The Spirit Within (2001)

Movie Review.

Re-watched this one after a long time, and realized perhaps it's not as bad as most people (critics) said it was. Perhaps a little flat, but so are most K-pop girl bands after you take away foam and silicone 😊.

Harry Harrison - The Jupiter Plague

Book Review.

Old fashioned hard SF. Not too bad though severely outdated, and sometimes loses the pace.

Still an enjoyable read (if you can handle old fashioned stuff written in the golden age of SF) about programmed biological stuff that the Jovians release upon us.

Words Worth

Anime Review

Words Worth will have the old poet crying in his grave. Anyway, no idea what the title has to do with this short series. Not a clue either what the authors of the (hentai) anime series were trying to accomplish (besides making money).

Commas

Writing

A writer's nightmare. It's very, very easy to do them wrong. And yeah, I did struggle, and still do.

The site Grammarbook seems to be pretty good. But sites can go down, and there are some exceptions, so...

Joe Haldeman - Forever War

Book Review.

A re-read. I pretty much managed to forget about most of the book, except for the stasis field and the cloning aspect near the end. But it's a good read, military scifi with a twist, and seen by many as the best anti-war novel ever. Dunno about that, but still a good read.

Batman Begins / The Dark Knight

Movie Review

I'm one of those infidels who claims the original Batman movie was way, way better than the Nolan vehicles. And it's all thanks to Jack.

Writing is hard

Column + Writing

For the whole of my life, I've been dreaming about becoming a writer. I never thought I would ever write in first-person present tense. But actually, the longest (if not the best) story I've written so far is in first-person present tense. Scary.

Combining PC and Tablet / Tablet as monitor / TV as monitor / Tablet as sketchpad in Teams

Datatalk / Windows 10 / Windows 11 / Multi Monitor.

Use your tablet as an extra screen or input device for your PC, or as a sketchpad for meetings. This post only describes solutions for Windows 10 in combination with an Android tablet, but there are similar options when you're using a Mac and / or an iPad.

Sebastian de Castell - Spellslinger / Shadowblack / Charmcaster / Soulbinder / ...

Book Review

The first book clearly starts out as a YA, but by the end of book 6 we've partially left YA territory. Young (not so magical) boy mage flees his family and wanders the outlands, accompanied by an drawling Argosi, a squirrel cat, and hunted by all.

But boy, are these good! All 6 of 'm.

Corona - T Plus 20 - The second wave

Will it happen? I don't know. But, frankly, I'm a little scared.

People appear to assume the worst is over. Yes, the numbers appear to be on the way down, so the government has relaxed the restrictions a bit...

Shortcuts to Windows 10 (and other) settings

Windows

Sometimes it's easier to have a shortcut to some Windows 10 option directly from the desktop. Here's a list of all (well, some 😁) options... 

Update: Many of these (still / also) work in Windows 11!

Miles Cameron - Masters and Mages - Cold Iron / Dark Forge / Bright Steel

Book Review.

Starts with lots of sword and little sorcery, slowly moves into more sorcery then sword. Then ends in a rush.

Actually not bad, but the author was getting a little tired near the end, and decided to skip book 4.

Paragraphs

Writing.

Do you have trouble with 'paragraphing'? Here's my little take on it, it just might be of use to you as well. And if I'm using the wrong method then please correct me!

Michael Chatfield - The Recruitment

Audiobook Review.

Horrible. Yet another book (series) about some Larry Stu figure, kidnapped by aliens, to become yet another soldier, sergeant, captain, general, hero, savior.

Who writes this stuff, and who reads it?

Fastin... Faston... Stekers en kabel voor LED verlichting (Dutch)

DIY + Domotics + Dutch

Hoe koppel je LED verlichting? Of andere gelijkstroom spullen? Er zijn allerlei producten in de handel, maar sommigen zijn belachelijk duur, onhandig groot, of gewoon niet te krijgen.

Nou zijn er ook de zogenaamde AMP en FASTON klemmen. De FASTIN-FASTON zijn niet perfect (je kunt met een beetje moeite (en geweld) de steker 180 graden draaien, met alle gevolgen vandien) maar voor mijn toepassing zijn ze goed genoog.

Corona - T Plus 7 - Did China know?

It's hard to believe a country like China would deliberately release a disease like this. Frankly, I don't think they did.

But if you are convinced the Chinese government did know, or knew more then they told the world, then that would be easy to prove.

B.V. Larson - Lost Colonies - Battle Cruiser / Dreadnought / Star Carrier

Audiobook Review.

