Lists
- Sep 2 2009 - hanselman tools 2009!! ...
Saw this on reddit tonight, hanselman has updates his legendary tools list for 2009. So what was going to be an evening of actual coding is slowing turning into an evening of trying out cool new tools that have made his list. (I’m writing this blog post in windows Live Writer after seeing it in the list)
- Mar 28 2008 - clever youtube covers ...
In the spirit of using the blog as a personal online searchable storage medium here is a playlist of some covers on youtube that I totally get a kick out of… most of these are songs I came across in the past year and am now just logging so I don’t forget them.
Youtube is absolutely full of crap song covers by amateur artists in their basements. I think that’s cool and all, I can imagine myself posting something like that when I was first learning guitar but it’s not something I want to watch (does anyone?). These are a little different and with the exception of the first cover, which just rocks because it’s a wicked song, all do something a little different with the original song.- Fairytale of New York (The Pogues) - The Mahones With Damhnait Doyle (a lot like the original, very good)
- Hey Ya (Outkast) - Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker (very different, I had no idea the lyrics to this song were good. Matt has an amazing voice, wait for the end when he really belts it out)
- I might be wrong (Radiohead) - Amnesiac Quartet (jazzy instrumental)
- Idioteque (Radiohead) - Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker (not as good as hey ya, but I happened it across it while looking at the others so here you go)
- Who is it (Bjork) - Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker (it’s a Matt Weddle playlist, this song is much more mellow than Bjork’s version, doesn’t really get good until about half way through)
- Fairytale of New York (The Pogues) - The Mahones With Damhnait Doyle (a lot like the original, very good)
- Mar 27 2008 - I have some reading to do! ...
http://listverse.com/literature/top-15-science-fiction-book-series
I came across this list of the best 15 science fiction series ever written. The reason I love seeing this is 1) it contains a bunch of science fiction series I’ve already read and thought very highly of and 2) contains some series I’ve never even heard of, which of course is exciting since it means I have some reading to do.
For all I know the guy who wrote the list is totally unqualified and preying on people’s ego by throwing familiar items on a list with a bunch of obscure ones, but I’m gonna go with it.
The series I’ve read so far :- Space Odyssey
- I’ve only read 2001 so far, and only just recently. I had a total Aha! moment reading that book and finally getting bits of the movie that were totally nonsensical to me at the time. The book was great, the movie is overrated.
- Rama series
- My introduction to Arthur C. Clarke (RIP) and definitely my favorite work of his so far. I loved the matter of fact nature with which Clarke wrote, it helped make everything so believable. That and his respect for actual real science which is a total joy to read.
- Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy
- Douglas Adams is my hero. He is insanely brilliant in the same way George Bush aren’t.
- Ender’s Game
- Honestly I’ve lost track of all the Ender books, so I may not have read all of them, but I’ve read three or four and loved them all. For straight pure entertainment value I don’t know that I’ve ever enjoyed a sci-fi book as much as the original Ender’s game. I recently got Caitlin to read it and she loved it (she’s not exactly a hard core sci-fi fan)
- Foundation Series
- I got through all of these and I think all of the robot books as well. Very quick fun reads that had really nice tie in across books. I’m not sure these deserve the top ranking unless we’re just talking pure volume. They were enjoyable but not life changing enjoyable like Douglas Adams or Arthur C Clarke though.