the young technologies (that which would become the first iteration of AltaVista, for instance) and finally getting to Google, which serves as the centerpiece and shining example of Search. I must note that Battelle can’t help but delve briefly into “he said, she said” sorts of stories about Google in an attempt at exposition; but then, he does edit Wired, so we can’t begrudge him a bit of editorial sass.

He does make some very good points about search that I really hadn’t considered (which isn’t to say that they wouldn’t be obvious to anyone who had given it some thought): for instance, the difference between a content-based and intent-based from of paid search; the power of clickstreams in divining relevant search results (commercial or organic). At times, he got a bit fantastic with his “search in the year 2050″ sorts of examples, but overall I found his writing relevant and easy to follow; his job as cofounding editor of Wired shows in his ability to make a heady but easily-digested book.

§917 · December 30, 2005 · (No comments) · Tags:

More words to use more often

grok
To understand profoundly through intuition or empathy.
This one was neologized into being by Heinlein in Stranger in a Strange Land. It’s a nerd thing, really.
oneiric
Of, relating to, or suggestive of dreams.
desiteratum
Something considered necessary or highly desirable.
See also “Computer”
desuetude
The cessation of use; disuse; discontinuance of practice, custom, or fashion.
supererogatory
More than is needed or required.
It sounds dirty, like, “First we went out to dinner, and then we had supererogatory sex.”
fin de siècle
A phrase mostly used adjectively in English to signify: belonging to, or characteristic of, the close of the (19th) century; hence, modern; “up-to-date;” sophisticated; world-weary; decadent.
I didn’t know it was used adjectively; now I can write even more pretentiously. Rock!
ratiocination
The process of reasoning, or deducing conclusions from premises; deductive reasoning.
Using a lot of different synonyms for “rationalization” is very fin de siècle way of writing.
celerity
Rapidity of motion; quickness; swiftness.
e.g. “The hungry dieting celebrity ate her celery with celerity, but certaintly wasn’t sated.”
redress
1. To put in order again; to set right; to emend; to revise.
2. To set right, as a wrong; to repair, as an injury; to make amends for; to remedy; to relieve from.
3. To make amends or compensation to; to relieve of anything unjust or oppressive; to bestow relief upon.
e.g. “After Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson’s boob, he apparently never thought to redress her; instead, she had to redress the nation, Clinton-like, in a televised apology.”
logorrhea
Excessive talkativeness or wordiness.
Yes, it comes from the same roots as “diarrhea.” This, really, means “diarrhea of words.”
§909 · December 29, 2005 · (No comments) · Tags:

A watershed for Open Source?

BusinessWeek is running an article describing the leaps and bounds that FOSS made this year. As expected, four of the five points have to do with enterprise deployment and FOSS-friendly corporations rather than acceptance of the underlying principles. Little was made, for instance, of the ongoing patent war in America and especially in Europe, which continued waging threatens the existence of crucial projects like VLC/MPlayer.

As overjoyed as I am to see Sun open-sourcing most of their portfolio, and to see Red Hat prove to the world the profitability of the open-source business unit, I wonder when we will be able to show the world that you don’t need corporate backing to use or work with FOSS; that open source isn’t an isolated incident that occurs when a lucky project is taken under the wing of Mr. Moneybags.

In my mind, 2005 was a watershed year because Debian finally released Sarge. Because OpenOffice.org finally went to v2.0. Because Massachussetts decided they wouldn’t be beholden to a closed, proprietary document format. Because the EU (for now, at least) struck down tougher patent laws. Because IBM is handing SCO its own ass on a platter. Because Google is supporting open-source in a big way.

What about all the open-source projects that get squashed by overly-litigious companies? So Red Hat is turning a profit. Where would it be if a much more powerful SCO-like company had sued it into the ground prior to its IPO in the mid-90s? Before we can see any unrestricted growth of these new FOSS companies, we have to rethink how we approach IP issues and just how important the fundamental principles of FOSS are to its continued existence on the home desktop or enterprise.

§908 · December 29, 2005 · 3 comments · Tags: ,

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