Living Digitally

Everything in my life that I value...

"Everything in my life that I value has been gained at the cost of not saying what I really think and saying what they want me to say."

- Lou Arrendale in Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Darkness

The References and Allusions of "Terminator Salvation"

I just got back from seeing Terminator Salvation which I found to be a little heavy on the action and special effects, and disappointingly light on character and intrigue. Perhaps more interesting than the plot where the numerous allusions and references which I spotted throughout the film:

• The gas station where Marcus, Reese, and Star stop to fill up their Jeep Wrangler is clearly modeled after the Mexican gas station where Sarah Connor stops to fill up her Jeep Wrangler at the end of the first Terminator (where she has her picture taken by the young hustler).
• The battle in the basement of Cyberdyne between John Connor and the T-800 is essentially a recreation of of the battle between Reese and the T-800 in the first film, right down to the close-up of the robotic feet ascending the steps and the fight on the catwalk. Of course, this is the same T-800 which, before its flesh is burned away, looks just like a young Arnold Schwarzengger (very impressive CGI, by the way).
• The giant machines which are designed to collect, imprison, and transport humans are clearly inspired by the tripods of War of the Worlds. In particular, the sounds and smoke they emit are very true to both the H.G. Wells novel, and to Steven Spielberg's modern interpretation.
• It's hard to believe that the red weeds that are shown in the scene where Marcus and Blair first approach the resistance hideout aren't also inspired by War of the Worlds.
• Maybe this one is a stretch, but the scene where Marcus hurls a chair through the image of Helena Bonham Carter sure seems reminiscent of the 1984 Apple Macintosh commercial warning the world of the dangers of conformity. (Is there a correlation being drawn between Skynet and Microsoft?)
• While I'm stretching things a bit, Star sure seemed a lot like Newt from Aliens : big-eyed, quiet, and somehow wiser than those who take care of her. And, of course, Aliens was directed by James Cameron who also directed the first Terminator.

As expected, there were also several campy references like John Connor using the "I'll be back" line, and Reese telling Marcus "come with me if you want to live" (which I believe has appeared in every Terminator story, and even the TV series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles). The literal tie-ins to the first movie are too numerous to list.

The most interesting connection I've made so far, however, is between the plot of Terminator Salvation and the 1953 Philip K. Dick story, Second Variety. Second Variety takes place during the aftermath of a nuclear war between the UN and the Soviet Union, and describes a world where the robots that the UN developed to help fight the Russians have become self-aware, and begin constructing increasingly human-like machines to infiltrate both American and Soviet bunkers. Although they have succeeded in causing a great deal of destruction, every model eventually fails to entirely eradicate the remainder of the human race until the second variety proves just human enough to finally slip past the last of humanity's defenses. If you've seen Terminator Salvation, this should sound very familiar, and probably not accidental.

The amount of time I spent looking for nods to other movies, novels, stories, and even old television commercials should tell you something about what I thought of the movie. It was certainly entertaining, but like all the other Terminator sequels, it doesn't even come close to capturing the darkness, eeriness, and authenticity of the original.

Buran-Energia: The Soviet Space Shuttle Prgram

Did you know the Soviet Union had its own Space Shuttle program in the 1980's and early 90's? The Buran-Energia was the Soviet response to the America Space Shuttle program which they viewed as a major strategic threat. The term Buran (meaning "snowstorm" or "blizzard") refers to the orbiter itself, and Energia (meaning "energy") refers to the rocket system used to launch it into orbit.

Visually, the Buran was almost identical to the American shuttles, but there were several key differences:

• The Buran could carry larger payloads (30 metric tons as opposed to the Space Shuttle's 25). Since the Buran had no main rockets (all the propulsion was provided by the Energia), it could carry more cargo. Additionally, it could return to Earth with a payload of up to 20 metric tons as opposed to the Space Shuttle's 15.
• The Buran had jet engines which could provide thrust on reentry meaning it could actually fly (as opposed to the Shuttle which only glides).
• The Energia system could deliver payloads to the moon. The Shuttle is confined to low-Earth orbit.
• The heat shield on the Buran was more robust.
• The Buran could operate entirely autonomously requiring no astronauts or pilots. In fact, the manual system was never installed.

