July 26th, 2010
This the little story a weekend project to add more of a soul to my computery-workspace at home. The result has really delighted me and I’m already well in to plotting out a similar project for my office. I’d suggest those who are considering such a project themselves should jump in to it!
The Story of the Desktop Aquarium
Lately I’ve been itching to setup a Terrarium of sorts. I found this website and it got me fairly excited on a few levels. I ordered a bunch of Bonsai seeds (mostly Japanese Maple variants), but my short-term drive to set up a little world of life remained.
After viewing all the neat and bizarre terrariums on that website I mentioned, I was starting to take notice of some of the glassware my “better half” occasionally hordes. A beautiful fat 4L jug/jar thing really caught my eye and away I went, on a relaxing tangent to get a funky desktop aqarium up and running.
Continue reading Desktop Aquarium Project
July 13th, 2010
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Upon my recent acquisition of a Kobo eReader, I’ve been recreationally reading quite a lot lately. Two books I recently finished reading were Ender’s Game and Pirates Latitudes. Both were entertaining in their own right.
Ender’s Game
Ender’s Game is a classic Sci-Fi novel that I’ve heard referred to on multiple occasions. It seems to be a classic favorite amongst the geek crowd. I had high expectations of it and upon reading it, found it to be reasonably predictable. THAT said, I really quite enjoyed it. I often found myself thinking: “I knew they’d do that! .. huh, that’s STILL awesome”.
The novel is written in the form that I think makes for a good story – that is, in being a sci-fi, the ‘technology’ involved is only a plot device. The story is about people, perceptions and human nature. It’s a powerful commentary that I feel warrants at least a single read. I think I’ll find myself re-reading this book every few years.
Continue reading Decent Fiction
June 23rd, 2010
Upon graduating recently, I found the Engineering group had a special treat – a copy of Seymour Schulich’s “Get Smarter” was given to each grad. In an atypical move, I decided to read this non-textbook source of information.
Worth Reading
I quite enjoyed it, Schulich has arranged the book in to a ton of tiny chapters. In each, he quickly and effectively conveys an opinion or experience of his. If you’re not interested in something, it’s easy to skip on (granted I never did) and the rest of the book will still make sense. Given Schulich’s history, this is a man with some neat concepts to convey. He discusses a vast range of topics from his opinions about assessing career options to finding meaning in life.
Continue reading Learn from Seymour & Get Smarter
June 21st, 2010
I’ve recently acquired myself a Kobo eReader. Read on to learn of my initial experiences, thoughts and reactions..
For those who remain unaware of what an ereader is…
They are little device designed to replace physical books. The key to success of the major ereaders (of which the ipad is NOT included) is the use of a completely distinct display technology called E-Ink. The important detail about that is that things displayed on E-Ink look just as though they were printed on paper. Compare this to viewing a typical LCD screen (like that of your phone) in the bright sun. The LCD has to overcome the ambient light, which is really tough in the day. The sharp contrast in brightness is similarly tiring for eyes in good lighting. E-Ink is free of that burden.
Deciding against the Kindle and Nook
In the moments since I got my Kobo the eReader world has changed. When I ordered it, it was about $100 less than the Nook or the Kindle. However, as the battle heats up, both of those competitors have been re-priced and thus I likely would have ordered a Nook if I could go back. HOWEVER.. I’m finding the insanely minimal approach of the Kobo to actually appear to be it’s winning feature. It’s damned thin and very light. The Sony ereader is the only other that sort of rivals it in this regard – I looked at that one in a store and noticed its screen was quite reflective and I kind of don’t enjoy burning my eyes out via glare.
So I suspect even with the new pricing, the Kobo is still worthy of MAJOR consideration. This is for those people who are interested in getting a device that does one thing especially well. The Kindle comes pretty close in this regard though, but it has more parts and complexity. Still, if you’re completely afraid of operating a computer to a basic level, you should probably just go with one of the others. I, like many of my generation, don’t even consider operation of a computer effort.. So whatever to that point for me.
Continue reading Kobo – Unboxed & Linux Friendly
June 18th, 2010
Well, for those that know, it’s been a damned long time in coming, but I have finally fully graduated as of June 7th and 8th 2010.
The tale of my 8 year tenor at the University of Calgary is somewhat of a unique animal, there was a lot of pain and a great deal of fun. As I look back after just completing that journey I am delighted to be through it and I’m keen to move on in to new areas of life. But I also know that these years were great and I’ll happily reflect upon them as I drift away from this phase.
Continue reading 8 Years, 2 Degrees, 1 Internship & 0 Regrets
This the little story a weekend project to add more of a soul to my computery-workspace at home. The result has really delighted me and I’m already well in to plotting out a similar project for my office. I’d suggest those who are considering such a project themselves should jump in to it!