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I just finished reading The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll this morning (And I highly recommend it!). In the Epilogue, Stoll writes about the Morris worm and brief

I just finished reading The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll this morning (And I highly recommend it!). In the Epilogue, Stoll writes about the Morris worm and briefly mentions: (Harvard student Paul Graham sent him mail asking for "Any news on the brilliant project") When I read that, I wondered if that was THE Paul Graham.

endgame 12y ago
Seconding this recommendation. I found a copy, used, at random for 50c. FIFTY CENTS. Easily the greatest enjoyment/price ratio of anything I own. Have you read his later book, /Silicon Snake Oil/? It's interesting how wrong he ended up being about a lot of things.
- wwweston 12y ago
  Dead wrong about e-commerce and eBooks and good number of other things to boot. On the other hand: "The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."" He's partially wrong -- we have online newspapers, online education resources that are better than nothing, and some political action via web-shared activity. But in spirit, anybody who's been paying attention to journalism is worried about whether we even care to subsidize a healthy fifth estate anymore (or just want more listicles and cable news), even Khan Academy isn't a substitute for a competent teacher, and politics is still driven by the overriding incentives and foibles of human nature. Some of our new tools/resources are making a bigger difference than others; some are just cosmetic changes.
  - michael_nielsen 12y ago
    Stoll has written a lovely 2010 mea culpa: http://boingboing.net/2010/02/26/curmudgeony-essay-on.html#comment-723356 http://boingboing.net/2010/02/26/curmudgeony-essay-on.html#c... Quoting: "Of my many mistakes, flubs, and howlers, few have been as public as my 1995 howler. Wrong? Yep. At the time, I was trying to speak against the tide of futuristic commentary on how The Internet Will Solve Our Problems. Gives me pause. Most of my screwups have had limited publicity: Forgetting my lines in my 4th grade play. Misidentifying a Gilbert and Sullivan song while suddenly drafted to fill in as announcer on a classical radio station. Wasting a week hunting for planets interior to Mercury’s orbit using an infrared system with a noise level so high that it couldn’t possibly detect ‘em. Heck – trying to dry my sneakers in a microwave oven (a quarter century later, there’s still a smudge on the kitchen ceiling) And, as I’ve laughed at others’ foibles, I think back to some of my own cringeworthy contributions. Now, whenever I think I know what’s happening, I temper my thoughts: Might be wrong, Cliff… Warm cheers to all, -Cliff Stoll on a rainy Friday afternoon in Oakland"
p4bl0 12y ago
I also second this recommendation. I read this book 5 or 6 years ago and it has not left from my recommendation list [1] since then! [1] http://pablo.rauzy.name/miscellaneous.html#books http://pablo.rauzy.name/miscellaneous.html#books

endgame 12y ago

Seconding this recommendation. I found a copy, used, at random for 50c. FIFTY CENTS. Easily the greatest enjoyment/price ratio of anything I own. Have you read his later book, /Silicon Snake Oil/? It's interesting how wrong he ended up being about a lot of things.

wwweston 12y ago
Dead wrong about e-commerce and eBooks and good number of other things to boot. On the other hand: "The truth is no online database will replace your daily newspaper, no CD-ROM can take the place of a competent teacher and no computer network will change the way government works."" He's partially wrong -- we have online newspapers, online education resources that are better than nothing, and some political action via web-shared activity. But in spirit, anybody who's been paying attention to journalism is worried about whether we even care to subsidize a healthy fifth estate anymore (or just want more listicles and cable news), even Khan Academy isn't a substitute for a competent teacher, and politics is still driven by the overriding incentives and foibles of human nature. Some of our new tools/resources are making a bigger difference than others; some are just cosmetic changes.
- michael_nielsen 12y ago
  Stoll has written a lovely 2010 mea culpa: http://boingboing.net/2010/02/26/curmudgeony-essay-on.html#comment-723356 http://boingboing.net/2010/02/26/curmudgeony-essay-on.html#c... Quoting: "Of my many mistakes, flubs, and howlers, few have been as public as my 1995 howler. Wrong? Yep. At the time, I was trying to speak against the tide of futuristic commentary on how The Internet Will Solve Our Problems. Gives me pause. Most of my screwups have had limited publicity: Forgetting my lines in my 4th grade play. Misidentifying a Gilbert and Sullivan song while suddenly drafted to fill in as announcer on a classical radio station. Wasting a week hunting for planets interior to Mercury’s orbit using an infrared system with a noise level so high that it couldn’t possibly detect ‘em. Heck – trying to dry my sneakers in a microwave oven (a quarter century later, there’s still a smudge on the kitchen ceiling) And, as I’ve laughed at others’ foibles, I think back to some of my own cringeworthy contributions. Now, whenever I think I know what’s happening, I temper my thoughts: Might be wrong, Cliff… Warm cheers to all, -Cliff Stoll on a rainy Friday afternoon in Oakland"

p4bl0 12y ago

I also second this recommendation. I read this book 5 or 6 years ago and it has not left from my recommendation list [1] since then! [1] http://pablo.rauzy.name/miscellaneous.html#books http://pablo.rauzy.name/miscellaneous.html#books