Elizabeth Moon – Remnant Population

Book Review

A relaxed read, a good book. You know it's going to be all right in the end, and yet you won't mind.

And I needed something relaxed after all the hard (military) SF I've been reading the last year(s)...

Amber DRPG

Column + RPG + Mindmap

I must have been talking about role-playing games, and especially the Amber Diceless RPG, in the past.

For years I planned to go and play again, but I just never got to it. But I'm old and if I don't start playing again, I probably never will…

Why this sudden realization?

Lindsay Buroker - The Emperor's Edge / Dark Currents / Deadly Games / ...

Review.

I like my eBooks good, and my audiobooks cheap. Finding a decent title cheap is sometimes a challenge though, so The Emperor’s Edge was a nice discovery. I’ve listened to the first 5 books thus far, and they are quite enjoyable.

Airflow (a new PC build in an old case)

Let me start by saying I do NOT like to build my own PC. Once upon a time, long, long ago, I considered it fun. These days I just may build one myself for cost reasons.

Regardless if you use a new or an old case (as I did) it still is a good idea to pay attention to the airflow in your case...

Alastair Reynolds - Revenger 1 - Revenger

Review.

Ye' ol' pirate, matey! This one isn't marked as a 'young adult' novel, but perhaps it should be. Two young girls travel into space, get into a fight with a pirate, and then (obviously) one of them gets taken. Away. Scifi style.

I liked this one, even if I (in general) dislike pirate stories.

Homematic controlled (floor)heating

DIY + Domotics

This post describes my Homematic heating control system.

I live in a place with four floors (it's not as big as you'd suspect with the house just 5 metres wide, and the top floor is only partially usable due to the sloped roof) with the two lowest levels having floorheating. I am using a Homematic domotics system to save energy by only running the pumps when needed.

Mounting a Tab3 7" tablet in a kitchen

DIY

With all the recent security scares you may want to carefully consider what you want to do with it.

But... if you decide you still want to put a tablet in your kitchen, then here's an example with a Samsung Tab 3 7".

Dominion Tank Police

Review.

First time I saw this was in 1995, but this anime series was actually released in 1989. That's almost 30 years ago...

Concept: in the future criminals have become too powerful, so the Police Force has opted for the deployment of tanks.

Akasa USB3 card reader

Review.

There could be a reason you want an (USB3) card reader in your PC. In general, you'd better opt for an external unit, regardless if it is USB2 or 3, and simply plug it in an available USB port.

But let's assume you want an internal unit...

Raymond E Feist - Riftwars

Review.

Dark Fantasy, sometimes a bit predictable with a so so ending, but overall enjoyable and worth a re-visit.

The majority of Feist's works are part of The Riftwar Cycle, and feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts between these worlds and end up fighting each other. Yeah. That happens

Diana Wynne Jones - Archer's Goon / Fire and Hemlock

Book Review

Today, that's Archer's Goon by Diana Wynn Jones.

Somebody once told me it's a parody on Zelazny's Amber series, but I do not entirely agree. Well, there were some similarities, like all those ultra-powerful brothers and sisters quarreling and plotting all the time. There's also the main character who lost his memory, but that is where the similarity ends. And there are enough other things in the book make you smile. Not bad... not bad at all.

Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend

Review.

I watched this one ages ago when I first discovered anime. And it's sub-genres... Bishounen... Ecchi... Mecha... Shounen... Shoujo... Don't worry, I don't know the exact meaning either ☺ Most of it is cute, action oriented, romantic. Most if it...

Urotsukidoji, also known as Legend of the overfiend, is different. A rather sick mongrel of porn and horror. At least not my cup of tea.

Adult supervision strongly advised!

Tweaking Windows 10

Windows 10 might be the best Windows ever (at least according to Microsoft) but there are some issues...

