May 2011 – Made by Mikal

Princess of Wands

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 24, 2011
Post category:Book

This book is very different from John Ringo's books (or at least the ones I have read). This one revolves around a cross between a soccer mom and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Its a fun, relatively light read and doesn't have nearly as much combat as the other Ringo books I've encountered. The book takes the form of two short stories and a novella, with the novella having a pretty obvious dig at David Drake, which I thought was a bit odd. Overall, I enjoyed this book. [isbn: 1416573860;9781416573869]

The Stainless Steel Rat Returns

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 16, 2011
Post category:Book

Harry Harrison is back to reprise his Stainless Steel Rat series. This book is much like the others -- think light fiction with contrived situations, but a bit of fun. In other words, much like the rest of Harrison's work. This book isn't the best Rat book, but it also isn't the worst and given the drought I think something is better than nothing. It is also much much better than the terrible Bill the Galactic Hero series. [isbn: 0765364034;9780765364036]

Canberra’s LCA2013 bid

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 15, 2011
Post category:Conference

I'm really proud of the hard work that all of the Canberra 2013 team has done in preparing our bid for LCA 2013. I just sent off the emails making our bid formal. Here's what I said on the linux-aus mailing list: Hello. I am pleased to present Canberra's bid for linux.conf.au 2013. It is traditional to produce a PDF document for distribution to the linux-aus mailing list. Instead, we have produced a small web site covering the same information that would normally be in such a document. It is our hope that this will be a more dynamic and accessible document than a static PDF. This website will form the basis for our conference site if Canberra is selected. The website is located at http://lca2013.clug.org.au. Sincerely, Michael Still Canberra 2013 bid lead

The Princess Bride

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 9, 2011
Post category:Book

To be honest, I think the movie is better. The story in the movie is simpler, but also more beautiful. I think the embroidery around the edges of the story in the book detract from the overall story, and the asides start out cute but end up just being annoying. [isbn: 0345348036]

The Light Fantastic

Post author:mikal
Post published:May 2, 2011
Post category:Book

A short little note about this one, as I am sure everyone has already read it. This was better than The Colour of Magic (more polished, cleverer, funnier), but still not as good as I remember the Pratchett books being from my childhood. This book to ages to read, I suspect because it just wasn't compelling enough to overcome the general business in my life. [isbn: 0061020702]