Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Garbagepunk truck, irl



*Previously: Garbagepunk van
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Bruce Sterling's 1993 nonfiction book "The Hacker Crackdown: Law And Disorder On The Electronic Frontier" is available for free download

It has a foreword that explains why it's available for free download. From the Amazon listing for the updated version:
Bruce Sterling delves into the world of high-tech crime and punishment in one of the first books to explore the cyberspace breaches that threaten national security. From the crash of AT&T’s long-distance switching system to corporate cyberattacks, he investigates government and law enforcement efforts to break the back of America’s electronic underground in the 1990s. In this modern classic, “Sterling makes the hackers - who live in the ether between terminals under noms de net such as VaxCat - as vivid as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. His book goes a long way towards explaining the emerging digital world and its ethos” (Publishers Weekly).

This edition features a new preface by the author that analyzes the sobering increase in computer crime over the twenty-five years since The Hacker Crackdown was first published.
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Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Rocket Raccoon by Gurihiru

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"Jeopardy!" superfans have struggled for years to find out why a contestant's 1986 five-episode win streak has been erased from history

Claire McNear gets to the bottom of it for the Ringer:

[Her] legend ... might have begun with the mystery of her absence from the 1986 Tournament of Champions, but it grew ever larger after top Jeopardy! brass began to disparage her in the press.

...

Sleuths hunted for bread crumbs, celebrating each minuscule find. They turned up a Sacramento Bee story from 1986 written by Clint Swett, the Jeopardy! champion who immediately followed Lowe and described her as “so bubbly you could almost hear her fizz.” They found a clip from a 1980s segment on game shows for a Buffalo TV station that featured a few shots from Lowe’s winning streak, with her ringing in from the champion’s lectern. “When I was a little girl, I wanted to go on Jeopardy!” Lowe tells the camera, grinning. “My lifelong ambition was to go on Jeopardy!”

In 2021, a fan noticed that a fragment of her second episode had been uploaded in a six-hour-long clip compilation from the archives of a game show tape trader. It offered confirmation, seemingly, that the recording still existed somewhere—and provided J! Archive with a blurry image of Lowe’s face. The fan pulled the segment into a video of its own, adding the caption: “This is probably going to be the only clip that surfaces for a while.”

She has a book about Jeopardy.

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Suspected serial killer has committed three stabbings in five days near the University of California, Davis

One man is believed to have stabbed two homeless people (one died, and the other is critical) and one university student (died):

A third stabbing in less than a week forced an hours-long shelter-in-place order for the sprawling UC Davis campus and large swaths of downtown Davis early Tuesday as authorities conducted a yard-to-yard search for the assailant.

They came up empty, and by late morning, as FBI agents arrived to assist with the investigation

...

The chief said the suspect had been spotted by several homeless people camping near the intersection of 2nd and L streets. He engaged in conversation with them before walking away, then returned a short time later and stabbed a woman in her tent repeatedly.

“The suspect didn’t seem to care that there were several witnesses”  

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Latest Ultimates by Super 7 include Ghostly Valkyrie Valeria and more from Conan the Barbarian

Valeria, Conan, Subotai and Thulsa Doom all kitted out from the Battle of the Mounds up for preorder.

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Marvel Legends Destroyer and Titan Class Decepticon Nemesis up for preorder

The Marvel Legends pack includes a second head for Thor and extra hands for both, and the Nemesis comes with four micro figures. I love the goofy shapes on that ship:

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