I am an idiot

Y'know my last post with all my fears about the oauth standard and all that? It suddenly occurred to me that I am overengineering something, and that something is right there in the previous post. I mentioned mod_webware, which implements a very generic application server interface.

Is there any reason why I couldn't implement a very generic authentication server interface? Bundle up the signature components into a struct, send them to the server, get back the response, viola!.

Problem solved. The initial implementation could be in something high-level, for testing purposes, and then I'd componentize down to the C-layer. Eventually, it might move into apache, but why? This handles multi-server authentication issues anyway (see mod_digest for why this is an issue).

For the POST issue: I'm just gonna ignore it for now. It's a future improvement.

Cliche'd!

So, I found this long list of overused science fiction cliches, and looking through them, let's see which ones I'm guilty of:

Overused plots:

Humans falling in love with robots and robots falling in love with humans: done that quite a bit. Computer systems becoming self-aware accidentally: doesn't happen in the Journal Entries universe (by fiat). I've had a few cryo'd people wake up later; makes for nice fish-out-of-water stories, and a good way to introduce the setting to new readers. I've done the high-tech amusement partk going lethally berserk (but didn't finish it). VR systems making the distinction between reality and the program confused or indistinguishable, done that, yeah.

"Single female alien ISO single human male. Object: mating." Did that, but why is it marked "patently sexist?" I've done it the other way too, y'know.

Overused settings and characterizations:

Is there something wrong with a planetful of Amazon Babes? And what's wrong with quadruple-breasted catgirls, anyway? (Fortunately, I've managed to avoid the "the whole planet has the same weather, same culture, and same TV programming everywhere.") My "incredibly competent men of action / women of action with large breasts" (I like the fact that the list makes that distinction, but why is one sexist and the other not?) are usually incompetent somewhere, and that's where the story tension always lies.

I got your "eccentric scientist" right here, pal. And your disembodied brains in vats over there. Some of my AIs adopt a humanoid avatar. You wanna talk to humans, look like one; humans kinda like that. It flatters them. Makes them easy to manipulate.

"Characters who are always ready for intimate relations" vs. "INTJs don't have friends. They build them."

"The Free Love Utopia, populated only by fabulously good-looking people, that somehow remains free of sexually transmitted diseases, has no relationship turmoil, and is not inundated with hordes of people looking for easy sex." Hah. You should see how well that worked out!

"Except for full-blown dictatorships, government officials of the future never abuse their powers." Nope, got quite a few corrupt politicians. Mostly petty corruptions, but still.

"In the future, everyone is good in bed." Huh. I thought that was the present. Or maybe my experience is unusual. You think?

"Although humans still have multiple languages, each alien race has only one langauge." Yeah, this one always pisses me off. It's why llerkin has four local languages.

"The entire population of the planet lives in one city." Ah, but there's a reason for that in Competent, Industrious, Prosperous, Boring.

Overused story events and plot devices.

"Discussions, ending with a joke, about how bureaucracies are the same everywhere in the galaxy." Oh, come on. We do that now. It's like complaining about the weather!

"The psychological trauma/attitude problem of female character is cured (or at least temporarily relieved) by a Dose of Good Luvin' from the hero." Giggle. Guilty. But at least I've done it all four ways, so it's not sexist then, is it?

"A technologically advanced race conquers a technologically inferior race, and puts them to work doing things that the conqueror's machines can do far more efficiently." I really should finish that story, but it's reaching novel length.

"When the Evil Overlord dies, none of his surviving henchmen move into the power vacuum; instead, his empire collapses." Oooh, a sequel for Janae.


"The crewman in the leaky spacesuit is rescued with seconds of air to spare." I've blown three people out of airlocks. Two have survived.

Silly Science!

"A robot is shot and bleeds oil." Yeah, did that. Very sad (for the robot; I thought the scene where it happened was ell done.)

"On-board computers always know exactly how long it will take for the malfunction to blow up the ship."

Silicon Intelligences, or AIs (the difference being a holdover from when these beings were called "Artificial" Intelligences), have always been exemplary at predicting the future. Capable of serial and parallel thought processes without any organic sentimentality or biological limitations, AIs track the stars, organize micro-economies, plan strategic-level military operations, and predict the weather, among a myriad other things. AIs do much of the "dirty work" of living, organizing other people's lives as easily as they would organize their own closets. Sometimes, these people even ask that the AI organize closets.

Charles Nelson Seccor predicted her own destruction eleven thousandths of a second before it happened.

Um, guilty?

"Twentieth century firearms are abandoned, even though the high-tech replacement is significantly more complex to engineer." Nope. In the Journal Entries the most effective form of personal combat still involves projective kinetic damage over medium distances.

"Robots that despite their size and function are designed with exactly the same features as a human." SMOF, dude.

"When two ships meet, they are both oriented with 'up' in the same direction." That's just plain ettiquete!