This book is science fiction, a space opera, and the follow up to the successful, Hugo-award-winning predecessor A Memory Called Empire. I found the sequel to be an easier read, as most of the world-building was accomplished in the previous book. The plot was predictable, but the world it runs through is full of brain […]
A Desolation Called Peace: A Review Read More »
Strength and honor! I have chanted this to myself tens of thousands of times over the years, day after day. It is a rallying cry, a reminder never to stop. To hold the line, no matter the cost. I share with you now the single great secret to success that I have learned, and seen
The Cult of Strength Read More »
The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price attempts the impossible, a synthesis of all there is to know about the Viking Age presented in a way that anyone could read. I found it to be a great success, and a parallel to SPQR by Mary Beard for the
The Children of Ash and Elm: a review and my love of Viking-age history Read More »
Mechanical keyboards tend to be massive affairs. This keyboard is much smaller, about the size of a standard laptop keyboard but with much better key travel. And well, it has RGB lighting. And it is wireless. I bought it for travel but I ended up loving how much of my desk it freed up, so
Keychron K3 Review – for minimalists and travelers who like a good keyboard Read More »
Lviv is a wonderful, friendly city. It sits on the far western edge of Ukraine, near the border with Poland. Indeed, the Polish were among the seven or so different political entities that controlled the city in the last 100 years or so, and Polish connections with the city, including tourists, appear to be pretty
Lviv – Reflections and a Review for Digital Nomads Read More »
Until I get around to writing something more interesting, I will share my most exciting purchase of the year: a Raspberry Pi tower cooler. It’s cool (literally). It’s also cute, a miniature of the huge coolers in an enthusiast desktop. It does RGB rainbow colors! For $20, this S2Pi Tower cooler can be yours from
The Overkill Pi Fan Read More »
2020… …was a hard year for many people.For me, it wasn’t too bad, although it definitely did not turn out as expected. The year started off with a really amazing trip to New Zealand. My second time there, I got to see a bunch of new sites I hadn’t seen before (Abel Tasman and Mt
This all happened weeks ago, but I figured I should get around to posting about it at some point. The first bulbs to come, which I planted back in September, were the fall blooming crocus. They bloomed a bit over a month after planting. You can seem them in the featured image. I don’t think
Bulbs and Prairie, Last Plantings of 2020 Read More »
My bed at the parent’s farm was hurting my back – and with a old 5 inch spring mattress, it was clear the mattress there was a leading factor. A 2″ foam topper had not done much to help. When a friend start shopping for a mattress for their new apartment, it finally occurred to
DIY Mattress – a crazy idea that actually worked Read More »
I spend a lot of time while developing in data science waiting for my current sample of code to finish running. In particular, my package AutoTS tries hundreds or thousands of models, and even with small data that can take a while to run. Another big factor for me is the environmental cost of development
Choosing a Data Science CPU (Benchmarking on Intel) Read More »
