Software by the Kilo was reviewed on the Coffee Time Romance web site. I did try to follow my wife’s instructions to lower the geek factor in my second novel, but never dreamed it would be reviewed on a romance blog, much less get a four out of five coffee cup rating (after a four out of five spider rating from a review on WebbWeaver, four is becoming a good number).
From the review:
Software by the Kilo is a neat story that flows like a roller coaster. With an exciting plot and a multi-cast of characters, this story is anything but dull; Larry Ketchersid creates a fast-paced good read. He not only creatively fashions unforgettable main characters but secondary ones, too. I really enjoyed the character of Jason and how he dealt with the problem of carrying his laptop, trying to find internet access, and even his composure in some of the toughest situations. I can understand why he was the level-headed person of the twosome in this venture project. This story will definitely keep one on their toes.
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My friends at SFSignal.com invited me to interview Michael Hanlon about his new book Eternity: our next billion years.
Michael is the science editor for the Daily Mail in the UK. His book goes against the current doomsday grain and looks through a future where us humans are still hanging around. It is split into three parts: near future (new few centuries), mid-future (few thousand years) and far-future (the point where the Earth will actually die, a billion years hence). The chapters are mostly science essays, but there is some sprinkling of speculative fiction in the later chaps.
Michael’s book covers a wide range of topics including how the geo-political landscape may change in the next few years, what languages we might be speaking, how drought, famine and over-population will affect the world, the singularity, things that he doesn’t think will happen, things that would change the course of history if they did happen, and others.
After the break is an excerpt: (more…)
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As a child living in Indian Harbor Beach, Florida, I was able to watch many of the Apollo launches from the roof of my parents house.
Apollo 11 and the first moon landing, the pinnacle of the space race with the Soviets, is obviously a milestone for mankind. And Buzz Aldrin was there, recording it and his life after in this memoir (which we got signed, at his appearance at the Houston Museum of Natural Science). The book is logically four parts: Apollo 11, Aldrin’s downward spiral afterward, his recovery with his new wife Lois, and what he has been doing since.
The first three chapters record Aldrin’s thoughts and actions through the journey to, walk on, and return from the moon as a part of the historic Apollo 11 mission with Armstrong and Collins. Those first 58 pages are excellent, a terrific description of an event millions watched, but from the perspective of the second (but most visible) man to step on the moon. (more…)
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Granted, my PC needs to be replaced (it is my trusty Sony Vaio that has been around the world with me for years)…but it was dragging, in some not-so-small part due to the number of IM/chat programs loaded on it. They all served a purpose, or different constituency:
- Skype for international friends in Italy, London, Thailand and beyond;
- Facebook chat for my kids and family;
- SameTime to talk with partners (including IBM);
- AIM to talk with other partners (including Cisco through a AIM/WebEx interface);
At work, we’d been using Skype for development collaboration and support. But Skype lately has been sluggish and hanging; yes, I know it is free, but it was time to find something that worked better. My developers wanted to use jabber, but I needed to keep contact with the systems listed above.
Enter PIDGIN. I’d done some testing on it before, when we were integrating our secure transport/delivery mechanism into various platforms. I did not know if it would tackle all of these networks. (more…)
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While we can argue whether Twitter is a “new social media” or not, one great 
thing about it is the Amazon MP3 twitter feed.
Amazon certainly seems to be trying to put a dent into iTunes dominance. Not only are they offering DRM free MP3’s, but their Amazon downloader puts the songs right in your iTunes (if you so choose).
You do not have to be a Twit or even a Twitter user to see the daily deals. Just go to http://twitter.com/amazonmp3 each day.
The daily deals are extraordinary. This month alone I have downloaded:
- on 3/3 (the day the album came out) U2’s No Line on the Horizon for $3.99;
- yesterday, John Coltrane’s The Ultimate Blue Train for $1.99;
- today, Diana Ross & the Supremes’ 18-song Definitive Collection. Everyday price: $7.99 Today’s price: $1.99
Yes, an eclectic mix, but they feature different albums everyday. I’m going to ignore the feed for a few days before I personally re-stumulate the economy.
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With news of asteroid 2009 DD45 near-miss of the Earth, what better time for a tool that shows the impact implications? Carlos Labs has released Ground Zero, where you can pick your location and, by selecting the type of approxiamate devastation causer (pick from Asteroid impact to the nukes dropped during WWII) you’ll be shown a Google map of the destruction area.
Gives a new meaning to “mash-up”, don’t it?
Just remember, be prepared, and make sure your next living location is outside the blast zone! Click here for the Thinking Man’s Guide to the End of the World.
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When our newly seated President has to be the adult in the room and tell the American public to be more self-reliant and responsible (excerpts at the end of this post), it certainly makes one worry about how far the American public has fallen away from our core values. At the very least he appears to be walking the talk, taking responsibility for some poor cabinet nominations (or at the very least, some horrible background checks by his staff).
Recent events, especially hurricanes in my near vicinity, have brought to the forefront that Americans (or at least Texans!), when we have to, are quite self-reliant, and very good at helping thy neighbor. The image burned in many minds of Hurricane Katrina is the picture of people sitting on their suitcases outside the SuperDome awaiting Government rescue…quite the opposite of self-reliance. It may be a media perception of national media coverage versus local media, but those type of pictures were not evident in the Hurricane Ike disaster…though there were many of people helping each other.
The fact remains that many in our country took the President’s admonishment that we need to take care of ourselves as something new and revolutionary when in truth it is, as he says, part of the core principals our country was founded on. (more…)
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Like most good little geeks, I’ve collected a bunch of electronics over the years, some of which I consider ‘collectors items’.
Like most environmental conscious and organized people, my wife is always trying to get rid of my old electronics, some most of which she considers junk.
We both recently used Gazelle to resell/recycle some old and not-so-old cell phones. The process was simple, the prices were fair and the reimbursement (with multiple options) was quick in her case and a bit slower in mine.
We used it for cell phones, but they also advertise that they recycle digital cameras, MP3 players, laptops, GPS, hard drives and more. They warn you and I’ll warn you: you should erase your personal data from the electronics before sending it in; they say they will, but do you really want to take that risk?
The process is straightforward: (more…)
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Just upgraded the site all the way from Wordpress version 2.1 (yeah, I’ve been busy and procrastinating) to the latest and greatest, 2.7. As I’ve come to expect, compared to most of the software upgrades I’ve done (operating system, database, etc.) this one was a breeze. The instructions were very well written…if you follow them step by step, it works perfectly.
If you see any glitches, I would appreciate if you would leave a comment.
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My family and I visited Galveston this past weekend, our first sojourn there after 
Hurricane Ike hit them and us in September. Our plans were to visit the Strand for some shopping, dine at Gaido’s, and see the lights at Moody Gardens.
We were unprepared for the level of damage still remaining. Since we’ve repaired most of what Ike did to our home and our neighborhood is pretty much back to what it was before the hurricane, it’s easy to forget. (more…)
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