the ghosts in the machine

Posted on By Wil

SpamSieve is the best spam filter I’ve ever used in my life, and it’s made my e-mail reading much more efficient and pleasant than it once was.

A few bits of junk sneak through, but it’s probably one every two or three days, instead of several daily offers for luxury Rolex watches at 80% off, or various ways to take advantage of the ATTRACTIVE PRICE on Cializ and Viagre, so she won’t laugh at my noodle every day.

Recently, however, this managed to evade the filters:

mort You computer was infected by our software!
If you will not buy our software – you will bee lost all data on your PC!

It closes with a URL to purchase the software, presumably so the e-mail’s recipient can respond to the comical extortion attempt.

I laughed when I read it. I mean, it’s obviously a load, so I junked it and went on with my day. I kept thinking about it, though: an intelligent person will see right through this and junk it. I’ve already updated my corpus to catch future attempts to convince me I “will bee lost all data” on my PC. But the spammer isn’t looking to ensnare an intelligent person; the spammer is looking to ensnare exactly the kind of person who reads the e-mail, and sees it as a serious threat.

“This was clearly written by an idiot,” the victim would think. Then, after a moment’s consideration: “But what if he’s serious?! I don’t want to bee lost all data on my PC! I’d better do what he says!” Click. Boom.

There are a lot of us who have been online since the Internet was a series of networked BBSes. Some of us remember closed systems like Compuserve and GEnie. We remember what it was like to wait twenty minutes to download a GIF at 28.8, and how magnificent it was to see a weather satellite image on a university’s T1-connected computer.

We see through these scams because we pre-date the scammers, but there are lots of people — and I’m not just talking about our parents and grandparents — who just don’t know any better. They run unpatched machines, leave their routers set to their default passwords, and are prime phishing targets, simply because this technology is, to them, indistinguishable from magic.

As the Internet becomes a more integral part of everyone’s lives, we’re going to encounter more and more people who don’t understand its inner workings any more than I understand how to take apart my car’s diesel engine for fun and profit. I believe that we have a responsibility to these people, to help educate and enlighten them, so they understand how to protect themselves online.

Think of this another way: if we don’t help people understand how to protect themselves from spammers and phishers, how can we expect them to understand the importance of network neutrality?

it turns out that i get to go to comic-con after all

Posted on By Wil

I’ve been going crazy the last month or so, trying to figure out a way to go to Comic-Con. It was about as easy as getting the Babel Fish, but I refused to give up, and earlier today, I finally put the junk mail on top of the satchel.

I am actually going to Comic-Con this year!

I’ll be there from Thursday, July 24 until Saturday, July 26. I’m on a publishing panel with Pocketbooks on Thursday called “Star Trek without a blueprint.” I’ll be there representing volume three of the Star Trek manga, which I think comes out next week.

This is an exciting time for Star Trek, filled with uncertainty and opportunity. I think it’s safe to say that there’s a lot riding on the new movie, and how it fares will likely affect all of the ancillary Star Trek markets, like conventions, novels, comics, manga, etc.* I don’t know if that’s what “without a blueprint” means, but if it does, it’ll be an interesting conversation. (Of course, it could also mean that CBS is giving much more freedom to people who want to create within the Star Trek universe, rather than forcing them to adhere to a pretty narrow blueprint. That will also be an interesting conversation. My point is that it’s going to be interesting, and certainly worth the price of hotel, airline travel, and all the other expenses associated with coming to the show just to watch a one hour panel before you turn around and go right back home.**)

The rest of the show, I’ll be set up with my friend Rich and his partners in crime***, who are letting me crash their booth. We haven’t finalized my signing schedule, but once we do (and I know the name and number of their booth) I’ll update this post.

This will be the only convention I’m attending this summer other than PAX, so I’m really, really excited and grateful that Marco from TokyoPop, and Rich and his partners from awesomeland were able to help me thwart the cleaning robots.

