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A little nostalgia is always in season, especially when it's as much fun as looking back to the future. In this case, it's CBC's Terry Milewsky talking high-tech gadgets from way back in 1983.

Way back in 2006, I gave a presentation that I titled "Prior Art and the Turtle". It had to do with the development of open source software but it could apply to any number of human endeavours where we build on the work of those who came before us. I've attached the slides as images.  When we talk about how wonderful the community development model of open source software is, someone invariably quotes Isaac Newton from 1676. "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Let's jump back in time to 1651 when a …

There are things you find yourself saying time and again throughout your life that, after a while, starts to sound like a quote you should be attributing to someone. And so you go looking for that quote and you can't find it. Either you were wickedly clever and spectacularly erudite, you conclude, or you took the heart of someone else's pithy rendering and ran it through your mental coffee grinder so many times that now it really is yours. Or not. One bit of wisdom I'm fond of repeating is "Cultivate your eccentricities early in life. That way, when you …

When you open up a terminal window on your Linux system, you are opening up a programming environment. While it may seem like just this place where you type commands to list your files or check on the amount of disk space you have left, the shell is a real programming language. True story. You even have access to constructs like “if…then…else,” while and for loops, case statements, and more. In case you're wondering how we got here, this is part 4 in a series. Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here’s a little script …

 Luckily, she has CatholiCard, and direct access to God himself. As she enters the Church and kneels in the plastic pew for one to discuss her problems with the Creator, she soon realizes there is one additional problem to consider. Can she afford it? You, on the other hand, can certainly afford it because this one is a completely free eBook, ready for your reading pleasure. It's also DRM-free, so lots of free-ness associated with this one! Just click here to get your copy. Hey!  While you're here, check out my other eBooks on the site.

One of the hardest questions that I have to answer is "what is it that you do?" What that question really means, of course, is "what do you do for a living?" I was talking to someone recently, who occasionally hires me to do 'systems stuff', and he asked me essentially that question. He said, "if you could describe in one sentence what it is you do that would make you special (from a hiring perspective), what would you say?" It felt sort of like an interview, without the formalities. I've given lots of different answers to that question, and …

Natika awakens to find her home invaded, and most of her family brutally murdered. The invaders are looking for a secret long hidden within the walls of her home; a small book that can summon demons with unspeakable power.  Against incredible odds, Natika must decide how best to protect what's left of her family, as well as the book and its terrible power. The demons promise victory, but as what cost?   Then, there's the problem of the time traveller.   In glorious DRM-free text.   Available now from the Amazon Kindle store. Available now from the Kobo store. Alternatively, purchasing …

While facing a fearsome and terrifying enemy on an alien world, Elena discovers another battle, much less alien, and much closer to home. Every combat soldier knew that the Shawlians were vicious and brutal, submitting captured humans to unspeakable torture. Knowing all this, Elena also knew that she had to get out there and do her part for humanity. She was ready. Or so she thought . . .  Pick up a copy of the eBook is glorious DRM-free text To get the mobi/Kindle edition from Amazon.com, click here To get the epub/Kobo version, click here. Alternatively, you can buy it directly …

I've been reading "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline. And yes, it has me thinking about classic arcade games. And no, this isn't a book review. It's about one game in particular. Once upon a time, there was a rather popular arcade game called Defender, into which, over the course of a few months, I lost a lot of quarters to. In the game, you had to move a spaceship left and right, firing at aliens trying to abduct and enslave little astronauts who ran along the rocky surface. It was fast and it was fun. Defender spawned a huge number …