That's a reasonably good representation of me above, a grumpy programmer type, courtesy of the South
Park Character
Generator. You've had the misfortune of stumbling upon a web
page mostly devoted to links to the strange things I enjoy along with a
few of my incoherent ramblings. These links are mostly for the
use of my family and friends but if someone else finds them interesting, so much the better.
This web page is implemented mainly as one long file
since
I'm too
lazy to
maintain lots of HTML files. Live with it! Here are links
to
the main topics:
Reading
One of the ways I like to unwind after a stressful
day of
twiddling bits on embedded communications systems is to bury my head in
a book or magazine. Here are some of my favorites in no
discernible order:
Favorite Science Fiction Authors
Larry Niven - Larry
Niven
writes some of the best "hard" science fiction I've read. Ringworld
is
one of my favorite novels.
Orson Scott Card - Orson
Scott Card
also writes some great science fiction novels. Ender's Game
is a particular
favorite of mine.
Robert Heinlein -
Robert Heinlein is the grand master of Science Fiction. No die hard fan's library is complete without a copy of Stranger in a
Strange Land and Time Enough for Love.
Philip K Dick - Dick's
short stories and novels have been responsible for most of the
better Science Fiction movies made in the past 20 years.
Theodore
Sturgeon - Sturgeon had a real gift for short stories and
novellas. There's an excellent collection of ten volumes of his short
stories and novellas which is making some of his work which has long
been out of print available to a new generation of readers.
Kurt Vonnegut - Vonnegut
weaves a healthy dose of humor into his Science Fiction. My favorite
of his books is Slaughterhouse Five. His recent death reminds me that it's been too long since I've re-read his earlier books.
Rudy
Rucker - Rudy Rucker not only writes excellent science fiction
novels and short stories, he's also teaches Computer Science classes
at San José State University. I only wish some of my
professors had been so talented.
Spider Robinson - If
you've never read Spider Robinson's Callahan's Crosstime Saloon
series, you've been missing something. It's worth reading just
for the feghoots.
Douglas Adams - For
years I used the BBS pseudonym Ford Prefect since I loved Adams'
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series so much. The
world is a sadder place
without him around but a better place with his work still available.
Neil Gaiman - Neil Gaiman
writes mostly science fiction and fantasy with a healthy dose of
humor included. Sandman is one of my favorite
series of graphic novels.
Favorite Fantasy Authors
J.R.R. Tolkien -
J.R.R. Tolkien - The author of the Lord of the Rings
trilogy should need
no introduction. If you've been hiding out under a rock somewhere and
don't
recognize his name, seek his books out immediately.
Steven R. Donaldson -
Steven R. Donaldson's two trilogies about Thomas Covenant, Unbeliever,
are
my favorite fantasy series after Tolkien's trilogy. He's started
a third trilogy which I haven't started reading yet. I made the
mistake of reading his second trilogy while it was being written and
had to suffer impatiently while the series was finished.
J.K. Rowling - J.K.
Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter series, as if anyone didn't
know that. These books are pretty entertaining.
Other Favorite Authors
Nevil Shute - Nevil
Shute is my favorite fiction writer, bar none. I think he could make
a shopping list interesting. His books are tough to find but if you don't mind paying a bit extra for shipping, they're available from www.amazon.co.uk.
Robert Crais - Robert
Crais (in addition to other things) writes one of my favorite mystery
series about a detective named Elvis Cole. Elvis strikes me as a
younger and hipper Spenser which if you knew how much I like Robert B.
Parker (see below), you'd know that is high praise indeed.
Robert B. Parker -
Robert B. Parker has a number of detectives he writes about, the most
famous being Spenser (made famous by the Spenser for Hire TV
series). Spenser is a deeply principled and irreverent guy who
always gets the job done.
P.G.
Wodehouse - Wodehouse was an incredibly prolific author of humorous
short stories and novels featuring a variety of characters from the
British upper and working classes. The books featuring Bertie
Wooster and his butler Jeeves are my favorites.
Carl Hiaasen - Carl
Hiaasen writes funny and quirky mystery novels as well as a syndicated
newspaper column. His non-fiction work is pretty good too.
Richard Feynman - Richard
Feynman was a physicist with a sense of humor. He could make most
any subject interesting and had an interesting outlook on life.
Dave Barry - Dave Barry
used to write a wickedly funny syndicated column (he's been taking a
break lately) along with books and now he's got a must-read blog.
You've got to love a guy who writes about exploding toilets, eh?
John
Irving - John Irving writes amusing and eccentric novels that
are hard to describe. I've been hooked ever since reading The
World According to Garp many years ago.
Val McDermid - McDermid wrote
a great series of mysteries featuring forensic psychologist Tony Hill
and detective Carol Jordan which were the basis for the BBC series Wire
in the Blood.
Podcasts
Podcasts provide an entertaining way to pass the time while
commuting,
exercising, or working around the house. Here are some of the
best I've found in no particular order. You'll note most of the
podcasts I listen to
regularly feature humor, science, or technology. What can I
say? I'm a geek. All of these should be available free via
the iTunes Music Store
unless otherwise noted.
