(Part 2) Best products from r/geek

Oi. Disclaimer: I haven't bought a book in the field in a while, so there might be some new greats that I'm not familiar with. Also, I'm old and have no memory, so I may very well have forgotten some greats. But here is what I can recommend.

I got my start with Koblitz's Course in Number Theory and Cryptography and Schneier's Applied Cryptography. Schneier's is a bit basic, outdated, and erroneous in spots, and the guy is annoying as fuck, but it's still a pretty darned good intro to the field.

If you're strong at math (and computation and complexity theory) then Oded Goldreich's Foundations of Cryptography Volume 1 and Volume 2 are outstanding. If you're not so strong in those areas, you may want to come up to speed with the help of Sipser and Moret first.

Also, if you need to shore up your number theory and algebra, Victor Shoup is the man.

At this point, you ought to have a pretty good base for building on by reading research papers.

One other note, two books that I've not looked at but are written by people I really respect Introduction to Modern Cryptography by Katz and Lindell and Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach by Arora and Barak.

Hope that helps.

another great comic artist along the lines of ghostworld is adrian tomine... sleepwalk and 32 stories are really great.

as far as art goes i agree with those who say avoid picking markers etc... a gift certificate to her favorite art store would be better imo...

another idea, why not forgo the material stuff and create a perfect date? fancy dinner (either at her favorite restaurant or homemade by you), art museum, comic book shopping, art store... a whole special day planned out by you with a lot of details that show how much you love her (start by making her favorite breakfast! draw her a bubble bath!)...

Going to put my 2 cents and Five Pounds Sterling in here as well. Probably in descending order of my favourites, actually!

As recommended elsewhere, the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, comprised of four books (in two Omnibuses (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion and Endymion, Rise of Endymion) are an excellent read. One of my all-time favourites.

Spares, by Michael Marshall Smith, is a weird one. Maybe not pure-Scifi, but definitely something to look at.

Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan, is a dark, violent read but with a compelling protagonist. Contains possible the best revenge scene ever. Not for the squeamish. Grips you from the very first page.

Unto Leviathan (known in the US as "Ship of Fools") by Richard Paul Russo, is one of the two books that I've finished in one sitting (the other being The Fall of Hyperion). Brilliant page turner. Just don't expect things to get wrapped up neatly at the end.

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. Great standalone book, but once again too many questions left at the end! But I guess that's the point!

Eon by Greg Bear is quite hard Sci-Fi, but if that's your thing you'll love it.

Marrow by Robert Reed has some wonderful ideas, but is sadly not the most well written book in the world. A spaceship as big as Jupiter, inhabited by thousands of different alien species, ruled over by immortal humans who have discovered something hidden in the core of the ship. The story spans thousands of years. Can drag a little in the middle, but definitely worth a look at, if only for the concepts presented.

Think it's time to dig some of these out and give them another read. Maybe after some sleep...

It's 4:30am here, so I appreciate my descriptions have added nothing of value, hence the links. The links aren't affiliated or anything like that, they're just there for Redditor's perusal. ;)

I used to be an audiovisual consultant. I interfaced with large electronics companies all the time, including Sony Professional. Who make great products that are nigh-onto-impossible to specify because they have no support, are canceled at sporadic and unpredictable intervals, and cannot easily be demoed for customers.

One of my friends from college went into advertising and web design. She had a degree in "web design" when Netscape 2.0 was bleeding edge. And she ended up working on some pretty big, pretty badass campaigns. It's kind of cool when the branding for your pissant website was done by the same lady who came up with "SoCo'n'lime."

One day she called me up.

"So can you talk about... electronics?"

"ad nauseum. You know that. Why?"

"Well, I've got a client with some branding issues."

"Is it Sony?"

"I couldn't tell you that even if it were true."

"Okay, is it a big company?"

"Yeah."

"What do you want to know?"

"Well, let's say you've got a client that makes all sorts of mis-steps and you want to know a way to rehabilitate their image so people will buy their products again."

"What sort of mis-steps?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Do they involve things like root kits on CDs, proprietary formats that cost too much and nobody can use, and a general insistence on dominance-by-reputation rather than innovation and quality?"

"Uhmmm..."

"Sounds a lot like Sony."

"Can I call you at home tonight?"

"Sure."

So she calls me that night. Yeah, it's Sony. What she wants from me, basically, is a technical run-down of every piss-poor decision Sony has made, from my perspective as an audiovisual consultant, and what could be done to remedy the situation.

