Song of the day

| | General

I’ve got an iPod nano in my car that I listen to via a Kensington FM Transmitter. Now the iPod in question only has about 850 tracks on it, and as I hand picked them all, they are some of my favourite pieces of music. So it shouldn’t really be surprising when on random play the iPod throws up a song that I really, really like. Today it threw up Machinery of the Gods from The Franklin-Neumann Project. Been playing it a few times since then. Marvellous stuff.

Motg

Unbelievable

| | General

This post was going to be about Ireland beating Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup. That is still unbelievable. Unfortunately it has been overshadowed by the news of the death of Bob Woolmer. Very sad news indeed. Bob Woolmer was one of the fixtures in the English cricket team when was growing up. I was shocked when I called up the BBC Sport page to see if England had beaten Canada and the headline was Woolmer’s death.

Desert Island books 1

| | Uncategorized

In a complete rip off of the question asked at the end of the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs, were the participant is asked what book they would take to the island with them, I’m going to post a few of my favourite books. Incidentally, on the programme they give The Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare for the island. At least they’ll be useful for kindling to get the fire going. [Update: See Note 1]

One book i would definitely want to take to the island with me would be Hellstrom’s Hive by Frank Herbert of Dune fame. I’ve just noticed when searching Amazon for a link to put in this post that there is a new edition being published on April 7th. Cool. My copy is about 20 years old and could do with being replaced. I’m a bit reluctant to put too much info here about the plot as it’ll be a spoiler for anyone who wants to read it. Suffice it to say it’s a brilliant story that deals with a human population that have decided to live separately from the rest of humanity and have a society that is modelled on social insects. Which is fine until the Government starts to take an interest…

Hellstrom’s Hive would be one of the books I’d take to the island. Others to follow. Feel free to say what books you would take in the comments.

Hellstromshive

Note 1: Andy Kershaw was on Desert Island Discs this week and he rejected the offer of The Bible and Complete Works of Shakespeare. Good man.

Boy racers…

| | General

Why is it that in about 99% of cases were you get overtaken by other drivers, when you are going at the relevant speed limit for the road in question, that the car in question is either a –

1. Volkswagen Golf
2. Some model of BMW
3. A small hatchback with a really big stupid looking exhaust

Boy racers? I expect that the BMW drivers used to be Golf drivers and that the silly exhaust hatchback owners will be Golf and BMW drivers as they get older and get some disposable cash. Twats.

Belgariad & Mallorean – David Eddings

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Took the notion to re-read David Eddings’ Belgariad and Mallorean a few weeks ago. I’d first read The Belgariad when it was published in the 1980’s. It’s very formulaic. Fantasy written to simple recipe. The books towards the end of the Mallorean have a bit more depth. Some of the characters are very likeable, such as Silk. I’ve always seen Eric Idle as Silk. Still do. Some of the dialogue between the characters can be a bit twee and superficial in the books as well. Still, it’s good simple stuff to switch off to. I’ll read it again in another 20 years! Going to try some of Julian May’s later fantasy next. Her Intervention book is one of my favourite books.

Scrivener – author project management application

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Scrivener is a stunning piece of software. It is designed to help mange ideas, notes, writings research and other items related to a writing project. This could be a book, a short story, a project report, a piece of scientific research, whatever. If it’s a piece of writing then Scrivener can be used to organise the interim drafts and stuff.

It uses a really nice cork board metaphor with notes and ideas pinned to it. Folders can be used to organise the notes. This is only one way of looking at a project. There are other views as well. The interface and attention to detail is very, very good. Take a look at the Scrivener site for more info. If you use a Mac and do any writing then prepare yourself to stump up the cash for this excellent piece of Mac OS software. I did a few days ago 🙂

Papers – Public Preview 2

| | Science

A 2nd public preview of Papers was released today. Papers is an app for searching PubMed and organising references and PDF files of journal articles. It can also be used to manage any local PDF files already on your Macintosh. It’s like iTunes for scientific papers. The new version interacts with EndNote X which is a nice addition. I’m hoping that Papers will be very useful for a chemistry project course I’ve just started.

WWDC 2007 dates confirmed

| | General

As rumoured, WWDC 2007 will be held from 11th to 15th June. Happy days. There is a good chance that the iPhone will ship during WWDC and probably Leopard as well. Looking forward to it. Last year was fun.

Travel Checklist To Do:

Buy WWDC e-Ticket ✔
Book flight from Belfast to Heathrow ✔
Book flight from Heathrow to San Francisco ✔
Reserve hotel room ✔
Book time off from work ✔

All done. That’s me sorted. Now I just have to wait 🙂

Smokin’ Aces

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Went to see Smokin’ Aces last night. Weird. Bizarre. Strange. Drivel. Funny. Violent. About 2 hours of mindless mishmash. Good for escapism. Some parts try to be profound but fail. Quote from the girl I was with about 10 minutes into the film:

Like watching a train wreck

:-)I didn’t care though as I was in very contented mode after an truly excellent dry roasted chicken with korma sauce and rice at the Indian Ocean Restaurant in Belfast’s Odyssey Complex.

WWDC 2007 – June 10th to 15th??

| | General

UPDATE: AAUC have removed the entry referenced below from their June 2007 calendar.

Apple WWDC was very late in the year in 2006. August in fact. Hopefully this years will be earlier. Just seen that the Australian Apple University Consortium have an event calendar that has WWDC 2007 as running from Sunday June 10th to Friday June 15th 2007. They even have a deadline for their members to take advantage of a special rate for the San Francisco Courtyard Marriott hotel.

Nothing in the Moscone Center event calendar for those dates yet. But that’s not unusual. I hope the AUC are right as June would suit me. Hopefully Apple will confirm the dates soon so I can get flights and hotel booked. Yeah. Summer in San Francisco.

Titanic quarter redevelopment

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There is an ongoing programme to redevelop the docks area of Belfast. A plan has just been submitted to redevelop the Titanic Area where the infamous Titanic was built. I’ve always wanted a house by the sea. But I also like city living. Getting an apartment in the Titanic area with a view over Belfast Lough and Belfast City might be nice. I’ll have to keep and eye on this new development.

‘Twas the night before Macworld…

| | Technology

. . .when all through the house not a creature was stirring!

I’m really looking forward to the new toys and software that will be released over the next few days. I hope there is a iPod phone. I hope it works with the Nike+ shoe thingy. I really hope said iPod phone isn’t a lemon!

The ModBook should be interesting. If it can do screen rotation and doesn’t add too much to the price of a basic MacBook it might be a runner for me. The battery will need to be readily accessible to allow an easy sleep->battery change->wake from hibernation cycle.

Just a pity we’re not all in SF to see the stuff in the flesh. Still WWDC to come later in the year. Hopefully earlier this year than last. Anyone else planning to go? I’m making it my summer holiday like a sad git!

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