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These days, most people are content to watch "CSI" or "NCIS" to receive their fill of criminal investigations. While the shows are entertaining, they are obviously not real, and as we all know, usually the truth is stranger than fiction.
I suspect anyone who is reading this already has a number of technology gadgets. I suppose this could be anything from a computer to a cell phone to an MyePet (quick survey ... does anyone really have a MyePet?). Anyone with a gadget knows that it doesn't always work right. However, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 15 percent of individuals never bothered repairing a piece of technology that broke within the past year.
Before moving to Baltimore, I had had little experience riding most types of mass transportation. Back at home in Louisville, I occasionally took the bus places, but most of my other experiences were infrequent. I can count on one hand the number of cities (Chicago, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco) where I had ridden some form of public transit.
During the weekend, I had a chance to finally attend the Baltimore Writers' Conference. There had been times in the past when I was thinking about going to one, but I could never fit it into my schedule. Luckily, I think I picked a pretty decent one to attend. First, it happened to be at Towson University, where I attend grad school. Second, there was a pretty good crowd of people there, all of whom seemed like qualified members of the writing profession.
The day after the election, I had a chance to check out all of the front pages from around the world. It was remarkable how many international newspapers had Obama as the top story, and as expected, a number of U.S. papers devoted their entire front pages to election coverage. I created an Obama collage of the papers as a tribute to our next president. Feel free to use as a screensaver or desktop image!
Ten years ago this month, I originally published "The Developers." It's weird to think it was that long ago, and even weirder to think that I started on the book 13 years ago, in 2002. While so much has changed with the Internet, the key tenets of the book seemingly still hold true:
1. The Internet is a social place.
2. Governments and corporations are always watching.
Then again, I guess these items are relevant in real-life situations as well. It's just much easier to track people (definitely as a group but also as individuals) online.
My first Corporate Ties book signing is in a somewhat strange place - Houston, Texas. I'll be at Brazos Bookstore at 3 pm on Sunday, April 1 - April Fools' Day!
In the latest IM tellin', Sean and I debate the rules that really should govern ninjas, among other things.
Sean: vampires, by nature, are essentially smooth criminals
Sean: if you think about it
Ben: that is a good point ... almost like ninjas
Sean: ninjas are not smooth criminals
Sean: because you cannot by any means measure a ninja to be smooth or not
Sean: because....who is going to see them?
1. Based upon you interpretation of the Yeaman article and your experiences, how would you define “critical theory?†What key terms do you feel are needed to create this definition? Write a brief definition and include a list of 5 terms (not including critical & theory).
It turns out that the first paragraph of my book is a fraud! You would probably think this is a bad thing, but it seems to keep the media running toward Dan Brown and Kaavya Viswanathan, so maybe I should try to publicize this as well. The only problem is that I didn't lift passages from my favorite author or pretend to invent a biblical conspiracy. I just made up something that never happened on "Andy Griffith."