Tomorrow It Begins, First of Three PhD Qualifying Exams

Tomorrow, I will take the first of three PhD qualifying exams. The first will be the longest at five hours on 20th-century American literature. Thursday, I will take my postmodern theory exam, which will take four hours, and next Monday, I will take an exam on Philip K. Dick’s writings, also four hours.

It’s storming right now, but luckily the power went off after a lightning strike for only a few minutes. I was stressing about charging my iPod and printing out a copy of my reading list.

Our lights are back on, the reading list is printed, and my iPod is now charging. I feel as ready as I ever will be. I just need to wash my water bottle, assemble a snack kit, and get some rest.

Here I go!

Early 2008 MacBook, CPU Load, Loud Fans, and Adobe Flash

Yufang has since my previous post on this problem continued to have problems with anything related to Adobe Flash on her Early 2008 MacBook. Today, I decided to test out a hypothesis that I had regarding Flash. On many forums, Windows users with Flash don’t report the heavy CPU usage and subsequent fan cooling reported by some Mac users (including Mac users with a MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Pro). This and Adobe’s lack of transitional support for Creative Suite into Cocoa (until CS5) led me to believe that Flash for Mac OS X was not optimized for the Mac OS X platform. The underlying hardware on both Macs and PCs are essentially the same now, so the differences are now between the OS architecture and the way Flash is built to run on the two different OSes. Considering that both Windows XP SP3 (Yufang owns a copy of this) and Mac OS X Leopard (what I last installed on her machine as a test to solve this problem) use roughly the same amount of CPU power according to process monitors and neither under normal operating circumstances cause the fan activity to spike with increasing CPU utilization, it seems that Flash is the independent variable.

With this in mind, I ran Boot Camp in Mac OS X 10.5, and installed Windows XP SP2, setup the wireless connection, upgraded to SP3, installed 73 critical updates, installed AVG Anti-Virus, installed Firefox, and installed Adobe Flash. Before trying out web Flash problems, I thought I would try it with one of her Big Fish Games, which immediately drives up CPU use and activates fan activity on Mac OS X. On Windows XP SP3, the same Flash game–one version compiled as a Universal Binary for Mac OS X and the other compiled for the Windows platform–runs more efficiently on Windows than it does on Mac OS X. I define efficiency as requiring less CPU activity to perform the same amount of work. On Mac OS X, that game requires more CPU cycles and more operations to run the same game that requires less CPU cycles and less operations on Windows.

My suspicion is that Adobe didn’t optimize Flash for Mac OS X. Flash has always been a pain on Mac, even in the old days, but it would seem like a company like Adobe that launched itself on the Mac platform would have done more to make their software work well on Mac. It seems like all that money Adobe makes on their overpriced software could have trickled down to end user software that didn’t waste CPU power and drain batteries unnecessarily.

A more thorough analysis of this would be necessary to pin this on Adobe unequivocally. Windows XP handles threading differently on a Core 2 Duo processor than does Mac OS X, which could cause a problem for certain software, particularly non-optimized software, on each OS. I don’t know to what extent that Vista or Windows 7 would change the results. I didn’t try Windows 7, because I didn’t want to use my unopened copy yet. Yufang has Windows XP, which has a smaller code base than Windows 7, so I figured it shouldn’t have as much overhead as Windows 7 would despite the supposed architectural improvements to the newer OS.

The bottom line is that I’m saying that the ball is in Adobe’s court. As it now stands, I wholeheartedly agree with Steve Jobs that Flash is a big mess on the Mac platform. When Jobs went on the record saying that recently, he wasn’t saying anything new. All of us Mac users have known that for a long time, and it’s been a problem that we’ve been waiting for Adobe to address for a very long time. Though, I’m glad that Apple has the clout to potentially swing things to HTML5 and H264, at least for online video. It’s up to Adobe if they want to make an insanely great product that can compete with a (more–patent issues aside) open alternative.

