Evolving from the Hipster PDA...a "hacked" notebook becomes the mind.Depositor customer productivity notebook!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:50 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hmmm...

Fondness for small cups of intense coffee. CHECK.

Uses an iPod. CHECK.

Jots in a Moleskine. CHECK.

Do I pass the coolness test?

Nah.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Marinate some ribs, slap them on the grill, sit back with a gin and tonic...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Was it the excessive amount of stimulants (Red Bull) or the excessive amount of depressants (alcohol) that allowed this person to enter into the running for the Darwin Awards?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 07:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders."

Daily caffeine protects the brain? Works for me! Does this mean I can write off my daily intake on my taxes as a health cost?

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 08:07 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Fred's Reading Report (February 200

Leap Year! An extra day of reading! Nope, just an increased number of hours at work, alas...

Books? 11, year-to-date.

Short works? 74, year-to-date.

Currently being read:

Poul Anderson: The Earth Book of Stormgate. Trader to the Stars. The Trouble Twisters. more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a site run by a collector of genre toys. I missed most of these (I came from an earlier generation of genre toys!); some are neat, some very strange, some very...ummm...campy!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 05:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So having a iPod (finally, I buy a gadet before it is obsolete!) and having had some "downtime" at the firehouse last night, I downloaded a bunch of these "podcast" things I've been hearing about. Still having a dial-up connection at home, large downloads are not really an option there.

The new revolution? A way of knocking old media off of the pedestal? Maybe, but probably not. There's an interesting contrast in the podcasts...and the better podcasts are those with money, talent and quality behind them.

Here's an example: William Gibson did a book tour to support his latest novel, Spook Country (still on my personal Mount Toberead). During the course of the book tour he gave probably a couple of thousand talks, interviews, readings and what not (or, it felt like that). I know I've read one of the key phrases he's been using this go round—how if you walked into a publisher in the 1970's and pitched a SF novel with a global pandemic (AIDS) and a climate problem (AGW), you'd be shown the door and they'd call security—several times now. Most of the interviews have hit that highlight a few others.

BoingBoing had Gibson on for one in their short-lived podcasting series (they then moved on to doing short video webcasts but I think that has died as well). It was short. Gibson seemed to be talking to them over a cellphone while outside, so you could hear wind. One of the people from the BoingBoing end of things was dialed in on something (internet telephone?) that had latency problems. Two of the others also had audio quality problems. They kept tripping over each other, and their guest, in asking questions and interjecting useless noise.

Contrast that with this interview done by Rick Kleffel at The Agony Column. The interview runs quite long so you get more than soundbites on how we're living in the future. The interviewer allows Gibson to speak, only interjecting himself when necessary to get things moving again. Gibson even contributes two readings from two novels.

Podcasting may be the radio of the future, but quality will show. I'll be returning to hear more from The Agony Column; on the other hand, I won't be sad about the demise of the BoingBoing effort for long.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 03:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So, according to this, my obsession with collecting books and games is actually good for the environment.

Like I needed an excuse...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I don't watch many food-related shows on television (I don't watch much television, period, but that's the subject of another posting). I think Top Chef is pretty silly (there is so little difference between this and Project Runway that I keep waiting for the crossover show): it appears that the contestants are chosen for egos rather than the reality of the kitchen. And what is so dang hard about pastry courses, anyway?

Most of my culinary viewing is Alton Brown, either through his show Good Eats or the occasional seasonal mini-series, Feasting on Asphalt. Most cooking shows have the host mumbling at you and going through the motions of food preparation. Brown tells you the science behind the cooking, and does it with a lot of humor as well. Good stuff! Asphalt's two seasons were road trips, featuring road food. In the first, he traveled across the US via Route 66. In the second, he traveled along the Mississippi, from south to north. Lots of great looking food in both seasons!

One show that has caught my attention is Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, seen (by me) on BBC America. Each episode, Gordon Ramsay tries to turn a failing restaurant around. I am utterly amazed at the trainwrecks that have managed to stay in business long enough to these saving throws.

I'll have to be careful. I may end up getting a digital video recorder just to make sure I don't miss any episodes!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:09 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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An article implies that Robert A. Heinlein's influence is declining. The evidence? That the literati don't take him seriously anymore. Is being compared to Heinlein a help or hindrance to a new science fiction writer? One such writer speaks up (and to be honest, the main reason I picked up John Scalzi's books was because of the comparison to Heinlein!)

Looks like it is time to trot out this 1980 essay by Spider Robinson again! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 04:01 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Virgil Finlay's Strange Science; Virgil Finlay (Underwood-Miller, 1992, ISBN 0-88733-154-8, cover by Virgil Finlay).

The review can now be found here.

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's an interesting variant for Legos: facing them with wood and engraving them!

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just like to point out that Baen Books is offering a whole pile of fine works of science fiction, fantasy and more in their Free Library. Just in case you think Amazon has invented the world of electronic books. (And while you're at it, surf past the media hype and also look at Project Gutenberg, Memoware, Manybooks and other folks who have been on the frontier far longer than the Amazon effort. Heck, I recall downloading Project Gutenberg works for my Apple Newton!)

(There's no reason, by the way, to spend several hundred dollars on a poorly designed, hard to hold comfortably, overpriced, DRM-crippled reader. Some smart shopping in second-hand outlets can get you a perfectly capable laptop, eBook reader or PDA for far less.) more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 11:27 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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A few random bits from my morning reading.

John Scalzi comes across what might be his favorite negative review of Old Man's War.

A biopic on Philip K. Dick...not!

My favorite Brother Astronomer has a new book out! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 10:53 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Ain't these nifty little gadgets? I can see buying several, because of the MilSpec cuteness factor that is built in. I can also see the TSA having hairy fishnuts when you tried to bring one on a airplane as well.

(Posted, of all places, at BoingBoing!)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 01:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, not quite. But here are a ton of links about one of the funniest SF (well, mostly)-related shows out there! MST3k! Everybody sing! more...

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"The Avengers is about a man in a bowler hat and a woman who flings men over her shoulder."

(Patrick Macnee, on his hit television show)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 12:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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"Amphetamines, however, can definately facilitate macrame."

(William Gibson)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 06:07 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.

It is by the beans of Java that my thoughts acquire speed.

My hands begin to shake. The shakes are a warning.

It is by caffeine alone that I set my mind in motion.

(Author lost, alas!)

Posted by: Fred Kiesche at 09:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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