Do you think my computer usage is srange?

I set my desktop system up to make 100% use of its CPU (Folding@Home, rainbow tables). I set my headless server up with Arch Linux and run Windows in a virtual machine. I walk around the city with my laptop in my backpack, turned on, with kismet running, capturing networks.

Of course anyone with the knowledge to be able to understand what I’m talking about would probably answer the initial question with a resounding ‘no’; but I wonder if the general computer-using populace would, if they were given knowledge, be able to understand?

I’m not talking about understanding who, what, when, or where, I’m talking about understanding why… why do people walk around with their laptops in their backpacks, turned on, capturing other peoples network traffic?

The simple ansewr is: because it’s fun.

Do you read mX?

I picked up today’s issue as I was on my way through Central Station; I figured I might as well give my brain something vaguely interesting to churn through as I readied myself for the long journey home. mX isn’t the worst printed publication I’ve read; though it certainly isn’t the best. This was confirmed for me as I read through it, and came across an article about someone creating a bot system which automates mundane tasks for you in World of Warcraft. “Hang on,” I thought to myself, “This feels like deja vu.”

It was a very strong case of deja vu.

I had read the same article earlier that day online; on Slashdot originally, though they’d linked an article first published on the BBC. Slashdot’s linkage of the article I can accept; the audience of the BBC news site, while almost definitely having some cross-section with the Slashdot audience, is by no means similar. In addition to that, Slashdot’s audience are provided with the means to discuss articles with great depth and fidelity with the use of Slashdot’s comment and moderation system.

This got me thinking about a few things; firstly, it totally ruined any conceptions I’d had about the mX newspaper. I knew it was more a throwaway paper than any of the big-name journalistic strongholds (as is clearly evidenced by advertising throughout the pages, urging readers to ‘pick me up, then bin me’), but I thought that, even so, there was original research and good old-fashioned journalism going on behind the scenes. Apparently not quite as much as I’d thought, however.

It seems to me as though mX is mostly a paper version of the day’s internet news — no doubt the WoW story is not the only news adapted (barely — the text in the mX article and that of the BBC/Slashdot ones were nearly identical) for consumption “IRL” by the news-reading masses. It makes me wonder just how much original thought is left in the news articles we read every day; be they online or printed.

I suppose it’s part of the reason why blogging was such a big thing — it’s essentially millions of people, worldwide, for the most part, thinking, and writing down those thoughts. Makes for an interesting digital landscape.

So, I’ve decided to try and revive my blog. My blogging tendencies seem to be cyclic. I’ll really want to write for a few months, then I’ll get bored and it’ll turn me off.

I think one of the reasons is that whether I write things or not, nobody really seems to pay attention. I have delusions of grandeur; I want everyone to read my blog when I have something important to say, but most of the things that I think are important don’t matter much to anyone else.

I have some readers; well, I believe about two or three, who check when something new pops into their feed-reader, and I appreciate their audience. However, I can’t write as well as I’d like to, and due to the aforementioned lack of interest in my general postings, I don’t see the need to put any further effort into improving the quality of my prose. I suppose that’s a kind of catch-22; but even if I do improve my writing quality and bump up the interest level a bit, it’s not guaranteed to increase my audience.

I suppose now with my new job I’ll be able to post up interesting snippets concerning many random things; hopefully guides and useful information for people who are in a similar position to myself. I’ve just decided that’s going to be my plan. How about it, eh? The blog’s already served a useful purpose: now I can remember why I used to write here; as I sit pondering the next few keystrokes, I’m reeling through any number of information streams that could potentially contain interesting posting material, and as I happen upon something unique or appealing, I’ll type it down. In addition to that, it helps me to focus my thoughts. I’m procrastinating by writing here, and I know I’ve got some things to do, so after this post I’m going to go do them.

So, to my readers: although you are few, I will continue to write for you. Perhaps you will be joined by others, perhaps not.