In the meantime, Yufang will use Boot Camp to switch between Windows and Mac so that she can use her software without it overheating her computer and creating fan activity that detracts from her ability to use her MacBook altogether.

Protect Your Online Privacy and Take the Battle to Facebook’s Turf

All of the recent explosive disclosures about the changes to Facebook‘s privacy policy–something that has been an ongoing and procedural erosion of our privacy (see here for a graphical representation of the changes) by acceptance of their terms of service and privacy policy changes–had begun to make me think strongly about quitting Facebook all together. It can be a time wasting website, and it can give you too much information about some folks who you don’t really want to know that much about. However, it allows you to reconnect with old friends, and more importantly, stay connected with professional colleagues. It is primarily for this latter reason that I have decided to stay on Facebook and take the fight to their turf. The reason that Facebook is so insanely popular is that it facilitates social networking and communication in a a very streamlined and generally snappy website. There are no other players on the near horizon that can do the things that Facebook does that I can switch to and bring all of my friends and colleagues with me. I have pitched my tent in the Facebook frontier, and I intend to fight for my tiny share of profile space and the inroads that I and my friends have made there. It is a good land with a lot of possibilities that I don’t want to give up on just yet. I know that we can use Facebook and protect ourselves, but we will have to be proactive and ever vigilant to the changes instituted by Facebook that may conflict with the way we want to use the service and the way Facebook may take advantage of us using their service. Also, I should note that I have no problem with Facebook making a buck off of my using their service, but I believe that I should not be made into a commodity rather than a potential consumer (via ads, add-ons, etc.). Give me respect as a person, and I will be happy to play ball. As it is now, Facebook sees me and my information as so much stuff to be bought and sold, so I am offering the following tactics (there’s some de Certeau for you guys in the know) to fight back against Facebook’s strategies.

Suit up with an updated version of Firefox. Then, go to Preferences > Privacy > Uncheck all except Clear History when Firefox Closes. Click on Exceptions for Cookies and manually add the domains for the sites that you want to accept cookies from (Facebook might not be one of those sites you want to list).
Yield a mighty sword: Install AdBlock Pro. Inside Firefox, go to Tools > Add-Ons > Search for AdBlock Pro and choose to install it. After installing and restarting Firefox, click on the ABP icon in your navigation bar and choose preferences. Click on Filters > Add Subscription > Choose EasyList to add, and then add Fanboy’s List. You will also want to manually add the following filters one-by-one:
|http://*.connect.facebook.*/*
||facebook.com^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
||facebook.net^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
||fbcdn.com^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
||fbcdn.net^$domain=~facebook.com|~facebook.net|~fbcdn.com|~fbcdn.net
[Thanks to Andrew and pfc.joker’s comments on Lifehacker for these.]
Store your gear when you’re not using it. When you’re not using Facebook, make sure that you logout. This is probably a generally good rule of thumb when it comes to other sites accessing cookies saved by your web browser.
Secure your stable door. This is where you adjust your Facebook privacy settings. First, go to Account > Privacy Settings. Here, you need to go through each page and adjust the settings. Personal Information and Posts > Set to Friends Only for all. Contact Information > Friends Only (you can allow Everyone to add you as a friend or contact you, but hide your email addresses by setting to Only Me). Friends, Tags, and Connections > Friends Only. Search > Uncheck Allow Public Search. Applications and Websites > What Friends Can Share > Uncheck All. Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization > Uncheck Allow.
Clean up your stable. This is where you cut the new “Connections” that enable the flow of information between you and your friends to companies that Facebook sells your info to. Navigate to your Profile > Info. You have to leave your basic info, but you want to remove all of your interests, likes, education, work info, etc. You may also want to go into your photos and profile pictures and delete anything that you don’t want circulated (this is just good sense). You can use your bio to include the parts about you that you want people to know about. I only include SFRA and IAFA in my Likes and Interests, because these are professional affiliations that I use Facebook for.
Ride off on a new adventure. If you’re really fed up with Facebook, you can create a new account and reconnect with your friends. There is a procedure to follow for this that you can find on Lifehacker here. They also have a nice set of 10 privacy tweaks that will generally improve your privacy online here.
There be dragons in every cave and a troll under every bridge. The important thing to remember is that for every new and creative way of protecting our information and online identity from exploitation, there are corporations out there looking for equally inventive ways to make a buck on the information that we make freely available. Even our browsing habits can be tracked according to the way we configure our web browser (read about a project by the EFF regarding this on Slashdot here). You have to educate yourself about how your software works, and how you can use it to be prepared for unexpected onslaughts against your privacy. Check in on the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Read Slashdot.org. Lifehacker is good (even though its part of Gawker), and BoingBoing.net has some good info along with other wonderful things.
Leave your own tips and favorite electronic privacy links in the comments, and let’s let Facebook know how we feel about their new policies before more of our online rights are eroded by big business.