By the way, I highly recommend using iTunes to download and listen
to podcasts whenever possible. It's a huge timesaver as opposed
to downloading podcasts manually or even via an RSS reader. iTunes also features smart
playlists which make it quite easy to prioritize your podcasts and to keep them running without breaks. When you sync an iPod with iTunes, the last played date is synced so you can easily tell which podcasts you've already listened to. I find this integration of application (iTunes) and device (iPod) to be a huge timesaver.
If you're like me, you'll oversubscribe on the off chance that you might have extra time at some point in the future.
All podcasts shown below are audio unless otherwise noted.
Techie Podcasts
Podcasts of a technical nature.
This Week in Tech -
A nice
podcast about computers and technology. Features Leo Laporte and a number of
people from the old Screensavers program from TechTV (which was a great
program back before it
was ruined by G4).
Security Now! - A podcast featuring Leo Laporte (of Screensavers fame) and Steve Gibson (author of the great disk utility SpinRite). I'm amazed that they manage to cover such technical topics in audio form and not lose people. Very informative.
DL TV - (Available in both audio and video) This features Patrick Norton from the old Screensavers program.
Crank Geeks - (Available in both audio and video) Features John C. Dvorak, famous tech pundit and well known curmudgeon with a revolving list of co-hosts.
IT Conversations- Interesting conversations with well known people people from the fields of technology, science, and business.
Science Podcasts
The Naked Scientists -
The best general science podcast I've found.
Quirks and Quarks -
A good
general science program.
Skepticality
- Good
information about why we should always remain skeptical of
pseudoscience.
Bad Astronomy Q&A - Dr. Phil Plait manages to keep his podcast informative and amusing. After hearing him debate a moon landing conspiracy nut on Penn Jillette's podcast, I respect him even more for staying calm in the face of irrationality.
Humorous Podcasts
Galacticast - (Video podcast) Features parodies of SciFi movies.
Ask a Ninja - (Video podcast) A ninja
answers questions from viewer.
French Maid TV
- (Video podcast) Instructional videos featuring French maids.
Strong Bad
Emails & More - (Video podcast) Strong Bad from Homestar Runner answers
email questions.
Tiki Bar TV- (Video podcast) Strange
cast of characters occasionally show how to make a drink while having strange adventures. This is my favorite video podcast.
The Sound of Young America - Podcast featuring interviews and humor. The best substitute I've found so far for Penn Jillette's podcast which has ceased to be (pushing up daisies).
Little Gray Book Lectures
- John Hodgman (from the Daily Show) put together this series of humorous podcasts which pose as lectures.
The
Onion Radio News - Funny podcast from the folks at the Onion,
classic humorous news web site.
Miscellaneous Podcasts
In
Our Time - A great BBC radio program which discusses some of the
big ideas from throughout history. The programs on Relativism
and Prime Numbers were particularly good.
NPR:
Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me - NPR's weekly current events quiz show.
Scene Unseen - Movie reviews by one person who has seen the movie and another who hasn't (hence the title). Pretty amusing.
The Radio Adventures
of Doctor
Floyd - A family friendly and humorous podcast about time travel.
Spaceship Radio
- Classic
science fiction radio programs replayed for your entertainment.
Web Comics
These are a few of my favorite web comics.
Miscellaneous
Links
These are links which didn't fit into any other
category
but didn't warrant a category of their own.
Boing Boing - an eclectic blend of links and stories. I encounter the coolest stuff here.
Original Signal (Tech) - a nice concentrator which shows you the top stories from lots of tech related sites.
View Askew - View Askew is
the production company of Kevin Smith (one of my favorite film
directors). How could you not like the guy who gave us Dogma?
ZBS Foundation - ZBS has given
us such memorable characters as Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe and Jack
Flanders. These stories certainly make a stressful commute more
tolerable!
Paradise on a Hanger - My
favorite source for Aloha shirts. What's a grumpy programmer
without his Aloha shirt?
South Park - South
Park provides laughter and much needed parody of some nonsensical
groups and people.
Penn and Teller - Penn
and Teller are my favorite magicians (by a long shot). Their
Showtime program Bullshit
debunks a wide variety of stupid beliefs.
Friends
Some of my technically adept friends have their own web
pages.
Here are links to those I'm aware of:
Chard - I met
Chard quite a few years ago at the first BBS party I ever
attended. He ran one of my favorite BBSes, SNUBBS, for
many years before moving back to the left coast.
Scotto - Scotto
is another guy I met from BBSes. He's a very talented musician
and remembers far too many Monty Python sketches by heart to be judged
completely sane.
Craig (aka Loo) - Craig
is a fun guy with unusual albeit interesting hobbies. We get
together from time to time to toss a few darts, usually with minimal
bloodshed.
David - David is into
geocaching these days. Between that and the little one, I think
he stays pretty busy.
Laura -
Laura really needs to update her web page since her little one isn't
nearly so little.
Aldwyn -
Speaking of someone who needs to update their web page...
Last updated 07-07-2007