"...imagine what would happen to Pulp Fiction if, when the
character of Jules looked into the briefcase, he "woke up" in
mid-scene and not only realized that he was a character in a movie,
but also realized that he "was" also Mace Windu and Shaft and a bunch
of other characters in realities he can scarcely comprehend, while
also glimpsing an uber-reality where all of those realities are just
movies and he's an actor called Samuel L. Jackson."
Grok Headline matches for On incursions into fictional reality...
Seven dead in Israeli incursions
Seven dead in Israeli incursions09/09/2004 12:19 PM At least seven Palestinians, including a child, are killed by Israeli
forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
Science fictional edition of The Onion06/22/2005 01:49 AM Cory Doctorow:
The Onion has posted a science fictional edition from the year 2056.
There are some fantastic gags here, a few that fall flat -- by and
large, though, this is some funny futurism ("Abraham Lincoln's DNA now
available over the counter!" "47th Amendment grants iPod Sufferage!")
Link
Two rants on Geneva's crappy WiFi, one fictional, one non-
Two rants on Geneva's crappy WiFi, one fictional, one non-12/13/2003 12:43 PM Lessig's just got back form the World Summit on the Information
Society in Geneva, where he ran into the Swiss version of WiFi, a
craptacular extravaganza of telecom stupidity compounded by the irony
of hosting a summit on the "Information Society" where it's easier to
get a gift bag of conference schwag than an Internet connection.
Lessig's rant on the subject is entertaining, and it put me in mind of a section I
wrote for my novel-in-progress, "Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves
Town," which is about community wireless hackers (among other things)
and this chunk was inspired by my trip to Geneva a couple months ago
to attend the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights.
I've uploaded the relevant section.
"No problem -- outside every hotel and most of the cafes, I can
find a signal for a network called 'SwissCom.' I log on to the
network and I fire up a browser and I get a screen asking me for
my password. Well, I don't have one, but after poking around, I
find out that I can buy a card with a temporary password on it.
So I wait until some of the little smoke-shops open and start
asking them if they sell SwissCom Internet Cards, in my terrible,
miserable French, and after chuckling at my accent, they look at
me and say, 'I have no clue what you're talking about,' shrug,
and go back to work.
"Then I get the idea to go and ask at the hotels. The first one,
the guy tells me that they only sell cards to guests, since
they're in short supply. The cards are in short supply! Three
hotels later, they allow as how they'll sell me a 30-minute card.
Oh, that's fine. 30 whole minutes of connectivity. Whoopee. And
how much will that be? Only about a zillion Swiss pesos. Don't
they sell cards of larger denominations? Oh sure, two hours, 24
hours, seven days -- and each one costs about double the last, so
if you want, you can get a seven day card for about as much as
you'd spend on a day's worth of connectivity in 30-minute
increments -- about $300 Canadian for a week, just FYI.
"Well, paying 300 bucks for a week's Internet is ghastly, but
very Swiss, where they charge you if you have more than two bits
of cheese at breakfast, and hell, I could afford it. But Three
hundred bucks for a day's worth of 30-minute cards? Fuck that. I
was going to have to find a seven-day card or bust. So I ask at a
couple more hotels and finally find someone who'll explain to me
that SwissCom is the Swiss telco, and that they have a retail
storefront a couple blocks away where they'd sell me all the
cards I wanted, in whatever denominations I require.
Race to Succeed Pope Includes Even the Fictional (Reuters)
Race to Succeed Pope Includes Even the Fictional (Reuters)04/06/2005 09:46 AM Reuters - The race is on to succeed John Paul
II as pope and bookmakers are already getting in on the act.
But not all the candidates are quite what they seem.