Reading List for PhD Minor Exam on the Works of Philip K. Dick

In June 2010, I will take my three PhD exams in the Kent State University English Literature PhD program. For these exams, I convened a committee of trusted professors, each administering one exam. I choose to take my exams in these areas: 20th Century American Literature (administered by Kevin Floyd), Postmodern Theory (administered by Tammy Clewell), and the Philip K. Dick Canon (administered by Donald “Mack” Hassler). Below, I have included my Philip K. Dick reading list. Go here to read my Postmodern Theory exam list, and here to read my 20th Century American Literature exam list.

PhD Minor Area Exam: Philip K. Dick’s Fiction and Non-Fiction, and Critical Works

Director: Donald “Mack” Hassler

Novels by Philip K. Dick, organized by date of composition.

Dick, Philip K. Gather Yourselves Together. 1950. 1994.
—. Voices from the Street. 1952. 2007.
—. Vulcan’s Hammer . 1953. 1960.
—. Dr. Futurity. 1953. 1960.
—. The Cosmic Puppets. 1953. 1957.
—. Solar Lottery. 1954. 1955.
—. Mary and the Giant. 1954. 1987.
—. The World Jones Made. 1954. 1956.
—. Eye in the Sky. 1955. 1957.
—. The Man Who Japed. 1955. 1956.
—. The Broken Bubble. 1956. 1988.
—. Puttering About in a Small Land. 1957. 1985.
—. Time Out of Joint. 1958. 1959.
—. In Milton Lumky Territory. 1958. 1985.
—. Confessions of a Crap Artist. 1959. 1975.
—. The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike. 1960. 1982.
—. Humpty Dumpty in Oakland. 1960. 1986.
—. The Man in the High Castle. 1961. 1962.
2009/12/2
—. We Can Build You. 1962. 1972.
—. Martian Time-Slip. 1962. 1964.
—. Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb. 1963. 1965.
—. The Game-Players of Titan. 1963. 1963.
—. The Simulacra. 1963. 1964.
—. The Crack in Space. 1963. 1966.
—. Now Wait for Last Year. 1963. 1966.
—. Clans of the Alphane Moon. 1964. 1964.
—. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. 1964. 1965.
—. The Zap Gun. 1964. 1967.
—. The Penultimate Truth. 1964. 1964.
—. Deus Irae. 1964. 1976. (Collaboration with Roger Zelazny).
—. The Unteleported Man. 1964. 1966. (Republished as Lies, Inc. in 1984).
—. The Ganymede Takeover. 1965. 1967. (Collaboration with Ray Nelson).
—. Counter-Clock World. 1965. 1967.
—. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1966. 1968.
—. Nick and the Glimmung. 1966. 1988.
—. Ubik. 1966. 1969.
—. Galactic Pot-Healer. 1968. 1969.
—. A Maze of Death. 1968. 1970.
—. Our Friends from Frolix 8. 1969. 1970.
—. Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said. 1970. 1974.
—. A Scanner Darkly. 1973. 1977.
—. Radio Free Albemuth. 1976. 1985.
—. VALIS. 1978. 1981.
—. The Divine Invasion. 1980. 1981.
—. The Transmigration of Timothy Archer. 1981. 1982.

