ITS Coffee Break for Tue., May 30

Posted on by

Learn about the early summer ITS workshops, listen to Ken and Courtney discuss their tech/scifi summer reading lists, and learn about new wireless and Webmail documentation in the latest edition of the ITS Coffee Break.

ITS News

Tech News

  • Ken's Summer Reading List
    • The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?
      • By David Brin
      • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0738201448/
      • David Brin is best known for his "Uplift Saga". In 1999 he wrote this book about privacy in the modern era and how the solution may be to give into public survelliance, but to make sure that the access to the information isn't limited to the police and the powerful (who watches the watchers? We all do).
    • The Ghost Brigades
      • By John Scalzi
      • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765315025
      • Set in the somewhat distant future where humanity fights an unending war against alien species for control of a handful of habitable worlds. It's a follow up to "Old Man's War", in which you could join the military at age 75 and get a brand new body … but then had to fight in a war that would almost certainly get you killed.
      • In the new book, it looks at the "Ghost Brigades", a military unit staffed by clones who have a lifetime of memories, but the practical experience of 5 year olds.
    • Transmetropolitan, Vol. 1
      • By Warren Ellis & Darrick Robertson
      • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1563894459/
      • This graphic novel features a dystopian future following journalist Spider Jerusalem. A Amazon.com review says " Spider investigates a controversy involving an emergent subculture of genetically altered humans.
      • It's supposed to be a great read, and it should be a fast once since it's a graphic novel.
  • Courtney's Summer Reading List
    • The Time Traveler’s Wife
      • By Audrey Niffenegger
      • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015602943X
      • Although the title suggests that this is science fiction, it’s described as a charming, emotionally charged novel that is much more a love story.
    • Snow Crash
      • By Neal Stephenson
      • http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380958/
      • Darkly humorous cyberpunk novel that foretells (and in some cases, inspired) many of our present-day cyber conventions (like characters in Warcraft walking into one another and the stylized duels they can fight).
    • Comic series 52
      • http://www.dccomics.com/
      • After the INFINITE CRISIS and before One Year Later. Tells the story of a year without Superman, Batman or Wonder Woman. (52×2.50=$130)

Help News

  • Connecting to the Wireless Network
    • We mentioned it last week, but its worth noting again: Lafayette's wireless network changed on Monday, 5/22. Instructions for connecting to it can be found on the ITS Web Site:
    • http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~its/help/wireless
  • Webmail
    • Have several help guides for using WebMail that are almost complete, and will be posted sometime this week. So if you are interested in learning more about how to make your WebMail experience more productive, keep an eye on the email help topic as new things come available this week.