In my fevered youth I was an avid fan of science fiction but as I crossed the Rubicon of middle age I read less and less of the genre. For years I preferred nonfiction: mostly science with a smattering of history and biography. Then, about five years ago, I started reading science fiction again. What … Continue reading Pandora’s Star: a Grand Sprawling Entertainment
There will never be a Literature of Reality
The first job of the myth maker is to shrink the universe. The shrinkage occurs along all dimensions: time, space and mind. You see this everywhere. Immortal vampires and wizards are, at most, a few thousand years old: younger than many real trees. Grand science fiction star empires seldom span a single galaxy in a universe of hundreds … Continue reading There will never be a Literature of Reality
JD Bitcoin Blockchain Spelunking
On July 25, 2014 I gave this short presentation about poking around the Bitcoin blockchain with J at the 2014 J Conference in Toronto Canada. Click to browse presentation PDF
Parsing the Bitcoin Genesis Block with J
The genesis block is the first block on the Bitcoin blockchain. Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious entity that created Bitcoin, mined the genesis block on January 3, 2009. It's been five years since the genesis block's birth and Satoshi is still unknown, Bitcoin is bigger than ever, and the blockchain is longer than 300,000 blocks and growing. One … Continue reading Parsing the Bitcoin Genesis Block with J
JOD Update: J 8.02 QT/JHS/64 bit Systems
I have pushed out a JOD update that makes it possible to run the addon on J 8.02 systems. In the last eight months a QT based J IDE has been developed that runs on Linux, Windows and Mac platforms. To maintain JOD’s compatibility across all versions of J from 6.02 on I had to … Continue reading JOD Update: J 8.02 QT/JHS/64 bit Systems
Your Bitcoins are Now Welcome!
Recently Coinbase introduced payment pages. Here's my page. Payment pages simplify the process of paying with Bitcoins. In the last six months more and more businesses have started accepting Bitcoins. Once people get cryptocurrencies they inevitably start questioning the legitimacy of national currencies. This is all good. National currencies are part of the past. It's embarrassing to … Continue reading Your Bitcoins are Now Welcome!
Review: Finding Vivian Maier
I suffer from SLAM (Spouse that Likes Art-house Movies). I’m sure you’re familiar with this common affliction. It strikes when you want to see Spider-Man 2 but, because you dearly love your spouse, you settle on some “uplifting work of art” that can only be seen in a cramped, look around the pretentious fathead ahead … Continue reading Review: Finding Vivian Maier
Marcus Aurelius tunes my RSS Feeds
The Emperor’s Handbook is a new translation of Marcus Aurelius’ classic The Meditations. Marcus Aurelius was a second century Roman emperor and stoic philosopher. You probably know him as the old guy (Richard Harris) that chose Maximus (Russell Crowe) as his successor in Gladiator. Marcus is counted among the “five good Roman emperors”1 and his … Continue reading Marcus Aurelius tunes my RSS Feeds
What’s the opposite of Transcendence?
Serious science fiction is a demanding cinematic genre; that’s why you see so little of it! Most of what passes for science fiction is out-and-out comic fantasy. In the last year only three marginally serious science fiction films made it to wide release: Catching Fire, Divergent and Transcendence. Sadly, they’re all pretty awful and Transcendence … Continue reading What’s the opposite of Transcendence?
Ukraine takeaway: Don’t give up your Nukes
What’s the one sentence takeaway from the unfolding Ukraine mess? Don’t give up your nukes! It’s unlikely that any of this would be happening if Ukraine had retained their nuclear weapons instead of turning them in for the magic beans of “international guarantees.” It would be interesting to review the anti-nuke sales pitches made to … Continue reading Ukraine takeaway: Don’t give up your Nukes
Analyze the Data not the Drivel 