The Buran's only launch occurred in November of 1988 (ironically, during a snowstorm). It completed two full orbits, and landed automatically only a few meters off its intended target. It was transported on the back of an Antonov An-225 airplane which was designed specially for this purpose, and is still the largest aircraft in the world.

The program was canceled in the early 90's due to lack of budget, and tragically, the Buran was destroyed in 2002 when the hanger it was stored in collapsed due to lack of maintenance.

The video below shows the evolution of the Buran project. Especially interesting is the animation showing it launching several nuclear warheads from space and destroying most of the United States.

Credits and additional resources:

• Picture of the collapsed hanger.
• Picture of the remains of the Buran.
• Buran on Wikipedia.
• The Buran program on Wikipedia.
• The Energia rocket on Wikipedia.
• A good Russian resource on the Buran-Energia.

Review of Watchmen (the book and the movie)

First off, I have to admit that I'm kind of a comic book/graphic novel poser. I read a few when I was a kid, but like most people, I gave up the genre early on in life -- probably by the time I got to middle school. A few movies rekindled my interest over the years (namely Batman), but it was Alan Moore's Watchmen that really made me realize what incredible stories I've been missing out on all these years.

Like most people, my first exposure to Watchmen was the movie trailer (which I've probably watched a dozen times by now). I was so intrigued that I saw the movie the day it came out (not a simple feat for someone with two small children), then again about a week later with my wife. At some point, I ordered the book and added it to my fiction queue. Two weeks of business travel between the east and west coasts finally gave me the uninterrupted blocks of time I was waiting for to immerse myself in what I can honestly say is one of the most creative and riveting pieces of fiction I've ever experienced.

Before I get into the book, I should mention that I was surprised by the general reception of the movie. I thought it was one of the best action/hero/fantasy movies I'd ever seen, but in general, I'd say the reaction I witnessed in the theater, and then later saw online, ranged from subdued to negative. I thought the movie was extremely sophisticated and challenging in a way I'd ceased hoping for -- especially in the hero genre -- since the original Batman series got so bad (which was basically right after the first movie). Fortunately, movies like Batman Begins and Ironman kept my interest in hero movies alive, proving that the genre could still be done in a way that wasn't insultingly sappy (yes, Spiderman, I'm talking about you). But I thought Watchmen took hero movies to an entirely new level.

As complex as the movie was (and I'm talking about character as much as plot), the book is an order of magnitude more complex. The graphic novel format not only provides the additional space the characters need to unfold, but it also provides additional dimensions for them to exist in, and devices for the writer and artist to use in order to create an incredibly rich and meaningful universe. For example:

• Multiple stories being told simultaneously. There are almost always at least two different stories being told at any given time. Sometimes we're in two different geographical locations at once, sometimes the past and present are being woven together, and sometimes there are literally two different but complementary stories simply superimposed and intertwined (the most obvious example being the Black Freighter comic which we watch unfold between and amongst frames).
• Temporal fluidity. Just as Jon needn't experience time in a linear fashion, neither must the reader. One of the best examples is chapter 4, "Watchmaker," which is told entirely from Jon's perspective. Events unfold completely out of sequence, but in a way that reveals a different, more interesting reality, and startling relationships.
• Excerpts. Between each chapter are excerpts which temporarily take us out of the immediate story, and into what appear to be tangential stories, but which ultimately add additional layers of meaning to the entire book. I especially like the excerpts from Hollis Mason's book, Under the Hood. They are so well done, in fact, that they stand entirely on their own.
• Transitions and artistic detail. Even when the story gets riveting, make sure you examine each and every panel. No detail is random: newspaper headlines, posters, advertisements, graffiti, framed photographs, facial expressions -- even the evolution of the heros' costumes. And don't just watch the frame you're one; pay attention to the transitions between frames, and if something strikes you as meaningful (for example, a silhouette of a couple standing together, spray-painted throughout the city by gangs), it probably is.

I think what I like best about Watchmen is that the entire story, along with all the characters, exist squarely in the gray area between good and evil. I think this moral complexity is exaggerated by the fact that many of the characters are costumed heros or villains which traditionally have always been portrayed as moral booleans -- either good or evil -- or at best, perhaps slightly conflicted. The characters in Watchmen have such depth and complexity that even when they perform the most horrific acts, they seem worthy of redemption. In other words, they feel real.

