Nova War

I just finished reading Nova War by Gary Gibson.
This continues the story of Dakota from Stealing Light. In that book I was pleased at the strong ending, noting that the end of Against Gravity sucked a little. Unfortunately, the end of this book was also very flat, but it is clearly a lead in to the third in the series, which I have high hopes for. When Gibson is writing well, it's really really good, and chunks of this book go there. I get the feeling though that this book and the next should really be just one novel. Sometimes writers get screwed by the publishers like that.
Anyway, there was plenty of big action, but I'm going to hold off on a final decision until I've read Empire of Light.

This is Not a Game

I recently finished reading This is Not a Game by Walter Jon Williams.
This was a really good read, blending a few of my favourite subjects. Dagmar is an alternate reality game designer, and this book follows her story as she builds up the game and garners more and more participants to the action. Obviously with this sort of story, the line between what is real and a game becomes blurred, but the story is so much more than that. There's some really cool software involved!
This isn't set too far in the future, in fact, could be set within a few years, which makes it just a little scary. The action is well paced and the characters are really interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Freeman Dyson on Global Warming

I've just found a very interesting lecture by the legendary physicist Freeman Dyson.
There is a video here, and some of the text here.
My favourite contribution from Dyson is of course the Dyson Sphere.
Anyway, in this lecture from 2005, he is reminding us that heretics in science are important and that we shouldn't always blindly believe the common popular view. He goes on to try to put the problems of global warming into some perspective to try to pull us away from the current popular hysteria in the media. It really is worth a read.
(thanks to Neal Asher who linked this recently)

Help!

Ubuntu won't boot after I upgraded it to 10.10.
If you know anything about this and can help me, here's the support link.
Arrrrgh!

Transition

I just finished reading Transition, but Iain Banks.
It's a little bit different this one, not his usual SF style, and probably why the M is missing from his name. Transition is a lot more fantasy, set in a Multiverse where it is possible for individuals, who are Aware and have access to the drug Septum, to flit between parallel universes. Each parallel universe can be anything up to very slightly different to radically, but plausibly different, but still restricted to the Earth, or whatever it's called locally, and however the continents and nations happen to have formed.
The story is quite complex and involves many different characters, each developing in separate chapters and at least in the beginning seemingly independent. It was challenging trying to work out how they would relate, and who you should identify with, but in the end all pans out satisfactorily.
Lots of murder, assassination, torture, and sex, so that was fun.
Interesting.

Flash Fiction: The Handshake

I'm pleased to announce I've had a work of flash fiction published at AntipodeanSF, The Handshake.
I hope you like it, I put it together and submitted it on a whim. Even though it is very short (max 500 words) I enjoyed writing it and the process of submitting it was interesting in itself, there was even some editing involved. A new experience!

[update: updated the link to point to the archive]

PaizoConOz Day 4

Day 4 started well. Had breakfast, stored bags, went to the Con. Then we spent the next 9 hours playing a two part Pathfinder session run by Seb, and thoroughly enjoyed it. During this time it became apparent that the Virgin Blue Fiasco was firmly in place, and trips home were looking unlikely.
We decided to turn up to the airport anyway, as we couldn't find out on phone or internet what the situation was, so hired a large taxi for the nine of us, and off we went. Well, it should have been that easy, but first we had to get the motel to get our bags, the taxi driver went the wrong way and then we got stuck going round the one way system, but finally made it to the motel to get the bags, however it would have been quicker to walk.
We piled all the bags into the taxi, and after some negotiation with the driver on the best way to go, eventually turned up to chaos of Brisbane Domestic. Bit of a nightmare, but it seemed our flight was going out on time. Could we be that lucky? Not entirely. Before we find outo about the flights, we realise we have an extra bag with us from the motel that no one will lay claim to. Oh Bugger. I had a brief conversation with manager that didn't go so well, and told him we'd call back after we checked in with a plan.
As Rich turns up to the counter to represent the group, he's told there are only four seats left. "You have got to be shitting me" was my response. Not cancelled, not delayed, no all or nothing, but a cutoff right down the middle of the group.
As gamers say "Never split the party."
We split the party. There was very kind agreement that those with work tomorrow (surprisingly few) should take the seats. And I have to thank those again that stayed behind. Rich, Al, Phil, and more - thanks very much.
As you may imagine, the stray bag was returned with those staying an extra night.
And now we can confirm the existence of the PaizoConOz Exit Curse, given last years trip to the airport was also a complete nightmare. Worryingly, the power of the curse seems to be getting exponentially worse every year, this year affecting thousands of people.

PaizoConOz Day 3

Gah. 15 hours D&D straight. So very tired. Good day though.
--
Sent from my mobile device

PaizoConOz Day 2

Two sessions today, both with my 5th level Inquisitor. Awesome, though
both tough. Hoping to use a new wand of web tomorrow. 3 sessions, 14
hours tomorrow. Cruisy night tonight, curry and wine, whisky now.
--
Sent from my mobile device

Day 1. PaizoConOz

Day 1 PaizoConOz.
Cruised into Brisbane about 4.
Went for a curry, then into game at 7pm. All the games were low level
so grabbed a 1st level pregen and straight into it. Now off to the pub.
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Sent from my mobile device

Blake's 7

Just finished watching the final of Blake's 7. Wow - I totally wasn't expecting that. I'd heard it was a good ending, but no one spoiled it for me, which is pretty amazing since this first aired in 1981.
If you want to know what I'm talking about, go here. This wiki article later claims this final episode as an "unresolved cliffhanger". I can't think of anything unresolved here. It is OVER.
I really enjoyed it anyway.
I think one of my favourite episodes was S4E10 - "Gold". This is the only episode in which Servelan gets one over the crew, and it's a double whammy as well, with the reveal only happening in the last minute. While the rest of the crew are devastated, Avon gets this massive grin on his face, and laughs maniacally until the credits roll. It's just beautiful. He really is quite unhinged by the end of series 4, and by far my favourite character.