Space opera, but in spite of some good ideas not great stuff. Frankly the narrator (yeah, an audio book yet again) gets it right... which doesn't help. Duh?

Disk cloning / migrating Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10

... is a hassle.

Assume you want to create a backup copy of your Windows boot drive. Or you want to replace that old hard disk with a new SSD, or replace your current boot drive with a larger one. Then it's time to jump through some hoops.

Or is it?

Corona - T Minus Zero - T Day

We survived so far. It's T-day, the world is still turning, and Trump is still in power. (I don't like the guy much, to be honest.) There's still Corona, and there's still no solution.

Things could have been worse though...

Gratuitous Space Battles

Column.

I've updated my post 'Fortuitous Space Battles' and added micro jumps, transformation cannons, missile payloads, shield types, and short range engagements.

My Novel Part Four - Death and the Mistress

Writing.

I think I mentioned it before, but I'm mightily distracted by all this Corona stuff, health issues, and on top of that my work (I actually work for a living, you might wanna' try it, it's harder than it looks).

Michael Wallace - The Void Queen - Queen of the Void (2016) / Star Wolf / Sun King

Book Review.

Pirate captain becomes officer in the (space) navy of the king of Avalon, of course against her will. Throw in some space vikings, and a monstrous race of alien avians hell bent on consuming everything, and a sub plot of a noble who made a career of running away.

Tom Poes en de laadpaal-boefjes (Dutch)

Column / Dutch.

Ja... die laadpaal boefjes toch...

Even ongeacht de discussie of electrisch en / of hybride rijden schoner is voor het millieu of niet (ik dank van wel, maar dat is even niet het punt)... de vraag is of het voordeliger is.

Corona - T minus 20 - Twenty percent

Today it’s April 4, 4 days after the latest issue of Dapper, a few months after TellTales! #100, and I have no idea in what state we all will be the end of April, when we reach T Minus Zero.

I am a little scared.

Fortuitous Space Battles

Column.

As you may have noticed I do like (some) military SF, and it’s fine if that borders on not all too realistic Space Opera. However, regardless of the believably of the generic concept I still like to see some consistency. Or at least stick to certain mechanics and principles.

Windows 10 and the forgotten icons...

Windows 10.

... isn't the next Harry Potter book.

Unfortunately, no matter what you try, Windows 10 may suddenly become very forgetful of your icons and their positions. I tried many different solutions from the Internet, and nothing worked. Well, almost nothing...

Corona - T minus 24 - Our new Best Friend

How a distant disease became our closest friend…

Two months ago Wuhan was a remote place, and nobody was paying all too much attention to Corona / Covid-19. Now, the world is in a near lock-down, and we’re all waiting to see what happens next. Scary.

Book Review.

Well... I dunno. Typical conscripted lonesome soldier fights on some remote world, then becomes hero against all odds, then leader of the rebels, then fights the oppressive United Nations. Predictable fare.

Some like it, some won't. I wasn't impressed.

Corona - T minus 27 - Flattening the curve

Let's face it. Social distancing has nothing to do with protecting YOU.

We're all going to be sick. Some of us are going to die.

And yet... isolation and social distancing will save lifes. How? Read on...

Corona - T minus 34 - IT and homeworkers

The Dutch government has given the advice to limit social interaction to a minimum, keep 1.5 meters of distance, and only go to work if absolutely essential.

Of course, it is an advice. So many people simply don't listen. Or are forced to ignore the rules, by circumstances, or by their employers...

TellTales #100 - 25 years of Dapper

Column.

So. A historical moment. TellTales #100, my little contribution to Dapper, an APA. (The APA 😇)

For 25 years I've been unloading my rambling on the other innocent members, and they haven't booted me out. Let's look some of the statistics and facts...

Corona - T minus 42 - What's next?

Corona is here.

I made a quick estimate when the impact of the Corona virus would be largest, and that would have to be in 42 days.

The world is changing. Yet again. And though I am worried I'm an optimist: we've survived MERS, SARS, Justin Bieber, and even Trump (so far). We should be able to handle this one, though it might get hard

Windows 10 1909 on Dell Precision M2800

Windows 10.

Thanks, Microsoft. For... for... for everything!

But especially for cheating me out of all the hours I could have spend more productive. Instead, you released the glorious Windows 10, followed by the even more glorious Windows 10 version 1909. And trying to get that thing to run on my Dell M2800 has been lots and lots of fun.

Though I did get it to work in the end...

