The Phantom City

You know, just recently it occurred to me that I’ve never used my full name on this blog. This seems like a good time to come out. (No, not like that.)

Most folks who read this blog regularly know who I am, which is why I hadn’t really thought about the decision I made a few years ago to not link myself too publicly with this blog. I originally thought I would talk more about work, and I knew that might cause some distress due to the large number of people involved. However, looking back, I’ve normally thought of blogging as a break from thinking about work, so I didn’t write very much about it at all.

I’ve changed jobs recently, and while I’ll miss the folks at my previous job, working as a web applications developer and consultant is a good move for me. Also seems like a good time to say “Hi, I’m Shane Thacker.” There are a few of us, and currently I’m not the one who appears at the top of Google. I’m not the web designer, or the school board chairman, or living in Indonesia, or writing comments about Elton John’s wedding. I am the one who wrote several articles years ago for the Philanthropy News Network. There seem to be more links to those articles than evidence that the articles themselves still exist.

Anyway, that’s me: Shane Thacker. Hello, world.

From The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci:

Since things are much more ancient than letters, it is no marvel if, in our day, no records exist of these seas having covered so many countries; and if, moreover, some records had existed, war and conflagrations, the deluge of waters, the changes of languages and of laws have consumed every thing ancient. But sufficient for us is the testimony of things created in the salt waters, and found again in high mountains far from the seas.

Get yours now!

Link courtesy of Too Many Topics, Too Little Time.

Hee hee hee…

Courtesy of PeterDavid.net.

If you’re like me, and spend part of most days thinking “I wonder if Google has a tool for that?”, check out the Google Cheat Sheet. A lot of information about Google and its services, in just two pages.

Link courtesy of Too Many Topics, Too Little Time.

Tyler Cowen on the effects of blogging:

Blogging makes us more oriented toward an intellectual bottom line, more interested in the directly empirical, more tolerant of human differences, more analytical in the course of daily life, more interested in people who are interesting, and less patient with Continental philosophy.

Link courtesy of kottke.org.

From The Show with Ze Frank:

The Houston Chronicle’s TechBlog covers Fifteen Geek Movies to See Before You Die. Not sure if I agree entirely with the list, but let’s see how I’ve done so far:

Brazil - Terry Gilliam movie that I always intend to see, but never do.

The Matrix - Overrated as science fiction, but a revelation as an action movie. It’s Predator-like, as far as its must-see-ness.

The Fifth Element - Made me a Luc Besson fan. Filled with the joy of Silver Age comics, without the pain of Silver Age exposition. Oddly subtle performances in a completely over-the-top movie.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - The standard by which movie space battles should be measured. The tension near the end makes up for all the family drama.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - Funny, but is able to cut corners because of the iconic nature of the characters. I’m not sure how well it would hold up on it’s own, but a nice addition to the series.

Serenity - A lot better than I was expecting. I really liked the Firefly series on which it was based, but wasn’t particularly obsessed with it. This movie made me want to see more of the show. But come on, Joss, do you have to kill off good characters in every finale?

Dark City - Creepy, and largely made by Rufus Sewell’s performance. The resolution unfortunately depends on a sudden discovery — “I can control everything with my mind!” — but everything leading up to that is an excellent slow reveal.

12 Monkeys - Never seen it. Don’t like monkeys.

Shaun of the Dead - I’ve seen large parts of it, but I really need to sit through the whole thing.

Darkman - Liam Neeson plays Liam Neeson, in a mask. Sam Raimi’s original superhero movie. That’s enough for any movie.

Army of Darkness - I like Bruce Campbell, but meh. I have more fun watching some of the original stop-motion movies this is a homage to.

WarGames - Talking supercomputers? Hacking via acoustic modem? Ally Sheedy? Global Thermonuclear War? I had to get a computer when I saw this movie, and I’ve loved them ever since. Still one of my favorite movies.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Eminently quotable, and genuinely funny.

Office Space - Eminently quotable, but the quotes are better than the narrative. As a movie, I ended up liking Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle better.

Repo Man - Another movie I always intended to see, but never have.

These would have to be on my list: Dune (1984 David Lynch version), Star Wars (the original trilogy), Revenge of the Nerds, and Clash of the Titans.

Link courtesy of Bureau 42.

This is one of those things that is unlikely to appear on television vignettes for Black History Month, but it’s interesting nonetheless: Dell Comics published the first comic book series featuring an African-American hero. Lobo had a fairly usual Western backstory, being accused of a murder he didn’t commit, but in 1965 he broke new ground. Unfortunately, due to retailers returning the comic bundles unopened, Lobo only lasted for two issues. They’re hard to find now, but I picked up issue #1 a while back, and I’m still looking for the second one.

Cover image courtesy of Comics.org.

Several theological questions, answered by thinking of God as a programmer:

Q: How come the Age of Miracles Ended?
A: That was the development phase of the project, now we are in the
maintenance phase.

Link courtesy of Digg.