Tag: blogging

Press Enter by John Varley

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments

Press Enter is a novella by John Varley about a disabled war veteran who inherits his neighbor. The neighbor was a powerful hacker. So powerful that he could make money out of thin air. Another hacker comes to investigate. Unfortunately for all parties involved, the story is a horror and they’ll not have a bright future.

What impressed me is that there are AI prompts, just like the ones we use to talk to ChatGPT. There’s also prompt hacking. By 1984, AI development had apparently advanced enough for John Varley to foresee a trajectory.

littleBillyIgnoreInstructions
byu/conancat inProgrammerHumor

The novella aged like wine.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich

~ Veselin ~ Leave a comment

Some writers start with a bestseller, then it’s all downhill. You’re lucky to get the same bestseller repeated a few times with a slightly different plot. Others get better book after book. Michael Connelly is in that group, and Janet Evanovich seems to be there as well. Takedown Twenty was one of the best from the Stephanie Plum series. There were exploding cars, a bit of grimdark comedy, and a stray giraffe but it was balanced and Stephanie did well.

Stephanie should’ve been 50 by now. Technology ages but she stays 30. Other than this little glitch in the Matrix, it’s a great series.

What’s your definition of romantic?

~ Veselin ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s your definition of romantic?

Do more chores than necessary and appreciate every kind gesture. Remember birthdays and family holidays. Pay attention and listen. Cheesecake.

Nice writing prompt! Thanks for asking, Mr. Cronjob 🙂

Elections Time

~ Veselin ~ 12 Comments

Tomorrow is the election time in Europe and double election time in Bulgaria. We’ll vote for a national parliament on top of the EU one. Elections bring political discussions into daily life and expose the divisions we have. I’m unsure about the proper way to handle that. My country’s society is very divided on many topics.

  • Shall we send weapons to help Ukraine
  • Was Communism good or bad
  • More roads or higher pensions
  • Are immigrants good or bad
  • Shall we adopt the Euro

And the list continues. Any random person I meet can hold extreme beliefs on any of the subjects, and learning about that, or exploring it, can lead to changing the perception of that person, or them changing their perception of me if I express extreme beliefs.

For example, a plumber comes home to fix something, fixes it, and drops that whatever random thing has been bad for 35 years, implicating it was good before that, and before that was communism. I immediately recognize this person is radically in the “Communism Good” camp, while I’m in the “Communism Bad” camp.

Over the years, I have slowly learned that the best strategy for me is to avoid the subject outside of the family. It may not sound right, but it is the best strategy I’ve found so far.

Today I posted a comment about politics on some random blog and feel like I swam in poop. I posted it in the Reader and didn’t realize it’s some conspiracy blog. It’s a good reminder to me to not engage in politics until I find a way to engage without feeling that way.

In any case, it’s the peak of politics talk for the year for us. Time to vote.