2/27/24 — Open 6-9p. Mask recommended. No open drinks, please.
I've wanted to read this guy's books since they were new. Sadly, I haven't much time to read. They're on my endless TBR. The last books I read were in Dec. '19, bus-bound due to major car work. "A Princess of Mars" & "Treasure Island" got me through. I really want to keep this 1st/1st gem, but it's not to be.
If you are someone working in #IT or #itsecurity I highly recommend the books by British #SF author #CharlesStross especially his Laundry Files series of novels. Why? Well, he's one of us! No other author I've read actually knows his way around a CLI, has administered computers himself and still cares about #Linux & other geeky IT stuff like Charlie. Ok, the other exception being #nealstephenson who used to be an engineer and famously had one of his protagonists use the #emacs editor in #Cryptonomicon. He's here on Mastodon @cstross and one of the nicest "famous" people to follow since he actually replies to and engages his followers while others just push their latest work and ignore your comments or questions.
Anyone ever get so absorbed in an audiobook while driving that you miss your turn and just keep going, run out of gas, or similar?
I almost ran out of gas on the 101 south of Salinas a couple days ago, but I coasted it in to a gas station in some tiny town. #Cryptonomicon was to blame. Something similar happened with Ian McDonald's #Hopeland not long ago.
It is heartbreaking that the UK government mistreated Alan Turing. Many AI tech enthusiasts may not be aware of his contributions to the field. In 1950, Turing developed a test for artificial intelligence that is still used today, making him a valuable asset in computer science. Everyone should honor his legacy and memory. RIP, Alan.
@nixCraft Alan Turing's legacy is indeed the stuff of legend, and he was treated appallingly badly by the UK government at the time. I would add (as others have in the replies above) that at least two achievements apart from the #Turing test are off-the-charts impressive:
The concept of the Turing machine. He arguably invented the modern CPU.
Cracking the German enigma code in WWII.
Incidentally, there's a great novel by Neal Stephenson called #Cryptonomicon. It's fictional, but it includes Turing as a character. And despite being fiction, the novel gives a great sense of how Turing's work fit into allied strategy in World War 2.