I just finished one of the best books I’ve read in the last 10 years. It’s called Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.

I would’ve enjoyed the book on its face, but it’s underlying themes really struck a chord with me.

Little Brother is a scarily realistic adventure about how homeland security technology could be abused to wrongfully imprison innocent Americans. A teenage hacker-turned-hero pits himself against the government to fight for his basic freedoms. This book is action-packed with tales of courage, technology, and demonstrations of digital disobedience as the technophile’s civil protest.

We’re living in a time where our personal freedoms are being slowly squeezed away in the name of protection. Each little thing slowly builds on the one before, creeping up on you. If you set aside the fact that the folk warning of the boiled frog is a myth, the anecdote still serves a purpose when examining our country in a post-9-11 world.

The boiling frog story states that a frog can be boiled alive if the water is heated slowly enough — it is said that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will never jump out.

The book does a great job of introducing the reader to modern technology items such as RFID, cryptography and pattern analysis. The narrator of the story takes the time to explain what they are and how they are used with very easy to understand examples – and that’s key to appreciating how these technologies can be used for either good or bad.

I’ve had a time in my life when I was a hacker. Not nearly as experienced or in depth as I could have been, but I understand the culture – another reason this book appealed to me.

But even today, I’m still interested in cryptography and ARGs. I’ve been on a  LARP.

You have several options for enjoying Little Brother.  Besides the traditional print copy, you might enjoy the audio version (listen to an excerpt above), or even download a version to read for free.

I can’t say enough good things about the book. I was already recommending it before I was halfway through, and now that it’s done, I wish I had more to read.

Don’t take my word for it. Read a review or two. I don’t want to make this entry much longer full of their words, but I encourage you to see the impression it has made on others, sometimes even being called a modern day 1984.

Whether it will have the same staying power 60 years from now that 1984 does, I can’t say. What I can say is that it’s an important reflection of today and where we could be tomorrow.

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Before you watch this video, it may be NSFW as I chose the uncensored version (mild language). I feel it’s important to hear people speak in their own words on important topics such as this.

These are very serious times we are living in, and everyone’s voice deserves to be heard. Your voice. In many parts of the world, you wouldn’t have a voice at all. But, as improbable as it seems, many Americans do not take their right to vote seriously, and often ignore it altogether.

If you don’t have 5 minutes to watch this piece here are some highlights:
1) You NEED to vote
2) You must be registered to vote, and there is a deadline which varies per state. Some deadlines are as soon as Oct. 4. You just can’t show up on election day and be part of it.

3) If you haven’t registered, check out http://maps.google.com/vote to get an interactive map. This will tell you, based on your address, not only where you can register, but how much longer you have to do it.

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Ok. I get it.. Some people like McCain.. but for pete’s sake, can anyone honestly believe that Sarah Palin could handle running this country if McCain was no longer president (and there is a 1/5 chance that should would become president).

Every day, the more I hear her speak, the more I realize how clueless she is and how she tries to turn every soundbite or question around into something she feel comfortable with.

Want some laughs at her expense today? It’s no wonder that the Republicans are trying to keep her in a bubble and avoid media coverage. Anything she says is just ripe with ridicule.

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There is supposed to be a debate tomorrow. There won’t be. Using the financial crisis of this country as a photo-op and to make yourself look like a hero? Irresponsible. Greenness (Greenness) got me thinking about the debate.

Figured I’d throw out some David Letterman for you. Dunno how long these will last. The first covers McCain’s cancellation of his Late Show appearance to ‘save the country’. The second is a an interview with his charismatic opponent Obama.

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So it’s been nearly a week since we returned from Pennsic. Overall, I’d say that we had a very good time. Definitely the best of the last 3 with the twins.

What made this war unique was the fact that the East lost during the opening ceremonies as HRM Konrad conceded the war.

I highly encourage you to listen to the interview provided by the Pennsic Independent Podcast. In fact, you can listen to it directly from that page.

