The Culture is a galaxy-spanning civilization that has tapped our protagonist (a famous game-player) to go play the game that is the central organizing concept of another younger, smaller, cruder empire. The societal details are interesting (and repugnant in the case of the newbies) and we get to see our protagonist be changed and influenced by events. The notion that starships and robots are sentient and are full citizens in the Culture can have humorous drawbacks. I didn't really like the protagonist and the story resolution wasn't sufficient to overcome that problem for me. While there was nothing wrong with the character names within the context of the story, they were so odd and baroque that they repeatedly threw me out of the story and made it difficult to re-engage. Your mileage may vary.

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Well written, but with a weak story that is too long by half. A mashup between a post-apocalypic zombie story and vampire story. Everyone, including the janitor, has an extensive back-story and that makes for a slog of a read at times. There are a wide range of characterizations, some are quite strong and compelling. This makes the weak, two-dimensional ones stand out even more. Only recommend to hardcore vampire/zombie/apocalyptic fiction fans. Be aware it isn't a neat fit into any of those categories.

Rocketeers by Michael Belfiore

Just finished "Rocketeers - How a Visionary band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots is Boldly Privatizing Space" by Michael Belfiore. The book is a fun, engaging and a bit scattershot look at the visionaries trying to jump start the private space flight business. "Rocketeers" already needs serious updating as many of the companies and projects featured have died, morphed into something else, are still struggling to hit oft-delayed schedules or, in a case or two, have accomplished major goals. Belfiore has successfully captured many of the personalities involved and does an excellent job explaining the technologies involved as well.

The Disappearing Constellation

If the rumors are true, President Obama will be killing NASA's Constellation program and its comically expensive, flawed Ares I and Ares V rockets. I believe that the designs are flawed, even though they may be technically very advanced, because of the bad assumptions that went in to them. These aren't the best rockets that we can build, they are the best rockets that we can build that employ lots of people in key congressional districts and that we can make hand-waving green claims about. Look, we're being green by reusing the solid rockets after each launch. Well, sure, the parachute recovery system adds 11,000 pounds to each rocket's launch weight and put the whole program in jeopardy by weighing too much. Well, yes, it costs lots more to reuse a spent rocket than to just let it sink in the ocean and build a new one — but we're GREEN!

There are lots of other valid criticisms that can be made. I'm more interested in Obama's rumored plans to fund commercial space development to get NASA astronauts where they need to be. I'm thrilled that SpaceX seems to have positioned itself perfectly to be the beneficiary of this change in direction. The Falcon 9 with its Dragon capsule, much (if not most of it) developed with private funds, may be in a position to orbit astronauts in as little as 2-3 years — the Ares I was at least five years and tens of billions of dollars away from that.

I'm sorry that NASA, the public, the Congress and a long series of administrations turned NASA into just another bureaucracy. It's a sad state of affairs for the former miracle workers to be in, but that doesn't mean we should keep funding them and their gold-plated contractors extravagantly. I'd rather that those dollars went to funding a new, sustainable space industry so we can eventually get off this rock.

Coca-Cola Freestyle Self-serve Dispenser

While searching for something else related to the concept of "mass customization", I stumbled across the press release and related articles for the new Coke Freestyle drink dispenser.

The machine can dispense 100 different drinks using a set of small, high-intensity flavor cartridges and "micro-dosing" technology borrowed from the medical world.  To create a "Peach Diet Coke", the user selects the Diet Coke and Peach flavors and the machine mixes and dispenses the drink.  That same Peach flavor might be used when another user wants a Peach Iced Tea or a Peach Sparkling Water.  There is a touchscreen interface (cool), powered by Windows CE (meh) to guide user through all of the permutations and combinations.

The flavor cartridges use RFID technology.  The dispenser automatically reads the RFID info and knows what flavor the just installed cartridge is and adjusts its offerings accordingly.  Dispensing info is sent to a big Coke SAP database in the sky, so the company can track usage instantly.  As a student in marketing at the moment, I can tell you that the availability of that level of information really excites marketing people.

Coke is testing the machine this summer (2009) with expanded availability expected in 2010.  I would be VERY, VERY interested in a home version.  In the interest of full disclosure, Coca-Cola is a tiny but well-loved part of my small portfolio.

Macintosh 25th Anniversary

The Macintosh turned 25 in January and I failed to comment.  To be fair, on the actual anniversary date in question I was heavily medicated and temporarily narcoleptic while recovering from shoulder surgery, so the topic wasn't foremost on my mind.  (The surgical recovery has gone really well — thanks for asking).