Lexicon: CC-licensed RPG based on compiling fictional encyclopedia
Lexicon: CC-licensed RPG based on compiling fictional encyclopedia04/15/2005 09:01 PM Cory Doctorow:
Morbus Iff sez, "Ghyll is a Creative Common licensed player-created
world per the rules of "Lexicon: an RPG" (think: a fictional
wikipedia, constrained by integration, consecutive letter definitions,
and cranky scholars that write before 'before scholarly pursuits
became professionalized (or possibly after they ceased to be)'). It
has reached nearly 30 players, 200 pages of text, an incredibly large
timeline, a hundred characters, and a to-scale ASCII map of the known
world. Darkly humorous? Possible. Odd? Mmhmmm. All CC? Ayup.
"We're starting Round 2 next month (in essence, starting over again at
letter A to further define the world). Notes about the announcement
here, as well as links to the timeline, characters, and ASCII map."
Link
(Thanks, Morbus!)
Bloggers Select Their Favorite Fictional Characters - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
Our Reality05/25/2004 11:56 AM I was interviewed by Bambi Francisco on Reality TV for her Net Sense
collumn, which leaves me a little explaining to do. In Bambi's other
life she is hosting a Reality show on personal finance, which is
admirable because the...
Re-Pet a Reality
Re-Pet a Reality12/24/2004 12:44 PM Slashdot Dec 23 2004 5:30PM GMT
New Reality TV
New Reality TV05/20/2004 08:44 AM Television networks look to reinvent the wheel this year.
Three cheers for reality TV09/13/2004 08:47 AM Pundits can tut-tut all they want, but reality shows rule television
for a simple reason: The best of them are far more compelling than the
worn-out sitcoms and crime dramas the networks keep churning out.
Cracks of Reality 1
Cracks of Reality 104/18/2004 01:49 AM A high-quality fractal image renderer.
reality? Get real...
reality? Get real...04/13/2004 11:36 PM Reality's ApprenticeReality TV may seem a
world away from real life, but what happens when Donald Trump’s The
Apprentice moves in upstairs? Worse, what happens when it seems to be
a sham? Keith Hollihan reports with a fascinating account of his
life’s surreal intrusions.
Global reality03/06/2004 02:06 AM One sure sign that people are getting into real-world web services
projects is when you start to see timezone awareness ...
IBM PPC 970MP A Reality?
IBM PPC 970MP A Reality?03/17/2005 03:38 AM
IBM has posted an application note in direct reference to a dual
64-bit core PowerPC970MP and how to use thermal diodes in the chip.
This is the first...
.NET reality check
.NET reality check01/27/2004 02:51 PM
There's been some pushback recently, in the .NET blogging community,
about Microsoft's habit of living in the future. For example:
It is abundantly frustrating to be keeping up with you guys right now.
We out here in the real world do not use Longhorn, do not have access
to Longhorn (not in a way we can trust for production), and we cannot
even begin to test out these great new technologies until version 1.0
(or 2.0 for those that wish to stay sane). I know there's probably
not a whole lot you can do, but this is a plea to you from someone "in
the field". My job is to work on the architecture team as well as
implement solutions for a large-scale commercial website using .NET.
I use this stuff all day every day, but I use the 1.1 release bits.
Here's my point, enough with the "this Whidbey, Longhorn, XAML is so
cool you should stop whatever it is you are doing and use it". Small
problem, we can't. Please help us by remembering that we're still
using the release bits, not the latest technology. [Michael Earls]
In the spirit of Michael's plea, I'm working on an upcoming article in
which I'll compare what was promised for the .NET platform (er,
framework), two and three years ago, with the current reality as it
exists today. Examples of the kinds of issues I want to consider:
...
Surviving Reality TV
Surviving Reality TV01/22/2004 03:11 AM As CBS launches "All-Star Survivor," we look at what past winners have
done with their money.
Hacking Reality
Hacking Reality01/16/2004 10:59 AM "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent
one." --Albert Einstein
Making the new reality
Making the new reality04/29/2004 12:01 PM From Chris Nelson's blog: The following is what one of the Bush
administration's representatives told journalist Ron Suskind,
regarding their philosophy behind the administration's actions and
their relationship with journalists. I'm quoting from an Air America
Radio interview with Suskind: Suskind: He says, you know, "You,
Suskind, you're in what we call the 'reality-based community'" —
that's actually the term he used. I said, "The WHAT?" He says, "The
'reality-based community'.". He said, "you all believe" — now
let me see if I can get this right — "You all believe that
answers to solutions will emerge from your...
