mikal – Page 49 – Made by Mikal

LCA 2013 bid process opens – Canberra at the ready!

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 24, 2011
Post category:Conference

For the last several months, a small group of people in Canberra including myself have been preparing a bid for LCA 2013. This is not just to give us more time to make the conference the most awesome, froody LCA you've ever been to. No - 2013 is also the centenary of the founding of Canberra as the nation's capital. It's a very significant year for us and we'd all be thrilled if we could show the attendees of LCA our great city and Canberrans the great work the FOSS community does to improve everyone's lives. So we're really stoked that the bidding process is going to be opened early, and I think it'll lead to a really interesting competition that will result, whoever wins, in the best LCA ever! If you're interested in getting involved, drop me a line! [btags:]

Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency

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

This book took me a little while to get into. although I am glad I kept at it. Not as good as The Hitchhiker's Guide, but still worth the time to read.

Bad Science

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 22, 2011
Post category:Book

I've been trying to read one non-fiction book a month recently, and this is the one for January. This book is simply excellent and I'm glad I read it. It is clearly written, entertaining, and easy to understand. Yet it covers complex issues about how mis-reporting of medicine result in people dying. It covers statistical errors, dodgy marketing, and self serving journalism. An excellent book that I am now going to force my wife to read.

Things I’m taking to the Arduino miniconf

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 21, 2011
Post category:Conference

I figured I'd go to the Arduino miniconf and help out with the assembly tutorial. That got me thinking about what I should take that's relatively small, but likely to be helpful. So far I've got: My butane soldering iron and solder (I'm not packing butane though, I'll have to find that up there) De-soldering wick and a solder sucker Side cutters Tweasers A multimeter A USBtinyISP A couple of duemilanove boards Some spare Atmega 328s One of Doug's ethernet boards A spare development central heating controller (my current project) My RS485 development stuff (so I can keep working on that) What else should I bring?

Days of Air and Darkness

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 10, 2011
Post category:Book

Rori and friends are attempting to lift the siege started in Days of Blood and Fire. This book is mostly action without much discussion or character development, which makes it fun to read. The big battle at the end is a bit unusual, because so many die, but I wont say any more because I don't want to ruin it for you. An enjoyable book, the best bit of which would have to be the Jill and Rodry quest at the beginning. [isbn: 0553572628]

Starbound

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 10, 2011
Post category:Book

This is the newly released sequel for Marsbound which I really liked, so I was excited when this arrived the other day. This book is much like the previous one stylistically, being written as a set of mostly first person diary entries. However, the people writing these entries are older now, and this feels less like a teen fiction novel. There is also more than one narrator in this book, unlike the first, with generally each chapter being narrated by one of three people. This can be a bit jarring at first, because it takes a while to realize that a new person is narrating and that's why the point of view changed. You get used to it though. This book is also quite Heinlein like in this level of sex, which is similar to Marsbound, but not true of all of the Haldeman books I've read -- I think it might be a relatively recent change to his style. Overall a good book, I enjoyed it, and I can't wait for the next one in the series (which Joe finished at the end of 2010).

Books read in December 2010

Post author:mikal
Post published:January 10, 2011
Post category:Book

Why Can't Elephants Jump? Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom A Hymn Before Battle Buying Time The Dolphins of Pern Asterix the Gaul Polar City Blues Gust Front Agent to the Stars When the Devil Dances Hell's Faire The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 31, 2010
Post category:Book

I liked the movie, and the book was cheap, so how bad could it be I thought to myself. The answer is terrible. Its in a big font with large margins, and still only a little over 200 pages long (in other words really short), however its not very well written either, which means that's merciful. The book is full of discussion of how under dressed the young women that is the Fifth Element is. The. Whole. Time. Not the worst book I've ever read, but certainly not one I will read again. Oh and what's with lines like "the search engines cranked and groaned"? Groan. Oh and what's with lines like "the search engines cranked and groaned"? Groan. [isbn: 0006483461]

Hell’s Faire

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 28, 2010
Post category:Book

The final book in the Earth based Posleen war series. This should really have been part of the previous book (When the Devil Dances), but that would have made it a 1,100 page book. I've seen some complaints that these two books needed editing, but I feel that's not totally fair. They didn't feel padded, and I'm not sure what' you'd leave out of them. Sure, there are characters who are introduced in reasonable detail in order to then die, but isn't war like that? I like that you couldn't really guarantee that all the good guys would survive for once. The remainder of the books in this universe are share cropped. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I guess we'll have to wait and see. [isbn: 0743488423]

When the Devil Dances

Post author:mikal
Post published:December 27, 2010
Post category:Book

The humans are still getting their arse kicked, and it seems like the Posleen might be learning something approximating reasonable tactics. If this book was just that, then it would be a disappointing addition to the series (A Hymn Before Battle and Gust Front come before this book). However, there is also some interesting science fiction happening here. It seems there is some sort of conspiracy to control the humans, and there is certainly some dodgy human experimentation going on. Overall, a good book apart from the cliff hanger at the end -- I would be annoyed if I couldn't just pick up the next book straight away. [isbn: 0743436024]