It's Good To Be A Geek
Happy Tuesday, everyone!
There are two new nonfiction e-books out of possible interest to Sherlockians, both by professional pastiche authors: scientist Stephanie Osborn's exploration of the rationale behind Holmes's cocaine habit, Sherlock, Sheilas, and the Seven-Percent Solution, and Barbara Roden's collection of Holmesian essays on various topics, I Am Inclined to Think....
In science fiction news, the latest issue of Booklist has the young adult dystopia 1.4 on its cover. I just finished the book (the sequel to Human.4) and recommend it.
I was intrigued by Booklist's "Top Ten SF/Fantasy for Youth" list. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who was underwhelmed by Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker. Lest I sound like a curmudgeon, I should say that I was delighted to see that Delia Sherman's The Freedom Maze won this year's Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Well deserved!
In other news...
In the last day or so, a number of videos have appeared on YouTube from past meetings of PhreakNIC: Technology and Culture Exposition, the largest U.S. "hacker con" east of the Mississippi River. Several of these from the years 2003-2006 are my... well, not formal presentations exactly, but very informal talks. (These aren't professional videos like my other YouTube films; originally these simply were shown throughout the con hotel on closed-circuit TV.) It was fun reliving some terrific memories. I miss my "Got Jedi?" shirt! Ha.
"…nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’.”
- John Green
"Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating."
- Simon Pegg
There are two new nonfiction e-books out of possible interest to Sherlockians, both by professional pastiche authors: scientist Stephanie Osborn's exploration of the rationale behind Holmes's cocaine habit, Sherlock, Sheilas, and the Seven-Percent Solution, and Barbara Roden's collection of Holmesian essays on various topics, I Am Inclined to Think....
In science fiction news, the latest issue of Booklist has the young adult dystopia 1.4 on its cover. I just finished the book (the sequel to Human.4) and recommend it.
I was intrigued by Booklist's "Top Ten SF/Fantasy for Youth" list. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who was underwhelmed by Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker. Lest I sound like a curmudgeon, I should say that I was delighted to see that Delia Sherman's The Freedom Maze won this year's Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. Well deserved!
In other news...
In the last day or so, a number of videos have appeared on YouTube from past meetings of PhreakNIC: Technology and Culture Exposition, the largest U.S. "hacker con" east of the Mississippi River. Several of these from the years 2003-2006 are my... well, not formal presentations exactly, but very informal talks. (These aren't professional videos like my other YouTube films; originally these simply were shown throughout the con hotel on closed-circuit TV.) It was fun reliving some terrific memories. I miss my "Got Jedi?" shirt! Ha.
- "Rights Under Attack: The Captain Power Story" (PhreakNIC 10, 2006)
- "Still Big Brother After All These Years: Totalitarianism in Science Fiction" (PhreakNIC 9, 2005)
- "The King of SF’s Golden Age: How Robert A. Heinlein Earned the Crown" (PhreakNIC 8, 2004)
- "Computers and the Rise of the Cerebral Hero in TV Drama" (PhreakNIC 8, 2004)
- "A Quick-and-Dirty History of Science Fiction" (PhreakNIC 7, 2003) <- This is the only one without an accompanying PowerPoint.
"…nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. Hank, when people call people nerds, mostly what they’re saying is ‘you like stuff.’ Which is just not a good insult at all. Like, ‘you are too enthusiastic about the miracle of human consciousness’.”
- John Green
"Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating."
- Simon Pegg