Short Fiction by Philip K. Dick, needs elaboration by individual stories.

The Philip K. Dick Reader. 1997.
Robots, Androids, and Mechanical Oddities: The Science Fiction of Philip K. Dick. Eds. Patricia S. Warrick and Martin H. Greenberg. 1984.

Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick. 2002.

Non-Fiction by Philip K. Dick

Dick, Philip K. “The Android and the Human.” Vector: Journal of the British Science Fiction Association 64 (March/April 1973): 5-20.
—. The Dark Haired Girl. 1988.

Critical Works

Fitting, Peter. “Ubik: The Deconstruction of Bourgeois SF.” Science Fiction Studies 2:1 (1975). 19 October 2007 <http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/fitting5art.htm>.
Haney, William S. II. Culture and Consciousness: Literature Regained. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2002.
Kucukalic, Lejla. Philip K. Dick: Canonical Writer of the Digital Age. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Mackey, Douglas A. Philip K. Dick. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988.
Palmer, Christopher. Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern. Liverpool: Liverpool UP, 2003.
On Philip K. Dick: 40 Articles from Science-Fiction Studies. <more information>.
Sutin, Lawrence. Divine Invasions: A Life of Philip K. Dick. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005.
Suvin, Darko. “P.K. Dick’s Opus: Artifice as Refuge and World View.” Science Fiction Studies 2:22 (1975). 19 October 2007 <http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/suvin5art.htm>.
Vest, Jason P. The Postmodern Humanism of Philip K. Dick. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009.
Warrick, Patricia S. The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1980.
—.Mind in Motion: The Fiction of Philip K. Dick. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois UP, 1987.

Reading List for PhD Minor Exam in Postmodern Theory

In June 2010, I will take my three PhD exams in the Kent State University English Literature PhD program. For these exams, I convened a committee of trusted professors, each administering one exam. I choose to take my exams in these areas: 20th Century American Literature (administered by Kevin Floyd), Postmodern Theory (administered by Tammy Clewell), and the Philip K. Dick Canon (administered by Donald “Mack” Hassler). Below, I have included my Postmodern Theory reading list. Go here to read my 20th century American literature exam list, and here to read my Philip K. Dick exam list.

PhD Minor Exam Area: Postmodern Theory

Director: Tammy Clewell

Texts:

Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation.
Berman, Marshall. All That Is Solid Melts Into Air.
Bertens, Hans. The Idea of the Postmodern: A History.
Broderick, Damien. Reading by Starlight: Postmodern Science Fiction.
Bukatman, Scott. Terminal Identity: The Virtual Subject in Postmodern Science Fiction.
Butler, Judith. Bodies That Matter.
de Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life.
Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari. A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia.
Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology.
Eagleton, Terry. The Illusions of Postmodernism.
Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Volume 1: An Introduction.
Habermas, Jürgen. “Modernity: An Incomplete Project.”
—. Simians, Cyborgs and Women: The Reinvention of Nature.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity.
Hassan, Ihab. The Postmodern Turn.
Hayles, N. Katherine. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics.
Huyssen, Andreas. After the Great Divide.
Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction.
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
—. Archaeologies of the Future: The Desire Called Utopia and Other Science Fictions.
Latour, Bruno. We Have Never Been Modern.
Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge.
McHale, Brian. Postmodernist Fiction.
Norris, Christopher. What’s Wrong with Postmodernism?
Perryman, Mark ed. Altered States: Postmodernism, Politics, Culture.
Poster, Mark. The Information Subject.
Vattimo, Gianni. The Transparent Society.
Wilde, Alan. Horizons of Assent: Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Ironic Imagination