The Mac was introduced on January 24, 1984.  My parents, who are held in high esteem to this day and not just for their computer largesse, bought me a Fat Mac in late 1985 as a graduation present, having had the foresight to skip the original Mac's paltry 128K and wait for the 512K model.  I took that machine off to college with me.

A quick recap of the Macs that have been my primary machine, be it at home or work:

  Mac 512K

  Mac 512KE

  Mac Plus

  Mac II

  Mac IIcx

  Mac IIci

  Mac IIfx

  Mac IIvx

  Mac Centris 650

  Mac Quadra 840AV

  Power Mac 5200

  Power Mac 5400

  Power Mac 8500

  Power Mac 8600

  Power Mac G3

  Power Mac G4 (a couple varieties)

  Mac Pro

  iMac (several)

  Powerbook (several)

  MacBook

That original Mac was later upgraded to a Mac 512KE and then to a Mac Plus.  My parents bought the machine from me — a transaction that I never quite understood since they paid for it originally, but who was I to argue? — and, years later, I took it back when they moved on to a newer Mac model.  I still have it and I use it every day.

It sits, quite literally, on a pedestal in a corner of our family room.  It runs a nifty little app called HappyPlusClock to turn it into a digital or analog clock (searching for the link, I see that the app has been updated twice since I last checked).  It makes for an awesomely readable clock and, while it may not be the most power efficient clock ever devised, it makes me feel good that my 24 year-old computer is still in daily use.  I know if I pull it off its pedestal, attach a keyboard and reboot using a MacWrite, Word, MacPaint or MacDraw disk that I can be productive in minutes.  How do I know this?  Because I've done it.  Sure, it doesn't compare to the 24" iMac I'm writing on this now, but it will be a long time before that old Mac becomes a Macquarium.  If it ever does give up the ghost, I've got another half dozen or so compact Macs in the basement archives ready to take its place...

The Best Bike... for Me

I started researching a new bike.  I haven't regularly ridden a bike since I was in grade school, so I was excited to see how much things have changed.  Turns out, they've changed a little, but not all that much.  I'm really disappointed.

I'm in the market for what the industry calls a casual, comfort or leisure bike — this all seems to be code for a bike designed for folks who are out of shape and have large asses.  While somewhat painful, I will admit to being in this class.  The bikes marketed to us leisure-types look a bit dorky and are equipped with big seats and a few gears, not the wide range of speeds the yellow-jersey-and-hemorrhoid crowd is sporting.  The bikes are fine and solve none of the real problems I have with bikes.  I won't be buying one any time soon.

You see, I hate bicycle chains.  When they aren't coming off or breaking, they're dirtying up your pants, your socks, and everything else they touch.  Bicycle chains suck.  Always have and always will.  Life is too short to have to deal with the loser, retro technology that is the common bicycle chain.  The thing is, companies like Shimano make shaft drives for bicycles that have been around, and refined, for years.  Some leisure bike makers offer shaft drive, others do not.  The presence of shaft drive (or some other non-chain drive) is non-negotiable for me.

Probably the only thing I hate more on a bike is pneumatic tires.  A fat kid on a bike (me) hitting a good pot-hole pretty much guarantees a flat.  I had flat tires on my bike as a kid all the time.  You know how many flats I've had in a car in 25 years of driving?  Two.  Only two.  Guess what?  I hate pneumatic tires on my car, too!  The car world now has central tire monitoring and inflation systems.  There are even run-flat tires.  But I don't want to fuss with any of that.  A company called Amerityre has developed foam-filled tires that are used in low speed, light weight (in the motor vehicle sense) applications and that never need inflation.  The hand carts used by the UPS and FedEx guys are probably rolling on Amerityres. Why?  FIXING FLATS AND KEEPING TIRES PROPERLY INFLATED IS A PAIN IN THE ASS.  Amertityre makes bicycle tires.  None of the leisure bike makers I've run across offer them as an option.

I emailed a major bicycle manufacturer and asked about shaft drive and never flat tires for those of us with big butts, who loathe bicycle maintenance, and have modest disposable incomes ready to spend on the perfect bike.  The response I got was the equivalent of patting me on my head and telling me to take a long walk off a short pier.  I won't say who the manufacturer was, but if you've spent more than ten minutes looking at bikes, you've seen their products and heard their name.

So, alas, my quest for the perfect bike has ended.  For exercise, I'm hoofing it.  I'll check back every six months or so to see if the industry that claims to want my business so badly can be bothered to design a bike that doesn't suck.