Diary of a Network Geek

Don’t worry, I promise it will be a fun list.

Hey, remember when you were a kid in school and they’d give you a Summer reading list?  You know, those painful “classics” that we were forced to read because they were supposed be so good, but were really terrible to read because of the archaic language and tired, dusty old plots?
Well, these are nothing like that.

One of my favorite magazines, Wired, has put together a list of new-ish science-fiction and fantasy reading for your Summer vacation.  While I have to admit that I haven’t actually read any of these books yet, I can vouch for the authors who are all pretty much the latest thing in science-fiction.  (And, in some cases, the latest thing for the second or third time in their, hopefully, very long careers.)

So, if you manage to take some time off this Summer, grab one of these and give them a try!

I generally don’t like crowds.

I hate the press of people and how everyone is in your way when you want to get somewhere.  I’m usually pretty good about getting through crowds with a minimum of delay, but, I have to admit, until I saw the article “Walk Through Crowds” on the Wired.com How-To Wiki, I hadn’t ever thought about describing the methods I use to someone.  And, since they’ve done such a good job of it there, I won’t try.  Besides, they’ve got some ideas there that hadn’t actually occurred to me.  Granted I may do some of them unconsciously, but, well, the entry describes a sort of “best practices” for getting from one side to the other of a crowd.

In any case, while it is actually useful information, it seemed just silly enough for a Friday Fun Post.
Enjoy!

Computer virus hunters, that is.

Ever wondered how anti-virus companies go about making those “updates” that so many of us download? Well, this article on Wired News gives us a little insight. Basically, they sound like any other IT department, to me, except for the somewhat added time-pressure I imagine most of them feel. I mean, at the rate new viruses (virii ?) appear “in the wild”, these folks must be busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest!
The interesting thing about the article, though, was that it’s getting harder to find people who want to do this kind of work and are qualified for it. Of course, the qualifications are somewhat “esoteric”. For one thing, you need to know assembly. How many people know assembly these days? Besides my brother, I mean. (See, I *am* the non-nerd in the family!) Then, of course, you have to have a very creative mind, because computer virus hunters basically have to reverse engineer these little suckers. I would imagine it’s very tedious work that only someone really focused and detail oriented is able to do well.

In any case, it was an interesting article.

At least, if they give away your domain.

No, really, according to this article on Wired News, the guy who lost sex.com to a felonious spoofer has been granted the right to sue Network Solutions, who lost him the site. All these years, NetSol has been saying that they’re not responsible, but they really seem to be! Ha!
Now, maybe we can hear about something else from Wired News, besides Sex.com!!