I dabbled a bit with mind mapping software in the past - namely, with a program called FreeMind - and found it “neat” but not very “useful”. I mean, given half a chance it could have become more useful to me, I suppose, but I found it a little too rigid . . . too slow to use overall. But recently I ran across the mindmeister online mind mapping service, and I was very impressed.

I was so impressed with its ease of use, I ended up typing in all of my to-do list items and then some. If I continue to use mindmeister, I don’t see myself needing anything but the free version (there is a premium pay service as well), and I can’t wait to try out the real-time collaboration feature. Anyway, it’s as least as useful as a Google Docs type of web-o-service. Cheers.

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Here’s a website that is also a challenge in itself. It’s a six week training program to completing one hundred consecutive pushups. I got through the first week, no problem, but then a weekend vacation happened and, long story short, I’ll probably redo that first week again.

Anyway, I’ve got some pushups to do. Later!

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*I also posted this on my tumblr blog - it was just too good a book to just mention there

I just finished ENDER’S GAME, by Orson Scott Card, and I was honestly
blown away. What a great read! While it is true I have been reading
more mundane, down-to-Earth literature of late [MAINSTREET, KIM, THE
RAINBOW], I found this novel to be so well written and well-paced - not
to mention downright fun to read - I found myself halfway through it
after the first day and finished with it in another day and a half.

The pacing reminds me of many of John Grisham novels, where some invisible
rope seems to pull the reader through the book. Part of that is the
cool-factor. The kind of cool found only in good science fiction - born
out of an interesting premise, laced with new ideas along the way, and
topped off with something of a twist at the end. This is the kind of
book that makes one sad to be through with - my only consolation is
that I also bought the sequel to ENDER’S GAME, SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD.
[From what I’ve read, this one is good too, but entirely different]

I’m not going to go into what this book is about - there are many themes
and interesting aspects to it, but suffice it to say that this is a
MUST for any sci-fi fan and a strong recommendation for everyone else
(but be warned, this might get a person hooked on sci-fi).

My score: 5 out of 5

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There was nothing wrong with this book. It was fine. Really. It’s just.
Well. (I didn’t want to get into this but here goes) It was kinda
boring.

Yeah. To me, this book felt like a war documentary - I think it was the
lack of exciting plot, more than anything - Heinlein was masterful in
skewing the world we know into a believable futuristic world, a
realistic world, full of cool ideas and concepts, but it was just a
little too dull.

Allow me to summarize: a youngster joins up with the “Mobile Infantry”,
is sent through boot camp, war breaks out against bug-like aliens,
youngster rises slowly through the ranks . . . and . . . that’s it. No
twist. No big finish.

Seriously, the first few chapters I was smiling to myself. “This is
gonna be great,” I thought. And it was, but again, the exciting plot
failed to show itself. So, my verdict: if you’re a hard-core Sci-fi
fan, you’ll be reading this anyway, but if not, don’t bother with this
one (though it is a quick read at around 208 pages).

My score: 3 out of 5

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What’s up with twitter.com? One day it’s “having difficulties”, another day it’s “down for maintenance”, today it’s “over capacity.” I guess they’re just waiting for someone to buy them out, meanwhile making only the minimum amount of upgrades to keep up with interweb traffic. Kinda crummy - then again, they are apparently fixing it as it breaks, and that’s better than nothing. Anyway, keep up twitter. Keep up.

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Just received two new Moleskine notebooks in the mail. Under normal conditions, this delivery would tend to incite an atmosphere of inspiration and literary proliferation within me. But, alas, I am but only halfway through my current notebook and not quite finished with my previous Moleskine. So, with a notable degree of disappointment, I place them safely in the old file cabinet along side the handful of readily available sci-fi novels I’ve yet to get to. Someday, little friends. Someday.

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In hopes of expanding this blog’s functionality and cool-factor, I’ve added a new commenting plugin called Disqus (that’s pronounced “discuss” not “discus”). This is a third-party website/service that keeps track of all comments you make from any website that uses the Disqus plugin. So, yeah, it’s a little chicken-before-the-egg kinda thing, but it looks slick and will be implemented on many more blogs soon.

The downside is, while I do still have access to all the previous comments on this blog as administrator, the slate has been wiped clean of all comments from your point of view. So . . . start commenting. The first time you comment, go ahead and register (you can enter your user information, website, email, facebook id, twitter account, upload an avatar, etc….).

We will see how it goes. And if you want me to dig up your comment from a previous post, just ask me and you can re-comment if you wish. Oh, and here’s the link for the Disqus website: disqus.com

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Hehe. This is just an interesting short-list I ran across on the Mental Floss Magazine Blog. Here’s the link: The 10 Longest Novels Ever.

I noticed a comment on the post asking how long Ulysses was, and after briefly consulting my handy hardcover copy, the answer is 768 pages. (Your welcome) I only got halfway through that one, by the way. Maybe someday I’ll finish it.

By the way, the longest novel I’ve personally completed would probably be The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien (who wrote it as a single novel, originally, before his publisher split it into three books). Go ahead and leave a comment - what’s the longest novel you’ve read?

photo credit: smellyknee

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For those of you who use the Gimp [the GNU Image Manipulation Program] - and I recommend it for anyone who doesn’t have Photoshop, takes a bit of playing with it to get the hang of it, but it works great - I stumbled across this collection of script-fu macros that simulates the look of different [old school] film types and processes (namely, Portra, Velvia, Provia, and Cross Processing). Here’s the link: Silicosaur PhotoFX. Instructions for use and installation are on the site (it’s easy), and in my brief test of them, they are great for quickly turning raw snapshots into punchy, colorful finished photographs. Enjoy!

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The results of our Best Superhero poll are in. I should first point out that this was not a scientific poll - in fact, only one or two of the voters were actual scientists, and that’s hardly a quorum - but legality aside, the results were startling, and we have a clear winner:

1. Wolverine (46%, 6 Votes)
2. Super Grover (23%, 3 Votes)
3. Superman (15%, 2 Votes)
4. Batman (8%, 1 Votes)
5. Captain America (8%, 1 Votes)
6. Spiderman (0%, 0 Votes)

Batman, Captain America, Spiderman - these very pillars of superhero-dom - were all three disregarded by most voters. Spiderman received zero votes, in fact. (I warned you the results were startling) Superman came in third place with two votes (I’m pretty sure one of those was a scientist, so that vote is 50% scientific). Super Grover, hardly a traditional contender in this space, reached the amazing second place position (but everyone knows he’s not even real . . . he’s a Muppet, for crying out loud!). And first place for best superhero: Wolverine, garnering twice as many votes as the second place and winning over the hearts and minds of at least six of those who voted . . . er, something like that.

Give me a couple of days and I’ll have another poll ready. On a related matter, I’m taking suggestions for silly or interesting poll questions (nothing scientific, however) - just leave a comment, thanks!

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