Stop predicting the death of email (or anything else)

If you're considering writing an article predicting the death of some form of dominant technology, please read this first.

Technologies seldom just die. Instead, they tend to do two things:

1. Evolve
2. Become refined

The evolution of technology is obvious: televisions get bigger, computers get faster, phones become more powerful. But it's the refinement of technologies that throw people off and lead them into misinterpreting trends. One of the most obvious (and annoying) examples is email.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard people predict the death of email (usually because it makes a good headline, or a shocking interjection during geeky conversation). As is the case with all absolutes, this is a terrible oversimplification.

Rather than saying that email is dying because of Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, texting, etc., I think it's more accurate to say that electronic communication is being refined. Whereas email (and later, IM) used to be the only mechanisms we had to communicate electronically, we now have several more options, all of which work slightly differently and meet a slightly different need. I believe these differences are complementary rather than competitive.

Service	Communication Method	Properties
Email	Asynchronous (no immediate response expected)	Secure (if done properly) Easy to archive Relatively open (anyone can email you) Medium priority (sometimes ignored)
Instant Messaging	Synchronous (immediate response expected)	Responses are typically very fast Tightly controlled network (buddy lists, rosters, etc.) High priority (difficult to ignore)
Twitter	Publish and subscribe - open network	Completely open network (subscribe to anyone you want) Extremely casual (say things you'd never bother to put into an email) No response expected or required Low priority (easy to ignore)
Facebook	Publish and Subscribe - closed network	High level of control over network High discoverability (easy to find people) Low commitment (communicate with people you wouldn't normally email or call)
Texting (SMS)	Asynchronous (but with a synchronous expectation)	Highly available (almost anyone is reachable no matter where they are)

Personally, I use all of the communication mechanisms listed above, and I use them for very different purposes. I'm not about to start communicating with business contacts and colleagues exclusively through Twitter (even though my Twitter URL is on my business cards), or send out a white paper via SMS, or CC 500+ people on an email with a simple status update ("just had my first cup of coffee this morning"). In other words, while electronic communication continues to be refined, none of these forms of electronic communication is likely to die in the immediate future.

One trend in particular that leads to people to conclude that email is dying is the fact that young people are less likely to use it. If your kids look at you funny when you tell them to email something to you, you might make the mistake of assuming that they will cary that prejudice with them throughout life. Maybe they will, or maybe they just don't have a need for email yet. The day will eventually come when they will probably rather email their thesis to their professor than post it on their Facebook wall.

When talking about the death of technology, it's important to separate the technology -- or the use of the technology -- from the implementation. Yes, VHS is mostly dead, but it might be more accurate to say that the implementation of how people record and watch video has evolved to DVDs, Blu-ray, DVRs, portable devices, and streaming video.

The last thing I'll say is that some technologies certainly do die. For instance, it's possible that satellite radio will completely go away someday (possibly very soon). But I would argue that these are technologies which really didn't make much sense in the first place, and never really reached critical mass (both in numbers, and in psychological acceptance). In my mind, email makes a huge amount of sense. I use it very differently than I used to, and I believe that in 5 to 10 years, I will use it very differently than I do today, but I'm pretty sure I will still have a need that only email (or whatever email evolves into) will meet.

Tips for deploying a LAMP stack on Amazon EC2

If you're interested in using Amazon EC2 and other services to deploy a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack, you will probably find this post invaluable. I spent about three full days migrating all my sites over from a physical dedicated server to an EC2 instance, and what follows are several things I learned during the process.

This post will cover the following (in varying levels of detail):

• Selecting and setting up an AMI (Amazon Machine Image) with Apache, MySQL, and PHP.
• Setting up an elastic IP address.
• Setting up an EBS (Elastic Block Store).
• Sending email from an EC2 instance (not as easy as one might think).
• Backing up your data and web applications.

Review of "I Am Legend" (the novel, not the movie)

Ever since I reviewed the movie I Am Legend last year, I've been meaning to read the book. After finishing Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, I wanted something a little lighter (figuratively and literally), so I decided it was finally time to give I Am Legend a read. Not only is the book far more interesting than the movie, but it's also far more meaningful.

