i tried turning it off and back on again.

A few months ago, the hardware in my iMac shit the bed one final time. Rather than replace it (Apple hardware is not that great, and certainly not designed to last), I decided to convert this epic Xidax gaming rig I have into my primary production machine.

It worked like a dream for a long time, and Windows 10 began to feel like a pretty decent OS, even if I missed some Mac OS UI features (hitting space to preview files, and easy keyboard screen shots were the two I missed the most.)

But about a week ago, something went wrong. Everything started slowing down like crazy, Chrome just quit working entirely, and even Firefox ran so slow, I felt like I was using a 386. So I used every bit of computer learning and troubleshooting I’ve picked up in thirty-five years of computer use, and I turned it off and back on again.

It wouldn’t start up.

So I booted from the DVD, and told it to repair the problem. That didn’t work.

So I attempted to reinstall Windows. That didn’t work.

So I formatted the drive that C: lived on, and tried to reinstall Windows. That didn’t work, and I lost a ton of media by mistake as a bonus (I have it backed up on a Seagate drive, but it’s still a pain in the ass to lose it).

I went to the Internet, and I downloaded a few Linux utility distros to check the hardware integrity on the machine. I booted from those CDs, ran their tools, and confirmed that everything was working correctly.

At this point, my lungs were aching for air.

I got super frustrated, because all the diagnostics I ran appeared to work, and every test told me that there wasn’t anything wrong. It just turns out that Windows won’t install, and it gives me the super helpful advice to check the install logs that I can’t read because when I boot from the Windows DVD, it won’t let me write to any of the mounted file systems.

So I’m moving my opinion dial from “Windows isn’t that bad” back to “Windows is awful garbage that is an affront to all good people in the world.”

Also, one kid seems to really love the Speedo Guy.

Spinning the dial was satisfying, but it didn’t give me a working OS that I could use to get my work done, so I grabbed the latest release of Debian Linux, and booted from the resulting live DVD. It felt familiar, and unlike my Windows nightmare, it Just Worked(tm). For longtime *nix users, especially the subset of us who started using Red Hat or Debian or Mandrake or whatever back in the late 90s, this reality — that Linux worked effortlessly and without any configuration hassles — will likely prove to be quite pleasing.

I wondered if there was a hardware problem that I hadn’t uncovered, maybe a failing HDD or something, and I decided that the best way to test it would be to attempt a Debian install.

About seventeen minutes later, I booted my machine from GRUB, and like a magical leprechaun, Debian just worked. I had to install a couple of drivers to get the most out of the graphics card, to get Flash and Java to go, and to update Chromium, but that was it.

I’m still annoyed with Windows and its lack of useful error messages, and I am confident that I’m not getting the most computing/processing/graphics/awesome power out of this epic machine, but I have an OS that is solid and stable, that is making it possible for me to do my work, browse the Internet, and read and send Email. There are some idiosyncrasies that I’m not crazy about, and there are a few mild frustrations (I can’t easily watch Netflix or Hulu because of stupid DRM issues, and some websites like Twitter are painfully slow), but I’m definitely turning my dial toward “Linux is awesome.”

take two minutes today to tell the FCC to protect network neutrality.

Without the Internet, I’d be just another failed actor struggling to make ends meet. Because I had the same ability to put together a website and reach an audience as anyone else, I was able to put my words on your screens, and eventually into a book that got into many of your hands. If Comcast or Verizon or AT&T or some other big telecom decided that regular guys like me had to pay some sort of protection money to have the same ability to reach you as Google or MSN does, I never would have been able to get WWdN off the ground, much less found Monolith Press, publish Dancing Barefoot, and start an entirely new career as a writer or have a second act in my acting career. There would be no Tabletop. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty happy that Tabletop is in the world.

We successfully fought to keep the Internet open and free just a few years ago, but it’s under attack again, another disastrous consequence of the Trump administration.

Here’s Consumerist on what is at stake (again) and why we are here (again):

Why is it in trouble?

The FCC that passed the Open Internet Rule was led by chairman Tom Wheeler, during the Obama administration. When the Trump administration took office in Jan. 2017, the FCC changed too.

At the end of January, long-time net neutrality foe Ajit Pai was promoted to the big seat and became the Commission’s chairman.

Pai has been gunning for net neutrality since the day it was adopted, if not sooner. So although in 2016 a federal court upheld the rules, Pai wants them reversed — and now, he has the means.

Because gaining a majority at the FCC is, on many key issues, basically a matter of partisan math, Pai will absolutely succeed if he wants to, regardless of literally tens of millions of people arguing against it.

Today is a day of action. Today, we are asking all Americans to take two minutes and contact the FCC, to make your voice heard, and make sure the FCC knows that you want network neutrality to be protected. Ars has a good collection of essential reading about network neutrality, but if you only have time to read one of them, here’s a concise guide to writing a comment to the FCC.

