* “Calculating God”:amazon by Robert Sawyer. Fine first contact tale with a lot of pathos. Amazon says 4 stars, it is a solid effort. * “Atmospheric Disturbances”:amazon by Rivka Galchen. Tale of a psychotic man trying to make sense of his life. Oddly engaging, you want him to succeed. Amazon says 3 stars but very bimodal, you either love or hate this book. * “Family Planning”:amazon by Karan Mahajan. Tale of maturation of eldest son and father in a huge family. Tends towards farce at times which I did not enjoy, but the core relationship stories are good. 5 stars on Amazon, that may be a bit rich, but a good book.

* Tweetdeck. Duh. * ECMerge. I complained to Scooter Software about the lack of a mac version of BeyondCompare, they kindly suggested ECMerge or Araxis Merge. Araxis is way too expensive. ECMerge is solid but I still pine for BeyondCompare. * Toast Titanium. I want a way to watch my Tivo shows on my mac and Toast seems to be the way to go. Seems to work well. * MATLAB. I’m a sucker for math software. Only reasonable if you are an active student or your employer buys it for you. * VLC. Another duh. THE way to watch wmvs on a mac (and UW lectures are all delivered in wmv format).

Oh and on the PC I am so in love with Steam. I don’t even think about CD-based games anymore. Why isn’t all Windows software delivered this way? Why hasn’t Microsoft purchased Valve?

Animated Knots by Grog. – animations of how to tie nearly every knot you ever need.  Oh and the forgotten Zeppellin knot – apparently critical in the production of Physical Graffiti.

Both via Make. The internet is freaking awesome.

Random posts that have caught my eye recently:

* The VC Math Problem – excellent discussion of the “macroeconomics” of the VC asset class. * What to fear. The truth about what is going to kill you. The sensationalist news stories every night on random acts of violence and tragedy are scary, but they aren’t the threat. * The Rhythms of My Life. One guy’s methodology for examining his life and how he lives it. Not the right methodology for everyone, but everyone probably needs some methodology.

Just one item here, a classic: Sweet spreadsheet grill eliminates BBQ turf disputes – I know a lot of people who would probably like this

Record Crowd Watches Ohio State Spring Game. - WTRF-TV - WTRF.com while LA works on their tan. Let’s hope the intensity mismatch holds in September.

Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters: Goodbye Company Picnic. – the continuing transformation of Microsoft. Some of my fondest memories of the company are the events that allowed me to include family – the company picnic (the first one I went to in ‘88 was kind of mindblowing for us), the holiday party (again mindblowing for the kids, the kids’ experience always makes me think of the donkey island bacchanalia scene from Disney’s Pinocchio), halloween. These events did as much to cement my loyalty to the company as 100 other benefits that the company did, they kept my family happy and positive about my job, despite the hours demanded of me. Quite a constrast from the more traditional work environment I came from prior to Microsoft.

* “The Atrocity Archives”:amazon by Charles Stross. Stross writes a good tale and this is a fine story, collision of witchcraft and information tech. It is one of Stross’s earliest works and a bit choppy in parts (was originally serialized I believe) but still adequate fun. Amazon gives this one 4.5 stars, I would tend a little lower – say 3.5 stars. * “The Years”:amazon by Virginia Woolf. I guess I am not sophisticated enough for this book. I found it to be a shambling wreck. I didn’t care about the people, the times, the situation. The choppy style was unreadable. I gave up 1/4 of the way through. Amazon gives this 4.5 stars too tho with few user ratings, I would give it a 1 star. People are too enamored with the author’s name. * “Pierre and Jean”:amazon by Guy de Maupassant. Sin, shame, betrayal, remorse, sacrifice, blame, loss, a bit of redemption. A great little story of human foibles and the prisons we make in our own minds. Unlike the Woolf above, I’d happily read another de Maupassant. Amazon says 4.5 stars, I’d agree. * “Days Between Stations”:amazon by Steve Erickson. Pour yourself a big mug of absinthe and settle in with this one. Intriguing but strange. Amazon gives it 4.5 stars though not heavily reviewed. I’m probably a little lower but it is an intriguing book.