I Am Legend goes much deeper than just fantasy and horror. It's a very well written novel which explores the psychological challenges of solitude, and concepts of human (and inhuman) perspective and compassion. I'm not surprised that I Am Legend refuses to translate into a movie (it was first adapted in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth, then in 1971 as The Omega Man, and in 2007 as I Am Legend). Since the most recent attempt replaces pages and pages of Robert Neville's ruminations and discoveries with special effects, suspense, and heroism, a great deal of the interest of the novel is lost.

Without giving too much away, there are three important differences between the novel and its most recent adaptation:

1. In the book, Neville isn't a scientist. He's a blue-collar worker at some sort of plant (the book never discloses what kind), and he is forced to become an amateur scientist in order to understand what's happening around him. Neville is often frustrated by his inability to understand what he reads and to operate the equipment he finds until he eventually overcomes his own self-doubt.
2. The creatures in the book are vampires rather than zombie-like. This may seem like a minor distinction, but in fact, it changes the story significantly. Initially, the vampires in the novel seem like run-of-the-mill, blood-sucking clichés, but in fact, Neville is able to scientifically explain their behavior which has been misinterpreted and canonized into legend over the years. It turns out that there's nothing mythical or fantastic about vampires when examined under the scrutiny of objective, modern science.
3. The title of the work actually makes sense in the book whereas I don't think it ever comes through in the movie. The alternate ending of the movie does a credible job of at least acknowledging the theme of the story, but it can't possibly capture the gravity of the final three words of the novel: "I am legend."

I don't want to sound overly critical of the movie, especially after giving it a good review last year. They are both, in fact, good stories, and both very much worth your time. Just don't think that just because you've seen the movie, you know the story. The book will still surprise you both in terms of plot and depth.

Introducing TipBin (again)

I spent the weekend updating TipBin, and today it goes live again. TipBin is a site about sharing small and relatively simple tips for reducing our carbon footprints which, together, can add up to huge change. From the homepage:

The World is changing... And not always for the better. Climate change and global warming are no longer considered theories. The top 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1990, and global emissions of CO₂ are predicted to increase at least 74% by 2030. China alone is adding two new coal fired power plants to its power grid per week.

And just so you don't think I believe everything I read:

One final note... I'm the first to admit that nobody fully understands climate change, and that no single person or group has all the facts or answers. But regardless of how much or how little peril our planet is in, I believe very strongly that conservation and waste reduction are always positive. When it comes to climate change and pollution, we have absolutely nothing to lose by assuming the worst, and everything to gain.

I first launched TipBin about a year ago, and learned a lot from the process. The most important lesson I learned was that spammers are the scum of the earth, and will stop at nothing to pollute every form of user-generated content on the web. I deleted all the illegitimate posts, stepped up my spam protection, and made a few other small code tweaks, and now it's ready for prime time once again. Have a look, and let me know what you think.

Review of the Amazon Kindle 2

I bought the first Kindle the second it was available (and gave it a thorough review, naturally), but sold it to a fanatical Oprah watcher the moment I saw leaked pictures of the Kindle 2. I liked my Kindle, but I found I was still more likely to reach for paper books for several reasons:

• The battery life was really bad, probably because I kept the wireless on all the time, but having to remember to activate it in order to receive daily content kind of defeated the purpose of the incognito "Whispernet."
• The famously poorly designed buttons were very annoying. Amazon says they want the Kindle to disappear in your hands, but when you're always worried about accidentally hitting the wrong button, it's hard to relax and let your guard down.
• It was slow. I didn't mind the refresh rate of turning a page since you can get into a good rhythm, but otherwise navigating the device was cumbersome.
• Most of the books I wanted to read weren't available, and despite the Kindle's versatile capabilities, it really is designed much more for books than magazines, newspapers, or anything that comes from the web or is accompanied by images.
• The first book I read on the Kindle (1984 -- George Bush and our impending economic situation inspired me to reread several such classics) was full of OCR mistakes -- so much so that it was distracting. Fortunately, the more modern books I read didn't have the same issue.
• The case and the way it attached to the Kindle was just plain strange. The two often came apart, and the power and network switches in the back were obscured by the back of the cover. Very curious design.