First eBook finished

Just finished reading my first eBook, Zendegi, on the Kindle app on iPad.
I was expecting it to be a little tiring reading on the iPad, but it wasn't my eyes that gave me any problems. The iPad screen is totally fine for reading in my opinion. I'm not even sure I would find e-ink that much better now. I found that once I adjusted the brightness of iPad to suit the conditions, it was great. Kindle has an extra slider for in-app brightness control as well, which is handy.

No, the biggest issue I had was the weight of the iPad, it's 600g or so, and you need two hands to hold it, so I guess it is like reading a decent sized hardback. If you are holding it up in front of you, it can get tiring. However, if you have it resting on your lap, or a pillow on your lap, it is actually more comfortable because turning pages takes only the slightest, smallest thumb jab, or swipe, rather than the wristy physical page turn of a real book.
I was using the Kindle app rather than iBooks, because iBooks has zero content in Aus, and the Kindle app is really nice as well. Touch a word, and you get instant in-page dictionary lookup, and if it is not a dictionary word, there is a link to Google to start a more detailed hunt for meaning. The page turning animation is not as cute, but I think that might get tiring after a few hundred pages, and the Kindle slide is really good.
One difficulty I had was that you don't have an immediate sense of what page you are up to, and in fact the pages aren't even numbered, because it depends on what size font you use. Instead, you can get a percentage done in the menu mode, but a tap away. It just feels a bit wrong not knowing how thick the book, or how many pages you have read.
The other thing I will miss is that now I can't display a physical reminder of the read on a bookshelf in the lounge room. Maybe I could make a cardboard box of the right dimensions and print out the cover and spine to paste on it.
Given it is cheaper, and in many ways better, I don't think I'll be going back to physical books unless there are supply issues, but that seems to be getting better all the time.

Zendegi

I just finished reading Zendegi by Greg Egan.
Zendegi is a very believable near term future novel. It spans 2012 to 2030 or so and covers the rise of intelligent software based on scans of human brains. Much of it is set in the online virtual gaming environment, Zendegi, which drives the development of intelligent software. Quite plausible, and really gives you something to think about in terms of the transition of clever software to possibly sentient software. Having a gaming environment drive the requirement is pretty obvious as gaming has been a major driving force in software and required hardware since inception.
Much less of the hard core physics from Egan in this book, and generally it is much more accessible. It is also quite interesting from a current events view as well as it is mostly set in Iran, and covers changes in Iran and its politics over the period.
Very interesting, but ends a bit flat, although full of possibility.

The Greatest Show on Earth

I just finished reading The Greatest Show on Earth, by Richard Dawkins.This is Dawkins latest book in which he outlines the evidence for evolution. When you hear this, you might think that
a) Hasn't he done this before? and
b) Surely this is a done deal, why is he banging on about it?
To answer a), previously he has outlined the how of evolution (Climbing Mount Improbable), why evolution is a better fit to explain history than God (The Blind Watchmaker), and some books about how genes work (The Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype) but this one goes through the existing evidence for evolution being actually true, whereas in the other books it is taken as an assumption.
To answer b), and he covers this in depth, that in particular in the USA, around 40% of people don't believe in evolution at all, and even in many other Western countries it can be around 20%. That is unnerving.
So if you are interested in how we know that evolution actually occurred, this book takes you through in usual Dawkins glorious detail what the evidence actually is, and that it doesn't all hinge on a few fossils. I was quite interested to go through the whole Missing Link counter argument and see that there just aren't any, and that we actually have a really good fossil-record coverage.
Some of the arguments against the Intelligent Design theory are quite amusing. I was fascinated to learn about a particular laryngeal nerve (brain to larynx) that in all mammals, runs from the brain, wraps round near the heart and goes back up the neck to the larynx. There's a good evolutionary explanation for why this is so, but if you attributed it to a designer, it would be more a case of Unbelieveably Stupid Design. Think Giraffe.
Then there is the decade long experiment showing some bacteria actually evolving, showing them becoming more efficient at consuming glucose, and even evolving the ability to consume a citrate for energy in restricted resource conditions. Amazing stuff.
I'll admit that I did speed read and skip over some sections, because he's really preaching to the converted, but to get into actual detail about things like the above, and radioactive clocks, carbon dating etc was really interesting.

Improving drainage

We have an open water drain that runs under the house, and as a result the garage and rumpus room can get quite damp and musty as the ventilation isn't very good. To rectify this, step one was to fix the open drain by replacing the old loose terracotta drain segments with 10cm Ag pipe, then covering the lot with a ton of blue metal. My poor programmers hands suffered, but I felt good about it afterwards.
Pictures!