It was one of the best emails I've ever written. It's like someone asking you to vent after six years of abuse. I probably wrote 4000 words on how, why and when Sony sucked. To me, MemoryStick, rootkits, PlayStation Arrogance and all the rest are symptomatic; the real totem of Sony Failure was the NW-HD1: take a hallowed brand like "walkman" and slap it on a device that doesn't play mp3, doesn't play wma, doesn't play anything but ATRAC3 (in an era when ATRAC4.5 was widely available), charge $400 for it and expect it to compete against the iPod.

She thanked me profusely, wrote a branding document, recommended a course of action, and watched as Sony did none of it and continued to fall on its face for another 5 years.

This is the company that championed Betamax long after it was clear VHS had won. They won't rest until they're sharing a casket with Philco and RCA.

https://www.amazon.com/Amcrest-IP2M-841-1920TVL-Security-Camera/dp/B0145OQTPG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1468434745&sr=8-3&keywords=wireless+camera

I don't have it saving pure video though. I have it taking a snapshot every 10 seconds.

I pull the data off the card once a month or so and keep it for a bit, then delete it.

When the incident happened, I pulled it right then and was able to burn the stills to a CD for the deputy that responded in about 5 minutes.

I have others on the house too but they are all static. This is the only one I have that pans around. I just have a setting on it that points it at the door. The others are static ones, made by Dlink, and they don't even make them anymore. I've had them for years.

I don't think its weatherproof, but I have it mounted well under an eve-it won't get wet there beyond more humidity.

Considering the light (then lack of it, the idiot decided about halfway through the break in to unscrew the porch light) the pictures came out pretty well.

I have since went to harbor freight and bought a solar security light. It stays dim till it detects motion, then goes bright. its way up high like the camera, and if you go to disable it, you're going to be facing the camera directly. But if someone decides to disable the porch light again, they will still be lit up.

I put up a much better security door, and have the other two doors in the backyard (behind a fence) getting changed out to the better one today. If someone decides to try again, its going to be a lot more difficult for them. The deputy thinks it was random, and I'm beginning to agree. I have everything well lit outside but the house is usually dark unless I'm up. I used to keep a vehicle outside when I had 3, but I since have sold it and the other two are in the garage. I'm guessing they cased it before I sold the vehicle. Seeing it gone, they figured I wasn't home.

Agree that King should do more fantasy. One of my favourite books by him is actually "The Eyes of the Dragon" which isn't phonebook sized and is a great read start to finish.

Hobb is excellent but with a caveat IMHO - I'd level the same criticism levelled at Jordan about x-gender characterisation - Hobb can't do male characters in the same way Jordan can't do female. Her first two series were really awesome though.

Hadn't heard of 'The Book of the New Sun', will have to look it up as I think the writer of the list has generally good taste with their other selections! (Bar Harry Potter, phaw). I'd probably put J. V. Jones up there pretty high personally, her latest series, though taking ages, has some brilliant writing.

*When you have skill, insight, and/or tremendous help

As somebody who has done okay for myself, fuck this image.

Is it good to realize everything has an opportunity cost? Sure. Absolutely.

Is it good to emphasize that your mental health is a diminishing resource? Sure. Absolutely.

Just remember that 75%+ of SMBs go bust. Most successful endeavors--whether it be SV startup, book writer, restaurateur, etc--are generally backed by family or existing personal capital.

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell 2011

Depending on his style, Star wars themed cufflinks... I have a few and are great conversation starters. Bought in etsy.

Also, mechanical pencils. Spend some money on a good quality one from Rötring (like this) or a Kuru Toga (look those up, they're awesome and SUPER geeky) or both.

Top it off with a fancy notepad (squared or ruled paper, we're not artsy types) like this and he'll remember you fondly every day.

Do not buy electronics or gadgets. He'll likely have what he wants and likes.

I have one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001UE8KUW/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1278548962&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0007MXZB2&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0GX1ZSTBSD08P5N5GB68

It works really well. I have a Plasma TV, and the picture quality I get with my antenna is much better than what you get through cable or satellite. Mine is installed in my attic - it was an easy saturday project. $45.

My setup:

1. HD Antenna
   
   
2. HDMI cable plugged into computer in the living room
   
   ...that's about it. The antenna gets me network channels plus a FOX affiliate channel, Pix11, and a few others. The computer gets me hulu, and it could get me netflix or the amazon prime streaming if I had either of those.