* I remember hearing, during a negotiation for a convention some years ago, that Enterprise was doing so poorly with the fans that it had really hurt convention turnout. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I heard it so many times from so many different people, it was either a well-worn talking point or legit. If the new movie doesn’t do as well as everyone hopes, we could be hearing about the death of Star Trek again, though I’ve come to believe that Star Trek is a mighty zombie in science fiction that simply can’t be killed. There’s a good reason it’s still relevant and inspiring to legions of fans forty years after it debuted, you know.

** This statement is completely false. Except for the interesting part. It’s absolutely going to be interesting. Also, “interesting.”

***I’m not sure if Rich has minions, but if he does, I’m sure that they will be there, too. Hey, maybe I’ll fill out a minion application!

wil’s tuesday link-o-rama

Posted on By Wil

As part of my continuing plot to convince you all to read my Propeller submissions, I present a few of my favorite stories from the last couple of days:

The dying art of the knuckleball

In the Red Sox clubhouse a few hours before the start of a drizzly, early-May game against the Rays, Tim Wakefield wraps his hand around a brand-new baseball and models his knuckleball grip. On television, Wakefield’s grip appears claw-like and uncomfortable, but up close, it looks effortless…

Okay, first of all, when did the Devil Rays become the Rays? Did it happen because some crazy fundies got all worked up? I’m laying 3:2 that they did.

My enthusiasm for baseball — actually, in all professional sports that aren’t hockey or soccer — has cratered in the last couple of years, but I still love to watch a knuckleballer confound a batter. It’s a dying art , like pitchers who can last more than 5 innings.

Librarian carrying “McCain=Bush” sign kicked out of McCain event

In McCain’s *open to the public* townhall meeting, a 61 year-old woman was cited for trespassing on orders from the McCain security detail for carrying a sign that read “McCain=Bush.” Carol Kreck received a ticket and her court date is set for July 23.

That the event this woman was removed from was a public event, and she didn’t do anything more disruptive than hold up a sign. “All I did was carry a sign that said McCain = Bush,” Kreck said. “And for everyone who voted for Bush, I don’t see why it’s offensive to say McCain = Bush.” Well, McCain is running for Bush’s third term.

Book review: It’s All Too Much

It’s All Too Much is a terrific book that inverts the typical approach to dealing with existential kipple. Rather than helping you find new places and novel ways to “organize” all your crap, author Peter Walsh encourages you to explore why you ever kept all that junk in the first place.

Some friends of ours have my dream house: it’s got beautiful hardwood floors, it’s uncluttered, and they can park both of their cars in their garage. My whole life, I’ve had a problem with holding onto things (real and imagined) so this book looked super interesting to me, not because I need it (I know that I just need to get rid of my shit) but because it tells me that I’m not the only one with this problem.

HOWTO: build anti-paparazzi sunglasses

Hackaday posts plans to build some simple but effective anti-paparazzi sunglasses. They work by mounting two small infrared lights on the front. The wearer is completely inconspicuous to the human eye, but cameras only see a big white blur where your face should be.

I had to deal with paparazzi in that “really fucks with your ability to live your life” way for about two months when I was a teenager. I quickly figured out that if I avoided certain places and certain people, I could also avoid the cameras. But this project is interesting to me because we live in a world where our fucktard leaders are increasingly shoving their faces into every aspect of our personal and private lives, so any effort to say NOT YOURS is pretty important to me.

Bacon mania!

Why are Americans so batty for bacon? It’s delicious, it’s decadent — and it’s also a fashion statement.

I’m a vegetarian, so bacon as food is irrelevant to me. However, bacon as a cultural phenomenon? That’s something else entirely. Something crispy and delicious!

The History of the Chaos Computer Club

With causes like ensuring secure voting machines, protecting privacy, defeating censorship and governmental obfuscation, and promoting hacker ethics, the CCC has become something of a hacktivist powerhouse. They hold an annual “Chaos Communications Congress” gathering and also a very cool hacker camp every four years.

If you’re intrigued by this article, I highly recommend reading The Hacker Crackdown, The Cuckoo’s Egg, and Cyberpunk (which has nothing to do with actual Cyberpunk).