The reality behind the politics
The reality behind the politics05/04/2004 07:53 AM This report examines the social, economic and political dimensions of
offshoring and offers steps for the United States to maintain its
historical lead in high technology.
Reality left behind
Reality left behind08/31/2004 10:21 PM After a lot of war talk last night, the Republicans are getting back
to the "compassionate conservatism" theme -- a clever and probably
necessary strategy for Bush two months from Election Day when more
Americans think his opponent understands people like them. Helping to
make Bush's case: Education Secretary Rod Paige. (You may remember
Paige's outrageous comments earlier this year likening the nation's
largest teachers union to a "terrorist organization.")
A Reality Check
A Reality Check08/18/2004 01:05 PM Do we really need a plethora of reality-TV networks?
NHL Lockout About to Become Reality (AP)
NHL Lockout About to Become Reality (AP)09/15/2004 11:44 AM AP - An NHL lockout is a virtual certainty when the collective
bargaining agreement between owners and players expires at 12:01 a.m.
Thursday. With no talks scheduled, the lockout is expected once the
NHL board of governors conclude a Wednesday meeting in New York.
Blogging reality
Blogging reality07/29/2004 08:14 PM Because the Kerry speech is so important, I've decided to see it the
way it's meant to be seen: On TV. Yes, I've come home. And, oh are my
feet and back glad. Sure, I felt guilty skulking out of the Fleet. But
not enough to stay. At the Convention I can't hear what the speakers
are saying, and I've absorbed so much atmosphere that I'm pooping
victory balloons. So, what do I get out of being there for another
night? I'm sure you'll tell me. I've seen the official excerpts of
Kerry's speech, released by the Democrats. How...
Augmented Reality07/06/2004 01:56 AM Augmented Reality uses computer graphics that are placed over the
“real world” in front of the person viewing it. It is the
latest thing in mapping technology, allowing you to see it from the
map’s perspective.
The New Faces of Reality TV
The New Faces of Reality TV09/26/2004 12:57 PM The introduction of children to the genre was probably inevitable. But
the networks seem to understand that they are in dicey ethical
territory.
Reality is Scripted
Reality is Scripted06/24/2005 06:59 PM After years of seeing reality TV producers pretend their shows don't
have writers, the Writers Guild of America has decided to stop being
polite and start getting real.
Cracks of Reality 2
Cracks of Reality 206/12/2004 07:50 AM A high-quality fractal image renderer.
Reality check
Reality check05/06/2004 08:35 AM The media are finally showing the war in its full horror. What took
them so long?
Reality is Corrosive
Reality is Corrosive05/04/2004 03:30 PM Bill de hÓra: From the MC Escher school of standardization It
seems
that there is a feeding frenzy over this tasty morsel which was tossed
in the shark infested waters of the internet. I'll not sure what I am
about to say is either agreeing with or disagreeing with Sean McGrath
on
this subject, but here goes: Reality is Corrosive.
IPO Reality Check
IPO Reality Check01/16/2004 10:58 AM "you have a 0.029 percent chance of beating an index fund this year in
a Google IPO."
A Holey Reality
A Holey Reality11/26/2002 02:21 PM Internet News Nov 26 2002 12:37PM ET Grok Description matches for On incursions into fictional reality... GrokA matches for On incursions into fictional reality...
On incursions into fictional reality...
The following phrases have been identified by the grok system as matching this entry:
Fark photoshopping contest: Google banners for fictitious holidays.
Link<
/a>
The Onion has posted a science fictional edition from the year 2056.
There are some fantastic gags here, a few that fall flat -- by and
large, though, this is some funny futurism ("Abraham Lincoln's DNA now
available over the counter!" "47th Amendment grants iPod Sufferage!")
Link