A Polished Period

Fiction, fun, satire, and music.

Parodies

The Bug in the Seven Modules

One cannot gain from sin while hiding it forever in one’s heart.

Code the Obscure

Is a working-class prodigy defeated by his environment or by his own ideals?

The Disconnected

A tiny group of well-meaning people strive to correct an injustice enforced by generations of hatred.

Other computer-related fiction and satire

Fair Players: A Fanciful Tale

A short story about four women who create and keep alive a revolution in consumer computing.

Demoting Halder: A Short Story

A fantasy about a world gone wild over social networking, tracking, and sentiment analysis--or is it just a fantasy?

Financing Scram: A Short Story

Sequel to Demoting Halder, and another romp through modern life with the distortions created by purported technological advances.

Validators: A Short Story

A slightly futuristic thriller containing messages about journalism, social activism, and democracy.

Hardware Guy

Imagine a world that has moved entirely to cloud computing.

The Morphs of Bentham

A short skit written at the height of the dot-com boom, sure to scare the wits out of any network administrator.

The Meaning of Independence Day

A short story containing an important literary message about free speech as well as a review of case law in the area.

The Ghosts of Internet Time

Mostly fun, but also an inspirational and cautionary review of changes in Internet use over its history.

How to get a new TLD approved by ICANN

And now for something completely different: an unusual explanation for some of the mysterious workings of the Domain Name System.

Structure and Service: Illuminations From a Trip to the Forest

An invented conversation with a very odd creature about consumers and their needs in electronics.

A Deterministic, Relevance-Weighted, Time-Division Algorithm for Television Channel Switching

My only academic computer science paper.

The High-Speed Data Game

A reframing of telecommunications issues.

Porgy and Bess updated

A metaphor for the history of ICANN and the politics around the Domain Name System.

Waiting for Westy

An update of a classic for today’s telecom labor relations.

Dialog with an Internet Toaster

Another conversation about requirements for electronic devices.

The Future Brings “Infirmation Technology”

A futuristic metaphor about freedom of information.

Content Control: A First-Rate Approach

A send-up of attempts to implement Internet filtering in the schools.

Predictions for 2001

An end-of-year round-up, but tongue-in-cheek.

Why Should This Linux Installation Be Different From All the Others?

A retelling of some configuration problems that is best read by those familiar with the Passover Haggadah.

Product Review—CitizonLine Configures Your Community’s Digital Future

Just to show I can write a parody of anything.

Trust Yourselves, Not Your Computers (Computer Reason and Human Power)

Quite meaningful if you recognize what is being satirized.

New security attack identified: Denial of Responsibility (DoR)

A brief fake news report.

Sonny Oram satires

Clear Waves (radio show)

Music

Sonny Oram’s recital from 2006.

Sonny Oram’s chamber music performances from 2006 (Dvorak Piano Quintet in A major, op. 81) and 2007 (Brahms Piano Quartet in g minor, op. 25).

Sonny Oram’s 2009 Oberlin radio shows: September 20, September 27, October 4, and October 11. The recordings begin with material from the previous show.

Author’s home page