This will give you his reasons behind the decision; one that I support 110%. Unfortunately, I don’t think the king of the Mid really understood the point and missed the boat.. He was going to fight the war the same way they always have, and put it down as a 37-0 win in their books.

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-George Carlin

This image isn’t some special effects from the latest Hollywood movie, but rather a picture of a lightning storm in Boston circa 1967.

Last night, I experienced a lightning storm of that magnitude over the Philadelphia region. We heard on the news that between 7-8pm, there were over 2000 strikes. Between 8-9pm (as I drove to fencing practice), there were over 3000 strikes.

It was a really strange primal experience. I felt my heart racing and my arm hair rising as I drove up 95. The sky was bright enough to drive without headlights with the constant flashes. It kept my peripheral vision working in overtime, and I had to fight to keep turning my head. There was this primal fear that kept creeping up on me. I finally turned off the radio and gave 110% of my attention to driving, waiting at any minute for the car next to me (or me) to explode in a bright white light.

It looked surreal, with low hanging clouds and both horizontal and vertical strikes, plus the cloud lightning.

The storm gods were mad last night, and they showed it.

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Sometimes it takes a large event (such as the current oil crisis) to inspire innovation. Here’s one example. Did you know that because of the shape of gallon milk jugs (as iconic as they are), they are unable to be stacked, and hence the development of the milk crate?

Well, we can thank the price of gas and other environmental issues such as water conservation as driving forces in a redesign:

Sam’s Club redesigns milk jugs

The new containers also store 50 percent more milk per cubic foot than the old jugs. That means more milk on each truck – reducing delivery trips and fuel costs.

…

Sam’s used to take five milk-deliveries per week – now it’s down to two. They could only store 80 conventional-shaped gallons in their coolers. Now they can fit 224 of the new kind.

And, thankfully, that savings gets passed along to the tune of 10 to 20 cents gallon.

I’ll tell ya what, I’ve been seeing the cost of milk going up on par with gasoline for the last year, and changes like this which can save money are a welcome addition to any milk drinking family.

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For thousands of years, labyrinths have existed in a multitude of cultures. They have been used as ceremonial pathways, protective sigils, traps for unwelcome spirits and for games and dancing. They have been used for spiritual and artistic journeys. I’ve only recently started learning about them, and was surprised at the depth of their history. I was even more surprised to find the amount of labyrinths that still exist today. I’m thinking I’m going to have to visit the one in Longport, NJ now.

One of the themes of the ARG I am currently following is about parallel universes. Labyrinths are being used as a foundation to allow these worlds to communicate, synchronize and prevent their destruction. As fictional as that is, the factual information that is scattered through is what drew me into the labyrinth history.

Recently, we were instructed to create/walk a personal labyrinth, as well as document it. You were supposed to think of a life changing decision you made in the last 4 years, and consider how your life would be different had you chosen a different path — for in an alternate universe, someone had. How would their life continue on their own path, making further decisions.

By reflecting on this decision, it allows for that sense of meditation and synchronization with yourself, as I see it in a very spiritual way.

Only a few have been created so far. But the artistry of this one inspired me to to walk my own personal labyrinth Sunday night.

Let me just tell you what a pain it was though.. I had planned to do the night time candle thing from the beginning, but after setting it all up there was quite the wind. The ground was marked with flour, as I wanted something that was white and would reflect the candle light and be seen at night. Bad weather was in the forecast for the next two days, so my window of opportunity was small. Rather than wait, I pressed ahead. I wound up making aluminum foil ‘shields’ to place around the candles and keep them from blowing out. This kept them from going out every 15 seconds as was the case before. Now, it was only every few minutes.

The new problem was that the shields also drastically reduced the light’s ability to pool. So instead of having a nicely illuminated labyrinth, I had one that was barely visible on the camera, in turn causing what little that could be seen to be out of focus.

Since the journey was planned and the destination in sight, I aimed to complete it. I worked with what I had, and hoped that the artistry outweighed the technical difficulties.
If you take the time to watch it, I want to thank you in advance.

Sometimes its good to reflect on the choices you’ve made, whatever it is that prompts you to do so in the first place.

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