On the first page, apps I use every day, multiple times:

* Some of the default Apple apps – Mail, Text, Calendar, Safari (all on the bottom row); Weather, Stocks, Maps, Camera, Calculator (a recent promotion back to the first page, the landscape mode scientific calculator is handy now that I am taking courses at UW again), Settings (purely to switch radio on/off for flights), Clock (for alarm and cooking timing), Phone. * Facebook, Tweetie, Todo (synched with rememberthemilk for todo list management), Tripit (awesome for quick access to trip details – flight status, checkin codes, etc), Wordpress for blogging, Amazon.com. OK Amazon is probably going to fall off soon, I don’t do that much ordering while on the iphone. * 2 Across for nytimes crosswords, and Mafia Wars. Mafia Wars is fun tho the math in the game is kind of whack.

On the second page – apps that i need regular access to, or apps that I am trying out:

* App Store, Shazam (tagging music that I hear on the radio/etc), SmugShot (for access to my photos), MiGhtyDocs (google docs access) * Kayak and Flight Update tho they are declining is use thanks to the Tripit app * Pandora tho also declining in use as I am getting new music via other mechanisms * Trying out: Yelp, Air Sharing, SimpleMindX, FS5 Hockey, FriendCast, fring.

On the third page – apps I keep around because I have to or because I need them occasionally:

* Apple default apps Notes, Contacts, Photos, iTunes, iPod, YouTube. Can’t delete them, they have to go somewhere * Urbanspoon, GuitarToolkit – great apps but I don’t currently use that often. I tend to use google maps for finding restaurants instead of urban spoon * Wine Guide, Starmap, Drinks Free, Clinometer, Remote, Google Earth, RTM, Snaptell. All interesting but I rarely find a reason to use. RTM is just not as good as the Todo app

On the fourth page – games that I liked at one point but that are basically ignored now:

* Tetris, Trism, Bejeweled 2. I’ll still play bejeweled every once in a while * Vector Tanks, iShoot. * Pb Dreams, Flick Bowling, Monkey Ball, XOFootball. * Edge, touchPhysics, Koi Pond, Topple, Rolando, newtonica2. All cute. * Black and White. Pretty poor Othello game. * Dr. Awesome. Awesome actually.

Gleaned from the twittersphere:

• FT.com / Comment / Opinion - Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world. Man some good common sense in here.
• Business plans a waste of time. Sounds like your typical entrepreneur would be far better off meeting people and networking than spending time on a plan.  There is probably some minimum level of plan worth getting to, and then after that it is not clear

* “The Echelon Vendetta”:amazon by David Stone. Good thriller. Deeply damaged hero fighting for the good guys outside the law. And as typical the lines between good and bad, us and them, legal and illegal, are all vague and contradictory. Better than average airplane read. * “The Best American Mystery Stories 2003”:amazon. Another one sitting on the shelf for a while obviously. I don’t typically read short stories but I have renewed admiration for the form. These authors do a great job of plunging you right in – great atmospheres, quick character studies. Fun stuff. * “Scoop”:amazon by Evelyn Waugh. Never read anything by Waugh, this was an offbeat entry point. Farcical misadventure, a sedate country gentleman sent by mistake out as a foreign war correspondent. Some humour but I generally find farces a little wearing.

* Graph Paper Napkins. To better help you design a breakthrough on the back of napkin. * Defendius Lock System. Prevents you from going at night when you’ve had too much. * Veneer Toolbox. I’m not handy, so maybe I can just make my tools look awesome. * Rollaway bar. Actually I’d use it for gear stowage. * Domino Coffee Table

Great post here on how to turn into a network connection, and how to get into debug mode

Good basic article on polymer circuits. I need to learn more about charge transport in polymers, i have a basic understanding of charge transport in metals and semiconductors and ionic fluids, i don’t really understand polymers. Polymer circuits potentially a research area for my future course work.