Two minutes, you guys. That’s all we need from you today. Please, take action.

stuff and things and another thing

I’m nearly finished with Ravenswood, and just about ready to give it to my editor for his Red Pen of Doom. Before I jump back into the short story that became a novella that is dangerously close to being a novel, I’m going to reward myself with a couple of fun non-writing projects. One of them is building and configuring (and hopefully playing) my PiCade kit. The other is just an idea, but I think it’s doable: I have a 7″ Android tablet that I don’t use very often, because the battery on it is crap. But I have this idea to keep it plugged in all the time, and use it to display a scrolling news ticker, the current weather, and my security camera feeds. It’ll live on my desk. Does anyone know if there’s an existing Linux or Android project that does that sort of thing? I don’t have the knowledge or ability at the moment to put all that together on my own, but I think I could learn, given enough time.

I’ll be on the pre-game show tonight, before the Kings vs. Bruins, on Fox Sports West, around 7:15pm, if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

My friend, Robyn, is an amazing woman. She made a video this morning that I want to signal boost.

Anne and I are way late to the party, but we saw What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? the other night, and it made me want to rewatchWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Sunset Boulevard. I’ve mostly been watching genre films (SF, Horror, Anime) and I realized this week that Classic Amazing Hollywood Studio Pictures is also a genre that I need to watch more of. I’m also on Team Bette Davis Forever, now.

I finished Dune. As I hoped, it affected me much more deeply and significantly than it did when I was 12 and didn’t have the ability to fully appreciate it. I kinda want to dive straight into Messiah, but I’m going to read Neil’s new book, first, and then maybe I’ll finally read Fall of Hyperion.

Daily December 27

Slurms has to party all night every night or he's fired. — This image has nothing to do with this post. I just wanted an excuse to use Morbotron.

It was almost 130am before I went to sleep this morning. For the first time in what feels like weeks but is probably longer, I actually wanted to to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, and this time instead of my brain just refusing to shut up, I had to stay awake because there was turkey stock being made in the kitchen. When I woke up this morning, after not enough sleep, it was worth it. We’re going to have some pretty boss turkey soup tonight, I tell you what.

So while I was up late, waiting for the turkey bones and stuff to turn into stock, I worked on getting RetroPie up and running, so I could be certain that the software was working before I started the complicated part of building my Picade. It was incredibly easy, even though I had to use tools on Windows to make the micro SD card stuff work, and I think it’s my favorite emulator I have ever used. Emulation Station is gorgeous, and easily the nicest emulation frontend I have ever used. If you’ve been dying to play abandonware from the old DOS days, Atari 2600 games, or replay those NES games that you totally own legally but don’t have a machine to play them on, it’s just fantastic.

Christmas was quiet and relaxed, here in Castle Wheaton. My boys were both here, as were their significant others. Ryan’s married now, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of addressing his wife, Claudette, who I absolutely adore, as “the other Mrs. Wheaton”. We all had a huge dinner, watched Gremlins and A Christmas Story, and embraced the simple joy of being together.

I find the whole idea of a War on Christmas to be incredibly stupid, a scam perpetrated on mostly well-meaning people (and some incredibly stupid people) by grifters who know better. It seems like a lot of of the “Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men” part of the Christian myth is intentionally disregarded or otherwise ignored by the folks who have signed up to be soldiers in the war to defend the whole thing, but I still sincerely hope that everyone who chose to celebrate Christmas was as happy and surrounded by love as we were, in this house of heathens.

It’s also two years in a row that Anne held up her end of the Don’t Get Each Other Anything bargain. Two years out of 21 isn’t that great, to be honest, but two years in a row is a very big deal.

I feel like I should get back to work, but it’s really hard to find the motivation. 2016 is really setting fire to the world as it races toward its end, isn’t it? Someone on Twitter said that they were staying up until midnight on the 31st for the first time in years, just because they wanted to see this year of so much awful shit finally fucking die already.

Oh, and I had my own idea for the end of the year:

At 11:59pm on December 31, we'll all get a text alert from an unknown source that just says "THE ARISTOCRATS!" and 2016 will make sense.

— Wil Wheaton (@wilw) December 26, 2016

Finally: Rest in peace, Carrie Fisher. If you only knew her from Star Wars, please take some time to find out about all the other amazing things she did. She was a brilliant writer, one of the most talented and prolific script doctors in Hollywood, an outspoken advocate for mental health care and addiction treatment, and just one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

It would be great if 2016 could stop taking the brilliant artists we love. These daily reminders of the brevity of our lives and the fragile mortality we all cling to are getting to be a little much. You made your point, 2016. We get it.

My speech to the 2016 USA Science and Engineering Festival

On April 17, I was given the great honor and privilege to speak before the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, DC.

These are my prepared remarks. I mostly stuck to them, and didn’t improvise as much as I usually do, because I was more nervous than usual at this conference. I knew that I had to speak to children, their parents, and their teachers. I hoped that I would inspire them all to keep doing awesome things, and to do more awesome things. I also hoped that some of my remarks would be heard beyond the walls of the conference, because I’m doing my best to make a positive difference in the world.

Please keep in mind that these remarks are written to be read and performed by me, so they are probably not as strong when read as I hope they are when they are heard.

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