Passing Thoughts

New Things

My entries here are a little few and far between at the moment. I shall be attempting to rectify that. One of the things that is going to help me is my new Powerbook. When I moved to my new job my focus shifted from the world of Enterprise software and Microsoft Windows to Web software and Linux/unix. I have been using linux fairly happily for the last few months but I needed a light laptop for taking to conferences and meetings. I have a superb Dell laptop but the idea of installing linux on it and struggling with the things that linux does badly (wireless in particular) did not fill me with joy. In addition its a bit of a tank and has become the family computer since we moved. And so an opportunity arose and I now have a new machine. Mac OSX is a sheer pleasure to use. Everything works just as it should. For example it sync's with my phone OUT OF THE BOX. I didn't manage that on the other machine even using Nokia's own software. The world in which I move is dominated by powerbooks (from the people I meet for work you would think it was Apple and not Microsoft that was the main supplier of operating systems) and there are a large number of tools and research software available to me here as well.

My good friend Rick has just released a Novella for free. Called "The Flesh Remembers" you can read about the release and get it here. I read it yesterday and it is superb. Its protagonist Dexter Lomax is cynical really has been there and seen most things. His knowing flippancy and references to the likes of the X-Files make the shear horror of what he uncovers all the more powerful Rick is kick-starting his writing career again after the sad break up of his marriage and on the evidence of this novella he will go far.

I increasingly get most of my news via the internet. I read one or two traditional news sites like the BBC but these days Blogs of one sort or another supply my primary news. Technorati is always a good source of interesting news as are the various sources aggregated in my News reader. This slightly skewed approach to the world often throws up interesting things. This week on of these was that someone called "Jandek" played his first every gig in Glasgow totally unannounced. From what I read about Jandek I was immediately intrigued. A quick search showed that getting his records in this country is not very easy and so I downloaded a couple before ordering them from the states. These are records of desolation and loss. I've read it said that "Jandek *is* the blues" and I have to agree. These wasted raw tracks are powerful and compelling. I shall be ordering more.

Its a sign of how busy I am that I've only just started reading the latest Pratchett book. But so far its looking superbly promising.