Tohuw.Net

Boing Boing tells us that Tor is set to get some Summer Lovin’ from Google’s Summer of Code. This is great for Tor, whose revolutionary “onion routing” software makes it easy to relatively anonymize Internet traffic, but, like many open projects, needs some attention to take it to “the next level”.

The point of Tor and other similar software is sometimes misunderstood. This page from the Tor project outlines some of the people around the world who can get great benefits from Tor advancing. With the changing face of privacy (mainly the loss thereof) and the many documented examples of repressive regimes stifling free speech, we need the options to bypass the iron fist from coming down on information. I’m all for law and order, but information and communication breaks through all barriers, and any government that tries to stifle the cries from and to its people must not succeed.

Besides the political ramifications of such a devlopment, it’s pretty interesting to see how Tor is developing. The concepts of alternative routing are fascinating on a very large scale like the Internet.

And yes, Technorati, this blog really is mine (for better or worse).

I can’t recall being so moved by anything I’ve seen on the Internet. Regardless of your religious views (but especially for a Christian), this ought to give you goosebumps.

I came across this blog, then stumbled upon this entry. It’s an utterly fascinating insider’s recollection of the Atari ST, from its infancy to the debut at CES 1985. For those of you who aren’t familiar, this was a really sweet machine that, along with the Mac 512k (my first love computer) and the Commodore Amiga (many, many people’s first computer) broke ground on a new step forward for personal computers. This was the first computer with an actual Color GUI, based off Digital Research’s GEM operating system. It had a number of innovations, such as the ability to use the full system memory to render graphics (alternating cycles with the processing jobs), and the first home computer with midi support. Long story short, this is one of the most important nerdboxes in history (especially if you’re an 808 State fan, because they used these boxes back in their glory days). It really was a remarkable and important machine.

I feel a sudden sigh in The Force, as if a thousand voices don’t care. I don’t want to read about computers. I don’t care about clunky gray ugly boxes that are slower than my Blackberry/iPhone/Pocket Calculator. First, the nerd in me screams in protest that your portable whatever can’t do what this baby did, then I want to challenge your device to a FLOPS test, but by then you’ve already left hastily through an unlocked window. So, I’ll accept the apathy, but try and prod you with at least the interest of innovation. The Atari ST brought something new and great to us, and in many ways made possible whatever shiny thing you’re using to read this right now. It’s true that our devices are getting smaller, faster, and better all the time. But these were the glory days, when personal computing was a new(er) world, and every step forward seemed like a giant leap for mankind. And so it was. Even if you’re not the computer-ey type, DadHacker is an interesting read, giving a very personal glimpse into a company and time that forever shaped consumer electronics. When he posts more, I’ll probably write about it again. You have been forewarned.

“You get this bath, see? Imagine you’ve got this bath. And it’s ebony. And it’s conical.”

“Conical?” said Arthur, “What sort of …”

“Shhh!” said Ford. “It’s conical. So what you do is, you see, you fill it with fine white sand, alright? Or sugar. Fine white sand, and/or sugar. Anything. Doesn’t matter. Sugar’s fine. And when it’s full, you pull the plug out … are you listening?”

“I’m listening.”

“You pull the plug out, and it all just twirls away, twirls away you see, out of the plughole.”

“I see.”

“You don’t see. You don’t see at all. I haven’t got to the clever bit yet. You want to hear the clever bit?”

“Tell me the clever bit.”

“I’ll tell you the clever bit.”

Ford thought for a moment, trying to remember what the clever bit was.

“The clever bit,” he said, “is this. You film it happening.”

“Clever.”

“That’s not the clever bit. This is the clever bit, I remember now that this is the clever bit. The clever bit is that you then thread the film in the projector … backwards!”

“Backwards?”

“Yes. Threading it backwards is definitely the clever bit. So then, you just sit and watch it, and everything just appears to spiral upwards out of the plughole and fill the bath. See?”

“And that’s how the Universe began is it?” said Arthur.

“No,” said Ford, “but it’s a marvellous way to relax.”

Sometimes I think Douglas Adams wrote my brain. I’ve had this site awhile now, but am just now getting around to buckling down and blogging properly. Properly as in, rambling on about things and hoping, desperately, some of it is interesting and makes sense. In the business, we call this creative writing. Creative writing is a lot like normal writing, but it’s much more important to feel terribly clever when writing creatively. A certain degree of pomposity is required. I’ll call it confidence at parties and to girlfriends.

Besides writing, which I feel I’ve exposited enough to turn your stomach by now, I also co-host a radio show, run an eSports syndicate, and pretend that I’ll eventually get around to vlogging. All that being said, this pile of nonsense will be about all the things I told myself I wouldn’t put in a blog, if I ever got around to making one. This means there will be the occassional discussion of people and politics, some music reviews, and some boring everyday sort of things (everyday is anything but boring!).

So, this blog is decidedly about nothing. We’ll see where it goes.

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