But all that's in the past. Here are my thoughts on the Kindle 2 so far:

• The new form factor is a huge improvement. The action of the buttons has been reversed so they need to be pressed on the inside rather than on the outside which is where you tend to grasp the device. The metal back makes it feel more substantial, and the keyboard has been dramatically improved. It's also thinner which is a bonus when traveling.
• The 5-way button is a significant improvement over the LCD "gutter" of the old model. It allows for much more efficient navigation which will, in turn, make some of the great features of the Kindle (dictionary, notes, etc.) far more accessible.
• It didn't come with a case which bummed me out. I guess I should have realized that, but in my haste to purchase one before they sold out, I didn't read about everything that comes in the box. The first Kindle came with a basic case (poor as it was), so I assumed the second one would have a case or a sleeve, too. But in a tribute to the iPod, the Kindle 2 comes with nothing but the device itself, and a cable. Cases and other accessories are additional revenue streams.
• The Kindle 2 does away with the external network switch. The single power switch is on the top of the device (where it won't be covered by your case or sleeve), and control of the network is now done through a software menu. Very smart change.
• Despite some criticism I've seen online, the Kindle 2 is definitely faster than the first. It's still e-ink, so it's not instantaneous, but there's a noticeable improvement over the first version.
• All my books from my first Kindle experience were waiting for me on my Kindle 2. I just had to select them from the archive section, and they immediately downloaded for free. This is an important reminder that, like the iPhone, the Kindle isn't a standalone device. It's part of an ecosystem which is clearly greater than the sum of its parts.
• I haven't been able to put the battery through its paces yet, but it's supposed to be 25% better. I don't think I'll have any battery problems this time, though, because I don't think I'm going to buy any subscriptions which means I won't have to leave the wireless on. I'm so accustomed to reading the news on my phone or in a feed reader now that I think I'll use the Kindle exclusively for books.
• Amazon still charges to email documents to yourself ($0.10 each), and to aggregate blogs (about $1.99 each). I understand why Amazon does this (the cost of the wireless connection is paid for every time you buy a book, but not when you wirelessly transfer documents or aggregate blogs), but I just can't imagine doing this when you can easily connect your Kindle via USB (on Mac and Windows), and there are so many better ways to read blogs. But just because these features don't appeal to me doesn't mean they aren't useful to others, so I officially reserve judgment.

Other features of the Kindle 2 that I haven't mentioned yet:

• More storage. The Kindle 2 will hold over 1,500 books.
• A new text-to-speech feature allows the Kindle to read to you. I wasn't expecting much out of this feature, but it actually works surprisingly well. The voice and the flow are quite natural.
• Better selection. Amazon claims there are over 240,000 books available now. I did a quick search for the next four or five books I intend to read, and they were all available which already puts me off to a better start than with the first Kindle.

Overall, I've been very happy with my upgrade thus far, and would recommend the Kindle 2 both to original Kindle owners, and to anyone who thought the first Kindle wasn't ready for prime time yet. I think this time, I'm going to stick with it -- at least until I see leaked photos of the Kindle 3.

How to recover from a screen saver that crashes on OS X

I discovered the hard way that a few of the screen savers that come with OS X actually crash (at least on my machine) which means just trying to select them in "Desktop & Screen Saver" crashes System Preferences. If you're unlucky enough to have System Preferences save the selection before it crashes (as I was), that means your screen saver will not work, and you cannot change it because each time you try, System Preferences will crash. Bad situation.

The fix, I discovered after some trial and error, is to:

1. Open the terminal.
2. cd into ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost.
3. rm com.apple.screensaver.*.plist.

For extra credit, you can just remove the relevant plist file with the newest modification date which will reflect the moment you got yourself into this mess.

As a side note, I actually don't even like screen savers, and prefer to use the "Energy Saver" option to simply turn off my display(s). The problem, however, is that you can't configure OS X to require a password when the displays come back on. If you want to protect your workstation while you're away, you have to configure your screen saver to activate at a shorter interval than your displays turn off.

Dear Apple: please add a password option to turning off displays so we can be energy conscious and security conscious at the same time.