Let's ignore horrible Windows 8 Metro leftovers, doubtful respect for the user's privacy, lack of control over updates and (driver) replacements, and focus on one of the biggest annoyances (IMHO that is): the coloring of drag bars in the GUI... (and then some)

Ann Aguirre - Blue diablo / Hell fire / Shady lady / Devil's puch...

Book Review.

I tried this after her Sirantha Jax books, which were fine.

Not SF this time, but demons, demigods, and love affairs. Perhaps a little too 'shippy' for my taste, just like Sirantha Jax but if you can stand that these provide some light reading that isn't all too bad.

Netflix - Travelers - Season 2 - Ave Machina / Protocol 4 / Jacob / 11:27 / ...

Review.

Ah, Travelers is back.

The long gap between season 1 and 2 (at least here on Netflix) made me somewhat forget about this series. I needed a quick recap of season 1 before diving in.

And I wonder if there ever will be a season 3...

Disc rot

Do you still have CD's or DVD's laying around containing backups? Images, documents, music, or other stuff that you like to (re)use some day?

How reliable are those discs?

Fringe

Series Review

Fringe seemed at first to be another X-files clone. and though there's quite a bit 'episodic' stuff, there's also the kind of... perception shift. We'll move from Mulder / Scully reality-checks, into nutty professor territory.

Great stuff! A definite must watch!

BeeClear en de slimme meter op sluipjacht (Dutch)

Review + Domotics + Dutch

De meeste huishoudens hebben tegenwoordig een 'slimme' meter. Die 'slimheid' zit hem voornamelijk in het voordeel voor de energie bedrijven die veel gemakkelijker je meter kunnen uitlezen, maar gelukkig kun je er zelf ook wat mee.

Bijvoorbeeld sluipverbruik aanpakken i.c.m. de BeeClear.

Netflix - Bright - A bright spot on NetFlix?

Movie Review

What to make of this...

Will Smith returns to the silver... no, scratch that. Will Smith returns to the small screen, in a fantasy / buddy cop cross over movie. And lots of people hate it. But in these modern times where the internet allows every idiot to spout his vitriol nothing appears to be appreciated anymore.

 So... I, for one, actually like Bright. So there.

Evan Curry - Odyssee One

Audiobook Review

Many 'space operas' have a similar theme: Earth develops instant space travel, encounters other humans in space, and uses some kind of instant traveling to battle evil space lords.

I'd suggest to skip these, unless you really like Ryk Brown, Christopher Nuttall, and the like.

Food - Erwtensoep / Snert (Dutch)

Food + Dutch

Erwtensoep hoort ook bij geeks :-)

Er zijn een heleboel verschillende recepten op het Internet te vinden. Dit is mijn variant...

Christopher Fowler - Roofworld / Rune

Book Review

Fowler's Roofworld is like a 'light' version of Gaiman's Neverwhere. Still it is an enjoyable read. Imagine a world with its own rules, just above our heads, where drop-outs have created their own society with their own rules. It's an entertaining romp.

Good reading if you like light fantasy, though perhaps it's not exactly fantasy... some genres are hard to specify 😏

Android GPS sharing

Datatalk

For some reason ☺ I wanted to use a location aware app on my Android tablet, which didn't have a GPS receiver.

There are several apps on Google Play, some work, some do not. I found two apps that would work together properly: Bluetooth GPS Output and Bluetooth GPS.

Tim Powers - The Anubis Gate / Last Call / Expiration Date / Earthquake Weather

Book Review

In 1995, book clubs still existed.

If, at the time, you were a member of one of those 'bookclubs' (mail order subscriptions like 'Boek & Plaat' or 'ECI')  you would have to choose something from their (too thin) quarterly catalogue. So in July 1995 I ordered The Last Card. Which takes me back to The Anubis Gates...

Land en taal wijzigen in Amazon (Dutch)

Dutch + Amazon

Amazon is de grootste (online) boekhandel ter wereld, maar als Nederlandse gebruiker is niet altijd alles even duidelijk.

Een paar tips voor het veranderen van land, webwinkel en taal.