Book Review: Dungeons and Desktops

Dungeons and Desktops chronicles the rise and fall of the Computer RPG industry, from Akalabeth to Zelda. While the bulk of the book is devoted to the genre’s ‘Golden Age’ in the late ’80s and early ’90s, author Matt Barton explores the entire history of CRPGs, from their origins in the mid ’70s to the very recent past.

I’ve written a lot of articles about video games, and my love of classic gaming is well known. But I don’t know if I’ve ever pointed out just how much I love computer RPGS. From the Infocom games of my childhood to early Mac games like Uninvited and DejaVu to Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment, to Bioshock, the RPGS are my absolute favorites. This book seems really, really awesome. (And really, really expensive, unfortunately.)

Star Trek: The Experience is closing

Posted on By Wil

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and though I’ve known this was coming for a few months now, I was still really sad to read confirmation that Star Trek: The Experience is closing September first.

Offering a sad commentary on the state of the Star Trek franchise, the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas will shut down Star Trek : The Experience this fall.

Part simulator, part environment, part museum and (of course) part gift shop/restaurant, the Experience opened 10 years ago during the height of popularity for the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies.

But, the exhibit isn’t drawing the fans it once did — just as the franchise is fading off the public radar. While J.J. Abrams is hustling to save Star Trek on the big screen, it’s too late to save it in Vegas.

The Experience will always be special to me, because, as I wrote in the Geek in Review (excerpted from Dancing Barefoot):

The Transporter Chief says, “Welcome to the 24th century. You are aboard the starship Enterprise.”

She could have said to me, “Welcome to 1987, Wil. You are on Stage 9.”

She touches her communicator and says, “I have them, Commander.”

Jonathan Frakes’ voice booms over the comm, “Good work, Lieutenant. Please take them to the bridge.”

We leave the transporter room and walk down a long corridor which is identical to the ones I walked down every day. I realize as we walk that, in my mind, I’m filling in the rest of the sound stage. I’m surprised when we don’t end up in engineering at the end of the corridor. Instead, we are herded into a turbolift, where we enjoy some more special effects. The turbolift shakes and hums . . . it’s infinitely cooler than the real ones we would stand in for the show.

When the turbolift doors open, and reveal the bridge of the Enterprise, I gasp.

The bridge is a nearly-perfect replica of ours, with a few minor differences that are probably imperceptible to anyone who didn’t spend the better part of five years on it. The hum of the engines, which had only existed in my imagination on Stage 8, is now real. I stare at the view screen, where a beautiful starfield gives the appearance of motion. I remember how much I hated doing blue screen shots on the bridge and how much I loved it when they’d lower the starfield. When I looked at those thousands of tiny mirrors, glued onto a screen of black velvet, I could lose myself in the wonderful fantasy that this spaceship was as real as the view.

I am consumed by hypernostalgia.

I am 14-years-old, walking out of the turbolift during Encounter at Farpoint. Corey Allen, the director, excitedly tells me, “Picard controls the sky, man! He controls the sky!”

I am 15-years-old, sitting in my ugly grey spacesuit at the CONN. My fake muscle suit bunches up around my arms. I feel awkward and unsure, a child who desperately wants to be a man.

I am 16-years-old, working on an episode where I say little more than, “Aye, sir.” I want to be anywhere but here.

I am 17-years-old, wearing a security uniform for Yesterday’s Enterprise. I am excited to stand in a different place on the bridge, wear a different uniform, and push different imaginary buttons.

I hear the voices of our crew, recall the cool fog that hung around our trailers each morning from Autumn until Spring.

I recall walking to the Paramount commissary with the cast, on our way to have lunch meetings with Gene before he died.

I have an epiphany.

Until this moment, all I have been able to remember is the pain that came with Star Trek. I’d forgotten the joy.

It’s obviously an important place to me, though I don’t expect it be nearly as important to anyone else in the world. I’ve always said that it’s something every Star Trek fan should, uh, experience, at least once.

They say that the props and things from the museum will be returned to Paramount, where I hope they’ll be put on Star Trek: the Tour . . . though if past is prologue, Paramount will likely have them looked after by top men.