Charles Stross - Accelerando

Book Review

My first Stross novel deals with the Singularity, a 'hypothetical moment in time when any physically conceivable level of technological advancement is attained instantaneously'. (Yeah, that explanation isn't mine, it's too intelligent.)

RMB protection on web pages

Several webpages have a copy protection, ie. you cannot copy texts and / or objects by marking a section, then copy it by pressing the Right Mouse Button. Which can be very inconvenient, for example if you try to comment on something somebody else posted.

In FireFox that's pretty easy to fix. (Though it doesn't solve everything.)

Netflix - The Witcher

Series Review.

Netflix doesn't get it right all the time. In fact, there's lots of rubbish, and Netflix added their fair share to it.

Still, sometimes there's just something that's worth binging. Take, for example, the first season of The Witcher.

Juuni Kokki

Anime Review

Not well known, and certainly harder to get over here (that is: Europe) it tells the tale of a young girl who found herself in another more magical realm.

Well, nothing spectacular thus far, we've seen that before. And yet...

Ian Douglas - Semper Mars

Book Review.

Marines in space. 'Nuff said. Will appeal to some, but I found it a little flat. His work under the alias 'William H Keith' (or the other way around), for example the Warstrider series, seems to be a bit better.

My Novel Part Two - The art of the plot

Writing.

Part two is a wrap. Writing hasn't been going as quickly as I'd love to, but the good news is the overall plot is now clear, my notes show which way to go, and I thought of many evil things to do to my main cast. I cannot mention anything without spoiling stuff, but perhaps I can mention wheels and teeth...

Blade - TV series

Series Review

Most of the times I remember a book, movie or series. Perhaps not in details, but at least in some way.

Browsing through my old Dapper installments I found a reference to a television series called Blade. 13 years ago, 2007. And I cannot remember a single thing of it...

But... Here is what I wrote at the time...

2019

Wrapping up 2019, and Welcome to 2020!

The image to the left takes you to the home screen which lists all major topics.

To search this blog you have to use the desktop version of this blog.

This link will show all 2019 posts.

3D Printing and Ptolus? That's all?

C J Cherry - Foreigner - Visitor / Convergence / Emergence

Audiobook Review.

We're at books 17, 18 and 19 of the Foreigner series. It looks like Cherryh isn't giving up. And, to be honest, these are quite readable, though perhaps a little slow.

Netflix - Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress - The battle of Unato

Anime Review.

Netflix does bring a lot of Anime lately. Some of it awful, some of it not that bad. Some of it... euh... incomplete.

To quote Trump: sad.

Reading (old) Star Wars - 3

Book Review / Audiobook Review.

Even before The Force Awakens heralded the return of Star Wars I decided to dip in and refresh and improve my knowledge of the 'written' Star Wars universe. Would I have done so knowing most of it would become irrelevant with the changes introduced with The Force Awakens? Perhaps not...

Nerd - Level 2.1

3D Printing.

Define 'nerd'...

If it's a person who enjoys an overly complex technical solution for a problem that doesn't need to be solved... then... Yes! Guilty, your honor!

My own kids, fairly used to their father being a bit... euh... eccentric 😁 shake their heads in disbelief (and perhaps a little disappointment). Which means... Mission accomplished!

3D printing a LED driver enclosure - 3 - Click & Fit

3D Printing + DIY

I still have some issues printing large objects on my (unheated) printer bed, but the final product is taking shape. We're slowly getting there...

Reading (old) Star Wars - 2

Book Review / Audiobook Review.

In 2011 I was working on my 'classics' I guess... 😅

Let's see, Star Wars books... what did I think of them then? And now?

Netflix - Seis Manos (2019)

Anime Review.

Seis Manos is nothing but glorious grindhouse anime. Let's go back to the 70's, and throw every exploitation / revenge movie cliche in the mix. Add unique character designs, some great animation and lots of blood and gore to the mix and enjoy the show.

Yep. I like it! But keep in mind: this is anime but not for (small) kids...

3D Printer / Wall Thickness, Detail Level and Accuracy

3D Printing / Slicer and Printer Test.

This isn't about the actual accuracy of the printer itself (which depends on build quality, design, components etcetera) but about the minimal detail level that the printer can handle, and when to use what wall thickness.

Again, I'm not an expert, but got lost on my way to redemption... 😅

Reading (old) Star Wars - 1

Audiobook Review.

I've been listening to some Star Wars audio books over the years... Some good. Most bad.

The first two I read (listened to) were so bad it was almost funny. Almost...