Update! Er is een nieuwere 2023 versie van deze post hier!

Kindle naar Kobo (Dutch)

Datatalk + Kobo

 Amazon heeft duizenden audiobooks en ebooks. Maar ja, niet iedereen heeft een Kindle e-reader. Wat te doen?

Kijk eerst eens rond of je geen apparaat hebt waarop je gewoon je Kindle / Amazon ebooks kunt lezen. Heb je echter een Kobo reader, dan moet je de truckendoos open trekken. 

Christopher Nuttall - The Empire's Corps / No Worse Enemy / When the Bough Breaks / ...

Audiobook Review

A human empire breaks down after millennia of corruption, and a marine detachment that escaped the downfall of humanity ends up rebuilding part of civilization in their remote corner of the galaxy. It's not a bad concept, but us jaded readers, we've seen it all.

Facts are stubborn things. Perception... not so much.

Column

To turn things your way, you do not have to manipulate facts, you could also simply manipulate perception, which is perfectly legal.

Even Trump would get away with it. It's not even fake news...

Philip Pullman - The golden compass / The subtle knife / The amber spyglass

Movie Review

I'm impressed (and a little disappointed but that might be because I was expecting something else, not because the story was bad). I also would like to mention that I am one of the few people who actually liked the movie?

The Powers (that are no more)

Series Review + Playstation

Did you watch Powers, the show, on PlayStation?

Of course you did not. PlayStation. That's a game console, that's not a television channel like, euh, Netflix. Or Hulu. Or Fox. How right you are. But you should have.

Zelazny - A Night in the Lonesome October

Book Review + Amber

With Halloween approaching I thought it would be a good moment to re-read A Night in the Lonesome October.

Late Roger Zelazny has always been one of my favorite authors. He's mostly known for the Amber series, but he did write some other great stories as well. For some reason he's not that popular, but most of his books are quite good and have aged fairly well.

Netflix - Stranger Things - Season 1

Series Review

This series must be tailo- made for the 40+ crowd, as its situated in the 80's. I remember those bicycles! Promising, but I wonder how long it will last, as the target audience might be a bit too small...

Write it down: October 27, season 2 of Stranger Things!!!

Netflix - Neo Yokio smells like a space station

Series Review

I just watched some Neo Yokio on Netflix. And didn't like it at all. But...

Some animator, designer, script writer or show runner must have been watching more than anime, some 20 odd years ago. There's a very special kind of perfume in a key role...

Chicken Samurai

Column + Mindmap

How much Ninja Theory does a Chicken Samurai need?

Kip Samoerai Salade, aka Chicken Samurai Salad.

Which either means it's a salad for Chicken Samurai, or (shudder) it is made of chicken and samurai... Which probably requires a trip to Japan, a large blender, and a strong stomach...

Genevieve Cogman - The Invisible Library / The Masked City

Book Review

Triggered by (again) one of Jan’s reviews, I think. Keep them coming :-)

Both books are good reads If you like some interdimensional traveling, the fight between chaos and order, some intrigue, action, a heroine with flaws and you like books then you’re in for a treat.

I’m not sure it is the setting or writing style, but both books reminded me somewhat of Zelazny’s work.

C J Cherryh - Foreigner / Inheritor / ...

Audiobook Review

C J Cherryh calls this the 'First Contact' series, but most websites refer to it as the 'Foreigner' series.

Inspired by a comment from Jan (of Dapper fame) I decided to chew my way through a couple of these.

It's a long series, but the main story is delivered in batches of three, and most of those would work as stand alone titles. I would strongly advise not to read them out of order though...

Roaming voor dummies (Dutch)

Dutch

Bellen en internetten in het buitenland is nu gratis! Of toch niet?

Misschien toch niet helemaal...

SqueezeBox - SQB

Datatalk + Music + Squeezebox

SQB is a small tool to modify playlists, and helps identifying and correcting missing files in your .MPU3 playlists.

SQB uses SOX to export all entries in a playlists (including .FLAC) to .MP3 for use on mobile players, in cars, or for use other devices only supporting MP3.

Marko Kloos - Chains of Command (2016) / Fields of fire (2017)

Audiobook Review

In this universe the humans have encountered a (literally) giant enemy called the Lankies. And they (the humans) are loosing...

Marko Kloos writes military SF, and is the author of the Frontlines series. Currently (2017) this series contains 5 books, with a sixth one coming up.

Xbox 360... Go for the (g)old

Gaming

The XBox 360 is dead.

So, let's buy one.

Seriously? Buying an XBox 360 when even its successor the (first generation of the) Xbox One is dead and gone?

You do know you can buy some great games starting from 2 bucks?

De Kobo Aura 2 E-reader (Dutch)

Datatalk + Kobo + Dutch

Heb ik net een uitgebreide handleiding geschreven voor de Kobo Glo met de oude software (hier te vinden) komt Kobo met een nieuwe versie 😏 Maar gelukkig is deze nieuwe software beschikbaar voor alle E-readers, dus niet alleen voor een reader als de Aura 2 maar ook voor de oudere Glo!

Wifi en de Buren voor Dummies (Dutch)

Datatalk + Dutch

Wifi problemen?

Deze uitleg helpt je Wifi problemen op te lossen en te voorkomen, voor zover mogelijk. De belangrijkste regel: 1+6+11=20...

Calibre + E-reader (Dutch)

Datatalk + Dutch

Wanneer je een bibliotheek hebt van duizend(en) boeken is het beheer op een (trage) e-reader eigenlijk onmogelijk. Het is dan beter om alle e-books op de PC te bewaren, en daar te kiezen welke je naar de e-reader wilt kopieren om later te lezen.

Calibre is een porgramma wat je daarbij helpt. Het is een e-book reader, manager en converter. Met Calibre is het makkelijker een bibliotheek van e-books te beheren.

De Kobo Glo (Refurbished) E-Reader (Dutch)

Datatalk + Kobo + Dutch

MediaMarkt en allerlei andere adressen hebben nu een 'refurbished' Kobo Glo E-reader, met 2 jaar volledige garantie, voor 69 / 79 euro.

Voor de kopers wat hints en tips, want het werkt toch net even weer anders dan een (Android) tablet...

Right-sizing a home-server PSU

Datatalk

I am running a small, Windows 7 based home-server in my home. Its primary function is to serve music to my Squeezebox music player(s), but it also serves as my file server and movie transcoder.

I needed to replace the PSU, but what is a proper size?

Duplicate events in Google Calender

Datatalk

I ran into a problem with Google Calender. On my device (phone) I saw 'duplicate' events, ie. the same event twice, but in a browser the web version of Calendar showed no problem.

Root cause: renaming a calendar......

SqueezeBox Duet - Restore wired operation

Datatalk + Squeezebox

I'm still using a SqueezeBox setup to play my music...

If the Squeezebox Duet gets disconnected from it's LAN cable it will move to Wifi... and will not move back automatically! To restore to wired operation the player needs to be reset. Here's how to do that.

Four weeks of Wattpad, one day of Scribophile

Writing

On March 4, 2017, I joined Wattpad.

I'm a month older now, and my life still sucks 😊 On the other hand, I actually wrote 40 to 50 thousand words. (After several rewrites I'm probably 30% into my first novel, yeah!)

Under Construction!

Column

(Well, kinda' column...)

Due to a variety of reasons (most of those boiling down to me being stupid) I had (and still have!) to re-create a number of posts. I'm updating bit by bit all the broken links, but that's taking some intensive manual labor, so several links might still be broken for the upcoming weeks / months / years 😕

My apologies... this is a work in progress...

(I'll keep moving this post around until most of the links have been repaired...)

Wattpad isn't funny (but BTS is worse)

Writing

Probably the two most difficult to answer questions ever: what makes people laugh when reading, and how to attract readers on Wattpad?